AN: Ignore what I said about the long lost family, I've decided to write that out of this story as it was a little too complicated to write and I have already pre-written the first few chapters so the long lost relative would've made things a lot more complicated in my current plot for this story (and in my sequel ideas). I think I might write a long lost relative story though… Give me your views on that.
Also, I have a Yahoo! Group, the link for it is on my author's page and I'm working on it so it's getting information about each of the stories and characters! Please join! And also make sure you check out Awakening by my friend Chole (I've got it posted under my name for her) it's a really good story (so far) and I was really surprised when I read the first instalment of it in our textiles lesson the other day!
Chapter 2 – New Haircut
Harry sat at the unusually silent breakfast table; he was waiting for his uncle to start commenting on his freakishness or to go over the plans (more likely plan) for the day… again.
The Dursley's would be going to London for the day to buy Dudley his new school uniform (specially fitted as he was still the size of a small whale like last year) and had agreed to take Harry up there so that he could buy his new school equipment and books in Diagon Alley.
"Boy, you are to meet us at three where we drop you off, remember that or we will go without you." Vernon said gruffly, Harry rolled his eyes.
"Yes Uncle Vernon, I'll make sure that I do." He replied monotonelessly. Finishing the last of his scraps, he got up, put his plate in the sink and then sat back down at the table. He unlatched a money pouch from his new leather belt (with a real silver buckle) and emptied it onto the table (he done this mainly to count his money, but also to gloat to those overly annoying relatives of his). The Dursley's stared wide-eyed at the huge golden galleons, medium sized silver sickles and small bronze knuts. "Twelve galleons, eight sickles and twenty three knuts. I need more money then." Harry muttered to himself quietly, he would also need to exchange some money into the pound sterling as he planned on getting his hair cut sometime soon and didn't really fancy the idea of getting it cut in some wizarding salon, knowing the styles were completely different now than to that of the muggle world's styles and also knowing that he'd be stared at freakishly if he set foot in the wizarding community for too long. Harry also wanted to get some new glasses and maybe some contact lenses as his glasses were a little too small for him now (considering the fact that they were the same pair he started out with when he was a year three all those years ago).
He had been training with his new weights (courtesy of Tonks) quite often and was glad that it seemed to be working, well, seemed to be working a tiny bit, but it was still working (he thought so anyway).
"C'mon Dudder's, lets go get your new school things." Vernon said to Dudley, who ignored his father and sat watching the TV still. "Dudder's?" Dudley turned and grunted like the pig he was before looking back at his TV. Vernon turned it off and led (more like tried to drag in Harry's opinion) his son to the car. Sitting in the back next to Dudley, he felt claustrophobic, but kept quiet and let them drive him to the magical community's entrance.
They dropped him off and the second Harry was out of the car, Vernon zoomed off speedily in his new car, as if not wanting to be seen near the abomination that was his nephew, nephew through marriage of course. Harry approached the grubby building that was the Leaky Cauldron and went inside. The minute he entered, everybody stopped and stared and the old barkeeper, Tom, approached him.
"Mr Potter, would you be needing anything? A drink? Room?" The man asked kindly.
"Um, no thanks, I just need to get my school things." Harry refused politely and made his way towards the back to go outside to Diagon Alley.
He tapped the bricks with his wand and ventured into the Alley. People from all around stared at him and Harry looked ahead with a (nearly) positive attitude, he could take this, it wasn't so bad. He kept repeating that mantra to himself in his head, over and over again.
Harry went strait for Gringott's and got some money from his vault and then exchanged some into muggle money, he got a few hundred pound sterling, stylish new glasses and a pair of nice contacts would cost at least a hundred and fifty alone, let alone a haircut too.
Harry walked around Diagon Alley for a while, getting his school things. He noticed a sign on the door of the Magical Menagerie and curious, he entered. A bell tinkled in the back but a woman was already standing at the counter, serving some teens that Harry recognised from Hogwarts, 'Maybe Hufflepuffs' he thought. Ignoring them, Harry approached the glass tanks in the corner.
Inside the first tank was a long, black snake, it stared at Harry before lazily putting it's head back down. The snake that struck Harry as most interesting was a sapphire coloured snake with onyx coloured eyes.
Hi, I'm Harry. Harry hissed softly to it, it looked up, surprised.
You speak my language. It hissed, Harry nodded. Amazing. Harry snorted.
Well, what's your name? He asked.
I have none, that's up for my master to decide. The male snake stated.
Fancy sticking around with me then? As friends? Harry asked it.
Friends? It asked, Harry nodded. If you say so. Harry smiled and got the shop assistant's attention.
"Hi, I'd like this one." Harry stated, the woman looked shocked.
"Mr Potter, is a snake a wise choice? We have plenty of recommendable sleek white mice over there." The woman stated, gesturing the mice, which were skipping around with their tails.
"No, this snake is fine for me. I'll need everything else needed for it also." Harry stated, the woman nodded and went to the back to get a plastic cage to put the snake into. She hesitantly put her hand into the cage hesitantly, as if the snake would attack at any moment.
"Here, let me." Harry said, he stuck his hand straight in and let the sapphire snake climb onto his arm where it curled around his wrist. "How much would that all be?" Harry asked, the woman looked relatively shocked but went behind the counter and counted the total on the magical cash register.
"Two galleons, sixteen sickles and fourteen knuts." She replied, Harry took out the correct change and handed it to her. "Thank you." Harry nodded and left.
Thanks. The snake hissed from Harry's wrist. The Boy-Who-Lived smiled calmly and looked down at his new companion, pulling back his new, black dragon-hide jacket slightly.
No problem. He replied, Now… you need a name. Any suggestions?
I'm sure you can think of a suitable name yourself. The snake replied, Harry looked thoughtful for a moment.
How about Zodiac? Harry asked, The snake nodded slightly.
Zodiac. It said, testing the name on his tongue, I like it. Thank you Harry.
Don't mention it. Now I need to go get some new robes. Harry told his new friend and headed for Madam Malkin's.
Harry went into Madam Malkin's, as he needed new school uniform because he had obviously grown over the past few years.
Harry was immediately noticed by one of the young assistants, who eyed him warily. Another assistant, who was serving a young female customer, looked at him briefly, before abruptly turning away.
"Ahh, afternoon Mr Potter." Madam Malkin said kindly, "What would you be needing today?" She asked.
"I just need some new school uniform, I've grown out of mine." Harry told her. "I might also need some winter cloaks and casual robes." He added, Madam Malkin just nodded.
"Just go stand over on that stool and I'll be right with you." She stated, indicating a stool next to the young girl being served. The young girl was obviously going to be a first year, she had long, pure black messy hair and kind brown eyes, her and Harry could be passed off as brother and sister had Harry not known better.
Harry walked over and stood on the stool, scaring the assistant helping the young girl.
"So Mr Potter, your a Gryffindor right?" Madam Malkin asked unnecessarily as she came over to him, bringing some robes and normal school wear with her. "Here, just quickly try on this uniform, I'm presuming you'd also need a whole uniform?" She asked, Harry nodded with a small smile.
"Thank you, and please call me Harry, I'm not as insane as Rita Skeeter makes me out to be." He told her confidently, going to one of the small offside changing room. He slipped on the crisp white shirt and grey woollen over-vest quickly, then left the changing room and stood back on the stool where Madam Malkin indicated him to stand, he looked much better in the mirrors than he had done five years ago when he had last been there.
"Ah, perfect fit as usual." Madam Malkin muttered to herself and then produced a school robe. "Slip this on for me." Harry pulled on the cloak and buttoned it up, then let Madam Malkin do her work.
The little girl who was being served smiled nervously at him.
"Hey." He said softly, "This your first year at Hogwarts?" He asked curiously, the girl nodded slightly, looking over nervously to who Harry presumed was her mother, who was waiting on one of the chairs with a few bags. "I'm Harry." He introduced himself.
"Oh, I'm Sara." She replied meekly.
"So Sara, are you muggleborn?" Harry asked, trying to strike conversation, the girl nodded again.
"I think that's what it's called." She whispered, Harry smiled sympathetically.
"Getting used to this world will take some time, but it gets better." He reassured the petite girl, Sara nodded.
"Are you muggleborn too then?" She asked, Harry looked slightly thoughtful.
"Yes and no." He said awkwardly, confusing Sara a bit, "I was raised by muggles, but my parents were magical." He explained, confusing Sara more.
"Raised by muggles? They're normal people right? What about your parents?" She asked, the witch attending her eeped and pricked her finger; Harry raised an eyebrow at her, then looked back at Sara and sighed.
"Muggles are people without magic and my parents were murdered by an evil wizard called Voldemort." Harry explained, the witch serving Sara eeped again and stared at Harry fearfully. "What? It's his name." He stated to her before turning back to Sara with a roll of his eyes. "Most wizards and witches are afraid to say his name, but they shouldn't be. A wise person once told me fear of the name only increases fear for the thing itself. Don't listen to any pure or half bloods who call him some ridiculous name, just call him Voldemort and if they ask why, tell them Harry told you too because its stupid to fear a name." Sara nodded again.
"Why are people scared of his name?" She asked, Harry looked at her for a second, as if seeing if she was worth telling.
"I might as well explain, you'll find out soon anyway." He stated, "I told you he was an evil wizard right?" At Sara's nod he continued, "Well, about sixteen years ago, he was at his height, killing people for fun and ordering his servants, called Death Eaters, to do his bidding, which was normally murdering and torturing innocent people. Well, about fifteen years ago, on Halloween, he went to one families house and murdered the Mum and Dad, though when he tried to murder the one year old child, his curse backfired and he was... banished for a while. Though about two years ago, he came back using that child's (though now a teenagers) blood, even though he's only just come back publicly a few weeks ago." Harry explained, he didn't tell her whom Voldemort tried to kill for a reason.
A while later, Harry exited Madam Malkins with a few bags of things. He started off down the busy street, but halted after he heard his name being called.
"Harry!" Sara called again; she ran up to him and stopped, red in the face because she was out of breath. She flashed a large grin at him. "Do you feel like an ice cream? My Mum wanted to know more about the wizarding world and you really explained a few things in there." She added, Harry smiled genuinely.
"Sure, why not?" He replied, before following Sara back to her Mum.
"Hello, I'm Karla, you must be Harry." The kind looking woman said, she had short brown hair and blue eyes.
"Yeah, that's me." Harry told her with a grin. "Thanks for offering me ice cream, I think I could use some." He deadpanned as they walked to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which was a little down the road.
"What year are you in then Harry?" Karla asked curiously.
"I'm going into my sixth year in Gryffindor, one of the four houses." Harry told the mother and daughter.
"Four houses?" Sara asked, "What if I'm not asked to be in one? What if-"
"Don't worry, I thought the same thing." Harry said with a grin, "You will be accepted into whatever house you get into." He reassured.
"What are the house names?" Karla asked him curiously, glad to have someone explain this whole new world that her daughter was entering to her.
"Gryffindor, which is my house and is for brave people, Hufflepuff for the kind and loyal, Ravenclaw for the smart and Slytherin for the cunning. Slytherin and Gryffindor are enemies, have been since the school was made. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw normally try to stay neutral within it all, though Slytherin would never accept one of their own befriending a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor." Harry explained as they sat down at a free table, some people were giving him strange looks, though he ignored them.
"Why not though?" Sara asked, "I mean, what if I'm a Slytherin, would you still talk to me?" Harry smiled at her.
"You would never turn out to be Slytherin, trust me." Harry told her.
"Harry!" Someone exclaimed happily, a slightly pudgy teen that looked Harry's age approached.
"Hey Neville. How are you?" Harry asked, "And how's the nose?"
"I'm fine, nose has been fine since Pomfrey fixed it." Neville answered, and then looked at Harry concernedly, "Are you alright? Everyone's worried about you, you haven't really answered any of our letters." He said, Harry looked down at his melting ice cream.
"I'm fine I think." He said softly, "Every time I get visions, I want to write to him, though after I've written the letter, I realise he's gone, y'know what I mean?" Neville nodded slightly.
"Yeah, we're all really sorry mate." He said sincerely.
"I know, but not as sorry as me. It was my fault." Harry stated, then shook his head, "Anyways, I've decided to take a new approach at life, y'know? I'll take advantage of the time I've got."
"You talk as if your gonna die." Neville stated seriously.
"You have no idea." Harry muttered under his breath, though Sara and Karla heard him still.
"Anyway Harry, I have to go, I'll see you on the train?" Neville asked, Harry nodded.
"Sure. See you, good luck with your Gran." He added, Neville grinned and left. "That's Neville, one of my dorm mates." Harry said to Karla and Sara.
"Dorm mates?" Sara asked with a small squeak.
"Yeah, don't worry though, it's rare that you'll not get along with them. I get along with mine fine, I've only ever had an argument with one of them because of something stupid, though me and my best friend, another dorm mate of mine always argue over something ridiculous." Harry said with a smirk.
"Oh well, all friends do." Karla stated with a small smile, "My husband loves to argue with his friends about the football results."
"Same with me and Ron, though we argue over Quidditch." Harry said, they looked confused, "Oh, Quidditch is the main wizarding sport, right fun. Each house has their own team."
"What's it like?" Sara asked, intrigued.
"Well, you're on brooms for starters." Harry explained, "And there are seven players on each team, a keeper, three chasers, two beaters and a seeker, whose goal is to catch a little thing called the golden snitch..." Harry carried on explaining the game for a while.
"Cool." Sara muttered when Harry finished explaining, "I can't wait to try out for my team."
"You can't." A feminine voice said from behind Harry, who just scowled as she came into view.
"Cho." Harry said with a polite nod even thought a scowl was still placed firmly on his face.
"Harry, I think we need to talk." The pretty Asian girl stated, Harry shook his head.
"If it's anything about Cedric, I don't want to know. Dumbledore told you what happened that night, I'm not really wanting to relive it again." He told her acidly, Cho looked shocked but quickly recovered.
"Well, um... we're gonna thrash you this year and the Quidditch Cup will be sitting on a shelf in Flitwicks office by this time next year." She stated with a smirk, walking away.
"Ha! You wish!" Harry exclaimed a bit too loudly, attracting attention of other tables, who stared at him before breaking into whispers.
"It's him!"
"Do you reckon he's actually crazy?"
"But Fudge apologised!"
"And? Could be a front."
Harry groaned at the whisperings and turned to Karla and Sara.
"Sorry, I have to go, I'll see you at the station most probably. Thanks for the ice cream." He said with a smile and short wave before leaving Diagon Alley at a quick pace.
Harry wandered around muggle London for a while, he popped into some muggle clothes shops and brought some more new clothes. He had always had this money sitting in his bank account, why did he never use it?
Harry also popped into an opticians, where he brought a new pair of glasses and two pairs of contact lenses, one pair clear, the other blue.
As Harry continued to walk around, buying several things for himself, he spotted a shop he had been wanting to go in since he had gotten Tonks' birthday presents of various hair products; a hairdressers. Entering nervously, he approached the front desk, some of the women in there were staring, and a girl around his age, who was having her hair done… well… her jaw dropped straight down.
"Hi, I was wondering if I could maybe get a quick cut?" Harry asked.
"Well, you'd normally need an appointment." The young woman stated, checking the book in front of her, "But someone has just cancelled, so you could fill their spot." She said politely.
"Thanks." Harry said genuinely.
"Just pass me your jacket." She requested, Harry took off the dragon-hide jacket, revealing his dark red, sleeveless shirt underneath. The years of Quidditch training had done him good. "And follow me." She indicated for him to sit next to the teen girl who stared beforehand (and was still staring). He sat down and waited. A woman came up to him a moment later.
"Good afternoon." She said cheerfully.
"Hi." Harry replied.
"So Mr…"
"Harry, my names just Harry." Harry stated, even though these people were muggles, he still didn't want to risk the fact that a witch or wizard might be there.
"Ok then Harry, what sort of style would you like?" The woman asked. "And the names Angela." She added.
"I just want it cut, something that would look good spiked." Harry stated.
"Looks like you don't have that problem, your hairs a mess." Angela joked, Harry just laughed.
"Don't I know it. New year, new style." He stated happily.
"Oh." Angela muttered, she sprayed his hair lightly with water before starting to cut it. "So what school around here do you go to?" She asked.
"Oh, I don't. I go to a private boarding school in the north. I don't live around here anyways, I live in Surrey." Harry explained, watching as an ebony lock of his fell to the floor.
"Surrey? What are you doing getting your hair cut here then?" Angela asked, Harry shrugged.
"Relatives are stuck up prats." He replied nonchalantly.
"I wouldn't say that, their your family." Angela stated.
"I came to a theory," Harry said slowly, as if not sure whether to tell her, "Your family doesn't have to be by blood, they have to be people who love you and care for you. Relatives aren't always family." He told her wisely.
"That's not really true." Angela stated.
"Yeah, it is." Harry said bitterly.
"I think every relative has to care a little for their families." Angela said softly, noting that Harry's voice had a cold tone to it.
"They don't." Harry replied forcefully, "My only family are my friends."
"What about your parents?" Angela asked.
"They died when I was one, and the only person that has ever even resembled a father died a few weeks ago." Harry replied.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Angela said, suddenly feeling a little bad about not understanding why he felt bad about his relatives.
"Don't be, he went out the way he wanted too." Harry stated, a tear slipped down his cheek and he roughly wiped it away, though it didn't go unnoticed.
"It's ok to cry and be upset." Angela stated, "My step-father died of cancer when I was a teenager, he was the only Dad I had ever known. But he wanted me to be happy, and I am."
"Sorry." Harry apologised.
"Nah, don't be. I've grieved, I'm now living a life that I enjoy." Angela stated with a grin. "So, boarding school, huh? You must be smart."
"Hmm, it's not really a smart school, just a boarding school." Harry stated. "Though one of my best friends got the best exam results known of for our school, she's one of the smartest girls to enter the walls of our school."
"Wow, must be good for homework then." Angela said with a sly grin, Harry laughed sardonically.
"No way! She makes us do homework the day we get it, and she won't let me or Ron copy." Harry stated. "She's evil when it comes to homework. Especially revision. And she's not always in the same classes as me or Ron!"
"I had a friend like that." Angela stated, "He's my husband now."
"Hmm, that's weird. It's so obvious that my two friends like each other, but they are both too stubborn to admit it." Harry stated thoughtfully, Angela laughed.
"That's what me and Dave were like, but our friends set us up, now we're inseparable and it annoys them to hell." Angela stated with a giggle, Harry chuckled.
They exchanged pleasant conversation until Angela was finished, Harry thanked her and left her quite a large tip before leaving, he told her it was because she had made him feel so much better about himself, though she didn't really understand that.
Harry met back up with the Dursley's and they made their way home.
After dinner, Harry went for his nightly walk, he stopped at the battered park and sat on one of the only swings that wasn't vandalised. He rocked on it slowly, thinking about the strange day he had had today and also thinking about these past few months and how everything had changed on that fateful day that Sirius fell through the veil.
After returning from Diagon Alley, Harry had stuffed all of his new clothes, school books and equipment, and had hidden all of his wizarding currency in his new trunk that Moody had gotten him for his birthday, and the keys stayed on the key ring (A small golden-yellow lightening bolt) that was now permanently attached to a chain that rested on his belt hooks and then was stuffed in his jeans pocket.
"Harry?" Came a meek girls voice. Startled; Harry looked up to see a person he least expected to see standing in front of him with the street light flooding past her from behind, illuminating her being like a guardian angel.
AN: Ha ha! I left a cliffe! I can ACTUALLY write them for once! Try guess who this girl is, ten points if you get the right answer! :p lol
Oh! And PS, REVIEW! PLEASE! Lol, thanks. And remember to visit my Yahoo Group! I'm still working on it mind you!