Being Fully Dressed
"Hagrid, where are we going?" Harry asked when Hagrid led him through the trees.
"We're going to Hogwarts, we'll take the floo from there and go to the Leaky Cauldron." Hagrid said.
"Leaky Cauldron? Is that near here?" Harry asked.
"It's a bit aways," Hagrid said. "In London."
"London?" Harry asked. "Nina once told me that there are Glass Walkers in London, are we going to see them?" he asked.
"Perhaps, but we won't know will we?" Hagrid asked. Finally they emerged about a mile from a large school.
"That's Hogwarts, right?" Harry asked.
"Yep, the best school you can get into." Hagrid said. "And under the best Headmaster the schools ever seen, Albus Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore sounds kind of like a bee." Harry said.
"You still okay back there, Harry? We can rest a bit if you like." Hagrid said. Harry shook his head.
"I've walked more miles to a Grand Moot." he said. "And the Revelry is far more distance."
"If you say so." Hagrid said. When they got to the school, Hagrid opened the door for Harry, who walked through looking around at the building and wondering how they could make a structure this big out of wood.
"I suppose we'd better get you some more clothing, I figure you'd look pretty...strange in those pants." Hagrid said.
"Why would I look strange?" Harry asked. "It's traditional clothing of the Fianna tribe."
"Well, muggles, they wear different traditional clothing, I suppose." Hagrid said. "Just like wizards wear robes."
"Robes?" Harry asked. "What're those?" Hagrid got a pink umbrella out of his coat pocket and pointed to the ground, in a split second there was a pair of jeans and a dark green long sleeved shirt, along with a pair of black converse (and somewhere, a poor boy attending a baseball game suddenly lost his clothes).
"There, you'd better go to the toilets and put those on." Hagrid said.
"Toilets? They have the toilets inside?" he asked. Hagrid nodded.
"They're just down that way," he said, pointing with the umbrella. "Marked, Boys."
"Thanks." Harry said, running off in the direction Hagrid was pointing. After Harry had come back with the clothes on, itching and scratching at the pants and trying in vain to stretch out the shirt while lifting his feet awkwardly in the shoes, Hagrid led him to a large fireplace in a large room.
"Now here," Hagrid held out a bowl. "You just take a handful of this," he said, "and go into the fireplace, yell out 'Leaky Cauldron', then drop the powder. Remember to yell in a nice loud voice."
"You sure you don't want me to howl it? Yelling is never that clear." Harry said.
"No, I think yellin's okay." Hagrid said. Harry nodded and jumped into the fireplace (thinking, if Felan were there, he would chastise him for showing off) and yelled out, "LEAKY CAULDRON!" he dropped the powder and suddenly felt like he was spinning around millions of times in a split second while being pulled backwards. He reappeared in the fireplace of a pub, climbing out and feeling absolutely wretched.
"My word." the barkeep said. "Is it really you? Harry Potter?" Harry backed away a space.
"How do you know my name?" he asked, warily eyeing the man. The pub suddenly quieted and everyone turned to look at Harry. "What are you looking at?" he asked. Suddenly Hagrid appeared in the fireplace and climbed out.
"Hallo, Tom." he said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Just getting little Harry his school supplies."
"So it really is him." Tom said. Suddenly Harry was bombarded with people reaching to shake his hand. How did they get this many people to fit in a pub? he idly wondered, while shaking the hand of an overenthusiastic warty witch.
"Well, we should be going now." Hagrid said.
"You're missing your glasses, Harry." someone pointed out. Harry turned around to see a tall witch with black hair and spotty skin.
"Dymphna?" he asked. She nodded. "You're so..."
"What? Tall? Pretty? Financially secure?" she asked.
"Old." Harry said.
"I'm twenty one!" she squealed.
"You know her, Harry?" Hagrid asked. Harry nodded.
"Of course, that's Dymphna. But I thought you weren't magic." Harry said.
"Yes, but just because I'm not magic doesn't mean I don't want a new cat. The ones here at Diagon Alley are the smartest." she said, holding up a cage with a shiny black cat in it.
"Well, come on, Harry. We'd better get going, we've got lots of shopping to do and little time." Hagrid said.
"Wait!" Dymphna said. "If you have time, Harry, stop by my flat." she pulled a business card out of her pocket and handed it to him.
"If I ever had doubts you were a Glass Walker..." Harry held up the card, "This is proof." he said. "Okay, I'm ready to go." he turned to Hagrid.
"Right then," Hagrid said, walking towards the back door of the pub. Harry turned around and waved at Dymphna, then followed. When he walked out of the back door, Hagrid was facing a brick wall and tapping the bricks. Harry began to think that he really was mad, when the bricks reformed and revealed a street with all kinds of stores.
"Welcome, Harry. To Diagon Alley." Harry gaped at all of the people, he was sure he'd never seen so many in his life. "Now, you'll want to get your money first." Hagrid said. "You still have your letter?" Harry held it up. "Keep up now," he said, moving forward into the crowd. Harry was sure that he wasn't going to loose Hagrid, with the tallness factor. They finally walked up the stairs to a fancy building.
"What's this?" Harry asked.
"Gringotts, the Wizarding Bank." Hagrid said.
"Oh, that's right. Capitalism and all." Harry said. Hagrid looked at him funny, then went walking up. Harry inwardly scolded himself, he'd been out in the world less than one day and he'd already forgotten the club code! "Hagrid, are we here to get money?"
"'Course, Harry. Unless you've got a secret stash of galleons stuck in those socks..." Hagrid shook his head, "unlikely." he said. "So we've got to get some from your account."
"I've got an account?" Harry asked.
"What, you don't think your parents would leave you with nothin'!" Truthfully, that was what Harry was beginning to think. They approached a counter where a small, wrinkly man that reminded Harry of a wizened old Uktena that had once died during a Revelry, leered at him. He hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings, but now that he did, he saw that there were many, small, wizened Uketena men rushing around.
"Morning," Hagrid said. "We're here to withrdraw from Mr. Harry Potter's safe."
The little man looked at Harry, "And does Mr. Harry Potter have his key?"
"Hagrid? What key? Am I supposed to have a key? I don't have one." Harry said.
"Oh, no worries, I've got it." Hagrid said, digging in his pocket, at last he held up a small gold key. "Also, I've got a letter from Albus Dumbledore." he said in a hushed voice. "It's about the you-know-what in vault, you-know-which." The man nodded.
"Very well, I'll have someone take you to the vaults. Griphook!" Griphook was another, small wizened man. Harry wondered exactly how many of these men were there, and how come he'd never seen one before? He should have brought that large camera he'd seen on display, so he could take a picture of all of these small men and show it to his friends back home.
Hagrid and Harry followed Griphook to a narrow passageway lit with torches. It sloped steeply down, just like the mountain near the Grand Moot grounds; soon a small cart came hurtling up towards them, Harry jumped back but the cart stopped right in front of them.
"Everybody in!" Griphook yelled. Hagrid climbed in with some difficulty, and Harry climbed in after him as Griphook went in the front. "Hold your stomachs!" Griphook yelled, and they were off. They whizzed through a maze of twisting corners, the cart seemed to know it's way around because Griphook wasn't steering.
"Hagrid, what's making this cart go?" Harry asked, holding onto the sides.
"Magic, Harry." Hagrid said, in a voice that Harry clearly recalled Ford talking to him with just a week ago, that all too clearly said "I though we'd passed that page in the book already, Harry!". Harry leaned back and enjoyed the ride, as the cart hurtled through the passageways at unmarkable speeds. Finally it came to a jolting stop.
"Hagrid-"
"Don't ask me questions, right now, Harry. I think I'm gonna be sick." Hagrid said, holding his stomach. Harry couldn't see why, the cart ride was fun.
The cart had stopped near a large doorway, and Griphook got out, turned to Hagrid. "Key, please." Hagrid, looking very green now, gave the small man the key. Griphook put the key in the lock and turned it, the vault door swung open and Harry's jaw dropped. There were mountains of gold coins, silver coins, and little bronze ones too. He grasped at his neck to grab ahold of his pendant, but it wasnt there. He looked under his shirt, through the headhole, in his pants pockets, and in his socks but it wasn't to be found.
"Hagrid, we have to go back to the caves." he said.
"Why, Harry? I thought you were going to stay here for a bit." Hagrid said.
"I've lost my necklace. And then of course I have to visit Dymphna because she practically commanded me to, and then when she double checks and I don't have the necklace. She'll eviscerate me." Harry said.
"That's a big word for such a small boy." Hagrid said.
"I learned it from Gio." Harry said. "He's a provider, he knows all sorts of words from the outside." he added.
"Well, we can't go back for your necklace now, and I'm sure this Dymphna won't exactly, as you so eloquently put it, eviscerate you, so you can stop worrying. I mean, you've got a pile of gold in front of you, Harry, I'd be happy if I was you." Hagrid said.
"You're right. I can bribe her out of flaying me like a deer." Harry said, entering the vault. "I'd better take plenty, and some for Felan and Fi too, they wanted me to bring something back." he said.
"Don't get too much that you can't walk, Harry." Hagrid said.
"Oh, don't worry, fur is much heavier than this." Harry said.
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After buying all of Harry's books and writing tools from a store called Flourish and Blotts, Harry headed over to get a fitted for robes at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. He entered the shop alone, feeling very nervous. When Madame Malkin appeared, he jumped, the smiling witch..smiled at him.
"You here for Hogwarts? Yes, of course. We've got another young man here too." she said. Leading him to the back where Harry saw a boy with a pale pointed face, standing on a foot stole while a witch pinned up the robes around him. Harry was led to the stool and a large black robe was thrown over his head. He itched the pants uncomfortably, he had a feeling about this kid, a very bad feeling. Of course, that could be the smothering clothes he was wearing, but you never know...
"Hogwarts?" the boy asked. Harry nodded. "My father's buying my books, and my mother's looking for wands," he said in a bored drawl. Yes, a very bad feeling, and it definitely was not the pants. "Then I'm going to buy a racing broom, that's stupid that first years can't have their own. I think I'll smuggle on to school." The boy strongly reminded Harry of a very ('narky' said Felan, 'stupid' said Fi) prideful Silver Fang cliath that he'd met once. Now that boy, was very, very mad (inbreeding, said the gossip, "It's the raw cow they eat, I tell you!" said a 'vegetarian' wolf).
"Do you have your own broom?" the boy asked. Harry shook his head.
"I don't think I need one." Harry said, choosing to fight fire with fire. "But I'm sure I can get my..." he searched his head for a word that Fi had once used, "chaperone to buy one."
"You play Quidditch at all?" the boy asked. Harry didn't usually participate in the sports activities during the Grand Moots, only the occasional soccer, but he was sure he'd never heard of a game called Quidditch.
"No." Harry said.
"Father say's their mad if they don't let me on the house team. I must agree, know what house you're going to be in yet?" Harry shook his head.
"I'm going to be in Slytherin, with the rest of my family. If I get into Hufflepuff, I'm sure I'd leave." he said.
"Wow." Harry said, trying to sound interested, actually this boy was beginning to bore him a bit. He wished Hagrid would hurry up and get his business done.
"Why are you here with a chaperone, anyways?" the boy asked. "Why not your parents?"
"The Caolaidhe's are at home, they've got to take care of my brother." Harry said.
"The Caolaidhe's?" the boy asked. "No, I mean your real parents." he said.
"My real parents are dead." Harry said.
"Sorry, then." the boy said. "They were, our kind, right?" he asked as Madame Malkin shuffled into the next room.
"They weren't mudbloods if that's what you mean." Harry said, not noticing he'd let the word slip. He bit his lip afterwards, hoping the boy wouldn't be mad for him saying it.
"Good." the boy said. Must not be such a bad word after all, Harry thought. "I really don't think they should let the other kind in. I much prefered Durmstrang to go to, but my father insisted on Hogwarts."
"Ah.." Harry said. Know he actually knew something about the conversation.
"What's your surname anyways?" the boy asked.
"P-" Harry was cut off when Madame Malkin shoved the robes in his hands.
"There you go, my dear." she said. "All done." Harry nodded and pulled out five of the gold coins, he gave them to the witch and said something he'd heard Felan say many times, "Keep the change."
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A/N: Yes, I can never do all of the things I say I'm going to. Next chapter, the rest of the stuff I said I was going to do THIS CHAPTER!!
COOKIES AND MILK TO MY REVIEWERS!
BUNYIP BABY OUT!!