A/N: I got an excellent response from chapter one, so here goes Chapter two! But, before I start, I need to say something. Not long ago, I met someone very special. She's probably the most amazing person I've ever met, and I love her. I'm speaking, of course, of my beta reader Xirleb70. She looked through my story, and fixed all my mistakes. I also found her to be the best conversationalist in my life. I sing the praises of Xirleb70!! All hail the goddess of my writing universe!
[BETA NOTE by Xirleb70- Aw, stop it! You're making me blush!! Hello everyone!! *waves* If you see any mistakes tell him *points to fullsailnate* in a review and then he'll tell me. Which means, feel free to Bash the Beta (sounds like a game show) while you're at reviewing this masterpiece.]
Athenakitty: Calm down, dear. All will be explained somewhere in the next few chapters.
Psych18: He would have, if the Dursleys hadn't walked in. One on one, he's very confident, but in a crowd, the Headmaster must be respected.
TimGold: First, This book won't be too much more than 10 chapters. Second, I'm sorry, but this AU is already plotted out five books long. I have an AU equivalent for every one of JK's books. Third, Ron won't be Harry's best friend, but they'll be ok together. Are Fred and George suitable friends for Harry? He needs to make it to the Burrow for book two.
On with my chapter!!!!
**
Chapter 02: Diagon Alley and a New Friend
**
When Albus Dumbledore reached his office that afternoon, he summoned his Transfiguration Teacher to meet him. Minerva McGonagall was a brilliant witch, and one of the most observant people he knew. She was also the Head of Gryffindor House, where Albus wanted Harry sorted. By giving him a good impression, it might influence his decision slightly.
It didn't take very long for Minerva to reach Albus' office. She had actually been expecting his summons since she found out that he was visiting Harry that morning. Lily and James Potter had been very close friends, and Minerva was interested to know how the boy was doing. She gave the password, and made her way up the staircase to the Headmaster's Office.
When she entered his office, Albus wasted no time. He needed a favor, and he hoped that Minerva would be agreeable to it. "Minerva, my dear, please sit. Would you like a Lemon Drop?" The offer of candy put Minerva on her guard right away. Albus never offered candy unless he was going to ask for a favor. She was not to be disappointed. "I have a favor to ask of you." The bluntness of the statement stunned her.
"Well, that was abrupt." She stated. At Albus' confused expression, she elaborated. "It normally takes you at least five minutes of small talk, before leading and baiting someone into doing you a favor, Albus."
Albus chuckled. "Normally, Minerva, you are correct. However, I've just come back from a meeting with the most straightforward person you'll ever meet." Minerva glanced at Albus, noting the serious look in his eyes. "Harry Potter is a remarkable boy, and will be attending Hogwarts this year. There is something strange about him, though. He speaks his mind, asks questions that you don't expect, and expects honesty at all times."
"What do you mean, at all times?" Minerva asked. That was a strange statement.
The look on Albus' face turned rueful. "When I met him this morning, I told him the owl that should have delivered his letter got lost. The way he looked at me, he knew I was lying to him, even with my mind shield up. It seemed like he decided that he couldn't trust me, so I tried to cast my wandless trust-me charm. I've done it a hundred times, so much that it's almost second nature. I tried three times, and not one of them managed to get near him."
Minerva's eyes widened. It was only a little shocking, but shocking, nonetheless.
"After the third time, Harry asked me what I was doing. Somehow he'd managed to sense that I was casting something. I told him it was a scanning charm, but he knew that once again, I was lying to him. He was about to call me on it, but his relatives walked in. Apparently, he's been taught to show respect to others in company, for he dropped that line of inquiry right away. Instead, he began asking questions about school."
"Was he excited to begin learning magic?" Minerva asked. "I remember how Lily was in her first year. She was so eager to learn everything."
"Actually, he surprised me again. Rather than being excited by the idea of learning magic, he was rather disappointed that our school is restricted to only learning about magic." Albus said, watching Minerva's shocked face. "I know, Minerva, I know. That's the first time I can remember when a student didn't simply jump at the chance to study magic, but after what happened next, I guess I understand."
"Well, don't keep me in suspense, Albus! What happened next?" Minerva asked.
"Before I get into that, I need to ask you about that favor." Albus said. "I would like you to take Harry to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get his school supplies. I would normally ask Hagrid to do it, but after what happened in Harry's living room, I need someone who is far more observant than Hagrid to keep an eye on him. When talking about his parents, I touched briefly on Voldemort." Minerva flinched at the name, but Albus pretended not to notice. "Well, as I was relating the story about Voldemort's attempted rebirth three years ago, I mentioned the bracelet that I made for him. Harry, for some reason got very angry. His power level flared to a level that I've never seen in a child of his age, and he formed a ball of light in his hand. It was a white glow, so I could not identify the spell, or if it was simply a ball of magic. Harry, it seems, can exert a certain amount of control over raw magic. I need to know how extensive that control is, and how advanced he is in his use of magic."
"Was there any explanation for his outburst of anger, Albus?" Minerva asked. "I find it hard to believe that he just lost his temper for no reason."
"Astute as ever, Minerva." Albus replied. "When Harry put the bracelet on, the fitting charm I placed on it reacted badly with his natural magic, and transformed into a constricting charm." Minerva gasped. "It shattered his wrist before he managed to remove it. I know that I also placed a locking charm on it, and I've no idea how he opened it, but I'm glad he did. Apparently, he associated the bracelet with an attempt to attack him, and made to defend himself. When it became clear that I was not going to attack him, and I did not harm him intentionally, his anger dissipated."
"Alright Albus, let me see if I understand what it is that you want me to do." Minerva said. "You want me to take Harry to Diagon Alley, and get his school supplies, while watching him carefully for anything I would consider unusual. After taking Harry back to his home, I am to come back here, and report my findings to you. Correct?" Dumbledore simply nodded, and Minerva agreed.
**
Harry woke up early the next morning, and decided to go jogging. Normally he would ride the wind in the morning, but something seemed wrong about doing that today. After running, he took his shower, and put on some loose clothing. It was summer, and Harry wanted to be comfortable. He then went downstairs and made breakfast, it being one of his chores for the day. His Aunt had gotten home very late last night, apparently, and didn't want to be troubled with breakfast.
Breakfast was always a quiet affair, mostly due to the fact that his Uncle didn't talk to him, and his cousin was constantly stuffing his face. Harry didn't mind the quiet, though. It had been this way for as long as he could remember. Harry didn't dwell on the quiet for long, however. He was excited about the day ahead of him. He had no idea who was coming to collect him, but he did know that whoever it was, would take him to get his school supplies.
At precisely Ten o'clock in the morning, there was a sharp rap in the door. His Uncle had already left for work, and his Aunt was in the back garden, so Harry opened the door. Standing on the front step was a woman. She looked to be about sixty-five or so, though she aged well. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and her face was unadorned by any makeup or jewelry. Harry though that she looked quite severe. However she looked, Harry could tell that she was a friend. Her aura was a nice emerald green that flickered with emotions. He wasn't actually sure what the emotions were, but he thought that they were nervousness, some eagerness, and just maybe some happiness as well.
"Hello, young man. My name is Minerva McGonagall. I am the Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts. I was sent to find one Harry Potter, and take him to find his school supplies." Her aura remained bright and strong, so Harry kept listening. Rather than ask, since she knew already, McGonagall tried a different approach. "I taught James and Lily Potter when they attended Hogwarts. Never in my life have I seen a person who so strongly resembles them. You must be Harry."
Harry was happy that the person sent was not going to start off by lying to him. "Yes, I am Harry. I'm pleased to meet you Professor McGonagall. Would you like to come inside?" He asked. She accepted, and Harry led her into the sitting room. "I'll be right back, Professor. I will inform my Aunt Petunia that you're here."
Harry made his way to the garden, and told his Aunt that there was a visitor. When she asked who it was, he told her it was the lady that the Headmaster sent to help him get his supplies. His Aunt wanted to meet her, and told Harry to ask her to wait just a moment. Harry did as she asked, and sat down in his usual seat, directly across from the visitor.
As he sat there, watching the professor, he opened his senses, and tried to discern what his eyes were telling him. McGonagall's aura was different than Dumbledore's. It was the same color green, but it lacked the intensity of the Headmaster's. Harry thought for a moment, then hypothesized that maybe it had something to do with the level of power that each was capable of utilizing. He wanted a basis for comparison, and once again cursed the fact that he could not see his own aura. There was also something different about her aura in terms of configuration. The structure was mostly human, but there was something different about it. It reminded him vaguely of the lion he'd seen at the zoo.
Before Harry could ask her about this little anomaly, his Aunt Petunia walked in the room. Professor McGonagall stood and introduced herself. Harry remained silent while the two ladies made small talk for a few moments, then Professor McGonagall announced that it was time to leave.
On the way, Minerva began to feel just a bit uncomfortable with the quiet boy. He looked so much like his father that it was rather disconcerting for him to be sitting in silence. "Do you have your list, Harry?" Harry pulled out his letter, which was still glowing slightly, and looked inside. He pulled out the paper, but there was no list. He looked at the Professor, stricken for a moment. "Nothing is exactly what it seems in our world, Harry. Look inside the envelope again." Harry looked, and sure enough, there was another paper inside. He also noticed that the letter stopped glowing.
"Hey! It stopped glowing." Harry said, thinking out loud. McGonagall made a mental note of this, but said nothing.
Getting off the bus at the street corner, Harry found himself in London. The pair of magic users walked down the street until Harry saw something awful. Harry winced, and shut his eyes, but it didn't do much to help the pain from his eyes. Standing a ways down the road was a building, that gave off so much light that Harry could not stand to look at it. So much light, in fact, that it continued to hurt him, even with his hands flung over his face. Trying to stop the pain in any way possible, Harry reached up his left hand, and willed the light to go out. He felt his magic gather in his hand, and burst forward towards the light. Seconds later, the light flickered, and then went out completely. Harry, feeling completely exhausted, staggered to his feet, and McGonagall hurried him into an entrance to some shop. Harry was still seeing spots in his eyes, and felt totally helpless, as drained as he was.
"I need to eat something, Professor." He said. McGonagall told him that the place that they had entered was a restaurant of sorts, and that she would get him something to eat. Harry sat at a table in a private room, while he waited patiently for the food, and for his head to stop hurting.
**
Elsewhere in London, several alarm bells started ringing at the Accidental Magic Reversal Department. Several lower ranking Ministry workers were running about trying to figure out what was causing the alarm. Finally, the answer was shouted above the noisy workers.
"THE ANTI-MUGGLE WARDS ON THE LEAKY CAULDRON HAVE FALLEN!" Came the yelling voice of one of the workers. Once the cause of the alarms was identified, the alarms went off, as they were designed to. An Obliviator team was sent to tidy up the muggle situation, and a Warding team was sent to re-establish the wards on the Leaky Cauldron, and finally an investigative team was sent to determine exactly what caused the wards to drop without any warning.
**
After Harry had eaten, he was feeling better. He was still weak, but felt he was ready to continue shopping. A crowd of people, who had heard that Harry Potter had come in, stopped him in the main part of The Leaky Cauldron. In that crowd, Harry met Professor Quirrel, a bald young man who stuttered quite badly, although Harry noticed that every time he stuttered his aura flickered ever so slightly. Harry brushed it off as a side effect of the stuttering.
Walking to the back of the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and the Professor left through the back door, and found themselves in a small alley. Harry thought that maybe they had taken a wrong turn for a moment, and then he noticed the brick.
"Professor, what triggers the brick?" He asked. Once again, McGonagall found herself gaping, and shut her mouth quickly. She knew that the boy had done some sort of magic just outside the Leaky cauldron, but she hadn't seen it happen. She also knew that whatever he did, it almost knocked him unconscious. So, the question was, how was he sensing the brick?
"What brick, Harry?" She asked. Hopefully, he would reveal something by telling her. He looked at her, gauging her. It was almost as if he didn't believe she had asked that question.
"Professor, there is only one brick on this wall that glows, so it's the only magical brick on the wall." Minerva resisted the urge to gape in shock. Harry could see magic. That's how he was able to see things, and probably how he could manipulate raw magic without a wand. Incredible. "So, how do you trigger it? I assume it's some sort of hidden door."
Still somewhat shocked, Minerva pulled out her wand, and tapped the brick three times. Harry looked at the wand, and noticed that it was glowing pearly white, with emerald green laced throughout. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, Harry."
Harry had to blink for a moment, the many different types of magic blending together until his eyes adjusted. Once he could see again, he tried once again to get his brain to recognize what the magic was doing. He noticed that there was a shop that sold broomsticks, which glowed at the end. He wasn't sure what they were for, but whatever it was, the magic was strong. He asked about them, and found out that they were used for flying. Harry was a bit puzzled about why they would need brooms to fly, but remained silent.
Entering Gringotts, Harry bumped into a very large man. He was at least ten feet tall, and at least three times as wide as a normal man. He introduced himself as Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. After chatting with Hagrid for a while, the pair of shoppers headed to Harry's trust vault, where Harry found a very large pile of gold. It was explained to him that the money was to be used for Harry to purchase his school supplies, and anything else he needed for the next seven years. Harry gathered up some of the gold into a bag, and headed back out of the bank.
For most of the shopping, Harry's mind was on something that he should have considered trivial. The giant man, Hagrid, had a small object in his coat. Normally, Harry wouldn't think anything about it, but it was glowing. However, it wasn't the glow that intrigued Harry. It was the way it was glowing that interested him. The glow came off of it in waves, as soon as one pulsed out, the next would burst from the object, almost as if the magic was only barely contained by the object. Whatever it was, it was powerful.
Harry's school list was taken care of quickly, until all that was left was his wand. Harry didn't really understand why he needed one, but the Professor had informed him that it was to help him do magic.
Walking into Ollivanders took Harry's breath away. There were so many glowing wands, and each wand glowed differently than any other. It was such an interesting place, and Harry was so captivated by it, that he didn't notice Mr. Ollivander approaching him.
"Good Afternoon," said Mr. Ollivander, in a soft voice. Harry jumped, startled, but regained his composure quickly. "I wondered when you would be coming to see me, Mr. Potter. I remember your mother coming in here to buy her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice for charm work."
Mr. Ollivander moved closer to him, and Harry noticed that Mr. Ollivander looked at him the same way that he viewed the world.
"Your father, on the other hand, favored mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."
With those words, Ollivander set about finding Harry a wand. He kept considering Harry, then dashing over to a shelf or drawer and picking up a wand, Harry watched him closely, trying to discern how he was finding wands for him to try. After the last three wands Harry held, none of them feeling right in his hand, he stopped Ollivander for a moment. "If the wand chooses the wizard, then why not let the right wand choose me?"
Mr. Ollivander readied a protest, no doubt to say that was what he was trying to do, but Harry wasn't listening. He held out his hand, and flared his magic. He couldn't see his own aura, but he would give it a shot. He closed his hand, and snapped his finger. He felt a vibration issue from his hand, and waited. Seconds later, a wand answered the vibration from somewhere near the back of the store. Harry took a few steps, and snapped his finger again, repeating the process. Eventually, it brought him to the very back of the store, where on a shelf with only 4 other wands, was the answering wand. The glow wasn't pearly, like his Professor's, nor was it white. The wand was glowing red, and looked like fire. Harry gingerly picked the wand up, and felt the magic of the wand interact with him, as if it was testing him. Finally, the wand surged with magic, causing the glow to be visible to the other two occupant of the store.
Ollivander clapped, but then looked thoughtful. "Curious, how very curious." He began packing up the wands that he'd had Harry try earlier, muttering to himself about things being curious. Harry finally had to ask what was curious, seeing that Mr. Ollivander wasn't just going to tell him. "Mr. Potter, that wand has a very interesting history inside this shop. Right after I made it, I made a point of testing it out with everyone who entered my store. Not only did it not choose any others, but also many of them wound up with some form of bodily injury. That wand you hold, Mr. Potter, is a fighter's wand. Made of holly, eleven inches long, and with a Phoenix feather core. It is one of the two most powerful wands that I've ever had the pleasure of making."
Harry couldn't help asking. "What's the other one?"
Ollivander's expression darkened. "The brother wand to this one is it's perfect match in power. Thirteen inches, made of yew, also with a Phoenix feather core. I'm sorry to say, it's that particular wand that gave you that scar, Mr. Potter. If I'd known what that wand was going to do…" He left the statement hanging, his regret lacing every syllable.
By the time Harry left Ollivander's, it was dinnertime. McGonagall told him to wait for her in the private dining room, and she'd be right back. Harry did so, and sat quietly. About a half hour later, she came back with a cage. Inside the cage was a beautiful Snowy Owl. Harry wondered why she had it, until she handed the cage to him, wishing him a happy birthday. Harry stammered his thanks, and the pair of hungry shoppers sat down to eat.
Minerva thought that now would be a perfect time to ask Harry some questions. "Harry, do you mind if I ask you a few questions? I knew your parents well, and I want to know a little about you." After chewing, Harry swallowed and told her to fire away. "Alright, this may sound strange, but I was wondering, how did you know about the brick?"
"I could see it, Professor. It glowed a very faint white, like some kind of magic that was dormant. It looked a lot like the Hogwarts letters do." Harry said. That was interesting news to Minerva. Harry could visually perceive magic.
"Can you do this with people too?" Was the next question she asked. Harry looked at her like she was crazy.
"Of course I can." Harry said, almost indignantly, before his eye widened. "Wait a second. Are you telling me that you can't do that?" Minerva shook her head. Harry smiled. "I didn't know that it wasn't common. Yes, I can see people's magic, Professor. It shows up as a green glow around the person. I don't really know how to discern anything from it, but I can at least tell wizards from muggles."
"That's very interesting, Harry. I have one more question. How did you do that thing you did in Ollivander's?"
"Well, when he said that the wand chose the wizard, I figured that it had something to do with the way my natural magic worked with the wand's natural magic. I sent a pulse of my magic out, and waited for a response from the wand. Kind of like sonar, like bats use." Harry said.
Harry and Minerva talked about many things after that. It ranged anywhere from Harry's parents to Minerva's experience with magic. Finally, she got him home, telling him a fond goodbye, and that she'd see him on September first. Harry fell asleep that night and dreamt a good dream. He had made his first magical friend.
A/N: Next chapter, on the train and a Sorting. Oh, and so I don't forget to say this, much of the dialogue in Ollivander's shop was taken directly from J.K. Rowling's Master work. I do not presume to take credit for it, even though I wrote it down again in my chapter.