The Tangibility of Magic by Jolly Rancher
Chapter 2- Diagon Alley
After Cathy was out of sight, Harry quickly went behind another hedge and threw on his invisibility cloak. Casting the silencing charm on his shoes again, he made the short walk home. He climbed back up the tree (he had a lot of experience in this, since Dudley couldn't climb anything due to his immense weight), and went through the open window.
He opened his trunk, and took out one of his old school robes, and tore the Gryffindor seal off of it. He transfigured the robe into a longer robe, this time with a hood. He charmed the hood to shadow the upper half of his face, so only his mouth was shown. He caught a look of himself in the mirror, and grinned. Absolutely no one would recognize him, not even Ron and Hermione. He truly looked like a dark wizard. He remembered a charm that Flitwick had taught them, one to change his voice.
"Inflecto Oratio!" He said, pointing his wand towards his mouth, while envisioning a new voice for himself.
Hedwig flew into the room through the window, and looked at Harry in what seemed to be surprise. Of course, Hedwig's my familiar, so she must recognize me, even with my cloak.
"So, what do you think girl? Good enough disguise?" His voice had changed drastically. It had started to get deeper, but now he sounded like a mature man. He had deliberately made it scratchy, like it hadn't been used in years.
Hedwig hooted in approval. She held in her talons two dead rats. She presented them to Harry, but he politely refused. "Err, its ok Hedwig, I just had a huge lunch. I'm not that hungry."
She looked at him doubtfully. "Don't look at me like that! I really did!"
She looked at him once more, but started on her meal of rats. Harry shook his head at his owl. Hedwig's almost as bad as Mrs. Weasley when it comes to my state of health. He smiled; he was glad that some people, and owls, cared about him enough to worry about his eating habits.
"I'm going to Diagon Alley, so I'll be back later Hedwig." He told his familiar.
He donned on his invisibility cloak again, and climbed down the tree. He went into an alleyway and raised his wand, and quickly brought it down.
BANG!
The Knight Bus appeared in front of him with the usual noise. Stan Turnpike opened the door and was about to launch into his speech, when he caught sight of Harry. He gaped like a fish out of water, and couldn't think of anything to say.
Harry smirked; his disguise was working better than he had thought. "I want to go to The Leaky Cauldron."
"Of...of...of course, sir. That will be three galleons, Mr...?" Stan said, with not a little fear, his Cockney accent gone.
"My name is of no importance." Harry said while handing over the gold to Stan. Stan accepted the money in his outstretched hand, but found that he was too afraid to move his legs.
Harry gave a sigh of impatience. "Will you get the fuck out of my way? Or do I have to make you? Trust me, you don't want to choose the latter." He told Stan with a slightly insane grin.
Stan quickly got out of the cloaked strangers way, and squeaked out, "Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!"
Harry got on the Knight Bus, and sat on one of the unoccupied beds. There weren't that many people in the bus, just an old lady who was sleeping, and a portly gentleman that was currently reading the Daily Prophet. As Harry sat down, the man, without looking up, spoke up. "I say, man, isn't it something about Voldemort's return? I never really believed the Potter kid, but apparently it's true. What do you think?"
Harry was filled with rage at this pompous mans attitude. "What I believe is none of your business. But, I do believe you should close that shithole you call a mouth, open your mind to new ideas, and never talk to me again." He said in a smooth, dangerous voice.
"Why I nev-" The man broke off as he caught a look of his fellow passenger. He went from being incredibly mad, to being ready to soil his pants. He immediately shut up, and took to staring at his paper. Harry wanted to laugh, this was hilarious! I'd like to see him ask that question again.
"Next stop, the Leaky Cauldron!" Stan's voice range out.
With another loud bang, the Knight Bus came to a stop in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry got up and started toward the exit without giving the man a second glance.
He went up to Stan, and thrust ten more galleons into his hand. "I trust that no one will know that I was ever on the Knight Bus?"
Stan smiled; he was starting to like this man, even with his frightening looks. "Of course, sir."
Harry exited the Knight Bus, and went into the Leaky Cauldron. He wanted to get through as unnoticed as possible, so he silently swept through the crowds. He counted the bricks above the trash can, and tapped the wall three times. He entered Diagon Alley and immediately made his way towards Gringotts. Once in the famous wizarding bank, he patiently stood in line for his turn. While he waited, he thought about all the purchases he was about to make today. I'm pretty sure that I'll have to make a lot of purchases. Much more than I could possibly take out of my vault, and carry around. Maybe the goblins have something similar to a credit card? They must have something like that, or else how can wizards buy expensive things? I'll have to ask and see.
"Can I help you, sir? The goblin at the front desk asked. The goblin, busy doing paperwork, didn't even look up.
"Yes, I would like to take some gold out of my vault, please." He said while placing the key on the counter in front of him.
The goblin took the key and examined it. "Mr. Potter? We have been expecting you. Follow me please." He jumped down from his stool, and opened a little door. He came out from the other side, and began to briskly walk towards the back of the bank.
Harry was confused, this had never happened before. The goblin opened a door that led into a hallway. Harry followed him until the goblin abruptly stopped, and opened the door to the right. He walked in and stood in front of a desk, with another goblin behind it. "Sir, a Mr. Harry Potter is here to see you."
The other goblin looked up and said, "Greetings Mr. Potter. Please, take a seat."
"Thank you, you may leave now." He said to the other goblin.
"It is good to meet you Mr. Potter, my name is Gruckclasp. I am the manager here at Gringotts. Please, take a seat." Harry took the offered seat, wondering why he was here.
"I must admit Mr. Potter, I had expected you to come here quicker than this. In the letter I sent you, I did say that I would need to come here as soon as possible."
Harry stared incredulously at the goblin. "First of all, please call me Harry. I don't really care for titles. And exactly what letter are you talking about? I haven't gotten a letter from Gringotts in my entire life!"
It was the Gruckclasp's turn to look confused now. "You are sure of this? I wrote and sent the letter to you personally. And I know for a fact that Gringotts sends out a letter to every client, informing them of their current status."
"I'm sure. I have never gotten any kind of letter like that. Do you have any copies of the letter you sent to me?" Harry said.
"Of course we do, Gringotts keeps a copy of every form sent out, however trivial it might be. One moment, let me call my assistant in to get you the letter, and your current status report." Gruckclasp replied, "Digwump!"
Another goblin entered the room, whom Harry assumed was Digwump. "Yes, sir?" Digwump asked.
"Digwump, fetch a copy of Mr. Potter's status report, and the letter I sent him last week." The manager ordered.
"Right away, sir." Digwump said.
A few minutes later, Digwump returned with two pieces of paper, which he handed to Gruckclasp. "Thank you, Digwump, that will be all." Digwump bowed, and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Gruckclasp looked over the documents before handing them to Harry. "Here you are, Harry. The first one is the letter I sent to you, and the second is your current status in gold."
As Harry read the letter, he was glad that he had overcome his guilt over Sirius's death last night. Otherwise, he would be outright bawling right now.
Dear Mr. Potter,
It has come to my attention that your Godfather, Sirius Black has just passed away. We offer you our condolences. However, because of Mr. Black's death, his last will and testament must be taken into consideration. In his will, he bequeathed to you the entire Black family fortune, excluding two million galleons, which is now in the hands of a one Remus Lupin. The entire Black family vault is now in your possession. I ask you to come to Gringotts as soon as possible, in order to accept or deny this vault. If denied, the vault will go to Narcissa Malfoy, Mr. Black's closest living relative. When you come to Gringotts, the goblin will bring you to me.
Sincerely,
Gruckclasp
Manager of Gringotts
Even though Harry had gotten rid of his guilt, he still felt his heart clench at the reminder that Sirius was dead. "How much money is in Sirius's vault?" He asked Gruckclasp.
Gruckclasp gestured toward the second letter. "It is all in the status report."
Status Report: Harold James PotterNumber of Vaults Currently Held: 3
Amount of Gold in Each Vault:
Harold James Potter's Trust Vault- 200,345 galleons; 12,436 sickles; 20,378 knuts
Potter Family Vault- 6,879,862 galleons; 1,293,983 sickles; 98,232 knuts
Black Family Vault- 7,379,355 galleons; 994,034 sickles; 94,382 knuts
Harry couldn't believe it. He always knew that the Potter's were rich, but he never realized the extent of the wealth that they possessed. He was a fucking millionaire. Holy shit. Look at all the money I have. And to think, I was worried about spending too much.
"There is one problem though, Harry," Gruckclasp said, "In order to withdraw anything out of the Potter Family Vault, you must be of age. Unfortunately, you are not, so while you can still go see the vault, you may not take anything out of it."
"What! Is there any reason why I can't?" He asked the goblin.
"That is why the trust fund was created for you," Gruckclasp said, "All family vaults have a magic on them which prevents any underage persons from taking money. Unless the owner of the vault in question gives permission, you cannot take anything out. Fortunately, you can still access the Black Family Vault, because Mr. Black gave you permission to do so in his will."
Harry frowned, it wasn't what he wanted, but he wasn't about to argue, not when he had just received seven million galleons from Sirius. "Thank you Gruckclasp, I accept these vaults as my own."
Gruckclasp smiled, though it looked slightly sinister on the goblin. "Very good, Harry, I'll send for someone to show you to your vault."
"Digwump!" Gruckclasp called out. When Digwump entered the room, Gruckclasp asked him to fetch another goblin to take Harry down to his vaults. Digwump complied and quickly left to do his bidding.
Harry suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask about the whole money-carrying issue. "Excuse me Gruckclasp, but is there any way for me to carry large amounts of money at a time? He asked, "You see, I'm planning on purchasing quite a lot of stuff today, and I don't think it possible for me to carry that much money."
"Why, yes, of course we do Harry. It is a quite recent invention made by the goblins, maybe just a decade old. We got the idea from muggles, actually. A wizard told us of an ingenious method the muggles used so that they didn't have to carry around much money. It's called a credit card. We adapted it so that it would work for the wizarding world as well. All the shopkeeper has to do is say the price of the purchase, and then swipe the card with the tip of his, or her, wand."
"Wow, that's really convenient. Does it work for muggle stores too?" Harry asked, interested.
"Yes, it does. Whenever a muggle sees the card, it will look like a Visa card, but the charge is applied to your Gringotts vault. Would you like one of these? It costs twenty galleons."
"Yes, please."
Digwump came back with another goblin as they finished their conversation. "Griphook, get Mr. Potter here a credit card after you come back from his vaults."
"Yes, sir. Follow me, Mr. Potter." Said Griphook
Harry followed Griphook out into the hallway, and into the main hall. They then went down into the caverns and got into a cart. Harry enjoyed the fast-paced ride for a while before they abruptly stopped in front of his trust vault.
I don't want Dumbledore to suspect anything, so I had better take the normal amount of galleons out. He went into the vault and took his usual amount. He went back to the cart, and asked Griphook to go then to the Potter Family Vault.
The ride was the longest he had ever taken in Gringotts. He had heard the rumors of dragons guarding some of the more important vaults, but had never known if it was true. Well, now he knew. He saw several Welsh Greens and some Chinese Fireballs. They went even deeper into the caverns until they reached into the one hundreds. They stopped in front of Vault #53, and Harry got out of the cart. Griphook then said importantly, "Step back, let me open the vault."
Harry did as he was told, and watched as Griphook ran a long finger vertically across the vault doors. He heard the locks unlocking behind the door, and the doors suddenly swung inwards. Harry entered the vault, and took a look at his surroundings. The vault was brightly lit by the magically illuminated walls. There were tons of gold and silver everywhere he looked. In addition to this, there were many portraits on the walls, and bookshelves full of books.
"Hello there, young man." A warm voice said. "Would you like any assistance?"
Harry whirled around in surprise. He calmed down when he saw that it was just a portrait speaking. It was of a middle-aged man, with graying hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a red robe. "Umm, no thank you. I'm just looking around, I can't really take anything out of here." He said to the portrait.
"My word! You look just like James! If I'm not mistaken, you must be his son."
"Yes, yes I am. Not to be rude, but who are you?" replied Harry.
"Me? I am James Potter's grandfather, which makes you my great-grandson. My name is Vincent Potter."
Harry was ecstatic. He had never seen any of his family before, and here was a portrait that he could finally talk to! Harry continued to talk to his great-grandfather for a half-hour, before remembering that he still had to go shopping. With a promise to come and get him when he was seventeen, Harry left the vault.
He exited the vault and asked Griphook to go to the Black Family Vault next. When the reached the vault, Harry chose to leave the cart after Griphook had opened the vault doors. Torches, which had been lit when he entered the room, gave the room a dull glow. There were huge stacks of galleons, sickles, and knuts everywhere he looked. Portraits littered the walls and he saw many other things, including armor, swords, daggers, just about every sharp object he could think of.
One of the portraits suddenly woke up to the sound of Harry walking in the vault. "You there, boy! You are not a Black, how did you get in here?"
Harry started in surprise when he saw the portrait. "Headmaster Nigellus? Just how many portraits are there of you?"
"Who are you? Come closer, boy, step into the light." Said Nigellus.
As Harry stepped closer toward the portrait, he saw a look of surprise flit across Phineas Nigellus's face before being replaced by a sneer. "I shouldn't be surprised, you are the only person that my great-great-grandson cared about, other than the werewolf. Am I correct to say that he gave you this vault in his will?" He asked.
"Yes, he did give me this vault." Said Harry. "Listen, Headmaster, I never said sorry for the death of your grandson. I a-"
"I don't need your sympathy, boy. Just take what you need, and leave." Said Nigellus
Harry immediately shut his mouth, and started to look around the room. He wondered if there were any other books on the Dark Arts. "Excuse me, Headmaster? Would you happen to know if there are any books on the Dark Arts in this vault?" asked Harry.
"No, there aren't any left, all are in Grimmauld Place. Dumbledore has probably already gotten rid of them. Pity, that. Why are you asking anyway? I thought that you were the 'Golden Boy' of Gryffindor."
Harry glowered. "Don't call me that. I have had enough with all these titles. And to answer your question, I have recently figured out that by being a dark wizard, doesn't make a person evil."
Nigellus smiled faintly for a second. "Well, at least someone has some common sense."
Harry grinned. "Are you sure that there aren't any more Dark Arts books left?"
"Yes, boy. I am positive. The Black family put all of their books in the library in Grimmauld Place."
"Fuck. I need some more Dark Arts books. Do you know of any place where I can buy them?" asked Harry.
"I do...but all of the stores that sell them are located in Knockturn Alley. Aren't you prohibited to go in there?" Nigellus asked with a sneer.
Harry smirked slightly. "I've been breaking rules all day, one more won't make much of a difference."
Nigellus looked at the boy approvingly, and said, "Good for you boy, good for you. There are many stores in Knockturn Alley that sells those types of books. However, the best one is a store called Acerbus Libri."
"Thank you, Headmaster." Harry started to leave. He suddenly had an idea. "Headmaster, how much Dark Arts knowledge do you possess?"
Nigellus looked at him suspiciously and said, "I don't know, but I know more than most wizards, if that's what you mean."
Harry grinned excitedly and asked, "Would you like to come with me, and teach me some curses? I'm sure it will be much more interesting that staying in here the whole time. "
Nigellus looked at Harry for a moment, then sighed. "Oh, well, I haven't taught anyone in a long while, but I must admit, it will be a refreshing change. I will come with you."
Harry smiled and said, "Great! One thing though, could you go visit one of your other portraits? I'm about to go shopping, and I don't want to lug you around."
"Yes, I think I'll go see how Dumbledore's doing."
Harry scowled at the mention of Dumbledore, but said nothing. He watched as Nigellus left the portrait and then reduced it. He put it in his pocket and with one last look around, left the vault.
"I'm ready to leave now Griphook. Could you take me to get my credit card now, please?"
"Yes, sir." And with that, they climbed back into the cart and exited the caverns.
Griphook took Harry to a side room in the main hall. "Take a seat in that chair." Said Griphook, gesturing towards the chair in front the old-style camera. Harry did as he was told, while Griphook took his place behind the camera. With a great flash, the camera went off. Harry blinked his eyes dazedly. The wizarding world should really think about updating their cameras. One without the goddamn flashbulb. He thought to himself.
Griphook then handed him two cards, interrupting his thoughts. One was a driver's license, and the other was his credit card. He assumed that the driver's license was for identification on the muggle world.
"That will be twenty galleons." Said Griphook.
"Oh yes, of course." Harry paid the goblin and walked outside the wizarding bank.
A/N: Thank you for all your kind reviews and suggestions. I hope this chapter was good enough. I know, I know, I was supposed to get into the shopping in this chapter, but I hadn't taken into account the whole Gringotts scene. To the reviewer that told me that Voldemort had said that quotation, that is true, however, he told that to Quirrell, who in turn told Harry.
Next Up: Shopping in Diagon/Knockturn Alley
As always, comments welcome, even flames. –Jolly Rancher