Chapter 1
It was a rainy morning on August 31st when eleven year old Harry Potter began the arduous task of getting breakfast ready for his family. They wouldn't begin to get up for another hour at seven am but Harry knew what punishment lay in store for him if it was not ready for when his uncle Vernon came downstairs. But before he could start there was sharp rap on the front door. Terrifies that it would wake his family Harry sped to the door and opened it cautiously.
On the doorstep stood a very well dressed man in a black pin-striped suit, beyond him on the road was an impressive black car.
"Mr Harry Potter?"
Harry was startled; this man was here for him?
"Yes Sir?"
The man hid a smile.
"I have been instructed to take you to first buy your new school items and then to the train where you will be taken to school." As he spoke he handed Harry a parchment letter sealed with a strange crest. Harry stared in bewilderment as the man steered him towards the car. It wasn't until they had left the village that he shook himself and realised that he was being taken away from the place that he had hated for so many years. He grinned and opening his letter began to read. By the time they reached London, Harry had read his letter from page to page several times over. His head seemed unable to comprehend what it seemed to be telling him.
"Magic." He whispered to himself.
Suddenly the car stopped and the man came round to open his door. Harry stepped out, his mind in a daze.
"Now, this is the Leaky Cauldron. A room has been booked for you for the night and a car will be here n the morning to take you to St. Pancras." At Harry's confused look, he added,
"The train station."
"Oh."
"The barman, Tom, has your bank vault key and will answer any questions you have. Goodbye Mr. Potter, have a good year." Harry smiled at him absentmindedly and wandered into the pub with his letter still clutched in his hand. As soon as he walked into the building the man who had been waiting for him to arrive stood and hurried over.
"Mr. Potter, very happy to meet you my boy. Your soon to be new head master, Albus Dumbledore, has asked me to assist you in purchasing your things for the school year ahead of you. Here is the key of your vault in Gringotts."
At this Harry had to interrupt the man.
"Excuse me Sir, but there must be a mistake somewhere. How can I have a vault?"
"Oh dear boy, I'm sorry. Albus didn't say how much you would have been told already. The vault contains the money that your parents left you after their death, poor people. I dare say when you come of age that you will inherit the money from both of their vaults as well." With this he handed Harry a small, gold key and ushered him to a door leading to a very small yard space behind the pub. As he tapped various bricks on the wall he carried on talking over his shoulder.
"I would of course be more than happy to assist you in purchasing your things but I must stay here to look after things inside. You have your list in your Hogwarts letter, and when you have finished come back here and we'll get you settled. Now off you go." And with that Harry felt himself propelled through a gap that had opened in the wall in front of him onto a long street. Harry looked around in amazement. There were shops lining each side of the street all the way along and there was a huge white building that Harry could just about make out at the end of the street, which was very long. He glanced around for some kind of signpost but seeing none he approached the frat person he saw which was a man with a slightly hooked nose who was just coming out of a shop filled with jars and bags with strange labels.
"Excuse me, Sir?" The man turned and his eyes widened at the sight of the small, malnourished boy wearing rags that weren't fit for a street urchin who was standing in front of him.
"Yes, boy?" Harry shrank away from the sharp tone but he looked the man in the eyes and asked,
"I was wondering if you could tell me where Gringotts is? I've never been here before and I'm not sure where anywhere is."
The man glanced around him.
"What's your name boy?"
"Harry, Sir."
"Well Harry, my name is Severus. Although as it seems you are going to Hogwarts tomorrow it will be Professor Snape as I will be your Potions Professor. Are your parents not here with you?"
Harry looked at the ground in shame.
"No Sir." He whispered.
"Damn muggles." The man muttered. He looked over his shoulder and spotting people that he knew he walked towards them and motioned for Harry to follow.
A man with long silvery blonde hair and what looked to be his family greeted them.
"Severus, good morning!"
"Good morning Lucius, Narcissa. Hello Draco." The boy nodded to him and after looking at Harry with curiosity he turned his attention to the adults conversation.
"I was wondering if Draco had some time to spare to take Harry around to purchase his school supplies? I thought it would be better to have someone his own age, rather than an adult, and Draco is sensible enough not to get into trouble." At this he beckoned Harry to come and stand beside him.
"I see no problem with that. We have everything we need. What do you think Draco?"
"It's fine Uncle Sev. Come on Harry, leave them to talk about boring stuff on their own" He grabbed Harry's hand and the two boys dashed off.
Draco stopped suddenly in front of the large white building Harry had seen.
"This is Gringotts, the wizards bank. Do you have your key?"
Wordlessly Harry handed it over to him. Draco sighed in exasperation and pulled him inside. As they walked along a very long room full of desks Harry couldn't help but stare at the creatures on the other side of the desks. Draco learned over to whisper in his ear.
"They're just goblins. Best creatures to look after money." Harry wasn't really reassured by the words. They stopped in front of the last desk in the hallway.
"We're here to take some money out, here's the key." The goblin took the key and after looking it over he called for another goblin and they were taken down to Harry's vault. As they sped down the tracks in the small wooden cart, Draco's voice cut through Harry's reverie.
"Do you know how much you'll be allowed to take out?"
Harry thought for a moment.
"I don't know. I was told that I'd inherit my parents vaults when I come of age, whenever that is"
"You come of age when you're seventeen, so…" The cart came to a sudden stop in front of a very large door. Harry stepped out and retrieving his key from the goblin opened the vault. There in front of him lay piles and piles of bronze, silver and gold coins. Draco's mouth dropped open.
"Well, if this is just what's been put aside for you then you shouldn't have any problems with money for the rest of your life. Come on, get some to pay for your supplies."
Harry knelt down and finding a pile of bags just inside the door he began to fill it. After a moment he stood. Hardly the smallest dent had been made in the vast amount of money that lay before him. He turned to Draco and grinned.
"Come on, lets go shopping!"
The next several hours saw the two boys going from shop to shop and getting further down the list that Harry had to buy although they did manage to become distracted by walked past Quidditch Quality Supplies. Finally though, everything on the list had been bought and they went to dump their bags by Draco's parents and Severus who were sitting talking outside a café.
Lucius smiled when they returned.
"Are you all done?" Harry started to answer but Draco cut him off.
"Almost father. There's just a few more things Harry need's to get." As they walked away Harry looked at Draco in curiosity.
"What else do I need? We've got everything that was on the list."
"Harry, look in that money bag of yours. You've not even spent half of what you took out. I think you can afford to buy yourself some new clothes for school. We don't just wear robes you know."
Over the next hour Harry lost count of the number of clothes he tried on but he soon had an entire wardrobe of clothes ranging from essentials to scarves and gloves. Draco was impressed by his colour; Harry's choices were all blue, green, black, white or various shades of gray. Eventually they were done and they went back to join the adults. Severus raised his eyebrows at the sight of Harry wearing his new clothes, Draco had made him throw away what he had been wearing.
"Well, it seems that we are all done here. Harry, are you being collected by your parents?"
"No, Sir. I don't have any parents. I was brought here by a ministry man and he said I'd be staying at the pub back there and someone would be by in the morning to take me to the train station?"
Harry looked hopefully up at the man who had been nice to him and prayed that he would tell him what was going on.
Severus, who had been shocked to hear Harry had no parents sighed when he saw the look directed towards himself.
"I suppose you could come back with me to my Manor. I will be travelling down on the train as well tomorrow and it is clear you do not like the idea of staying at the Leaky Cauldron on your own."
Harry looked at him in shock. This was more than he had hoped for. Maybe he'd be able to stay in holidays as well! Harry shook the thoughts out of his head. He was being ridiculous, why would someone who had only just met want to bother with a worthless freak like him?
Severus watched the conflicting emotions on Harry's face then smiled briefly, as he seemed to come to a decision.
"I'd like that a lot Sir."
"Well then, come on. Goodbye Lucius, no doubt I will see you tomorrow. Narcissa, a pleasure as always. Draco, I will see you tomorrow." Harry said a brief farewell to his new friend and grabbing up his bags he hurried after Severus.