DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of it's Characters, and if you would be so kind as to review I would be very happy. Thank You
AN: Thank You to everyone who reviewed my story, I really appreciate it,. Sorry I didn't get to update over the weekend but I was really busy. To make it up to you, this is my largest chapter yet, Enjoy!
Chapter 4
Harry and Dobby arrived just outside the Leaky Caldron, on the muggle side, a few stores over. Harry, looking around to gather his bearings, turned to Dobby for a little pre game planning. " The first thing you need to know, is that you can't call me Harry here, my name will be James Harrington. When we are under cover like this, it's the only time I won't complain about you calling me Master." Kneeling down to look at Dobby, eye to eye, Harry spoke in a serious tone. " There may be times where I will be acting rude, or speaking crudely to you or to store workers, I have to act completely different or people might recognize me, even through your great disguise. Do you understand?"
" I do Master, don't worry, I understand what you have to do. I also will be acting differently, and I will be invisible for most of our time here, so don't worry about people recognizing me too. After each of your purchases, I will be taking your goods back to your room, unless you want to shrink them and take them with you."
"That's perfect Dobby, I didn't even think about people recognizing you, but I think we should give you a nickname as well, just to safe, what would you like to called?" Dobby thought about it for a second, and then he smiled and said; " Prongs, I would like to be called Prongs."
Harry just smiled back at Dobby, " Okay, are you ready to shop till you drop Prongs?"
"I think I am Master Harrington, lead the way." Harry walked down the sidewalk and entered the Leaky Caldron. He walked briskly to the back entrance, not stopping to say hi to Tom the Barman or anyone else, he tapped on those certain bricks and waited for the secret passage way to open up before entering Diagon Alley.
As the sounds and smells of the busy wizarding alley assaulted his senses, Harry felt somewhat overwhelmed by it all. Still walking, he slowed his pace as he began to look around. The people walking by and shopping never once looked at him or paid him any attention. This was such a different experience then what he was used to, this feeling was so liberating. His normal Diagon Alley visit would include tons of stares and pointing fingers, not to mention all the hushed whispers being spoke as he walked by, flanked with what could only be described as a military detail. Looking over his shoulder to check behind him to see if he was being followed, but the result was the same, no one cared.
Harry knew that by taking control over his own life, he would have opportunities to have a little freedom, but this was too much. He smirked to himself as he continued down the busy alley, this feeling of being able to do anything, go anywhere, was a little addicting.
Shaking his head to clear these stray thoughts, he had to get back on task if he was going to get everything he wanted completed today. Slipping back in character, he strutted more purposefully down the Alley until he noticed a small little shop with about five to ten school trunks outside the window in various colors. Making up his mind quickly, he changed direction and entered the shop. As he entered, a little chime went off and soon an elderly old man with a long white beard that reminded Harry of Dumbledore, addressed him.
"Can I help with anything in particular young man? My name's Horace Whitehead, but you can call me Horace. Trunks are my specialty but I also sell all types of furniture." Shaking the thoughts of Dumbledore out of his head, Harry replied. "I'm not looking for anything in particular, but I am curious, I have had the same school trunk for the past five years and walking past your shop got me thinking of maybe buying a new one. Can you show me a few and possibly help me make up my mind?"
"Of course I can my boy, right this way" Harry followed Horace towards the back of the shop, along the way, they passed armoires and desks, as well as some beautifully crafted wardrobe cabinets and bookshelves. Making their way to the back, there was about a hundred trunks in various sizes and colors stacked along the walls all the way to the roof.
Horace pulled out his wand and gave it a little flick, three trunks swooped down from various places in the large stack along the wall, and flew down and landed right in front of Harry.
"These are my three most popular models and should be completely suitable for any students needs, Hogwarts I presume?" Asked Horace, Harry simply nodded as he walked over to the first trunk and lifted the lid to look inside. It was much larger on the inside then his school trunk, although from the outside it looked smaller, and had different sections inside to help keep things organized. As Harry walked over and lifted the lid to the second trunk, he looked inside and noticed it was very similar to the first one and he quickly closed it and moved on the last one. Peeking inside the third and finding it to be much of the same, Horace spoke before he even closed the lid.
"Of course these are my most popular student trunks, but are not my finest trunks, is there something in particular you were hoping to find in a trunk? Depending on how much you're willing to spend, I can make you a custom trunk with just about anything you can think of installed, even a full on four bedroom house." At hearing this news Harry looked up from where he was holding the third trunk's lid open, with a slight smile on his face, he quickly closed the lid and said, "really, now you have peaked my interest, lets talk about these more costly trunks that you have created and see if I can find something I can't live without."
Horace smiled and turned towards the wall of trunks as he waved his wand, a section of the trunks moved aside to reveal a small door covered with a red curtain. Motioning for Harry towards the curtain, Horace spoke again more eagerly. " My cheapest trunk in this room runs close to three thousand galleons, are you sure you are willing to spend this much on a trunk, Mister… ?"
" Harrington, James Harrington, and I assure you Mister Whitehead, money is no concern of mine." Said Harry as he walked passed the red curtain and into the small room. The first thing he noticed was there were not as many trunks in here as there was outside. As Horace walked in, he waved his wand, and two trunks flew from various spots and landed right in front of Harry. " well Mister Harrington, these are what I call starter trunks, the one on the left is a three compartment trunk and the other one is a six compartment trunk. Both trunks come with living quarters, the three compartment comes with a two bedroom, one washroom, and the six compartment comes with a four bedroom and two washrooms."
" Harry nodded his head that he understood, as Horace continued to explain. "As for the compartments, I have a wide variety of options you can choose from. Anything from a Potions Lab, to a Library," handing Harry a roll of parchment, he continued, "here is a list of all my available options and their prices for each." Unrolling the parchment, Harry began to read through the options, what he read made him smile.
" All my custom trunks come with my personal security system which is something I am most proud of. The wards I created with the help of my lovely wife, are very unique. Once I tie them to your blood, you become the official owner and no one other then yourself, can enter, and I do mean no one."
"But what if I want to grant someone access for an hour or two, or for that matter, on a more permanent basis?" Asked Harry who was still reading through the compartment options. "Once I key you into the wards, the trunk will grant you permission to do the same to anyone you want to, be it temporary or permanently. But the one invention that my wife created that is most impressive, She created a spell, more of an enchantment really, that will create a link from one trunk to another. So if you bought two trunks, you can travel between them, completely untraceable, anywhere in the world."
" That does sound pretty amazing, or a clever way for you to get me to buy two of these costly trunks." Said Harry with a smirk, still looking at the trunk options parchment. He was already thinking of things he could do with one trunk, now he knew he was going to buy two. "No trickery here Mister Harrington, I am just explaining all the options that are available to you for these fine hand crafted trunks," Replied Horace smiling.
Harry handed the parchment back to Horace with a smile as he had finally made up his mind. " I will take two trunks, a three compartment trunk, and a six compartment one. The options I want in the smaller one are, an Infirmary, Library, and leave the third compartment empty, but I would like it to be as big as the dueling room." Horace waved his wand at a piece of parchment that was sitting on a nearby counter as Harry continued. "In the larger trunk, I want a dueling room, an office, a potions lab, Herbology room, an Armory, and your largest Elf quarters. I want both trunks in your black and gold colors with the one touch shrinking ability, your strongest security features, and your wife's lovely linking enchantment to link the two trunks together."
Horace's eyes grew rather large as did his smile at the thought of how much money he was going to make selling those two trunks, and it was only going to grow larger as Harry began to speak again. " Also, as for the Office, I would like to purchase two of those fine desks and complete office furniture we passed on the way in here as well as those presidential chairs. In the Library, I want the largest one you can do with several of those special bookshelves you sell and a large conference table with those plush leather chairs for relaxing."
The quill was scratching away over at the counter as Harry continued. "As for the potions lab, I want your best stabilizing spells placed on the entire room, with marble counter tops and enough space to simultaneously brew up to eight caldrons. For the Armory, I want six armoires', with your best locking and security options installed. The herbology, dueling, infirmary, and Elf compartments to be standard, with no furniture placed in the Elf quarters, I will take care of that personally. When will those be ready for pick up?"
Horace walked over to the parchment just as the quill quit scratching and picked it up off the counter. Looking it over his eyes reached the bottom of the parchment before he addressed Harry. "The total cost of everything needed to build, enchant, and secure both trunks is going to cost you close to seventy thousand galleons, and will take me three weeks to finish."
Harry thought it over and then made Horace an enticing offer, " I will pay you one hundred thousand galleons to have them finished in a week and for your discretion. I am a private man and would not like anyone to know I have such amazing trunks and what is stored within them."
Horace thought it over to make sure he could get them done in time before he answered.
"I will have to work on them personally for the entire week, which would take my time away from my other customers, but my wife can take over the shop for that week, so you have a deal Mister Harrington." Harry shook the shop owners hand and spoke again, "my House Elf will come by in a week to pick them up for me." Horace waved his wand as two trunks flew over in front of the counter top and landed gently on the ground before him. "If you could place a hand on each trunk so I can key you into the wards so you wont need to be present at the time of pick up."
Harry placed a hand on each trunk as Horace waved his wand in a circular motion as he spoke a rather long and complicated enchantment. After several minutes, Horace finally finished and told Harry he could release his hands, then Horace levitated both trunks to his work area before turning towards Harry again. Harry pulled out his special Gringotts wallet, placed his thumb on the gold G as he thought one hundred thousand galleons. Harry was a little worried at how he was going to pull out one hundred thousand galleons out of this little wallet. When he opened it, he was a little confused because there was only one galleon in it, so Harry pulled it out and set it on the counter. As he closed his wallet, he prepared to do it again thinking he did something wrong the first time, when all of a sudden, something gold glittered out the corner of his eye. Looking up to the counter, Harry was shocked to see one hundred thousand galleons stacked neatly sitting on the counter. Still a little shocked but trying to disguise it as to appear he knew what he was doing, Harry stowed his wallet away.
"I will say Mister Harrington, you are the first person to ever purchase those options all in one trunk in quite some time," said Horace as he was stowing away the stacks of gold on his counter top. " I usually cater to the average Hogwarts student, but something tells me that you are no average student."
Harry smiled as he answered, " I haven't been average in a long time, it used to be all I wanted, but recently I've learned that there are some things you just can't change. You can either fight it, and change nothing, or embrace it and be prepared, I choose the latter."
"Prongs" Harry called out loud, Dobby appeared in front of Harry, startling Horace.
"Mister Whitehead, this is one of my House Elves, Prongs." Turning to address Dobby in front of Horace, Harry Commanded. "Prongs, your to return to this shop in seven days, five minutes before closing time to pick up two trunks I purchased here today, do you understand?"
"Yes Master Harrington" replied Dobby before turning to face Horace. " I will return in seven days to pick up master's belongings." Before Dobby vanished, Horace spoke up, "Wait, before you go, with your permission Mister Harrington, I will need to key this House Elf into the wards on the trunks if he is to pick them up for you. No one who is not keyed into the wards can pick up or enter the trunks, and no one includes House Elves."
"Of course Mister Whitehead," Said Harry as Horace levitated the trunks back over in front of Harry and Dobby. "Prongs, place a hand on each trunk until I tell you to let go"
Commanded Harry and Dobby obeyed. Horace got to work, keying in Dobby to the wards, when he finished, Dobby vanished. "It was a pleasure doing business with you mister Harrington, but if you would excuse me, I have a lot of work to do."
"That you do Mister Whitehead, that you do, I look forward to enjoying your craftsmanship," And with that, Harry turned and walked out of the store and back into Diagon Alley. Feeling like he was starting to get somewhere, Harry thought about where he needed to go next. Looking around the busy alley, Harry spotted Flourish & Blotts and figured that was as good a place as any to start. Walking into the book store, Harry bumped into someone, knocking them down to the ground.
"I'm sorry Miss, I wasn't paying attention" Said Harry as he reached down to help her up. His heart rate jumped because he was standing face to face with none other than Ginny Weasley. "It's okay, I wasn't really paying attention either, name's Ginny, who are you? Do you go to Hogwarts?"
Regaining his composure and thinking quickly Harry began, "No, I don't go to Hogwarts and my name is James. Are you here buying your school supplies?" Oh no, my whole family does our school shopping together, besides, we haven't got our school lists yet. I'm here with my brother and his friend, there meeting here soon, my brother just had to get another ice cream, I think it was his fourth."
" I see, well if you'll excuse me, I do have some shopping to get too, you take care of yourself, and try not to run into any more people." As Harry turned to walk away, Ginny called out, "Do you want some company?" Harry thought about how he should proceed, having Ron, Ginny, and Hermione around would only complicate things, and he had a lot of things on his to do list to take care of. "I'm sorry, but I hardly know you, and I do have places to go and things to buy and such, but it was nice to meet you." Ginny looked disappointed but she said her farewells as Harry walked towards the back of the store.
Walking into the defense section, Harry tried to shake it off, this was no time for distractions. Thinking about his soon to be Library compartment, Harry realized he was going to be buying a lot of books, more then he can hold. Harry re-routed and walked over to one of the help desks to speak to the associate, "excuse me sir, but I was wondering if you could help me, I am going to be purchasing several books today, several hundreds to be precise and was wondering if you have a cart or something I can use?"
At hearing several hundreds, the associate looked up with an eager smile on his face. "Oh yes, I can help you with that, just fill out this special members form and we will create an account for you." As Harry started to fill out the form the associate handed Harry what looked like a miniature wand. "Now Mister Harrington, this elite membership does have its privileges, not only will it help your in store shopping experience, but you will get to order books through our mail service and receive them weeks before the general public. Now as for that wand there, just tap it to any book in the store and it will be transported to your personal shopping cart located on the fourth floor which is for members only, that is where you will need to pick them up and pay to keep your account current. You may also want to relax in one of our V.I.P. members lounges, mingle with the social elite such as yourself Mister Harrington. The access door to the 4th floor is located just to right here, just wave your book wand and the door will open for you and any of your guests."
"I was never aware this store had a fourth floor" Smirked Harry. "Members only huh, let me ask you sir, how exclusive is this members only fourth floor?" "Very Mister Harrington, you won't be bothered up there, that is unless you want to be." replied the associate, "by the way, my name is Justin Avery and I'm the Assistant Store Manager, if there is anything else I could do for you, just let me know. Happy Shopping!" Thank you Mister Avery, I look forward to checking out this 4th floor, but not after I purchase at least four hundred to six hundred books." Said Harry as he walked off laughing at the reaction of Justin at hearing that shopping cart size. He slipped his members only book wand in his inside robe pocket and started walking back to the defense section. Finally arriving to his destination, Harry took a breath. This store was deceiving, it looked small but it was rather large. Pulling out his book wand, Harry got to work, tapping book after book, walking down the aisle, browsing, Harry paused when he heard whispered voices of some familiar people. "Oh great," thought Harry, "I think I'll hit up the potions section," turning to leave, he froze at the mention of his name. He knew it was wrong to eavesdrop but they were talking about him, "I'll leave as soon as they stop talking about me."
"Excuse me for worrying about Harry, I just hope he is taking care of himself and not sitting around and sulking like Dumbledore says he is." Said Hermione with a concerned tone of voice. "I'm sure he's fine, Harry will get through it, he always does. Remember how he was after Cedric, you thought he wasn't going to come out of that, but he did." Ron said assuredly. "This is different Ronald, this is Sirius were talking about, and this time it wasn't some random accident, If Harry would have listened to me instead of racing off to be the hero, Sirius would have never left the house."
"Come on Hermione, it's not our job to take care of Harry, okay so maybe it is, but it's summer, and until Dumbledore picks up Harry, I would really like to not talk about him." Turning to look behind Hermione, to see what Ginny was doing. "Ginny, will you stop bobbing up and down, what are you looking for anyways?" asked Ron. "I ran into this guy earlier, and he was really cute, he's got be around here somewhere?" said Ginny as she was still trying to spot James. "I finally found it" declared Hermione, picking up the book of the shelf. "Now we can get out of here and I can finally finish all of my homework."
"Were not leaving the Alley though are we? Because I wanted to stop by the Twins shop and see some of their new inventions," whined Ron. "Ronald, you know we don't have time for that, maybe we can come back tomorrow and have lunch with the pranksters, we can take the floo from headquarters, straight to their shop." Hermione compromised as Ginny was still bobbing up and down trying to find the mystery boy. "Fine, go and pay for that and we will wait for you outside," Ron said sulkily as he grabbed Ginny by the arm and dragged her towards the exit.
Harry just stood there frozen, he didn't know what to think. Is this the way they always talked about him when he wasn't around? Did they say anything that wasn't true? Harry knew what Hermione said was harsh, and Harry felt totally to blame for getting Sirius into that situation that ultimately caused his death. But he had no idea Hermione felt that way, I mean, she was the one who always told him it wasn't his fault. Shaking his head to clear away those thoughts, Harry thought, that was the old Harry, the new Harry was going to shock quite a few people. As his frown slowly turned into a smirk, Harry continued his book shopping spree.
Several hours later, Harry had just finished tapping several books on Herbology that he found very interesting. Walking down the aisle, Harry was pondering this new hidden value he saw in enhanced hybrid plants, walking to the first floor members only door that would take him to the private exclusive members only fourth floor, thinking how this could be cool Harry got a little excited. Nearing the Customer service desk, Harry spotted the black door just to the right, and headed straight for it. As he walked up to the door, Harry spotted several people just off to the other side of the help desk looking in his direction as he pulled out his book wand and waved it over the Black sign that read "Members" The door opened with a low voice that spoke, "welcome Mister Harrington" Harry walked in and the door closed instantly behind him. Suddenly he was moving and Harry realized this rather large room was and elevator.
When the door opened again, Harry walked out, not knowing what to expect, right out into what looked like a night club without the loud music. Looking around as he walked, he noticed several beautiful girls lounging in the corner in some leather chairs. Harry continued walking down this large hallway, as he neared the end, the hallway split. Hanging above were two signs, to the left, Flourish, and to the right, Blotts. Standing at the entry way to both hallways were huge body guards. Wondering which way he should go, a few people walked up and went towards the Flourish side. Two girls broke off from the group and approached Harry standing undecidedly in the middle. "Hi, my name's Krista and this Jennifer, are you going to Flourishes?"
"I'm sorry, what is Flourishes? This is my first visit and the assistant manager didn't really explain it very well. My names James." "Oh" replied Jennifer, "well then let us be your tour guides," as she grabbed Harry by the elbow and Krista walked over and took the other. "Let me see your wand?" said Krista and a small silence followed before Krista and Jennifer started cracking up laughing as Harry's smile slowly grew larger until he too was laughing. "Your Book wand," corrected Krista still chuckling. Harry handed over to her and she turned a knob at the end that Harry never noticed before. The entire wand trned into what looked like a TV screen, on it showed two maps.
"Wow," said Harry looking it over, "pretty cool huh, Flourish and Blotts were brothers, one loved to expand his knowledge by reading books, the other, a socialite, with a flare for the exclusive party scene, a strange partnership to say the least, but it works." said Jennifer. Krista began to point out things and explain how it worked to Harry. "The left side here shows Flourishes, which of course is the coolest night club in wizarding England. These red dots flashing here show available tables In the exclusive V.I.P. area, I've heard reserving one of those tables runs one thousand Galleons. In the terrace area here, there are more as well as Balcony rooms that have an amazing view of the whole club, those rooms I heard run around five thousand."
"Of course, we've only heard about it because we have never actually been up there, we spend most of our time in these sections, the dance floor and bar area," said Jennifer smiling. Krista continued, "the other side is Blotts, these red dots back here show the amazing reading rooms available, the blue dots show open lounges, and the gold dots show reading rooms, where Authors some times come to read their works. We mostly hand out in the lounges, some are pretty cool. This silver area here is the check out room where your shopping cart is stored and you pay."
"I'm so surprised by this, I had no idea any of this ever existed before today, but I have to say you girls are right, this is way cool." Harry said as he smiled. Both girls chuckled. "You girls were way helpful for explaining this to me, I'm goona chew out that assistant for leaving me in the dark on this one." Krista laughed at that but Jennifer had a confused look on her face. "That is odd, usually, you can only become a member through family or some high power people connection, I've never heard of Managers handing out membership before, you must have really impressed him or something." said Jennifer rather proud of her assumption.
Harry laughed as she was correct, dropping that much coin and buying that many books, especially all at once, he doubted that the store had many customers that did that to hand out membership too. "Well I'm going to the check out room and pick up my purchases, and then I have to run, I have a lot of shopping to do today."
Krista's smile grew large, "did you say shopping?" Jennifer just started to shake her head as she warned Harry, "now you've done it, you said her favorite word, shopping." "If you don't mind me asking, do you girls go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.
"No, Jennifer and I attend a private Wizarding School called Biggsby. Were both sixth years, do you go to Hogwarts?" asked Krista. "Yeah, it's okay, actually, it's all I know, I'm not very familiar with all the wizarding school besides the big three, I never thought about Private schools."
"It's all right, I like it cuzz it's much smaller and everyone isn't so stuck up and concerned with blood status," Said Krista worridly as she looked towards Harry to judge his reaction when she said, "Jennifer and I are muggle born." Harry just smiled larger as he squashed Krista's fears by answering, "one of my best friends is muggle born, I'm a half blood myself."
Krista became visibly happier as she bounced on her heals as she grabbed Harry's elbow, and started leading him towards the Check Out room in Blotts as she said, "let's go clear your account so we can get on with that shopping you mentioned earlier." Watching them walk in Blotts as Harry waved his wand with Krista talking lightly in his ear, Jennifer just shook her head at her crazy best friend, then quickly followed them in.
Krista led Harry in to the Check Out room and Harry walked up to the counter. The young woman working at the counter asked Harry for his Book Wand, she then placed it into the slot on the counter casually before her eyes bulged. "It will take just one second Mister Harrington to shrink and package your purchases," the counter top slid open and a small screen displaying how much Harry owed on his account appeared. "Please place your payment in the drawer and your packages will be down shortly, feel free to roam around one of our lounges while we get you order ready." She handed Harry back his book wand as Harry pulled out his Gringotts wallet, thought about the amount, then opened it and placed the single galleon in the drawer and closed it before it turned into a mound of gold in front of the girls. "Your Book wand will vibrate when you books are ready for pick up, Thank you Mister Harrington for your business and I hope to see you again."
Harry walked over to the side of the Check Out room with Krista towards two double doors that lead to the lounges, as Jennifer hung back to have a word with the girl working behind the Check Out Counter. "I noticed your reaction when processing James' order, I'm just curious, how many books did James purchase today?" The Check Out girl looked from side to side before leaning forward and whispering, "five hundred and sixty four." Now it was Jennifer's turn to have her eyes bulge out, before checking herself, then turning towards the lounges to catch up to James and Krista.
Harry hung out in one of the lounge's for a little bit, talking to the girls, getting to know them a little better. He felt bad about lying to them about his true identity, but it was safer for them in the long run. Harry really enjoyed their company, especially Krista's, and wondered if one day he would tell her who he really was. It wasn't long before his book wand vibrated, and Harry returned to the check out room to pick up his package. As he picked up the tiny little box, Harry smirked to himself, over five hundred books were in this little box, Oh how he loved magic.
"I'm not sure but I think it might be time for some shopping?" said Krista slight eagerly. Harry started to laugh at her eagerness, "What are we shopping for exactly?" asked Jennifer. "Well I need to purchase a lot of potions materials and supplies and some furniture, but I think I will take care of that later on my own. I also need to purchase a whole new wardrobe and could use some fashion expert advice, do you know where I might find someone to help me? They would be rewarded with some new clothes as well." Said Harry with a smirk.
Now it was Jennifer's turn to become very eager at hearing this, grabbing Harry by the elbow just before Krista grabbed Harry's other arm as they said in unison, "we know just the two experts for the task." walking out, back into the large hallway and back to the elevator. "We know the perfect place to start." Harry smiled for he knew he was in good hands. Walking out into Diagon Alley, they made their way to the Leaky Caldron, towards Muggle London. Harry glanced back to the book shop as they left, smirking to himself, Flourish & Blotts took on a whole knew meaning.