Chapter 3 is here! Thank you to everyone for all the kind reviews, and everyone who has favourite or followed the story, it really is a motivator to write I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.

I do not own Harry Potter.

WARNING: Mentions of past abuse, also Harry doesn't eat a lot at the moment. He doesn't have an eating disorder and isn't being starved, just not eating a lot due to past starvation. I just wanted to put that out there so people are aware.

Chapter 3

Harry awoke early the next morning disorientated for a moment about where on earth he was. It didn't take him long to remember though, as the events of the day before came rushing back. He still felt tired even though he had slept for so long and his whole body was aching. He knew what it meant, infection was setting in. He would need to go out today and try to find something to help. He decided that he was in no rush to get out of bed though, so he just curled up once more under the soft blankets and closed his eyes. He didn't fall back asleep, but enjoyed the peaceful moment, so rare in his life. He felt strangely lonely, his chest aching slightly, and he knew it was the soulmate bond. That his body and his magic was yearning for his soulmates, was telling him that they should be here with him but confused because they were not. He wondered what they were up to at the moment, probably still sleeping he thought with a small smile. Rodolphus probably with Bellatrix. He stilled at the direction his thoughts had taken him. Bellatrix. He had forgotten about her! He sat up abruptly, chest constricting and his breath coming in short gasps. Rodolphus was married, how could he have forgotten that fact! And married to Bellatrix of all people, the woman who had caused Sirius' death. Of course, Rodolphus wouldn't want him, he was already married and to a woman no less. He probably wasn't even interested in men.

Harry took a deep breath, then another as he tried to calm himself down. He wiped the tears off his face that had escaped in his panic and laid back down in the bed. He tried to convince himself that there was no point in worrying about it now, he didn't even know where his soulmates were let alone if they would want him, but the idea of one of them being off with his wife broke Harry's heart. Which he knew was ridiculous, Rodolphus had every right to be with his own wife, but it didn't change how Harry felt. And gosh it just complicated things even more.

His relaxing morning ruined, he dragged himself out of bed, having a quick shower and putting on his necklace again before heading downstairs in search of food. He made sure to wear a shirt with long sleeves to cover his soul marks, even if it may look a little odd wearing such a thing in the heat of summer.

He walked into the bar area and saw a few people scattered around eating breakfast. Harry made his way to the bar; a young woman was working this time.

"Ah, I'm after some breakfast?" Harry said, though it came out as more of a question.

The woman chuckled. "Here's the menu, just tell me what you'd like, the cost will be added to your room tab." Harry quickly scanned the menu and ordered eggs on toast with tea and went to find an empty table in the corner to wait for his food.

He spent the time people watching. Something he thoroughly enjoyed and had gotten rather good at in his younger years when he had no friends to play with. He watched the people around him eating and noticed that not everyone looked entirely human. Harry swore one gentleman looked like he could be a vampire. At another table was a small group, one person had several large scars on his face, while a woman's arm was badly scared. They had a careworn appearance and Harry was immediately reminded of Lupin. Werewolves he thought. He supposed it made sense, many of these people wouldn't receive a very warm welcome if they tried to venture into Diagon Alley, but of course everyone needed a place to shop and stay and eat. It made him quite angry to think about how poorly some people were treated, who cares if they were a vampire or a werewolf. Lupin was one of the kindest people Harry had ever met but had been vilified his whole life simply for being a werewolf.

The woman with the scared arm must have noticed his staring and looked over at him with a glare on her face. Harry just gave her a small smile before glancing away. His eggs and toast were delivered, and Harry was proud of himself for managing to get down one slice of toast and a few bites of eggs. The man who had delivered his food gave him a dubious look as he cleared away Harrys plate and teacup.

He walked out of The Leaky Pickle and started his search for some kind of potion shop. He really needed to do something about his back, he was feeling particularly awful and knew things would get worse if he didn't do something soon.

He wandered around, keeping a close eye on his surroundings as he went. Knockturn Alley was longer than he had realised. Even though he had walked a bit of it yesterday there was still at least half the Alley to go. Most of the shops looked decidedly harmless but Harry thought that many dark things probably lurked beneath the surface, they would obviously have to keep up pretences if the ministry came sniffing around. He walked until he found what he was looking for, an apothecary. A bell chimed as he entered the shop and to his great surprise he was greeted by a ghost. It was the first time that he had come across a ghost outside of Hogwarts and he was surprised to say the least.

Thankfully the ghost just chuckled at his shocked expression.

"Never come across a ghost working in a shop before?" he laughed, and Harry just shook his head dumbly.

"Well my name is Arnold; I started this shop many years ago. My son and grandson run it now, but I still hang around to help out where I can. My grandson should be back soon if you would rather wait for him to return to serve you?"

Harry shook his head briefly to clear his thoughts.

"No, no that's OK. I'm sorry if I was rude" Harry said with a blush, embarrassed by how he had been acting.

At that moment the door swung open and a young man entered. He looked to be around 19 or 20 and it took Harry a moment to realise why he looked familiar. Higgs, he had been at Hogwarts the same time as Harry, though a few years older and in Slytherin.

"Grandfather, I managed to get the aconite that you wanted. We really lucked out; they were almost out." Higgs froze as he spotted Harry. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Is grandfather looking after you?"

"I was just about to before you interrupted" Arnold said, playfully swatting at Higg's head, his hand sailing right through.

A snort of laughter escaped Harry and caused both man and ghost to turn and look at him.

"Don't mind us," he said with a chuckle. "I'm Terence, how can we help you today?"

Harry's eyes flicked between the pair for a moment, much more intimidated now there were two people in front of him, even if one of them was a ghost.

"I ah… need something to fight infection in the body and heal some open wounds." Harry said shyly, glancing away as he spoke.

Terence and Arnold shared a look.

"Certainly, that's no problem." Arnold said, floating over to a section on the far right, Terence right behind him.

"Here we have a pain-relieving potion" he said pointing to a bottle on the shelf. "This one here" he said pointing to another, "will fight infection in the body, though if it's bad you may need more than one dose. And this one will heal minor cuts, scrapes and bruises, though if the damage is more extensive you will have to visit a healer."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Great, I will get a pain-relieving potion, two potions for infection and one healing potion please."

Terence nodded pulling said bottles off the shelf and walking back over to the counter.

"What's your name by the way?" Terence inquired as he bagged up Harry's potions, slipping in a pamphlet on the correct times to take each dose. "We don't get too many strangers around here."

"Oh, I'm Harry." Harry had decided that morning that it would just be easier to go by his usual first name and omit any surname. He didn't look anything like Harry Potter and there was plenty of Harry's in the world, it wouldn't be unusual for there to be another Harry floating around. Plus, it had the added bonus of Harry not getting confused if someone called him by a different name.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Harry" Terence said with a smile. "Hopefully we will see you again soon."

"Thank you" Harry said, picking up his purchases and exiting the shop. As soon as the door shut behind him, he pulled out the pain-relieving potion and drunk it down. He decided to wait to take the others as he knew the healing would take a lot out of him and he still had a lot of things he needed to accomplish today. He didn't notice that he was being watched by the inhabitants of the apothecary as he stowed the now empty bottle with the full ones in his bag and started walking down the street.

He thought it may be too early to pick up his wand, so Harry decided that clothes shopping was next on the agenda. Thankfully he had spotted a shop not too far up the street and quickly made his way there.

There were a few customers in the shop when he entered so Harry wandered the aisles seeing what clothing they had for sale, he ran his hands along soft cotton and silk, enjoying the feel of them against his skin.

Eventually a sales lady came to assist him.

"How can I help you today?" she asked brightly but Harry could tell that her smile was a bit strained. She had probably had a busy morning.

"I need a few new outfits, pants, shirts, robes, both casual and formal. I also need some underwear and socks."

"Of course, of course" the woman said leading him over to a measuring stool, seeming much more enthusiastic now that she knew it was going to be such a big order.

A tape measure magically took his measurements as he stood on the stool.

"I've got your measurements now, why don't you have a wander around and pick out somethings that you like and then I will magic them to fit you perfectly based off your measurements.

Harry climbed off the stool as the woman went back to the counter to serve another customer.

Harry took his time as he walked around. This was really the first chance he had had to go shopping for himself, for things over than school supplies. He wanted to get things that would both look good but be comfortable. He pulled off shirts, pants and robes in varying colours and materials. When he was done, he walked to the counter and put everything down. The woman cast, what looked like a complicated spell over the pile and Harry saw the clothes readjusting to his measurements.

"I also require some pyjamas and casual clothes for my young brother, he is about 14. Could you please pick me out a few things and add them to my pile?"

The woman seemed only too happy to help, rushing off and coming back a few minutes later with comfortable looking pants and shirts as well as a few pairs of blue and green pyjamas.

"That's great, thank you" Harry said sincerely, and the woman smiled at him as she began bagging his purchases.

Harry, his arms now sagging under the weight of his shopping bags made his way back out on to Knockturn Alley. He had spent quite a long time picking out his clothes, so it was now well after lunch time, but Harry didn't feel hungry, so he made his way back to Clarise's to pick up his new wand. He was excited to see it and just hoped that it worked as well for him as his old wand had. Harry still had his old wand in his bag, it didn't make sense to be defenceless if an emergency came up, but he felt better knowing that once he had his new wand, he could cast spells without detection.

Clarise's was exactly as it was the day before, right down to the glaring old woman standing at the counter.

"Here it is" she said gruffly, sitting a box on the counter before Harry had even managed a greeting.

Harry sat down his packages and opened the box to find a beautiful honey brown coloured wand inside. It looked to be a tad longer than his holly wand.

"Acacia wood, twelve inches, hippogriff talon core" Clarise said as Harry picked up his new wand. He felt a familiar rush of warmth through his arm, similar to when he first picked up his holly wand. The feeling of belonging. He smiled softly, waving the wand and a bunch of flowers appeared, which he deftly handed to Clarise who promptly dropped them in the closest bin. Harry had to bite back a snort at that.

"I've never heard of a hippogriff talon core for a wand" Harry said.

Clarise nodded as though she wasn't surprised by that information. "They aren't very common but make for very good wands for those with enough power."

Harry smiled, knowing that she wasn't paying him a compliment, simply stating a fact.

"This wand was designed and made especially for you; no other wand will work as well."

"Thank you" Harry said sincerely, sliding the wand into his empty holster on his arm.

"That will be 18 galleons."

Harry handed over the money without complaint, put the empty box away before collecting all his bags and leaving the shop. As he walked out onto the street, a large body slam into him, knocking him to the ground, and painfully pulling at the wounds on his back.

"Watch where you're going" the man snarled before storming off.

Harry lay there frozen for a moment, to startled to do anything else.

The man looked vaguely familiar, but Harry couldn't place where he had seen him before.

He pulled himself up on shaking legs, only to find a warm hand gripping his arm to help steady him. Harry amazingly didn't flinch at the unexpected contact, but he did jolt slightly. It felt like there was an electrical current running through his skin where the man was touching him, his entire world focused in on that one point of contact. He looked up into soft hazel eyes, that were looking back at him with a confused expression.

"Don't mind my friend," he said, nodding his head after the man who'd stormed off. "He lacks the proper manners to be out in society," the man said in a deep gravelly voice that caused a shiver to run down Harry's spine.

Harry snorted, "so basically, he's an arsehole?"

The man grinned, "yeah, pretty much. But you get used to it. Well, I better catch up to him. Goodbye."

Harry stood there dazed, watching as the man kept shooting glances back at him as he walked away.

He slowly gathered his purchases again and made his way back to the Leaky Pickle. He gave a small wave to the man behind the bar before making his way up to his room.

He was beyond exhausted again but feeling accomplished. He carefully unpacked all his new clothes into his wardrobe before pulling out the remaining potions. He swallowed the one to fight infections first and nearly gaged at the taste of earth that washed through his mouth. The healing potion was a much better, having a pleasant citrusy taste. The potions started working nearly immediately. He felt the cuts on his back start to knit back together and the warm ill feeling that had plagued him all day began to fade. He laid down on his bed to rest, as his body, with the help of the potions, worked to right itself.