An unspecified amount of encounters
Harrys' jaw dropped as the bricks began to collapse in on themselves meaning a bustling a street was revealed. Hagrid chuckled at Harrys' reaction fondly and walked forward with found it difficult to both follow Hagrid in the right direction and take in everything around him, he truly couldn't believe what he was seeing from the shops to thing stacked in street to the people walking along the pavement. His eyes felt like they were bulging out of their sockets as he looked at a shop filled with multiple broomsticks along with a group of boys around the same age as him whispering
"Look! It's the new Nimbus two thousand!"
"I heard that that it was designed in America, and they only now brought it over!"
"The entire England team has one!"
His neck snapped to look in a different direction when he heard the screech of a barn owl from a dark shop named Eelops owl Emporium and he gawked at the unconventional clothing that every seemed to be wearing although it got a little awkward when he found himself staring at a group of young ladies wearing witch's hats each one a different colour of the rainbow.
Suddenly Harry bumped into Hagrid's back though Hagrid didn't seem to feel a thing.
"Gringotts!"
They had arrived at a rather intimidating white building that loomed over the other shops and screamed money. They walked inside Harry still flicking his neck back and forward, despite beginning to develop a rather serious pain, in an attempt to see everything until… he stopped suddenly his eyes had rested upon a strange looking creature it was shorter than Harry, it had an intelligent face and most strange of all unnaturally long fingers and toes.
"Goblin." Hagrid whispered continuing further into the bank. Harry shuffled a little closer to Hagrid.
They reached the counter and Hagrid straightened his back trying to look important the goblin behind the counter appearing wholly unimpressed.
"We've come to take some money out of Mr Potters vault."
"I presume you have his key sir?"
"Tha' I do." And Hagrid proceeded to empty a whole array of items onto the counter from his pockets ranging from dog biscuits to baby wipes which was displeasing the goblin behind the counter more and more by the minute.
"Here it is!" Hagrid finally produced a gold key and gave it to the goblin. The goblin critiqued it with detail and eventually gave it back to Hagrid.
"Anything else sir?"
Hagrid looked around conspiratorially to the point that it was almost comedic and leaned in.
"I've also go' a letter from Dumbledore about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen" Hagrid threw a letter onto the counter and puffed his chest out reminding Harry greatly of a penguin.
But once again the goblin behind the counter looked completely unaffected by Hagrids' dramatics and just nodded.
"As you wish. I will have Griphook take you down to the vaults.
Harry desperately wanted to ask more about vault seven hundred and thirteen but over his lifetime with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia he had repeatedly been told the curiosity killed the cat and when it came to those two, he had no doubt in his mind that one day he would be the cat. So, Harry put his curiosity on a leash, bit his tongue and just followed Griphook and Hagrid through a door and to what look liked a cart that teetered upon an exceedingly high up, very steep railway and beyond it were a maze of hundreds more railways curving and turning in all directions.
Harry looked at Griphook in bewilderment but didn't say anything. They didn't actually expect Harry to get into this thing, did they? But judging from Griphook's smirk he did. Hagrid on the other hand had not noticed any of Harry's hesitations and had climbed into the cart albeit taking up most of the room. Harry took a deep breath and went in after Hagrid squeezing himself into the corner. Griphook got in last closing the door behind him.
The next couple of moments was a blur since Harry had decided to shut his eyes tight but what it did consist of was the sound of the cart's wheels rattling and Hagrid's continuous attempt to aim his vomit outside of the cart to which he failed and instead it landed on Griphook's obviously rather expensive shoes. Finally, the cart halted to a sudden stop and Hagrid ran out of the cart to lean against a wall as he was once again looking rather green.
Harry decided to give him some space and went over to join Griphook who had pulled out a key from his pocket and then proceeded to open the door to the vault. There was a hiss, a release of smoke and then slowly, very slowly the door began to swing open. Harry couldn't help but gasp at the sight that was in front of him. Towers upon towers of gold coins reaching up to the ceiling. And believe me it was an incredibly high ceiling. There were piles of silvers coins and heaps of bronze coins scattered on the floor. Harry knew he had to be dreaming despite having pinched himself to the point that there were now red marks littering his left arm this couldn't possibly be real. Especially with the mound of assorted gems in the top right corner and he was fairly certain that he had just seen a crown buried underneath some of the gold coins.
Harry's fingers itched and twitched as he stared at all the gold gleaming on front of him, Griphook appeared to notice his hands too.
"This is all yours Mr. Potter. How much would you like to withdraw today?"
A sense of realisation flooded over Harry; this was all his. Not Uncle Vernon's, not Aunt Petunia's, not Dudley's this was left by his parents for Harry. For him. Nobody else. His hands relaxed and he turned to Griphook and said with as much professionalism as an eleven-year-old can muster,
"Just enough to cover my school supplies and some more left over for leisure, thank you Mr. Griphook."
"Just Griphook will be surmountable." It could've been said that Griphook had smiled in amusement at Harry's attempt but any smile on Griphook's face would've been invisible to the human eye. So Griphook went on to reach forwards into the vault and quickly but accurately placed an unknown amount of gold silver and bronze coins into a briefcase all of them in neat lines.
"The gold ones are galleons; the silver ones are sickles, and the bronze ones are knuts Mr. Potter. In there you will find more than enough money to provide you with what you wish as well as a Gringotts statement as proof of this transaction."
Harry nodded taking the briefcase from Griphook his upper body being pulled downwards from the sudden weight.
"Back into the cart?" Griphook opened the door and Harry got in dragging the briefcase behind him. Hagrid just been beginning to look better after spending the whole exchange dry retching in the corner once again turned green at the prospect of getting in the cart. Nevertheless, he got in.
The cart ride was just as bad as the previous one with Hagrid imploring Griphook to slow down but Griphook denying saying something about "one speed only." But they still arrive at the destination in one piece, and it is at that moment Hagrid seems to snap out of his vomit induced trance. Instead, as Griphook opened the door to the vault to reveal a very mediocre looking package to which Hagrid deftly strode forward grabbing it from the vault and placing it in the insides of his coat. Once again Harry wished to inquire as to what exactly Hagrid had and why it needed such protection but like I've said before, Harry knew better.
After one last infernal cart ride Harry and Hagrid finally managed to leave Gringotts walking down the ivory white steps back into Diagon Alley until a voice stopped him.
"Mr. Potter!"
Hagrid kept on walking the effects of the cart ride still plaguing him, but Harry wheeled around expecting to see either another avid fan who wanted to have a hug or it was someone who was immensely angry, surprisingly it was neither. It was Griphook.
"Mr. Potter I did not wish to say this in front of your companion, but I am aware all habits are hard to get rid of. Some of them serve us well whilst others get us into great trouble. Decide which one yours will do and go from there." Griphook subtly gestured to Harry's hands and then to Harry's vault key clutched within them.
"I did not give that to you. When did you get that?" There was no malice in Griphook's voice he almost sounded fascinated.
Harry blushed profusely. To be honest he didn't know when he took it either, it was a subconscious reflex now; to take things from people's pockets.
"You are underage Mr. Potter. Please return the key to me until you are of age and then it, amongst other things, is yours. But I must commend you, it is nigh impossible to steal from a goblin though I suggest you do not do it again."
Harry nodded his head with gusto, his face scarlet both from being caught and from Griphook's compliment. With that Griphook went back into Gringotts and Harry ran to catch up with Hagrid who hadn't gotten very far due to him not been able to walk in a straight line and the occasional need to stop and retch on the side of the pavement. Harry patted Hagrid on the back in pity trying to comfort the poor man.
"Wow, you really don't do well with fast carts, do you?"
"Never 'ave. Give me a hippogriff o'er one of them carts any day. Say now Harry, you wouldn't mind if I wen' back to The Leaky Cauldron fer a bit? Jus' for a bit o' a pick-me-up to shake the las' of this sickness of?"
It was at this point Harry felt rather disappointed in Hagrid. All throughout this trip Hagrid had been nothing but amazing, he had freed Harry from his life with the Dursleys and had introduced him to this new and colourful world where Harry seemed to belong. Sure, he was a bit rough around the edges, but he was the only person who cared and now he wanted to leaved Harry to go and have a sneaky drink of all things.
Harry was not a fan of alcohol; he was sure by what he'd seen on Dudley's TV that it was great for social occasions and one day he wanted to try it but the only time that Harry had come across alcohol was with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. When Aunt Petunia had one too many glasses of sherry and she started hurling insults like confetti at a pride parade, but it was Uncle Vernon when he'd downed beer after beer but hadn't just fallen asleep that was when he decided that 'Hit Harry' was his new favourite drinking game.
So, the fact that Hagrid was going to just leave him there was not so much upsetting but disheartening, wasn't his whole job to look after Harry? But after the disappointment came the annoyance, Harry didn't need Hagrid even if this was a completely new world to him and he knew absolutely nothing of what was going on, he was fine on his own.
"Yeah sure, do what you want to do."
Hagrid smiled not appearing to detect any of the underlying bitterness in Harry's voice,
"Alrigh' then. The last thing you must do is get yer robes, so I'll drop you off at Madame Malkins"
They entered a shop named 'Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions' where a very cheerful middle-aged witch happily greeted them.
"Hello dear! You must be here for your Hogwarts robes, follow me!"
Hagrid gave Harry an encouraging nudge forward and gestured to him to follow Madame Madame after which he went to leave the shop.
"Oh, this time of year is always one of the busiest, the start of the school year. Hordes of students needing new robes needing robes to be fixed needing quidditch robes. But don't worry dear whatever you need we've got it." Madame Malkin bustled Harry into the back.
"Oh really." Harry said, being manhandled but the unexpectedly strong squat witch.
"Yes, we've also got another first year getting fitted as well."
"Oh! Really?"
And it is here, ladies and gentlemen that fate first decided to play her hand because this is one of the few meetings that shaped Harry's future and in turn by meeting Harry it also changed the other person's future as well.
Harry walk pulled the curtain back to show a young boy standing on a stool with an employee fussing around the robe hanging off him. The boy has pale hair and a pointed face his bored grey eyes roamed the room and they fell upon Harry as he got up on the stool next to him.
"Hello there, off to Hogwarts, yes?"
"Uh yes, yes that's right."
"My father's gone to get my books and mother's gone to have a browse at the wands, but I don't know why. It's impossible to buy my wand for me."
"Right…"
"Hopefully, it will be over quickly. I want to go and see brooms as soon as possible especially since the new Nimbus two thousand has just come out. Do you play?"
"Play what?"
The boy raised an eyebrow at Harry as if suggesting he were an idiot which was what Harry certainly felt like right now.
"Quidditch. Do you play quidditch?"
Harry tried to rack his brains as to what he could give as an acceptable answer but before he could,
"I do. I'm very good actually, Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked for the team next year." the boy had cut Harry off and began to reel off all his achievements in quidditch, the problem was Harry had no idea what quidditch was but for some strange reason Harry could not seem to stop wanting to talk to him. Yes, he was obviously arrogant and aloof, but he had a magnetism that made you want to continue having a conversation with him.
"Say now, any idea what house you'll be in? I do, there's no doubt I'll be in Slytherin at the very least I'll be in Ravenclaw. If I'm in anything other than those two than I'm leaving."
"Houses?"
The boy looked at Harry sceptically and narrowed his eyes.
"You know, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and ugh, Gryffindor."
Harry remained silent.
"Let me enlighten you. There are four houses in Hogwarts, they are your friends, your family, your allies you stay in that house your entire Hogwarts career. And the way they decide one which house you go into is based on the type of person you are. I admit family does often play a significant factor in it but most of the time it's on who you are."
"And what type of a person do you need to be?"
"Ravenclaw is for the intelligent, witty, curious, and creative, Hufflepuff is for the hardworking, dedicated, patient and loyal, Gryffindor is apparently for the brave, daring and chivalrous but frankly they're all just reckless idiots."
Harry was absorbed in the boy's words and the boy was loving it. Harry was realising at this point just how little he knew about Hogwarts the very school he was meant to be attending.
"And Slytherin is house to the resourceful, cunning, ambitious, ones who value self-preservation and the leaders."
"Huh…"
The was a short silence whilst both Harry and the boy stood on their stools waiting for the seamstresses to come back and break the awkward silence.
"Are you a mud-blo *cough* muggle born?"
"What?"
"Are you a muggle born?"
"Uh, both my mum and my dad were a witch and a wizard."
"That's good. But I never would've guessed, considering your lack of knowledge on well, everything. Did your parents teach you anything?"
"No, they didn't teach me anything since they're dead."
Another silence more awkward than the previous one.
"Sorry." The boy said though he didn't sound very sorry at all. Harry just didn't say anything at all.
"At least you're not the 'other' type. Honestly, I don't think they should be allowed to attend at all they'll just contaminate everything."
The boy sneered whilst talking about muggle-borns which based on the name Harry could only assume were witches and wizards that weren't from the wizarding community, like him. Harry frowned slightly at the way in which the boy continued to talk about muggles and muggle-borns, in an almost degenerative way. And it made Harry feel extremely uncomfortable.
"That's me done. And mother's waiting just outside." The boy jumped off his stool and began to walk toward the curtain. But he stopped just before leaving and turned back to look behind him and face Harry.
"Just so you should know the name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. It would be best to remember it."
"And without another glance at Harry or sparing him a moment to give him his name in return the boy, or Draco, was gone.
"All finished dear." The seamstress gestured to Harry's robes and Harry jumped off the stool, tripping slightly.
Harry didn't say anything as he was being treated to a sundae by Hagrid, which had satiated Harry's bitterness towards him, Harry being quiet was not an unusual thing but for Hagrid the way he just sat there staring at his ice cream so silent that you couldn't even hear his breathing was unnerving.
"You alrigh' there Harry?"
"Nothing"
"Don't be like tha'. You can tell me."
"What's quidditch?"
"What's quidditch? Crickey, I keep forgetting just how much you don't know abou' this place. Quidditch is a sport. Our type of sport, it's like what football is to the muggles. Everyone follows quidditch, everyone supports a team."
Harry's look of annoyance had returned since Hagrid kept on treating him like he was a complete idiot, just because he didn't know his way around this world yet didn't mean he was stupid. Harry called upon his incredible power of self-control and changed the topic.
"What about houses? Like Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"
"Those are the four houses o' Hogwarts. Yer put in them dependin' on yer personality, depending on wha' type o' person yer are. For example, Ravenclaw; smartest lot o' people that you'll ever meet, whereas the Hufflepuffs on the other hand are mainly empty-headed. And Gryffindor is for people tha' are brave and courageous and ain't afraid to face the bad things in life."
Hagrid's voice got more and more enthusiastic as he began to talk about the Gryffindor house, but Harry's eyes narrowed slightly at different ways Hagrid and the boy in the shop had described the houses and when he noticed that Hagrid had failed to mention one particular house.
"What about the Slytherin house? What type of people are placed in that house?"
"Believe me now Harry, Slytherin is where the rotten apples are put, if you catch my drift. There ain't a single witch or wizard tha' went bad tha' wasn't in Slytherin. Somethin' happens in tha' house and in ain't for the good. I mean it's the house tha' you-know-who was placed in."
Harry remained silent deciding that he had heard enough on the matter also because Hagrid looked like he needed to sit down after having to talk about just how despicable these Slytherin people were. But what the most interesting piece of information was that Voldemort also went to Hogwarts.
Time flew by in which Hagrid decided to go and buy Harry an owl as a birthday gift, a gorgeous snowy white owl with amber eyes whose name was yet to be decided. And now they were walking down the cobbled stone street for the moment that Harry had been most excited about, buying a wand.
They approached a small, shabby and narrow shop with a sign above it stating 'Ollivanders: Makers of fine wands since 382 BC.'.
Harry looked through the glass window at the display which was a single wand placed in a cushion. Harry squinted at the sign unsure of what he was reading and began to question a lot of things especially since Hagrid was starting to look uncomfortable.
"Hagrid, are you certain that this is the place to get a wand?"
"Yes, absolutely. Yeh can't go anywhere else but Ollivanders if yeh need a wand…"
Suddenly the door opened of its own accord, nobody touched to and there was not a breeze in the air. Soon after that there was the sound of a bell tinkling throughout the long corridor that was revealed.
"I think that's yer invitation to go in."
Harry couldn't help but gulp but took a deep breath in and marched forward at the prospect of what lay at the end of the corridor.
All that lay at the end of the corridor was a small, three-legged stool supposedly for Harry to sit on.
However, having learned the hard way from the Dursleys not to do something such as sitting down without being invited to stayed standing.
"Good afternoon, Mr Potter…" A dry, rasped, Harry jumped he was not one to be easily snuck up upon but suddenly without his knowing an old man with strange, gleaming eyes had appeared in the doorway.
"Oh, uh hello sir?"
"Yes, yes, it's about time I was seeing you." The old man said this as if it were fact rather than a question.
The old man walked closer to Harry, staring him down never seeming to blink, his head seem to turn in much the same way a birds would as he was examining him.
"I see, I see truly your parents' child. In looks at the very least. You have your mother's eyes, the same shining emerald. But the rest of you, that's your father right there. I gave them both of their wands your father tried to have preferences but, in the end, 'the wand picks the wizard', so let's find a wand for you."
Harry just stared and asked,
"Who precisely are you, sir?"
The old man laughed in an amused manner,
"My name is Mr Ollivander. Hold out your wand arm."
Harry was thrown for a bit of a curveball at this and decided to just guess with holding out this right arm, luckily, he was right. Mr Ollivander started measuring Harry from the tips of his fingers to his armpit to the top of his hair strands.
"Ollivanders is one of the best manufacturers of wands in the world, each Ollivander wand has a powerful substance core, and no two Ollivander wands are the same. And I remember each wand I've sold, I remember your mother's; ten and a quarter inch long, made of willow, swishy very good for charm work. Your father on the other hand wanted a mahogany wand, pliable and eleven inches. Perfect for transfiguration. It's just good that the wand wanted him back."
At this point Mr Ollivander let out a sigh and was staring at his hands, his unnerving eyes were hidden to Harry.
"And I also remember another wand, thirteen and a half inches and made of yew. Such a powerful wand but they were so suited for each other. However, if I'd known what it would do… It was the wand that gave you that scar.
Mr Ollivander gestured a long, bony finger a Harry's scar but then shook his head and to Harry's immense relief started to look at more wands.
"Alright, Maple and dragon heartstring. Worth a shot. Give it a wave."
Harry honestly wanted to scowl at Mr Ollivander at that point but tried to put his pride behind him and waved the wand.
But before anything could happen Mr Ollivander whipped the wand out of his hand and replaced it with a new one.
"No not that one. Try this, Unicorn hair and ebony? Wave."
Harry did as he was asked but the same as before Mr Ollivander snatched it out of his hand, it went on like this for quite a long-time wand after wand. Mr Ollivander stopped and stroked his chin.
"Tricky customer. No worries, there's a wand in here for you Mr Potter, somewhere. Now I wonder…it's an unusual combination but it's worth trying."
Mr Ollivander kept muttering to himself as he headed over to a wand and handed it to Harry, with a gleam in his eyes.
"Try this one."
Harry took it from Mr Ollivander's hands and the moment he held it there was a flush of heat throughout his whole body, he felt his heart beating fast and his muscles seemed to tighten but it wasn't uncomfortable in any means. He felt as if he could lift an entire truck other his head, Harry raised he wand and a stream of silver sparks erupted from the wand.
Mr Ollivander nodded in self-satisfaction and finality.
"It appears as though we've found the wand Mr Potter. However, this is either a rather insane coincidence or the universe seems to work in an incredibly warped and twisted manner."
"What do you mean Mr Ollivander?"
"Like I said I remember every single wand that I have ever sold, it is curious that the phoenix who gave the feather to your wand, it gave another feather. Only one more... How strange it is that you are to be destined for this wand when its' twin gave you that scar. I am expecting great things from you Mr Potter- I expected the same from you-know-who when he got his wand, I expected great things. And in a way he delivered, because he did great things, terrible but great things. I expect greatness from you too."