A/N: Whoo, that's a fast update huh? xD Welcome to the third chapter of Hollow Inside~ (I am so glad I planned all this out beforehand XD)

I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and followed or favourited this story. It's all immensely appreciated!

I hope you'll enjoy~


As soon as Harry's feet touched the ground in Diagon Alley, he collapsed.

A huge pressure settled over him, knocking the air out of him and driving him to his knees. He had never felt a force this oppressing before but somehow it felt familiar, not unlike the feeling that had passed through his room when he had heard that scream after his inheritance. Only then the feeling had been so low he barely thought anything of it.

Now that feeling had returned to the point of barely noticing Mr. Weasley asking if he was all right. Only when the older wizard touch his shoulder did his ability to breathe come back to him, taking in big mouthfuls of air just in case the pressure would come back when the other let go of him. Luckily it didn't and Harry managed to get to his feet.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what just happened. I think it had to do with the apparition though." He mumbled out quickly, hoping it would fool them. For an auror and a ministry worker they were both pretty gullible people…

They continued on to Gringotts where Mr. Weasley handed back Harry's key and left him to pick up what he needed for his supplies. Harry had actually completely forgotten about having given his key to Mrs. Weasley quite a while ago and had never gotten it back since then. When he walked up to one of the counters he was immediately scolded by a goblin for giving his key to someone who wasn't his guardian, magical or other.

Once that was done Harry went down to his vault, accompanied by Griphook, whom was surprised Harry had recognised him at all.

The vault was just like he remembered in his first year, completely breath taking and magical. At least magical to him, as he was not used to all this splendour. He collected the amount of galleons he would need, including some extra spending for when they went to Flourish and Blotts. He definitely needed to find some books about what his inheritance did to him and Flourish and Blotts was his best bet, though maybe the Hogwarts library and his mother's collection would help as well.


When they excited the bank, Harry was dragged into a whirlwind of speed-shopping where he was taken from one shop to the other to get his new robes and a few new clothes, considering he had started growing out of the Dursleys' rags, and everything else he would need for his departure to Hogwarts. He bought a bunch of owl treats for Hedwig as well, as she more than deserved them by now.

Finally they arrived at Flourish and Blotts and Harry knew he had enough galleons left to buy a few extra books to figure out what was wrong with him. Or maybe not wrong, just different. Something in him protested almost violently when he thought like that, like a second instinct telling him to be proud. It actually almost felt like it was prancing around and Harry had to stifle his laughter to keep from being noticed.

In the back of the shop, Harry looked through several rare books about creature inheritances and bought one of them, having seen that the others held nothing helpful to him. 'Odd Magical Inheritances Through the Ages' was more likely to help him, though he still wasn't sure. Had he really become something so rare that there was no record of it? Man, that was going to be troublesome...

The rest of the day passed in such a rush that he barely even had time to properly greet his friends; they were all busy manically packing and trying not to forget everything. Especially hermione was struggling with taking along as many books as she could. That reminded him that Dumbledore had let him know vaguely about Sirius' will and that Harry had inherited Grimmauld Place. As such he had only needed to give a written permission for the fidelius to remain in place.

It was still likely the Order would find a new place to have Headquarters but for now, this would do. As he had already packed, he started to notice how much emptier the house seemed; and it wasn't just because Sirius was gone. He bit back the sting in his eyes as he found himself on the first floor landing, right in front of Walburga Black's portrait. As he glanced at the stubbornly closed curtains, an idea came to him. Figuring it was worth a shot he took a deep breath and called Kreacher.

"Master Potter called Kreacher?" The elf asked, barely even inclining it's head as opposed to the bow the elf would have made a long time ago. Along Harry's new title as Kreacher's master followed a long string of mumbled insults, obviously directed at the boy's blood and company.

"That's enough Kreacher." He replied calmly, not at all phased by the elf's behaviour. Everyone was used to it by now after all. "What happened to all the Black's possessions? I remember there being a lot more than this last year."

The question obviously surprised Kreacher, as the elf remained silent for a moment before replying. Obviously it had expected something other than care for the ancestral Black home. "Kreacher tried to stop them Master. The filthy blood traitors took the books and the objects and threw them away or sold them. Kreacher tried to stop them he did, saved as much as possible."

Harry nearly chuckled at how proud of himself Kreacher looked. "I don't want anything else removed from this house. We can sort through everything together and bring it back to the Black vault if it's too dangerous to remain here." He was almost surprised at how well Harry was handling this. Somewhere around the middle of the summer Harry had been informed he had inherited Sirius' Lordship as well as his properties, one of which was given to Remus Lupin. This included the vault, though he wasn't sure how he knew that or why he was able to deal with it so well.

Again his instinct preened in pride, confusing him even more. Was this inheritance really going to change him this much?

"Gladly, master Potter!" Kreacher seemed to look younger as he filled with excitement. It was obvious the brooding elf had been waiting for something like this.

"If you can, retrieve the stolen possessions as well. They have no right to take anything from the Blacks." Okay, now this was getting really weird. "Off you go Kreacher."

With a pop the elf disappeared, leaving Harry to his thoughts. Something like this had never happened before; though he knew how to handle Dobby, he'd never known what to do to make Kreacher a bit more decent to have around. And now he had.

He had never really realised what being the next Black Lord meant, though he was still the heir until he reached age seventeen. Bloody hell, did that mean he'd have to start acting like Malfoy? No way, he was definitely going to stay himself. Even if his inheritance did change him a little, he was confident he would remain the Gryffindor everyone knew he was. Because no one could see the Slytherin hiding under the surface.


The next day found Harry overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle on the platform, parents and children rushing about, trying to say goodbye and not miss the train. Harry, Ron and Hermione easily found their compartment and were later joined by Neville, Ginny and Luna. The twins were probably off pranking people already and Hermione and Ron had prefect duties to attend to.

Eventually the topic of inheritances came up, though no one had received a creature inheritance. Neville discovered he truly had an affinity for herbology and Luna was actually a Seer, though the blood was quite diluted. Ginny found that charms came easier to her and Harry remained a mystery. Or at least, that was what he made it out to be. He said he'd gotten a boost of his magic and that his body had fixed itself thanks to that magic, hence the missing glasses on his face, but that nothing else had happened as far as he knew.

As the ride settled down into silence, he thought back to the incident at Diagon Alley, feeling grateful nothing similar had happened when he entered the platform through the barrier. Perhaps only a specific type of wards affected him? He began reading the book he had bought about creature inheritances, aptly transforming the cover into this year's potion text. "I'll need all the help I can get." Which was true, as by some miracle he'd been allowed into the class. That miracle being Dumbledore's prior announcement that there was a new professor to teach the class and that you could enter his NEWT's class with an EE-grade as well as an O.

The rest of the ride was actually quite calm and once they had changed into their robes it only took a little while for everyone to get to the carriages. Hermione and Ron were in one with a few other students while Harry, Luna, Ginny and Neville shared another. The sight of the thestrals was creepy and enchanting at the same time. He remembered clearly how they had flown the magnificent creatures to the Ministry the year prior, the wind soaring through his hair—

The memory was roughly cut off as all air left Harry's lungs. So they were passing the Hogwarts wards, huh? Sure felt like it. The sensation passed as quickly as it came, though it left Harry largely disoriented and dizzy. Though it hadn't taken as long as the wards in Diagon Alley, it had been a much heavier pressure, one he had not been ready to deal with.

"Harry! Are you okay?" He could see his friends' concerned faces and yet could not help but lie to them.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got hit by a dizzy spell all of a sudden." He smiled and sat up straight, as if it would prove anything. Luna wa looking at him with her head tilted, as if she was trying to figure something out. Suddenly she blinked and whispered to him. "You won't find what you're looking for in that potions book Harry."

How had she seen through the cover? He was certain the spell held firm, and yet— Oh, right. She'd confessed to having Seer blood so of course she had figured something out. All he could do was nod and plead with his eyes that she didn't tell on him. Her airy smile comforted him somewhat, knowing that Luna wasn't the type to do such a thing. As Hogwarts came into sight, a feeling of anticipation filled him.

He had no idea of the changes that were waiting for him beyond those gates.


A/N: I'd like to thank you all for reading and once more thanks to the people who reviewed, they're a writer's motivation~ I know this chapter may have seemed a little boring but the next one will be featuring Hogwarts and a good amount of mishaps as well as mysterious changes. I wonder how Harry will cope with it, eh~? ;)

See you guys next time!

Love,
~Lumina