Disclaimer: OK. So here's how it goes: "I don't own any of the HP characters or their world for that matter." :'(
A/N: Really sorry that I couldn't update sooner, but my grandfather passed away and I was caught up in soo much that I literally didn't have any time. =(
Thanks for all the people who reviewed it last timer. :) Here are my answers to your reviews! :)
mmendoza688: Thanks! And hope to write more as well.
Love-Pink26:Me neither! :D
LupinandHarry: Thanks! And don't worry, Harry will be realistic and it has been kind of hard for me to create relationships with the characters because this is my first FF. But thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll be sure to pay more attention to it now. :)
Now, I figured out, that since I have made a little twist as such within Dumbledore's head for Harry to live as such, why can't he make another small decision that will hopefully (evil wink) change the entire plot of the story. :D
Chapter 3: Curious Choices
The eight of them stood in front of a large towering white building that seemed to be the largest building that they had seen so far. Above the bronze doors that gleamed in the sunlight were the words "Gringotts Bank" etched into the building. Hagrid, now in the lead, they made their way up the mall set of stairs and through the doors, after which they found themselves in front of another pair of doors, silver this time. Upon the doors were the words:
"Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there."
Awed, Harry looked up at Hagrid who said, "Tha's why yeh'd have to be mad to try to rob Gringotts. Reck'n they've got dragons and stuff to help 'em. So don't even think of robbing anything." Smiling at Harry's awestruck face, Hagrid opened the silver doors and led the Weasleys inside.
"Blimey Harry! Imagine having dragons to guard the place! They must be having plenty of gold down there!" Ron, Harry noticed, too was awestruck.
Past the doors, was a vast marble hall where, numerous goblins stood behind long counters that lined the walls, counting coins, rubies and even diamonds. Laughing at the longing expression on Ron's face when he saw a diamond that seemed to be perfect in size and color to Ron's head, Harry hurried up behind his mother as she had taken the lead and was now talking to a free goblin. After she handed him two small keys, the goblin shouted, "Griphook! Take this family to their vault and then Mr. Potter to his vault!"
"I have a vault for myself?" Harry asked, dazed as another goblin came hurrying up to meet them. "Of course, dear! Your parents have given you your own vault and there is a Potter family vault as well if I'm not mistaken, but you will only be given permission to get gold from that vault only when you are eighteen." his mother replied, fondling his hair as he tried to escape the cuddling.
"Oh! An' Professor Dumbledore asked me to get the You-Know-What from vault seven hundred and thirteen." added Hagrid just as they were about to be led away by Griphook. "What's that Hagrid?" the twins inquired in unison, their faces displaying that they would not rest until they were told what the "You-Know-What" was as Hagrid fumbled in his pockets for a letter which he promptly gave to the goblin at the counter saying, "Ah! No tellin' Fred and George! Can' tell anyone! Top secre' this is!"
"Very well. This seems to be in order." said the goblin, reading the letter, "Griphook, you heard the 'Hagrid'."
Griphook led the family out of the hallway and deeper in to Gringotts through one of the many doors that seemed to line out of the hallway. There was a sudden change of scenery so startling that it was enough to confuse you for a minute. The magnificent marble was replaced by cold stone and they were in some sort of enormous tunnel with little railway tracks lining the floor. The goblin called Griphook whistled twice and a large cart came hurtling towards them. Just as it stopped, Griphook got in and indicated that they should follow.
Jumping in, Harry, Ron, Fred and George made themselves comfortable while Percy, Ginny and their mother seated themselves on the opposite side. There was no room for Hagrid. "Ah, yeh go on ahead with these lot, Molly. I'll get what I nee' from another goblin and I'll be outside. Fine with yeh right?"
Even as their mother nodded in approval, the cart whisked themselves off (not smoothly mind you) as Harry waved at Hagrid. Just as the cart picked up speed in a twisting maze of tunnels, where occasionally one could see other wizards hurtling on other tracks, it came to a halt. They all got out, and Griphook strode over to the small door they could see embedded in to the wall and took out one of the keys. Opening the door, they saw a small mound of galleons as well as some sickles and plenty of Knuts. Gathering nearly half of the gold in to a small pouch, their mother escorted them back to the cart as it took them even further down the maze of tunnels, Griphook seated at the front.
Just as Harry was getting chilled from the freezing cold air that was billowing past them, the cart stopped in front of a larger door, much larger than the Weasley vault. Hopping out, the family walked up to the door as Griphook opened it. They were all suddenly dazzled by the heaps of gold and mountains of silver. It looked as if the vault was being overflowed.
Harry's mouth hung slack.
"You really don't have to take all of this gold you know Harry. You have to make it last for seven years you know. So take a few galleons only and a few more to take to school in case you need anything." his mother suggested fondling his hair.
Clutching the large pouch that his mother thrust into his hands, Harry walked into the vault, clambering over the entrance, still numb with shock. While his brothers watched green with envy (though not spitefully), Harry scooped up a handful of galleons at least a hundred of them and a few hundred sickles as well as knuts, when his mother informed him that he would have to buy everything he needed from this gold as well as use it as his pocket money for the entire following year - "I won't be allowing you to take more gold during the holidays, young man! So take what you want now!"
Holding his now heavy money bag, Harry scrambled back out of the vault, nearly tripping over the entrance as Griphook started to close the entrance. Ignoring the jealous looks of his brothers because he knew he would obviously be sharing the gold with them, he ruffled his hair, running his hand across his hair making it even more messier than it had been after the ride in the cart and trying to look high and mighty.
"Careful there young, Harry-"
"-you might just find that your head gets too big for you."
"And if you can't hold that small money bag-"
"-you might just find that it would bring you down, rather than up."
The twins grinned, while Harry smirked knowing that they were just jealous. "Pooh! You two are the one's who have gone down – not me. That wasn't even up to standard."
Leaving the beautifully white building behind, to guard it's enormous treasures, the Weasley family strode out of it and into the warm, sunlight to find Hagrid standing outside chatting with the security goblin.
"'Cuse me." Hagrid said to the goblin who only looked too pleased to be away from Hagrid and came up to the family. "Ah! Molly! Trus' everthing wen' well?"
"Hagrid! What did you take from vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Ron asked in a pleading voice that convinced everyone but Hagrid.
"No, Ron. Can't do. S'rry." Hagrid said, truly looking sorry as he said it. From this Harry easily understood that Hagrid would be an easy person to coax a secret out of just by pleading for hours on. But since they didn't have hours, they descended the stairs and walked to their right, towards the most exciting part of their shopping (according to Harry) to what their mother called Ollivanders, their wand shop.
Passing a shop that sported the board, "Magical Menagerie" (which was quite dark and nearly invisible to the people on the street but which was emitting the sounds of half a dozen animals, and a second-hand robes shop, they came across a narrow, shabby looking shop that seemed to be very dusty and ancient. Above the door, the reasons were revealed; in large peeling gold letters were the words, "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C." Wondering why on earth a shop that sold wands couldn't be kept clean with a single wave of a wand as he had seen his mother doing, Harry stepped hesitantly into the shop, a small bell tinkling somewhere as the door opened.
The shop was small and dingy. There was a small spindly chair in a corner and millions of long, thin boxes that were piled one on top of the other along the walls. A small doorway was seen in the opposite wall. As everyone looked around and their mother sat down on the chair to wait, Harry looked around, Ron and Ginny following suit.
"Good Evening." a soft voice came from the dark just as the hair on the back of Harry's neck prickled.
An old man stood on the threshold of the doorway hiding the murky depths of the shop, with his thin profile.
"Ah! Mrs. Weasley -11 inches, willow and unicorn hair? Very firm, unyielding. I trust there is no fault?" Mr. Ollivander asked from their mother who had now risen from her seat, his moon like eyes shining in the shadows. "And you, boys, your wands are still well I suppose?"
"Of course, Mr. Ollivander – we're just here to get my youngest son, Ronald and Harry Potter a wand." their mother remarked, clearly hard pressed to finish up with the shopping.
"Ah! Mr. Potter – how I waited till this day... How well I remember..."
"Remember what Mr. Ollivander?" Harry asked, thinking that the old man was quite strange and touched in the head. "My dear boy – I remember every wand that I have sold and the wand that did this..." he said pointing at Harry's scar. "How well I remember..."
"Mr. Ollivander? I hope we could hurry up -"
"Ah! Yes of course!"
With this, he hurried in to the depths of the shop and came out carrying a tape that seemed to be wriggling in his hands. Letting go of it, he pulled out a small notebook and began to take down the measurements that the tape seemed to be making on it's own. A few minutes later he deemed the pair of them done and got down a number of boxes.
Handing Ron a wand from one of the boxes, Mr. Ollivander recited, "Maple and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches, quite flexible."
Ron stared at it – apparently not knowing what to do. "Give it a wave, boy!" Mr. Ollivander said impatiently as Fred and George sniggered ; Ron glared at them while Percy attempted to reprimand them.
The moment Ron began to wave it, Mr. Ollivander made a grab for the wand, surprising Ron so much that he tripped over the hem of his pants; giving the twins another reason to roar with laughter. Harry looked at Mr. Ollivander, who was looking through the boxes, apparently undisturbed. Handing Ron another wand, he went through the same drill again. A few wands later, he deemed Ron satisfactory with a wand that shot green sparks out of ti's end when it was waved. "Willow and unicorn hair. Ten and three-quarter inches – rigid." he proclaimed as he handed the box back to Ron, his wand now encased within it's silk-lined interior.
With a slight prodding from Fred, Harry stumbled towards Mr. Ollivander, only to repeat the same fate as Ron. After countless number of wands, tried but with no effect save for one, which had shot out of his hand and poked George in the eye, Mr. Ollivander murmured, "Hmm... I wonder..."
With Harry wondering what on earth the old man was talking about, he was suddenly handed a wand - "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches,nice and supple". The moment Harry's tired fingers enclosed upon the wand, he felt a sudden warmth in his fingers and a stream of red and gold sparks shot out of it – enclosing the dark room in a brilliant warm glow that seemed to last even after the wand was snatched out of his fingers.
"Curious... Curious..." Mr. Ollivander proclaimed, placing the wand delicately in another silky box.
"Sorry, Mr. Ollivander, but what's curious?" Ron asked timidly, his gaze still upon his new wand, his look one that of a mother, with her new born babies. While the twins made lovey-dovey faces behind Ron, Mr. Ollivander replied, "I remember every wand I ever sold, Mr. Potter. And how curious it is, that the very phoenix that gave the feather of the wand that gave you your scar, would give no more but one more feather – the feather within the wand that you now hold in your hand. Oh! We must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter – for terrible though You-Know-Who was, his power was still great."
With their wands in their pockets, the boxes laying discarded in their mother's bag, the Weasleys and Hagrid left Ollivanders and headed towards Flourish and Blotts which was, apparently, a bookshop of sorts.
Upon entering the shop, which was quite full since Hogwarts was about to open and since it was a Sunday, Fred and George were waved over by a fellow student, the apparently famous, Lee Jordan, who was their best friend, and Percy, the new 'Perfect Prefect', ran of to find a book on Hogwarts Rules and Regulations, claiming, "I have to do my job well, you know, Mum! Don't you worry – the twins won't be able to pull any more of their pranks while I'm a prefect."
The still scratching behind of Percy Weasley was a perfect example of how they still could, but neither Ron nor Harry wanted to point this particular point out.
Handing over their book-lists to their mother, the pair of them also walked around the store, browsing through the wide assortment of books. A book bound in leather with a cover that said, "Concealment and Covert – Your Guide to Spying" by an author, whose name seemed to have melded in with the cover particularly entranced Harry. But when they tried to read the book, they found to their greatest disappointment that it would not reveal it's contents – but would hide the letters, whenever they turned the page.
Leaving aside the book as a lost cause, they searched for Fred and George, which was quite a difficult thing to do, considering the fact that the entire store was nearly overflowing.
Spotting the two of them with Lee, Ron and Harry hurried over – but when they got closer, Harry motioned for Ron to be silent and to come closer. Groping into his pocket, Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak. Ron's eyes went wide. He had had no idea that Harry had brought it along. Throwing the cloak over the pair of them – making a small girl gasp when she saw the pair of them apparently disappear into thin air – Harry whispered, "What's that they're holding and why are they looking around as if they are afraid of being caught or something?"
Ron looked away from the small girl who was now tugging the pant leg of her father, apparently to tell the tale of "The Two Boys Who Vanished" and looked in the direction of the the twins. They were holding what appeared to be a piece of parchment out to Lee and apparently describing it.
Nudging Harry, the pair of them moved closer to them.
"-shows even where all the people are! Bet Filch didn't know how to use the thing or we would all have been caught long time ago."
"Darn good thing I saw it when I did!"
"So – err – how doe it work?" Lee asked, holding out what apparently seemed to be a blank piece of parchment.
Extracting his wand out, Fred placed the tip of it on the map and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Faint ink lines traced across the parchment and at the top of the parchment, the words, "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present the MARAUDER'S MAP" in great green curly lettering. The ink became more pronounced and what appeared to be a map, was revealed only – there were tiny ink dots, a few though, which were moving and with names written below them.
From where Harry was standing, he didn't have that much of a good view, but he was sure he saw the name "Dumbledore" somewhere on the map.
"Bloody Hell, Fred! The entire castle is in here! Hogwarts will be ours surely with this!" Lee exclaimed. Then suddenly he lowered his voice - "Does anyone else know about this?"
When the twins shook their heads in unison, Lee whooped.
It was nearing noon when they finally left the bookstore, arms laden with books which were packed in to their mother's bag after they arrived back at the Leaky Cauldron – Harry being offered a handshake by passer-bys while they tried their best to stuff all the books in to the single bag. Harry nudged Ron and stood up from their table, and walked over to Tom, he owner of the store who greeted Harry once again praisingly.
"Mr. Tom? Could we have lunch here please?"
Harry's request befuddled Ron. Their mother had brought along some lunch, all packed and ready.
"Harry? What -"
"So can we?"
"Of course, Mr. Potter – I will see that you get the best of our lunches."
As they made their way back to the table, Harry muttered to Ron, "My treat for being rich." Laughing at Ron's grin, Harry sat down ready to eat to his heart's content.
The excursion to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions was a horrifying experience for the new Hogwarts to-be first-years. Their mother purposefully strode them over to the never-ending racks of robes and made them decide the one they liked best. To both Ron and Harry, the robes seemed all alike since they were all black, but then, their mother saw it differently.
In the end after picking a black robe each for the duo, they left the shop.
After purchasing the rest of the items on the book-list, which did not include a solid gold cauldron as Harry was told by his mother, they left Diagon Alley and headed out to the small room to Floo back to the Burrow.
As Harry lay on his bed that night, he knew, that he could not have ever, wished for a better family or a better day.