Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything, not making money off of it, etc.

Chapter 7: Do you smell what I smell?

The sun was shining, the owls were hooting, there was a 35 percent off all frog parts sale at the Apothecary, and he was alive. Everything should be great and life couldn't be better. At least, that was what he told himself for the 5th time since he paid for his purchases at the Apothecary. The man sighed, patted his pocket where his shrunken purchases laid, located his wand, and looked from the shaded awning to the brightly lit Alley. His eyes were drawn to Zonko's and he sighed again and stood in place.

'Come on, snap out of it, the light won't hurt' 'But the memories do...' the internal argument waged in his head before he decided to take the plunge, the sooner he left the safety of his shadows, the quicker he could return to his apartment and brew his dreamless sleep, and then the sooner he could sleep without the dreams. 'The dreams...'

The man sighed again, closed his eyes and took a step out from under the shade only to find himself on the ground with another man and a pain in his rear from unexpectedly hitting the ground.

"Oh, Oh, I'm sorry about that. Here, let me help you up Mr. -- ," the man started, happily allowing his earlier thoughts to be brushed aside and extending a hand. He looked over the young man he ran into and cringed inside. 'He looks so much like him...,' the though passed through his mind as he saw the mid-length black hair and crystal blue eyes looking back at him.

"Remus," the man on the ground spoke, though Remus could tell it was laced with a bit of fear. This was later shown when the man looked down at his clothing and then touched the top of his head and then looked all around him. The behavior was a bit odd, but it mostly escaped Remus' notice as his thoughts went on a whirlwind. Who was this man who looked so much like Sirius and knew his name?

"Ex... Excuse me? Do I know you," he hesitantly asked, finally taking in the young man's clothing. It was beautiful, the purple and white and the way the light danced upon it. Deciding that a small sniff wouldn't hurt anybody, and if it were indeed somebody he knew, he should recognize the smell, he smelled the man. The man thing he smelled was panic 'why is he so worried?', followed by fear 'maybe he knows I'm a werewolf...', the thought depressed him. The depression was quickly replaced by astonishment as he recognized the smell of the person as he choked out in disbelief, "...Harry?"

The sun was shining, the owls were hooting, he was richer than Malfoy, and he was about to embark on what he thought would be the shopping trip that would change him for the better. Everything was great, if you ignored the questions and thoughts he pushed to the back of his mind, and life couldn't be better, if you ignored the present danger he was always in. At least he wasn't in danger at the present moment, he told himself to his last thought as he made he way down Diagon Alley, looking for a traveling shop. He looked all around and was distracted often by the bright displays and had to hold his course a many of times. First thing he had to do was make sure he had his alibi for the Dursleys purchased in case he had to skip the Alley early.

Approaching the Apothecary, he spotted his destination just two doors beyond and quickened his step. After this, he could start with the stuff he needed. His head filled with books and magical gadgets, he wasn't looking where he was going and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground. The man who ran into him quickly got up, brushed the dust off his robes and extended a hand.

Harry looked up and then froze in a slight state of panic. 'I'm done for, caught before I got started. At least I finished my business at Gringotts. But now Dumbledore will know it was all a set up. He'll probably station Moody at the house every day now.' Then a thought dawned on him, a thought that could only make sense in the magical world and hold a higher probability of being true than in the muggle, 'Wait... calm down... Maybe it's not Remus. Maybe, Maybe it's Polyjuice. Or, Or maybe there's another person who looks like Remus, maybe he had a brother he never told me about...'

"Remus," he asked, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't. He belatedly berated himself as he realized that Remus didn't recognize him. 'Wait...,' His thoughts froze as he looked down and realized he never changed back into his 'disguise'. In a slight panic, he started feeling around for his things, he was in the ceremonial robes, and where was his hat? 'He should have recognized me by now without the hat and glasses. Stupid... I can't believe I forgot the glasses and hat. And where was Dobby?'

Harry looked around him to see if he could spot the house elf but couldn't see him anywhere, 'So much for bringing me back there if I were in trouble...'. His thoughts were broken when Remus spoke again, "Ex... Excuse me? Do I know you?"

'This is great, he still doesn't recognize me, maybe I could play this off. Maybe I should say I heard about him from a friend of a friend. Ah, that's no good, he'd ask questions. Maybe..., " but then his thoughts, and his body as well, froze with the next words that came out of Remus' mouth, "...Harry?"

The jig was up, he was caught, he was done for. Maybe he could sneak another owl to Hermione with a bag of galleons and ask her to send him some books at least. Once again, broken from his plotting, Remus asked a bit louder, "Harry? What are you doing here? You're suppose to be at the Dursleys... You-Know-Who is out looking for you..."

Snapped back to the present, Harry quickly shushed Remus, "Not here, let's go back to the Leaky Cauldron, I have a room there and we can talk." Remus looked a bit apprehensive, but agreed and they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron.

After Tom left his room, a set of tea between the two men, and the strongest privacy spells Remus could cast around them, the werewolf looked at the last connection to Sirius he had left and waited. Harry, on the other hand, twiddled his thumbs. During the walk to the room and the wait for the tea, he had thought about the situation he was in. He had some questions for Remus, but he would have to tell him everything. He dearly wanted to, Remus was one of the few connections he had to his parents, and now Sirius, but he just didn't know where Remus stood. If Remus told Dumbledore about his suspicions, then he wasn't sure what Dumbledore would do, but it probably wouldn't be good.

"So...," Harry started, "I suppose you want to know what I'm doing in Diagon Alley when I'm suppose to be at the Dursleys..." With Remus' affirmative nod, Harry decided to continue, at the last second deciding to come as clean as he dared.

"I got a few letters from Dumbledore since I got back. It seems I'm not allowed to leave Privet Drive all summer due to Voldemort's number one priority being that he wants to kill me. However, I know for a fact that Voldemort is laying low for the rest of the summer to lull the wizarding world into a false sense of security. Yes, it was a vision, and no, it wasn't a fake. I saw the meeting and Snape wasn't there at all, and then Dumbledore sends a letter saying Snape brings back information opposite of what went on. No, Dumbledore's making that up."

"Harry, how can you be sure? Dumbledore would never lie to the Order..." before Remus could continue, Remus cut him off again.

"Those false visions Voldemort sent, none of them were his plans. He manipulated my dreams and in them I was always myself searching for the door. In the vision with... with Sirius... I was myself. In the vision I had of the snake and this one, I was Voldemort. I saw through his eyes, I felt the power at both ends of his curses, not just the receiving end."

Remus looked nervous, "Why didn't you tell Dumbledore, he never said anything of you having another vision..."

"What would you have done? I had a vision, it was important - yes, but it wasn't information that would save anybody, so I let it wait until morning. Before I sent it though, I got the letter from the Headmaster saying the opposite of what happened. So I did what I had to do, I kept the information from him so I could try to figure out what he was doing. I was confused Remus. I had just gotten the Wills from Gringotts, a letter from Sirius, everything was just... too much."

Harry sighed and then looked at Remus. Remus, for his part, was taking this pretty well. Maybe Snape had decided to try and make Harry's life miserable and fed the Headmaster the wrong information to keep Harry with his relatives all summer. Then his thoughts registered what Harry had said in the last part, "You... You got a letter from Sirius?... Harry, cub...he's dead...how is it possible?"

Harry got up from his seat and took out the letter from his bag and handed it to Remus, "I don't mind if you read it... but I suppose I should continue on with my story first." At Remus' nod, he continued.

"It was after the bombardment of letters and wills and information that led me to this trip. The main reason I suppose for leaving is that I had to change my last name to Potter-Black, and to do that I had to use the Gringotts' ritual chambers and ritual master, as I don't know how to do that on my own. But, I will admit this trip had other purposes, besides having to bribe my relatives into covering me and well, letting me leave for a few days. I was also hoping to find some books so I can make sense of everything. I have a bunch of kits from Gringotts that will help me learn the information about the Potter and Black Estates, but... I suppose now that I have all these questions and little else to do for the summer, I need books to research and learn from.

For one thing, I never knew there was a lycanthropy research society. What other societies are out there? Are there Wizarding Charities? What about Orphanages? Is there a sort of wizarding Social Services? What about the spells they don't teach you at Hogwarts? What about Magical Theory? Sure, we learn the basics behind each spell we learn, but what about the overall picture? I was reading my history book and learned there was a history of the world outside of Goblin Revolutions."

"That's all well and good, but you could have owled me and I would have sent you whatever you needed," the ever logical Remus supplied.

Harry sighed in his mind, it seemed he would have to go even deeper, "Remus, how come you've never invited me over to 17 Vincent Ct.? No Offense, but you dress worse than me and I know my parents left you money. I can understand not wanting to use my parents money or something, I would have felt that way about the Black Heirship unless I had not read the letter he sent."

"What are you talking about, Harry? I know your parents lived at 17 Vincent Ct. before they moved to Godric's Hollow...But I'm sure they sold the place, it would be trespassing if we went there without the owner's permission. Though, if you're that adamant about it, I could write them a letter and ask Albus if I could take you during one of the Hogsmeade weekends next year. As for the money, I'm not sure what you're talking about there either, all I got were James' Diaries."

Harry cringed, at least that hunch was correct, and then he sighed before pulling another document out of his bag. "Remus, I think you should read this. I'm going to go to the Travel Shop...I need to at least buy a vacation for my relatives before you send me back there. Don't worry, Dobby will be with me, if there's any trouble, he'll bring me back here before he sends me back to the Dursleys. Right Dobby?"

Out of nowhere, Dobby appeared, "Yes Agent Seeker, Sir! Agent Socks will Protect you and bring you back to Agent Loopy!"

Inwardly Harry cringed at the name for Remus, 'Agent Loopy? ...' With a nod from Remus, the pair left the room for the travel shop.

The Alley was just as bright and sunny as it was before, this time however, Harry was extra careful. It wouldn't do to Run into somebody else, say Snape for instance. With Remus, at least he could see if he'd help him, but Snape would probably call him an arrogant child, stun him, and then get the answer from his mind and leaving him with a headache and no headache potion. Double checking that he had his hat on and glasses, he made his way out the door when it came back to him.

"Dobby... How come Remus couldn't recognize me even without the hat and glasses?"

"Oh, Agent Socks put a glamour on you when we left the bank. We secret agents needs to be tricksy too."

"Ah, Thanks Dob..erm, I mean, Agent Socks"

Dobby broke into a grin at being called that, not that Harry could see it as the house elf had gone invisible once they left the bar.

They finally reached the shop and whatever Harry had been expecting, this wasn't it. Not only did it seem to be a travel agency of sorts, but it also was a shop for travelers. To his left was a trunk section, in the back were tents, and in the middle were various provisions as well as a book section to the right. Deciding to look at the items later, as he did tell Remus he was going to the Travel shop, he never said he would not buy anything else besides the vacation for the Dursleys...

After buying the all expense paid vacation for the Dursleys, thankfully they did have muggle-safe packages as well, he went to browsing the shop and looking over the various merchandising. He went to the trunk and backpack sections first, as he left his own bag at the Leaky Cauldron and if he bought anything, it would have to be relatively hidden.

He looked at the trunks first. There were big trunks, small trunks, even a trunk in the shape of a buzzard (the salesman refused to tell him the story behind it). There were trunks for Potion Master (equipped with the latest safety and preserving features for the Potions Master on the go), Traveling Salesmen (An extra security compartment for money and two expanded compartments for merchandise), and trunks for Aurors (with an extra room to keep prisoners if portkeys to cells weren't available). What caught his eye the most was the trunk for the traveling scholar.

While it wasn't much to look at on the outside, the features were very impressive. It was a 7 compartment trunk, though it only looked like it held 3 from the outside. The first three compartments were the basic expanded compartments that could hold anything from clothing to quills to potions. The fourth compartment was what held his interest the most. It was a complex compartment that held books, according to the brochure, it could hold up to 10,000 books, but it also came with instructions on how to convert one of the first three compartments into another book storage compartment, allowing you to hold up to 40,000 books. Not that he figured he would ever even own 4 million books, but he was certain if he knew a copying spell, he could copy at least 1/4 of the hogwarts library before he would have to buy another trunk. That wasn't the only brilliant feature, there were detection spells that would detect all the information needed for the index whenever he placed a new book into the trunk and would update the index automatically. It also put a retrieval spell on all the books, so if he was attacked by a wild hippogriff and he dropped his prized book on mushrooms, he could tap his wand to the index, say the spell, and all the books not in the trunk would return immediately. It would be handy, if not cool, to have. 'Hermione would probably love to have one', he thought. The fifth compartment was a pantry of sorts. The person would have to supply the food, but it kept it fresh for up to five years. The sixth compartment was for 'housing needs', which the brochure provided basic information on specials on sleeping bags, tents, and hotels. So if somebody was camping, you would store your tent in there along with any other oversized items you might have. The seventh compartment was a walk-in room, it was completely bare, though it was a decent size. It was said most scholars who bought this model usually connected it to the 4th compartment and made it a study.

He decided to buy one and brought it up to the counter to purchase once he was done browsing and looked at the tents next. They were interesting, he couldn't help comparing the models they had to the ones he saw at the Quidditch Cup, but in the end decided he didn't really need one. He couldn't really disappear during the day with the Order watching the house, and once he was emancipated, he had more than enough places he could call home.

The next Aisle he hit was the food aisle. The packages were the size of a matchbox and held 4 of the specified meal and just required a tap of the wand to enlarge the meal, fully cooked, to it's proper size. It looked to be the wizarding equivalent of TV Dinners, though a whole lot nicer. Due to their size, there were hundreds of meals available. Since he didn't really have any time, he asked the assistant to bill five of each flavor to his order and to put them in the food compartment for him.

The next three aisles contained various traveling knickknacks. Everything from translators to sneakoscopes. There was even a pebble that would glow if there was a magical creature in the area. He didn't really see the need for most of the objects, but he did buy 'The Travelers' First Aid Kit' and a 'Language Absorber'. The Language Absorber didn't automatically allow the person to know a language, but it did help the user learn the language faster. Even if he had no current relative use, it was rather cool. Plus he thought it would be funny if he learned a foreign language and started speaking to the Dursleys in it, they would probably think he was casting a spell at them by calling them ducks in German or something.

The last section he hit was the book section. There were a lot of books that were the wizarding equivalent of muggle travel books. Some of them were pretty interesting, but as he didn't think he'd be able to travel anytime soon, he only picked up 'The Big Book of Magical Communities' from the locations section. In the language section, he took one book for every language they had, after all, with the language pendant, he could probably learn them all eventually. He also picked up a few books on foreign customs and 'What Every Traveler Should Know Before Traveling (Self Updating Edition)' before heading back to the counter.

After paying for his purchases using his new card, he packed the books in the library compartment and everything else in the first compartment before having the clerk shrink it for him. Before he left though, he was given the trunk manual. He stuck the travel information into the pages of the manual, put the trunk in his pocket, and left the shop to go back to the Leaky Cauldron. He had spent more time in there then he had intended and was surprised Remus, or the Order, weren't combing the streets looking for him.

Story Notes:

Harry's Glamour - In case it wasn't clear, he doesn't look exactly like Sirius. It would be like comparing two people who have the same hair color and eyes, yeah, they're the same, but the two people look different. Remus just thought he looked a lot like Sirius because that's who he was thinking of right before he ran into Harry.

Next Chapter: Double Trouble

- How will Remus react to the letter and the will? Will he turn Harry in or join Dobby in his world of Secret Agents?

- Will Harry be able to get some information from Remus about the Marauders' Tower?