[Disclamer] Don't own, just mucking around on request from people who are fans of mucking around same as me and seeing the results.

A/N: Few notes: Harry here is 13 going on 14, just going into the rebellious stage with hormonal disbalance and his voice cracking, and later him starting to notice girls (all according to canon, Cho anyone?). And before you say anything against steps he is taking, I have several cousins and I asked them to give me ideas of what they would do, what steps would they take and who could influence their decision one way or the other, and also asked them to go to a bank and actually ask those questions, so this chapter is written with the help of my 13 to 15 year old cousins. Big thanks to them.

Also big thanks to those bank people and a friend of mine who works in a bank, with giving me some ideas on how they would have reacted to a kid asking such questions. Eric, bisou.

On reviews: thank you so much, it means a lot to get them. And I will try to post about a chapter every 2-3 weeks, but no promises. Also, no slash/het/whatever yet. I'll keep to cannon until at least book 7.

Any critique would be appreciated.

In Previous Chapter: At this Harry's thoughts came to a halting screech. Just how rich he, Harry, was?

_Ch1: The first steps_

Harry spent the whole evening pondering on that thought. Even his Aunt's screech to start cooking dinner and his family's atrocious table manners didn't break him out of it, though this time he paid close attention to the news, trying to do it as unobtrusively as possible. He didn't know what made it possible in the end: him sitting silently in a corner and/or his magic answering to his wish to be as insignificant and easy to disregard as possible. He did notice that sometimes, when he really wished it, people actually ignored him as long as he didn't make any sounds or moves. When he got to his room, deep in thought, Harry decided that he needed to get more information as he had woefully small amount of it. First on agenda was to go through all of Dudley's discarded stuff, as some of it might still be usable. Only some, as Dudley had a tendency on breaking the stuff one way or the other (by sitting on it, squeezing too hard or outright kicking when in a fit). Second, he needed to get in contact with his bank, and the person in charge of his account, or at least get to the bank to get someone in charge of stuff like that to explain everything about his bank account to him (he heard his Uncle and Aunt several times on the phone with their General Account Manager and hotline). He needed to know how much money he had, because he had to get a credit for something like buying a piece of land for future orphanage. That idea lead him to realization that he didn't want to buy a building but build his own from scratch, starting from a very big piece of land, because he wanted to have a gym and a Qudditch pitch on the grounds. And he definitely needed the Pitch as he didn't want to give up the sport, and he loved the swings in the park, so he wanted those too.

His head started hurting from all the haphazard ideas floating around and crowding in his mind, leading him into several different directions, so he decided to write it down. He took out a piece of parchment and a quill, wrote down "visit bank and get to know the person in charge of my account personally, to see if he's trustworthy" and promptly frowned when the ink ended at the end of the sentence scratching the parchment surface, tearing it up. Reaching out in a small drawer in his table he grabbed for another inkwell, and not finding it, he looked into the drawer. His eyes fell onto pencils which he used to gather painstakingly when he was in grade school. Why didn't he use those? They were so much more comfortable. And the notebook next to them would take so much less space, enabling him to carry it around in his pocket and take notes when they hit him, like this afternoon.

Ok, back on track. He took out a pencil and the notebook, which was the same size as the electronic notepad(1) he used the previous day and was still hidden in his trunk after it. That reminded him, he needed to charge it, and make sure to make it a habit to check the news. And that added an agenda to the list - to check if there was anyway to make it work in Hogwarts. Actually, now that he thought about it, that wouldn't be of any use unless he had a satellite connection, and even then it was highly questionable. So he had to find an alternative - like getting Muggle newspapers. Harry made a face, he really wasn't a studious type, but needs must.

He looked up at Hedwig's cage and frowned. His snowy Owl was out delivering a letter to Sirius, a few lines that e was fine and his relatives were treating his alright (he smirked at that, they were practically behaving like he wasn't there, which suited him just fine). He frowned again: in this age of instant communications, owl post really wasn't fast enough sometimes. And that reminded him that he didn't get much from his friends. Ron he could understand, though he still got an apology for yelling on the phone (that was hilarious, though mortifying). But Hermione? She was Muggleborn, surely she could call him? Or send an e-mail. Now that he thought about it, why didn't that idea come to him earlier? And Hermione only gave him her home line. Did she have a e-mail? A mobile phone?(2) Maybe he should create one (e-mail) himself and get a pay-as-you-go cheap mobile, or see if there's one already among Dudley's things.

That reminded him, that he needed to go through all the junk in the attic. Maybe he would find something useful there. Maybe even some change in pockets of the discarded clothes (he did find some bills on Dudley's discards from time to time, especially if they were thrown at him in a fit, right after being considered trash after being ripped or dirty. (3)

So the plan so far, so to scavenge what he could from old stuff. Set up an e-mail. See if he could get a mobile. Go to the bank and get the person in charge of his bank account. Oh, see what he needed to start an orphanage. Make a draft of what he wanted in it, like gym, Quidditch field, dormitories, a small park with swings, etc. He frowned and added: "ask about getting documents to say that I am an adult, like passport, license, ID some kind (4)."

And satisfied with his rough draft of a plan, he went to sleep.

The next couple of days were very busy for Harry. The Dursleys huffed and were suspicious when he expressed a desire to clean up the attic. Luckily Harry had enough sense to express that desire during lunch time after finishing seeding the flower beds and when his aunt was the only one at home. He was very careful with sorting everything he found, putting stuff that was obviously broken to the forefront to justify the cleaning both to the Dursleys and the neighbors, giving his Aunt a reason to call it a "summer cleaning". Every working gadget and item was carefully inspected, and if small and useful (possibly useful), they were carefully hidden in his trunk (Harry added another point to his planner - get a bigger, preferably shrinkable and expanded trunk). Other things that were not small enough or were not useful for the short term were organized and presented to his Aunt.

Unfortunately, his Aunt got into the 'cleaning mood', forcing him to scrub the whole house. He had to clean the other rooms: he didn't touch the clothes, but he had to scrub every crook and cranny, up to taking down the chandeliers, clean above the antesols (A/n: above the curtains), wash all the windows, linens, curtains, etc. Harry was very thankful hos Aunt abandoned the idea of actually plaster the ceiling and change the wall papers and the floor rug (he had to vacuum that one though). The worst and back breaking were the bathrooms (for obvious reasons) and the kitchen (5). Cleaning out the rain drains was no walk in the park either. So by the end of the 2 weeks it took Harry to finish everything, he wasn't too spiffy with his own idea.

It was with aching bones and muscles that Harry woke up on Monday, July 28th(6) to realize that he didn't have more cleaning to do, and that he finally could put some of his plans to work. He had done quite a lot of thinking during the time (menial work helps to clean the head marvelously), and had decided that he needed to find out about the banks in the Muggle world, more specifically he wanted know the conditions for taking a loan. So after cooking and serving breakfast he asked his Uncle to drop him off in London on the way to work. Vernon huffed and mumbled something unintelligibly not even putting down the newspaper he was reading to glare at the boy, which Harry took as agreement.

Harry was dropped off unceremoniously at the earliest convenience, not that he had anything against it, with a growled "find your own ride back, Boy". Actually, he reflected by the end of the day, that in the end proved to be a much better solution for him, because he had to walk past quite a few shops and he made a few observations. Firstly, the outward appearances were very important and he needed to change his whole wardrobe if he wanted to be taken seriously and get proper service. An incident in a shop was a real eye opener in that regard.

Flashback:

Harry was walking down the street window shopping, entering into some and looking at price tags, completely oblivious to the looks he was receiving. He saw a shop that was selling travelling gear including some backpacks and luggage. The moment he entered the shop he was accosted by a clerk:

- "Good Day sir. Follow me. I know exactly what you need."

Harry was surprised, but shrugged and followed the clerk to the isle with... sleeping bags. Harry was so dumbstruck that he barely heard the clerk gush about the low price and durabilty. He could only blink when the realization dawned on him, that the salesman - a person who was supposed to understand the needs of a customer at a glance - took him for a bum.

End Flashback.

After that he was more conscious to the looks he was given. And the attitude of the bank employees made much more sense to him. The barely there sneers, the outward disregard and dismissal, the request to see his parents and calling him a kid, the immediate answer that he wasn't allowed an account as a minor without more explanation. The attitude of the security personnel.

In the end, he got to the Leaky Cauldron, where he made a second observation. As long as he was dressed as a muggle, and in obviously cheap and torn clothes at that, he flew under a radar of most wizards, who only sneered at him, turned their noses, and generally behaved like he was some homeless dog out on a street, treated with disdain and/or utter disregard. Some even went as far as to circle around him, as if he had a contagious disease.

Third observation was made at Gringotts. The goblins were rude, to the point and waiting for any chance to screw you over. Oh, and bargaining with them, as long as you ignored the sneers and bared teeth (which he was tired of by that time, therefore not as polite as usual), was a must. And being blunt and demanding things actually worked much better (though was nerve wrecking). In other words, they were greedy bastards that respected force, power, warrior spirit and a shrewd bargain. If one managed all of the above with dignity without belittling the goblins at the same time, even better.

The fourth observation was also made in Gringotts, when a goblin started explaining the intricacies of a loan he wanted to take out. Harry understood that he didn't know anything about whether the conditions were the same as in the Muggle world. The whole talk went right over his head, the only words staying with him being 'minor', 'guardian signature', 'emancipation', 'money', 'expenditures', 'contractors' and 'adjustable rate'. In the end, he left Gringotts in late afternoon a bit cross eyed and when fresh air cleared his head some, he was immensely relieved that he had had enough sense not to sign the contract right there, but take a copy with him to ask his Uncle to read it through. Yes, he knew it was a stupid thing, but all those big words numbed his brain so much, that the only thought it his mind at that time had been: "Hey, I heard Uncle Vernon use those words, especially when he laughed about managing to rope some idiots into signing contracts with Grunnings on absolutely ridiculous and predatory conditions. "Served those freaks right", he would always add."

As it was getting quite late, Harry had enough sense to look into his notebook for the items he wanted to purchase, and thus remembered to buy a trunk, which turned out to be an adventure in itself, when he asked for a durable and capacious one, with security features, on wheels and muggle friendly design. In the end he had to settle for two: an proper magical trunk with several compartments and standard security measures, with addition of an feather-light charm (shrinking was impossible as it already because of the expansion charms on the compartments) and a second one, an Eagle Creak trunk(7) that looked like a big backpack on wheels and with the handle. That one turned out to be an experiment, due to demand among some adult wizards forced to travel by muggle means and therefore needing more muggle-friendly luggage.

Fifth observation was made in Muggle clothes shop. They truly had everything. Even an optician. And his prescription was definitely a wrong one. Sixth observation was made in conjunction with his eyesight - he couldn't wear contact lenses. Unfortunately. He didn't really understand the explanation. But he could do the surgery in a few years. That cheered him up immensely.

So, by the end of the day he was totally drained, made a few life changing observations, found out how little he actually knew, had a brand new (Muggle) wardrobe put into his new trunk that was currently laying at his feet while he was eating in an Indian restaurant.

Oh, and he added another item on his list of things to buy: a wand holster.

Explanations:

1. I am going with the notepad that I have myself, it's a standard e-reader, half the size of A4, but has internet connection, calculator, dictionary and a bunch of other useful stuff. Not as complicated as iPad, much much simpler, very handy and you can download and upgrade software on it no problem, though the configurations are pain in the eck to do in the beginning.

2. Yes, I know, in canon it's 1994, so cell phones and internet and e-mail are just coming in, but this is Gundam era, so everyone has e-mails and internet. Deal with it.

3. Don't laugh. Happened to my stuff all the time. My mom had to go through all the pockets of my clothes we were giving away to my cousins (I am the oldest so they used to get my discards all the time) after one time my Aunt called me saying thank you for the stuff you send, how can we send you back all the money found in the pockets. I was mortified when she laughed that she found about $200 total O_o'.

4. Yes, I know, those are called emancipation papers. But my cousins didn't. I wrote it the way they tried to explain it.

5. You have no idea how many things and places you find to clean up in the kitchen when you want it scrab it thoroughly. Completely redecorating it is actually easier sometimes, believe me.

6. According to timeline on Lexicon, Express arrived to London on 18th June, so he spent ~2 weeks moping around, 2-3 days on realizations, 3 days on attick and 2 weeks cleaning.

7. You can google it. I just picked a trunk at random, to tell the truth

A/N: *Looks back at chapter* Umm, it's not my fault? It just ran away from me. And even then I glossed over so many things *sweat drop*. Interesting how one day can change things without changing much, isn't it?

Any constructive critique and simply ideas are welcome. I know where I want to lead the story, but you can help me flesh it out a lot, so anything you think might be good to be included, drop me a line.

Cheers. R&R?