"Yes," Mr. Ollivander said. "Curious how the wand that chose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is the brother of the once you hold in your hand. Twin cores … yes, very curious. We must expect great things from you Mr. Potter, great things … be they terrible or otherwise. The wand chooses it's master and I hope that this one has chosen it's master well.

As Harry held the wand, it became an extension of his arm. He could feel a strange sensation surging through him. It spread from his hand, coursed through his arm, and then throughout his entire body. The feeling was so palpable to Harry. He was suddenly reminded of the power he felt when he transfigured the Dursleys. He knew that he could perform magic without the wand, but with it he gained mastery over that power.

******************************************************************************

"Power," Harry thought to himself. "All the power in the world. All the power I ever wanted: power to get back at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia; power to get back at Dudley; power for all the years of being beaten, yelled at, abused; power for life. No one would ever hurt me again. No one would ever make fun of me. Huh, they wouldn't even dare look me in the eye. No one would even dare. I dare them. I dare them all. I dare them to take me on. I dare them to defy me." Harry's eyes glazed over as he was lost in thought, "But do I want this power? Power only to make others suffer as I did? Power to make others cringe at the sight of me? What do I want with this magic?

******************************************************************************

"Harry? Hey, Harry?" Hagrid spoke, "Harry are you a'right?"

Harry woke from his reverie, "Um … uh … yeah, Hagrid. I'm ok. The wand just felt … different. That's all."

"Fer a minute there I thought someone had confunded yeh or sumthin', eh. Well, come on. We still have to get you a room and board at the Leaky Cauldron now that yeh need a place ter stay n'all. I'll be checkin' with Dumbledore about where yeh should be stayin' permanently, but the Cauldron will have to do until we can get tha' straightened out."

Harry was reminded that they were still in Mr. Ollivander's shop. He turned to say good-bye.

"Thanks, Mr. Ollivander," said Harry.

"No, thank you, Mr. Potter," replied the old man, as he bowed to Harry.

The chime tinkled as they closed the door to the shop and stepped back onto Diagon Alley. The street was still very busy with Hogwarts students running about. But Harry had more shopping to do than just to get his school supplies. He also had to get new clothes, as all his earthly belongings were now probably burned to the ground. Fortunately, they were able to find a shop at the far end of Diagon Alley that sold wizard's clothes that passed well enough for muggle ones too. Harry took a couple pairs of jeans, some shirts, underwear, and a pair of trainers. It took them some time to get back to the Leaky Cauldron to make arrangements for Harry's stay. Word had gotten out that he was in the area and people were looking to meet him and shake hands all the way back.

When they walked into the place, all eyes were once again on Harry. While Hagrid talked to Tom, Harry found an empty table. He placed his newly acquired school supplies on it and sat down. With a brief respite from all the hustle and bustle of the day, Harry's mind drifted on the many events that had happed in a matter of a few days. There was so much that he still didn't understand and it was all so amazing and unbelievable. He was filled with feelings of excitement and awe. He felt as if he was in the clouds and everything around him was floating. While Harry was lost in thought, he was absentmindedly tapping his wand on the table. He then noticed that his school supplies were slowly slipping from the table. He went to catch it and he realized that the reason the table was teetering was because it was hovering a foot above the ground. In fact, he himself was suspended in midair in his seat. Looking around, he saw that everyone else was in the same predicament! However, with this realization, he panicked and everything fell back down to the ground with a loud thump. At first there were quizzical looks from all the patrons, but it appeared that they quickly dismissed what happened. Harry wiped his brow in relief.

"Oi Harry!" Yelled Hagrid from the bar, "Do yeh want somethin' ter drink?"

"Oh … yeah, Hagrid, I'd like something. Perhaps a fizzy drink," Harry yelled back.

"Ok, well, I don't think Tom's got fizzy drinks, but I'll get yeh somthin'"

"Sure, sure," Harry answered.

Harry was still in shock over making everyone in the place levitate. That, by far, was the strangest thing he had ever done. True, the magic that he had performed already was certainly peculiar—even scary at times—but this was the first time he had done something to several people and objects at the same time. This was definitely a first. What Harry found curious was that it happened and he was not even consciously doing it. He did remember that he had a floating feeling while it was all happening. Harry was trying to make some sort of sense of it all.

Hagrid was on his way back over from the bar when he slipped and started to fall over, spilling the drinks he was holding. As he was lunging, Harry reached for him urgently, trying to at least catch the drinks. Harry was too late, but the drinks never hit the ground. In a moment, everything in the Leaky Cauldron was still. No one moved. Nothing stirred. It appeared as if the people were not even breathing. Harry crashed on the ground, expecting to be crushed by the weight of Hagrid falling upon him. But as he winced, Hagrid never fell. Harry got up and brushed himself off. He gasped at the sight around him. He walked around the statue-like Hagrid, observing the contents of the mugs Hagrid was holding spilling out in mid-air. Harry pushed him as hard as he could so that Hagrid stood aright. Harry replaced the mugs in Hagrid's hands, being careful to get the contents safely back in them.

Harry walked around the scene in utter amazement. "How is this all possible?" He said to himself. "First I make the whole place float in the air and now this? Did I do this too?" Harry remembered the immediate thought he had when he saw Hagrid about to trip. He had felt himself lurch, feeling a sense of urgency, and yelled, "stop!" in his mind. "I guess I did do this," Harry concluded. "Well, how do I get things back the way they were?" he muttered under his breath. Harry scratched his head with his wand. "Oh!" he thought, smacking himself on the forehead with his hand. Harry swished his wand in the air, but nothing happened. He shook his wand as if this action would make it work properly. Harry thought for a moment. He recalled all the times he was able to perform magic at will. That is when it occurred to him that so far every time he caused magic to happen, he could feel it internally. That feeling bound itself to his thoughts and seemed to emanate from him. So, Harry squared his shoulders, felt the movement in his own body (the beating of his heart, the rush of his blood, the breath going in and out of him) and he held his wand aloft, much like a conductor queuing his orchestra. Then, Harry made a swift gesture with his wand and the place came back to life. The din of the Leaky Cauldron resumed, people went about their business as if nothing happened. Hagrid walked over with their drinks and set them down on the table.

"Harry? Weren't yeh sittin' down just now?" Hagrid asked, puzzled.

"Er, yeah. I just got up real quick to stretch" Harry replied with a smirk.

"But I swear …" Hagrid muttered, but seemed to let go of the idea.

"You must be tired from all that shopping. Go ahead and have your drink. What did you get?" Harry said, sitting down and chuckling to himself slightly.

"Oh, er, I got me'self some fire whiskey. As it turns out Tom did have a bottle or two of that fizzy drink stuff, so I got yeh some o' that. As far as your accommodations, it looks like Tom's got a vacant room for yeh upstairs. It's good enough for now. You'll be staying at Hogwarts in a month and you'll be right at home there. While you're here, I'll be checkin' in on yeh from time to time. I got other stuff to tend to on the grounds at Hogwarts, you know. Alright then, go ahead and get yer stuff upstairs and settle in. It's been a big day and yeh need yer rest" advised Hagrid.

Harry grabbed his packages and started to head upstairs. Tom walked around the bar and helped with Harry's supplies. They both went up and Tom showed him where his room was. It wasn't much. A simple room with a bed. Tom told him that the lavatory was down the hall. Harry jumped on the bed still excited about the things that had just happened downstairs. He felt giddy at the idea of being here in this world—a world of witches and wizards. But as he was reveling in the novelty of it all, a sobering thought came to him: he was a stranger in this wizarding world. He had lost the Dursleys. Yes, they were terrible to him, but at least they were family. Now, he was alone. But for Hagrid, he really didn't have a friend in the world at all.

"What am I going to do now?" muttered Harry.

"What do you mean?" came a small voice by Harry's head.

Harry bolted up in surprise. He looked around, but did not see anyone. "Whoa, what now?" he thought. He turned around again and saw that he was definitely alone, except for a little mouse that was nibbling on a bread crumb on the side-table.

He was staring at the mouse when it said, "Well, what do you mean?"

"You can speak?" said Harry wide-eyed.

"Of course I can, but you're the one that spoke to me first, so naturally, I'm answering you," replied the mouse matter-of-factly.

Harry thought of the time he spoke to the snake at the zoo. He had the impression that maybe it was just that one time and that he was only able to "speak snake" since he was never really did speak to any other animals.

"Well, uh … what's your name?"

"Name's Heathbert, but you can call me Bert. What about you?"

"I'm Harry"

"Potter?"

"Yeah."

"So you're the one that's the talk of the town."

"Yeah, well."

"So, what did you mean by 'what am I going to do now'?"

"Well, everyone around here thinks that I'm something special. They talk about me as if I've done something great, but I haven't done anything at all. So, far I've been able to do a bit of magic, but so what? Can't every witch and wizard do the same?"

"Tell you what, I was downstairs a while ago and I saw you tap your wand on the table and made everything in the place float in the air. I haven't seen a wizard that can do that. Mind you, I haven't been around that much, but it was still fantastic."

"Yeah, I'm not sure if I've figured it all out myself. I think I know how it all works now, but it's all so new. Besides, I thought wizards said incantations to make magic. My way is different. I feel like freak in a world I don't even know."

"Don't worry. You'll learn your way around soon enough. Mice are mice. There aren't really any magical mice, but I've seen both the muggle world and the magical world and there are a lot of things that are the same. You'll just have to find your way to survive. Lots of things can change around you, but if your true to yourself, you'll be able to fair fine."

Harry thought of the word "muggle" and remembered Hagrid telling him it was what they called non-magical folk. He considered what Bert was telling him and admitted it was good advice—even though it was coming from a mouse.

"Thanks for the word, Bert"

"No problem."

It was dark outside and Harry was getting tired. "Thanks again Bert and good night."

"Good night Harry Potter."

Harry went to bed that night feeling lonely, but encouraged. His talk with Bert did help. He wasn't sure how to take all this in, but if he could survive eleven years with the Dursleys, then this should be easy. Still, he had his doubts. How was it going to be at Hogwarts? Were people going to be accepting of him, or would he just experience the same maltreatment from wizards and witches who would not understand him. He still had a month to go before leaving on the train to go to his new school. He had a month to stay at the Leaky Cauldron and figure things out a bit more.