Previous Chapter - Christmas presents. Harry enjoys the days up to New Years Eve with Hermione and her parents. They also practice Occlumency and read up on wizarding customs in preparation for the New Years Eve party at the Longbottoms co hosted by the Abbotts. At the party Harry discovers the identity of the witch that followed him home from Kings Cross station.

Note: The Chapter 18 was updated with a beta'd version on November 9. Plenty of grammatical fixes but no changes to the story if you have already read it.

Chapter 19 - Last Days in Diagon Alley

-my-friend-tom-

Harry gulped down three cups of water before his thirst was quenched.

"I thought you said the spells were easy?"

'I told you that the spell to scribe to parchment which the Avatar creates would be. I never said the same about the spells to give the Avatar vitality.'

Harry paused and decided whatever the truth was, there was no point arguing with Tom. He slumped, exhausted, on to the couch he had purchased for Tom's hideaway. Harry still didn't feel comfortable calling it his even though it now looked nothing like it had previously. More posters had joined those on the wall including the Quidditch poster from Katie. He had already decided it would be the only one he would take with him when he returned to Hogwarts.

He had replaced the bed with a newer, much more comfortable one and added a large dark stained oak desk complete with dozens of drawers, shelves and even an adjustable drawing surface. The old plain table with the stack of deadly traps had been pushed into the corner. He would have preferred to get rid of it and the books but he had not even close to enough power to overcome the deadly wards Tom had created there. Tom hadn't left any backdoors for those traps. He was just happy that moving the table wasn't one of the triggers.

The kitchen had been stocked with a bunch of essentials including a large supply of milk, fruit and fruit juices all under stasis and quick cooling charms. Eggs, bacon, bread, cereals and a few other breakfast foods had been purchased and made use of, however he still went out for almost every other meal as Douglas Boots. It was nice to be able to meet people and not have them already know your name and have strange ideas about who you really were.

After a few minutes of gazing at a poster of the last quidditch world cup, Tom spoke up, 'You are rested enough. Go check on your Avatar.'

Harry sighed but did as he was told. Closing his eyes, he let his awareness fall in on itself. It was kind of like self Legilimency but so complete that all external sensation and awareness was lost. It definitely wasn't something you would do in an unsecure location. Over the past month all Harry's work on developing the Avatar had meant he was now very good at entering the right state. He could do it within seconds if he wasn't upset, angry or hungry at the time. Why hunger had such an impact Tom had not been able to explain. It shouldn't have. Harry had made a comment about growing bodies and hadn't been pleased when Tom had laughed.

He opened his eyes to see a heavily wooded forest. He breathed in the scents that were those of the forest and gardens of Little Whinging magnified tenfold. The trees here were taller and more jungle like. A blend of those he had often walked through and those of jungles he had read about and seen pictures of. He stood still as a loud hissing sound began to approach him from every side, whilst branches and vines started to edge towards him. He resisted the growing urge to move. Even when the snakes appeared crawling along those branches and vines that were now close enough to begin to encircle him, he stood still. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself as the vines, branches and snakes first touched, and then started to twist around his limbs and torso. It took a fair amount of willpower to remain still and quiet until they had fully immobilised him. Normally at this time he would have been pouring his will into the snakes and branches in an effort to make them as solid and as immutable as possible but now he wanted to save all his concentration for later.

They held him in an uncomfortably firm grip just below painful, thankfully this time they hadn't wrapped around his throat. That was uncomfortable even though he knew they would never tighten enough to block his airway. He waited what seemed like minutes, though he knew in the real world almost no time had passed. Then he felt himself sinking along with the snakes and branches; he didn't resist and the the soft earth quickly rose up and blocked all light.

The soft earth was cold but in a way comforting as it slid past him. Moments later the vines, snakes and the earth released him. He dropped softly into a dimly lit corridor carved out of natural rock, only a small round circle of earth above differentiated this part of the tunnel system to any other. Here he had allowed himself a measure of control and he disabled the traps and sent the mindless guardians within back to sleep using his code words as he passed by.

He passed many chambers, doors and curtains. Each had a purpose, each had a reason, each looked just as he had imagined it. Except one, the one he was looking for. It had been a rather plain wooden door, oak, lightly stained. Now it looked just the door of the Hogwart's library. Harry was a little surprised to see the change. Till now everything in his mindscape had been just as he had created it and he hadn't expecting anything to change, apart from his avatar. As he reached for the handle a stern voice called out, "It's only polite to knock first."

Harry's eyebrows raised up high but he did as the voice suggested before entering. He wasn't concerned, this was after all his own mindscape and everything he had encountered before had been exactly as it should have been. Still, it was rather curious.

Inside it looked just like the Hogwart's library, tall walls with high windows, well worn stone tiles with a scattering of rugs, tables and chairs. However, the shelves were mostly empty and there were piles of boxes and books covering the floor and tables.

"What a mess. Your sorting leaves a lot to be desired, young man. I've had to go and start from scratch."

Harry blinked at the owner of the voice as she floated through a nearby shelf. Her ghostly hand lifted a book from one of the piles and she started examining the cover and spine. She looked familiar but it took him a while to figure it out. She looked just like the ghostly librarian from Ghostbusters, a movie he had watched only a few days ago with Hermione. That didn't seem quite right as for most of the mediation whilst he had constructed the Avatar he had pictured in his head a blend of the librarian from the local library, the one from his primary school and Madam Pince. He would have to ask Tom about it.

He froze for a moment wondering how one should go about addressing what effectively was a part of his own subconscious, "Hi. Eh... I'm Harry."

The ghost placed the book on an empty shelf and turned to look at him, "Well of course you are. Now why don't you go be a good little boy and get started bringing me all the hospital records that I am meant to be reviewing. It'll take quite a while to read them all, you know, and I don't want to start till they are all here. I'll just keep sorting these out till you're done. Now, off you go."

Harry found himself already outside the library and walking away when he realized that he'd effectively just been ordered around by himself. This was not quite how he had imagined working with an avatar, but then again, he hadn't really put much thought in as far as personality went and the appearance, well that was just strange. As he prepared to leave his trance he decided it'd be best just to let her have her way. He could well remember what happened when the ghostbusters had upset the ghostly librarian in the movie.

-my-friend-tom-

It took most of the rest of the holiday to visually scan every page of the Hogwart's hospital records and that was using one spell to take the contents of each page directly to his memory, bypassing his consciousness, and another spell to flip the pages. The spell he was using to scan the pages was interesting in that it wasn't possible for him to actually refer to any of the page without fully entering his mindscape to read it. Tom had tried to explain to him the barriers between the different layers of consciousness but Harry had soon found himself with a splitting headache and begged off. If that level of understanding was required to becoming a master Legilimens then Tom could keep it.

When he wasn't scanning notes, he was either wandering Diagon Alley or browsing through the books that Tom hadn't already added to his study roster. As many of the books were related to Tom's searching for Founder's artifacts and Hidden Lore they were mostly history books and the majority of those were in languages didn't understand. Voldemort had been a powerful polyglot and could read many more languages than the four Harry practiced.

Picking up a book with an elaborately carved wooden cover Harry flicked through a few pages before asking, "What language is this one in?"

'It's an early form of what is now known as Albanian. It's meant to be about Druidic Lore but there is very little of useful information within. Picked it up whilst I was searching for Ravenclaw's Diadem.'

"Did you have to fight Vampires?" Harry was interested now. Ever since New Year's Eve he had enjoyed picturing himself at a Vampire ball. Though without all the bloodletting, stakes and burning.

Sadly Tom wasn't so interested in the topic, 'I briefly encountered a few. There was no fighting involved.'

"Quirrell said he fought Vampires in Albania."

'Quirrell visited Albania?'

"Yeah, the older students say it must have been pretty scary as back when he was the Muggle Studies teacher he didn't have the stutter."

There was a long pause.

"Tom?"

"Tom?"

'Sorry, Harry. I'm reviewing my memories. This may be important.'

Shrugging, Harry went back to flicking through the pages of the book. It had many drawings and he could recognise some as being of ritual circles, strange looking trees and leyline maps. It was a nice looking book but not understanding any of the text he soon got bored with it. It wasn't the same when Tom wasn't answering questions about the various pictures, passing on little tidbits of knowledge. After putting it back he begun cooking himself some soup. It was snowing and the wind was blowing hard outside and he wasn't in the mood to have snow pushed into his face tonight.

He was just mopping up the last of the soup with a piece of bread when Tom finally spoke up.

'It's about time you got back to practising, Harry.'

"Tom?"

'Yes, Harry?'

"What was that all about?"

'Well. There is another possibility for what may be causing the issues we have when in the vicinity of Quirrell. I'm not positive about it. However there is a test that we can do at Hogwart's to confirm it.'

"What do you think it might be?"

'Do you mind waiting till we run the test before we talk of it more? We should be able to do it the day we return to Hogwart's. It's only a theory at the moment and if it turns out to be incorrect then it's not important. If it's true, then some precautions will need to be taken.'

"Does that mean if you are right about the theory then it's important?"

'Yes.'

Harry paused for a moment before answering, "Sure, Tom, I can wait."

'Thanks Harry.'

"So, have you ever fought vampires outside of Albania?"

Harry was certain he heard Tom sigh before he answered, 'Okay. Yes, a number of times. As Voldemort I attempted to form alliances with Vampires a number of times and more than once I ended up having to destroy a number of them before they would listen or back down. The typical vampire is not all that tough. Whilst physically stronger and faster than your average adult wizard, once your magic has matured some more, they won't be a threat to you unless they catch you unaware.'

"Are the stories of very powerful vampires true?"

'The stories no, but that they exist yes, though you would have to go out of your way to find them. They are extremely territorial and self absorbed with their own existence. Such vampires were all very powerful wizards and their magic allows them to become stronger, live longer and feed less often. I considered it a half measure to immortality.'

Harry thought about that for a moment before asking a new question. Typicall, Tom was less forthcoming about topics not relevant to his education, but obviously Tom thought he owed him something at the moment and Harry was going to make full use of it, "So Vampires need magic to survive? What happens if they try turning a muggle?"

'The muggle will die. Most vampires were squibs or average powered wizards. More powerful wizards will typically either end up dead or fight off the infection. The most powerful might even retain some of their magical abilities. It's fairly similar to what happens with werewolves and ghouls, though werewolves tend to retain more of their magic and lycanthropy is much more contagious.'

"You have fought werewolves too?"

'On occasion, but it's not usually necessary. They are easier to control and typically more useful. Most are barbaric and give into their primal instincts; it was quite simple to turn them against the ministry and have them flock to Voldemort's banner. If you recall, a few weeks ago you read an article about Fenrir Greyback, he leads one of the largest packs and has for many decades. He would have been a powerful wizard before he was turned, probably intelligent too. He's a beast now, a mere weapon to be aimed at one's enemies.'

"He's old, then?"

'Not that you could tell. He looks like he's in his forties but he was around well before I was born. Likely looked the same then, too. He is a survivor first and brutal killer second.'

Harry grimaced, "I hope I don't meet up with him."

'Indeed. And that is enough questions for the moment, clean up and go work on your spells.'

-my-friend-tom-

Harry frowned as he stared at the stairs leading up to the great doors of the goblin bank. Mathematics wasn't his favourite subject but it was up there amongst them, so he had a better than average understanding of financial matters for an eleven year old. Enough knowledge to know that having all his accounts except for his trust account frozen was costing him a lot of money. Everytime he thought of it, it irritated him. What made him angry was that someone was watching his account and he couldn't work out who.

A throwaway comment of Tom's in reply to Harry's complaining, once again, about hating having every withdrawal monitored had led him back to Gringotts. It was the morning of his departure from Diagon Alley and Harry was not looking forward to leaving, but he knew the safest course of action would be to return to Privet Drive for a night before returning to Hogwarts. He would miss the people. They weren't friends but Harry, or rather Douglas, could imagine them becoming so if he stayed there longer.

He took a few deep breaths and calmed his mind telling himself once again that it wasn't the goblins' fault. They had to follow the instructions of his magical guardian. That they had been instructed by that guardian to freeze his accounts, conceal the guardian's identity and also make sure he was advised of every withdrawal from his trust account was not their fault. Actually, Harry wasn't sure that concealing the guardian's identity was an instruction or general policy, either way it was frustrating for both him and Tom. A much calmer Harry gave one of the goblin guards inside a small bow and requested a private discussion with an account manager.

A short while later Harry was led to a small bare room with a single wooden table and two simple wooden chairs. It was almost identical to the one he used during his previous visit. Before the guard left he asked for a name and Harry told him the name of the particular goblin he wished to speak to.

As he waited, Harry cancelled his glamours and sat down. When Gorehook walked in, Harry got straight to business. "Good Morning, Mr Gorehook. I'd like to ask a few questions about my trust account."

The goblin sat down and tapped the table with his long fingers. "Of course. Go ahead."

"Last time, you told me that you had to limit and then report to my magical guardian the amount withdrawn in a given day by me. Does a transfer count as a withdrawal?"

The goblin's nose twitched before he answered, "Would you like it to be?"

Harry gave a small smile and shook his head, "How much for a vault? One that would fit in all the coins within my trust vault."

The goblin tapped one finger slowly on the table ten times before answering, "May I make a recommendation, Mr Potter?"

Harry nodded cautiously.

Gorehook took a piece of cut parchment out of a small chest at his feet. Harry didn't notice the chest arrive and wondered if it had been under a notice-me-not. As Gorehook started to write he spoke aloud. "I would suggest rather than a small vault that will fit what you require, that you purchase rather than rent a premium vault on our lower levels. There will of course still be an annual maintenance fee that, providing you sign up for a twenty year contract, will be provided at a discount. Of course you will want it registered to your magical signature and password protected. A sack-of-convenience is additional but you will also definitely want that. In fact I suggest that it be charmed with all the extra security charms that are available."

Harry wondered how much this was going to cost him but if it gave him immediate access to all his trust funds it would be worth it. He nodded in agreement and let the goblin add of a few additional fees to pad out the bill.

'Well done, Harry. That is going to make things so much easier.'

"You did say we needed more money and that trying to hock the stuff from the apartment was likely to be rather risky."

'Indeed I did. The money there will tide you over until you are powerful enough to break into one of my followers' houses.'

"Still not so sure I like that idea."

'We have already discussed, this Harry. They will do no good with it, nor was it legally obtained, if anything it is more my money than it is theirs.'

"I know but… I don't want to be a thief."

'It's just a name, Harry. Remember, this is war. Think of that silly story about Robin Hood if you must but focus on who is the innocent and who is the enemy.'

"Okay, Tom. I'll try."

After he witnessed Harry signing the request, Gorehook called for a goblin called Narbuk to take Harry down to his new vault. Harry needed to physically visit the vault to register his magic with the wards. Later, the sack-of-convenience Gorehook would prepare would decrease the need for actual visits.

As Narbuk led the re-glamoured Harry towards the vaults the goblin begun rapid fire speaking.

"I will explain the sack-of-convenience. It'll only allow you to retrieve galleons, sickles and knuts from the vault. It will allow you to also deposit galleons, sickles, knuts, gems and jewelry. Apparition or portkey wards will prevent it functioning. Iit won't work whilst you are at Hogwarts. It will work in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. If you desire to key such wards to allow it to function you will find it time consuming and costly. We do provide such a service if you have a warded property."

Harry, who had just taken a seat in a cart was surprised at that, "You can modify wizard wards?"

Narbuk sneered, "We employ wizards for such work. We do not put goblin wards on wizard houses."

Tom's voice was as disparaging as the goblins, 'Because they wouldn't work. Goblin wards need to be cut into natural rock, they are only powerful underground. They also have one very big weakness that I can teach you.'

Harry was about to answer when the cart suddenly took off. It was his fifth time riding a cart and it was just as much fun. This time he was heading to a different vault and he was pleased to find that it was further down. It twisted, turned, dropped and twisted some more. He really wanted to let loose with a whoop of delight but he didn't think the goblin would appreciate. Still, he was still smiling broadly as he hopped off the cart all the way up until he put his hand up against the thick black metal door as directed by Narbuk.

There was a tingling sucking feeling as the door became familiar with his signature. He paid little attention to Narbuk as the goblin began listing the various options and costs for decorating the door. He had paid enough for all the security options that he didn't really need and wasn't planning on wasting any more money. Who cared that most families had at minimum their emblem.

Sadly, he did have to wait till Narbuk completed the spiel before he could go in and complete the last task. A drop of blood onto each of four large chests to link them to a large transference crystal that would later pass the link on to the the sack-of-convenience.

As Narbuk went off again, this time talking about the costs of additional chests, shelves, Harry sucked on his finger and asked the question that he had been pondering.

"So what's their weakness, Tom?"

'All goblin wards are either based on detecting physical characteristics or magical auras. You already know how to conceal heat, weight, sight and smell and I can teach you how to conceal your aura.'

"Is it hard?"

'You're already half way there with your Occlumency skills however, until your magical aura settles down, it'd be pretty pointless.'

"Settles down? You mean when I'm older, again."

Tom was amused, 'Indeed. I wouldn't worry about it. I've never found a use for it apart from concealing one's self from goblin magic. Our magic has more foolproof ways of detecting your presence such as homenum revelio and a dozen other spells. It's fairly used… humm.. actually I take that back, I have thought of another use which could help to explain something…'

"Tom?"

'Sorry Harry. It seems that for every answer I give you I create another question for myself. I promise you I'll work on coming up with some comprehensive answers for you.'

"Okay. Thanks, Tom."

Harry wasn't that worried. He was more interested in getting back into the cart for the ride back up. It seemed wrong that it went up just as fast as it went down but there was no way Harry would complain. If anything it was even more fun.

After the enjoyable ride, Harry had only a short wait till he was able to collect the sack-of-convenience and sign a document authorizing the transfer (not withdrawal) of all the coins from his trust vault to his new personal vault.

-my-friend-tom-

Harry had a lot of fun during the rest of the day throwing money about. He had money before, but it had been getting low and he certainly hadn't wanted to alert whoever was monitoring his bank account that he was in Diagon Alley by withdrawing more.

Ignoring Tom's advice to try and choose age appropriate gear he purchased few nice pieces of professional quidditch armor and a selection of books on seeker and team techniques. Tom sighed but didn't make a big deal. Harry was grateful and, after going to Flourish and Blotts and picking up two rather expensive books on ancient runes and rituals, he let Tom get away with being evasive on the reason for getting them.

Last, Harry spent the remaining two hours trawling alchemy, potion and herb shops for various materials for warding. He winced at the price of some of the items Tom had him buy. It seemed to take forever before Tom was satisfied with the quality of the dozen small obsidian spheres he wanted Harry to purchase. The shop keeper kept going on about their healing and scrying properties whilst Tom kept making disparaging comments about the shop keeper's intelligence. It was very distracting. Harry was rather grateful when he finally was able to leave the shop, the obsidian sphere well wrapped and stored in his backpack.

That was the only purchase that felt like a chore. The rest of the time he chatted with the shopkeepers and got to know them better. Mr Jiggerson of Slug and Jiggers Apothecary turned out to be a rather entertaining fellow once you got to know him. Harry was engrossed by Mr Jiggerson's tales of all the crazy and dangerous situations he got into in his youth when he used to collect his own ingredients. Harry got the impression that Mr Jiggerson was less than pleased with the amount of effort his founding partner put into running the business.

As he left the Alley that afternoon, he waved to the people that knew him as Douglas. He had already told those of them that he knew best that he had found some work in the south of England, which was also the excuse for the resupplying. He had promised them that he would try and return, most likely during the school breaks as his employee had a child at Hogwarts and it sounded like he wouldn't have work during those times.

Author Notes: Thanks WL Chastain and Ann Jinn for your ideas about what to pad the chapter with. It was thanks to your suggestions that Harry now has a bit more spending money and some more quidditch gear.

Thanks to all my readers, reviews and Aletheya who had to put in a bit more work with this chapter. I appreciate every review that I have received. Replies to them posted at wwwfanfictionnet/topic/135718/89507238/1/

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