Harry Potter and The Fate We Make

Chapter 6: Shocks and Shopping

A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter. The next few chapters will start with a date, as there will be time jumps between some of the chapters

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July 1, 1995

It having been decreed that shopping was a must, Harry woke early. He feared a long day was ahead of him. He knew it was necessary, given that his supply of clothing was rather pitiful, but still. He hated shopping. Ok, he was lying. He just was not looking forward to being in public. The furor surrounding the Triwizard Cup and how it ended was nowhere near dying down yet, and Harry was sure he'd get inundated, harassed, and otherwise completely annoyed. He got up, showered, got dressed, and started downstairs only to turn right around and go digging in his trunk for his vault key, then traipsed downstairs.

Winky was just putting plates of eggs and bacon and toast on the table. Remus looked half asleep and half dead. Considering that tomorrow was the full moon, this did not overly surprise Harry ... Remus had always looked a bit rough the days before he disappeared during third year (and it chagrined Harry no end that he'd had to have Hermione point out the obvious regarding those absences. Really, sometimes he could be so dense!). Fortunately, between the food and some strong tea, he improved considerably. Still, Harry resolved to keep this as short as he could. Sirius finally stumbled down the stairs just as he and Remus were getting up. He blinked at them muzzily for a moment before collapsing in a chair and letting his forehead hit the table.

Remus looked highly amused by this. "Sirius never was a morning person. I guess that hasn't changed."

Harry eyed Sirius, trying not to snicker. "So noted. I'll try not to prank him before he's fully awake."

"Now where's the fun in that?" Remus wanted to know. "You ready to head out?" Harry nodded. "Excellent. And to make the day a lot more tolerable for you, since I know how much you adore being stared at and hounded ... " Remus pulled out his wand, waved it in Harry's face, and muttered a long incantation that Harry didn't quite catch. An odd, shivery sensation worked its way down Harry's spine, and then Remus nodded. "There, that ought to do the trick nicely." And he conjured a mirror.

Harry did a doubletake at the face in the mirror. He looked ... well, he rather looked like he could be Remus' son, rather than a Potter. Sandy brown hair, brown eyes, no scar anywhere in evidence. In short ... he was someone that no one would notice unduly.

"This. Is. Brilliant! Thanks, Remus!" Harry hugged him happily, then followed Remus into one of the ground-floor rooms that had a big fireplace (Harry supposed it qualified as a parlour, though there seemed to be more than one of those in the house). Remus grabbed a small container off the mantle, and started a fire in the grate. Moments later, they were both on their way to the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry grumbled under his breath as he picked himself up off the Leaky Cauldron's floor. He was never going to get the hang of that. Remus, bless him, ignored the fact Harry'd nearly bloodied his nose on the cobbles, and just headed for the entrance to the Alley.

It being the first serious shopping day of the summer, it was hardly surprising that the Alley was busy, though it was nowhere near as insane as it was closer to the start of the school year. Harry stuck close to Remus, and had to actively stop himself from hunching in on himself every time someone glanced his way. Only the fact that their eyes slid over him without any spark of recognition kept him from trying to hide his (currently invisible) scar with his hair. By the time they'd got to the doors of Gringotts, he'd got over the worst of it and really started enjoying himself.

They headed up to a counter and Harry presented his key ... which started a bit of a kerfuffle. The goblin at the desk gave him a very sharp, very pointed, suspicious and almost angry look. It took Harry a few seconds to figure out why, and once it occurred to him, he really didn't blame the goblin. "I'm wearing a glamour." He said in a low voice, then glanced over at Remus. "Cancel it? Just for a minute?" Remus nodded, and cancelled the glamour. This seemed to appease the goblin, at least in part. At any rate, it looked less angry and suspicious.

"You have come to inspect your vaults and holdings, then?" It asked. Which question flummoxed Harry for a moment.

"Vaults? Plural?"

"Of course." The goblin said. "A few moments, and I shall escort you to the manager of your vaults."

A few minutes later found a rather bemused Harry in the office of a very elderly and snaggly-looking goblin. "I am Gorbsnank." The goblin said. "I was informed you did not know of your inheritance?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I had no idea. I thought the trust vault was it." He glanced over at Remus, who looked a bit abashed.

"I knew, sort of generally." He admitted. "But I thought Dumbledore'd told you." Harry grumbled. Yet another screwup to lay at the Headmaster's feet. This was getting seriously annoying. "So ... vaults?"

"Yes. There is one strictly for money, and a second that holds paperwork and family heirlooms. Both are high-security vaults."

Which probably meant they were only accessible by goblin, like the vault the Stone'd been in, first year. "And I can access those vaults?"

"Yes. As the last scion of an ancient and noble house, you should have had partial access starting on your thirteenth birthday. Full access begins on the fifteenth birthday, but given your participation in the Triwizard Cup, you are considered an adult insofar as Gringotts is concerned."

Ok, that was news. Not that it'd have been a long wait, seeing that his fifteenth birthday was at the end of the month anyway. And he was going to (metaphorically) kill Dumbledore for this. No. Wait. Better, sic the twins on him. That sounded like a plan. "I'd like to go down there, then."

"Of course."

So down they went, deeper, Harry was sure, than even the Stone's vault had been. The vaults were side-by-side. Harry peeked into the money vault first, and nearly fell over. As stunning as his trust vault had been, this was ... more. A lot more. His trust vault was maybe ... maybe ... a tenth the size of this one. And there was only a handful of Sickles and Knuts near the door. The rest of it was Galleons. As far as the eye could see.

"Whoah." Harry whispered, blinking. He gave his head a shake, then looked over at Remus. "Right. That does it. You're getting kitted out too." And when Remus, predictably, started to object. "Forget it, Remus. You're not going to win this one. I may be younger, but I'm way more stubborn. I'll resort to early Christmas presents if I have to."

Remus subsided, but he still looked guilty and uncomfortable. Harry ignored that as he loaded up a pouch with probably way more money than he'd need, but better safe than sorry, since he didn't know exactly what the exchange rate was, or how much he'd need for the purchases he intended to make.

The next stop was the heirloom vault. This one was as large as the money vault, and packed with ... things. Furniture of every description, tapestries, portraits, jewels and jewelry, a scattering of weapons, some odd artifacts, and what looked like the entirety of a library, among other items. Remus peered around for a moment.

"Looks like they emptied Potter Manor as a precaution." He said. "That looks like most of the Potter Family library, if I'm not mistaken."

"Potter. Manor." Harry echoed, eyebrows heading for his hairline as he stared at Remus. "Manor. As in house. As in place to live. You're telling me ... " He let out an angry snarl and fought the urge to hit something. " ... Dumbledore and I are going to have words." He all but hissed the words.

Harry wandered around the vault, looking at things. He didn't touch much, and what he did touch, he doublechecked with Remus first. Not that he thought there'd be nasty Dark artifacts, given his family's allegiances, but it paid to be careful. He was tempted to bring some of the books out, but realized that he'd better check the Black library first. The one main find was in a box near the door ... the Potter family signet ring. Harry pocketed that, box and all.

Still grumbling under his breath about manipulative old codgers, Harry finally indicated they could head back to the surface. Remus reapplied the glamour, and they left the bank. Harry promptly dragged Remus to Madame Malkins, and they spent the next hour picking out robes and trousers and suchlike. Harry got a good snicker or three out of the fact that they both seemed to gravitate towards the less-expensive cloths and styles ... and even had fairly similar tastes in colors (neither of them approved of flamboyant colors or color combinations). That accomplished, Harry made a brief stop at the apothecary to stock up on potions ingredients ... he was determined to do well at potions, Snape be damned ... and at the Owl Emporium for treats for Hedwig.

That done, they stopped for lunch at the Leaky Cauldron before heading into Muggle London. Another hour picking out Muggle-style clothing, and then they stopped at an optometrist's. Much to Harry's pleasure, they left with contacts, both clear and colored. Harry had discovered, after a whimsical 'why-not' moment, that concealer, designed to camouflage all sorts of things, hid the scar quite nicely. Between that and the brown colored contacts, Harry'd be able to be out and about in the Wizarding world with minimal fuss without having to resort to spells that could be finite'd.

They both of them more or less collapsed when they staggered out of the floo at Grimmauld Place. Remus managed to stay upright just long enough to empty his pockets of shrunken-down bags before retreating to his room for the evening. Harry was tempted to follow suit, but his stomach was snarling enough that he detoured to the kitchen for something to eat. Food eaten, he dragged himself upstairs, and, hearing some noise from the library, went to investigate. And found Sirius, surrounded by books and crates of books. "Whatcha up to, Sirius?"

"Just sorting through this lot and getting rid of the booby-trapped books and books on subjects people really don't need to know anything about." Sirius gave one of the crates of books a jaundiced glare. "How'd the shopping go?"

"Went great. And I managed to get Remus kitted out without too much of a fuss. Pulled the 'early Christmas presents' card on him, and he caved. I think he knew he'd get the stuff regardless."

Sirius grinned. "Good going." He finally looked up, and did a doubletake. "Hey! What happened to your glasses?"

Harry laughed. "I got contacts. They'll be a lot harder to get away from me. I've had my glasses knocked off my face way too often, and I'm pretty much blind without."

"Contacts?" Sirius echoed.

It was at times like this that Harry remembered that Sirius was a pureblood, raised in the Wizarding world, and therefore had remarkably little understanding of Muggle things (flying motorcycles notwithstanding). Also, his information was a decade or so out of date.

"Yeah. Basically, they're a thin film of plastic that conforms to the eyeball to correct your vision."

"Oh. Sounds ... painful."

"Nah. A bit disconcerting to put in, but not painful." Harry said, trying not to laugh. "I'll show you sometime." Harry offered, eliciting a shudder from Sirius. "No? Ok. I promise, it's nothing like Moody's eye." Harry had no idea how putting that in and out worked, or even if it was possible, but there was absolutely no way it could be comfortable. Or fun to watch happen. Eugh. "By the way, it's late, and I'm done in, so I'm heading for bed. Remus beat me to it already."

Sirius nodded. "See you in the morning, kiddo."