The first stop the quartet made was at Gringotts, the wizarding bank. After a very brief conversation with the teller where Sherlock accidentally insulted the goblin by calling him "subhuman", (This, of course, wasn't an insult but more of an observation of the goblin's characteristics as appearing partially human) they arrived at Harry's vault. Before them was a twenty foot high circular door with no distinct handle or lock.
"How exactly are we going to get in?" John asked.
"The only way inta the vaults are through the goblins. See?" Hagrid replied as the goblin designated "griphook" slid his finger down the door. The metal door melted away until there was nothing left but a hole in the wall. Inside said hole was a large room with many stacks of gold coins, shimmering in the flickering torch light.
"Wow," Harry breathed. Sherlock immediately stepped into the room first, with the rest of the group right on his heels.
"You'll only need 'bout a bagful right now, Harry," Hagrid instructed, handing him a small knapsack. Harry immediately snatched up as much of the coins as the sack could hold. John stood near the entrance, trying to still catch his mind up with what his eyes were seeing. To think him and Sherlock worried about the rent!
Sherlock picked a gold coin off the top of one of the many piles and stared at it for a short time. He muttered to himself before looking at Harry.
"Would you mind terribly if I kept one of these coins? There's a few experiments I'd like to run," Sherlock said. Harry shrugged.
"I think I've got enough here for you to take one," he said.
"Shall we go now?" Griphook asked. The trio and Hagrid nodded and headed back out the gates. After stopping by another vault with a slightly less interesting package, at least in John's opinion, the four headed back to the surface.
"Where to next, Mr. Hagrid?" Harry asked, eyeing the pocket where the hidden package was held. Sherlock also had been glancing at it before John elbowed him and warned him not to pickpocket their tour guide. With resignation Sherlock agreed to leave it be.
"I suppose we'll visit Madame Malkin's robe shop next," he replied.
"Lead the way," Sherlock said, gesturing on.
Harry walked next to Hagrid while Sherlock and John followed behind them.
"Bit of an odd fellow, that Mr. Holmes," Hagrid remarked to Harry. Harry nodded.
"Yes he's got his quirks, but I think that's what makes him a great man," Harry said. Hagrid nodded his head in agreement.
"Here we are," Hagrid said. Stepping inside, Harry saw a pale blond boy with a pointed nose and pale eyes standing on a stool. A woman with greying hair and olive skin observed a measuring strip swarming the boy, taking measurements from odd places like his knee to his armpit and from his left shoulder to his right thumb. She turned and greeted them. With a snap of her fingers, another stool flew from a back door next to the boy.
"Step up and we'll get you fitted quickly. First year, right? Yes we'll get you sorted," the woman said, snapping her fingers again. This time, a second measuring tape flew from the back room, poised like a cobra ready to strike. Harry stepped up and immediately the measuring tape went to work.
While the tape snaked its way around his body, the other boy glanced at him.
"Hogwarts as well?" the boy asked uninterestedly
"The woman did happen to say that when I entered," Harry remarked with a tone of sarcasm. The boy nodded, ignoring his tone.
"Me as well. Do you have any idea what house you might be in?" he said. Harry shrugged.
"I'm pretty new to magic so I've not got the slightest as to what you're talking about," Harry replied. Draco's face scrunched up a bit.
"Muggleborn are you—"
"No."
"Then why—"
"Orphaned, got sent to the muggle world," Harry said.
"I am so sorry." The boy sounded sincere.
"Why? What's your problem with muggles?" Harry asked.
"They're beneath us of course! They use swords and other primitive weapons to maim and kill and—"
"Muggles don't use swords, they use guns," Harry said. The boy looked confused.
"What's a gun?"
Suddenly, Madame Malkin stepped in and told the boy he was done. He hopped off the stool and held his hand out. Harry shook it reservedly.
"My name's Draco Malfoy by the way. I'll see you at school," with that, Draco joined a couple waiting outside who looked very similar to him.
"What an interesting boy, other than his blatant racism, of course," John joked. Sherlock looked surprised.
"Sorry, wasn't really paying attention. What did the boy say?" John rolled his eyes and Harry smiled.
"Nothing of real importance, just conversation," he said. Sherlock rolled his eyes but said nothing.
"How pedestrian."
The next stop was the apothecary, which Harry could tell Sherlock was excited for. He swept into the shop, his cloak billowing behind him. Sherlock bolted for the first barrel of ingredients, fish eyes. He sniffed them and picked one up to observe closer.
"Find anything interesting?" Harry asked. Sherlock shook his head.
"The state of these ingredients are appalling! Fish eyes just held in a barrel without any form of seal? Not to mention the rest of these ingredients which make no sense whatsoever and—"
"So you're enjoying yourself?" Harry asked, smiling cheekily.
"Immensely."
John looked somewhat unsure of the apothecary due to it's strange goods. Harry stood next to him, observing Sherlock run about either picking out the ingredients Harry needed or muttering angrily. Harry often wondered if Sherlock had a bit of a masochist in him considering he was happy when he probably shouldn't be.
After John, Harry and Hagrid pulled Sherlock away from the apothecary, claiming he could come back later, they all ventured down the alley until the reached the bookstore. Immediately, Sherlock bolted for the educational books, claiming he'd also pick up what Harry needed while Harry and John headed for the stories.
"Can I help you with anything?" a saleswoman asked. John nodded.
"Yes. We're muggles so we're a bit new to this. I was hoping to get my hands on a few introductory things and maybe a few good stories," John said. The saleswoman smiled brightly.
"Of course sir, follow me," she said. She led them to a bookcase to the far right and pulled two books with leather covers.
"These two are the best introductory books for muggleborns and their families."
She then had them follow her to another bookcase nearby with many brightly colored books with strange titles. The saleswoman pulled out a book with a light blue cover and handed it to John.
"This book contains a few very well known stories in our world. I personally recommend the Tale of the Three Brothers. It's my favorite," she said, winking. Harry stared at the book and mentally bookmarked that story for later.
Their last stop was the wand shop. Ollivander's had golden letters that had begun to peel. The dark wood and musty windows gave Harry a feeling of discomfort. The door creaked open and the tinkle of a bell was heard. Everyone except for Hagrid, because he was too large for the doorframe, stepped into the wand shop.
"Hello?" Harry called out. An eccentric looking man stepped from a nearby shelf, making John and Harry jump.
"Ah. I'd been wondering when you would finally come to my wand shop, Mr. Potter," the man called Ollivander said mystically.
"You know me?"
"No, of course not, dear boy. I knew your parents when they were in school. Yes, I remember selling them their first wands," Ollivander said mystically.
"Wonderful, lets get on with it," Sherlock interrupted in a bored tone. John elbowed him in the chest.
"Behave, Sherlock."
"Which is your dominant arm?" Ollivander asked.
"Well, I write with my right so—" Harry said. Ollivander snapped his fingers.
Immediately, a measuring tape much like the one that Madame Malkin had sprung to life. However, while the measurements at the robe shop seemed a bit odd, the measurements this tape was taking were physically impossible. John and Sherlock could only look on in confusion and intrigue as the measuring tape somehow managed to wriggle its way into one ear and out the other. After a few more minutes of this peculiar activity, Ollivander snapped his fingers once more. The tape, which had wrapped around Harry's right wrist exactly thirty seven times, slunk off him and flew back into the depths of the shop.
"Lets see…" Ollivander murmured. He snatched a wand from the top shelf to their left.
"Unicorn hair core, birch wood," Ollivander said. Harry held it gently in his hands, waiting for something to happen.
"Give it a wave," Ollivander urged. Feeling rather silly doing this in front of John and Sherlock, Harry waved the wand a little, sending a high velocity glob of molten lava straight at John's head. Ollivander quickly waved his hand, stopping the lava a foot before it could hit John.
"Apparently not," he said disappointedly before carefully taking the wand back. So began the trial and error process of wand fitting. It had been twenty minutes and John looked tired, Sherlock looked frustrated and curious at the same time while Ollivander looked downright joyous.
"A tricky customer, eh? Not to worry Mr. Potter! We'll find you a wand, yet!"
Finally, after a few more minutes passed, Ollivander went to the very back of the store and pulled out a wand that Harry immediately perked up at.
"I wonder… Phoenix feather, Holly wood and eleven inches, Mr. Potter," Ollivander noted.
Harry took the wand and felt warmth dance across his fingers as he held it. It felt as if the wood were singing to him. With renewed confidence, Harry flicked his wand upwards. A burst of searing red flame shot out of the tip and a phoenix song echoed through the shop. Harry felt goosbumps shoot up and down his legs. Ollivander looked elated.
"How very curious," he muttered while smiling. He took the wand gingerly and placed it back in its case.
"Don't be vague man! What is so curious about this wand?" Sherlock demanded impatiently. Ollivander smiled wryly.
"Well Mr. Holmes, this wand's core is a phoenix feather. This particular phoenix gave only one other feather. It's so curious that this wand happened to choose Mr. Potter when it's brother wand gave you that scar," Ollivander said mysteriously, pointing to Harry's forehead. Harry somehow managed to feel even more unnerved by the strange man than before. They quickly left his shop after paying.
They met up with Hagrid who handed Harry a cage with a beautiful snowy owl inside it. She was asleep with her head under her wing at the moment.
"I felt a lil' bad 'bout not bein' able ter get ye any presents when you lived with them Dursleys, so I figured this beauty might make up fer it," Hagrid explained, blushing a little under his massive shaggy hair. Harry grinned brilliantly.
"Thank you so much Hagrid! She's beautiful," Harry exclaimed.
"Tis nothin'," Hagrid said bashfully.
"A very beautiful specimen indeed. Taking care of a pet is a big responsibility, Harry. I do hope you recognize it as such," Sherlock said seriously. Even John looked a little surprised at Sherlock's seriousness. Harry looked at the owl and then up at him. He nodded and smiled.
"We'll need to name you soon, girl," Harry said.
And so, Harry's first trip to Diagon Alley came to an end. Hagrid led them to the street where they called a cab. Before disappearing, Hagrid handed Harry his ticket.
"Stick to it," Hagrid warned. Harry shook his head up and down and looked down at the shiny golden ticket.
"Platform Nine and Three Quarters?" Harry asked aloud. Sherlock and John stared down at the ticket with curiosity.
The month of August was duller than any month that year, in Harry's opinion. Of course, this was the gap month between his first day at an actual magic school and pedestrian life. Every minute seemed an hour and every day seemed a week. Harry now understood fully why Sherlock always seemed so irate in between cases.
"How do you stave off this infernal boredom?" Harry moaned one day to Sherlock who was quietly reading a book.
"Drugs, mostly stimulants, but John tells me those are bad for children so I suppose you'll have to find a different way," Harry looked at him oddly before walking back to his room, shaking his head and cursing the genius.
Soon August was replaced by the bloom of September. The trio headed to the train station. Harry was ready to begin his magical education.