Harry quickly found another out of the way spot next to the bank so he could look over his supplies list and decide where to start so he completed his shopping with the most efficiency. His battered watch, that he was only allowed due to the fact Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia wanted him on time to serve them, showed that he spent 40 minutes within the bank. This left him with a little over five hours to complete what he needed. Hopefully, he could gather the miscellaneous supplies in under two hours, leaving him plenty of time to explore the book store, return any extra galleons, and further study the community he was now in.
As he looked over his list, he realized that his first destination was rather obvious. With the number of supplies and different shops he had to visit he would end up with a large number of bags. It was almost a forgone conclusion that he would be unable to carry all of them. No, he needed something to carry his purchases in. With that in mind he pulled out his map and followed the newest line to the shop that sold trunks.
The shop was quite crowded, the three employees appearing rather ragged as they tried to keep up with the questions and orders. One employee, a rather nondescript man with brown hair and blue eyes, was walking among the customers, answering questions and doing his best to make sales. A second employee, an older teen, was standing behind a desk, taking orders and payments while handing over what appeared to be a claim number. A third employee, an older heavier set man that thankfully did not look similar to Uncle Vernon, occasionally came out from a back room, probably a workshop, with the completed trunks and delivered them to the customer. Along the back wall of the shop were example trunks, each with a different finish and design and in a far corner was a small rack of knapsacks that seemed to match in design with the trunks. However, the main thing that caught Harry's eye were the order forms that everyone was using so that they did not have to list off everything they wanted, allowing the process to go much faster and making Harry's task easier.
He unobtrusively grabbed one of the order forms from a table beside the entrance and looked over the options. The first section was a list of their trunks, their features, and starting price. At the top was the 'basic Hogwarts' student' trunk that contained three compartments; clothing, potion supplies, and school supplies. Next down was the 'Ravenclaw' trunk which also contained a library compartment that held 50 books at its most basic but could be upgraded to hold up to 200. A side note stated that for larger library compartments a specialized trunk was required. Below that was the 'advanced Hogwarts' student' trunk that appeared to be much larger than the other two. It contained five compartments; clothing, potion supplies, a library compartment for up to 100 books, school supplies, and a personal supplies compartment.
Below the Hogwarts trunks were those that appeared to be the more 'adult' trunks, including basic travel trunks, the specialized library trunks, Potion Master trunks that included their own brewing space as well as potion storage, and even those that could be used as a basic living space.
The more advanced trunks really set Harry's mind off. How could a trunk act as an apartment? Somehow, the space inside had to be expanded past the exterior dimensions. Harry had no idea how to even think about accomplishing such a feat, but if the magical world could then Harry truly had much to learn. He assumed that even the basic trunks had this magical expansion because every trunk in the shop appeared to be of about equal size, no matter what features they contained.
Further down the form were a list of different charms that were available to place on the trunk. The list was long and most appeared fairly self-explanatory; shrinking/enlargement charm, fire resistance, water resistance (fully waterproof was extra), stain resistant and self-cleaning, feather light charm, strengthening charm, notice-me-not charm, and so on. The only one that appeared slightly confusing was the 'muggle-repellent' charm. What exactly was a muggle? The phrase itself, 'muggle-repellent', reminded him of bug repellent that Aunt Petunia made sure Dudley wore in the summers to avoid the mosquitoes as her precious son played outside.
Deciding to question it later, his eyes moved lower down the form. The next section was dedicated to security measures. They seemed to range from a simple locking charm to blood and password protection. It also contained a sub-category labeled 'jinxes' which appeared to affect anyone that tried to open the trunk without the proper clearance. Harry thought the 'color-changing' jinx was interesting. While it wasn't aggressive in anyway it would allow the ability to detect the would-be thief. There were stinging jinxes, levels 1-3, with a note stating that anything above a three was illegal if the trunk was kept in a public location without special Ministry permission. At the very bottom of the security section was a list of what was permitted on trunks that students took to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to ensure no true harm came to any of the students but noted that parents could add on their own protections as long as they caused no harm to the recipient.
The lower part of the form was much less interesting as it only involved the aesthetics of the trunk; color, material, embellishments and such. The very last section was simply a checkbox for a bag with a note that the feather light and expansion charms came standard, followed by a small section to choose which color and style of bag that was desired. Harry knew that he would need one of the trunks with a library compartment since he planned on purchasing a large number of books before the day was out. Doing some quick calculations in his mind Harry decided he could easily afford the advanced student trunk along with a number of the charms and protections that he was interested in as well as a bag to carry his supplies from class to class. With that in mind he grabbed a quill that had its own ink like the one in the bank and began filling in the little check boxes for what he wanted.
Harry selected the advanced Hogwarts' student trunk along with the shrinking/enlargement charm, notice-me-not charm, fire, water, and stain resistance, and feather light charm. For security he added the charms to protect against basic unlocking spells, the color-changing jinx, the level 2 stinging jinx, and blood protection. Harry could heal his finger so easily that a little nick was of no concern. As for the color, he went with a simple, unremarkable black with silver for the metal embellishments and plain black for the bag. His only stumbling point was the section for adding initials to the trunk. If he was as famous as the professor seemed to think than there was a large chance that HJP would be recognized by the employees. Finally, he went with HPB for his newly discovered last name since his Hogwarts letter only addressed him as Potter, not Potter-Black.
When Harry was done, he looked up to find what appeared to be a non-magical family entering the shop with clear looks of wonder and amazement. The boy who appeared to be Harry's age was holding his own letter. It would seem that he was not the only one that was new to the magical world but that begged the question of why some magicals seemed to have grown up in this world while others are not inducted until they are 11 and presumably invited to Hogwarts or potentially another magical school.
The clerk seemed to immediately notice the lost look on their faces and quickly came up to them to explain all about the different trunks, how the different charms worked and things of that nature. Recognizing a great opportunity when he saw one, Harry moved off to the side of the family and listened attentively, hoping that some of his own questions would be answered. He learned that the shrinking charm allowed the trunk to be shrunk with the tap of a wand on a special rune (note to self, look up runes) and was especially useful for students that lived in a muggle household where they were not allowed to use magic until they were of age. Those from magical families could have a parent shrink or enlarge their trunk for them, but muggleborns did not have the same ability; hence the charm.
That also gave Harry the clue he needed to understand what a 'muggle' was. Contextual evidence suggested that muggle was equivalent to non-magical. Muggleborn was also an interesting term. A magical being born from two non-magical parents? That begged the question, where did the magic come from? Growing up, he knew that he was unique, that others around him didn't display the abilities that he had. He had thought to be alone in his abilities until this morning. With a larger community this opened up many more possibilities. Could there be a kind of magical gene that was passed from parent to child? If it was a recessive trait, requiring two alleles, that would explain the existence of muggleborns. Even then, there was only a 25% chance that non-magicals, muggles, would successfully have a magical child. The chances would be even lower if there were multiple genes all required to successfully have magic. It would be an interesting area of study, but Harry pushed it to the side for the moment to concentrate back on the family and the clerk.
At the moment he was explaining that the muggle-repelling charm worked similar to the ward that was around the entrance to Diagon Alley, which made it so that muggles merely looked passed the building, barely aware of anything being there in the first place. Instead of being completely invisible it simply made muggles take no notice of the object in question. Immediately, Harry checked off that box as well. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon couldn't confiscate and destroy that which they weren't aware of. It would probably be his only protection for his magical items.
He listened a little longer before deciding he had heard enough and took his completed form to stand in line to pay. At the counter, the clerk took his form, quickly looking it over and adding up the price, totaling to 78 galleons. As Harry counted out 78 of the golden coins, he was thinking that there had to be a better way than this. Potentially, next time he could try to summon the specific number of coins to his hand. Although, he wasn't sure about performing magic in front of others. Occasionally he would see one of the adults performing some magical feat, but none of the children were doing the same. In the end, he resigned himself to doing it the long way. Once the money was handed over, the clerk handed him a receipt and a claim number, telling him there was currently a thirty-minute wait and that his claim ticket would vibrate when his trunk and bag were ready to be picked up. Harry nodded in understanding and exited the shop, determined to not waste that time just standing around.
The shop next door was an apothecary and according to his list he would need to pick up the 'first-year potions pack'. Considering that there was only one item, Harry decided he should be able to easily carry it around with him until his trunk was available. Walking through the door he had to stop his nose from wrinkling at the rather pungent smell that came from inside. Upon further examination the source was quite clear as a number of animal and plant parts were strewn throughout the store; dried and in bins or floating in an unnamed liquid within a jar. There was also a wall of small vials, which were apparently completed potions.
Harry took a deep breath, through his mouth, and decided that this was nothing different than shopping at the grocer's for dinner ingredients; instead of soup, a potion was the final product. Stacked neatly along the wall next to the door were stacks of containers with signs above them listing 'Hogwarts' Student Potion Kits' and then years 1-7 above the appropriate stack. That was rather convenient, and Harry hoped the rest of the shops would make it as simple as it would be a huge time saver. With a little thought on the prices, he decided to grab two of the first-year kits and one of the second year's since having extra would allow him to experiment and practice on his own. He quickly payed and ignored the worker's laugh and comment about him being a budding Potion's Master. With only five minutes having gone by and one relatively light bag Harry moved on to the next store.
The neighboring store was also a potion supplies store, providing equipment instead of ingredients like the apothecary. However, considering that a cauldron was on his list, and the window display showed that they were by no means small, Harry decided to pass this store and come back to it once he could place the cauldron into his feather-light trunk. The shop across the street was Scribbulus Writing Instruments where he would have to pick up parchment, ink, and quills. This shop also contained a starter pack that most students found proficient as well as a 'Ravenclaw' starter pack which offered a larger supply of parchment and ink. He wasn't sure what a Ravenclaw was, but between the Ravenclaw trunk with a library and now this Ravenclaw pack, it seemed like a designation for those that liked to read, write, and/or study in some way. He also noticed the complete lack of regular paper, pens, pencils, binders, and spiral notebooks. There was a shelf of notebooks that appeared to be leather bound and contained blank parchment within. Most likely they were used as diaries, sketch books, or potentially journals. His letter stated that only loose parchment was required, but how then did students organize their notes for classes? Individual papers could be lost so easily. Even the idea was mildly horrifying to Harry. He only purchased the basic pack and was determined to pick up a number of spiral notebooks, pencils, and pens before he left for school. Perhaps he would be able to find one of the fancy calligraphy pens that mimicked using a quill. Surely that would be much easier than trying to write with an actual quill that was repeatedly dipped in ink.
Harry left the shop slightly annoyed and determinedly moved onto the next shop refusing to think more on how far behind this community seemed to be in at least for this one manner. The next shop seemed to be focused on gardening, or herbology as the sign claimed. The only thing he was required to grab were a pair of leather gloves. This was quickly accomplished, and he was exiting to the main alley once more. He found a spot against the shop where he wasn't in the way and looked over his supply list to decide on his next stop. All that was left were uniforms, several supplies for potions which were all in one shop, a telescope, a wand, and an optional pet. He didn't have to think about it before mentally crossing off the pet option. He would never subject an innocent animal to the cruelties of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. They were more than likely as not to kill it the moment he walked through the door, or it would be taken and given to their precious Diddykins.
Before he could decide on his next location, he felt something vibrating in his pocket and quickly pulled out the claim ticket. The walk back to the shop was short since he did not venture too far, and he was easily able to hand over his claim ticket to receive his brand-new trunk and knapsack. The older employee first explained to him how to cycle between the different compartments, which involved tapping on different runes before opening the lid, and then how to use his blood to set the lock but said he could do it later if he didn't want to complete that step immediately. Deciding that he didn't want to try to cut and heal his finger inconspicuously throughout the rest of the day he simply nodded and took the trunk outside. It was indeed incredibly light, and Harry hoped it would stay that way as he put his supplies within.
Quickly finding an empty spot to place his trunk, Harry set about putting his supplies into their proper compartments and was pleased with how much room was still available. He tapped the rune in the corner to shrink the trunk but frowned when nothing happened. Next, he tried pushing a bit of his magic to his finger and then tapped the rune once more. This time the trunk quickly shrank down to the size of a matchbox which Harry easily stored in his pocket. As he walked to the potion's supply store, Potage's Cauldron Shop, he considered getting a chain that he could carry his trunk on, as a necklace. It would probably be safer if he kept it on him instead of leaving it laying around, either at the Dursleys or at Hogwarts.
At the cauldron shop he purchased his cauldron, potion phials, scales, a potion tool kit that included a variety of knives, stirring rods and other assorted necessities, as well as a pair of protective gloves that were not to be mixed up with those for his herbology class. One parent in the shop was giving their child a dire warning of what could happen if they used their herbology gloves covered in various magical plant essences to handle and prepare potions ingredients. Harry walked away from that conversation determined to label the gloves and find a way to never confuse them.
He ended up spending more galleons at the shop than his letter said was necessary because he ended up getting better quality than the cheapest Hogwarts packs that they had put together. He had the money available and since he didn't know what substandard supplies would do when making potions, he figured it was safer to buy the slightly more expensive options. Aunt Petunia always scorned cheaper pots and pans, saying that they would ruin her wonderful cooking. Harry was unsure what cooking she meant but appreciated the quality cookware none the less.
The next store only took a couple minutes of his time as all he had to purchase was a mid-range telescope. According to his list, all that was left were his uniform, wand, and books. Since he didn't know if the uniforms would be premade and he simply had to select his size, or if an actual seamstress was involved, he decided to take care of his uniform first. With what he had already observed of the magical community thus far, he was rather leaning towards the seamstress theory. It again begged the question of why he wasn't seeing evidence of mass production. Surely the use of magic could have taken the place of machines in the non-magical world to quickly produce large quantities of products.
As he walked into the clothing store, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, his fears were realized. The front of the store was sparse, containing a few robes of different styles that appeared to be more show pieces that could be selected and then made to the customers specifications. Along one wall was a number of panels, each showing different design options. One was a color palette that Harry assumed were the different possibilities for robe colors. Another contained different embroidery patterns that seemed to feature on the edge of many of the show robes.
His observations were interrupted by a voice questioning from farther back in the shop, "Another one for Hogwarts, deary?"
Harry walked towards the back of the shop, to an area that was curtained off, and found an older woman with grey hair standing with a pile of black fabric at her feet. He idly thought that she was the picture of a kind, old grandmother. When she glanced at him, Harry flashed his Hogwarts letter in reply.
She smiled kindly at him and began talking away even while pinning fabric to a young girl on a round dais that appeared to also be getting her Hogwarts uniform. The girl was a redhead and smiled shyly at him as she tried to hold perfect still. Unsure what to do with the positive interaction Harry just nodded his head once in a form of greeting before looking at the floor as he listened to the older woman talk.
"That seems to be all my shop has been getting today! I suppose it is that time of the year though. By Merlin, I would even say that this is the first time today that I don't have a line of customers waiting to be fitted. With it being lunch time and all, I get a bit of a respite before it's chaos once more! Then again, I'm still behind on finishing the orders from this morning. That girl sure chose the worst day to not come into work. Third time now too. If she doesn't have an excuse this time, I am going to have to see about getting some better help around here. Ah, but enough about an old woman's problems. I'm sure this is your first time in my humble shop as I'm sure I would have remembered such a handsome young boy as yourself. Especially those eyes! Well, since it's your first time here I will go over the process for you, dear. First thing I will do is take your measurements and pin up an example robe to use as a guide for your actual robes. From there, since it is so busy and orders are getting backed up, I will have you fill out a form of everything that you want to purchase today. Since you are purchasing your Hogwarts uniform you have relatively few choices to choose from; mainly only fabric type and the charms that can be placed on the robes. You will have to pay half of the price now and then the other half when your order is complete, which at the moment will be about two hours. I would suggest you eat lunch and finish up your other shopping, then return here for you purchases."
Harry blinked in shock at the flood of chatter mixed in with helpful information that he was just exposed to. By the time she completed her very own monologue, the girl was finished and had moved to the side to fill out the aforementioned form. Harry was gestured forward to the dais and he stood completely stiff as first a tape measure zoomed around him while a floating quill and parchment recorded all of the different measurements, and wasn't that a marvel to see, and then as Madam Malkin began to pin together a basic robe around him. Having another person stand so close and constantly touch him was putting him on edge. Positive touch was never a part of his life and it took everything he had to stay motionless as the seamstress worked.
She continued to chatter away about different gossip that she had heard from the various customers that morning, although it seemed to mostly pertain to different families that had come in for their Hogwarts' robes. Unfortunately, none of it was very interesting and contained no real knowledge that Harry would find useful. Although, once he knew more about this world and what to look for, the shop could prove a valuable source of information.
Thankfully, she finished rather quickly, and Harry was able to move back to a safe distance while she fetched a form for him to fill out. It did not take him long for him to select seven work robes, the letter's suggestion of only three seemed ridiculous, two winter cloaks in case something happened to one of them, a hat, and decided to purchase five pairs of black slacks as well. He looked over the prices for their other regular clothing but decided that he could purchase it cheaper in the non-magical world. He went with the standard cloth type as he truly didn't care about the cloth as he was used to Dudley's castoffs and wouldn't even know what to look for had he chosen otherwise. Harry also looked over the few charms that were available and selected those for stain, fire, and water resistance to be applied to all of his items. The final touch was to add a name for the order and with a little thought he wrote 'James'. With that finished he handed over his form to Madam Malkin and payed for the first half of his order.
His final shop to go to before he could visit the bookstore was Ollivanders Wand Shop. It was a rather rundown building for somewhere he assumed had good business as it was the only place within Diagon Alley to purchase a wand, something that seemed to be required, at least for those who went to Hogwarts. The interior of the shop was just as bleak as the exterior with its dust motes glittering in the dim light and most of the shop taken up with a multitude of shelves containing poorly stacked boxes.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, I have been expecting you," came a soft voice from behind him, causing Harry to jump and spin around, heart beating wildly as he fought to not react any further. In the corner of the shop was a rather creepy old man that seemed to share the same crazy white hair as Albert Einstein and light blue eyes. He was staring at Harry, specifically his forehead, and Harry resisted moving or twitching under the piercing gaze.
After a few moments the man seemed to have his fill of staring and moved back behind the counter while continuing to speak in that slow, soft voice.
"Oh yes, I have been eagerly waiting for you to come to my shop, Mr. Potter. You see, I remember every wand I ever sold, even your parents," and as if to prove his point he spouted off the specific wands his parents carried, "your mother received a rather swishy willow wand, ten and a quarter inches long, that promised to be good in charms. She went on to be considered a bit of a charms prodigy of course. A mahogany wand chose your father and was slightly longer at eleven inches. That wand was excellent for transfiguration and James Potter was rather adept in the art. I am quite eager to see which wand will choose you Mr. Potter. After that Halloween night you defeated the owner of another of my wands, I knew that your own wand would be quite interesting. Now, let's get started."
Harry had trouble focusing after the wand maker mentioned his parents having wands. They were magical! Just like he was! He had to contain the wide grin that wanted to break out at learning this new information about his parents. He had doubted the validity of Aunt Petunia's claims of his parents being a drunk and a whore on the basis that most of the things the Dursleys said were lies. Harry was curious, however, about the reference to 'that Halloween night'. Every Halloween that he could remember was spent locked in his cupboard, which is how he spent the majority of every holiday at the Dursley household. The only logical conclusion was that it had to have been when he was still with his parents, but he only spent two Halloweens with them, one just a few months old and the other a little over a year. At that age he didn't understand how he could have defeated another magic user. However, a riddle presented itself. Halloween, October 31st, was the day that his parents died and that night he was dropped off on the Dursley's doorstop and now he was being told that he supposedly defeated someone on Halloween. It was all very suspicious, in his mind.
Eventually the crazy wand maker came back from the depths of the shops carrying a stack of boxes that looked like they might tip over at the slightest breeze. The stack was set down on the counter and Harry stared curiously at the first wand that was revealed.
"Birch and dragon heart strings, 11 and half inches, a durable wand that can serve many purposes." The wand was a lighter brown with a thicker end narrowing to a finer point on the other side. Harry was pleasantly surprised by the craftsmanship of the wand. It wasn't a plain, circular, smooth length like a wooden dowel, but instead was lightly curvy with small details etched into the wood to make it an artistic piece of work.
"Well, go on. Give it a wave. You won't know if it's your wand without picking it up."
Harry stopped his observations and reached out to pick up the wand as ordered. The instant his fingers wrapped around the length he jerked back as if burned. The wand felt like a layer of oil sliding across his hand. The sensation was so disgusting that he couldn't help his reaction, but now he worried that he had offended or angered the wand maker. Carefully Harry glanced up at the man to look for his reaction while keeping his head lowered just in case. Despite his fears the man simply closed that box, placed it to the side, and opened the next one.
"No, that wasn't it. Try this one, walnut and unicorn hair, 10 and three quarters inches, perfect for offensive spells."
He reluctantly reached out for the newest wand with much the same result, although this time the wand felt ice cold when he touched it. And so began a half hour of a constant stream of wands, each introduced with their wood, core, and length as well as some trivia about what they would be good for or their flexibility. Each one Harry had a negative reaction to. Some felt the same as that first wand, although the oiliness of the feeling changed between different wands, while others were too cold, burned, or simply felt like a normal stick in his hand. One wand even felt like it was trying to attack his own magic before his fingers even closed around the wooden length. Despite this Ollivander just appeared to be more and more excited as time went on and wands were discarded to the side.
"I knew you would be a tricky customer, Mr. Potter, but don't lose hope, I have never failed to pair a wand to their proper owner." He looked back into the shop with a look of contemplation on his face, "Maybe… could he be the one? But the brother wand, for him to be destined for this one? Hmm, perhaps…" he mumbled to himself as he moved to a back corner of the shop, bringing with him a single wand box. Harry thought he was carrying it with almost a sense of reverence, something that made him nervous about what was within.
"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches. A supple wand." Ollivander held it out with an eager expression that did not lessen his nerves as he cautiously picked up the dark brown length. The sensation was different than all of the previous wands, but still not pleasant. The best description he could find was that it felt like the wand stuck a straw in his magical core and was forcefully sucking his magic up and out into the wand. He was used to the unpleasant sensations by now and managed to actually pick up the wand from its box. Immediately upon holding it bright gold sparks shot from the tip and Ollivander grinned triumphantly.
"Very good! I knew you would have a unique wand!"
Harry sat the wand back in its box as politely as possible while placing a pleased expression on his face despite the confusion he was feeling on the inside. That was not what he was expecting of his wand. Surely that sensation was not normal, how would anyone be able to stand it? He would purchase the wand since it was required by the school, but he would not touch it unless absolutely required. Besides, he could use his magic just fine without a wand so there was really no need to subject himself to that horrible sucking sensation more than necessary. He paid the required seven galleons before quickly escaping the store and heading eagerly to the bookstore, only pausing briefly to carelessly throw the wand box into his trunk.
Upon entering the bookstore Harry took a deep breath, greatly enjoying the scent of new books, only second to that of old books. Right at the front of the shop were stacks of prepackaged books with signs denoting which Hogwarts year they were for. Harry happily picked out one of the first-year packages and scanned the titles briefly to ensure that all those on his list were present. Pleased that he wouldn't have to waste time searching for his school books, Harry quickly went to the counter and paid for the books so he could store them in his trunk and wouldn't have to worry about carrying them through the store as he shopped for others.
As he stood in line to pay, he went over what he needed to find first before exploring other subjects. At the top of his list were history books, both older and modern history, politics, government, since he didn't appear to be the only person newly introduced to this world perhaps he could find a kind of introductory book, and then books that expanded on the course subjects he could define from his school list; transfiguration, potions, defense/offense, and herbology. He was particularly interested in potions just from the different ingredient he had to buy. Beyond that he wanted to look for books on magic itself, perhaps the different types, uses, classifications and such.
After he payed he checked the time and saw it was now approaching one in the afternoon, giving him another three hours until the professor would be back to escort him home. He still had to pick up his uniform and return the extra galleons to the bank, along with all of the receipts he had been collecting for each of his purchases. He decided that he had to be in line to purchase his books by 2:45, giving him an hour to complete his other tasks. With that decided, Harry plunged into the shelves, eagerly exploring all that they had to offer.
By the end of his allotted time Harry had gathered nearly 30 books on a wide range of subjects. He knew of course that he ran the risk of some of them being less that useful since he didn't know what to look for when it pertained to magical knowledge, but he needed a place to start so he chose as best as he could. He even picked up a book of fairy tales, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, figuring that he should know something that magical children grew up with if he wanted to fit in.
While in what he determined to be the kid section of the store he did notice a large series of books; Harry Potter and his Magical Adventures. To say he was surprised would have been an understatement. After breaking through his shock, Harry quickly picked up a book and saw a drawing of himself slaying a large dragon. What disturbed him the most, though, was the rather accurate depiction of himself, same green eyes, same messy black hair, same lightning bolt scar. However, the book version did appear much taller and filled out, containing muscles that he was sure no 11-year-old could have managed. Every book contained some adventure that he supposedly went on, defeating magical beasts or evil wizard to save the world and occasionally the damsel in distress. He honestly didn't know how to react to these books. They were a clear sign that he was indeed famous in this world, but he still wasn't sure why. As tempting as it was to open a few of the history books for answers, Harry didn't want to waste his limited time getting caught up in a book, so was determined to wait until he returned to his cupboard to solve this mystery.
It was 3 o'clock by time he left the bookstore and made his way back to Madam Malkin's to pick up his uniform and pay the second half of the fee. The shop was indeed much busier, but he was able to get in and out in under 15 minutes and made his way back to Gringotts Bank to turn in the receipts and deposit most of the extra galleons into his account. Upon entering the bank, he looked around until he found a familiar guard standing nearby. As he approached, he hoped that Griphook would not be annoyed by a second interruption and would help him as much as before. Once he was near the goblin and gained his attention Harry bowed carefully, holding his breath nervously.
"Well met, young one. You returned much sooner than I would have thought," greeted Griphook in a friendlier voice than he had used the first time they had interacted.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief as his muscles relaxed at the non-angry words. Still aware that the goblin's mood could change at any time, especially if he took too long to answer the implied question, Harry pulled out the stack of receipts from his pockets and showed them to Griphook.
"Here to supply proof of your purchases, I see," he paused as Harry also pulled out his money pouch, which he had already emptied of the 50 galleons he planned to keep on him, and showed that to him as well, "and to deposit the extra money you withdrew. Very well, Manager Gornuk is available currently, so follow me."
The trip back to the office was much less confusing the second time as he knew where he was being led this time around. The trip also felt much shorter as they were soon being bid to enter the office once more. Gornuk looked surprised to see Harry so soon after their last meeting but after he bowed to the older goblin, he received the same greeting that Griphook gave. Without hesitation Harry handed over the receipts for his purchases as well as the pouch of galleons and sat on the chair in front of the desk.
The office was silent as Gornuk went through the receipts, marking numbers on a separate ledger, and then placing the pouch of galleons in a bowl that somehow released a piece of parchment with the number of galleons the pouch contained. The contraption fascinated Harry and he wished he could study it to figure out how it worked. Perhaps, when he was older, he would be able to understand the magic behind it. It also made sense that something would be developed so that the goblins would not have to count out the coins one by one.
"Everything seems to be in order, Heir Potter-Black. If that is all then you are free to leave. If you have any other questions or concerns about your account throughout the year feel free to owl me a letter. Simply address it to Account Manager Gornuk and it will find its way to my desk."
Harry rose and bowed to the goblin, who stated the same phrase as last time, which he was sure was a traditional goblin form of 'good bye'. Griphook escorted him back to the lobby and they parted in the same way.
He glanced at his watch and saw he had 15 minutes to return to the spot he was dropped off at and quickly made his way down the alley. He wanted to be early in case the professor came back early. The man appeared quite angry that morning and he did not want to be punished for making the professor wait. Thankfully, the little alcove was empty and Harry leaned against the wall to calmly wait, entertaining himself by watching the people walk by him. After a few minutes of people watching he stood straight as he remembered that he had changed his clothes when he first came to the alley. He knew that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would burn his clothes before punishing him for acting 'above his station' if he dared to step in the house in his current outfit. Quickly, he focused on his magic and urged it to undo what he did the first time, pleased yet uncomfortable as his clothes became the oversized castoffs once more.
Harry only had to wait a few minutes more before right at 4 o'clock the professor appeared in the alley, wearing the same black cloak that billowed back as he walked towards the alcove Harry was waiting in. He was relieved to note that the professor appeared to be much less angry than he was that morning although he was still sneering lightly at those around him.
The professor looked him over quickly and the sneer deepened but he asked in a mostly neutral voice, "Did you purchase everything on your list, Mr. Potter?"
Harry quickly pulled out his shrunken trunk from his pocket to show that he did and to explain why he wasn't carrying any bags. The response seemed to be enough for the professor as he nodded sharply before continuing, "Very well, I will be apparating you back to your house then."
This was his only warning before the professor grabbed onto him once more and the world twisted nauseatingly before they landed in the same park they had departed from that morning.
"One more thing before I leave, Mr. Potter. Here is your ticket for the train that will take you to Hogwarts on September 1st. It leaves promptly at 9 o'clock in the morning from King's Cross Station. Do not be late or you will be left behind and a professor will not be sent to fetch you."
Harry gingerly took the ticket from the professor while trying to figure out how to get to the platform in a month's time. The chances of Uncle Vernon driving him were practically in the negatives.
"I assume you are capable of walking back to your house without getting into trouble so I will be leaving you here." With that rather sarcastic remark the professor disappeared with a pop, leaving Harry to make his way back to the Dursley's.
Even as he was punished that night, Harry felt lighter than ever before. Once he was shoved into his cupboard that night, he would be able to read about the new world he was introduced to and learn more about the magic inside of him. And soon, he would be going to school, a boarding school, far away from the Dursley's. Truly, Harry couldn't help the smile that formed as he covered his head and curled up tighter under the heavy blows landing on his exposed flesh.