Dazed, Harry staggered out of Gringotts several hours after he had gone in. He and Noodle had spent ages going over every detail of his accounts with a fine tooth comb, weeding out any discrepancies or suspicious activity. After doing that, he revealed that Harry's parents' wills had never been carried out. Harry immediately asked for them to be read and what was revealed had made Granny Gussie apoplectic with rage. She had the goblins call someone named Amelia Bones into the bank and had her read the wills as well. Amelia had taken one look at the contents and swore she would do everything in her power to correct the mistakes the government had made. Apparently, Harry was never meant to go to his aunt and uncle. They were allowed to know him and even visit but Harry was supposed to be raised by his oath sworn godfather. A man named Sirius Black. A man locked up for supposedly betraying Harry and his parents to the Dark Lord Voldemort. But not only was that a lie because it was impossible for Sirius to have broken his oath and lived but Voldemort never intended to harm Harry or his parents. He was courting them, trying to persuade them to support his vision for the Wizarding World. There were multiple letters from him in Harry's vaults, explaining his reasoning and answering questions from his parents. It was all so confusing for a boy of eleven. So he decided to let the adults handle it. He turned his focus to something he could handle. Claiming his Lordships and the vestments of his newly revealed position as King Hadrian. He wore his lordship rings on the middle finger of his right hand. They had merged into each other as he slid them on and he was able to cycle through them with a thought. On his left hand was his Royal Seal, the ring that identified him as king. He willed it invisible with a thought. Arthur's crown sat invisible on his head, an intricate band of mithril, studded with precious gems. Excalibur hung invisible on his hip. Either could be revealed with a mere thought. Now it was time to finish his business in the Alley. Getting his school supplies and maybe finding his familiars.
"Where should we go first, Granny?" he asked, hiding how tired he already was. He found himself naturally turning to her for guidance since he entered the Alley. She had knowledge of the magical world he desperately needed now. Augusta hid her smile at Harry's desperate attempt to hide his fatigue and responded.
"I believe we should follow Noodle's advice and go see Mr. Scamander in the menagerie. If we are able to find even one of your unique familiars it will greatly boost your energy level. I can see how tired you are, my boy." Putting her words to action, she led the group to a building mid way down the alley and entered.
"Newton.Porpentina. Where are you?" she called out as they entered the noisy crowded shop. Dogs with two tails ran around chasing each other, The fluffiest cats Harry had ever seen lounged around on shelves and cat trees scattered throughout the shop. Tanks holding all manner of snake, toad, lizard, and spider lined the walls. From the back, they heard a harried woman call out.
"Is that you, Augusta? Come in the back. Newt's tending to the exotics." The group ventured further in to find a stern looking elderly woman desperately trying to untangle a baby bowtruckle from her hair. "Pardon me please, Sable is being rather stubborn today and I'm not as skilled as Newt at communicating with her." The currently unnamed woman greeted them, finally managing to unwind the last of her silver hair from the young bowtruckle before setting her in an elm sapling. "There we go. Now, to those who don't know me, please allow me to introduce myself. Porpentina Scamander nee Goldstein. But please call me Tina. How can I help you?" The newly introduced Mrs.Scamander said, turning to face the group. Augusta smiled before opening her arms.
"You can start by giving me a hug, Tina dear. It's been too long since we last had a chat over tea. Then, I think it would be best if you went and fetched your trouble making husband. We're going to require his expertise with creatures. Introductions can wait until he's here. No sense doing it twice after all." Tina smiled delighted as she was engulfed in a firm hug. After she was released, she quickly turned to a door hidden behind a curtain. Sticking her head through, the small group heard her bellow.
"Newton Artemis Fido Scamander, you better not be swimming with those blasted kelpies again. Stop dillydallying and get to the shop. Gussie's here with a customer who requires your expertise." She pulled her head back through the door, removing her wand from her throat as she did so. "He should be here directly."
True to her words, one minute later, an elderly man with curly windswept hair, wearing a worn, faded blue pea-coat, stepped through the hidden door into the shop.
"Terribly sorry dear, but several of the creatures simply will not settle. Are you absolutely certain I'm needed?" He said as he entered, tucking a wand into his inner coat pocket.
"Yes, Newton, you are absolutely necessary to our success in our goal today. Now, smarten up." Augusta interjected, firmly, voice sharp as a whiplash. She adored Newt and Tina but Newt sometimes needed firm handling to interact with new people. "Now, allow me to make the introductions. With me are Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley Dursley. You both of course know my grandson, Neville. And this young man is the reason we are here, This is Petunia's nephew…,
His Royal Highness, King Hadrian James Charlus Michael Arturo Potter Gryffindor Ravenclaw Hufflepuff Slytherin LeFay Emrys Pendragon, King of Avalon, Defender of Magic,Lord of Camelot, Lord Hogwarts, Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Royal House of Pendragon, Lord of the Most Ancient And Most Noble House of Gryffindor, Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Hufflepuff, LOrd of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Ravenclaw, Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Slytherin, Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter,Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of LeFay, Lord of The Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Emrys, Knight of the Round Table, Friend of the Goblin Nation…………… and he is searching for his familiars."
Hearing Harry's title, both Scamanders knelt on surprisingly strong knees.
"Your Majesty, you honor us with your presence in our humble menagerie. I never thought I would see someone ascend to the Throne of Avalon in my lifetime. Anything you require, you need but ask. I am your humble servant." Newt spluttered, mind reeling in shock at what he had just heard. Harry blushed, and motioned them to their feet.
"Please just call me Harry. I haven't even been a king for a day yet, and I'm not yet accustomed to the deferential treatment. I have a list of the creatures that my inheritance test listed as familiars." he said, holding out a scrap of parchment. Newt gently took the parchment and looked it over.
"Tina, dear, I do believe I know why the creatures are so stirred up now." he said with a small smile, passing the parchment to his wife. Tina took the slip and read it, eyes widening. To need five familiars was already a sign of immense power. To need Five of the most powerful creatures in the known magical world was unheard of. This young man would have more power than anyone she had ever heard of. Bloody hell, he'd be more powerful than Merlin himself. As Tina thought all of this, Newt continued to speak.
"Now then, if you will please follow me, Harry. And if the rest of you could please wait here. I do believe that I just happen to have all of your familiars here in the menagerie. As it happens, the five creature species named on that list are the exact creatures I have been trying to soothe all morning. So, Harry, shall we go find your five closest companions?" Newt gently laid a strong, wrinkled hand on Harry's shoulder and led him through the hidden door, into a gigantic clearing, with different fenced off areas, full of wondrous creatures, surrounding it. Newt drew his wand and conjured two comfortable looking chairs. "Now we just wait for the correct creatures to come to us." he said, gesturing Harry into a seat. "These particular species are very cautious, which is also why I had everyone else remain behind. I don't believe we will be waiting long however. As a matter of fact, I think I see your first familiar coming now. Hold out your hand Harry." Harry reached out into the empty space in front of him and let his hand hang in the air. Suddenly, he felt something warm and leathery rub up against his hand. A golden light began to shine surrounding him and he felt himself fill with a newfound energy. With a flash, the light was gone and there under his hand stood a skeletal, black horse. It had two, leathery, bat-like wings on its side and a soft flowing mane. The horse whinnied gently and Harry heard a smooth baritone voice.
Hello, Hadrian. My name is Vortex. I'm so happy to finally meet you. I've waited for this day for a long time.
How can I understand you, Vortex? Harry asked, voice filled with wonder.
You have the gift of Equispeech. You can understand and speak to all manner of horses. You will be able to understand and speak to all of your familiars as well as others of their species. Vortex answered with a gentle nicker.
Newt merely sat in his chair, observing the developing bond between his new king and one of the most mischievous thestrals in his herd. In the distance he saw three faint specks in the sky, slowly flying closer. His eyes widened when he recognized one of the specks as the rarest dragon he had. Illuvor was the last of his breed.
"Not to rush you but, I believe three more of your familiars are about to arrive. Look."
Harry turned in the direction Newt pointed and saw three specks in the sky, growing bigger as they neared him. The first, a silvery white thunderbird, landed with a mighty screech.
(Hello, Harry) a soft soprano sounded.(My name is Midori. I look forward to accompanying you on your future adventures) Harry reached out and softly stroked Midori's feathers, marveling at the feel of them. Again, a golden light enveloped him. Behind her, a pale lavender occamy landed, shrinking himself down to fit in the now limited space around Harry. Excited, the occamy slithered forward, knocking Harry over and tickling his cheek with a long purple tongue, and Harry was enshrouded in light for the third time.
:You're here. You're finally here. I can't believe it. I'm Zarek, by the way. I only hatched a year ago but I always knew I was meant to be with you, I can't wait to see how much fun we're going to have: Harry laughed as his hyper occamy rambled on in a high pubescent tenor. He shifted Zarek to hang over his shoulders as he stood to look at the final creature in the clearing. It was an absolutely massive dragon with sparkling, sapphire scales. His head alone was the size of Number 4, with a long, crocodilian jaw and two long horns twisting out of the top. His eyes were like two enormous shards of amber, studying Harry intently before gently butting his nose against Harry's chest and engulfing him in light for the fourth time.
[Greetings, young king.] the dragon's deep bass voice shook the ground beneath him. [ I am Illuvor. The last known Catalonian Long-Snout Dragon. I am the oldest of your familiars by at least a hundred years. It would be my pleasure to help guide you throughout your young reign, just as my ancestors guided your predecessor. I notice we are still missing one of our number. He's probably asleep. I'll call him here.] Having said his piece, Illuvor lifted his enormous head and roared into the sky.[XENOS!! GET UP YOU LAZY SACK OF FUR! HARRY IS HERE AND HE'S WAITING ON YOU!] The ground shook as the massive dragon called out to Harry's last familiar. A pale white wolf the size of a horse came bolting out of a patch of woods to the right of the clearing. His eyes, filled with irritation, shone a ruby red.
{Did you have to shout? Bloody giant lizard. You could have just sent the kid to get me. It's not my fault I'm a nocturnal creature.} The wolf snarked in a scratchy crackling voice before turning to Harry and nuzzling his head with a wet pink nose.For the fifth and final time, Harry was enclosed in a bright golden light. {How ya doing, pipsqueek. Names Xenos. I'll be the one who saves your hide if you ever get in too deep. Just,please, try to wait until nightfall. I aint meant to be up this early.} His complaints heard, Xenos curled into a ball at Harry's feet and went to sleep.
Harry stood there, surrounded by his new familiars and reveled in the knowledge that he would never be alone again. But he still had a big problem. Mainly, how big his familiars were. How was he meant to do the rest of his shopping with two horse sized creatures, a giant bird, and an absolutely humongous dragon following him. At least Zarek was able to shift into a more manageable size. As if he heard Harry's thoughts, Newt cleared his throat behind him.
"I do believe you are in need of one of my special briefcases. It has hundreds of expansion charms inside, giving you a clearing as large as this one that you can carry with you wherever you go. Comes quite handy when you need to transport large magical creatures. Wait here and I shall fetch you one. Then, it's merely transferring everybody inside, stocking up on the different dietary needs and you'll be ready to go on your way, a few hundred galleons lighter, but richer than you ever were when you entered my menagerie."
Harry nodded his head before turning his attention back to his magnificent familiars. Newt gave a soft smile and left to go fetch the things the young king would need as well as an order form for future supply needs.
Harry departed the Magical Menagerie carrying a leather case made of ethically harvested Antipodean Opaleye hide. Illuvor had protested the material but Newt was able to assure him that it was cut from a shed hide and not from a live dragon. It caused it to be slightly duller but it was still a beautiful pearlescent white. He turned towards Granny Gussie and asked where they should go next.
"Now it is time for you to get the most important piece of equipment for any witch or wizard." she said seriously, indicating the shoppe across the alley. "Now we get…your wand."
Harry nervously moved toward the dark, grungy looking shop. Even from outside, he could tell every surface was covered in a thick layer of dust. Stepping inside, Harry wondered out loud if the layers of dust were somehow part of the process of getting a wand.
"No, I'm afraid the dust is simply because I tend to get so caught up in my work that I often forget to do the more mundane tasks like eating or cleaning. And after a while it just piles up and becomes such a massive undertaking that one old man simply cannot do it all." A raspy old voice rang out from down one of the darkened rows of haphazardly stacked shelves. From within the darkness emerged an even older looking man. "Good Morning ,Your Majesty. I am Garrick Ollivander, Proprietor of Ollivander's Wandmakers. We have provided the best wands to Magical Britain since 983. And now it is my distinct privilege to fit you with your wand. But, I sense that none of the wands I currently have in stock will be suitable. So we must craft you a custom wand." Ollivander quickly strode over to the shop door and flipped the sign over to Closed, while locking the door. Turning, he gently laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and led him to the backroom of his store, where his workshop was located. A row of wood blocks lay on a low table and shelves full of different strange items lined the walls. Harry saw jars of leathery strings, and soft feathers and hairs. Vials of cloudy fluids. Little jars full of what looked like ash from the fireplace. Various polishes and wood tools were scattered everywhere.
"Now, with your dominant hand," Ollivander spoke, as he wrapped a stained leather apron around him, "I need you to focus your magic. Picture an orb of light, filling the palm of your hand. And once you have it as big as you can possibly get it, throw it in the air."
Harry lifted his right hand and tried to do as he was told. He imagined he was holding a small ball of blue fire. He tried hard to see it, sitting there in his hand nut not burning him. The flame tickled. Suddenly, a feeling of warmth filled Harry, and the ball got bigger. He focused on that warm feeling and gave a mental pull. The blue ball of fire grew and grew. Soon it was bigger than Harry. When it was so big he couldn't hold it with one hand, Harry threw the ball of fire up into the air with a yell. As the ball began to slowly fade away, Harry sagged, suddenly desperately tired and hungry enough to out eat Dudley. He opened eyes he couldn't remember closing and gasped when he saw two blocks of wood and several different jars of unidentified material floating in the air in front of him. Without saying a word, Ollivander snatched everything from the air and turned to his work desk, muttering under his breath.
Harry lost track of time as he watched the old man work, twisting this string with that one and leaving them to soak in one mysterious liquid while mixing another mysterious liquid with some of the ash to make a paste, before smearing it on one side of a block of wood. He gently laid a dark black feather on top of the paste before delicately taking the two twined strings and laying them on top. Finally, he took the other block of wood and laid it on top of the strings, before drawing his own wand and blending the two blocks into one swirled piece of wood around the rest. Lifting the new, larger block of wood from the table, Ollivander walked to a lathe in the corner of the room. Setting the block in place on the lathe, he started the machine and began slowly whittling the block into a long, thin stick. Once it had reached a length and thickness that seemed to satisfy him, he reached to the side and grabbed a stained rag. Reaching to his other side he grabbed one of the pots of polish, dipped the rag into it and began polishing the newly crafted wand to a glossy shine. Lifting the completed wand, he turned back to face Harry and bowed, holding the wand out across his hands.
Harry took the wand and immediately that same feeling of warmth returned, but a thousand times stronger, like he was standing on the sun, but wasn't burning. An ethereal light shone on him, though where it came from was anybody's guess. He looked at Ollivander with wonder filled eyes.
"Beech wood and Pear, wound together around a core consisting of two dragon heartstrings soaked in basilisk venom,the feather of a rare Black Pegasus, and a mixture of Phoenix tears and ash. This is , without a doubt the most powerful wand I have ever crafted, Your Majesty, and in fact, it may well be the most powerful wand to exist, stronger even than the Legendary Deathstick. I hope it serves you well." Leading Harry back into the main part of the shop, and declining any form of payment, Ollivander let Harry out the front, back into the alley proper, before relocking the door and disappearing into the shadows.
The remainder of Harry's first trip to Diagon Alley was uneventful. Granny Gussie made him get several extra books on Wizarding Law, Politics, Deportment, The Nobility, and Ancient Wizarding Traditions, most of which are still in use today. She also had him order multiple extra casual and formal robes, in a variety of suitable colors, as well as stacks of trousers, shirts, socks, and undergarments, all made from the finest materials. Loaded down with his purchases, and heads reeling from the massive amounts of new information and unexpected events, Harry and The Dursleys tiredly left Diagon Alley and returned to the car. As they began the drive back to Surrey, a still confused Dudley innocently asked;
"Do I have to bow to Harry now?"