In the end Petunia had left the bank after the goblin had refused to offer her a better deal, eventually she stormed out of the bank marching Harry behind her and back through the alley.

Petunia had then called up Vernon and after agreeing to meet up she had gotten herself a drink from a nearby cafe, she had even given Harry the small biscuit which had come with it, which he thought was nice of her. By the time she had finished her drink Vernon had left Grunnings and had driven down to them.

"What's the matter, sweetums?" Vernon asked when he saw Petunia's expression

"Oh Vernon, they say the rate has risen to a ridiculous amount since I was last there"

"That's outrageous! Don't worry pet, by the time I'm finished with them they will be begging to give us the best rate in the county!"

So once more, Harry was led through the tavern to the wall outside, as they hadn't bothered to ask the barkeeper for help this time Petunia ordered Harry to open the archway.

This presented a problem for Harry as he only had the memory of the pattern to go on, shrugging he tapped his fingers to the bricks in what he hoped was the same pattern the barkeeper had done. However this time nothing happened, Harry remembered how the man had used what he supposed was a wand to open the archway so he charged his finger with magic and tried once more, this time the arch opened the moment his finger touched the final brick.

As they went passed once more through the alley Vernon would mutter under his breath a range of insults such as "freaks" or "no sense of what normal people wear". Harry just rolled his eyes and used the time to look around, he couldn't help noticing that some of Vernon's observations weren't wrong.

After all they had magic why bother to use ladders to reach something, indeed apart from wearing robes these people wouldn't look out of place in the non-magical world.

Vernon walked straight up to the goblin without hesitation after Petunia pointed him out and Harry now noted that his plague read Goldclaw.

"You, what is the exchange rate from pounds to whatever money your lot uses" Vernon asked rudely, poking a finger into Goldclaw's face, once more interrupting his counting.

"As I told your wife earlier sir, it's 15 pound sterling to a galleon" Goldclaw replied stiffly, Harry saw two more guards stationed on the wall behind the goblin stiffen and their hands tensed on the spears they carried as if preparing for conflict.

Vernon, it seemed, had not noticed them and continued on his one man crusade so that he would waste as little of his own money on Harry as he could possibly manage, he countered with "You told her it was ten pound earlier! I don't think you have an official rate"

Harry half expected Goldclaw to react aggressively but Goldclaw only grinned and sat backwards, showing every one of his teeth and said "It is hardly my fault if she did not listen when I told her the rate I was prepared to give"

Now there was one thing Vernon hated above all else was if someone insulted his wife or son, he hated it even more than he despised magic. However to Harry's surprise he didn't explode like he tended to do in the face of his wife being insulted.

Vernon had decided to treat the goblin like a rival business man, one like he might face at Grunnings if he was at work like he was meant to if his time was not being wasted by this business man in front of him.

He started haggling with the goblin over how many galleons he would get for his pound, as Harry quickly grew bored of his uncle he started looking around the room. He noticed the other customers and even some goblins had paused what they were doing in order to stare at Vernon, it was as if they were in shock, like this was something they had never seen before.

Tuning back into the argument Harry heard Vernon say "so do you agree then on 5 galleons and 13 Knuts for a pound then?"

"Yes yes fine! I must say you are the most difficult customer I've had the displeasure of meeting for years! If it weren't for the infernal ministry law's I'd have you thrown out!" Goldclaw snapped, by now he outright glaring at Vernon as if planning how many ways he could kill the man.

Vernon either didn't notice the look or just didn't care and pulled out five 20 pound notes and Goldclaw's expression somehow got even more deadly "If you had that much money why did you argue over a single penny!" he growled

"Well I didn't get to where I am now by just giving away my money now did I? I'm sure you understand as well as I" Vernon actually chortled and Goldclaw looked ready to leap over the desk and throttle him, Vernon seemed very happy with outsmarting the goblin although Harry wondered how wise that might have been.

With a start Harry realised this was one of the only times he had ever seen his uncle look genuinely happy, 'it's weird' Harry thought 'he looks like a completely different man when he's happy.'

It made Harry sad that he was never good enough for Vernon, while he seemed to have no issue treating the goblins like a normal person, although even then Vernon doesn't treat other people very well anyway, Harry mused.

After they had collected a small fortune in Galleons from the goblins, Vernon had decided he might as well follow them around the alley since he was there already. As they went he would loudly complain whenever anything plainly magical caught his eye, this had the effect of every witch or wizard glaring at Vernon.

Never before had there been a man so huge and disrespectful within the alley, the fact he was clearly muggle made it so much worse for the witches and wizards present, even the most muggle loving glared at Vernon.

Indeed they were so busy mentally insulting the man they never even looked at the small boy hidden behind him, as such Harry Potter's first visit to Diagon Alley went unnoticed by the wizarding public. By the time they had bought half of the items on his list his uncle had grown bored of the alley and had gone back to work, this meant they were able to walk around much more peacefully.

Harry was surprised at how easily Petunia knew where to find his supplies and went straight from shop to shop without hesitation, but he didn't dare question her as to why, she was doing him a massive favour and she might just leave him if he asked a question.

Having carefully looked around as they shopped, Harry couldn't help deciding his first impression of the alley had been wrong, despite this being the most magic he had ever seen, the people he had ever seen they all seemed so boring.

Harry wondered how someone could have the ability to do whatever they imagined could live such a mundane lifestyle, Harry swore to himself he would never waste his magic and let it grow mundane.

Finally they only had a few items left and Petunia decided it would be best to send Harry alone to the wand store as she said it may take him some time and she had no desire to sit around and watch him try out wands, so she went off to buy him some robes and writing supplies.

Upon entering the store Harry was further disappointed, it seemed to just be a regular antique shop but instead of selling interesting trinkets it only sold sticks and dust.

Although that opinion quickly changed when Harry noticed that each box glowed in a way he had never seen before and the air itself seemed to shimmer vibrantly, the store sang out in a brilliant rainbow of colour, with each box making up a note. To Harry it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Suddenly a voice sounded from behind him "Ah Mr. Potter, welcome to my store, my name is Ollivander. Of course I expected you would be coming here, indeed I expected you to arrive sometime next week when the muggle raised children get shown the alley… But no matter, no matter… always expect the unexpected my father used to say.

"I remember your parents of course, they were brilliant. They would've changed the world itself… had they lived long enough, alas the unexpected happened and the same night which stopped a great and terrible war… cost us two of the greatest minds of the age and left you without an orphan."

This was the first time Harry had ever heard his parents be talked about in a positive manor "I do believe you are mistaken sir, I was told my parents died in a car crash, they couldn't be have been murdered surely"

"A car crash? I knew them well and a simple crash would never have been enough to kill them, no child it took a Dark Lord visiting them in the night for them to die. A creature that calls himself Lord Voldemort, although I knew him by another name when he was younger. I believe, as do a few others, that it was your parents that found a way to end the Dark Lord's reign."

The man then sighed deeply as if disappointed "However the majority of the wizarding world say you, a one year old child was responsible for defeating one of the most powerful dark lords of the era. Fools the lot of them, they run and hide yet blame others for their lack of action… You look just like them you know? You have James' looks but Lily's eyes and I would think her curiosity too"

Harry was stunned, all his life he had been told his parents were no good drunks who had died in a car crash, as Marge was so quick to remind him every time she came to visit. This is the first time he had even learnt their names and here this old man he had never met before was telling him that his parents were heroes, Harry couldn't believe it!

As he was mulling this over a tape measure had flown across the room and had started to measure him, he was fascinated to see a trail of magic going from the tape measure to the old man. The man seemed to notice as his eyes narrowed as he watched Harry follow the magic as it moved around him.

"Fascinating" was all he had said, after Harry asked what he meant he explained "Few wizards ever learn to observe magic, indeed it took me many years myself to learn how. For you to have this ability at such a young age is very curious, very curious indeed. I would advise against telling anyone else about this power Mr Potter, at least only tell those you trust to keep it a secret, this ability would further cement the public's obsession with you."

I always figured that Vernon would quite like the Goblins or at least like tricking them, the next chapter is almost entirely about wands and the lore which will play into the story later on