3. Diagon Alley!
The next morning woke up to an owl tapping on the window and a warm something beside him in the blankets.
“Wha…?” he slurred, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
He jumped out of the bed, stretched, crossed the room’s length and opened the window to let the owl in. As soon as he relived the owl of its burden, it flew off through the still open window.
Harry was about to open the letter when he heard a bark from behind him. He whirled around and saw Padfoot had woken up; and he was in Harry’s bed!
“Hey sleepy head! How’d you get up there?”
“Woof!” was the only answer he got, along with a wagging tail.
Harry grinned a little and then turned to open the letters the Owl had delivered.
“Hey! It’s from Hermione!” he said excitedly.
“Dear Harry,
Hope you’re ok. I’m fine over here. Me, mum and dad are hiking on the Alps. I was thinking of sending you this letter the muggle way when a Hogwarts owl popped in. Has your come yet? Anyway, I somehow ‘convinced’ the owl to deliver this letter to you. Thank you so much for the birthday gift and wishes. I loved it very much. Mum was rather curious. She asked to meet you as she wanted to know who you were, for according to her, a gift like that was mighty expensive. I really don’t think so, though. I mean, how much does she think a writing set could cost? Anyway, have you heard from Ronald yet? He sent me a letter, explaining how he was going to Egypt. He wished me a happy birthday and told me that Percy got made Head boy. Ronald said he’s being an annoying prat and that the twins had been pranking him since the day he got his letter. By the way, I’d better go down for break-fast now, I’m hungry!
Love, Hermione
P.S Have you finished your homework by now? I have, though I don’t understand the book about The Care Of Magical Creatures. Its called the Monster Book Of Monsters. Beware, it bites!
See you, Hermione.”
“It bites” Harry repeated. “It bites? Great, now we have a biting book as well”
“Woof” Padfoot was licking his hand in an effort to distract him.
“Oh well, I need to visit Gringotts.”
Harry walked out the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley. He made a swift bee-line for the marble bank building to avoid the staring passer-bys. He walked up the steps and to a free counter and asked politely: “Excuse me, but I would like to visit my vault.”
The goblin behind the counter looked at him for a second before clearing his throat and saying: “Of course Mr. Potter. I’ll get someone to escort you there if you’ll kindly wait here.”
Before long a familiar goblin walked up to Harry. However, before he could speak, Harry greeted him with a “Hello Griphook”
The said goblin looked gob-smacked. Harry asking him a ‘What’s wrong’ shook him out of his trace and he apologized, saying that he wasn’t used to people greeting goblins by name.
“Most wand-carriers don’t bother remembering and using a goblin’s name, Mr. Potter. In fact, the last person to do so was a certain Miss Evans, also known as Lily Potter.”
“My mother” Harry whispered in awe.
Griphook pretended not to have heard that and started to lead the way to Harry’s vault. As Harry turned around, he nearly face-planted on the ground; having tripped over a wagging Padfoot who had been following Harry and had been sitting quite close behind him.
“Paddy! What’re you doing here?”
“Woof Woof!”
“Oh let me guess. Keeping me company?”
“Woof! Slurp! Woof!”
“Ha-ha! Ok ok! Down, boy down.”
“WOOOOOF!”
After they had loaded in the cart, it hurtled down.
This time, with no adult to stop him, Harry leaned down the side and let out a whoop as the air rushed over him.
“WHEEEEEEE!”
“Woahhh!” said Harry as he sat back down.
Soon, the cart stopped outside Harry’s vault and he got out, feeling rather giddy. As the vault opened when Griphook inserted the key and they walked inside, Padfoot gave a small muffled yelp of surprise.
“What is it, Padfoot? Are you alright?” Harry asked, concerned about him.
Padfoot gave a shaky bark and looked around him.
(A/N. As many of you have probably guessed it already, Padfoot is Sirius Black, Harry’s Godfather or more fittingly, Dogfather. Anyway, as he is a animagus, we’ll be hearing some of his thoughts on different matters)
*Padfoot’s POV*
‘I can’t believe it. Is this all that Harry has? But James and Lily saved up much more, not to mention the actual Potter vault. No, this must be his trust vault or something. But is it possible that he doesn’t know of it? Does he know of his parents will? Or that he is the next Lord Potter? Or that he’s one of the wealthiest men of the world? Does he even know of his heritage? Does he know that he owns dozens properties and trade monopolies? I bet it’s all his magical guardians fault, though I wonder who it is? I know it isn’t me and that Moony could never be, as the bloody ministry would say that he can’t be a guardian of a child as he’s a werewolf. It can’t be Pettigrew as he’s supposed to be dead. Hmmm, I wonder if it’s Dumbledore. It could be him but how could it be him? There were dozens of other people who could have been his guardian, like James’s Aunt Erin or it could have been Frank and Alice. They had a son Harry’s age, Neville. Or it could have been his Godmother Jean Granger Nee Prewett. (A/N. That’s Hermione’s mum. That makes Harry and Hermione god-siblings; however, those two don’t know that. Hermione’s mum was a witch until she lost her powers due to swearing a magical oath that she was then forced to break, making her a squib.)
However, if it is Dumbledore, and he doesn’t have a good reason for making Harry go through all of this, I swear I’m gonna kill that gay bastard.
*No-one’s POV*
After Harry had filled his money bag, he went to get his school supplies. First, he went to Florish and Blotts for his school books. Having purchased them (the assistant was most displeased when Harry said he wanted the Monster Book of Monsters), he moved on to his potion supplies as he was running low on them. After that, he bought some owl treats for Hedwig and a new perch for her to sit on. Just as he was heading back to the Leaky Cauldron, something caught his eye. It was small crowd outside the display of Quality Quidditch Supplies. He went to check it out and found himself looking at the most magnificent broom he’d ever seen. It’s name was ‘Firebolt’ and it was the fastest broom ever. Rumor had it that the Irish Quidditch team had put in an order for seven of them. For Harry, it was love at first sight. The Firebolt was gleaming in the sunlight as its handle was just inviting everyone to have a ride on it. Harry really wanted to buy that broom but since he was happy with his Nimbus 2000, he didn’t bother, though he returned everyday just to ogle at it like everyone else.
A week had passed since Harry had come to the Leaky cauldron. One day, he was just paying his daily visits to the ice cream shop and the Quality Quidditch supplies when he saw two heads that were strangely familiar. One was slightly bushy with loads of curly brown hair while the other was orangish-red.
“Hermione! Ron!!!”
