Of Lightning Bolts And Green Eyes

4 - A New Friend

Harry ate all the food he had on his plate, going so far as to eat every last crumb. He had gone hungry for too long and he hated wasting food, even if it was just the littlest bit.

When he finished he stood up to go pay, thanking all the Gods that he always kept some money in his trunk, be it wizarding or muggle. He walked up to the counter, paying for his order, before exiting the pub.

The decided to take a walk down Diagon Alley, taking a look at the shop windows that were lit up. Almost without noticing he came to the end on Diagon Alley, going into Nocturn for the second time in his life.

You could easily see the differences between the two magical streets. If in Diagon the shop windows were lit up, in Nocturn almost all the shops had black windows that didn't let you see what was inside; whereas Diagon Alley was, even this hour, was crouded by people chattering and laughing, Nocturn Alley only had some street whores and a couple of sporadic black cats.

Harry didn't know why but he felt a connection to that place. He was walking around in what was communly seen as a dangerous street, but all he could feel was excitement and curiosity, stopping in front of every window to admire what to everyone else only looked like dark glass.

He could feel the power of every single artifact on display inside those shops, and some of them were so powerful that he felt like he had to stop in front of a shop and try to get a better feel of it. He could also feel the heavy wards that were set all around the Alley and that, even if a bit disorienting, was perhaps the most fascinating thing about the whole street.

Contrary to popular belief, Hermione was not the only one who knew how to read: he could read books as well. It was how he came to know that sensing magic was highly uncommon, even in the Wizarding World and that, along with the fact that he didn't want to be a freak even among his first friends, was what made him take the decision to keep that little fact to himself.

In the month between his birthday and the start of the school year, Harry had taken his time to read as many books as he could find. He had wanted to be as prepared as possible for his new subjects and did his very best to read ahead. Once at Hogwarts, however, under the guidance or professor Dumbledore and with his best friends' influence, he had thought it best to follow the role that the others had put him in.

The boy's thoughts were interrupted when he felt something softly pulling at his magical core. A soft tugging that was just meant to catch his attention and lead him towards a specific shop; like a child getting excited in front of the window of a toys' shop and tugging in his mother's shirt to be noticed.

Harry froze mid step at the feeling, stopping just for a few seconds before deciding to follow the pull towards a shop located a bit further down the road.

The shop window was, like most of the others, dark, with no name to identify it with. The teen could see many different magical cores and that intrigued him even more. They looked like little lights dancing and moving slowly inside the room.

Harry walked up to the door and pushed it open, feeling the cold wave of magic from the wards as soon as he stepped foot into the room.

Shivering, he looked around, realizing that he had entered in some kind of pet shop. Looking at the animals on display, tho, the shop wasn't anything like the Managerie in Diagon Alley. The pet shop in Diagon sold owls, cats and dogs; the one in Nocturn sold ravens, eagles and snakes.

Looking past the first few cages he could see animals that, he knew, were very rare. He saw a baby hippogriff and he could clearly hear the screaching of a thunderbird coming from the back of the shop.

Following the small tug once again, Harry came to stand in front of a big tank. At first glance it seemed pretty much empty, with nothing but plants on the inside, but when the boy looked more closely he saw something that made his breath catch.