Obligatory gringotts chapter
I was walking towards the heart of London, with the intent of hailing a cab once they started becoming frequent on my journey. My walk served the purpose of cooling me down emotionally and I was able to properly recollect myself. Once I was calm I immediately threw up on the side of the road.
I had just murdered 3 people, not even murder... I ABSORBED THEIR SOULS. Jesus Christ what kind of monster was I becoming?!? was this just an instinctual reaction of my magic trying to defend itself? was this Tom's mind and mannerisms slowly becoming my own? was this from my time spent in the void? was it all three? none?!? I had never done anything even remotely similar in my first life, I mean sure I had a bit of temper but, like maybe I would shout or even punch a wall at my most angry but not...not cannibalizing someone in body and soul!
I took a few deep, steady breaths to lower my heart rate, my... raging emotions were causing my magic to flare out and cracks had started to form on the path I was walking. Voldemort had performed more esoteric rituals in his later life that involved him... consuming parts of creatures and peoples magic, in order to gain unique strengths and powers. But even then they required a tremendous amount of magic, materials and raw emotion of the most evilest kind in order to perform and you would only gain a small portion of the beings magic, not their souls and memories.
The... assimilation process I had performed felt almost natural, it was an instinctual part of my being, as natural to me as breathing. I believe I have a few blossoming theories on what happened but they would require proper research in order to verify, nevertheless I believe it was a combination of my magic becoming wild from the aborted obscurial process and the void touched nature of my soul, both of them being primal and old forces respectively. They had reacted to my bodies need to sustain itself, a form of accidental magic. But accidental magic is suppose to result in your hair growing longer or turning your teachers hair blue, not whatever I had done. Thinking on this was getting me nowhere as I had nothing to write my thoughts into and no source of information to peruse for answers, so gathering my thoughts I resumed my pace toward London.
As I walked I took notice of my magic, my body was heavily saturated with it, even when I was not calling upon it. I... er, Harry, had never felt it like this before, I... he... us? oh bugger this! I had always been able to subtly feel it within me but it was never as... loud, as it seemed to be now. In fact at times it flared up and felt uncomfortable, this was causing me a small amount of distress because it felt slightly like the obscurial process I had been undergoing before the merge. But I had stopped it... hadn't I? Have I only delayed the inevitable?
I noticed a cab driving by and hailed them, I gave them the address from Petunia's memory on where the leaky cauldron should be and we took off. During the ride I submerged myself into the incomplete memories of Tom Riddle, from what I could gather my magic had become wild, which essentially means it became easier to control through intent and emotion, but it would slowly build up within me and could end with regressing back into an obscurial. Voldemort had performed a ritual to gain a similar control over his magic without the drawbacks, it involved the sacrifice of a newborn, the sick fuck. There was a stabilizing ritual that Voldemort had performed in his younger years to act as a foundation for his more esoteric rituals he would perform on his self, this ritual would be the key to fixing my magic while keeping the finer control of it.
There was only one problem. I didn't have the memory of actually performing the ritual so I had no idea what it needed, what it entailed, how long it took, the time of year to perform it on, nothing. I knew Voldemort had done it in either his late teens or early twenties because that was the time period he remembered doing it in, it was similar to how you know roughly the age you were when you first learnt to walk but didn't remember the process itself. I had two options in which I could take to discover the ritual, I could find Malfoy manor and steal the diary horcrux and absorb it (which I will want to do anyway because more magic is a no brainer) or research it myself by venturing into the more shady bookstores of Diagon alley, or perhaps even Knockturn alley. The upside to the second was that the ritual was not deemed illegal and even was performed in extreme medical cases, but knowledge of it was restricted. I was trying to remain undiscovered for now so I couldn't go to saint mungo's and ask them to perform it, Hopefully the stores in knockturn would have what I needed.
Paying the driver his fare and giving him a tip for not asking questions (hey its Vernon's money not mine) I found myself standing across from the leaky cauldron. I noticed how people would be unable to focus on the location and would walk right by, every once in awhile an oddly dressed man or woman would enter the building, obviously being of magic origin. I let my magic slowly permeate the surroundings and I could just faintly feel the edge of the wards used to achieve the effect, I could also taste the magic in the air and it felt slightly intoxicating. I believe performing my... assimilation... on other magical beings would temporarily satiate my magic and halt the obscurial process for a short while, I wouldn't have to do this for weeks as long as I wasn't using my magic extensively. Before I took the first step across the road to the wizarding world I was overcome with a sudden realization... I was a fucking idiot.
Albus motherfucking Dumbledore, how the fuck did I forget about Dumbledore, all that fanon and possibly canon shit of having artifacts monitoring the blood wards and privet drive in general. Well the blood wards still existed for now but I wonder if he'll notice the wards getting up and fucking moving into the heart of london considering they were bound too my body currently. Jesus Christ all this soul absorption shit has my head so far in the clouds that I miss the obvious things I need to look out for.
I took a deep breath and calmed my beating heart, panicking would draw more attention with the current state of my magic. I have plans that involve using the sacrifice of Lily that still exist within the wards to enhance my body, since my relatives were dead, eventually the wards would decay and collapse. My assimilation of their blood and magic has only postponed this process for... around a year? roughly that much. Normally a ritual to enhance yourself would require a massive sacrifice and would taint you with vile magics, however Lily willingly sacrificed herself to save me (well Harry but you get the idea), and as much as the fandom ragged on Dumbledore for it, a pure type of love like that behind magic would yield great power. This infuriated Voldemort as he was researching his rituals, considering the man was incapable of the emotion. Essentially I could perform a very powerful ritual exchanging the blood wards for a strong boost to myself which would come with no negative repercussions (I get to keep my nose, yay!). The pondering of this helped calm me down from my Dumbledore freakout and with a clear head I channeled my magic into my hair, making it light brown and increasing its length to cover my scar before venturing forward.
Entering the establishment a few wizards and witches looked up at me, their gazes showed a brief curiosity before returning to their business. I made my way toward the counter where I'm greeted by a man who still has his hair and teeth resembling the actor from the first movie. "Ello there young sir, if you'd like anything ta drink or eat let me know or if you need the entrance to the alley opened up." Spoke Tom with a friendly smile.
Putting on my best impression of an innocent child I replied "Hello sir, I'm suppose to be meeting my aunt for some ice cream, Could you open the alley for me? If it's not to much of a bother...".
The man made his way around the counter and toward the door beckoning me, "not at all, not at all right this way young lad, and please just call me Tom, Sir makes me feel like me father".
Out back of the pub he showed me the pattern of bricks to be tapped and as the wall opened up I felt a wave of magic wash over me. While diagon looked like a medieval street with a few quirks, magically it felt like a living breathing being. Thanking Tom I stepped into the alley and let my magic flare out and feel the amalgamation of magics swirling in the air and the earth itself.
As I walked along the cobbled stones of the alley I had to fight the urge to explore the shops, I wanted to explore everything Diagon has to offer but first I needed one of the most ancient forms of communication in human history... Money. I walked up the steps toward Gringotts and entering the inner chamber I briefly glanced at the famous poem above the doors before making my way toward a teller.
"What business can gringotts perform for you today?", the greeting itself wasn't hostile but the face of the teller could be considered such with the permanent frown and sharp teeth. Judging from my brief glance at the guards and Riddle's memories the majority of goblins seem to have resting bitch face syndrome, which wizards often assume means they're angry most of the time.
"I'd like to know if I could get a new key made for my vault?, I'm currently not in the possession of my old one" I replied, the teller raised his eyebrow "Name? and would you like all other keys to be cancelled?".
"Harry James Potter and um... yes please cancel my other keys, how much will that cost me?". The goblin pulled out a parchment and a small pen knife "If you are who you say, then the total will be 5 galleons. Administer 3 drops of blood onto the parchment"
Taking the knife I make a small cut on my pinky finger and let 3 drops fall on the parchment, the blood begins moving and forming words. "I'll throw in an extra 5 galleons if you make sure no other wizard knows I've been here"
The teller looks up from the parchment and into my eyes "hmm... seeing as you are the sole living heir of your family I'm sure a few liberties can be taken, deal"
With my security confirmed I look at the parchment before me.
"Harry" Hadrian James Potter
Vault/s No. 687 [Family vault] No. 704 [Trust vault]
Title/s [Heir Potter] [Boy-who-lived]
Possible claim/s [Heir Slytherin: requirements met 2/3]
"excuse me, but what does the test mean by possible claims?".
The teller gave me a somewhat neutral look and explained "In typical wizard tradition if one is not born into a family they can claim the name by meeting three requirements, first they must defeat the current lord in combat, second they must possess one of the unique bloodline gifts of said family, families with bloodline gifts usually obtained them via a ritual performed by their founders, however these rituals are a closely kept family secret and most have been lost to time" he pauses for breath.
"Finally an even more obscure ritual must be performed to have magic itself adopt you into the family, this ritual was reported to have an extremely high mortality rate and is also lost to time". Looking down at the parchment again the goblin commented " In fact it is quite rare to see someone who meets more than one requirement, very rare indeed".
The teller looks back up at me "are there any other services you require?", I ponder for a moment and then ask
"Could I purchase a bag with an expansion enchantment put onto it? or can I buy a pouch linked to my vault?".
The teller replies "Gringotts does offer bottomless mokeskin pouches for 10 galleons each, we can link the pouch to your vault for an extra 10 galleons however these represent a security risk and Gringotts will not be held responsible for any thefts that occur as a result, I would recommend you buy the bottomless pouch and fill it yourself".
I nod my head and say "I'll just take the bottomless pouch and head to my vault then, oh and uh charge it to my vault please"
The teller nods his head and takes out a box and a pouch from his desk, he hands me the pouch and then opens the box and hands me a small golden key "If that is all I will get Ranrok to escort you" the teller turns to face a corridor being guarded by another goblin "Ranrok! escort this young wizard too vault 704"
he turns back to face me "you will gain access to your family vault when you are 17 or have been emancipated, gringotts wishes you a pleasant day" I smile and thank the teller "thank you sir, you've been a great help". The teller simply smiles at me and then calls in the next in line.
The coaster ride was fun, and the 'thief's downfall' as its called reverted my hair to normal, the magic from it was unique and I wonder how they got such enchantments to stick on a waterfall. My vault held a rather sizable piles of galleons, sickles and knuts. I put a few handfuls into my pouch and Ranrok escorted me back to the surface, I thanked him and then before stepping outside reapplied the magic too my hair.
looking around Diagon alley I set my sights on my first shop and made my way towards the biggest spending spree of my new life.