Chapter 3
Minerva McGonagall was annoyed. There was a postal owl following her around, but the dratted bird refused to give her the letter that was attached to it's leg. She was even more annoyed that this was being witnessed by the Hogwarts staff as they were in the end of term meeting. There were far too many smirks that weren't even being politely hidden. Albus was the worst. The man was actually beaming at her! And making unhelpful suggestions! Everyone knew that the owls were trained to obey specific orders, so she knew that there was no way she could get the letter until either the owl let her have it, or she did something unforgivable to the animal.
Because Minerva wasn't looking at Albus, or any of the other teachers to be frank, she was the first one to realize that the floo had been activated. Green flames burst out of the cold logs, and a squad of Goblins in full arms and armor charged out of the fireplace. Their war cries had everyone frozen in their seats, and Minerva was shocked to realize that this was literal. Her bum was quite cold.
Amelia Bones, wearing formal Auror robes followed the Goblins and she simply watched as Albus was carried back through the floo, chair and all. She turned to the table that all of the teachers and staff were sitting around and stated. "Albus Dumbledore is guilty of theft from a minor and attempted line-theft. As per our treaties with the Goblin Nation, he is theirs to punish. Professor McGonagall, I do believe that this means you are now Headmistress of Hogwarts. The Goblins will be going through the Headmaster's office and quarters as well as any rooms that the house elves indicate Dumbledore stashed things in and should be done with their removal of all of his things by this afternoon. Good luck with the mess I'm certain that he's left behind." With this, she turned to the floo and left.
As they all stared, stunned at the event that had just taken place, the delivery owl fluttered down to stand in front of Minerva and began hooting imperiously. She looked down at it and said, "Oh, now you're going to give it to me then?"
"It probably had orders to wait until Albus was gone," Pomona said.
Minerva sighed and nodded in agreement, even as she accepted the letter. She blanched as she read the words.
Heir Hufflepuff, to Headmistress McGonagall, greetings,
We are aware of former Headmaster Dumbledore's arrest and subsequent removal from our school. You are hereby requested to meet with us and the other heirs of the founders, at ten of the morning at the pub, The Leaky Cauldron, tomorrow. We will be scrutinizing Dumbledore's running of the school and there will be changes made.
Bring with you all of the reports from the last sixty years regarding the running of the school and the grades of the students, with all of the student's personal information removed. Please include any and all requests from staff and teachers, indicating which had been fulfilled and which had been ignored, along with any requests that you feel are in need of being addressed immediately. Also bring all files on the current staff and teachers and the requirements for magical schools on the international level. Hogwarts was once the best school in the world, Professor, and we intend for it to be such again.
Heir Hufflepuff
Minerva passed the letter to Severus, who was sitting next to her. He read the letter out loud to the rest of the staff. It was Hooch who finally broke the silence that followed the reading. "Do you think that means that I can finally get new brooms so that I don't have to take a student to the hospital wing every single time I give a lesson to first years?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry woke up, a little cramped and cold from sleeping under the bushes at the park near Privet Drive. He'd fashioned a hiding place there years ago, and this wasn't the first time that he'd spent the night there. He crawled out, brushed off Dudley's old clothes, and headed over to the restrooms on the other side of the park. A quick stop there to clean up and change back into clean school clothes, and he was ready to head out. "Hedwig, meet me in Rye, near the Mermaid Tavern. I'll probably be all day shopping, so enjoy yourself on your way there," Harry told his owl. Hedwig made a happy little noise and flew off.
Today was the first day he was going to be in charge of his life. Him, not Dumbledore. Not Voldemort. He was a noble and that meant that he had to look and act like one. Well, in public anyway. Even muggle nobles had to do that, even when they were as poor as church mice and worked at regular jobs! Princess Diana had been a school teacher before she'd married Prince Charles and she'd been the daughter of an earl! His Aunt Petunia had really liked the princess and Harry had heard all about her for years. Now that he was a noble, he had to act just like her - nice to everyone and politically responsible; whatever that meant in the wizarding world.
Harry left the bathroom, and pulled out his wand. Holding it straight up summoned the Knight Bus, and he greeted the conductor. Hopping on board he quickly counted out the eleven sickles for the ride and requested to be dropped off at Harrods. It was time to get his new clothes. And some breakfast.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harrods was amazing, Harry decided. He'd found the food court first and had picked out a simple breakfast. At that point he found out why Manager Bloodclaws had given him so many pounds. Harrods was EXPENSIVE! However Harry gulped down the sudden sticker shock and politely paid for his meal. He had money. He had LOTS of money. He could pay for anything he wanted in this store just from one of the gift vaults, never mind what he had in the family and other such vaults.
So he sat down and ate his breakfast. Then he got up and headed to the boy's clothes department. That was the first thing on his list. He had to get new clothes. Clothes that would fit him. Clothes that were NOT Dudley's old hand me downs. Clothes that wouldn't be out of place on a noble, even if they weren't wizarding robes. He wouldn't need much, not for the three months before the new term started, but he would most definitely need at least three pairs of pants, and a handful of new shirts. He could wear them on the weekends at school too. Perhaps he should get a hoodie? Something warm to wear in the evenings.
Harry browsed the clothes options before him, fingering a pair of jeans here and a hoodie there. When a helpful employee came over and asked him if he needed help, he explained that he had just gotten home after his school let out for the year and he needed new clothes. The only things that fit were his school uniforms and them, not so much as he'd grown more than had been expected. "I go to school in Scotland and the winters there are very cold. I was hoping to find something that was really warm to wear in my common room, and some jeans and things to wear for the summer and weekends. Most of what I wear is the school uniform of course, so I don't need very much," Harry explained.
"Did your parents set a budget for you?" the kind young lady asked, glancing at his rings.
Harry flinched slightly, but shook his head. "Money's not a problem. It's the weather that's a problem. I always ache in the cold."
"In that case, I would recommend a few cashmere hoodies and perhaps socks. They're very warm and very soft so they're something that you would want to wear rather than putting up with anything scratchy. I do have a few pairs of long underwear in the same fabric if your uniform isn't warm enough as well. They're normally for those who go skiing and such in the mountains during the summer," she said.
"Sounds perfect!" Harry said with a smile. That sounded like something he could wear while he was playing Quidditch. He didn't even mind when he realized that those items were some of the most expensive. (The hoody alone was 800 pounds! He got four. He hated being cold.) He quickly picked out some jeans and a few shirts, (as well as some unmentionables when the lady's back was turned) and two new pairs of shoes.
Harry paid for his new clothes, and on the way out of the store, got lost and ended up in the stationery section. There he found what very could well be the new love of his life - a red and gold fountain pen. It was made of resin and gold and could be refilled from an ink pot with a clever little lever - which meant that he could use any of the inks he could get in Diagon Alley! No more using quills! For that alone, 1,500 pounds was cheap! No more cramped hands! He bought three.
Harry was practically floating on air when he left Harrods and summoned the Knight Bus to take him to the Leaky Cauldron. Not far from the Leaky was a phone booth and Harry hurried over to it. Hermione needed to learn about fountain pens. "Fountain Pens!" Harry exclaimed after someone had picked up the phone. "Hermione! Fountain Pens!"
"Hello to you too, Harry!" a woman's voice laughed, and Harry realized it was Hermione's mom.
"Sorry, Dr. Granger, it's just that I just found out that fountain pens existed, and they're soooo much better than quills!" Harry said, blushing. "And you can't even tell the difference when you're looking at something that's been written. I bought three of them so I could give two to Hermione and Ron."
She laughed again. "That's alright, Harry. If I had to deal with quills for two years, I'd be ecstatic about fountain pens as well. Thank you for your generosity, although I think we might already have a set. I'll have to look and see if my father's is still in good condition. Still, it's good to have more than one. Now, while I have you on the phone, just how are you going to afford to sponsor Ron? I don't want to put a strain on your guardian's finances."
"Oh, there's no problem with that," Harry said. "I'm a lord on the magic side of things and with everything that I inherited, let's just say that I could possibly buy out a good portion of Harrods and not reach the end of it."
"Are you sure, Harry?" Dr. Granger asked, suspicious.
"Yes, ma'am. At least, now that I've got access to my vaults at Gringotts. Before that, well let's just say that I'm not allowed to talk about the investigation into my uncle, ma'am and leave it at that," Harry said. There, that aught to do. He could tell Hermione and Ron about what his inheritance test had shown later.
"I see," and from the sound of her voice, Harry thought that she did. After all, when someone who was rich was dressed in rags and then their uncle was being investigated...."Well, in that case, I'm certain that you have more shopping to do today. I think that Ron will be ready to try a shopping trip next week if you're up to going out with us?" Dr. Granger asked.
"Sounds great, Dr. Granger. Oh, and we'll need to stop at Olivander's too. Ron needs a new wand. His got broken at the end of term. What day do you think we should go?" Harry asked.
"Saturday after next, as our dental practices are closed on weekends. Can you be at the Leaky at 10? We'll want to make a full day of it," Dr. Granger said.
"Not a problem! And thanks so much for doing this for us, Dr. Granger," Harry gushed a little.
Dr. Granger laughed again. "I understand having life goals, Harry, and we're more than happy to help out. Here's Hermione."
"Harry! I didn't expect a call so quick. Is anything wrong?" Hermione asked, worried.
"No, I went shopping for some new clothes this morning and got lost in the department store and ended up in stationery. Hermione, they had fountain pens! Pens that have the same sort of metal nib that Malfoy is always so proud to have on his quills!" Harry exclaimed.
"But fountain pens are refilled with cartridges, Harry and we can't use that sort of ink," Hermione said.
"Not these! You put the nib in an ink pot and pull a little lever and that fills the pen! PENS, Hermione, PENS!" Harry tried to hammer the point home.
"Oh," Hermione said, and Harry could practically hear the thoughts charging around in her head.
"YES! I got three of them, one for each of us. I'm meeting up with your family Saturday after next, so nine days from now and I'll give them to you then," Harry said in a rush. "They're Griffindor red and gold!"
"Of course they are," Hermione said, and Harry could practically feel her eyes rolling.
"How's Ron?" Harry asked.
"I've never seen him study so hard. First he asked questions about everything in our house, how they work and such and then he started in on the muggle study text books I bought by owl order. I did warn him that the textbooks were seriously out of date, but he just said that he needed to pass the tests and those were based on the books so he'd learn what they said as history," Hermione said with a giggle.
"Well, three months in the muggle world will get him used to doing things the way they are now," Harry said.
"Yes, but you know, he's fascinated with things that I really took for granted until I went to Hogwarts," Hermione said. "Like electric lights. Ron says that now that he's spent some time here he finally understands his father's obsession and he's been wondering if there's a way to use something to power things like electrical lamps in magical areas because the light from our lights is so much brighter than the oil type lamps the wizarding world uses."
"Well that would be useful," Harry admitted. "And in the meantime, I'm going to see if I can get a wizarding lamp or if I can get a muggle oil lamp to charm with a lumos."
"Either way, they still give off better light than a candle," Hermione agreed. "I'll let you get back to your shopping, Harry. Ron and I have a lot of studying to do."
"I'll see you at the Leaky at ten. Bye, Hermione," Harry said, and hung up the phone. He hurried into the Leaky and found their restrooms. He changed into his new clothes and put his old uniform into his shopping bag. Now for some serious shopping.
At first Harry simply wandered up and down Diagon Alley. The first thing he learned was that Diagon was the main street, and there were many alleys going off of it. Actu alley, Horizont Alley, Carkitt Market, Historic Alley, Proverb Alley, Practic Alley, and Botanic Alley, were just a few of them. Harry was fairly certain that it would take a year of exploring just to figure out exactly how many Alley's there were. Mystic Alley was where most of the enchanters shops were located. Here Harry found things that could do things - such as broomstick manufacturers outlet shops, several different clock shops which sold and repaired everything from watches to great grandfather clocks. (Although he never even saw a simpler version of Mrs. Weasley's grandfather clock, which had Harry puzzled. Perhaps he'd ask her about it the next time he saw her.) There were magical toy shops, jewelry stores, musical instrument shops, cookware shops, and finally - luggage shops.
Harry examined each of these carefully, and went into the cleanest and most upscale looking - Miles Traveling Luggage Shop. It was not a large shop. It's walls were lined with shelves and everything from large trunks to suitcases to small hand bags sat upon them. There were several tents set up on the shop floor, and in the back of the shop was a counter. At the counter stood a mountain of a man, (although not nearly as big as Hagrid), with blond hair and blue eyes that laughed at Harry as the man watched him take in the shop. "Hello! I'm Jonathan Miles. Take a look around and see if anything interests you!" Harry could tell that the man's gaze lingered on his hands, but he was getting used to that.
Harry went straight up to him. "Hello, I'm looking for a trunk that I can take to Hogwarts with a flat inside. My year's dorm is packed and I want some privacy."
Miles laughed. "Oh I remember those days! Let me see," he pulled a wand out and waved it at the walls. "I can get you ones with a potion lab, a study space, a cold and warm cupboard to keep late night snacks or a kitchen to cook up things for a dorm party, a living area to invite people for private conversations," (he glanced at Harry and shook his head, dismissing something muttering "too young for that"), simple bathroom, and a bedroom if you have a dormmate that snores." Fifteen or so trunks floated down in front of the counter.
Harry sighed. "Like a steam train whistle," he admitted. "I'm looking for something with a feather weight charm and owl accessibility. OH, and a shrinking charm if you can manage that."
"Not a problem," Miles said, and dismissed three quarters of the trunks back to their places on the walls. "Now, kitchen or cupboard?"
"Kitchen," Harry replied firmly. "I like to cook." It was more like he'd been making every meal ever since he was tall enough to stand on a stool and not burn anything. He would also have to cook for himself over the summer. Hedwig could either hunt or eat the owl treats that he'd pick up later.
"Potions lab?" Harry nodded, and all but three of the trunks went back to the shelves. Miles opened each of the three trunks and then pointed at each. "This one has a library to augment the study space, this one has an Herbology space to augment the potions lab, and this one has the basics you've selected. None are furnished, but it's very easy to do so. Simply shrink your purchases, put them in your pocket and unshrink them once you're inside. Shall we take a look?"
Harry agreed and followed Miles down into the first trunk. It was accessible by ladder, and the flat was decorated in neutral creams and browns with a light colored wood floor. The living area was separated from the kitchen by a bar, and had a fireplace made of red brick in the wall on the other side of the bar. There were chandeliers hanging from the center of each ceiling. "Over here is the kitchen," Miles said as he led the way into the kitchen. There was a massive brick stove, or at least Harry thought it was a stove, it had four cauldron stations on it, on the back side of the fireplace. "The stove here works the same way as your cauldron fires in your potions class does. The oven," he pulled out a wooden door that plugged into the chimney of the stove, off to one side from where the cauldron stations were, "has a built in heating charm, a no-burn spelled door, and enough room for you to cook for up to twenty guests. You adjust the temperature by tapping your wand on these runes." He showed Harry a series of runes marked on the bricks underneath the oven.
"Now over here is the warming cupboard. Everything you place in here is held under stasis charms so that everything stays the way it was when you put it in. Things will last in here for three months. The cooling cupboard is the same way, only for cold items. The sink is here, and the rest of these cupboards are for storage." Miles led the way back into the living area. "The owl entry is by the fireplace at the owl stand." The owl stand was quite impressive looking. Harry thought that Hedwig would like it far more than the ones in the owlery at Hogwarts. "Just carry your owl over and place him or her on the perch. That will let the security wards know which owl to let in."
Harry nodded, impressed that the trunk had wards to keep strange owls out. "Now, this door," Miles went over to the wall opposite the fireplace, which had four doors. "Leads to the bath. It's not much, a necessary, a shower and vanity with sink. There's a wall cupboard here for supplies, and the water for this room and the kitchen is supplied to the trunk from the air around it. Used water is vanished. If you are going to go into a desert area, come back and I can adjust the runes so that the water is recycled." The bath was completely tiled in blues and greens. Harry tried the vanity sink and the water looked fine and was both hot and cold. He dried his hands with the neat charm Professor Flitwick had taught him after being caught out in the rain one day.
"Alright, now here," Miles brought him back to the living area. "This door leads to the bedroom. It's set up so that you can decorate it and furnish it to your taste." The room was larger than his aunt and uncle's room back at Privet Drive, but Harry forced himself not to look shocked. This was to be his apartment after all. There was actually nothing in it but a single wardrobe next to the door. "This wardrobe is accessible from the outside so that you don't have to come down here to get your clean clothes." The wardrobe was made of oak, stained a dark brown which matched the trimming on the rest of the room. "You can change the color of the stain, just use a standard color changing charm."
"Now, this is the potions lab," Miles said, opening the next to last door in the wall. "Standard lab, with four cauldron stations, lab counter for all preparation work, wall racks for everything from stirring rods to cauldrons to bottles of ingredients and finished potions." Harry couldn't help his jaw from dropping. This was MUCH better than the potions lab he used at school. Miles laughed. "Much better than the potions classroom, right? That's because it's for the younger years. They tend to have the most accidents. It's the kids who can pass their OWL in the subject that get to practice in the real potion labs at Hogwarts. All right now, on to the Herbology greenhouse."
The greenhouse was behind the last door, and Harry was astonished to see that it might as well have been any of the greenhouses that he used at school. There were no plants of course, but the lights, the benches, and sacks of potting soil were laid out the same way. Harry turned to Miles. "Can I get bookshelves put into the living area?"
"It would take me about ten minutes and add about 500 galleons to the price to add in a small magical library function which would connect to say, five bookshelves in the living area that would contain a thousand books each," Miles told him.
"Alright, that sounds perfect," Harry said. "How much total for the trunk with the additional shelves?"
"100,500 galleons," Miles said.
Harry could see that the wizard felt that this was an extremely reasonable price. As Manager Bloodclaws had given him 150,000 galleons to cover this purchase, he had no problems with it either. He'd seen the adverts for a flat for sale in London. This was definitely mid-range. "Done," he said, and held out his hand to shake on it. Miles shook his hand and gestured for him to leave the trunk.
"If you'd care to wait by my counter, I'll get right on this," Miles said.
Harry hurried out of the trunk and went to stand by the counter. He pulled his parchment scrap out of his pocket and, (with his new pen!!!) began going over his lists of what he still needed to purchase in order to hide out for the summer. It was no time at all before Miles was standing next to Harry. "Now, see these runes here?" he gestured to what appeared to be decorative buttons next to the handle of the trunk. "Each of these are the spells on the trunk that you can activate from the outside. Tap each one with your finger to activate them. They are - Notice-Me-Not, Shrink, Featherweight, Library, Wardrobe, and Muggle. That last one will hide the inside of the trunk from anyone who tries to search it. All they will see will be a standard muggle trunk. Throw a few books and clothes that you don't wear anymore in there and no one will suspect that you have a flat down there."
Harry smiled and pulled out his money pouch. From there he extracted Mile's payment in little Gringott's packets, 10,000 galleons per pack. "Thank you so much!"
"Not a problem. Come back and see me if you need any adjustments or you want an upgrade to a larger flat," Miles said, and he waved at Harry as Harry left the store, having shrunk his new trunk and placed it in his hoodie pocket. Now, for his new wizard robes.