Harry Finds He's Filthy Rich
Later that Monday Harry had moved all of his things to his new room, including his secret backpack that he promptly put into his trunk along with all his other belongings and the shoe box he had yet to look at with everything else, besides the bracelet that holds what had to have been his mother’s wand, he’ll have to pick up books on them when he figures out where he would buy all these magic things. He sighs, till then it's cleaning up the giant junk pile that currently makes up his room. It takes him the entire afternoon and all of Tuesday to separate everything into piles, taking trash bags to the bin whenever he takes a break. Most of the books he finds are surprisingly intact, most likely thrown in the room and never touched again, but there were quite a few that were torn, it seems like he at least has all the pages for them so he wonders if magic will fix it. He decides he’ll make a list of things to get or do to help organize his thoughts. He picks up an empty school notebook and starts thinking of what he should write, he does that for the last little bit before bed. The next morning he finishes cleaning the room after making breakfast. When dinner rolls around aunt Petunia hands him a plate with suspiciously larger portions than usual and tells him to go eat in his room and not leave till morning. He realizes she’s probably going to tell Vernon he moved into Dudley’s second bedroom and he definitely doesn’t want to be there for that. It’s only natural he’d moved the wobbly desk and chair to block the door and left the window open while trying to figure out the shrinking charm the manual mentioned.
Thankfully Vernon stopped yelling eventually and simply stomped past his door to his own room. He couldn’t sleep that night, nervous and jumpy that he might still face his uncle's wrath, so he cuddles up in his mother’s sweater and reads more books. He’d tried to look for one specifically about a magical shopping district but he came up empty, not to mention there were far too many books to reasonably look through all of them at once even with the digging he’d done during the weekend. He wouldn’t be surprised if the compartment was classified as its own library. It took him two weeks to ask his aunt where he would get his school supplies when he got his letter. She looked insulted he even addressed her and he was about to write it off as a loss when she seemed to stop and think. “Next time I go to London I will drop you off there. Best to find your way around now so I don’t have to deal with more freaks invading my home.” she said nodding her head pleased with the thought of minimal contact with "his kind". He still doesn't know what their technically called, are they all witches??? He thanks her and goes back to his chores.
It’s nearly the start of the new school year, a month since he asked, when she drags him out of bed at nearly 4am to get ready. Vernon on another work trip and Dudley at another friend's house, him and Petunia the only ones at the house anyway. She had called a taxi that he’d been dragged into when they walked out the door. It took a couple hours to get to London from Surrey, nearly all of it he slept through. When they got out she said, “The entrance is through a pub with the picture of a cauldron on it, on this street, that's all I remember don’t ask for more. I will be here at 5pm to pick you up, if you aren’t here then I will not dawdle around wasting my time, understand?” “Yes, Aunt Petunia.” He parroted what he thinks must’ve been his first words with how much he says it. She turns and walks away and he does the same down the street she pointed out earlier. He pointedly doesn’t think about why his aunt would need to spend 12 odd hours in London and searches for the sign she described.
It takes quite a few trips up and down the street for him to find it, which he feels is a miracle he did in the first place with what little she gave him. He'd been getting nervous as some vendors had started looking at him oddly as well as some of the people on the street. He hurries into the door hoping he got the right place. No one pays him attention as he looks around a little lost until he gets closer to the bar. “Hey lad, what are you here for?” a man asks. He stutters a bit before repeating what his aunt said, “I was looking for the entrance to the alley.” He cringes internally at how strange that sounded but thankfully the man seemed to understand him as he just smiles and directs him further into the pub. He warily follows the man who leads him out of a side door. He gets ready to bolt, just in case when the man pulls out a wand and taps the bricks and that fall outward to reveal an actual fucking magical shopping district. He’s not sure what he was expecting but it looks like something straight out of a fantasy novel. He thanks the man and hurries in. He walks around probably longer than necessary just ogling everything when he reads a sign proclaiming a bag of ten sweets for just six sickles and it hits then that this strange magical alley most probably wouldn’t take pounds. He walks around a little longer before saying fuck it and just asks someone where he would exchange money at. What he assumes to be a teenager looks at him oddly and replies “At the bank.” while pointing at the giant whit marble building at the end. He thanks them before speed-walking in the building's direction. The first thing he notices aside from the building's grandeur was the strange beings guarding the doors. He nods at them hoping he didn’t screw anything up and walks in. The next thing he notices is the bank looks pretty standard if you put aside the unknown beings for workers. He goes to a desk without a line and says, “um excuse me?” he gets no reply. He waits a little bit anxiety making him 5 seconds from walking out when they look at him and ask what he wants. He replies, “I would like to exchange some muggle pounds for wizarding money please.” They stare at him for a few seconds before asking, “Name?” he replies “Harry Potter” this makes the bank teller freeze for a second before asking, “Do you wish to withdraw from one of your vaults or just exchange the muggle money?” Harry blinked owlishly, “I’m sorry- vaults? I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” he replies nervously. “Hmmm perhaps a conversation with your account manager is due.” They replied before barking orders in what must be different language at another guard who replies telling Harry to follow. He nervously looks back at the bank teller who simply stares at him until he turns around to follow the guard. After a few minutes of trying to keep up with their pace and very confusing twists and turns he asks, “What’s your name? If it’s okay I ask.” he tacks on. The guard stops and turns to him, staring for a few seconds before replying, “Redtooth.” and continuing down the hallway.
They finally stop at a door which Redtooth knocks on to which the person responds in the language before Redtooth opens it, gesturing him inside. “Thank you, nice to meet you- um- Redtooth sir?” he adds hesitant and unsure if his guess was correct. The guard stares at him some more before walking away. Harry tries not to die inside as he turns towards the open door, another being staring at him asks, “Well Mr. Potter I presume? Please come in.” He walks over to the gestured chair and sits. “Now, what is it you wished to speak about today?” They ask. “Well I asked the bank teller if I could exchange pounds to- um- magical money and he said something about vaults which I didn’t understand. I didn’t know that magical people existed until recently when my aunt told me, I am sorry if I don’t understand things. My aunt and uncle don’t have magic so I don’t think they know much about it besides it existing and if they do know more they certainly didn’t tell me much- '' The person clears his throat, interrupting Harry’s ensuing rant. “Mr. Potter, are you saying that you have lived with muggles, and that they have not told you anything about your heritage or the magical world?” They ask, “Um, yeah I guess so.” Harry fidgets with the sleeves of one of Dudley’s old shirts, not daring to risk his mother’s clothes outside the safety of his room. The being simply stares at him for a bit and seriously, all the staring is giving him the creeps. “I see, well if you need wizarding money it would be easier to simply withdraw it from your vault rather than exchange pounds for it, do you wish for me to explain wizarding currency?” They asked. “Yes please.” Harry stated in relief they offered to explain. This goes on for several hours with what Harry now knows is a goblin explaining some basic things about the wizarding world, beyond just the money, going so far as to give him a list of recommended books and items, suggesting he get an inheritance test done next time he's in the alley as well as what it was and why he should get it. His head is swimming a bit at all the information the blessed, he know knows is a goblin named Goldrich.
The first place he goes once out of the bank with a money pouch connected to one of his trust vaults (and yes vaults as in multiple, he thinks head still spinning) is to find food, nearly every other word his account manager said went over his head so he hopes he’s not making a mistake. Especially with how kind he'd been to try explaining as much as he had in the first place. He spots what looks like a nice place for an early lunch or late breakfast down a street veering off of what he was explained as the main one. The sign identifies the shop as “Diya’s Dinner”. He walks to a table in a back corner, and starts reading the menu, unsure of what to order as he hasn’t heard of nearly anything on it. “Welcome to Diya’s Dinner, the best Indian food place in Siedsway Alley, what can I get you?” a waiter comes up and asks. “What do you recommend?” he asks hopelessly, squinting at the menu. “Hmmm, have you ever had Indian food before?” They ask. “Uh no, I haven’t.” he says fiddling with his sleeves again. “Alright, do you have any food allergies?” “Oh, um no I don’t have any.” “Then I know exactly what to get you! Is there a guardian you're waiting for or sitting with?” They ask. “No, I’m doing my school shopping all by myself” He says, trying to appease their suspicious gaze at a child sitting alone. They seem to let it go as they state they’d be back with his food then breezing off to another table. He pulls out a book he’d placed in his backpack from his trunk as he waits for his food, hoping they don't forget or decide to ignore him.
He’s only a few chapters along when the person walks up to his table with an orange dish she tells him is butter chicken and rice with naan, they also explain that people typically use the naan as a scoop and eat like that but they also gave him a spoon. He tries it with his hands a little warily due to years of his aunt smacking him with a spoon if he dared eat with his hands, looking back at the waiter who gave him an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. His eyes widen in wonder as he takes his first bite, there’s so much flavor it’s almost overwhelming, he eats as much as he can stomach which is surprisingly all of it. Though he can tell by his protesting stomach he probably over did it but he can cross that bridge when he gets there. The waiter comes by and chats for a few minutes asking if he liked it as he pays.
Harry sighs in relief when he finally leaves, as much as he enjoyed the food he’s never been fond of talking to so many strangers so much, especially not on the same day. Shoring up his determination he looks at the list his account manager gave him and coming across “Expandable trunks and bags - Thompson and Sons” he decides the bag might be a good idea, seeing as he already had a trunk. It took him a bit longer than it probably should have to realize that the “Thompson and Sons” bit was probably the name of the store. No on else paid him any attention as he scowled down at the parchment (actual, real parchment-) and started looking for the shop, it took passing it a couple times to see it, not really surprising but still just as frustrating considering his glasses had been picked out of a charity bin and never actually fitted to his prescription. A miracle he's gotten this far really, he has the brief thought that maybe his parents are looking after him before he throws it in the depths of his mind before he starts crying in the streets. He pulls out his notebook and adds “look for ways to get glasses in the wizarding world” before walking into the shop. He looks around a little lost before an employee comes up to him and asks if he needs anything, asking about the bags the employee takes him around to all the different bags they sell and the charms and all different kinds of magic you could add to them. Harry chooses one the same color and pattern as his trunk, now recognized as dragon hide only after asking politely (grilling) the person about how it’s sourced. They thankfully tell him it's all ethically sourced and even provided where they buy it, looking highly amused as Harry pulled out his notebook and wrote down the name given to research later. Harry also added the best expansion charm, anti-theft charm, anti-summoning charm, and password to his bag. He might be a little paranoid but looking at his life with the Dursleys he feels it’s a little justified. The amount of things he’d have never thought to ward against either makes him a little wary and determined to look more into magic before he has to go to the magic school.
Once he exits the shop he puts his backpack into the featherlight bag and starts going through some more of the list to get things like robes, parchment, quills, and ink where there were thankfully practice books for kids and muggleborns in the shop. The long list of book titles makes him a little wary especially since he doesn’t know what all he had in his trunk decided to leave that for another day and thought he’d just explore until he had to meet his aunt which wasn’t too far off anyway. Ending up on a street called Winding Alley he wonders if all the magical street have strange names like this, he comes across a shop that seems to be for all things beauty, he starts to ignore it but the shiny hair clips in the window catch his eye and after a little silent debating he goes in. He ends up buying a whole small bag full of different kinds of hair clips; butterflies, bees, snakes, lizards, foxes, and lilies, along with hair ties that are charmed to hold the loose hair he sheds, which is apparently something he should worry about now. He also picked up a few free booklets with styles and instructions on how to do his hair in different ways, he shyly places those in his new bag before heading back to the entrance out of the alley to wait for his aunt.
Standing in the exact spot his aunt left him at exactly 3:45pm, he waited. And waited. At 4:15 the worry started to get to him, at 6:30 he gave up that she had remembered him and started searching for the nearest bus stop. Asking a few people, only one answering his question, he finally managed to find a bus heading close enough to Surrey. Thankfully he was able to catch another bus that dropped him in the town over from Surrey. With far too much walking at far too late to think about he stopped at a twenty-four seven gas station to buy supper and to stockpile food that would hopefully last a little while. Ignoring the guy eyeing him from the aisle over he hurried to the counter, arms stuffed with crisps, drinks, and some non-perishables paying the cashier once he wrung him up and swiftly making his way out of the gas station and down the road that would take him to Surrey. Stuffing his new stash into his bag he opens one of the bags of french onion flavoured crisps and walks into the tree line just enough to still be able to see the road but not close enough where he could be seen.
It isn’t the first time he’s been left or forgotten by the Dursleys, hoping he’ll get snatched up by some stranger never to be seen again. He highly doubts it’s the last time, though it’s usually not so far away but it really doesn’t surprise him anymore, even if it still hurts. With absolutely no idea what time it is he carefully sneaks back into the house, so silent it would be eerie to anyone watching, he comes up to his door carefully going in and closing it behind him. Walking just as silently to his trunk he carefully puts his new snacks, hair accessories, parchment, ink, and quills into the same compartment that held his baby things, all organized to one side now. Deciding to go through the library compartment to see if he can find any of the titles, his account manager recommended seeing as he probably wouldn’t get much sleep anyway. After a little rummaging he ends up holding the edge of the trunk as he leans in to grab more, he feels his hand tingle a little as if it had fallen asleep and starting to “wake up” again when the whole compartment changes to be empty holding nothing but a ladder. Sceptical and wary he decides to say fuck it and just get in because at this point why not? He might be feeling a little hysterical with everything he’d found out today, not even to mention exhausted from running around the alley and then having to find his way back to the Dursleys. When he reaches the bottom he finds an actual library, not just enough books for one, but a library with shelves and a chair and a side table- He ends up curling into the chair pulling the blanket from the chair to lay over him and falling promptly into the land of Morpheus.