Gringotts
When Sirius woke the next morning he heard Harry whispering to himself. "It was all a dream. When I open my eyes I'll be back in my cupboard." Sirius sat up and licked Harry's face as an owl started tapping on the window.
Harry giggled and pushed him off. "Shadow!" he blinked in surprise at the owl. He hesitated before going to open the window. It swooped in and dropped the newspaper it carried on top of Hagrid, then it started to attack his coat.
Sirius pawed at Hagrid's still sleeping form. When he finally looked up Harry pointed to the owl.
"Pay him." Hagrid grunted.
Sirius started nosing through the pockets of Hagrid's coat until he found a pouch, which he presented to Harry. Harry smiled and scratched his ears as he took it. He stared at Hagrid, nervously waiting for an amount.
Hagrid yawned. "Give him five of the little bronze ones, they're called Knuts."
Harry searched the bag carefully, just to be sure all the bronze ones were the same size and he didn't give the owl the wrong kind, then pulled out five of the coins and carefully placed them in the pouch on the owls leg. He frequently glanced up at Hagrid to make sure he wasn't doing anything he wasn't supposed to.
Hagrid sat up and stretched as the owl flew out the window. Harry glanced into the bag with the money curiously before closing it up quickly and handing it back to Hagrid.
"Best be off, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London to buy all yer stuff fer school."
Harry grabbed Sirius's service jacket and the leash that went with it. Hagrid waited patiently for him to finish getting ready before they left. He encouraged Harry to eat the left over sausages and some birthday cake as he grabbed his coat off the floor. Harry dropped half the sausages for Sirius but didn't let him have any cake, afraid he'd get sick if he did.
Once outside Harry looked around for another boat. "I flew here." Hagrid told him. "We'll go back in this though. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."
Sirius wondered who made that rule. If Hagrid was allowed to go get Harry why wasn't he allowed to use magic to help them out now? He should be able to use it to get them off this rock if nothing else.
After settling in the boat Hagrid said, "Seems a shame to row. If I was ter- er- speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it to anyone at Hogwarts?"
Harry smiled and nodded. Hagrid tapped the pink umbrella he had with him on the side of the boat and they were off. "Now then. I said I'd tell yeh abou' why you're famous. Wan' me to tell yeh now or..."
Harry nodded again, gently stroking Sirius's back.
"Right, well, there was this wizard who went bad. As bad as you could go. His name was V- V-." Hagrid sighed. Harry was watching him with concern. Hagrid took a deep breath. "Voldemort. Don' make me say it again, okay?" Another nod. "Anyway this wizard..."
Sirius went back to sleep as Hagrid told the story. He didn't want to hear about his best friends' deaths. Harry had a right to know and Sirius was a little relieved that he wouldn't have to be the one to tell him.
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After the boat reached shore they headed to a train station to get to London. People kept staring at Hagrid, which was near torture for Harry since it sometimes seemed like they were staring at him.
"Still got yer letter, Harry?" Hagrid asked.
Harry pulled the letter out of his pocket and showed it to him.
"Good. There's a list of everything yeh need."
Harry read the list and frowned down at Sirius, who rested his chin on Harry's leg.
"Don' worry. I know where we can get all of it. Jus' need to know everything we're lookin' fer."
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Sirius was worried about how Harry would react to the wizarding world. People would want to talk to him, shake his hand, ask for an autograph, that sort of thing. Harry didn't really like attention. He'd once told Sirius that he wanted to be the sort of person who could thrive around other people. Or that he could deal with them at all! Still, it was Sirius's job to help him through this. He got ready to bite and bark as they entered the Leaky Cauldron.
"Hagrid! Your usual?" the bartender called.
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry dug his fingers into Sirius's fur.
"Good Lord." Tom said. "It's Harry Potter."
And then the crowd rushed him. Sirius didn't pay attention to who was saying what. He just watched Harry. The boy was trembling, tears filled his eyes as he started to panic. Hagrid tried to call people off, but of course the excitement of meet Harry Potter meant that no one really listened. Harry was falling into a full blown panic attack. Sirius began barking, trying to warn the crowd, to make them go away. They kept reaching out to touch Harry, wanting to shake his hand or say thanks or whatever they were doing. When one woman came back to force Harry into another handshake, Sirius snapped. Harry was completely frozen with fear, unable to say anything or even let the tears in his eyes fall, so Sirius acted for him. He lunged forward and bit the woman's hand. She leapt back and had the audacity to scold Harry for letting his pet bite her. Harry couldn't hold back tears any longer and started crying silently. Sirius snarled at anyone who came close to his godson. A couple other people in the crowd scowled at the woman (Sirius heard someone call her Doris) since to them it appeared that she had been the one to make Harry cry.
Hagrid pushed past a few people to get to Harry. "It's alrigh. We'll get ter somewhere quieter." He smiled down at Harry before addressing the crowd. "Harry here's not real comfortable with crowds. Tha's why he's got this dog. Keeps 'im a bit calmer. Yeh've all overwhelmed 'im so we'd best be goin' now."
Quite a few people looked a bit ashamed with themselves. Sirius snorted at them. Served them right to be ashamed, driving Harry into a panic attack like that.
Hagrid gently lead Harry into the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron. "We can stay here as long as yeh need. There'll be plenty of people in Diagon righ' now."
Harry practically collapsed. Sirius curled up against him. Harry wrapped his arms around Sirius. After almost half an hour he kissed the dog's neck. "Thanks for helping Shadow. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't bitten her." he whispered.
Sirius licked his cheek. Of course he helped. As long as he was around he'd do anything to help Harry.
Harry squeezed him before standing and nodding at Hagrid.
"Yeh sure? I don' mind waitin' if yeh need more time." Harry nodded again. "Alrigh'. Here, I'll stay on this side of yeh an' between me an' Shadow there no one'll crowd yeh again. Sound good?"
Harry smiled at him gratefully. Hagrid returned the smile, turned, and opened the gateway to Diagon Alley. Harry stared around at everything in shock. Sirius pressed against his leg, just in case.
"Right. We'll be headed ter Gringotts first. Need ter get yeh some money to pay fer everything."
Harry looked away with a frown.
"Don' worry Harry. Yer family is very old and very respected. Yer not as rich as the Blacks er the Malfoys, but yer close. Seeing as yer the heir fer the Potter Lordship, yeh can take however much yeh want. If yer careful yeh might not have ta work fer the rest of yer life."
Harry stared at him in surprise. Sirius nudged him gently, tail wagging. Harry smiled and scratched his ears.
"Here we are." They stopped in front of the large marble building. Harry's attention was drawn to the plaque baring the warning/poem. Hagrid noticed. "Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob Gringotts. Goblins are very serious abou' their security. Always be polite, yeh don' wan' ter be on their bad side."
Harry and Sirius followed Hagrid inside and up to one of the free counters. Thankfully, there weren't many people in here. Hagrid talked to the goblin and gave him the key to Harry's vault. Sirius figured he would hand it to Harry when they were done, instead he put it back into his pocket. Sirius barked once softly. Hagrid turned toward them, afraid Harry was having another panic attack or something. When he saw he wasn't he frowned for a moment before realizing why Sirius had barked.
Hagrid handed a letter to the goblin. "An' I also got a letter from Professor Dumbledore. It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."
The goblin read the letter carefully and handed it back to Hagrid. "Very well. I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"
"I s'pose Shadow thinks you should hold yer own key now." Hagrid whispered as they followed Griphook down the hall. "Do yeh wan' me ter hold on ter it yerself?"
Harry blushed slightly and shrugged.
"Well, why don' yeh think on it an' let me know."
A small cart came hurtling up the tracks they'd stopped next to. Griphook gestured for them to get in. When Hagrid moved to pick Sirius to put him in the cart, the goblin stopped him. "Is the dog really necessary? He can wait here like a good pup."
Sirius glared at him. He was no pup! Harry was the pup, and he needed Sirius!
"Can't I'm afraid. Harry won' go anywhere withou' 'im. Will yeh Harry?"
Harry gripped Sirius's fur and nodded.
Griphook sighed. "Very well. But your responsible for him. If he wonders off..."
Harry swallowed and held on tighter.
Hagrid got him to let go log enough for him to lift Sirius into the cart. Sirius was a little annoyed by that. Honestly he could've jumped! Harry got in next to him and, as always, his arms went around Sirius's neck. Once Hagrid got in they were off. Sirius let his tongue loll out as they sped along. He could see Harry grinning. Hagrid on the other hand, looked like he was gonna be sick.
Harry was in awe when they got to his vault. Seeing all that money and Hagrid assuring him that it was all his? Sirius couldn't even imagine how Harry felt about all that. Hagrid explained how the money worked as they scooped some into a bag.
They went to vault seven hundred and thirteen next. Sirius tried to sniff at the package Hagrid brought out, but he shoved it into his coat before he could. "Sorry Shadow. Very secret this is. I can't risk letting you have a look."
Naturally that made Sirius even more curious about what was in the package, but he let it go for now. He was still a Marauder. He'd find out eventually.