It was during one of the times Vernon drove Dudley and I home from school when I first saw the sign for a place that taught martial arts.
Like most boys my age, I had a fascination with the idea of learning to fight like Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. I could probably blame all those fighting movies Dudley loved to watch so much, but for a while now, I had wanted to learn to fight with more than just my magic.
And so I decided that I was going to learn martial arts... one way or another.
“Absolutely not! I refuse to have you learn anything else that can be used to hurt my family! You've already done enough with those freakishly unnatural powers of yours! I won't allow you to learn how to fight!”
Naturally, Vernon did not want me learning hand-to-hand combat.
“You seem to think I was giving you a choice.” I smiled, amused that this fat fool actually thought he had any say in what I could and could not do.
“What was that?” Vernon's face turned a rather unsightly shade of puce. On his walrus-like face, it was awfully disgusting.
“I was not asking you to let me learn martial arts,” I continued, watching as Vernon began to tremble. The man never could keep his temper down. “I was telling you that I am going to be learning martial arts. You have no choice in the matter.”
Vernon unleashed a beastly roar as he charged me, his hands coming up and making grasping motions. I got the feeling he was hoping those hands would be wrapped around my neck.
Not that it mattered. I would never give him the chance to get close enough.
“Vernon!”
Lifting a single hand, I called upon my power. Seconds later, Vernon was hurled not just into, but straight through the wall as I used my ability and “pushed” him away.
Smiling, I walked up to the hole my fat uncle had made and saw the man lying there, groaning in pain. Standing over him was a worried looking Petunia and their obese son, Dudley.
“Look at what you did to my husband, you nasty little freak!” The woman screeched at me. I gave her a smile.
It was not a pleasant smile.
Seconds later the woman found herself on the floor, gasping as I created a vacuum in which no oxygen existed around her head. I had gotten the idea from a movie I watched once. It was a rather ingenious idea, I had to admit.
Thank you, Darth Vader, for giving me this wonderful idea.
“Do you have a problem with the way I do things, Petunia?” I asked the woman as she clutched at her throat, her eyes wider than dish pans, face turning purple from lack of oxygen. She stared at me in horror as I smiled down at her. I could practically smell her fear. It was intoxicating.
“Oi!” Dudley stood up with clenched fists. “What are you doing to mum?!”
“You're not very quick on the uptake, are you?” I allowed amusement to seep into my voice. This boy was the very definition of stupidity. Where I received the highest marks in my class, Dudley had nearly failed his. Primates were smarter than he was.
“Are you making fun of me!?” It took him a second to come to this conclusion. I was frankly just surprised he had come to it at all.
Not that I would allow this to ruin my fun.
“Yes, Dudley.” I turned my smile in his direction as I finally let Petunia―whose face had turned a motley shade of red―go. “I am making fun of you. You're a stupid, idiotic child. I've seen monkeys at the zoo who are smarter than you are.”
“That does it! I'll show you!”
I watched Dudley charge me the same time Petunia's eyes widened and her face paled.
My smile widened as I raised my hand.
“Dudley don't!”
Too late. With a burst of my power, Dudley was sent flying into the kitchen where he ended up smacking his head on the stove.
Petunia tried to run to her son, but with some more power, I had her floating in the air, hovering there and looking like a fish out of water. It was funny to watch her flap about.
“Dudley! Dudley! Let me go...! I need to get to my Diddykins!”
“I'm afraid I can't let you go,” I told the woman. “You see, your husband isn't letting me go to my martial arts lessons, so letting you go to your son is just out of the question.” I watched Petunia paled and just barely hid my grin as I tapped a finger against my chin. “But, maybe if you convince Vernon to let me learn martial arts, I'll let you go to your son.”
“Yes! Yes! Whatever you want! Please, just let me go!”
Without much ceremony, I dropped the woman on the ground. A chuckle escaped my lips as the horse-like woman scrambled towards her son and began to frantically call his name to no effect. I would later learn that Dudley received a concussion.
The thought honestly didn't bother me all that much. This would serve as a good lesson to them about what would happen whenever they didn't listen to me.
XoX
It was nearly two hours after Harry had first entered Gringotts that he found himself standing outside of its doors once more. The sunlight hit his face, forcing him to squint due to how much time he'd spent in the darkened passageways where his vaults were held.
Taking out the Hogwarts letter from within his back pack, Harry pulled out and unfolded the second piece of paper that he had found attached to the first. It was a list of all the things he was required to buy for Hogwarts:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set
glass or crystal phials
telescope set
brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
Harry frowned as he looked at the list. He turned his head to look at the back pack on his back, then back at the list. There was no way he would be able to fit all of that in his back pack, it was nowhere near large enough.
Blowing out a soft breath, Harry decided that the first thing he would need was a trunk to carry everything in. Fortunately for him, he had seen a place that sold trunks on the way to Gringotts.
XoX
Harry Potter entered the shop known as Truckle's Trunks, and took a look around the basic looking shop. Well, he assumed it was a basic looking shop for a magical store selling trunks. It was quite a bit larger on the inside than the outside, at least a dozen square meters, something that Harry picked up on immediately. There were several isles, and each one contained rows upon rows of various trunks of all shapes, sizes and colors. Some of them were floating, a few were opening and closing. Harry even saw one that looked like it was undulating.
Shaking his head at the unusual sight, and bothered that he couldn't for the life of him figure out how something such as a trunk could undulate, he made his way to the desk where a middle aged man was sitting behind a cash register.
“Excuse me,” Harry called out in a confident voice. The man with slightly graying hair looked down at him, blinking. Harry ignored the inquisitive and slightly incredulous stare and continued. “I'm looking for a trunk.”
“Well you've come to the right place,” the man said with a smile. “You are a Hogwarts student, yes? A first year?”
“That's right,” Harry admitted with a nod.
“All of our standard trunks cost fifty galleons, if you want them to be made with something other than leather you will need to specify what you want it made from.”
Harry frowned as he noticed the wording the man used, and decided to question the clerk on it. “What do you mean standard? What other kinds of trunks are there?”
“We have trunks of all kinds and with all sorts of enchantments,” the man exclaimed, his smile, if possible, getting larger. “Anything you could think of, we likely have it. Perhaps I can interest you in one of our seven compartment trunks made from dragon-hide and with enough expansion charms on them to make each compartment the size of a small apartment?”
Harry tilted his head quizzically at some of the unfamiliar terms the man had just bandied about. Dragon-hide was easy enough to figure out, though the thought that dragons were actually real caused his mind to whirl. However, both the term 'expansion charms' and 'seven compartments' gave him pause. After a bit of thought, he determined that an expansion charm likely did exactly as it sounded, which would also explain why this store looked larger on the inside than it did the outside. He did have a bit of trouble figuring out what seven compartments meant, but figured there must be some kind of spell that allowed one trunk to contain more than one space for his materials. He didn't know how such a thing was possible, but vowed to find out.
“I was actually thinking of getting a custom made trunk,” Harry told the man, interrupting the older male's sales pitch.
“A custom, eh?” the man's eyes lit up a bit, and Harry could detect the greed in them. Custom trunks must be expensive, he mused. It almost made him wonder why this man assumed Harry could actually afford the trunk when he was so young, but chalked it off to the man probably just assuming he was an heir of a well to do family or some such. “Well, what exactly are you looking for?”
Harry was silent for a moment as he tried to decide what he wanted. Truthfully, he had at first only been planning on getting a normal trunk. But with the knowledge that he could get a trunk capable of storing vast amounts of items, decided that he might as well get the best. He had more than enough money, after all.
“I would like a four compartment trunk. What sizes do your compartments come in?”
“We have three sizes, standard, that is to say, the average size one would expect from a trunk with no magical enchantments. Our next size is what we call closet sized, which is about the size of a walk in closet. And finally, we have our largest size, which is about the size of an average bedroom.”
Biting his lower lip for a moment, Harry pondered which size he should get. He didn't want the standard, as he would not be able to carry very much in them, and considering where he was going and what he would be doing, one never knew what sorts of interesting items he might pick up. That left closet size and apartment size. A part of him wanted to go for the largest size, but having four compartments the size of a bedroom seemed a little excessive, not to mention it was probably pricy, and while he didn't have any shortage of money, he had never been what one would call wasteful.
“I'll go with the closet size for all four compartments,” Harry decided. He doubted he would need to something bigger, and on the off chance that he ever needed a trunk with a larger compartment, he could just come back and buy another trunk, he reasoned.
“Very well, and what would you like your trunk to be made of?”
A pause. Harry tilted his head, considering.
“What are my options?”
“Well,” the man started, rubbing his hands together in undisguised glee. “We have all the normal materials, leather, wood and such, but we also have several types of dragon-hide available as well, including Hungarian Horntail, Norwegian Ridgeback, Hebridean Black, and Ukrainian Ironbelly.”
“And what are the benefits to using dragon-hide over normal materials?”
“All dragon-hides are magic resistant. You can cast just about any spell at them short of a dark curse and they won't even receive a scratch. Dragon-hide is also much tougher than normal materials, strong as steel in some cases, such as with the Ukrainian Ironbelly. Course, the hide of a Ukrainian Ironbelly is much heavier than anything else, so it's a trade off.”
“Then why don't we go with a happy medium? I want something durable, but not something that's too heavy for me to lift.”
“In that case, why don't we go with the dragon-hide of a Norwegian Ridgeback?” the man suggested. “They're hides are more durable than the Hebridean Black's and the Horntails, but not nearly as heavy as either of them. Definitely one of the better choices, I believe.”
Harry thought for a moment, before nodding. “Very well, we'll go with that. Now what about security?”
“Security?” the shop keeper blinked, confused.
“Yes,” Harry replied. “I don't want people trying to get into my trunk without permission.”
“Ah, well, all our trunks come standard with a magical lock,” the man answered. “It requires you to speak a password in order to open.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “Are there no other options available?”
“None, I'm afraid,” the man shifted uncomfortably.
“Very well,” Harry sighed, he had been hoping for something a bit more secure, like a lock that could only be opened with his own blood, or something of the sort. But if he had no other option then that's what he would go with, at least until he could create his own security. “I believe that will suffice. Now all we need to discuss is the cost and how long it will take for my trunk to be made.”
“You're in luck,” the man replied, grabbing the wand from the desk and making a swish and flick motion. Harry watched as a trunk made of a brown material that looked like leathery scales floated over to them. It set down directly in front of Harry, and the older male set his wand back onto the desk. “I already have a trunk with the exact specifications you are looking for.”
Well, that was convenient, though Harry assumed the man likely had many such trunks that were pre-made to fit exact specifications so anyone looking to buy a custom made trunk wouldn't have to wait.
“The trunk will cost one-thousand galleons,” the man told him. Harry raised an eyebrow at the price, noticing just how much more expensive getting a custom made trunk was from getting a standard trunk. This made him realize that it was highly unlikely that anyone except for maybe himself, and a few of the children from an Ancient and Most Noble family would have something like this. Still, he had more than enough money, and it wasn't like he had no intention of not using his trunk to its fullest.
Reaching into his back pack, he pulled out the pouch inside of it that had been magically expanded to carry more money than he could possible carry on hand. He gave the man 1,000-galleons, a not insignificant sum but not enough to even put a dent into the amount he had, and left with his new trunk in tow.
“Have a great day,” the man said, waving at Harry as he left the shop.
XoX
It would not be a surprise to anyone who knew Harry that his first stop after receiving his trunk was the book store, Flourish and Blotts. Those who knew him knew that Harry had an insatiable desire to learn. Lisa had said it best when she had once commented that he was practically married to his books after he'd spent an entire day at the library reading.
Flourish and Blotts was a lot different than any other book store or library he had ever been in. Like the trunk store this one also appeared much larger on the inside than it was on the outside, it looked to be around two or three times the size of the trunk store. All around the shop Harry could see rows upon rows of books. It looked like the books were organized categorically by subject. Charms. Transfiguration. Defense Against the Dark Arts and so on. Harry did not recognize any of those categories, but he expected that. While his parents had told them much about Hogwarts when he was a baby, most of it had to do with pranks and certain teachers. They had never really gone into great detail of the classes or subjects taught there.
This did not deter Harry, not in the least. The first thing Harry did was go through the store and search out the required books for his subject. They weren't that difficult to find, but after finding the books needed for school as required by the Hogwarts curriculum for first years, Harry discovered that he didn't know what else to buy. Granted, a part of him just wanted to buy every single book this store had, but he figured it would be better if he started out by getting books that would be relevant to learning what he would need to know about the wizarding world.
Therein lay the problem. Harry knew very little about the world of magic. In fact, aside from the bits he was told by his aunt and Professor McGonagall, he knew next to nothing.
He supposed it would be good to buy a few history books first. His knowledge of all that happened within the past century was lacking, and he needed to get caught up to speed with the current times.
He already had A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. Chances were good he would be finished reading that one before he got to Hogwarts. He also managed to find Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, Notable Magical Names of Our Time, both of which would help him learn about the most prominent figures in the wizarding world. This would definitely be beneficial as it was always important to know who's who no matter which society you were living in.
Another book he found was Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy, which listed all of the pureblood family lines, or so Harry believed. It was only after a quick scan of the first few pages that he realized it only listed lines that had gone extinct. Still, he figured it would prove useful and took it anyway.
More books included Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, Modern Magical History, and A Study in Recent Developments in Wizardry. All of the books looked like they would prove useful in letting him learn the most recent history of the magical world. He only hoped they would be enough as their didn't seem to be much else that would provide the information he wanted.
It was as Harry was going through the isles searching for any more history books that he found something which both intrigued and bothered him. Inside of the History section of Flourish and Blotts was an entire section dedicated to him. Harry saw books with titles such as Harry Potter and the Egyptian Black Dragon, Harry Potter and the Warlock's Spell, Harry Potter and the Trip Through Time, and sixteen other books with similar titles.
Harry was not sure what disturbed him more: the fact that people were writing books about him, or the fact that there was an animated toy that looked nothing like him save for the scar on its head that came complimentary when you bought one of the books.
Picking up the one titled Harry Potter and the Banshee's Breath, the person who the book was written about opened it up to the first page and began to read.
What he saw didn't just disturb him. It angered him. This book was apparently a story book about him traveling through Ireland. He didn't even need to read more than the first page to know that the book was about him supposedly defeating this 'banshee', and it didn't take a large leap in logic to realize that all of the other books were about similar adventures he'd supposedly had. Harry did not know if the people who had written this truly thought he had accomplished these things, but one thing he did know was that this blatant use of his name without even getting his permission to use it caused a wellspring of black rage to surge up into his soul.
The book shelf began to shake. Realizing he was close to blowing his lid, Harry closed his eyes and began to empty his mind. It would not do for him to blow up the shelves containing his books in a fit of rage. Not only would it cause questions to be asked—and more then likely get him kicked out of the store—but he didn't need to draw that kind of attention to himself.
He focused on his breathing while imagining his mind as a blank space, a void of white. He breathed in through the nose, held it for five seconds, then out through the mouth. The process repeated several times before he felt sufficiently calm. That still didn't stop him from glaring at the books the moment his eyes were opened, but at least he could think without wanting to blow the books to kingdom come.
Without hesitation he grabbed a copy of every single book on the shelf and put it into his basket. It was as he finished putting the last book, Harry Potter and the Wandering Vampire, into the basket that he realized another problem. His basket was beginning to get too heavy for him to carry, and that was not even considering how he was lugging around his new trunk behind him. At this rate he would not be able to get even half of the books he wanted.
It only took him a moment to think of a way out of this predicament however, and the moment he did Harry set off towards one of the people who looked like they worked there: a young female that Harry guessed was in her late teens. She was quite attractive, with dark black hair pulled into a bun and a few stray strands framing a heart-shaped face. Green eyes were complimented by the green robes she was wearing. The reason he could tell she worked there was because she wore an apron with Flourish and Blotts written on it in gold lettering.
“Excuse me.” Harry came up behind the girl and tapped her on the shoulder. Despite being above average in height for a kid his age, this girl was a head and shoulder taller than him, and when she turned around the young woman blinked in surprise, before tilting her head down to look at him. Casting the female worker a charming smile he said, “I was wondering if you could help me with something.”
The girl returned his smile with one of her. “Of course, what do you need help with?”
“I was gathering some books that I thought looked interesting and felt would help me learn more about the wizarding world,” Harry began his explanation without any further prompting. “I'm muggle-raised, you see, so I don't know much about the wizarding world and was hoping to learn as much as I could before going to Hogwarts.”
“You're a first year then?” asked the girl, blinking a bit in surprise. She looked him up and down once more. He noticed that she looked at his bandana, which he knew seemed out of place, but ignored that since she didn't ask him any questions about it. “I thought you were at least a second or third year with how tall you are.”
“Ah, well, I'm a bit tall for my age,” Harry admitted with a shrug, before plunging on with his request. “Anyway, while I was gathering books I realized that my basket was getting too heavy for me to carry, and at this rate I won't be able to buy all the books I want. I was wondering if you knew of something that could help me with this problem, and maybe answer a few questions so I can find out what books I still need.”
“I think I can do that,” the girl said. She then looked at the large trunk he was dragging behind him. “The first thing we need to do is get rid of that trunk. You won't be able to carry all your books if you're too busy lugging that thing around.”
Harry frowned. “Where should I put it?”
“Why don't you take it to the Professor showing you around so they can look after it?”
“Actually, I'm here on my own,” Harry corrected. Upon seeing the look of surprise on her face he hastily added, “the person I live with, my aunt, knows about magic so I guess they felt I didn't need a professor guiding me. It's just that because she's a muggle I wasn't able to take her to Diagon Alley with me.” Harry honestly wasn't sure if it was possible for a muggle to enter the Leaky Cauldron or not. Uncle Vernon hadn't even seen it, so he assumed that was the case. He only hoped he was right.
“Oh.” The girl frowned a bit, before shrugging. “I guess that makes sense, sort of. I wouldn't know since I'm a half-blood myself and both my parents were magical. My mum's muggleborn.”
“Same here,” Harry said with a smile, before frowning. “So about the trunk...”
“We'll just place it behind the counter for now,” the girl told him. She pulled what Harry recognized as a wand out of the folds of her robes, and he watched as she made a 'swish and flick' motion. “Wingardium Leviosa.”
“Is that one of the spells we learn at Hogwarts?” Harry asked curiously. It was basically like his levitation magic, only with a wand instead.
“Yes, it is,” the girl looked at him, slightly confused. Harry assumed it was because he had told her he was muggle-raised, yet wasn't surprised or awed to see her using magic. Then again, it could be something else entirely, though he doubted it. “This is actually a first year spell, the Levitation Charm.”
“Neat,” said Harry, looking over the spell curiously. He glanced at the girl's wand and noted it was pointed at the trunk. Did that mean that in order to maintain the spell she had to keep it locked onto the trunk at all times? Or perhaps she used her wand to direct where the spell went. How interesting. While it looked slightly limited at first, Harry could see how that would be useful. He could only control where the objects he floated moved by giving them a preset destination, or giving them a loop to follow. That was part of the reason he made them orbit his head. He could only make them travel in a circle, or straight one way. Changing direction or animating something required him to exert both more control and more magic, which made it more difficult.
The girl looked at him oddly, but quickly shook off whatever she was thinking and led him down to the counter, where she set his trunk. What followed next was Harry telling the girl what he was looking for in the books he wanted as the two of them traveled the bookstore collecting books.
In the end, Harry ended up getting a large number of books on wizarding laws, including but not limited to The Dark Arts: A Legal Companion, The Dark Arts – A Legal Compendium, Legal Guide to Proper Use of Magic, Magical Misdemeanors in the Modern Law, Magical Moral Perspective, Unforgivable Curses and their Legal Compunctions. It was his hope that these books would help him not only know what the laws were, but also find legal loopholes to use if he ever needed to break them.
He was a bit disappointed to learn that there were no books on etiquette and how one was supposed to act in formal functions within the Wizarding World. When asked, the girl giving him a hand had told him, “sorry, but as far as I know there aren't any books on things like that. From what I understand learning etiquette and whatnot is learned through word of mouth. However, we do have a book on wizarding traditions.” That particular conversation had ended up with him getting the book A Traditional Look at Wizarding Traditions. He only hoped it would be enough until he found someone who could teach him how to act in wizarding society.
Books on law and tradition were not the only books he ended up buying that day. He also ended up getting more books on subjects taught at Hogwarts such as Herbology, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration, which Harry learned through the pretty girl helping him was actually what his Transformation magic was called. He also bought several books on subjects that were not taught at Hogwarts, subjects like Defensive and Offensive spells, Dueling, General Spellbooks, Alchemy, Goblins and a few books on Magical Theory. All in all Harry felt that he had made a pretty good haul.
“I'm not sure how you plan on fitting all this in your trunk,” the shop assistant half-joked after they had finished their excursion for the books he was looking for. Of course, she was half joking because there was simply no way Harry would be able to fit all of those books in a normal trunk.
“My parents left me a lot of money,” Harry said with a shrug. “So I ended up buying a custom trunk to store books and other things I felt I would need.”
“Oh...” the girl shifted uncomfortably at that reminder. Harry had told her he was muggle-raised, which meant he had been unable to be raised by his parents for whatever reason. In this day and age that was not uncommon due to Voldemort's purging of many magical families that had opposed him. There were a large number of orphans in Britain due to the few families that had children that had managed escaped the Dark Lords wrath. She probably, and correctly, assumed that he was one such orphan. “Well, why don't I just ring you up then.”
The total cost for all the books Harry decided to get came to a grand total of five-hundred galleons. Not nearly as pricy as his trunk, but still expensive. Still, the money he had used was money well spent in his opinion. Knowledge was power, and right now he had a distinct lack of it as far as the wizarding world was concerned.
“Thank you very much,” Harry gave his appreciation to the girl who had helped him with a slight bow of his head. He did not like asking for help often, but when he did he was more than willing to show how grateful he was for the help. It was important to let people know you appreciated what they did for you. Building bridges is what he believed it was called. “I don't believe I ever got your name miss...”
“Well aren't you a little gentlemen,” the girl said with a smile. “My name is Cassidy Fergand.”
“Cassidy,” Harry tested the name before offering the girl a smile. “Thank you for the help. I won't forget it.” And unlike other people, Harry really wouldn't forget it. He also wasn't one to just let this go. He was indebted to this girl for helping him, even if she was only doing it because she was paid to, she had gone far beyond what her job called for—spending what had to be at least two or three hours helping him—and he would be sure to pay her back some day.
Offering one last wave to Cassidy, and getting a 'thank you and please come again' from said girl, Harry, lugging his trunk behind him, left the store.