Familiar

A/N hey, just saying a big thankyou to my first reviewer, arealdeal. I decided to write the next chapter and post it. So everyone, again let me know what you think and please review, it'll make me post quicker. Hope you like it. This chapters a bit longer and will hopefully give you an idea of where I am going with this.

Chapter One: Diagon Alley


After tapping the brick that concealed the entrance, Harry stepped in to Diagon Alley. As soon as he did Hedwig left his shoulder and flew to the Daily Prophet building where she perched on the sign. He knew that she would keep her eyes open for him and that every time he moved on so would she.


He entered Gringotts not bothering to read the warning on the door; he had read it many times over the years. He looked around, noticing Griphook he went over to the little goblin and in a hushed tone asked to be taken to the Potter Vault. After an exhilarating cart ride that Harry was sure Hagrid would have thrown up on if he had been there, they came to the Potter Vault. The Vault was exactly the same as it had always been, but hopefully today he would be allowed in to another part, a part that he had never visited before, the true vault.


This time after unlocking the door Griphook pressed a hidden latch and a small rectangular hole just large enough for Harry’s finger, appeared above the key hole. After a slight hesitation he placed his index finger in the hole and felt the sharp needle inside prick his finger and suck up his blood. Not a happy feeling, that’s for sure. With a click the door opened and instead of stepping into a small room with a pile of golden galleons, silver sickles and bronze knuts, he stepped in to a large, cavernous room with roughly hewn stone walls and a hundred shelves and boxes. And everything was absolutely covered in dust. He just hoped everything had a strong preservation charm on it. He rolled up his sleeves and prepared to delve in.


After rooting through quite a few boxes he finally found what he was looking for, the deeds to the family properties. Remus had told him about them once and he already knew which one he was looking for. The Manor house in the country, it was perfect, secluded, in a hard to find location, it was very heavily warded and it was quite a large property, which meant if anyone did get passed the wards it would be harder to find him than in one of the cottages or town houses. And he was curious.


After finding the document he quickly read it over, he needed to sign in blood and the house was his. He borrowed a quill from Griphook, jabbed his finger and signed his name. As soon as he did the parchment glowed and the location popped into his head. The house would recognize him now. He smiled and replaced the parchment, no one would dispute his claim to the house and when he had his own heir they would need to sign it to be recognized. He cast a cleansing charm to remove the dust and grime and a healing charm on his finger. Silently thanking someone that it was safe to do magic down here. Griphook had told him the last time he visited that the vaults were warded, which meant that magic could be done inside the vault but could not pass through the wards (meaning no apparating in or out) and since they were underground; his magic could not be sensed. So with that in mind he cast a cleansing charm on the room, mentally kicking himself because he hadn’t thought about it earlier.


He just had two more items to find, things Remus had told him about, things he would need later. The Lords ring that had belonged to his father, for though there were no longer Lords and Ladies their descendents still wore their rings as a mark of pride. The family ring had been returned to the Vaults after his Fathers death but now that he was the recognized heir he could wear it. It was a simple gold band with the Potter crest on it, a snake-like Dragon and a Gryphon around a capital ‘P’. The other thing was the ceremonial sword, according to Remus it was a strong blade and the wielder could imbue it with magic. That was why he wanted the sword, Remus was going to teach him to use it and with a few select spells it would help him against Voldemort. He found the sword on one of the shelves, commissioned when the Potter family was formed. The blade itself was gleaming silver, with a burnished gold pommel and silver gilt, an emerald and a ruby were inset on both sides, there was also a matching dagger. The sword with all its ornamentation should look tawdry but it wasn’t it was sleek, deadly and powerful. Hopefully Voldemort wouldn’t be expecting a physical weapon, even one that was spelled. He hoped Voldemort was overconfident and hadn’t even considered that a muggle weapon could hurt him and because of that wouldn’t use a shield designed to repel both magical and physical attacks.


He opened his trunk and placed them inside; he wore the Lords ring but hid it with a pair of gloves he had bought yesterday in muggle London. As he straightened up, glinting metal caught his eye. There was an open box on one of the shelves. Inside it was a rather long necklace ending in a point at both the front and back. On closer inspection it was two smaller necklaces that appeared to be joined together. When he picked them up they remained solid and rigid, so that they would not lie against a person’s neck. There was a note in the box that had been hidden,


‘Lurian and Dana Potter. Betrothal Necklaces. To remain here until another generation of Potter is worthy of wearing them…’


They were beautiful necklaces, the links were like flattened ropes, one side was silver and the other gold, one was gold on the left and silver on the right and the other was silver on the left and gold on the right. On the gold side was an emerald and on the silver side was a ruby and when you turned them over, written on the back were words.


Two words, ‘Mine’ and ‘Yours’


Again the words were on opposite sides, the meaning was clear, they both belonged to the wearer of the other.


He placed them back on the shelf, put his trunk back in his pocket and collected some gold, before locking the vault and joining Griphook in the cart to head back up to the surface.


***


He headed straight to Flourish and Blotts, he would have to come back later in the summer if he had to get some new school books but since he wasn’t starting any new subjects he doubted he’d need any. Once inside the book shop, he went straight to the Defence against the Dark Arts section and picked up several advanced texts as well as a book called Everything you need to know to pass your Auror exam. He then went to the Healing section, where he picked up two rather large books on Magical First Aid, an In the Field Handbook for Aspiring Aurors and a book entitled Spells and Potions for all your Health Problems. The last one was rather advanced but he had noticed on the back several potions listed for restoring eyesight. Hopefully he’d be able to muddle through it.


For fun he browsed the Magical fiction books, he needed something to do when he wasn’t training. He then went to the Wizarding History Section and by then he was glad he’d picked up a never filling basket when he entered the store. He picked up Magical wars of the Past and Battle Techniques, as well as The Duelist’s Guide To Technique volumes 1 and 2 as well as 1000 spells to disable, disarm and to harm: For Aurors and Professional Duelists. He was heading to the tills to pay when a sign above a display caught his eye.


ABOUT TO TURN SEVENTEEN
WANT TO KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT?
Then Pick up one of theses…


Curious he took a look.

The first book on the display was Coming of Age, A Young Witch and Wizards Guide to the Trials of Adulthood. The second was Maturity: A Guide to Power Levels, Inheritance and New Body Parts. At first glance he thought they were like the Muggle self help books but something made him read the back of Maturity: A Guide to Power Levels, Inheritance and New Body Parts.

About to come of age?
Worried about coming into your true power?
Worried about those little genetic quirks that may just appear?
Prepare for the worst, with twenty different numbing potions and healings spells.
Learn to spot the signs of impending maturity and avoid blood loss.


‘A thoughtful book that guides a young witch or wizard through an emotional and difficult time.’


He added both books to his basket without further thought; they might have some interesting information. While he was waiting in line he pondered the books, was there something in there about blood magic, namely the reason why it could only protect him until he was seventeen or was there something else to it. He’d have to wait and see but if there was something strange that could happen to witches and wizards when they were seventeen why hadn’t anyone mentioned it to him before? When he got to the till he gladly paid for a magically shrinking (as well as weightless) bag, he kept the two maturity books out and went to a café for lunch.


After eating lunch he got out Spells and Potions for all your Health Problems and wrote down the ingredients for the eyesight restorative that dealt with his particular condition on a napkin with the quill he borrowed from the waitress. He then skimmed through the maturity books, the basics were that at the age of seventeen a witch/wizard came into their full power and that there was a slight degree of pain involved, the more powerful a person was, the less they would feel because their magic shielded them from it. The most powerful witches and wizards had so much magic that it drove them to share it between other bodies, this usually meant bonding with a familiar (Dumbledore and Fawkes and Voldemort and Nagini). Extraordinarily powerful witches and wizards (who were rare) could even bond with a muggle and share their magic. It also wasn’t unheard of for them to bond with another witch or wizard, but this was a volatile bond and could go either way. Meaning the bond could lead the two individuals to be sworn enemies where there magic’s soul purpose was to destroy the other. Or the other extreme, to join them together body, mind, soul and to combine their magic to an unhealthy level, but with that power the most extraordinary things could be done. To defeat a dark wizard for instance but that was extremely unlikely. If he was honest with himself he expected to share his magic with a familiar but if neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore had the bond then what chance did he have. He’d have to stick with his plan of hoping Voldemort wasn’t shielded against a physical attack.


He went to the Apothecary and stocked up on his potion ingredients as well as buying the ones for the restorative. He then called into the magical menagerie, to stock up on owl treats, Hedwig definitely deserved them for having to stay with the Dursleys. There were a lot of new animals in the menagerie, owls, cats, a fox cub, rats and snakes galore but he didn’t think having a conversation with them would be the best of ideas so he left. He didn’t know why he had lingered to look at the animals, well he did if he was honest, he rather liked the idea of a familiar, a friend he could talk to that he knew could never betray him or use him, they could manipulate but only for the good of the Wizard not others. He bought some new quills and ink bottles and headed to Ollivianders’. The wand maker took one look at him furrowed his brow for a moment in thought and then said… ‘Hello Mr Potter, what can I do for you?’

‘Well I can see that my glamour hasn’t fooled you, sir.’ He smiled ‘I was going to ask you if you would be able to teach me to hide my wand signature?’
The man thought for a moment before answering.
‘I trust you Mr Potter, so I will gladly block your wand signature from others. But I must still be able to sense it. To be able to monitor spell use, you see the ministry often ask me to identify magic traces at crime scenes, to identify both victim and murderer.’ Olliviander looked at him very strangely and for a moment Harry thought he knew about the prophecy. ‘So I will still have to be able to sense your signature. But I will block it from everyone else.’ He then took Harry’s wand and after saying a few words and casting a few spells he pronounced it blocked. ‘I suggest Mr Potter, that you cast a small spell in the street. If no one appears looking for you, you can consider your wand safely blocked.’


Harry did as he was told and waited fifteen minutes or so, no one appeared. He knew that both Dumbledore and the Ministry would be looking for him by now and if they could have sensed that little bit of magic they would have been there within moments.


He had nothing else to do, he thought he might pop in to see Fred and George and would have done so if he hadn’t seen Mrs Weasley heading in their direction with a furious look on her face. He may have been curious, but he also had a strong sense of self preservation, he knew she couldn’t recognise him but he still didn’t want to risk it, so he took an about turn and ducked into the nearest alleyway.


It was a few moments before he realised where he was, he was in Knockturn Alley.