章節 15: Secrecy and Safeguards
But for Harry too many kids had gone missing for him to be comfortable out in the open and exposed like this. He had his wand up his sleeve but even he knew it wasn't safe for him to use it unless the circumstance were dire. The Ministry would just love to get him on an underaged magic charge. So remaining observant to his surroundings was his best bet for staying safe and reaching his destination.
He made it to London without any problems and chose a cheap hotel not too far from the bus depot to spend the night in that seemed to have good security as well as a dining room so he wouldn't have to go hungry until he arrived at Hogwarts. They even offered a sandwich bar so he could make a lunch to eat on the train. he'd had to explain he was taking a train to school the next morning before the receptionist would rent him a room, but he'd expected that and had a fake school id card to prove his words.
After settling in at the hotel, he took a cab to Charring Cross Road where he knew the Leaky Cauldron still stood as it was the doorway between the magical world and the normal world. He slipped into the Alley without a problem and knew it was mainly because no one had expected him to be here on this day.
Since Dumbledore hadn't set this trip up, word hadn't spread far and wide and people hadn't gathered together to play Lookie Lou. He hated the way he got stared at like that when Dumbledore arranged a trip here for him and he'd been here just enough times alone to know it only happened when Dumbledore arranged the outing. People were too busy tending to their own needs and desires to notice the odd teenager coming and going unless they were receiving some kind of payment to do so.
He had visited the bank and took care of his annual business and set into motion his plans for this year. He thought their reaction to seeing him was a little extreme but since he had no idea why they were acting as they were, he let it go after he got the money he'd need for his shopping and the year.
Then he began making the rounds of the booksellers to get new textbooks in everything he was studying whether he was taking a class in the matter or not. If this year followed the pattern of the last couple of years, he knew Dumbledore would have had that stupid redheaded woman buy his school things including his text books. If he did, Harry would just donate them to the library where Madam Pince kept all the textbooks students no longer wanted. He also bought all the supplementary books he could spot for his normal classes knowing even if she did get his texts, she wouldn't think to get them because her own youngest two weren't studious to the point of registering on the intelligence scale as just above imbeciles. Any other school both Ron and Ginerva would have washed out already. Simply because of their poor showing and aversion to actually doing their assigned classwork.
He knew for a fact Ron had told his Mum he was keeping his scores low for Harry's sake. Because Harry didn't study any more than he did. That he hated it so Ron couldn't study all that much either. But the truth was they paid as little attention to their studies as they could get away with and it showed in the marks they received. Ron's highest performing class was Divination and that was only because all he had to do to pass it was make up a story of how Harry would die gruesomely any day now. But then neither Ron nor Ginerva thought they'd actually have to work to afford their tea and crumpets. Both thought they'd live their lives off the largess of the Potter accounts and have nice safe cushy lives with lots of parties to attend and rubbing elbows with the rich and the famous. Neither one actually thought they'd have to get a real job when they finished their schooling.
After his rounds of the booksellers, he went to the parchment supplies store and the Apothecary as well. He bought twice as much of those supplies as the class lists called for since he wanted to make sure he had an adequate supply of stores. This was because if he was back in the dorm this year, what he had for his needs, would be considered free for the taking to the general masses. And his dorm mates would think nothing of using his supplies before they'd even consider using their own. It was also unlikely he'd be given Hogsmeade privileges to replace what his so-called mates helped themselves to. After all, his kin still hadn't signed his permission slip to go there. Merlin knew not one of them would ever think to replace what they took either.
He replaced his old pewter cauldron and purchased a few others made from different materials and a new tool kit. The tool kit included stirring rods, a sharp silver bladed knife several different sizes of flat sided spoons, a dipper and a funnel. He picked out a new sharpening stone and a small bottle of oil to keep his knife sharp knowing he needed them. last but certainly not least he got a new set of crystal vials and jars of varying sizes. This way with all this equipment, he could easily experiment in his spare time. Even if he was back in the dorms, he knew there were plenty of unused rooms in the Castle he could set up as a personal lab for himself. And his potions needed replacing. What potions he had left were nearing their shelf-life date where they'd be unsafe to ingest or use.
He had already replaced his old one compartment trunk for a more elaborate five compartment model. Granted, one of those compartments was only a well disguised drawer for important papers and fine jewelry he didn't want anyone to know he had. Like his Mother's wedding set, which the goblins claimed both Dumbledore and the Weasely clan were trying to get, and his Father's pocket watch as well as Sirius' old one. Both watches were inscribed with their names and the dates they'd received them and a picture of the Marauders the watch didn't belong to. James' had a picture of a wolf, a grim and a rat lounging around a lily.
Sirius' had a stag sniffing the lily while the rat and the wolf looked on. Both watches had been given to the men when they turned seventeen and came of age. They had the pictures engraved on the watches themselves, according to his father's journal. He also had their auror pins and badges as well as Lily's Unspeakable badge and certificate of Charms Mastery in the drawer which he had placed a high security locking charm on. The charm was keyed to him and only him in such a way he had to be fully conscious and aware for it to open. That way if anyone did figure out how to get into his trunk they'd never get into the drawer. Because Harry didn't want anyone getting anything in that drawer and he'd never let anyone in of his own free will.
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