Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Reality to Live	By : ShadowCat13 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 13165 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 8
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I could say otherwise I do not own Harry Potter. Sadly I don't make anything from writing this either.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Normal speech"

'Thoughts'

{Speaking Parseltongue}

…

Chapter 4

Feeling more than a little bit nervous Harry looked at the pile of clothes before him. He was in the small bathroom attracted to his room getting changed so he could leave with William and Eleanor. It was Friday, and just a little while ago he'd been cleared to leave. And it seemed William had gotten all the legal work required to become his guardian finished that morning as well. It made Harry wonder if he'd started it before hand, or if it had been processed so quickly because of the Potters blood status. Deciding it didn't really matter right now, Harry turned his attention back to his new robes.

The older couple had given them to him so he'd have something better than his own tattered champion outfit or the tee-shirt and sweatpants to leave the hospital in. The style wasn't quite what he was used to wearing, he was back in time some twentyish years so that shouldn't be too surprising. He was glad to see the wizards of the seventies hadn't been even crazier with their clothes then the muggles had been though.

'Well at least what William gave me him isn't too bad.' Harry thought as he held up the outer robe. He remembered the lacy maroon dress robs Ron had been stuck with…

The outer robe, which looked a bit like a long coat with flared sleeves, was made of a soft midnight blue material that looked to have a faint splotching of a slightly lighter shade of blue here and there. It also had thin trim that was a little shiny, but at least it wasn't lace. The inside was of the same shiny silk like material and had a good number of pockets. Instead of buttons it had a few silver chains and claps too keep it 'tied'. The pants were made of the same soft dark blue splotched cloth. The style defiantly had some of the seventies in it. The ends were flared. The white button up shirt looked normal to him, if a little fancy, but the vest to go over it was a multicolored tan with brown swirls of the same silky material that lined the outer robe.

After he finished dressing and had pulled on the brown boots that he'd also be given Harry looked at the small mirror. It wasn't what he was use to wearing, but it wasn't awful. They fit well and were comfortable.

"Not bad. Now all you need to do is tame that mess you call hair." The mirror told him and Harry jumped. He wasn't sure he'd even get used to mirrors talking to him. Especially as here, or at least this one, had only done it a couple times so far.

Harry ran his right hand though his hair once more before he pulled the sling over his head and put his broken arm back in it. It was the only one of his injuries that still wasn't fully healed yet. All the others had healed at the normal rate they usually did for him. He'd been told though that his arm too should be healed in one or two more weeks as well. He had an appointment to come back then to have it looked at.

Leaving the bathroom Harry found William and Eleanor still waiting where he'd left them, sitting on the two chairs along the wall. They turned towards the sound of the door opening and William nodded approvingly. "Do you like the clothes? We weren't really sure what to get you. James can be picky enough so we weren't sure if you would be too. We finally had just asked for something popular with the younger generation." William admitted.

"They're not what I'm used to, but I like them." Harry reassured them. Though he didn't exactly think he was the best judge of clothes. Other then getting his school robes he'd never gone out and bought clothes for himself. He likely would have been just as lost as they'd been.

Glad Harry didn't hate the robes they smiled.

"Later I'll take you shopping." Eleanor told him as Harry grabbed his three books. Once he had them they left the room. "We need to get you a new Wand. While were out we can get some other things for you as well. I'll take you to some of the clothing shops so you can pick out some clothes."

Harry turned to look at her, more than a little surprised. Not so much that they'd take him to shopping, he'd gotten a little used to that going along with the Weasleys, but that they hadn't been going out to get things for him. When shopping with the Weasleys it had always been for school things.

"You don't need to go through all that trouble. I can just wear-"

"It won't be any trouble." Eleanor cut him off before he could go any farther, and looked over at her husband for him to agree.

William nodded in agreement with his wife. "You're my ward now Harry. Making sure you well cared for is one of my responsibilities to you. That means we'll buy you new clothes and other needed things for you as you require them." He said stressing the word new. He as sure Harry was trying to say hand-me-downs would have been fine to him. It wasn't for William thought. Being of an old pure-blood family it would look bad on him if he let his new ward wear cast offs.

"I'm also going to set you up with a small monthly allowance so you can buy yourself things you'd like to have. James tends to send his on sweats and jokes." William told him.

Harry opened and closed his mouth a couple times at a loss of what to say, before he just nodded slowly. He felt that they were doing a lot more than required, but decided saying so wouldn't do him any good. And he didn't want to annoy them by seemed… he wasn't sure what. He didn't think ungrateful as the right word. As he was grateful to them. He just felt they were giving him more then was needed.

As they come to the elevator Harry spotted Healer Kalderdash down the hall. Harry had thanked him for looking after him and said his good by this morning after the healer had said he was free to go. The healer came over for another good bye though.

"Leaving now?" He asked, and Harry nodded his head. The healer smiled and said, "It's always a happy and sad thing when patients leave. I'm glad to see you better, but I think I'll miss having you here."

"I'm more than ready to get out though." Harry joked. He thought he would miss the healer and some of the nurses he'd gotten to know the past week some though. They'd all been very kind to him. Going so far as to give him clothing he'd be more comfortable wearing.

"Don't come back to soon then." The healer replied with a smile. Harry nodded and then entered the waiting elevator with the Potters.

They didn't say anything more as they rode the magical elevator down to the first floor. From there Harry was lead over to the fireplaces. William took a pinch of the floo powder and when through first. After the older man had disappeared in the green flames Eleanor motioned for Harry to go next. His nerves spiking a little, Harry slowly took a pinch of the magical powered. Pushing down his nervousness Harry tossed the powder in the flames a called 'Potter Manor'.

Harry closed his eyes as he started to spin. The trip thought the floo wasn't any less disorienting for him in this reality and when he finally stopped spinning around Harry tumbled out of the fireplace and landed on his rear before William.

The older man tried to hide his amusement as he helped Harry up and dusted him off, but Harry still noticed.

"Magical transportation just doesn't like me…" He muttered as Eleanor stepped elegantly out of the flames.

"Sometimes it takes people a while to get used to it." William told him, and Eleanor peered at them in silent question. "Come, your rooms up this way." He said moments later, and led Harry and his still wondering wife out of the room they'd arrived in. It was a small, but impressive looking sitting room. It had elegant wall paper, a fine wooden floor and a large fire place took up the whole wall opposite the door. Its mantel was made some kind of grey stone, with light grey veins running through it. Carved into the stone were a number of runes and magical beasts, gryphon's, positioned so it looked like they were watching you come out of the fire. The only other things in the room were a few chairs.

From the room they went out into a large open room with marble flooring that had a large grand staircase along one wall. It was made of light grey stone and had red carpeting down the middle. It led up to a stained wood balcony that looked into the entryway, a large room that also had marble floors. The room had a high ceiling and an impressive chandelier. It was the room that harry had first appeared in when he arrived in this universe.

Harry wasn't given much time to gawk at rooms that looked more like what he'd have imagine being in Malfoy Manor though. He was lead up the stairs and then right from the balcony through some double doors into the family wing of the large house. There most of the walls and flooring became less grand, but still of fine woods. The type and color used for the walls and floor were different, pale for the walls and darker for the floor. Harry thought the shades worked well together.

They walked down a short hallway and then went up a second, not so fancy flight of stairs and Harry was lead down a longer hallway that split off once. As they went various pictures and paintings of creatures looked out curiously at Harry. He also saw a large fox sitting by one of the doors. It looked like a red fox; its coat was mostly a dark reddish orange with a white under belly. The bottom of its jaw was white as well. It legs were dark, almost black, and it had a few brushings of dark fur on its face and back. Save for being just a little taller than an average fox, Harry would have thought it was a normal fox. It not for the fact it had two fluffy white tipped tails. It watched them for a few moments before it disappeared around a corner.

Shortly after that they arrived at their destination. Eleanor opened the door and Harry entered what was now his bedroom. Or the entry to it anyway.

The door led to a small sitting room that unlike most of the house so far the floor was covered with plush grayish blue carpet. The walls, save for one part of the think stone outerwall, were still made out of the pale wood. Matched with the carpet they looked creamy in color. There was a comfortable looking couch and a desk along one wall. And a few shelves on another. On the opposite wall as the desk there was doorway that led to a room that also had the same grayish blue carpet. Going over to the doorway he peered into the next room.

The room was larger than the sitting area. Inside he spotted a large four-poster bed with dark blue canopy and blue and cream bedding that only took up one corner of the room. The rest of room was taken up by some more chairs by a small fire place, a small table, and a number of, at the moment, empty shelves and cabinets. They cover most of three walls. The wall they didn't, and the table was near, was a large window that gave him a great view of the grounds around the manor. In the center of the window Harry noticed the outline of a door that lead out to a balcony. On either side of the huge window there were large cream colored thick curtains Harry could use to cover the large window. At the moment they were wide open and tied off with a blue cord.

As Harry looked around, still feeling a bit awed, he noticed one more door between two shelves. He walked over and looked into a bathroom that reminded him of the prefects bathroom at Hogwarts. The floor was of some kind of polished light grey stone with a few darker bricks mixed in. Harry wasn't sure if there was a pattern to the dark blocks or not. In the middle of the room he saw bathing pool with multiple faucets. One end was shallow, while the other Harry though would go to his neck. Looking away from the pool Harry noticed there was also a walk-in shower in the far corner of the room. Like with the pool, there was more than one shower head. The other walls he saw were lined with wooden counters and couple sinks. Save were the toilet was. There was also a large mirror on one of the walls.

And To his dismay, Harry noticed yet another door. And this one lead to a decent sized, empty, walk-in closet.

Harry just stood there staring into the room for a long time before he finally turned to look at William and Eleanor who'd been waiting to see what he thought of his rooms. All he had to say thought was, "All these rooms are mine?"

Studying him William nodded. "Yes. If you don't like them though, we could show you one of the other suites. I had just thought it would be appropriate to give you the room of the second son, since I can't give you the heir's rooms. Those are James, and are a little ways down the hall." He had thoughts of someday adopting Harry too, and then this really would be were Harry should be.

Harry just shook his head, "No. The… suite is nice. It looks great. I just…" Not sure how to explain how it Harry ended up gazing around feeling a little lost. After a few moments he quietly said, "This place is just so big. I don't know if it even exists in my reality. I guess it'll just take a while to get used to it."

William nodded in understanding. He supposed for someone not used to the place, the Manor could be a bit to take in. It was large and grand. Compared to a lot of old pure-blood family manors though, it was on the more conservative side. They had didn't have marble floors that changed color for mood and occasion or obscene amounts of one of a kind art on display.

"Would you like to rest a while before you go shopping with Eleanor? Or would you like a tour of the house?" William asked Harry.

"Uh… I think I'll rest for now." Harry said. He seen enough on the way here for the moment, and decided if the house was a big as it looked then maybe he should wait till later. He was healed, but still found he wasn't back to full strength. If he had to go shopping he didn't want to be dragging his feet half way though.

"Alright, I'll come back in a couple hours to get you." Eleanor told Harry as she and her husband left the rooms.

Once they were gone Harry took to looking around the rooms that were going to be his while he lived with the Potters. They really where beyond anything he'd ever thought he'd have. Going over the large window he looked out and saw he could see a lot of the laws and gardens, and almost out of sight Harry thought he saw the large stables that housed the Pegasi Eleanor had told him she bred during one of their talks at the hospital. He was looking forward to seeing them. He wondered if they'd be anything like Hippogriffs.

"I wonder what Ron and Hermione would think of to see this place." Harry asked himself out loud as he moved away from the large window. After a few moments ha answered hi s own question. "Ron would likely get jealous and say I have all the luck before wanting to see if we could fly around the grounds, while Hermione would want to see how big the library here is."

Missing his friends, Harry collapsed on the bed, and tried to convince himself that in the near two weeks he'd been here that Voldemort wouldn't... couldn't have totally taken over and they'd be fine. Dumbledore was there, and he know as long as the old wizard breathed he'd never let the monster win. He'd also keep them safe.

Harry had to believe that, as he had no way of getting back and finding out for himself.

…

As she'd said she would, Eleanor came to get Harry a couple hours later to take him shopping. She lead Harry back thought the house to the room with the large fireplace. On way a lower-pitched, "Awrrf!", like sound drew their attention.

Looking in the direction Harry saw the two tailed fox again. It was sitting in the center of a hall and staring intently at him.

"Come here, you." Eleanor told the fox. Still gazing at Harry, it ran over to Eleanor. "This is my familiar, Reynard." She told him as picked up the fox. It squirmed around in her arms, so it could still look at Harry but didn't seem to mind being held.

"He's just curious about you." Eleanor went on to say as she rubbed between Raynards black tipped ears. "Don't be surprised if he seems to be following you around for a while or keeps popping up around you. I should also warn you that he's a bit mischievous. You can likely blame him if something ends up disappearing only to turn up where it was a little later."

Harry nodded. He'd heard of foxes being cunning and tricksters, so he'd keep what she said in mind. She set the fox back down and gestured for them to keep going. As they walked down the hall again Harry could feel the foxes eyes still on him.

When they got to the room, Eleanor went though the fireplace first. After she was gone Harry took a pinch of the green powder. Part of him still wasn't really comfortable with going shopping, but after a moment he tossed the powder in the fire and called, "The Leaky Caldron!", as he stepped into the green flames.

He was spit out of the fireplace in the pub as he'd been at the Manor and Harry grumbled a little as he stood up. Why did magical travel have to be so disorienting to him?

Once he was clean Eleanor led the way out back to the entrance of ally. She tapped the bricks in the same way he'd done in his own reality and the wall opened up to reveal Diagon Ally in all its glory.

"I think the first think we should do is get you a wand." Eleanor told him and started down the street.

Harry nodded and followed after her. His eyes were darting all around him though. The Ally seemed so much more alive than he'd ever seen it before. There were a lot, lot more witches and wizards going about the shopping area. There were also twice as many shops here than in his reality, and branching off streets he was sure didn't exist in his own. Two that really stood out were the Flora and Fauna Ally, and the Intellectus Ally.

Down the first he caught glimpses of all kind of plants and animals for sell. The other, much larger looking road, was lined with what he thought were book shops. From the few signs he could make out Harry guess there were shops down there specializing in one kind of subject. In the ally in his own reality he could only remember there being Flourish & Blotts. Looking back they way they'd come, Harry saw the book store was still where he remembered it in the ally, but it seemed more like a books store you'd go to for novels here.

As they walked Harry keep close to Eleanor. Likely because of magic the street wasn't as packed as it should have been with all the colorfully dressed people about, but Harry felt like he'd get swept away if he strayed from her side.

Harry was glad when they finally reached the small shop at the other end of the Ally that was Ollivander's. It didn't look any different to him from the outside, and when they entered the shop it was the same inside as well.

"Good afternoon." Harry jumped a little at the voice and turned to look at the old white haired man that was Ollivander. "Here for a replacement wand? You both look a bit too old to be getting your first." He asked looking at the two of them. His eerie pale eyes seemed to focus on Harry though, as if he knew it was Harry that needed a wand.

"Yes… I need a new wand." Harry told him after a few moments.

The old man nodded and a tape measure few over and started to take his measurements. Harry still wasn't sure why they were taken.

"Tell me about your last wand. What was it made of and what happened to it?" Ollivander ask asked as he watched measuring tape.

"Umm…." Harry could easily tell him what his want was made of, but he wasn't so sure if he should tell him that he'd lost it by being tossed out of one reality and into another. If he'd even believed that... Though as Harry looked at the man, something made him think the Ollivander would believe him.

Looking over at Eleanor she gave him a simple nod, in response to the question his eyes asked. Looking back at Ollivander he said, "It was made out of Holly, eleven inches, and its core was a phoenix feather. It was one of two that the phoenix Fawkes gave." Ollivander got a glint in his eyes, one that said he was now very curious, but didn't interrupt Harry. "As for what happened to my wand… I'm not fully I don't believe it was destroyed." Harry really doubted Voldemort would break it. "It was taken from me before I arrived here."

"Hmm, you arrived here, you say?" Ollivander muttered, peering closer at Harry. Close enough to make him fidget a little. "You're a very interesting man, Mister Potter. Very, very interesting." Waving the measuring tape away, the old man disappeared into the deeps of his shop. Harry just stared at where he had been. He hadn't given him his name yet…

When he returned Ollivander was holding a long box in his arms. Opening it he showed Harry the wand inside. "Is this the wand you had before?"

Taking in all the details of the Holly wand laying in the box, Harry nodded. "Yes, that's the wand I had." He reached to take hold of it, but held back. He looked at the old man, and he nodded for Harry to take the light colored wand. Picking it up Harry expected to feel the warmth he normally did while holding the wand. He did but not to the same degree as he was used to as it sparked red.

He looked up at Olivander with question eyes.

"Interesting. The wand accepts you, but… it seems it's not the perfect match anymore." He said, his eyes glittering with enjoyment.

"Does that mean I need to find a different wand?" Harry asked? Harry hadn't been sure he'd get 'his wand' in this reality, but had hoped too. The Phoenix wand had become important to him.

"You should take the phoenix wand." Ollivander told Harry. "Now that it's accepted you, it won't work properly with anyone else. But I do think we could keep looking and see if we can find one that fits better with who you are now. A wizard can have more than one wand after all."

That said the old man motioned Harry to follow him and headed towards the back of his shop. "I have a feeling that the average wand won't do for you. So let's see how the more unusual wands fare, shall we?" Harry looked over at Eleanor again before pocketing the phoenix wand and following the old man.

Ollivander pulled boxes, one at a time, off a shelf and started having try the wands inside them. It didn't take Harry long to realize it was going the same way as it has when he was Eleven and looking for a wand. Was his magic really that picky?

"I wonder…" Ollivander said, unknowingly saying the same his counterpart had years before. Or would it be years in the future? Eyeing Harry the old man pulled a rather old and somewhat battered box from inside a cabinet he'd had to unlock into order to get the wand. Despite the look of the box it was in, the shorter darker tan wand with darker brown streaks though it was in perfect condition.

"A rarer wand my grandfather made. Its eight and a half inches long, and made from Australian Blackwood. It's not used often for wand making here, but it produces wand that can be very powerful. The wood it's self is rare as it's totally neutral, completely indifferent to what kind of magic is being cast through it. One could cast a powerful light healing spell one moment with this wand, and in the next cast a deadly dark curse without any problem.

"Then there's the core." Ollivander said quietly, as he gazed at the wand. "It contains a feather from a Thunderbird. They are rare and very powerful magical animals from the American continent. Much like the Phoenix, they are duel natured creatures. The storms they create can bring life giving water where they fly, while on the other hand they can be destructive. Lighting from their wings creates fire where it hits and the winds accompanying the storm can tear things apart. They bring both life and death."

Hearing the wand's core was from creature called a 'thunderbird', made Harry think it would be ironic if he was compatible with this wand. After all he'd been known for his lightning shaped scar in his own reality.

"Combined together, they made a very powerful neutral wand. Because of the power of its core though, it's rather picky." The old man went on, unknowing of Harry's thought about the wand. "It will only work for someone with a great amount of natural power." Looking up at the wand the old man gazed at Harry for a few long moments, before he held out the wand for Harry to try.

Harry felt a lot like he'd done when he'd first picked up his phoenix wand when he was eleven. Anticipation and nervousness. He slowly reached out and picked up the wand. Like with the other wand Harry felt the magic respond as soon as he touched it. Only it wasn't warm, but rather had a tingle to its feel. Harry wonder if it had to do with the element of the different birds.

Waving it a little he sent out yellow sparks.

Smiling widely Ollivander led him back to the front of the shop, were Eleanor waited. He held up the wand for her to see.

"So how much do we owe you?" Eleanor asked.

"Seven Gallons for the Phoenix wand, and…" He gazed at the wand Harry still held for a moment. "I'll sell you the Thunderbird wand for eleven Gallons." Hearing what the core of the wand was, Eleanor looked at the wand again.

"Are you sure?" She asked in a tone that made Harry wonder how much the wand was really worth.

"Very." Ollivander said with a smile. "I haven't had the pleasure of matching a wand to someone as fascinating as Mister Potter here, in far, far too long. Not since Arcturus brought his adopted son, Tom here for his wand. I think you, like him, are destined for great things."

Harry stared at the old wand maker again. He found the info about Tom interesting, but that wasn't what was making him stare. Harry was sure this time Ollivander had, in a way repeated what his counterpart had told him in his own reality. Harry shuddered a little. "I would just like to be normal." He said quietly.

Ollivander gave him a sad smile, "But what is normal? I think you'll find what that means differs for everyone."

Harry nodded and looked at his two wands and Eleanor paid the eighteen Gallons to Mr. Ollivander. He put them both in one of his inner Robe pockets as they left the shop.

…

After they'd left Ollivander's, Eleanor had taken Harry to a shop that specialized in all things eyes down one of the new side Ally's this realities Diagon Ally had. There a small witch with frizzy pink hair had checked Harrys eyes and after asking him a million questions about them, had asked if he wanted new eyes or glasses.

The question had left him more than a little shocked. They could remove his eyes and grow him some new ones? Harry thought that was a bit extreme. Couldn't they just use a potion or something else if he wanted to fix his sight? When he'd asked that, the witch had said, "Course there are potions that can fix 'em up. Poppin 'em out and regrowin 'em is a lot easier, and faster though."

Thinking that was a bit mental Harry told her he'd like glasses.

After that he'd spend another half an hour looking at frames. He needed to pick two out and ended up letting Eleanor pick out one of them to save some time. It was taking him a long enough to just decide on this main pair. In the end he picked out a dark bluish metal frame that claimed they'd never bend out of shape or brake. As he'd broken his old glasses a lot he kind of hoped it was true. The ones Eleanor picked where of the metal as well, but a dark green color with a little vine like etching on them. When he asked why she chose them, she said they'd look good with his eyes.

After they'd picked the frames they were told it would take an hour or so to get the lenses ready. Eleanor hadn't even bothered looked at the options for them, and had just said to put on everything they'd done to James's. Which were charms to do things like make them unbreakable, water proof, have a word activated sticking charm on the frames, and act as sunglasses without changing the lens color.

While the glasses were being finished Eleanor had taken Harry to get more clothes as she'd said she'd do. For this they also went down one of the small side ally's and to a shop called Glitersten's.

The name of the place had worried Harry, but when went inside the place wasn't sparkly. There were just magical manikins showing off new styles of robes, and past those rakes and shelves full of clothing. On the far back wall there were pattern books and fabric's displayed.

From somewhere beyond the rakes of robes, appeared a tall and thin middle aged wizard with light brown hair. He wore a brown and cream single piece loose robe that swayed as he walked. "Good afternoon Lady Potter." The wizard said smiling to Eleanor. "I'm guessing this is the young man you'd purchased the robes for yesterday?' He asked looking at Harry.

"Yes. This is Harry, our new ward." Eleanor told the man, and then looked at Harry. "This is Hagen Glitersten."

Harry nodded. "It's nice to meet you."

"We've come to get Harry some more things." Eleanor said, and the man smile deepened.

"Well then what are we standing around for?" Mr. Glitersten asked, and motioned for them to look at the wears.

Still not fully sure about this Harry went to look at what was on the rakes. After about ten minutes of Harry not really picking much out. He just wasn't sure what he really liked and what would look good together and on him. He mentally cursed his Aunt for only ever giving him Dudley's worn out things. They all looked about the same so it hadn't mattered much what he wore with what…

So All Harry had picked so far on his own were some plan shirts. Now though he was looking at all the different kinds of robes in a bit of a loss.

Seeing Harry's didn't' seem like he had any idea what he should pick, Mr. Glitersten asked. "What kind of stuff do you like? If you explained your preferences then I could suggest something?"

"Uh… Well I like robe styles that include pants." Harry said, looking over at him. He'd be grateful for some help with this.

Mr. Glitersten nodded and started to lead him around showing him things. A brown haired girl that looked about 18 came out and started to help as well. Soon Harry was ushered to a changing room in the back to try on different things.

By the time they left the shop Harry was feeling like he'd tried on half the store. He'd had himself a full wardrobe now though. And a somewhat colorful one. He had said no to the outright blinding things, stuff he was sure Dumbledore would have loved…, but there was a more color in the clothes then he might have gone for. He was told he looked good in the clothes though, and decided to trust Mr. Glitersten's and Eleanor's judgment on it. He hadn't disliked what he had got in the end, so he was sure he'd get used to the more colorful of his outfits.

After they left the shop enough time had passed for his new glasses to finished so they went back to pick them up. As they'd paid for them already they left again after they had them. Harry took off the blue pair the hospital had lent him and put on the pair he'd picked out. He gave the hospital one to Eleanor to be returned later.

As they walked down the road, Harry quickly realized they weren't heading back to the Leaky Caldron as he'd thought they would be now. "We're not done yet?" He asked. He had no clue what else she could think he needed.

"No, we've got a few other stops, but first I was thinking we'd get some lunch. I don't know about you, but all this shopping has made me hungry." Eleanor told him.

Harry was a getting hungry so he just nodded and followed her to a restaurant he was sure wasn't in the ally in his own reality.

…

After they'd eaten a rather good lunch Eleanor led Harry down the street to one of the largest shops in Diagon ally. On the way they passed a Quidditch shop. Displayed in the window was a Nimbus 1001. The sign before it claimed that it was the fastest broom with good control on the market. As he looked at it Harry wondered how it would compare to the 2000 he'd had or the Firebolt.

"You like Quidditch?" Eleanor asked when she noticed he'd slowed down and what Harry was looking at.

"Yeah." Harry said looking away from the broom, and following Eleanor again. "I played seeker at school."

Eleanor laughed a little. "James loves Quidditch too. He's a chaser." Harry nodded. He'd know in his reality James was good at Quidditch. It was one of the things people said he was like James in.

The place Eleanor had been heading for was a few buildings down from the Quidditch store, and when Harry looked at where they were going he forgot all about brooms and Quidditch. Instead he looked confusedly at Eleanor. They were at one of the largest toy shops he'd ever seen.

"Why are we going here?" Harry asked. He wasn't a young child that wanted a toy train. He hoped maybe she had to get something for a child of a friend or something.

"I thought you could do with a few things keep you entertained." Eleanor said as she opened the door. Harry doubted he'd find anything he'd like in there. Harry might look younger then he was thanks to his stunted growth, but he wasn't a kid anymore… Still he nodded and followed the older woman inside. She led him past the toys for younger children and toward the back. As they went though, Harry slowed down to look in amazement at the things wizarding children had to play with.

There were a few doll, and a lot a stuffed toys like Harry would have expected to see. Some of the stuffed toys were even enchanted to move a bit. None of the doll were enchanted though, Harry noticed. There were all kind of other magical toys as well. Like toy brooms, magical wind up dragon that could fly, and all kind of other things.

A story book, that when paired with an Illusion stone would make the stories come to life around the children really caught Harrys eye. There were other uses Harry noticed for the stones when he looked more closely at the displays. There were also adventure sets. In them came all kinds of costumes and props. The most popular seemed to be an adventure to sneak past the dragon and get the magical gem.

The section where Eleanor let him though was full of more complicated 'toys'. Here Harry found sets of wizarding chests, gobstones, all kinds of cards games, and even other board ones. Most harry didn't recognize. A lot were strategy games, but there were also some adventure ones. There was a whole shelf dedicated to a game called Wizards and Monsters. It was a mix of strategy and adventure, and was played out with miniature magic models on a magical illusion mat. There was a mat on display that was showing a three dimensional forest scene. It was overlaid with some kind of one inch grid.

For the scaled models themselves they came in creatures of all shapes and sizes. Humans, magical humanoids, animals, magical beasts, and things Harry really hoped were just made up. There was one that looked like some kind of mix between a hydra and a vine monster. After the models were finished there was a charm used to make them move. Just how fast they moved and things they could do was based on the games stats for each creature. A large part of the shelf was taken up by finished model sets and kits with all kind of parts to create your own.

Picking up a starter kit Harry read the back for more info. To play is seemed people made 'characters' using the rules and guidelines that were explained in the starter book this come with. All the info for the character was written down on special character sheets that came with the game. After it was finished you'd with the details you placed the characters model on a rune that was on the top of the sheet to activate that character. After you had a few characters, the party you created would go though adventures the mat had available. The player, or players as it seemed more than one person could play at once, got to decide on just what their characters did in response to what the mat threw at them.

It also seemed that people could make up their own adventures to play, or get more 'official' adventures to play.

"You want to try it?" Eleanor asked, and Harry looked up for the box. Realizing he must have gotten absorbed in reading about the game he felt a little embarrassed. But nodded.

"Yeah. This looks interesting." Harry told her.

Eleanor smiled. "Then we'll get it for you. Would you like any of the extra books or add-ons while we're here?" She asked.

Thinking Harry looked back at the things displayed for the game. After a few moments he grabbed the core book pack, which surprisingly had five books in it and larger mat then the starter came with, a few of the completed model kits (a hero set and the rest monster ones), one of the make you own model kits, and a couple of the add-on adventures for the mat that looked interesting. Secret of the Deep forest and Throne of the Basilisk. Harry wasn't sure why he grabbed the snake adventure. It reminded him to much of Voldemort. But still he grabbed it in the end.

Before they left Eleanor suggested Harry look around the other areas in this part of the store, so he ended up picking out a couple of puzzles. One the castle of Hogwarts, and the other a large griffon.

Next Eleanor took Harry to Flourish & Blotts. The inside looked much as he'd remembered it too, but he found his earlier estimate of the store was right. They didn't have as many informational books in his reality.

Eleanor told Harry to pick out as many books as he wanted. Harry found himself more interested in doing that then he'd have expected. He did enjoy reading, but had never been a huge book worm. But the pile of books he put in his basket grew a lot larger than he expected. He picked out a lot of fantasy stories, but also grabbed a few mysteries.

A section on myths and fables also caught his attention so he got a copy of 'The tales of Beetle the Bard', as well as a few others about gods and other old wizarding tales. He also grabbed a child's book about anthropic animals as well. The only reason he got that as it was called Reynard the Fox. It made him think of Eleanor's fox he'd seen back at the manor.

After they paid for, shrunken these purchases, and left the shop Harry looked at Eleanor. They still weren't head back toward The Leaky Caldron.

"Where else do we need to go?" Harry asked. He really though he had everything he could need or want now. He hoped if they had more places to go it was because had some places she need to go to while where here, and not because she'd thought of yet more stuff for Harry. And he was getting a little tired.

"This is the last place well go." Eleanor told Harry, seeming a little amused that he was getting tired of shopping.

Harry nodded and followed her. To his surprise they headed down the Flora and Fauna Ally he'd noticed earlier. One side of the street there were all kind of shops selling plants. From a flower shop near the entrance to the Ally, a shop that sold all the magical herbs needed for a witches garden, and one that boasted having rare and hard to find plants for potions.

On the other side all the shops had to do with animals and magical creatures. There were a few specialized pet shops, to places that also looked like stores for rare potion ingredients. What surprised him the most was a large building called, "Tentacles and Paws", which happened to be a magical Vet.

"What are we getting down here?" Harry asked, as he hopped over a vine stretching across the road for a potted plant in front of one of the shops. Harry would have thought it a Devils snare, If not for the fact it was bright out.

"Well, I thought we'd look at getting you a new companion animal." Eleanor said slowly, as she glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Oh…" Harry said quietly. He wasn't sure how he felt about getting a new pet. He felt that would be a bit disrespectful to Hedwig.

"If you decide you don't want anything right now, then I won't push you into getting something." Eleanor told him and stopped walking so she could look at Harry better. "I just wanted to have you come look at them is all." She told him in a caring voice. "If you do see something you'd like don't feel bad either, It doesn't make Hedwig any less important to you."

Harry nodded but didn't say anything. What Eleanor had said did make him feel a little better. She wasn't trying to get him to replace Hedwig. He also thought she just was trying this as she thought an animal would help him feel less alone here. And maybe because of how much she liked animals.

Looking around again Harry saw Magical Menagerie was located down this street, but that wasn't where Eleanor took him. Instead she led him to a smaller pet store a little father down called 'Touch of Wild'. Remembering that her maiden name was Wilder, Harry wondered if it was a coincidence she was taking him here, or if her Family ran the shop. From what he'd learned from talking with her in St. Mungo's, he knew they made a living raising and selling all kinds of creatures.

Inside was much like he remember the larger pet store to be, but cleaner. The animals in here looked happier too. There weren't in cages, but rather magically enlarged enclosures. Save for the birds, there was a whole section, divided up by species, Harry could see up on the second story all for them.

Harry was sure he didn't want a new bird though, so he stayed down on ground floor and looked around. There were all kinds of animals here for him to look at. Bats, cats, dogs, lizards, rats, snakes, toads, and then things he could really name off the top of his head. As he was walking around looking at them a young blond haired man had come over and started to happily chat with Eleanor, but Harry wasn't paying attention to them.

Harry kept away from the dogs. The puppies were cute looking, but he really didn't care for them thanks to his 'aunt'. He'd have kept away from the reptiles as well, but one of the snakes, a small glittering red and gold one was hissing about itchy, annoying scales. Wondering if something was wrong with it Harry went over to have a closer look at the snake. He saw it was shedding right now and that some skin around its head was giving it a hard time.

Harry watched the snake for a moment before shaking his head. {Let me help you.} He hissed at the snake. It and all the others looked up at Harry in surprise. Opening the tanks top Harry reached his hand down to the little snake. It wrapped around his hand and he lifted it up. Unknown to him, Eleanor had finished taking to the shop keeper and had been heading back to ask Harry if he saw anything he was interested in. She stopped though at seeing him handling a magical viper without any worry.

{Hold sstill.} Harry told the snake as he gently tugged on the loose skin around its small diamond shaped head. The skin came off easily and once Harry had got it all he put the small snake back in its tank and closed the lid. It hissed a 'think you' before going over to its magically heated rock.

"You're a parseltongue?"

Startled Harry turned to look at Eleanor. Fearing she'd react like most of the students had in his second year Harry nodded slowly. "I'd never tell a snake to hurt anyone though."

Eleanor studied Harry for a few moments before asking, "Why do you think I'd worry you'd do something like that?"

"I… isn't it considered a dark gift here?" Harry asked confused.

She sighed and shook her head. "Harry, no… gift as you call it, is light or dark. If anything Parseltongue would be a light ability. Parseltongue's have natural healing abilities and make the most powerful of healers when they learn to fully use that ability."

Harry just stared at her. "But… I was told it was dark… everyone was scared of me when I did it in school. They thought I was taking after Voldemort…" Harry trailed, off shaking his head.

"I promise you it not dark, Harry. And it doesn't make you a dark wizard either." Eleanor said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Harry wanted to believe her, and so far he had no reason not to, so he slowly nodded. Like a lot of things though, it would take him a while to stop thinking of Parseltongue as dark.

"Are you interested in getting a snake?" Eleanor asked.

"No." Harry shook his head. He might like them well enough, despite Voldemort's connection to serpents, but he didn't want one of his own. Eleanor just nodded and accepted it without asking why.

Moving away from the snakes and other reptiles Harry started to look around at the other animals again. Most he had little or no really interest in, and eventually found himself in the cat's area. He was about to tell Eleanor he didn't see anything that caught his interest when a kitten, it you could call the large young spotted cat that, jumped a good five feet straight up to get out of its enclosed display area.

It scared Harry rather good as it tumbled passed him on the way to the ground. It might have managed to jump that high up, but hadn't quite got the landings perfected yet. It landed with a soft thud and then, looking quite pleased with its self, ran from the shop keeper when he came after the escaped kitten.

"Not again…" The man grumbled as he ran after it. "Get back here Lerus."

Harry watched the man chase the cat around, a smile slowly growing on his face. For some reason the cat reminded him a bit of Sirius in his Animagus form when he was playful. He'd only seen it a couple times but it still reminded Harry of that.

"I think I like Lerus." Harry told Eleanor who was watching as well. "What kind of cat is he?" Harry hadn't gotten a really good look at the kitten, he just knew it was a dark goldish tan, and likely spotted. And that he seemed a bit big for a normal cat.

She looked at the pen Lerus had escaped from and saw a tag that read 'Savann'zle' kittens. Harry looked and read the sign too, but that still didn't tell him much about the breed. Eleanor noticed than and said, "They're a newer breed. They're half Kneazle, and half Serval, a kind of African wild cat." Eleanor told him. "I don't know too much about them, but I have heard they're getting popular as they're loving, loyal animals."

Harry nodded and looked back toward the kitten. The shopkeeper had caught him and was heading back over this way. Now Lerus wasn't running around harry saw he was indeed had dark spots. They looked a little like leopard spots to him. He also saw the tips of the cats ears were tufted with black fur, and that the end of his somewhat short tail had a lion like fluff.

Noticing him looking the cat turned is large golden eyes on him.

"Is he always like this?" Harry asked the shopkeeper.

"Only when he's bored." The man said turning to look at Harry. "He just needs a lot more room then he gets in the shop."

Harry nodded and held out a hand toward the cat. He remembered Miss Fig telling him to take it slow with cats that didn't know him. The Savann'zle sniffed at it fingered a moment then leaned forward to be petted. He complied and the cat closed its eyes and started to purr.

It looked like Harry had found a new pet even though he'd not been planning on picking out anything.

...

AN- This is the largest chapter I've writen yet lol. Maybe I shouldn't worry to much about if they'll get shorter as I go. Well I hope you all enjoyed it. And don't think I have a horrible taste in clothing. Though I likely do...

I've a couple things I should talk about that I did in this chapter. The first is yes, I did give Harry what would be the Wizarding equivalent of the Dungeons and Dragons pen and paper game. I used to play it a lot and thought a magical version of the game would be fun and amazing looking :p

The other thing I should mention is Lerus is basically a F1 savannah cat. I thought long and hard about what to give Harry as a pet/familiar. I considered a few animals like a dog or snake (sorry to all those I might have fooled into thinking Harry would get the little red and gold viper). I decided even with Sirius making Harry like dogs more, that he'd not be able to just get over the dislike that developed thanks to Marge. And as much as I love snakes, a snake isn't what Harry would get right now. I do think one would give him companionship as Harry could speak with it, but he's got to stop thinking Parseltongue as evil before he'd have a pet snake.

I'd also decided I wanted to keep the choice down to the three pet types students are allowed to in Cannon. Meaning A cat, toad, or Owl. I just can't see Harry with a toad... I feel bad for Nevile having one. As for why he didn't get a new Owl. Well I can't see Harry wanted to get a new bird anytime soon. I can't see him having one and not thinking of Hedwig and missing her yet. So that left a cat. And I felt Harry would have a reason to some what like them. Hermione had one, and while Ron didn't like him, I never got the feeling Harry shared the feeling. If anything he was indifferent to the cat. Then I also thought that he might have liked Miss Figs cats alright when she watched him. So it was a cat he got.

As to why I didn't give him a normal breed, well... I'll admit I wanted something more unique then a fluffy black cat. And I think this is better then the thought of a half snake cat I had for a short time >_>. I have read up about them and really like how the Savannah cat breed is. They have some interesting quirks. Like walking on a leash and playing fetch lol Anyway I hope you all like the choice.

I've also got a pic I'll be putting on my profile on Fanfiction (theres a link on my AFF profile) of what Lerus looks like for all those that are interested in.

And as always, I thank all of you that reviewed. Or that's what I'd say if I had gotten any for the last chapter... I hope even more of you will tell me what you thought of this one.
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A Reality to Live