Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling,

various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books,

and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter one

After blowing up Aunt Marge, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge told Harry Potter he could remain in Diagon alley as long as he remained on the magic side. Harry thought he could finally have some time to himself, at least for a few weeks.

While staying in the magical shopping district he was able to get some advice, so Harry worked on changing his electives then he had done all his school shopping. But it had been at Gringotts that Harry had spoken with Griphook, the goblin who always seemed to be the one to take him to his vault. Griphook had been surprised that Harry had noticed let alone remembered his name.

So the goblin explained that he was in charge of the Potter vaults. When Harry looked puzzled Griphook then explained that the vault Harry has been going to was called a trust vault. He could not touch the rest until he became of age.

Harry finally got over the shock of hearing he had more than one vault so he explained to Griphook that no one had ever told him that he had more than one. No one ever spoke about his parents or what they might have owned. When he asked everyone seemed to change the subject.

Griphook had been enraged that the boy had been left uniformed about his heritage. So after retrieving some money from the vault, Harry followed Griphook into an office. Within seconds the table was covered in files. Everything in those files was what Harry owned but the files explained everything about his finances. Griphook explained that he had been appointed manager to the Potter vaults by James Potter, which was done when he became of age. He allowed Griphook to manage everything, which included investments and making sure the Potter properties where looked after, or any business was running smoothly.

After Harry went through every file, including the reading of his parent's wills, he had found himself growing angrier by the minute. The first thing he did was have Gringotts cancel all money going to the Dursley's. Harry had to explain how he had been raised and treated, why he always wore oversize second hand clothes. Griphook, who took this as theft, something the goblins took seriously, instantly cancelled all payments to the muggles.

One thing Griphook told Harry which normally wouldn't be discussed, but the goblin realised that someone was keeping Harry in the dark. This person had been making sure all Harry's mail from Gringotts was redirected. Griphook told Harry that he received a statement every month so he would know if the goblin was doing a good job or not. So Griphook explained to Harry he should get himself a lawyer, the lawyer could help sue the Dursley's for their treatment of Harry along with receiving funds for him that was never used for Harry Potter. The goblin also explained that even though Harry was only thirteen, he could look after himself, legally, which meant a lawyer could get him emancipated. He would just have an adult assigned to him that he could go to for advice, if he needed it, but legally, Harry would be classed as an adult, especially since he was the last heir to the Potter line. They would see that since Harry had money and other homes that were staffed with house elves, then they would see that as Harry being cared for and able to care for himself.

The goblins explained that it would take time to have himself emancipated, and would need to be kept secret or people at the ministry, maybe others would fight to stop it. But as Griphook said, no one had bothered to care for Harry all these years so they had no argument to stop this going through.

When Harry had finished going through all the files, Griphook handed Harry a list of names of lawyers who could help him with his magical problems along with his muggle problems. Griphook also made sure that those only on the list were not dark wizards. Being Harry Potter and the one that made the dark lord disappear meant that a lot of those old families that had lawyers could kill Harry, they would if they could get away with it.

So Harry thanked Griphook verbally, but also thanked him by offering a goblin made item out of his vault, which the goblin accepted. Harry headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to do some serious thinking. First he needed to decide which lawyer he could speak with. Harry recognised all the last names, most were names of students. The strange thing was that the ones he knew from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw had been some of the ones that had thought he was dark when it was discovered he could speak with snakes. One name Harry recognised was a relative of two Slytherin students, but those were nothing like Malfoy or the idiots that caused trouble. The sisters, Astoria and Daphne Greengrass were both nice, or the few times Harry had seen then which was normally in the library, they had even gave him a smile once when he asked about a book.

'It's a chance to speak with a Slytherin, but not all are bad, not like Ron thinks. He just can't give them a chance, some don't deserve it, some do,' Harry stared down at the names again, 'No, they seem okay, I'll talk to them in private, since I have no idea how to contact Gellert Greengrass, it'll be easier to speak with one of the sisters,' Harry knew that Astoria was a year younger, he remembered Ginny mentioning that she shared classes with Astoria. Daphne was his age and one of the only Slytherin's that never laughed when Snape picked on him.

The moment Harry thought of Snape he realised that maybe a lawyer could help him with the greasy git as well. It was something to think about and since Harry had time to himself he would do a lot of thinking.

Harry spent a lot of time looking around the different shops, since he never had a lot of time before. He did use his cloak to sneak down to Knockturn alley, when he was ready to buy things he removed the cloak and made sure his scar was covered. Since he got rid of his glasses he already looked a little different, he hoped it was enough. It was only staying in Diagon alley that Harry found out there was a potion that could fix his eyesight. Naturally it was expensive, but since Harry found out he was rich he decided getting rid of his glasses was worth the cost. It did make him curious as to why no one ever mentioned the potion to him before. He knew Dumbledore and McGonagall wore glasses, but they were older. He knew of only one other student that wore glasses, but Harry could tell she was from a low income family. Harry thought he might find out more about the little Ravenclaw, if she seemed like a good person he might have that potion delivered to her. He would need to think about that for a while and right now he had enough to do.

Harry wanted to see what type of books were available that wouldn't be in a shop like Flourish and Blotts so he decided to visit Knockturn alley. He found a lot that had many curses in them, he also found a lot about dark curses, but also on cursed scars. Harry had always been curious about his scar and the pain he gets occasionally. He hasn't had any pain for a while, it was mainly due to Quirrell and the fact that Voldemort was possession the teacher.

So Harry bought a heap of books before heading back to the Leaky Cauldron. He hid the dark books in the third compartment of his new trunk. He knew if anyone saw them it would make everyone believe he was dark. Harry wasn't and never would be dark but he did want to learn more about it, mainly because he survived a dark curse. And if he ever had to fight a dark witch or wizard then he would know how they would fight by what types of cursed they liked to use.

When Harry found out about the magical world and how there were some magic that was considered dark, he studied up on some of it. He realised that there wasn't just dark and light, there were different levels of magic. To Harry, he began to believe he was more grey, not dark, not evil, but he would do what was necessary to survive, without killing if he could avoid it.

The first book Harry decided to read was on cursed scars. As no one but him had ever survived the killing curse there was nothing in there that would help. But he still found a lot of information about scars caused by dark spells, he also found it very interesting.

During his time in Diagon alley, Harry did slip away from the magical world even if he promised Fudge he would stay. He had gone into London a few times, mainly to buy a lot of clothes. He liked muggle clothes, like his jeans. He did buy clothes in Diagon alley, good clothes, again they were pricey but he didn't care. He could finally buy things he wanted and since he didn't have to worry about the Dursley's anymore, he knew he could keep them in good condition. He bought boots along with normal shoes to wear to classes, he also bought runners and even slippers. He loved his dragon hide boots, so he bought three pairs, one black, one brown and one in a tan colour. Apart from how they looked, the boots would adjust in size so they would grow with him. He thought all three colours looked good with his jeans.

Since Harry was alone in his room at the Leaky Cauldron he kept reading the dark books. He did read up on Voldemort and his death eaters, he also found some information on the dark mark. He found it interesting that those old families who went on about being the right type of blood type would allow themselves to be marked. They were basically Voldemort's slaves, that's how Harry saw it anyway. It did remind him of the tattoos that Hitler put on all the Jews during the Second World War. The dark mark showed those people belonged to Voldemort.