Note: Continued from Within a Cupboard - Part 1 / Chapter Chowder - Chapter 18.

- Within a Cupboard - Part 2 -

"Oh wow. I love this. Everything looks so old and decrepit. Brilliant. You have rules about cleaning and bringing anything modern in to keep it looking like this? My first medieval village looked way too new and had electric lights."

"Well no. But many muggle devices fail around magic."

"Really?" Harry reached into his backpack and pulled out a chunky book shaped object with the words 'Don't Panic' on it. He proceeded to tap wildly at the hundreds of small boxes that appeared on the screen. "The guide seems to work fine. I wonder if my lightsaber will work. " He mumbled as he reached into his backpack again

"Harry!" Came a faint voice from his shoulder.

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot." He turned back to Dumbledore and explained, "I'm not allowed to play with my lightsaber when their are people or creatures around that may get upset about losing limbs. It's rule thirty four."

A bemused Dumbledore, wondering just what a light sabre was, led Harry to and then into Gringotts. "This is the wizarding bank Gringotts, ran by the goblins. Be respectful and direct when dealing with goblins and you won't go too far wrong. We need to withdraw some funds for your school supplies from your vault here."

"Oh? Cool. Didn't know I had a vault. Brought some gems and metals to trade."

Dumbledore gave Harry an amused smile, "From your lands I expect. Well it won't hurt to get them valued by the goblins but don't be surprised if they don't accept them."

An hour later Dumbledore finally convinced the head Goblin that he really would bring Harry back to complete negotiations on the future trade of Mithril the following day.

An amused Harry, kept entertained by the endless supply of Goblin snacks provided during their negotiation, mostly handled by Charlotte, spoke just as they left the bank "Oh. We forgot to visit my vault."

Albus shook his head, "No need now Harry. Your personal vault will only have coins in it and the amount you made selling those gems and bar far outstrips any amount your parents could have possibly set aside for you. I'm not sure what's in your family vaults but if you want access to them we can start the process of getting you provisional access tomorrow. It'll likely take a few weeks though."

Harry nodded but his attention was already on a nearby shop front.

"There's a picture of a man riding a broom! I though only witches ride brooms. How fast do they go? Are they faster than magic carpets? Land speeders? Dragons?"

Albus was despairing that they would be able to finish their shopping in a single day let alone the morning he had originally planned. Harry just didn't stop asking questions. Mostly of him but also to Charlotte. It wasn't exactly a familiar master relationship even though Albus had already registered it as such. Difficult as that was even for him, trying to register the size shifting highly intelligent talking spider as Harry's private tutor would have been near impossible.

Now they were in the bookshop and onto their third trunk of books to add to Harry's private library, and that was only those they wanted to take with them today. The rest they would be picking up later.

The shopkeeper after many apologies for screaming out Acromantula when Charlotte first started asking questions tended towards a blend of confusion over the strange questions and pleasure for probably the biggest sale in his life and likely the shops history.

Maybe Albus shouldn't have told Harry to buy as many additional books as he wanted.

Olivander had never met anyone so young that could get a reaction from so many different wands. Nor anyone that could so easily do magic that should have been near impossible for anyone to pull off. Harry's insistence on conjuring a rabbit with each wand he tried had rapidly become a problem that opening the front door had only partly aleaviated. That, each rabbit seemed premanent was less of shock than, when he finally settled on a holly phoenix feather wand, his second test was turning three rabbits and a chair to stone and then back to flesh with a simple wave.

There was a bottle of fire whiskey with Ollivander's name on it that night and Dumbledore was popping sweets like he hadn't eaten in a week.

The luggage trundled along behind Harry as he wandered along platform 9 at Kings Cross Station. Regular folk just stepped out of the way paying no attention to the luggage and its dozens of little legs. That was until there was a small eep from a bushy haired girl followers by two barely suppressed gasps from her parents.

"You can't have that out here." She said in a tone that was half harsh whisper and half stern lecture. "You're breaking the statute of secrecy."

Harry just smiled at the girl, "Hello. Are you a Witch then? Off to Hogwarts as well? I'm do looking forward to seeing all the magic everyone else can do. This morning I read about a charm that you could use to hide something and make everyone forget about it. I tried it on something but now I can't remember what I tried it on. Also can't remember where I read it. That makes me think it worked. Don't you agree?"

"Never mind that. What if the muggles see your luggage. Hey, does that mean Terry Patchett is a wizard? Why isn't he in trouble?" She pursed her lips as new thoughts distracted her from her rant.

Harry just shrugged, "No idea. I just saw the idea of the luggage from his books and since I needed some luggage for school and the ones in Diagons Alley were pretty average I called Lug here to me."

"Lug?" Hermione asked with a small grimace.

"Yeah Lug!" Harry ran his hand along the luggage's knotted lid and the luggage responded with a low rumble and pushing up against Harry's leg almost toppling the eleven year over.

A laughing Harry gave Lug a shove and Lug responded by pushing Harry harder and knocking him over. Harry was laughing all the harder as he climbed back to his feet.

"Enough playing with Lug, Harry. Don't forget you have a train to catch. " A quiet female voice said.

"Who's that?" Asked the slightly annoyed and rather bewildered girl.

"This is Charlotte." Harry said turning to look at his shoulder which suddenly sprouted a giant spider with a body as big as Harry's hand as it grew from a tiny speck.

Hermione barely surprised a scream and her parents gasped again.

"Hey. You scared of spiders too? Not to worry, Charlotte wouldn't hurt a ... well she would that... but she wouldn't hurt you. She's friendly and ever so smart. She's coming to Hogwarts with me. There are so many things they don't teach there that I need to learn."

"The train, Harry." Reminded Charlotte the Spider.

That caught everyones attention and soon the bushy haired girl had said her goodbyes to her parents and walked through a wall followed by a very happy Harry. "Oh. When I get home I'm going to put in some walls that you can walk through. Maybe even some floors as that'll be fun."

"That'll be dangerous! You can't do that." Exclaimed the girl.

Harry just shrugged, "Eh. Most of them be just over water. Though I might put sharks or piranhas in some. I wonder if I can put both in one or do you think they'll eat each other? I'll have to have the floors move around randomly or I'll never fall in and that wouldn't be fun. Ohh. Ohh. . Just had a great idea. You've read Alice in Wonderland right? Remember her fall. Yes!"

They hadn't stopped walking to the train, Harry mostly talking and the girl just looking horrified for the most part.

He paused to help the luggage get its first pair of legs up to the train after which the luggage was fine scrambling the rest of the way. Then Harry turned and helped the girl with her oversized and rather heavy trunk.

Two out of breath kids soon collapsed into the first empty cabin they could find.

"So heavy! Have you got bricks in there?"

"Of course not!" snapped the girl. "Just a few extra books."

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Okay. Maybe a more than a few but there is just so much to read about."

A new voice spoke up, "Well said young ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet another officianardo of the written word. My name is Archimedes and it's a pleasure to meet you."

Hermione twisted around to find a tawny owl perched on the windowsill looking directly at her.

"Hey. I read lots too!" Harry exclaimed before the girl could respond.

"Ha! Is that what you call it? Peruse a few pages and then go off to create towers of fantasy before coming back hours if not days later to the book by which time you already know the whole story or some crazy version and barely read a word. The talent of the word-smith is all but lost on you. Now quiet, I had just finished introducing myself and was waiting for the young lady to do likewise when you rudely interrupted. "

"Oh. Sorry." Said a rather abashed Harry.

The girl took a few moments to collect herself then spoke, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Archimedes. I am Hermione Granger. I'm sorry but I'm still fairly new to the magical world and didn't know owls or spiders could speak. "

"Harry?" Prompted the Spider.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry. Hello Hermione. I'm Harry Potter. Is a pleasure to meet you. "

"Harry Potter? Oh! I read about you in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

Harry laughed, "oh those books were funny. Not real of course. Why, one even said is ridden on a hydra when I was eight. I'd never even thought to ride a hydra till I read that book. Pity, it's actually a lot of fun and I wish I had done it earlier. "

"You've ridden a Hydra?" Asked a now only partially disbelieving Hermione. So many recent shocks were opening up her mind to more possibilities.

"Yeah. Had to cheat and put a saddle on it. Scales are a lot more slippery than the look especially when they're wet."

Thirty minutes had passed and it was nearing time for the train to depart. A few faces had peered through the open door but no one had entered until a thin nervous boy half fell into the room as an older boy pushed roughly past him.

"Oh. Eh. Sorry. I was.. eh.."

"Looking for a place to seat? Sit down. Oh no. Let me help you with your trunk first."

It actually took all three of them to hoist the trunk to the rack above since it was even heavier than Hermione's.

"Wow. And I thought yours was heavy Hermione. Oh yeah. Sorry. I am Harry Potter and this fair lady is Hermione Granger."

"Oh. Eh. Hi. I'm Neville Longbottom. Pleased to meet you both. Oh! Is that spider real?"

"Indeed I am. I am Charlotte and my esteemed colleague is the owl, Archimedes."

"Ahh.. an Acromantula. They're real dangerous." said Neville as he slid as far away as he could on the bench.

"Oh no. She's not an Acromantula. I've read about those and those are pretty nasty, pretty stupid and look a lot different too. No, Charlotte is a nice and very smart spider and my first and best friend. "

Neville soon calmed down and even went as far as to stroke Charlotte after she grew to the size of a large cat proving see was never mere Acromantula. The train had started moving by this time and they briefly were visited by a red headed boy but before they had a chance to say hello or explain Charlotte the boy had seen her, screamed and fled.

The conversation wandered between books and hobbies. They eventually returned to the reason Neville's trunk was so heavy; his grandmother had packed almost five times the recommended clothing, multiple spare everything and then refused to lighten it stating that it'd toughen him up moving it. Harry then offered to turn their trunks into copies of his trunk.

"How do you do that?" Asked a very curious Hermione.

"Can I show you?" Asked Harry.

When she nodded he pulled out her trunk and put his hand on it, "Well. What I do first is picture what I want. So I'm picturing my trunk but not exactly the same. Not a twin brother. Maybe a brother or even a sister or just a female trunk. I'll let the magic decide that. Got to have legs and personality. Lots of storage space. Not too heavy. Belonging to Hermione. Then I summon my magic and push it out. Ohh. Lots of magic here. Much easier than when in London. And. Hello... eh what's her name Hermione?"

Hermione and Neville just stared as within seconds Hermione's fairly standard trunk transfigured into an elegant dark wooden trunk with silver fittings all carved with flowery designs, sprouted many dozen legs then shuffled around to face Hermione and gently rub against her legs.

"Eh.. Poppins?" She said hesitantly but smiled broadly when the trunk purred with happiness.

"Cool. After the nanny right? I'll give you a matching umbrella later."

Hermione's next question was interrupted by Neville, "But... I've never heard of magic anything like that. "

Harry shrugged, "Yeah. Albus said my magic was like a breath of fresh air. Very different from that at Hogwarts. We're not sure I'll be able to learn the magic they teach there but Charlotte says I need to make friends. You're both going to be my friends right?"

Hermione and Neville both smiled and answered in the affirmative and then had to spend a few minutes explaining what being friends involved to Harry.

They were discussing magical plants when their cabin was visited by three older boys, two of whom introduced themselves as the Weasley twins. Happily, though excited to meet, the, Harry Potter they were all more interested in the giant spider that had sent their younger brother fleeing. They were most impressed to find said spider was not only real but able to talk and change size.

After a lunch of conjured pizza than even Neville, who was pretty sure that such wasn't possible, enjoyed immensely they noticed a lot more people walking past and snatching glances of the three friends. The explanation was provided by another trio of boys. This time their own age and much less friendly than Fred, George and Lee.

The obvious leader of the three was a thin blonde boy who seemed to be trying to look down on everyone.

"They're saying that Harry Potter is in this cabin. So it certainly isn't the Longbottom squib or the muggleborn wearing the atrocious muggle clothing so I guess it's you then. Can't say much for your taste in travelling companions but I can help you there. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Draco took a step forward and put out his hand.

Harry turned to look at Charlotte then suddenly he was standing in front of Draco shaking his hand. It was like he just apparated then and Draco was the only one to jump on surprise.

"Hello Draco. You're young, and its probably not your fault you haven't been taught proper manners. So I'll let it go this time but I see you insult any of my friends or in fact anyone again I won't be so kind. You get that stick out of your bum and act like a civilised person rather than a caveman and we can give being friends a go."

He released Draco's hand and grabbed the big boys to his right, "Hi. I'm Harry. Pleased to meet you. What's your name? "

Whilst a speechless Draco stood stunned Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe introduced themselves and soon found themselves sitting next to Neville and being handed slices of Pizza and being introduced to Neville and Hermione.

"No! You can't say that to me. I'm a Malfoy." Draco eventually blurted out. "You'll regret that. Come on we're going. And he stormed out not noticing that neither Gregory or Vincent followed as they were too busy discovering the joys of Pizza.

It was a full minute later when Draco stormed back into the cabin. Harry was busy describing Indian food to the two very interested boys when Draco interrupted, "Come on you two idiots. We're not putting up with that insult!"

Draco turned on his heel and made it just out of sight before he realised once again that he was still alone.

"What are you two idiots doing!" The red faced Draco almost screamed.

"Eating and..." started Gregory when Harry interpret with a polite cough.

Gregory quickly swallowed the piece of Pizza in his mouth before starting again, "Sorry Harry. We're eating and chatting. You wouldn't believe how good this muggle food is."

"WHAT!" Draco really did scream this time. "You stupid thick idi"

Draco tirade suddenly cut off though his mouth kept moving and his face grew even redder.

"Rule 12. If you've been rude no speaking till you've apologised properly. That means you're not allowed to say anything else till you've apologised properly to Gregory and Vincent."

After watching Draco scream silently at them for awhile Harry shrugged and went back to taking about all the different types of food that non magicals ate. Draco eventually stomped away and returned ten minutes later dragging an elder student with him.

"Right. Who cursed Malfoy." The prefect asked.

Harry stood up and put his hand out, "Hello. I did. I'm Harry Potter."

The elder boy shook his hand as he spoke, "Addison Macmillan. Right Potter. Cancel the curse. Standard finite didn't work nor the anti silencing spells we tried and I'm sick and tired of having him waving his hands in front of our faces."

Draco responded to this with more hand waving. The elder boy in the green trimmed robes rolled his eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Addison. Sorry, but the curse is designed to last till he apologises for the insults he said."

"He's got to apologise to you and then he can talk again?" The elder boy frowned as he looked over Harry's black shirt and soft grey trousers.

Harry shook his head, "Not me, just to Gregory and Vincent. He called them names when they didn't leave with him. "

The elder boy looked at the two boys, who slowly nodded, before turning to Draco. "Just apologise Malfoy, I've got better things to do with my time."

Draco glared at the prefect for a moment then stomped off.

"What a pain. Well, you really shouldn't be cursing people but I can't say I blame you in this case. Try not to cause any more problems please."

The first years all nodded and said their goodbyes as Addison left them.

There was a long pause before Hermione let out a choked giggle. A moment later the entire cabin was full of laughing first years.

Against expectations they weren't disturbed again before train pulled into Hogsmeade station.

- Within a Cupboard - Part 2 -