Arriving in Diagon Alley from outside magical Britain via Apparition is impossible, as it turned out, due to the complex security wards set up there—be it the Alley's or the shops' wards—which are interwoven together to create a brilliant but chaotic security and protection barrier.
So that means unless someone temporarily tampered with or disabled one of these wards, creating a temporary hole in the barrier, or forcefully breached the barrier with brute force, no one can Apparate right into the alley itself—a piece of information I should have known but somehow ignored because of how many stories/fanfiction about Harry Potter I have bouncing in my head at the moment.
This has been the case since I organized my mindscape, which tells me I might have made a poo-poo and messed something up…
Anyway, after a failed attempt to Apparate into Diagon Alley, in which I found myself being flung away and forcefully ejected, I quickly changed my destination; soon I found myself standing on Privet Drive.
This experience is not something I would recommend to someone who has less experience in Apparition than Voldemort or less magical control than me, because it felt like blitzing through a dark tunnel that led to a dead end and then being forcefully tossed and shoved back in a different direction into a different tunnel. This would have resulted in dismemberment of limbs if I hadn't quickly and forcefully changed the destination…
Now, I had a small issue to resolve before I could continue to think of what to do and plan for the future.
I cast quick detection spells to see if there was anyone on my ass but found nothing. I sighed in relief, decided to cast an invisibility spell on myself for good measure, and made my way to the nearby park, which had a nice big tree that I liked…
Sitting beneath its branches, I quickly entered a meditative state and journeyed into my mindscape. Arriving in the makeshift office I made—in the middle of nothingness—that is my mindscape, I quickly started reorganizing my memories in a way that put my life as Harry Potter in the forefront of my mind, followed by the memories and knowledge I got from Voldemort, and then put the rest with whatever's left in the back of my mind.
Some may wonder, "Harry, why are you doing this? What's the difference?" Well, I don't know; it's just a temporary fix until I actually research and study Occlumency more and start utilizing it correctly for more than just defense, because right now my Occlumency is 100% defense and 1% utility.
In another life, I might have erased all the memories I had of the stories from my mindscape just so that I wouldn't actually confuse the information in there with what was actually true and forget that this was real life and not a story, but that would have been stupid.
Still, now that I was already here, I decided to transfer a copy of all my memories, old and new, into my book of knowledge—which, by the way, I am calling Grimoire from now on—and have it analyze them to see what it would whip up…
My Grimoire won't be used as intended until I actually expand the knowledge and data it has by a huge margin, but that's what Hogwarts is for…
Now, with my mind clearer and me feeling better, it's time to go do something productive…
Now, with everything taken care of, it's time to get going…
My Grimoire appeared floating in front of me without me even summoning it, siphoned a little bit of my magic, vibrating slightly as it did so; soon after, the Knight Bus came to a halt right in front of me…
**Now I know for a fact it's not sentient, but…**
Before I could utter a word or go full-on investigative, the Grimoire reacted again; I found myself being dragged by the man in front of me—who handed me a ticket—as I boarded the bus, feeling a mask-like layer of magic form over my face and my body...
Ah, so this is what a disguise spell feels like.
Incredible!
Seated at the back of the bus, I did the only thing available to me at that moment: went inside my mindscape to see what I messed up now. As it turned out, I didn't mess anything up; it's just that before it appeared, my Grimoire was still in the formation stage—and still is, if what I am seeing right now is correct…
Upon arriving at the Leaky Cauldron, I went inside and felt the wards of the place registering me as a new visitor.
Hmm? I don't know why that happened but this could mean a lot of things…
I'll just have to investigate that later.
I went directly to the back and came face to face with an old man who was crossing the enchanted wall on his way out. I merely said hello and continued on my way, focused on moving toward Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
You may wonder why I was in such a hurry. Shouldn't I enjoy the sights? Well, I don't have any money, and I need to retrieve funds in order to enjoy the sights…
As I arrived in front of the building, I took a minute to admire the bizarrely constructed magical edifice.
One might be struck by its monumental marble façade, the shimmering enchantments that glow different colors in the sunlight, and the large windows featuring goblins painted on them…
The entrance is impressive too, with a silver gate adorned with dragons and goblin figures. Still, my poor description aside, this place screams wealth before you even enter.
As I neared the entrance, the two goblin guards looked at me with suspicion and vigilance. I instinctively knew why—they could sense the magic and natural energy within me as well as the disguise I was wearing.
It turned out goblin magic is embedded with concepts of desire, nature, and something I couldn't quite place yet. It felt foreign to me, so I will have to come back at a later date to study it properly.
So, without paying any more attention to them, I simply entered and walked straight toward the teller—given that I had to look up just to talk to him when I really didn't want to. My Grimoire came to my rescue and appeared in my hand, shimmering slightly as I levitated until I was eye-to-eye with the teller.
He stared at me with a scrunched face, a face best described as "a face only a mother could love."
I started explaining what I needed before he could say anything.
"I need to access my vault."
"And do you have the keys with you wizard?" the said while giving me a long growl while scrunching his face, like I just asked him to let me fuck him mother, which pissed me off a little…
I had undone my disguise before I arrived in front of him, so I knew he saw what I was wearing,
"Do I look like I have the keys on me? I'm in a prison outfit for Merlin's sake! Are you naturally this stupid, or is it just an acquired trait?" I told him Irritation crept into my voice…
Really, the way he growled at me made me want to pop his head like a balloon. I would have been respectful and talked normally if he didn't growl like that, I don't know why but it felt like a big insult to simply ignore…
"Sir, please control your magic; this is Gringotts Bank territory," another teller to my left said; his body looked tense, and his voice sounded more like a warning than a request.
I didn't like that. So, taking a deep breath, I released all my energy for about five seconds before reining it in.
In those five seconds, I saw the more powerful goblins in the back and those on the second floor flinch as they quickly stood up.
I looked at the teller who warned me and found him staring at me with horror painted on his face—wide eyes, dilated pupils, and all the telltales.
Ignoring this, I told him, "Get me a smarter goblin who can help me handle my business. My time is valuable, and I can't keep wasting it on him if he's just here to growl."
"Right this way, sir. Please follow me," he replied hurriedly, hopping down and starting to walk while showing me the way. I followed him, still levitating above the ground just to show off. I don't know why it bothered me so much that he growled at me, but it felt like he gave me the mother of all insults, and that pissed me off.
We arrived at an office-like room filled with bizarre-looking tree paintings that somehow reached beyond the ceiling.
Stepping aside, the goblin said, "Please place your hand on one of the leaves over here. It will take some of your blood to determine which vault is yours."
"I'd advise you not to play tricks with my blood, but I get the feeling that it will end up being very beneficial to me if I didn't," I said with a smile as I stepped forward and did what he asked.
After a few seconds, light began to appear along the tree branches, and the name "Harry James Potter" appeared, along with the numbers 687 and 688 in green, and the numbers 3, 6, and 8 in gray.
"Well, Mr. Potter, it appears that you have five vaults in Gringotts. Two are accessible now, and three are not," the goblin said.
"Hmm, while I find that interesting, I don't have time for it now. Just get me about 2,000 Galleons and issue me a new vault key. I'll return to solve this later," I said.
"As you wish, Mr. Potter. Come with me now to complete your transaction, and we will continue this another day," the goblin replied, walking out the door.
I followed him, and three minutes later, I was done with everything for now. Still, the commotion outside the bank didn't escape my notice. So, as I walked out of the bank, I released a burst of magic that made everyone who was crowding the place ignore me and generally forget why they were there in the first place.
With that done, I stepped outside to start my adventure and truly explore Diagon Alley. Truly, magic is an easy solution for a lot of problems…
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