"Hello," A voice said just before an elderly man walked into the room. "I was wondering when I would see you Mr Potter. It seemed only yesterday your mother was buying her first wand, ten and a quarter inches of willow with a unicorn hair for her core. Excellent for charms work, your father on the other hand had an eleven inch mahogany wand with a dragon heartstring, his wand was better suited for transfiguration." Olivander said as he began looking around shelves for a wand. He picked one up and gave it to Harry. "Just give that a wave." He instructed. Harry frowned but did so, he waved the wand and ended up accidently destroying a vase.
"Oh crap." Harry said under his breath.
"Probably not that one." Olivander said dryly as he took the wand out of Harry's hand before waving his own wand to repair the vase. "Do not worry Mr Potter, I'll find you a wand." Olivander promised.
An hour later and Olivander was still looking for a wand for Harry, he had been very disappointed for some reason when the holly and phoenix wand didn't work.
"Hmm," Olivander looked thoughtful after Harry's last failed attempt, Olivander walked into the back and came back a few moments later with another wand box. He opened it, reveling a beautiful looking black wand. "try this one." Olivander said.
Harry picked up the wand and a burst of energy hit him, the experience was amazing and indescribable, the closest that Harry could come to explaining it would be if a man with one arm suddenly gained another one. Bright lights and a big burst of wind shot out of the wand, going all around the shop before dying down.
"Wow." Harry grinned as laughter burst out of him.
"An impressive wand," Olivander said. "fourteen inches of yew with not one, but two cores."
"Two?" Harry asked.
"Yes, indeed, two cores is rare but can happen." Olivander nodded. "This wand is an odd one, it had been made from before my grandfather started working in this shop. One of its cores is a horn from a horned serpent, they are exceptionally powerful and sensitive to Parseltongue. It can also warn its owner of danger by emitting a low musical tune according to some. The other core is a Thunderbird tail, powerful and difficult to master, particularly prized by Transfigurers. They can also sense danger and cast curses on their own.
What you have in your hands is an exceptionally powerful wand Mr Potter, use it wisely."
"Um...thank you," Harry said as he calmly handed Olivander the money for the wand, though internally he was ecstatic, his wand sounded brilliant and he could feel that Jet was also happy. Harry nodded and then walked out of the shop. "I can't wait to use it." Harry grinned, Jet hissed excitedly at Harry who licked his lips in anticipation.
"Harry," Harry turned when he saw Bathsheda walking towards him while holding a cage that had a white, snowy owl inside. "I've got you a little present." She grinned.
"You..." Harry froze with disbelief. "you got her for me?" He asked quietly, as if was unable to understand why she would do that.
"Of course it's for you," Bathsheda replied, resisting the urge to frown. When she goes back to Hogwarts she would talk to Dumbledore about Harry's relatives, various little things and a few big ones were beginning to add up and were starting to worry her. "since Jet is your familiar, you can still bring a pet. Is this owl alright? If not then I can get you a cat or..."
"No, no, it's fine." Harry said quickly. "But are you sure it's alright to buy this for me?" Harry asked.
"It'll be fine, your birthday is coming up soon so consider it an early birthday present." Bathsheda smiled as he took the cage and looked at the owl with awe, Bathsheda could hear some hissing, which for some reason sounded like jealous hissing to her.
....
Harry and Bathsheda were currently sitting in a corner inside 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor', and the two were happily eating ice cream. Bathsheda had opted to go for a chocolate flavor while Harry was going to go for vanilla but then at the last minute decided to go chocolate as well, after all it's not like the Dursley's would ever buy him chocolate ice cream.
"Thank you for the ice cream, and the owl." Harry smiled as he looked at the snowy white owl, who was sadly still in her cage but Harry was hoping to let her out as soon as he got home.
"You're welcome Harry," Bathsheda smiled. "the ice cream's just a little treat for the both of us."
"Well thanks anyway, how much do I have to pay you for both of them?" Harry asked.
"Pay me?" Bathsheda frowned. "Harry, they are gifts, you don't have to pay me for them."
"Oh, are you sure?" This time it was Harry who frowned. "I really don't want to owe you anything so if you want some payment then I'd like to deal with it as soon as possible."
"No Harry, you don't have to pay me for either of them." Bathsheda said, wondering why Harry was so worried about getting simple gifts.
"Oh...if you're sure." Harry said in an odd voice.
"I am," She nodded. "now, have you decided what you are going to call your owl?" Bathsheda asked.
"I am going to decide later," Harry responded. "I'd like to think about it first, it needs to be a nice name that I like but she needs to like it as well." The snowy owl nodded as if to say 'you are a smart human'.
"Harry," Bathsheda briefly bit her lip. "do you mind if I ask you a question? You don't have to answer it, but I am curious."
"What about?" Harry asked.
"Your scar." Bathsheda gestured to Harry's scar.
"What about it?" Harry asked.
"Well, from what everyone else has heard you were supposed to have a single lightning bolt, not...this." She said as she gestured to his scar.
"It just ended up like that one day." Harry shrugged. "If everyone supposedly knows about my scar then why hasn't anyone said anything and while we are talking about it, why does everyone know about it?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure about the answer to your last question," Bathsheda admitted. "after you-know-who died the news spread across the country that you had defeated him, I really don't know. As for the first part, well I didn't say anything when we first me because we barely knew each other and I didn't want to be rude, as for everyone else I think people didn't know who you were and just thought you have a weird scar or were just so excited to meet the boy-who-lived that they hadn't thought about it, or they might have just thought that you had done something weird to it or maybe something else."
"Well I didn't," Harry rolled his eyes. "anyway, I have another question. If I want to come here again then do I have to contact you or something?"
"Hmm, not really," Bathsheda shook her head. "you can if you want but you can just have someone drop you off at Charing Cross Road, one thing you could do is use the 'Knight bus'."
"Knight bus?" Harry asked.
"Yes, it's a special bus for wizards and witches," Bathsheda explained. "just go on any street and make sure nobody's watching before you pull your wand out and hold it out, it should come for you. Just pay the fee and it'll take you anywhere you want. We can actually take the Knight bus back to your home if you want."
"I'd like that." Harry smiled.
"Harry," Tracey asked in a soft voice as they walked back to the Slytherin common room. "is Angela really your vassal?" She asked as she glanced between Angela and Harry.
"Yes." Harry nodded.
"That's what that whole thing between Angela and Blaise was about, right?" Daphne asked.
"Right," Harry nodded again. "she wanted to explain everything to Blaise."
"By the way, did my brother give you any trouble over it?" Angela asked.
"No," Harry shook his head. "he did be honest about how he wasn't yet a hundred percent okay with it but he is making an effort to deal with it in return for me treating you good."
"But...why did you become Harry's vassal?" Daphne asked Angela.
"A lot of it is due to personal reasons which I am not really comfortable with revealing," Angela replied. "but before either of you two say anything, I was the one who convinced Harry to take me as his vassal, not the other way around."
"Jet helped convince me." Harry added.
"I, along with Jet, were the ones who convinced Harry to take me as his vassal, not the other way around." Angela amended. "So please don't judge him, he has done it to help me."
"Of course he did," Daphne snorted. "still can't get rid of all of the Gryffindor nobility, can you Potter?" She said with a playful nudge.
"Believe me, I've tried." Harry joked as they arrived outside of the Slytherin common room.
"Just don't change too much." Tracey smiled at him.
"I am perfect the way I am, aren't I?" Harry grinned as they entered the common room. Once they were inside they saw all of the Slytherin's turn to look at them. "Right, screw this noise, I'm going to my room." Harry said to the girls before quickly walking up to his room while the girls took a moment before deciding that Harry's idea was a good one and quickly went up into their own rooms.
Once Harry was alone in his room he took his wand out and stared at it, his mind recalled that ball of lightning that came out of his wand during the meeting. Harry focused and tried to remember the feeling he had gotten from the ball. It took several minutes along with the combination of being too stubborn to give up but Harry was eventually able to get the ball to return.
"Ha! Can you see that Jet?!" Harry hissed happily.
"I can see it, well done, you are powerful master!" Jet hissed, just as happy.
"I...I don't even feel a little bit tired from doing this." Harry said before he heard the sound of footsteps, he quickly cut the spell off just before Blaise arrived.
"Alright Harry?" Blaise asked as he walked in and sat on his own bed. "Everyone wants to know what happened by the way," He added in a casual voice. "oh and by the way...what did happen? The rest of us missed most of it after you blasting Filch into Lockhart. You're a legend for that by the way." Blaise grinned.
"I'll tell you everything tomorrow." Harry smiled, "right now I just want to go to sleep." Harry said as he pulled his sleeping clothes out.
"Fair enough, good night mate."
"Good night, Blaise." Harry replied while internally he thought more about the ball of lightning, he would have to do some more experimentation with it.
The next day Harry realized something, everyone in the school thought that he was the heir of Slytherin. People took great care to avoid him, most of them looked at him like he was about to kill them at any second, and he wasn't going to do that, despite Jet's suggestion and belief that he should to do it to a few if only to teach the rest of them their proper place in the food chain.
Many of the Slytherin's also gave him odd looks, it seemed like they thought he was the heir of Slytherin because of his parsletounge ability and the fact that he was a great student but at the same time they doubted it because of him being a halfblood and the fact that he seemed to hold no grudge against muggles or muggleborns while also making sure that anyone who says the word 'mudblood' in his presence would get the crap scared out of them.
The Ravenclaws seemed to have joined the 'not sure' group on the topic of Harry being the heir of Slytherin, but the Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's on the other hand were a different story. The Hufflepuff's seemed scared that he would snap and suddenly set Jet or any other number of snakes on them while the Gryffindors thought that he was evil incarnate (no doubt at least partially thanks to a certain redhead). The fact that Harry had been abused by muggles certainly did not help him in the eyes of people who thought that he was actually the heir of Slytherin.
"It's just ridiculous, that's all I am saying." Harry was saying to his fellow second year Slytherin's as they sat at the Slytherin table for breakfast. "If I was the heir of Slytherin, which I am not, but if I was then I would do better than target the caretakers cat."
"People have been saying that you did it because you knew that Filch is a squib." Blaise commented.
"If I would have done it then it would have been because I thought Filch is a prick." Harry replied.
It turned out that Mrs Norris was simply the first victim and definitely not the last, the next person to be attacked was Colin Creevey who was found petrified in a hallway. And naturally the whole school knew of Harry's dislike of Colin so they were all pretty sure that it was Harry who was responsible. Though eventually the school stopped talking about how Harry was obviously the heir when something interesting was announced, starting today was the dueling club.
Harry and his friends naturally decided to go, which is why they were in the great hall with about ninety percent of all the other students from every year. In the middle of the hall was a long dueling platform, the Slytherin's and Ravenclaws stood on one side of the platform while the Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's stood on the opposite side.
"Who do you think is going to teach this?" Draco whispered to Harry, who was stood with Jet on his shoulders.
"I'm not sure." Harry admitted. "The best choice would either be Professor Dumbledore or Professor Flitwick. They're both powerful wizards and Flitwick is a former dueling champion."
"Gather around everyone." Lockhart said as he walked on to the stage.
"Or it could be that idiot." Harry sighed.