Really, can I get a snake?"Voldemor

Really, can I get a snake?"

Voldemort rolled his eyes at Harry as they strolled down Diagon Alley, but he knew in the end it would be fairly useless to resist. He-no, Bella, had spoiled Harry to the extreme for the majority of his life, and now he was used to getting everything he wanted.

"Of course you can," said Bella quickly, but he cut in, glaring at her.

"No, Harry. I think a cat or an owl would be much more useful. And neither of those would get you expelled."

"You have a snake," he countered, hanging onto Bella's arm as if she was a lifeline. Voldemort wasn't sure why the woman had taken to him so strongly after he'd brought him home, so to speak, but she had, becoming the primary mother figure in his life. Of course, any mention of his real mother sparked a violent, jealous rage on her part, and made her tongue exceedingly loose, as well. It had taken a month for Harry to come around after she let slip one Halloween four years ago that "the mudblood" (the only thing she would refer to Lily Evans-Potter as) had been killed by none other than Voldemort himself. He'd spent a few hours torturing her after that, but he still didn't think she regretted it.

"I'm not in school anymore, nor am I eleven years old."

"But I want one," he whined.

Voldemort gave a long suffering sigh. "We'll see. First we have to get your supplies. What's on the list?"

Harry pulled away from Bellatrix briefly to retreive the parchment out of his robes and open it up:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)

by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection

by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"I want a broomstick."

"Quidditch is a pointless sport. You will not be taking part in it."

"Didn't you play it?"

"No."

"But he's a little prodigy at quidditch," said Bella, looking mildly outraged. She was really quite pretty, with long dark hair and dark eyes, but she was also irredeemably insane. While only teetering on the edge during the First War, the time she spent in Azkaban at the very end before being acquitted had made her completely nuts. Shame, really.

"Now," said Voldemort, "we need to get money. I don't have any on me. Come along."

"You took me shopping without bringing any money?" said Harry indignantly.

"Yes, now come on!"

Harry shook his head and found himself being pulled along after Voldemort, who was already several paces ahead of them. He and Bella caught up quickly, and for a moment the Dark Lord thought they might've looked like a normal family, two parents taking their young son to buy supplies for his first year at Hogwarts. However, despite Bella maybe fancying themselves that, once the glamours they wore faded away, all that was left underneath were two murderers and a boy with absolutely no idea as to the extent of their evilness.

"You know I hate Gringotts," said Harry, cutting into his thoughts. "I hate goblins in general."

"Just because you and the Malfoy heir got yourselves sucked into one of the vaults your first trip there doesn't mean that the goblins had anything to do with it."

"They should have warned us. We were only six."

"You were foolish. Ahh, look, we're here."

Harry glared at the scarlet and gold uniformed goblin as they walked past it and into the bank, while Bella rubbed his arm comfortingly. She hadn't been there that day, but she'd heard enough about it to feel like she had.

When the reached the antechamber leading into the lobby, Harry paused and read the engraving on the silver doors aloud:

"Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there."

Harry glanced at Voldemort. "Well, aren't they nice?"

He ignored him and entered the doors, immediately striding over to a goblin sitting behind the counter.

"Can I help you, sir?" the goblin asked, barely looking up from his work. Even if he had, he would've seen a blond haired, blue eyed man, not Lord Voldemort.

"I'd like to go down to the Riddle Vault." Voldemort handed him a small, silver key. The goblin looked it over carefully before nodding. "Everything seems to be in order. Ragnok! Take these gentlemen and the lady down to the Riddle Vault!"


"I do so love this part," said Bella, gripping the side of the cart and planting her booted feet firmly on the floor.

Harry cringed, now sure that she was, as he'd suspected, completely off the deep end. As his father had been so quick to point out, he'd been to Gringotts several times before, and he hated it. Not only did the goblins irk him, the cart ride down the vault made him downright nauseus.

Of course, he wasn't as bad as say, Pansy Parkinson, who'd been sick the first time she'd gone on it.

Ragnok the goblin was unneededly telling them to hold on while he prepared to start them off towards the vault. When Voldemort glared at him, he quieted and they finally set off down the twisting track. The cart actually went slowly at first, but began to pick up speed as it descended a slope, then went around a corner, and another, and another, then up, then down, then possibly around, passing vault door after vault door, dead ends, antechambers being guarded by firebreathing dragons, and the musty stone walls in between, which dripped steady with water from an unknown sorce.

The world was getting blurrier by the second, and Harry began to think that he was going to make like Pansy when the cart abruptly stopped, sending them all jolting forward. Harry almost hit his chin on the front of the cart, but Bella caught him at the last minute and helped him onto the platform by the Riddle Vault.

Harry stared at the big black door, feeling a small amount of excitement bubbling up inside him. Despite not liking Gringotts, he had to admit that there was one good thing about it:

Seeing how incredibly rich they were.


Ragnok opened the vault using a series of complicated keys, spells, and Tom Marvolo Riddle's magical signature, which was retrieved by him throwing a curse at the door. Finally, the locks were undone and the door opened to reveal a room full of sparkling gold and silver piled high to the roof.

Voldemort smiled slightly at the sight of it. He'd been destitute for the entirety of his childhood and adolescence, only gaining a bit (well, actually, rather a lot) of money after forcing his bastard muggle father to sign his estate over to him before he killed him. However, it still hadn't been enough to finance a war, so a few well carried out robberies and multiple "donations" from his Death Eaters had ensured he was now a very wealthy man. All these years later he still wasn't sure why he'd taken out the vault under the name 'Riddle', but he supposed it wasn't as though he could've used 'Voldemort'.

He watched impassively as Harry piled huge handfuls of gold into several bags Bella was obediently holding out. His son spent money like it would never run out. Again, spoiled.

Once the bags were full, Harry took one and scurried out to the cart, eager to start with the actual shopping. Bella followed him but paused next to Voldemort.

"Indulge him, milord," she said lowly, "after all, it's to be his first year and he don't want him to be outfitted like some common mudblood."

He resisted the urge to curse her and got back in the cart.


Harry shifted around in his seat impatiently, reaching out a hand to pull his sack of money closer. They had gotten their gold almost twenty minutes ago, but Voldemort had motioned for Harry to sit down on a bench in the lobby and they all had been waiting there ever since. He would've expected Bella to be impatient as well, but she seemingly wasn't, instead intently watching the various doors that led down into the depths of the bank.

"What are we waiting for?" Harry finally hissed, as quietly as he could. In addition to being nasty, goblins were also highly suspicious, and he wasn't in the mood to be escorted from the property- or arrested - by aurors.

Voldemort hadn't answered, and just continued staring at the far end of the lobby, along with Bella. Several minutes later, they both snapped to full attention when a giant of a man emerged from one of the doors into the lobby. He had a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild beard that looked as though it hadn't been washed in a long while.

"There he is, milord," said Bella excitedly, trying not to glare at the man.

"And that is what we were waiting for," said Voldemort, trying to watch him but surreptitiously so.

"Who is he?" Harry whispered.

"His name is Rubeus Hagrid. He's the groundskeeper at Hogwarts."

"Drunken bum," muttered Bella. Harry was apt to believe it, as this 'Hagrid' definitely looked the part.

"And?" he prompted after some silence.

Voldemort didn't answer, he just got up and motioned for Harry and Bella to do the same. They followed the giant out of the bank and several blocks down the street. T