Harry Potter and the Reluctant Rebirth

Chapter 2

The Leaky Cauldron... I'm finally seeing it for the first time in person. It was dark, candlelit as to be expected, with everything being made of either wood or stone, not a single drop of paint in sight. Multitudes of witches and wizards were talking amongst each other, drinking and casting the occasional spell. Snape was quick to nudge me out of the fireplace and began to brush himself off to remove the ashes and soot that sat on his clothes. Halfway through he just waved his wand and the mess was quickly removed from his person. He looked down at me for a moment before also waving his wand to remove the soot from my clothes. Guess he doesn't want to drag around a dusty kid.

Thank god for that, I was about to sneeze.

"Oh, Severus!" The owner -Tom I think was his name- waved at Snape in a friendly manner. "You don't usually show up here, what's going on?"

"Tom." Snape nodded in greeting. "Hogwarts business... I am here to escort this boy and help him collect his school supplies." Thank you, Severus, despite Harry's original reaction to learning he was famous, I'd prefer to keep a low profile.

"Ah... another one, eh? Didn't see him hiding behind you, tiny tyke isn't he? I swear, Hogwarts needs to tell the muggle raised kids ahead of time so they're not scrambling." Tell me about it, I have less than a month to read everything. "The name's Tom, you got a name?"

I really didn't want everyone in the bar to react, but I had to play the role of someone who has no idea how famous he truly is... yay. With a nervous smile, I shook the man's hand. "Harry, Harry Potter. Nice to meet you, sir," I said with a small voice. Behind me, I could almost feel Snape roll his eyes. Hey, I'm not supposed to know anything!

Tom's mouth dropped, "Bless my soul..." Please don't say it. "It's Harry Potter." I held in my flinch when the bar went absolutely silent and all eyes landed on me.

"Welcome back Mr. Potter. Welcome back." An elderly wizard shook my hand with gusto, seemingly causing a chain reaction as multiple witches and wizards went to shake my hand. Thankfully they were polite and didn't crowd, but after the fourth hand, I noticed my vision going black.

"Mr. Potter, why are you hiding under my cloak?"

Oh, that's why.

I blinked a few times to snap out of my daze and look at my surroundings. Or rather, what little surroundings I could see. A few witches cooed as I slowly ventured out from under Snape's cloak, but is still trying to hide behind him. This was the safest place in the whole building and I'm keeping it that way.

The potion professor sneered at everything that existed and nudged me. "Come along, Mr. Potter."

I followed, practically glued to his side. I shook a couple of hands, but most of them realized that I was shy and were content with seeing me exit the back room. I was thankful Snape also ignored Quirrell, who was turbanless this time around. Okay... so this will be more like the books than the movies, just everyone looks like their movie counterparts? This was going to be confusing.

"Why did they all know me...? I'm nothing special." I'm really not. I was just a college nerd once upon a time, and in this life, I'm famous because my parents died and I didn't.

Snape paused as he was about to tap the code for Diagon Alley. "We can discuss that after you are finished with your supplies." The cobblestone wall seemingly came to life, rolling itself out of our way to the hustle and bustle that was Diagon Alley. "Stay close. We need to stop at Gringotts first."

I raise an eyebrow, "Gringotts?" It was almost painful to act like I know nothing about the wizarding world.

"A bank for wizards, how else do you expect to pay for your supplies?" Snape looked down at me with his trademark sneer. He really can be intimidating up close... when he looks less like Alan Rickman and more like a grumpy man.