Another product of revision-madness! Currently a oneshot, but if people are keen and I find the necessary inspiration I may write more- I think a light-handed Harry would be make for quite an interesting Hogwarts career!

Please review!

Harry Potter, Scourge of Knockturn Alley

Harry hovered around the end of the alley, waiting for the arrival of the next unsuspecting witch or wizard. He quickly checked his concealed pocket, which had been magically expanded to hold several stolen moneybags and other valuables under the pretence of straightening out his robes which had been carefully and painstakingly blackened with soot.

A few moments later, he spotted a dumpy witch with a tattered hat and rather dirty brown robes. She didn't look all too well off so Harry would normally have ignored her, were it not for the tell-tale clinking coming from her pocket, which, judging by the way her robes were hanging, it contained a rather heavy bag of money.

Harry quickly forced a flood of tears, and ran up to the woman, sobbing dramatically.

"Please Ma'am," he sobbed, the very picture of innocence, "I was coming to Diagon Alley with my Daddy and I think I said it wrong with the floo powder, 'cos now I'm lost and I don't know where I am and it's scary here."

He let himself trail off with a shuddering gasp and watched through his tear-studded eyelashes as the woman smiled at him kindly.

"Of course dear, I'll show you the way out. My name is Pomona Sprout, what's your name young man?"

"Rodger, Ma'am." Lied Harry, raising a hand to wipe away his tears.

"Well alright then Rodger love, it's this way back to Diagon Alley. Do you have any idea where your Daddy will be?"

"I don't know. Last time we were here he said to meet him outside Gringotts if I got lost, so there I guess."

The woman put her hand gently around his shoulders and began to lead him back towards the main street. Harry had been careful to manoeuvre himself round to the same side as the pocket containing her moneybag, and, under the pretence of turning to look around the alley, he cautiously slipped a hand into her pocket and lifted out the bag of galleons, stashing it quickly in the inside pocket of his robes. The whole manoeuvre took only a few seconds.

Quite oblivious to the fact that she had just been robbed, Mrs Sprout chatted merrily about her job working at Hogwarts School, exclaiming excitedly when Harry told her he would be starting next September. Privately though, he sighed with relief that his Dad insisted on putting several glamours on him before he went out on the streets each morning, as he did not fancy turning up at Hogwarts to find half the staff recognising him from when he had picked their pockets.

oOoOoOo

As he said goodbye to Professor Sprout outside Gringotts, having claimed to have spotted his Father going inside, Harry could not resist 'accidentally' bumping into a huge man with a long black beard who was just coming out of Hogwarts. As the man picked him up and dusted him off, apologising loudly, Harry slipped a sly hand into one of the man's many pockets, hoping he would get lucky and find something valuable.

He darted back into Knockturn Alley before the man noticed what he had done and slid the small package he had retrieved from the man's coat into his secret pocket.

Over the course of the day, Harry 'acquired' several more money bags. His proudest moment for that day, he decided, was when he had snatched two money bags simultaneously from a pair of redheaded boys, whilst pretending to show them to a joke-shop near the end of the alley.

oOoOoOo

That evening, Harry returned home to the dirty flat he lived in with his Dad, tucked in above an even dirtier bar. He sat on his bed and emptied his pockets of the days haul, separating it out into things he wanted to keep, and things he would give to his Dad. His Dad always took a chunk of the money he had taken to help pay their rent on the small flat. Tonight though, his dad was away for the evening, something about a shipment of black-market cauldrons, so he could keep a larger proportion of his 'earnings' for himself.

As he shifted through the numerous moneybags and purses, he came across something he had completely forgotten about- the item he had stolen from the big man outside Gringotts.

Harry tore open the paper around the package excitedly, his imagination calling up images of precious diamonds (that had happened once) or some valuable magic artefact. He was disappointed to find that it was in fact just a small dark red stone. It was possible that it was some sort of gem, he thought as he absentmindedly polished it with his sleeve, but it didn't look like anything he had seen before, and his Dad had trained him from an early age to spot valuable gems, even when they were uncut.

He tossed it casually back onto the bed and it clinked as it landed on the large pile of money he had emptied out of all the money bags. He pushed it to one side and began to count out the money, sorting it into piles with a value of 5 galleons each. Suddenly though he froze as he noticed something strange about one of the knuts he was holding- it was the wrong colour. Instead of the usual bronze it was a shiny yellow colour, almost like- he bit into it and the soft metal gave under his teeth- gold!

His brain whirred, trying to work out why he had a gold knut- surely Gringotts wouldn't have made such a mistake… he gasped, reaching out to grab hold of the red stone he had so casually cast aside. He touched it to another of the knuts and grinned as its colour changed, spreading out from where the stone touched it. He tested it again- gold! He was going to be rich... this was the best birthday ever!