Harry Potter and The Search

A/N- This is going to be spiritual, and Unitarian/non-denominational spiritual, so if you want to flame away feel free. I promise not to get too preachy, and you'll never see in this story "covert to Unitarianism." Technical note – I struggled with POV, first vs. third person, so I'm doing a combo (yes, bad writer) therefore italics are Harry's thoughts. It's been a while since I've read the cannon again, so I might get a few details wrong. So for those details, pretend it's an AU. Chapters will take a long time, as I've got a rather busy life and a lot of these later chapters are going to have some depth to them, which takes time to write. I'm assuming this chapter takes place around 1998, for purposes of accurate technology later. Also, a note to my other stories on here, those are not surprisingly on hiatus. I'm just not interested in writing them right now. This is where I am as a writer right now, and I wanted to see if I could combine Harry Potter and my spirituality in a story. So here goes my experiment.

Finally, I could use a beta. I know they have the available betas thing, but if anyone is interested in helping out and the story sounds intriguing to you, shoot me a message.

Harry Potter and The Search

Chapter 1 – Preparing to Move On

"Dearest Ginny,

I wish I could do this by anything other than sending you a note, but I don't think I could bear to face you to give you this news. I need to get out of Britain. It's too much. Right now, everywhere I look reminds me of death. Every time I pause to breathe, images of the final battle haunt me. Everyone reminds me of those I lost. I just can't do it anymore. I just can't. I can't stay. Please, you have to understand, the only thing harder than leaving is staying. I don't want to leave, but I can't stay. I don't know where I might end up, but I can safely say it won't be on this damn island for now. I am so sorry. But if you ever loved me, then you would understand and let me go. When I'm recovered, whatever that means, I'll find you.

-Harry"

That's the last of them. I thought after the first eight, this one would be easier. Why. Why did I think that? I supposed I thought I would have been numb by this point, but not numb enough apparently. Not numb enough.

Two weeks. Has it really been that long? It seems like it's been forever and a second all at once. But it has to be done. I can't stay. I can't stay. I have to get off this island. And I have to make the preparations. My final trip to Diagon Alley. I just hope my disguise will be enough.

It was time for Harry Potter to leave Britain behind. Although he had lived there some 18 years, he just never really considered it home. He didn't know what home quite felt like, but he assumed it wouldn't be haunted by the memories of lost friends and family. So he decided a week after the final battle with Voldemort, the former Dark Lord feared by most, and his reign of terror to leave the "home" that had both celebrated and forsaken him. He was tired of living in the limelight, and it was time for him to find his own way free of others' expectations. And the only way he could imagine it was leaving Britain. He knew his friends would be dismayed, but he figured if they were his true friends they would eventually understand and forgive him.

The hardest to leave would be Ginny. Despite not seeing her for the better part of a year, he felt a connection with her he hadn't felt with anybody before. Yes, he would miss Hermione and Ron, but not in the same way. But it had to be done. He felt that he had to leave to truly discover himself and find the peace he assumed existed, but never had experienced himself.

But on this day before he left, he had to prepare. So he pulled out his wand, held it out, and hailed the Knight Bus. It was time to go to Diagon Alley, and say goodbye to Grimmauld Place.

I still get that Dumbledore sparkly eye whenever the bricks open and the entrance appears. Ok. What do I need? Where's that list?

Magical – Diagon Alley
Magical Suitcase
Maps
Guidebooks
Any books that look worthwhile
Endless Journal

Way to spend muggle money without big hassle

Non-Magical – London
Clothes
Electronic Fun stuff
Plane tickets
Books
Anything else that looks important

Ok. First stop Gringotts. Need gold for all of this, and I can knock out the muggle money issue.

Diagon Alley seemed to still be bustling with activity, with people catching up on their household supplies with it now safe to travel outside the home. It wasn't nearly as busy as last week, but still more crowded than Harry was used to seeing. His disguise of a dark cloak, muggle makeup to cover his scar, and a muggle ski cap was enough to let him go by unnoticed on his way to the Goblin bank. He patted his pockets to make sure he hadn't absentmindedly left his key back at number 12 Grimmauld Place, where he had just spend his last night.

Harry walked into the bank and made his was through the line, behind the two witches gossiping about what Qudditch team Harry Potter would play for now. He was thankful for more than one reason that his place in line had finally made it to the teller.

"Yes?" asked the goblin.

"Is it possible for me to get a private room?"

"And why would I grant that Mr…"

Harry took out his key and showed it to the goblin, who had yet to introduce himself to Harry. When the goblin saw the key, he did a double take and searched Harry's face. Harry was caught off guard when the goblin suddenly yelled, "Nichrod!"

"Nichrod?"

"He will show you to a private room. A teller will be in with you shortly."

"Thank you."

The tiniest goblin Harry had ever seen, which is saying something as goblins aren't that big to begin with, appeared before Harry and said, "Follow me."

Maybe he's a baby goblin? Here as a grunt worker, not old enough to have a teller job?

Harry followed Nichrod as Nichrod made his way up a set of stairs and into a room labeled "Teller Room Eighteen."

"Wait here," ordered Nichrod and shut the door behind him.

Harry shrugged and had barely managed to sit down before the door flew open, "What can I do for you Mr. Potter?"

Harry was shocked to see a witch instead of a goblin. The witch must have seen his shocked expression as she smirked and said, "We do have human employees too. Sometimes our bank clients want someone who would understand various human needs. And you aren't the goblin's favorite person after your little, shall we say excursion, here a few months ago. Don't worry," she added seeing Harry's nervous expression, "I am still under the same binding secrecy clause as the Goblins and the Goblins have agreed that your…excursion…was in the best interests of protecting their future so that have formally pardoned you and given you a slight reward for 'exposing their security flaws.'"

Too say Harry was shocked was a slight understatement. He replied with an eloquent, "Pardon?"

She waved it off, "So lets get down to business. What's your request today?"

"I plan on doing a fair bit of traveling."

"Magical or muggle?"

"Well, mostly muggle. But I'd imagine I might work in some magical at some point."

She nodded. "You were raised Muggle, correct?"

Harry looked a little suspicious at this comment. "What does that have to do with-"

"Are you familiar with a 'debit card'"

"Is that like an ATM card?"

She nodded. "Think of it as a cross between an ATM card and a credit card," she paused seeing comprehension dawn in Harry's eyes, "and it can be linked directly to your vaults here."

"Vaults? As in plural?"

"Yes Mr. Potter. You haven't been informed of those yet?"

He shook his head, bewildered.

"Well, then I need to get a little more paperwork. I shall return. Here, help yourself to tea." She waved her wand, a tea set appeared, and she left.

I have more than one vault? What's been hidden from me now? I swear, the secrecy surrounding my life is ridiculous.

Harry helped himself to a cup of tea, and had taken his third sip when the teller reentered the room, shut the door, and cast a privacy spell on the door.

"First things first Mr. Potter, we talk about your assets here. Then we will get the debit card set up for you. Now, according to our record the only withdrawals have been made from one account, your family vault. Correct?"

He nodded and replied, "That's the only one I was aware of."

She sighed slightly. "You should have been told about this years ago. First off, you were named as one of a few heirs to Albus Dumbledore. He named three heirs, Hogwarts, the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter. You're entitled to one third of his vault's contents. You were also named honorary heir to the Johnson, Pierce, and Greene families whose final members passed during the recent conflict."

"I've never even heard of those families!"

She shrugged. "This happens during wartime. Families flock here to name honorary heirs in case of disaster. Usually they name more than one, in case some of them perished as well. It's all very standard. Now, I am not surprised this hasn't reached you yet, but the new ministry has confiscated the vault contents of all dead, missing, or convicted Death Eaters. Now, the ministry is keeping most of the contents to rebuild, but it was declared that you should have fifteen percent of everything taken as a reward. All of these different assets have been sitting in various vaults waiting for your claim."

"Ok, how do I claim them?"

She smiled. "You just did."

"That's it?"

"It's magic Mr. Potter. Now, I would recommend you conglomerate all of your assets into one vault. It will save you in the long run."

"Do so."

She nodded. "I will have everything transferred into your current vault by the end of our meeting. Now, let us begin the process of your debit card. You need to think of a four digit number easy for you to remember."

Harry shrugged. "How about 1818."

She nodded, and showed him to sign various things. "I'll get this down to the Muggle affairs department and shall return with your card. Would you like anything else?"

"That takes care of muggle money. How can I have access to galleons when I'm away from London?"

"Well, you could withdraw a lot and store it, or a safer option would be a MoneyBag."

"A MoneyBag?"

"You've never heard of a MoneyBag?"

He shook his head.

"Ok. To make a long story short, you place your key in the compartment in the bag, speak inside how many galleons needed, and they will appear in the MoneyBag."

"That's it?"

"Well, they do cost a bit. You wouldn't believe the magic in these things. Likewise for the debit card. But looking at your assets, I don't see this to be a problem."

"How can I get regular updates on my assets here?"

"For a small fee, we can owl you a monthly statement. You will also be able to check at any ATM machine using your card. Although, frankly Mr. Potter, I wouldn't worry about running low anytime after your grandchildren pass away. Wait here, and I shall return with your MoneyBag and Debit Card. Do you want the monthly statements? We can also give you the monthly exchange rates from Galleons to all major muggle currency on that statement."

"I don't know if I will be accessible by owl for my trip."

She looked thoughtful for a minute, and declared, "well, we can just sent it through the MoneyBag then?"

Harry agreed, and the teller left Harry to his tea.

Twenty five minutes later a stunned Harry left his new Gringott's bank vault with a complementary wallet with his Debit Card and a MoneyBag.

Great Merlin, how is that much gold in there? They must have expanded the vault walls or something. That went much better than anticipated, although that bit about honorary heirs was a little disturbing. And the ministry confiscating so much money – more proof I'm making the right decision to get out of here. Ok, next stop, I need to go to the travel store the teller mentioned. What was it called? Traveler's Paradise? She said it was almost at Knockturn Alley. Ah. There.

"Oh, good day. What can I do for you? My name's Craig."

"Well Craig, I want to do a lot of traveling."

"Muggle, Magical, or both?"

"Mostly muggle, but mayabe magical."

He nodded. "Got anywhere in mind?"

Harry pointed to the globe, "somewhere on there."

"Ah, going on a world tour then I assume?"

"Yes."

"Ok. Come in, sit down. Lets talk about what you'll need." Craig's eyes seemed to light up. Harry assumed it must have been due to the prospects of a big commission. "First off, you'll need this from Madame's Magical Movers – a world guidebook. You just say the country and principality and it gives you everything a witch or wizard needs to know. You'll also need the triple m atlas, which goes from world map all the way down to a building map in the push of a button."

"Ok. I also need some sort of suitcase."

"Oh of course! I was about to get to that." Harry thought he could hear the sound of a cash register come from the man's ears. "Right this way, let me show you what we have."

Craig the clerk showed Harry various suitcases, ranging from a standard muggle to a the most expensive one he had, which at this point peaked Harry's interest the most. It looked to be a standard muggle rolling suitcase, with a tap of the wand shrank to the size of a peanut and could easily be stored in his pocket. It could also expand out to the size of a door, and when expanded was a fully functioning seven layer trunk. It had beyond standard anti-theft devices, all of which would be activated upon purchase with a drop of blood, and would automatically return to the owner when if a simple charm was performed.

Harry was sold. "I'll take it."

Craig grinned. "I have a few more suggestions," what a surprise thought Harry, "you'll of course want the instant-translator potion. Now, I know it's pricey, but it is well worth it my friend."

"What's it do?"

"It will allow you to understand over 20,000 spoken languages and speak 10,000. Now, we can't do anything about writing at this point, although our potions master is working on a potion for that. Now, you will hear the native languages in their own tongue, but it will make sense to you. Likewise, you will know how to speak the language upon hearing it. It's recently been upgraded to understand and speak slang. Can't do anything about the accent though. It's still well worth it the price."

Harry nodded. Perfect.

"Perfect."

"Now we can also do travel plans and documents."

"Documents?"

"Oh yes! You need proper documents to travel muggle-style. We guarantee they will pass any inspection, or your purchase is refunded and we will pay for any oblivation costs."

"What will I need?"

"A driving permit, passport, birth certificate, immunization records, an Auto-Visa-"

"An auto-visa?"

"It's essential. Most muggle countries need a visa of some sort to enter. Our Auto-Visas can produce any needed visa in mere seconds."

"Ok. I'll take the lot."

Craig grinned again.

Harry left the store several thousand galleons poorer, although that was a rather relative term for the now rich Mr. Potter, with a horrible taste in his mouth from the potion (which was tested and worked perfectly.) Harry stumbled with Craig asked for his name – he was hoping to travel under the radar. But Craig immediately pounced with an offer to create a false identity for secretive travel for only 50 more galleons, which Harry gladly paid. Harry would be traveling as one James Black, of London, England. He opted not to have travel plans made for him – he was didn't want to lay down any plans yet, especially ones that could be tracked.

Harry's second to last stop was the bookstore. Although he was planning on living as a muggle, he didn't want to let his magic atrophy.

Harry started off with his least favorite area, the Potions aisle. Harry grabbed many books, the most notable being Most Potent Potions, Everyday Potions, Every Potion A Healer Needs, Antidotes and Poisons, Potions Mastery, and a massive tomb called simply Potion Theory.

Charms was next, where he stocked up dozens of books including, Charms for the Traveller, Charm Your Way Out Of A Sticky Situation, Household Charms, Everyday Charms, Charming Charms, and Every Charm That Might Just Show Up On Your Charms Mastery.

Transfiguration had some books Harry was really interested in, Becoming an Animagi, Metamorphism, Battle Transfiguration, Basic Conjuring, Advanced Conjuring, Really Advanced Conjuring, Too Advanced Conjuring, and Enough With Conjuring Already How About Producing A Pretty Present.

Defense. Harry was unsure about this particular category, but as he passed a few books grabbed his eye. Wild Animals and How to Stop Them and Tribal Groups especially caught his eye.

Airthmancy. Harry hadn't taken Airthmancy while at Hogwarts, but figured why not. He grabbed Airthmancy for Dummies, Airthmancy for Genuises, Useful Applications of Arithmancy, and Create Your Own Spell.

Harry grabbed a picture encyclopedia of runes and a book that was huge on various rune combinations on his was to the History section. He grabbed a few books here, History of Magic which was a 23 part series, Encyclopedia of Magic and Everything Else that took an entire bookshelf by itself (he didn't grab the whole shelf, just a tag that said he wanted it that was redeemable at the counter), a world history set and another row of books called Magical Theory and Philosophy.

Harry was practically on his way out before he remembered the journal. It took a little searching, but finally found a few journals in the back corner of the store. He ended up buying three, one labeled "Travel Journal," one labeled "Personal Journal" that was lined and one that wasn't.

After many more galleons spent and books shrunk and promptly stored in his new suitcase, he moved on to the Potions Store.

"Excuse me Miss?"

"Yes? What to do you need? Special on lacewing flies today!"

"I need a way to set up a potions lab."

She nodded. "Fresh out of school and need a lab, eh? Well, it's expensive, but with that MoneyBag I bet you can afford it. I've got one or two left in the back. It's called Lab-in-a-Box. Take the box, put it in whatever room you want your lab to be in, now keep in mind it will take the entire room, tap your wand on the box and hurry out of the room. That starts a one-minute countdown and the box explodes into either a standard or advanced lab, complete with every starter supply you could possibly need. Basic is 875 galleons, advance 1099 galleons."

Harry took the advanced, and promptly fled the store when he saw the sight of Molly Weasley make her way into the store.

The final, most bittersweet in his final stop in Diagon Alley was the owl post.

"Could you post these letters tomorrow instead of today?" Harry asked the clerk on duty.

"Of course. How many letters?"

"Nine."

"Then that'll be nine galleons for the delay post. They will go out tomorrow at midnight."

"Thanks," and with that Harry left Diagon Alley and walked into Muggle London.

Harry hailed a cab and his first stop was "H&M", a clothing store his cabbie told him about. Harry, frankly, had no clue what he was doing and it must have showed. A salesman came over and quickly introduced himself as Travis. "How can I help you sir?"

"As you can tell, my wardrobe is seriously outdated. I've recently come into an inheritance," he knew this would get Travis's attention, "and I want to purchase an entire new wardrobe."

"It would be my pleasure."

It took over an hour and multiple trips to the dressing room, but Harry walked out with more shopping bags than he could carry – literally (Travis has to help carry them out). Bags filled with every possible item of clothing, from winter clothes to summer clothes, lounge pants to suits, shoes to hats and even a pair of sunglasses and three bottles of cologne. Travis was quite a happy man and had a cab waiting for Harry. And Harry was secretly pleased – the debit card worked without any sort of problem.

"Where to mate?"

"Hm. An electronics store?"

"Care to drop off the bags first mate?"

"Oh, good point. Take me to the nearest decent lodging."

"Rightey-o chap."

Harry had the bellman take all of his bags up to his suite #415 at the Embassy Suites Hyde Park.

You need to store all of those clothes in your suitcase, not to mention the books. Therefore, you need furniture. And you need it now. And I don't think you could walk into a furniture store and walk out with everything you need or have them deliver it to a bleeding hotel. Oh. Magical furniture. Right. Guess one more stop to Diagon Alley it is.

With that, Harry grabbed his suitcase, closed his eyes, and apparated into Diagon Alley and went into "Everything Homely" the main furniture store on the Alley.

Harry approached a clerk, "I pretty much need to set up house. New furniture for everything."

"You'll want the bag series then. On the right."

Harry turned and saw the sign "Bags." He shrugged and walked over and saw several rows of, well, bags. He started off with "bedroom-in-a-bag"s and chose the Asian style. He grabbed the matching "bathroom-in-a-bag", "study-in-a-bag", "kitchen-in-a-bag", and "lounge-in-a-bag."

After he paid the still bored shopkeep despite just selling more than he had all week, Harry apparated out of Diagon Alley and back to his hotel.

Ok, how to these things work. Oh, they look similar to the potions lab. Ok. Open up the trunk. First level should be the basic stuff. Start from the bottom. Bottom level should be the bedroom. Click the button 7, just as the guy showed you, hop in the suitcase, hmm odd feeling almost like a portkey, and, wow, this is a really bare room. Ok, put the bedroom-in-a-bag in the middle, and tap it with the wand. Now, run up to level 6. Here put the, hmm, bathroom. Don't want to have to go too far if I have to sleep. Ok, put the bag, tap it with want, and run up to 5. Here, the study. Then level 4 the lounge. Level 3 the kitchen, and level 2 the potions lab.

Harry was out of breath by the time he exited the trunk, but after catching his breath and hopping back in his suitcase, he was more than pleased. The bags and the box worked perfectly, and if need be he had a perfectly set up emergency house, complete with furniture and decorations.

Harry muttered to himself, "ok, magic can be right useful sometimes," and started to put up all of his prior purchases.

About an hour later, Harry was ready to start part 2 of his shopping trip – muggle books, electronics, and lunch. Harry decided to start with lunch at the hotel restaurant, then hailed a cab to head to the nearest electronics store.

Harry was once again bewildered. He was happy the kitchen and bathroom came stocked with appliances, because he had no clue how he would have gotten all of those appliances back.

Harry wandered over to the computer section. He remembered Dudley's computer and always wanted one of his own. A salesperson wandered over, and Harry told him to, "show me the nicest one of these computers that you have."

The salesperson of course agreed, and asked Harry "Laptop or Desktop?"

"Eh?"

"Laptops are portable. Desktops aren't."

"Laptop it is."

"Right this way."

Harry grinned as he left the electronics superstore, thinking Dudley would have been envious. He left with a state of the art laptop, two extra batteries, all accessories and software you'd expect and then some, a wireless internet adaptor (whatever that is, Harry thought, but the guy said it was all the rage and brand new), a carrying case, a portable battery powered printer with two extra batteries, and a digital camera (brand new, the salesperson told Harry with a flourish). Harry was very pleased, snuck around to a street corner, and apparated back to the hotel with his purchases.

Harry plugged everything in to start charging, and while they were charging left to find a bookstore. Luckily, this he had seen earlier within walking distance to the hotel.

Harry wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he would occasionally pass a random book that caught his eye. He picked up some muggle history books and philosophy books to complement his magical ones, a few travel guides in case his MMM guide wouldn't work out, raided the CD section (he was pleased to see they would play on his laptop), and grabbed a few more odds and ends on his way out including a stockpile of fancy pens by the cash register. He'd rather never use a quill again.

He lugged his four bags, which were quite heavy mind you, back to the hotel where he would stay for the rest of the night, setting up and playing with his new electronic gadgets. He hadn't realized how late it was until he absentmindedly glanced at the clock on his computer, and vowed to call it quits for the day. Muttering to himself about becoming another Arthur Weasley, our fair hero went to bed for the night.

The next morning, Harry woke up and knew it was his finally day in England. He showered, changed, and packed everything else in either his suitcase (put to standard traveling mode size) or his wallet. He grabbed breakfast, checked out, hailed a cab, and before he could rethink his decisions, he told the cabbie "Heathrow Airport."