Harry awoke with a smile, and Eddie still slept soundly beside him. The Hapschatts were nowhere to be seen- he asumed they had all gone to the next office to get away from Eddie.He heard a small noise... and it seemed to come from Eddie's jacket. "Eddie...." he began, and shook him lightly.

Eddie let out a grunt and rolled over, blinking slowly awake when he too heard the beep. He grabbed the small red box out again and opened it. "Hello sir...Yes sir. Will, sir. Right away." and back again it went into his pocket. Harry had tried to see what he was doing, but Eddie was too big to see around. "Well Harry..." he said, stretching his arms, several bones cracking loudly. "Guess it's time to go get your things."

They cleaned up and ate...Eddie had fixed him one of the finest breakfasts he had ever eaten. While they drove out to downtown Denton on his motorcycle, Harry wondered where they were going. The list that came with the letter had all sorts of things he'd never heard of on it- if they were carried at the local drugstores... he'd never seen them.

Eddie parked his bike, helped Harry off and began to chain it securely to a post.

"Can we get all these things here, Eddie?" he held up his list questioningly.

"Well, uh... not exactly, Harry. This way." and he headed toward a small door that barely seemed noticeable among the bustling crowd. He opened the door and motioned Harry inside.

They found themselves in a small bar. Harry found it somewhat difficult to tell who were the men and women here, most of them wore stockings and garters. "The normal Eddie?" the bartender asked, clearing off the counter.

"Not today, no. On Trans A. business today" and he smiled down at Harry.

"It couldn't be... " gasped the bartender, dropping his rag. "Harry.... Harry Furter!" He nearly ran around the bar and gripped his hand. "Welcome back, sir...welcome back!"

And before he knew it, Harry was shaking hands with everyone in the bar. He politely gave them his thanks, and he noted that a few people had gotten in line to shake his hand more than once. He also noticed that many of the people he'd shaken hands with were the same ones who noticed him in shops before.

"Well well well.... " came a voice from behind the crowd. A man in a smart white suit slipped through and gripped Harry's hand in greeting. "Harry Furter. A pleasure" his face took on a wide grin.

Eddie broke in at Harry's quizzical look. "Farley Flavors. He'll be one of your teachers at the Academy."

"Oh..." said Harry, forcing a smile. "What do you teach?"

"Defense against Humans" Farley replied smoothly, lighting a cigar and taking a few puffs before looking back to Harry.

"Don't you make human food?" Harry asked, canting his head to the side.

"A hobby of sorts. Yes." and he donned another grin.

"We should be off, Harry" Eddie took hold of his arm and led him toward a back room. "Just stay close and stand still" he said, grabbing hold of a nearby lever. "Won't be a minute"... he flicked it downward, and ZAP! they disappeared.

When Harry opened his eyes once more, he was looking down a long narrow street. "Harry... " began Eddie, clapping him lightly on the shoulder (which considering their relative sizes was still enough to send Harry slightly off-balance) "Welcome to Secksu Alley."

"Seck-su... alley?" Harry repeated questioningly. Shops lined either side- shops like Harry had never seen before. A sudden fear struck him. "Eddie..." he said slowly, looking over the signs as he spoke "I don't have any money. How are we going to buy anything?"

Eddie laughed. "No, you don't. Not yet- but you will. Do you think you could be an heir without any sort of inheritance? Anyway, I've got to go to the bank on school business as well, so we'll stop there first." And off they went toward the largest and most imposing building on the whole street.

The bank was nearly pure black. The only contrast were the silver laser guns that lay within easy reach of all the employees. "Safest place in the world, Harry. Well... next to the Academy. Anyone would be a fool to try and steal from this place." Harry looked around. It seemed hard to tell just how far up the ceiling went... or for that matter where any doors were.

"We need to withdraw money for Harry Furter and I..." Eddie leaned forward and whispered something to the teller, who nodded after a moment.

"Follow me" he nearly barked the words as he grabbed his laser and headed for a wall. To Harry's surprise, it wasn't a wall at all- and they went right through it. Straight to another lever. "Hold still please" and the lever was pulled down.

Harry's stomach reeled slightly. Eddie smiled. "You'll get used to it"

"Your vault, sir" the teller bowed to Harry as he opened it- a long and intricate set of numbers on a strange sort of padlock, and the vault creaked it's door open wide. Inside was money he had never seen the likes of before... and in HUGE amounts.

Eddie stepped into the vault with him, pulled a small sack from his vest and began taking some of it. "This should do you for a while, Harry..." and he handed it over.

"Now for YOUR vault, sir." said the teller, ushering them both out of the vault which was quickly shut. Another switch of the lever and they were standing before a set of double gilded doors. Whatever was in that vault must be extremely valuable, Harry thought. Not to mention extremely big.

The teller strode to the doors. Though it had no visible lock or even a handle, with a few strange motions he had both doors swung open. Inside the vast vault lay a tiny table, and an even tinier object carefully wrapped in plain brown paper. Eddie slipped inside and pocketed the object, patting his chest to make sure it was secure before stepping outside again. The vault doors clanged shut behind him.

"Eddie..." asked Harry as they walked once more down the street. "What was that that you took from the vault?"

"Oh look! We can get your books here!"

Harry supposed this was Eddie's way of changing the subject, and so he stepped to the door of the shop.

"You've got your list, I hope?" Eddie asked.

"Right here" said Harry, pulling it from his pocket.

"Good. You just do the shopping you need to and I'll run a few errands while I'm here. I'll catch up with you." and off he went down the street.

Harry watched him go out of sight and ducked into the book shop. He'd never seen so many books. And odd ones. Some moaned when you touched them, others giggled. He found his textbooks one by one and made his way back out to the street. Looking to his list, he noted he would need a school uniform. All black, it said... and from his experience at the bank he wasn't the least bit surprised.

He had just finished procuring the last few items when Eddie found him, wrestling with all of his gear outside the lingerie shop. Eddie began to look over the things he had bought. "Fishnets... yeah, good... check... check. Hmm... only one thing you DON'T have..." Eddie smiled down at him. "I'll be right back" and he was off again, leaving Harry to attempt to organize his packages. He took the time to take a closer look at some of the windows. There was a candy store that sold some of the strangest sweets... a toy store with nothing like he would find at home in Denton- it was like being in an entirely different world.

"Well, Harry- here you are. Happy Birthday." beamed Eddie, holding a large cage in his hand. Harry took a step closer and peered beneath the cloth that was covering the cage. Inside sat a very strange looking bird- it looked almost like it were wearing a corset.

"Thank you, Eddie..." said Harry with a smile, taking the cage and trying to figure out just how in the hell he was going to carry all of this. He needn't have wondered long- Eddie scooped up most of the packages himself and made his way back to the lever at the far end of the street.

On their way back to Number 69, they stopped at a hot dog stand for lunch. It seemed to be taking Eddie quite a long time to figure out how much it cost, so Harry plucked the money from his hand and paid for it. "Ah... thank you, Harry. Been a while since I used that part of m'brain..." and his eyes went dark for the briefest of moments.

They ate and talked... and of all the things Eddie said, little told Harry just what he could be expecting at this new school. He supposed he would do all right, he'd gotten good enough marks in all his classes so far.

Soon enough, they were standing in the drive to Number 69. Eddie helped him off the motorcycle and began to unload the packages. "Well, Harry. You've got the address, do you?"

Harry nodded. "I do. You're not coming with me?" he had suddenly realized that the Hapschatts were less than likely to take him.

"Nah, I got work to do. " Eddie smiled, as though he knew what Harry was thinking. "Oh don't worry... they're spooked enough. The less they see of me, the happier they'll be. And taking you to the school is the easiest way to do that." he clapped him on the shoulder once more, kick-started the bike, and headed down the street.

Harry blinked as he suddenly no longer heard the noise of the motorcycle and looked to see if Eddie was ok.

But he was gone.

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