Chapter 12: Despicable creatures!

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'Despicable creatures,' Loki muttered. 'The disgusting spawns of dark elves and humans. Do not trust them.'

Harry snorted as he walked towards the entrance, glancing at the words engraved above the door. 'You don't want me to trust anyone.'

'Do not trust anyone, but especially don't touch the goblins,' Loki reworded without any obvious trace of humour in his telepathic voice.

Ignoring the guards by the doors, Harry wandered into the bank. Fortunately it was still too early for there to be large queues and he moved straight up to the counter. The goblin looked up sharply as he walked up to him.

'Um, they can't sense you, can they?'

'Most likely not. Perhaps one of their Elders could, but a cashier could not be one. Hopefully not anyway.' Loki seemed cautious.

Harry pulled a few thousand pounds of stolen money from his pocket and waved it in front of the teller. "Could you convert this to wizarding currency for me please?"

The goblin snatched it from his hand, sniffing it before nodding tightly. He pulled open a draw and began to sort through it, withdrawing gold, silver, and bronze coins.

"17 sickles in a galleon, 29 knuts in a sickle. One galleon for an expanded pouch to hold them," he explained swiftly as though he had said this a thousand times before.

Harry nodded and took the bag from the goblin, turning and walking from the band with only a glance backwards, already planning his route to his next destination.

As he came the entrance of Knockturn Alley he stepped into the shadows and made sure no one was watching before lifting his wand and beginning to weave an illusion around himself.

Quick illusions were never as good as ones that took longer, but they had been all Harry needed for his scar. This, however, was very different.

Illusions focused upon oneself were far easier than ones that were not. Disguising yourself as far taller than you actually were for an extended amount of time was still very difficult, however.

Harry modelled his illusion upon Loki, making him wear quite an ordinary black cloak. That meant he wouldn't have to focus on any details underneath, which was one of the harder aspects of illusion.

When doing an Asgardian illusion you had to subconsciously focus on the details of it at all times so that it remained unchanged. This was far easier for Asgardians with their vaster minds, but Harry was able to do it with a lot of help from Loki, who was possibly the best at it currently living.

The god was able to form dozens of illusionary forms and once and sustain them for some time – more than long enough for him to sneak up behind his opponent as slip a knife between their ribs.

Eventually Harry completed the illusion, and when he stared into the mirror, a person who looked a lot like Loki stared back.

'Do not touch anyone,' Loki reminded him. 'We do not want to be forced to hold a telepathic and photokinetic illusion simultaneously.'

Harry nodded before making his way down the alley, making sure to take the longest steps he could and walk with confidence in his stride.

Loki had taught him that no one would attack him or suspect him of anything if he looked as though he was meant to be here.

It seemed to work because with an arrogant sneer befitting of the real Loki on his illusionary face, no one dared question him, but that just might have been the nature of the kind of people that dwelled within this alley.

Harry seemed to pass all manner of shops, selling different versions of the things that were within Diagon Alley.

He passed shops with pets, potions, and all manner of forbidden options. A quite non-discreet sign on the front of one seemed to imply it sold muggle slaves, something Loki thoroughly approved of.

A few bookshops seemed to litter the alley, but Loki immediately dismissed them as too blatant. It was not until they reached deep into the alley that he ordered Harry to stop.

'Wait' he murmured, directing Harry to look at a shop on his right. Its windows were dirty, affording them no view of the inside. Atop its door sat a sign, slightly tilted downwards. It read Haysmith's Books.

'Why this one?' Harry questioned.

'The man who just entered wore the clothes of a noble and walked confidently though was clearly alert. If that is not a competent wizard, I do not know what is,' Loki explained. 'Since we do not know what we are doing, we must take the advice of the locals, whether they know it or not.'

Harry made sure his illusion was still secure before striding forward and pushing the door open. Immediately the attention of the two other people in the room was upon him.

There was the black-haired man who had just entered and a shopkeeper with greying blond hair. His illusionary form nodded at them before moving over to the corner where the books appeared to be kept.

Even with his back to the men, Harry could still sense that they were staring at him. He supposed that Haysmith didn't get many new customers.

Harry focused on looking at a reflection in front of him to ensure that neither of the men made an attempt to attack him whilst Loki looked over the books through his eyes.

Finally Loki decided to only take a few for now, rationalising that they didn't want to be walking down Knockturn Alley without any hands free. After a moment, Loki chose three books, all relatively slim.

Harry paused on his way to the counter, grabbing what appeared to be an ordinary wand holster. He also went to pick up an enchanted dagger but Loki insisted that one made by himself would be infinitely more reliable.

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