Chapter 2: Ollivanders in Galahad

[Galahad City, the Avalon Region]

Harry looked about him, his eyes opened wide out of fear he might miss something. Part of him was utterly afraid that the city would fade away, revealed to be nothing more than a dream he had come up with in the little cupboard.

"Careful now!" a foreman called out, directing a massive looking creature with a bright red nose (which reminded Harry of his uncle after a night of drinking) and bulging muscles. The Pokemon was holding a pair of concrete pillars, setting them in place so a duck-like Pokemon could add water to the concrete mix that had already been poured. "That's it… that's it! Good job!" The foreman, showing not an ounce of fear, walked up to the large Pokemon and patted it on the back. "Nice work, buddy!"

"Con… con dur!" the muscle-bound Pokemon declared.

"You ok, 'arry?" Hagrid asked, looking down at the boy with concern. "Ya need to sit down again?"

Harry shook his head. After his little fainting scene, Hagrid become apologetic and fretted over him like a mother bird after her chicks. Harry, embarrassed by such treatment, had assured Hagrid he was fine and that there was no need for the large man to carry him off the ship. The giant had smiled after a while and returned to telling Harry stories about the school they were headed towards and Pokemon and trainers, but truth be told it all went over Harry's head. It was like trying to read an entire novel in an hour and then being asked what punctuation the author used on page 213.

So Harry had decided to do as he always did when forced into situations without any real prep time: he went with the flow, nodding in the right places and doing his darnedest to avoid drawing attention to himself.

Of course, that was easier said than done. The moment he had stepped off the yacht he had been looking about, jaw dropped and eyebrows nearly lost in his mop of shaggy dark hair. One would have thought a million thoughts would have been racing through his head, but instead it was one single idea that took a firm grasp in his gray matter upon stepping foot in the Avalon Region.

'Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would hate this'.

All around him there were people and Pokemon working together, playing together, and just hanging out with each other. A fruit vendor who tried to get Hagrid to buy a bag of berries was joined in his hawking by a purple monkey Pokemon with what appeared to be a hand at the end of his tail. In the park Harry had passed there were toddlers giggling as a yellow and brown Pokemon used some sort of magic to make their toys fly in the air; the children's mothers were seated nearby, one stroking the head of a purple and yellow Pokemon that looked like a baby. An office worker was hurrying down the street, a weird metal Pokemon with magnets on its sides floating behind it, letting out pings.

"Come on, 'arry!" Hagrid said, holding the boy's hand as they made their way towards a large red and white building. The front of it had a large pokeball symbol above the door; directly below it were three other symbols: A medical cross and a shopping bag flanked a large letter P with two slashes through the it.

"What is this place?" Harry asked, struggling to keep up with the large man. At least Hagrid wasn't doing it on purpose; Aunt Petunia would always yank on his arm, even when he was running, just to get him to move father. Hagrid didn't realize that his long strides were hard for the boy to keep up with.

"This be a Pokemon Center, 'arry," Hagrid said, leading the boy into the building. Though not as crowded as the street, the Center was still quite busy. It looked, to Harry's young eyes, like some architect had taken a hospital, a jewelry store and a bank and smushed them together. There was a small waiting area to the left where a few teenagers were gathered, looking over some magazines. Just past this was a counter where a pretty red haired woman in a nurse's uniform was happily handing a man back some pokeballs. To his right a blond man in a long brown duster with a red hood was standing with a gray elephant-like Pokemon, passing over a credit card and accepting camouflage-colored pokeballs.

But these areas were just little offshoots. The entire back wall was dominated by a long row of tellers' stations where people of all ages lined up. Each teller was dressed in a green button up shirt and wore identical ties with the same strange P logo on them.

"Bankers," Hagrid said as he made his way to one of the shorter lines; above the teller there was a sign that read 'First Time Accounts'.

Harry glanced at the tellers, surprised that at least 3 of them looked near identical: curly black hair and a black goatee. Each of these tellers were also shorter than Harry, standing on a special platform as they worked.

Seeing his confused look, Hagrid smiled. "Round 'ere, there are a few families that not only look alike but also are skilled at a certain job. See that there lass tendin' to the Sandshrew?" Harry didn't know what a 'sandshrew' was, but he did see the nurse looking over a tan creature. "That there is one of the Joy girls... most of'em end up becoming nurses." Hagrid looked around before shrugging. "Ain't no Jennys around... them lot end up in the Aurors."

"Aurors?" Harry asked.

"Police officers. There are also the Don Georges… they run the fighting tournaments. Now, for the banks, those end up bein' run by the Josephs. Nice fellas, just don't make a comment about them bein' on the wee side... they have nasty little tempers." Hagrid reached down and rubbed his shin, it obvious that he had learned that painful lesson first hand.

"Name?" Banker Joseph said when their turn came.

"'arry Potter. We're 'ere-"

"I know why you are here," Joseph said coolly. "You wouldn't be in this line if you weren't here to get a credit card. If you aren't here for one then get the heck out of line and stop wasting my time." When neither moved, Joseph quickly began to tap some commands into his computer and before long a small plastic card popped out, which he handed to Harry. "Do you know the restrictions?"

"N-no sir," Harry said.

Joseph sighed. "You have a set number of pokeballs that you can purchase every month. As a first year you should currently be at five. There is a four potion quota. No repels or escape ropes, and don't even think about trying to get a great ball or a super potion until you meet the requirements. Oh, and vitamins are off-limits." The banker looked skyward, ticking off more points rapidly. "You are allowed the standard school uniform but any extras will have to wait till next semester and even then there is a spending limit that the tailors will let you know about. Same with you Dex; nothing but what is required for class.

"Let us see... according to this," Joseph tapped a few keys, "your parents set you up to get an upgraded backpack. No bikes or skateboards but you shouldn't be needing that, since you aren't old enough to run the Gauntlet." A few more key strokes brought up the information Joseph had been looking for. "Hmmm... well, it looks like your parents really wanted to set you up right, Mr. Potter." Joseph looked up at Hagrid and smirked. "Full access to Ollivanders."

Hagrid nodded his great head. "Course James and Lily would want Harry to go there!" Under his breath, he muttered, "Should have gotten one of the Potter starters, though... mercy be on-" Looking down, Hagrid realized Harry was hanging on every word. "Right... we'll just be on our way."

The banker merely waved them away, shouting "NEXT!" as a chubby little boy came up with a woman that appeared to be his grandmother.

"Aren't we going to get my things, Hagrid?" Harry asked as they bypassed the Pokemart desk.

"Aye, 'arry, but not 'ere. Pokecenters are mostly for travelers and such. We're gonna head to Diagon Alley to get ya all squared away." The large man frowned, wondering if he was forgetting something, only to shrug and lead Harry back onto the street.

~3 Hours Later...~

Harry remembered Dudley and his friends watching a movie about a girl who got caught in a twister. He hadn't been able to actually watch it with them, choosing instead to hide around the corner and sneak glances before Aunt Petunia had burst in, shouting about how the film was awful and giving Dudley money to go get ice cream instead.

The sight of the farm house being flung about in the storm kept flashing in the boy's mind as Hagrid led him down Diagon Alley. It symbolized his emotions quite well.

Never had Harry received so many things at once, and never had they been new and solely for him. At Madam Malkin's Gear For All Environments Harry had found himself the center of attention as a group of saleswomen let out little awws as they helped him try on different shirts and pants. Hagrid had tried to explain to them that Harry's credit card wouldn't allow him to pay such things like waterproofing on the gray jacket that he was told was standard at Hogwarts, nor the running shoes that the saleswomen proclaimed would let him dash through tall grass.

"Nonsense!" One of the women had proclaimed. "We'll figure out a way around those regulations... it's the least we can do for the Boy-Who-Lived!"

After receiving similar treatment when they had gone to get his backpack (which, to Harry's surprise, contained the same mass shrinking devices as pokeballs, thus allowing him to shove his new set of clothes inside without even making it bulge) and at Flourish and Blotts, Harry had asked Hagrid why they kept calling him the Boy-Who-Lived.

"... best let Dumbledore explain, 'arry," Hagrid had said, before directing his charge towards the Pokeball Shop to get his supplies.

Despite all the new information that threatened to overload his mind, Harry had found the trip quite enjoyable. He loved his new outfit especially; the saleswomen had said that they'd never seen a child so excited to try on a pair of pants, a white t-shirt and a pair of running shoes. Of course, they didn't realize that all of Harry's clothing were Dudley's hand-me-downs, which were normally filthy, full of holes, and stained with old blood… usually Harry's.

"Bloody 'ell!" Hagrid suddenly exclaimed, pulling Harry from his musings. He looked up at the large man, who was pulling his beard in agitation. "Can't believe I bloody well forgot!"

"Hagrid?" Harry asked.

The giant man looked down and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "'arry, I need to 'ead back to the Pokecenter and pick up somethin' for Prof. Dumbledore. Normally we'd go together but we are runnin' out of time... do you think you can manage in Ollivander's by yourself?"

Harry licked his lips, forcing himself to nod while silently repeating in his mind over and over that Hagrid wasn't going to try to abandon him like Uncle Vernon had that one time at the grocery store.

"That's a good lad," Hagrid said, patting his shoulder. "Now... go on and get ya Pokemon."

Harry blinked, eyes going wide as Hagrid's message registered through the fear. His own Pokemon! One of those fantastic animals was going to be his? Not Dudley's or some other boy but his? He'd seen how everyone worked and played with their Pokemon and the boy felt his heart clench at the thought of getting his own Pokemon to call his own.

Nodding a bit more firmly, Harry turned and hurried into the shop directly before him, a grin threatening to break his face.

Ollivander's Pokemon Emporium gave off the impression that the owner had begun with the idea of owning a curio shop before suddenly doing a 180 and turned it into a pet store. The floor was littered with eggshells that crunched every time Harry took a step. The tables and shelves looked to be a hundred years old and were lined with all sorts of gizmos, do-dads and thingamabobs. On Harry's right there was a wall covered with photos of different men and women standing next to Pokemon of a wide variety. On the opposite wall there were rows and rows of card catalogs, each labeled with strange titles like "GOLDENROD 12" and "ABYSMAL RUINS"

"Harry Potter."

The boy let out a yelp, turning to find an old man standing behind him. The gentlemen was dressed in a lavender long sleeve dress shirt that was half tucked in and a pair of jeans worn at the knees. On his belt there hung six miniaturized pokeballs, though these ones were a bright pink instead of red and white. His white hair was quite frizzy and stuck up in tuffs as if he had been gripping it in his fists. He looked down at Harry over his nose, smiling as though he knew some secret he was dying to tell.

"Yes... I'm Harry Potter," Harry said softly. He still wasn't use to people knowing his name and wanted to ask them why they seemed to taken by him.

"You look so much like your mother," Mr. Ollivander (for it was clear to Harry it could be no one else) said quietly, more to himself than the boy. "Not in the face or the hair... your father's genes are strong there... but it is your eyes... and your spirit. Timid, unsure... but a fire and a strength that is just waiting to be released. She was scared too, her first time, but she didn't stay scared. You'd be best to remember that... as you will face many tests, just as her."

"You... you knew my mum?" Harry asked, his tone almost pleading. All he had ever heard about his mum had been his aunt's rantings that she had abandoned the family and that if she had just stayed home everything would have been so much better.

"Torchic," Ollivander said to himself, his eyes glazing over in thought. "Level 5... a spirited little chick. That was the first sign. The last one I ever gave out... the family that bred them for me died during the war, killed because they let them be used by 'lesser families' and now none of my regulars can find any wild ones... such a shame. Still... your mother and that Pokemon were quite a good fit."

Mr. Ollivander leaned down, cupping his hand over his mouth as if he were afraid someone might be listening in. "That is the trick though, you must know that. The trainer doesn't pick the Pokemon... the Pokemon picks the trainer. So many of youngsters think they can just pick out a tough looking Pokemon or one who had a relative win a battle against the Elite Four... but it doesn't work that way. Pokemon must trust you and you them, for you rely upon each other. You give them food and care and they in return battle in your name. How can there be any trust if you simply pick one at random without thinking about its needs?"

Mr. Ollivander shook his head and made his way over to one of the tables, picking up a device that looked like a cross between a blood pressure sleeve and a tv remote. He suddenly fell to the ground, grabbing Harry's ankle and ripping his shoe off before placing the sleeve over the boy's leg, almost to the knee. he touched a few buttons on the remote, which let out a few melodious pings before he quickly tore the cuff off and began to measure Harry's fingers using a spool of tape. Harry nervously pulled his shoe back on as Mr. Ollivander consulted some notes.

"Hmmm... yes, yes... let us start simple, shall we?" Mr. Ollivander hurried over to one of his curio cabinets and pulled out a pokeball. "A Lv 5 female Hoothoot." He placed the ball in Harry's hand and the boy yelped when it bounced against his palm before jumping back into Ollivander's grasp. "Yes, I thought as much. A bit too on the nose, I suppose. Perhaps in a few years. Let us see. Perhaps something a bit more advanced." He ran over to a table and lifted up a glass cover to reveal several pokeballs. "A Lv 8 male Pikachu!"

Harry caught the ball, only to do a little jig when a few low watts of electricity zapped him. It was no worse than a static shock but it was enough to startle him. Ollivander ran over and took the ball, replacing it in the case. "Hmmm... that one was for a hero... but I see you aren't quite the hero it needs right now." He went over to his card catalog and began to yank out drawers, manically sifting through the contents of one. "Let us see... ah, perhaps a touch of destiny!" He darted behind a desk and pulled out a camouflage-colored poekball. "This one was brought in by Jack Kenway himself not a few hours ago." Harry didn't even have time to ask who Jack Kenway was before Ollivander plopped the ball in his hand. " He said it was Girafarig... lv 6 male."

This ball felt warm to the touch and Mr. Ollivander rubbed his hands in delight as it began to dance in Harry's palm. The old man's smile fell when the pokeball stopped and just laid their without a single twitch.

"You... I have not had such a tough customer in quite some time. Any other provider might turn you away in disgust... but not I! I relish the challenge!" Mr. Ollivander grasped Harry's head and looked him in the eye, tilting the boy's head back and forth and side to side. "Could it be? No, no it could not. It simply isn't possible and only a madman would think that was a good idea!" The old man suddenly grinned. "Let's try it."

Harry, with utter trepidation, followed Mr. Ollivander as he made his way to a bookcase. The Pokemon Provider pulled on a dusty blue tome and the shelf moved, revealing a wall safe. Spinning the dial several times, Mr. Ollivander opened the safe's door and pulled from within a black pokeball with silver trim.

The ball leapt from his fingers and struck Harry in the chest, making him yelp. There was a flash of red and the boy looked down in surprise at the Pokemon that had emerged. At first the boy was utterly confused; the ball looked so grim and dark and the little brown Pokemon that had emerged looked so happy.

His worries dissipated the moment the little Pokemon leapt up, forcing Harry to hug it as it licked his cheek with its rough tongue.

"A lv 2 male Eevee," Ollivander said softly, watching as the Pokemon wiggled around to find the best spot in Harry's arms. "One of the rarer types; almost impossible to find it in the wild. Many trainers want to have one due to evolutionary line."

"Evolution?" Harry asked. Hagrid had explained a bit about Pokemon and how they evolved with time and experience.

"Indeed," Ollivander said, reaching down to stroke Eevee's head. "It can evolve eight different way; the only Pokemon to do so. There are many breeders who seek it out."

Harry swallowed, looking down at the Eevee and feeling a sudden burst of dread. So many times in his short life he had believed he would finally get something of his own, only to have it snatched away by his relatives. It appeared that the furry little animal in his arms was just another thing he longed for that would be snatched away.

"I… I don't think I can afford it. The banker said I had full access to your shop but-"

Ollivander waved his hand, already grabbing Harry's credit card (how he had known it was in Harry's jacket pocket, the boy didn't know). "Even if you didn't I would let you have this one. It is clear you were meant to have this Eevee and I could not call myself a Pokemon Provider if I took him away." Mr. Ollivander suddenly got a faraway look in his eye. "Perhaps… perhaps this is my chance to make up to you my small part in all that happened…"

"Sir?" Harry asked softly.

"The last Eevee I provided to a trainer was this one's father. A powerful Pokemon… and a powerful trainer. I knew they would do amazing things… and they did… they did amazing things… terrible things… but amazing…"

Before Harry could ask what the old man meant he felt a thump on his shoulder and turned to find Hagrid standing there, grinning ear-to-ear. "I see ya got a Pokemon, 'arry! And it is a right cute one, too. Like me Snubbull, I would say." Hagrid turned Harry towards the door, the boy twisting his head to catch a final look of Mr. Ollivander, who was rubbing his hands together and muttering to himself. "Personally, I have always preferred cute Pokemon. Take a Graveller… now that is a cutie!"

"I'm so sorry," Mr. Ollivander whispered as Harry was led out of the shop.

Author's Notes: A few quick comments.

1) I told one reviewer that I would not be mentioning levels. I lied slightly... as you can see, I did mention them here but this will be the only time I do so. I needed a way to describe the pokemon and this was the best way to do it.

2) I went through a long debate about what Harry's Pokemon would be. First it was a Natu, then Eevee, then a Hoothoot, then a Pidgy, then back to Natu till finally Eevee. I decided that the idea of great potential was what was needed here. I want each character's pokemon to reflect aspects of their nature and make sense for the character.

3) As hinted by Hagrid and Ollivander, starter pokemon are a big deal and I will cover them soon enough. I will be interested to see what people think about them.

4) Jack Kenway is the first of many original characters that will be mentioned. If there is interest, I can post a bio of all the OCs as they appear in the author's notes, just let me know.

5) Finally, the Bankers are my answer to the goblins. I knew I couldn't have them... but luckily Pokemon came up with families of identical women (and now men, thanks to the Don George family) so Banker Josephs will appear several times.

As always, review! I answer every review and will answer questions!