Twin World: The Gold Night

by sitara85

AU. They were legends in their own world and prophesied warriors in another. Follow the Potter twins as they make their way in a brand new world.

1. Intro to a Whole New World

Hey everyone,

I am Sitara85 and this is my first fanfic that I am posting. I will be posting the first chapters of one or two other fanfics over the next few days. If you guys love or hate this fic I would love to get reviews from you. I will probably choose which fic I continue posting chapters to by how many people review for each of them. It starts out slow but it will pick up with some action in coming chapters. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and the characters you don't recognize from Madame Rowling amazing literary works.

---

Albus Dumbledore was drinking tea and making a note to himself to pick up more lemon drops the next time he was in Muggle London when his deputy headmistress suddenly rushed into his office.

"Minerva, dear, what has you in such a hurry this morning?"

"Albus, you'll never believe what happened this morning. I was walking down by the lake when all of a sudden two children appeared as if they had APPARATED and collapsed in front of me. They did not respond when I spoke to them or shook them, so I took them to Poppy. She shoed me out as soon as I went in with them and I immediately came here to tell you. But, Albus that is not the end of it. The young boy looked almost exactly like James Potter, only he has scars that James does not have." The normally prim and proper head of Gryffindor quickly informed him, obviously quite flustered.

"That is quite intriguing dear. Since you say one child looks so much like James he may be a relative. We will contact the Potters' and then go down to the infirmary to wait for them to wake up. I do believe the only answers we will get will be from these mystery children themselves," Albus said, as he got up and headed to the fireplace.

He took some powder from the pot on the mantel, threw it in the fireplace, kneeled down and stuck his head in the flames as they turned green.

"Potter Estate, Den Room, password: Ravens abide by Ale," he yelled into the flames.

Suddenly his head was spinning and he was quite glad his glasses had a spell included which repelled ash. When his head stopped spinning and the informal den room of the Potter residence came into focus, he called for Lin, one of the Potters' house-elves.

"Good morning, Master Dumbledore, what can I do for you today?" Lin asked as he bowed.

Albus marveled again at how well the Potters' had taught their elves the old ways, which allow elves to wear clothes and learn to read and write. The Potter elves were always immaculately dressed and took pride in knowing how to speak properly. But most of all, they were happy elves.

"If you could summon Harold, Diana, and James for me, please Lin, I would greatly appreciate it," he answered the cheerful creature.

"Certainly, right away sir and it is my pleasure."

"Thank you, Lin."

"You are welcome, sir," the little elf replied as he popped away.

A few seconds later the Potters' were coming into the den, each with a different degree of curiosity expressed on their faces, varying by age and temperament.

"Good day, Albus," Harold said. "We were not expecting you and from the look on your face this is not a pleasure visit. What can we do for you?"

Albus smiled somewhat distractedly and responded, "No, I am afraid it is not a social visit. Something came up at the school. If the three of you could come through the fire, there is something we need to discuss."

"Of course, right away Albus," Harold answered.

---

After Albus's head disappeared from the fire, both Harold and Diana turned to look at their son.

"What," James said, rather indignantly, "I did not do anything. No use to in the summer when I would not be able to see the results."

The two looked at each other and nodded, silently agreeing that their son was telling the truth, this time.

Diana shrugged and said, "Well, then we should go see what this is about."

She took some floo powder, threw it in the fire, called out the address and password for Dumbledore's office, with her husband and son quickly following her.

Once they were seated in Dumbledore's office with Albus in his chair; Harold, Diana, and James on the couch; and Minerva, fidgeting, in the remaining chair, James spoke up:

"I am not in trouble, am I?" James asked, rather nervously, after seeing that his head of house was also there.

"No, no dear boy," Albus chuckled, "Minerva found two children on the school grounds this morning while she was walking. When they did not respond to voice or touch she took them to Poppy, who has thankfully not left for vacation yet. What puzzles us is that one of the children looks quite a bit like James and we wondered if you would be interested in staying and finding out who they are when they wake up?"

"Albus, you know we do not have any other relatives, you are not thinking that are you?" Harold questioned.

"No, and the castle is actually very happy to have these children here. In fact, this is the most active the castle has ever been in my experience, which tells me that these children are no threat. I just thought there might be something to the resemblance, and you might be curious."

"I am," James interjected, "if he looks like me like you say, I would like to know who he is. Say we will stay Dad, please?"

"Alright, we will stay," Harold replied.

The group got up and headed down to the infirmary. As they neared the doors the nurse, Poppy Pomfrey, came out.

"Oh good, Albus, the girl is waking up. Before you go in I need to speak with you about them. The rest of you might as well stay.

"They are suffering from magical exhaustion, the boy more so than the girl so it will be at least a day before he wakes up. They are both true Elves and twins, so they have a strong bond between them. The dimension jumpers, forced jump, mark is on their necks. Albus," Poppy hesitated, "they also have older scars consistent with severe abuse. It looks as if they were removed from that situation around the age of eight, but they may still be more wary of adults, so James may get more answers out of them than we will."

"Okay, what do you need me to do?" James replied, being quite serious for once.

"If she does not answer me then just ask her if she is hurt or if she feels sick, standard follow up questions, you are quite familiar with them," Poppy quirked her eyebrow at him and he blushed.

"How old are they?" James asked, as he was about to open the door.

"As far as I can tell they are around 14 or 15," Poppy answered and walked through the doors into the infirmary.

---

When the group walked in they noticed the girl was fully awake, sitting up, and watching them with a look mixed of curiosity and wariness. Her eyes lingered on James, somehow surprised and, yet, not surprised to him.

James seated himself in the chair between her and her brother's bed as Poppy bustled around casting diagnostic charms. He was intrigued to see that the girl ignored Poppy the way Remus did, as if she was used to the hospital matron.

She had deep auburn hair, he noticed, darker than Lily's, the only other girl he had seen with such deep red hair. It was as if this girl's hair were black underneath and dark red on top but every hair looked to be the same color individually. She was tanned with a vaguely Middle Eastern look about her. Dusky, rose red lips and thin eyebrows accentuated her dark sapphire-emerald eyes. A lightning bolt scar ran over her left eye and another jagged scar ran from her right temple to the right edge of her lips. Her eyes were sparkling, with laughter, he realized, as he blushed at the fact he had been caught looking and smiled back at her.

"You probably want to know who we are," she sighed as she glanced from the adults back to him.

"Yes," he answered, deciding that being straightforward would be best. He was rewarded to see her smile at him again, and he felt the strange urge to protect her and her brother, as an older brother would with younger siblings.

"I imagine you have already figured out that we are from an alternate universe." He nodded since she was still looking at him.

"What day is it?" she asked.

"June 29, 1975," His dad answered this time. She did not look away from him. It was a little unnerving being the subject of her eyes; it felt as if she were probing into every layer of him and finding places in himself he did not even know existed.

"Then our world is exactly 20 years ahead of this one to the day. My name is Hazel and my brother's name is Harry. Our dad's name was James Potter, we are your counterpart's children," she said. After the shock settled deep into his bones she turned her eyes toward her brother. It was a relief to be out from under her scrutiny, but he could not help but feel a loss at the break in eye contact. Though at the moment he was not sure what all he was feeling. Protectiveness. Anger, at whoever had caused the saddened look haunting her eyes, there even under the laughter. Curiosity. Guilt. But predominantly shock.

He looked at the boy, his counterpart's son. No wonder they looked so alike. It was typical for Potter men to take strongly after their fathers. The main difference he could see was that Harry had a darker skin tone, like his sister's. He looked back at her. She was leaning back and looking out the window opposite her bed now.

"Mom and Dad died when we were one. We were sent to live with our Muggle aunt and uncle. Aunt and Uncle did not like magic or anything they saw as "abnormal" and treated us accordingly. They abandoned us when we were 6, along with their son, who had shown some signs of being magical.

"When we were eight we started displaying Elven magic, which is not just typical accidental magic for children. The use sparked Elven instruments which monitored when part-Elf children first begin showing signs of Elven magic. Someone was sent to speak to our guardians and upon seeing that we weren't living with any adults they took us and our cousing back to the Elven realms. We later went to Hogwarts and we will be in Sixth year now. We can take OWLs again here if you need us to, but we probably should not try to do History of Magic since our history may differ slightly from yours."

"That sounds fine to me. You and your brother may take the tests after he wakes up," Albus said. "When do you think he will wake up?"

Hazel looked over at her brother again and replied, "He should sleep for all day tomorrow and then wake up early on July 1, considering his amount of magical exhaustion. It is a pretty normal, if heavy sleep. He will wake up nice and refreshed and so hyper I will want to strangle him within five minutes. It is his pattern for recovery after magical exhaustion, after the one day of extreme energy when he first wakes he will be back to normal," she rather flippantly responded.

Then she tugged her blanket up, lay fully back on her bed, and closed her eyes, obviously dismissing anymore questions.

Everyone walked over to Poppy's office where they would be able to talk without disturbing her and still be able to keep an eye on the two teens.

"You know, we never did ask her how old they were," James stated.

"No we did not, did we," Diana said.

"So what are you going to do with them, Albus," Minerva asked.

Poppy interjected before he could reply, "They will stay under my care until her brother wakes and I can run some diagnostic spells on him to make sure his magic is back up to sufficient levels. Then it is up to you, Albus."

"Actually, I think it should be up to the two of them. I get the feeling my counterpart may have forced some things on them they did not want or need and they are smart enough to choose wisely," Albus contemplated.

"But they have no place to go," Harold said.

Diana straightened at this, she had been watching the emotions playing across her son's face, and she came to a decision when she saw the pain and determination in his eyes and face.

"We can offer them a place to stay at our house," Diana spoke up, and was rewarded with a relieved and thoughtful look from her son. "If they choose not to take us up on it that is their choice, but we can at least offer."

Harold smiled at his wife and nodded, and James smiled and left the room to go sit by their beds again.

Hazel had turned on her left side to face toward her brother's bed. James tucked the blanket up around her shoulders and sat back down.

Harold and Diana were watching their son and smiled. Albus conjured a sofa for them. They sat down as Albus and Minerva left, and Poppy went back into her office.

The Potters settled down to wait for the children to wake up to learn more about their semi-grandchildren.

A few hours later, Hazel began to stir again. When she opened her eyes she smiled, James was asleep in the chair next to her and his parents were curled up on a couch that Dumbledore must have conjured because it was his trademark flamboyant, comfortable style. Then she realized what had woken her up; Harry was moaning and tossing in his bed like he does when his nightmares first start. She quietly climbed out of bed, walked over to his, and climbed in. He settled down pretty quickly after she put her arm around his stomach and laid her head on his shoulder. She tucked her feet under the bottom of the blanket, not bothering to cover up any more, it was a warm night. A few minutes later she was asleep once more.

---

Morning, June 30, 1975
The next morning James woke up, disoriented for a moment until he realized Madame Pomfrey must have moved him to a bed during the night.

He turned his head and saw his parents quietly talking while sharing breakfast with Poppy. She noticed him and motioned him over, making room for him at the table and putting food on a plate for him.

He padded over in bare feet so he would not make noise, reveling in the feel of the cool stone in the summer heat.

"How are you this morning, son?" Harold asked, whispering.

"I'm alright, the shock is wearing off but it is still hard to process. They are my counterpart's kids. I wonder who he married.

"It does explain why I felt so protective of them almost as soon as I walked in. Magical parents have connections to their children, after all, so it follows that I would have some sort of connection with them because my magic is probably really similar to his. Not exactly the same, but similar enough to warrant a connection," he answered as he picked at his food. He was not very hungry this morning.

"That does make since," Poppy assured, "and it might be good for them to have a big brother. Especially one who can help them smile."

"You know whispering does not work with Elves. We have heightened hearing," Hazel mentioned, still in bed.

Harold and Diana blushed, James laughed. Poppy just smiled and went over to the bed.

"Do you need anything this morning, dear?" Poppy asked.

"Some breakfast and a tooth-cleaning charm, or my wand so I can do it," Hazel answered. "Where is my wand?"

"In the bedside dresser, here you go, sweetheart," Poppy handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said as she waved her wand at her mouth, "That is much better."

James chuckled again and brought over a plate of breakfast foods for her.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked her.

Hazel went quiet for a moment, looked out the window and wistfully replied, "I would love to go flying."

Diana looked toward Madame Pomfrey, "You are perfectly healthy, I see no reason you can not go flying for a while. So long as you do not come back with any broken bones." She warned.

"Yes, ma'am," Hazel laughed and stood up. She transfigured her pajamas into day clothes, Muggle style jeans and a button-up, short-sleeve blouse. White sneakers transfigured from the hospital slippers completed the outfit.

"Okay, who is coming with me?"

"I will," James immediately volunteered, eager to go flying himself.

"I will as well," Harold spoke up, "It has been a while since I have gotten the chance to enjoy flying."

"But we did't bring our brooms with us," James mentioned, disappointed.

"No matter, James," Dumbledore said from where he had just walked in the doors, "the school received a donation of Quidditch equipment this summer and a new set of brooms was part of it. Top of the line brooms as well, Nimbus 550s. You may use those."

"Thank you, sir," James called as he tugged Hazel out the door.

Harold shared an amused glance with his wife and followed after his son.

Down at the Quidditch Pitch James took Hazel to the broom shed and grabbed three brooms. He handed one to her and then his dad. They jumped on and took off.

James immediately went up high, doing barrel rolls and loops, gearing up to practice dives. Hazel took some practice laps, turning, stopping, starting, and rolling to get comfortable on the broom. Harold took some practice laps and then did some barrel rolls and loops, leisurely enjoying his first chance to be on a broom in a number of months.

Then Harold noticed that Hazel had climbed higher even than James and was turning toward where he and James were hovering, watching her. As they watched she flattened herself against the broom and before they could blink she had already hurtled twenty feet closer to the ground. Harold was frozen, James, beside him, yelling at her. And right before she would have nose-dived into the ground she pulled up and skimmed the tips of her toes in the grass right above the ground.

Staying just above the ground she stood up on the broom, left foot in front. Swinging her right foot back and forth beside the broom, higher and higher, she back flipped and landed nicely back on the broom handle, hesitating only a second before she brought her left foot up and held it above her head, rotating on the broom with her right foot, spinning herself around as the broom kept moving forward at a quick but steady speed.

Harold and James were now in the teacher's stands sitting on a bleacher, watching her perform. They noticed Remus, Peter, and Sirius walking toward the Pitch with Remus' and Peter's parents. They had noticed the person flying and come to check it out. Harold waved them up to the stands. They settled in without a word, transfixed as he was with this young lady performing aerial feats he had never imagined were possible.

Hazel was in her element, as she dived she left everything behind and entered into her own little world. All that existed at that moment was the broom, the air, and herself. Coming out of it she stood on the broom and began to practice some aerial acrobatics. A back flip followed by a slow spin with her left leg going from as high as she could manage to out at the waist. She turned to face the tail of the broom, her left foot pointed with only the balls of her feet on the broom. She pressed down with her left foot, leaning backwards to maintain balance as her broom gained altitude. Twenty feet, thirty feet, forty feet in the air she finally leveled out and cart wheeled forward toward the tail.

Instead of going all the way through with the cartwheel she continued to support herself with her hands and arms, her legs in a split above the broom. Walking her hands forward a few inches to be at the center she began to spin like a gymnast on the horse beam. After spinning three times she planted her feet behind her, linked together around the broom, rolled the broom over so she was hanging beneath it with just one hand and her feet around the broom. She released her other hand and hung upside down. Rocking her upper body back and forth she grabbed hold of the broom again. Releasing her feet she moved her hands so she was holding the broom like an uneven bar. She began to swing her legs back and forth, spinning all the way around the broom twice, she let go as her lower body came to just above the broom. Twisting and flipping in the air she barely grabbed hold of the broom as she came down. One hand nearly slipping, she quickly swung her legs back up and onto the safety of the flying stick. Laying back on the broom and catching her breath she finally became aware of the world around her once more. Birds were twittering and chattering excitedly, sitting atop the goal posts. But it was a shout:

"Oh my heavens," from the direction of the teacher's box which had her whipping her head that way. Startled that she had forgotten James and Harold were with her and that they had been joined, she blushed. And was sincerely glad she was far enough away that they could not see it.

She let out a sigh, sitting up and turning around to straddle the broom properly, she flew over to join them.

"Hi, I forgot you two were with me," she addressed James and Harold as she dismounted into the teacher's stands, "much less realize that you were joined."

Wiping her hands on her jeans she added, "Afternoon everyone, I am Hazel and sweaty enough you probably do not want to shake my hand right now," she muttered with a rueful laugh.

Remus smiled at her and she had to catch her breath again. He had an amazing smile.

"I am Remus Lupin, this is Sirius Black, and Peter Dubhe, my parents John and Amber, and Peter's parents Lucas and Catrina. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Could you teach me how to do that?" Sirius burst out, unable to contain his excitement. Remus and James both looked on with interested expressions while Peter shook his head.

"My brother and I can teach you, James, and Remus," she began, holding her hand up when she saw a number of the group about to speak, "on certain conditions.

"Number One - Remus' parents and James' parents must agree to it.

"Number Two - My brother or I MUST be with you when you are practicing any of the stunts we show you.

"Number Three- a magical safety net must be fashioned underneath where we teach you and where you practice.

"Number Four- you must listen to us and not disregard a rule we give you because you think it is stupid.

"Number Five- you must keep your grades up, if your grades are not at least Acceptable then we will not hesitate to stop the lessons.

"Number Six- we abide by parental rules as well, if they tell us that they have more stipulations for your lessons or that you have broken another rule of theirs and part of the punishment is not having the lessons then we will respect their wishes.

"You break any of these rules and we will not hesitate to charm your brooms so that all you can do is fly no higher than fifty feet and no faster than thirty miles per hour, turn, stop, and start. You will not even be able to barrel roll.

"Understand?"

"Yes," all three boys chorused.

"Peter, you can learn, too, if you like," Hazel added, "but I thought from your earlier head-shaking at these three that you would not be interested."

"I am not," Peter replied, "thank you for the offer, but I would rather keep my feet on the ground."

"Okay," Hazel said, "I think I am going to head back inside now."

"Yeah, us too," James said, "What about you guys?" he asked the others.

"We were coming to see you," Amber replied, "a house-elf at the Manor said you had come to Hogwarts yesterday and not returned so we decided to meet up with you here. Diana invited us to stay for a while; we were worried when you were not home because she is always so good about remembering when people are coming over. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine," Harold answered as he made his way downstairs following James and Hazel, who were a couple of feet ahead of everyone else.

"Professor Dumbledore called us yesterday after Minerva found Hazel and her brother unconscious on the school grounds. It would be better to wait until we are inside and seated to tell you why he called us. I am still trying to process it. James is doing a much better job of accepting it than I am."

"Okay, that is fine," John broke in. The adults remained silent after that.

Sirius, however, leaned over toward Remus and Peter, saying, "Is it just me or has James adopted her as his little sister?"

"It's not just you," Peter whispered back. "I feel for any guy who wants to date her, she's already got a brother and now James has appointed himself older brother. No guy will have an easy time dating her."

"Yes, but she is good looking isn't she," Sirius mentioned. "What do you think Remus?"

"Yeah, very pretty," he muttered and then focused back on Sirius, "but I get the idea she can take care of herself just fine."

"Um hum," Sirius mumbled as he watched his best friend turn and watch every move of the girl walking 20 feet in front of them. He looked at Peter and they shared a knowing expression with each other, their friend has a crush.

Twenty feet in front of them Hazel was sure she was blushing Weasley red to the tips of her hair.

"What's got you blushing?" James asked. "I did not say anything embarrassing, especially considering we have not even been talking for a few minutes, just walking together."

"Nothing, nothing, I am just flushed from flying," she replied, rushing the first words. James just smirked at her.

She elbowed him in the ribs.

OH MY GOSH, she thought, Remus likes me and they are right, James is becoming my big brother, but, OH MY GOSH, REMUS LIKES ME! And he's so cute, those gorgeous amber eyes he got from his mom, that tawny-golden hair, and that easy smile. I am so forming a crush and Harry is going to tease me to no end. James will give Remus a hard time too, he is really stepping into the role of big brother pretty well, after all, and he knows Remus better than I do and does not know that I already know he is a werewolf.

Her train of thought ended as they reached the entrance doors. Remus, Sirius, and Peter caught up with them and the adults were not far behind. They headed for the infirmary. As soon as she stepped inside she grabbed another set of hospital pajamas and a set of towels, headed to the shower and got cleaned up.

While she was in the shower the group outside talked.

"Alright Harold," Lucas began, "what's with the two children and why does the boy looks so much like James?"

"They are from another world," Diana answered for him, "they have the forced jump mark. Hazel told us that their world is 20 years to the day ahead of this one. She and her brother, Harry, are James' counterpart's children. When the boy wakes up we are going to offer for them to join us at home, but I think it should be their decision, I get the feeling they have not been given much choice in what has happened to them up to now, I do not want to take it away from them even without meaning to."

"That is a lot to take in," Cat agreed, "well would you still like us to stay or do you think Sirius, Peter, and Remus should stay with us?"

"Oh, you should still stay," Diana reassured, "having the boys around may help. They need friends their own age."

"There is more isn't there?" John stated more than asked.

Remus looked toward James and realized his friend was nervously fidgeting, brushing his hair back like he did when he did not want to talk about something. He stared at his friend, knowing it was the best way to get him to crack.

"My counterpart and his wife died when Harry and Hazel were one," he finally gave way, "Harry and Hazel were sent to live with their magic-phobic abusive aunt and uncle and were abandoned when they were six."

"Apparently Elves have a way to tell when part-Elven children first begin to use Elven magic and went to talk to them and their parent/guardians when they were eight," Harold interjected. "The Elves took them and their cousin, who had been abandoned with them, back to the Elven realms. Later they went to Hogwarts. Now they are here. That is about all we know."

"That and she is a wicked flyer," Sirius said.

"And she is a wicked flyer," Harold repeated, smiling slightly. You could always count on Sirius to try and lighten the mood.

"And I am 14, my birthday is July 31st, when my brother and I will turn 15, but you have not asked me that yet," Hazel informed them as she walked out of the shower. "You should also learn more about Elves before you try to have a private conversation only the next room over, stone walls or not, water running or not, I could hear you plain as day."

She continued as she walked over to sit by James in the love seat he was in.

"My brother and I would love to come and stay, Mrs. Potter."

Diana gave her a piercing look and said, "Call me Diana, dear."

"--Diana, then. We'll just need to go shopping for clothes and the like after he wakes up. It would also be good if you guys stay with us, Mrs. Dubhe-"

"-Oh, Cat, please sweetie."

"Cat, there are a number of things my brother and I can teach you guys if you give us the chance. Things that may save your life someday, but you will need to stay with us for the summer."

"Do not worry about making the decision now. You can wait at least a week. See for yourselves that we really are good at defense. Do not just take our word for it."

That said she leaned over toward James and whispered in his ear, "It's not your fault, and it was not my dad's either. Don't beat yourself up over it."

She settled against him and laughed the next second when Sirius's stomach growled.

---

During lunch, which the house-elves brought to the hospital wing, Remus could not help but keep glancing at Hazel. She was a great conversationalist, knew when to pursue something and when to change the subject. Her friends' interests became hers. The observation encouraged him, she valued the people and relationships in her life not just her interests or possessions. He would bet she was very protective of her brother under the flippant, he will be fine, attitude.

She was beautiful. Rich, smooth, soft voice. Long, flowing hair and a body with curves in just the right places. Creamy, dark skin and shimmering blue-green eyes. She was dressed to accentuate the positive points of her looks and she was good at it. Not that she needed to accentuate the positive any more. Low-rise, just below the waist, fit faded blue jeans and an emerald green snug cotton tank top brought out her eyes and darker, Indian looking, skin tone. Not too thin, she would probably fit perfectly in his arms.

Whoa, he brought himself up short, where did THAT thought come from?James would kill me if he knew I was thinking something like that, he really is going into older brother mode, which is understandable, but still.

"Remus, are you alright?" James asked.

"Yea, yes, fine."

"You zoned out on us a minute there."

"Just thinking, you know. I wonder when Severus will be able to join us," Remus improvised.

He did not realize the statement would cause a reaction in Hazel. But it sure did. She straightened and turned her gaze on him. And it was not the thoughtful, content gaze of the girl who moments before was talking to Peter about the normal habitats of ferrets while occasionally offering advice to Sirius and James on a prank they were planning. It was the intense, questioning gaze of a warrior just given a new piece of information that would affect her battle plan against the enemy.

"You are all friends with Severus Snape?" she nearly demanded rather than questioned.

"Well, yes," Sirius answered for him, "we have to keep it under wraps because his uncle would kill him for hanging out with us but he is, why?"

"Is he not in Slytherin?" she countered instead of answering.

"Sure," this time Remus answered, "but so am I. There is nothing wrong with being in Slytherin after all."

"So there is not an extreme rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin here?"

"No, why would there be?" James asked, intrigued.

"I do not know, I guess I will just have to find that out," she said as she got up and headed out of the hospital wing.

"Where are you going?" James called.

"The Library," she yelled back and kept going.

"Did any of you understand what just happened?" queried Peter.

Remus replied, "No, Peter, I think we are all in the dark on this."

"Hey boys," Diana came over and asked them a little later on, "Where's Hazel?"

"She went to the library about twenty minutes ago," Remus replied, "we are not sure what for."

"Okay, I guess we will find out when she comes back."

Two hours later, Hazel came skipping back into the room.

"What are you so happy about?" Harold asked from his seat in the circle on the floor where they were playing Gobstones.

Hazel sat herself between Remus and Sirius where there was the most room. She was a bit squished but did not complain so they did not move.

"I just found out something that is going to make my life so much easier here, that is all."

"What did you find out?" Sirius asked.

She leaned slightly against him to take the throwing marble for her turn and answered, "Salazar and Godric came up with a plan in our world that worked well for their short-term goal but had some very far-reaching consequences.

"To defeat the dark leader of their time Salazar pretended to be prejudiced against Muggleborns and Halfbloods. Godric and Salazar staged a fight between them and Salazar left to join the dark lady. About two months later a huge battle broke out; during the battle Salazar attached the lady's followers from the inside. When Godric made his way over to the lady, Salazar and Rowena cast a spell to keep her followers out while Godric and Helga defeated her.

"However, legend got twisted over the years and many people in our world believe Salazar really was prejudiced and evil. There is a lot of prejudice against anyone in Slytherin house simply for being in Slytherin. My brother and I were sorted into Slytherin when we joined Hogwarts. Everyone treated us as if we would be the next dark lord and lady simply because we were smart and we were in Slytherin."

She leant toward Remus this time, reaching over him to grab a snack of grapes off the plate on the other side of him. John was sure he saw his son blush, and he perked up thinking about what that might mean.

"The fact that they did not do that here changes many things. Even though Slytherin house is still known for turning out some dark people the ones who were on the side of the light are just as well known. It is also not taken for granted that every evil or bad person is from Slytherin. There were too many Aurors and others from our world, adults and teens, who automatically assumed that someone who made the bad choice to follow Voldemort must have been from Slytherin. They were much too surprised when Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and Ravenclaws were uncovered as Deatheaters. We will not have as much problem with that here."

"Good, then," Harold commented.

And the game continued. By the time they stopped for dinner everyone had gotten their share of stinky gob juice. They remained in their circle for dinner and just ate picnic style on the floor.

As they were finishing up dinner, Peter queried, "How can we learn about Elves without constantly bothering you and your brother? There are not any books on Elves in the library that I know of."

"There are some but you have to know where to look, and you have to read between the lines with a lot of them. I will get them out of the library for you all tomorrow. Also, if Mr. or Mrs. Potter will take me to the Potter vaults then I can get some of the better books out of there."

"Harold, please Hazel," Harold said, "and there are books on Elves in the vaults?"

"Yes," Hazel answered, "you just have to know where to look there, too."

"Cool," James exclaimed.

"Sorry, Remus," Hazel apologized, "I did not mean to jab you in the ribs."

"S'okay," answered Remus, trying not to grimace.

When Remus' parents and Peter all glanced quickly at Peter's parents, Hazel swallowed her question, instinctively knowing that Peter's parents had yet to be told about Remus' condition and realizing that they had not seen him wince. Instead, she lightly squeezed his left forearm, hoping to convey to him that she knew and understood.

Remus looked at her, she just smiled, squeezed his arm again and let go, turning back to finish her dinner. Sirius, James, and Remus' parents all picked up on the byplay between the two, wondering exactly what it might mean.

"So, Hazel, what year are you and your brother in? Fifth, right?" Sirius asked, effectively redirecting the others' attention.

"If it were just by age then we would be, but our Elven guardian, Zata, sent us to Hogwarts early because our human magic was increasing just like our Elven magic was, since we were practicing it, but we did not know how to effectively control our human magic. We are only one year ahead of the year we are supposed to be in so we will be in the same year as you, Sixth."

"Oh, well, how are your grades? You do not have trouble because of the higher level or anything do you?" Harold asked.

"No," Hazel answered, "We do just fine."

"What about you four," she added, "how do you do in school? Tests? Homework?"

Peter answered this time, "I do okay on homework and tests, not stellar. James and Sirius make excellent grades on tests but hardly ever do as well on homework. Remus does the best, excellent test grades and homework grades."

"Well, if James and Sirius want to learn to do aerial feats like my brother and I can then they will have to get on the ball with homework," she nonchalantly replied. "When I said they have to keep grades up I meant on assignments as well as tests and their overall grades."

Sirius and James gave each other horrified looks at this, but silently decided learning to pull off such cool stunts would be a good enough reason for actually trying, they shuddered at the thought, in school.

Hazel smiled and redirected the conversation again, "What do you adults here do for jobs?"

"I am an Auror," Harold answered, "and John is my partner, actually."

John nodded and then Amber spoke up, "I am a healer at St. Mungo's."

"I work for the bookstore in Diagon Alley, Flourish and Blott's, finding books for them to buy and forming relations with overseas partners and customers," Cat said.

"I work for Ollivander partially and as a supplier for Care of Magical Creatures professors all around the world. I specialize in obtaining rare, exotic creatures. Occasionally I also supply creatures for Defense teachers," Lucas added.

"My work is with the Unspeakables," Diana quietly stated, "and I can not say anything more about it."

"Understandable," Hazel replied, mentally cataloguing all of their careers and the possible strengths and weaknesses each career suggested about the people.

Conversation during the rest of dinner centered on more trivial things. The group all felt they had covered enough serious topics for the day and picked up on the fact that Hazel was getting tired, still recuperating from magical exhaustion as she was, they were not surprised.

Not long after dinner was cleared away Hazel fell asleep leaning against Remus.

"I think it is time to put her to bed," Harold said with a smile.

Diana added, "The rest of us should probably get some sleep as well, since her brother will most likely wake up tomorrow and it will be a busy day."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Remus you can probably go ahead and put her with her brother, she ended up with him last night. Just put her on top of his blankets and tuck another one over her feet and legs."

Remus nodded and deposited her beside her brother. He grabbed another blanket and covered up her legs.

Everyone else grabbed a bed, the adults making beds larger so they could share with their spouses.

---

July 1, 1975

Harry slowly woke up, in possession of some basic facts. First, his mouth tasted as if he had been asleep for a few days at least, he remedied that with a flick of his wand he found by touch on the bedside table. Second, he had to go to the bathroom. Third, he was lying on a Hogwarts hospital bed in a pair of the distinctively itchy feeling pajamas. And fourth, there was a head on his chest up under his chin, an arm across his nose, and a leg on top of his. Since he was not reacting to the person's presence he would bet it was his sister.

Sure enough, he opens his eyes and sees his sister's trademark dark red-black hair tickling his chin and face, fanned out as it tends to get while she sleeps. Deciding that waking her as he tried to get out from under her would be unavoidable he gently lifts her off him and more to his side. Her eyes open and she murmurs,

"Nice to see you in the land of the living again, little brother," Hazel moved aside more so he could climb off the bed. "We're going shopping for clothes and other basics, today," She added as he walked to the bathroom.

Hazel was sitting up on a bed with what must be a younger Remus Lupin, he notes as he comes back out of the bathroom.

She turns to Harry and says, "Hi, Harry, we are in an alternate universe, so they all know who we are. It is July 1, 1975 and this is Remus, if you have not already guessed."

"I have," he answers cheerfully as he skips over to their perch. He could not help it, he is just so hyper.

"Can we wake the others up so we can go already?" he asks.

Hazel rolls her eyes, "Transfigure your pajamas into day clothes first and Remus and I will wake the others."

"Okay," Harry happily replied.

Remus had to choke back a laugh. He and Hazel woke up the adults first, then Peter. Harry was finished changing his outfit as they were trying to wake James and Sirius.

"Oh, let me wake them up, please," Harry pleaded with Hazel, "please, please, please."

"Okay," Hazel easily surrendered, a wicked glint entering her eyes.

"Yes," Harry cheered, bouncing forward to the side of the bed Sirius and James had ended up sharing because they had been talking, most likely planning something, the previous evening when they fell asleep.

Pulling out his wand, Harry conjured a bucked over their heads. Flicking his wand in a downward motion the bucket dumped first ice cold water and then honey on them as they jumped up from the shock of the ice water. He then sprayed feathers from his wand, laughing gleefully as they stuck to the honey covered boys.

Sirius and James glared at him until they realized who they were glaring at and James exclaimed, "Hey, you are awake and that was a great prank, by the way. Though, this means war, you know?"

"Bring it on," Harry challenged. By this time everyone else had dissolved into laughter from the spectacle.

"Fine, fine," Harold interjected, "but war can wait until tomorrow, we already have an agenda for the day. Let us get breakfast and then decide where we want to go first."

Everyone nodded and gathered around the table Hazel had conjured. Diana summoned a house-elf, and shortly after a gourmet feast sat in front of them. The table was quiet as everyone dug in.

"Okay, what do you want to do first?" Diana addressed Harry and Hazel.

"Well," Hazel answered, "first we need to go to Gringott's and check out the accounts the Founders left for us—"

"—the Founders?" John asked.

"Yeah," Harry replied, as he tapped his foot, "they are from our universe, too, and Rowena is a seer so she knew two of their descendants would also come here. They set up a separate account at Gringott's for those descendants and here we are."

"Can we go now, Hazel?" Harry whined.

Hazel rolled her eyes and said, "Calm down, we have to have some sort of plan since we are in such a large group. We need the basics, clothing, school supplies, and books. Also, I am sure you want to visit a music store and I want to visit an art store and a fabric shop. That means we need to go to Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Muggle London. Since we need to visit Gringott's first anyway we can make all of our Diagon Alley stops then. After that we can just go to Muggle London from The Leaky Cauldron, and then we can visit the stores in Hogsmeade on the way back here."

"That sounds good, but don't forget that I want to go to Quality Quidditch," Harry reminded her.

"Quality Quidditch is definitely a stop, who do you think I am?" Hazel replied. "Now let's go."

"Yes," Harry enthusiastically shouted and ran out the door. The rest of the group looked on with dazed looks and just followed him out.

Once the group got to Gringott's, Hazel went straight to the desk with the plate Ancestral Vaults Claim inscribed upon it. The goblin looked down at her from his perch eyeing her casual attire of Muggle flared, dark green jeans and a dark brown cami with tan embroidery. She was with a few people the goblin didn't recognize, and, oohooo, the Potters.

"I am Hazel Potter from the realm of White Earth, heir of Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Helga Hufflepuff," she spoke in fluent Gobbledegook, including correct body and hand gestures, "this is my brother, Harry Potter."

Harry took over at her motion, nodding slightly down and to the right, in greeting, as he spoke, "We are here to check the vaults, shares, and land our ancestors set up for us when they first came here. It is the Heirs of Hog's Haven's White Earth vault."

The goblin's eyes widened at these two young human children's excellent use of goblin language and gestures, and then their claim registered. He looked more closely at them and realized that they were, in fact, Elven not human. Still narrowing his eyes in skepticism, he responded:

"Do you have the key?" in Gobbledegook with a gravelly kind of voice.

In reply, Hazel simply took out a flat, round, golden object with shiny platinum like triangular shapes along the side. The heir rune the Four Founders used in the White Earth universe was etched into the middle of the curious token. Just the fact the girl could touch the valuable item had his mind working in overdrive about the implications and nearly had his jaw dropping, a feat since goblins were rarely surprised enough to drop their mouths open.

He quickly bowed to her and said, "I apologize but we must be careful, we have had people try to falsely claim it once or twice. I must retrieve my manager. He is the only one who may take you down to the vault."

"Thank you," she answered and handed the coin like token to her brother, "and I understand, thank you for guarding our vaults so well."

Digron hurried to Ragnok's office, he had so much to tell his boss. He didn't even give the secretary a second glance when the young goblin tried to tell him Ragnok was in a meeting, he just bared right in, which was very rude and un-goblin like.

The Eldars of the Goblin Warrior Guild stood, hands on weapons. Ragnok motioned them back down when he realized it was one of the young pages working under Ancestral Claims.

"What is the meaning of this Digron? You know that meetings of the Guild are not to be interrupted," the stately goblin demanded.

"Sir, sorry sir," Digron apologized, "but the fabled Warriors of White Earth are here, the Founders' original eldest heirs. They showed me the key, it is authentic and the brother and sister can both touch it. Sir, they also know our language and gestural communication customs exceptionally well, as if they were born and raised goblin."

All the Eldars were alert at the mention of White Earth, the name the ancient alliance had given to the world the Founders had come from. They understood the significance of their heirs from that world now being in this world, which was called Gold Night in prophecy.

Ragnok immediately turned to the Guild Eldars and made his apologies, "Please contact me with times you can come for a make-up meeting, ladies and gentlemen."

"Certainly," the second highest rank of the Eldars answered, knowing all the rest understood the importance of Ragnok's meeting with these two clients.

---

Meanwhile, the group waiting in the lobby was nonplussed. John was the first to get voice back, "You two know Gobbledegook?"

"Yes," Hazel answered shortly.

Harry elaborated, "We are heirs of the Founders, which means we have political sway that others do not. To properly exercise that influence it is necessary to be knowledgeable about the political conflicts and agendas affecting society. To do that, we must be able to communicate with the people those political conflicts involve."

"Makes sense," Remus mused, "would you teach me Gobbledegook?"

"Me too," Peter asked.

"We'd be delighted to," Hazel answered, giving Remus a sidelong glance and smiling at Peter.

Suddenly Hazel and Harry straightened. A rather tall goblin wearing dark brown pants of the finest Acromantual silk, a beige shirt of Egyptian cotton embroidered with gold and silver thread, and dark leather thonged wooden sandals approached them. He wore a dark leather belt carrying a few potions vials, two knives, and a long dagger marked this goblin as a warrior.

Hazel and Harry immediately gestured in the manner of apprentices greeting a master, showing deference by waiting for the warrior goblin to speak first.

His brown-gold eyes sparked at the sight, noting the humility the gesture spoke of. These two Elven teenagers could order him to do as they wished with no respect to him; such was the difference between their partially inherited, partially gifted, and partially earned position in society and his own.

"Greetings, if you would like, young warriors, we can speak more freely in the lobby of your vaults. I am Ragnok, Chieftain Eldar of the Goblin Warriors' Guild, and Head Goblin of Gringott's. I will be at your service today. Would you like for your friends to come along as well?"

"Yes, please," the girl replied, "my name is Hazel Potter, Unicorn Child, Founders' heir. This is my brother Harry, Phoenix Child, Founders' heir," she gestured to the messy haired young man beside her, whom was also dressed in casual Muggle attire, black jeans and a tan, light green, and forest green vertically striped shirt.

"James Potter is our father's counterpart. His mother and father, Diana and Harold are there, Remus Lupin is the tawny haired young man with amber eyes, his parents, John and Amber are behind him. Sirius Black is the grey-eyed boy next to James, Peter Dubhe is the blond-haired, brown-eyed boy with Remus and his parents, Lucas and Catrina are in the back," she gestured to each as she introduced them.

Harry translated for the others as Hazel introduced everyone.

Ragnok nodded, asking, "Would you like to revert to English so they can understand us?"

"Not until we're in the safety of the vaults," Harry answered, "There are sensitive topics we must discuss and it will be best to have our actual conversation of substance when ensconced in the wards of our vault."

"Agreed," Ragnok smiled, "an excellent observation and suggestion on your part, young warrior."

Harry inclined his left hand, accepting the compliment. It was especially meaningful because goblins rarely give compliments to their own apprentices, much less young apprentices of other races.

Ragnok stopped them in front of a plain wooden door at the very back of the hall, a door last entered 10 years before by goblin only, and last entered by a non-goblin over 1,000 years prior to their current visit. A door that other people in the hall could not see since it was so far in the back and so well concealed by shadows, artfully hidden without any use of magic at all.

"Take your key and place it in the middle of the door," Ragnok instructed. "Then state your name, origin, and heir status, followed by your business here. Mind that it all be in Elven."

Harry handed the key to Hazel and she did as instructed. The door opened and the group stepped in to see two large, comfortable looking carts. Ragnok ushered Hazel into the first and Harry into the second, while he sat in the first. Everyone else split between the two.

Ragnok tapped the front of the first cart with his finger. The carts started off down the tracks and the others in the group marvelled that the ride was much smoother than the normal carts.

Down and down they went, passing stalctites and stalagmites, twisting, turning, and never seeing a vault, but hopelessly lost amid the single tunnel anyhow. And then they saw dragons, not the smaller kind that guarded the vaults on the level with the Potter, Black, and Lupin ancestral vaults, but ones in between the size of the small Ice Dragons and the normal dragons. This unique species were still quite a bit larger than humans however, as even the small Ice Dragons were at least as big as an elephant.

"Those are Faedragons, like the smaller Ice Dragons they are bred specifically for guarding things and their natural habitats are deep in mountains. Much more social than normal dragons, they are very ferocious when intruders threaten their masters or their masters' possessions. No one can come down to the vaults without one of the two of you and you must be in one of these carts when you come," Ragnok explained, in English so that everyone would understand.

Two of the dragons, a girl and a boy, began to follow them. Ragnok spoke to them but they ignored him and kept following the carts. He tried to cajole them back to their posts, but to no avail.

Suddenly, the female roared without blowing fire and made some clicking noises. Harry and Hazel laughed, the young dragon was funny.

"I am sorry, Ragnok, we do not mean to be rude but Aine is funny," Hazel apologized.

Ragnok frowned. " I did not tell you her name," he stated.

"No, she did," Harry quipped.

"You can hear and speak with her?"

"Sure, her brother Ailbhe is funny too," Harry replied again. "They want to see what it is like outside. Can they do that?"

"Yes, if you let them," Ragnok answered, "those two are special dragons, twins. They are the only two dragons we know of that are mixed. We found their mother before she laid eggs. She is a Faedragon, their father was one of the last of the Jeta Dragons, they prefer sunlight but these two twins have been content down here with their mother until now. A trait unique to Jeta's is that even if a person is a beastspeaker the first people to understand them will be their masters, no one else. Congratulations, you have beautiful familiars."

"Really," Hazel questioned. When Ragnok nodded she continued, "I have known the legends around Jeta's since shortly after we first entered the Elven realms, but not much is known about them and some of it is purposefully left out. Amazing, we have dragons."

"Yes," Harry agreed, awed. The rest figured they were going to be remaining speechless throughout the visit to Gringott's, they were already so gobsmacked at everything that had transpired.

Aine and Ailbhe followed them all the way down to the vault, settling themselves across from the vault platform on a two-tiered outcropping of rock.

The group climbed out of the carts, Hazel, Harry, and Ragnok in the front. Large double doors guarding the vault greeted them, large enough for Hagrid and Madame Maxime to pass through side by side and have extra room. Gorgeous solid pine constituted the doors with a burnt on replice of the key at about waist height. Pure Elven silver and pure gold inlays formed a design of a baby unicorn and phoenix playing together surrounded by bronze and cast iron inlays of Celtic and tribal knots.

Harry and Hazel placed their hands upon the Phoenix and Unicorn, respectively, with practiced ease at catching the two romping around. Hazel gave her name, parentage, heir status, Elven MA status, and her titles. After Harry finished the doors opened inward to the vault, revealing a grand but moderate sized hall of white and green checkered tile floors with burgundy marble walls and natural cave ceiiling. Hanging stalactites were casting a rainbow of colors around the room.

A gorgeous purple heartwood rolltop desk and chair were to the right, a small sitting area with a sofa, two large wingback chairs, and a coffee table were situated on a rug to the left. Four doors were spaced at intervals on the wall facing the entrance door. The first door on the farthest left was a medum oak with a honey yellow finish, the second a medium cherry with a clear finish, the third a white pine with a slight green finish, and the fourth a contrast of white birch and black walnut with a slight blue finish.

Ragnok motioned to the sitting area and conjured a few extra seats for everyone. Hazel and Harry sat together in one of the large armchairs that was nearly a loveseat. They faced Ragnok and he began.

"First, we need to go over the parameters the Founders' originally placed on the vault," Ragnok stated, "then we will discuss the contents of each vault and where you can locate complete inventories of the material vaults, the updating statements in the monetary vaults which must stay here, and the schedule for statements to be sent to you. Then we may speak of any questions or considerations you might like to attend to now."

Harry and Hazel nodded so he continued.

"When the Founders created the vault they had a few stipulations. These stipulations were:

"No one lower than the rank of bank manager could handle this vault.

"The security wards placed for entrance to be allowed into the vault, which you have witnessed already." Harry and Hazel nodded so Ragnok continued,

"A fraction of the money earned must be placed in a vault for charity, which is the first door you see on the left. Part of which automatically goes to St. Mungo's and part to Hogwarts, the rest is there for the two of you to decide how it will be used.

"As much as you prefer may be taken from your monetary vault, the second door, and your material possessions vault, the third door; but, specific rules regulate what can and can not be removed from the fourth vault.

"And, most importantly, ONLY the two of you may enter the fourth vault unescorted. Anyone you wish to accompany you must be physically escorted into the vault by one of you."

Ragnok regarded the two of them to gauge their reactions. The young Elves only seemed to be listening intently, not unduly surprised. Hazel nodded that they understood and made a forward moving gesture with her right hand, indicating for him to 'please continue'.

"The Founders' also gave us permission to update shares, stocks, and bonds, and manage properties they owned then and add properties to your ownership. The majority of the stocks, shares, and bonds you hold are with Gringott's, Hogwarts, Potions Parts, Flying Feats, Maritime Minds, Oxford University, Oxford University Press, Woolworths, Apple Records, Debenhams, Harrods, and a variety of other businesses.

"You have a variety of properties in varying places throughout the British Isles, Mainland Europe, the upper coast of Africa, two in North America, one in South America, and one in New Zealand. A comprehensive list of all of your properties and their corresponding values can be found in the second to top drawer in the desk.

"There are three main ones you should be more concerned with. The first was dubbed The Escape by The Founders' and is a large property in the very southern tip of Ireland, from below the city of Cork to the town of Dungarvan, and crossing the Celtic Sea to include a part of England below Bideford but above Bodmin and it's Eastern bounds stretching nearly to Exeter.

"Second, is called the Lost Haven Tree. It is at the coast, stretching across the French/Italian border and includes an island just off the coast from the main property.

"The third is in Romania. It consists of the current Dragon Preserve as well as a couple hundred acres perimeter area not being used. The Dragon Colony is situated right in the middle of the property. You two receive rent from the colony owner in a percentage of the profit from tourists and the selling of dragon parts when a dragon dies."

Ragnok slowed down a bit and wound up, "each of these properties is unplottable and have many safeguards on them. The most well-protected is The Escape."

"There is also a binder listing all your stocks, bonds, shares, etc. in the second to top drawer next to the land properties binder. Both of these are yours to be removed from the vault if you wish."

"Now," the Head Goblin began again, "I have a file in my possession that only I may access. Inside this file is a copy of the properties, stocks, etc. that you own as well as a self-updating copy of your monetary vaults and a rough outline of what occupies your material possessions vault, not including what is in the fourth vault. You may find an inventory of the physical possessions vault at the very front after you go in the green door; there will be three copies, one to leave here, and one for each of you to take. Each of the copies is self-updating.

"Self-updating statements are located at the beginning of each monetary vault, but these may not be taken out of the vaults. A statement can be mailed to you either monthly, quaterly, or annually, whichevery you please."

"Monthly, please," Hazel answered, "but only one, not one for each of us unless we specifically request it. Since we live together there is no use in wasting parchment and ink on two copies."

"That is amenable, do you have any questions or concerns regarding anything else?" Ragnok politely quieried.

"Yes," Harry started, "is there a way to pay for magical and muggle purchases without pulling out lots of money and carrying it around?"

"Certainy, there are two special moneybags along with two regular in the top drawer of the desk. The two special moneybags will remove Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts for their respective half of the money vault, which is split equally between you. All you must do is stick your hand inside and state the amount you need. The regular moneybags can be used to carry money with you for smaller purches, they are charmed to be featherlight and larger on the inside."

"We have muggle style cheques to use in the muggle world. They look fully normal to a muggle but are routed to a special box which is then sent here and the money is duly pulled from the correct vault, exchanged to muggle money, and sent to the business. We also have a special moneyclip which is charmed to hold about 300 pounds worth as made up by 50 pound notes but to only seem as if it has at the maximum 50 pounds to anyone but yourselves. This moneyclip also has a small pouch for coinage, which is charmed to magically expand and be featherlight."

"Both of the cheque service and the moneyclips are free to clients with over five hundred thousand Galleons. Would you like this?"

"Yes, cheques for each of us so they'll pull from the correct half of the vault and a moneyclip each would be wonderful," Harry thanked him.

"Alright," Ragnok said and made a whirling motion with his left hand, immediately a leather bound, zippered folder landed in his outstretched hands. Extending it to Hazel and Harry he said, "here are the designs of cheques we have so far, you each should choose a specific graphic to put as a watermark behind the signature line to personalize your cheques further. There are also moneyclips in the folder for you to choose from. The moneyclips may be engraved or otherwise personalized upon request. Look through those and let me know which ones suit you and what graphic you would like."

Hazel sat back with the folder propped up between her and Harry. She immediately picked out a cheque with a pale gold and blue colour scheme. Harry took more time, flipping the pages and browsing before finally choosing one with a black , bronze, and sage green colour scheme. Next they flipped to the back where a pack of moneyclips were sitting. Hazel took a moneyclip which was gold with an ovular inset of obsidian offset by a small square moonstone. Harry picked out a gold moneyclip with an inset of magical fire opal.

Turning to Ragnok, Hazel asked, "do you have a spare piece of parchment and quill handy, please?"

"Yes, certainly," Ragnok replied and pulled the requested items out of a pocket and handed them to her.

She took them and immediately started sketching something out, after getting a nod from Harry she handed the parchment back to Ragnok. There were two sketches; one of a baby poalth cub, long staff, and bow and arrow; the other of a baby liyont cub, staff, and sword.

"I would like the one with the poalth cub, staff, and bow and arrow on my cheques and engraved on the money clip, and the other picture is for Harry's things," Hazel requested.

Ragnok nodded and motioned for them to hand over their choice of cheque designs and moneyclips. He briefly placed his hand over each moneyclip and handed them back with the appropriate engraving now etched on. Only a second more was needed for him to place the right graphics on the cheque designs and hand back a cheque book with a sufficient supply to each of the teens.

"May I help you with anything else today?" Ragnok inquired.

"Yes," Harry began, "I believe you are aware of the misdeeds of a particularly powerful person in government?"

"Yes, all of the goblins in the Guild have been keeping an eye on that person for quite some time," Ragnok replied. "We have a good deal of information that could help you to confront, if you wish to do so."

"We do," Harry stated, "but we'll need to look over all of the information you already have. I would also like to suggest getting one of your top curse breakers to check people who are close to him for any signs of magical tampering. Would this be possible?"

"Yes, we will be sure to do that. Is there anything else you need today?"

"No, not at the moment, we're simply going to browse our vaults and then head out for the day. We should see you in a week or so. Please do not let us keep you occupied if you have other business to attend to," Hazel politely responded.

"Very well, if you need me then simply speak my name and request my audience, I will receive the message," Ragnok answered and disappeared silently.

"You have shares in Gringotts?" Sirius sounded completely nonplussed.

"We do, too," James added, "so it doesn't surprise me."

"Alright, let's look through the vaults and pick up our copies of the lists, then get our copies of the things in the desk. We'll look at all of it more thoroughly later," Hazel suggested.

Harry grabbed the moneybags from the desk, as well as the land properties folder and stocks folder. He handed the dark blue and sage green moneybags to Hazel. Wine red and butter yellow moneybags were duly placed into his own pockets.

Hazel had retrieved the invoice binder from the charity vault, so they opened the door to the second vault. Mounds and mounds of gold, silver, and bronze coins greeted them. They grabbed handfus of each coin and shoved them in their normal moneybags, sage green for Hazel and yellow for Harry. As they exited they picked up the statements from this vault.

Next was the possessions vault. Everyone was absolutely gobsmacked when they entered it. Five sections separated the room Two trunks were set up just inside the door, next to the stand with the invoice binder, which they duly took. Each trunk had five different colored spots where a key might be placed, except there were no holes.

Hazel chose the solid mahogany trunk with bronze and black cast iron inlays. The buttons were a medium bronze, black iron, dark bronze, silver-gray iron, and aged bronze. Each had an Elven rune for a number out of 1-5 on it.

Elven silver and aged copper inlays graced the midnight black Ebony trunk Harry chose. Copper hinges connected the top and bottom while the keys were all Elven silver with Elven runes for a number out of 1-5 on them.

Harry and Hazel placed their thumbs on the first button to open the trunks, a bright beige light shone out—scanning their thumbprints and magical signatures. Once the scan completed the trunks opened, revealing the first compartment to be a place to store robes, casual clothes, and supplies with a connecting door leading to a small potions' workroom large enough for three people, and housing storage cupboards for completed potions and an ingredient cupboard.

Another door in the potions' room led to a hallway connecting the compartments together. Entering the second compartment from this hallway, Hazel found it to be a storage place for brooms, Quidditch and other sports equipment and a ladder going down into a muggle/magical training room.

The third compartment was a one-level library and music room with an empty space large enough for a baby grand piano and an instrument rack. In the middle of the room lay a dance floor and little rooms for house-elves were off of the library on the left wall.

A forest-like scene greeted them in the fourth compartment. Small herb, vegetable, and fruit gardens were off to one side, a moderate pond on the other with a creek trickling into it. Trees and other wild growth were interspersed throughout the woodsy rooms.

Moderate sized apartments with a small kitchen, a living room, a medium sized meeting room, a bathroom, and a fairly large bedroomed comprised the fifth apartment.

Hazel and Harry were in awe, even the magical trunk they had shared in their world had not been so extravagent as these. The compartments were plain in color, but only because the two had not changed the design yet.

Done with perusing their trunks and placing their folders and such in Hazel's trunk, thy joined everyone else in the first section of the vault, which was the section of clothes and jewelry. Nearly everyone was looking at the tunic-like, and Asian like Elven clothes which were so different from what they were used to. Hazel and Harry first went over and picked up the traditional clothing, robes, and cloaks for the Unicorn and the Phoenix children. Then they walked over to where the others were standing.

"See anything you like?" Harry questioned, rather loudly.

Remus and Harold were the only ones who did not jump. Harold turned, smiled and replied, "Yes, but this is yours."

"Nonsense," Harry answered, "we can't possibly use all of these clothes, especially since not all of them are our size. Feel free to pick out some things for yourselves. We'll put them in our trunks, in separate stacks so we know whose is whose," he continued as he looked through the clothes himself, picking things out.

Everyone else began picking things out, too. Pretty soon they had decent sized stacks of clothes and even some jewelry. Harry and Hazel had the most by far, since they had no clothes in this universe and were trying to stock up.

In the next section Harry and Hazel automatically took over, grabbing their own battle robes and then grabing ones for the others. They also stocked up from the Elven weapons, staves, bows and arrows, swords, daggers, knives, throwing stars and slingshorts with special pebbles.

Lots of books greeted them in the third section. Hazel and Harry picked out different books about Elves, magical theory, Animagus training, battle strategy, warding, prank magic, and some grimories of spells and potions. The others also picked out some books they thought might be useful to the twins including history, politics, magical traditions, and geography books. Hazel, Harry and the Marauders also took enough scrolls of parchment to last them through the year. Also, Hazel and Harry found some empty bindings and loose-leaf sheafs of parchment as well as two journal like books, one with music paper in it and one with sketch papaer in it. They picked out five quills each, some black ink, some blue ink, some red ink, and a variety of other tyes incuding an invisible one with revealer ink.

Next they picked out various cauldrons in all sizes and potions' ingredients.

Finally, they entered the section with Elven musical instruments and Elven magical devices. Hazel and Harry each picked a baby grand piano, Hazel also picked out a pipe-flute, a strange violin like instrument, and a drumset. Harry picked out three different kinds of pipe-flutes, a string bass, a horn, and some drums.

With all of their selections in the trunks as well as the copies of the inventory, they headed out to check out the next vault.

"Okay," Hazel said," Harold and John, you two want to come in with us first?"

"That is what I was going to suggest," Harold agreed, "and the others should wait here. I want to see why there are so many precautions guarding the stuff in this room before the others come in."

Harry nodded and took John by the shoulder, walking into the vault with him. Hazel grabbed Harold's hand and followed.

All four of their jaws dropped, the room was full of magical objects, POWERFUL magical objects. The far side of the room was obviously more heavily warded to be a safe place to house dark ojects. Only Hazel and Harry and people added to the wards would be able to get through. But that is not what they were so mesmerized by.

On the right side of the room there was a display case full of at least seven staves, magical staves, and a table in front of it bearing old wands. Harry went up to the table and picked up a wand made of two woods he had never seen before, and a handle of the purest Elven gold-platinum metal. As he handled it sparks of all different shades of blue, green, red, and yellow, and liquidy colored spouts of silver, gold, bronze, and black erupted from the tip. Warmth flooded through him. He tucked the medium and dark colored wood wan into the empty wand strap on his right forearm. The light and medium colored wood wand with Elven gold-obsidian handle instantly caught Hazel's eye. Yellow, green, red and blue glitter joined black, gold, silver, and bronze ribbons flowing from the wand as she handled it. She, too, tucked it in the wand strap on her right forearm. Both instinctively knew that they would have to make their own staffs, but that these might fit a few of the other teens.

Let's bring them in one at a time later on, Hazel thought to Harry.

Sounds good to me, he thought back to Hazel.

They perused the other objects, picking up ones they recognized, making notes of ones they did not know to look up, and taking ones John and Harold suggested. Putting stuff into their trunks for safekeeping the four made their way back out to the lobby room to meet the others.

"Hey," Sirius asked, "what was in there?"

"Really powerful magical items," Harry answered, stressing the first word, "we got these really cool wands and some other magical objects but there are also some very dark objects in there to keep unwanted people from getting their hands on them."

Peter cocked his head and queried, "Why don't you just destroy them?"

"Well," Hazel began, considering him, "a lot of the objects have to be taken to special places to destroy them but their sheer concentration of Black Magic would attract someone who has used as much as, say, half of what Voldermort has," she was surprised to see no one flinched when she said his name. Inwardly raising her eyebrows, she continued, "So, taking them out of a place with the heaviest protection afforded is unwise at this time."

"And the others?" Lucas asked.

Hazel and Harry exchanged a look, then she set herself. Her feet shoulder length apart, her shoulders relaxed, her arms clasped behind her back, eyes staring off to no particular spot on the wall, seemingly relaxed, but alert, and a tad uneasy, she explained:

"And the others," spoken at barely more than a whisper, only intensifying the groups predominant perception of this surreal outing as something from the stories about clandestine heros and secret ambushes, "can not be destroyed by any ordinary means or any ordinary being, the one who can destroy them will in time, all we know is that only one of those objects is for us to destroy, the rest are to remain where they are until their part in the play of life comes to pass."

"Anyway," Harry managed to shake everyone out of their somber thoughts, " let's go get stuff, come on, can we go to Quality Quidditch now, please?"

"If you whine I'll send you back to Hogwarts before we're done," Hazel replied, raising her eyebrow and allowing just a touch of exasperation to enter her tone. "First we are going to the necessary places and then Quality Quidditch so we can spend more time there. I vote robes first."

"Okay" Harry huffily surrendered.

So they all left the bank vault, Hazel and Harry asking the dragons to meet them at Hogwarts, to make sure they stay out of sight of the village, and not to harm anyone. Aine and Ailbhe agreed and sort of flashed away. The group headed up to the lobby and out of the bank.

Making ther way to Madam Malkins, Harry and Hazel noticed that this Diagon Alley did not look much different from their own. Twenty years young with less dents, one or two different shops, and one or two shops mission but the place was still essentially the same. They noticed the style of cut for robes was slightly different, and typical colors more flambouyant, faces on the people were different but some strangely familiar. The place had a homey feel to it, a throw back in time to before the world morphed into modern isolation and went and got itself into a damned rush. It was an atmosphere that permeated the alley and energized the twins as they thoughtlessly ignored sights most new visitors didn't stop gawping at until their fifth, sixth, or twenty-fifth visit.

Hazel surveyed the selections in Malkin's with practised, critical eye, mentally cataloguing the ones she already knew she absolutely wanted, ones to try on, and formulating designs and fabrics to have others made out of. She immediately picked out a variety of cuts and styles for casual summer and winter robes and a couple for Harry, too. She grabbed three cloaks: one reversible summer cloak, a heavy winter cloak, and a formal cloak suitable for summer and winter Then she looked at Malkin's selection of formal robes.

Out of the formal robes, Hazel chose three. The first was pure white with a silver golden sheen, thin gold lining, and silvery mesh sleeves for the summer. Another was more dress-like, a beautiful blue-green to match her eyes, a braided tie around the waist, long arms with slightly belled sleeves, and a flared skirt with Celtic embroidery in a slightly darker thread along the bottom of it. This one was an all seasons robe. Lastly was another all seasons robe. It was the most robe-like of the three with a the body and skirt of the robe being dark blue velvet, nearly black, and irridescent. Golden film-like fabric covered the loose fitted blue velvet sleeves and a striking white baby unicorn with gold tipped hooves, gold wings, and a gold tipped silver horn reared on the right shoulder.

Harry's formal summer robe was sage green with slits up each side to the thigh and golden, forest green and wine red embroidery of runic and natural designs along the hem lines and cuffs. One all-year robe was blood red with black lining, turned up cuffs and leather cording tying the cuffs, and an eye-hole collar. The other all-year robe was the same dark blue velvet as Hazel's. His sleeves, instead of being covered with filmy fabric like his sister's, were pointed at the wrist, the couple inches of edge being golden instead of blue. The bottom hem was also golden. A bright white baby phoenix with wine red and bronze tipped wings was covering the left shoulder, part of his chest, and part of his back, encircling his neck with the outstretched wings.

"Excuse me miss," Hazel approached the woman sewing something in the back.

The slightly plump, homel lady turned and said, "Oh, I'm sorry dear, my door charm must not be working again, I did not even hear you come in. I am Madam Malkin, how may I help you?"

Hazel smiled and replied, "We already have some purchases picked out, we would also like to have some robes custom made with specific materials that we will have to get elsewhere. Do you do custom orders?"

"Certainly," Madam Malkin answered, "just send me the material and description or sketch of what you want and your measurements and I'll be happy to make them. They will be done within one to three weeks of receiving them, depending on how much and how detailed your order is. Cost will also depend on quantity and detail."

"That sounds wonderful, we'll be back with the materials and directions in the next few days," the girl replied as she handed over the correct change for her other purchases. "Also, ma'am, muggles use little bells attached to the wall over the door, which ring when something on the door hits them as it opens, to let them know someone has come in. You don't have to keep charming them once they're up and we could get one for you and bring it back if you'd like to try one."

"Yes, please," Madam Malkin answered, "I'm ready to try anything."

The girl nodded and exited the shops with everyone else.

"Would the shopping go faster if we split up and all got different things?" Cat asked.

"Yes, a little," Harry considered, "but there are some things we have to pick out ourselves."

"Harry, you can go onto the apothecary and cauldron shop and get what we need since you'll know that better than I will. I'll go talk to Ollivander," Hazel suggested. "Harold, if you and John and Cat could go to Flourish and Blott's and pick out some good books, we're stocking a library so if you think we need it then get it and we'll go over titles before we buy. Amber and Diana, if you could get general supplies and the rest of you can get stuff you think we might need, too. How long do you think it will take you Harry?"

"Fifteen, twenty minutes tops. Can I go now, can I?" he asked, bouncing from foot to foot.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blott's in twenty minutes then, so at 10:30, and from there we can head to Quality Quidditch," Hazel said. "Lucas, could you go with my brother and make sure he doesn't die of excitement or break anything."

Lucas laughed at her delicately raised eyebrow, "Sure, c'mon Harry let's go."

"Finally," Harry instantly bounded off to the apothecary.

"Alright, I'll see you guys in twenty minutes," and with that Hazel was off to Ollivander's.

---

James, Sirius, and Peter were perusing some ink and other joke products at Dervish and Bangs while Remus picked out two watches at the store next door. They heard girls laughing and decided to see who was shopping so early in the holidays. When they turned the corner into the next aisle James split into a big grin and Sirius shook his head.

"Lily Flower," James exclaimed, "how are you this lovely day?"

"Potter, why aren't you at your mansion bothering your friends?" Lily scowled.

Frowning, James replied, "I was just trying to be courteous, sorry that bothers you." He turned to Sirius who was talking to one of Lily's friends, "Come on Sirius, we're supposed to meet everybody at Flourish and Blott's soon, we can come back here later and buy our own things since we don't even know if they like pranks."

"Okay, Jamie boy," Sirius replied, "but do you mind if Shamira and her friends come along, she mentioned they have to go to Flourish and Blott's next so I thought we could walk together."

"Whatever," James muttered and opened the door for the girls.

"So, Shamira," Sirius awkwardly began, "do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, Aria and I are orphans, Lily's parents always have us over for at least a month during Summer hols."

"Oh, do you have good friends at the orphanage?" Peter piped up.

"This one guy, Marc, who's appointed himself older brother to both of us. We like helping out with the younger children, too. I'm pretty sure a good few of them are magical. The Headmistress loves magic, asks us all about school when we get back. I think she's more excited about when we'll be of age than we are, since then we can show her some magic. She gets so excited when kids perform accidental magic, as well. It's a really great place," Shamira exclaimed.

Aria nodded and put in, "Yes, much better than most orphanages, it's just that Shamira, Marc, and I are the oldest and the next oldest is 12 so there's enough difference in our interests to make it hard to be close friends."

"It sounds like you guys have good times on holidays," James said. He passed Lily, who was sulking at the back of the group.

"We do," Shamira affirmed as Sirius opened the door to Flourish and Blott's.

Remus noticed them coming in first and raised an eyebrow at Sirius after taking in Lily's scowl and James' broodiing look. Shaking his head slightly to indicate to Remus not to bring it up, Sirius directed the girls to where the group was meeting so he could introduce them to Harry and Hazel

"Hi everybody," Sirius started, "this is Shamira, Aria, and Lily. Ladies those two are Remus' parents, then James', and then Peter's. This is Harry," he continued as he indicated everyone.

James perked up a bit and queried, "Harry, where's Hazel?"

"Right behind you," Hazel replied in completely normal tones, succeeding in causing James to jump and spin at the same time.

"You know this means payback, right?" he smirked.

She smirked right back and cockily replied, "I'd like to see you try." Walking past James, she leaned into her brother and addressed the girls, "Hi, I'm Hazel, Harry and I are twins. It's nice to meet you."

"You too, but we're supposed to meet my parents at The Leaky Cauldron soon," Lily said, "maybe we'll see you around sometime."

"I'm sure we will at some point, since my sister and I will be going to Hogwarts with you," Harry replied.

"Cool, see you there at least," Lily somewhat distractedly answered as she tugged Aria and Shamira out the door.