Harriet Clover Potter: Year 1

by kosmos00

Follow Clover through her first year of Hogwarts as she confronts the many strange things that inhabit the wizarding world and makes new friends. This fanfic includes a decent childhood, fem harry, Hufflepuff Harry, Hermoine, Hedwig, rituals and Daphne.

1. Chapter 1

Forward: This story came about as a challenge from my sister: to write a Harry Potter piece where Harry wasn't hated by the Dursleys. This story is female!potter since I think that Harry getting a decent childhood is more likely if he was a girl, but not a clone of his mother. With a boy Harry Potter the Dursleys constantly compared him to Dudley. In retrospect I'm not sure if this would actually cause such a big change, but that is the story I wrote. I'll also warn you up front that my favorite aspect of writing is world building, so expect that to be emphasized with a great number of details that may or may not become relevant to the plot. Now the story of Harriet Clover Potter.

Chapter 1: Where the idiosyncratic chapter naming begins:

Harriet Clover Potter moaned when she heard her Aunt Petunia knocking on the door. "Get up Clover. You promised to help cook on Dudley's birthday!" Clover rolled over and fell off the side of the bed with a dull thump. She could hear her Aunt ask, "Are you up yet?"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia, I'll be right out." Clover gave her hair a few perfunctory swipes with her hairbrush before quickly throwing on a skirt and top. When she made it to the kitchen her Aunt was already cooking blueberry pancakes, Dudley's favorite. The kitchen table was absolutely covered with presents for him. Clover saw with satisfaction the red box holding the pair of boxing gloves she had gotten Dudley was near the top.

Petunia saw her as she came down the stairs and gestured at the mess of pans cooking before her, "Help with the bacon and I'll finish up the pancakes."

"Yes, ma'am." Clover joined her aunt and started flipping the strips of bacon while dodging the occasional splash of hot grease. When the bacon was just shy of crispy she pulled them off of the frying pan and sat them on the plate her aunt had laid out for her.

Aunt Petunia finished the last of the pancakes and cut off her half of the cook top before saying, "Fry a couple eggs for Uncle Vernon before you clean up. I'm going to go wake up Dudley."

Vernon stumbled into the dinning room a moment later. Clover finished the eggs and sat the plate in front of him while he poured himself a cup of coffee. He looked up thankfully and said, "I see your working hard this morning."

"It's the family motto, sir."

He rolled his eyes and said, "And I bet you can quote it in fifteen different languages, each more pretentious sounding than the last."

Clover smiled and said, "My favorite at the moment is Portuguese."

"Oh, it was Japanese last week."

"Dudley started laughing every time I said bitokudesu."

Uncle Vernon groaned at the memory and asked, "What was that about anyway?"

"I don't know, some internet thing."

Aunt Petunia lead a blindfolded Dudley into the room. When she pulled off his blindfold he shouted in excitement at the top of his lungs. "Wow mom! There are so many."

Uncle Vernon cheered, "Only the best for our little boy!"

"Dad I'm eleven now!"

Petunia bit back a laugh and corrected, "Only the best for our young man!"

Clover picked up the red box and said, "Happy Birthday Dudley," before thrusting it into his arms.

He said, "Thanks Clover," before ripping off the wrapping paper. His face lit up when he saw the boxing gloves. He hugged clover and crowed, "These are awesome! Now I'm sure to make the team."

Aunt Petunia cut in before Dudley could reach for another present. "Clover and I worked all morning on this breakfast; eat while it is still hot."

"Yes mom." Dudley sat down and served himself a generous portion of bacon. Clover had barely finished her toast when Dudley's plate was miraculously clear again. He washed down breakfast with a huge gulp of juice before saying, "I'm done mom! I'm going to open a few more presents."

Vernon chuckled at his wife's disapproving look. He defended Dudley, "The boy knows what he wants; just like his dad." Aunt Petunia rolled her eyes and stole the comics out of Uncle Vernon's newspaper while Dudley tore open another package.

By the time Piers Polkiss and his mom rang the doorbell Dudley had accumulated an impressive stack of toys. Including a new television and a music player that Clover planned to extort out of her cousin. Piers looked suitably impressed when he saw the pile of goods. Dudley enjoyed his friends thinly veiled jealousy a moment before saying, "Piers! Did you see Clover got me a pair of boxing gloves? They are Everlast, the same type the pros use! I'm sure to make the Smeltings team now."

"We can help you practice, as long as I don't have to fight your cousin."

Clover grinned and made a token protest, "I was six!" She sniffed dramatically, "I have grown into a reputable lady since." And she had. In an effort to distance herself from the girl who had accidentally pushed Piers through a brick wall in the first grade she had grown her once close cut bob of hair out into a respectable ponytail that ended in the small of her back, and Aunt Petunia had even let her take up playing the piano. She had been good enough to win silver at her last recital.

Piers looked at her like she was telling him the earth was flat. Clover cocked an eyebrow dramatically and Dudley cut into the conversation, "I don't know Piers, she might be telling the truth. Last night when Dad asked what we want to see at the zoo she said 'the birds of paradise'. I don't think you can be more girly than that."

"Could the tomboy terror have died at last?"

Clover changed the topic before any more of her embarrassing nicknames came up, "So Piers what animal do you want to see?"

"The lions. I hear the lion was sent to the zoo after it escaped from the circus. It ate six people before they were able to catch it. They have to feed it by throwing meat over the fence since everyone is too scared to go into the cage."

Fifteen minutes later they crammed into the back of the Dursley's car and driving to the zoo. Dudley, Clover and Piers were engaged in one of their favorite pastimes, watching Uncle Vernon complain. Normally listening to people complain would be boring, but Uncle Vernon was different. He had long since refined complaining into a high art. Every time they listened to Uncle Vernon complain they came away with a dozen new invectives and insults as well as a through understanding of how the subject in question was a menace to all upright hard working people. Today the subject was motorcycles and Uncle Vernon was in fine form, "...hoodlums, I saw a newsreel about them. It's all cause their parents didn't love them enough you see. You kids remember that! If you ever get on a bike its a slap in your mother's face. We raised you -"

"Honey we are here."

It was a sunny summer day and the zoo was crowded with families. Uncle Vernon bought the three of them ice cream before they wandered through the exhibits. Clover couldn't help but laugh when a gorilla started miming Dudley's gestures. The primate made it all the way through the macarena before it got bored and retreated into the fake cave it lived in.

The lion was a disappointment. Far far from the man eater that Piers had predicted, the lion was an old cat whose fur hung in clumps. It laid lazily with its mate in the sun on top of a big rock while idly swatting at flies with it's tail. The tiger had been more interesting; it had stalked back and forth near the fence as though it was waiting impatiently for something. Dudley had dared Piers to stick his arm through the fence, but he had refused.

Lunch had been a brief affair underneath the canopy of a fast food restaurant called the wild side. The highlight of the meal had been Dudley's rather impressive pleading as he convinced his parents that he absolutely needed a giant alien head souvenir cup.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It proved to be a great choice as they walked into the cool and dark house just as the afternoon heat was peaking. The reptile house was a pair of huge halls lined on both sides with glass displays where all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Clover ran over to one end of the hall where a pair of huge Galapagos Tortoises were slowly wandering around their pen.

Someone had painted a red number one on the first tortoise and a number two on the second tortoise. She was wondering if they numbered them for races when Dudley grabbed her arm and shouted, "Come look at this!" before yanking her along behind him.

Dudley had found an rather irate Egyptian spitting cobra that had its hood stretched wide open and was cursing in angry hisses as a zookeeper cleaned its cage. To Clover's great distress she could understand the snake perfectly; she thought her ears were going to turn blue from its impressive vocabulary. She immediately followed her Aunts advice for coping with the strange things that seemed to keep occurring around her and pretended absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary.

The cobra finally settled down with a sigh of, "No respect!" when the zookeeper closed the door in the back of the cage. The next cage over was three times as large and had the biggest snake that Clover had ever seen. Clover thought the snake could have crushed Uncle Vernon's car if it had wanted to, but it didn't look interested. In fact it was laying in the big pool of water at the bottom of its cage asleep.

Dudley whined, "Aww its asleep, boring!"

Clover had a short mental argument and decided to break her aunts rules and speak to the snake. It was her cousin's birthday after all. She hissed out, "Hello."

The snake snapped open a single eye and grumbled, "Morning."

"It's afternoon actually."

The snake raised its head up to Clover's eye level and stared at her a moment. Piers interrupted the moment by asking, "You can speak to snakes?"

His eyes widened when Clover quipped, "Snake was after Bear in my copy of Say Hello in a Thousand Ways!"

Piers' excited "Really?" Earned him a pair of disbelieving looks.

Clover finally said, "It's a snake, hiss at it if you want it to do something."

The snake was not amused by Dudley and Piers suddenly hissing at the glass. It looked up at the ceiling in annoyance and said, "Speaker...Your friends are idiots."

"Sorry."

"Not a problem; wait until I tell Maria I met a speaker. She'll be so impresssed." The snake started swaying back in forth while hissing out a love song about his dear Maria.

Clover refused to contemplate what she had just done for a python's love live and quickly hissed, "Goodbye," before moving on the the next display.

Aunt Petunia appeared by her a moment later and asked in a low voice, "You can talk to snakes?"

Clover smiled, she was glad Aunt Petunia wasn't mad after all. She had grounded Clover a week after the time the dishes had come to life. Aunt Petunia quirked an eyebrow at her niece and Clover quickly replied, "Yes, ma'am." They exited the reptile house before Clover had the chance to acquaint herself with any more of the inmates. When they conducted a brief tour of the avian house Clover found to her great relief she couldn't speak to the brightly plumage birds.

Aunt Petunia didn't mention Clover's new found ability to talk to snakes again as they finished their day at the zoo. The ride back to number four privet drive was quiet, they were all exhausted from walking all day.

;

Two weeks later school finally released for the summer holidays. Clover didn't know why they had made them stay that long. Their primary school didn't have final exams, so everyone had already known their grades, and the teachers had collected their text's a week before school ended. So they had watched cartoons for the last week of school.

After lying around for their first week of freedom, Dudley's gang of friends started coming over to play every day. Clover made a habit of leaving the house after she finished her morning chores. Dudley's friends were all nice people, but their was only so much soccer and boxing discussion Clover could handle before she blew a fuse. As long as she was back before dark and didn't leave the area, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon let her wander. After blowing her pocket money on a trip to the mall Clover started visiting the library. She inevitably ended up spending hours practicing piano on the old Yamaha they had hidden in their basement.

On the third week of summer Dudley received a thick card stock letter of acceptance from Smeltings. Uncle Vernon's alma mater. Piers Polkiss and their big friend Gordon were going there too. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had taken them all out to eat to celebrate. After the meal Aunt Petunia noticed Clover's wistful expression and took her aside to tell her that she had applied for Clover to attend her parent's alma mater. She would probably receive a letter from the school any day. Clover had brightened up immediately.

The day after Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform. Clover had tagged along in an effort to get Aunt Petunia to buy her a new skirt or dress out of sympathy. Unfortunately Aunt Petunia was a shrewd bargainer. All Clover had been able to get out of her Aunt was few new hairbands.

That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand new Smeltings uniform. Clover had to bite back a few laughs while Uncle Vernon told Dudley that it was the proudest moment of his life. It got harder when Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins. To Clover's great amusement Dudley went bright red at the unfortunate nickname.

Clover decided to make sure she got a copy of Aunt Petunia's pictures for future blackmail. Dudley was standing there blushing in a maroon tailcoat and a pair of orange knickerbockers. On his head was a big flat straw hat called a boater. He also carried a knobbly stick used for hitting other student's when the teachers weren't looking. It was supposed to be good training for later life. The practice vaguely lined up with Uncle Vernon's second motto, 'Fair play has no place in business.'

Dudley had such a serious face when he asked her later if he looked alright. Clover didn't have the heart to tell him how funny she found the whole outfit. She bit back a laugh and assured him that he looked fine. Dudley hugged her and assured her that if her parents school didn't come through then Uncle Vernon would pull some strings and they could all go to Smeltings together. Clover hoped not, she loved her cousin, but the Smeltings girl's uniform was even worse than the boy's.

The next morning Clover was flipping through the mail when she saw a letter addressed:

Ms. H. Potter

The Lilac Bedroom

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. Clover flipped the envelope over and saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. Clover idly wondered if she had a stalker like the celebrities before passing the envelope to her Aunt Petunia.

Aunt Petunia startled when she saw the letter. Her face went a bit pale but she gave Clover a determined smile and said, "It's from the School, I'll talk to you about it tonight."

"Wait."

Aunt Petunia's voice took on a firm no nonsense tone. "Tonight."

Clover knew that tone. She bit back a sigh and said, "Yes, ma'am."

Later that night when Clover was about to go asleep for the night Aunt Petunia came and sat on the end of her bed. She had the letter clenched in her hands. Clover gave her Aunt a small smile and said, "Aunt Petunia what are you so upset about?"

"I'm not...I knew this was coming." Clover thought she sure sounded upset despite her denial. Aunt Petunia sat the letter down on the edge of the bed. "Before you open this letter I want to tell you … a story."

"Auntie?"

"Your mother and I had a falling out over a letter like this. You see your mother was a witch." Aunt Petunia saw Clover's hurt expression and pinched her. "Not like that silly." Aunt Petunia's face became grave again, "Though it took years for me to figure it out. I mean your mother could do magic."

Clover's eyes went wide in realization. "The weird things that keep happening..."

"Are magic, strange things always seemed to follow you mother around." They sat on the bed and talked a bit about the magic world until Aunt Petunia finally had to ask, "Your taking this awfully well."

"I'm trying not to shout 'I knew it!' at the top of my lungs." Clover blinked as another thought occurred to her. "Auntie is this why strangers sometimes seem to know me? I remember that one time a man walked up to me and said 'thank you' before breaking down in tears."

"Thats...A different story." Aunt Petunia sighed and asked, "What did I always say when you asked how your parents died?"

Clover mimicked her aunt's voice, "I'll tell you when you are older." Then her face lit up in sudden realization.

Aunt Petunia smiled at her niece and said, "You are older now." Aunt Petunia patted the mattress and Clover moved beside her. "I don't know all of the details, I...wasn't on the best of terms with Lily and Vernon doesn't even know the magical world exists." Aunt Petunia took a deep breath and started, "Before you were born a man became corrupt with evil magic and declared himself Dark Lord Voldemort."

Clover's face was puzzled and she spent a moment idly fiddling with her bangs while wondering if her question was inappropriate before finally asking. "Flight from death?"

Aunt Petunia chuckled bitterly, "I always thought it was funny too. But from what I understand, back then most people really thought that man had used dark powers to become invincible. Your parents fought against him and so he hunted them down. No one really knows what happened when he found them, but you were found in the wreckage of your parents house and the dark lord was no more. Albus Dumbledore brought you here afterwords, I didn't really realize how bad my relationship with your mother had become until Dumbledore told me she was dead. Lost in a war I didn't even know existed." Petunia took a deep breath and instructed, "Open your letter."

Clover ripped open the thick parchment letter and read. At the top of the page in big looping handwriting were emblazoned the words: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Clover looked up at her Aunt confused. "I don't want to make you sad auntie."

Petunia squeezed her. "You could never make me sad, you darling little girl."

Clover hugged her Aunt and whispered, "Thanks." Her Aunt kissed her on the forehead and sat the letter on the small bedside shelf. Clover smiled at the unspoken command to sleep on the decision and sat her glasses on top of the letter before Aunt Petunia turned off the light.

The first words she said to her Aunt the next morning were, "I want to go."

Aunt Petunia nodded in acceptance before returning to cooking. Clover and her aunt had just finished the sausage when Dudley and Uncle Vernon made it to the kitchen. Once everyone was seated Aunt Petunia announced, "Clover got her acceptance letter from Hogwarts last night."

Dudley started laughing, "Wow what a stupid name."

Clover glared. "Smeltings isn't much better."

Uncle Vernon and Dudley protested in sync, "Hey!"

Aunt Petunia gave them a long suffering look and said, "I plan to take Clover into London tomorrow to buy her school things. Dudley isn't tomorrow Piers' birthday?"

"Yeah, he's taking us to a theme park. I think I'm tall enough to ride the big coaster now."

Clover frowned a moment then realized how subtly her Aunt had changed the subject. She briefly wondered why Aunt Petunia didn't want Dudley to know about magic, but quietly swore to help her anyway. She was sure her aunt had reasons.

The days wait was killing Clover. She ended up running to the library and started working though her entire music book. Several times she stopped and the middle of a song and started pacing excitedly before forcing herself to calm down and play. She kept forcing herself back to the piano until Mrs. Candor the long suffering librarian walked down to the basement and told her the library was closing.

She had to run to make it back to Privet Drive before it got dark, but her aunt and uncle didn't say anything when she ran in minutes before her curfew heaving for breath. She fidgeted as she quickly completed the rest of her daily chores and went to bed early so the next day would come sooner.

; )^{{{{[{

Aunt Petunia found the worn silver ring Dumbledore had given her when he had left Clover behind. When she slipped it on her finger she felt a small rush as the ring's magic protected her against muggle deterrents.

Clover was waiting with breakfast laying out on the table when Aunt Petunia made it down the stairs. Petunia chuckled at her excited niece and asked, "Eager are we?"

Clover shot her aunt a shameless smile and nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

Aunt Petunia grabbed a piece of toast from the pile and asked, "Did you make enough for your Uncle and Dudley?"

"Yes Aunt Petunia, I left it in the warming tray." Clover stared at her aunt as she took what seemed like ages to eat a few pieces of fruit and another slice of toast.

Finally Aunt Petunia sat her napkin on the table and asked, "Do you think the boys will be able to handle themselves while we're gone?"

Clover bit back a quip about Dudley burning down the house. She was afraid Aunt Petunia might take it seriously and then they wouldn't get to go to London. A few moments later they were waiting at the bus stop to catch a ride into London. While they sat on the bench Clover listened as her Aunt Petunia gave her the basics of the wizarding world, "Wizards call people who can't use magic muggles."

"So your a muggle Aunt Petunia?"

"Well... yes, I am, but while we're on this shopping trip you need to call me a squib if anyone asks."

"What does that mean?"

"It means someone who is from a magical family but doesn't have magic themselves. They are looked down on in magical society, but its better than being considered a muggle. These people normally won't even do business with muggles."

"That doesn't seem very fair."

"It isn't. So you'll your aunt a squib if asked right?"

"It all seems so very mysterious like were agents in one of Dudley's movies."

Aunt Petunia put her hands over her mouth and made a noise like electric static before saying, "Come in agent Clover...We have a new assignment..."

Clover started laughing at her aunts antics and didn't stop until the bus pulled up a few minutes later. They found a pair of comfortable seats on the bus and continued their conversation. "Clover, I want you to keep a low profile, I'm sure its calmed down some but when I last went into the wizarding world they were calling you the girl who lived and setting you up as some sort of messiah figure."

"I'm famous?" Clover's shocked expression turned to a grimace. "For not dying?"

"Ten years ago, hopefully it has blown over by now." The bus let them off in a London industrial park. Clover looked about and wondered where in London they would find a place that sold magical items. Clover struggled to keep up with her Aunt Petunia's brisk pace as they set off across London. A few blocks later her Aunt came to an abrupt stop and stared at a dirty little pub overshadowed by nicer buildings on both sides.

Her Aunt took a breath and said, "This is it, The Leaky Cauldron."

Clover was instantly struck by a horrible suspicion that her aunt was playing a practical joke on her. "Auntie, that's a pub."

Her Aunt walked inside as though she hadn't heard Clover. A minute later Clover rushed after her aunt, unwilling to be left out on the London streets even if it was a practical joke. The pub was very dark and shabby inside. A few old women were sitting in one corner drinking glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man with a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut.

Aunt Petunia waited for the man with the top hat to get his drink before walking right up to the bartender and asking, "Tom? Your still the barman here?"

The bartender startled a bit. "Actually I'm the owner, just don't trust the new hires with my bar." He frowned and added, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage Mrs. …?"

"Dursley. But I was Evans the last time I met you."

Realization flickered across his face, "You're Lily's sister. That makes this …. Good Lord it is, Harriet Potter." The conversation in the bar died instantly. The old bartender rushed out from behind his bar and seized Clover's hand before shaking vigorously while mumbling, "What an honor..."

Clover didn't know how to reply. She dumbly wondered if this was how celebrities felt all of the time and quietly cursed her idle fantasies of being a famous pianist. Clover had a moment to glace at her aunt's dumbstruck face before their was a general scrapping of chairs. Clover found herself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Doris Crockford, Ms. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Ms. Potter, I'm just so proud."

"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all a flutter."

"Delighted, Ms. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the last name Dedalus Diggle."

Clover mummered in a daze, "Daedalus is the man who built the great labyrinth to imprison the minotaur."

Their was a general lull in the conversation before Mr. Diggle bowed deeply and replied, "A distant ancestor I assure you."

Next a stuttering pale man made his way into the crowd and introduced himself. "P-P-Potter, can't tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you. Quirinus Quirrell; Hogwarts' D-Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year."

Clover managed to recover enough to stammer out a choppy reply, "N-Nice to meet you sir."

Aunt Petunia came to the rescue before the rest of the crowed could close in on her. She took a firm hold of Clover's hand and said "Tom we need to pick up her things, can you open the way to Diagon Ally please?"

Tom the bartender lead them to a brick wall in the back of the pub. While he fiddled through his pockets Clover muttered, "So much for blown over."

Clover was almost certain she heard her Aunt mutter something entirely inappropriate when Tom finally pulled a stick from his robes. Tom addressed the wall. "Three up, Two across." He tapped sharply three times on the indicated brick with his stick. For a moment nothing happened then the entire wall began to rumble. A brick in the middle of the wall quivered. A small hole appeared and grew wider and wider until they were facing a huge archway. Tom stood before the cobbled twisting road beyond the archway and proclaimed, "Welcome to Diagon Ally!"

After a final round of handshakes the walked through the arch. Clover stared as the brick archway reformed into a solid wall before her eyes. The sun shone brightly on the ally and it was wondrous. Aunt Petunia had to grab her hand before Clover ran off to peer into windows. "We need to go to Gringotts first."

Clover nodded numbly, "Okay." A moment later she looked up at her aunt and asked, "Whats a Gringott?"

"Gringotts is the wizarding bank. Run by goblins."

"Goblins?"

Aunt Petunia grinned at her niece, and said, "You know its really nice to be the one explaining instead of the dumbfounded little girl."

"I resent that remark." Clover snapped her head about trying to take in everything as they walked towards Gringotts. A dark shop with a thousand blinking eyes looking out the window proudly proclaimed itself, Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Another shop was full of hundreds of different chess boards. Clover thought she saw one of the pieces yawn before her aunt pulled her on.

They walked by a shop that had huge stacks of cauldron's outside of every size and material imaginable. One the size of a melon even looked like it was made of pure gold. Next to the cauldron shop was an apothecary displaying a dozen herbs and extracts with names she didn't recognize.

The ally opened into a square and Clover saw a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Her aunt saw the question in her eyes and answered, "Gringotts." Aunt petunia pointed at what appeared to be an man her height wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold with a great hook nose. "And that is a goblin." Clover had a moment to look at the goblin as the marched into the bank. He had a pointed beard and very long fingers that tapered of into nails that were vaguely reminiscent of claws.

The goblin bowed as the walked through Gringotts great bronze doors. Now they were facing another pairs of doors, silver this time, with words engraved on them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

"When we were young Lily always found that reassuring. That the goblins would do anything to protect the wealth stored here." She saw Clovers face and added, "And I always thought it was creepy." A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a a vast marble hall. Hundreds of more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, writing furiously in ledgers and weighing coins in brass scales. Clover saw one goblin examining a green gemstone with thousands of glittering facets with a pair of huge eyeglasses. Thousands of doors lead off from the main hall and goblins seemed to be escorting customers to and from them all.

Aunt Petunia lead Clover to an empty counter and told the goblin, "My niece needs to visit her vault."

The goblin didn't look up from its ledger, "Name."

Clover looked at her aunt then replied in a clear firm voice, "Harriet Clover Potter."

The reactions she had feared didn't come, the goblin didn't seem to react at all to her name. A moment later it asked, "Key."

Clover looked up at her aunt for help and Petunia answered for her, "I'm afraid we don't have her key."

The goblin finally sat down its quill and looked up, "She will need to prove her identity. Follow." The goblin hung a closed sign over its counter and started off towards one of the doors. He never looked back as Clover and Aunt Petunia rushed to keep up with him. The twisting passages of Gringotts bank served to quickly confuse the two humans. After a few minutes of walking Clover and her Aunt were thoroughly lost and the goblin pulled open a metal door that looked identical to every other door they had passed.

Inside was an square room no more than fifteen feet on a side; the only furnishing was a silver cup on a pedestal in the center. Clover turned to the goblin and asked, "This will prove my identity, sir?"

"Clampfist." The goblin looked at her like she should have already known its name and started explaining in a tone that most professors reserved for particularly stupid pupils, "This cup shows your parents names. We will perform a very abridged version of an inheritance ritual."

"A what?"

The goblin gave her a frown that sent shivers down her spine and answered, "An inheritance ritual. They are used to claim vaults for which the direct line of inheritance has died out. We preform the ritual for muggleborns at a discount rate because of the prevalence of squib lines." The goblin pulled out a small knife and demanded, "Your hand."

Clover screwed up her courage and offered the goblin her hand. She gritted her teeth when he sliced her palm open and blood pooled in her palm. The pain vanished when the goblin plunged her hand into the cup. When he let her withdraw her hand the cut was gone. She stared at her palm a moment and asked, "Can I do it?"

The goblin sneered and replied, "Your ministry only allows adults." He clasped his hands around the cup and suddenly spoke in a different voice, "Ms. Harriet Clover Potter may access the Potter trust vault. The Family vault has been sealed until Ms. Potter becomes Lord Potter."

Petunia had to bite back a chuckle when Clover indigently squawked, "Lord?"

The goblin didn't seem to notice, "The masculine title is used to describe anyone who is a peer in their own right. This way..." The goblin marched from the room and lead them deeper into the the bank. Outside another identical metal door the goblin suddenly stopped and instructed, "Wait here."

He went inside and appeared a moment later with a younger goblin. "Griphook will take you to your vault." He thrust a small metal key into Clover's hand and added, "Number six hundred and eighty seven."

Griphook was another goblin who lead them through the impenetrable maze of corridors until they were in a narrow hallway that sloped steeply downwards with tracks in the floor. Griphook whistled and a cart came hurtling up the tracks towards them. It jerked to a stop right in front of Clover and they all piled into the uncomfortable contraption right before it hurtled off again.

Clover thought Dudley would be jealous if he knew the roller coaster he had bragged about was badly outclassed. The cart swept through a series of high speed turns and high banks. Clover tried to remember the number of forks they passed but it quickly became impossible. The cart seemed to know its own way since Griphook wasn't steering. The drove along the edge of an underground lake for awhile before it terminated in a grand waterfall into the abyss below. Then they dove into another tunnel before coming to abrupt stop that gave Clover's neck whiplash.

"Vault six hundred and eighty seven." Griphook hopped from the cart and stretched out his hand, "Key." Clover fought off the waves of dizziness long enough to hand over the key to Griphook. She gasped when he unlocked the door. The inside of the vault was covered in huge piles of coins. One stack of giltering gold even reached the ceiling of the vault. Clover stared at the wealth, stunned. It was like a seen from that movie where the kids find the pirate ship that Dudley and his friends kept watching. She couldn't even imagine how much wealth was actually in the vault.

"The gold ones are Galleons." The goblin explained, "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle."

Aunt Petunia numbly nodded then shook herself out of her daze. She turned to the goblin sharply and asked, "How much do people normally withdrawal to pay for school supplies?"

"One hundred and twenty galleons is sufficient with generous overflow. If you are expecting to make purchases larger than that I suggest you buy a Gringotts draft book rather than carrying around large amounts of gold."

Clover recovered enough to join the conversation, "What is a draft book?"

The goblin gave her a creepy smile. "A Gringotts draft book allows you to make magical payments simply by filling out the amount and the recipient. Totally theft proof and protects against coerced payments, available in black, red, white or silver dragon leather all for the low price of six galleons."

"So its a magical checkbook?"

"No need to check the book, it goes right to our central facility."

"No I mean..." Clover saw her Aunt's amused expression and decided against elaborating, "Never mind, I'll take one."

"It will be ready by the time you return to the surface."

Her Aunt had a proud smile on her face when she pulled a cloth bag off a hook on the wall and said, "Help me count out a hundred and twenty Galleons." Clover and Aunt Petunia made twelve small stacks of ten galleons before shoving the whole lot into the bag. Aunt Petunia tied the surprisingly light bag off on Clover's belt and they left the vault.

The ride wasn't any better on the way up. The cart hurtled along completely unawares of the dizziness it was inflicting on two of its passengers. Griphook escorted the dizzy pair to the marble lobby of Gringotts where another goblin was waiting with a stack of bank books in different colors. The goblin saw them and pushed its way through the crowed before throwing the books on the counter. "Pick the one you want, then sign your name in it with this." The goblin thrust a steely gray quill into Clover's hand.

Clover thought a moment and then picked the white bank book since it would match with almost anything. She flipped the book open and saw the blank for her name on the inside of the cover. She started writing and felt a burning pain in her right hand. She could see the first part of her name scratched out in blood on the back of her hand before the wound vanished. She wondered if the goblins just liked causing their customers pain before she gritted her teeth and finished writing her name as quickly as possible.

The goblin nodded in satisfaction and collected the rest of the draft books without a word before vanishing into the bank. Clover frowned at the goblin's back and stuffed her bank book into her pouch. She followed her Aunt Petunia back on to the street and excitedly asked, "Where now?"

A/N:

And here is the first part of why the recent chapter of Danzo's team was late.

I decided to end this chapter a bit shorter than my normal chapter length of ten thousand words since this was the only decent break point that wasn't a cliffhanger before the end of the entire diagon ally trip.

I chose the name Harriet Clover Potter because Harriet kept it close to canon and Clover kept up the Evan's girls with flower names tradition.

No, Harriet does not speak 20+ languages, she just knows a few words/phrases in different languages. She can speak English and broken French.

I just went to the beach thus all of the ; breakpoints.

I have the rest of the shopping trip to Diagon Ally already finished so expect an update for this before the end of the week, after that updates will be intermittent since I plan to prioritize Danzo's Team.