Diary of a Forgotten Girl

Of Lists and Letters

~Holly's Point of View~

Date : 24 July 1991

The morning started as any normal would have. Waking up, checking the date on the calendar opposite my bed.

Doing a double take.

And a triple take.

It was not a normal morning, nor was it a normal day. For it was the twenty-fourth of July.

The day I could do something aside from staying here.

In the abandoned tower of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

...it had been my home since my parents had been killed, almost ten years ago. Surrounded by books with only myself as company.

Of course, it hadn't always been this way. Oh, no, for the first few years, I had had friends.

Sure, they might have been house elves - small, wrinkly things with tennis ball eyes and large ears that looked kind of like walking raisins. But I was a kid.

I guess I still am - I'm only ten. Eleven in a week. I guess I've read so much that sometimes I get mixed up.

After all, I was reading chapter books when other kids my age would still be looking at picture books

But today wasn't a reading day - no, today was a day that wouldn't be spent here.

Today would be up in the Owlery, addressing letters. Professor McGonagall - one of the professors here - had already written them, but it was still a day to celebrate.

I immediately got up, and brushed out my long hair. It hadn't been cut for a while, so it came down to my midback.

I wish I had scissors sometimes.

After finishing the painful task of removing the snarls from my hair, I moved over to the door, and tried it.

The knob turned.

I was free!

What to do? Trash the school? Break the windows?

Of course not...

...however strong the urge may have been.

I walked - no, skipped down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

Climb a staircase here, take a left there...

...ah, the Owlery. Where all of the owls of Hogwarts live.

Pretty straightforward. There were a lot of school owls... There had to be as many as Hogwarts students.

I laughed. There were way more Hogwarts students. I took a seat at my envelope station.

First years - students who were coming to Hogwarts for the first time - were always the kids whose letters I addressed first. I looked through the list.

These were kids who had at least one magical parent. Students who came from non-magic - or Muggle, as we called them - families had their letters delivered personally. There were several addresses, but some stuck out more.

Like Cupboard Under the Stairs.

...wait, cupboard?

I checked the name.

Harry Potter.

Harry Potter lived with his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys. They were Muggles, and hated magic. His Aunt Petunia's sister had been a Muggleborn witch, and seeing her older sister go off to Hogwarts had made her bitter.

How did I know this? Perhaps it's time we get introduced.

My name is Holly Louise Potter. Petunia is my aunt, and Harry... well, um, he's my brother.

The only reason I'm not at... Number Four Privet Drive with him is because I wasn't found by the same person who found him. The person who found him took him there. The person who found me took me here.

I gave the list a final look over...

"Hogwarts," I read off one of the addresses.

Wait a second.

Rewind.

Hogwarts?!

Willow Leavitt?

Who the hell is that?!

Abandoned Tower, Hogwarts...

Is that me?

Dumbledore walked into the Owlery behind me. "Good morning," he said cordially. I looked at him, then at the list, then back at him. "Ah, yes, that is what I came to talk to you about."

He had hardly sat down when I asked, "It's me, isn't it? Willow Leavitt?"

He nodded. "Indeed. You will be attending this year."

"And you decided to leave it to the last minute to tell me?"

"Indeed."

"But... Why am I attending under an alias? Why not as Holly Potter?"

Albus sighed. "Holly Potter died that night, and that is what the world believes. Now-"

"You never told them?" I asked. "Are you saying that you and I are the only people who know Harry has no family except for the Dursleys? Is that what you're saying?"

"Now, Holly-"

"No, don't 'Now, Holly,' me! Look at this!" I grabbed the list, jabbing at Harry's address. "The Cupboard Under the Stairs! He lives in a goddamn cupboard!"

"Keep this behavior up and you will not be allowed attend at all!" threatened Dumbledore. "You will not tell your teachers, you will not tell your friends, and you will most certainly not tell Harry today when you go shopping with him for your school supplies! Are we clear?"

I sighed. "Yes."

"Now," said Dumbledore, getting up. "You will meet Hagrid at his hut, on the grounds near the forest." He pointed to it through the window. "Here is your vault key. Vault 704."

"What about the letters?" I asked.

"Professor Snape will take care of them," he replied.

I got up, running out of the Owlery and down the stairs, and down a few more flights of stairs and hallways before I got to the door.

I stood in the Entrance Hall, looking around the giant room before pushing open one of the huge doors, for my first taste of the great outdoors since I could remember. Resisting the urge to flop myself in the grass and roll around, I quickly made my way over to the small wooden house near the forest, enjoying the ten minute walk.

Reaching the house, I knocked on the door. I heard an awful barking from inside and a gruff voice shouting, "Back, Fang, back!" I moved a couple of steps backwards as the door was opened...

...by a giant of a man, with long brown hair that was a tangled mess, a beard of the same looks, and twinkling black beetle eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said. "Yeh must be Willow."

I nodded, unable to speak. He laughed, ruffling my hair with his giant hand. I scowled... all my hard work brushing it out had gone to waste. "C'mon, then."

He gestured for me to follow him inside his house, where a giant black boarhound immediately knocked me to the ground and began licking my face. I laughed, petting the loveable dog.

"Tha's Fang," said Hagrid. "Ge' on up, now."

With great difficulty, I heaved Fang off of me, getting up and trying my best to brush the dog hairs off of me.

I looked around the small hut, but my eyes rested on an old boot on the large table. "What's that for?"

"This," replied Hagrid, "is a Portkey. I take it yeh know how it works?"

I nodded, placing my hand on the boot. When it was ready, it would teleport us to wherever we were going. Hagrid placed one of his giant hands on top of mine.

All of a sudden, I felt a tug as my feet were lifted from the ground, and before I knew it, they were back on solid land.

And a moment later, so was my face.

Hagrid helped me up. We were in a small house that stunk horribly of boiled cabbage and cat pee. One of the felines came and rubbed up against me.

"Hello, Hagrid," said an elderly looking lady I hadn't seen before. She wore a bathrobe, tartan carpet house slippers, a hair net and a cast on her left leg. She smiled at me. "You must be Willow. I'm Arabella."

I shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeh'll be staying 'ere with Mrs Figg while I go ge' Harry, alrigh'?" asked Hagrid. "It'll take a while..." I nodded, and with great difficulty Hagrid squeezed through the front door of the small house.

"I see Apollo has taken a liking to you," said Arabella. I smiled. "You can take a seat, dear."

I bit my lip. "Actually... would it be alright if I took a walk? Just around the block?"

"If you're careful, I'm sure that would be alright," replied Arabella. I grinned.

"Then I'll see you in a few minutes," I replied, opening the door and stepping outside. I walked down the driveway, looking around. I recognized some things I saw from books I had read - certain flowers and weeds - but it was so amazing to see all this nature for the first time. I turned right down at the sidewalk, and continued walking straight. I saw a small playground, where children were playing, and parents were sitting on the benches, talking to each other and keeping an eye on their kids. I smiled, turning right again down Privet Drive. The street was rather boring - it seemed every house was the same, with the same cars, driveways, and floor plans. The only thing that set apart the houses was the flowers in their flower beds and the golden numbers beside their doors.

This would probably be the street that I would have thought the Dursleys lived on had I not known their address. Sure enough, the tall dark outline of Hagrid was visible through the window of Number Four. I saw a thin, blonde woman who glanced out the window. I frowned and moved along, walking quicker as to get back to the more interesting streets.

After a while, I reached Magnolia Crescent, which was still fairly ordinary but at least wasn't filled with identical houses. There were all sorts of trees, flowers, and colors of paint on the houses.

This was over all too quickly as I turned back onto Wisteria Walk. I liked how the streets were named after flowers. I quickly made my way to Number Seven, and reentered the small house. Apollo immediately rubbed up against my leg.

"Hello again," said Arabella. "I trust you had a good walk?"

I nodded. "Hagrid isn't back yet?"

Arabella shook her head. "No, he's having a bit of difficulty."

I took a seat, and Apollo climbed up on my lap. I laughed. "Is he part Kneazle?" I asked. Kneazles were a magical sort of cat with large ears, tufted tails, incredible intelligence and outstanding loyalty.

"Half," replied Arabella. "He really does like you, doesn't he? Kneazles are said to be good judges of character."

I smiled, petting the black-haired cat. "You breed them, then?"

"I sell crossbreeds and half Kneazles," replied Arabella. She looked through the window. "There they are now. Now, if Harry asks why you're here, reply that I'm your aunt."

"Why?" I asked.

"He thinks I'm a Muggle," she replied. "Take the boot with you, dear."

I smiled, lifting up Apollo. "Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," she replied, and I walked out the door, meeting up with Hagrid and Harry.

"Hi," I said to my brother. "I'm Willow."

He looked from me, to Arabella's house, then back to me. "Why were you with Mrs Figg?"

"I'm just staying with my aunt for a while, to help her around the house as she's recovering from her broken leg," I replied. I decided to take it a step further, as Harry looked doubtful. "When Hagrid showed up with my letter, it was a bit of a surprise for both of us - and I guess he decided he'd take us both out to get our school supplies."

Harry nodded. "I'm Harry," he said.

"C'mon then, wouldn't want to miss our train," said Hagrid. We walked with him for awhile until we reached Paddington Station, where Harry helped Hagrid count out the money for our train tickets. After we had bought the tickets, we boarded the train.

"Got yer list there, Harry?" asked Hagrid. Harry pulled the slip of parchment out of his back pocket and started to read it. After a couple of moments, he looked up at Hagrid.

"Hagrid, can we really buy all of this in London?" asked Harry.

"If yeh know where ter look," replied the half giant.


Ten minutes later, and we had reached our stop, and we got off the train at the London station. I looked around, fascinated by the bustling streets of England's busiest city.

"'Urry up, now," said Hagrid, and I was relieved to find that Harry had been looking around as well.

"Er - Hagrid, where exactly are we going?" I asked curiously as we walked along the street.

"Right ''ere," replied Hagrid.

We stood in front of a grubby pub that nobody else on the street seemed to notice. Hagrid led us into the pub, and rushed us through.

"What's the rush for?" I asked.

"We're on a schedule, see," replied Hagrid. "And 'Arry gettin' fussed over'd only slow us down. Anyway... welcome ter Diagon Alley."

"Diagonally?" I mumbled, looking around the busy marketplace. There were witches and wizards all over, wearing robes of all different colors and walking in and out of multiple shops.

If London was impressive, this was breathtaking.

"Where do we go first?" asked Harry.

"Ter Gringotts, o' course," replied Hagrid, pulling us behind him towards the wizarding bank.

It was a beautiful white building, with a grand entrance, above which gold letters spelled, 'Gringotts.'

"Woah," I gasped as we walked in. It wasn't worked by men, either - rather, goblins. They measured stones, wrote in ledgers...

...and sat at the front desk, glaring at people. Hagrid walked up.

"'Arry Potter would like ter access 'is vault," said Hagrid.

"And does Harry Potter have his key?" drawled the goblin, glaring over his glasses. Hagrid pulled it out of his pocket, along with a note.

"I'm also here fer the you-know-what in vault you-know-which... got a note 'ere from Albus Dumbledore..."

The goblin took the note, read it over, and nodded. '"Very well. Griphook!" A goblin came rushing up. "Griphook will take you down to the vaults." The goblin turned to look at me. "You will stay here."

"Wait a second..." I pulled the key out of my pocket. "Vault 704."

The goblin raised an eyebrow. "Holly-"

"Shhhh!" I shushed him. "If I'm not her, it won't let me in, anyways."

"Alright then. Griphook, take Miss-"

"Leavitt."

"Leave it?"

"No, Leavitt, it's my surname."

"Alright then - please take Miss Leavitt to her vault."

I followed Hagrid and Harry. Harry looked at me strangely. "What was that about?"

"It's my vault," I replied. I sighed at his skeptical look. "My mother was a witch - she had a Muggle background, but she was a witch - and she left me a trust fund, you see."

"Who's Holly?" asked Harry.

"My mother," I lied as we got into the cart. "Fair warning : hold on tight."

Hagrid looked a little green even though the ride hadn't started.

All of a sudden, the cart started moving, rushing us through the underground at breakneck speeds. As quickly as it had started, it was finished. "Vault 694," drawled Griphook.

"That's yers, 'Arry," said Hagrid. "Yeh could prob'ly walk over ter yers from 'ere, Willow."

I got out of the cart, rushing over to my vault. I placed my hand on the door.

It was like magic. It seemed to melt away, and it would do so only for me. Another door was visible now, with a small keyhole. I inserted my key and twisted it in the hole, unlocking my vault.

There were gold Galleons, silver Sickles and bronze Knuts in small piles. I quickly swept some of the money into a coin purse, shut the vault, and stepped away. Sensing my absence, the original door rematerialized.

Wicked.

I met up with Hagrid and Harry outside of vault 713, hopped back into the cart, and we went whizzing back through the system until we broke the surface, where Hagrid emptied his stomach on the path.

Ew, gross.

After we left, we walked over to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, a small shop with lots of little magical doodads and whatsits. We picked up telescopes, scales and phials in the small store, and cauldrons next door at Potage's Cauldron Shop. After that, there were only two things left : robes and books.

Flourish and Blotts was the main bookstore of Diagon Alley, and I was stunned as we walked in.

There had to be thousands of books - school books near the front, spell books on one side, and entertainment books on the other - of all different genres, sizes, and subjects. This made my collection look puny.

"You like books?" asked Harry amusedly from beside me. I nodded dumbly, still staring at all the shelves and rows of books.

"Can I help you?" asked a young woman, coming up to us.

"These two need their school books," replied Hagrid. "Firs' years."

"Their books will be right over there," replied the worker, pointing over to a row of shelves, "along with some books that'll be useful for extra reading."

"Thank yeh," said Hagrid, pushing us through the shop towards the shelves. We got the eight books on our booklist, and I got four more for some extra reading.

Yes, I know, I love books too much for my own good.

After exiting the bookshop, we went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get our robes.

"First years?" said the woman sitting at the front desk. "Alright, the boy can go in back, and you, come with me."

I followed her through the shop, and stood by a stool. There were two in the room, and a girl stood on the other.

"Step up and put your arms out," said the woman, and I did just so.

"Oh, hello," said the girl on the other stool. "My name's Hermione Granger... And you are?"

"Willow Leavitt," I replied cheerfully.

"Oh, are you Muggleborn as well?" she asked.

"My mum was," I replied, "but I might as well have been - I just found out about magic today."

"So did I!" replied Hermione. "It sounded strange at first, but now I've gotten to see what it's all about, magic really sounds exciting!"

"Are you going to Hogwarts as well?" I asked curiously. She nodded energetically.

"Yep, first of September," she replied. "Oh, I'm glad you're going too! It'd be awfully hard if you didn't know anybody."

"Hey, even if you didn't, you'd get to know your housemates pretty well - sharing a common room with them for six, if not seven years, and sharing a dormitory with the other girls!"

Hermione's smile dimmed. "Well, um... I'm kind of worried about that - I mean, at school people tease me..."

"Hogwarts is a home to everyone," I stated firmly. "And anyway, even if everyone teases you, you've got a friend."

"Who?"

"Me, of course!" I replied with a laugh.

"Alright, you're done, dear," said the woman pinning Hermione's robes. She stepped down after getting them off.

"Well, I'll see you on the train then, Willow," she said with a grin.

"See you then," I replied, stepping off the stool as well after the person attending to me was finished.

Outside, Hagrid was waiting with three dripping cones of ice cream.

"Raspberry with chopped nuts," he said, handing me one.

"Thanks!" I replied, licking at it. "Harry's still not done?" Hagrid shook his large, hairy head.

"Yeh could go inter the Emporium if yeh wanted an owl," suggested Hagrid. "We'll meet yeh there."

I nodded, taking my ice cream cone with me into Eeylop's Owl Emporium.

Hundreds of eyes stared back at me - yellow and brown, glowing bright in the darkened building. Snowy owls, barn owls, screech owls, scops owls, every type I could think of and more. Overwhelmed, I walked over to one of the counters.

"Can I help you?" drawled the man sitting behind the counter.

"Yes - I'd like to purchase an owl that can deliver both letters and parcels," I replied smoothly, unfazed by his nonchalant attitude.

"You'd probably want a larger owl - screech owls are the best, snowy and tawny work as well," replied the worker. I nodded, leaving him to...whatever he was doing, and walking over to the eastern screech owls. Ten specimens were in the aisle, most sleeping. One stared at me, following me with its large yellow eyes. It was medium-sized, with chestnut brown feathers speckled with darker brown patches.

"Hello," I said. It hooted in reply - or at least, that's what I'd have liked to believe. I looked around at the other owls in the aisle, and made a spur of the moment decision, picking up the cage and carrying the owl up to the front counter.

"Fifteen Galleons," drawled the same man who had told me what to get. I handed over the money.

"What gender?" I asked curiously, not knowing anything about owl anatomy. He glanced idly at it.

"Male," he replied, counting out my money. I jumped as my shoulders were violently shaken.

"Harry!" I exclaimed, glaring at him with my hands on my hips. "What on earth took you so long? I just bought an owl!"

"So did I," he replied, smirking as he held up a cage of his own with a beautiful snowy owl. I rolled my eyes.

"Figures," I replied. "Well, I think that's all the stuff we need," here I gestured the bags at my feet. "Or… is there something else, Hagrid?"

"Yeh'll be needin' yer wands, o' course," he answered with a smile. "C'mon, then, I know just the place."


"Since 382 BC?" I asked. "Is he really that old?"

"It's a family business, Willow," replied Harry matter-of-factly.

"I was being sarcastic," I retorted as we walked into the shop, where shelves upon shelves of rectangular boxes stood behind a counter, which was only taken up by a small bell.

"Go ahead," said Harry, gesturing me to press it.

"I think I'll let you," I replied.

"Go on," he said, smirking.

"Make me," I replied, stepping closer.

"Afraid?" he retorted, also taking a step forward.

"If you're so confident, why don't you press it?" I asked, once more stepping up.

"I dared you first," he challenged. By now we were right up in each others' faces.

"Why, hello!" greeted a cheerful looking elderly man, making us jump apart like opposite magnets. "Will you two be needing wands?"

"Yes, sir," I replied politely, making Harry raise an eyebrow. "We're going into our first year. I'm Willow Leavitt, and this is…"

I trailed off, as the man was staring unnervingly at Harry. "My word, it's Harry Potter. An honor - truly, an honor. I'm Ollivander - Garrick Ollivander."

He went back behind his counter, fetching a measuring tape. "Stick out your wand hand."

"Would that be the hand I write with?" asked Harry, and I realized I probably shouldn't have been so quick in sticking out my left arm. Mr Ollivander nodded, and he extended his wand arm. The shop owner started measuring, and after a moment the measuring tape started recording the measurements on its own.

"Seems like just yesterday your parents were in here buying their first wands," enthused Ollivander, pulling out boxes from the shelves. The measuring tape moved to me, taking note of the length from my elbow to my wrist, my shoulder to my fingertips, and between my nostrils, which both creeped me out and made me sneeze.

"Alright, then," said Ollivander, passing each of us a wand. "Give those a wave. now."

I waved mine, and Harry did the same, but the wands were snatched from our hands, swapped between us, and then taken once more and replaced by two more. This went on, the wands being handed to us, swapped, and then replace, and the stack of wands grew and grew. I was starting to get discouraged, but this only seemed to make Ollivander's excitement grow with each failure.

He stared hard at us for a moment, scrutinizing us with a hard stare, and finally went way back in his shop, past the point where we could see him, and came back a few moments later, two more wands.

"Now, I don't usually give these out," he warned, "as these are most valuable wands. All of the wands you have tried are either of unicorn hair or dragon heartstring core, but these… these here are phoenix feather wands. There you are, Miss Leavitt. That's holly, eleven inches. Nice and supple, you'll find. Mister Potter, this one is ash, nine and a half inches, rather bendy."

We waved them with no result, and switched them. Harry's emitted a stream of red sparks, and his expression changed to one of pure awe.

"That would be the one," said Mr Ollivander, taking the wand back and placing it carefully in the box. "One minute, miss, I think I might have a wand for you…"

He returned from the deepest depths of the store with a box, and opened it. "Phoenix feather core. Black spruce. Twelve and a half inches - a rather long wand - unyielding… why don't you give that a wave there, Miss Leavitt?"

I took the wand, and immediately felt a warm tingling sensation in my hand, shooting through my arm and up, enveloping my whole body in a feeling that could only be described as wonderful. I stared in awe at the beautiful long dark stick of wood, from which purple sparks flew, lighting up the small shop. I grinned.

"That'll be the one," declared Ollivander with a grin. "Very curious, especially yours, Mister Potter. Holly and phoenix are usually incompatible, due to both having a great power. Your wand is the only wand this shop has ever made that features the two. Not only that, but the phoenix that gave the feather gave only one other. The other went into another powerful wand that did great things - terrible things, but great. You are destined for this wand, and it is especially curious because the other wand was wielded by the very same person… the same person who gave you that scar."

"Well, are yeh done yet?" asked Hagrid, interrupting whatever Mr Ollivander was going to say next.

"We were just going to pay," I replied. "How much will these be, sir?"

"That'll be seven Galleons," replied Ollivander, and I handed over the gold money. Harry did the same, and we followed Hagrid out of the shop, new wands in our bags, along with all our school supplies.

"Alrigh', whad'ya say ter a spot o' lunch?" asked Hagrid after we were out of the shop.

"Sounds great," replied Harry with a grin, and we left Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron - the same way that we had come - and walked through downtown London to the train station, where Harry bought each of us a burger.

"So, after yer done there, I'll take 'Arry back, and then yeh, Willow," said Hagrid after we eagerly devoured the burgers, as we walked back to the train, "and - 'ere, I guess I'll give these ter yeh now. They're yer tickets fer the train - note they say the first o' September, pla'form nine an' three quarters."

"Nine and three quarters?" replied Harry confusedly. "I've never heard of that."

"It's only fer 'Ogwarts - see, what yeh've got ter do is find the barrier between nine an' ten, and run into it," explained Hagrid.

"Wait - just charge headfirst into a brick wall?" I repeated, bewildered.

"Tha's righ'," replied Hagrid. "Yeh'll probably find another wizard if yeh're havin' any difficulty. C'mon, then, wouldn't want ter miss our train."

I followed Hagrid and Harry back onto the train, and rode with them to Paddington Station, and then walked to Number Four Privet Drive to drop off Harry.

After we had disposed of him - er, I mean, dropped him off - we took a Portkey back to Hogwarts, and I parted ways with Hagrid, more eager than ever for the start of the new school year.