A/N: So, thanks for all of the reviews! I'm really excited about this next chapter. It may be a little scratchy in some area, but that is only because I don't have a beta yet. Sorry! Anyway, it's about 8k long, so I expect a bunch of reviews at the end. Also, for Gryffindor Isle, if you want a picture of what it looks like, I (dreadfully poorly) drew one and will have it posted on my profile. Review please!
Chapter Two
Harry woke up from quite possibly the best night of sleep that he had ever had. He thought back to the day before. It started out as a normal nightmare of a day for him, but then it ended like a fairy tale. He still didn't understand all that stuff that Daniella had told him about him killing a Dark Lord, and he really didn't understand anything that she had said about 'magic'.
'Oh well,' he thought, 'I honestly don't care if she was just pulling my leg or not, as long as I get to stay here with her.' He got out of the bed he had slept in and realized why he had slept so well.
The bed was huge. The sheets were flannel, toasty and warm. He looked at the clothes he was wearing and didn't recognize them. They were all white and only white. He didn't remember buying anything like them the day before. He walked over to the door and stopped. He pulled up his pant leg and realized that his leg was completely fine now! 'That had to have been magic then.' He decided.
Daniella had been sleeping in her bed. It was a Saturday so she didn't mind sleeping a little bit later than usual. She went over her thoughts from the previous day. 'Oh shit! Harry!' With that she jumped out of her bed and ran downstairs, hoping he had not woken up already and gotten scared and run off. She didn't think that that was what he would do, but he was only six and somewhere he had never been before. To her complete surprise though, the little boy was at the stove making what looked to be an omelet. She took a deep breathe in and smelt coffee. 'This kid really was sent from heaven…'. "You child, are my gift from God," she said, gently pulling his messy head back and giving him a kiss on his forehead. She didn't notice Harry's expression of awe and love as she took one of the mugs of coffee and adding some sugar and creme to it. "So what are you making?"
"Some omelets. You made dinner last night, so I thought that I would make the breakfast." He flipped the omelet onto the dish like a pro and brought it over to the table. Then he took his own dish and set it, grabbing his glass of orange juice and a couple of forks. "I usually make breakfast… there… but I made my best one for you. Omelets are my favorite."
She smiled at him. 'He's so cute!' She took a bite of the omelet and dropped her fork. Harry looked at her concerned. "Oh my… MERLIN! Harry! These are great!" He smiled sheepishly and ducked his head. She eagerly took another bite full of the omelet. She really had never had such a good breakfast before. It's like it was magical, and for some reason, to her, it was. This was the first breakfast that another person had actually prepared for her. It was too early in the morning for her to care about her reputation of being the ice queen, and besides, she didn't want to have that reputation in her home with Harry, so she let the tears build in her eyes for a moment, soaking up the joyous feeling. She chewed on the omelet and looked at him again, clearing her throat. "I hope your planning on doing this every morning, mister, because a girl can get used to waking up to this."
He smiled cheekily at her. "I'll do anything you want, Dani."
They chuckled at her new pet name. "Okay, Harry. So, are you feeling better today?" He nodded. "Does anything hurt at all?" He shook his head. "Great! What do you want to do today then? Would you like to see the wizarding world…?"
Harry blinked in surprise, then his entire face lit up. "Yeah!"
She laughed again. "Alright, well you can't exactly go like that… sorry," she said when he gave her a questioning look, "it's not you, well, it is. It's just because people will freak out if they saw you walking down the streets. But it won't be hard to change your appearance…" she took out her wand and flicked it at his hair making it a sandy blonde color, covering his scar perfectly. "I doubt anyone would recognize you now."
"Okay. So can you go over some of the stuff that I'm going to have to know when I'm there…?" For the next hour, Dani and Harry sat and talked about many things magical, where they would be stopping, what they would be getting, and how to interact with others. "Now Harry, the most important thing that I need you to do is pretend that you are a family friend of mine and that I am watching you as a favor. Your name will be… James." Harry smiled fondly at the name.
"Alright, let me get changed and then we can go?"
"Sure."
Harry and Dani made their way through the wizarding world with out any problems. Harry noticed that Dani was not showing any emotion the entire time and tried to take her lead. Even when she saw someone she new she still looked… cold. It was hard for Harry, but he was catching on quickly. He was rather good at feigning indifference so it wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been for any other six year old.
Their first stop was at Gringotts. Dani had asked for a private room in which she and Harry would have complete confidentiality between a banker. Harry had been extremely polite and impressed the goblins to no end. The fact that a small boy had bowed and shook the hand of every goblin he was introduced to would have a lasting effect in the community of goblins.
"Sit," the goblin spoke from behind his desk, banishing his documents into a filing cabinet before turning to see who had arrived. It was a little boy who did not sit as he was asked first, but rather walked around the desk and stuck out his hand.
"Hello, Mr. Bognok. My name is Harry Potter, how are you?" He asked as the goblin, stunned, shook his hand and watched the boy-who-lived give a slight bow in front of him.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter-"
The little boy waved his hand. "Please call me Harry."
Bognok just nodded, being unable to do anything else. "Alright then. What is it that I can do for you…" he looked at the young lady who was sitting as the boy sat in the chair next to her.
"Greengrass, Daniella Gabriella Greengrass." The goblin nodded. "We would like to see if Harry here has an account or not… do to recent developments in his personal life, Harry has moved and is now in need of a few supplies such as books and clothes. I will be able to provide for anything he needs, but Harry insisted that he pay for the things he wanted."
Bognok removed a piece of parchment from his desk and an old knife that lay beside it. "Very well then, Ms. Greengrass. Am I right in guessing that you do not want anyone who has asked to be notified to the use of the account, be notified?" The young girl thought for a minute before nodding again. "And I will need to make a new key for Mr.- for Harry seeing as neither of you know if he has an account, which I assure you, the ancient and noble house of Potter does. In fact, they have more than one, but if I am going to say anymore than I will need the verification that you are indeed Harry Potter. A few drops of blood will do the job, the cut will heal on its own before you touch anything else."
"Alright…" Harry said, nervous about having his finger sliced with a knife.
"Also, I will need you to state that you are okay with Ms. Greengrass knowing personal information on your vault."
"That's fine."
A few seconds later, Harry's blood was writing all over the paper that it had been spilled on and his cut was healing. The parchment read:
Mr. Harry James Potter
Parents: James & Lily Potter
Last Heir of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Potter, and Evans
Vaults:
Harry Potter tuition, Potter, Smith, White, Gryffindor, Evans, DeMora, LaBouragie, and Vault 8.
Properties:
Homes: Godric's Hollow (1), Montrino's Cove (1), Trianly's Village (4), Isolate locations in Germany (2), France, Italy (3)
Apartments: London (4), Manchester (2), New York City (1)
Land: Egypt, France, Scotland, Netherlands (2), and Italy (10)
Hotels: Paris, Holland, Rome
Estates: Potter Estate, Gryffindor Estate, Ravenclaw Estate, DeMora Estate, LaBouragie Estate
Islands: Gryffindor Isle
Harry James Potter is the head of the ancient and noble house of Potter, which has merged it's own name with the houses of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Evans. His vaults are only to be accessed if he is accompanied by an of-age wizard or witch until he is of the age of fifteen. It is also to be noted that the Ministry of Magic has granted Harry James Potter 5 million galleons in accordance to effectively destroying the Dark Lord known as Lord Voldemort.
Bognok was stunned. It had been a fact that the Potters had not had their blood parchment checked since… well they were never recorded to have ever had their blood checked for a new key. "Mr. Potter. I have confidence when I say that you are the richest man in Europe, or if not that, then you are one of the richest men in Europe."
Harry and Daniella sat there. They just stared at the goblin. "Um, excuse me, Mr. Bognok, are you just kidding?" Harry asked him.
The goblin shook his head. "No, I am quite serious right now, Harry. It appears that your family has not done a blood parchment check in, what looks to be a very long time if ever." He handed the document to Harry who's hands were shaking.
Daniella was completely composed throughout the meeting. It was no surprise that Harry Potter, THE Harry Potter, was the richest man in Europe. In fact, it made sense. Complete and utter sense. The fact that he was only six, well that might cause a problem, but otherwise she was rather comfortable and if anything it would only make things with Harry easier over the years. The goblins would hold Harry to THE highest regard in every way, especially from the way he had acted upon meeting them. She had never seen a wizard act like that toward a goblin. Then again, no one had ever survived the killing curse, so if there was going to be someone who did something like that, why wouldn't they just change all understood ways of magic around.
"D-Dan-Daniella?" he breathed out. She looked over at the parchment, accepting it from the child. 'Well,' she thought, 'if he marries a Hufflepuff then he'll be set.'
"This is very impressive. Would you like to visit some of your vaults today, Harry?" she asked him.
"Y-yeah. I mean, Yes. Yes, I think I would… I would like to see all of them, if only briefly today." He looked over at Bognok. "Would that be alright, Mr. Bognok?"
"Yes, yes." The goblin said, now anxious to see the vaults for himself. "Most of the vaults were near each other in any case. Though I must admit that it will take a while for us to go to each and every one." The two followed him, Harry clutching Daniella's hand, trying to be as cool and collected as she was.
"Do I really own an Island?" he asked as they boarded the boat.
Bognok started to row. "Yes indeed, Harry, and Gryffindor's no less!"
"Who's Gryffindor?" Dead silence.
Bognok had even momentarily stopped rowing the boat.
Daniella had shown a shocked expression.
Harry soon stopped breathing. Of course, he started to breath again, just when Daniella regained her composure and Bognok slowly began rowing the boat again.
She cleared her throat. "Gryffindor, Harry, was one of the founding fathers of Hogwarts." Harry's ears went red. He remembered that she had told him Hogwarts was a school for witches and wizards and apparently the best in the world, too. "Don't be embarrassed." He looked up and steeled his expression, making it slightly more like hers. "Better. Now, Gryffindor was one of four founders. Ravenclaw was another, which you are also related to. Slytherin was the third, one that I have no clue how you are Heir to Slytherin… but it is the best house to be in. I mean, I was in Slytherin." They each smiled at each other before she continued. "Hufflepuff was the last. When you go to Hogwarts you get sorted into one of the four houses. Generally Slytherin is powerful, Gryffindor is brave, Hufflepuff is loyal, and Ravenclaw is smart. There have always been exceptions to the rule which is why I said generally. It will be interesting to watch you develop your magic, Harry, as you will no doubt be powerful and talented just based on your connection to ¾ of the Hogwarts founders."
Harry was going through everything in his head. Suddenly they went through a waterfall and passed a dragon. Bognok was concentrating very hard now, and both Daniella and Harry noticed. Neither of them began talking until they finally stopped, roughly fifteen minutes later, in front of the second vault. "This, Mr. Potter, is the Gryffindor vault. It has neither been opened nor used since the early 1400's, since it can only be opened by the heir and problems always arise if it is a large family and many want to be the heir. I am not permitted inside, and neither is Ms. Greengrass until you magically sign her in on the parchment inside the vault. To get inside the vault, you must run your hand up and town the shield on the wall. If you are not the heir to Gryffindor, then you will die upon your hand touching the shield."
Harry walked toward the wall. He could feel Daniella watching him intently. He slowly placed his hand on the shield and waited to die. When he didn't, he moved it down and watched the shield glow and melt away, the rock being replaced as a doorway.
Harry turned, excited and smiled at the two behind him. "I'll be right back!" he ran into the room and within a few feet found the parchment that Bognok had been talking about. He noticed that his name was on the top and that it was the only name there. He wrote 'Daniella Greengrass' in his messy, six year old handwriting. The parchment glowed red then fell back to the table. "I think you can come in now."
Daniella slowly walked in. It was petrifying when Harry walked in, she was already so attached to him. Once she was in the room she gasped. It was extravagant. There were portraits, books upon books, towers and towers of gold. "Do you want to take anything from here, Harry?" She looked over to the corner where he was standing next to a large trunk. There were several, no, tens of trunks in the room. Possibly close to one hundred. "Dani, do you think it would be alright if I could take these things to one of the new places I have? On the sheet it even said that I owned an Island, so I'm sure there's space for them."
Dani smiled at Harry. "I think that is quite possibly a very good idea, Harry. I haven't gotten around to telling you yet, but during the school year I work in Hogwarts as the Ancient Runes teacher. Well, now I do. I haven't thought about what we were going to do while I was at school… but I suppose if you can prove to me you are responsible enough, then I will allow you to stay at one of your home, estates, or even your island, as long as I am the only one who knows about it and am the one to take you there and back." She sighed. This was an awful lot of responsibility for a six year old. She didn't know if she was doing the right thing, but he would be awfully safe if he were at the island…
"I promise! I promise, I promise, I promise!! I'll be really good, and study, and help you even!" She smiled gently at him, touched.
Harry was practically jumping up and down at the thought of what she had mentioned. "We'll see, Harry." He looked disappointed and she bent down and gave him a hug. "I just don't want you to get hurt."
Harry was shocked by the openness of her affection towards him. Once he realized that she was hugging him, he threw his arms around her. This was his first, actual hug. She must have known somehow that it was his first hug because she just held on tight to him while he tried to snuggle into her. Harry had no idea why, but he felt so protected in her arms that he never wanted to move, ever again.
Daniella hugged Harry and held him close to her. She wished that he could feel how protective she was of him, from only one day of knowing him no less. She rejoiced at the acceptance from Harry. She could feel the innocence from him, the unconditional love that neither had ever come to know.
They were like that for a while until finally, each started to loosen their grips on each other. "Harry, I really do want you to be happy."
He looked up at her, love in his eyes. "Thank you."
She took his hand and stood up. "Alright, would you like to watch me magically shrink every last one of these trunks?"
Harry looked on in excitement as she dropped his hand. One by one, and very quickly, she made every singled one of the trunks no bigger than a mouse. "We need a bag to put them all in, Harry. Do you see anything around?"
They both went off searching for a bag. "What about this one?" Harry asked.
Dani looked at it. "Oh, that's a moleskin bag. Very useful, those bags. Only the person who puts the object in the bag is allowed to take them out."
Harry shook his head. "No, that won't do. I'll need you to be able to go in the bag. Here," he grabbed another bag that looked as if it was bottomless. "What of this one?"
She looked closer at it. "Yes, this one is good as well. Plenty of pockets, and its a bottomless bag at that." She smiled. "Go find anything else you want and bring it back over here. I'll put the trunks in."
Harry jumped up and down and ran away into the vault. It had taken her a while, but Dani had summoned every last one of the trunks and placed them all into the bag, and put the moleskin in there as well. "Harry?"
"Over here!"
She went over to him. "FInd anything else?"
Harry was holding another bag, stuffing gold into it. "I think I found a money bag!"
"It's good you think that, because you did." He stuck out his tongue at her and she smirked. "Ready to see the next vault?"
"Yeah, but can we get a few books? I want to learn a bit more about the magical world…"
"Sure. My family has a vault with books in it as well, and all you need to do is take the Library book. It's a book with every single one of your books in it. You open it and find the book title in it and run your finger over it and the book becomes the book you want to read."
"That's a great idea! Let's get it." As they walked over, Harry noticed that half of the piles of gold weren't gold but precious stones and gems. He stuffed a few handfuls into the large traveler bag that had all of the trunks in it which Dani had lightened to a feather. There were also many rings and crosses and necklaces, tons of jewelry. Harry took almost all of these and stuffed them into the moleskin, just for safety. Once they got the book they left the vault.
The same process continued in all of the vaults except for vault 8. That was dedicated solely to furniture and objects which Harry and Daniella agreed to go back to some other time. Harry took all of the jewelry but didn't bother with more money. All of those items went into the mole skin, while the trunks and library books all went into the bottomless bag.
Once they had finished they said their grateful goodbyes and left Gringotts. It was almost noon so the two stopped for something to eat. Daniella was trying to help Harry keep his face blank. It was something that came in handy more times than not, and always proved to be an asset in life. She had to admit that it was amusing to watch him get more and more frustrated trying to concentrate on not being frustrated.
They had skipped the book store because, honestly, with Ravenclaw's vault library you were almost guarantied to have every single book out there, and if not then they had the books of every single other vault Harry was granted access to.
They had stopped at an animal store. The only person in side was the one standing at the counter. Harry and Daniella thought it would be nice if Harry had some company during the week when she wouldn't be able to be around him. They were passing birds, kneazles, dogs, cats, when suddenly Harry stopped. He turned to his right and was staring at a snake. "Did you just say hello to me?"
The snake was a cobra. It perked it's head up and stared at Harry. "You ssspeak?"
"I ssupposse I do… my name's Harry. What's yourss?"
"Sssand. It wasss becaussse I wasss taken to a sssmall village outssside a desssert then sssold here."
"Would you like an owner then, Ssand?"
The snake was up and looking straight at Harry. "Of courssse, massster. Are you going to take me to your home?"
"I hope sso. You musst promisse not to attack mysself or Daniella here. Under NO ccircumsstanccess."
"I will never disssobey you, massster."
Harry smiled then looked at Dani who was staring at him. "What?"
"Could you understand that snake?" she asked him.
"Yes, you couldn't?" She shook her head. "But, he was speaking perfectly, how did you not understand?"
"Harry, your apparently a parslemouth. You can speak to snakes. All I heard that entire time was you hissing." She looked deep in thought but gave away none of her true emotions.
"Well, do you mind if we get Sand then? He promised to not hurt you or me."
Dani looked uncomfortable. Having that snake would be dangerous… although, Harry could talk to it and listen to it… and it would be an extra source of protection provided something bad ever happened. "Okay."
Sand had told them that they wouldn't need to worry about him going hungry since he could always go hunting outside. Harry had convinced Sand to take a nap in one of his pockets, taking him out of his cage and placing him in.
Harry had picked the last place they were visiting (but only because he had been distracted by Sand and hadn't seen the quiditch store across the way) which was an explorer's store. It was filled with anything a wizard could possibly need on their travels. Harry found several bags similar to the one that he had. Daniella and Harry were getting annoyed at the pesky guy with a weird accent that kept asking them if he could help with anything. Finally, Harry just said, the hell with it and told the man to give him the works for a trip to an uncharted island. The only thing that Harry saw which the man hadn't pointed at that had sparked any of his interest, were Language Lozenges. All you had to do was put the little lozenge in your mouth and you learned a new language by the end of the next day. You were only supposed to take one every third day and you could buy individuals or the box of them. Harry thought it was a very good idea and a great investment and bought himself and Daniella a box each. He hoped to surprise her when they got home. After they left the shop, Daniella apperated them both back to her house.
.
.
.
"Dani?" Harry asked her.
"What is it?" They were just finishing dinner and Dani was reading over the Prophet quickly.
"I bought you a present for taking me to Diagon Alley today…" he pulled out their boxes. "One is for you and one is for me."
She looked it over. 'Wow, how have I never heard of these before? It's such a brilliant idea!' She gave Harry a hug and quick peck on his forehead. "Thank you Harry. This is really great. Why don't we each have one now?"
Harry became excited and agreed instantly. They each ate one of the Latin Lozenges. "You know, I think Italian would be nice to learn next…"
Daniella chuckled. "Excellent idea, Harry. I do believe that Italy is one of the nicer places to visit, and a great language to learn. Perhaps we will stop at a few of their beaches before the summer ends?"
Harry's eyes lit up. "A beach! Oh, that would be so much fun!" Harry gave a big yawn.
"I think it's time you went up to bed, hun. Why don't you go take a quick bath and I'll tell you a few legends and stories from the wizarding world?"
"That would be great, Dani!" He shot up and ran up the stairs, hissing to Sand the entire way up.
After Harry's bath, Dani did indeed tell him a story. It had been one of her own personal fantasy, the story of the Greek wizards and witches who claimed themselves Gods. Harry had tried to stay awake as long as he could, but after hearing about two Gods and all of their accomplishments and faults, he finally fell asleep with his new companion coiled up next to him.
.
.
.
(A/N: It was ticking me off to continue writing all of the snake dialog with the triple s's in it, so I hope none of you care that I am going to write it all in normal English, although it will be italicized) Harry woke up fairly early on Sunday. Sand was coiled next to him. "Good morning," he said.
Sand carefully uncoiled himself and slithered his tiny body over to the waking boy. "Good morning master. I slept very well last night." Sand was not a large snake by any means. He was only a few months of age, which made him only about a foot long and as thick as a thumb at his largest part of his body. Sand was a pitch black snake, almost completely black if not for the gold flecks under his hood. His eyes were black also, just as dark as the rest of his body, if not more.
Harry pat the snake on its head as it wrapped itself around Harry's left arm. "That's good. Are you hungry?"
"Not at the moment, master. Perhaps later."
"That's okay, Sand. You will probably be able to eat later." Harry got out of his bed, still gently stroking Sand's scales.
Harry took off his pajamas and put on a pair of the new kaki shorts that Dani had bought him on Friday, and a new white shirt. He had woken up very early and Dani was still not down. 'I'll just make some breakfast then.'
Harry started the coffee for her and got together ingredients for pancakes. Dani arrived in the kitchen just as he was turning off the stove. "Good morning, Dani!" he smiled, taking a batch of pancakes over to her.
"How did you know that I loved pancakes?" She smiled and ruffled his hair, getting her cup of coffee together.
"Lucky guess I suppose." He heard Dani gasp and turned around. "What's wrong?"
She was staring at his arm and then smiled. "Nothing, I just forgot that we bought a snake is all."
Harry grinned. "Aw, don't worry Dani! Sand won't bite! Right, Sand? No biting?"
"Of course not, master. At least, no biting you or Daniella."
Dani and Harry ate their pancakes talking about her job at Hogwarts and all of the subjects that they taught.
Harry was very interested in Charms and Transfiguration, but he had a lot of questions about potions. When she got to Defense of the Dark Arts, Dani got a pretty good idea that her life would be very hectic in the future, teaching Harry all of the subjects.
Dani had already decided that she was going to take him to get two wands. Even though he was young, and it was considered wrong to give a young boy such a power without him fully being able to control his magic already, she couldn't help but feel that Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, would have problems in the future that he would need to know more than just simple magic for. They were going to go to Whisper Alley on Tuesday. Whisper Alley was in the city Manchester. Not many witches and wizards knew about it. It was hidden and much sketchier in Dani's opinion, a kind of mix between Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley. Of course, there was something of a Knockturn Alley in Whisper Alley called Backwater Alley. That was a place that only the shadiest wizards ever really traveled to.
After they finished talking about Hogwarts, which was a conversation that would never truly end, Dani and Harry decided that they wanted to leave to see Gryffindor Isle. Harry grabbed his bag that had all of the trunks inside and put in the moleskin. Then he had a quick discussion with Sand and the two decided that it wouldn't hurt for the snake to get out of the house a bit so Harry let him snake around his shoulders.
"Okay, Harry. There is a protective charm on the island and I can't floo there, but I think that if you flooed there with me, then we would be able to get in no problem." She smiled and put a hand on Harry's shoulder when he looked a little scared. "The flames won't hurt you, I promise. If anything, it will just make you a little dizzy. Now come on, lets see if you have any of that 'Gryffindor Courage' like your parents."
Harry immediately looked less scared and much more confident. Dani chuckled and threw a handful of floo powder into the flames and walked into the emerald fire, Harry's hand clutching her own. "Now just say, very clearly, Gryffindor Isle."
Harry took a deep breath. "Gryffindor Isle!" he boomed. Harry and Dani spun around in the floo and popped out inside a very large and extravagant room. "Wow," he breathed.
Dani had a similar reaction. She looked around and noticed that three house elves were present. "Excuse me, master?" he asked to Harry.
Harry looked startled. "Oh! Um, er, hi?" He looked up at Dani.
"Don't worry, Harry. Those are house elves. Apparently they are yours. Come on, introduce yourself, don't be rude," she teased.
Harry blushed. "Hi, I'm Harry James Potter, Heir of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Potter, and Evans. This is Daniella Greengrass."
They all bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. We have never seen a human here, and neither has anyone for years and years on. I am Tommy," the small elf bowed again. "This is Doci." The next elf bowed. "And this is Dico." The last elf bowed.
"Nice to meet you. Would any of you mind showing us around a bit?" Harry asked them.
Tommy bowed. "I would, sir. Doci and Dico are both have to take care of the animals, but I am supposed to be the Gryffindor Heir's personal elf." He jutted his chest out slightly, proud. "If you will follow me, master."
Harry took Dani's hand again and they walked behind Tommy. He showed them to all of the rooms. There were too many rooms to remember all in one go, and Tommy said that there were a few rooms that he wasn't supposed to show anyone, the hidden rooms. The house elves knew where they were, but on no terms were they ever supposed to tell anyone, not even the heir, the location.
Harry thought that this was a good idea and didn't push the matter. He would just find the rooms himself. In fact, he liked the idea.
The mansion and it was nothing short of that, had anything anyone could ever want, need, or desire. There was a large Training Room which had nothing in it at all except for a padded area on one half of the room and hard stone floor, similar to the rest of the house, on the other. The master bedroom, one that had once been Gryffindor's own quarters, was truly amazing. There was stained, moving glass that covered the walls, scattering the room in all different shades. The ceiling was completely glass, not that you would ever think anything was there unless you asked, which Harry did. The bathroom was amazing as well. Dani, who had been a prefect when she was in school, had told Harry how the prefects' bathroom wasn't even as grand as this one. There was also a personal study there was also a personal study hidden behind a portrait of two lions prancing on a plain.
The study was very large. It had a table that extended to your every need. Most of the books were ones written in Latin that both Dani and Harry could almost read fully, ones that were probably never even heard of before, thought lost or ruined like most things in history. The books themselves were almost solely focused on Defense. Not only Defense Against the Dark Arts, but defense against animals and other magical creatures. Some of the books claimed that the most important thing a wizard could have was love and friendship. It included sections about how to show respect to creatures such as goblins, even vampires. Harry decided that he would visit this library frequently, as these books weren't even in the library books from the vaults.
They visited the potion chambers, the master library, the 'public' study, a wine cellar, and all of the other rooms. They only checked in on one of the fifteen bedrooms. Once they were finished, Harry and Dani decided to go outside the house.
"All of the animals that are on the main Island will respect your wishes, Master. None of them will hurts you, sir," Tommy said.
Suddenly four griffins landed in front of the trio and looked like they were going to rip Dani apart. "NO!" Harry shouted. "Don't hurt her! This is Dani, she's nice. Don't hurt her." The griffins looked at Harry. The one in front seemed to be the leader and bowed. Soon all of them bowed at Harry and three more griffins landed and did the same. The last griffin to land was small, not bigger than Harry. The rest were very big and could tower over him and Dani.
"Hello," Harry said as the tiniest griffin came up excitedly. It sniffed Harry and snuggled it's head into his chest. Harry laughed and pet its head. "I like him!" He looked at Tommy. "What's his name?"
"That is Artemis. He is very good at getting food on his own, even at his age," Tommy provided.
"Hey Artemis. How 'ya doin'?" The griffin flopped on the floor and looked pointedly at Harry. Harry chuckled again and pet his chest.
"Can you hear me?" A soft voice said.
"Er… yes?" Harry replied inside his head. He looked around. "May I ask who you are? And where you are?"
"Well, I am Regina. May I ask what your name is?"
"Sure. It's Harry. Now, where are you?" He asked.
"I am near the pond. I'm the youngest in the group, thus, the smallest by far." She sounded put off by the fact.
"Don't worry about that. Just because your smallest doesn't mean that you can't make a big difference." He looked toward the pond. "Woah! You're a tiger?"
She purred what seemed to be something like a chuckled to Harry. "Yes. So I guess that I am your tigress sister then? My mother told everyone to see if you had a connection with anyone, and apparently I have you!"
Harry ran a hand through his hair. "Tigress sister?" He started walking over. "Let's see the tigers! One of them can talk to me."
"Yes, you will only have one tiger ever who can speak to you like I can. Well, that tiger is me. I will live just as long as you and I'm supposed to protect you and look out for you through out your life. You have never heard of this?"
"No… I'll take care of you though." Harry smiled when he finally made it to the group and spotted a very small tiger, probably considered a cub. "Hi, Regina!"
She jumped up and pounced on Harry. She growled and pawed at him when Harry tried to wrestle her off. "Oh, alright." He scratched behind her ears.
"My mother is telling me to release you. She's no fun." Harry laughed as she got up. "Thanks." He brushed himself off. "Dani, this is Regina. Regina, this is Daniella."
Regina quickly introduced everyone, to which he introduced them to Daniella as well. "Let's go for a swim!" Regina said when they were done with introductions.
"Great idea, hold on a minute." Harry turned his head to Sand (A/N: I'm sorry I can't make it look differently when he is talking internally with Regina and when Harry is talking to Sand. Sorry!) "Why don't you go out for a while? Explore a bit? Possibly get something to eat?"
Sand slithered down his arm and Harry placed him on the ground. He nodded to Harry. "Thank you, Master. I shall be near enough for you to call when you are ready to leave."
"Dani, would it be okay if I went for a quick swim?" Dani was looking over at the horses.
She turned to Harry. "Do you know how to swim?"
Harry smiled. "Yup, we went to the beach last year and I learned pretty quickly when I realized that I could get away from Dudley if I was in the water."
Dani was upset at hearing this news, but she didn't see why he couldn't go for a quick swim. "If Tommy agrees to go with you, then yes you may."
Harry turned to Tommy who answered his internal question. "Tommy would love to stay withs Master while he swims. Should Master have a problem, Tommy is an excellent swimmer."
Harry and Regina took off, both sprinting to the pond. The tigers looked on with vague interest before turning and going off to their activities. Dani made her way over to the horses, but was stopped by a hippogriff. Immediately, she bowed, very low to the ground and maintained eye contact. She was very nervous. There had been one time in her seventh year when she had taken Care of Magical Creatures and she was picked to go first when meeting with a hippogriffs. It went very well, but it was very nerve wracking.
Slowly, the hippogriff bowed. It's golden eyes were ones of acceptance when Dani looked into them. She felt the pride almost radiating out of the great bird as she praised it. After a short moment of Dani petting the hippogriff, it backed up and took off.
She continued on to the horses. A beautiful white horse with reddish brown spots gracefully made its way towards Dani. "Well hello. I'm Daniella." She looked over the horse. Her hair was beautifully brushed and silky to touch. She smiled at the beauty "You are quite beautiful." She slowly lifter her hand which the horse nuzzled it's nose to. She gently pat the horse.
Dani was immersed in memories of her past, times when she had been oblivious to the world around her, only ever wanting a friend. Her mother would take her to "social gatherings"; meetings between the pureblood families for children to meet and form "appropriate" friendships. Daniella could see past these gatherings and what her mother used them for: gossip hours between other mothers. There was never anyone worth getting to know at these social callings. It hadn't been long before she earned her reputation of being the ice queen. There was only one girl who went besides Daniella, a girl from the Black family line whom Daniella felt no connection with. The Black girl later became a young Death Eater recruit and died underage attempting a severing curse that had been reflected back at her. Besides the girl, the four other main children were stupid boys. The boys in her year had been a particularly dense bunch.
Daniella could only remember one friend whom she could confide in. Lucy. The horse was a present for her fifth birthday and Dani rode her almost every day up until she went to Hogwarts. Lucy had past away two years ago and it was one of the worst experiences of her life. It still hurt her to think about it, but she relished the memories of Lucy as the best of her childhood.
An elf walked up next to Dani, bringing her out of her reminiscences. "Would Miss likes to take Amber for a ride around the island?"
"That would be lovely, Dico. Thank you."
.
.
.
Harry and Regina were enjoying themselves in the cool pond. Regina had a million questions for Harry, many which he got a good laugh out of. Really, some of the things that animals believe about humans! "Did you know that I will stay alive as long as you do, Harry?"
"I had no idea. Why is that?" He asked her.
"Well, my family of white tigers is magical, like all white tigers. Because of this we will live really long anyway, but since you and I are mind brother and sister, we have a special magical bond and I won't die until after you do." She was swimming alongside Harry and he was gently scrubbing her fur with his fingers.
"That's good. I wouldn't want you to die anyway." Harry saw Dani on the side of the pond on a horse. "Dani!"
She waved at him and he and Regina started swimming back in. "How was your swim, Harry?"
"It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. Regina is fun to be with." The tiger licked Harry's hand and he and Dani laughed. "So you know how to ride horses?"
"Yes, ever since I was five I could ride a horse." She smiled sadly at the memory. "Anyway, it is getting a little late, Harry. I think we should start getting ready to leave."
He pouted. "Oh, okay. But can you teach me how to ride horses some other time?"
Dani got off the horse and ruffled his wet shaggy hair. Dani wasn't normally one for physical contact of any kind, and had never shown affection that way before. She guessed it was just her maternal instinct kicking in. "I have to go to work this week, but since your coming here during the days…"
"Really?! You mean it?! I'm coming back during the days?" He was bouncing up and down.
"Control yourself, Harry." She laughed. "Yes, well, I decided that since there are three house elves whom you own in this one home alone, and since no one can come in unless they are with you, it's a fine idea. I'm sure Regina won't let anything happen to you either." The young tiger roared. "Are you ready, Harry? We should probably put the trunks somewhere in the house before we leave."
"Yes, I'm ready. We just need to get Sand first." Harry called out for the snake. After a minute of waiting, Sand had finally slithered his way to Harry and up his arm. Regina followed them into the house.
Tommy met them at the door. "Sir, do you want animals inside?" the little elf questioned.
"No, only Regina and Sand. Thanks, Tommy. Say, do you know a large room with a bunch of shelves? We have a lot of trunks we want to put away and I'm going to go through them during the week."
"Master will be coming back during the week!?" Tommy was jumping up and down.
"Yes, I'll be coming back everyday!"
"Follow me, Master." Tommy made his way through the home again. They ended in a very large room with selves covering three of the walls and three closets as well.
Dani took out the first trunk and enlarged it. Harry took to it instantly and started organizing all of the items into four groups: rubbish, clothes, parchment, and items. The first piece of parchment he removed was written in Latin. Most of it Harry was able to read. It had a well drawn picture of an item from the trunk, a description of it, and what made it special; whether it be the history behind the object or something the object itself could do.
The parchment helped Harry very much as he put all of the items on the shelves in the room in alphabetical order with it's dedicated parchment underneath it or beside it.
The trunk Harry had cleaned out had been one of ten left by Rodney G., a historian of sorts who had been traveling around Asia and Europe in search of magical artifacts. Harry was able to finish cleaning out another trunk by the time Dani finished with the trunks. The entire room was strewn with trunks and they were both hungry afterwards. "Why don't we go and have something to eat. You're going to come back tomorrow, so there is no need to rush to finish."
Harry thought that dinner sounded like a great idea. "Alright. I'm getting a little tired, anyway. Some of this stuff is very heavy."
"Don't worry. The first charm I'm going to teach you is the lightening charm." Harry looked excited at the prospect of being able to do magic. "Harry, only do charms that I teach you, okay? Doing anything else can be very dangerous, especially when I'm not here."
"I understand."
Tommy proposed that they stay for dinner, which was very good. Regina especially liked it. They left shortly afterwards, Daniella promising Harry that they could have Regina over one day, but not that day.
They chatted when they got home and finally went to bed.
A/N: I hope it wasn't too long for anyone, and I did kindof rush at the end a bit so I would finally finish with the chapter. I have two questions I want to pose for you.
1. I can write about two more chapters in this time line, then move forward a few years to when they go to Hogwarts, OR I can continue writing in this time line for the rest of the story and just start a sequal for the Hogwarts first year?
2. Do you want Harry to be in Slytherin? (That's what I am leaning to in this story, but if you all want him to be in Gryffindor, he will be.)
PLEASE REVIEW!
3 McSlick
