The Underground station was rather grimy, and very small. There was a rather lack of people there, so the three boys got no notice. Tom and Harry diligently studied the map of the Underground that was posted on one wall, until they had decided which station was closest to Charing Cross. When that was done they pulled out Tom's meager money and bought three round trips on the Underground.
Severus looked around when they got on the Underground looking vaguely curious, and slightly uncomfortable. For all that Severus had grown up with a muggle father, in a muggle neighborhood, he had never been on the Underground, or anything like it. They didn't even have a car.
"Why are we looking for our magical ancestries anyway?" Tom asked suddenly when they got off the Underground several blocks from where they needed to be.
"Because, we want to know. Isn't it better to know this stuff than to wonder for the rest of your lives? I know where my parents came from, but you're both orphans and don't. I think it's better to know than to not. Knowledge is power," Severus told Tom stubbornly.
"I want to know the truth. My aunt and uncle hate my parents, I've never even seen a picture of them. They hate me for being their child. I want to know why," Harry told the wavy-haired boy quietly. Severus and Tom exchanged a glance, and then they looked at Harry. In that moment they all came to the decision to never mention their childhoods. None of them had been happy, and none of them really wanted to think about them. They would find out what they could about their parents, and they would leave the matter behind them forever.
~*~
Tom and Harry were both awestruck by Diagon Alley, although they showed it in very different ways. Harry stared at everything and almost got lost every other minute. Tom on the other hand adopted a small smile (the first either of the other two boys had seen on his face) and watched things avidly while he followed Severus to the large bookshop called 'Flourish and Blotts.'
The three boys split up to look for what they wanted, and each got promptly lost in the maze of shelves which was even larger than the outside indicated. There were stacks of books in the middle of aisles and some of them were so tall and teetered so hard Harry and Tom had a hard time believing they could stay up at all. The store was divided into sections (like any good bookstore), but the boys were having trouble figuring out what the sections were.
You see there was a book titled Most Potente Potions next to one called One Hundred Magical Herbs and Fungi. Wasn't one of those books a potions book and the other herbology? Then there was the fact that all three boys kept getting distracted by sections that caught their eyes. Tome found the History of Dark Arts section, Severus found the Potions sections, and Harry found the Duelling section. It took three hours of browsing, getting lost, and getting distracted before one of them found what they were looking for.
There was a section on heredity potions and spells. It was one of the smaller areas in the store, but it was a section all the same. It was in the very back of the store in a very dusty looking corner, as if no one had looked at these books in decades. Funny enough it was Harry who found them, because the heredity potions and spells section butted up against the dueling and defense histories (which were slightly less dusty than the heredity potions and spells section). Tom found it not long after, because he was looking for more historical texts. Tom and Harry had already been browsing through the books for fifteen minutes before Severus came peeking around the corner for his two companions.
"So this is it?" Severus asked sitting on the floor with the other two boys
"Yeah, we're looking for something that won't be too hard to do. Preferably something we can do without spending any money," Harry replied flipping the page in his book.
"I bet the goblins at Gringotts could do something for us to find out if we have any money in the wizarding world. I don't my family went broke a long time ago, but still," Severus suggested.
"Why can't the goblins just tell us who our families are then?" Tom asked irritably slapping shut the book in his hands.
"They're not allowed. There's some kind of law or something. All they can do is find out if we have any vaults that we're entitled to," Severus told them.
"Then why didn't we go that first?" harry asked curiously.
"I didn't think about it till just now," Severus admitted sheepishly.
"Well lets go do that then," Harry said bouncing up of the floor and putting the book he had pulled down away.
"Fine," Tom said pulling himself off the ground slower than Harry and offering Severus a hand up.
"Okay, so the really big white building is where we're heading," Severus informed them as they wound their way through the maze of shelves and book-piles. It took a good half an hour for them to find their way out again, but they did and breathed in sweet fresh air, instead of the musty smell that comes with old books that have been sitting for decades.
"That one?" Harry asked pointing directly at Gringotts.
"Yeah, I told you it was the really big white one didn't I?" Severus replied leading the other two down the street towards Gringotts.
The bank was a very impressive thing to see. It was all in white marble, and was almost reminiscent of ancient roman architecture. Or at the outside was, on the inside it was still all white marble, but the style was much more reminiscent of the renaissance than ancient Rome. The desks were manned by small rather ugly creatures, which Harry and Tom (never having seen them before) assumed were goblins, because Severus had been talking about goblins before. There was one goblin near the back of the bank who didn't have any customers, so the three boys headed back there.
"Excuse me sir, is there anyway you could test me for an inheritance?" Harry asked politely when they reached the free goblin.
"What is your name?" The goblin asked sounding supremely bored.
"Harry Potter, sir," Harry said quietly, "My friend needs to be tested as well."
"His name?" The goblin asked jotting Harry's name on a piece of parchment.
"Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr.," Tom told him. The goblin wrote down his name as well and looked up at them.
" I'll need three drops of blood from each of you," The goblin informed them with a nasty smile. Tom and harry held out their right hands with identical winces. Severus almost started laughing at them, but restrained himself at the last moment.
The goblin took a silver knife from somewhere under his desk and two small squares of parchment. The goblin then proceeded to cut small slits in their index fingers and squeeze exactly three drops of blood each onto each of the two squares.
The one on the right turned bright red, as if the blood had stained it through, and the other turned emerald green completely concealing the blood drops. The green one slowly faded back to plain parchment with three drops of blood while a number was written, as if by an invisible hand, on the crimson parchment.
"It seems Mister Potter is entitled to the contents of vault 134," The goblin informed them before stepping around his desk, "If you'll follow me I'll lead you to your vault." The goblin was much more polite now than he had been only a minute ago. Tom and Harry couldn't figure out why, but Severus was pretty sure he knew, and he was green with envy about it.
They were led onto a small cart, which could hold only maybe one more person without feeling unbearable. The three boys felt distinctly sick by the time they reached the vault deep under the back. 134 was one of the earlier vaults, from one of the older pureblood families. Or at the least the older families. Some of the older vaults were from half-blood and muggleborns, but it was so long ago their families were considered to be pureblood, even though it wasn't strictly true.
"Hold your hand against the door," The goblin ordered Harry rather forcefully. Well there goes the polite bit. But Harry did as he was bid. A key grew out of the keyhole and Harry drew his hand back in surprise. The key was still in the hole, however and Harry felt he should probably take it out.
Harry reached out and grasped the strangely shaped key and turned it to the left, there was a chorus of clicks and the door swung open, as if it had been oiled only yesterday. Inside there was an interesting sight, which made Severus and Tom both green with envy.
There were piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins; pieces of antique furniture that could fetch a fortune; shelves of books that looked distinctly expensive; and various object carefully arranged on the antique furniture, which none of the boys could guess at the use of. Severus knew they were probably magical artifacts of some kind, but he couldn't for the life of him at told Tom or Harry what in the world they were supposed to do.
"This is all mine?" Harry asked incredulously. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around that fact.
"I guess," Severus said calmly, "We should get some gold so that we can buy the stuff we need."
"I still don't see why the goblins couldn't tell us. I mean they have to know where the vault came from," Tom said sullenly leaning against the wall next to the door.
"Because there are laws. They have to follow the laws to a t in regards to wizards, and we have to follow the laws to a t in regards to the goblins. That's really the only way for us to coexist without killing each other," Severus explained as Harry gathered a bunch of coins and stuffed them into his pockets. By the time they were full and heavy enough to be uncomfortable Severus had forgotten about his companions in favor of examining the books on the shelves.
"Hey, this book. I think this might be what we need for Harry at least, we'll still have to buy stuff to find out about Tom, but this book is a Family Book. They automatically examine the pedigree of anyone related to the maker of the book," Severus said pulling a book off the shelf. He handed the heavy book to Harry.
As soon as the book touched Harry's hands it turned crimson, and words appeared on the spine and cover in gold. There was a large crest under the words "Harry James Potter." The crest was in gold and all values of red, from a dark red that was almost black to a red so light it could be called pink. There was a lion in the center of the crest with two wands crossing in front of the lion. Winding around the two wands was a snake, a snake which was silver, and stood out against the red, and stood out against the silver.
"That's the maker name on the cover, it's always the maker's name," Severus told Harry pointing to the name.
"But that's my name," Harry told the taller boy. Harry flipped the book open and a note fell out. The note was obviously in Harry's own handwriting, and it confused Harry more than it cleared up. What was worse was that the note was very short.
Harry,
I know you're confused, but I know what I did was right. I'm changing everything by taking you from that lighthouse, and taking Severus from that park and placing them here, with only the Potter Ancestral vault to give you any clues about why you're here. I assume Severus would know to come here, so I'm leaving you to it.
By the way, Happy Birthday Harry! Your present might be late (I'm not sure when you'll come to the vault), but it's on the table with the lions and snakes carved around the edges. I brought the table myself, so I guess it's sort of a birthday present too. But anyway the objects on the table are for your birthday.
Harry J. Potter
"I think I might have kidnapped myself," Harry told the other two boys handing the note off to Severus who was closer.
"What park?" Severus asked curiously.
"I don't know. But I know what lighthouse. There were all these letters addressed to me, and they were driving my uncle crazy, so he ran away, and we ended up in a lighthouse on a rock in the middle of water, I think it was the ocean, but it might have been the channel," Harry explained as Severus handed the note to Tom.
"Why aren't I mentioned?" Tom asked looking upset.
"I suppose because I brought Severus and myself to you," Harry said with a shrug as he opened the book again.
The first page was the crest again, and his name, but the second and third pages had two different people on them. On the left hand page was the name "James Potter" and under it was a list of his accomplishments. On the right hand page was the name "Lily Potter nee Evans" and a list of her accomplishments.
James Potter was a bit of a prankster if his achievements were to be believed. It said that he held the record for most pranks pulled in a week, and the making of the Marauder's Map (whatever that was). Lily was more respectable, she made valedictorian, and worked to blur the house lines by being best friends with the Slytherin, Severus Snape.
"I think you were my mum's friend," I told Severus in shock. Severus leaned over to look. I pointed at the line and what it said.
"I was one of your mother's achievements? That's weird. But I guess that means they were both magical," Severus said calmly, "It should talk about the book maker too though."
Harry turned the page until I found another page that said "Harry James Potter" at the top. This page made Harry and Severus's eyes widen. There was a very long list that included two pages, but the very first item said "Defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort."
"You defeated Voldemort?!" Severus yelled completely shocked. Voldemort was on the rise where he came from, and war was the norm.
"I guess, I don't remember it you know," Harry said defensively. The book went on to elaborate about the whole defeating-the-dark-lord thing. It said that he not only defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, but he paused his rise to power when he was only a little over a year old.
"I'm officially impressed," Severus told Harry shaking his head. Harry really was an impressive person.
"Let's find that birthday present I was talking about," Harry said closing the book gently. They moved around the room looking for the table with the lions and snakes together on a table. When they found it they laughed a little. The snakes and lions were kissing! But the items on top of the table were confusing.
There were two wands, one of which was comfortable in Harry's hand, the other less so. There was a cloak of some silvery fabric, an old piece of parchment with a muggle post-it note on it stating "tap the parchment with your wand and say 'I solemnly Swear I am up to no good'", there was a small silver lighter, a golden winged ball, which was opened in the center, and in the center of the ball was a ring and a note.
The note was even a shorter than the one in the book. "All you need to defeat a dark lord."
"What does that mean?" Tom asked reading over Harry's shoulder.
"I don't know, but the book said that I defeated the 'Dark Lord Voldemort'. I guess this is the stuff I used to do that. Do you guys know what all this stuff is?" Harry said lifting the hinged ball.
"Well that's a snitch. It's used for a wizarding game played in the air on brooms. It's called quidditch. The cloak I think is an invisibility cloak. But I haven't seen one before so I'm not sure. The wands are obviously magical wands, that one looks like elder wood, but it can't be, because there's only one elder wand and it's a myth, but the other one is holly wood. Who knows what that parchment is. I suggest trying what the note on it says," Severus explained pointing to each object as he talked about it.
Harry picked up the holly wood wand (which was the wand that had felt more comfortable), and tapped the parchment, and said the words. Instantly ink seemed to flow from the wand and cover the parchment as if an invisible hand was writing the words (what was it with invisible hands in the wizarding world?). Before too long it was a map of some castle with the words 'Mssrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, and Prongslet are proud to present the newly re-vamped Marauder's Map'.
"I think that might be Hogwarts," Severus said leaning towards the map and examining all the moving dots around the castle. There weren't all that many, two dozen moving about the school, and another hundred or so all contained in the room labeled 'kitchens'.
"What's Hogwarts? That seems like a stupid name," Harry asked/commented looking around at the taller boy.
"It's the magical school. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Severus told them calmly. Harry looked around the room a little before gathering up the things off the table in front of him.
"You know, I think we're in the center of a time paradox," Harry commented putting the ring on. It was when he put the ring on that he realized the stone was cracked down the center, right through a line embedded in the stone, along with a triangle and circle.
"Yeah, we might be," Severus conceded taking the parchment so Harry could tuck the notes into his pocket.
"What's a time paradox?" Tom asked sounding annoyed.
"It's a situation with time where everything seems to contradict themselves. Like the book says that Severus was my mom's best friend, but my mom died when I was a year old, and Severus is our age. Then all the stuff with notes from myself, and being the maker of a magical book, when I obviously didn't know about magic until this morning," Harry explained with a sigh.
"Oh, well okay," Tom said calmly.
~*~
So this chapter is longer, and I sort of like where I ended, with the reality of the Time Paradox sort of semi-explained. More about it will be reealed later, but not a lot, a lot of this story is the fact that they don't really know what is going happen (or rather what would have happened). You also have to remember that because Tom is Voldemort, no one will have any idea what's going on if Severus started to really explain about it. That's why I didn't go into a lot of details about it.
Also Severus grew up with a magical mother, but his father hated magic almost as much as the Dursleys,so everything he knows about the magical world was learned in secret, including his trips to Diagon Alley and stuff. it's not hugely important, but later it may be important for you to know that...Depends on how I write that bit of the story.
So thank you everyone for reviewing, I think I got more reviews or the first chapter of this story than I got for the entirety of some of my other stories, and everyone was pretty complimentary. I ask that you all critisize when you find something to critisize, and I also request that you tell me if there's something you'd like to see happen. I it fits in with my plan for the story I'll include it, with a mention of who requested. I already have one request from my amazing older sister, and it's coming (eventually). So that's it...
~*~Elizabeth~*~