DISCLAMER: I don't own the Harry Potter universe, just a well-read copy of all 7 books and a barely-touched copy of the 8 movies.

Annabelle and her mother walked down the streets of London towards a pub. For some reason, Annabelle felt that she and her mother were the only ones who could see it. When they walked in, they saw some people dressed very interestingly. However, before they could take a closer look, the bartender came over.

"Lucile! It's been a very long time!" he said to Annabelle's mother.

"Oh, Tom. You know nobody calls me that." It was true. Almost no one ever called her mom by her full name. It was always Lucy, Luce or Lu-Lu... unless, of course, Annabelle's grandmother was mad. Then she was "LUCILE ALEXANDRA PIETAS!" Nanny never got mad at Annabelle though. Annabelle and her grandmother rarely got to see each other. When they did, Annabelle had loads of fun.

"Right, sorry Lucy. You'll be wanting the usual then?" Tom asked Lucy.

"Oh! Uh, No thanks Tom. This is my daughter, Annabelle. She got her letter yesterday." Lucy explained, with a proud smile on face.

"Congratulations!" Tom exclaimed with a look of surprise, as he looked at Annabelle and quickly directed them to the back of the building. He tapped a sequence of bricks and suddenly, an archway opened, revealing beings of all kinds shopping.

"Have fun!" Tom called as Annabelle and Lucy walked through the archway. Annabelle was absolutely amazed at everything around her. She didn't have nearly enough time to take it all in before her mother started talking.

"... so I say we go to Gringotts. What do you think?"

Annabelle was confused. What was Gringotts? Why should they go there? "Uhhh..." was all that she could say before Lucy started laughing.

"Oh, Annabelle." She sighed with a note of sympathy "Follow me closely, I don't want you getting lost." They walked towards a white building. The other buildings looked tiny beside it. When they reached the bronze doors there were two very tall, muscular men on either side of the doors.

"Just one second, Annabelle." Lucy told her daughter. "They need to make sure we aren't intruders." As she said this, the men pointed their wands at Annabelle and Lucy. Annabelle flinched as a white spell hit her. It didn't hurt, just made her shiver.

"Alright, go on in." Said the man on the right of the doors. The other one opened the doors with a smile towards Annabelle. When they walked through the bronze doors, they came face-to-face with two other doors, silver this time. They had words engraved in 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.))

Annabelle wondered what that could mean. Before she could ask, however, a short man with particularly long fingers and toes walked through the silver doors.

"Miss. Veteris!" The little man greeted Lucy. "It's always a pleasure to see you, but I thought you were leaving this life behind?"

"Hello Sekontiri! Yes, I thought I was leaving the wizarding world behind also, but I got married, had three children and my second; Annabelle, received a Hogwarts letter yesterday." Lucy replied.

"Then you are not Miss. Veteris anymore! We shall keep in touch now then. For now, I shall take you to your vault." and with that Sekontiri, Lucy and Annabelle walked through the doors.

Annabelle stepped off the cart, feeling queasy. On the ride, Lucy had told her how she was a squib and her parents were a pure-blood witch and a half-blood wizard. She told Annabelle about how when she didn't receive a Hogwarts letter at the age of 11 her mother didn't talk to her again until she was 13 and her father was the only one who she could talk to about that. Lucy had started tearing up at that point, remembering her father was too much for her still, even though he had died nearly 3 years ago.

Annabelle looked around for Lucy and saw that she was still sitting in the cart, face green, clutching her stomach and muttering about "that blasted cart" that she "could never get used to." Annabelle giggled and immediately felt better.

"Here's your vault Mrs. Pietas." Announced Sekontiri, opening a heavily locked golden door. Lucy walked forward and tried her best to hide the contents from Annabelle.

"Oh. My. Gosh. MOM!" Annabelle exclaimed, finally pushing past her mom to see the mountains of gold, silver and bronze coins that lay inside. "That is a lot of money. Why do you have so much if you left the Wizarding World?" she asked, remembering that Lucy had left it after her father's death.

"Your grandfather left everything he had to me and your grandmother. That included all his gold. He was very rich, you know." Lucy explained, rather reluctantly, to Annabelle. Lucy put a handful of the gold and silver coins and 2 handfuls of the bronze coins into a pouch that looked far too small to hold them all which hung around her neck. "That should be more than enough to get us supplies and an owl." Lucy mumbled as she started walking towards the cart that would take them to a hallway and outside to the marketplace full of unknown people, unfamiliar smells and strange sights. Neither Lucy nor Annabelle realized this-or I believe they might not have gone and bought those school supplies or that owl, perhaps they would have, but they might not have gone into that new world with such hopefulness or joy, they might have been cautious and cool, they would have known to protect themselves at least- but it would be a cold cruel world to Annabelle. She would never fit the social norms, or even try to, and that would bring trouble right to her doorstep. She would get picked on and trampled down, she would be beaten by people she should have been able to trust, she would lose and love, break and be broken. All of that would happen, and yet, as it usually is, she would be one of the strongest people the world has seen.

A.N. - WOW it's been a long time since I've even touched this word document. I have no excuse for my late update, but for my laziness… Soorrrryyy :'( anyway, I'll try to update sooner than this summer, but we'll see *crosses fingers* The poem between (( and )) was taken directly from the Philosopher's Stone.