Riddled
By Killing Curse Eyes
Chapter 3: To Diagon Alley
-o-
When Harry came to she was lying on the floor of her tiny bedroom. The first thing she noticed was that it was now dark outside her window. The floorboards were hard underneath her and her back ached. She had collapsed in a rather uncomfortable heap and no one was around to move her to the bed or adjust her into a more comfortable position.
Sitting up, she gasped. Sitting beside her was a transparent, albeit extremely handsome young man. He appeared to be in his teen years, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. He had dark green eyes and wavy black hair. His skin appeared to be pale and flawless, but it could have just been because of his transparency. He had a strong jaw and high cheekbones.
"See something you like?" Asked the handsome man.
"Tom?" Harry whispered. "We really do look something alike."
"The one and only." He smirked, causing Harry to blush. "I'm afraid I couldn't help you after you passed out, since I can't move anything. It appears your blood created an extremely potent connection between us, and the magic came almost immediately rather than over several minutes, causing you to pass out almost immediately as well."
"I see. Oh well. Next time I'll do it on my bed." She responded before shivering. Tom had ghosted his fingers over her cheek and his touch was almost freezing. She felt no pressure from his touch, but she revelled in the cold temperature assuring her of his actions.
She stood up slowly, Tom watching her carefully despite not being able to do anything should she fall and pass out again. She sluggishly trudged over to her small bed and collapsed on it in a graceless heap.
"Sleep," the dark haired young man commanded. "I'll watch over you."
"Thank you, Tom." Replied the equally dark haired girl.
-x-
The small girl woke to the sound of her aunt rapping on her door.
"Up! Up, you ungrateful child. Breakfast should already be on the table! With everything we do for you, you are not to laze about in bed when you have chores!" her aunt scolded in her shrill voice.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Harriet called, rolling her eyes at her ghostly companion who had a look of disgust on his face. "Sorry, Aunt Petunia."
"We went easy on you yesterday, girl. Do not think that kindness extends to today as well. Diddy-dums is hungry!" with that final parting reminder, Petunia left to go spy on the neighbours or something equally petty, Harry figured.
"What a disgusting woman." Tom remarked. "She's worse than you described, dear girl. I should have expected it though, useless, filthy creature that muggles are."
"As much as I don't like them I'd hardly call them useless. Have wizards been to the moon?" Harriet inquired while she got dressed. Tom turned around out of politeness, but Harry would have been comfortable enough in his presence to still change had he not.
"No. Have muggles managed this since I was created?" he asked, somewhat curiously.
"Yes, some time in the sixties I believe." She responded.
"They're still inferior. Wizards can go to the moon too." He pointed out superiorly.
"Oh really? How?" she asked as she finished dressing and started combing her hair, which was a chore in and of itself.
"The exact same way, of course. We can do anything muggles can. But they can't do everything we can. Therefore, we are superior to them." A smirk adorned his face as he watched Harriet take in what he had just said.
With a huff, Harriet crossed her arms. "Fine! You make a good point." She conceded.
"I don't see why you care so much for the worth of muggles in comparison. They've hardly done anything to earn your respect. One should think you'd loathe them with more intensity than even the most hateful purebloods, having experienced muggles first hand." Tom didn't say it, but she could tell he was slightly disappointed she had tried to defend muggles.
"I don't, not really." She winced as she pulled on a particularly difficult tangled in her hair. "I guess I just want to be realistic. Muggles are hateful and jealous of us, but that doesn't mean they're completely stupid. They've discovered and done great things without magic."
"Indeed," Tom agreed while pacing the length of her small room. "But we can do all those same things. We can reproduce anything they do, with or without magic. Had we need, we could have developed the technology muggles have. But we didn't have to."
"I didn't say otherwise," Harry hastened to explain, not wanting to disappoint Tom further. "I guess I'm just trying to understand. I don't doubt that we're superior to muggles, but I'm not going to lie and say they are on the level of dogs. Being superior to a dog is less meaningful then being superior to a race that has accomplished all that muggles have. I don't like them, but..." she trailed off.
"Well argued, Harriet. Perhaps you have a point." Tom granted as Harriet finished her hair and ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth and take care of other needs. Tom waited outside the door.
"I shan't expect you to respond to me when others are around." Tom told her reasonably as Harry exited the loo.
Harry nodded as she ran downstairs, understanding that it made sense. People would think she was crazy if she talked to what appeared to be no one. She entered the kitchen and put some bread in the toaster before starting on the bacon, which was a staple at the Dursley home. She was sure they spent more on bacon than the rest of the street combined.
Tom continued to talk to her as she cooked, her nodding along or shaking her head when appropriate. He talked about light topics of no importance, just speaking to make her chore go by more quickly.
After a quick breakfast she continued to do her daily chores, including doing the laundry, vacuuming the carpets and rugs, mopping the rest of the floors, dusting the entire house, wiping down the kitchen and doing the dishes, and finally weeding and watering the garden and flowerbeds. The whole time Tom kept a steady stream of conversation, complaining about muggles and the way she was treated by them, talking about his own experience with muggles and at the orphanage, and his experiences at Hogwarts, which Harry liked listening to the most.
The more the jade eyed girl worked, the angrier Tom got, though he hid it expertly from his younger companion. He didn't want to frighten her after all, or make her believe his anger was directed at her. He understood children were often given chores to complete, however the sheer number she was given was ridiculous. Her whale of a cousin should have done some of the work, and her aunt and uncle should be the ones doing the majority of it. He told the young witch as much, and she shrugged, not wanting to get into it.
In truth she no longer minded the chores, especially now that it didn't take away from her time with Tom. She was glad to be occupied instead of sitting in her room doing nothing. Since she had no friends (besides her now constant companion) and no toys, there wasn't much to do besides the chores.
By lunch time she was preparing soup and sandwiches for Dudley, Petunia, and herself expertly.
After lunch she was free from chores until it was time to prepare dinner for the family. She decided to walk down to the nearby park and find a secluded area to just speak with Tom and enjoy the summer heat. She packed Tom's diary into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, as Tom had told her he could only go so far from the Diary. They continued to chat as they walked to the park, Harry replying quietly so she didn't get weird looks while she walked down the street. She figured she could pretend she was just talking to herself if someone noticed she was saying anything at all.
Walking down Magnolia Crescent, she passed Mrs. Figg's house. One of the old lady's cats jumped out at the young girl, startling her. She let out a small shout and fell on her bottom.
"Which one are you, huh?" she giggled and checked the tag. "Snowball, huh? Pretty strange name for a cat that isn't even white."
"That's not a cat." Tom interjected quietly.
"What do you mean? What else could it be?" Harry asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"It's a kneazle. A type of magic cat." Explained Tom. "It would seem a witch or wizard lives near here."
"Mrs. Figg?" Harriet asked. "I've been to her house plenty of times. The Dursleys leave me there when they go on outing without me. Her house doesn't seem very magical. She's a bit strange, mind you, but she doesn't seem magical."
"Perhaps a squib then," suggested Tom. "It would explain living in a purely muggle area. Most wizards and witches live in one of the alleys."
"What alleys?" asked Harry. She was quite interested in learning where magical people lived.
"There are several. The main alley is Diagon Alley. It has shops, the Daily Prophet—our newspaper—office, and several other things. There is also Knockturn Alley which tends to feature less reputable people. There you'll find shops that sell things considered 'dark,' as well as a few less savoury businesses."
"Like what?" the dark haired girl asked curiously.
"...I'll explain when you're older." Tom explained awkwardly, ignoring Harry's pout. "Then there is Actu Alley, which is a middle class residential district, Reg Alley which is a higher end residential district and Dism Alley which is the slums. There is also a few more I can't think of off the top of my head. They're all in London though."
"Oh. So can I go to Diagon Alley someday? Please?" Harry begged him.
"Of course," Tom responded easily. "However you'll have to do exactly as I say. Follow my instructions to the letter."
"Deal!" She nodded eagerly.
"Also, we'll need money. Wizards have their own currency, so we'll have to exchange it at the Wizard's bank, Gringotts." He told her. "It's best if you discreetly take small amounts from your relatives over a large period of time. Fifty pounds should be enough."
"Fifty pounds!" she exclaimed loudly, drawing looks to her. She blushed and ducked her head, walking faster. She shot Tom a look and he understood that they would continue their conversation in the park. It was only a few minutes off.
After they arrived at the small, almost deserted park, Harriet went into the trees and found a small, remote spot to speak to Tom.
"So..." She began. "Fifty pounds? That's a lot of money."
"Fifty pounds is only ten galleons. We'll need it for the blood test at the bank. They're quite expensive, but I'd wager that you probably have some money there, but without a key a blood test must be done to prove your identity." Tom explained.
"Oh, how much does it cost?" Harry wondered.
"In my time the most extensive test cost four galleons, which is about twenty pounds. The lesser test only costs one galleon."
"Oh. So why do we need fifty pounds if it only costs about twenty?"
"For one, in case the price has increased, and for second, in case you don't have money at the bank." He responded.
"Oh. Okay. So I should sneak some money from Uncle Vernon's wallet and Aunt Petunia's purse, huh? A little at a time?" she suggested.
"Yes. That is a good plan. Once you have enough, we'll go to Diagon Alley."
-x-
It wasn't until the end of August that she had managed to swipe enough money. Fortunately, Dudley often left his money lying around the house and would just assume he'd already spent it. Harry managed to swipe twenty pounds in increments of five that way. The rest she pilfered from her uncle's wallet. She took two ten pound bills and a twenty.
Tom told her it was the perfect time to go any ways. The alley would be rather busy with last minute school shoppers so it was unlikely that anyone would notice she was alone. It also helped that though she was small, she could pass off as a first year and easily obtain the first year books a bit early to study ahead. She simply had to say her parents sent her to get the books, but she had lost her list and didn't want to disappoint them.
The morning she went dawned early. She quickly showered and dressed before making breakfast. She made sure to make a huge amount of bacon for Dudley and Vernon as well a heaping stack of pancakes. She hoped that with the large offering and threat of magic they'd let her have the day off. Her aunt sniffed at her while she worked, probably guessing what Harry was up to.
When her uncle and cousin stomped down the stairs she already had breakfast on the table. Vernon eyed it critically, knowing something was up. He looked at Harry and asked her what she wanted.
Suppressing a grin, she answered her uncle. She told him she would like the day off, as she had plans to go to London.
"Oh and how do you plan to get there?" he asked snidely. "I'm not giving you a ride, girl."
Harry looked at Tom, not knowing how to answer. He'd simply told her to trust him and he'd take care of it.
"I'll explain later." Her ghostly companion told her. "For now just tell him you have your ways."
She repeated what Tom said and her uncle snorted, but let it go after giving her permission to spend the day in London, but only so long as she did even more chores the next day. To Harry it was worth it.
After finishing the dishes and packing Tom's diary in a bag, Tom told her to leave the house and find a secluded area. Harry decided the area in the park that had become their place was suitable and headed over. Once they arrived she looked at Tom expectantly.
"Do you trust me, Harriet?" He asked her. "Completely and totally trust me?"
"Yes." She answered without hesitation.
"I will need to possess your body. Once I do, I will apparate us to our destination." He explained.
Harriet gulped, but nodded. "What do I do?"
"Nothing. Just close your eyes."
Harriet closed them and felt a chill. Then nothing. When her eyes opened again they were a deep forest green. She disappeared with a loud crack.
-x-
When she came to, she was standing in dingy side alley near the Leaky Cauldron. Tom told her how to get there from the alley and instructed her on how to open the passage to Diagon Alley. When she stepped through, she was amazed.
She saw wizards and witches in colourful robes everywhere. The alley was loud, full of the noise of its many shoppers. She stood there a moment taking everything in—the cobblestone streets, the stone buildings, the colourful signs.
Tom then directed her to the large white building in the middle of the alley.
"That's Gringotts," he told her. "It's run by goblins. They're small, humanoid creatures. Very ruthless. Be polite but firm. You don't want to get on their bad side."
Nodding, she walked up the white marble steps to the gold doors. She pushed it open and gawked. The place was very fancy for a bank, she thought. Gold statues were mounted on the wall and a gold chandelier hung overhead.
Tom directed her to an open teller, and told her what she needed to say.
"Excuse me, sir. I would like to exchange this money into galleons and have a blood test done." She stated in a firm voice.
"Very well, hand it over." The goblin replied reaching for her money. She handed it over and he counted out the galleons. As Tom had said he would, he handed her ten of them. "Now madam, which would you like, the standard test where we only prove your identity and check for vaults in your name, which is one galleon seven sickles, or the full test where we check your ancestry and if you can claim any old, heirless vaults for five galleons?"
"The latter." Tom told her and she repeated what he said and handed over five galleons.
"Very well, come with me." The goblin ordered. He led her to a room with a large blank tapestry on the wall. He held out a knife. "Three drops of blood onto floor before the tapestry."
Harriet did as he said and her name bloomed onto the tapestry. Her parents names grew out of hers, and their parents name from theirs. She watched as it went slowly traced back six generations.
"Ah, Miss Potter. Welcome to Gringotts." The goblin told her. "You have the vault you inherited from your parents, vault 687. You also have restricted access to vault 892, granted to you by your godfather, Sirius Black who has been incarcerated. You will have to give me a half hour while I check the results of your test against the unclaimed vaults. You may wait here."
She turned to look at Tom, surprised to find that not only did she have a godfather, but that he was in prison, however he was deeply engrossed with the tapestry and hadn't noticed the conversation that had taken place. "Tom?"
"Yes, my dear?" he asked turning to her. "I apologize; I was rather fascinated with your mother's lineage."
"What about it?" Harry asked deciding to put her questions aside for the moment. Tom likely couldn't answer them any ways.
"She's descended from the Parkinson family on her mother's side. One of the Sacred Twenty-eight." He explained. "It appears about four generations ago a squib was cast off and married a muggle. On her father's side she's descended from the MacDougal family. Three generations ago they had a squib who married a muggle as well. Eventually your mother was born from these lines."
"Oh. That's interesting, but what's so fascinating about it to you? It's not your family, is it?" she asked, not terribly interested.
"No. But it makes me wonder if all muggleborns are descended from magical families. If so, it could be argued that keeping squibs out of the muggle world is necessary to prevent muggles from gaining our abilities." He explained.
"But they aren't muggles gaining out abilities, Tom. They're squibs gaining our abilities. A son of a squib is another squib, rather than a muggle, yes? Like you're a wizard because you're mum was a witch even if your father wasn't magical." Harry countered.
"I suppose. It seems that the joining of two squib lines produces a magical offspring. So it still is probably best that squibs stay in the magical world in this case. Though they can't use magic, they can still pass it on genetically." Tom was thinking aloud at this point and Harriet tuned him out. She understood what he was saying.
"It's all conjecture of course," he continued, wrapping up his thoughts. "But I suppose there may be no muggleborns and only half-bloods and pure-bloods. I'll need to see more family trees. At Hogwarts, make friends with a muggleborn and suggest they check their family tree."
"Excuse me Miss Potter?" The goblin interrupted, startling Harry and Tom (though he'd deny it) who had not noticed him enter the room. "Please follow me. We have finished checking which vaults you may claim."
Harry followed him out of the room and into another room further down the hall. It was a small office with a large desk covered in papers and two seats in front of it. Harriet took one of them, and though no one else could see it, Tom took the other.
"Very well, as I said, you already have access or partial access to two vaults, and there are three that you can claim. The vault 405 from the Helling family, vault 672 from the McQuillens, and 957 from the Witt family. I cannot tell you their contents without you claiming them, however the vault from your parents contains approximately 326, 579 galleons, the total including knuts and sickles is on this statement" he said passing a piece of parchment to Harry. "As you are not the sole owner of vault 892 I cannot tell you how much is in it, only that you may withdraw up to 10,000 galleons annually."
"I-wow." The Potter heiress gaped. "That's a lot. Over a million pounds, correct?"
"Yes." Both Tom and the goblin intoned.
"I see. May I make a withdrawal from vault 892? Do I need a key?" Harry inquired politely.
"Yes. I'll have a key made for you. It will take five minutes and cost five galleons. Please wait here." The goblin answered.
"Jeez, robbery..." Harry muttered to herself. "Lots of waiting too."
Tom told her to quit whining. She wisely followed his command. When the goblin reappeared with the key she followed him to a hazardous looking cart. She entered it with prompting from the goblin and assurance that she'd be fine from Tom. In the end, she enjoyed the cart ride to the vault. Once there the goblin took the key back and opened the vault before handing the key back to her. She put it in her bag and entered the vault.
What she saw amazed her. It was filled with piles of galleons, columns of silver, and heaps of bronze knuts. The walls were lined with bookshelves containing rare tomes and various trinkets. Seeing her eye the books, the goblin informed her she could only take money from the vault. Nodding, she headed over to the pile of gold galleons and took about seventy or so of them, as well a handful each of sickles and knuts. With that, she turned and re-entered the cart, going back up to the main level of Gringotts. Thanking the goblin, she left him and the bank behind her with Tom at her side.
It was time to explore Diagon Alley.
-x-
"Where to first, Tom?" Harry asked excitedly but quietly.
"We are only going to be buying some books, however you may stop at the ice cream parlour, browse the apothecary and quidditch store and whatever else catches your fancy." Tom replied feeling rather amused at the excitement of his companion, or dare he say it, friend.
Harriet pouted but nodded. Tom then directed her to the apothecary where she quickly walked around a bit, not wanting to stay long in the interesting but smelly shop. Afterwards she asked for directions to the quidditch store, figuring that might be more interesting.
She had fallen in love with the idea of flying on a broom, and couldn't wait until first year flying lessons. She planned to buy a broom as soon as possible now that she knew she could definitely afford it. She wasn't sure if she'd like quidditch, as Tom didn't care much for it and thus knew only the basics, but she had resolved to buy a book about it at the book store.
She entered the shop quietly, ignoring the other children shouting to their parents about what they wanted and quickly found the best broom in the store, a Cleansweep 7. She eyed it enviously. She'd always dreamed of flying and being a witch meant she could.
"You can buy one in your second year, Harrriet." Tom told her quietly.
She looked at him questioningly. She'd have thought that she would be able to get one next year when she went to Hogwarts.
"First years aren't allowed broomsticks, dearest." He answered with a sympathetic look on his face. "But, once I have a body, I can teach you to fly without a broomstick."
Harry's head snapped towards him, her eyes wide. She quickly exited the store and found an empty side street. "Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" she demanded, slightly annoyed.
"I never thought to." He answered honestly.
"Humph. Fine. Let's go to the book store. Which one?" Harriet dropped the topic, she knew he was telling the truth and there was no point fighting over it, despite how annoyed she was.
"Flourish and Blotts should have all the books we're interested it. It'll be quite busy too, so if you have a question you should be able to ask me without anyone noticing." Tom responded easily.
Harry nodded her head and followed her constant companion through the throngs of people until she stood outside a store bearing the sign "Flourish and Blotts." She made her way to the front of the store where an employee stood behind a counter. She waited in line until it was her turn before asking him for the first year list.
"Lost yours, eh?" the man chuckled while grabbing a list from underneath the counter. "Wouldn't be the first."
Harry forced a blush and nodded at the man, taking the paper from his hand. "Thank you, sir. I really appreciate this." She said earnestly. "My mum sent me to get my books but I didn't want to admit I'd dropped my list."
"It's no problem, lass. Glad to be of service."
The young witch quickly went about the store grabbing the books on the list as well as a few others that seemed pretty interesting. She found "Quidditch Through the Ages" and added that to her pile while Tom was off reading the spines of the books in the history section, trying to find one on recent history so he could catch up with the times. He planned to have Harriet turn the pages for him since he couldn't do so himself. He found a few promising books and wandered back over to the dark haired girl, telling her of his selections and guiding her to their location. She picked them up and walked back to the line at the front of the store, once again waiting for her turn.
She left the store minutes later, her bag heavy with the weight of the many books she'd bought and entered a small disused side street. She stopped for a moment, closed her eyes, and when she opened them they had darkened considerably. She looked around the area for any watchers before disapparating.
She arrived in their spot and opened her eyes which were back to their stunning jade green. Smiling at Tom, she made her way home to hide her books under the loose floorboard in her room and make supper for her relatives.
-o-
AN: Annnd there we have it, chapter 3 clocking in at just less than 4500 words. Go me! This was really a challenge, but I wanted to give you guys something longer since I really appreciated all the support you've given me. Over 70 follows with half as many favourites. Thanks guys! It's really motivating me to keep at this story. I'd hate to disappoint you. That said, if it's been a month and I haven't updated, feel free to review and tell me to get my ass into gear. Again, don't except daily updates to last forever. I know tomorrow I'm busy and probably won't update.
A fair warning: eventually this story will get dark and contain some uncomfortable themes, but that's kinda obvious for TMR/HP fic, right?
Something else I thought I'd warn you about; while I don't believe in bashing, some characters you like may not be looked upon favourably by Harriet or Tom. If you think I cross the line into bashing, let me know.
As for the names of the alleys, I tried to keep with the pun theme. I chose to use "Regally," "Actually," and "Dismally."
I try to do my research, but if you notice something is off, let me know (along with a source) and I'll try and fix it. Again, I'm looking for a beta and britpicker! If you think you can help, let me know!
Best,
KCE
Edited October 17th 2015