The Magical World Exposed
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Warnings: COMPLETELY AU! If you don't like this, just stop reading and write your own story more to your liking.
The goblin quietly listened to Cillian's explanation, before he replied, "Please excuse me for a moment to fetch the file with Mr. Potter's data."
"I hope this isn't a trap," Harry heard Cillian whisper to Annette, however, he felt immediately reassured when the goblin reappeared carrying a thick folder.
"First of all," Buckbean began to speak, skimming a parchment in the folder, "I wish to inform you about Mr. Potter's belongings as well as his guardians. When his parents were murdered, Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, placed him with his relatives, although there were many people in the magical would who would have loved to take him in. Professor Dumbledore is also Harry Potter's guardian in the magical world."
"Excuse me, sir, is it possible to change this?" Cillian queried. "The professor does not seem to have Harry's best interests in mind if he placed him with an abusive family."
Buckbean nodded. "I can change it, however, for the guardianship in the magical world, he needs a magical guardian. Do you know anyone?"
"No," Annette spoke up. "Would it perhaps be possible for you or any of your colleagues to become his guardian?"
The goblin remained pensive for a moment, before he agreed. "Yes, I can become Mr. Potter's and also Ms. Granger's guardian if that's what you want, and I can assure you that the information about the change of guardian will not leak out into the human magical world. Merely the data will be changed accordingly."
"That's good," Cillian replied and thanked the goblin. "If the headmaster became aware of the matter, we might get into trouble."
"Exactly," Buckbean confirmed, smiling, before he informed Harry about the vaults and houses that his parents had left him.
HP
After two hours of discussion between the two families and Buckbean, the goblin connected the fireplaces of both families to the Floo network and promised to introduce them to Potter Manor at another time.
"This is the only one vault, which Harry is able to access at any time, even without his magical guardian," Buckbean explained, as they rode one of the Gringotts carriages together. "The other vaults will only be accessible for him from the age of seventeen onwards."
Harry stared with a combination of disbelief and amazement at the huge pile of gold in his vault. Buckbean handed him a small bag, smiling when Harry shyly asked for two more bags, which he equally filled with some of the three different types of coins and handed them to Hermione and David.
"You can contact me through the Floo network at any time," Buckbean promised, when the O'Briens and the Grangers took their leave to explore some of the interesting looking shops on both sides of the shopping street.
HP
"The Floo is too cool," David blurted out when they were back on the street. "Now Hermione can easily visit us at any time."
"That's true," the girl agreed immediately, smiling broadly at her friends, before a sudden idea crossed her mind. "Maybe we could even go to school together. Then I wouldn't be the only freak," she said in clear excitement, looking from her parents to the O'Briens.
"That's a brilliant idea," David immediately agreed, causing Harry to nod with enthusiasm. 'It would be great to have another freak in our class,' he thought, smiling at the idea.
Harry was brought back from his musings, when Mr. Granger suggested to head to the bookshop and buy some books about the magical world.
"Yes, that's a good idea," Cillian immediately agreed. "Once we know some more about the magical world, we can come back and explore other parts of the shopping area."
Flourish & Blotts was a treasure trove for the children and their parents, and after a long time spent between various shelves, the three children decided to buy a complete set of the Hogwarts first year books along with 'Hogwarts: A History' and some magical children's books from an interesting looking series. Like Buckbean had advised him earlier, Harry told the wizard at the registry to just take the money from the Potter vault, ignoring the adults' protests.
HP
Mrs. Granger promised to go to Harry's and David's school together with Annette and speak with the headmistress about Hermione, and from the following Tuesday morning onwards, Hermione attended school together with the two boys. Every morning, she took the Floo to the O'Briens, and the three children walked to school together. When they were back in the afternoons, they worked on their homework together, before they spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Trouble and speaking about what they had read in the magical books. Only on time for dinner, Hermione stepped into the fireplace to return home.
Dudley still tried to torment his cousin, however, he realised soon that Harry did not only have his new brother at his side, but also the new girl, who turned to be out a freak just like Harry.
Harry was happier than he had ever been before. Attending school together with his brother and their friend was much fun, and he loved reading the books that they had bought at Diagon Alley.
"If you continue to read so much, you'll have finished your first year books soon," Annette said one day, chuckling, after overhearing the three children discuss a war between the wizards and the goblins during the medieval age for a while.
'I'm glad that David is as interested in everything as Hermione and I,' Harry thought, happily. 'One would think that it was frustrating for him to not be able to do magic like Hermione and me.'
"Too bad that I can't do magic," David suddenly spoke up. "Is there any way to learn it? I'd love to attend Hogwarts together with the two of you."
"I'm afraid not," Annette replied in a soothing voice, calmingly ruffling her son's hair.
"I'd like to go and buy a wand," Hermione said, pensively. "Then we could try out some of the spells and charms described in the books."
"Oh yes, I'd love that," Harry agreed immediately.
"Maybe we can go to Diagon Alley on one of the next Saturdays," Annette replied and promised to ask Cillian.
However, before the three children could convince the adults to head to the magical shopping centre again, their parents were called to the primary school for a meeting with their teacher.
'Oh no, I just hope they won't kick Hermione and me out because of being freaks,' Harry thought, worriedly, when the three children slowly walked to the school behind the adults.
HP
To Harry's and Hermione's immense relief, the conversation had nothing to do with the fact that they were magical. The teacher informed the surprised parents that the three of them were top of their class in all subjects and suggested for them to progress into the next class right away.
"I'm sure that they'll well be able to keep up in a higher class, and it would also give them the opportunity to get away from Dudley Dursley, who still tries to annoy them as well as he can," the teacher explained.
"Oh yes please," Harry, Hermione and David blurted out, simultaneously, grinning enthusiastically at each other.
To Harry's great pleasure, the parents agreed with the teacher to accept the offer, so that he, David and Hermione were able to change classes right after the Christmas holidays. 'That's too cool. Classes are surely going to be fun without Dudley being in our class,' Harry thought, feeling very happy.
HP
A few days later, the O'Briens took the children to Diagon Alley, glad that it was only a short step through the fireplace away.
While the children bought all of the second year's books as well as some children's stories from the series 'The Five Magical Friends', of which they had bought books before, their parents chose some more introductions to the magical world.
After looking into some other shops like the Quidditch shop, they hesitantly visited the wand maker and asked for wands for Hermione and Harry.
"Hermione first," Harry offered, knowing that the girl was as eager as himself to finally get a wand.
The two boys observed with interest how Hermione tried out multiple children's wands, causing items to fly through the room or crash to the ground.
"No no," the wand maker finally said, pensively, and asked, "How old are you?"
"I'm nine," Hermione replied, eagerly.
The old wizard turned to Annette and Cillian and explained, "Her magic is already too strong for a children's wand. I recommend buying a normal wand for her, which children usually receive at the age of eleven."
The O'Briens agreed, and it did not take long, before Hermione found a wand that worked well for her.
To Harry's surprise, his own magic was also too strong for a children's wand. Nevertheless, it took a while for him to find the wand that matched, and after the wand maker explained that his wand was the twin of the wizard who had killed his parents, Harry felt extremely relieved when they closed the door to the shop behind them. 'That was gross,' he thought, carefully fingering the wand that was tucked into his jeans pocket.
"I'd like to buy some Christmas presents for my parents," Hermione spoke up. "Would that be all right?"
Everyone agreed, and Harry and David decided to look for something for Annette and Cillian as well. Together, they convinced the O'Briens to head to the bookshop to give the children some time alone.
"Let's go to the sweets shop," David suggested. "Maybe they have some interesting items that we can buy for them."
"Did you know that my parents are dentists?" Hermione replied, chuckling, however, eagerly inspected the sweets shop together with the boys.
Finally, they bought Bertie Botts Beans for Annette and Cillian as well as a package of chocolate frogs, strangled strawberry cats, liquorice phoenixes and several other strange looking items for themselves, deciding that it would be better to give the Grangers the same books that the O'Briens had bought earlier instead of sweets.
When they returned to Flourish & Blotts to meet Annette and Cillian, Harry unobtrusively bought another copy of Hogwarts: A History, knowing just how much Hermione loved that book. 'If I want to look up something, I'll never have a chance if Hermione doesn't have her own copy,' he thought, inwardly grinning.
HP
Christmas was more pleasant than Harry could have imagined it in his wildest dreams. Instead of having to cook all the meals only to be thrown into his cupboard over the holidays like during the previous years, he did not have to cook but was allowed helping to decorate the Christmas tree. He used the occasion to try out a few spells, which he had found in the school books, and transfigured tissues into colourful baubles - much to his foster parents' and his brother's pleasure.
For the first time after his parents died, Harry even received Christmas presents. Unbeknownst to the children, Annette and Cillian had asked the Grangers to buy some magical toys for their sons, when they visited Diagon Alley together with Hermione a few weeks ago. Fortunately, the Grangers had been careful to only buy games that did not afford magic to play them, so that David could play everything together with Harry.
"This was the best Christmas ever," Harry said, contentedly. "Thank you so much for everything."
"You're very welcome, son," Cillian replied, smiling. "We're also very happy to have you here."
HP
From the beginning of January onwards, Harry, Hermione and David went to their new class, and all three children liked it immediately. Their classmates were much nicer than in their old class, where everyone had been frightened to stand up against Dudley and his gang, and since all three of them loved to study, they thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of attending more difficult classes.
'Dudley must be so jealous,' Harry thought one day, when Annette told him that Petunia had asked if it was true that they were in a different class now. However, apparently, it was not only Dudley who could not bear his cousin being in an advanced class.
HP
One day, when the three friends were on their way home from school and Trouble just emerged from the O'Briens' garden to accompany what he thought of his big brothers home, a tragedy occurred, which was going to change their lives to a great extent.
tbc...
