Last time in Prelude For A Providence...
Fae' watched 'Roger' walk up to a very large, exceedingly wealthy looking man.
He widened his eyes in a manner that was reminiscent of a puppy dog, tapped the man on the shoulder, crying and screaming "I want my sister! I want my sister!"
And Aubree silently watched Harry 'Roger', waiting for him to work his magic, and waiting for her cue.
Harry thanked the heavens and Yahweh (his old school teacher was Hebrew and often thanked or cursed God in her language, and so he often used this too) that this large, rich man was so short-- Harry could stand on his tippee-toes and reach the man's shoulder to jab.
The large man looked bewildered at the crying child. Where on earth were his ruddy parents?
The man tried to put on a sweet tone. "Do you know what your sister looks like? And what's your name, kid?" he asked gently.
"My sister has b-blonde h-hair and p-purple eyes and she's-- she's sixt-t-teen. My name is R-Roger…" Harry sobbed, cursing Aubree to the fiery depths of hell for giving the name Roger. It just didn't suit him!
The man sighed, pitying the little kid. "Look, kid, ah…I'll help you find your sister. What's your last name?"
"Gringotts…"
Horace Slughorn eyed the small kid- Roger Gringotts! Gringotts! Like he was worth a million galleons.
Which wasn't far off the mark; The Gringotts Heir and Heiress's together were worth billions of millions of trillions of galleons.
Horace smiled. If he returned this kid to his sister, and took them to Gringotts, where they were expected to go…
Merlin's Beard, all the publicity he'd receive! And crystallised pineapple!
Horace's smiled became even wider. Excellent.
..::ooOOOoo::..
Harry made a feverish gesture behind his back to Aubree that clearly said 'Come here, quick!'
This guy…Horace Slughorn, if he'd recalled the man's fantasy of people praising him correctly, was going to use Aubree and himself.
Which wasn't very fair; they were the ones that were meant to be using him, not the other way around!
And this Horace man had a strange fascination with crystallised pineapple, whatever that was.
Aubree suddenly stalked out as she observed Harry, with his super-cool mind powers, made the big man grab him by the scruff of the neck, holding him tight there.
Aubree put on a furious expression, running up to the big man, screaming;
"Let go of my brother, you…"
Child Molester, Aubree heard a voice inside her head say, and she realised it was Harry.
"Child Molester! Let him go right this second or I'll…call the cops on you!"
Harry made the meaty fist drop him, and Harry stepped on the man's foot, crying loudly as Aubree kept on screaming about calling the police.
..::ooOOOoo::.
Horace Slughorn was confused. What on earth were 'cops'?
And-- OW! That ruddy kid just stepped on his foot! And now he was crying!
This was not good…all this commotion was drawing a crowd…
..::ooOOOoo::..
Aubree decided to slap the fat man hard across the cheek.
She hadn't slapped someone since she'd left the orphanage.
How good it felt to physically harm someone again!
She kept on verbally abusing the man until loads of people…who were all wearing dresses… looked upon the scene with great interest, and Harry had successfully pick pocketed this great oaf of a man.
Bidding Horace Slughorn an ungraceful farewell, they stalked off, only to be confronted by a man with red hair in a small ponytail and a black hoop earring that looked to be in his early twenties.
Aubree subconsciously grasped Harry's hand tightly. This man was so tall!
He gave them a warm smile, and the two relaxed a little. He seemed nice enough.
"Hello," he greeted cheerfully, "My name's Bill Weasley; I usually work at a Gringotts branch in Egypt, but have moved back to England for a few months. I'm terribly sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear that you two are from the family of Gringotts?"
Aubree looked down at Harry, and flipping her blonde hair back as she looked at Bill.
"Yes, we are. My name is Fae, and my little brother here is Roger. Why do you ask?"
Bill smiled again, showing some flawless teeth.
"I'm going to show you around the bank you two are heirs to, and take you to your vault."
"Vault?" squeaked Harry.
Bill just nodded, and led them to the bank.
Aubree and Harry traded glances. What on earth did he mean by vault?
And that's when it hit them. Gringotts was a bank. They were the 'heirs'.
Aubree grinned. They'd be swimming in money soon!
Wrong, Aubree heard Harry's voice flutter into her thoughts, they'll probably ask us for some kind of proof.
Aubree mentally groaned. We are in some serious deep trouble.
Language! Reprimanded Harry. But yeah, you're right.
'Fae' and 'Roger', as they stepped inside the very intimidating bank, gulped at the inevitable prospect of being caught.
Until Aubree caught sight of the things that resembled badly mashed potatoes with ears and bifocals, and started to laugh out loud so heartedly that her eyes started to water.
..::ooOOOoo::..
Harry grinned as he licked his choc-banana-pineapple-vanilla ice-cream. "I can't believe we got out of that!"
..::o Flashback o::..
Bill led them up to one of the mashed potato things (Goblins, they were called, as he had informed them only moments earlier one Aubree had managed to dissolve her giggles) and the Goblin asked for their vault key.
Before Harry could answer, much to his irritation, Aubree replied foolishly, "We don't have a key."
Harry sent Aubree a death glare. She had the uncanny habit of stopping him from answering.
Which, Harry mused, isn't always a good thing.
The Goblin narrowed his beady eyes at them, and said in a very intimidating voice, "You are not the Gringotts heirs."
Harry bowed his head a little but Aubree didn't even have the grace to look a bit ashamed.
"No, we're not. But he-" she jerked a thumb back at Harry, "Is Harry Potter, so….please don't hurt us…" Aubree finished somewhat lamely.
Harry frowned. How was his name going to make any difference?
Bill also frowned. "He doesn't look like Harry Potter."
Aubree placed her hands on Harry and her head and let the disguise fall. Bill muttered something that sounded like, "Sweet Merlin!"
Bill then turned to Aubree. "Are you really his sister? I'm guessing by your height that you aren't sixteen."
Aubree smirked, and Harry looked impressed. Aubree knew how to get herself out of trouble without even trying!
"Harry and I are both nine, and my name is Aubree Lestrange. Now, if you would kindly not kill us----"
"Lestrange?" repeated Bill, his eyes suddenly narrowing at Aubree.
The black haired girl sent the redhead a quizzical look.
"Yes."
"Do you…ah…know who you're parents are?"
Aubree's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "No. I grew up in an orphanage. Do you?"
Bill's eyes widened a little, but only Harry noticed. "No, no, I don't," he said hastily.
The Goblin cleared his throat. "Why were you two impersonating the Gringotts heirs?"
"We weren't sir." explained Harry. "Not intentionally, anyway." If Bill was surprised at the nine year old for knowing such a word, he didn't show it. "You see…"
Thank Yahweh that Harry was good at fabricating lies.
"…My family- that is, my, uncle, aunt and my cousin, had taken us to Diagon Alley to browse around the shops for a few hours. My cousin dared Aubree and me to steal from that Slughorn man…and we just took the last names from our surroundings."
Bill chuckled. "You sound like two of my brothers, Fred and George…they're always up to no good."
Harry smiled at Bill, and turned back to the Goblin, saying business-like, "I'm sorry for any inconvenience that has occurred from this, Mister Goblin sir. But while I pick pocketed Horace Slughorn…I found something that might be of service to you…"
"You know," Bill wondered aloud, "The way you talk, I'd expect you to go to Ravenclaw, but now I'm thinking Slytherin…"
As Harry rummaged through his pockets, not hearing what Bill had just said, Aubree stared open mouthed at Bill. Ravenclaw? Slytherin?
What drugs was this man ON?
Harry opened his palm to reveal a small bag of money.
"We saw someone coming out of the bank slipping this to him."
Aubree was about to protest-- they didn't see the fat man be given a bag of money at all! But Harry, sensing this, let his voice penetrate Aubree's thoughts;
I'm lying, Aubree. They already thought it was amazing that you could do that stuff with your hands. If they found out I could read minds-- what if they captured us or something?
Oh. Aubree had never thought of that…but she felt, and she knew Harry felt it too-- these type of people were the people that the belonged to!
The Goblin's eyes widened at the stolen money. "It appears we have a leak in the system. Thank you very much for this. Is there anyway we can repay you, at all, Mr Potter, Miss Lestrange?"
Harry was about to answer, but Aubree cut him to the chase.
"A place to stay would be nice!"
Bill frowned. "I thought you were with Harry's family…'
"Oh," Harry gushed, "We are, we just…"
"Harry's family are meeting relatives, and they don't want them to see Harry or I.." started Aubree lamely.
"They're Muggles?" inquired Bill.
"YES!" cried Aubree and Harry in a desperate attempt to get a straight story.
The two protagonists were thinking the same thing; what the heck was a muggle?
The Goblin smirked. "Of course, we'll get you a room at the Leaky Cauldron, free of charge."
Harry and Aubree beamed.
"Thanks!"
"I better get going," interrupted Bill. Harry rummaged through his pants pockets once again and handed something to Bill; it looked like a shark's tooth earring.
"This is for you, Bill...I'm guessing we can always cash in a favour from you?"
Bill took the earring and stared at it in amazement. "This is a Peruvian Vipertooth Dragon Fang! These-- these are really rare! I, well, Thankyou! And you can cash in a favour anytime, for anything!"
Harry smirked. Aubree whispered to him, "What are you doing?"
"Getting some allies. Everyone needs them. Besides, Slughorn was thinking about how priceless this fang was…so I stole it. But I didn't know it was a Dragon's! Wow, Bree! Imagine a real Dragon!"
Aubree laughed as Bill showed them to their room at the Leaky Cauldron and bid them a cheerful goodbye,
"So, we know each other for twelve hours or more and you already shorten my name to Bree?"
"What, you don't like it?"
"No, Harry, it's nice. But only you can call me that."
"What about…Fair-bree, ay? Like fairy?"
Harry was then attacked by Aubree and a big, white fluffy pillow that had once occupied a single bed in the room that they would be staying in.
..::o End Flashback o::..
Aubree happily munched the last bit of her strawberry coconut apple ice-cream as she stretched her legs out on her bed.
Harry, having finished his long awaited ice-cream a few minutes ago, decided he wanted some answers.
"Aubree?"
"Hmm?"
"Where did you grow up?"
"My Mum left me at an orphanage when I was about a week old. Dunno why, and I don't know who she is, either. When I was five I escaped my minders…that Orphanage was awful, no-one liked me. And ever since then I've lived on the streets."
Harry felt like a light bulb suddenly went on in his head. "Aubree! The Newspaper clipping!"
Aubree grinned. "Alright. But after, can we go to sleep? It's what, nine at night already, and I actually can have a shower now…heaven knows what I smell like…and it's been a huge day…"
Harry covered a yawn as Aubree got the clipping out, silently agreeing for some much needed sleep.
..::ooOOOoo::..
THE DAILY PROPHET
YOU-KNOW-WHO DEAD!
On this very night, Harry James Potter…
..::ooOOOoo::..
Harry felt like he was going to cry. Either that, or murder the Dursley's.
"My parents…" he whispered, "They-they never died in a car crash…
"I hate my Uncle! I can't believe he lied about how they died! I HATE him!"
Aubree was frightened. She was only nine, remember; she couldn't truly imagine fully loathing someone.
"You mean," asked Aubree quietly, putting a consoling hand on Harry's shoulder, "You…don't love your Uncle?"
Harry brushed a tear away and snorted at this question.
"Of course I don't. I don't love Vernon Dursley."
..::ooOOOoo::..
At that very moment that those words were uttered, a fat, big moustached man by the name of Vernon Dursley suddenly stopped reading the paper as he was sitting in his living room at number Four, Privet Drive.
His vision had suddenly become blurry. His hands were shaking. He felt nauseated, and cold, like a bucket of ice-cold water had been dumped on him.
And, as thought a thousand poisons had been mixed together and Vernon had drunk them, the worst pain imaginable racked Vernon's insides.
Beside the newspaper, TV remote, slumped on his expensive lounge, was Vernon Dursley, most certainly dead.
..::ooOOOoo::.
Kudos for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them for the Dragon name.
Harry blearily opened his eyes at the tapping noise that was coming from his right. He yawned, and hopelessly groped for his glasses. Once finding them and putting them on, he looked towards the source of the noise; the window.
Harry yelped in surprise at what he saw.
..::ooOOOoo::..
Petunia held a shrieking Dudley in her arms as she struggled to stop the panic raging inside her as the policeman said a solemn goodbye, and his condolences 'at the lost of your husband, Mrs Dursley.'
Vernon Dursley had died some twelve hours earlier; both Petunia and Dudley had decided to have an early night, while Vernon stayed up. They hadn't heard him fall to the floor.
The Ambulance officers had said that he'd had some sort of seizure-- but they couldn't identify the cause, and would have to wait for further testing.
Tears fell rapidly from Petunia's eyes as neighbours looked out of their windows from behind their expensive curtains at the sound of an ambulance siren, a shrieking boy and a near hysterical mother.
Dudley wailed loudly; he'd never been so angry and sad in his life.
Someone had done this, he was sure of it! His father was strong, he couldn't just die by accident! He looked up with pure hatred at the dawn sky, and as he did so, the glass windows and irreplaceable china of number Four, Privet Drive imploded, shattering into millions of tiny pieces…
..::ooOOOoo::..
Dumbledore frowned.
He had owned Fawkes for nine years, ever since the young Phoenix had been born out of the ashes for the first time. And in those nine years, he had never known Fawkes to take so long with finding someone…
..::ooOOOoo::..
Looking through the glass, He sighed.
His name was Nikolas. Nikolas-- No! He daren't call himself by that last name, even to himself while he was in this form.
Nikolas admired his pretty golden eyes, his red hair and tanned skin in the reflection the glass as he waited for someone to notice him…
After all; he was on a mission.
..::ooOOOoo::..
A blonde haired girl leant against her father, her eyes squeezed shut. She'd known this was going to happen; she'd Seen it.
But even though she's seen her die, Luna Lovegood wouldn't dare look at her mother's coffin.
..::ooOOOoo::..
Aubree came out of the bathroom just as she was finished washing her face to see Harry cry out in alarm and surprise. She turned to where he was looking, and decide that Harry had good reason to yelp.
There was a winged boy standing outside their window.
..::ooOOOoo::..
So: Dudley made things shatter, Dumbledore's concerned, Luna's been mentioned, there's a boy called Nikolas with golden eyes and there's a boy with wings tapping on Harry and Aubree's window.
What do you make of that?
Reviews are appreciated! And so is ideas (I'm a big feedback junkie)
