The Battle is Joined
By J.C. Vascardi
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Chapter Seven:
Diagon Alley
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Due in part to their status as nobility, but more down to their large vault balances, Narcissa, Harry, Draco, and Sirius were allowed to Floo directly into Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
Sirius didn't bother with his animagus form, because it was a magically-backed ironclad agreement in the treaty that ended the last goblin war that all Gringotts branch offices were the sovereign territory of the Goblin Nation, with protections on par with that of an official foreign embassy.
Meaning that as long as Sirius remained inside the walls of the bank, he could walk around as himself, without fear of reprisal or arrest, as he was considered to be a guest of the Goblin Nation and was afforded their full protection, as a result.
Any attempt by the Ministry to arrest or detain him on Gringotts property would be seen as a direct challenge to their sovereignty. And seeing as how the only way that the goblins would respond to such an affront was an immediate declaration of war, even the most stupid Auror on the Ministry's payroll wouldn't risk it if they valued their limbs, their life, and their livelihood.
The goblins could allow the Ministry into Gringotts to make an arrest, but whether or not they allowed it depended entirely upon the bank balance of the person that was due to be arrested. And as a Black, Sirius was wealthy enough that the goblins would not revoke their protection unless he committed a crime against them, which he had never done, so his safety was assured.
He had often mused that it was too bad that he couldn't simply live at Gringotts. Sadly for him, however, despite the numerous services that Gringotts provided to their customers, far more than any bank in the muggle world did, lodging was not one of them.
Remus was also going to be accompanying them on their shopping trip, but since he wasn't a member of a noble family and had a paltry amount of coin in his vault, he wasn't afforded Floo access to Gringotts' exclusive VIP Lobby. So, he'd be meeting up with them in the main lobby after they'd finished their business at the bank.
The double face-concealing hoods of the cloak that Narcissa had made for Harry and Draco were up as they took a seat in the large lounge area at the center of the room.
"Good afternoon, Lady Malfoy," a goblin said, as he approached and spoke to her first, since as the Marchioness of Coleford, she outranked Sirius, especially since due to his criminal record, upon his father's death, he'd never officially taken up the status of Black Heir and the courtesy title of Earl of Alnwick that went with it. "I trust you wish to meet with the Malfoy family's account manager?"
Narcissa nodded. "Yes, thank you."
Turning to Sirius, the goblin asked, "The Black manager, Mr. Black?"
"No, I'm only accompanying my cousin today," Sirius said. Seeing as how he couldn't leave the bank without first shifting into his animagus form, he wouldn't be doing any shopping and thus didn't really have a need to visit his vault to get any galleons.
He hated it, but he had hope that maybe it would be over sooner rather than later. Especially after Lucius had returned briefly to Malfoy Manor and told him about his meeting at Arlington Grange.
"And you, sirs?" the goblin asked as he turned to Harry and Draco.
They kept their hoods up and remained silent, but they did hold out their hands to allow the goblin to inspect the rings on their fingers. The goblin looked surprised by their attire and there only being one body between them, but didn't comment.
Since he was already going to fetch the Malfoy account manager, the goblin simply asked without naming names if Harry wanted to see his, prompting a nod. The goblin promptly left them to inform the requested managers that the clients to see.
About ten minutes later, the four of them were shown into a conference room where they found Scarclaw and Gragnast—the Potter and Malfoy account managers respectively—already seated at the table.
"You can remove your hoods now, Heir Malfoy, Heir Potter," Gragnast said.
Scarclaw nodded. "I must admit some curiosity as to your sudden closeness."
Draco and Harry put their hoods down, as Harry said, "An apparition attempt gone horribly wrong."
Gragnast nodded. "Ah, I see. That explains why your funeral services were canceled. So, what can Gringotts' do for you today?"
"For obvious reasons," Harry answered, "I wanted to confirm that moving forward, all financial matters concerning House Potter can be discussed in front of Draco."
"That's doable," Scarclaw said, as he made a notation in the file in front of him. "As you are the last of your line, Heir Potter, you can grant that permission despite not being the lord and head of your family for three more years."
Harry nodded but remained silent as Narcissa pulled a sealed envelope out of the folds of her cloak and handed it to Gragnast. "And here is my husband's signed permission for financial matters involving Draco to be discussed in front of Heir Potter. He had important business to attend to elsewhere or he would have been here."
"Very well," Gragnast said as he slit open the missive, read it briefly, and then added it to the Malfoy account files. "Is there anything else that Gringotts can assist you with today?"
"Yes, some questions are arising from my son's fusion with Heir Potter which my husband and I would like answers to. We believe we can get those answers by having them undergo the Ritual of Blood Inheritance."
"I see," Scarclaw said, as he turned to the boys and addressed them. "Is it your wish to undergo this ritual? Regardless of Lord and Lady Malfoy's wishes, they cannot legally compel you to do so."
"Yes, you must both consent of your own volition," Gragnast added.
Looking over at his mother, Draco asked, "And what if the results aren't what you're hoping for."
"Draco, as far as your father and I are concerned, the test results are irrelevant. We will always love and adore you, mon petit dragon, and nothing will change that."
"Even this?" Draco asked as he motioned towards Harry's half of their shared body.
"Even that. You are our son and that will never change. It'll be an adjustment for us to get used to having Harry around, but your father and I would do anything for you, mon petit dragon. Deep down in your heart, you know that."
"So why ask for this test?" Harry asked.
"The fusion doesn't change the way that Lucius and I feel about our son, Harry," Narcissa said. "We will always love him and we will do our best to accept you as a part of our family since for better or worse you are a permanent fixture in our son's life."
Narcissa sighed and then said, "However, Lucius and I grew up among pureblood culture. We know how others will view this and this test could depending on the results, make it easier for them to accept not only Draco but you as well, Harry. I trust that you both are in favor of anything which could make your lives moving forward easier, yes?"
Draco nodded. "Yes, I think I can safely speak for Harry when I say that we would like that."
"Yes, easier would be good," Harry said. "I've come to expect the opposite but I certainly wouldn't complain about easier."
Clearing his throat, Scarclaw said, "Understand that this is not an undertaking which will be finished quickly in any event. Even with magic, it can take months for the full results of a Ritual of Blood Inheritance to be ready."
"Preliminary results can be ready in as little as twenty-four hours," Gragnast said. "Those would answer the questions which I imagine the Lord and Lady Malfoy would most like answers to. Beyond that, however, one must simply wait."
"Why would it takes months for the full results?" Harry asked.
It was Sirius who answered. "Because the ritual draws your complete family tree or at least however many generations you ask for, Harry. How far that goes back varies from person to person, but for most ancient lines such as the Potters or the Malfoys, it could conceivably go back over a thousand years or more."
Narcissa smiled and nodded. "Yes, even with magic it takes a long time to draw such a complete family history. Especially since this spell doesn't just trace the history of one family, but that of every single branch family that has ever married into the line."
"It's called the Ritual of Blood Inheritance for a reason, Heir Potter," Scarclaw said. "When it's all finished, it will show a complete family history and whether or not a person has the correct bloodline to claim a connection to some of the oldest bloodlines in Albion and beyond. Whether they just want bragging rights or wish to restore a dormant house to glory is up to them."
"Greed can also be a motivating factor, as anyone who proved they did have the right bloodline could potentially claim the long-dormant vaults of some of Albion's most ancient families," Gragnast said. "Although most people do not take the risk simply because as you can imagine a ritual that can take over a year for the results to be ready is not cheap."
"Indeed it's not," Scarclaw said. "Although, while I'm unfamiliar with the current state of the Malfoy vaults, I can say with certainty that the Potter vaults can more than afford the cost."
"The Malfoy vaults are similarly healthy," Gragnast said. "As for the ritual, it's entirely possible to pay the money and do the ritual only to find out that you're the descendant of a poor farmer who died without a knut to their name. Or it could reveal a fortune that dwarves that of all the currently extant noble families of Albion and Hibernia combined."
"It's a crapshoot, in other words," Sirius said. "You might get lucky and strike it filthy rich. Or you might strikeout."
"Even those of noble blood can find that they're descended from a poor farmer," Narcissa added. "It might be the great-grandson of the farmer who got himself ennobled and they've been nobility ever since, but that doesn't change what the family was before that."
"One advantage of doing the ritual, however," Scarclaw said, "is that if it does reveal some connection to an ancient line, say one of the thirty-seven noble houses that are currently extinct in their male lines, then the person who did the ritual is automatically moved to the front of the inheritance line as the magically recognized male-line heir, no matter how distant their claim through the female-line might have been prior."
Gragnast nodded. "It's the reward for shelling out a small fortune to do the test. Of course, those who do the ritual are not required to actually restore the family and they can, if they so choose, relinquish claims granted to them by the ritual."
"Why would anyone relinquish the claims granted to them?" Draco asked.
"Depending on how far back one goes," Gragnast answered, "it is possible for one to find enough connections to inherit claims on several house and their associated titles. Some people might decide that they'll only keep the highest and most prestigious of those and relinquish the lower houses and titles, thus allowing somebody else to take those up if they do the ritual and find the necessary connection."
Draco nodded, satisfied with that answer, as Harry asked, "How much does the test actually cost?"
The two goblins looked at each other, before Scarclaw said, "There's a base fee of 25,000 galleons upfront, which includes an ancestry scroll going back twenty generations."
"By contrast, all the noble houses have a family tapestry that records the ten most recent generations," Sirius said. "The oldest generation disappears from the tapestry upon the birth of the newest one. Otherwise, the tapestry would be so large that it'd be impossible to house it."
"You can opt to go further back," Scarclaw said. "It's normally an additional 2,500 galleons per ten generations over twenty, but since you're both nobility and among the bank's wealthiest clients, we can increase it to seventeen generations for 2,500. Furthermore, there's a fee of fifty galleons per day, starting the day after the Ritual is performed, until the ancestry scroll is finished, although again for the nobility and our wealthiest clients, we can waive the daily fee after one year."
Doing some calculations, Scarclaw said, "So, if for example you wanted an extra thirty-four generations on top of the standard twenty and that took more than a year to finish, you'd be paying a total of 48,250 galleons."
Sirius whistled, as the two goblins had a small whispered conference before they nodded and Scarclaw said, "Round it up to an even 50,000 and we'll tack on the extra sixteen generations to bring you up to an even fifty. So, in total the ritual would trace your ancestries back seventy generations."
Gragnast nodded his head as he said, "Going back that far is almost a guarantee that it will take over a year for the final results. The daily fee will be automatically deducted from your vaults each day until the scroll is finished."
Harry and Draco nodded as they contemplated the price. They were both going over the expenditure in their heads. As they did so, they both realized within seconds of one another that as pricey as 50,000 galleons were, they could both easily afford it.
Clearing his throat, Gragnast said, "Doing the ritual also comes with the explicit agreement that Gringotts will get 10% of any monetary assets acquired as a result of the ritual as a finder's fee, while the account manager of the person who did the ritual receives an additional 5% as their commission."
"Beyond the preliminary results that are provided after 24 hours," Scarclaw added, "the rest of the results cannot be accessed or read until such time that the magic indicates that the ancestry scroll is finished."
"What's included in the preliminary results?" Draco asked.
Gragnast said, "Blood status, your ancestry chart for immediate family only—spouses, parents, and siblings, plus your four grandparents and eight great-grandparents—any magical abilities that are inherent in your bloodline, which can be dormant or active, and finally, a list of any academic subjects if any, that you have a natural inclination for and will thus find easier."
Stroking his beard, Scarclaw added, "The preliminary results will also give an estimate for when the scroll will be finished and the final results ready, based upon the options selected going into it."
Taking a deep breath, Harry said, "Oh what the hell, I'll take the plunge. I'll do the Ritual, with the deal for 50,000 galleons that you laid out."
Turning his head to look at his mother for a moment, who nodded her head, Draco then turned to Gragnast and said, "Same for me."
"Excellent," Scarclaw said. "Then we'll call for one of the ritualists and get this done."
It was an hour later when Harry and Draco left the bank, each having to part with seven drops of blood, a vial of their saliva, a strand of their hair, and a small sliver of their skin. The ritual usually only required blood, but due to the accident, the ritualist determined that the saliva, hair, and skin samples would help to differentiate between Harry and Draco better than the blood pumped through their single heart could.
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Leaving the bank with Narcissa, Remus, and Sirius, now in his animagus form, the group made their way first to Twillfitt & Tatting's. Upon seeing Lady Malfoy enter the shop, the clerk smiled and held back the curtain behind the cash register.
It led to a hallway where regular customers were not allowed, but employees and those deemed important enough for Master Tailors Wolfgang Twillfitt and Johann Tatting to see in person were the exceptions to the rule.
Entering the private salon where the two master tailors met with clients, Wolfgang smiled at Narcissa and said, "Ah, Lady Malfoy, what a pleasant surprise."
"Yes, my dear lady," Johann said. "How can we be of service?"
"This is not yet public knowledge," Narcissa replied. "However, my son, Draco, was involved in a serious splinching accident."
Putting down his hood, Draco said, "Serious enough that as you can see I now share a single two-headed body."
Wolfgang nodded. "Indeed. May I ask with whom?"
Putting down his own hood, Harry said, "With me."
"Masters Twillfitt and Tatting," Narcissa said, "may I present my son's bodymate, Heir Harry Potter, Earl of Brynmoor."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Heir Potter," Johann said.
"Please, just call me Harry."
"As you wish," Wolfgang said, before rubbing his hands together. "I imagine you're here because you need a new wardrobe."
Draco nodded. "Indeed. One of our healers, Luc Flamel, was kind enough to alter some of his clothes for us to wear, but moving forward we need new clothes to accommodate for our new situation."
"Yes," Johann said, as he motioned towards one of the nearby platforms and said, "Well, if you could take off your cloak and step up on the platform, we'll get started on your measurements."
As they did that, Harry said, "I do plan on making sure that Draco does some weight-training and exercise so that his side of our shared body reaches the same state of fitness that mine has, so I trust the Auto-Resizing Charms can handle that?"
Wolfgang nodded. "Indeed, Harry, that will not be a problem. Since we'll have your measurements, we can easily adjust the charms to be able to resize as necessary as Draco's fitness level increases."
"Yes, we'll add a couple of extra inches of leeway to the charms," Johann said. "In case you put on any more muscle, Harry."
Both boys nodded before Draco blushed and said, "Oh and um, while I know that wizard space charms are commonplace in trouser crotches, you might want to put some extra space beyond what I'd had previously."
Sirius barked and wagged his tail at this, as Narcissa smiled knowingly. Remus, however, looked confused as he asked, "Am I missing something?"
It was Harry's turn to blush, as he said, "Well Draco's and my joining wasn't entirely complete. While we share pretty much everything now, our heads and private parts are still separate."
"Double that of a single person, I take it?" Johann asked.
Draco nodded. "Yes, two cocks, four testicles, completely separate, without about two or three inches between them."
"Well, we can easily deal with that," Wolfgang said and Johann nodded, as the boys stepped up onto the platform and a magical tape measure began moving around taking their measurements.
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Just over an hour later, the group left the tailor's shop. There had been a few disagreements that had to be worked out between the two, including such things as color and style. Draco preferred green, silver, and black, with some white thrown in where necessary, in a more formal style while Harry preferred a more relaxed style.
As for colors, Harry was far more open to different colors, although he wasn't willing to allow their clothes to be entirely green, silver, black, or white. A compromise was reached in that some of their clothes would be magical fusions that were one color on Harry's side and a different, yet complimenting color on Draco's side.
There would also be several items with solid colors that would be the same for both of them, in a wider variety than Draco's preference. As Narcissa pointed out, however, Draco didn't have the right to limit the colors of the clothes they wore to only his preferences, as that wouldn't be fair to Harry.
Just as it wouldn't have been fair for Harry to insist that they were only going to wear his favorite colors and none of Draco's.
The same logic applied to the style and cut of their clothing, which ended up being a fairly even mix between formal and casual, including several outfits that were a happy medium between the two.
Luc sent them home with enough of his altered clothes to last them a week and a half without wearing the same outfit twice, so the tailors promised to have the first batch of the simpler outfits finished within that time.
The more formal and intricately designed clothes would take longer, however, and require additional fittings, although, for their noble clients, both tailors were willing to do them outside of their shop.
Arriving at their next destination, Narcissa tapped the bell on the front counter. A moment later, a rolling ladder moved into view with Lord Garrick Ollivander on it.
"Ah, Lady Malfoy, always a pleasure," Garrick said as he climbed down the ladder and came into the front area of his shop. Greeting everyone, in turn, his eyes lingering on the hooded twins who seemed familiar, even if he couldn't place them without being able to see their faces.
"And what brings you to my shop?" Garrick asked.
"My son needs a new wand, Your Grace," Narcissa answered, paying deference to the fact that Garrick was a Duke and thus outranked her.
"Your son?" Garrick asked. "I don't see Draco here, unless…"
"I'm right here, Your Grace," Draco said, as he lifted the hood far enough for the aged wandmaker to see his face.
Unlike in the tailor shop where they'd been in a back room where they could be reasonably sure of privacy, Draco kept his hook up in case anybody else came into the shop.
While the news that Harry and Draco were still alive would be going out soon, it was agreed that they'd keep their shared body on a need to know basis for the time being. At least until they got more comfortable with it themselves or until the week before the new school year began, whichever came first.
"So, Draco, was it you or your new friend who screwed up an apparition attempt?"
"It was Draco," Harry said, as he lifted his hood far enough for the wandmaker to see his face.
"Interesting, very interesting," Garrick said, before he grabbed a box, seemingly at random, and took out a wand. "Try this one."
Taking the offered wand, Draco waved it.
One the of fresh roses in a vase on the front counter promptly burst into flames.
"Apparently not," Garrick said as he took it back and put it away.
Draco tried three more wands before Garrick headed into his backroom and came back with a wand that wasn't in a box… he'd just finished making it less than an hour ago and hadn't had a chance to put it one yet.
Garrick didn't say anything as he handed the wand to Draco. Almost the moment the wand was in the blond's hand, the entire left side of Draco's and Harry's body lit up with.
"Hawthorn and phoenix feather, eleven inches," Garrick revealed. "Though I suppose given your new situation, it's not that surprising."
"Your Grace?" Draco asked.
"The phoenix whose tail feather is in your new wand," Garrick answered, "has given only two other feathers. I suppose it makes sense that you would be destined for this wand when it's brother— holly and phoenix, also eleven inches—is wielded by the person you now share a body with."
Harry perked up at this, as Draco turned and looked at him for a moment, before looking back at the wandmaker and asking, "And the third feather?"
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Malfoy," Garrick said. "The third feather resides in a thirteen and a half inch wand made of yew… the very same wand that gave Mr. Potter his scar."
When nobody spoke, Garrick said, "As I told Mr. Potter on his first visit to my shop, I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Malfoy. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things… terrible things… but great."
"Ever since you said that to me three years ago, I've always wondered what you meant by it, sir," Harry said. "I mean, it sounds like you admire what he did."
Garrick shook his head. "Do not misunderstand me, Harry. When I say great I'm referring to the quantity of his actions, not the quality. I do not now, nor will I ever, support a person who tortures and murders as easily as they breathe."
Garrick paused, as his expression morphed into a haunted visage of deep sadness, and added, "My own wife and son were among those that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tortured and murdered. So no, Harry, I respect the quantity of the feats of magic done with a wand I crafted, some of which many had thought impossible, but not the quality. Never the quality."
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The group continued moving around to various stores, buying a few things here and there. As they left Flourish and Blotts, Harry and Draco agreed that their next stop would be Eeylops Owl Emporium, as they were both running low on treats for Hedwig and Adonis.
Reaching the store, however, they found it closed. A sign in the window stated that the owner had gone bird watching in Ireland and would be back next week.
"They were closed during the Christmas holidays in 1992 for the same reason," Draco said. "Only then it was in Wales, I think."
"Seems a rather barmy reason to close your store," Harry said. "Especially during a high traffic period where you're likely to make a lot of sales. Even if the owner wanted to go bird-watching, one would think they'd have a few trusted employees who could run the store in their absence."
"Indeed, one would think," Remus agreed.
"Well, I guess we'll have to visit the Magical Menagerie," Draco said. "They also sell owl treats, thankfully."
Harry nodded. "Yes, there's nothing for it, I suppose."
Moving down the alley, they made their way to their destination, a bell announcing their arrival as they entered into the shop that was crammed with so many cages and tanks that you couldn't see the walls.
Since the store was known to be rather cramped, Sirius and Remus waited outside, while Narcissa went across the street to reserve them a table at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.
As everyone had agreed that they'd stop for some ice cream, before they headed over to the Carkitt Market section of Diagon Alley to visit the Gringotts Money Exchange, as Harry, who'd forgotten while he was at the bank, wanted to exchange some galleons into muggle pounds but wasn't sharing why, as well as visiting Stowe and Packer's Magical Bags, so that Harry could buy a new trunk.
Thus it was just Harry and Draco entering the shop as they moved over to the area where the various pet supplies were kept. They'd just reached the shelf where the owl treats were on display when they heard it.
"I think we shall be stuck here forever, brother."
"Yes… six months now and not a single person has wanted us."
"Oh, how I wish we were back in sunny San Diego."
"Yes, instead of this cold and dreary place."
Harry and Draco looked at each other for a moment, before they silently agreed to investigate the source of the voices. Moving through the shop in the direction of the sound, they were both very surprised when they realized that the conversation they'd heard was coming from a large glass terrarium.
Inside of it, coiled up on a large rock under a heat lamp, was a black and white snake, about three to four feet long and about four to six inches around. It had an interesting pattern of markings and coloring that twisted around its body.
Shifting from predominantly black with white accents to predominantly white with black accents and then back again. This switch continued up about two-thirds of the snake's body where it stopped.
It was at the final third where the snake's body split into two separate bodies, each with an identical head affixed to them. The only difference between the two was that one head was almost entirely black with white accents, while the other was the opposite.
What almost like a glittering white diamond was set in the forehead of the black and white head, while a gleaming black diamond was set in the forehead of the white and black one. Each had small ridges along the backs of their heads which resembled horns, a feature which was repeated at the tip of their shared tail.
A sign above the terrarium identified the breed as a Jeweled Runeserpent and noted that it was a breed created from several generations of crossbreeding runespoors with horned serpents by a family of snake breeders in Southern California.
"Oh look, brother, more people come to gawk at us."
"Yes, though these ones are slightly more interesting in that they are similar to us."
"Yes, two heads, but their features hidden beneath their hoods."
"You can understand what they're saying, Draco?"
Draco was quiet for a moment, as he realized the truth. "Yes, I can. It seems our joining has granted me your ability to understand it."
"Can you speak it though?"
Draco hesitated. "I don't know? I mean I never learned, but I can still understand them."
"I never learned it either. At least not the way one learns Latin or English or any other language. Parseltongue is more inherent I guess would be the best word. Something you just understand with no training."
Harry's and Draco's entire conversation was in English, so the twin snakes in the terrarium weren't really paying attention to them, beyond noticing that they were standing there looking at them.
"So I just have to think about saying something in it and it will come out that way?"
Harry nodded. "Yes. When I first discovered my ability in second year it wasn't even conscious. Anytime I looked at a snake I just automatically began speaking in it without even thinking. With practice, I learned how to switch between the two and only speak in it when I want to."
Harry paused here and added, "Although I still have some difficulty recognizing when I hear it spoken around me because it sounds like English to me."
Closing his eyes, Draco concentrated before he hissed, "Hello?"
His eyes widened, as he added, still in Parseltongue, "I did it! Harry, I did it."
Harry smiled, as he said, "Yes, Draco, you did indeed."
This got the attention of the twin snakes who lifted their heads at the same time and looked at Harry and Draco.
"They're speakers!" the two heads said in unison.
"Do you have names?" Harry asked.
The black head moved back and forth in a negative gesture, as it said, "No, speaker, we do not."
"The family that created our breed never names us," the white head said. "Thinks that the person who buys us should do that."
"Would you be interested in doing so?" the black head asked. "Please, we'd be very happy to be bought by speakers and to leave this store."
The white head nodded up and down, its tongue flicking in and out and as it said, "Yes, we can barely get any sleep for all the noise."
Turning his head towards Draco, Harry asked, in English, "What do you think, Draco? I know we didn't intend to buy anything but owl treats, but I have to admit there is a certain appeal to owning a pet that I can actually speak to."
"Yes, I can see the appeal," Draco said, switching back to English. "It would certainly make us popular in Slytherin… although the Gryffindors probably won't like it."
Harry scoffed. "Well, I guess we can add it to the list of things they won't like but have no choice but to deal with."
"So, should we go talk to the clerk and buy them?" Draco asked.
Harry nodded before he turned back to the twin snakes, who were still looking at them and said, "We'll be back. We're going to go talk to the clerk about you."
The two heads bobbed up and down, as Harry and Draco made their way back to the front of the store. They each grabbed four boxes of owl treats since it was on their way. Putting them on the counter, the male clerk on duty asked, "Will this be all, gentlemen?"
"Actually, we're interested in purchasing one of your animals as well," Harry said. "And everything necessary for their care."
The clerk nodded. "Very well, which one?"
"The two-headed black and white Jeweled Runeserpent on display along the back wall," Draco answered.
The clerk looked up at this and said, "Nice try, boys, but you sound maybe fourteen? You couldn't possibly afford it."
Harry and Draco looked at each other briefly, before they took deep breaths and since there was nobody else in the store except for them and the clerk—and even the front windows were obscured by cages making it unlikely anyone was going to see them from the street—pulled their hoods down to reveal their heads.
Before the clerk could say a word at the confirmation of his thoughts that they were indeed teenagers, they held out their hands and said, "Care to revise your statement?"
The clerk looked down at their hands and his eyes widened, as he saw the two heir rings upon the fingers of the conjoined twin pair standing on the opposite side of the counter from him.
"Heir Potter, Heir Malfoy, a thousand pardons," the clerk said. "I'd heard you were still alive, but, well, I didn't realize that you'd, um, gotten so close?"
"It's a very recent development," Harry said. "One which you will keep to yourself, I assume?" The clerk nodded his head quickly, as, like most of the clerks and shop-owners on Diagon Alley, they weren't about to risk angering the heirs of two of the oldest and richest noble families in the country. They may as well just close their doors and go out of business if they did.
"Anyway, I assure you that we can afford it. I assume you, like most other shops on Diagon Alley, have a writ of withdrawal that we can sign?"
"Yes, of course, Heir Potter," the clerk said, as he consulted a price list next to the register and began ringing up several items as he did so. Finally, he said, "The owl treats, plus everything needed for the feeding and care of your new pet comes to three-hundred-and-ten galleons, two sickles, and a knut. That includes a four-month supply of food, two water bowls, two food dishes, a terrarium big enough to hold them, and a pair of charmed heat lamps."
Draco nodded, "And the snake itself?"
"The Jeweled Runespoor, being a rare breed imported all the way from the west coast of America, costs four-thousand galleons, fourteen sickles, and twenty-three knuts."
"So 4,310 galleons, sixteen sickles, and twenty-four knuts in all," Harry said and the clerk nodded. "Very well, make out the writ. Draco and I will split the cost."
Nodding his head, the clerk pulled out a quill, dipped it in ink, and began filling out a sheaf of parchment that he grabbed from a drawer under the cash register. Harry and Draco would both clearly see the Gringotts letterhead and seal.
When the clerk was finished, he handed the quill to Harry who signed it, before handing it to Draco who dipped it in the ink bottle, before signing his own name. As they were signing, the clerk grabbed a stick of red wax which he held the end of against a lit candle, allowing it to drip down onto the parchment to form a small pool next to Harry's signature.
Draco quickly slid Harry's ring off his finger, before giving it to Harry who pressed the seal into the wax. Thankfully, the ring was charmed to automatically clean itself of any residue.
Draco slid the ring back onto Harry's head and they repeated the process with Harry removing Draco's ring and then putting it back on for him.
Casting a quick-drying charm on the wax seals, the clerk nodded and then locked the signed document into a special safe under the counter that would transport it almost immediately to Gringotts where one of the goblins would see to transferring the funds from Harry's and Draco's vaults into the store's vault.
"I'll go collect your purchases," the clerk said, as he moved out from behind the counter and into the back room.
Ten minutes later, Harry and Draco left the store with their purchases bagged and shrunk for transport.
Well, all except the living purchase, for which they'd lifted their shirt and undershirt and allowed to coil around their bare torso. They were both happy to see that the horn-like ridges were magically dulled to not slice into their skin… they'd had enough skin wounds to last a lifetime.
-o-0-o-
To be continued…
So, Harry and Draco have an interesting new pet… I've seen several other stories where Harry buys a snake familiar and I've had a few requests for him to do so in one of my works. Figured I'd finally do it. Next chapter the snakes will be named and the preliminary results of the ritual will be revealed.
Also just as a note, if when reading the Parseltongue in this story, when either spoken by the snakes or by Harry and Draco, or anyone else if you wish to read it with a hissing sibilance, go right ahead. I'm not, however, going to write every word starting with 's' having several of them to simulate it (as I have seen others do), because I don't feel like dealing with both MS Word's spell checker and Grammarly marking up my chapters with tons of what it sees as spelling mistakes.
