Running through a dark castle. Weaving, darting, searching. For what?
Ran through a door onto a large porch. Below: rocks, waves, infinite space. Above: nothing but pure blue sky.
Spot a beautiful woman. Long brown hair that glowed bronze in the sunlight and deep blue eyes.
"Hello Arielle. You're back."
"But—but I'm not Arielle. I'm Diana. Diana Arielle Smith."
A puzzled look. "No, I can see now that you aren't Arielle, but you aren't a Smith. You're a Potter. And it's all the better."
Take a step. "No, I'm a Smith--!"
Ground drops out beneath. Falling, falling, plummeting down to the rocks and sea below.
Diana awoke with a start. It took her another moment, as if awaking from another nightmare, that she was not in her new room. All the events of the previous night flooded back to her, and she felt weary and weighed down.
"Hi. Are you up?" a cheerful voice asked.
Diana sat up and stared at an unfamiliar brown-haired girl standing at the door. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ron and Hermione's daughter Lily. We're cousins."
She stared at Lily, confused and amazed to see her first blood relative not in her immediate family. Another girl, this one with black hair, came into view.
"Not really Lily. Harry is only an honorary Weasley. Hello. I'm Robi Weasley, your real cousin."
Diana sat up feeling overwhelmed. She rubbed her eyes and grabbed her glasses. "What's going on?"
"Oh, not much. It's breakfast now. And then the adults are taking us to Diagon Alley to get our school supplies," Lily replied.
"So come on. You don't want to miss the food," Robi said.
Obediently, Diana crawled out of bed and shuffled downstairs after the rapidly talking Lily and Robi. The house was very large and nice. The hallways led to large brightly lit rooms; Diana noticed a library, two studies, and several bedrooms.
"Do you have any siblings Lily?" Diana interrupted suddenly.
"Um, no," Lily said looking surprised to hear her talk. "It's just Mom, Dad, and me."
Downstairs, the kitchen was beautifully decorated – all smooth and white. Seated at the table already were Harry, Ron, a woman Diana took to be Ron's wife H-something, Draco (the pale man from the night before), a teenaged girl with the same pale hair as the man, and Diana's brothers. Rob and Daniel were listening with their customary absorbing faces, but when they saw Diana, they both broke into happy smiles.
"Sis! You're up," Daniel said.
"Uh-huh. What did I miss?" Diana asked, taking a seat next to her brothers. She noticed that they sat at one end of the table, while the adults sat at the other end with the teenage girls in the middle.
"Well," Ron said, "I suppose we should have some introductions now that we're all here. I'm Ron Weasley, as I think you all know." He pointed at the woman, then the pale man. "This is my wife Hermione, and that's Draco Malfoy, a friend of ours." He motioned to the teenaged girls – first the brunette, then the girl with black hair, and finally the pale blonde. "Those are the girls; they're your age, Diana and Daniel. There's my and Hermione's daughter Lily, Robi, Draco's daughter Morgan. Robi is the daughter of your mother's sister Vicky. We can meet her later today."
Diana and the boys stared impassively at him.
Ron cleared his throat nervously. "Um, okay. Well, since school will be starting soon, we should go get your things at Diagon Alley."
"What things?" Rob asked.
"Well, your wand for one. Also robes, books, everything."
"How are we going to pay for that? We don't have any money with us," Daniel suddenly said.
"Oh, your father will cover it," Ron said.
"He's taking care of you now," Hermione added.
"What about Rob?" Daniel asked.
"Harry's taking care of him too. Alex and Lizzie are in serious trouble for kidnapping," Hermione responded.
"But they didn't kidnap Rob. He's their son," Daniel pointed out.
"Even so. They can't take care of him from prison," Hermione explained.
Rob looked like me might cry again, and Daniel glared fiercely at her.
"Anyway," Ron said, "you'd better get ready kids. Go get dressed, and we'll leave for Diagon Alley in half an hour."
*****
Diagon Alley was unlike anything Diana had ever seen. They had arrived via something that Ron had explained as a "wide-field apparation" which translated to instant transportation without any technology. That Diana had been expecting; after all, he was a wizard, and wizards were known to disappear into thin air at times. However she had not been prepared for the appearance of their destination.
Shops lined a narrow cobbled street. Crowds of people hurried to and fro. Diana could only catch snippets of their conversation, but what she heard didn't make any sense -- things like, "I'll give you fifteen sickles for the lot of them, and not a knut more" and "But Mummy, I want a Nimbus 3000 now!"
Diana glanced over to notice Daniel and Rob equally amazed and impressed (though Daniel tried to hide it), but the others in their group seemed as unimpressed as if they had arrived at a normal mall or something.
"Come along children. First things first. We'll need to go to Gringotts and get your money out," Ron said briskly.
He led them quickly to a large, white marble building. Columns stood in front, and a short being in a scarlet uniform scowled at them as they passed. A poem was written outside the door, but Ron hurried them along too fast for Diana to read it. Inside there were more of the short beings, ("Goblins," Lily called them), as well as high counters. Ron walked up to one of those as normal as at a regular bank.
"I'm here to withdrawl money from Mr. Potter's account for him."
The goblin squinted down at him. "Mr. Weasley, is it?"
Ron nodded.
"All right then. I'll get a goblin to take you down."
It took three cars that looked right out of the mine levels of Donkey Kong for SNES. Then they found themselves hurled on a ride down, deep down dark tunnels at a breakneck speed. Diana found the ride thrilling, but poor Rob, who got sick on the tamest rides at Six Flags, looked green. Daniel didn't notice. He was too busy whooping it up. For the first time in ages, Diana thought (though logically she knew it was just last night, but that had been ages ago), he looked happy, excited, and carefree.
The ride squealed to a stop in front of a large vault. The goblin climbed out and, after Ron gave him the key, proceeded to open the door. Diana gasped. Inside were mounds of gold, silver, and bronze coins. They filled almost every corner of the vault.
"There you go kids," Ron said. He handed them each a small bag. "Go get enough for the year. Just fill that up."
Diana wanted to splash around in the money, but under Ron and Draco's watch, she and her brothers quickly stuffed gold into the pouches. As they returned to the carts, she realized that with this small fortune, they could easily runaway and support themselves.
For the ride up, the goblin climbed into the car with her and her brothers. The other two carts flew up to the surface; however, their cart continued its descent deep into the bowels of the bank.
"Where are you going?" Ron yelled in surprise.
The goblin looked calm. "Taking the young Master and Mistress to the vault."
"What vault? They already got their money from Mr. Potter's vault!"
The goblin laughed -- a very odd show of emotion from such a creature. Right before they flew out of sight and hearing from the other carts, the goblin said:
"That small amount? Oh no, the Madam would never let them get away without seeing their real inheritance."
The cart flew down, and down. Rob had curled into a fetal position in the bottom, breathing slowly to alleviate his motion sickness. The journey seemed to take forever, and Diana half hoped that the others didn't leave without them. Finally, they pulled to a halt in front of a large vault. Over the top was not a number, but a name: Cross.
The goblin climbed out. "This is the Cross family vault. Your mother's vault. Only you two together can empty it." Then he grabbed their arms with suprising strength and, with a previously hidden knife, cut a short slit in their palms.
The twins uttered a cry of surprise, but the goblin payed them no attention. He pressed their bloody palms against the door, and the door creaked and groaned open. The twins stood in silent shock and amazement at the contents.
Large shelves lined the walls. On one entire side had tall tubes, like at a candy store, filled with gold and silver. The others held numerous shiny and magical items. Diana ran to one shelf. Small boxes lined the shelves with labels like: rare dragon scales, golden phoenix feathers, currency: Europe, currency: Asia. Glass vials were lined on another shelf holding tears from phoenixes of all colors (red, blue, gold, silver, etc.), elixers of life, death, and sleep, and even two vials labeled "Time--Only in Emergencies." A large tank filled with mythical creatures stood nearby labeled: Atlantis Aquarium.
"What is all this stuff?" Daniel asked in amazement.
"Your inheritance," the goblin answered matter-of-factly. "Here lies some of the greatest treasures in the Wizarding World, completely protected in Gringotts."
As Diana stared in wonderment at the fortune that she and her brother owned, she heard Daniel ask, "How much is all this worth?"
The goblin grinned wickedly. "No one knows, Sir. But I would say at least several billion galleons."
*****
Diana squinted in the bright light after the dark tunnels of the bank. On the way up, Daniel had asked one more question that had both been weighing on their minds, and the answer had chilled her.
"What about Rob? Isn't he Mom's heir too?"
"Him? He doesn't have the mark on him."
"What mark?"
"The mark of the Cross family. The mark of great power."
Outside, Diana found only Draco there waiting.
"The others went on ahead to get robes," he explained cooly. "So you're the mysterious missing Cross heirs?"
"What's that supposed to mean? And how'd you know that?" Daniel demaned.
"Calm down kid. It's common knowledge that your grandmother Arielle was the last Cross. That's the oldest wizarding family in Britain, by the way. It's rumored they came from Atlantis. So, what'd you find in there? What treasures?"
There was something about his tone that frightened Diana. Something hungry and shifting and dark. She recoiled inwardly and grabbed Rob's hand tightly.
"None of your damn business," Daniel snapped.
Then, as quickly as it had come, the dark hunger was gone, and he was back to the silent, smooth man who they'd first met. "Fine kid. Now hurry up. I have more to do today than play nursemaid to a bunch of teenagers in Diagon Alley." He swept away, and the twins hurried after him, dragging a still slightly ill Rob.
The rest of the day passed quickly, getting plain black robes in Madame Malkin's, books in Flourish and Blotts, an owl at Eeylops, potion ingredients at the Apothecary, as well as cauldrons and everything else young wizards and witches needed for school. Lastly, they stopped in for their wands.
The peeling sign outside the shop read: Ollivander's. Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a stool in the window.
By this time, the girls had gotten bored and had gone back with Draco. So it was just Ron, Rob, Daniel, and Diana who entered the small shop.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley," an elderly man said. "Willow and unicorn hair, 14" was it not?"
"Yes it was, Mr. Ollivander," Ron replied. "I'm here to get these children their first want. These are Daniel and Diana Potter, and this is their half-brother Rob Smith."
"Ah, I was expecting you. I remember Mr. Potter's wand. Holly and pheonix feather, 11". And I remember your mother's wand. She was very excited to get it. Maple and unicorn hair, 10 1/2"." He looked at Rob. "I do not recall your father's wand."
"His father's an American," Ron explained.
"I suppose I should start. Mr. Smith, would you come first?"
Rob obediently stepped forward, and after several minutes of searching, he shot red and gold sparks out of an oak wand, 12 1/2" long containing dragon heartstring.
Next it was Daniel's turn. As Mr. Ollivander stepped back to gather possible wands, Daniel picked one up that had been discarded for Rob. With a quick wave, silver and green sparks flew out.
Mr. Ollivander turned to stare. "Well well, I should have known. Yew and phoenix feather, 13 1/2". Very powerful young Mr. Potter." He fixed his silver gaze on Diana. "Your turn, Miss Potter."
Nervously, she stepped forward. He handed her one wand after another, but none seemed to work. Her right arm began to grow tired from waving what seemed to be hundreds of wands, but Ollivander only grew more excited and determined to find the perfect match. Rob sat on the floor to watch, and Ron took a chair, but Daniel remained standing against the wall, playing happily with his wand.
Finally, Ollivander shoved an extremely dusty box in her hands. "Here. Rowan and phoenix feather, 11 1/2". Give it a wave."
Diana picked it up, and instantly warmth filled her arm. She waved the wand, and red and gold sparks flew out.
"Bravo," Ron said, standing. The children paid for their wands, and finally they departed Diagon Alley. Although as they left, Diana noticed her brother's lingering gaze on Gringott's, his mind obviously on their treasure that it held.