Author's Note: This chapter is now up and ready to view. Let me know of any writing errors in it, and what I can do to make it better since it may seem a bit boring perhaps. And also, sorry that it's taking so long to get to the main part of the fanfiction (which is to say - Harry's time at Hogwarts).


Chapter 4

Arcane Antiquities

Year 1 - Leaky Cauldron/Diagon Alley - Earth

Upon stepping outside the bedroom door, Josh found himself standing in a rather long hallway with several other rooms lining it and their doorways which were evenly facing the blank wall spaces in between each one of the rooms along the two opposite walls.

As the young Jedi casually made his way through the lengthy corridor, he could clearly hear Mrs. Weasley in one of the rooms just up ahead who was apparently talking to someone in what sounded like a very childish voice, as well as what sounded like a very young child laughing happily. And when he approached the room that she was currently in at the moment, he turned into the open doorway to find the redhead standing over little Hermione, who in turn was lying buck naked on a changing table in what was apparently a nursery, babbling incoherently while also giggling at times and making cheerful babyish noises as well as playfully kicking her little legs about, which for all intents and purposes was exactly what she was: a baby, both mentally and emotionally. But also physically to a certain degree too; as her body was essentially the same exact size and weight as that of a rather dinky two-year-old toddler, due in part because of the absence of growth hormones inside her cells that stemmed from the lasting effects of her nearly fatal traumatic brain injury which she had sustained as a result of the horrific car accident a decade prior, even though she was chronologically just ten years old.

Molly promptly turned her head to glance over to her right in the immediate direction of the open doorway to find Josh standing underneath the door-frame, with his arms gently folded across his chest and leaning up against the frame, when she heard someone approaching.

"Oh. Hi, Josh!" she expressed in delight with a heartwarming smile towards him. "I'm just getting Hermione changed and ready to come downstairs for breakfast."

"Hey!" the young Jedi Knight acknowledged back at her in a low tone of voice as he returned the look, although it was more of a worried smile than a cheerful one. And Molly must have immediately noticed that, because as she was just finishing up with changing Hermione into a new clean diaper (or "nappy" as she called it), her countenance shifted into one of concern for the youthful lad.

"Alright, Josh, what's wrong?" she sighed with a hint of unease in her voice towards Varner.

Josh promptly shook his head with sheer repudiation over the appalling things he had witnessed Granger doing to little Hermione in the Force Visions. He was especially revolted and quite frankly pissed-off at the one singular act of barbarity that that heartless monster had inflicted upon the helpless and innocent little cherub.

He then exhaled a light sigh of uneasiness. "I don't know. I just - I still cannot get over what that bastard did to her!" the young Jedi Knight muttered out in a slightly hushed yet blunt manner, before looking up at a momentarily stunned Molly Weasley. "Ah, pardon the language. Sorry."

"What exactly did he do to her?" she asked in a slightly rigid tone after nodding in acceptance of his apology for cussing.

Varner steadily walked over towards Hermione and stopped only a couple feet away from her, so as not to alarm the little one and thus cause her to start crying, as he suspected that she still wasn't used to him being around her just yet. And as he pointed his finger at her torso area, a small section of tissue and skin in the middle of her abdomen some inches just above her bellybutton, from where it looked like the scaring of a now barely visible flesh wound of some sort which hadn't fully healed over, instantly started to darken in color, thereby revealing what at first appeared to be a fairly large and rather swollen bruise which to Weasley looked very much like it was in the shape of an alphabetical letter or something. Until, after examining the supposed bruise more carefully for a short period of time, did Molly all of a sudden realize to her apparent horror that the 'bruise' was in fact a burn-mark which was visibly in the shape of a letter "W".

"Oh…please, no!" Molly uttered quietly with despair as tears came to her eyes and she shook her head in complete shock and rebuttal.

Josh slowly nodded his head in absolute confirmation of the sickening truth which she now understood. "Unfortunately, yes… I'm afraid so. He did indeed brand her. And I don't need to tell you what that W-shaped burn-mark on her body stands for ether," the young man firmly stated in a jarring tone of outright disgust. And upon letting his hand fall back down to his side, the darkened burn-mark on Hermione's abdomen faded until it was once again hardly visible to the naked eye.

Upon finally learning the revolting truth of what the mark on Hermione's body actually was, after first noticing it as nothing more than an oddly-shaped minor distortion on her tummy several years earlier, so very soon after both her and Arthur had taken the adorable little munchkin home with them once they were formally granted legal and permanent guardianship of the baby, Molly promptly lifted Hermione up off the changing table and into her loving arms, gently cradling her quite rather protectively against her chest in a very firm embrace while tenderly rubbing her back, with the little girl's head resting comfortably against Weasley's shoulder as the tiny tot began sucking on her thumb.

A few minutes later, as everyone was heading into the dining area, there was a rather unexpectedly light knock at the front door.

Harry had asked Molly why Hermione wasn't fully dressed and only wearing a nappy when he noticed them coming down the stairs. And Molly stated that it was much easier to clean her up after she ate, thus sparing her the grief of having to constantly wash Hermione's clothes whenever she was being fed, since there was more often than not a bit of a mess being made from time to time as a result of the little tyke's eating habits.

"I've got it!" exclaimed Ginny over her shoulder as she quickly approached the door and turned the knob immediately after hearing the noise; practically throwing it open to surprisingly find three blonde-haired individuals standing just outside their residence on the front stoop. Or rather, one white-haired male and two blonde-haired females, to be precise.

"Hi, Ginny!" the little girl with curly blonde-haired exclaimed gleefully with a large and bright smile on her face.

"LUNA!" the small redhead virtually squealed with utter delight the instant she saw the child and promptly threw herself forward as the two youngsters hugged each other tightly.

Molly walked over towards the front door of the house while carrying Hermione on her hip, curious to see who it was that had unexpectedly come by for a visit.

"Hello, Molly!" the blonde woman politely yet warmly expressed. "We apologize for dropping in like this, but-"

"Dory!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley in an astonished yet seemingly thrilled tone of voice upon her immediately recognizing all three of the familiar faces. "No, please, come in! We were all just about to sit down for breakfast. I must say that this is really quite a surprise and a pleasure. Why don't you three come sit down and join us. We'd be absolutely overjoyed to have you all here with us this morning!"

"Thank you, Molly!" Dory replied graciously, and the three individuals casually walked into the house as Harry and Josh both approached them.

"Harry Potter!" the man with white hair exclaimed in astonishment the minute he saw the little boy walking towards him and his family. "It's certainly a real pleasure to finally meet you at last! My name is Xenophilius Lovegood, but please call me Xeno. This is my wife, Pandora. And this is our daughter, Luna."

"Nice to meet you, sir," replied Harry with a smile as he shook Mr. Lovegood's hand.

"Hello, Harry," said Dory as she went to shake young Potter's hand. But just as she did so, Harry all of a sudden found himself standing in an entirely different room from any other that was currently within the Weasley's home at the Burrow.

As he turned around, Harry immediately saw Mrs. Lovegood doing something with her wand, when a strange light suddenly began to emanate from the tip and rapidly expand outwardly in size.

**BOOM!**

The light of which was being conjured from the tip of her wand suddenly and without any kind of warning instantaneously exploded violently in all directions as the witch screamed out in both shock and pain. A moment later, Harry could see her lifeless body on the floor laying several feet away from where she had previously stood just seconds ago.

"Mummy!"

Potter immediately spun on his heels to find Luna standing just outside of the room only but a few yards away from where her mother's lifeless body now rested. The little girl immediately ran to her mother's body and started crying with absolute sadness and anguish upon her realizing that her mother wasn't getting up.

"Mummy, no! Come back! COME BACK! MUMMY!"

Xenophilius immediately came rushing into the room looking quite stunned and confused the moment he heard his daughter crying out for her mother.

"What's going on here? Sweetheart, what happened?"

"Harry? Harry! Are you okay?" asked Josh as the vision subsided from the little boy's eyes and he found himself standing once again inside the Weasley's house at the Burrow.

As he looked around at everyone, who were in turn staring at him in bewilderment, Harry turned his head to face Pandora directly with a very concerned expression in his eyes.

"I - I just… had a vision," he immediately explained.

"A vision? Of what, Harry?" Varner inquired with an ever slightly puzzled look on his face.

The little boy immediately stared Mrs. Lovegood dead in the face with sheer worry concerning her safety. "Of you," he stated at once without hesitating. "I saw you die!"

Upon hearing that, nearly everyone in the room looked at one another with utter shock as well as a deep sense of concern for the safety and well-being of not just Dory, but the whole Lovegood family entirely. And a short time later, while everyone was sitting around the Weasley's dining table eating their breakfasts, with Luna helping to feed little Hermione who was plopped down in a high chair, Harry began telling the present company in minute detail (though mainly the Lovegoods themselves in general) about what exactly he saw in his vision through the Force.

"Well then, I think that you should not go round experimenting with anymore spells in the near future, luv," Xeno quite strongly insisted to his wife after Harry had finished describing what he saw in his vision.

Dory nodded her head in full agreement on the matter. "After what you've just now told us, Harry, I'm surely not going to try doing anything more with spells ever again if that's what ends of happening to me!" she remarked in a stern tone of voice.

"Better to be safe than sorry, I should think," Josh added quite frankly.

Virtually everyone around the dining table, excluding Hermione obviously, immediately nodded in agreement with young Jedi Knight's comment.

After breakfast was finished and the dishes were then washed and put away, as well as Hermione being cleaned up and then put into a cute little pink footed onesie with baby animals all over it since the tiny runt had made a slight mess of herself just as Molly had said would most likely happen, Harry, Josh, the Weasleys, and the Lovegoods all traveled to a secret location known as Diagon Alley which was accessible through a magical barrier that was disguised as a large brick wall behind the Leaky Cauldron inn.

Josh had gotten everyone to the hidden passageway which in turn lead directly to the inn by having them all stand side by side in a straight line together and then grab hold of each other's hands or arms tightly, and upon levitating himself gently into the air off the ground once the group was outside of the Burrow, casually flew both himself and company a short distance up into the sky and headed straight for London.

Almost everyone in their small party thought it was kinda exciting to be able to fly through the lower skies without the use of broomsticks, even though it was really just Varner utilizing his powers to effectively lift them all up off the ground and carry them to their destination. Yet Hermione on the other hand was full-on terrified of the whole experience, as she continuously screamed and cried quite loudly the whole way to the city in Molly's arms, even though Mrs. Weasley had put a pacifier (or rather a "dummy") into her mouth that she had retrieved from inside the diaper bag which she brought along with her in order to lessen the noise before the group took to the skies.

The group apart from Harry and Josh thought at first that they would probably end-up getting spotted by everyone else on the streets down below them due to Hermione being completely hysterical, but both of the Jedi had that totally covered. Working together, Varner and Potter used the Force (along with Josh utilizing his superpowers) to visually and audibly hide their presence from any and all detection. And by the time that Harry, Josh, and the others had all reached the passageway to the Leaky Cauldron, the little squirt was out like a light while resting her head on Molly's shoulder and sucking on her dummy.

Upon entering the inn, Harry immediately looked around the barroom and within seconds he found Hagrid sitting alone at one of the tables a few yards away. Smiling cheerfully, he dashed over at once to where the half-giant was seated.

"Well… hey, Harry!" exclaimed Hagrid the moment he turned his head in the little boy's direction. "Are you ready to go get your school supplies that you'll need for this year?"

"Yeah! I sure am!" said Harry as he nodded excitedly.

Hagrid then stood up from his chair and the whole lot of them instantly strode over to a big metal door that in turn lead into a small enclosed area where the barrier wall which guarded the entrance into Diagon Alley was located.

Upon taking out his umbrella from inside his coat, the half-giant tapped the tip of it once each against three different bricks and a moment later the center of the wall began separate into two walls, and then two columns, as each one of the bricks slid back again and again, until finally the widening space grew into a huge archway that big enough for someone who was the same exact size as Hagrid to step through without a second thought. And beyond the archway lay a cobbled street that twisted and turned this way and that out of sight.

"Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley," said Hagrid, and he grinned at Harry's amazement as everyone in the small group immediately stepped through the archway.

Harry and Ron both looked at each other with unbridled excitement. Ron had always heard many, many stories about Diagon Alley from his older brothers, but had never actually seen nor set foot there himself before. Yet on this day, he was finally here at last. And the sight before his eyes was far more spectacular and wondrous than he had ever imagined or even perceived.

Ginny and Luna were both bounding up and down with uncontrollable excitement, as they were desperately wanting to visit each and every one of the shops, though primarily just the candy and sweets shop as well as the ice cream parlour that were also there.

"So, um, Hagrid, where's this Gringotts at anyway? Professor McGonagall said that it was a Wizarding Bank, I think?" Harry surmised.

The half-giant nodded. "Right you are, Harry. Gringotts is most indeed a wizard bank," he remarked as the two of them casually walked through the street side by side together after the Weasleys broke off from the group to go and purchase all of the necessary school supplies that Ronald would need for his first year at Hogwarts, with the Lovegoods following suit a few moments later to take their daughter Luna as well as Ginny Weasley over to the candy shop to buy sweets.

Josh, meanwhile, spent his time glancing around at the many different little shops that were strewn about up and down the place along both sides of the street as he casually walked along several paces directly behind Hagrid and Harry. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he could feel something strange through the Force that seemed to be whispering out in a jumble of hushed voices, as if something was here that was rather quite out of place, almost like it didn't belong anywhere near this area at all. Potter must have felt it too, for he immediately heard Hagrid talking to the little boy in a confused manner, and Harry promptly told the half-giant that something wasn't quite right in one of the shops, and asked if he could take a quick look at what appeared to be a used book store a few yards away from where they stood.

"I suppose that's all right, Harry," muttered Hagrid, a bit puzzled at the child's request. "But we gotta get you're money first before you can buy anything."

Harry nodded understandably in reply, and the three individuals made their way to a multilevel snowy-white building that towered over the other little shops. And standing beside it's burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold was…

"Um, Hagrid, what is that?" asked Harry in low whisper, gesturing at the strange creature as the trio approached.

"Yeah, that's a Goblin," Hagrid answered quietly as they walked up the white stone steps towards him. "Clever as they come, Goblins, but not the most friendly of beasts. Best stay close to me."

The Goblin in question was about a head shorter than Harry was. He had a swarthy clever face, a pointed beard, and Harry noticed very long fingers and feet. He bowed as the doors slowly creaked open, and upon stepping inside, they were immediately facing a second pair of doors; silver this time, with large words engraved upon them.

"ENTER, STRANGER, BUT TAKE HEED OF WHAT AWAITS THE SIN OF GREED, FOR THOSE WHO TAKE BUT DO NOT EARN MUST PAY MOST DEARLY IN THEIR TURN! SO
IF YOU SEEK BENEATH OUR FLOORS A TREASURE THAT WAS NEVER YOURS, THIEF, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! BEWARE OF FINDING MORE THAN TREASURE THERE!"

Harry glanced up at the half-giant curiously after reading what was etched in very large all-capital lettering across the two doors.

"Gringotts is the safest place in the world to keep anything you be wanton to protect from thieves, bandits, and other such bloke," said Hagrid, looking down at Potter sincerely. "Except for maybe Hogwarts, of course. You'd be mad to try and rob it. Never mess with Goblins, Harry. Or you'll be sorry that you did."

The little boy nodded affirmatively in reply. He wouldn't think of even wanting to steal from a bank or from anybody else for that matter. There'd be absolutely no point or no reason to do such a thing, including the fact that it was morally wrong anyways. And it would most certainly go against everything that both Sirius and the Jedi Order had taught him as well.

A pair of Goblins, one standing on either side of the two silver doors, bowed as they walked through the opened entryway into a vast marble hall. About a hundred or so more Goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more Goblins were showing people in and out of these.

The trio made for the front counter up at far end of the hall just as the Goblin who was working there looked up as Hagrid approached.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free Goblin. "We've come to take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."

"And does Mr. Harry Potter have his key?" inquired the Goblin with a rather grim stare over-top the counter at the little boy below him.

"I got it here…somewhere," said Hagrid as he began to empty the contents of his pockets onto the counter, thus scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the Goblin's book of numbers. And the Goblin promptly wrinkled his nose at the foul sight of the rotten dog food. Harry, meanwhile, watched another Goblin off to the right of him who was weighing a pile of various-sized rubies as big as glowing coals.

Josh immediately stepped up beside the half-giant and lightly tapped him on the shoulder, who turned to glance over at the young man.

"Ah, no offense, big guy…" the Jedi Knight remarked softly as Hagrid continued to empty out his pockets, "…but you probably should toss out those old dog biscuits asap. I seriously don't think that the Goblins here would appreciate you messing up their work-space with molding pet treats very much."

Hagrid nodded his head reluctantly in agreement, before finally retrieving what he had been searching around inside his coat for. "Ah, got it!" he said at last, promptly holding up a tiny golden key and placing it on the counter in front of the Goblin.

"That seems to be in order," said the Goblin after examining it closely.

"Oh, and there's something else as well," whispered Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. Harry couldn't tell what it was that he was saying as the half-giant continued. "I've got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore. It's about you know what in vault you know which."

As Hagrid pulled out the letter in question and handed it over, the Goblin opened it and then read it carefully. "Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid. "I will have someone take you down to both of the vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another Goblin who in turn lead both Hagrid and Harry towards one of the many doors that was off the hall, but only after Hagrid had gathered up the moldy rotten treats and then dumped them into a nearby trash bin (or "rubbish bin") as they sometimes called it in England.

Josh, on the other hand, exited the bank and stepped back out onto Diagon Alley's cobbled street since he had no business to attend to concerning Gringotts and because he wasn't a wizard either, even though both witches and wizards alike did use the Force themselves, but they were not Jedi and they only knew the Force to merely be a form of Magic as they perceived it so. As he steadily went down the road, he could faintly hear the whispering voices again, which seemed to be coming from the small book store just a few yards away. Upon entering the store, the Jedi found the majority of the Weasley family (minus Ginny who went off with the Lovegoods to get candy and ice cream, as well as the two oldest Weasley boys who currently weren't present) searching through the books along one of the corner shelves. He could hear the voices gradually getting louder and louder with every small step that he took towards the very back of the shop.

Several minutes later, the door opened at the front of the shop and both Harry and Hagrid walked inside as the Weasleys turned to see them enter. Potter cheerfully acknowledged Ron who smiled back at him before young Harry quickly strode directly over to where Varner now stood at the back of the store. And as both of the little boys walked over towards where the Jedi Knight was standing, given that the redhead was now very curious to know what Harry was up to, all three individuals stared at what appeared to be some kind of large tome-shaped mechanism with odd markings etched across it's surface that rested on top of an even larger semi-slanted wooden book stand which was positioned up against the back wall.

"What is that?" asked Ron while confusingly scratching his head.

Harry and Josh both shook their heads in utter bewilderment. "I don't know, Ron," Harry responded, sounding even more baffled than his friend. "I really don't know."

"Ah, I see that you've discovered the "Cryptic Contraption" like so many before you have done. Myself included, of course," said the shopkeeper as he casually approached the trio from behind the open doorway of a rather thin door-frame that lead into a teeny tiny back office that seemed far too narrow for even the leanest adult male human to squeeze through. He was an abnormally cadaverous-looking fellow, with limbs that appeared quite disjointed and misshapen, as if his whole entire body had been crafted out of countless giant-sized popsicle sticks that were seemingly pasted together with a hot glue gun.

"Discovered what exactly, sir?" inquired Harry, still rather perplexed over whatever this thing was that seemed to be calling them here to this location. "What is this thing?"

"It's what I like to call the Cryptic Contraption," the shopkeeper reiterated. "No one knows what it is exactly or why it's even here. It's said that shortly before this shop first opened it's doors for business, a mysterious figure was reportedly seen walking through Diagon Alley late one night and broke into the place. But instead of stealing anything from within the shop, he promptly strode over to the back area; to this very spot, and placed the object here on this large book stand which was supposedly meant to be used for a different artifact entirely that was to be kept securely enclosed in an unbreakable glass case."

"What happened to this…mysterious person who broke-in here?" Ron asked.

"He vanished, never to be seen nor heard from again," the shopkeeper answered.

Harry all of sudden heard the voices talking again in a hushed whisper as he turned to stare at the mechanism once more. And this time, he could clearly make out what it was that they were saying. "Use the Force… use the Force. Use the Force… use the Force."

Upon moving his hand slightly over the mechanism, Harry did as the voices instructed him to do, and used the Force to unlock the device. As he did so, several small latches along the center of the mechanism, each facing inward, simultaneously unlatched themselves and the center of the device began to open up and then unfold back into itself at both ends as tiny gears slowly pulled back the flaps of the container and away from the middle, until the device was virtually flat at both ends. What lay inside it was a large shabby-looking tome with a VERY familiar symbol imprinted on the cover.

"I don't believe it," Josh murmured in absolute surprise and awe at what he was looking at.

Everyone there slowly huddled around the trio; all of them interested to know what it was that they had found to be inside the mechanism which was in fact some kind of a highly complex safe.

"Is that a book, Harry? What's that symbol in the middle there?" Ron asked his friend curiously.

Harry nodded his head in response to the first question. "Yes, Ron. It is," he answered, before turning to face the small huddled group of people around him. "And it's a very old book at that. But I also know what that symbol is too."

"What?" asked Ron. He promptly looked up at Josh who immediately spoke.

"It's the symbol… of the Jedi Order," the young man revealed with an unsettling tone in his voice.