Chapter 2 – – The invisible me
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I was now wearing the focus ring on my left hand and was proud and feeling like an adult. I knew Libby was always around for my protection but Ragnot had explained that I had responsibilities and I made sure I handled them responsibly. I got up on time and did my studying and homework. While I would stroll down Knockturn Alley enjoying the day I made sure that I was on time to meet my tutor in Gringotts. In the beginning my strolls around Knockturn Alley weren't all that enjoyable but once I got my focus ring and my rep…
Flashback:
"Not lost are you dearie?" a voice from a small dark alleyway made me jump. An ancient hag made to block my way, holding a tray of what looked horribly like body parts. She leered at me, showing black chipped teeth. "Why don't you come up to my place and get a nice cup of hot tea." That day I just ran and received the wrath of Ragnot. Libby apparently had made a report.
"Why do you think your apartment is in Knockturn Alley? Did you got a focus ring just for show? Have you not been learning charms and curses to use on your enemy? Even at your age you have the power. Go back to your apartment and contemplate your actions, you are dismissed!"
I did just that, so on a later Knockturn Alley encounter…
"Oy mate look what we have here! I bet you be getting us a fair bit of gold at the Body Parts Emporium." I had been practicing up on my stunners and others spells to immobilize problems and Ragnot's words echoed in my head. My stunner took care of his mate, he got an 'Expulso' to the chest. The stone wall behind him gave him a sudden stopping crunch.
End flashback:
The months were flying by and I was still as busy as ever but today I have some free time. I thought I would wander down to Magical Menagerie and check out all the spiders, toads and snakes. I never got there this day as I heard sobbing from the alley between the stores. There between the cardboard cartons was a girl about my age crying her eyes out.
"Hey are you hurt?" All I got as an answer was more sobbing. "I'm called Harry what your name?" Still no answer, "Do you want me to get an adult?"
"No! Please NO!"
"Well you can do is tell me your name."
Sob, "Wendy."
I wasn't sure why but then again why not? "Wendy how about you come with me to my place we can have a cup of tea. It will be just you and me and no adults, okay?"
Sob, "0K"
By the time Libby got the tea served Wendy was telling her story… "Both my parents are dead and they put me in an orphanage. I got to wondering when I turned eleven years old where I was going to school, we all have heard about Hogwarts. The headmistress at the orphanage said there was no money to be sending us orphans to any school, that when we turn seventeen we would have to go find a job someplace. While some of the older boys heard me asking and they said if I had no schooling I would have to become a prostitute in Knockturn Alley. I just started running and then I realized I was lost."
"My parents are dead also, but someone put me with a relative, all that family could do was make me work and beat me a lot. I have a friend who I guess you can call an adult but he helped me out. Why don't we walk over to his office and have a little talk with him. He helped me and maybe he can help you."
/Scene Break/
"I'm sorry Harry but there is nothing we can do unless you wish me as your guardian to put her under the protection of your Ancient and Noble House." Ragnot explained.
I could see Wendy was about ready to break back into tears so I asked, "So what does this house protection entail?"
"You would basically be responsible to ensure that she's feed, clothed and has a place to sleep and of course you have to pay for her schooling."
"Can I afford all that?"
Ragnot started laughing, "If you say yes, I will, as your magical guardian, cover these expenses from your vault. We will discuss your total family estate before you go to school but believe me you have more than enough."
So with my new credit card, Wendy and myself started shopping for her stuff. Wendy got the second bedroom and Lippy was ecstatic that with the extra work.
/Scene Break/
Wendy and I get along real good which was nice as we stayed together under Lippy's protection. Wendy would not be told that I was a Potter by order of Ragnot. She would only knew me as Harry a.k.a. Lord Harold Wilhelm Smythe, at least to start with.
It was only a few days later, "Hey you two! What are your names and what are you doing wander around here in Kockturn Alley?" The question came from one of the two Aurors that were patrolling the area.
While I hesitated Wendy jumped right in, "I'm Wendy Smythe and this is my brother Lord Harold Wilhelm Smythe, why do you ask?"
"The Ministry is looking for Dumbledore's Ward who ran away so we are here again having to check all the kids about your age." Auror one answered.
They then turned and headed off down another part of the alley but we could hear that Auror's partner say, "Every month it's the same orders. It's a waste of time I tell you! That kid Potter is dead or somebody's already snatched him up, its not that he can hide for long with that scar."
"Wendy Smythe…brother?"
"I'm not going to take a chance of getting sent back to that orphanage. So you just have to get used to having a sister."
Of course only the magical community would think that we were brother and sister. Wendy had long blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back and had blue eyes. My raven hair was shoulder length that was currently tied in a ponytail and I had green eyes. Obviously you could see we were brother and sister.
There were a few other problems that arose before we headed off to school but one was a real white doozy.
Wendy was catching up but would not be anywhere close to where I was in training. We are known in both alleys as "The Kids". While the tutors worked us hard we had plenty of spare time and plenty of pocket change. Wendy was now sporting her focus ring on her left hand but we both were anxious to get our first wands. In Diagon Alley we were known as "The nice Kids" who visited the ice cream parlors or visited many of the shops to see and wonder at all the things displayed. In Knocturn Alley we were known as "The Kids that were not to be messed with". Our invisible Libby was responsible for great part of our reputation in Knocturn Alley but appearing to do magic without a wand didn't hurt our reputation.
"Oh Harry I just have to have him!" We had been wondering around the Magical Menagerie when Wendy found this black cat with a quashed face.
"So now you have your black Kneazel what are you going to call him?"
"Why, Midnight of course!"
Of course I shouldn't have said anything because, days later when we are wandering around Eeylops owl Emporium, "click, click". This came from a white owl and I had a feeling that it was actually saying, "What the hell took you so long getting here?" So I approached the owl.
"You kids stay away from that white owl she's meaner than the devil and will be happy to take a chunk off your fingers." The store clerk yelled.
Of course being stupid I reached up to find the owl start nuzzling my hand and, "click, click". The owl was again "clicking" her beak and I knew she wanted me to undo the small chain around her leg. The minute I released chain she was on my shoulder nuzzling my cheek.
"Mister! How much for this owl?"
"Son just take her and good riddance!"
"Click, click"
"Okay I'll show you where we will be living."
"Harry, your crazy! Talking to an Owl! You don't understand any of that clicking, do you?
"Dam pushy owl, Hedwig wants to know where we live so she can go hunting for some fresh fruit."
"Harry owls don't eat fruit."
Well we did find out later that Hedwig really wasn't a normal owl.
/Scene Break/
Of course Wendy and I were not exactly little angels but we did try to stay out of trouble. Strangeness however seems to follow us but would only show up at the oddest times. Like one day when Wendy and I return to our flat and found Hedwig on the floor facing Midnight in what appeared to be a conversation. The next morning I woke up and turned to say good morning to Hedwig the owl and found Hedwig the snow white Phoenix.
Then there was this tutor who gave up on teaching us Occlumency as it seemed that Hedwig blocked both Wendy and I from any mind intrusions. Hell we were kids, I figured I would let the goblins figure that one out.
Our charm tutor seem to be exceedingly happy about Wendy's Disillusionment Charm as she seemed to be able to turn it on and off just by thinking about it and if she concentrated she could include me at the same time. We were kids and Wendy wanted to practice her Disillusionment charm, so a couple of invisible kids were wandering Diagon alley and...
We ran across a anomaly which drew our attention. Of course we followed them a bit in our curiosity. The libraries had pretty much stated that within a magical family one or two children were the norm but this family had seven children. We assumed they were all family as all the seven children and the mother had red hair. This day I learned at least two things about that family, the first was the mother was an overbearing mother hen with a loud mouth. The second was at the youngest boy, was at a minimum, a thief.
"Harry did you see what that kid did?"
"Do you mean the fruit he swiped from the market or whatever he just stuffed in his pocket from that store?"
"Shouldn't we do something?"
"Wendy I would normally say yes but right now I don't think we should get involved. The way that mother is acting I think she would explode if we accused her son of being a thief and that would be drawing attention to us and possibly our status. I don't think calling in an Auror would be a good idea for anybody."
/Scene Break/
A few days later we had to get a Goblin to revive our tutor as my Patronus Tiger prowled around the room. The Goblins ran some tests and found my magical powers were not normal for my age and were increasing dramatically. Right! the tutor faints and I get a lecture on controlling my magical powers.
The reason we were known as, "The Kids not to be messed with" was the number of incidents that took place in Kockturn Alley. That alley was full of strange, weird and dangerous entities. The reason why Wendy and I were allowed to wander Kockturn Alley was that we had Libby but also because of the training we had received from our tutors. One would marvel at what you could teach two smart kids in a couple of years. Wendy and I had a litany of curses jinxes and dangerous spells that we could fire from our focus rings. Libby rarely had to pop us out of the alley but then there was always a rare bloodsucking vampire. Most vampires stayed by themselves and we knew better than wander the alley at night. It was quite clear to me by now why the Goblins had me living in Knocturn Alley. The life experiences I receive there were more than just passing events which surrounded a mundane life. This was training from the school of living up close to real life.
/Scene Break/
"Harry I just can't wait until tomorrow and we get our wands. "It's going to be all so much fun."
Right, I thought, other than it will turn into another shopping day, which is a pain, besides it was boring and would seem to never end. What I was really worried about was my next meeting with Ragnot.
The next morning while the tutor was running Wendy through some of her morning training I met with Ragnot.
"Ragnot, while I am Harry Potter I want none of the fame or attention that goes along with the myth. I'm happy being Lord Harold Wilhelm Smythe a.k.a. Harry the unknown. You enrolled me in Hogwarts as Lord Harold Wilhelm Smythe; but Hogwarts is going to require my house crest on both mine and Wendy's robes to extend my house protection to Wendy. Hogwarts rules say she needed to wear any house crest on her right sleeve. Gringotts established Lord Smythe under a Muggle title and you know the purebloods, that title will not provide any real protection for Wendy. You have provided training in the pure blood mentality and this Muggle crest alone can only cause trouble, especially if we are sorted into Slytherin."
"I can appreciate your concern and I definitely see the problem Harry but almost all your magical house titles lead back to you being Harry Potter. And you're right Wendy needs to fall under a magical Lord's house for any real protection." Ragnot suddenly started displaying a Goblin grin.
"I see you came up with a solution, would you care to share?" I asked thinking that I may not want to know after that grin.
"Wouldn't that cause on uproar, for Harry Potter to be sorted into Slytherin as Lord Slytherin?" Ragnot had a good Goblin laugh before he continued.
"What they may not pick up on is you also have the Ancient House of Slytherin by rite of conquest. If anybody asks tell them that with the death of Lord Slytherin a.k.a. Lord Voldemort that your distant family line inherited the title."
"And my other titles?"
Gringotts will only notify the Ministry of you being Lord Slytherin, we can notify them of the rest your titles later. The notification is only a formality. Oh! And being a real Lord now require a new tutor, I will be scheduled one for tomorrow to be teaching you how to use a sword."
Wendy still got me to the wand shop before it opened that morning. Wendy was soon jumping up and down with her new wand, "Harry I can't wait to use my new wand."
"Well don't curse anybody until we get back to Gringotts today for afternoon training, besides you still want your new robes don't you?"
"Oh, I forgot completely about that and then we have to go to Diagon Alley to get our school books, then we go to Gringotts so I can use my new wand."
Ragnot insisted that we do all of our essential shopping in Kockturn Alley. The grumpy old man was bad mouthing Ollivander's pre-made wands as he made me a wand by first selecting the woods and core elements. We finally left Wandneston's Wands with me sporting a fifteen inch elder wood wand with a Thestral tail-hair wrapped around a Phoenix feather from Hedwig. We were now down in the Alley's lower level shopping in Twilfitt and Tatting's for robes and school clothing.
We finished our shopping that morning and after a quick lunch Wendy dragged me to Gringotts. If this day wasn't busy enough...Ragnot gave me an early introduction to my new fencing master...so I got some fundamentals in sword wielding. I was happy that the swords were blunted, as the instructors beat me into one large body covering bruise. Meanwhile Wendy had been blasting away with her new wand until she was exhausted. Two extremely exhausted kids stumbled up the stairs to our apartment that afternoon.
The next day we were heading back back to Diagon alley and the Apothecary for our potion supplies. Kockturn Alley had potions kits but we weren't sure that they would be allowed at Hogwarts.
Just as I was about to enter Diagon alley Wendy yelled…" Harry you got to see this." Wendy had spotted something in one of the shops windows.
As I turned toward Wendy I heard from behind me in Diagon alley…"Harry?" A female bellowed and as I turned around I found that dumpy redheaded mother with all the redheaded children. She immediately started in a tirade…
"Where have you been young man! You had us looking all over the place for ages! Just you wait until Dumbledore gets his hands on you!" She was loud enough that I figured the patrons in the Leakey Cauldron probably heard her. I can definitely say that it scattered the cats in the alley. I did take passing notice that a couple of the birds evacuating the area were red and black Phoenixes, odd I thought.
"Madam, might I ask who you think you are addressing?" I said in a loud voice, paling in volume compared to her in addressing me. She continued to build up a head of steam…
"Harry Potter don't you get smart with me! How dare you run off from your relatives' home young man! We've been looking for you for years!"
I also replied in the best voice I could muster, "Merlin! Are you saying that Harry Potter has been missing for years?" I wanted to make sure the gathering crowd was sure to hear that information. That's when Wendy piped in…
"You leave my brother Harold alone or I'll call an Auror!"
"We WILL soon find out!" The red-headed female been advancing on me and had reached close enough to move my hair off my forehead. What she got was my left hand swatting her hand away. While she moved my hair from my unblemished forehead she also got a stinging hex to her hand from my focus ring at the same time.
By this time a crowd had moved around us to see what was causing all the ruckus. Reporters from the news media suddenly materialized and were asking the woman if it was true that Harry Potter was indeed missing and what else she knew about Potter's disappearance. Meanwhile, Wendy and I moved backwards and soon disappeared through the gathering crowd. We were quite a ways down the alley before we lost the ability to hear her blustering at the reporters.
