AN:
1)Me no own anything. JKR
2)#*~*# can mean changes of scene or changes of POV, you'll figure out which is meant.
3)Please review!
Last Chapter: Hagrid looked at Isabel's pale face, and saw how Harry had his face turned away so his grief couldn't be seen. He abruptly hugged them, and put them down again just as quickly.
"Anyway," he said gruffly, "do yeh still want ter go ter Hogwarts?" The twins looked at each other.
Chapter 4: In Which So Much Happens The Author Can't Think Of An Appropriate Title That Doesn't Just Mention Only Part Of The Story
When Hagrid had told the twins the story of their parents, it had shaken their complete want to go to Hogwarts. But, magic. Isabel knew that she could never forgive herself for turning down an opportunity to learn magic.
So when Hagrid had asked if they still wanted to go, despite the danger that abounded in the wizarding world, Isabel had said yes. And Harry, ever protective of his sister, could not let her go alone.
So with Hagrid, they had "borrowed" the Dursleys' boat back to land.
Of course, this raised the obvious question of how Hagrid had got onto the rock.
"Flew." He had mumbled.
"Flew? On what?" He had pretended not to hear.
#*~*#
They reached the beach quickly; Hagrid could have been a professional rower. When they got there, Hagrid stumped over to the road and held out his umbrella.
Why is he…?
Woah. Bus.
Where did…?
The door of the violently purple bus opened and a skinny, pimply youth jumped out.
" 'Ello! I'm Stan Shunpike. Welcome to the Knight Bus."
"Seats fer one adult, two children, ter London."
Hagrid handed Stan Shunpike a fistful of coins.
"Hagrid, the adult ticket is for normal sized people. I'll need five more Knuts."
Hagrid scowled and handed over five little bronze coins.
"Are those wizard coins?" Isabel asked as they hopped on the bus and followed Hagrid as he bypassed curtained alcoves and sat on an armchair down at the back of the bus.
"Yep. Here, look at these. Now see these silver ones, they're Sickles. 29 Knuts to a Sickle. And this big gold one, it's a Galleon. You get 17 Sickles to a Galleon, see. And, o'course, the little bronze ones are Knuts." Hagrid handed the coins to Harry.
Oh, no.
What?
We never talked about money, Iz. We don't have any. We can't afford to go to Hogwarts.
We have to tell Hagrid.
"Hagrid?"
"Yeah, Isabel?"
Isabel swallowed and looked at Harry.
"We just remembered there's another reason we can't go to Hogwarts. It's that, well-" she paused, "we have no money."
"Sure yeh do." Hagrid said, and immersed himself in a newspaper. The twins noticed with fascination that the ads on the back of the paper appeared to be trying to shove each other out of the way.
"No, we don't." Harry said, a little irritated.
"Yeh parents left you some." Hagrid peered at them over the newspaper. "Yeh di'n't thin' they kep' all their money in their house di' yeh? Nah, our firs' stop is the wizarding bank, Gringotts."
"Oh. Okay." Isabel beamed.
It's actually going to happen, Harry. We can really go to Hogwarts. We can learn magic.
#*~*#
The Knight Bus was fascinating. Because their armchairs were right at the back, the twins couldn't see out the front very clearly, but they looked backwards and watched the back of the bus squeeze out of impossibly small gaps between trucks. At one point, they went over a car, and the family inside appeared not even to see.
"Hagrid, why do all the people not see this bus?" Harry asked, pointing to the family.
"Spells. Anyway 'Arry, Muggles see what they wanna see."
"Muggles? You said that to Uncle Vernon. What are Muggles?"
"Non-magical people, 'Arry. An' those that come from non-magical families are Muggle-born. The purebloods got no Muggle in 'em. 'Alfbloods got a mix of wizard and Muggle in 'em. Some purebloods, they call Muggles Mud-People, and Muggle-borns Mudbloods. It's rude though. Don't either of yeh ever call anyone that."
"Aren't we Muggle-born, Hagrid?"
Hagrid sighed and put down his newspaper.
"No. Yeh Mum and Da' were witch and wizard, and your father was nearly pureblood, I think. Your Mum was Muggle-born. Yeh 'alfbloods."
"Does that mean purebloods are better at magic than us?"
"No! It doesn't matter what yeh are, 'alfblood, pureblood, Muggle-born. Some people are jus' better at magic than others. They got a gift, or a brillian' mind. Yeh wait. There'll be people from all types doin' well."
"How many students are there at Hogwarts?"
"Roughly two hunnert an' eighty. See, there's abou' for'y in a year, and seven years."
"Do we board at Hogwarts?"
"Yep, you sleep in yeh house dorm rooms. Mos' people go home for Christmas holidays, an' all students go home for summer holidays."
"Do you have to? Go home for summer holidays, I mean."
"Yep. Everyone does."
Darn!
"And the houses, what are the houses?"
"Oh, there are four. Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the smart, Slytherin for the-well, they say cunning, but it's for the bad- and Hufflepuff for those who are left, really. The Hufflepuffs are the kindest though. Gryffindor colours are red an' gold, an' their emblem is a lion. Everyone wants to be in Gryffindor. Ravenclaw is bronze and blue, an' a eagle. Hufflepuff: badger, yellow, black. Slytherin: snake, green, silver."
I want to be in Gryffindor.
I dunno, Ravenclaw might be alright.
Not Slytherin.
No, not Slytherin.
"Now, Ah want ter read my newspaper-Fudge is being useless."
"Who's Fudge?"
Hagrid pointedly looked at his newspaper.
"Hagrid, please?"
Hagrid sighed gustily. "Cornelius Fudge, Minister o' Magic. He's head o' the wizarding Ministry-that's the wizarding government-" he added, anticipating the question, "-but he's not very good, so he stuffs up a lot, an' is always pestering Dumbledore for advice. Dumbledore coulda bin Minister o' Magic, but he stuck ter being Headmaster."
"Why?"
"Ah dunno! Yeh a terrible question-asker, Isabel. An' Ah…hmmmm….Why don't you two go up ter Stan an' give him these-" he handed them some coins, "-and ask him for two beds? Yeh prob'ly need more sleep." He added in an undertone "And Ah need some peace."
#*~*#
The twins slept until eight o'clock. Normally, they were early risers, but they were exhausted. When they woke up, they sat with Hagrid, who was now onto reading Witch Weekly, until they arrived in London at about half past eight in the morning. Harry couldn't fathom why, because he was sure the journey from Stonehaven to London was meant to be about nine and a half hours, and they had left Stonehaven about half past one, and they had detoured to Inverness and Oban, so about twelve hours... But he was distracted by the sight of Isabel being sick all over her jeans and armchair.
Stan Shunpike walked over. "Scourgify," he muttered, and pointed a wand (Harry assumed it was a wand, it could be just a stick, but that didn't seem likely) at the mess. And then the mess wasn't there anymore. Harry looked hard at Isabel, who was thanking Stan Shunpike and accepting pills for motion sickness. Her jeans were as clean as ever.
Are you alright now?
It's just this bus, I think.
As she mindspoke, the bus tilted sideways, and passengers and luggage went flying past.
Isabel moaned.
"It's alright, Isabel. We're getting' off this accursed bus righ' here." Hagrid stood, and staggered to the front of the bus. The twins followed more cautiously.
#*~*#
"This is the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place." Hagrid stood, arms outstretched, in front of a dingy little pub. It didn't look like a famous place ought to look like. The people-the Muggles, Isabel corrected herself- walking past appeared not to see it, their eyes slid from the clothing shop on one side to the florist on the other. She wondered if it was a spell, or just a refusal to see this building that so contrasted with its surroundings.
Walking into the Leaky Cauldron, Isabel was hit by a cloud of beer and smoke. She started coughing violently. For a famous place, it was very cloudy. And dark. And it was even shabbier on the inside. It was also deserted, although that might have been at least partly due to the time-quarter to nine.
"Hagrid!" A barman popped out from behind the bar. "Bit early, isna it?"
"Oh no, no Firewhiskey for me, I'm on official Hogwarts business," Hagrid boasted, indicating Harry and Isabel.
"Bless my soul." the barman whispered. "It's nivver, but I can see the girl's scar, it must be. Harry and Isabel Potter? The Twins Who Lived, in the Leaky Cauldron. Bless my soul, but I never thought I would see them in my pub. Would they like a drink? Would you like a drink, boy? Girl? On the house, no charge for you."
By now he was out from behind the bar and was close enough that Isabel could see tears in his eyes. She smiled shyly at him.
"I'm Tom. I've always wanted to meet you both. It's a great honour. Bless my soul." He did a funny half bow, and shook the twins' hands.
The door opened and a man in a turban walked in. "Professor Quirrell!" Hagrid waved the twins over. "These are two of your new students. This is Isabel Potter, and this is Harry Potter."
"D-d-d-dear m-me. The P-p-pott-tters? C-can't tell you how p-p-pleased I am to mmm-meet you both. I'll be your Defence Ag-gainst the D-dark Arts teacher." He looked terrified. "N-n-n-not that you two n-need it, eh? Eh?" Professor Quirrell laughed nervously.
"Well, Tom, got to get goin', lots to do." Hagrid put a hand on each twins' right shoulder. They both buckled at the knees and he hastily removed his hands. Tom bowed the twins out the door, which led to a small, walled courtyard, with a few weeds and a dustbin.
Hagrid grinned. "Told ya you were famous. Di'n't I tell yeh you were famous?"
"But, will everyone do the bowing and the stammering like that?" Harry asked, looking alarmed.
Because, it scares me.
Yes! What did we do? I mean, we were-
Babies! I know!
We don't deserve it!
And it's scary! Not that I'm afraid.
"Ah, they'll get used ter ya. Professor Quirrell, though, he's never talked the same since his trip to Albania. An' Isabel?"
"Yes?"
"Can I call yeh Bel? Isabel is a mouthful."
"Sure, Hagrid."
"Thanks. Isabel has too many sylla-sylli-siba- it's too long. Now, three up, two across," Hagrid was counting bricks. Isabel tilted her head. Hagrid tapped a brick with his pink umbrella and it quivered. Then, with a barely audible pop, it disappeared. The bricks next to it did the same to a chorus of little pops, until, eventually, there was a Hagrid sized archway in the wall.
"Welcome," Hagrid said, "to Diagon Alley."
Diagon Alley was a bustling cobbled street, and as they stepped on to it, Isabel hastily pulled a lock of hair over her forehead. Harry's wild hair hid his scar, but she would need to cut a fringe to avoid notice. There were lots of wizards and witches to notice her. They strode the street in their robes and pointed hats, and ducked into shops. They talked loudly about potions-Isabel thrilled to the word-and something called Quidditch.
A cluster of boys were standing outside a shop window. Isabel heard one say, "Wow! A Nimbus 2000." Another: "It's the fastest broom ever!" She pricked up her ears at the mention of broomsticks and glanced over. The boys were admiring a shiny wooden broom that looked nothing like the one she swept Aunt Petunia's kitchen with.
Harry, look!
Wow. A broomstick. I want one, Iz.
I want that one. The boys were saying it's the fastest ever.
Next year.
If we can afford it.
On the other side of the street, a plump witch was complaining to her young daughter. "Seventeen sickles an ounce for dragon's liver! They must be mad. We'll see if we can find some at home, Morag."
A tall wizard passing by was talking to his companion earnestly and softly. "I'm telling you, there's a lot of money in this deal, mate. Just avoid the Aurors, eh?"
There were shops selling robes, and shops selling telescopes and strange silver and gold instruments, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles and tinkling phials, globes of the moon, windows covered with brightly coloured posters that kept flashing different messages…
The Weird Sisters Use Madam Trangle's Instant Tease for all their Hairy Needs.
Amazing Deal-Buy One Pewter Cauldron From Potage's, Get Another Half Price!
Are You Sick Of Garden Gnomes? Try The New Gnomes-B-Gone!
New From Nepal-Melodramatic Tree-Guaranteed To Grow Or Die Trying!
And then they were at the end of the street, and walking towards Gringotts. It was a big white marble building. And standing up the top of the stairs, was a-
"Yeah, that's a goblin." Hagrid said softly out of the corner of his mouth. The goblin was about a head shorter than the twins. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard, and, Isabel noticed, very long fingers and feet.
Isabel was glad to walk past him, and into the bank. Now they faced a second set of doors, silver, with words engraved upon them.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits those who sin for greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay-most dearly-in their turn
So if you seek 'neath our floors,
A treasure that was never yours
Thief, you have been warned, 'ware!
Of finding more than treasure here
Next Chapter up in a week! Will be called Mall Crawling, Wizard Style. Pretty Please review?