Ruby had to fight the urge to chase down Harry as a kind looking middle aged woman led him away. She wanted to protect him, but she didn't want to be overbearing. Besides, she knew next to nothing about Magical Britain. If she wanted to keep Harry safe, she needed to know what she needed to protect him from. So she kept calm and watched Harry leave, then turned to the young woman standing next to her. "So, what did you say your name was?"
"Dora Knot." The woman, who was on the short side with long brown hair said cheerfully.
"And what exactly is this orientation?" Dora frowned.
"Well, normally it's a short little presentation on recent events and the government, then they're introduced to the other children at the Integration Center, which is where they'll be staying until either they go to school or they get adopted."
"Adopted?" Ruby asked, scowling.
"Well, yes. The children here can't exactly return to their parents." Dora said, confused. Ruby took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. So long as she and Harry weren't split up there was nothing to get upset about. "However, your case is rather different due to your age."
"What do you mean?"
"Typically, at least in Britain, we find Muggleborn, or in your case Muggle raised, children by the time they turn eleven. So the children here tend to be between the ages of five and eleven. You, being fourteen, require different things than a five year old, or even an eleven year old."
"Alright. Sow, what'll we be doing?" Ruby asked.
"Well, we'll start with an expanded history lesson, and then we'll go to Diagon Alley to get you your school things since you'll be starting Hogwarts early." Ruby blanched. "You have three years of schooling to catch up on Ruby." Dora reminded her. Ruby scowled, but kept her complaints to herself. She was right after all.
"Fine. So, history?"
"Follow me please." Dora led Ruby out of the lobby and into a small room with no windows, just a desk and two chairs. They sat down and Dora pulled out a pamphlet. She looked at it, considered, and then put it away. "Alright, History 101." Dora said, leaning back. "Twenty two years ago a wizard named Dumbledore, who was considered to be the greatest wizard in the world, snapped. He decided that wizards with 'Pure-Blood', or the ones with no Muggles in their bloodline for at least five generations, were the source of all of wizarding society's problems and that they needed to be stamped out.
"So, he formed an organization known as the Order of the Phoenix and then declared war on Pureblood Britain. However, one year after this, Lord Voldemort formed the Legion of the Dragon to combat Dumbledore and his Order."
"Wait, I though Britain had a Ministry of Magic?" Ruby interrupted. "Why weren't they doing anything?"
"They were." Dora said. "But you need to remember, Dumbledore was powerful. He singlehandedly put an end to the war with Grindelwald and now he had an army. Before Dumbledore rose to power, we had decent relations with the Centaurs and the Goblins. But Dumbledore convinced them to join him, and they went to war with us too. Now I doubt there's any members of either race still alive in Britain outside of Azkaban." Ruby suppressed a shudder. She knew about Azkaban. Every criminal in Savannah, no matter how petty, knew about Azkaban, though they just called it Hell on Earth.
"The Ministry was outmatched. And then the Legion came. There's a reason we call Voldemort the only one Dumbledore ever feared. The Legion saved countless lives over the next ten years as Dumbledore slipped further into insanity. At first the Order only killed Purebloods, but as time went on they stopped caring about collateral damage. And as the destruction caused by the Order grew, so did the number of Half-Bloods and Muggleborns who flocked behind the Legion."
"So, what stopped him? Who killed Dumbledore?" Ruby interrupted. She was getting sick of hearing how wonderful this Legion of the Dragon was. Dora paused, looking awkward.
"Uh, as far as we know, Harry did." She said slowly. Ruby stared at her.
"Come again?" Dora took a deep breath.
"Dumbledore was the one who killed your mother."
"What?" Ruby growled. Dora gulped.
"We don't know what happened for certain. Your father only ever told two people, and they've only told us a rough outline. From what we've been told Dumbledore arrived at your family's apartment. We don't know why. Maybe he considered them to be a loose end and wanted them out of the way. Whatever the reason, he tracked you down to St. Louis. He killed your mother with Avada Kedavra, and he tried to do the same to your father, but he missed and hit Harry instead. The spell bounced off Harry and struck Dumbledore, killing him. And no, I don't know how that's possible." She said, answering the question before Ruby could ask it.
"And this is what really happened?" Ruby asked skeptically. She knew next to nothing about her mother's death. She'd been too young to remember much, and her father had never said anything beyond 'gas leak'. So it was possible that Dora was telling the truth.
"Yes. We used veritaserum on the two people your father told to confirm it." Ruby sighed and slumped back in her chair.
'Well crap.' She thought. That was going to make it even harder to keep Harry safe. Not only was he famous here, but there was no way all the Order whackjobs had been rounded up, and they'd probably want revenge for the death of their master.
"After the death of Dumbledore and the imprisonment of the surviving Order members, the Ministry was in shambles. Too much damage had been done to Britain for things to be repaired quickly. And, in an unprecedented move, the people of Britain rejected the Ministry wholesale and placed the Legion in power, naming Lord Voldemort as the first Lord Protector of Magical Britain." Dora paused, looking thoughtful, then shrugged. "I think that's all you need to know for today." Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"That's all the history I need to know?"
"Well, you're going to be taking History of Magic starting next week, so this is just you should know now, because you'll probably get some…interesting reactions when people find out you're a Potter." Dora said with a shrug. Ruby sighed. She hated school. Then something occurred to her.
"Tell me about Hogwarts."
"Could you be more specific?" Dora asked with a frown. "Hogwarts is a rather broad topic."
"I've heard rumors and stories of Hogwarts." Ruby said slowly. "Specifically about some sort of House system." Dora brightened.
"Ah yes. Hogwarts is divided into four Houses. At the beginning of every year, the first year students are divided between them. There's Slytherin, which values cunning and ambition, Hufflepuff, which values hard work and kindness, Ravenclaw, which values intelligence and imagination, and Gryffindor, which values courage and loyalty." Ruby frowned. Yet another complication in her plan to protect Harry. "Well, shall we go?"
"Go? Go where?"
"Diagon Alley." Dora reminded her. "The magical shopping district of London." She clarified at Ruby's blank look. "It's where Gringotts, our bank, is located, as well as the only wand shop in Britain. It's also where we'll be getting all your school supplies."
"I already have a wand." Ruby pointed out, pulling said wand out of her pocket. Dora took it, looked it over, scowled, and broke it in half. "Hey!" Ruby protested, standing up angrily.
"Let me guess- you didn't get it from a wand shop, somebody gave you that wand."
"Well, yes." Ruby said slowly.
"That's what I thought. First of all, this wand was mass produced, not hand crafted. Secondly, it's made of pine, which is garbage when it comes to making wands. And finally, the wand chooses the witch, not the other way around. Any wand you get outside of winning a duel or from a wand shop will only perform subpar magic." Ruby frowned. She'd thought the wand worked fine. Several of her fellow gang members had even complimented her for being exceptionally good for a thirteen year old. But there was nothing she could do about it now, the wand was broken.
"I don't have very much money." Ruby warned Dora as they left. Dora laughed.
"Ruby, you're a Potter. Trust me, you have plenty of money."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby asked, puzzled. Dora just smiled and took a sack of Floo Powder from off of a fireplace mantel.
"You'll see. Diagon Alley Station Five." Dora tossed a pinch of the powder into the flames, and she and Ruby stepped into the fireplace. Ruby staggered out of a different fireplace and looked around. She was now in what looked like a Muggle subway station.
"What's this place?"
"Diagon Alley Floo Powder Travel Station Five." Dora said as they headed for the stairs. "It used to be that if you wanted to Floo into Diagon Alley you had to use the one fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, the pub that has the street entrance to Diagon Alley. The crowding was awful, so the government built these stations under the streets. Station Five, for instance, is the station closest to Gringotts. She led Ruby up to the street and to the right.
"I assume that's Gringotts?" Ruby said dryly, staring up at the giant marble and gold building.
"Never let it be said that the Goblins couldn't be incredibly pretentious." Dora said, leading Ruby inside the bank. They walked straight down the aisle, past counters where wizards and witches were counting money and weighing gems.
"May I help you?" An elderly looking man asked politely when they reached the head desk. Dora pulled a key out of her pocket and placed it on the counter.
"The Potter Trust Vault please." She said politely. The man's eyes widened, and he nodded.
"I wondered if I would ever get to see this key used." He said, taking it almost reverentially and causing Ruby to roll her eyes as he guided them to a surprisingly comfortable looking mine cart. In her opinion that had been excessively dramatic of him. One quick cart ride later, and the three stepped out of the cart and in front of a large vault door. The man opened the vault, and Dora grinned as Ruby's eyes widened comically.
"You said this was just a trust fund?" Ruby asked incredulously as she took in all the money in the vault. She figured that if she took all the gold from all the gangs in Savannah, it might amount to how much was in the vault.
"Well, technically it's a trust vault, but yes." Dora said, nodding. "The Potter vaults are the second biggest in Britain, with only the Black vaults being bigger, though those are currently split between the two branches of the family." Ruby looked around in amazement.
"You know, there's no way Harry and I will be able to spend all that money in our lifetimes." She mused. "So, since I'll never need a job, do I still have…?"
"Yes, you still have to go to school." Dora said dryly, pulling out a sack for the money. "It's the law." 'Plus, maybe it'll help you get rid of that awful accent.' Dora thought as she handed the bag to Ruby.
"Hey, I like my accent." Ruby protested. "Besides, you try growing up in the American South and not getting an accent." Dora blinked as Ruby turned and began to grab coins. Had she said that out loud? She frowned and slipped a small potion pill in her mouth.
"Ruby, do you know what legilimency is?"
"No, what is it?" Ruby asked, not looking up from the money.
"Don't worry about it." Dora told her dismissively. Ruby, distracted by the money, let it drop. The pill allowed Dora to tell if a person was lying, and Ruby wasn't. She must have spoken out loud.
"Hey, do you have a shopping list so I know how much money to grab?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, right." Dora said, feeling slightly embarrassed about forgetting to hand that over. She reached into her robes and pulled out the list. "You'll need eight robes, a pewter cauldron and some assorted ingredients, seven textbooks, and a wand. You can also get a cat, snake, or an owl if you want." Ruby nodded and dropped a few more Galleons into the bag.
"Alright, let's go." She said, pulling the drawstrings shut.
Two hours later-Ollivander's
"Interesting, interesting." Ollivander said softly. Ruby scowled. There was a rather massive pile of wands next to her, and she could tell from the shelves that there weren't many left in the shop. "Very curious."
"What's so interesting?" She demanded.
"Tell, me, are you done with your shopping?" Ollivander asked, ignoring Ruby's question.
"No, I still need an owl." Ruby said impatiently.
"Would you be so kind as to go get that bird? I'm afraid that I must make a Floo call." Dora looked up at him sharply, then stood up.
"Come along Ruby." She said, heading for the door. Ruby frowned, then followed Dora out the door. Ollivander waited a moment, then headed into the back of his shop. He entered his office, locking the door behind him, and opened the vault hidden under his hearth rug. He pulled out a medium sized box and closed the vault, then started a fire, throwing some Floo Powder and a black card into the flames.
"The Protector's Estate, West Office." He said. There was a moment's silence as the call went through the proper filters and checks. Precisely two minutes after he began the call, the head of a handsome middle aged man appeared in the flames. "My Lord." Ollivander said respectfully, inkling his head.
"What do you need Ollivander?" Voldemort asked in a relatively pleasant voice. Ollivander placed the box in front of the flames so that Voldemort could see it. The Lord Protector raised an eyebrow. He recognized the box. He'd sealed it after all.
"A young woman visited me today. She is not a match for any for any of my standard wands, but I believe that there's a match for her in this box." The box contained eight wands that had been made Ollivander's grandfather in a darker, more violent time. They were wands made of rare materials. They were warlock wands, second in power only to the fabled Elder Wand. Voldemort had personally sealed the box and forbidden Ollivander from selling them without first contacting him.
"And what is this young woman's name?"
"Ruby Potter." Voldemort considered. He'd thought Snape had told him that Ruby already had a wand. He'd have to get a full report from 'Dora'.
"Very well. But I expect a full report when she leaves Ollivander." Voldemort reached a hand through the flames and took hold of the box, unsealing it.
"Of course Lord." Ollivander said, taking back the box. Voldemort disappeared and the fire died, leaving behind only the black card.
Ten minutes later-Ollivander's
Ruby looked down at the box of wands. The ambient magic in the shop, which had been high before, had skyrocketed when Ollivander opened the box. "Try this one." Ollivander said, drawing a wand from the box. "Cottonwood and goblin bone, ten inches." Ruby took the wand and waved it. The chair behind her burst into flames. "No, no, definitely not." Ollivander said quickly, taking the wand as Dora put out the flames. "Hickory and Harpy feather, eleven inches." Ruby took the wand, but Ollivander quickly snatched it back. "No, all wrong." He said, shaking his head.
"Perhaps…this one." He gave her another wand. "Magnolia and Vampire fang, fourteen inches." Ruby took the wand and waved it, producing a fountain of gold sparks that made Ruby's new Great Horned Owl, which she'd named Samedi, hoot irritably.
"Excellent, excellent." Ollivander said happily, closing the box. "That will be forty Galleons." Ruby looked at Dora, who nodded.
"That's a fair price." She told Ruby. "Well, not normally, but considering the materials the materials involved in making that particular wand it is." Ruby nodded and pulled out her money pouch.