Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and anything recognizable belongs to J K Rowling.
Chapter 4: Reaching the past.
The people of Hogsmeade were enjoying a sunny afternoon. There were witches and wizards bustling about, doing their shopping or having a good time with their friends. There was nothing unusual about this wizarding settlement. People had no major worries and there was a general feeling of happiness in the air.
Suddenly there was a drop in temperature and the speed of the light breeze increased tremendously. Although, this sudden change went unnoticed by the people, it was still happening. Behind a few trees, a young girl was sprawled out on the ground, a young girl who was about to change everything for the better.
Alex sat up wearily and looked around her. She looked at the peaceful village. It was a familiar sight. There were the same shops, except they looked newer. But the similarities ended there. In her time, the atmosphere was filled with fear and apprehension. No one dared to wander around the village after dark. She slowly got up and walked closer to one of the shops. She was glad that she was wearing robes as they wouldn't change much in the next 50 years or so.
She went to one of the shops and asked the shopkeeper for the Daily Prophet. She looked at the date or more specifically the year. It was 1940. She really had traveled back in time. It was not just some really bad nightmare. She was here to save everything she held close to her. At that moment, Alex promised herself that she wouldn't fail. She knew what she had to do.
She looked around and a feeling of nostalgia swept over her. How she wished everything could remain the same. She walked towards the Three Broomsticks. It was full of life and cheer. Alex couldn't help but smile at the sight. She walked towards the bar and spotted a young woman standing behind the bar and shouting orders. She stood in front of the woman and cleared her throat to gain her attention. The woman looked up and gave her a bright smile.
"What can I do for you?" the woman asked pleasantly. Alex smiled back at her and started off hesitantly. "I was wondering if I could use your floo?" she asked politely.
"Sure you can dearie. That will be three knuts." She said and nodded her head towards the fireplace.
"Thank you, but the thing is I do not have any money with me right now." Alex said nervously. Why couldn't Death give her some money? Stupid old goat, she prayed to all the gods that she would be allowed to use the floo. She couldn't waste any more time.
The bar woman seemed to be contemplating it. Alex waited with bated breath. "Ok, you can use the floo. It seems like you are in a hurry." The woman said with a kind smile.
"Thank you so much. I don't know how I could ever repay you." Alex gushed and smiled at the kind lady. She almost ran towards the floo and bumped into many people along the way, many of them who were saying "watch where you're going, young lady!" but Alex just ignored them.
She took a small handful of floo powder and steeped into the fireplace. She took a deep breath and called out clearly; "The Leaky Cauldron". She felt the familiar spinning and the next moment she was almost thrown out of the fireplace but she managed to stay on her feet, which was a result of years of practice.
She looked around the Leaky Cauldron. It looked just like it did in her time; dark and dingy, there were several wizards and witches walking through the doors of the pub. She walked out to the back into a small alleyway. She took out her dark brown wand and immediately felt the warmth rush through her body from her fingertips. She tapped the stone bricks in the familiar pattern; the bricks began to rearrange themselves into a small archway. Alex looked out at Diagon Alley and smiled, it looked just as busy as ever. She walked down the alley towards a big white marble building; Gringotts.
She walked in and went straight to one of the goblins.
"Excuse me?" Alex said politely. The one thing she learnt was to not get on the wrong side of a goblin. They were not a race to be crossed with. The goblin looked up at her with a noncommittal grunt.
"I would like to have an inheritance test please." She said. The goblin looked at her for almost a minute before slowly nodding.
"Very well, my name is Sharptooth. Follow me." The goblin said, getting off its stool. Alex followed the small goblin through several corridors before they came upon a dark wood door. The goblin opened the door and walked in with Alex in tow. The room was bare except for a table and two chairs. The goblin took out a silver dagger, a small phial of blue liquid and a sheet of parchment.
"Put three drops of blood into this phial." The goblin said as he passed her the dagger and phial.
Alex pulled out the stopper in the phial and put it on the table. She picked up the dagger and hesitantly sliced open her palm and winced slightly. She held her palm over the phial and waited till three drops of her blood fell into it. As she pulled her hand back, it started to heal and a few seconds later there was no indication that she had even cut her palm in the first place. She supposed that the dagger was a magical one.
The blue liquid turned a bright red colour. The goblin picked up the phial and poured the liquid onto the sheet of parchment in front of him. Soon lines and letters appeared on the parchment.
Alex stared at the parchment in complete astonishment. Her name led straight to the last descendant of The Ancient and Noble House of Westwood. That line had supposedly been extinct for the past two hundred years. 'How come my parents didn't know about this?' she mused to herself as she got over the initial shock, she tried to assure herself by thinking that they had just not checked and were never made aware of it. 'Yes that is a reasonable explanation.' She told herself and took a deep breath and looked up. Even the goblin looked slightly surprised.
"I would like to look at the contents of my vaults then." She said clearly, this time a little more confidently than before.
"Of course: Lady Westwood. I will bring the necessary documents immediately." The goblin said and walked out of the room.
Alex couldn't believe everything that was happening. She was getting one too many shocks today. She was the new Lady Westwood. She had a seat on the Wizengamot but she couldn't sit on it till she came of age. She would have to assign a proxy, 'Great another thing that I have to take care of.' She thought to herself sarcastically. She was jerked out of her musings by a loud thump on the table in front of her. She looked up to see a large stack of parchments and the grumpy face of Sharptooth. The goblin went through the stack and pulled out a parchment and handed it to her with a horrific smile. He surely lived up to his namesake. Alex felt a shiver go down her spine at the sight of the white rows of sharp teeth.
She took the parchment and gave the goblin a curt nod. She looked at the parchment and gasped loudly. Later she would swear that her heart actually stopped beating. She went through the parchment again.
Liquid Holdings: 6 million galleons, 12 million sickles and 8 million Knuts. (Vaults 616-620)
Family heirlooms: jewelry, books (500 numbers) and portraits. (Vaults 544-545)
Armory: contains swords, daggers, shields and bows and arrows. (Vaults 546)
Alex went through it several times to reassure herself that she wasn't just imagining it. She looked up and handed the parchment back to the goblin with shaky hands. The goblin handed her another parchment and she took it hesitantly.
The parchment was a deed to Westwood Manor which was located in the countryside. The address wasn't specified as the manor was under the fidelius charm.
"Since you are a descendant, the wards will automatically be tied to you. You will be able to portkey out of the wards and once it identifies you as the owner, you will be notified of the address." The goblin said.
Alex nodded slowly and placed the deed on the table. She was shocked to say the least but she was pleased that she had enough money to live comfortably in this time period. Actually she could live for five generations with utmost luxury with the amount of money she had but she decided not to let it go to her head.
"I would like to make a withdrawal please." She said clearly to the goblin.
The goblin nodded and directed her towards the carts. She got onto the cart with a small amount of trepidation. She never did like the cart rides much, they always managed to make her sick. The goblin pulled a small lever and the cart took off at a great speed. Alex tried not to look down lest she become even more scared than she already was. They went through two tunnels and went down at a breakneck speed. The cart finally came to stop. The goblin got off the cart and held a small lantern up to shed some light on the huge metal doors.
Alex put her palm on the door just like she had seen her father do it. She felt a small prick on her forefinger. There was a bright flash of red that blinded her for a second before she could hear the doors open with a large creak. She looked inside the vault and stopped dead in her tracks. There were piles and piles of gold everywhere, Alex shook herself out of it and walked inside the vault. The goblin handed her a small pouch that had an undetectable extending charm and feather light charm on it. It was a product of Gringotts that could be bought at a small fee.
She quickly filled her pouch with a few handfuls of galleons. She stopped filling it when she felt she had enough. She handed a few galleons to the goblin for the pouch and made her way to the cart. The journey back up was just as bad as the journey down. Once Alex reached ground level, she converted some of her money into muggle money and left Gringotts with a large smile on her face.
Alex went to Madame Malkin's and bought a few casual robes and two formal ones. She also bought a trunk and put her purchases inside it. After that she went to muggle London and bought some muggle clothes. She could see muggles looking at her oddly at her robes. She went back to the Leaky Cauldron and changed into her muggle clothes, after all she couldn't go to a muggle orphanage in robes.
After a simple but filling lunch at the dark pub, Alex headed out its doors and took out her wand and focused all her thoughts on going to the orphanage. There was a loud pop and a purple double decker bus appeared in front of her; the Knight bus. She hopped onto the bus with her trunk in tow and hoped that everything would go according to plan.
"Where do you want to go?" the conductor asked her. He was a middle aged man who looked downright bored.
"Wool's Orphanage, London." She said. She could see the sympathy in the man's eyes. She appreciated it but couldn't help but feel slightly irritated, she didn't want people to pity her. She did not need pity.
The bus took off at a great speed and passed in between vehicles. It came to a sudden halt in front of two big metal gates. The paint was chipped and the metal bars around the building made it look like a prison. To say the least, the building looked very depressing.
Alex hopped off the bus and smiled at the conductor one last time before looking at the gates nervously. To some muggles it looked like she had just appeared out of thin air but most just passed it off as a figment of their imagination.
Alex looked at the grey building and took a deep breath. Little did she know how hard this was going to be.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks! To everyone who reviewed, I appreciate your reviews immensely. Tell me how I can improve this story. Read and review!