A/N: I don't care what any Brit says, 'hundreds and thousands' is a weird name for sprinkles.

After the train arrived at Kings Cross station, Melissa spent barely an hour in London before she and her parents headed off on the road to Surrey. Christmas traffic was something of a pain, but they arrived in time for hugs, warm cocoa by the firelight, and a good night's sleep. The next morning was slow going. A time to relax and catch up with her cousins with stories of school and pranking adventures with/against the Weasley twins (depending on your interpretation). It wasn't until early in the afternoon that things picked up at the sound of a doorbell.

"Harry!" Jeff called from the living room, stirring up the children to leave their toys and head for the door.

"Hi, Jeff! Melly! You're here!" The black-haired boy jumped into the hallway and gave her a sweeping hug.

"Ow, Harry!" The girl chuckled. "Geez, you're acting like I've been gone for ages."

"You have been gone for ages! How's Hogwarts? I want to hear everything! "

"Harry," Her aunt called from the kitchen, "don't track snow onto the carpet."

"Oh! Sorry, Aunt Sophie!" Harry called back, now looking to his feet in embarrassment. He gingerly removed his footwear and grabbed a loose cloth to dab away the dirty snow. As he did, he looked back up to Melissa. "So, what's Hogwarts like?"

The girl giggled. "You mean beyond what I've already told you?"

"Words are different from letters." Harry argued. "I'd rather you actually tell me about it."

Melissa grinned at the whine. "Sure thing, kid!"

They ended up talking about school for a good couple of hours. Traveling from the hallway, to the living room, then to Jeff's room. The children all listened with rapt attention as Melissa detailed all of the weird and wonderful things that have happened in the year so far (with only a slight glossing over of the first month's Prank War), along with their own questions answered as the tales went on. Eventually they worked up an appetite for snacks and made their way to the kitchen. While the Bennetts made a grab for Christmas biscuits, Harry wandered to the pantry to take a handful of snack bars.

"Protein bars?" Melissa asked with a mouthful of biscuits and hundreds and thousands. "You planning on joining the Olympics?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he stuffed the bars into his pockets. "They keep me full. Aunt Sophie lets me take them home with some vitamins. The Dursleys don't feed me much, so this helps."

Biscuit crumbles fell from her lips. An odd, solemn sense overtaking her thoughts. She looked her friend over, seeming not quite so like the small, skinny child she met two years before. It was weird. Like, intrinsically it made sense; but, sometimes she forgets. This kid lives with abusive relatives. He sometimes gets starved for days, or one meal a day for a week. They hit him with pans and labour him to exhaustion. He's told them all about it. Hell, she knew it before she was born, to an extent. Her aunt and uncle were trying to change that as best they could without some meddling wizard finding out and ruining their good intent, but the effects were still there. She just… let it slip from her mind. Too busy with the game of it all.

"In my case, living was just as terrible."

The ghostly memory of that conversation with Myrtle snuck into her mind, killing the good mood of the day.

Maybe it's time I should...

Melissa sighed, giving her cousins a considerate look. "Jeff, Mags, do you mind giving me and Harry a minute? We'll catch up in a bit."

Jeff shrugged and grabbed two biscuits for the road. "Alright, sure. We'll see you outside."

"Thanks, guys."

While they walked out of the kitchen, Harry looked at her curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just…" Damn, how did this play out in her head, again? "While at school I heard some interesting rumours… about your parents."

Harry sagged onto Jeff's bed, eyes glazed over, with a hand over his scar. "This is… not what I was expecting."

Melissa nodded. "I know, kid."

"They were wizards, and an evil wizard killed them."

"Mhmm."

"-and he died while trying to kill me."

"Yup."

"Which somehow makes me famous. To people I don't even know. For something I don't even remember."

"Pretty much, yeah."

Harry closed his eyes, his head shaking. "That's… that's just mad."

Melissa nodded, then offered a slight shrug. "And yet it's absolutely true."

Harry was silent. His young mind trying to process all of this information.

"It's a lot to deal with," Melissa stated the obvious, "but you have a right to know and no other wizard or witch is around to do it for you." Harry nodded wordlessly, eyes fixed to the ceiling. "Still… I think we should let the others know."

That suggestion seemed to break through Harry's transfixed state. He turned to her with a look of surprise, fear, and then softened in understanding and a nod. "I want Aunt Sophie and Uncle John to know about it."

"Alright then. Glad we're in agreement." Melissa pushed herself off of the bed and offered Harry her hand. "Shall we?"

"I'll say, that's a lot to take in." John's head nodded slightly as though it helped him absorb all of this new information. Then something clicked, and he turned Melissa's way. "That's why you told Harry to learn about World War Two?"

Melissa nodded sheepishly. "It is."

"Sweetheart, if you were having problems like this in school, you should have told us!" Her mother gently scolded her.

"She's right." Her father added. "It's not safe for you to go to a school with kids who practically follow the Third Reich."

"It's not so bad, dad. It's only a few of them, and I've been talking to them about it. Showing them why Voldemort's ideas weren't helping wizards at all."

Her dad shook his head. "Talking like that will just get you in trouble."

"Don't worry, I've been subtle about it. Mostly."

John butted into the discussion. "Still, there's more to this situation than some kids with classist prejudices. We might actually know now why Harry is being forced to live with Vernon and his wife."

"You can't actually mean it was to help him." Sophie strained. It was oddly pointed, like a discussion that's happened before.

"No, it might actually be worse than that. What if one of these Death Eaters knew about Harry's aunt and forced him to stay there?"

"Why would they do that?" Her mum inquired. "If they were like the Nazis then wouldn't they have just kil- sorry," her eyes flashed down to where Harry was sitting. "-wouldn't they have…" a thumb subtly grazed the edge of her neck.

"Not if they thought Harry was a powerful wizard, able to beat their own master and all that. What better place to put him than with people who hate wizards?"

"And make him think that non-magical people are the really evil ones." Sophie reflected the sentiment.

"Still, he knows us, and there are plenty of good people in the world." Her mum noted. "Surely a plan like that wouldn't work? Maybe whoever left him with the Dursleys just wanted him somewhere they could keep an eye on, away from those bad wizards."

"Maybe we've been careful enough to avoid their ire." John released a strained breath. "Still, you could be right, Mary."

"I knew there were secrets to Harry's life." Sophie mused solemnly. "I never imagined it could be anything like this." The rest of the table was silent to that fact. What else can you say when finding out that a conspiracy about an orphan boy is actually a concrete fact about said boy's history with a wizarding equivalent to the Nazis?

Suddenly, Sophie's eyes glinted like flint stones. "Mel, dear, what else do you know about Harry's parents? His father?"

"Um, not much other than them fighting in the war." She admitted, armed with only information she gave earlier that night.

"What about his family? Siblings? Parents?"

"He didn't have any siblings. Um, but I think the Potters are an old family. Some purebloods made a stink about James Potter marrying a muggleborn girl."

"I see." Sophie's eyes reflected inward, ponderous.

"What is it, Soph?" Her husband asked.

Sophie returned her eyes to the table, specifically to the children, and offered them a kind smile. "Harry, Melissa, would you please excuse us? I'm sure Maggie and Jeff would love for you to help them build snowmen."

Harry and Melissa blinked at the sudden dismissal. "Uh, sure." They looked at each other, confused, but still followed through with the suggestion.

"What do you think they're going to talk about?" Harry asked.

"Not sure. Suppose we'll find out soon enough."

"I guess." 'Hopefully' went unsaid. Doubt wasn't something either wanted to go through at this point.

When Harry left for home, the adults pulled the Bennett children aside to the living room couch.

"Kids, there's been a change of plans." Her dad started. "All of us will be spending Christmas at our home in London."

"We're not staying home?" Maggie asked, the four year old was notably confused and disappointed. "But Father Christmas won't find us and give us presents!"

Aunt Sophie chuckled and offered her daughter a warm smile. "Not to worry, sweetheart. Father Christmas is very good at bringing presents, no matter where you are."

"I get mine when I'm here." Melissa added. "You'll be fine, Mags."

"Oh." The girl blinked owlishly. "That's okay, then."

"Better than that," Uncle John kicked in, "we're going on a special trip when we arrive in London."

The children looked at the adults with puzzled faces.

"Diagon Alley." Her father answered simply to their unvoiced question.

"The magic place?" Jeff asked excitedly.

Melissa at once narrowed her eyes. "I can see a couple problems with that idea."

"Yes," Aunt Sophie replied, "but we may have a way around it. If anyone asks, we'll tell the wizards that Jeff has had an instance of accidental magic."

"Me? A wizard?"

"Only pretending to be." She answered. "With Melissa already at Hogwarts they likely won't question it. Nobody can prove outright if we have a magical heritage or not. If they do, it will be too late, anyways."

"Okay..." Melissa processed the plan. Beyond the obvious risks, a thought emerged beyond the rest. "But why go through the trouble? What could you possibly need at Diagon Alley?"

"There's something us adults need to take a look at, Melly-bean." Her dad answered simply.

Melissa stared at him over the unimpressive excuse.

"You're better off not knowing why." Her dad's brother expanded. His head gestured to the two young bodies beside her.

"Oh." She stole a glance at her younger, naïve cousins. "I see." Yes, right, young voices are often too truthful at the worst of times. It was probably best that they not reveal their intentions in front of them. "I can show you guys the toy shop and menagerie to see cool animals."

"Really?"

"That's wicked!" Jeff cheered. At once they started bombarding her with questions on what they'll see at the magical market, wholly distracted at the next day's adventure.

Above them, Melissa noticed in her periphery that the adults were a set of strained smiles. One that made Melissa tempted to look further into their plans.

"And this is the general bookstore." Melissa pointed out. "There's a second hand store, too, but this place has the best supplies for school books and stuff."

"It's a good place to explore." Her father noted. "With Jeff attending Hogwarts in a few years, I'm sure you'll want to take a look."

"That's a great idea!" Her aunt replied enthusiastically. "It would be so nice to learn a little more about the world our kids are in, don't you think, Honey?"

Oh, God, is she even trying to be subtle about this? Melissa groaned internally.

"Quite right." Her uncle beamed. "You know, I have wondered how similar Wizarding Britain is compared to the rest of the country. It would make for a fascinating study."

Well, at least he actually sounds like his usual self. Melissa mused. "Want me to show you around the store?" She offered.

"Oh, I don't want to keep you kids waiting. Jake, Mary, would it be alright if Soph and I stay here a while?"

"Sure, John. We can handle the kids for the afternoon." Her dad offered. "Well, yours we can handle, at least."

"Hey!" Melissa whined.

"So, had a nice trip to the bookstore?" Melissa asked not so subtly between licks of ice cream.

Her uncle hummed approvingly at the question. "It was quite nice. I had a nice chat with a fellow lawyer. A law wizard, he called himself. He was able to give me some recommendations of books to purchase."

"That's nice." Her mother replied with false indifference. "We had a lovely time at the menagerie."

The adults took the tangent and moved along with it. Her cousins exuberantly added on their details of the day, too. Leaving Melissa to ponder over the mention of her uncle's trade.

With the unexpected crowd in her home, Melissa took a spare hour of alone time to practice the viola part of the upcoming performance Professor Flitwick had planned for their welcome back feast. Well, alone as it could be. Her aunt had taken claim to the music room loveseat for some light reading and, as Melissa considered it, some soothing tunes to set the mood for a bookish evening.

"They can't be serious." She heard Aunt Sophie mutter under her breath. A page flipped back and forth, along with a sound of puzzlement. "Melissa, can you come here for a minute?"

"Sure." She chirped, putting down her instrument and bow and walked over to the couch. "What's wrong?"

"The galleon system. One galleon is worth 17 sickles or 493 knuts, yes?"

"Mhmm" The girl nodded.

"And it's always that amount?" Aunt Sophie stressed.

"It is." She answered. Her aunt made an assertive snort and eyed the pages unbelieving. "What's the big deal? We never change having 100 pennies for a pound."

"Yes, but their value on the global market is centered around the price of gold."

Melissa blinked at that. "...and that's important because?"

"It says here that galleons are made of gold, pure gold. With sickles and knuts being made from silver and bronze, respectively."

"That's right." She paused for a moment. "Is that a bad thing?"

Her aunt looked at her. The ghost of a smile gracing her face. "Not if you know how to make the most of it."

Melissa sat at attention, mirroring her aunt's intrigue. "I'm listening."