Chapter 2 – Investigations into the Ledger
[Edinburgh, Scotland – 28th of June 1996]
Go through this portkey was easier than anything else she had done before, and it was softer than what she had gone through the last couple of years. Now she was standing before a small garden gate, and the house she was looking at was two stories high. In a quiet neighbourhood, just a few couple of houses around on the outskirts of Edinburgh. As she placed her hand on the gate leading up to the house, she felt the wards snap into place around her core.
The look of the house was simple and had that old-world feel to it - like it had stood there and watched history gone by. It had been upgraded in the last couple of years it seemed, because the outside of the house had its shiny white colour with a lot of details that made it look like it had been lived in for years. It was what attracted her to it at once, when she then walked up to the front door she smelled the fragrance of the blooming rosebushes. It had a homey feel to it, and as soon as she opened the door and stepped in, she finally felt like she would have a home there.
Just stepping into the foyer of the house had her speechless, because she could see herself living here for years to come maybe even having her own family running around. It was a future she would strive for, that was the only thing she could think about right at that moment!
Stepping into the foyer of her own house was special, the foyer was a simple walkway that went to the other rooms - the walls were white, and on the left side of the wall hung a weirdly fitting painting of the Scottish highlands. There was a rug on the floor by the door, and a couple of hangers for different cloaks or jackets, underneath the painting was the shoe rack - where she placed her shoes. As she walked further in there was a staircase leading up the second floor to her right, before she explored that, she stepped into what had to be the kitchen and the open space leading her to the living room.
The walls of the living room and kitchen were in a natural colour, there was a fireplace and dark-coloured couch, with a glass table in the middle separating the couch from the fireplace. Over the fireplace was the TV. Alongside a wall was there a bookcase, filled to the brim with books, and other interesting knickknacks.
There was also a dining room, alongside the windows, that also had a door that led out to a patio and then the garden. The table could fit up to eight people, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling over it. The kitchen was modern, with white countertops and modern appliances. There was also a window above the sink so that you could look out and into the garden. Every window along that wall looked out into the garden and gave these rooms a lot of natural light making the rooms seem a bigger than normal.
Before she went up to the second floor, she looked into the bathroom, it wasn't enormous but it was cosy with just a shower, a toilet and a sink. Nothing to really see there.
The first door she came to on her right side, was an office-space slash library. There were so many books, and this seemed to have been the only place that had spells cast on it, that was clear as it was a lot bigger than it normally would have been. With floor-to-ceiling bookcases, alongside every couple of walls, there were also a couple of comfy chairs all over the place, and some even the windows so that they could look out into the garden. While you would have thought that it would have been dark here, it wasn't, it was light and airy. Walking through it, while looking at all the different books she came to what she would call an office desk, and which she soon will call for her uses.
Here she unshrunk the three trunks, she had with her, and laid her postbox on her desk, before leaving the library to look through the rest of the house. There was yet a small bathroom right over the room she had just walked out of, that was in the same shape as the first-floor bathroom.
There was a large seating area too with a lot of light, though, the room was oval in shape and size. With comfortable couches, and an entertainment area with cases of movies that she could watch with a bowl of popcorn if she wanted to. The colour scheme of the room was dark blue on the walls, and black couches, though with the windows there was light and air coming through making the room cosy.
Then she walked through one of the doors, which led to the master bedroom, it was Greek in style, with blue, white and green colours going through every spot. It represented water. She loved it. There was a king-sized bed, and the quilt lying over the bed seemed to have been homemade, and old like a family heirloom. There was a whole wardrobe, and a bathroom, in the same style though there weren't any clothes here meaning that no one had lived here permanently before. With a flick of her wand, her clothes sorted themselves out in her wardrobe.
With a smile, she walked out and looked through the rest of the rooms on this floor. The only thing of note was that there were two other guest rooms. With a single bathroom between them. It looked like it could belong to children because of its size, but also not, if you know what she meant.
It wasn't a lot more to see in the house, so, she walked out into the garden to see it more clearly. It was a beautiful garden, and she could see her spending her days outside with a book or just getting a tan.
With nothing else to do, she walked back inside and up to her office. She seated herself at her desk, and with a flick of her wand, all the things in the three trunks floated up for her to see what everything was about. It was quite clear that this was a non-magical property except this room, everywhere else in the house was ruled by electricity, just not this room which made it clear to her that she could do a lot of magic here, and not anywhere else. Yeah, she could do it elsewhere in the house, just moderately and nothing else. Meaning that she had to see if there was a basement with a duelling room, or else she had to go outside to do her spell casting, if not just do it here inside the library.
However, she liked that she wouldn't become reliant on magic to do her chores when it was clear that she could do it on her own, and her own terms. The fact was that now that she didn't need to pamper her relatives, she could be here and be independent. To live without her relatives looking at her with fear and disgust, was a heedy feeling.
All she had to do now was go shopping for groceries, some new clothes and other necessities, as she had looked through the kitchen and the refrigerator. Finding absolutely nothing of worth, so, she had to go.
Without pause, she took on her best clothes which were her school uniform, her plaid skirt and a white shirt. With nothing hindering her from going and doing what she to do to survive. With no one to help her, she went to the nearest store and bought everything she needed for the next week, before walking back home. It was wonderful to make her food, and then be able to eat it. After all, she love making her food and eating it, because her relatives never allowed her to even taste her food.
After eating a wonderful meal, she wandered back out into the streets until she came to a centre to do some shopping. It was fun to walk around to the different stores, and have the time to explore them to see what they had and what took her fancy - she had never been allowed to do things like this before. Hadriana felt more at home and had some help from some helpful people who knew about fashion more than her. They helped her look through what looked good on her, and as she told them that she had come into her inheritance and that she could afford everything they helped.
What she fell for was the style they called romantic, classic but also bohemian style. They also helped her find classic styles that went well if she was meeting for interviews and things that every lady should know. In the end, she also fell for what could be said a much more edgier style, maybe even a little more daring. When she had spent a couple of hours sifting through stores, for clothes and shoes, she swiftly walked back home. There she unpacked everything, sorted them before taking a warm and refreshing shower, before going to bed.
-HP-
The next was spent in her office going through what she had to do the next couple of days, so firstly she began to read the letter her parents left for her.
Dear Hadriana.
Seeing you sleeping peacefully in your mother's arms is something of a miracle. You have the most beautiful green eyes and don't tell her, but yours are even more magical than hers. I'm also happy that you didn't get my frizzy and choppy hair, yours is straight and seemed to become longer each day. Something that you should be damn proud of, we are!
A witch's hair isn't something to take lightly, by now, I hope someone has told you how important it is for you to hide how long your hair is. Only those you trust with your life should know how long it is, more importantly, it should always be between your family.
But enough about that!
Not that long ago, we went into hiding. Dear one. Right now, things aren't at all looking up. The war was going downhill, and we seemed to lose people left and right. Your mother doesn't want me to tell you anything of this sort, but I digress that you should know these things from our perspective. I told her, if you are reading this you already know what has happened. The war is becoming bloodier as we speak, and we are trying to plan a way to get out of the country, but you know how these kinds of plans go, after all, we are Potters!
If you haven't heard this before, there is a prophecy, I hope that one of our many friends has already told you, so, that this isn't news for you. The prophecy goes like this:
'The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not… and either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'
I think this is irrelevant, and it is only made important because two of the most influential people believe in it!
Our family... You can learn a lot of what I am about to tell you in our grimoire, but I want to talk about our history for a bit.
In the beginning, before our government was formed we were simply pottery makers, for our beautiful craftsmanship. Every pureblood family out there has an origin story and an origin in the muggle world. There haven't always been villages or even a society where we could live peacefully. It didn't become the norm until the age of the founders, Arthur and Merlin. Merlin laid the foundation for the British Magical government. We were once part of the Secret 28, but we haven't had an active part of it in the last decade or so. My father Flamont and I haven't had the time, and we couldn't stand the backhandedness of politics. My Uncle Charlus were the one who took care of it, together with his wife Dorea Potter.
Dorea who is a part of the Black family, grew up in politics in the house of my best friend Sirius Orion Black. The Black family, have been our allies for centuries though not many know this fact. My uncle Charlus and Sirius's grandfather were comrades in arms in the war against Grindelwald. They were strong duellist together and held their stand against the dark lord at the time.
When his son Orion and his wife became enthralled with what the new dark lord was saying, they both distanced themself, at least I got that from Sirius, though, I don't know if it's factual.
If you get the time, you can get to know more about our family and other families in our secret archive room - only one of our family elves can take you there. It is a secret room where we have kept our diaries, for the future generation to read. I haven't been there in years, because I haven't had the time to do it. Every Potter has had a diary or a journal to dictate his life, and it will reside in the archive after his death. Every Potter after their fifteenth birthday gets to know of it, as it had been a tradition since the beginning of time.
We as a family are known for being good at potions, battle magics and transfiguration.
Thoe I don't want you to focus on what our family is good at, and forget to see that there is more magic out there that can help you in the long run. I don't want you to miss out on knowledge. Your mother helped me see that there was more out there than what we were being taught about in Hogwarts. By just focusing on what my family was good at I missed a lot of good advice, and I can admit that I was an ass, spoiled and arrogant growing up. I still am trying to work on rectifying my thought process. Though, everyone that had grown up as I had been, would be arrogant if their family spoiled them.
In my Hogwarts years, I spent them doing pranks and fooling around with my friends. I met the love of my life, Lily Flower, in our first year. Then I met Remus Lupin, Sirius Black who I had known for years by then, and then Peter Pettigrew. We quickly formed a group called the Marauders and began to prank everyone that we didn't like.
Since then I've learned how much of an ass I had been, especially to the Slytherins. It was with Lily's help that I got through things, after all, after you graduate Hogwarts Houses doesn't matter anymore, and you have to work with all kinds of people. Many of those pranks we did weren't even funny, and pranks should be fun for everyone even those we are going to prank! We were unnecessarily cruel, and if our will was read after we died it I am apologizing to the one I hurt the most - though if I weren't killed, I would have for sure apologized to him in person by now!
Sometimes now, I wonder why we weren't at least suspended for some of the things we did as a group!
In our 6th year at Hogwarts, Sirius did something completely unprovoked, and we learned something about consequences - not that Dumbledore did something about it. Sirius knew how much Snape wanted to know why Remus was disappearing every full moon, and told him if he wanted to know, to go down to the shrinking shack to see what was going on. I didn't learn about it before much later, and I just managed to save Snape with just seconds to spare. This made me think, because this could have gone out over everyone, and Sirius could have gotten Remus executed!
We should have been expelled, but we weren't because of Dumbledore and I don't know why!
This is one of the reasons why I never really trusted Dumbledore again, and he has after all three different jobs to juggle. I sometimes wonder how he manages them! Sometimes I think he doesn't care for the students, while only making excuses for Gryffindors.
One of the reasons I think about it now is that I now have a child of my own. I want you to be considerate and think about your actions before it goes too far, and that you don't regret things like I do right now.
If our will hasn't been read, blame Dumbledore since he witnessed it. Only you now can open it and have it read, and I hope you do. The Goblins are quite helpful, and they can do it for the right price as you should know by now. Have it read by everyone, and follow your heart!
Now your mother wants to say a few words for you:
Seeing your father change your diaper, is one of the funniest things in the world to see!
I love you so much, and I know that something bad will happen soon that will take us away from you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to us, you've given us hope!
Hope that our legacy will live on and that you are going to be the best of both of us!
Having children is a privilege in our world, not that we didn't have some trouble conceiving. One of the reasons we agreed to have Sirius as your godfather and have his blood adopt you when you were born is because he can't have children of his own. Sirius is sterile, and can't have children of his own that is why he has two fathers! Why that is you will have to ask him, it's quite funny!
I love you so deeply, that if our will aren't followed I hope you will hunt Dumbledore into an early grave! One of the key points in our will is that you are never to be raised by my sister Petunia and her family, then another point is that Peter was our secret keeper, not Sirius! Never would we have condoned you growing up with my sister, she hates magic and would have been the worst sortable person to raise you.
The only thing for us to say right now is to say that I want you to live your life as you want, don't let anyone decide that for you!
In my trunk, you will find a bunch of family albums from when I was young, but also throughout my school years, but also baby pictures of you. Then there are my school books, my diaries and my Charm Research and Potion research, for you to see through if you are interested.
Onto your father again:
Now before I forget it again, here is what my trunk contains: A couple of albums, though, most of them are in our vault at Gringotts. My school books, a book where we wrote all our pranking notes, and our notes of how we managed to make our map of the school. There is also my research into Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures, but also our notes on how to become an animagus - we made a shortcut, which is also much easier.
Then all we can say is good luck, and just live your life because we are proud of you either way! We will be happy because you are happy!
Love,
James Fleamont Potter and Lily Jean Potter nee Evans.
It was a long letter, and reading it made her angry, elated, sad and happy. A whole lot of complicated feelings that she knew were justifiable, because she knew for a fact that her parents will hadn't been read, and she would write a letter to Gringotts to see about getting a will reading. The thing was it was wonderful to hear that her parents wanted her to be happy, and she will someday in the future. They never will be disappointed in her, but at the same time reading this was a little too late!
The thing was they may have been her parents, but she didn't know them, even if it was a relief to hear the things she had wanted to hear from them were good. Growing up as she had been had made her independent, but also made her stronger and also determined to become a better parent than them though she understood why they didn't just move to another country, or make a quick backup plan if they were found out.
This also made her see that she had held back in life because she didn't want to disappoint them, but now even with everything she could maybe just go about her plans, without dealing with guilt.
Guilt had been something that Dumbledore held over her since the day she walked through the doors of Hogwarts, he had made her do many things she would not have done by mentioning her parents or her friends!
Just thinking about everything he had made her do was head spinning, she had gone along with a lot the last five years! Just because she hadn't wanted to rock the boat, so to speak. They don't know what she had struggled with at home, and having to grow up as she did made her want to go along with everything they were saying just to keep herself calm and the people around her calm and not hound her for being different.
People in general don't know what it is like to be abused, lack food or even just have opposition. No matter what they told you or tried to understand they never will fully do so. Hermione had missed a lot of things because of her obsession with books, and she at least had parents who loved her! At least that is what she got from the girl, then came the question: Why did she spend so much time away from home, and with the Weasleys if she had parents who cared? How could her parents who love her, allow her to be there for weeks?
It was also fascinating to read more about her father's family, and why we were connected with the Black family. Interestingly enough, her father was regretful over how he had behaved in school and had told her why she may get opposition from the potion master. Maybe that would have been resolved long before her coming to Hogwarts if the will had been read when it should have been.
With a sigh, she folded the letter up and laid it in a special box with roses and different flowers engraved into it elegantly. In the future will lay out all the letters she got that would mean something to her. Letters she wanted to save.
As she had already taken out everything that the trunks had, she spent a few moments flickering through the foto albums to just look through them - it was great because now she understood why everyone looked at her with surprise when they saw her for the first time - she was so alike her father it was impossible to see who's who, even if she was a girl at the time. Now she was glad that she had gotten the glamour off because at least now she looked like them both, with straight hair, fair skin and looked like she was a girl with curves that she could die for.
It was great to see pictures of her grandparents, even uncles and aunts of the family because it made her family seem more real. It made everything more personal, and that she is a part of a family legacy. The thing was looking at an old photograph of Petunia and Lily because she wondered if Lily had been adopted.
Seeing a picture of her grandfather Fleamont Potter with his wife Euphemia Potter was great, because they were so in love with each other that just looking at them was like seeing the sun, and it made her want something similar in the future.
After all, having a family of her own was her biggest dream!
However, first, she had to see about learning who she was and what she wanted to do with her life.
Laying them carefully onto the nearest shelf, she spent a couple of minutes more looking through her parent's stuff before just sweeping the things where they should go with her wand.
It was then she saw her post box blink, meaning that she had gotten mail from the bank. Taking a couple of files from its mouth, she saw that it was her bank statements, ledgers, her muggle school papers and assignments she had to do, there was also a file with all of her papers. Even her OWL scores had come early, and needed to be read.
Firstly, she looked through her account statements.
Hadriana's Account Statements.
The Potter Family
Hadriana's Trust Vault: 95 000G 0S 0K
Potter Family Vault: 158 000G 896S 65K
Interests:25% Quality Quidditch Supplies
50% Daily Prophet
15% Healers Shop
40% Zonko's Joke Shop
Transactions: 100G 31S 28K by Hadriana Potter (1991)
250G 100K by Molly Weasley (1992-1994)
1000G Transaction to the Dursley Family (1981-1995) (Ended 1995 by Emancipation.)
500G Donation to St'mungo (Established in 1979 by James and Lily Potter) (Yearly transaction.)
The Evans Family
Lily Evans Vault: 5,000G 54S 54K, Charms books and other knickknacks
Interests: 5% Apothecary
5% Healers Shop
5% Leakey Cauldron
The Peverell Family
Peverell Family Vault: 400 000G 8 000S 250K. Books. Wands. Grimoire.
The Slytherin Family
The Slytherin family Vault: 930 000G 2939S 92K
Slytherin Hogwarts Account: 500 300 002 123G 1035S 22K (+1000 each year from the main Vault)
Interest: 25% Hogsmead
25% Hogwarts
The Ravenclaw Family
The Ravenclaw Family Vault: 9 000 000G 5 222S 80K
Ravenclaw Hogwarts Account: 500 358 022 128G 588S 555K (+1000 a year from the main vault.)
Interest: 25% Hogsmead
25% Hogwarts
The Hufflepuff Family
The Hufflepuff Family Vault: 75 555 555G 122S 2222K
Hufflepuff Hogwarts Account: 500 358 022 468G 1 111S 680K (+1000 a Year from the main vault.)
Interest: 25% Hogsmead
25% Hogwarts
The Gryffindor Family
The Gryffindor Family Vault: 45 552 125G 789S 1 000K
Gryffindor Hogwarts Account: 500 358 458 694G 1 256K (+1000 a year from the main vault)
Interest: 25% Hogsmead
25% Hogwarts
"Damn, it!" was all that Hadriana could say when she read this because she was rich and she could help the school so much by this. It was her school, and she owned it. Some big questions also came up, if they aren't using these vaults to better the school, who is paying for the teachers? "What is this?" she pondered and saw that there was one extra piece of paper that was hidden between the pages.
Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Main Vault: 900 000G 6 125S 1 000K (+2 000G 4 111S 1 111K every 6 months from house accounts. +1 500G from the Ministry)
Payment to Teachers: 200 000G 3 000S 8 712K (- 200G monthly to teachers. +600G monthly from Main Vault.)*
Ground Keeping: ...
Necessary Equipment for Classes: ...
Upkeep of Wards: ...
It was shocking how little there was in the school accounts, and just reading this made her see that something needed to be done. However, what could she do she needed the help of the Goblins, maybe even the teachers themselves, like the Head of House to see what they needed and let them be aware that they had money to spend. That they could ask, and they would have help to get updated equipment.
Just thinking about the school brooms made her weep, they needed to change them out and get something better and they had more than enough money to do so. It made her wonder who had control over the money. It had to be Dumbledore!
Just reading about this made everything seem more surreal! and everything needed a change up for the better, and she needed to choose someone else to hold the books of the school to see where the money goes, and how to better the school!
Shaking her head, she laid it to rest before she lost herself in the mess that was money.
With nothing else pressing, she happily went on her way to see what she had scored on her OWLs.
Hadriana's Ordinary Wizarding Level Score:
P - Poor A - Acceptence
D - Droll EE - Eccseeds Expectations
T - Troll O - Outstanding
Astronomy - A
Care of Magical Creatures - O
Charms - O
Defence Against The Dark Arts - OO+
Divination - D
Herbology - EE
History of Magic - T
Potions - EE
Transfiguration - O
Congratulations on passing your Ordinary Wizarding Exam, as a little reminder to everyone you can't retake them until it's gone at least two years. Your next exam which is the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test is in about two years. If you want to take exams in subjects you haven't studied at Hogwarts you can make contact with the education desk in the ministry.
Sincerely from
Mrs. Smith
From The British Ministry of Magic Education Board.
At least she had passed everything she wanted to, and it was great to see that she could take the exams again if she wanted to and that she could even take the exams of classes she didn't take in Hogwarts if she had studied enough from them and wanted to do them.
With nothing else to do, other than go down to her kitchen and make herself something to eat, she began silently pen a letter to Gringotts to see if they could plan a will reading, and make a meeting with some of the teachers to say that she was in charge of the school vault right now. To hear what they would say, and plan things a little bit more because right now she was also planning to travel when she didn't have any pressing matters to take care of. Also, he asked them for the standard teaching contract, to see if she wanted some differences in it, and for the Hogwarts Carter and Rule Book.
Thereafter she penned a letter to her godfather to see what he would tell her, because either way she wanted to get to know him.
"Can't believe I'm already thinking as an adult!" Hadriana laughed at herself because she was already hating all the responsibilities of being one. Thinking for others wasn't a chore in a way, but it made her think differently.
Even with all the self-studying she will do, and the responsibility to her school - she had to travel and learn about other cultures.
AN:
*Don't hang yourself up in the math of it, I'm just placing down some numbers for the trope of it!
Never mind that I hope you like this story. It's new and exciting! A lot is going on, and I want to hear what you want to happen next or in a few chapters since I somewhat have a plan for the next.
I'm in a mind where the paring for Hadriana Potter could be Severus Snape, but if you have some other people you want to see her with, just tell me and I will see if something fits where the story will go.