Harry acted after breakfast. After he and his sister had finished clearing up and Vernon and Dudley had left the house for work or whatever act of bullying, Harry approached Petunia. The horse-faced woman's face became more pinched and unhappy as she regarded her nephew while Holly watched. Petunia hated both of Lily's children with a passion, deeming them both freaky and disgusting abominations to normality and her view of the world, but she hated Holly the most since the girl was a mirror image of her hated sister, but no matter what she did, Harry would always be close by, and she had learnt to be frightened of him and what he was capable of.
The boy was meant to be normal! Her freaky sister had made that clear in the letter for God's sake, and yet he was clearly capable of doing the same freaky stuff Lily was capable of. Had she lied? Petunia knew she had lied. The bitch had sent her spawn to her to spite her, but why she had sent the other little brat, Petunia didn't care. She knew of the war, of course, but since it was a freak war, it meant nothing to her.
Not for the first time since both freaky brats had come to her, Petunia wished her parents were alive; they would have loved having another wizard and witch in the family, while she saw them as nothing more than freaks.
Occasionally, she and Vernon were able to verbally attack her, but those moments rarely happened. Harry made sure of that, and his punishments for whenever she or Vernon tried bullying Holly were beyond painful and Harry was easily furious. The last time he had lashed out, she and Vernon had both had their hands burnt.
And when Marge turned up…
Petunia was just relieved that both of Lily's freaky brats were leaving, but while Harry had never lashed out with his powers at her sister-in-law, Petunia hoped nothing happened, but given how loose Marge's lips were and how vicious Ripper was, she was terrified for the future.
"What do you want, Boy?" She asked while she tried to keep her voice even, but they could hear the quaver in her voice and she hated her weakness.
"Holly and I are going to the magical world, and you are going to take us there," Harry said, pushing his magic to her to bend her to his will. Immediately Petunia's eyes widened and she dropped what she was doing. "Yes," she said in an emotionless monotone.
Harry nodded in satisfaction while Holly watched on. She had never truly approved of this power even if it stopped too many people from picking on them. Harry had been inspired by the various mind control stories they'd found in the library and he had practiced pushing his magic at people so then they would do what he wanted. Harry didn't like using the power that much because Holly did not like it. But in this case, it was important.
"Good. You know where to go?"
"Yes."
"Get ready to leave. Holly and I will be upstairs getting ready ourselves."
"Yes."
Holly went with Harry upstairs. "I hate it when you have to do that, Harry," Holly said sadly.
Harry sighed, more upset he had upset his little sister. He had discovered this power only recently and already it was not one he liked because of how easily he took away others' wills. "I know, but I had to. Petunia is the only person here who knows where the magical world is, and I don't trust the Hogwarts staff or our parents."
Holly looked down at the mention of their parents as she got dressed in her better clothes, although they weren't much. She was just wearing a T-shirt underneath her dungarees. "You don't think they're ever going to come back for me, do you?"
Harry frowned for a moment, considering what she was talking about. Then it occurred to him. Their parents. She was talking about their parents.
"I don't know," Harry replied honestly since he had no idea of their plans but he had the feeling that unless the situation was forced they would never see their parents and truthfully he felt it was a good thing for them, "But we both want to get out of here and if that means being adopted by another family, one who'd accept us for being magical, so be it."
"I wish this had never happened, Harry," Holly said, her eyes watering. "I just don't understand why they abandoned us. Why?"
Harry instantly wrapped his arms around her and cuddled her to his chest. "Neither do I, sis. Neither do I. I've tried to work out the logic myself. I can get the idea they thought I couldn't do magic although what made them think that, I dunno. Maybe they did tests, but clearly, they weren't extensive enough or were poorly done and they stupidly believed the results instead of getting a second opinion or view. But I don't see how throwing you away would keep you safe. We never asked for this. We never asked to have parents who were worse than the Dursleys, and we never asked to be alone, beaten down and degraded. But when we get to the magical world, what do you want to do?"
Holly pulled back and looked at him quizzically, clearly wondering what he meant. "What do you mean?"
"I mean about Hogwarts. If we're both down, then great, but if we're not, what then?" Harry asked.
Holly frowned. While she didn't have the same survival instincts her brother had, he had taught her enough to know he had some plans in mind for his own. "Harry, what are you getting at?"
"Holly, don't you think it makes some sense that if they thought I was not a wizard, my name wouldn't be down for Hogwarts?" Harry countered her question with one of his own.
The implications struck Holly at once. "Do you think that's what they've done?"
"I don't know."
"But if they have, what then? I know you want to learn how to use your powers, Harry; I've seen the desire in your eyes, the way you desperately look at books, as if wishing you could turn them into spell books or books on magic in general. What if you can't go to school?" Holly fired off her questions while she tried not to panic; the idea of going to a school for magic was one of the things that kept her going since she had first begun using her magic.
While she didn't have the same experiences to draw on as her brother, she had mastered magic to a degree herself and she couldn't have learnt how to levitate things without her brother's help. She didn't even want to know what would happen if she had to attend Hogwarts without him. And yet she had a feeling that while her brother wanted to go to school and learn how to use magic, she had a feeling he was ambivalent.
Harry sighed and looked down at his hands. "I don't know yet, Holly."
Xxxx
The car ride was smooth and quiet while the Potter siblings chatted in the back. Just before they'd left, Harry had released his control from Petunia's mind and made it into a suggestion so she could better concentrate on the job. Harry and Holly were both unsure of what to make of the Leaky Cauldron, but Petunia pushed her way in.
The moment they walked in, both Harry and Holly felt as if they'd walked into a different world. They were both disappointed that for an entrance to a world of magic, it wasn't a very clean place to be inside. The pub looked dark and filthy, but at the same time there was a warmth in here he'd never seen.
This was the magical world, was it? A filthy pub. It was such a disappointment. A glance at Petunia showed his aunt was looking around in disdain, but she was holding her tongue. Good. His control over her was still strong enough for her to exhibit her usual personality traits, but for now, she was quiet. Harry had seen pictures in books of Victorian workhouses and the general dark air was the same. There were dozens of people in the pub, and it was a very different world than the one they'd walked in from. There were hovering candles that didn't flicker and there were patrons wearing cloaks and robes and others wore suits topped with cloaks. Holly squeaked when a small creature with massive bat-like ears popped near a table and passed some patrons some food.
Harry carefully tugged Holly away from the patrons. Some of them were half in shadow, he could barely see their faces and people were wearing long dusty-looking robes that looked as if they hadn't been cleaned properly in years, drinking beverages Harry did not want to know about. He didn't want Holly anywhere near them.
Harry turned to Aunt Petunia. "You'd better tell someone here to let us into the magical world, Aunt Petunia," he suggested to her.
"Of course," Aunt Petunia nodded. For the Potter siblings seeing her nod and speak so politely back to them was a surreal experience. They had to remind themselves she was under Harry's control. They followed Aunt Petunia to the bar counter where a man was chatting to a patron, and when he looked up and glanced at the party approaching, he smiled welcomingly. "Ah, what can I do for you?"
"We'd like to get into Diagon Alley, please; my nephew and niece were promised a visit to see the magical world," Petunia smiled politely while Holly had to hide her look of surprise at how well the suggestion had held up.
"Oh, were their parents a wizard and witch?" The bartender asked.
"Yes, they were," Petunia replied. "Can you let us in, please?"
"Of course," the bartender said before looking around. "Olive, can you take over for a minute; I need to let these people into Diagon Alley."
Olive approached and took over. Personally, Harry wondered why the bartender even needed to do this when she could have done it, but the siblings soon realised that the man liked doing this and taking such responsibility since he briefly chatted with the siblings. Holly easily smiled at him.
The bartender, Tom, looked at them for a moment. "You know, you do look familiar. Have we ever met before?"
Harry subtly took his sister's hand and squeezed a warning. "Er, no I'm sorry, I don't think we have."
"Oh, that's a pity," Tom said as he took out his wand - a wand? Didn't these people know how to use their minds to manipulate their magic? - and slowly tapped out a simple enough pattern that Harry had little trouble memorising.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Tom said, smiling gently when he saw their awe.
Both Potter siblings looked at the Alley amazed after they thanked the barman while Harry glanced back and saw the portal shrinking back. That was impressive. After the entrance was closed, he turned back and looked around the alley; the whole street was full of shops selling strange goods. There was a huge shop selling books, while others sold cauldrons ranging in size from small cooking pots to ones that were the size of garden pots.
Harry noted signs were giving the prices of products. He didn't know what a Galleon was, never mind a sickle or a Knut. But it didn't stop them from looking.
Harry ignored the looks he and Holly both received since they and their aunt were wearing clothes that were not fashionable, but that didn't stop them from looking curiously around. The apothecary was both fascinating and scary and smelly. They were fascinated by the different and exotic-sounding ingredients, ranging from dragons or manticore blood, unicorn horn, scarabs, and mandrake root. But eventually, they moved on.
As they walked down the street, guiding their aunt with them, Harry and Holly eventually came to a massive white building. Gringotts the Wizarding Bank it said. The building was massive, standing taller and prouder than any other shop they'd seen so far, and the white walls were so glaringly bright if a speck of dust touched it, then you'd have noticed it.
As they walked towards the bank, Holly quickly grabbed onto Harry's arm tightly when she saw for herself the short, swarthy-faced guards with long ears. Harry touched her hand in reassurance, but led her inside the bank, guessing the guards wouldn't harm them if they tried to harm them first, but as they walked in, he noticed their attention was strong. Oh, and they had spears in their hands. These were not people to cross.
Something caught Harry's eye. There was a poem on the inside doors.
Enter, stranger, but take heed.
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
Harry swallowed. He'd just made his mind up. Oh yes, he had. He had no intention of ever stealing anything from the goblins. The goblins had clearly thought this poem through, and it was intimidating. He didn't want to even begin to work out what they could or would do to anybody who ignored this poem and stole from them. Just looking at the goblins made it clear to Harry that if they stole anything or posed a threat, then the guards would not hesitate to fight back. Harry also noticed something else; the wizards and witches passing the goblins either ignored them outright or they simply gave them looks of distrust, sometimes anger, and even hatred. These people did know the goblins controlled the currency, right? It seemed a truly bad idea to get on the wrong side of the goblins.
Holly was intimidated by the goblins as well, but she couldn't help but look at them with interest. "Good morning," she said to one of the guards politely. Harry smiled at the girl's manners. While he had asked to be taught manners by the kind librarian he'd befriended because he'd wanted to spite the Dursleys, he had wanted only the best for his sister. It was good to see her exercise that now.
The goblin guard was surprised. They didn't receive many greetings. "Good morning," the goblin said as they walked in. Harry was the only one who noticed the expression on the goblin's expression, but it looked rather fierce. But he didn't think the goblin was angry. More bemused? It was hard to be sure.
When the queue the siblings and their aunt were in met a goblin teller who regarded them as if he were utterly bored, Harry did the talking. "Erm, Hullo," he began wondering how to put this, "my name is Harry Potter, and this is my sister Holly, and this is our Aunt Petunia. We're Lily and James Potter's children and we want to see our accounts."
The goblin teller looked at them with great interest now. Before he had merely been bored and wasn't bothered about them, but now he was regarding them with interest. Harry wondered about that, and he guessed the Potter family was well known.
"I see," the goblin said slowly. Was that scepticism in the goblin's voice? It was hard to tell. "Very well." The goblin looked over his shoulder and uttered a string of words in a guttural language. The second goblin came over. "This way, please," he said and led the Potter siblings and their aunt away.
But as they followed the goblin, he called out to some of the guards and three of them came with them. Holly watched them with wide eyes.
"Harry, what's going on?" She whispered.
"I don't know," Harry whispered back and he took her hand and squeezed it gently to reassure her. Inwardly he was wondering if the poem outside was also a warning against attacking the goblins. Something said it did. As the journey went on the siblings became more intimidated. The inside of the bank itself was like walking into a Victorian version bank, designed with human clients in mind but underground the place seemed to be hewn out of rock and the walls were covered with weapons; there were swords, knives, maces and battleaxes and spears. For a moment Harry compared the displays as if they were museum pieces, but when he saw the layers of dried blood on the razor edges of the weapons, he realised his folly. These things were arranged this way so then anyone could grab them and fight on the spot. Yep, making an enemy of the goblins was a bad idea.
Holly seemed to have reached that conclusion as well as she clung to him like a baby octopus or a koala. Harry gently wrapped his arms around her again as they finally came to a door marked with the word in English 'POTTER' and underneath was a scrawl of symbols which Harry guessed was the goblin equivalent.
The leading goblin knocked on the door.
"Come!"
The door opened and the party walked in. The office inside was spartan with only a few filing cabinets lining the wall with tapestries depicting goblin adventurers and there were more weapons. Above the filing cabinets were shelves stuffed full of scrolls, tomes and books that had Harry look at them curiously. Sitting behind a desk with four seats in front of it was another goblin, who regarded the siblings with a blank expression.
"Mr and Miss….Potter," the goblin said, instantly making Harry stiffen and tighten his grip around Holly. There was something unpleasant in the goblin's voice, but then his initial impressions made it clear he would need to treat them well but he wasn't going to fully trust them. "please…sit down."
The siblings and Petunia did as they were told, giving Harry a chance to see that the other goblins were looking at them with suspicion in their eyes and he didn't like it. The older goblin took out an ebony-coloured box marked with weird symbols with a white circle with a crest on it. "Both of you, please your thumb on the crest," he instructed before waving the box over to the siblings in a manner Harry and Holly both knew from experience.
Harry took the box first and studied it for a second, guessing that this was a sophisticated way the goblins used to identify their clients, but judging from their manner, Harry wondered what his parents had done to make the goblins this suspicious. Well in a few moments, they'd find out. With that in mind, Harry pressed his thumb against the crest, and he handed it to Holly, who did the same thing. She had seen him do it. Once they were finished the goblin floated the box back to himself and waved his hand over the crest, activating it with a magical spell neither sibling knew. Well, how could they?
Instantly, the ghostly words floated up. Harry James Potter, and Holly Dorea Potter, followed by their parents' names, James Charlus Fleamont Potter and Lily Calla Potter, and there were a host of other names.
"That's enough, they are who they say they are," the older goblin said waving his hand dismissively towards the others. "You may go."
Slightly disappointed the other goblins left, leaving the siblings with the older goblin. As they left, Harry wondered what they were going to be told.
