"So, Mr Harry Potter is here at Gringotts; I fully expected you to come when your sister was admitted into Hogwarts. I was informed by your parents that you were a squib," the goblin remarked after a minute's silence.
Harry remembered the word squib from the letter the Potters (he refused to think of them as his parents after they'd abandoned himself and Holly), he had some idea of what it meant but he wanted to be sure. "Does being a squib mean I can't do magic, Mr-?"
"Bloodbringer. My name is Bloodbringer," the goblin replied, his narrow eyes now really narrowing as he spoke slowly. Harry had a feeling he was intrigued.
Harry held up his hand and concentrated. A small orb of magical light appeared in his palm, expanding until it was the size of a tennis ball. Holly and Aunt Petunia didn't react; Holly because she had known he would do this and be used to him demonstrating what he could do, and Petunia because she was still under control.
Bloodbringer reared back for a second in surprise at the unexpected use of wandless magic, but he quickly shook his head. "Wizards," he muttered disparagingly.
Harry quickly let the ball fade away. He was worried he had upset the goblin in some way, and that was not a good thing since the goblins could help him and Holly. "I'm sorry, Mr Bloodbringer, I don't mean to offend-."
"What?" The goblin interrupted sharply before he shook his head. "I am not referring to you, Mr Potter. I'm referring to the idiots your parents have turned out to be. I'm also referring to the fools in St. Mungo's Magical Hospital for making such a stupid mistake. They were the ones your parents took you and your brother to after the attack on your family, and they're the ones who told your parents you were incapable of magic. They likely did it without bothering to get a second opinion."
Harry gaped at the goblin. He felt Holly place a comforting hand on his arm, but he ignored it. His mind was racing. He had often wondered to himself how his parents had made the mistake of sending him off to the Dursleys by believing he couldn't do magic, but he hadn't expected such a mundane reason. He had just assumed they had watched him closely, concluded he wasn't magical, or he had failed to pass a basic test all kids did when they were young.
"How could they be so stupid?" Harry asked the only logical question he could come up with.
Bloodbringer steepled his fingers. "Mr Potter, how much do you know about the events of Magical Britain within the last 20 years?"
"Not a lot," Harry shared a quick uneasy glance with Holly, seeing the same uncertainty in his sister's eyes. "I mean, I found out about the magical world when I was 5 years old when Holly was left on the Dursleys' doorstep the same way I was. Mr and Mrs Potter, our parents, left us with a letter which included mention of a war but that was just a sentence. We decided to wait for a few years before we came to the wizarding world."
"Harry wanted to wait until I was old enough," Holly piped up.
"What did you mean, your parents left Miss Potter on a doorstep?" Bloodbringer's voice was a low guttural snarl.
Harry exchanged another uneasy look with Holly. "Exactly as it sounds," he said at last. How else could he describe the shock and horror he had felt when he had discovered Holly's existence, to say nothing of what their parents had done? "I found Holly outside as I was doing my chores, and the Dursleys brought her in."
"Harry's been looking after me ever since," Holly looked down at her hands so nobody could see the look in her eyes. She hated being reminded of how her parents didn't want her.
Instantly, her big brother kissed her cheek tenderly, gently. And the little girl looked into his face, and smiled back, her eyes watering.
Bloodbringer was too astonished and horrified to even begin to speak. "Your parents…left you on a doorstep?" The goblin said quietly in horror, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "But why?"
"For her safety and their precious saviour, the 'Boy-Who-Lived,'" Harry sneered.
"You know about your brother's title?"
"Yeah, it was included in the letter. Our mother doesn't like the sound of it, but what I hate the most is how they ignore the fact I was there, and they seem to have wiped their hands off of me," Harry replied bitterly. "What I can't grasp is why they threw Holly away. I don't know if they've become paranoid or stupid. When I found my sister, I promised to look after her."
"And you have!" Holly chirped with a happy smile sent towards Harry, who smiled and took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
But Holly's smile faded a little as she turned to the goblin. "B-But what made our parents do this? Why did they abandon Harry? And what made them do the same to me? You asked us what we knew about magical history over the last 20 years," she asked as she remembered the goblin's earlier question.
For a moment Bloodbringer needed to remember his earlier question. The goblin had been so stunned by the revelations of what the Potters had done. He had only met Lily and James Potter once or twice since that night. They always came by themselves. They always came under disguise, like they fully expected to be attacked in public. And they never brought their children with them; during those visits and knowing how fearful the elder Potters were about the wellbeing of their children, Bloodbringer had just assumed they were at home.
Now it looked like he had been deceived and he did not like that feeling. Nor did he like where his suspicions about why little Miss Holly Potter had been abandoned.
Bloodbringer sighed as his suspicions were confirmed even more. "I have neither the time nor the patience to give you a history lesson; I'm a banker, not a historian. If you want to know the full story, then you will need to read a history book. Biased as they are, they'll give you a good accounting of your people's stupidity."
Harry sat up straight, Holly glanced at him and the goblin.
Bloodbringer continued when he saw his audience was listening. "From 1978 to 1981, a civil war took place in Magical Britain. Occasionally the Dark Wizards would venture to mainland Europe, but those were rare; the last war which was one of the rare global magical wars had woken many people up and they refused to allow another war to take place, so their standards of defensive magical training are much higher than it is here. While we goblins remained neutral, many witches and wizards were nonetheless slaughtered, as your race has a habit of doing. Many magical races also suffered, and many more suffer as a result today. Vampires and werewolves, who have long since been discriminated against for centuries despite many of them merely wishing to live a normal life in peace, joined the Dark Lord known as Lord Voldemort, an extremely powerful if limited Dark Lord who sought to take control of the magical world. He led the Death Eaters, which is the name given to his followers, and many magical creatures, like groups of werewolves and vampires, who'd become tired of their mistreatment. On the other side, was the Ministry of Magic, and several militias. The war was being waged on the premise of blood purity," the goblin spat the two words in disgust as if he found it a personal insult, and Harry made a mental note to learn more about the goblin's stance on the matter.
"The Dark Lord was powerful, even if he lacked many of the successful traits of his predecessor who held the title of Dark Lord, and as he cut a path of murder and destruction in both the magical and muggle - non-magical - worlds, which proves he only cared for destruction and not for blood purity, which saw the deaths of many magical families, there were many conspiracies. People were going missing, and others were being suspected of being part of the Dark Lord's army. In 1981, the Dark Lord was defeated when your family, who'd gone into hiding for some reason, attacked you and your brother, Charlus. Your parents were not there and survived, but your grandparents, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, your Uncle Charlus and Aunt Dorea were at home. The Dark Lord's blood war had wiped out many of your family by that point, although the Potter family split off into branches, and migrated to America, and other parts of the world over the decades. The survivors in Britain banded together. From what I've learnt, your parents disclosed to them a ritual that would protect you from the Dark Lord and showed them how it worked. Your parents were part of one of the militias I mentioned, the same night you were attacked, and it was a night of slaughter as the Death Eaters launched an all-out attack in key locations in the magical world; here, in Diagon Alley, at the Ministry of Magic, at Hogsmeade Village, at Morgana Castle in Wales, and St Mungo's hospital. In the confusion, while your parents were assisting the Order of the Phoenix, you and your twin brother were attacked."
Harry swallowed as he listened to the full story while Holly whimpered, and she got off her chair and climbed onto his lap to comfort him. Harry automatically held her in his arms, dropping kisses into her soft hair.
"Your family had gone under the protection of an extremely powerful and difficult spell, known as the Fidellius Charm, and the person who held the secret to where you lived, Peter Pettigrew, was revealed to be a Death Eater, and gave your location to the Dark Lord, who then attacked. Your grandfather and uncle, both formidable duellists who'd held their own against a master of the Dark Arts, held him off while your aunt and grandmother prepared the ritual. After finally ending their lives, Voldemort attacked you and your brother after a long and brutal fight with your aunt, who had been born and raised in the Black family, and was a powerful witch in her own right, and your grandmother, both providing the magic for the sacrifice. Your brother Charlus Potter became the Boy-Who-Lived, due to a thunderbolt-shaped runic scar on his forehead."
Harry was unsure how to take all of this in. He had known of the magical war, of course, both he and Holly had known for a long time now. But hearing the scale of the atrocities committed by Voldemort…stunned him. But hearing of this almighty battle where he and his brother had both been lucky to survive while their grandfather and grandmother, Fleamont and Euphemia, and their uncle and aunt, Charlus and Dorea had given their lives, was horrifying.
Holly, although she wasn't there at the time, whimpered at the thought of the battle. She had read more than enough books on battles to picture it in her mind, the fact it had been waged on her family was worse than they could have ever imagined.
"But how did they come up with the idea I had no magic?" Harry whispered, lost.
"That I can't answer, but I can come up with a few ideas. It's possible they checked you when your parents realised what happened with the loss of Fleamont and the others, but we have a report saying they took you to St Mungo's for a checkup. Considering the chaos of that night, it's likely someone made a mundane mistake," Bloodbringer replied.
"A mundane mistake? That mistake has left me in the muggle world all my life," Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "But what about Holly? Why abandon her? If I had no magic, would they have gotten rid of her regardless? How can they justify that?!"
Bloodbringer scowled at the boy shouting at him. But he ignored it. Young Harry Potter had every right to be bitter and confused. He was himself. "I have no idea, Mr Potter. Your parents have since become reclusive, and until today I had no idea what they'd done, even if I was aware of you and your sister. It's possible that to them since you have no magic, it would be safer to leave you in the muggle world, but as for your sister, they may justify it by keeping your twin safe."
"Does everything revolve around him?" Harry asked, unable to hide his contempt and disgust while he held Holly. In his mind he was picturing a world where he and his family lived together, and laughed together… all that time, Holly was living a life of slavery in the muggle world, with the Dursleys before going to Hogwarts.
His heart went cold at the very thought. Holly was his life. She was what made him a better person. He had looked after her, cared for her, loved her. She was his treasure. The idea of him laughing ignorantly with his twin while she languished in Dursley hell...
How would he and Charlus have reacted when they met the girl at Hogwarts? Harry didn't know, but if Holly had turned out as he had, full of contempt and suspicion towards adults, untrusting of those in authority, it was likely she would be less innocent than she was now. Oh, Holly had largely been shielded by him, but she was different from other girls her age. Would not having him there make her furious, bitter? Harry was bitter towards his parents, and while Holly was more confused and hurt, he knew it stemmed from just being sent away.
"Your father does business with us primarily, so I have never met your brother. There are storybooks about him in Flourish & Blotts, just up the street."
Harry licked his lips, deciding that even if Holly asked to see one, he would refuse to buy it. He didn't care about Charlus. Not. One. Bit. As far as he was concerned, the only sibling he had was the one in his arms. Holly. She was all he wanted.
"Thank you for telling us about this," he said, "we have only known the basics of the war for some time, but we didn't know much about it. But right now we'd like to know about our future, and to prove I am a wizard."
"What had you mind?"
Harry shared a look with Holly. "I wanted to see if I was down for Hogwarts. Holly is five years younger than me. Hearing the possibility of a mistake, a careless one, makes me wonder more about our future. Can-can we see if Holly and I are down for Hogwarts?" He asked.
Bloodbringer nodded and held out the box again. "Place your finger on the plate again," he instructed.
Harry did as he was told. He felt a burning pain for a moment before the goblin took it away and waved his hand over it once more. He then offered it to Holly, who quickly did as she was bid and the goblin and the two magicals and one muggle waited.
Finally, Harry's results came, followed by Holly's. Both of them were powerful; on the Merlinian scale, Harry rated a 78 while Holly rated a 79, and both were blessed with many magical abilities. Harry was a natural parselmouth, which meant he could speak to snakes, he could alter his appearance and shape with his metamorphamagus powers and was a natural in the mind arts. Holly was also a parselmouth, which intrigued the goblin, who discovered that the two children, through their mother, were descended from one of Salazar Slytherin's branches.
"So, our mother is descended from this Salazar Slytherin, through the Ashwood family line?" Harry said, looking up in shock as he read the genealogy chart, "She was adopted by the Evans family?"
"It seems likely, Mr Potter," Bloodbringer replied. "The Ashwoods was a highly regarded family, despite their connection to Slytherin. They made many discoveries in potions and healing, and they were more progressive than their cousin branch, the Gaunts." The goblin sneered at the name. Whoever the Gaunts were, they hadn't been nice.
"Who were they?" Holly asked.
"The Gaunts were more determined to ensure pureblood supremacism reigned. The two branches despised each other bitterly. Things came to a head, when Gormlaith Gaunt, a dangerous Dark witch at the time, attacked her niece, Isolt, who'd fled the British Isles and made her way to America, where she settled down and got married and had children. She had gone to America after bitterly tracking her niece down and she'd hoped to kill Isolt and her husband and spirit their children away to brainwash them. They battled on the site of what is now Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Harry listened closely. Something was interesting about this Ilvermorny...
"After she was defeated," Bloodbringer went on, "the Gaunts lost more of their power and influence. Her actions gave many of their enemies the excuse to finally deal with them, and we goblins were more than happy to help. The Ashwoods themselves heard of the incident and used it as an excuse to try to wipe them out before they caused more damage. But the Gaunts lashed out first and the Ashwoods were wiped out. However, some of them survived. In the meantime, Gormlaith's grand-niece Rionarch Steward hated her great aunt's memory so much, which is why it is rumoured she was a parselmouth herself and wanted the gift to die out forever, but that has not happened. Some of the Gaunts survived and so did the Ashwoods."
"Mm," Harry said thoughtfully as he went over what they'd just learnt about their family history.
"Are we going to go to Hogwarts, sir?" Holly asked.
Bloodbringer checked the records. "You, Miss Potter, are. But it seems that your parents had your name removed from the roster, Mr Potter."
Harry locked his lips, his mind churning as he considered. A part of him wanted nothing more than to go to Hogwarts and learn magic while revealing he could perform it to spite his parents. In the meantime, he could learn all the magic he could, and look after Holly, give her a life.
But at the same time, Harry didn't want to go to Hogwarts. He didn't want to have anything to do with his parents. All he wanted to do in the future was to meet them, show off what he could do, and laugh at their collective stupidity before walking off.
Suddenly he became aware of Holly shaking her head. "I don't want to go to Hogwarts," she said clearly.
"Holly?"
Holly had lifted her head and was gazing at him knowingly. "How can I enjoy it if you're not there, Harry? Besides, I know you, and I know what you were trying to say when you spoke to me earlier about not wanting to go near the school. If you don't go, I won't go," Holly said strongly, nodding as if that were the end of the matter.
Harry licked his lips. "Holly, if you want to go, I can come too."
"No. I know you want nothing to do with our parents, and neither do I. They would have abandoned me even if they hadn't done the same to you," Holly's lip wobbled at the very thought, "I wouldn't have wanted anything to do with them, either. I don't want to go to Hogwarts."
Harry sighed and turned to the goblin. "Is there any way I can go to a different magical school?" He asked.
"There is. For you, Mr Potter, your circumstances are more unique compared to your sister's. Since your parents gave you to muggles, they turned guardianship over from themselves to them," Bloodbringer turned to Petunia, inwardly wondering why the woman was sitting there and not speaking. He brushed his magic over her and recoiled when he felt powerful magic on her which reminded him of the human's imperius curse, and he pulled back and studied the siblings, wondering which one had applied such a powerful and crude form of an unforgivable so easily. "All we need is your current guardians' signatures and you can then transfer to a new school. However, you will need to reside with new guardians. You can emancipate yourselves when you pass your twelfth birthday."
Harry knew what emancipation meant. He didn't like the idea of having new guardians since it would mean he and Holly would have to adjust to new people who were meant to care for them. The Dursleys had given them food and a place to live, but they had also enslaved them and until he had shown he had control over his powers, they had freely abused him. Harry did not want that happening again, since they would be wizards. He sighed and took a moment to look at the Potter family tree.
Suddenly something interested him. "It looks like a few branches of the family split off," he commented, "the most recent ones happened in 1934, 1938, and then in 1944, 1946, and 1955."
Bloodbringer glanced at the tree. "Ah yes, several of your family joined the last Dark Lord, Grindelwald. Like Lord Voldemort, Grindelwald disliked muggles, but he wanted to create a world where wizards ruled over them instead of hiding as we have been forced to do for centuries now, and it won many supporters. That's as far as their similarities went. So many people found his ideals and arguments compelling, and many people from varying families flocked to join, including the Potters. Although he failed, some of your family left Britain and moved into Europe, and even beyond."
Harry was some of his family would join a Dark Lord willingly, but after giving it some thought guessed that some families had black sheep and different beliefs. Still, judging from the chart, some of them had settled down in different parts of Europe, and even had kids, so that meant there were plenty of choices. But would he and Holly be welcome?
With that thought in mind, he studied the lines and the names and where they lived. It didn't take long for him and Holly to spot the Potters who were alive in America. "Do you have any information about Ilvermorny, Bloodbringer?" Harry asked.
There had been something about the school, something about the story of this dark witch which had attacked the school which had intrigued him. And he realised he didn't particularly want to live in a country close to Britain. The further he took Holly from their parents, the better in his mind.
As the goblin retrieved a prospectus on the school, Harry was making plans. He and Holly would go to America, and hopefully, then he and his sister would prove their worth.
And should their parents discover what happened, too bad.
