A week later, Denlin was almost vibrating with excitement as he emerged from the fireplace in Diagon Alley, he was finally going to Hogwarts. This was something he had wanted to do for ages, and he'd been preparing for it his whole life almost, and he had to run to catch up to Snape as they headed to Gringotts.

He wrapped his hand tightly around the small key in his pocket, not wishing to lose it. He'd been here several times with Snape to access his vault, but never had Denlin accessed the vault he apparently inherited. Snape had wanted to save it for a special occasion such as this, though the Stewarts were not a very rich family.

As the approached one of the goblins working, Denlin looked around, marveling as usual at t he large building. "We need to access vault 686, as well as Vault 847." Snape said, gesturing for Denlin to give the goblin his key. As he handed it over, he felt his heart pounding in his chest. He was finally getting to see what little bit of his first family he had left, as everything else was destroyed that night.

As they clambered into the cart, Denlin looked at his father. "Do you know how much is in my vault?"

"Unfortunately, no. The only people who know are the goblins and your parents, but your parents are dead, and the goblins have a policy of not sharing that information."

"Probably a good policy."

"Vault 686." The Goblin said, as they got out of the cart, approaching the door, the goblin inserted and turned the key, and the vault swung open to reveal it was empty.

"E-empty?" Denlin said, sounding like his world had been shattered. He had been certain his parents had left something in the vault, but it was empty, completely. He focused on the memory of the adoption being completed the previous week, grounding himself and preventing another episode as the goblin closed the vault and returned the key to him as they climbed back into the cart.

"I guess you never heard, last week a couple wizards came and cleared the vault out. Had to have a few hundred Galleons in there, but they had the key, so it apparently wasn't a problem. We thought they were the owners of the vault."

"Hold on, the original key was destroyed eight years when the family's house was destroyed in an explosion. I had to spend three weeks getting a copy, and somehow there was another copy out there, or the key we have was copied repeatedly without our knowledge?" Snape's tone was cold, not quite angry, but obviously displeased.

"It appear so, sir."

"I see…" Snape said, choosing not to continue the statement, as they pulled up to his vault, and clambered out of the cart. After the goblin opened it, and they collected the money, they were very shortly back on the surface.

"You handled that well, Denlin. You managed to ground yourself emotionally and without the aid of the potion. I'm proud of you as Doomsayers much older than you haven't fared quite so well." Snape said, as they began to walk down the street. Handing Denlin a handful of Galleons, he nodded at Ollivander's. "Go buy your wand, and if you finish before I do, get your robes from Madam Malkins, and we'll meet there."

Denlin sprinted off towards Ollivander's, this was one of the things he was looking forward to the most, getting his own wand, he'd often fooled around with flicking around his father's wand to little or no effect when he was younger, but he hadn't had one of his own yet.

Entering the small shop, he heard a bell chime somewhere in the back before Ollivander emerged. "Ah another young wizard, Hogwarts, correct? You seem oddly familiar."

Denlin suddenly remembered the visit two years before, when his father came to get his wand repaired after Denlin had accidentally broken it when a particularly hard flick sent it flying out of a second story window.

"Ah, yeah, my adoptive father is Severus Snape. We were here a couple years ago to get his wand repaired." Ollivander nodded knowingly remembering the encounter. "Ah yes, now I remember. And I presume you're now here for your first wand. Let's see what we can do for you."

For over an hour, Denlin tried numerous wands, with Ollivander muttering the whole time. Before he finally settled on one with a red box. "Curious. I wonder...It might just work…" The older man said, presenting the wand to Denlin. "Larch and dragon heartstring core. Twelve-and-a-half inches. Identical to your father's wand."

As Denlin took it, he felt a surge of warmth and power up his arm, and gave it a soft flick, watching green-and-gold sparks fly from the end. Ollivander nodded excitedly, gesturing to his new wand. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Severus's wand is identical to yours, a very rare occurrence where not only two wands are identical but they stay within a family."

After paying the seven Galleons for his wand, Denlin exited the shop, right as his father walked up, carrying a bundle of books, as well as several other purchases, most of which were wrapped.

"I see Ollivander had a hard time with your wand as well, what ended up choosing you?"

"Oddly enough, identical to yours, down to the length."

Snape stopped walking, turning to look at Denlin, with a raised eyebrow, and gently took the box from him, peeking inside before handing it back. "I've heard it's very rare to have that happen, especially with those unrelated by blood, so I had to check for myself."

"Now, we need to get you your school robes, and then I will get you your gift." Snape said, as they entered Madam Malkins.

Three hours later, Denlin kicked off from the ground in the back yard of the manor, on his brand new broom, despite the fact that he couldn't take it with him to Hogwarts, he was excited, and immediately did three passes around the house before he pulled out his wand, ready to attempt to fling the balls like Snape usually did.

Of course, it was at that minute that his father walked outside, actually looking for him. "Don't, Denlin. Not only are you not trained in using magic properly, you hardly know what spell to use." Snape said. Flicking his own wand to cause the balls to begin flying around the yard.

"Come off it, how hard can it be? I already use magic sometimes."

"Yes, and need I remind you what normally results? You've got potential to be one of the most powerful wizards of the era, being both a Doomsayer and Soothsayer, but you still have a lot to learn, Denlin."

"Yeah, and from what you've said, Divination isn't until third year, so it's not like I'm going to really get to use my abilities until then."

As he came in to land, both Denlin and Snape heard a series of soft popping noises, and entering the house, they saw several wizards and witches standing in the entry hall, Snape immediately pushing Denlin towards the side hall, hissing at him under his breath.

"Either the Fidelius Charm is down, or somehow these people found the house by chance. No matter, get to the cellar, there should be a closet down there with a dragon on the door, hide in there. Go!"

Snape turned back to the visitors, and Denlin heard him say "How did you guys get here?" Before the trapdoor to the cellar stairs closed above him. As he walked, the torches and candles automatically lit and then extinguished themselves as per the enchantments put on them ages ago. He found the door his father described, and, pulling it open, crouched down inside, fighting to stay grounded.

He knew if he let the prophecy flow, he could probably wreck those people, but he didn't know who they were, or why they were here, he could assume it was for him. Moments later, he heard shouting upstairs and the sounds of spells flying, and as he fumbled around in the darkness, his hand fell on what seemed to be an old tin cup, and moments later he felt himself spinning wildly.