Chapter 4: Sally-Anne's Turn

Another quick one. I got to thinking that not all muggleborn would be okay with the wizarding world, and the different creatures therein, so I picked Sally-Anne to be the different one.

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Professor Snape growled at the people in the Leaky Cauldron. They were all talking about Harry Potter and how they all met the boy. It was nauseating. He hated the fact that the spawn of James Potter was coming to Hogwarts. And judging from the reaction here in the Cauldron, the boy was just as much of an attention seeker as his father. He shook his head and put a hand on his charge's back, and led her through the pub.

He had no idea why Minerva insisted that he show any muggleborn around, but she roped him into it every year. And every year, Albus sat him down and lectured him on how to treat the dunderheads. It was tedious. He knew how he was supposed to act, but they were all so… childish.

This year was the worst.

The girl he was escorting was a shy timid thing. If he didn't know better, he'd think that Minerva picked the child on purpose. The poor thing feared her own shadow. It was strange though, because her parents were quite brave and forceful.

She was tiny and skinny, but not unhealthily so, more like a dancer. She had long brown hair, that shone red in the sun, and periwinkle eyes. She jumped at the slightest thing and was clinging to his robes like a limpet. He had no idea why she latched on to him. Maybe he reminded her of her father or something. The man was intimidating, after all. For a muggle.

"Come," he said in a curt voice, leading her behind the pub.

"Yes, sir," she said meekly, fearfully glancing around as if she was going to be attacked at any given moment.

Snape sighed; he had no idea how to handle this. The children of his House were a lot more self-confident. He glanced down at that admittedly cute face and softened a bit. It was hard to stay mad as something that adorable. Merlin, he was getting soft. It was not ten years ago that he was fighting in a war. Now he was pandering to children.

"Don't worry," he said, patting her back, "nothing will hurt you here. Remember I told your parents I would protect you," he added, hoping it would make her feel safer. It didn't.

"Okay," she squeaked, jumping back as the portal opened. She ducked around the Potion Master, grabbed his robes and then peeked to see who was coming.

"That was awesome," a dark-skinned boy said, all but bouncing around. His trunk floating behind him, thanks to the Charms Professor. "My mum is going to be stoked."

"Yes, yes," said the tiny man with him in fond exasperation. He had been hearing about it all day, and while he was happy the boy was feeling better, he had hoped it would have settled down by now.

"Filius," Snape said, nodding his head. He had great respect for his fellow professor. Though, he could do without the cheeriness of the man.

"Severus," the little professor replied, shocked to see the dark man standing there. "I see it's your turn. I'm surprised Minerva talked you into this yet again," Filius giggled at the dour look that crossed the man's face.

"Indeed," was all the answer he got.

"Where is your charge?" Flitwick asked, looking around the small courtyard. He then spotted her hanging on Snape's cloak. He had to hide another giggling fit. It was not often that someone took a liking to the sour man.

"Hello there," Dean said, gazing at the mostly hidden girl. He glanced at what he was sure was a vampire, if it were not for the fact the sun was shining on his greasy hair. He had to wonder what caused the man's hair to be that greasy that it would shine like that in the sun. It was like looking at an oil slick. "Are you going to Hogwarts too?" he asked with a brilliant smile, turning back to the shy girl. She was less likely to bite his head off for looking at her.

She nodded and looked at Flitwick with wide fearful eyes.

Flitwick sadly smiled and turned his attention back to Snape. "We had quite a bit of excitement at Gringotts. Mr. Thomas here found out that his father was a wizard."

"Indeed," Severus repeated without the slightest bit of interest.

"Yes," the oblivious professor said, patting Dean's back. "You might want to see if your charge has any magical ancestors. It would make for a good experiment," he added with a conspirator-like wink. "From what I was told, Mr. Thomas's was the second vault opened today. The goblins are ecstatic. Well, as much as they can be at least." He could care less what the Ministry thought, and he knew Snape was the same. It was only those teachers that were up Dumbledore's nose that were in the slightest bit interested in keeping the muggleborn from finding out their origin.

Snape thought for a moment and looked at his skittish charge. He wasn't sure the girl would even look at the goblins, let alone let them take her blood. However, it might get another vault open, and that would put the purebloods out of joint.

"I will think on it," he said, guiding Sally-Anne through the portal without another word.

She seemed to be glad that they were moving along. Though, she was still scared out of her mind, and she wanted her dad there. It had taken two hours and a vow from Professor Snape to get her to come at all. She wanted to learn magic, and was glad she wasn't a weirdo; however, she was still scared of the unknown.

Her parents had protected her all her life. She had had quite a scare when she was younger. A few bad men had tried to grab her. She had no idea why, but something happened, and the bad men had been blown away from her, letting her escape. Since then, her dad never let her out of his sight, except for school. However, he walked her to and from every day. She felt safe with him, and the professor reminded her very much of her dad.

She felt that no one would mess with the foreboding man.

Snape walked quickly through the Alley, Sally-Anne all but running to keep up, still clinging to his robes. They came to Gringotts, and the girl let out a scream and hid behind the professor. The… beings in front of the building were like stuff from movies, bad stuff. The movies she never watched, because they scared her so. She was sure she was going to have nightmares.

Snape sighed, and patted her reassuringly on the back, letting her bury her face in his robes.

Having dealt with this situation before, the two goblins tried to look as unimposing as possible. They didn't smile, knowing that would make it worse, but they made sure that their eyes were kind. Both gave the girl a little bow and then looked away.

"Pr…Pr… Professor, what are those?" she whispered, pulling on the man's robe. Her eyes darted to the goblins and back to the man she knew would protect her.

"Goblins. Don't worry, they won't hurt you. If you are kind to them, they will return it in kind," he explained, bending a bit so they would not be heard. It did not do well to offend the goblins.

"They're scary," she said softly.

"I promise, nothing will hurt you here," he reiterated.

"Oh, okay," she said, tightening her grip on his robe.

They entered the bank, went to the exchange counter and waited in line. It wasn't that long because it was getting towards late afternoon.

When it was their turn, Swifttooth waved the timid girl forward. "Come, child, I will not harm you," he said in a soft voice.

Snape marched forward and Sally-Anne was pulled along reluctantly.

"Miss Perks, this is a goblin. His name, judging by his nameplate, is Swifttooth. He will exchange your money into ours," Severus explained, handing the goblin the money that had been given to him. The girl only had about a hundred pounds, it was enough to get the essentials, but little more. Maybe, if she did have a vault, it would help her buy more.

Sally-Anne just stared in horrid fascination. She wasn't sure if she should run, or just hide behind Professor Snape. She chose the latter.

Snape sighed again, looked up as if praying to the heavens for strength and pulled her back around to front.

"You need," he explained, "to get your money." He wasn't going to coddle her all day. She would have to learn to deal with the goblins without him being here, sooner or later. Now was a good time.

"Eep," she said, looking at the floor. Then slowly crept forward and quickly grabbed the bag that the teller had left on the counter and scurried back behind the professor.

"Swifttooth, Filius informed me that you do inheritance test," Snape stated, then once again nudged the girl to the front. "I would like to see if Miss Perks has a vault," he added, placing a hand on her shoulder so she didn't hide again.

"Is this what you want, child?" Swifttooth asked since he needed her permission. Unlike the last boy, this girl was muggleborn.

"Will it hurt?" she inquired, pressing herself back against Snape's legs.

"Only for a moment," the goblin confessed, and then he explained the procedure.

She was intrigued, it might explain a few things to her parents, if they knew where they came from. They were always going on about how history was important. So, she took the pin, screwed up her eyes and jabbed her finger. That hurt.

She then did as the goblin said and smeared it across the paper. The name Goodwin appeared.

"Oh, very good," Swifttooth said, not smiling. Goblin teeth were frightening to the skittish. "This means you have a vault. Though, I can tell you nothing about your family. Take this to the teller over there," he pointed a few windows away, "and he'll fix you right up." He changed procedure for her because, the vault in question held very little, and therefore did not have a ledger, just a statement. She could take that home today. There was no research involved.

"Thank you," she said meekly, and then she quickly grabbed the parchment and scurried back to Snape.

The Potion Master sighed and guided her to the other window.

"Sharpclaw," he said, glancing at the nameplate, "Miss Perks has just discovered she has a vault. Will you help her?" he asked, glaring at the poor teller, as if to say, 'don't scare her further'.

The goblin was not impressed. He held out his hand for the parchment in a rough gesture, and Sally-Anne looked like she was about to faint. Severus took it from her hand and gave it to the goblin. The teller glanced at it and smiled, causing the girl to 'Eep' again.

"I will make you up a key, and then give a statement as to what is in the vault. However, she needs to bring her guardians here to validate it," Sharpclaw said, reaching under his counter for a black bowl.

He put the parchment in the bowl, poured a potion on it, tapped it three times, waved his hand a bit. This caused a cloud of purple smoke to appear. When it vanished, there was a small gold key. He took the key, pulled out another parchment, pressed the key in the square in the upper right-hand corner, waited for it to finish, and then handed it all to Snape.

"Thank you," the curt man said and guided Sally-Anne out of the bank. He took a quick glance at the paper and noted it only had about 200 galleons. He rolled it up and put it in his pocket. He would explain to her parents what they needed to do, the exchange rate, and how the bank operated.

The girl looked on the verge of tears but was smiling at the same time. While she was happy that she from a magical family, there were still too many weird things all around her. Something banged off to her right, and she screeched and jumped the opposite direction.

"Don't worry," Snape said, pulling her back towards him, and glaring at the boys playing by the toy store, "it's only a toy going off. Now, we have enough to get your shopping done. I will then take you home and explain to your parents about the vault. They can come here and get it straightened out," he explained as he swiftly walked to the luggage store.

"Thank you," she said, following along.

She was still going over all that had happened, and she was glad that they were out of the bank. Though, she knew she would have to come back. This time, though, her dad would be with her, so it was alright.

They quickly did the shopping with only a few scares and Sally-Anne was home. She was so relieved at being there that she let Professor Snape tell her parents about the vault.

She and her parents went back the next day and validated it. Her dad put a bit more money into it, but other than that left it alone. He wasn't sure his daughter was suited to the magical world and didn't know how long she'd be staying there. However, no matter what, they were going to get the books they needed and study up on this strange culture.

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Rewrite 9/27/24: I only added a bit to this one and there were only a few corrections.