Harry Potter and the Deep Dream

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 10

Hagrid leads Harry and Petunia through the pub, towards the bar at the back. Once he's halfway across the taproom, he calls to the barkeep, "Tom, would it be alright for Harry here to use one of your rooms for a few minutes."

Shocked silence spreads out amongst the room as every patron turns to look at Harry. It feels like every single one of them zeroes in on his forehead, specifically the scar there.

The whole room seems to pause, leaving Harry feeling very uncomfortable. When he unconsciously takes a step towards Petunia, the whole room bursts into a riot of noise and motion. Almost every patron tries to either touch his clothes, or personally deliver thanks for saving them many years ago.

When the first person actually touches him, Harry spins around and grabs onto Petunia with both hands. As the grabbing hands become more overwhelming, he buries his face in her clothes.

At the same time, Petunia holds on to Harry as if he's her rock in a riptide, as the patrons attempt to separate the two so that they have more access to Harry.

Suddenly, Hagrid is wading through the people as if they were no more bothersome than a crowd of puppies. With a gentle hand, he leads both of them behind the bar while the Tom has his wand above his head and lets off a couple of cannon blasts.

"For shame. For shame on all of you. Mr Potter hasn't even got to the alley yet, and you're already trying to scare him off. You're all supposed to be grown witches and wizards, not unruly school children that have spotted their…"

Whatever Tom is saying fades away as Hagrid ushers them through a door to a small room with a bed and an on-suite bathroom.

Hagrid gives an embarrassed chuckle, "Sorry about that, ah forgot just how popular you are."

Harry doesn't look up as he rushes through the other door, and locks it behind him. Seconds later, Petunia can make out the sound of sobbing.

Petunia herself sits on the bed and hugs herself as she shivers. While Hagrid gingerly sits down in the armchair, looking uncomfortable, Nixie pokes their head out from under Petunia's hair and waves their tentacles around. Climbing onto her shoulder, they launch themselves at Hagrid, before scampering down his coat to the chair he's sitting on.

A few seconds later, Petunia looks up as Hagrid crashes to the floor when the chair suddenly shrinks into a cheap wooden chair that's very much not designed for his bulk. While she's distracted for a moment, she shuffles herself into the centre of the bed, and curls up there. Her re-found memories still to close to the surface.

Awkwardly, Hagrid stands up and brushes himself off, "Right, well, that wasn't supposed to happen…" he trails off for a moment as the bed and covers shrink down into a simple single cot with a rough woollen blanket. "…Ah'm just going to let Tom know what's happened. I'll be back shortly."

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Half an hour later, Harry and Petunia are sitting in the private room at the back of the Leaky Cauldron with a pot of tea between them.

As the door opens, Harry glances up sharply, and remains tense as Tom comes in. Softly Tom says, "How are you both doing?"

Petunia glances at Harry, "Better, I think. We both had a trying morning, and that just added onto it."

Tom sits down at a chair on the other end of the table, "I'd like to apologise for not getting control faster."

Harry shakes his head, and Petunia responds, "It's not your fault. If anything, it was Hagrid shouting his name across the room."

Tom laughs, "That's Hagrid alright. The quietest he ever gets is low conversation to the rest of us. Speaking of one of my favourite customers. He's just got back with a new chair to replace the one that broke. I'm so sorry that you had to experience that, as we usually refresh the transfigurations once a week."

Harry looks up from his tea, "Why do that though? I mean, why not just have good stuff to start with?"

Tom laughs, "Money. Most of my rooms are rented by drunks who can't speak straight enough to use the Floo, and certainly can't appearate. They can be a mite hard on the furniture. So, easy to repair and cheap to replace. Honestly, most of the working-class witches and wizards will learn how to transfigure their own furniture and household tools like spatulas and cutlery. But you'll learn all about that at Hogwarts I'd imagine."

At that moment, Hagrid knocks on the door before opening it, "Ah've put the chair in the room like you asked. Are you two ready to go, as we need to get some money from the bank first, and everything else will take time."

Petunia glances at Harry nervously, but Tom puts their fears to rest. "You don't have to go back into the tap room. The entrance to the alleyway is at the other end of the pub."

As Harry breathes a sigh of relief, Petunia nods, "Then I think we're ready."

With a smile, Hagrid leads the two of them to a dingy alleyway that has flies buzzing around something rank in the corner. At either end of the alley are the back walls of buildings that look like they were built years after the pub behind them, and the wall in front. In the centre of the wall is a brick that is glowing gold.

Pointing at the pile, Hagrid says, "Ignore that, it's just an illusion to persuade any persistent muggles not to linger here. This here is the entrance to Diagon Alley." He kicks a dustbin with his foot, "See this dustbin, if you count up seven bricks, and then five across you'll find the key stone. Just tap that with your wand."

Hagrid taps the glowing brick with the end of his umbrella, and the whole wall folds in, before receding to form an archway. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

Harry and Petunia can only gape in awe at the sight before them.

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Their journey up the alleyway to the bank is slowed by the fact Harry and Petunia are both turning their heads everywhere, like tourists visiting Buckingham Palace for the first time.

As they get closer, the golden words above the door catch the light, drawing the eye. As they approach, both Harry and Petunia read the words and share a glance.

Before they can really ask Hagrid about them, Hagrid strides through the open doors to join a queue. The two of them hurry to catch up again.

As they join the queue with Hagrid turns sideways, "This here is Gringotts, and it's run by goblins. Now, they're mean little buggers. However, they know money, and they know security. As such, there's no safer place to keep your stuff, except maybe Hogwarts."

As they move up a spot in the queue, Harry asks, "What about the phrase above the doors?"

Hagrid shrugs, "Don't rightly know myself. It's been there for as long as I can remember. Now, the goblins'll give you the stink eye, but if you're respectful to them, they'll be respectful to you. For most services, unless you know exactly where to go, you just need to queue for one of the tellers here. If this isn't where you're supposed to be, they'll soon tell you where to go."

During the time he's talking, the queue moves another couple of spaces.

Petunia thinks about asking another question, but while she's mulling it over, the queue moves another three spaces, and they're next.

The three of them walk up to the counter. As they stand there, the goblin sneers down from the high counter, "Well?"

Hagrid looks at the counter, that is around waist high for him, "We're here to get some money from Harry Potter's account."

Somehow, the goblin manages to look down his nose at Hagrid, "And does Mr Potter have his key?"

Hagrid nods as he starts going through his pockets, "Yes, right here. One moment."

Eventually he finds both the key and a letter. When he hands the key over, the goblin passes their hand over the key. Petunia and Harry watch curiously as the key glows with a series of pulses. Once the pulses end, the goblin checks a ledger and nods. "Very well, the key is in order, anything else?"

"Yes, I have a letter…" He hands over the letter. "…and I need to get the you know what from this vault."

The goblin scans the letter, and then waves his hand over it. Suddenly he shouts, "Griphook! These people need to get money from these vaults. Take them down so they can see to their business."

A few seconds later, another goblin runs over to the counter and takes both the key and the letter. Without saying a word, he turns around and starts walking towards a door at the back of the lobby.

Just as they're filing through the door, one of the guards steps to the side and puts his hand out to stop them.

Pointing at Petunia, he says, "You, we can't let you down to the vaults with your familiar. You'll need to wait here."

Harry opens his mouth to protest at the same time he steps close to Petunia, but Petunia rests a hand on his shoulder, "It's ok Harry. You go on ahead with Hagrid. I'll try to get our other business sorted out up here. If you get back before me, can you wait with one of the guards by the front doors?"

Hagrid nods, "I'll see that he's there Petunia." As he finishes talking, he turns to follow Griphook.

Harry gives Petunia a worried hug, "Will you wait there if you finish first?"

Petunia gives a smile, "I will. I think I saw an ice cream shop outside, maybe we could get something to eat there afterwards."

Harry beams a smile, "I'd love that. If you're sure, I mean, it's ok if we can't."

With a smile, Petunia gently turns him round and pushes him through the door.

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Once the door's closed, Petunia turns to look at the guard, "As I'm going to be waiting anyway. Would I be able to speak to someone about the stipend for Harry Potter. As we have been unable to arrange things before now, due to the difficulties in even accessing this location."

As she's halfway through her explanation, the guard is already looking put out. As soon as she finishes speaking, he points over to a desk, "I can't help you with that, you need to see Ragnack at the desk over there."

Petunia smiles, "Thank you for directing me to someone that can help."

While the guard goes back to his post by the door, Petunia walks over to the desk, where a busy looking goblin, presumably Ragnack, is working on some paperwork. Petunia just stands there patiently as Ragnack finishes the thing he's currently working on.

As soon as Ragnack's finished he looks up and growls, "Well. How can I help you?"

Feeling a little intimidated, Petunia curtsies before replying. "I'm one of Harry Potter's guardians. When he was given into our custody, we were informed that we would get a stipend. However, we were unable to let anyone know where the money needed to go, as we were not given a forwarding address."

Ragnack gives Petunia a look as if she's particularly stupid, "Very well, I'll see if Harry Potter's account manager is available. Do be aware that you will be charged one galleon if you are found to be wasting his time." Pointing at an empty spot of floor, "Please wait over there."

As Petunia goes to the indicated spot, Ragnack signals one of the goblins that seem to be watching the crowd. After speaking to them quietly, he shoos the goblin off.

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When the goblin comes back several minutes later, they bark, "Kragnast has a few minutes free now, follow me."

The goblin leads Petunia off at a fast walk for a human. Once they pass through a nondescript door, she quickly becomes lost amongst the corridors. Some of which are junctions, and others are concealed behind other, nondescript doors. The only identifying marks she can see come from a faintly glowing design at head height for a goblin.

After a couple of minutes, the goblin stops outside one particular door with a glowing pattern. "This is where I leave you."

As the goblin turns around and runs off at a clip she'd be hard pressed to keep up for any length of time, Petunia knocks on the door.

A few seconds later, a goblin knocks calls out, "Come in, and stop wasting time with human niceties."

Confused, Petunia opens the door and walks into an office that wouldn't look out of place in any solicitors. Well, apart from the mace that's propped up against the side of the desk.

Taking the advice to heart, Petunia walks over to the only chair available in front of the desk and sits down.

As soon at her bum hits the seat, the goblin, presumably Kragnast, leans forward and snarls, "I understand that you're here about the stipend for one Harry Potter. Given that he is being raised in the muggle world, give me a good reason not to break your wand arm and have you thrown bodily out of the bank."

Confused, Petunia leans back in her chair away from Kragnast, "But I'm not a witch! Lily was the one that had magic."

Kragnast slams his open palm on the desktop, "Don't lie to me, especially while you're cuddling an aictulaxr. If you weren't a witch, you wouldn't even be able to feel it, let alone see it."

Petunia lifts Nixie up protectively, "But Nixie found me while I was trying to calm Harry down during his nightmare last night."

Kragnast sits back in his chair and taps a finger on the arm as he thinks. In a much less threatening voice he says, "Explain, what nightmare, and what happened only. I don't care where you were or why you were there."

Hesitantly, Petunia describes what she saw while she was trying to calm Harry down. As she finishes, she plaintively adds, "You have to believe me, I have no idea what an acit…acit… what Nixie is, and I've never been a witch."

Kragnast thinks for a moment, possibilities churning through his thoughts, "Ok, let's say I believe you. You've offered no verifiable proof of anything you've said. According to our own laws, and our treaties with the Ministry of magic, I can only discuss Mr Potter's accounts with his legal or magical guardians."

Kragnast looks Petunia directly in the eyes, "There is a way to legally prove that you're telling the truth. But if the magic says you're lying, you'll be guilty of lying on a legal document. Under goblin law, this is a crime that carries a minimum sentence of working in the mines, and a maximum sentence of death by dragon. All depending on how damaging the lie is."

Leaning forward he taps a claw on the desk, "Now, before I do this, I'll give you a chance to pay the galleon and leave. If you do, the contents of this meeting will never be known."

Petunia sits there thinking for a few minutes as she tries to find the courage to go through with signing a document. Her mind helpfully pulling up the memory of signing in blood, and then feeling a desire to please Vernon.

After the first minute or so, Kragnast nods approvingly.

Finally, Petunia overcomes her fear, by rationalising that if she pays the money and leaves, she would be saying that she isn't responsible for Harry. While the Petunia of a few weeks ago would have jumped at the chance to be rid of the boy. The Petunia of today, with all of her memories, good and bad, can't abandon the child she's already failed so much.

With new resolve burning in her, Petunia looks up and into Kragnast's eyes. "I'll do it. I'll sign your damn document."

Kragnast chuckles, "We are not the Ministry of Magic, you will be making an oath on your magic. Last chance."

Petunia shakes her head, "Nothing you can say will dissuade me. I've failed Harry for the last time."

Kragnast nods and stands up, "Very well. Follow me."

Taking the mace from the side of the desk, he holds it easily in one hand as he leads her out of the office, and into the maze of corridors again.

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After an indeterminate distance, Kragnast stops outside another simple door with a golden design on it.

Turning to Petunia he indicates the door, "Here we are. Once you go through this door you're committed. If you back out after you've entered, you will be arrested and will likely need to pay a large fine. If you are sure, then open the door and walk in. Then we'll get started."

Swallowing hard, Petunia opens the door and steps inside. Then she stops as she takes in a room that has failed to meet any of her expectations.

Rather than an office filled with books on law, and an evil black quill. There is, instead, a mostly empty room with a black orb sitting on top of a simple pedestal. Surrounding the pedestal is a large silver inlayed circle, that takes up most of the room. Inside the circle are many designs and lines, none of which mean anything to Petunia. Off to one side is a brazier filled with glowing red coals. This sits next to a plain wooden table with an assortment of parchment, quills, and ink. Finally, Petunia notices the ancient looking goblin that's sitting against the far wall, reading some paperwork.

Petunia jumps as Kragnast closes the door behind her, leaving the room dark apart from the glow coming from the brazier.

Kragnast's shadow passes in front of the glow, "Esteemed Master Banlirg, we need an oath confirmation of identity and guardianship."

With a grunt of annoyance, Banlirg gets up and walks over to the table. "Names and clarification?"

As Petunia's eyes are adjusting, Banlirg snaps his fingers and the room lights up with a dull white light. At the same time, Kragnast turns towards Petunia. "What is your name witch."

Petunia huffs, "Petunia Dursley, and I've already told you. I'm not a witch."

Kragnast turns back to Banlirg, "Petunia Dursley claims guardianship of Harry Potter, she also claims that she is not a witch."

Banlirg nods and thinks for a few minutes. When he looks up, he grabs a random quill and begins to write on a piece of parchment.

Once he's finished, he holds up the parchment and turns his back to the desk, "If this is acceptable, let her know what she is required to do, and how it works. Then you can proceed."

Kragnast nods before walking forward to take the parchment. After he's read it over, he nods and walks back to hand the parchment to Petunia.

Looking down, she carefully reads the oath, and then admires the penmanship.

I, Petunia Dursley, swear that I am the legal guardian of Harry Potter, and that to my knowledge I am not, and never have been, a witch.

As she reads it a third time, she looks up, "It looks acceptable sir. Before we do anything else, can I say that this penmanship is absolutely beautiful. I'm sure that there are many greeting card companies that would pay to have such beautiful writing on their cards."

Kragnast ignores the complement, "Very well. What you are going to do is place your hand on that orb and recite the oath as written. This orb uses the same magic as unbreakable vows, but it doesn't bind you to the oath. Instead, if the oath is accepted, the array on the floor will light up with the confirmation magic."

When Petunia nods, and turns towards the orb, Kragnast steps in front of her, "There are additional instructions. After you have put your hand on the orb, do not start reading until I have told you to start. If you have access to any amount of magic, then the orb will start to glow and you will be unable to remove your hand until I release you, or the oath has been made.

"While you are waiting, I will be busy interpreting the glow of the orb. If I determine that you are any compulsions, I will stop the process and you will be removed to have the compulsions removed, at your own expense.

"If you cannot afford the expense, you will be required to work for 5 galleons a day until the procedure has been paid off. Once your compulsions have been removed, you will be given the opportunity to attempt to take the oath again.

"Once I have determined that you are clear of compulsions, I will tell you to start. Given your familiar, I have no doubt that you have no compulsions on you. If you fully understand what I have told you, walk to the centre of the room and place your hand on the orb."

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Petunia looks at the orb, the oath, and Nixie for a few seconds. Then she carefully nudges Nixie until they start moving, before depositing them on her shoulder. Nixie quickly moves to her position under Petunia's hair.

With a hand now free, she walks to the orb with a confidence she doesn't feel. Once there, her nervousness comes back, and she lifts her hand hesitantly. When she reminds herself just why she's doing this, her hand snaps the rest of the way to the orb, and it lights up bright royal blue. As she moves her hand around on the orb to find a more comfortable position, she notes that it feels kinda tacky.

With great effort, Kragnast ignored Petunia doing the impossible, and instead focuses on the light coming from the orb. While he is surprised by just how bright the light is, he squints his eyes to check for any impurities or distortions in the blue. Depending on the colours, these could be compulsions, obliviations, or even oaths or heartfelt promises. After a minute of searching, he finally admits that he can't find any imperfections in the light from the orb.

"Petunia, you may start now."

Petunia nods, and scans over the oath once more. Happy that she's not going to make a mistake, she reads it out in a clear voice. As she finishes, the light in the orb travels down the pedestal into the array on the floor, lighting the room with earie blue fire. As the tackiness disappears from the orb, Petunia nods approvingly to herself at being able to read out the oath with no hesitation.

As the light dies down, Kragnast walks forward and takes the parchment from Petunias hand, "Mrs Dursley, you have successfully fulfilled your legal obligation. Once I've disposed of the oath, we will continue our conversation in my office."

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In his office, Kragnast taps the table as he thinks about the fact that they oath worked. As he's thinking he addresses Petunia.

"Mrs Dursley, I am honestly surprised that you were able to take that oath. Non-magicals wouldn't even get the orb to activate, and squibs would show as a dull purple light. Simply because they wouldn't be able to provide enough magic to activate the orb properly. This means that you are indeed a witch."

"Let me be the first to welcome you to the magical world. Now, for you, being magical opens up some new opportunities. The first of which, is that you could become the Magical Guardian of Mr Potter, this would be in addition to being his legal guardian. You could also by a wand, though you should be warned that owning a wand over the age of 16 is illegal in magical Britain. Unless, of course, you have OWLs in the wanded subjects. Or are currently registered as a student with a tutor or educational institution that teaches OWLs. The punishment for breaking this law is having your wand snapped and your magic bound."

Kragnast comes to a decision, and deliberately adopts a posture that humans see as relaxed. "You are now also allowed to open an account with Gringotts and register a family name. Finally, you are allowed to purchase portkeys from a ministry registered vendor. I would like to note that Gringotts is one such vendor. You are also allowed to take apparition lessons at the ministry of magic. Incidentally there is only an age requirement for learning to apparate. There are no educational requirements beyond the course if you wish to get your certificate."

Kragnast leans back, and puts his hands in his lap, "Of course, if you do not wish to attend the ministry, we at Gringotts would be willing to teach you the basics of apparition and bring in an examiner from the ministry."

Petunia nods thoughtfully, "I'll keep that in mind, as I don't yet know what is important or not."

Kragnast nods and opens a ledger, "A wise decision. Moving on to your ward, Harry Potter. You asked about the stipend. Our records indicate that one Petunia Dursley already has a vault with us. She is currently receiving 10 galleons a week, which is then being taken out as muggle money. After transaction fees, that works out to around £45 a week at the current exchange rate. Though that is likely to change over Christmas, as the five yearly reconsideration of the exchange rate is due soon."

Petunia stares at Kragnast with a stunned expression, "I'm sorry, I haven't been getting any of that money. As we have already established that I am Petunia Dursley, as well as the legal guardian of Harry Potter, I want the money to be redirected to my own account."

As she's pulling out her debit card, Kragnast shakes his head, "I'm sorry, by law we are not allowed to work with the muggle world. That's also why our transaction fees are so high for converting to muggle money. However, if you can bring me a letter from Harry's magical guardian, I can certainly change the vault where the money is deposited to any vault of your choice."

Petunia frowns and puts her card away. As she taps her chin, she carefully asks, "You said something about becoming Harry's magical guardian as well as his legal guardian?"

Kragnast just nods, as his smile starts to show teeth.

Petunia nods, "Would I be able to take on Harry's magical guardianship please?"

Kragnast's smile becomes positively shark like, "Why yes, that is certainly possible. We will need to have your ward present. As there are some forms that he needs to be present to make his mark. There's also a 5-sickle fee for the service."

Petunia glances at her watch, which hasn't moved since last night, "Blast. We need to do some shopping with Hagrid this afternoon. Would we be able to do this at another time?"

Kragnast opens a diary, "Certainly, I can make an appointment for 9am tomorrow morning if that would be acceptable."

Petunia nods, and her voice sounds distant as she's thinking, "We can do 9am. Though we'll need to find somewhere to stay the night as it's a few hours by train to get home."

"You could stay at The Hopping Pot in Carkitt Market, that have good rooms, and the bar is in much better condition than the Leaky Cauldron. You could also use the Knight Bus to get home for a few knuts, though one of you will need a wand for that."

Petunia narrows her eyes, "Why are you being so helpful all of a sudden?"

Kragnast nods respectfully, "That would be because, according to the Ministry of Magic, you are not legally a witch. So, I'm investing in the future."

Petunia shakes her head, "That doesn't make sense. You keep calling me a witch, and now you're telling me I'm not one."

Kragnast nods, "Indeed, and I said that you're not legally a witch. Not that you are not a witch. According to the laws of Magical Britain." He points at a shelf on one of his bookshelves, "All human magical children must pass their OWLs before their 17th birthday, or they will have their wand snapped, and their magic bound. However, apart from being illegal to own a wand as an adult unless you have passed your OWLs in the wanded subjected, there is no provision for an adult that develops magic spontaneously. The same law that talks about wand ownership legally defines a witch as a 'female magic user that has passed their OWLs."

Sitting back in the chair, Petunia thinks about that for a moment, before changing the subject, "Earlier you said that I have a familiar, and that it's a specific type of creature. What did you mean?"

Kragnast leans forward, "A familiar is an animal that has a magical bond with a sentient being. This allows them to get impressions from each other. Nothing complicated, just where each other is. If they're needed, whether their hungry, happy, sad, and the like.

"An Aictuilaxr is a creature that was documented from a time when humans and goblins still delved what they called The Dream. They're an occasionally useful pest that eats loose magic like spells. It's said that it's extremely unusual to find on earth, as there's not enough magic here for them to survive. According to our records, we used to use them in the mailing department to clean the post before it was sent to department heads."

Kragnast sits back and spreads his hands, "Unfortunately, Gringotts is in the same location as the lair of a particularly dangerous predator. This means that we have been unable to delve The Dream since we were forced here by the wizards. As a matter of interest, the spell that binds a person's magic would be considered loose magic that sustains itself off of the victims magic."

Petunia tries to commit all of that to memory, much like she used to at college. Deciding to take advantage of Kragnast's momentary friendliness, Petunia asks, "Do you have any other advice that you could give me, before I go and meet Harry and Hagrid?"

Kragnast pulls a sheet of parchment from a rarely used drawer, "If you're willing to pay one galleon, I can give you a list of places to buy Harry's school equipment. Each of those places would be better value than the places recommended on his letter."

Petunia frowns, "How much is a galleon?"

"£5, and I think you'll save at least that much with the list. Though some of the recommendations will be more expensive, but they'll be better quality than the standard fare instead."

Thinking for a moment, Petunia takes out her purse, and removes a £10 note. "I think I'll take that list."

Kragnast smiles as he takes the note and puts it in a drawer. From another drawer it takes out a gold coin, before sliding both the coin and the sheet of parchment over to her. "There is a map of the alley on the back of the list with the numbered shops indicated on the map."

Petunia folds the map up, and puts it in her purse, "Thank you for your time."

Kragnast stands up and retrieves his mace, "No, thank you. I think our business will be very profitable in the future."

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Once they get back to the lobby Petunia makes her way to the doors, where she spots Harry but no Hagrid.

"Harry, where's Hagrid?"

Harry spins around and smiles, "Auntie! Hagrid said he wasn't feeling well, so he left me with Guggus, the guard here, and went to get a drink. Guggus has been very helpful while I've been waiting."

Petunia smiles, "Well, say goodbye as we need to get something to eat, and then get your shopping done."

Harry turns around, "Goodbye Guggus. May the flow of gold into your vaults be like the blood of your enemies through the streats."

Guggus nods, "Goodbye young one, and may your knife stay sharp and strike true."

When Harry turns back, Petunia looks at him, "Right, do you have your money?" Harry nods, "Good, then the first thing on the list is to get your robes ordered. However, my list says that The Hopping Pot does sandwiches."

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 11

The Hopping Pot is a quiet inn, in Carkitt Market, with varnished wooden tables made from a variety of different woods. The walls are all half panelled, with tasteful wall paper above the panelling. Spread more or less evenly around the walls are moving pictures of various natural scenes from around the world. Though the scenes are slightly spoilt by the animals not staying put, as a zebra is currently trying to eat the apples in a British orchard, and a lion is hunting penguins.


One thing that does stand out, is that none of the patrons have any food at their tables.


As they're looking around, a woman approaches from the bar, "Good afternoon, just take a seat and I'll be with you soon."


Petunia smiles and asks, "Do you serve food here?"


The woman pauses, "Aye, we do. However, lunch finished at two, and we won't be starting dinner till six. We do still have some soup and this morning's bread."


Petunia looks down at Harry, who just nods, before answering, "We'll take it, and a pot of tea."


The woman nods, "That'll be two sickles, I'll get your money when I bring your food."


As they sit down to eat, Harry hands over a small pouch full of money, "Here, I think you should look after this."


Petunia smiles at Harry, "You don't have to do this, I don't mind if you pay for everything."


Harry shakes his head, "I trust you. Besides, they use strange numbers."


Petunia laughs, "Oh Harry."

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After a quick, and filling meal, the two of them walk out of the inn and across the market to Gladrags.


As they enter, Petunia pauses as the inside of the store is far more modern than she expected from looking inside the other shop windows. All the clothes are hung on racks, or placed on shelves, and there's a set of changing rooms at the back of the store. A sales assistant talking to her draws her attention to the checkout counter.


"Hello, can I help you?"


Petunia shakes her head to clear her thoughts, "Oh, um, we're looking for Hogwarts robes."


The assistant nods and points, "They're over in the back corner. If you need any help, just let one of us know and we'll be happy to help. We also offer a tailored fitting service for two sickles if you want."


Petunia glances down at Harry then back up, "That would be nice. Quick question. Harry's letter suggests Madam Malkin's. What's the difference between shopping here and there?"


The assistant smiles, as though this is an uncommon question, "Oh that's easy. Madam Malkin is a dressmaker, and all of her clothes are made to measure. Her clothes will always be perfectly fitted to you, but you need to wait for them to be ready. We've taken inspiration from the muggle world, and we stock a variety of standard sizes in the styles we offer. Privately, we actually get most of our clothes made in the muggle world. We then use tailoring spells to adjust the clothing to fit. Though it will never be quite as tailored as Madam Malkin's."


Petunia looks back at Harry, "Well, go on then. Also pick out some more casual clothing, as the stuff we bought last week isn't really enough for every day."


While Harry is off picking out clothes, Petunia spends a pleasant half an hour browsing through the dresses, skirts, and other women's clothes on offer.

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Petunia and Harry stand at the counter while the assistant is going through the large sack of clothing Harry picked out. While they're waiting, Petunia curiously looks at the baskets on the counter.


Frowning, she asks, "Excuse me. What are these?"


The assistant finishes ringing up the current item before looking over, "Oh, those are our range of runic charms. We buy them from journeyman rune crafters while they're perfecting their skills. Each one is engraved on a brass plate that is then rivetted onto soft leather with pre-awlled holes for sewing. They're 10 sickles each, plus 2 knuts if you want us to sew them in for you."


Pointing at each of the baskets in turn, she continues, "We have water resistance, cushioning, self-cleaning, warming, cooling. These three are all one galleon each, as they're more complicated durability, free flowing, and modesty, though we only have a few of that last one as it's very popular amongst the ladies."


Harry looks confused, "What does modesty do?"


The assistant looks uncomfortable, before looking at Petunia, then back at Harry, "Well, um, it prevents anyone, other than the wearer of the garment, reaching underneath that garment."


Harry nods, "I think I should have some of those, but I don't think they'd help."


The assistant looks up at Petunia in alarm, and Petunia shakes her head, "It's not what you're thinking. Harry… gets bullied a lot at home. Nothing sexual fortunately."


Harry frowns, and looks at Petunia, "Auntie, I was going to get them for you."


Petunia blanches as the assistant's face goes from accusatory to sympathetic in an instant, "Oh… um. Can we have water resistance, self-cleaning, warming, and cooling added to his coat, comfort and self-cleaning for his shoes. I think that his work robes should also be tailored to fit him."


The sales assistant quickly takes the requested tags from their respective baskets, and makes a note of where they're going, and the tailoring service.


Just as they're about to finalise the total, Harry's hand snaps out lightning quick, and snags two modesty and durability tags, before putting them on the neatly folded pile of clothes.


When Petunia is about to protest, Harry looks up, "They're for you. I'm going to school, you're not."


Petunia swallows hard as her throat suddenly chokes up.

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Once they've paid and returned to the market square, Petunia spots Hagrid pacing backwards and forwards between Gringotts and Madam Malkin's.


"Harry, can you go and let Hagrid know where we are while I look at where we're going next?"


Harry nods and runs off and returns less than a minute later with Hagrid. While he's doing that, Petunia turns the list over and looks at the map. When she sees a numbered entry just across the market from where they are she looks up the number in the list.


As Hagrid approaches, he breathes a sigh of relief, "There you are. I was worried that you got lost."


Petunia smiles up at Hagrid, "Thank you for your concern. We had some lunch in the Hopping Pot, and then we came over to Gladrags here for Harry's clothes."


Hagrid looks up at the shop, "I can't say I've ever been in there. I always go to Madam Malkin's."


Petunia nods, "I don't blame you. Even outside the magical world, someone your size would need to have all their clothes made to order."


Hagrid hums. "Well, we should probably take Harry to Ollivander's to get his wand."


Petunia shakes her head, and points across the market, "That wand makers is closer, and also on my list of recommended shops."


As Petunia starts to walk off, Hagrid startles, "Hey, wait up. Everyone goes to Ollivander's for their first wand."


Petunia ignores him as she walks into a shop advertising it as Wands by Gregoravich, Harry hot on her heels. As they walk in the shop front is a narrow strip between the glass and a long, waxed workbench with a liftable section on the opposite side to the door. Behind the workbench is a middle aged man reading a newspaper.


As Hagrid ducks through the door, the man folds his paper and puts it on the workbench, "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"


Petunia answers, "We're shopping for school supplies for Harry, and you came recommended."


Hagrid mumbled, "Should've gone to Ollivander's. It's traditional."


Ignoring Hagrid, the shopkeeper nods, "Well it's a good thing you came here then. We offer a bespoke service using a wide range of woods and cores. We will either make the best wand for you, or we will advise you on where to go to get the right wand for you."


The man points to a certificate that's hanging on the wall, "I myself achieved my mastery under The Gregoravich that the shop is named for."


As the shopkeeper launches into a well rehearsed speech about why they should shop with him rather than Ollivander, Petunia interrupts.


"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I trust that Gringotts knows what it's talking about when making recommendations that you have to pay for. What I want to know is how much will this cost, and is there anything we need to do to have the wand made."


The shopkeeper stalls, and then recovers, "Um… I must also warn you that we don't offer the ministry subsidy on our wands, so you will pay the full price of the materials plus 20 galleons for the time it takes to make the wand. It may seem like a lot…"


Petunia nods, "So that's about £100 plus materials. How long does it take to get a mastery?"


"Oh, uh, seven years?"


Petunia nods again, "We'll take it."


The shopkeeper looks surprised, as does Harry and Hagrid. The latter of whom replies, "You will?"


Petunia looks up at Hagrid, "Of course. Vernon sells drills for a living, and some of their drill bits go for more than that. However, over time those drill bits will save their owners money compared to buying less precisely machined bits. Whether it's through breakage, or because they become blunter faster, and start to slip or jump… Sorry, Vernon used to practice his presentations in front of me."


The shopkeeper nods in agreement, "Indeed, it might seem like a lot, but it's a tool that you're going to be using for at least 7 years, and possibly for the rest of your life."


"Will you need a deposit?"


The shopkeeper shakes their head, "Not at all. But if you do leave a deposit, you'll be able to pick the wand up anytime after nine tomorrow morning."


As she counts out the money, Hagrid grumbles, "Well, if you're not going to take my advice, ah might as well make myself scarce." In a louder voice he continues, "I just need to go out for a bit, can I meet you back here in 20 minutes?"


Petunia looks up, "Sure, if we're not here, we'll be booking a room in The Hopping Pot, a few doors down."


Hagrid leaves, grumbling, "Stupid fancy pubs, what's wrong with the leaky."

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As the shopkeeper starts pulling out trays from under the counter, he looks at Harry, "Hi, I'm Ellsworth, you can call me El, do you have a dominant hand?" Harry holds up his right hand, "Excellent, now the next step is a little hard, but I've never come across someone that can't do it. What I want you to do is push some magic into your right hand as you're passing it over the samples in these trays. You'll know when you've got it right, as the samples will feel like they're warmer or cooler."


Harry looks at the trays doubtfully, "Um, how?"


El smiles, "If you were here for a replacement wand, I'd say imagine you were casting a spell. Apart from that, you'll need to come up with your own thing." He points at one of the trays, "You can practice with this tray"


Harry frowns in concentration as he tries to so what is asked of him.


It takes nearly 20 minutes for him to start feeling anything, and that's with ongoing advice from El, and occasionally Petunia. It's when Petunia suggests imagining that Nixie is in his hand that he gets it, while El just looks at Petunia curiously.


As soon as he starts feeling anything, El smiles broadly. "Well done. Now we blindfold you, and I'll slip this tray in the middle of the others."


Harry's head jerks back in surprise, "Blindfold?"


El nods, "Yes, it ensures that you are not letting the appearance of the wood influence your decision. I know you wouldn't, but it's a sad fact that we all do it to some extent."


"Um, so, how am I supposed to tell if what I'm feeling is right?"


El smiles, "The same way you do anything else you like. Chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, lemon, earwax, coal, tar, steak, onion, or any other type of flavour or sensation."


Harry frowns doubtfully. "I'll try."


El smiles and waves his wand at Harry's head. As he does a perfectly fitted blindfold appears over Harry's eyes, underneath his glasses. Harry panics for a moment at the sudden darkness, before remembering where he is. Once he does, he reaches out blindly for the counter until he feels a small delicate hand gently guide him to the counter and the tray.


As Petunia lets go of Harry, and turns around, she feels Nixie climb onto her shoulder. Desperately, she reaches out to catch Nixie before they can jump at Harry. In the end, it takes presenting her thumb, and stroking Nixie's back for Nixie to calm down.

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It only takes Harry five minutes to narrow down the wood selection, and finally find one wood. A wave of El's wand sees him blinking at the sudden light.


As he's recovering his sight, El puts away the other samples. Before picking up the sample he picked out, "Hmm, Hawthorn. An unexpected choice, and one that is associated with the heart and emotions of the heart, the fae folk, and the rumoured outer worlds." Harry and Petunia both share a glance, "It has also been associated with five goddesses, as well as a god of sea and the realm of the dead."


El puts the piece of wood down on a small tray, "Finally, it has been used as part of bridle wreaths, coronets, and other feminine traditions for centuries. Which leaves me mystified as to how you happened to pick out this particular wood. But that's something for you to ponder later in life. For now, it's time to look for the core that will go inside the casing."


Petunia cocks her head to one side, "Is such in-depth knowledge of that sort of thing required for wand making?"


El nods, "Sort of, it speeds up the selection process if you can get a read on the sort of person you're working with. As by looking at the reactions you can get a feel of the patterns. Admittedly, it tends to speed up the core selection more, as there are only a limited number of woods that are suitable for wand making. As, with the best will in the world, you can't turn a reed, or basil stem, into a wand casing, as they're just too fragile."


When neither Harry or Petunia have anything to say, El pulls out a covered tray, "Are you ready?"


Harry nods, and El reapplies the blindfold.

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While Harry is waving his hand over tray after tray of core materials, Petunia notices Hagrid outside. Walking outside her eyes widen when she sees the brass cage.


"Hagrid, welcome back. Harry seems to be having some trouble finding a core component for his wand."


Hagrid smiles and shrugs, "It's not that unusual, as even Ollivander can take an hour or more with a difficult customer. Ah've heard horror stories from some of the professors that do muggle orientation throughout the year."


Petunia raises her eyebrows, "Why didn't we get one of those?"


Hagrid chuckles, "Well, Harry ain't muggleborn, is he."


Petunia sighs, "I guess that's true."


"Course it is. His parents had his tuition paid in full before his first birthday."


Petunia sighs, "I wish I hadn't…"


Hagrid puts a gentle hand on Petunia's shoulder as her eyes dampen, "You can't change the past, only move forward into the future. Things happen to us, or we do things, that we can wish didn't happen as hard as we want. But that doesn't change that they have. Or that we are the ones living with the consequences."


Petunia looks up at Hagrid and gives him a one-handed hug, "That was very insightful."


Hagrid ducks bashfully, "It's nothing. Not a lot to do as the grounds keeper except think."


"Well, there's no point you standing around out here in the sun, why not come in and wait inside?"


Hagrid shakes his head, "My coat and trousers are charmed for comfort, so I'm fine outside. Besides, I can talk to people as they're passing by."


Petunia shrugs, "Ok, we'll be inside if you need us."

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An hour later El slumps to his workbench, "I'm sorry Harry, but we've now exhausted my entire stock of core material. Even my unsorted stock."


Harry looks down, "So, what now?"


El pulls 10 galleons out of his pouch, "Now, I give you your money back and recommend that you go and see Ollivander, as you should at least be able to find a good match in his stock."


Dejectedly, Harry makes his way to the door while Petunia takes her hand off of Nixie in order to pick up the money. As soon as she does, Nixie leaps for El's head and starts crawling around it.


El steps back as his hands fly up to his face, "Hey, what's that? Come on, where are you?"


Petunia leans over the workbench, and is able to snag Nixie when they pause on El's face, and get a grip on something. As she pulls Nixie off, El yelps in surprised pain, "Ow, what was that? Oh bollocks, my spell's just gone."


Petunia winces apologetically, "I'm so sorry. That's Nixie and they eat magic. They do have a species name, but I can't pronounce it properly."


El looks at Petunia's hand thoughtfully, while covering the coins with his hand. After a moment he says to Petunia, "Nixie felt furry while they were on my face. Would you be willing to shave some of the fur off onto a sheet of parchment for me?"


Petunia cocks her head, "What are you thinking?"


El shrugs, "It's a magical creature, so its fur may make a good material for a wand core."


Petunia smiles and calls out "Harry, we may have found another option."


Harry runs back into the store, with Hagrid following quickly behind.


El chuckles as he walks to the back of the store, and his workshop. A minute later he comes back with an alchemical silver knife. A quick touch of his wand and the edge has been honed to beyond razor sharp.


"Be very careful with the blade, as you will cut yourself before you feel the edge. That goes for your familiar too."


Petunia frowns, "I didn't say it was my familiar."


"While the term familiar is supposed to mean an animal that you have a bond with. Most witches and wizards call any companion animal a familiar, for the simple fact it takes specialised magic to detect the bond between a bonded animal and its owner."


Petunia holds her hand out for the blade, "If it's so sharp, how do I use it?"


El demonstrates on the back of his forearm, "See how I'm laying the blade flat against the skin, and then going in the direction of the hair. That's what I'd suggest you do with Nixie. I'd do it myself, but I can't even see her."


"Her?"


El shrugs, "Just seems appropriate, I can do a sexing spell if you'd like. It's one of those useful little spells for ingredient collection."


Petunia nods, "Please?"


El runs through a couple of spells several times, as Nixie eats the first few spells before he can get a read on them. Finally, she's contentedly munching on a couple of spells for long enough that his spells work.


"Well, she's definitely female, and very pregnant."


Petunia make an O shape with her mouth. Then she shakes her head and very carefully tries to trim the fur from Nixie's back. As the knife passes cleanly through the fur with no visible effect, she frowns.


"It's not working."


El taps his fingers on the workbench, then snaps his fingers, "Ok, she's an invisible, magical creature. I'll be right back, I'm going to get my shaving razor."


"Why will that make a difference…?"


When El comes back he answers, "Iron is inimical to magic. If you have purer iron then it's even more inimical." He holds up his cutthroat razor, "This isn't that pure, but it's pure enough that I sometimes have to try and sharpen it more than once."


Petunia nods and picks up the razor, before dropping it immediately, "Ugh, that feels awful."


El raises an eyebrow, "That's probably worth remembering then, as it seems like you might be more sensitive to iron than most magicals. Do you think you can use it though?"


Petunia nods, and sets her jaw as she picks it up, and it feels like her hand has gone numb. Excessively carefully she first shaves a little from Nixie's back, only to watch in dismay as the fur evaporates on the blade.


At the same time, Nixie starts suckling furiously on her thumb, as proximity to the blade seems to be causing her a lot of discomfort.


Petunia looks back, "Harry, do you think you could help? As I need to hold Nixie over this paper, and El can't see her."


Harry eagerly comes to the counter and picks up the razorblade, before dropping it the same way Petunia did. After another demonstration. The three of them are able to get a large pinch of fur in a pile on the parchment.

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A few minutes later, El breathes a sigh of relief. "Well young man, it looks like I can make you a wand after all. We have a perfect match in the wood, and a good match with the core. I dare say that it would be the equal of any wand you could find at Ollivanders."


Harry looks excitedly at Hagrid, "I've got a wand, see."


Hagrid nods gravely, "You do, and I'm sure it will serve you well."


Petunia lets out a sigh of relief as well, "Is there anything you can tell us about the fur?"


El taps his nose, "Not right now, as the spells I'll be using are a trade secret. But I should be able to tell you more tomorrow. In the meantime, you should buy a book on the old gods and practices. That way you can read up on the gods that were associated with Hawthorn. You won't find anything like that in Flourish and Blotts, so I'd try the other bookstores first."


Petunia nods, "We have a meeting at Gringotts at nine, so we'll be by after that."


El smiles as the three of them leave.

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Once they get outside, Hagrid turns to Harry, "Ah'm sorry it's late, but ah bought you a birthday present."


He then hands Harry the cage with the white owl in it.


Petunia is about to object, but Harry coos at the owl first, "It's beautiful. What's its name? What breed is it? What does it need to eat?"


Hagrid raises his hands, "Slow down, slow down, ah canna think that fast… Right, this is a female snowy owl, and she doesn't have a name yet. For feeding, she can either hunt on her own, or you can feed her raw meat or owl treats. She's been fully enchanted for post, so she can find anyone you write to. Oh, and there's plenty of books about keeping owls in Flourish and Blotts."


Harry sticks his finger through the bars of the cage, "She's gorgeous, aren't you girl."


Petunia tenses up as Harry is completely ignorant of the danger he's putting his fingers in, but all the owl does is nibble at the finger before preening herself a bit. As Harry turns to look at her, Petunia's shoulders slump in defeat. "Yes Harry, you can keep the owl, but you need to learn to take care of her properly."


Harry beams a smile, "I will auntie."


Hagrid coughs, "Ah'm sorry about this, but it's getting late, and I have duties to see to at the school. If it's alright with you, I'll leave you here to finish shopping on your own."


Petunia nods and holds out a hand to shake it, "That's fine. You've done more than enough already with what you've done today." She glances at the owl, "Would you like to meet up with us later in the week for lunch, as I'd like to thank you for not only bringing us here, but also showing us around, even if we didn't go where you suggested."


Hagrid shakes his head, "Thank you, but ah was just doing my job."


Petunia shakes her head, "It wasn't nothing to Harry and I, and I doubt it's part of your job. So I feel I have to insist."


Hagrid shakes his head in good humour, "Ok, but only cos you insist. Send your owl with a note to let me know where and when. I'll try to get away to meet you then."

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Harry and Petunia accompany Hagrid to the edge of the market square before they turn right to buy Harry's trunk and Hagrid goes left back to the Leaky Cauldron.


Soon enough, they've passed another wandmaker, and walk into a shop full of odds and ends. On one side, there's a small toilet tent set up, near the front of the store is a pile of chests, and through the rest of the store are all manner of camping supplies.


As they're trying to orientate themselves, a beak nosed man walks out of the back. As he gets closer, he pushes his half moon glasses back up his nose. "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"


Petunia looks doubtfully at the trunks at the front of the store, "We're here for a student trunk, but I was hoping that you'd have something that looks less like it came from the Victorian era."


The man raises his finger, "Ah, muggleborn. You'd be surprised at how few people actually bother to say anything. Anyway, come this way and I'll show you our selection of suitcases. You can choose from one of our in-stock items, standard expanded, and a multicompartment travel suitcase for those times you need to deal with the muggle authorities. If you wanted, you could also order a custom suitcase, and they can have any of the features our trunks have."


Petunia doesn't hesitate, "What's the multicompartment suitcase like?"


The man pauses in front of an array of suitcases, ranging from holdall size to a full four foot tall, one deep, and two and a half foot wide.


Taking one of the larger hard suitcases, he places it on the floor and touches his wand to the combination lock, "So, our travel suitcase comes with a built in chest of drawers that holds expanded drawers."


As he removes his wand, the suitcase pops open and a chest of drawers springs out and stops when it's chest high to Harry. "Under the lid is a full sized trunk space, then each of the six main drawers are a full one foot deep, and four foot front to back. The top two drawers are unexpanded, but we can add a lock to either of them at no extra cost."


After pulling out each of the drawers, and opening the top, to demonstrate. The man reaches down and touches the combination lock with his wand again, "A simple touch with your wand will close the suitcase again. We also have an option where you can't use the magical opening and closing without first setting the combination correctly. But they're an extra galleon on top of the 8 galleon and 10 sickle cost."


Crouching down, he fiddles with the combination, "If you just set the combination and open the case using the latches, you'll get access to the second compartment, which on this model is just an unexpanded interior. Ideal for storing your travel essentials for times that you can't open the chest of drawers."


Harry starts to look at the larger suitcases while Petunia looks at the open one thoughtfully.


Seeing Petunia's expression, the man points at two suitcases that are set apart from the rest, "Those two also have a third compartment, a small study and, or, bedroom. We usually recommend people buy an actual trunk if they want those features. As the wooden trunks can have built in sticking charms and an internal lock added to preserve your privacy, and ensure that nobody walks off with the trunk while you're in it. Modern suitcases just aren't substantial enough to handle that level of work unless they're made from metal like those two."


Petunia nods, "How much is a travel suitcase?"


"Five galleons?" The man asks hopefully.


"How much are the standard student trunks?"


The man winces as he looks back towards the front of the store, "They're two galleons without enchantment. But they are made with quality wood and craftsmanship, just ready to be enchanted after your boy leaves school."


Petunia nods, "Why such a difference?"


The man shrugs, "I'm not a carpenter."


Petunia looks back at the suitcase, "How fragile are they? As I don't want to buy one and have it crack as soon as it gets caught on something."


The man waves his hands, "Oh, no need to worry about that, I include durability enchantments on all of my goods. Whether it's tents, trunks, or suitcases. If you're looking for home supplies, I've also got a nice line in self-stirring spoons and self-heating pans."


Petunia nods, "To start with, we'll just take a travel suitcase, with the additional combination lock thing. Out of interest, would you say that you specialise in camping supplies rather than home supplies?"


"Um, we also sell portable homes. I've sold three trunks with a one acre garden in addition to the six bedrooms, and entertainment rooms they bought."


Petunia nods and counts out six galleons, "Here you go, would you mind helping Harry pick the right suitcase while I have a look around the rest of the store?"


The man uses his wand to summon parchment and ink, before rapidly writing out a bill of sale, and shoving it into Petunia's hands. "Certainly, have a look, though I do have to close in just under an hour."

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20 minutes later, Harry and Petunia are walking back towards The Hopping Pot with a nondescript hard black suitcase with two wheels that looks like it was bought from liquidated stock in the mid 80's. Which, if Petunia's honest, it probably was.


As they're going round the corner, Harry notices that Stove and Packers, the bag shop, is still open.


"Auntie, did I see bags on your list?"


Petunia pulls out the recommendations she bought from Gringotts and glances down the list, "You did indeed."


Harry points at the store, "Well, they're still open."


Petunia sighs, "Well, as we're already here."


The two of them walk into the store, and Harry drags his suitcase over to the counter with the owl, "Um, we're here looking for book bags. Would you mind if I left my suitcase and owl here while I look around?"


The sales assistant looks up from her newspaper, "Sure, though we're closing in 20 minutes."


"Thanks, I'll be quick."


As he turns around to look at bags, he can see that Petunia is already looking at some handbags that look quite expensive. If her gossip circle are anything to go by anyway.


One section of a wall is dedicated to brown leather bookbags, advertised at 8 sickles each. When he walks over to look, they're basically just leather over the shoulder bags with a pocket on the front for pens. There's no magic on them at all to make them larger.


Turning away from the shelves, Harry starts to look at the bags that have been placed on carousel shelves around the floor. His search for a bag takes longer than it should, as Harry watches Petunia pick up the same bag two or three times, and even talk to the sales assistant about it.


Eventually, Harry picks out a wide expanded, over the shoulder handbag, with a fold over closure that uses a turn latch to keep the flap down. Partly, he picks it out because it claims to use a runic plate in the bottom of each of the two compartments for the expansion. But also, he likes the pale blue and pink square woven pattern on the flap, even though he's less enamoured with the white colour.


Walking up to his aunt, he holds up the bag, "Auntie, I've found a bag I like."


Petunia turns around and looks at the bag critically, "You know that's more of a woman's handbag than a book bag."


Harry shrugs and opens the flap, "The book bags are all unexpanded. And after buying the case I figured that having an expanded book bag would be a good plan. This one has two parts to it, so I could keep books in one side, and stuff that could ruin books in the other side."


Many arguments and protests run through Petunia's head as she looks down at Harry. But overriding all of that, is that he picked out the bag himself. Doing her best to keep her disapproval out of her voice, she leans down to kiss Harry on the forehead, "If that's the bag you want, that's the bag we'll buy."


Harry gives Petunia a hug, "Thank you. Could I pay for the bag myself please?"


Petunia laughs and hands him the money pouch, "Go ahead, and also ask if the self-cleaning tags can be used on your bag, as white leather is hard to keep looking nice."


Excitedly, Harry runs over to the counter and places his bag on top, "Hi, can I buy this please?"


The sales assistant looks up from their paper, "Is that everything?"


Harry shakes his head, and motions the assistant closer before quietly saying, "Could I also buy the bag that my auntie was looking at? I want to give it to her as a surprise."


The assistant frowns, "Are you sure you should be spending your aunt's money like that?"


Harry smiles sadly, "It's my money, I live with my aunt because mum and dad are dead."


The assistants face shuts down, "I'm sorry to hear that." Their eyes flick up to Harry's scar, "I shouldn't have said anything, as you're rather famous."


Harry shrugs, "I'd rather have mum and dad than the money."


The sales assistant nods as they cast a spell that causes the bag to fly across the store to the counter, "I can see that. Before I calculate the cost, would you like one of our school writing kits?"


Harry shakes his head, "I don't know, so not today thank you. But we were wondering if we can use the self-cleaning tags from Gladrags."


The sales assistant shakes their head, "No, as all of our higher end bags like these come with the self-cleaning and durability enchantments engraved on the inside of the leather, along with a limited self-repair feature. Your aunt's bag is slightly different, because it uses a plate on the inside of the bag to unseal the second compartment, which is expanded."


The assistant puts their wand to said metal plate and mutters a few words under their breath. "There, I've deactivated the expansion charm. All she'll need to do to reactivate it is push some magic into the plate, same as if she was opening that compartment. Warn her that it will use more magic than she expects. So if she's feeling light headed, she should refrain from magic use for the rest of the day."


Harry nods seriously, "I will, and how much do I owe you?"


"9 galleons, 15 sickles, and 17 knuts. Also, never put the same sort of expansion inside each other. It gets very messy if you do, and you'll have a long stay at St Mungo's. In general, it's ok to put a bag into a trunk or a tent, but not into another bag."


Harry nods seriously as he carefully counts out the money, checking the coins occasionally to ensure that they are actually the right value.

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With their shopping done, the two of them trudge into The Hopping Pot.


As Petunia looks around, she sees a sign by the bar that reads, "Enquire here for rooms."


With a sigh, she leads Harry over to the bar, looking forward to being able to put the clothes down.


Almost as soon as they step up to the end of the bar, the barkeeper walks over, "Good evening, can I help you?"


Petunia sighs, "Do you have some sort of family room?"


The barkeeper shakes his head, "No, sorry. The best we can do is two double rooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom. But the doors have a key lock on the bedroom side, and a simple bar latch on the bathroom side."


"We'll take them, how much are they?"


"Two galleons each a night. You can also pay another four sickles a night for breakfast in the morning."


Petunia checks the money pouch and nods, "Well take it. We have a meeting at Gringotts tomorrow morning, so would we be able to hold the rooms until we've finished Harry's school shopping?"


The barkeeper frowns for a second, "I'll charge you another galleon to hold the room, if you're out by 10, then I'll give it back, otherwise you'll need to be out by four in the afternoon, otherwise you'll need to pay for the night."


Petunia nods and counts out six galleons.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 13




As she watches Harry sleeping peacefully in the in bed with his new owl perched on headboard watching her intently, Petunia whispers to Nixie, "I wish I had a camera, as I don't think I've ever seen Harry look this peaceful."

Softly, Petunia closes the door behind her as she returns to her own room where the peach bag, with dragon fly embroidery on the flap, that flies from flower to flower when the expansion is accessible, sits on her bed.

Picking up the bag, she empties her old handbag into the new one, and then shoves the old handbag into the expanded compartment with a giggle.

With her new bag, Petunia then heads down to the bar for a glass of wine, and some conversation with a waitress that's looking after the bar.

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Petunia blearily opens her eyes to the sound of soft giggling. As she breathes out, a huff, something tickles her nose. Reaching up gently, she feels something fuzzy and her mind slowly catches up to the fact that yesterday wasn't a dream.

Carefully placing Nixie onto her pillow, she sits up and looks over at Harry, "Did you sleep well?"

Harry nods from the doorway, "Yes, thank you auntie."

"Brush your teeth, and then we should do our meditation."

Harry smiles, "I've already done that."

Petunia smiles at him, "Well, wait in your room while I brush my own teeth then."

Harry nods before running into his room. As he goes, Petunia muses how quickly children bounce back when they're given some encouragement.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, Petunia goes into Harry's room and sits on the soft carpet across from him. As she closes her eyes, her mind casts back for the first instructions, and she pays careful attention to what she's doing.

At the end of their practice, Petunia feels like she's back at the beginning again, as it was like every single thought distracted her, her breathing distracted her, and even the carpet was a distraction.

"Are you ok auntie?"

Petunia looks over at Harry, "I'm ok, it's just sinking in that I have magic now, and it was hard to meditate."

Harry nods seriously and whispers, "When we started meditating, I kept worrying about if I was doing it wrong. Then I saw a flower, just for a moment and I knew I was doing it right."

Petunia smiles, "Thank you Harry. We should get dressed and have breakfast before we go to Gringotts."

Harry nods and run to his chest of drawers.

As Petunia gets up to get her own clothes on, she spots the fox lying on the bed and smiles.

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At 8:45, both Petunia and Harry are queuing inside Gringotts waiting for the only open teller to become free.

Five minutes later they both walk up to the counter, and Petunia waits patiently for teller to finish writing.

When they do, they look over the counter at Petunia, "Business?"

Petunia smiles, "Meeting with Kragnast at 9am."

The goblin sneers, "All meetings are booked in at the desks over there."

Petunia turns around to see the desk she waited at yesterday, "Is that the same place meetings are requested."

"Yes. You're in the way, Next!"

Harry and Petunia make their way over to the desks with five minutes to go before the meeting.

At the desk with the busy goblin, Petunia coughs delicately as they lift their quill to re-ink it, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have a meeting with Kragnast at 9am."

The goblin looks up with a scowl and catches sight of Harry's scar. He then looks back down at his desk for a moment. Finding what he was looking for he lifts a slip of parchment off the desk and calls out something in his native language.

A few seconds later a runner takes the slip and glances at it. Looking up again he says, "Follow me" before setting of at a fast walk.




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As Petunia and Harry are let into his office, Kragnast looks up from his review of the Potter accounts, and his notes on meeting Petunia Dursley yesterday.

Forcing his face into a neutral expression rather than the customary sneer of contempt his kind has for witches and wizards, he waves his fingers to conjure a duplicate of the only chair on the other side of the desk. "Take a seat."

When she feels Nixie stirring under her hair, Petunia has just enough time to catch her before she jumps on the newly created chair. That disaster averted, both Petunia and Harry take a seat while Nixie contentedly suckles on Petunia's thumb.

While they're sitting down, Kragnast gathers up most of the documents on his desk and taps the base of them on the desk to square them up. Once he's set them to one side he looks at the two humans in front of him.

"Mrs Dursley, this meeting is about the Magical Guardianship of your ward, one Harry Potter. After reviewing the laws surrounding guardianships, I can confirm that as you are both Magical, and also you're already his legal guardian, we won't require the presence of Harry's current Magical Guardian. Mr Potter, as you have already passed your first magical maturity you will need to willingly sign the same documents as your Aunt. No signature and your guardianship will stay the same."

Petunia glances down at Harry as she asks, "Mr Kragnast. What is Magical Maturity?"

Kragnast makes a note on a sheet of parchment before saying, "All creatures born with magic have it grow with them, much like their bodies grow with them. Only, unlike bodies, magic waxes and wanes in strength based on emotions, diet, fitness, and time, from barely enough to keep them alive to so much that it spills out into the outside world. As you get older, the lowest levels of magic rise towards the highest levels of magic and the periods of extreme lows narrow until they no longer happen. For humans, this is at around 11 years old, and is called your first magical maturity. Your second magical maturity happens at around the age of 17, and is when your magic stops having regular fluctuations. At 25 you'll go through your final maturity, and you'll no longer have spikes in your magic levels. It's these spikes that cause accidental magic."

Petunia's eyes widen, "Is this widely known?"

Kragnast tips his hand from side to side, "The general idea, yes, the specifics. Gringotts has more reason than most to care about the specifics. Do you have any other questions before we move onto the formal process?"

Hesitantly, Harry raises his hand, and immediately puts it back in his lap when Kragnast stares at him. When Harry doesn't say anything, Petunia nudges him, "I think he's waiting for your question."

Harry flinches slightly, before hesitantly asking, "What's a Magical Guardian?"

Kragnast nods approvingly, "As you can probably guess, a Legal Guardian is the person or people who are legally responsible for taking care of you and ensuring that your needs are met. A Magical Guardian is similar, however they are responsible for ensuring that you have been taught about the laws and customs of the Magical World. As a child born to magical parents, they would normally have been both, and you would be expected to know how to behave in society by the time you reach school. For muggleborn children, they are usually assigned a Magical Guardian when they begin magical schooling. Are there any other questions before we begin?"

When neither Harry or Petunia say anything, Kragnast picks up a a sheaf of parchment, "These forms are specifically for a change in guardianship. At the top I will be filling out the name of the child who's guardianship will be changed. In this case it will be Harry James Potter."

Surprised, Harry blurts, "I didn't know I had a middle name."

As Petunia looks down in shame, Kragnast continues, "Further down I will be stipulating that the Legal Guardian is taking on the role of Magical Guardian. As this is the case I will be leaving the current Magical Guardian's name off of the form. If this was a transfer of guardianship, such as if the current magical guardian died or was rendered infirm, I would need to supply both names. On page two there is a section where you need to fill in some details about why the change in guardianship is being requested. Most of that is optional, though you should also fill in the approximate date Harry last saw his current guardian. Finally, on the last page both of you will be required to sign the document with a blood quill."

With a sense of building dread, Petunia asks, "What's a blood quill?"

Reaching into a magically locked drawer, Kragnast pulls out a jet black quill and holds it up, "This is a…"

Petunia's eyes latch onto the quill, and she begins to shiver and cry, "Don't make me sign it, don't make me go back to him! No, let me take them away, no, no, please no."

As she continues to shiver and repeat herself, Nixie jumps off of Petunia hand, and onto the desk. From there, she leaps that the source of Petunia's fear and snags the quill from Kragnast's hand. Almost before she's landed back on the desk, the quill has already had most of the blackness drained from it, revealing a rather plain brown goose feather.

Seconds later, Kragnast runs for the door and wrenches it open before bellowing, "Healer, I need a healer in here!"

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Harry's kicked his shoes off, and is rocking backwards and forwards holding his knees to his chest on the chair by the time an elderly goblin rushes in with to heavily armed guards.

Wide eyed he watches as the elderly goblin makes some kind of hand sign, and the guards stop, and take up positions by the door. The goblin then walks forward and looks intently at Petunia's eyes. Whatever he sees there makes him take out a crystal flask that contains a clear blue liquid. Making a gesture with his fingers, he points at the flask, and then at Petunia. As he does, the liquid vanishes and Petunia almost immediately starts to relax.

While Harry watches his aunt relax, the elder goblin turns to Kragnast and starts to speak rapidly in their guttural language. When they say his aunt's name, he glances over, but as they're ignoring him, he quickly turns back to watching his aunt's shaking first become more visible, and then start to lessen, until she finally blinks and looks around the office.

As soon as she does, the elderly goblin snaps a command at the two guards, who file out of the office and pull the door closed behind them. In English he turns to Petunia and says, "Petuina, I'm a certified goblin healer. I've just given you a calming draught and I need to ask you a few questions."

In a voice almost devoid of emotion, Petunia answers, "Uhh, go on?"

Kragnast lifts a second black quill from the drawer, and the healer points at it, "Have you ever seen one of those quills before?"

Petunia's eyes widen in panic before Kragnast puts the quill back in the drawer, and they return to the slightly dead look they had. "Yes."

"Were you ever forced to use one?"

Petunia nods slightly, her eyes never leaving the edge of the desk Kragnast put the quill, "Yes."

Hesitantly, Harry starts to uncurl, and places a hand on Petunia's arm as the healer asks, "Do you remember any details about the event?"

Petunia swallows before replying in an almost dead voice, "I'd managed to get the children away from Veronon and we'd just been granted emergency housing. Someone punched me in the gut, and I found myself sitting at desk opposite a man that was wearing the sort of robe Oxford students wear. I remember feeling really lightheaded and happy as I read over the piece of paper in front of me that said I promised to live with Vernon, stay faithful to him, and be the best wife I could be. I…I then picked up a black quill and sighed my name at the bottom. The man sitting opposite me then did the same thing and everything went dark. That was the last time I ever escaped."

As she's speaking, Harry bites his lip as he recognises some of what she's saying from the book he was reading. When she finishes he stands up and squirms underneath Petunia's arm while trying to offer comfort.

The healer nods and has a brief conversation with Kragnast before turning back to Petunia. "It seems like you're suffering from a broken obliviation along side the mental trauma of your situation. You should see a qualified mind healer, and they may also recommend that you learn occlumency to deal with the trauma of your past."

Petunia blinks slowly before asking, "Where would I find a mind healer?"

Kragnast wordlessly slides a sheet of parchment and quill over to the healer, who writes a name and address on the parchment. "The address I've written down is the muggle address for St Mungo's, if you use the floo or take the Knight Bus you can just say St Mungo's. You should wait until school has started as this healer has a daughter in Hogwarts, so they're unlikely to be around. They're the healer we send our human employees to if there's been an issue."

Petunia carefully folds the sheet of parchment and put it in her new bag, "Thank you."

Kragnast nods at the healer before turning back to Petunia, "Mrs Dursley, do you feel calm enough to carry on with your appointment, or do we need to reschedule it?"

"I'll." Petunia licks her suddenly dry lips, "I'll be fine."

The healer looks at Petunia critically before saying, "I'm going to remain here to monitor you. I'll also act as the witness to your signatures."

Under the watchful eye of the healer, Kragnast goes through the documents with both Harry and Petunia.

Just before it comes to the signing of the document, the healer takes out another flask of blue liquid, "Mrs Dursley. In the interests of your health, I recommend that you drink a second calming draught. It will magically force your emotions into equilibrium, and allow you to think clearly for for this."

With a weak smile to the healer, Petunia takes the flask and drinks it down.

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════

With the change in guardianship, Petunia is able to have new keys generated for Harry's vaults, plural. She also authorises Kragnast to procure the material that Harry is expected to know before arriving at Hogwarts, along with setting up a new stipend to a new vault in her name.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

As they exit the bank Petunia sags with relief while Harry spots the ice cream shop.


Tentatively, Harry tugs Petunia's sleeve, "Auntie, can we get some ice cream please?"


Petunia looks over at the store longingly before shaking her head, "Not yet, if I sit down now I'm not getting up until my hand stops shaking, and we need to get your wand."


Harry's eyes drop down to the floor and he mumbles, "Yes Auntie."


Petunia puts her hand on his shoulder, and flinches as he flinches from her touch, "Harry, I'm not saying no. I'm saying not until we've got your wand, as we promised we'd go there this morning."


Harry tries to look excited again, but even with the clarification he still feels like she said no.


Morosely, he trudges after Petunia to the wand maker.

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El looks up as Petunia and Harry walk into the store. With a smile he leans down and takes a long, lacquered box from the shelf under the counter.


"Good morning. As promised, I've finished your wand Mr Potter."


Harry looks up from his funk, a little excitement returning to his eyes as he spots the box. Though, when he doesn't see any form of happiness on Petunia's face, his own expression remains in wary neutrality.


A moment later, Petunia smiles at Harry, "Well, go on. It's your wand."


With her encouragement, Harry gives a small smile and walks up to the counter.


With an easy smile, El opens the box and presents it to Harry. "Go on then, give it a swish."


Hesitantly, Harry reaches into the box and closes his hand around the hilt of the wand. As he lifts it out of the box, and trail of red and magical sparks trail behind the tip and float around the store for a few minutes, leaving Harry looking at the wand in awe.


El nods with a satisfied smile, "One well matched wand." He places a short loop of leather on the counter, "Might I suggest that you take the opportunity to also purchase a wand holster, such as this one, for your wand. If you see this small pocket on the front of the holster, it's a specially expanded space that is designed to keep your wand safe."


Pulling his own robes open, he shows both Petunia and Harry the handle of his own wand sticking out of a similar holster. "These are only three sickles each, and they fit on your belt so that only the handle of your wand is exposed. In my personal opinion, it's a worthwhile investment for something that will prevent most accidental damage that is likely to break a wand."


Petunia just reaches into the money pouch, and pulls out three silver coins. "We'll take it."

═══════ ೋღ ֍ ღೋ ═══════​

Despite the short amount of time they spent in the wand shop, the ice-cream shop,, seems to have almost completely filled up with families, and the occasional group of older teenage friends, trying to escape the growing heat of the day. By the time they've finished buying their ice-cream there's only a single table left free, a booth in the direct sunlight right behind another family wearing normal clothing.


With a shrug the two of them take their seats, with Harry sitting with his back to the family. Licking his lips, Harry lifts up his spoon to dig into his ice-cream medley, a scoop of strawberry, lime, vanilla, and chocolate, with a drizzle of hot chocolate fudge, and two little sticks of chocolate 'for saving all of us'. A moment later his owl swoops down out of the sky and lands on the table between him and his ice-scream and starts barking and screeching at him.


As she's barking and screeching Harry shakes his head as he replies, "Oh come on!… I'm sorry… We had a… Well I didn't know… Ok… Yes… But I was meeting…Ok, ok, I'll tell you next time I know that I need to leave you behind…" His shoulders sag as he continues, "Yes, if it's possible I'll bring you along too… No you can't just ride on my shoulder, it's not something people do… I don't know why… Look, if you can find a way for me to do it in the normal world I'm all ears… Yes… Can I eat my ice-cream now?"


As his owl hops up onto Harry's shoulder he looks around and hunches in on himself as he realises that the entire store is looking at them. As he tries to shrink into his chair, the girl with bushy brown hair leans over from the booth behind him and says. "Hi, I'm Hermione, were you really talking to your owl? How did you do that? What breed is it? Are you going to Hogwarts? What do you think of Diagon Alley?"


During the rapid fire questions, Harry slinks further and further into the corner of the booth until one of the adults in the other booth calls, "Hermione! Slow down a little."


Hermione flushes scarlet before ducking her head down and mumbling, "Sorry, I get carried away. Um do you mind if I sit next to you?"


Harry shakes his head slightly, and Hermione grabs her own ice-cream and darts around the double backed chair to slide in next to him. With a broad smile she says, "Um, can I try that again? Hi, I'm Hermione."


Tentatively, Harry smiles back, "I'm Harry, and I haven't named my owl yet, she was a birthday present."


Hermione continues to smile as she says, "Well Happy Birthday. What breed is she?"


As Harry is searching for the answer, Petunia gently leans forward and says, "Harry, don't forget your ice-cream."


With that reminder, Harry dives for his spoon and takes a large mouthful of ice-cream to cover his lapse. As he swallows, he clutches his head as a shooting pain goes through his temple.


With a wince, Hermione says, "I get that. Mum and Dad are dentists so I can only have ice-creams on special occasions, like today when we're out. The trick is to take small bites, or licks, and wait a few seconds before your next bite."


Harry nods gratefully, "Thank you, this is only my second ice-cream. Oh, and I think Hagrid said that she was a snowy owl."

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As the two children start to get to know each other, Petunia gets up and walks round to the other table with her own pot of tea and her ice-cream when Hermione's parents give her a sly wave.


As she sits down, the conversation behind her becomes far more muffled than just the chairs would suggest. Before she can ponder this further, the man opposite her says, "Hi, I'm Callum Granger, and this is my wife Nicole. As you can probably guess, that's our daughter."


Petunia smiles politely, "Petunia Dursley. It's nice to meet you."


Callum shakes his head, "It's our pleasure, especially given that Hermione's actually talking to someone rather than burying her head in a book."


Petunia nods, "I know what you mean. Harry hasn't had the… easiest life, so it's nice to hear him actually talking to someone for once. I'm hoping that getting away from home will do him a world of good."


Nicole nods, "Oh god yes. Oh, and call me Nicky, I always feel like I'm in trouble when people call me Nicole."


"So, dentists. I bet this came as a bit of a shock to you."


Callum shrugs, "Dentists is the simple explanation of what we do. We're actually cosmetic dentists, though we do have some NHS patients our primary business is private customers."


Nicky thumps Callum on the arm, "Callum, don't get started on the difference, as I'm sure that Petunia doesn't need to know."


Petunia smiles politely, "My, husband, sells drills for a living so I know far more about all sorts of obscure industries than I ever wanted to know…"


A few minutes later, Hermione leans over the back of Petunia's chair, "Mummy, Mummy, can we get a bad like Harry's, as I can put my arm into it up to the shoulder. Just imagine how many books I could carry around."


Petunia shakes her head in amusement and puts her own bag on the table, "They're not too expensive. I think Harry's one worked out at around £25, though you do need to make sure you get a bag with runic enchantments rather than normal enchantments as some of the ones on my bag stopped working, and Harry only bought it for me yesterday."


Nicky and Callum both whisper together for a couple of seconds before Nicky says, "Ok honey, we can do that later."


As Hermione slips down the other side again, the three adults chuckle and begin to talk about their experiences in the magical world, which leads Petunia to pull out the list that Gringotts sold her.


It's another couple of minutes later that Harry kneels over the back of the chair, his normal caution temporarily forgotten in his excitement, "Aunt Petunia."


Petunia looks up, "Yes Harry?"


"Can you tell Hermione about the The Dream, as she doesn't believe it's real."


Hermione pops over on the other side, "I can't be true, as all the books say it's a fairy tale used to scare children into going to sleep."


Petunia sighs and carefully pulls Nixie from under her hair, "Given that Harry and I have both been there, I would have to say it's true. It's where I got Nixie after all."


Hermione shakes her head, "But there's nothing there…" As Petunia places Nixie on her arm Hermione's face goes all queer, "Ohh… It's so furry, why can't I see it?"


Petunia shrugs, "I don't know, she's perfectly visible to both Harry and I. Try holding her and letting her suckle on your finger."


Hermione carefully moves the invisible animal around till she's on her palm, and then she giggles as Nixie's tentacles tickle her thumb before latching on, "That feels so funny, and it tickles too. Look Mum!"


Nicky smiles indulgently as Hermione walks to stand in front of her, and then stretches out a finger to stroke the invisible thing.


As she does, Hermione shrieks, "Don't do that, you'll hurt her…" She trails off as Nicky's finger passes straight through Nixie, "How did you do that? You just put your finger straight through her."


Petunia shares a smile with Nicky and Callum, but before she can say anything Hermione's eyes widen, "Wait! If she came from The Dream, why do the books stay it doesn't exist?"


Callum chuckles, "Hermione. You know we've taught you about logical fallacies. Well, one of those is treating speculation as fact. In this case I believe it would be assuming that absence of evidence is evidence of absence."


Hermione looks at her father with a slightly betrayed expression, "Why would they do that?"


Callum looks at Hermione seriously, "Hermione, do you remember me saying that The Sun newspaper wasn't allowed in our house?" When Hermione nods he adds, "Do you remember why?"


Hermione does a passable impression of her father as she recites, "This isn't worth the paper it's printed on, all they do is make stuff up and say it's facts."


Callum nods, "That's right. So what have you learnt today?"


Hermione frowns, "Sometimes books lie?"


Callum shakes his head with a smile on his face, "Close enough."


Hermione starts to hand Nixie back to Petunia, before she abruptly freezes and her expression turns to one of fear, "Mum, Dad, the books say that people who stay up too late just disappear."


Petunia shakes her head, "Hermione, that only applies to people with magic. Your parents will be fine."


Hermione starts to shake her head with small little shakes, "I don't want to disappear."


From the back of the chair Harry softly says, "I'm learning to meditate so I can learn how not to disappear."


Hermione latches onto that idea, "Mum! Dad! I want to learn to meditate so that I don't disappear."


Callum and Nicky share a glance before looking at Petunia, who nods, "Ok dear, we'll get you some books on it and you can learn."


Hermione beams at them and hugs her mum as hard as she can, momentarily forgetting about Nixie, who escapes to Petunia's hair once more. "Thank you! Thank you! I'm going to get really good at it, then I'll become a warlock, like in the fairy tails, and take you to see the dream with me."


A moment later she's run back to her ice cream, and begins questioning Harry on how to mediate.


With an indulgent smile at the other table, Nicky pulls out a business card and a pen before scribbling their home number on it, "As they're both going to Hogwarts, and they've already made friends, we should see if we can meet up during the last of the holidays."


Petunia nods and turns the list over to reveal a rough map of the alley, "Well, Harry and I were planning on heading to Globus Mundi Travel over here in Carkitt Market. I also wanted to pop into the House-elf placement agency, just to find out what on earth a house-elf is. If you feel up to it, we could give those two a galleon each and leave them in Wizz hard books while we do the other stuff."


Callum and Nicky both share a glance before Harry pops over the chair again, "Aunt Petunia, can I take Hermione to our room, as she wants to see my suitcase."


Petunia shares a glance with Callum and Nicky, who nods, before picking up her bag, "Make sure you've got all of your things, and then we can all go."


Harry yips in happiness and grabs his bag and Hermione's hand before running off down the alley.


The three of them quickly grab their own bags and hurry after the children.

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It doesn't take much to persuade Callum of the utility of buying Hermione one of the travel suitcases as well as an expanded bookbag. Or as he put it, "She can use the bloody thing as her dresser at home, book storage, and still have space for her holiday stuff. And we won't look like idiots trying to heft the stupid thing into the car."


From there, the children are left in Wizz Hard Books while Petunia, Callum, and Nicky all familiarise themselves with the different shops on Petunia's list. Nicole's exasperated sigh when Gladrags is pointed out comes with a, "I wish Professor McGonagall had shown this to us before we spent a small fortune on school clothes."


Globus Mundi is easy as the Knight Bus has a small display with parchment pamphlets detailing the instructions for calling, and the price list.


Then they walk into the House-elf placement agency.

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No sooner has Petunia crossed the threshold to the House-elf Placement Agency that there is a series of pops and she's surround by 10 short humanoids around three foot tall and bald, with long almost bat-like ears, and large soulful eyes.


"Missy Magic, please can I come home with you. Please, I am a good elf and I won't be any trouble."


From outside the store, Nicky chuckles, "Well, they're certainly something."


Helplessly Petunia looks around, "Hello, is anyone here?"


"Please Missy Magic, you's is so strong you could easily take all of us."


From further in the store comes a disgruntled voice, "Oi! What have I told you about mobbing the customers?"


Nearly a minute after the initial shout, a surly man walks out of the back of the story while wiping his hands on a rag, that he then vanishes with a negligent flick of his wand. "Good afternoon… Right you lot, back in your rooms, and if you're not there in 10 seconds you'll be taken off the register for a week."


All the elves take one last longing look at Petunia before they vanish with a series of soft pops.


A little discombobulated, Petunia cautiously puts her hands down and walks up to the desk, "Good afternoon, I spotted this store last night when we were checking in next door. Um, what is a house-elf?"


The man sighs as he sits down at his desk, "Muggleborn parents huh? Don't get many of you lot here. Well, before I even start on anything else, the first thing you need to know is that House Elves are not slaves. Nobody quite knows where they originally came from, but what we do know is that they require magic in order to survive. They are also active little buggers, and they need to be doing something nearly all of the time otherwise they start going stir crazy." He points at Petunia, "With the way they were all crowding around you, I'd imagine you're probably a squib, as there ain't no way you're a muggleborn yourself as you'd know what a house-elf is. You might be able to bond one house-elf if you share the bond with your kid. Otherwise you'll just make yourself sick, and condemn them to a slow lingering death. If, in the future you think you could use a devoted servant that would literally die in order to please you, then bring your kid back with you, and we'll see. Apart from that, you know what they are, now please leave before they decide they've been in their rooms long enough to count."


Slightly nonplussed, Petunia turns around and walks out. "Thank you for the information sir."

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As they're leaving the Agency, Nicky exclaims in surprise, "Hermione! I thought we told you to stay in the bookshop."


Standing beside her, Harry shuffles his feet and looks down, "I'm sorry, it's my fault as Hermione said that she didn't have her wand, so I figured that as El was so good about my wand I should take her to get one."


Petunia covers her face to hide her chuckling as Nicky adopts a put upon expression while Callum tries to stifle his own laughter, "Harry, when Hermione said she didn't have her wand, she meant that we made her leave it at home. Not that she didn't have a wand."


In a small voice, Harry says, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."


Petunia crouches down and holds her hands out to Harry, "Harry, come here. You did nothing wrong. The only thing you could have done better is to check with Hermione's parents to see if it was ok to buy her a wand. Now how did you pay for it?"


Harry smiles shyly as he walks over to Petunia, "I put some extra money in my backpack yesterday, just in case you stopped being my Auntie and decided you didn't want me."


Petunia pulls Harry into a gentle hug, "Oh Harry. Nixie will never let me become that person again. You know how she ate the spell yesterday? She can do that to me again and again."


Awkwardly, Callum coughs, "Well, we should really be going as we've got a 2 hour train ride to get back to Crawley."


Petunia looks up, "Harry has his wand, why don't we all use the knight bus. That way Harry and I can bring Hermione in to get her wand tomorrow."


Nicky looks at the hopeful expression on Hermione's face before looking at Callum, "Well, it might save us time, and it means she's not moping around the surgery tomorrow."


Callum considers it for a couple of seconds before nodding, "Well, we might as well find out what it's like. It'll certainly be cheaper than the tube and train in future if it's even close to the same speed."

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Less than half an hour later, a smiling, if slightly dizzy, Harry and Petunia both step down off the Knight Bus at the end of Privet Drive and wave goodbye to the Grangers.


As they get to around 10 yards from the front door, it feels like they've just walked into an electric fence, and it feels like all the strength has just drained out of them as something digs deep into their souls.


Blinking tears out of his eye, Harry braces himself on his suitcase as Petunia collapses onto his shoulder. Shaking his head from side to side he grinds out, "We're almost home auntie, you just need to get your key out."


Petunia fumbles the flap of her handbag open and fishes around for her key. Only the fact that the bag is on a shoulder strap stops her from dropping it as a dull red shield starts to glow around the house.


With shaking hands, Petunia finally fishes out the key and slots it in the door. As it swings open she whispers, "Get inside, we'll be safe there. Remember the protections."


Harry just nods as he helps Petunia in through the door and manages to push the door closes behind them before she lurches towards the sofa and collapses weakly onto it.

 

[Darkphoenixlady]

Chapter 14

​

"Brrring, Brrring."


Blearily, Petunia prizes her eyes open as the upstairs phone continues to ring incessantly. Almost immediately she closes them again at the bright sunlight streaming through the front room window. As she shifts her head to one side it feels like someone's trying to drag her tonsils out of her nose.


"Brrring, Brrring."


With a groan she reaches up with her free hand to rub her nose, only to find Nixie sleeping on her face with her tentacles firmly wedged inside both nostrils.


"Brrring, Brrring."


Opening her eyes once more she groans, "Vernon will want breakfast so…"


Suddenly wide awake, Petunia sits bolt upright on one of the armchairs and glances around wildly, and waking Nixie. After a few seconds her awareness comes back to her and she starts to calm down as she mutters to herself. "It's Monday, Vernon's not due back till Saturday. I'm safe till Saturday."


When the phone stops ringing, and her breathing subsides, Petunia sags back into the chair and looks around the room. As her eyes land on the clock she mutters, "7:25, that's too early for Vernon to be calling and we have an hour before the Granger's are expecting us."


Then her eyes land on Harry sleeping on the sofa with his owl perched on his back and grooming his hair. With a smile she pushes herself to her feet, and walks into the kitchen to put the kettle on.

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A few minutes later, Petunia manually turns the kettle off and makes herself a cup of tea from the pot, only to drop it in fright as the doorbell rings.


Clutching her chest she steps over the puddle and shards of ceramic, she makes her way to front door. As she walks to through the dining room her normal mask falls back into place, and her posture straightens up.


When she spots Harry starting to stir on the sofa, Petunia shakes her head and tries to force herself to relax again while repeating, "It's not Vernon, it's not Vernon."


With a broad smile on her face, she pulls open the front door and freezes as she spots Nicole and Hermione both standing at the door. In a concerned voice, Nicole says, "Hi, sorry to barge in, but after you said you'd be at ours at 9, we tried phoning a couple of times. Then we got the knight bus here because someone was worried that you'd both disappeared."


Hermione squirms slightly as Nicole ruffles Hermione's hair.


Petunia shakes her head as she steps backwards, "Not at all. Nicole, Hermione, come on in. I'm sorry the place is a mess, we had a bit of trouble getting into the house, and we've only just woken up."


Nicole pats Petunia's arm as she passes, "Please call me Nicky. I'd like to think we're friends."


Petunia nods a couple of times as her eyes tighten, before saying, "I'd just made a pot of tea when you rang the bell. Would either of you like one?"


Fortunately, Nicky takes the offer with a smile, "That would be lovely."


Hermione cheerfully responds, "Can I have some water please?"


Petunia nods and gestures to the chairs, "Take a seat and I'll bring them through."


Swiftly she walks back into the kitchen before leaning against the counters and taking a couple of deep breaths. A few seconds of trying to meditate later, and she's almost back to the way she was when she woke up yesterday morning.


Touching the back of the teapot, she's pleasantly surprised to find that it's still warm enough to drink. With a more genuine smile, Petunia reaches into the cupboard for her fine china, before pausing and instead grabbing a couple of mugs and a packet of biscuits. Anything to separate this interaction from the gossip queens that normally visit.


By the time she makes her way back into the living room with a tray, Nicol… Nicky has made herself comfortable in an armchair, while Hermione is sat on the end of the sofa looking at Harry with a confused expression as she strokes his hair.

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After a couple of minutes politely drinking tea at each other, Petunia ventures, "Thank you for coming to check on us. It's refreshing having someone do that."


Nicky smiles, "You're most welcome. I must confess that the idea that Hermione might disappear one day, just because she was too absorbed by something, kept me up longer than I should have been last night."


Petunia nods, "Since we found out about it, we've been meditating every morning. I'd imagine that it's why the books play the whole thing off as a fairy tale. To be honest, with everything that's happened over the last week, and the attack when we got home last night, I feel like I did when Harry and Dudley were both two. I don't even know what time it is as I think our clock has stopped."


Nicky glances at her wrist, "It's 10:15. And if you're tired we can do this tomorrow and I'll take Hermione to the surgery today."


Petunia shakes her head as Hermione holds her breath, "No, no. It's no trouble, can you give me a few minutes to have a shower and get changed, as well…"


Nicky smiles understandingly, "Don't worry, I had my fair share of waking up wearing yesterday's clothes."


Petunia pushes herself to her feet and heads to the stairs rather than try to defend herself. A quick shower and change of clothes later and Petunia feels a lot better and ready to face the world. Just as they're about to leave, she notices a Southern Electric van on the road outside and a man in a boiler suit walking down the path next door. Predictably, he comes to their house next and the doorbell rang.


Petunia answers the door, polite mask falling into place."Hello, can I help you?"


The man flashes his ID, "We got a few calls last night about an electric surge and a power cut, we resolved the problem earlier this morning, but we're going around the affected houses to make sure your fuse boxes are still ok. Would it be OK if I came in?"


"Oh, sure. Sorry about the mess, we just got back from holiday. Vernon and Dudley decided to stay for another day so I've not had time to unpack."


"Don't worry ma'am, I'm sure I've seen worse."


"The fuse box is in the kitchen, this way."

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A quick check of the fuse box and a couple of new fuses and he was off to the next house. As she closes the front door, Petunia lets her mask drop with a visible effort. As she finishes getting ready to go out, she grabs her new handbag and smiles sadly as she takes out a pen and writes a note for Harry before leaving it on the coffee table.


As she walks out with Nicole and Hermione she says, "Thank you for wai…" she trails off mid-word and stops dead, her jaw dropping in awe as she sees a shimmering translucent golden shield stretched over the house and the next few houses on either side.


Nicole touches Petunia's arm in concern, "Are you OK?"


"You can't see it? It's beautiful."


Nicole looks at Hermione with a confused expression, who shakes her head with an equally confused expression. "No, sorry we can't."


Shaking her head Petunia brings herself back to the present and quickly finishes closing and locking the front door.


Together the three of them walk to the end of the road, where Hermione puts her wand up and a moment later the knight bus arrives.

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Harry wakes up with a stifled groan as something sharp digs into his shoulder. Carefully he listens out for any sign of who might be jabbing him at the same time he tries to work out where he is. When he can't hear Vernon's heavy breathing, or Dudley's giggling, he pushes himself up and blinks as he recognises the cushions of the sofa.


As he scoots backwards off the couch, there's a screech and a flapping sound as his owl jumps off him to land somewhere nearby.


Feeling around his knees, Harry lets out a sigh of relief when he doesn't feel any fragments of his glasses. Over the next few minutes he pats around the floor until he spots a dark blur on the coffee table. Carefully, he reaches out for the blur and grabs the glasses and puts them on his face. As the room resolves into a recognisable shape he spots the note on the table.


Harry,


Just taking Hermione to get her wand. We should be back for lunch.


Petunia


As he looks around the front room, he frowns at the teapot and mugs that have been left out, along with his own suitcase and book bag lying by the front door. With a sigh he starts tidying up the front room and pours himself a large bowl of cereal, the stuff that normally Dudley's only allowed to eat. As he takes the first bite he chokes at the cloyingly sweet flavour, and feeling like he's eating cotton wool. After the second bite, he seriously considers throwing the whole bowl away and having a couple of Wheat-a-bix, however, years of being sent away from the table hungry see him slowly finish the bowl as he completes his normal chores.


By the time Auntie Petunia and Hermione walk back in, Harry has finished cleaning up downstairs, and has also put his new travel chest of drawers in his bedroom, and transferred everything from his old chest of drawers to the new one, including Fox.

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As Harry comes down the stairs Hermione holds up a leather bag with a fluttering butterfly on it, "Look, at this. Mummy bought me a bag just like yours. I bet I can fit all of my books inside it, what's your favourite book?"


Harry freezes a couple of steps from the bottom, at the sudden bombardment, "Uh. Flatland?"


Hermione freezes and then frowns, "I've never heard of that book. Is it any good?"


Petunia chuckles, and shoos Hermione towards the chairs, "Why don't you sit down while I make a pot of tea and you can both talk about it." She holds up a small parcel and a sheet of parchment, "Harry, this came from the bank. The note says to tap it three times with your wand."


Harry looks at Petunia dumbly for a moment, before running back upstairs to get his wand. A couple of minutes later Harry and Hermione are staring at three books. Mrs R Read's guide to deportment and composure, Mr M Chapman's Portal into Presentation, and Mr N Shorten's Abbreviated Annals of Etiquette.


Petunia glances at the covering note as Hermione's eyes almost sparkle as she looks at the books, "Harry, we have to read all of these. Oh, and we should practice them too. I bet they're super important."


As Hermione reaches for Mrs Read's book, Petunia chooses not to point out that the goblins just picked the three best books that their human employees suggested. Not the three books most suitable for Harry.


As Harry slowly lets his guard down around Hermione as she excitedly talks about the fact she's got all of this makeup at home, so they can practice putting it on there, Petunia nods quietly to herself. Letting him get used to being with children his own age is far more important than ensuring that he is reading the right books.

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At lunch time, she interrupts the children as they've got all three books open on different pages. "Right you two, there's some sandwiches on the table."


Harry jumps at the sudden noise, and looks up at his aunt in dread, "I'm sorry Aunt Petunia!"


Petunia crouches down and strokes his arm gently as Hermione looks on in confusion, "It's ok Harry, you were having fun. You're allowed to have fun."


As Harry hyperventilates, Hermione asks, "Is Harry ok?"


Petunia shakes her head as she gently pulls him into a hug, "Harry, hasn't had the best life. Vernon, isn't a good man. Harry'll need your support and understanding to learn what friends are."


Hermione looks down, "I, uh, I've never had a friend before."


"Then you can learn together. Come on Harry, I made you a selection of sandwiches as I don't know what your favourite are."


As he gets his breathing under control Harry looks up, "Yes Auntie."


Petunia kisses Harry on the forehead before letting him go as tears damp her eyes.


After the sandwiches have been demolished, and the juice drunk, Harry is about to start tidying up when Petunia softly says, "Harry, why don't you move the coffee table and show Hermione how to mediate while I tidy up here."


Harry stands there with a plate in his hands, frozen in indecision, "But Auntie…"


Petunia smiles softly at Harry, "Harry, Vernon isn't here so we're free, and Hermione's a guest. Go and meditate and I'll bring out the timer once I'm done. After that you can show her around the village."


Harry stands there for a couple more seconds as Hermione frowns, then Petunia takes the plate and he shakes his head. Forcing a smile on his face, he dodges around Hermione into the front room, "Um, could you help me with the table please?"

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Once the table's out the way, Harry sits down cross legged on the rug and points to a spot in front of the sofa. Hermione sits down in a similar position, "What do we do?"


"Right, um, well meditation is a way of clearing your mind and getting rid of the thoughts that are always going on in the background. Um, have you ever tried to watch birds feeding while you're in the garden?"


Hermione thinks for a couple of seconds, then shakes her head, "No, but I have tried to get a squirrel to feed from my hand."


Harry nods, "When you're moving around and doing stuff, the birds never come. But when you stop, and take a quiet break in a bush, the birds forget that you're there and they start to land on the grass. Then you can watch them dancing around looking for seeds and worms. Meditating is a bit like that, except our thoughts are us moving around, and we're looking for our magic. So you need to close your eyes and try to have a very quiet mind, but not so quiet that you're not looking anymore."


"What does it look like?"


"Mine's a flower. But I've seen dozens of birds in the garden, maybe magic is the same."


Hermione opens her mouth to say something, before she closes it with a disappointed frown. As she does Harry tenses as he expects her to shout, then she says, "Oh, are there any books about meditating?"


Harry nods, "There's a book at the library, I can show you later."


"I'd like that."

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After an hour of meditating, Petunia follows the two children through the park and watches as Harry hesitatingly pushes Hermione on the swings, and allows her to push him after a few minutes. She dabs at her eyes when she realises that he's scanning the park warily even once he's started laughing and taking turns on the slide. Eventually she calls them and Harry shows Hermione through the park to the Library.


Half an hour later, Petunia stands up from the table where Harry and Hermione are both chattering quietly as they've started at the beginning of the book on meditation.


As she loiters around the counter, trying to figure out a good way to word her request, Karen walks over, "Can I help you?"


Petunia glances over at Harry before giving out a choked whisper, "Are there any books that will help me not start pretending again?"


"Have a look at 150-159, that's the self help books."


Petunia nods and says, "Thank you" before walking off to the shelves to find the right section.