Maya Dursley [ABANDONED, ENDING REVEALED]

2: Right Up Their Diagon Alley

Next morning it was Harry's eleventh birthday. Maya had not bothered to get him a present, but he did not care. The fact that they had been allowed to go to Hogwarts was all he cared about that day. He just wondered how they were supposed to let the school know that they would attend, and where they would get their books and other supplies.

It was about nine a.m. when the house was made to shake by loud banging on the door. Maya and Harry looked at each other and Petunia went to answer the door. "Hello, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," a thunderous voice said, and both children immediately made their way to the hallway where they came face to face with a giant man with a wild beard. "Ah, there yeh are Harry, las' time I saw yeh, yeh was only a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes," the giant man said with a smile, completely ignoring Petunia, who had inadvertently stepped aside and was now leaning against the wall. The man stepped inside and very carefully closed the door behind him. Everyone was too surprised to say anything, so Hagrid spoke again. "Happy birthday to yeh, Harry! Got summat fer yeh." He handed Harry a box and then looked at Petunia. "Can we sit down somewhere?" Petunia pointed at the living room with a trembling finger, still too scared to say anything. "Thanks," Hagrid said, leading the way into the living room. There Harry opened the box and found that it contained a cake with Happee Birthdae Harry written on it.

"Thank you!" he said happily, while Hagrid sat down on the couch (it barely held his weight), "but, who are you exactly?"

"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts," Hagrid repeated, "o' course you and Maya here know all about Hogwarts." This was the first time he acknowledged Maya, but he addressed Harry with considerably more friendliness.

"Sorry, sir, not really. Harry and I just know that it's a school for magic and that Harry's mother attended it. That's literally all we know," Maya said carefully. Hagrid's eyes flashed into Petunia's direction, who was nervously standing in a corner of the room.

"They're allowed to go, they've read their letters, you can explain everything," she muttered.

Hagrid sighed. "Harry, Maya, yeh are a wizard and witch. Harry's parents were a wizard and a witch too, and some of the finest I've ever seen. I'll never forget the day they were murdered." He pulled out a handkerchief, but Harry angrily looked at his aunt.

"Murdered? You told me they died in a car crash!"

Petunia said nothing, but Hagrid jumped to his massive feet. "A car crash? Lily and James Potter died in a car crash?! This is an outrage!" he bellowed.

"I had to tell something," Petunia mumbled feebly.

"Unbelievable!" Hagrid said furiously.

"Who murdered my parents?" Harry asked eagerly, but Hagrid shook his head.

"I'm not sure if I'm the right person ter tell yeh, Harry. Well, we'd better be off, gotta buy yer school supplies, come yeh two!" he said and he abruptly marched back to the front door, causing the entire house to shake once more.

Once outside, Hagrid kept mumbling irritably. "Can't believe it... yeh never knew. Those Dursleys..." But then he realised that Maya was uncomfortably following Harry and him and thus he dropped the subject. They walked to the little subway station and quickly found themselves in the centre of London, where they started walking down a busy shopping street. "All right, so, what do yeh need?" Hagrid asked Harry, still not giving Maya much attention.

Harry took out his list. "First year students will require: three sets of plain work robes (black), one plain pointed hat, one pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar), one winter cloak, a wand, a pewter cauldron, one set of glass or crystal phials, one telescope, one set brass scales and a whole list of books," Harry read aloud.

"Can we find all this in London?" Maya asked from behind them.

"If yeh know where ter go," Hagrid said without looking back. Two minutes later they came to an abrupt halt. So abrupt, in fact, that Maya literally walked into Hagrid but he did not seem to notice. "Here we are. The Leaky Cauldron. A famous pub, and the gateway ter Diagon Alley, where we'll buy yer supplies. Now, don't be shy," Hagrid said, motioning for them to enter. Maya noticed that nobody else seemed to see the pub, but before she could dwell on that thought Hagrid softly ushered her inside, after her cousin. There were merely a few people inside, who all seemed to know Hagrid; they merrily waved at him.

"Hi, Hagrid! The usual, I presume?" the barman asked.

"Not today, Tom. I'm on official Hogwarts duty, yeh see," Hagrid said proudly, "just helping young Harry Potter and his cousin here buy their school supplies." The lively chatter in the pub faded immediately, and before they knew it everyone had gathered around them. Maya found herself carefully and gently pushed aside by the adult wizards and witches.

"Bless my soul! Harry Potter, what an honour!" the barman said, shaking his hand.

"Welcome back to our world!" a witch said happily. Hagrid was beaming, Harry was shocked and Maya was somewhat jealous of all the attention he got. It took about ten minutes before they could leave; people kept shaking hands with Harry and telling him how happy they were to see him. Then Hagrid led the children to a backdoor, through which they found themselves on a very small courtyard with a brick wall.

"See, Harry, yeh're famous!" Hagrid said excitedly.

"But why? How come everyone knows my name?" Harry asked bemused. And how come nobody knows my name? Maya thought bitterly. She wanted to be famous too.

Hagrid sighed. "All right. I'll tell yeh after we got yer supplies. Yeh can't go ter school without knowing." He then got out a pink umbrella and tapped some bricks. The blocks magically shifted and revealed a long street filled with shops and people. "Welcome ter Diagon Alley!" Hagrid said happily.

Maya and Harry had never seen anything like it. There were shops selling broomsticks, quills, owls and other animals, books, robes, wands and so much more. Especially the broomstick shop drew quite the crowd. The street was absolutely fascinating and the first real taste the two children got of the wizarding world. Only now was Maya one hundred per cent convinced that all this was real and not some kind of prank. There was only one problem.

"Hagrid," she asked, "how are Harry and I to pay for all this? We don't have a lot of money, especially now that my father is no longer around."

Hagrid gave her a surprised look. "What happened ter him?" he asked.

"Well, he left us after he found out that I could do magic," Maya said sheepishly.

"Oh..." was all Hagrid said, but after that his attitude towards her softened a lot.

Maya's question was answered when they got to Gringotts, the wizarding world's bank. "Yeh don't think yer parents left yeh with nothing, eh?" Hagrid asked Harry, before turning to Maya. "And don't yeh worry either, Maya. Hogwarts has special funds fer those who don't have... well, yeh get it." She nodded. One could exchange Muggle money for wizarding money, but that was not much help to her either right now.

When they entered the big, white building, Maya and Harry immediately spotted creatures they had never seen before. They were short, had long fingers and feet and a pointed nose and ears. They did not make a particularly friendly impression on the children, and sure enough Hagrid said: "Goblins. Very intelligent, but not very friendly creatures. Better stick close ter me." They walked through the hall, in which about a hundred goblins were working behind counters and then the trio made their way to the main counter.

"Morning," Hagrid said, "we've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry Potter's vault, as well as the Hogwarts vault." The goblin leaned forwards to get a better view of the children.

"And do you and Mr Harry Potter have their keys?" the goblin asked coldly.

"Oh. Yes, should have them here somewhere." Hagrid rummaged in his pockets and finally found both keys. "There's something else," he went on, discreetly handing the goblin a letter, "it's about you-know-what in vault you-know-which."

The goblin nodded. "Very well."

Another goblin led them through a door, where they descended to the depth caverns. They all climbed in a cart and it sped off on little railway tracks. Plenty of vaults passed them by, and at one point they even crossed a lake. The cart then slowed down and ultimately came to a halt. They found themselves in front of a row of vaults, and the goblin that accompanied them opened the biggest of the bunch.

Inside the vault was an immense amount of gold coins, stacked up and almost reaching the ceiling. The vault barely had enough room to contain all of it. Harry gasped. "All yers," Hagrid said, patting Harry on the shoulder and almost causing him to fall. Maya's mouth fell open; she did not even know what to say. Then a very strong feeling of envy came over her, but she did not want to show it; she tried to make a face expression of benign interest while Hagrid and Harry filled a large bag with coins.

After that they went to the Hogwarts vault, where Hagrid helped her fill a much smaller bag with the same type of gold coins. Finally, they went even deeper underground to a vault bearing number 713. It had a huge door, which the goblin opened for them. To the children's surprise, the vault appeared to be empty, apart from a very small package on the floor, which Hagrid quickly grabbed. "Best not ter mention this ter anyone," he told Harry and Maya. They nodded.

It felt good to be outside again after that. They first bought their uniforms; Maya liked the black robes a lot even though she had to get hers second-hand. She felt a strange but pleasant sensation of power when she saw herself in the mirror wearing them. After that they got their school books, where she had to get even third-hand copies. She again felt envious of Harry when he purchased eight brand-new books, but quickly pushed that sentiment aside. This was supposed to be a special day after all, and even though her books obviously looked very shabby in comparison to Harry's, she knew that ultimately it was about the content. After buying their potion ingredients, all that was left on the list were wands. Both Maya and Harry had been extremely excited about that.

When they got to the wand shop called Ollivanders, Hagrid told them to go inside while he would go and do something real quick. The shop was dark and there were shelves of boxes, which Maya assumed contained wands. "Hello?" Harry called and a man appeared. He was fairly old and had a friendly demeanour.

"Ah, yes, I was already expecting you, Mr Potter," he said softly. He just nodded at Maya, who again experienced how her cousin was famous and how nobody knew her. "It seems only yesterday that your parents came to buy their wands. Well then, try this one." He handed Harry a wand, after which the boy looked at him dumbfounded. "Well, go on then, give it a wave!" Mr Ollivander urged him, and so he did, but as a result a lot of boxes came crashing down from their shelves. "No, not that one," the wandmaker said unfazed, while Harry had inadvertently taken a step back in fright. After a few more disastrous wands, Mr Ollivander carefully selected another one. "I wonder... maybe this one..." he mumbled to himself. As soon as he handed the wand to Harry, the boy felt it was right. He felt a certain warmth in his fingers and when he gave it a wave golden stars shot out of it. "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. But... very curious," Mr Ollivander said slowly, "very curious indeed."

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry inquired.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. Every one of them. The phoenix, whose tail feather resides in your wand, gave only one other feather. One. And it just so happens that its brother gave you that scar. It's very curious that you should be destined for this wand, but the wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter, always remember that. We can expect great things from you, because, after all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things, terrible, yes, but great." Somewhat bewildered, Harry stepped back to allow his cousin to buy her wand.

"Hello sir," Maya said carefully.

"Hello, who might you be?" the wandmaker asked politely.

"Er, Maya Dursley, I'm Harry's cousin," she said.

"Dursley..." the man muttered, "never had anyone with that name before." Maya decided not to respond, careful not to say something stupid. The first wand Mr Ollivander gave her was terrible; after a flick two glass windows shattered.

"Sorry!" Maya said quickly, handing him the wand, but again Mr Ollivander did not seem to mind.

"Risk of the job," he said with a smile. The second wand, however, was simply it. "A yew wand, salamander bone, nine inches, rigid. The wands of yew endow their possessors with the power of life and death, and retain a particularly dark and fearsome reputation in the spheres of duelling and curses," the wandmaker explained. A wand that excelled in duelling and curses? Maya liked that a lot, no, she loved it. As soon as she held the wand in her fingers, she felt a powerful sensation coming over her as if she was glowing. It was like something was running through her veins and that she could conquer the world. She smiled, but was interrupted by knocking on the window, the only one that had not broken.

"Harry! Happy birthday!" Hagrid said happily, carrying a snowy owl in a golden cage. Harry gasped in delight, but Maya could not help rolling her eyes. She would have liked an owl too.

Before Hagrid would take the children home, they went for a drink in the Leaky Cauldron. They sat at a table, but neither Maya nor Harry said much. This day had made quite the impression on them; they were very excited, but somewhat tired and Maya was still not over the fact that Harry was rich and famous and she was really not. He, meanwhile, wondered about his parents and his new wand.

"He killed my parents, didn't he?" Harry asked carefully, "the one who gave me this." He pointed at his scar. Hagrid sighed. "You promised me to tell me after we got our supplies, Hagrid," Harry persisted.

"All right, Harry. Yeh see, not all wizards are good. Some are bad. A few years ago, one of them went as bad as yeh can go. His name was V-... Voldemort."

"Voldemort?"

"Shh! Don't say that aloud! It scares people!" Hagrid hissed. "It was dark times, Harry. Yeh didn't know who yer could trust. Voldemort became more powerful by the day and he gathered a large following, but yer parents fought against him. One night he came ter their house and..." Hagrid pulled out a handkerchief, "murdered them. Then he tried ter kill yeh. That's no ordinary cut on yer forehead, Harry. That cut is the result of a very dark curse. But he couldn't kill yeh, something about yeh stumped him that night. That's why yer famous. That's why everyone knows yer name. Yer the boy who lived, Harry."

Harry and Maya had listened breathlessly to this. Maya looked at Harry with her mouth slightly ajar. She did not care much about his parents' untimely demise, or that that was the reason for Harry's fame and wealth, but just wondered if he had extreme powers. "What happened to him?" Harry asked.

"Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. I reckon he's still out there, somewhere, trying ter somehow regain his powers," Hagrid said. Harry said nothing, but he and Maya had a lot to think about when they went back home.