Hagrid stopped outside a dark exterior pun with a sign that barely seemed to hang on. “This is the Leaky Cauldron. Through here is where we’ll get to where we need to go. Though I should warn you, everyone, your famous Harry.”
Amaryllis snorted at the distaste on her brother’s face. “Better you than me.”
Harry shoved her lightly to the side. “Sod off, Lissie.”
“I shall ever be grateful to be in your presence and shielded away from the glory you hold,” Amaryllis joked, moving out of her brother’s way before he could swat her again.
“I hate you.”
Amaryllis giggled as she saw her brother shake his head with a small smile on his face.
Hagrid only shook his head and opened the door to the pub. The chatter that drifted outside dwindled to a low mumble as they entered. All eyes had raked from her auburn hair that stood out to her brother’s black hair and piercing green eyes.
They followed Hagrid across, passing tables and faces that followed their every move. As they grew closer to the counter with an even older man behind it cleaning a cup out with a rag she was sure hadn’t seen a washer in decades wiped the water off it.
She scrunched her nose up when he placed it down on a stack of other glasses behind him.
The man turned back to face Hagrid and greeted him with a smile that had a few missing teeth.
“Oh, no. Nothing today, Tom. I’m here to show Harry and Amaryllis Diagon Alley and get their supplies for school.”
Her head turned to glare up at him. She was surprised no one noticed or knew what their so-called ‘famous’ wizard looked like, but she would have thought Hagrid would have known better than to use names and fly under the radar. But that seemed to be a fleeting wish just as a shooting star granted wishes.
The man looked down between them, his eyes slowly growing wider the longer he took in Harry’s features. “I’ll be. It’s Harry Potter.”
If Amaryllis thought the pub could have gone any quieter, she would have been wrong when the noise depleted to nothing that she could have heard a pin drop.
Her brother’s name had begun to be whispered all over in low hushed voices, but so many had passed it around enough that it was low chatter in her ears.
Without holding back, Amaryllis rolled her eyes at the audacity the people had.
“Can we—”
If she had a pound for every time she had been cut off in her life, she felt like she’d be rich at that moment. People had filed up quicker around them, hoarding her brother before she could have Hagrid get them out of there.
Many shook his hand enthusiastically while introducing themselves, though she doubted her brother even remembered their first name. It wasn’t until one had come up with a purple turbine on his head and shook her brother’s hand with a stutter as he spoke that she quickly cut through them all.
“None of you have manners.” Her glare pointed at all the people that gathered around, but it stuck to the man in front of her. Her skin prickled and every part of her gut told her to leave… now. She had never felt something as strong as she had before that she couldn’t ignore it. “We have shopping to do and we’re kids. Whatever my brother did as a baby is just that, but neither he, nor I remember it. So if you would respect human boundaries, that would be ah-mazing.” Amaryllis didn’t bother to hold back the sarcasm that dripped from every word at the end.
“Uh, yes, well,” Hagrid said, clearing his throat and guiding them away from the crowd. “We’ll be going now.”
Hagrid led them down a hallway to a dead end before he spoke again. “Sorry ‘bout that. Should ‘ave not said yur names back there. That’s my fault.”
“It’s okay, Hagrid.”
Amaryllis voiced her forgiveness, deciding to forgive a mistake that could have slipped anyone’s mind. Though, she wouldn’t settle for continuous mistakes that put either of them in harms way.
It seemed to bring the smile that Hagrid had back on his face, the guilt washing away quickly. He lifted the umbrella he carried around, tapping random bricks that pulled inward until the whole wall began to shake before every brick folded into themselves and opened up to an enormous street filled with buildings and people dressed differently.
“Whoa.”
Whoa was right. It was just as Hagrid described; magical. Just as she imagined the stories from the myths she loved. A world of wonder and magic, where adventures and friendships were bound to happen.
“Welcome to Diagon Alley.”
Amaryllis and Harry stepped past the brick wall, turning around when they heard the shifting of the brick being put back into place.
“First stop, Gringotts Wizarding Bank,” Hagrid informed them. His beaming smile never left his face and Amaryllis couldn’t help feeling as if he was a beam of light that shown into their dreary life, showing them the possibilities of a life they should have been open to for years.
A smile spread across her face as excitement flooded through her, giving a burst of energy that had no where else to go but out.
Her eyes scanned everything around her, and even though she couldn’t read the shop signs, Harry had spoken them out loud without her asking. It hadn’t appeared odd to those around them. Just two kids who seemed excited for school.
A school they had known nothing about until a few hours prior.
It did nothing to diminish the excitement as they allowed them to think what they wanted and continue to take in everything around them that they could. Hagrid even pinpointed in certain directions that they would go to get books, cauldrons, and even quills to write with.
They walked further past more shops, and people dressed with black cloaks and outfits that seemed more unique than Amaryllis cared to admit. It wasn’t her style, and she wouldn’t say anything about the way they dressed, it just wasn’t something she would ever wear herself. Straight ahead, she saw a white old-style building that leaned too far to the side. She almost asked how it hadn’t fallen, but then she remembered what Hagrid had told them; magic. It seemed anything was possible with magic and that excited her more to wonder what the endless possibilities were.
Would it make those things go away? It has to, right?
Amaryllis didn’t want to ask Hagrid about her problems. He seemed kind enough, but she felt as if it was her problem to deal with and not burden someone else with it.
Gringotts, to her surprise, was all made of marble. It shined beautifully against the lights from the other shops, yet still held the normal beauty of a statue. She reached her hand out, feeling the smooth stone under the tips of her fingers. She had always wondered what the statue’s at the museum felt like, but felt it disrespectful to dare tough it. It gave an euphoric feeling to what someone years ago etched from stone to what the gods looked like. The years, dedication, and adoration they put into the work of art for those they believed in. She felt the same work had to have been put into Gringotts that stood before her; tall, beautiful, and ancient.
Hagrid opened the large white marble door, letting them walk through first.
The door shutting, echoed throughout the place, yet the short, elf looking creatures barely glanced in their direction.
Hagrid coughed, gaining their attention as he made his way to one of the elf creatures.
“Good morning. Here to withdraw from the Potter vault.”
The elf creature stopped working to sneer down at them from the top. In a gravely voice, he spoke, “Name?”
Hagrid cleared his throat, glancing around quickly before he replied in a whisper. “Harry and Amaryllis Potter.”
No one seemed to pay attention, which she was grateful for.
“Key?”
“Oh, right here.” Hagrid gruffed, reaching into his jacket and pulled out a key with a smile and set it down on the counter.
The elf creature didn’t speak for a second as he held the key. “Follow me.”
She expected something of a dwarf to come around and greet them, but she was shocked to say that a creature that came up to her knees greeted them. The sneer, or maybe that was just the way he looked, raised his hand and with a flick of his finger, told them to follow.
Harry shrugged when she turned, raising an eyebrow at him.
As they neared a cart the looked like something she had seen Dudley ride of before, she wanted to turn back, but Harry wouldn’t let her. He had gripped her hand and pulled her onto the cart with him. Hagrid had sat at the front with the creature, smiling sheepishly back at them before saying, “might want to hold on.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Going down,” the creature said.
Gravity was a funny thing when it made your stomach somersault. It was a feeling Amaryllis had never felt, as she never went on a roller coaster, and safe to say, she never will again. She hated the feeling.
“Vault six hundred and eighty seven.”
Amaryllis got off quickly, landing on all fours against the cold cement ground.
“You alright there, Amaryllis? I should have asked if you could handle fast rides before we came down.”
“No,” she groaned out. “I’ll live, but never again.”
“I’m sorry,” Hagrid apologized again. His tone more apologetic than she could handle.
It was too new.
“She’ll be fine, Hagrid.”
Harry reached down, holding his hand out for her. “Come on, Lissie. One more stop and you don’t ever have to come back down again, okay?”
“You better promise that.”
Harry laughed, hoisting her up as she gripped his hand. “I promise.”
Hagrid handed Harry the key, to which she shrugged and gestured for him to open the vault and she let her stomach settle before they took off on another rough ride she would hate.
She heard the click as Harry turned the key and a bunch of other clicks and rods move within the door before it opened, revealing a gold glow from within.
“Holy…”
“Oh my gods. Is this ours?”
“It’s what your parents left you,” Hagrid replied. His eyes swept over them both, yet his brown eyes weren’t warm as they had been earlier. The light dimmed slightly, turning sorrowful and sympathetic.
“That’s…” a lot fell silently off her tongue. She didn’t have words to describe the mound of gold before her eyes.
Her brother had no words except, wow.
“Go on, fill these and we can go.”
“Can we.. I don’t know. Take a breather?”
Harry turned to her with a smirk, grabbing one of the bags from Hagrid. “Scared?”
Amaryllis scowled her brother. “No. Just don’t feel like making more of a fool of myself if I throw up.” She grabbed the other small bag from Hagrid, giving him a lopsided smile as she followed her brother into the vault. She had no idea what to grab as there was more gold than silver or copper coins, but decided to grab a few more gold pieces than the rest, not knowing what was worth what.
She glanced at Harry seeing his face as confused as her own, grabbing pieces randomly.
It’ll be an adventure. That’s for sure.