Hagrid smiled at the amazement on Harry and Ria's face. They walked through the archway and Ria turned back just in time to see the archways grow smaller and smaller until it disappeared.
The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons -- All Sizes -- Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver -- Self-Stirring -- Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.
"Yeh, you both'll be needin' one o' those" Hagrid said, "but we gotta get yer money first. I 'sept yeh have yer key, Ria?"
"Yes" Ria said taking it out of her dress pocket.
"Very well them. C'mon"
As they followed Hagrid through Diagon Alley, Ria turned her head everyway. As she walked on, a strange sense of elation and homely warmth seemed to fill her up. The sun seemed brighter, the air fresher and sweet smelling and she suddenly had a strong urge to kick off her shoes and dip her feet in the dirt of the cobblestone road.
"Look" , Harry said pulling at her arm. He was pointing at a shop displaying the strangest collection of silver instruments which moved and clicked and gave out smokes of various colour.
Now she payed closer attention to the shops around. There were shops selling spell books, quills, ink bottles, telescopes and planetary models, beetles eye and crocodile heart....
"Gringotts," said Hagrid.
They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was --
"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than her and Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid looking at Harry.
"It is protected with all sorta enchantments." , he said to Ria.
"They say dragons guard the high security vaults. And it stretches for miles beneath london. Even if yeh managed ter get yer hands on summat yeh'd be hard put to find yer way out."
A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Ria thought the whole lot of them looked distinctly unpleasant. Hagrid led her and Harry to one of the counters.
"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."
"You have his key, sir?"
"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Ria looked up and saw a clear blue sky through the domelike glass ceiling overhead.
"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key much like Ria's.
The goblin looked at it closely.
"That seems to be in order."
"An' we'd like ter visit Miss Aubrianna Greystone's vault as well" Hagrid said.
"Keys?"
Ria handed over her key. The goblin looked it closely and nodded.
"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."
The goblin read the letter carefully.
"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to all three vaults. Griphook!"
Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, they followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.
"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked Hagrid.
"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."
Griphook led them through yet another door. What met the eye was in stark contrast to the marble exterior.
They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in -- Hagrid with some difficulty -- and were off.
The cart moved with a tremendous speed. The wind rushed into Ria's face. A weight lifted off her chest. She hadn't realised it was there.
They rattled along a maze of corridors and Ria quickly realised what Hagrid ment when he said you couldn't find your way around.
"How on earth does he know where he's going?", Ria asked Harry in a whisper.
"He doesn't. The cart does."
Ria looked at him incredulously but then figured he was right. Griphook wasn't steering.
Harry suddenly twisted sideways but then resettled himself looking disappointed.
"Thought I saw a burst of flames"
"Dragon?"
"Won't be surprised"
They had a good laugh at this while the cart plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.
"I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"
"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."
Ria thought he looked rather green.
"The ones growing from the floor are stalagmites. M for mud. Easy to remember", Ria said to Harry. He looked rather impressed.
When the cart finally came to a stop
beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling. The number 687 was engraved on the stone arch above the door.
Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Peaking around his shoulder, Ria did a double take. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze coins.
"All yours," smiled Hagrid at Harry.
"Woah....you're rich" Ria observed.
Harry just looked utterly shocked.
Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag while Ria watched from outside.
"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh."
He turned to Griphook.
"Miss Greystone's vault now. And can we go a little slower?"
"One speed only" Griphook grunted.
After a minute the cart halted again; this time at vault 653. Griphook got out again and taking Ria's key this time, opened the door. The pile inside was similar to Harry's.
Ria felt stunted. All those years she had spent in near starvation; if only she had had access to this fortune, life could have been so much easier for her and for all the other kids. Her first thought was to take some and send it to Mrs. Haans but then she remembered that Mrs. Haans had made her promise she wouldn't spend too much on them. At that time it didn't feel like much since she had no idea she'd be having money anytime soon.
"Go on" Hagrid said to her handing another bag. She took piled some money into the bag and came back out.
"Right. Vault 713 now." , said Hagrid looking pale.
They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck. Ria laughed and looked up. The walls ended in darkness. She couldn't make out the roof.
Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.
"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.
"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.
Ria decided she didn't like goblins at all.
Harry peaked inside eagerly as the vault opened. When Hagrid drew back, Ria saw a grubby little package in his hand. Hagrid immediately hid it inside his overcoat, which was easily the size of a tent.
"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.
One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Ria took out the pin in her bun and let her waist length hair tumble down her back. The sunlight caught the strands and they immediately burnt brilliant red and gold.
"Woah....", said Harry, looking startled.
"That's some unique hair yeh've got, Ria."
"Thanks, Hagrid!" Ria said with a smile but then it vanished quite suddenly.
"Hagrid are you alright?" Ria asked concerned. Hagrid looked quite pale and squeaky.
"Not really ...listen yeh two. Do yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."
So Hagrid went off instructing them to get into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
"Well...shall we?" asked Ria.
"Yeah, lets go"
"Don't worry. Uniforms are always the same" Ria said with a smile. Harry looked rather nervous. She grabbed his arm and led him into the shop.
Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.
"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here -- another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."
Ria smiled up at her as she led them inside.
In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length while another witch started doing the same with Ria.
Their school robes were black with the Hogwarts crest on the left side of the chest.
"Hello," said the boy to them, "Hogwarts, too?"
"Yes"
"Yeah"
"You guys twins or something? You don't look quite alike, do you?"; the boy said eyeing them critically.
"That'd be because we are not siblings or anything. I hardly think we're related" Ria replied.
"Huh. Thought so. Anyways. My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," the boy continued in a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."
Ria looked away and frowned at the wall. She was meeting too many people she didn't like on the very first day.
Professor Quirrell seemed alright but Ria hadn't forgotten the odd shiver she got when she saw him. It didn't practically make her feel good.
Then there were the Gringotts goblins. They were rude and had a wicked sense of humour. The comment about checking the vaults every ten years gave Ria the impression they were quite bloodthirsty.
And now this boy. He was one of those spoilt kids Ria sometimes came across at the library. She didn't like them at all and she didn't like this boy.
Although, Ria though to herself, I have definitely met some really nice people as well.
Professor McGonagall was strict but kind, Mrs. Haans was amazing, Tom the barman had been really friendly with her, Hagrid might look frightening but Ria could tell he had a good heart and was actually really friendly.
And then there was Harry. Ria didn't know much about him, but the state of his clothes and his cluelessness and amazement at the wizarding world had made it clear that he was in quite similar a situation as her. And Ria couldn't help feeling that this would end up making them friends.
The boy had been conversing with Harry while Ria was lost in her thoughts.
"I say, look at that man!" he said, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at them with three large ice creams in his hand.
"That's Hagrid," said Harry looking pleased. "He works at Hogwarts."
"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"
"He's the gamekeeper."
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage -- lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."
Ria would have went ahead and punched the boy if it weren't for the fact that the witch was still fitting her with pins.
"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.
"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"
"They're dead," said Harry shortly.
"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"
"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."
"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"
But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear". The witch attending Ria finished at almost the same time.
"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy looking at them both.
"I definitely hope not", Ria retorted before shutting the door to the shop.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her with a tiny smirk on his face. Ria just shrugged.
They trailed behind Hagrid, licking their ice cream. It was raspberry and chocolate with chopped nuts and tasted heavenly. Ria noticed Harry was rather quite as they walked.
"Hey", she said bumping his shoulder, "don't mind that git. He isn't worth it. What's your story tho? We don't really know much about eachother."
The recounting of the last eleven years of his life distracted Harry quite successfully.
Ria found his story extremely fascinating. According to him, not all wizards are good. Some go bad and a few decades back one of them went really bad. Voldemort. He gathered followers and killed all who stood up to him. He wanted to take over the whole wizarding world. Apparently Dumbledore was the only one he was ever afraid of. Harry's parents didn't join Voldemort and so he murdered them. And he went on to kill Harry. But failed. That very night he disappeared and hadn't been seen since.
"Hagrid said no one every lived once Voldemort decided to kill them. No one except me. Apparently that's why I am famous. Because I made him disappear and the wizarding world got rid of the darkness"
"Woah....so...that scar...is it there because he tried to kill you and failed?"
"So Hagrid says"
"So how come you've been living with Muggles?"
"My aunt's a muggle. My mother's sister. My mother was muggleborn. I've been living with them. Uncle Vernon. Aunt Petunia. And Dudley."
"Who's Dudley?"
"My cousin. He's the size of an elephant and as big a bully", Harry said his voice dripping resentment.
"They didn't want to keep you". Ria observed.
"No. They hate everything magical. Aunt Petunia always hated my mother. When my parents were killed, Dumbledore left me at their door. They never told me the truth. Said my parents died in a car crash."
Then quite unexpectedly, Harry started laughing. Ria looked completely bewildered.
"Dumbledore had been sending me bunches of letter to explain everything. The first few times, uncle Vernon just tore or burnt the letters...."
"He burnt your letters?!", Ria exclaimed outraged.
"Yeah. Then he boarded up the mail box. Next day all their eggs were filled with letters. And then yesterday, a cascade of letters came tumbling down the chimney. Uncle Vernon lost it and drove us to the port and took us out on a hut in the middle of the sea. Then at Midnight Hagrid showed up. Broke through the front door. Told me I am a wizard and gave Dudley a pigtail with his umbrella."
They were in the stationary shop now buying quills and ink and parchment.
Ria bought a beautiful Red and Gold feather quilt and Harry took a pot of ink that changed colour as you wrote.
"What's with that umbrella of Hagrid's?" Ria asked Harry as they stood in Flourish And Blotts waiting for the attendant to hand over their spell books.
"I think it has his old school wand. He was expelled from Hogwarts and isn't allowed to do magic"
This information didn't bother Ria as much as it would have if it were anyone else. She really liked Hagrid. She was certain he was a good person and wasn't overly concerned that he'd bent a few rules for his convenience.
"Why was he expelled?", she asked Harry curiously.
"I don't know. I asked him but he didn't say anything. I hardly think he'd like talking about that."
"Yeah, I agree"
Once outside Flourish and Blotts, their arms full of books, Harry turned to Hagrid.
"Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"
"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know -- not knowin' about Quidditch!"
"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's. Ria figured she'd missed quite a bit of the conversation while she has inside her head.
"-- and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in--"
"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were -- he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles -- look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"
"So what is Quidditch?"
"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like -- like soccer in the Muggle world -- everyone follows Quidditch -- played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls -- sorta hard ter explain the rules."
"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"
"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but--"
"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.
"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."
"Vol-, sorry -- You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"
"Years an' years ago" Hagrid finished and walked ahead again leading the way.
"Why did you call Voldemort 'You-Know-Who'?", Ria enquired.
"Oh well....Hagrid said people are still afraid of saying his name. Said it feels like bad luck. So we call him 'You-Know-Who' instead"
Ria wondered how much damage Voldemort had actually done for which people were afraid to call his name even after ten whole years.
They bought cauldrons and telescopes and star charts.
Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. After collecting some basic potion ingredients they got out of the shop and Ria check her list.
"Just the wand left", she said looking up at Hagrid.
"Well Ria, I know the exact place fer yeh", Hagrid said with a wink and led the way.
Ria looked and Harry at saw the excitement on his face. She was excited as well...but at the same time, she felt that this was a most significant step. Having the wand would make her a part of the wizarding world completely. And excited though she was, she couldn't help but feel that it wasn't going to be all laugh.
The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.
A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
Hagrid muttered about having something he needs to get done and urged them into the shop. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. The shop reminded Ria of the library. The same blank room surrounded by racks. The same old dusty smell and the promising tingle of excitement, adventure and knowledge. There was just one difference. Instead of books, these racks were all filled from floor to celing with narrow, long black boxes.
"Good afternoon" said a soft voice. Ria looked up startled. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.
"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. His silver-eyed stare was unblinking.
"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it -- it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."
Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Ria was feeling rather sorry for Harry who looked extremely uncomfortable and even a bit scared. She somehow found Ollivander interesting...like a book with an odd cover that most people wouldn't pick up. But from her years in the library, Ria knew these were the very books that told extraordinary tales.
"And that's where..."
Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."
He shook his head and then noticed Ria.
"Ah", he said with an air of recognition. "You'd be Miss Greystone, I presume?" he asked with a soft smile his grey eyes swirling.
"Yes, they informed I'd be getting a special one this year. I've never sold a wand to your family tho. They prefered Gregorovitch creations."
Normally Ria would have asked who Gregorovitch was.
"Right. Let's see."
Ollivander took out a measuring tape from his pocket.
"Which is your wand arm, Mr. Potter?"
"Er -- well, I'm right-handed," said Harry hesitantly.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he moved on to Ria she noticed the other tape continued to measure Harry on It's own. As he measured, Ollivander spoke.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
He was now flitting around the shelves taking down boxes.
"That will do," he said, and the tape measures crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."
Harry took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try--"
Harry tried -- but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.
"No, no -- here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
Harry tried. And tried. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere -- I wonder, now -- yes, why not -- unusual combination -- holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Harry took the wand. Ria felt something around her change. Then Harry raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.
"Woah....", It was the most amazing thing Ria had even seen.
Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."
He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious...
"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"
Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather -- just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother -- why, its brother gave you that scar.
Ria saw Harry swallow.
"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things -- terrible, yes, but great."
Having given out this extremely disturbing piece of information, Mr. Ollivander turned to Ria.
"Now, for you Miss Greystone, I have a few unusual wands kept aside. I feel it would be rather foolish to try and hand a common combination given your ability. Although, it would be unwise to assume anything. But might as well start off with those."
Saying this, Ollivander moved over to the very end of the shop and came back with five very old looking boxes.
"Here, Accacia and unicorn hair, ten inches, unyielding. Try it."
Ria had given the wand half a wave before it was gone and replaced with another.
"Apple wood and phoenix feather, fifteen inches, pilable."
Ria tried that one and the next one until only one of the boxes were left.
"Well....let's see how you take this Miss Greystone. A very unusual wand. The last of my grandfathers creation that's still in the shop."
Mr. Ollivander opened the box and pulled out a wand which looked very different from the ones Harry had tried. The handle wood was so dark it looked almost black. The rest was evidently made of a different type of wood. It was light and an unexplainable combination of red and black. Ria was reminded inappropriately of her hair. It was also quite a bit thicker than all the other wands she had seen.
"My grandfather experimented with combinations all his life Miss Greystone", Ollivander said.
"This however is the only double core wand he made. Walnut and English Oak. Dragon heart string and a unicorn hair ; two cores almost contradictory in character. This wand has been in this shop for almost two hundred years. But never has it found it's match."
Mr. Ollivander held the wand out to Ria. She took hold and was immediately pushed back a few steps by the force of the power that surged through her arm into the wand. The wand let out green leaves, blue water, white air and red fire, all in bright lights which swirled together and then burst out in brilliant rainbow colours like the firecrackers the children used to see every new year from the roof of the orphanage.
A few seconds after the lights disappeared Mr. Ollivander spoke up.
"Well Miss Greystone, all I will say, is that, my grandfather would have been extremely gleeful that his most unauthentic experiment has yielded such an outstanding result."
Stepping out of the shop, Harry and Ria found Hagrid waiting for them.
"Got a birthday present fer yeh.", he said to Harry with a wink and from behind his back revealed a cage with a snowy white owl sitting in it.
"Wow...she's beautiful. Why didn't you tell me it's your birthday?" Ria said rounding on Harry who looked extremely flustered and had gone red in the face. While he stammered his thanks to Hagrid, Ria took a mental note to have a gift for Harry when they meet next.
"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly, finally shutting down Harry's attempts to thank him. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys."
Ria figured he was talking about Harry's aunt and uncle.
"An' don' think I forgot yeh" Hagrid said turning his attention to Ria.
From within his coat he took out a little box. Ria opened it with trembling fingers. Inside, in velvet lining, lay a beautiful wristwatch. The body was of black shiny metal and the dial was the shape and colour of autumn leave.
"Noticed yeh don' have one. Should be useful, eh?"
Ria gave Hagrid a brilliant smile and hugged the giant. She could only reach his knees but she didn't care. The last time she was given a gift was when Sister Adaline had been alive.
Five minutes later Hagrid was hurrying them back into the Leaky Cauldron.
"Ok. Now, Ria, yeh are ter wait here fer Professor McGonagall while I drop Harry home. I'll see yeh at Hogwarts."
Hagrid shook her hand again and ruffled her hair.
"Bye", Harry said. "See you in a month!"
"Yeah. On the train!" Ria replied returning his grin.
Then they turned and walked out of the pub.
As Ria sat down to wait for Professor McGonagall, she realised with a smile that she already had two friends to look forward to at Hogwarts.