FicWad

Chapter Ten: Travels.

Lily ran around frantically at the lair, she had scheduled a trip to the American Wizarding Government Headquarters in two hours, she needed to get ready and the fact that she could not find the keys to the Turtles' Battle Shell so she could borrow it for the trip, was even more of a cause to panic.

Not that it was any help, the lair was a mess and Lily came to the conclusion that attempting to keep a place clean was not part of standard ninjitsu training. There were comic books everywhere, half empty chip bags, soda cans, pizza boxes with week old pizza inside with flies swarming around and that was just the mess that Mikey created. The only halfway clean place in the lair was Harry's room and that was just barely, as it seemed to fall to the curse of the unruly teenager. Lily entertained herself briefly with the thought of the look on her sister's face if she saw the state of this place.

"Damn it to hell, where are those bloody keys," cursed Lily before throwing things. "Harry, Hailey, get up the warehouse, wait in the van, Raphael, Michelangelo have to seen the keys for the battle shell."

"Don't look at me, Don had them last," said Raph waving his hands in the air.

"No I thought you had it last," said Don who was absentmindedly working in his workshop.

"No, it was definitely you, Don," argued Raph.

Lily wanted to beat her head against the wall, repeated before looking underneath the couch and finding the keys buried along with half eaten chocolate bars.

"Ah, here they are," said Lily taking the keys, vowing the second thing she was going to do after getting a wand after removing Harry's block was to clean this place up so it was somewhat livable, well at last as livable as a sewer would be.

Lily made it up to the warehouse before getting in the van. They were expected to be there in an hour and forty-five minutes, so she needed to get there with plenty of time to spare.

As they were on their journey, Harry voiced a question that he had been asking for some time.

"Mum, I’ve rarely heard anything about the American Wizard Government from anyone at Hogwarts, only a passing reference and I could find no real references on them in the Hogwarts library," prompted Harry.

"Well, it's rather complicated. History of Magic was never my best subject, as I mostly used it to catch up on my sleep, but I'll try and explain this the best I can," said Lily. "Many years ago, back in the 16th century in fact, a group of witches and wizards had a falling out with the British Ministry of Magic over how they approached the issue of dealing with a group of Spanish Dark Wizards. It was a really ugly dispute, causing this group to flee what became the United States of America. Of course, a few years later, some Muggles caught wind of the rogue group of magical people coming here, deciding to follow them here. The wizards formed an alliance with several magical people of Native American tribes on the East Coast, to form what eventually became the American Wizarding Government."

Harry wondered why this wasn't common knowledge but he could tell there was more.

"For a hundred and fifty years, both the Magical and Muggle people who came over lived without much incident from over on the other side of the ocean, but then it all happened," continued Lily. "It appeared that Minister of Magic at that time wanted to take control of his American counterparts, so he forged an alliance with an ambitious dark wizard. Together they convinced the Muggle king to start levying heavy taxes on the Muggles, while sending over a group of Aurors to help try and take control of the American Wizarding Government. It's rather interesting how Muggle and Wizarding history is similar. As both the American Wizarding Government and the American Muggle rebels achieved their full independence from the British within weeks of each other."

"So, they achieved the independence, but there has to be more of the story, because if what Harry is saying, the British Ministry doesn't even acknowledge the presence of the American Wizarding Government," said Hailey.

"Unfortunately, there is more, the American Wizarding Government kept themselves isolated from the rest of the Magical World, even after their Muggle counterparts became a world superpower," said Lily. "Although this isolation policy was broken only once, to great regret, when a young German muggleborn who happened to be a Dark Wizard, named Gridelwald, decided to attempt to implement a rather ambitious plan. He wanted to wipe out every pureblood family in Wizarding Europe and maybe the world if he got far enough. This was around the time of course of the Second World War, so once again a case of Wizard and Muggle history mirroring each other. The American Wizarding Government decided to get involved, managing to kill several of Gridelwald's muggleborn followers and severely weakening Gridelwald before he escaped. However, this is when Dumbledore decided perform the action that acquired him so much influence in the Wizarding world, before this he was only known as Nicholas Flamel's apprentice and then the Hogwarts Transfiguration teacher. He killed Gridelwald, even through given a few more days, he would have died a slow and painful death."

"I'm guessing this lead to Voldemort's eventual rise to power," said Harry. "There had to be a certain loathing of muggleborns by some of the older pure families after Gridelwald."

"Indeed, the American Wizarding Government warned the Ministry this was coming due to heightened hate of Muggleborns by the older pureblood families from Gridelwald's campaign, but they decided to laugh it off," said Lily. "Voldemort came closer than anyone ever did to achieving immortality and if he would have succeeded doing what he tried on that Halloween Night, he would have had power rivaling Dumbledore's. Voldemort did not get around to bothering the American magical people, but he did have a few sympathizers over in this country, that were promptly executed when their sympathies were found out."

Harry nodded, the hatred between the two being a little clearer. There was probably more behind the scenes that wasn't common knowledge to the general public.

"I know enough about Voldemort but for the so called greatest wizard of his time, I can't seem to find any knowledge about Dumbledore prior to the defeated of Gridelwald," said Harry. "Surely he had to have lived for at least a hundred years prior to that, so he had to be doing something."

"Dumbledore, his life is rather complex to exactly pinpoint even halfway decently," said Lily slowly. "I really don't know much either, as there are parts of his life that are rather incomplete. He went to Hogwarts, sorted in the Gryffindor house, achieving top grades, and he was chosen by the Department of Mysteries to be an Unspeakable in his youth. He joined a group of Unspeakables to investigate a temple that was said to contain untold of magic, but the group, along with Dumbledore never returned, they just all vanished without a trace."

"Vanished, but how?" asked Hailey. "Surely there had to be some clue as of what happened, and of course, he did return."

"Yes, Dumbledore did resurfaced fifteen years later as an apprentice to Nicholas Flamel, where he worked for about ten years, before disappearing yet again, and then reappearing twenty years later as the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts," said Lily. "Very suspicious circumstances, especially when I managed to find documentation of what Dumbledore was researching as an Unspeakable."

"I know I am going to regret this, but what was Dumbledore studying?" asked Harry.

"The Realm of Darkness," said Lily before shuddering in horror. "Horrid place, a breeding ground of some of the most nasty dark creatures. Creatures with destructive powers ten times stronger than your most powerful witch or wizard live within the Realm of Darkness. Creatures that make Voldemort look like a girl scout. I have not found many references on what exactly resides in the Realm, but I can safely assume it’s not something you want to run into."

Harry went quiet, Dumbledore led a very mysterious life up to the defeat of Gridelwald and what his mother could tell him just raised even more questions rather than answering his initial questions.

"Are we there yet?" asked Hailey before Harry gave her an incredulous look which caused her to flinch. "Sorry, I've always wanted to say that."

"No, we won't be there for another ten or fifteen minutes," said Lily. "Harry, why don't you tell your sister about Hogwarts since she is going to be going to school in the fall?"

"Going to school?" asked Hailey.

"Yes, school, you know learning about concepts out of books from teachers and having homework, while joining kids of your own age group in a conductive learning environment," said Harry.

"Harry, I'm aware of what school is but this is the first I was aware of being sent there," said Hailey. "Still, since I am being sent there, perhaps you can tell me about this place I was being sent to."

"Well, Hogwarts has been around for at least a thousand years, most people start their first year at eleven but there are exceptions," said Harry. "No matter what, anyone who arrives at Hogwarts for the first time, starts in first year, no matter what the age. There are four houses. Ravenclaw is the house of the intellects, people who spend most of there free time with their noses planted firmly in a book, who really don't make a name for themselves by their actions, focusing all their efforts on achievable grades. Then there is Gryffindor and they tend to be among the bravest, but sometimes there bravery tends to cloud their common sense, making them prone to make hotheaded mistakes. Then we have Hufflepuff. They are at most times classified as the least important house by the general public, the most underestimated house to be sure. Last but certainly not least, Slytherin. Slytherin tends to be the most ambitious, the sneakiest, and the most cunning of all of the houses. For the most part, with a few exceptions, Gryffindors and Slytherins do not get along at all. They have won both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup for the past nine years. Unfortunately, there are quiet a few pureblood supremacists mucking up the landscape in Slytherin."

Hailey nodded, looking rather interested and an idea forming in her mind about what house she would like to be placed in.

"So, what about the classes?" asked Hailey.

"Well, there is History of Magic, which I honestly believe is a study from the Magical World, attempting to find a way to cure insomnia, then we got Charms, always a useful subject, McGonagall's strict but Transfiguration is pretty interesting, especially if you don't get on her bad side," said Harry. "Defense Against the Dark Arts was the best subject last year but it seems as if Dumbledore could not keep a teacher to save his life."

"It was the same back when I went to Hogwarts, we had seven different teachers," said Lily.

"What am I forgetting, oh yes, Potions," said Harry. "Perhaps my second best subject after Defense, taught by a teacher you wouldn't want to cross, the head of the Slytherin House, Severus Snape..."

Harry was cut off by the Battle Shell coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the rope.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry. "Why did we stop?"

"Harry, I must have heard you wrong, but I could have swore you said Severus Snape was a Professor at Hogwarts," said Lily in disbelief.

"Yes, I did," said Harry.

"Harry, listen to me and listen to me good," said Lily. "Snape can be halfway decent when he wants to be but Severus Snape is out for no one but Severus Snape. He can worm his way out of tightest situation, in fact, he did so with both Voldemort and Dumbledore, and that was before that Halloween night. I don't hate him but I don't complete trust him, never really did after our Hogwarts years, especially in the last few weeks before the night Voldemort attack, as Dumbledore seems to have some kind of mysterious pull over him."

"Funny enough, I get that same feeling that Dumbledore seems to have something to hold of Snape's head," said Harry, frowning. "What happened to make you distrust Snape so much anyway?"

"That is none of your concern," said Lily in a brisk, final voice that left no room for argument before turning the corner in the Battle Shell and going down a trail. "We're here by the way."

The Potters climbed out of the Battle Shell.

"Niagara Falls?" asked Harry. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Harry, do you think our mother's memories being wiped for thirteen years has kind of made her, uh loony," whispered Hailey.

"No, this is the place," said Lily. "I know what I’m doing."

"Famous last words," muttered Hailey.

"This is Lily Potter, along with her son Harry and daughter Hailey, requesting permission to enter the American Wizarding Government headquarters," said Lily, talking to the falls.

"She's lost it," said Hailey.

"Permission granted," said a voice from the Falls, as it opened, revealing a doorway.

"Okay, maybe I'm the one who is going insane," said Hailey.

"You're related to me, so that's a pretty good assumption," said Harry as the three walked through the doorway.

"Rather interesting," said Harry looking around at what seemed like an endless corridor with many doors stretching for miles. "Impressive even."

"Yes, the 16th century magical people were rather ingenious all these years ago to hide this place behind Niagara Falls," said Lily before pointing to the door. "Come, this is the door we want, I believe. The office of the Chief Executive Officer of Magical America is behind here."

Lily opened a door from room number twelve opened before Harry and Hailey followed her inside.

"Do come in...Lily?" said the woman behind the desk. "No, it can't be you...it's...you're dead."

Lily did a double take; it was her old best friend from Hogwarts, Alexandra Morgan.

"Alexandra, what in the bloody hell are you doing in the office of the Chief Executive of Magical America?" asked Lily. "And it's good to see you too again by the way."

"The only reason I'm in this office is because I am the Chief Executive of Magical America," said Alexandra. "Really, I'm at a loss at how I got elected, maybe it was the sympathy card my campaign manager played about all my friends being dead, in Azkaban, or a werewolf."

"I find that a little unbelievable that you of all people were elected to the highest office in Magical America," said Lily. "No offense meant, but you were never one to conform to authority."

"I quite agree but that is in the past, but I am still at a loss at how you are still alive, when I could have sworn you were killed Halloween night thirteen years ago by Voldemort," said Alexandra, frowning. "Granted, I left a few months before that night, due to me disagreeing with the way Dumbledore was handling this war so my information on the last few months is a bit foggy."

"It's a long story on how I survived, but let's just say the shield spell I was working on to block the killing curse partially worked," said Lily. "It did block the curse, but it also somehow made me survive that night as well as Harry."

Lily then suddenly remembered that her two children were there.

"Oh, Alexandra, by the way this is my son Harry and my daughter Hailey," said Lily pointing out her two children. "Hailey, Harry, this is Alexandra Morgan, who was my best friend for the entire seven years I went to Hogwarts."

"Harry, first of all, I knew you were here all this time but I didn't even try and visit you," said Alexandra. "I think that was a pretty shoddy attitude towards the son of my best friend and I apologize."

"That's okay, I really didn't even know you existed until now," said Harry. "Remus and Sirius didn't say anything the short time I met them about you."

"Yes, I'm sure it slipped their mind," said Alexandra dismissively. "Sirius and I...well we have a history. We tried dating once and it really didn't work out all too well. This was partially your mother's fault, thinking she could set up her best friend with her boyfriend's best friend, as if anything could really neatly fall into place like that. As for Remus, he and I really didn't interact that much at Hogwarts, outside of the other Marauders, he kept to himself."

Alexandra paused before shaking her head. It was a painful reminder of the life she was forced to leave behind all those years ago, after Voldemort murdered her parents along with her younger sister and brother. Quite frankly, looking back, she was ashamed she could have turned her back on everything and just move to another country without a word.

"Still, before you found out that I was the Chief Executive Officer of Magical America, you did come here for a reason, didn't you, Lily," said Alexandra. "So let's get down to business, what do you want?"

"I need a list of all the Magical libraries in the United States and Canada, first off," said Lily. "All my sources in Europe have yielded no finds for what I was looking for, it is of utmost importance that I find out how to undo these rituals before its too late."

"Are you sure what rituals you are trying to reverse can be undone?" asked Alexandra. "I have a pretty good idea of what you are doing but..."

"I’ve found a reference of people reversing it, I just haven't found how as of yet," said Lily.

"Very good, anything else," said Alexandra.

"My daughter, Hailey is going to attend Hogwarts as a first year, and I need paperwork for an fake identity so I can get her in without Dumbledore knowing," said Lily.

"Okay, I can do that, let me call up the Department of Deception, and I'll be able to have that paperwork up in a few days," said Alexandra. "Still, don't you think it might be a little too obvious Hailey is your and James's daughter, with the way she looks. She has your eyes, her hair is the same color as yours, and she has the tell tale Potter hair."

"Yes, but I am also an expert in doing glamour charms," said Lily. "I know of ways that could sustain a charm that not even Dumbledore could see through without expending much time and energy and it would last for eleven months, plenty of time to deceive the old man and anyone else for the whole year."

"If you say so," said Alexandra. "Is that all..."

"No, that will be fine," said Lily. "When can we expect the paperwork on my daughter’s fake identity and the list of Magical libraries?"

"Two or three weeks, I'll send word to you when they are ready," said Alexandra. "It would be sooner but we are pretty backed up, with the British Ministry attempting to get us to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, didn't give us the time of day before..."

"The Triwizard Tournament!" yelled Lily in shock. "I thought they banned that five hundred years due to the death toll being high."

"Apparently, it's back, in an attempt to help promote International Magical Cooperation," said Alexandra. "Dumbledore is behind this one hundred percent, as is Cornelius Fudge. Funnily enough, Fudge's popularity rating began sagging just before the latest attempt to reinstate the tournament began. Not that I'm trying to launch any conspiracy theories or anything but they wanted one of our schools, Hogwarts, and Durmstrang to compete in this tournament, but I decided to respectively decline, while not so respectively blasting the representative from the Ministry through my office wall. Considering it was Umbridge that they sent here to attempt to sucker me into meeting with Crouch and Bagman about participating in the tournament, I don't think I damaged anything important."

"Very interesting," said Lily attempting to find some kind of hidden meaning in why the Triwizard Tournament was being reinstated.

"Apparently now, it will be Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons as part of the Tournament, even through students of Hogwarts aren't supposed to know this information, as I am sure it would cause the British Minister of Magic great distress if I accidentally leaked it out before it could be released," said Alexandra as Hailey and Harry smirked, it appeared as if they were told information that many others did not know of and Hogwarts students were definitely not supposed to know. Nothing gave Harry more pleasure than sticking it to the corrupt administration of Fudge’s Ministry.

"Well, we have what we came for, I need a new wand, Hailey needs her first wand, and we need to make a trip to Gringotts," said Lily.

"Of course, like I said the paperwork will be sent on in two or three weeks," said Alexandra.

"Hailey, Harry, let's go," said Lily as her two children followed her out in the hallway. Lily turned to Harry. "Harry, you've got your Portus-Amulet, right?"

"Yes," said Harry before pulling it out. "Grab on and I'll activate it."

"Excellent, transport us right outside of Gringotts," said Lily. "Diagon Alley should not be that busy since people won't be shopping for Hogwarts for another few weeks so this is the perfect time to go."

Harry nodded, using the Portus-Amulet to transport himself, his mother, and his sister to outside of Gringotts. They walked up, entering the bank. It appeared to be deserted, with the exception of the couple dozen goblins working there.

"Okay, we'll get in, get out, get the money we need," whispered Lily to Harry and Hailey. "Be careful, goblins are not the most trustworthy creatures in the world in my experience, they'll sell their own mothers for a few knuts."

Harry looked around, finding the goblins staring at him while watching him very closely as if they didn't trust him simply because he existed. He knew that goblins were extremely bloodthirsty and really greedy, that was why they were entrusted in running the bank, as their pride would not allow a wizard to outclass them from stealing from underneath their noses.

"Excuse me," said Lily to the goblin teller. "I need to go to vaunt five eighty and do accomplish this quickly, I don't have all day."

"Do you have your key, human?" demanded the goblin in a cold voice.

Lily pulled the key to her out of her pocket, the only item she had kept on her for the past thirteen years, even losing her wand in the process. She coolly held it out towards the goblin, who examined it.

"Very well, it seems to be all in check," said the goblin before summoning another goblin. "Bolgorg, take these humans to the vault."

Bolgorg nodded, swiftly walking over to Hailey, Lily, and Harry, before motioning them towards the cart that led down the deep trail towards the Gringotts vault. After a few minutes of a break neck ride, they came to a stop.

"Okay, Harry, Hailey, welcome to my own personal vault, now it should be fair to let you know that no one knew about this, not even your father," said Lily as the goblin opened the door, causing the sight of the immense stacks of gold and silver to overwhelm Harry and Hailey.

"Holy shit!" yelled Hailey.

"Mum, how did you get this much money?" asked Harry.

"I don't have time to explain the details, let's just say there's a very interesting story involving Muggle sporting events, a time turner, and me having to memory charm half of the mafia due to costing them millions," said Lily as she piled money into three separate bags before handing one to Harry and one to Hailey before keeping the third for herself. "Now this better last you the entire year, as I won't be available to be contacted most of the year. Still, if you need more, there's always the Potter family vault."

Harry, Hailey, and Lily made their way out of the bank with the three bulging sacks of money.

"Come on, Ollivander's awaits," said Lily. "I just hope I can find another match, as it was a royal pain to find my first wand, took hours of searching in fact."

The three Potters arrived outside of Ollivander's. Mr. Ollivander was sitting at the front desk and he didn't seem so surprised to see them there.

"Lily Potter, it appears that the rumors of your death have been greatly exaggerated," said Ollivander in a matter of fact voice. "Young Harry, I remember your wand quite well, Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches, and it's unique circumstances as well."

"Ollivander, I need to acquire another wand and my daughter needs her first wand, as she is going to be attending Hogwarts in the fall," said Lily. "I trust you will not tell anyone of our presence here."

"Ollivander's prides itself on customer privacy, Mrs. Potter," said Ollivander in a brisk tone of voice.

Lily nodded before turning to Hailey.

"Hailey, you can go first," said Lily.

Hailey walked up, as Ollivander handed the first attempt at a wand.

"Oak, Phoenix feather, nine inches, give it a way," said Ollivander.

Hailey began to wave it but Ollivander snatched it out of her hand.

"No, no, no, that just won't do," said Ollivander. "Here, eight inches, maple, unicorn hair."

Once again, Hailey waved the wand but Ollivander snatched it out of her hand before she could get too far.

"Try this one, willow, eight and a half inches, with the dragon scales of a fierce Hungarian Horntail," said Ollivander. "I believe you may be satisfied with the results, but it’s just a gut feeling that I have."

Hailey waved her wand, great warmth spreading through her arm, before sparks came out.

"This is the one," said Hailey.

"I thought so too," said Ollivander. "No sinister story behind any brother wands like your brother's I'm afraid but it is an extremely powerful wand. Now for your mother. I seem to remember being a rather tricky customer like your son, Mrs. Potter."

"Tricky customer is the understatement of the century," said Lily. "I was in here for two hours before I found a wand."

"I remember it quite well, you sampled nearly every wand in my shop before we found a match," said Ollivander. "I think you should begin with experimenting with some of the newer wands that I acquired after you purchased your initial wand."

Lily went through what seemed like every wand in the shop, again before Ollivander walked into the back of the shop, wondering if it was possible.

"Here, this wand was recovered a few years ago from Japan, it is ten inches long, willow, and has a powdered basilisk fang for a magical core," said Ollivander. "It is a relic, that many would give their left arm to acquire, and I nearly did purchasing it from the Ministry. Still it’s worth a try, give it a wave."

Lily took the wand, it definitely felt more matched towards her magic than the previous wand did, and she felt she didn't have to put as much concentration into channeling her magic into the wand as she did her previous wand.

"Once again, I am proven correct, but this is perhaps in all my years of selling wands the most curious of them all, as you see this wand has a very storied former owner," said Ollivander.

"So, who did own this wand previously?" asked Lily.

"Salazar Slytherin," said Ollivander casually. "I would suggest you keep that fact under wraps, as if any of the former followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named gets a hold of this information, they will surely not stop at attempting to steal this wand."

"I understand," said Lily but perhaps it was Harry's imagination, but he was more surprised of his mother being suited for Slytherin's old wand, than she was. "How much do I owe you?"

"Fourteen galleons," said Ollivander as Lily took out the money, handing it to the wizened wand maker.

"We have what we came for," said Lily before turning to Hailey and Harry as they walked out of Ollivander's. "Now, we need to Portus-Amulet back to the Battle Shell, so we can drive home and I can use my new wand to remove Harry's magical block."

Later that afternoon, after first using the Portus-Amulet to get back to the Battle Shell and then using the vehicle to drive home, Harry sat down, preparing for his mother to finally remove the block from him.

"Okay, Harry, sit down, and I'll get that block off," prompted Lily.

Harry obeyed as Lily sat down, waving her wand, wordlessly removing the magically imposed shackles on Harry's magic. It was a slow and precise process, leaving little room for error and Lily requested everyone else to leave the lair, so she did not mess this spell up by having her concentration broken.

Twenty minutes later, Lily breathed a sigh of relief, the block on her son's magic finally removed.

"It's done, Harry," said Lily in a tired, but happy voice. Despite her better-equipped wand, that took a lot of energy out of her. "Fifty three percent of your magic was blocked. Now, all you need to do is wait for your magic to slowly flow back into you. I must caution you through, you may have the power but it will take some time for you to master the ability to focus your newfound enhanced magical power. I'd give it a few months, but by the end of the fourth year, you should be able to focus your full magical power at the same rate you did your limited magical power."

Harry nodded, feeling as if an immense weight was lifted off of his shoulders. The magical power issue was dealt with and now Harry needed to move straight towards the issue of focusing his power and then learning enough to hold his own against wizards with decades experience on him. Harry felt that could prove to be a bit more complicated than removing a power block. Still that bridge would be crossed when Harry came to it.