FicWad

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. You can try to sue me, but you won't get much. I wouldn't bother.


Light of Hope: Part One
Chapter Four: Diagon Alley

Harry and Hope followed Professor McGonagall through the door and out onto the street. Hope's head was whirling. Where could they get the supplies on the list? She had never been to London, but she didn't think that dragon hide gloves would be readily available there.

Harry asked the question that she was to afraid to.

"Where are we going?"

Professor McGonagall glanced back. "To Diagon Alley, in London. We will purchase your school supplies there, and other...necessities. Here we are."

She stopped at a corner and, after looking around for anyone that might be watching, extended her right hand.

There was a loud Bang! Hope jumped, then slipped behind Harry's eyes.

A bus had just appeared.

A very purple, triple-decker bus with The Knight Bus in gold lettering over the windshield.

Harry's jaw dropped.

A ratty looking man with a short, bushy beard popped out of the open door. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Carl Conston, and I will be your conductor this evening." The man squinted at McGonagall, then said "Why, Professor McGonagall! Fancy seeing you here! Where're you headed?" He bowed her in, staring curiously at Harry and Hope.

Hope hurriedly popped back into her own skin, arriving just as Harry cleared the first step.

"The Leaky Cauldron, Mr. Conston. Hogwarts business," McGonagall stated crisply.

"Of course, of course..." He squinted more closely at Harry. "Sweet Merlin," he breathed. "If it isn't...Harry Potter! And Hope Potter," he added as Hope climbed the last step. "An honor to meet you, a very great honor to meet you both." He beamed and shook first Harry's hand, then Hope's.

"The Leaky Cauldron, if you please, Mr. Conston." The professor's voice held a touch of impatience.

"Yes, Professor."

McGonagall gave Mr. Conston one large gold coin and a number of smaller silver ones.

"One...and...sixteen...thirty three sickles, that's right, professor," he said, meticulously counting.

McGonagall nodded curtly, then continued farther into the bus. Hope and Harry followed, ducking their heads as the passengers stared either curiously or with recognition at them.

The professor stopped at the back of the third level. It was completely empty.

As the twins and McGonagall sat on mismatched chairs, there was another loud BANG! and the Knight Bur was suddenly traveling in a busy city street in Asia. The bus tossed Harry and Hope around like bits of fluff, and both of them hung grimly on to their seats. McGonagall's knuckles were white as she clutched the arms of her chair.

"Now," she said, as if they weren't careening wildly in the middle of a traffic jam. "How much do you know about the Wizarding world?"

"We know what you've told us," Harry said.

"And what was in the letter," Hope added softly.

McGonagall sighed. "Nothing, then." She pressed her lips together. "Your relatives were to have told you when you achieved the proper age."

Hope carefully kept her face expressionless.

"I suppose that the first thing you should know is--well, there was a wizard who was very evil. Not all magic is good magic, just as not all people are good people.

"This wizard went as evil as you could go--those were terrible times. No one trusted anyone; it was almost impossible to tell who was on his side.

"He went after your parents--some say he was afraid of them others say that he tried to get them on his side. Whatever is the case, he went to Godric's Hollow--where you and your parent's lived--and killed them." McGonagall closed her eyes. "Then he tried to kill both of you."

She stared steadily at Harry and Hope. The bus stopped and passengers got off, and with another BANG! the bus was off again, this time by a shore.

"The curse that he used is called the Killing Curse. It killed your parents. He had developed a variant on it--one that could kill two people at once. Our spies said that he had tried it before, and that it had worked. But it didn't work on you."

The Knight Bus stopped again, unloaded, and started off. Their destination was a thickly wooded area.

"The curse backfired and struck Voldemort; he was defeated. Some believe that he died that day. But he was only disembodied, and he is still in hiding, to weak to continue or even call others to his aide.

"And you two, Harry and Hope Potter, are famous for doing the impossible and for defeating the most evil wizard in living memory. Every wizard knows your names, your scars," she gestured to their foreheads. Hope reached up, tracing the lightning bolt. "Yes, that was where the curse struck."

\\Wonderful. We aren't even normal in the wizarding world.//

\Did you catch his name?/

\\Whose?//

\The evil guy. The one who killed Mum and Dad./

\\I don't think she mentioned it.//

"Excuse me, professor?"

She glanced at him. "Yes?"

"What was his name? The--the evil one."

"No one speaks of it. People are still afraid."

"But just saying his name can't conjure him up, can it? And wouldn't not saying his name make people more afraid?"

There was a silence. Then McGonagall spoke again. "You are correct. The wizard's name is--Voldemort."
She pressed her lips together, as if daring Harry to make her say it again.

Harry didn't take the dare.

\\Voldemort? Kind of a stupid name...what kind of parents would name their kid Voldemort?//

\Well, her name is Minerva--and didn't the Headmaster have a weird names?/

\\Yeah-Albus.//

\There you go./

\\Still...//

"Here's our stop," McGonagall said abruptly.

They disembarked in front of a small, grubby pub. "The Leaky Cauldron. It is the doorway between the muggle and wizarding world. It's rather famous."

\For something so famous, it doesn't look like much./

\\Neither do we.//

It was true. Both of them were rather scrawny and on the small side (that might have had something to do with growing up in a small, dark cupboard). Hope had dark red hair that, after Aunt Petunia had chopped it off, it had grown from her ears to her hips overnight. Aunt Petunia had given up, handed Hope a rubber band and told her to keep it neat

"Wait, professor--muggle?"

"Someone--or something--with no magic. Muggles cannot see the Leaky Cauldron unless they know exactly where and what it is."

"Will we get our supplies in the pub?"

"The entrance to Diagon Alley is behind the pub." McGonagall hesitated. "You may wish to be as ...inconspicuous as possible, if we are ever to get through."

"Right," Harry said.

Hope nodded. She had no wish to repeat the scene from the bus.

Professor McGonagall led them through the door and into the pub. Harry and Hope followed closely, keeping their heads down. Both were quite good at not attracting any notice, as it was useful for avoiding Dudley.

McGonagall went through the back door and into a small yard. Hope, eager for her first view of the magical world, slipped into Harry's head to see.

She saw a brick wall.

At first, Hope was disappointed, but a closer look showed that the wall seemed almost translucent, and she almost felt that if she could only look harder, she would see through it.

Before she could try, McGonagall took out a slender wooden stick and tapped a brick on the wall three times.

The brick shivered and a small hole appeared, growing until it was large enough for McGonagall to walk through without brushing the top with her head. She did so, and Hope slipped back into her body to follow.

Harry could hardly believe his eyes. There were stores that boasted self-stirring cauldrons, stores that sold owls, books, telescopes, quills, parchment, and a shop that had a large sign hanging over it proclaiming:
NIMBUS 2000
Fastest acceleration yet
First choice for Seekers
"First we shall go to Gringotts--the wizarding bank. You'll need money to buy your supplies, after all."

\What money?/

\\Didn't she say that we didn't need the scholarship?//

\And I say again, what money? The Dursley's would have taken it long before now, if there was any./

\\Maybe they didn't know about it. Ooh, sparkly...//

\What?/

Hope slipped into Harry for a moment to point it out. \\That.//

\Ohhhh./ They had stopped in front of a large Marble building. A creature the same size as Harry and Hope with a dark, cunning face, pointed beard and very long fingers and feet guarded the door. Harry grinned at the creature, and it nodded. \What is that? Look, there's a poem: "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."/

\\Nice verse.//

"Gringotts is run by goblins," the professor explained very softly.

\That was a goblin?/

They approached the, where McGonagall asked to be directed to both the twin's vault and vault seven hundred and thirteen.

\\We have a vault?//

She produced a small golden key, and they were told to follow another goblin, this one called Griphook. They followed him down a passage and into a cart.

\It's rather gloomy down here./

\\Think what would have happened if the goblins sided with Voldemort. Hundreds of people could have disappeared without much trouble.//

\Wonderfully cheerful, aren't we?/

The cart sped at breakneck speed down another passageway. Harry considered trying to see how far down it went, but didn't want to risk McGonagall's disapproval.

The cart finally screeched to a halt, the sudden stop throwing both Harry and Hope into McGonagall. Hope reddened, but the professor didn't say anything.

The cart finally screeched to a halt, the sudden stop throwing both Harry and Hope into McGonagall. Hope reddened, but the professor didn't say anything.

Griphook unlocked the vault and stepped back, waving them forward.

Harry's first impression was one of awe. The vault was filled with gold, silver and bronze coins.

Hope had a slightly different reaction. She saw the money from Harry's eyes, but there was something else...

Forgetting the professor behind her for a moment, she returned to her own skin and sharpened her senses. To the side of the pile of gold was an object that gave off a smooth, almost liquid feeling. She moved towards it as McGonagall dumped some of the coins into a leather bag and handed it to Harry. Finding object, she returned.



Hope emerged with a tube as long as her forearm. Harry felt McGonagall turn behind him. He went to Hope.

\What is it?/

\\I don't know, but I--I felt it.// She sent the feel of it towards him.

Professor McGonagall spoke. "Was that in the vault?"

Hope nodded.

"May I see it?"

Surprised and gratified that she was asking--any of her relatives would simply have grabbed it out of her hands, Hope held it out, nodding.

Professor McGonagall took it and held it for a moment, tapped it with her wand, then returned it.

"You're not going to open it?" Harry asked.

"It belongs to both of you. And I believe that your mother charmed this to not reveal anything to anyone not of Potter descent."

"Oh." Hope popped the cap off of the cylinder. A roll of parchment slid out into her hand. She gave it to her brother. Harry took it and began to read.

\My dearest ones,
I hope that you will never have to read this. I hope that your father and I will retrieve this letter after the war and destroy it, laughing at our fears. Unfortunately, certain circumstances have arisen that force me to write this and secure it.
If you are reading this, your father and I are dead. If all goes well you will live with your Godfather and his wife. However, the same circumstances that urge me to write this letter allow for mistakes, and so I pen these words:

I, Lily Marie Evans Potter on this date of the tenth of October, 1981, do write that I, Lily Potter and my husband, James Potter are, with our son, Harry James Potter and our daughter, Hope Lily Potter, secreting ourselves from Tom Marvolo Riddle (Alias Lord Voldemort) using the Fidelius Charm, with Peter Pettigrew as Secret Keeper. I also write that these words and the words following were written, signed and sealed by myself on this date of the tenth of October, 1981, and that no additions or subtractions have been made hereafter. Exhibeo verum-i.

Always know that I love you more than life itself. Harry, always stay strong, but do not hesitate to ask for help from those who love you. Never loose sight of the goal before you. Hope, you have been given a burden, but with that burden comes a great gift. Cherish it, for you shall face hard times. Both of you, do not be afraid to love or be loved, for it shall strengthen you.
With all my love,
Lily Potter
My children,
Lily has said all that I meant to. She's always like that, stealing my thunder. She'll probably go over this with red ink and make me diagram all of my sentences. And of course, now she's threatening to hex me and destroy the letter, but if she does, her truth spell won't work. Ha.
I lost my heart to you two even before the Healer dumped the two of you into my arms. (and I do mean dumped, I nearly dropped you!) I want both of you to grow up safe, living in Godric's Hollow with me and your mother, and having your Uncle Padfoot and Aunt Athena and Uncle Moony and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Wormtail dropping by every five minutes. They love you too, you know. Padfoot would live in your nursery if Athena would let him.
But that probably won't happen, and if you're reading this letter, I'm dead, so read this in remembrance of me.
Listen to what Lily said. She's smart, smarter than me, and if either of you are anything like her, you're going to be the best Hogwarts has seen in years.
Harry, Hope, fear only enough to make you cautious, but not overly so. Always be the best you can be--it will be more than enough. And never forget that I love you both so much. Wherever you go, all throughout your life, your mother and I will be watching over you, loving you, even if it is from far away.
Harry, Lily's entrusting all of Hope's stuff to our own beloved Transfigurations Professor. I'm leaving yours to Sirius, but he'll probably give it to Athena for safe keeping.
Get Padfoot and Moony and Sarah and Wormtail to cough up some stories about Hogwarts, and tell them and Athena that they were the best friends anyone could ever have.
James Potter/

Hope bit her lip, fighting tears. She didn't know who most of the people mentioned in the were, but they had all loved her. It was hard to imagine.

Harry swallowed. "Professor? I think you need to hear something." He read Lily's legal statement. As he spoke the words "Exhibeo verum-i," a soft radiance filled the cavern. Griphook, who had been looking bored, turned towards the three humans and reassessed them before regaining his distant, slightly malevolent bearing.

Hope smiled. She had felt the light as liquid warmth flowing around her, caressing and reassuring.

Professor McGonagall gaped. She appeared to have lost her composure completely. "K-keep that safe. Don't loose it." She turned back to the cart. Harry and Hope followed, Harry sliding the parchment back into the tube and putting the tube into the deep pockets of Dudley's pants.

McGonagall picked up a small, grubby package from vault seven hundred thirteen, an item that nearly made Hope's eyes water with the energy it was throwing off.




When they emerged from Gringotts, they began to buy the twin's school supplies. Professor McGonagall started with at a store that sold trunk, buying one that had two compartments and another that had one. She gave the first to Hope and the second to Harry, saying that one trunk could fit inside another for easy storage. Harry was glad; he hadn't been sure how both trunks would fit into the cupboard. Before they went to the bookstore, the Professor stopped at Florean Fortescue's for ice cream.

"Your mother did not only make you your cane, Hope." She handed her what appeared to be a very small, round box, about the size of a dime, with a band around it.

"You read Braille, do you not?"

Hope nodded.

"Unfortunately, the wizarding world is not well equipped for those without sight. Your mother was aware of the matter, and she made this for your use. Put it on your index finger and give me your hand." Hope did so, and McGonagall guided her finger to the page.

Hope heard herself saying "Florean Fortescue's Fine Frozen Desserts," without her mouth moving. Her eyes widened and she jerked back her hand.

\\Harry, did you hear that?//

\I didn't hear anything./

"Wh--" her voice didn't work right. She cleared her throat. "What was that?"

"A charm invented by your mother. I believe that there is a variation of it on your cane; using this device, you and only you can hear the words on this page; with your cane, you will be able to hear it tapping even if you are in a very loud place, and no one will hear it but you."

Hope was at a loss. Aunt Petunia had never said no to anything that her ickle Didderkins wanted, but Hope had never considered that her own mother might have done so much for her.

Harry was slightly jealous. He didn't begrudge Hope of her new possessions; he wouldn't know what to do with them and he didn't need them. Even so, he wished that he knew who Sirius and Athena were.

Their orders came, and Professor McGonagall began to discuss school; specifically, Hope's schooling.

"None of the professors see any reason for you to have a different curriculum than you classmates. You might have to work a bit harder, but it can be done if you are willing. There is one subject, however, that requires some sight: Potions.

"Observations of a potion are crucial in creating a successful potion. A partner could tell you what you need to know, but that could become a problem during exams."

"What about a snake?" Harry suggested. "There's one in our back yard that can see colors--I don't think he would mind Hogwarts--unless snakes are against the rules--" he said, misinterpreting the look on the professor's face.

"You speak to snakes," McGonagall stated slowly. "Both of you."

"Yes--we though it was kind of weird, but strange stuff always happened around us, and this is just more magic, right?"

"Ye, it is a magical talent, but I would advise you not to speak of it to anyone. It is a rare talent, and often... ill received."

Harry nodded. \Again with the 'Not even normal for the wizarding world.'/

\\Of course. We are nothing if not abnormal.//

\Better that than like the super-normals, the Dursleys./

\\I'd still rather if all this stuff didn't always happen to us.//

\You'd rather be back at the Dursleys?/

\\You know what I mean.//

They had finished with their ice cream, so they continued to the bookstore and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

Someone was being measured as they came in, so Harry went back as Hope waited with Professor McGonagall.

0"Miss Potter," McGonagall started, seemingly a tad nervous, "Madam Malkin's also carries shoes, socks, underclothing and night things. Have you or Harry any need of them?

"Yes," Hope said quietly. There was no Harry to talk for her now. "Er--both."

"Do you know your sizes?"

"No." Hope then felt that she was under scrutiny, and she shifted, uncomfortable.

A pile of something was given to her. "Try these on, then, and pass out what doesn't fit." Professor McGonagall guided her to a dressing room.

Hoped obeyed, trying on the under things and nightgowns as ordered. When she found the correct size, the Professor added several pairs to the 'to be purchased pile' along with socks and a pair of shoes that fit.

When Harry emerged shortly after the sandy haired boy that preceded him, he received similar treatment as Hope was fitted for robes.

After they left Madam Malkin's, and after they were finished buying Potions supplies, Professor McGonagall took them to Eeylops Owl Emporium and advised them to buy an owl, as toads were fairly useless and a cat would be more likely to disagree with Hope's snake. Once they had purchased a lovely snowy owl, they made the most important purchase of all: a wand.

When they entered Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 b.c., they were examined by an old man with rather odd silver eyes. "Ah, yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry and Hope Potter." It wasn't a question. "You," he pointed to Hope, "are the image of your mother--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. But you," his gaze turned to Harry, "favor your father, but for your mother's eyes. He favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it-it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." The old mad had been drawing closer as he spoke, and he reached out, tracing both Harry and Hope's scar as he spoke. "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...." Both of the twins tensed at his touch, but he appeared not to notice.

"Minerva! How good to see you again," he said, noticing Professor McGonagall for the first time. "Vine wood and dragon heartstring, rather rigid, wasn't it?"

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall, inclining her head.

Ollivander's attention turned suddenly back to the twins. "Well, now-Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Er-well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.

"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 measured, he said, "

"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."

Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure 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 (feeling foolish) 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 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. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The shelves were looking rather empty. And 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--holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple--no, no, not that one either--but almost. Almost." He paused, and seemed to ponder something for a split second. "Yes... why not? Holly, apple and phoenix feather. Very unusual combination; the last wand I made with two woods must have been at least seventy-five years ago, and I've only two left. Well, now, go ahead."

Harry raised the wand, and a sensation not unlike the one that had tingled in his fingers with the holly and phoenix feather shot through his arm. Green and red sparks flew from the tip and filled the dark and dusty room with light.

"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well...how curious...how very curious..."

\\What's curious?//

\I don't know. Your turn./

Ollivander was already motioning to Hope with an expression of delight. She stepped forward and extended her right arm, and the tape measure leapt into action.

The old man grabbed a wand and a box; the wand the holly and phoenix feather that had almost worked for Harry, the box extremely dusty and old.

"Here, here," he said, handing her the wand, "try this one first."

Hope got much less of a reaction that Harry did, but it was still there.

"Now this one," Ollivander said, holding out the wand box.

Hope opened it and grasped the wand, feeling liquid warmth slide over her fingers.

Harry watched as blue, gold, and silver sparks flew from the edge of the wand.

"Yes, yes, that's it! Hazelwood and apple and phoenix feather, the other wand...and how 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 feathers are in your wands gave another feather-just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for these wands when their brother-why, their brother gave you that scar."

Hope swallowed.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, or the witch, remember.... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter, Miss Potter.... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things, terrible, yes, but great."

\\He calls massacring muggles great?!?//

\Maybe by 'great,' he just means powerful./

\\Still!//

They paid fourteen galleons for their wands, then exited the shop. Professor McGonagall, who had been looking pensive since Harry spoke of snakes, told them that Hope would be coming ot Hogwarts.

"You need to be instructed on the use of your cane, and determine whether or not a snake may be used in Potions. But first," she said, smiling slightly. "take your wands and point them at your collarbones." She waited until they had done so. "Now repeat this: aperio persona catena.

Both did so, and gasped as a weight appeared on their breastbones. Harry plucked at his neck and held up a simple, round locket and a ring hung on a sliver chain. Popping open the locket, he found pictures of what appeared to be older versions of himself and his twin. The inside of the ring was engraved with a lily.

Hope's locket was more ornate, but the inside was the same. Her ring was more slender, with a small sapphire set in gold. Inside was an engraving of a stag.

"I assume it worked?" Professor McGonagall asked. The twins looked questioningly up at her. "The spell you used was designed to show them only to the person wearing them. For me to see them, you would use the spell aperio indico catena. I do not ask it to now." She straitened, if that was possible, and said, "Well, then, we will drop Mr. Potter off at your relative's house, and I will take Miss Potter with me."


A/N Like? Love? Loathe? Review! (Yes corny, but how else am I going to know what you think?) Constructive criticism is appreciated, praise is delightedly devoured, flames are decidedly unappreciated--for Pete's sake, people, if you don't like my fic, tell me why, don't netscream it in a dialect so peppered with cursing that it's hard to see the actual words.

You review me, I will review your appropriately rated HP fanfics

As for the chapter: Ollivander's speech was mostly from the book.
I'm looking for a beta reader and britpicker, if you're interested, let me know.