vii. can you fly a broomstick, harriet?

Needless to say, they had to plan a lot of back-up plans. Fortunately they both had many ideas for back-up plans, though they hoped to never need them.

When three o'clock finally rolled around, Vernon had just left the house and entered in car to drive to work for his second shift of the day. Dudley was still munching on his chocolate ice-cream, though Petunia had given him less than normally. Petunia and Harriet were both sitting at the table, watching Dudley.

"Dudley?", Petunia asked when Dudley was finally finished with his dish.

"Huh?"

"Harriet and I have to go to the bank because of something her parents left for her. Do you want to come with us or go to Piers' house?"

Dudley was seriously thinking about it. Going to a bank (where money comes from) with his mother and freak cousin and miss out punching three-year-olds at the park, or going to Piers for 'fun' and miss out on something his freak cousin gets to do alone with his mother? The decision was easily made.

"I want to come!", said Dudley sternly. He didn't want Harriet to be allowed to do something that he wasn't allowed to.

Petunia nodded. "Alright. But on two conditions. One, you will be nice to Harriet for the whole time we are away." Dudley opened his mouth to say something, but Petunia glared at him. Something Harriet hasn't seen ever since the Hogwarts letter incident in the old timeline. "And two, you will not tell your father about any of this. If he asks, tell him you and I went to the park and dropped Harriet off at Mrs. Figg's. Alright?"

Dudley instantly nodded. He didn't like it, though. Why did his mother suddenly have conditions for things he wanted to do? And why should he be nice to the freak Harriet? But he didn't think much about it, because it was better than to let her do something that he couldn't.

"Ok, Dudley. You will have to listen carefully to me and what I say. It is all the truth and no matter what, you will not tell your father that you know."

"But why does Freak get to know?", he asked loudly and Petunia shot him a look.

"Because, it has to do with how her parents died." Dudley shut up, which she took as a sign to continue. "Ok, you remember when Mrs. Smythe's hair turned blue while she shouted at Harriet?" Dudley nodded. "Well, why do you think it turned blue?"

Dudley thought about it. His parents had punished the freak for it, but how could she have done it if she was seated at the end of the classroom?

"I don't know. Harriet sat in the last row of the classroom while Mrs. Smythe shouted from the front. She couldn't have done anything to turn it blue, could she?" Dudley may seem like a little pig with clothes on and dumber than any other, but that wasn't true. While he truly didn't care about his grades or school in general, he did know what logic and common sense was. And from his logic, Mrs. Smythe's hair shouldn't have turned blue in the middle of the lesson without any tools. But from his parents��� logic it was all Harriet's fault, so why shouldn't he believe them?

"Yes Dudley. Under normal circumstances that shouldn't have been possible. However, Harriet isn't normal. But she isn't a freak either. She's a witch."

"A witch? Like a magic witch? With a pointy hat and a broomstick? And warts on her crooked nose? And a black cat and poisons?" Then he took a good look at Harriet and reconsidered. "But she doesn't look like a witch."

"Not that kind of witch. She's a witch with spells, potions, broomsticks, wizards, and even Merlin. Her mother, your Aunt Lily, was a witch too. And her father was a wizard. There are evil witches and wizards too, but most of them are good."

"But why did you always say magic wasn't real and that Harriet was a freak?"

"Because- because a wizard wanted us to hurt her. He put a spell on the letter that came with Harriet and it made your father be so violent towards her. As for me, he said-" At this she started to sob and forgot that Dudley was still actually a six-year-old boy. "He said he'd kill you and me both if I didn't pretend to hate her. But today…Harriet heard me arguing with Vernon and asked me about it, so I told her all about it already."

Dudley's expression could only be explained as one of a gaping fish. "You- you mean Dad wants to kill us?"

Petunia nodded. "Yes. If I didn't pretend to hate Harriet." She sniffled quietly.

"Ok, but what does all that have to do with F- Harriet's parents dying? Did some kind of evil wizard person come and kill them with that wand thingy in his hand?"

"Actually, yes, Dudley." Dudley looked horrified. "They were hunted down, I don't know why, but they went into hiding. No one knew where they were except some friends of them. But one of them, as I've been told, has told that evil wizard where they were. He came to them and killed your Aunt Lily and Uncle James. He tried to kill Harriet, too. But something apparently went wrong and she survived. The next morning she was on our doorstep. In the middle of a cold November night! With nothing but a spelled letter attached to her blanket." Petunia suddenly sobered. "But that's not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about."

Dudley suddenly looked very curious. "What's it?"

"Well, we need to protect Harriet from both of those wizards that want to hurt her. So we have to change her name and looks. But magically, and permanently. So we've got to go to the magical world and to their bank to do it. I still remember from when I was a kid, there were goblins leading the bank-"

"Real goblins?! Like in the films?"

"Similar, yes. So we've got to go there and look for her family to find what name she could take on. But some children find the goblins scary, I certainly did. Do you still want to come or should we drop you off at Piers'?"

"I wanna come!", Dudley stated without hesitation, and Petunia nodded. Harriet, who hadn't said anything the whole time, nodded, too.

"Can we go now, Aunt Petunia?", she asked eagerly, bouncing in her seat.

Petunia smiled. "Yes, Harriet. We'll go now. Come on, get your coats and shoes on and we'll catch the bus to London."

—

The whole time on the bus Dudley asked questions about magic and Petunia answered them patiently.

"Can you fly a broomstick, Harriet? Can you teach me?", he asked after a few minuted eagerly.

"I can't fly a broomstick, but my Dad could. He was a superb flyer and was considered to fly for England! But I think non-magical people can't fly broomsticks, Dudley…"

"How do you know that? Did Mum tell you?"

Harriet looked at Dudley and smiled happily. "No. I found that box under my bed this morning. It was full of magical school texts and notes from my parents. There were even pictures in there. And they were moving!"

"Moving? Like films?"

"Yes, just like films! Just shorter. I was so confused at first when they started moving!"

And so the conversation continued for the ride, Dudley forgetting that he's ever hated Harriet, and Harriet trying to sound like a real six-year-old without any experience on magic other than what she found under her cot and got told by Petunia.

—

"Come, Harriet, Dudley. That's our stop!", Petunia announced as they exited the bus and walked across Charing Cross Road.

"Ok, Harriet. I remember that we went into a small building called 'The Leaky Cauldron'. I could only see it when your mother's escort and her pointed it out to us. Keep your eyes open for an old pub with a sign saying the name of it above. Oh, and cover up that scar. We don't want people recognising you."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia!", Harriet said as she looked around, searching for that dingy-looking pub. She knew where it was, of course, but Dudley didn't know that.

But Dudley had apparently listened to Petunia telling Harriet what to do any decided to look around as well, only to exclaim a few seconds later, "There! Mummy, Harriet, I found it! It says 'The Lea-ky coldren'!" Dudley couldn't read fluently yet, but it was enough to be able to tell where the pub was situated.

"But didn't Aunt Petunia say you wouldn't be able to see it? You're non-magical, you're not supposed to see it."

Petunia looked shocked, too.

"Maybe I'm a wizard", Dudley said, then his eyes widened as he processed what he just said. He turned to Petunia. "Mummy, Mummy! Am I a wizard? A true wizard?"

"I don't know, sweetums. Maybe we'll test you, too. I'm pretty sure the goblins can tell magicals apart from non-magicals. Let's go in."

Dudley bounced forward and pulled the door open, Harriet only covering her scar with her hair just at the right second and right before stepping into the pub.

"Ah, hello. Here for a meal, a room are just to go through?", the barkeeper asked kindly as he noticed them. Dudley hid slightly behind Petunia's legs (not that he succeeded) and Harriet just looked at the older man in front of them.

"No, sir", Petunia said kindly. "We wanted to go through to the Alley. My niece is a witch and my son may be a wizard, but I myself am not magical. I only know about magic through my deceased muggle-born sister. We wanted to make a test to see what she left us and if she had a will, but we are in need of assistance."

The barkeeper looked at her in sympathy. "Of course, Ma'm, of course. Just through here, I'll open the Alley for you. And non of that 'sir' business. Just call me Tom. Everyone here does."

Petunia smiled at Tom as he led them through the pub and out the back. "Thank you."

"Oh, it was nothing", Tom waved them off as he tapped the bricks and waited for the wall to open. "Welcome to Diagon Alley!", he stated proudly as he looked at Dudley's face of wonder and Harriet's un-faked one of awe.

"Come on, Mum! I wanna see the goblins!", Dudley said as he pulled Petunia into the Alley.

"Slow down, Dudley. The goblins aren't going to leave if we don't hurry up!", she said amusedly, but let herself be pulled through.

"Thanks again, Tom", she said right before the way closed. She turned to her son and her adult-turned-child niece. "Now, where to first?" She pretended to think and smiled as Dudley exclaimed, "Goblins!" in a very loud voice.

"Yes, I think that'd be wise. We want to make that family tests, after all, right? And if we want to buy something, we need magical money. Hm…we're was that bank again…" She looked around in sincere confusion, but Harriet thought she'd help Petunia out a bit.

"Aunt Tuney! That white building over there says 'Gringotts! And it's so big! Maybe that's the bank?", she said excitedly. Petunia looked ahead and saw the white marble building in front of them.

"You know what? You might be right. Are those goblins guarding the door?"

"Goblins? Where?", Dudley asked loudly, craning his neck to see what his mother was looking at.

And there it was. Gringotts, the wizard bank. Because of their circumstances, Harriet called it the 'Bank of Truth' in her head now.

And as a family of three, the Dursley-Potter clan entered Gringotts.