Chapter 1
Kaley had been having a bad day, one of many in her bad life. It had started out like any other day with her Aunt Petunia waking her up first thing to make breakfast for everyone except herself. Kaley didn’t mind that, she was used to it, and all of the Dursley’s were too tired in the morning to notice her filching a piece of bacon here or there as she fried it anyways.
It started to go wrong first when Dudley blamed her for trampling the begonias (that she had planted in the first place), and she had to listen to Uncle Vernon yell at her until he was red in the face. Because of that unexpected delay she had been late leaving for her walk to school. Kaley usually liked the time to herself, as Dudley was always dropped off by her uncle in the mornings, and St. Grogory’s wasn’t very far from Privet Drive. However, she was now running late and forgot that it had rained the night before so by the time she got to the school Kaley was practically splattered in mud. Her teacher had been thoroughly unimpressed, as if Kaley had purposely gotten covered in mud; and her cousin and his goons had thought it was hilarious.
She had been uncomfortable all morning with itchy mud caked on her legs and socks, but Mrs. Richards refused to let her go to the washroom until break. Kaley had spent the first five minutes of recess washing the dry mud off of her and then changing into a clean pair of Dudley’s old socks that she had stuffed into her gym bag.
She was thankful that St. Grogory’s had a uniform, since it meant the Dursley’s had to let her wear the same thing as all of the other kids and not just Dudley’s old castoffs. She had heard some of the other girls complain about how ugly the uniforms were but Kaley loved the skirt, tie, and mary janes that the others seemed to hate.
The dark gray socks weren’t bad, if a bit too big, and her patent mary janes thankfully cleaned off easily enough. Kaley looked at herself in the mirror, sighing at her wild black locks. She didn’t have any hair ties, so she pulled the ribbon that she had found at the park out of her bag and tied the front parts of her hair back. It looked slightly better that way than pulling all of it back, especially with only a ribbon.
There was still about fifteen minutes until they would be expected back in class and she knew she couldn’t spend the whole time in the washroom or Mrs. Richards would say something about it. Kaley tried to be discreet as she exited into the courtyard that the students had recess in. She apparently wasn’t discreet enough, as Dudley and his goons instantly targeted her. Kaley wasn’t in the mood so she took off, and they followed.
She had been doing really well, she was very fast after all, until one of her mary janes caught on a tree root and she went down. The boys were far enough behind her that they still couldn’t see where she was in the trees, but Kaley could hear them gaining on her. Her knee burned where she had scraped it in her fall. She closed her eyes and wished really hard that she was somewhere else. Kaley felt as though she was being squeezed by the air and there was a loud pop in her ears and then she opened her eyes, not realizing she had closed them.
She was on a roof! Kaley walked as close to the edge as she dared and peeked down. She was on the school roof and it didn’t seem like anyone realized she was up there yet. She’d rather keep it that way, considering how her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia usually reacted when Kaley did ‘freaky’ things. She backed away from the ledge until her back was up against one of the chimneys and then sank to the ground, bringing her knees up to her chest. She hoped no one noticed her but also didn’t know how she was going to get down if no one ever did.
Kaley knew she had to have been up on the roof for a while now, well past when break ended and Mrs. Richardson must have noticed she was gone. Hours and hours could have passed for all Kaley knew as she sat on the rooftop and fretted about her inevitable punishment. She was thankful it hadn’t rained like the day before, but it was still wet and chilly and overcast. She was glad she had worn the jumper and blazer parts on the uniform that day, as she draped her blazer over her shivering knees.
It felt like days could have passed, though Kaley knew school hadn’t even let out yet or she would have heard it, when she heard the murmur of voices and the rattling of keys. Her head shot up just in time to see the access door across from her chimney opening slowly. There was a small group of men in the doorway, lead by the school groundskeeper and followed by the last person she wanted to see, her Uncle Vernon. Kaley and her uncle made eye contact and she could read the hatred and violence the look promised. She thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest as all she could think was safe, safe, safe. She saw her uncle's eyes growing rounder and his face flushing as ugly red the split second before she felt herself being squeezed by the air.
A loud pop! rang through her ears once more and Kaley clutched her head as it spun. She was glad she had already been sitting when she did that squeezy thing or she was sure she would have ended up on the floor anyways. Not enough time for her to actually recover passed when Kaley heard a gravely throat clearning infront of her. Her head shot up. Oh no, her uncle! She was so dead!
Only she wasn’t on the roof anymore. Which okay, maybe she’d expected that, but it was still a little weird to just accept it. She looked around herself in wonder. The room wasn’t very wide but was long with dozens of huge marble fireplaces lining one of the walls. The whole room was made of marble, weapons hung on the walls that weren’t fireplaces and there were thick rugs on the marble floors. She was sitting on a dark blue one and it was very comfortable.
The voice cleared once more and Kaley turned her head to see an odd creature, clearly not human, wearing what looked like a knight's armor. Kaley liked to read; she had read Narnia and Alice in Wonderland and other stories where a girl ended up in a strange land with different types of creatures. Usually the girl had to go through something first, a wardrobe or a rabbit’s hole, but Kaley thought maybe that’s what that squeezing had been. She was an odd girl so it made sense that she could get sucked into a weird world.
She scrambled to her feet and realized that she and the knight were just about the same height. She knew from the stories that it was always best to be very polite when dealing with strangers.
”Hello, sir.” Kaley nodded her head awkwardly toward the other. “I think I may be lost, if you wouldn’t mind helping me.”
She said the second part a bit quieter than the first. The knight had raised his eyebrows when she began speaking, though his face hadn’t changed besides that.
”And where are you supposed to be, little witch?” His voice was gravely, like when people smoke a lot of cigarettes.
Little witch? Witch? Was Kaley a witch? A little voice in her head was screaming that of course she was, of course she could do magic, she had done it several times before. Another voice was chanting ‘there’s no such thing as magic’, though if there was no such thing as magic why were her aunt and uncle always screaming about ‘freakiness’.
Kaley didn’t want to think about it too much and she needed to respond before the knight got annoyed, he looked like it wouldn’t take much.
“I’m not sure, I was on a roof before…” His eyebrows rose higher and she quickly continued. “Where are we now? What is this place?”
She gazed around in awe once more. She had never been in such a fancy place before. Everything was so shiny, though she wasn’t sure who needed so many fireplaces.
”We’re in Gringotts Wizarding Bank.” A wizarding bank…
”This is a bank?” She looked around again, this time incredulously.
The knight let out a small bark that startled her slightly, and drew her attention back to him.
”This is merely a receiving room for those flooing in or apparating in, as you yourself did.”
The knight was now looking at her incredulously, which made Kaley want to squirm. Apparate, was that what she did? She wasn’t sure what she did or even how she could… The knight called her a witch but how did he know? She thought about asking him when he spoke up once more, curiously.
”Do you have an account here, little witch?”
“I- I don’t know.” She didn’t think so but sometimes in stories weird things happened. In Narnia they became royalty, so who knows maybe Kaley did have an account. Why else would she be here?
”What’s your name?”
She hadn’t realized that she hadn’t given it until now, that was rude of her. She should ask for his as well and also what exactly he is, though she’s not sure how to do that politely so maybe she’ll wait and try to find a book with the information later.
“I’m Kaley Potter, sir. What’s your name?”
His expression didn’t change but Kaley thought something had shifted in it. She wasn’t sure why.
”My name is Grinwick, little witch. I believe you may have a vault or two around here with your name attached. If you would like to come with me we could check?”
”It’s a pleasure to meet you, Grinwick. We could do that, if it wouldn’t be a bother.”
”No bother.”
Grinwick pulled open one of the heavy doors that she learned led out into a greater area of the bank. It still didn’t seem like the main lobby, but there were a lot more of the people like Grinwick and a few normal humans who were not dressed normal at all. Both women and men were wearing long dresses and a couple had funny hats that looked like a mix between Halloween and a fascinator. Kaley became super aware of what she looked like at the moment and made sure to pull her blazer back on over her jumper.
He led her down a side hallway that was long and empty and hung with weapons and paintings that seemed to be moving in their frames. Maybe Kaley went with her uncle after all and now she had brain trauma. Well, there wasn’t much she could do about that either way.
“So, Grinwick, are you a knight?” She was curious and he hadn’t seemed annoyed by her questions before. Even now he seemed more amused than annoyed so she figured maybe she could ask him a few things.
”Goblin’s don’t call themselves knights, it’s not a word we would ever use, but I suppose it wouldn’t be wrong for you to use it. It’s a similar concept.”
”Oh. So you’re a goblin?”
”Yes, I’m a goblin.” The goblin let out a hoarse chuckle.
“I’ve never met a goblin before. How old are you?”
”Fifty-eight.”
”Is that young?”
”Fairly young, yes. Goblins have very long life spans compared to muggles. Witches and wizards used to as well, though you all seem to die much quicker these days.”
She wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, and didn’t seem to need to as they finally reached their destination. The door looked like all the others that they had passed on their walk here, but Grinwick seemed to know what made this one different as he rapped on the door several times in what Kaley was sure was a special pattern.
After a few seconds a voice gravelier than Grinwick’s called out for them to enter. Grinwick gave her a look that was probably supposed to be encouraging and opened the door and stepped through. Kaley followed the goblin into an office that was really nice, like the rest of the bank. She gaped slightly at the marble and dark wood that surrounded her before focusing on the other goblin who sat behind the desk. She could tell this one was older than Grinwick, which made sense since Grinwick said he was young, but also this goblin must be really old then!
She realized she was staring as she thought and blushed in embarasment before she ducked her head in another awkward nod of greeting.
”Hello, sir; my name is Kaley Potter. Grinwick said I might have an account here and we could check.”
She glanced over at the goblin standing beside her and he nodded in confirmation, she had done good. She looked back to the goblin behind the desk, who was staring at them with raised eyebrows. He seemed to catch himself, clearing his throat and smoothing his face over.
“Hello, Ms. Potter. My name is Bogrod. We can indeed check if you have an account here. Can I ask how you got here today? Where are your guardians?”
She squirmed a little at the questions, not quite sure how to answer.
”She apparated into one of the lesser used floo-rooms, sir.” Gripwick spoke up for her, which she was grateful for.
The older goblin looked back and forth between the two a few times before he seemed to decide to move past it. She was glad because she wasn’t sure exactly what she had done and why they kept reacting like that to it.
“To check to see if you are connected to any vaults we will first need to check to see who you are. There are a couple of ways to do this, though I think the one that suits us today will be to scan your magic.”
”My magic…” She gaped at the man.
“Yes. As a witch born to magical parents a magical scan like this one will show the family magics that you are connected to and any bonds your magic has made. It will be more than sufficient to tell us who you are and allow us to access the information that we are looking for.”
Her parents had been magical too… She should have known with the way that Aunt Petunia was always insulting them and calling them names. She hated them as much as she hated Kaley and maybe this was one of the reasons why. She wasn’t quite sure what the magical scan was but Bogrod said it wouldn’t hurt when she asked, so she agreed.
Grinwick disappeared out the door and returned with another goblin, who introduced himself as Griphook. The two goblins were carrying a basket holding large crystal ball that did look much too heavy for just one of them to be able to lift. They transferred the ball from the basket to a bowl-like stand on a low table off the one side of the room. Bogrod instructed her to sit on the stool beside the table and to place both hands on the crystal ball and wait.
She sat and waited, she was good at waiting, she had spent much of her childhood waiting, but she waited and nothing seemed to be happening. She was about to ask if they were sure that she actually had magic, they may of had her mixed up with someone else. Kaley Potter wasn’t a very uncommon name, she was sure there were probably dozens around that might be the right one. She was about to ask when the ball seemed to light up. She’d seen toys that were similar, balls that lit up with electricity when someone touched them. Dudley had wanted one but it had been a hard no from Petunia, one of few, and Violet wondered if it was because of magic.
Kaley stared into the glass orb that now reminded her of the night sky; a swirling mist of dark purples and blue spun around in the ball as thousands of tiny twinkling stars glimmered in shades of silver and gold. She couldn’t help but stare as she continued to grip the orb, and didn’t notice the rolled scroll that suddenly popped into existence beside the ball. Bogrod broke the seal on the scroll and read with no sign of what he was thinking on his face. After a few moments he spoke up.
”It says that your family magics are Potter and Black, which is to be expected.” He went back to reading the scroll.
”Was my mother a Black?”
Bogrod froze at that, as did the other goblins, not that she noticed.
“No, before taking the name Potter your mother was an Evans, I believe. Lily Evans. Your father, James’s mother, Dorea, was a Black before marrying your grandfather, Charlus.”
Kaley scrunched her nose as she thought about it, she didn’t think she had ever heard her Aunt Petunia say her maiden name before. She knew she’d never heard any of those people’s, her family’s, names before.
“Why does my grandmothers family show up but not my mother?” That was confusing.
”Your mother was a muggleborn- a person with magic born to people without magic. We call people without magic muggles, unless they are born to people with magic and then they are called squibs.” He explained when he saw her confusion.
“Your mother was a muggleborn so think of it as her magic being her own. If she was still alive you would have a tie to that magic, but since she is not, that tie is no longer there. Magical beings use magic ties, not blood ties, so since the magic of your mothers line is gone, you are no longer connected to it. You still contain her blood and your magic contains hers, but it is now yours and unanchored.
“You are anchored to the Potter family magic because your father and his father before him, and so on, were born Potters. Even if you were the last Potter, you would still be tied to the Potter family magic as it is an old wizarding family with deeply rooted magic. I would take generations of no magical Potters before the roots withered, as it were.
“As I said, your grandmother was a Black, it’s interesting how attuned you are with the Black family magic with you being a couple generations removed from the line. I would say your Black family magic is stronger than the Potter by far. The only other family you would maybe have access to would be from your great grandmother, who was a Fleamont, but as that family is extinct outside of the Potter family, the magics have most likely begun to merge at the point. Who did you say your guardians were?”
The goblin looked over his glasses at her. That had been a lot of information. So much information.
”The Dursleys.” Kaley’s voice came out in a sort of squeak. The goblin furrowed his brow at the name so she continued on. “My Aunt Petunia was my mom’s sister. So an Evans, I guess.” She wasn’t really sure.
Bogrods face went emotionless in a way that she hadn’t seen before. She glanced over at Grinwick who was wearing a similar expression. Griphook wasn’t hiding his feelings quite as well and she could tell that he was attempting to mask his rage. She wasn’t quite sure why they were so mad. Bogrod barked something out in a rough language that she hadn’t heard before and Griphook scrambled out of the office.
He was back barely thirty seconds later with a black file that Bogrod all but snatched out of his hand before he began reading it. The file wasn’t very thick and Kaley watched him flip back and forth between the papers a few times before he lifted his gaze to meet hers.
”Do you know how long you have been living with you mother’s sister?” The goblin questioned.
”Since I was a year old, I think.” Kaley gulped slightly,
”Do you know either Henry Potter or Albus Dumbledore?”
”Um, no. Potter….”
”A cousin of your father. It was believed that your custody went to him after what happened to your parents, being the head of the Potter house.”
”Oh…” She wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.
“Do you wish to stay with the muggles?” Bogrod’s voice was softer now than it had been before, making Kaley’s head shoot up to look at him.
”There are other options. If you would like to return to the muggles you can, but you don’t have to go back if you don’t want to. You have other family.”
Kaleys head spun slightly at that. It was a lot to think about and scary too. To think about leaving her home and trying to live with someone else. Someone who may be as bad as the Dursleys, worse even. Only, could they be worse than the Dursleys? She glanced at Grinwick who gave her the same encouraging look from before they entered the room.
”I don’t want to go back to the muggles.”