Sweet wine of rare fruit
“The usual shepherd’s pie for yourself, Mr. Potter?”
Floating with excitement, Harry didn’t even mind the heads snapping around to catch a look at him as he passed Tom. He’d asked Tom many times before to just call him Harry, but the innkeeper would just shoot him the usual toothless grin, nod, and continue on with the formalities.
He nodded in agreement as he followed Lena to a table in a corner, and could have sworn Tom gave him a knowing look - of course. After all, Tom surely went to Hogwarts himself. Surely he must have known about the owl. He took a seat, and placed the letter on the table.
“What’s that?” Lena pointed at the envelope quite confused, and Harry slid it closer to her, mouthing to open it. She picked it up and turned to look at the recipient details, eyebrows shooting up as she read on.
Harry watched a smile grow on her face as she read the letter - by now, he had memorized every word by heart.
“This is it, isn’t it? This is what you wanted to talk about, yeah? This is it, Harry. All the luck to this new chapter - we should celebrate!” A smile grew on her face as she flipped the letter. “Ah, that’s quite a- … quite a number of things you need. Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about.”
The witch dug through the pockets of her robe, taking out a small, golden key, which she laid onto the envelope. She pushed it towards him, and Harry grasped it, examining it closely.
“Harry, you know how I try to teach you and tell you as much as I can, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Well, apart from magic. He could recall many times he’d asked her to teach him. The other kids back in Romania would be taught magic with or without a wand, even had apprenticeships. Yet without Lena’s blessing, not a single witch or wizard back there would teach him anything. ‘You’ll learn at your school, Harry, that’s how it works.’
“Well, there’s things that I thought you’re a bit too small to be burdened with. But now that you’re starting school and all… You know, with your mum and dad gone, they weren’t able to have a say in how they wanted you to spend money. That there is the key to their - well, your, vault at Gringotts.
I’ve told you every now and then your parents had quite a lot of money, yeah? The moment you were born, with the war raging, the moment they could, they left everything to you, Harry. And well, with you going to Hogwarts, I figured this time is best as any to give the key to its rightful owner.”
Harry examined the key closely - she’d told him before, but he’d never connected it to Gringotts. No, whenever he’d go there, he had only seen her exchange currency. But then again, perhaps he hadn’t noticed…
“Have you ever used it?”
“I suppose you think I’ve taken your money and I’m giving you the key to an empty vault?”
“What, no- I… I didn’t-” He stammered, feeling himself go red.
“I’m joking, Harry.” Lena looked on as two plates floated lightly on the table, and nodded towards Tom. “Can I get a glass of red wine, Tom dear?” she asked, before turning back to Harry. “I have, yes. Kept notes of everything I took. When you’re older, I’ll give that to you, so you know how much has been there since you were a baby.
Sometimes, when I’d get you presents, I’d put some of their money- '' She stopped for a moment, trying to find her words. “It felt… well, like I would be splitting the costs with them, and it would be like they kind of… gifted you those things. With the interest on it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not already back to where it was when I took you in.
If you’re mindful of what you spend, it’s enough to comfortably hold you until you graduate, at least.”
He had a hundred questions, and worked to find what was the best one to ask first. Finally, he found it, and asked it as he watched Lena’s glass slowly approach the table. He waited as the witch lifted the glass in mid-air by moving her finger upwards, having it pour half of its contents into Harry’s empty glass.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“How would you have felt now if instead of getting you a wand, I’d have said, well, Harry, can’t, ‘cause when you were five, you really wanted to buy a dragon with your father’s money.” her voice when speaking in Romanian turned more grave and less formal, and Harry finally acquiesced. Whenever he’d get a lecture in English, it was for him to learn from his mistakes. When the language flipping would start, it wasn’t about that anymore. After all, his favorite answer to any question, courtesy of Lena, was something translated most accurately to ‘For idiots to marvel at.’
“I still think many of my problems would have been solved with a dragon.” he grinned.
Watching Lena as she raised her glass, he followed suit, murmuring a small cheers before taking a sip and digging into his food. He watched as Lena, before drinking herself, looked at Tom. The moment he had his back turned, she spilt a bit of her wine on her floor, whispering ‘For the souls of the departed’, before drinking herself.
Good wine before his birthday, was another saying and tradition that Harry had grown up with. However, the next morning, he had already forgotten it was his birthday, until his foot touched the ribbon of a package laid at the end of his bed. He pulled the duvet away, and unwrapped them carefully. Self-shuffling cards from Gavril, his friend back home. A large box of pastries and a pair of socks with red thread running alongside them, from Despina - that old woman would always gift him clothing with red thread sewn into them, saying it would protect him from evil. And every year he would be unharmed, it would only prove her point more. ‘Just put on her stuff, go all the way up that linden tree and jump. That’ll show her.’ would more often than not be the advice given, no matter who he’d complain to. There were many linden trees where he grew up, and not much imagination.
And surprisingly, there it was. In a dirty envelope that had certainly been re-used and re-packed without much thought, was the gift from aunt Petunia. He’d wondered, many a time, why she kept sending these letters, as they obviously gave her no joy. Inside was a U-shaped, plastic tool that not only was chipped, but had one side snapped. Harry turned it on all sides, trying to figure what use it could have, but he could not figure for the life of him what the object was supposed to be. Maybe his aunt was finally warming up to him and sent him some sort of riddle or puzzle? Nice thought to have, at least.
He scratched his head, and giving up, thought that maybe Lena knew what it could be used for. Harry got dressed quickly before leaving his room, and knocked on her door without answer. He tried to open it to no avail, almost hitting his nose against the wood.
It was Tom, when he went downstairs, that elucidated the mystery for him.
“Good morning, Mr. Potter. A note from miss. Antim - she left in a hurry a few hours ago. Gave her apologies.”
Harry opened the note, his package at his side as Tom invited him to sit down and have breakfast.
Morning Harry,
Happy Birthday! I’m sorry I’ve left you alone on this day. An emergency arose, but I will be finished in a couple of hours. If you want to start school shopping, go to Gringotts - you will need more than you think, twenty Galleons should do as a start. Get some robe measurements, have fun - if you finish by noon, we can meet in front of Ollivander’s for your wand.
Kisses,
Magdalena
There have been many occasions Harry had been left to fend for himself. However, this was the first time he had to do so in Great Britain, and the first time he had to go to the bank himself. His first point of action when he reached Gringotts was to examine the other customers. He watched two formal-looking wizards discuss the latest fumble made by the Holyhead Harpies in the qualifiers, and filled himself up with self-assurance. He could do it.
People do it every day, how hard could it be?
“Hi, I, uh- Good morning. My name’s Harry Potter, and… well-” That certainly did not play that way in his head.
“Key?” The goblin rolled his eyes, and Harry couldn’t help but feel like an idiot in his attempt to imitate the other wizards. If anything, he rather resembled the two Muggle parents of a wizard child to his right, with the father trying to understand the currency exchange.
Harry dug through his trousers and unfolded his Hogwarts envelope, unsticking the wax stamp from the key. He handed it to the goblin, and waited. He made a mental note to ask Lena if it was really only the key she needed - after all, she had full access to his vault, without him knowing even once. Right now, however, it was on him to be in charge.
“Follow me.”
Awake from his daydreaming, Harry took the key back and made a sharp turn to go after the goblin, only to bump into something massive. That was odd, he hadn’t noticed that wall there before - but before he could move, the wall itself moved away, with an apology in a voice he recognised before.
“Oh, sorry th-... Well, I’ll be… What’re yeh doin’ here, Harry?” Hagrid put an enormous, pan-sized hand on his head, ruffling his hair in what must have been a light fashion for Hagrid, yet one Harry had to brace his legs on the ground for. “Haven’t seen yeh in ages!”
“I just got my Hogwarts letter, and-” he smiled as Hagrid’s eyes lit up at the news, only to be interrupted by the goblin stating he didn’t have all day. “Ah, Hagrid I’ve got to go… Unless you want to come with me? I just have to take some money.” Surely those two confident wizards slagging off the Harpies were so confident because there were two of them.
Hagrid looked at the goblin, as if awaiting acceptance, before nodding and reaching out to him with a piece of paper.
“Well, if yer sure Harry… Is it alright if-“ The goblin extended his hand, and took out the letter, in a motion Harry could only describe as please-let-me-be-done-with-you-quickly. “That’s a letter there from Professor Dumbledore,” Hagrid said gravely, taking a pause as the goblin unfolded it and started reading. When he continued, his voice was a whisper, albeit with the reverberation in Hagri’s voice, Harry could hear every single word. “It’s about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen.”
“That’s in order.” the goblin folded it back, and put it in his waistcoat, before motioning to the both of them to follow him through one of the doors leading out of the main hall.