When Harry met Wanda

Welcome to Diagon Alley, Harry" Hagrid said, flourishing his giant arms in a show of grandeur, barely missing hitting a fellow shopper.

Wide-eyed, Harry watched as a narrow alley appeared, full of a flurry of activity. Victorian-era shops decorated the sidewalks, selling flying brooms, toads, and whatnot. A white tower stood near the end of the alley, taller than anything he had ever seen.

"What is that Hagrid?"

"That is...Mage Tower." Hagrid answered, a little dour. Sensing his mood, Harry did not continue his line of questioning.

Watching Diagon alley Harry was overcome with wonder but the ominous words of Ember still echoed in the back of his mind.

"First we get to Gringotts, the one, and only wizarding bank," Hagrid says, making Harry perk up.

"Gringotts?"

"Yea Harry, run by Goblins. Nasty little twitters. Clever as they come but not the most friendly of beasts." Hagrid says.

Harry does not say anything, quietly following Hagrid to a tall building cast in pure white marble, just a few buildings in front of Mage Tower. After reading a rather ominous warning and trying not to gawk at armor-wearing goblins, they both reached a large lobby and Hagrid made his way towards a goblin teller.

"Ahem", Hagrid tried to gain the attention of Goblin sitting on an overtly tall counter, which seems to be made with the express purpose of helping goblins look down upon wizards, not that it was helping in this case as Hagrid easily towered over them.

Goblin turned his towards and spoke in a harsh voice that felt like sandpaper to ears, "What business do you have here?"

"We will want a withdrawal from the account of Harry Potter," Hagrid said.

Just as the words Harry Potter was spoken, a foreboding calm spread in the lobby. The teller's face twisted in fear, but Hagrid was too dense to notice something while Harry was distracted by texts that suddenly appeared in front of him.

[Quest- Birthday gift.

You have a gift for you waiting at the Gringotts but Ember's warning about the nature of the wizarding world makes you apprehensive.

Retrieve the gift without making Hagrid privy to it.]

"Do you have the key?" Goblin asked, his voice subdued.

"Ah, it should be somewhere here." Hagrid then proceeds to empty his pockets at the teller's desk looking for a tiny key, much to the disgust of the teller. It looked like he had enough when Hagrid took out a mouse and put

"Here it is." Hagrid gave the key to the goblin, who examined it before saying, "Everything looks in order."

"Also there was a request from about you know what." Hagrid makes gestures with his hand to explain, to which the goblin nods but Harry notes a glint in his eyes.

Ringing a bell, the goblin teller calls for another goblin. Getting down from his podium, the teller whispers something in the newly arrived goblin's ears before moving on to Hagrid, "You come with me." then pointing Harry to the newly arrived goblin, "You follow him."

Hagrid immediately blisters, "No, Professor Dumbledore said me to accompany Harry to his vault."

"Are you his Guardian?"

"But Prof..."

"Then you have no right to demand to follow Mr. Potter, that is unless Mr. Potter allows it." Goblin finished without batting an eye.

"Am..." Harry squirmed under the combined gazes of Hagrid and Goblin. He wanted to agree to bring Hagrid along but the waning and Quest stopped him right in his tracks. The warning from his mysterious benefactor and the quest and Hagrid's hero-worship of this Dumbledore guy was enough to ring warning bells in his mind.

"Don't worry Hagrid, I will be all right," Harry reassured Hagrid.

"Ah...umm...just finish it quickly," Hagrid said, a little sad, giving Harry a distinct impression of a kicked puppy.

"This way Mister Potter." Teller hurriedly pointed Harry towards runner goblin, as if trying to get rid of him as fast as possible.

Soon after a rather thrilling ride, Harry stood in front of a vault door. Goblin went ahead and opened the door for him, gesturing him to move in.

Harry was nervous for a second before firing his resolve and going inside. The vault was large but coming from a boy who lived most of his life in a cupboard, it did not mean much. The entire room had only a single item, a somewhat old-looking trunk for what he could assume was a standard Hogwarts trunk.

Getting closer, he noticed words Lily engraved in one corner. Gently running his fingers over it, his attention turned to the letter placed on top.

'By Ember Ravenclaw'

Opening the letter, he started to read it.

'Dear Harry,

Happy Birthday to you. Hope you like the gift. This trunk once belonged to your mother and was enchanted by us together in our years together in Hogwarts to the best of our abilities, a tradition I continued after her death. Hope you like it.'

P.S.-And say status when you are alone to understand "floating screens".

P.P.S.- Shrink it before leaving, don't let Hagrid know you got it from here.'

[Quest Complete-Birthday Gift

Reward- Lily's school trunk, 1 Attribute]

"Huh" came an intelligible reply. 'She knows about the screens."

Shaking his head, he turned his attention to the trunk, noticing the slightly coarse wood and small, calligraphic symbols engraved on its ridges.

'Now how do I shrink it.' Just as he thought of it, the trunk shrank to the size of a matchbox.

"Now that is cool." Picking up the trunk and letter, he shoved them in the pocket of his oversized hands-me-down jeans.

Just as he was leaving, a thought crossed his mind, "Wait, how did she know I came with Hagrid?"

________________________________________________________________________________________

Ragnarok the VII, the proud bank manager of Gringotts and leader of the London branch of Goblins sat in his chair made of finest dragon hide and gold inlays. Despite that, he was not finding it comfortable, not even a little bit.

The reason being the person sitting across him, a woman with flaming red hair and grey eyes wearing a dark red muggle skirt suit most purebloods in the looby would sneer at. But no she did not come through the lobby, no she just appeared here in his office, like it was her backyard, not the second most heavily warded building in entire Britain.

Ember Ravenclaw, the witch extraordinaire, the enchanter, one of the most powerful wizards in recent history right up there with the likes of Dumbledore and Voldemort. But if that was all she was, he would not be this nervous, no she was more, much much more in ways wizards could not comprehend. But not goblins, not after she wiped their entire armies up north.

Ember smiled, a slight smirk before asking, "You look uncomfortable Ragnarok."

Ragnarok was sweating bullets, whenever the witch smiles was a bad omen. He answered, trying to keep the terror out of his voice, "My lady, I feel quite comfortable. Thank you for your concern."

She did not say anything more, getting up from his seat and stood in front of a large circular window overlooking the diagonal alley. Without facing him, she spoke, "Bring me the Potter account transcripts."

Ragnarok wanted to say that it was illegal but stopped himself. He was not worried about the legality of the action as much as the truth hidden in the potter account transcripts. Knowing he will only delay the inevitable, he called the guards from outside and barked orders to them.

While they waited, his hand went to the goblin-silver dagger hidden in his posh chair and found a little solace in its presence. His adrenaline-laden brain was going in fight or flight mode, making him come up with battle scenarios.

'Her back is to me, I could rush her or use throw. Hmm...'

Suddenly his sight fell on something in her hand and absolute terror blanked his mind. In her hand was all too familiar Dagger.

"Nice dagger by the way." She casually flipped it, testing its balance. Ragnarok's hand absently reached for his hidden dagger and found nothing.

"I would not recommend having such thoughts about a guest, it might not be good for your health."

Just...How...The...Heck? Ragnarok double-checked his occlumency shields and found nothing wrong. Then how? She was not even looking in his general direction, much less look in his eyes.

Offhandedly he noticed the dagger was not in her hands anymore and his hands felt it back, safely tucked back in his chair again. But this time its presence did not provide him any solace.

Below the window, Ember watched on as Harry and Hagrid left the bank, frowning as a brief shudder shook Harry's small form.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Just as Harry was leaving the bank, a brief pain flared in the very core of his body. He shuddered, but Harry was nothing if not iron-willed. He clenched his teeth and pushed himself through. Thankfully the pain lessened as he moved away from the bank.

'What was that about?'

"Ah Hagrid, how are you?" A shout prompted Harry to turn, coming to face with a short blond-haired, red-jacketed witch barely out of her teens. Winking at him, she continued her conversation with Hagrid.

"Who are you?" Hagrid looked very puzzled.

"Oh don't worry big guy. Sun is really hot today, maybe you should take a drink." Something in her voice told Harry it was not a simple suggestion. Also, today's weather was cloudy, with not a hint of sun anywhere.

"Yes, I...should do that." Hagrid turned and left towards leaky Caudron.

"Phew, now that he is gone, I believe introductions are in order. I am Wanda Maximoff but I am also known as Scarlet Witch."

Wanda extended her hand, "Nice to meet you, Harry."