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Widow's Vengeance chapter 13 - Welcome to the wizarding world.
🕑 Added 2021-04-12 20:14:36 +0000 UTCChapter 13 - Welcome to the wizarding world.
Natasha felt like face palming, hard, she really, really wanted to face palm hard. Apparently her own mother had been a squib from a branch of a magical family, and not just any family, but the bloody Black family. Her mother had been kicked out of her home by the time she was eleven, a few days after she hadn't received a Hogwarts letter, her parents had taken that as a sure sign that she was most definitely not a proper witch and had wanted nothing more to do with her. Thankfully she had been able to get adopted by a couple of halfbloods who taught her to live in the magical and muggle world. She eventually married Natasha's father, and told him about her true identity shortly before they became engaged.
Now, while this was all nice and lovely, she was rather upset that she hadn't known this earlier so she could alternate her plans based off this information. For example there would have been far less hiding of their powers. Also her mother could have been persuaded to help them increase their magical studies by going out and purchasing some magical books for them so they could learn more about the magical world and practise more spells.
Of course after that reveal Harry had decided that it would be great to tell her parents everything they already knew about magic. She wanted to be mad at him but she couldn't, he was just too innocent at the moment.
Of course her parents were quite upset about them hiding secrets, a bit hypocritical in Natasha's opinion, after a few lectures and a masterful performance by Clint and Natasha along with a genuine apology from Harry they had sent their reply to Hogwarts, stating that 'yes, they would accept'. The rest of the day had been spent having the two adults learn just how much magic the three kids knew. Harry happily showed off all of the magic he could perform once he had been sure enough that they were no longer in trouble.
Natasha and Clint couldn't help but smile when Harry beamed each time he got a compliment from either Matt or Jess, he practically lighted up the room when they both complimented him. Jess had especially been proud of him, Harry may as well have sorted out world peace given out happy she looked. Once that had ended the group had all gone into the garden so Harry could introduce the two adults to Knight, that had most certainly been an experience.
Jess had damn near jumped out of her skin when Knight had hopped over their skin, Knight on the other hand had regarded the two parents with disinterest, choosing to focus entirely on Harry. Of course he softened slightly when he learnt that these were now his master's parents but that wasn't really saying much.
"This is amazing!" Jess breathed as she placed a hand on the side of Knight's body, Matt unfortunately could not see Knight. It seemed that only those with magic could see him, Jess being a squib had just enough magic to see him even if she couldn't perform spells.
"Good boy." Harry whispered to Knight as he petted the nightmare's head in order to keep him calm and happy.
"I can't believe this, Harry." Jess said, her voice just above a whisper. "You have an actual nightmare for a familiar!"
"He is pretty great." Harry grinned, Knight let out a pleased nicker at that comment and rubbed his head against Harry.
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The next day Professor McGonagall arrived at the Rushman's house, she had transfigured her robes into a grey businesswoman suit so she wouldn't look too out of place while in the muggle world. She knew that Headmaster Dumbledore very much wanted to come and be the one to greet Harry so he could discover more about what the boy's homes life was like but he had restrained himself, since the goblin King's warning was still stuck in his mind. Dumbledore did manage to see the Hogwarts letter before it was sent and it annoyed him to no end that Harry Potter had still been living in the same street that Dumbledore had originally tracked him down to, and was likely still living in the same house.
"One moment." She heard a voice reply when she knocked on the door. A few seconds later a pretty woman with red hair and blue eyes opened the door. "Hello, can I help you?" She asked.
"I believe so, I am Professor Minerva McGonagall." She said, watching as the woman's eyes lit up in understanding.
"Ah, from Hogwarts, correct?" She asked.
"I am," Professor McGonagall nodded. "may I please come in?"
"Of course, my name is Jess Rushman." She said as she stepped to the side to let Professor McGonagall in. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She said as she closed the door once Professor McGonagall was inside.
"Likewise." Professor McGonagall replied before she allowed herself to be guided towards the living room. "Judging by your lack of surprise I think it would be safe to assume you've gotten my letter that told you I would be visiting today."
"Yes we did." Matt said, having gotten up from his chair as soon as Professor McGonagall had entered the room with Jess behind her. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Matt Rushman, I believe I am currently the only muggle in this house."
"Truly?" Professor McGonagall blinked before looking at Jess. "You are a witch?"
"A squib, actually." Jess said with a small shrug.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She replied.
"It's fine." Jess said dismissively as they all sat down. "Before we start, I have an important question, what is Hogwarts's policy on familiars?"
"Familiars?" Professor McGonagall blinked at the seemingly random question before she began answering. "Well, all students are permitted to bring one pet of their choice, so long as it is an owl, cat or toad. Though familiars are also allowed to come, but there are strict rules that must be followed. Firstly there must be a test performed to make sure the wizard or witch actually has a familiar and not an animal that he or she is simply fond of. Also they are wholly and legally responsible for anything that the familiar does."
"I see." Matt said in a quiet voice as he and Jess exchanged looks.
"Does one of your children have a familiar?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Perhaps you should meet the kids and see for yourself." Jess suggested.
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Professor McGonagall and the Rushman's stepped into the back garden where the kids had been playing a small game of football, or rather Harry and Clint were playing football with Clint as goalie while Natasha was sat on the side, reading a book.
Professor McGonagall took a moment to look at the children, the first she noticed was the brown haired boy who caught the football. He looked quite athletic, it was possible that the boy would join the quidditch team of whatever house he ended up in. She then looked at the girl, she looked quite studious, she had green eyes and red hair. For a brief moment Professor McGonagall felt reminded of Lily Potter before she realised that the girls face was quite different while her hair and eyes were also a different shade.
Then her gaze went onto the final boy, he was thin but not horribly so, he looked like he was just the right amount of thin. She easily recognised the black and messy hair, it was a well-known Potter trait after all. And when the kids stopped what they were doing and looked at them, she saw the lightning bolt scar on his head and those green eyes that she clearly remembered belonging to Lily.
"These are our children, the brown haired boy is our son Clint, the girl is our daughter Natasha and the black haired boy is Harry Potter. I understand that he's quite famous in the wizarding world." Jess said, having already explained everything she knew about Voldemort and the end of the war to Harry.
"Kids, this is Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Matt said in a quiet voice, being mindful of the neighbours.
"Allow me." Professor McGonagall's said before she pulled out her wand and cast several privacy spells. "There, now we won't have to be worried about being overheard."
"What?" Matt blinked in surprise while Jess simply nodded. "You can really do that?"
"Did you perhaps miss the part about 'magic'?" Professor McGonagall asked in a dry voice, causing everyone but Matt to smile.
"Fair enough." Matt said in a slightly embarrassed voice before turning to the three kids. "Harry, can you please call Knight so Professor McGonagall could look at him?"
"Knight?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Harry's familiar." Jess replied.
"Did you perhaps miss the part about him having a familiar?" Matt asked in an innocent voice.
"Give me a second." Harry said before she could respond, he whistled a couple of times. Professor McGonagall frowned and waited, all while wondering what his familiar would be. 'Perhaps it is a dog of some kind' She thought.
What she was not expecting was for a nightmare to leap over the fence, she stepped back and quickly raised her wand, only to stop when Harry moved forwards and stepped in front of the nightmare. She was about to shout and call him to step back when suddenly the nightmare bowed its head and let Harry pet him. Professor McGonagall's jaw dropped with disbelief, here in front of her was a nightmare, one of the deadliest animals in the wizarding world, yet Harry Potter - the saviour of the wizarding world - was petting it like it was an overgrown puppy.
'Oh Merlin, I can't even begin to imagine what Hagrid's reaction to this would be.' She thought to herself.
"Professor, meet Knight." Harry grinned as he continued to pet Knight who seemed all in favour of ignoring Professor McGonagall and focusing on Harry's attention. "Do you want to pet him?" Harry offered.
"I appreciate the offer but no, I would rather not." Professor McGonagall replied. 'Mostly because I value my bones, I'm hardly at an age where I can afford to let them break.' She mentally added to herself.
"If you're sure." Harry shrugged just before Natasha walked over and raised her hand to pet Knight, Knight's eyes locked onto her and narrowed slightly before relaxing when he realised that it was simply his master's female, he didn't do more than grunt when she began petting him as well.
"My word, it lets other people touch it?!" Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Only if Harry tells it to," Clint replied. "try and touch it without Harry permission if you're brave enough."
"I'd rather not." She huffed as she looked at the nightmare, she could hardly believe it, one of the most dangerous beasts known to wizard kind and here it was acting docile in the presence of an eleven year old. It wasn't hard to forget that years earlier a nightmare had attacked Professor Dumbledore and stole his wand, was this the same one? It seemed likely, but if so then why? Did it sense Dumbledore's magical presence and consider Dumbledore a threat to his master? If that was the case then why didn't it come and attack her? She knew she wasn't as magically powerful as Dumbledore but she was strong enough to register as a threat.
Just what in Gryffindor's name was going on?
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Roughly an hour later Professor McGonagall was escorting the Rushman family (and yes, that of course includes Harry Potter) into Diagon Alley, a shopping centre for wizards and witches. She had taken them through the Leaky Cauldron, a pub that was hidden from muggles, thankfully though Matt was able to come in when guided in by someone with magic. Harry had been sure to wear his hood up to reduce the chances of him being recognised since he didn't really want to be swarmed by fans.
Their first stop was Gringotts, a wizarding bank that was run by goblins, the building itself was a large, extremely clean and white. The group walked into the building and quickly walked up to the nearest teller. A short while later they exited the bank with Professor McGonagall looking very red faced, the reason behind that being because she had pulled out Harry's vault key to get money for his supplies and Natasha had asked why she had Harry's vault key. The goblin teller asked the same question and her reply of 'Professor Dumbledore had given it to me' was apparently not good enough for the teller.
Harry, meanwhile, had rather enjoyed spending time in the bank. The goblins looked quite scary but had turned out to be surprisingly nice to him, something which was surprising based off the looks that he had noticed on other people.
Natasha was looking all around once they were back in Diagon Alley, the place was really fascinating. Her gaze shifted to Clint who was grinning at her, she gave him a questioning look, his only response was to gesture to her hand, specifically her left hand which was holding Harry's hand. Harry had grabbed it when he had first entered the bank, but from the way he was acting Natasha didn't think that he had noticed. Natasha's response to Clint was to very maturely stick out her tongue.
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thank you very much for yet another entertaining chapter, definitely love the story so far.
Hannibal St.Michael
Almost time for Hogwarts. Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?
