August 1st, 1991
Ivy practically skipped as she made her way through the busy alley. Everything was going according to plan. Someone had found out that the young, reclusive, and extremely eligible Lord Peverell was going to be in Diagon Alley today. So naturally, practically every witch in England was there as well, and Ivy was taking full advantage of the situation. Of course it was a situation primarily of her own making, seeing as she had been the one to leak the news in the first place, but that was neither here nor there. She fully expected to have at least an hour or two before Harry managed to get away from his, *ahem*, "suitors."
Harry had the until Ivy graduated to find someone and get married, otherwise she was going to find someone for him. She hadn't bothered to tell him that bit of information, but she figured she's let him have a little time to try on his own. This was really just a gentle nudge in the right direction. She was truly being very nice about it. She could have sent tips to the international press, but she didn't. See? Perfect angel.
Ivy headed into Madame Malkin's. Of all her errands, this was by far the one she preferred to do on her own. Harry had a terrible sense of fashion (at least in her opinion), so even if it was just school robes she preferred to get it done herself.
"Hogwarts, dear?"
Ivy was greeted by a pleasant looking witch. Ivy nodded.
"Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."
Madame Malkin led Ivy over to a stool and began taking measurements.
"Hello, Hogwarts too?"
Ivy turned to face the voice. It belonged to a blond-haired boy that appeared to be around her age.
"Yes," said Ivy.
"My father's next door buying books and Mother's up the street looking at wands."
Uncertain if he was expecting her to offer up similar information, Ivy said, "My uncle's probably getting chased through the alley by a bunch of witches right now."
The boy gave her a curious look. "Who is your uncle and why would witches chase him?"
Ivy shrugged. "Henry Peverell." The boy suddenly looked like he was managing to choke on air. "Apparently he's 'eligible' or something like that."
The boy nodded. "So, know what House you'll be in yet?"
"No." Ivy knew what house she wanted to be in, but she had yet to find out how her stubbornness matched up to the sorting hat.
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
Ivy hummed. "No, I think Hufflepuff would be rather nice." The boy looked rather put out at that statement. "I mean, just imagine what you could get away with? No one would suspect a Hufflepuff."
The boy clearly did not know what to say to that, and so the next few minutes passed in silence. Finally, Ivy was finished and was allowed off the stool. As she made her way to the door, the boy called out, "What's your name, anyway?"
Ivy glanced back and said, "Oh, I'm Ivy Potter." And with that, she exited the shop.
Harry was having a terrible day. He wasn't sure how all these people knew who he was or that he was going to be here today, but he'd put money on Ivy having something to do with it, somehow. He briefly wondered if he could use the Elder Wand to cast a blanket obliviate over all of Britain, but that might be taking things a bit too far.
Ivy of course was nowhere to be seen, which was just another indication that she had had something to do with this mess. Harry mentally ticked off the list of errands for the day, trying to narrow down which ones she would most likely have wanted to do herself. Getting a wand, perhaps, possibly school robes, and maybe a pet. Knowing her she'd probably end up with a miniature dragon or something. Honestly, she was almost as bad as Hagrid had been when it came to animals. At least she preferred small ones, even if they did tend to be deadly.
Seeing as there were no people running out of shops screaming, Harry figured a wand and a pet had yet to be procured, and so, made his way towards Madame Malkin's. He had almost reached the shop when he saw the future terror savior of the wizarding world step out. Upon seeing the glare Harry was leveling in her direction, Ivy grinned and shrugged.
After questioning Ivy and determining that she had done nothing worse than possibly prank Draco Malfoy (which was something he could get behind 100 percent), they set off together to finish their errands. One slightly creepy, and possibly somewhat omniscient wandmaker coming up. Harry hoped it didn't turn into some kind of awkward conversation about his current wand or identity or Master of Death status. Oh, who was he kidding, of course it would.
It was.
At least Ollivander's grin wasn't nearly as terrifying as the Goblins'. Still, Harry had been called "Mister Potter" and had been left with no question in his mind that Ollivander knew way too much about him and was suspiciously excited about something.
Harry had shuffled Ivy out of there as quickly as he could, which wasn't all that fast considering it took 147 wands before she found the right one. And it wasn't even the holly wood, phoenix feather wand that Harry had had in his own world. She had tried it (wand attempt number 38), after Ollivander's little speech that sent shivers down Harry's spine as he remembered it from his own experience. The wand had promptly burst into flames, however. Burned. Gone. The next 90 seconds had been extremely awkward, but then the wandmaker had simply retrieved another wand and continued the process. Harry wasn't entirely sure what to make of the situation, but he would reflect on the possible significance another time.
The wand Ivy did end up with was a whole other mystery. It wasn't even one that Ollivander had made, and it had apparently been sitting in his shop longer than he had. It had both two woods and two cores. Alder and Applewood for the woods, and a Thunderbird tail feather and Horned Serpent horn for the cores. Harry, not actually knowing much about wands, decided that he had best do a little research into wandlore, since Ollivander seemed way too giddy for there not to be some significance in the rather odd sounding wand.
Finally, there was only one errand left. A pet for Ivy. Harry felt his heart clench at the thought of seeing Hedwig again. He didn't want to pressure Ivy into choosing her necessarily, but… No. If they found Hedwig, she was coming with them. End of story.
And find her they did. It was actually Ivy that spotted her first, and Harry could hardly hold still as they paid the shopkeeper. Of course, that's when Ivy spotted an "absolutely adorable" European asp that just "had to come with her," never mind the fact that snakes weren't technically allowed at Hogwarts, or the fact that being a magical variety of snake it had significantly deadlier venom.
It took Harry a moment to get over the fact that Ivy was literally cooing at the snake. Well, to be fair, it wasn't like they came across snakes all the time. Still, he was mildly surprised at the whole Parseltongue thing. He hadn't even checked to see if Ivy could speak or not. Honestly it had rather just slipped his mind. Oh well. One more thing to contemplate. Anything to avoid flirting witches, political responsibility or scheming goblins, really.
After somewhat insincerely lecturing Ivy on how she couldn't bring a snake to Hogwarts, and completely failing to convince her (though his reasoning hardly even convinced himself, knowing how little that rule was ever actually enforced), they left the shop, one owl and one snake in tow.
Later that evening, back in the relative safety (meaning private and warded with everything he could think of) of their new residence, Harry thought back on the events of the day, and came to a few conclusions.
One, he would need to retrieve the diadem out of Hogwarts as soon as possible. And maybe deal with the basilisk. No telling how long the castle would actually remain standing once Ivy got there.
Two, he had a lot of research to do. He had spent the last couple of years travelling and ignoring all the hints the goblins kept giving him about political power. Well, he was stuck back in Britain for the next ten months, so he might as well look into it. And who knows, maybe it would be fun. He scoffed at that particular thought, remembering his previous encounters with politicians. Well, maybe he could find a way to make it fun. *cough* wreak havoc *cough*. He wouldn't want to be bored, after all.
Third, he really needed to figure out this whole Master of Death thing. So far the goblins and Ollivander had been the only ones to give any hint as to knowing what that was, but they hadn't exactly explained anything to him. But honestly, where was he supposed to look for information like that? It's not like he could Google it. Not to mention the fact that Google wasn't even out yet.
Finally, he needed to find one sane person to talk with. Harry considered himself a sane person (most of the time), but was it really too much to ask to find one other sane magical person in Britain? He really missed South America sometimes. Maybe he could convince Ivy that they should visit over Christmas. Yes, good plan.
But back to his problem of social interaction. He needed someone. The problem was, all the people he would have gone to before were kids now, or were people that he honestly had no desire to see. How do you talk to someone you know really well when they have no idea who you are? It's not like you can start up a conversation by saying, "Oh hi, yes, I knew you nine years from now in another universe. Terrible weather we're having, isn't it?"
He also needed to find someone because if he didn't Ivy would find someone for him. Or worse, she'd try to get him to go on a date. She had done it before, and he was never setting foot in Montréal again as long as he lived, no matter what universe he found himself in, thank you very much.
Well, he could wait another day.
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