Ensorcell (revising)

six

They were lead to a room labeled 687, and Grakok gestured to the two chairs in front of the desk he now sat at, combing through rolls of not-paper before settling on a small on that unfurled from its bindings easily. Harriet sat down on the surprisingly plush chair, considering it was made of leather, but when she saw the tendrils she understood it to be the work of magic. If magic could do the simplest things like fluff up your couches, what could it do at its most complex?

Looking around, Harriet was surprised at all of the obviously historical objects. How old was the wizarding world? The large wall-sized painting that hung just above Grakok's head had a gold label that read 'Urg the Unclean' , and the painting was of Urg being dunked in a pond, much like Achilles in the River Styx, by a few wizards. They did not look like nice wizards, from the impish expressions and by how much black was in their clothing designs, and the piece looked to be done by the conversationalist Gawen Hamilton. This painting was also the only area of the room that had the tendrils, and they seemed to be inside the painting, moving with it as the characters moved, lifting Urg the Unclean in and out of the water as they laughed. 

On Grakok's desk was a medium sized skull, which was matched by the jars of various creatures that lay on the shelves just beside them, and Harriet swore one of them blinked at her. There were various large tomes, most with the Potter name engraved in them along with a year date, most likely generational knowledge of the family and bank statements. Logan looked a little caught up on the skull, and was sending Harriet various glances. 

After spending more time with he and Charles, it was a little easier to pick on their brainwaves, for lack of better term. She could pick out their thoughts a little easier than she could the Dursely's, and she wondered if that was because Harriet was seeking out Charles and Logan's thoughts more than she tried with her relatives. They never had anything interesting to think about; except for the rare occasion that Petunia reminisced on her memories with her sister and a boy named Severus, but those usually only lasted a few minutes and never showed anything worth remembering. The only substantial thing that Harriet got out of those memories were learning that she could feel people's emotions too, and they were filled with jealousy, resentment, and anger. 

Harriet had no idea what to do with the knowledge that she could feel the emotions of people, considering she already knew way too much about stranger's from their stray thoughts. They didn't work the same way either, she had to really concentrate to feel even a little bit. She only felt that much from Petunia because she was insider her head, and even then it wasn't a large dump of emotion. It just ate at her, pushing her to act on them, and she knew that they weren't hers. 

"Since there is no longer any need to prove your identity, heir Potter," he said, bringing Harriet out of her thoughts, using a title that made Harriet's nose scrunch up. Calling her an heir insinuated that there was something she inherited, and from what she was told, her parents were too poor to leave anything behind for her. "we'll just skip ahead to the audit. Have you received any of the mail that was sent through your magical guardian?"

"What's that?"

Grakok rolled his eyes at her. "An audit is something-"

"No, not that," she shook her head, knowing after doing all of Vernon's taxes and such what an audit was. "What's a magical guardian?"

The goblin ran a hand down his face after staring at her blankly for a moment, removing his glasses and scratching at the bridge of his nose as he sighed. "Heir Potter, can you tell me everything you know about where you are? Not the bank, but the alley, about magic."

She looked down at her shoes, kicking her feet anxiously, blowing out a breath, "Um, my snake told me that Diagon Alley is a shopping district for spell users, and I know a little about Hogwarts, but mostly Slytherin, for, um, obvious reasons."