Chapter Text
Despite her pervious visit, Mariko was quite excited when they passed through Washu’s Dimensional Portal to enter Professor Dumbledore’s world. Washu’s dimensional research had a massive amount of data of several other parallel universes and a few of the other dimensions but for some reason the path to Dumbledore’s universe was the only one she managed to establish a working connection allowing passage between theirs and his worlds. She was still working on all possible solutions and theories of why this was possible. But for now it’s off to the professor’s world; in London Britain! She didn’t remember much about her previous trip for obvious reasons, but now she had all the time in the world to take a look around. She had heard of Great Britain and much of Europe of course and seen plenty of pictures of London in books and the Internet but why does everything look so . . . . . old fashioned, from the buildings to the cars (they looked like cars) even to their clothing where the people going about their business wore were way out of date.
Speaking of, she wondered why she had to dress up like this; she looked down at her coat and long skirt that reached to her lower calves, above her leather shoes and long socks. And a hat, did she mention that she was wearing a hat with a feather on it? Why did she have to wear a hat with a feather on it? And why did Akiko have to ride in the small handbag she was carrying and not on her shoulder or head like she always did? Washu, wearing similar clothes as she, seemed to have noticed Mariko’s confusion, this of course amused her.
“May I ask what year is it here?” Washu asked as they were walking down a street in the middle of the city.
She spoke in English and told Mariko to do the same to better educate in that language since it’s unlikely anyone at the school would know Japanese; other than Dumbledore perhaps. That explained why she had to learn how to speak, read and write English.
“It is the year 1911,” Dumbledore said.
1911!? No wonder everything looks so . . . . unfamiliar. Was this some kind of side affect from the portal?
“Did the portal send us back in time?”
“Not quite . . . . . .” was all Washu said in that voice telling Mariko she wasn’t about to indulge anything else, right now.
Instead she said “Those cars look weird,” of all things she pointed that out, Dumbledore quietly chuckled.
“That’s how cars looked back then,” Washu said.
“And everyone’s dressed so weird,” she said.
“You referring to us too?” Washu asked teasingly.
Mariko didn’t get the chance to retort when a gust of wind swept by and carried her hat along with it. Washu and Dumbledore called her back but she paid no mind when she ran after her hat while it flew a distance away and was about to head towards over the railings of a bridge when someone caught it before it flew over. He was a teenage boy around fifteen or sixteen with dark hair and dark eyes, dressed rather formally for a boy his age.
“H – here,” he said handing Mariko her hat.
She took it back “どうもありがとうございました, I mean thank you,” she said.
“Y – you sh – should be more c – careful, its w – w – windy out,” he stammered, though she understood him anyhow.
She gave him a small smile and nodded; she was about to say something when she heard Washu and Dumbledore call to her.
“Thanks again,” she said, putting her hat back on and waving to him as he watched her leave.
“Bertie,” a woman called to him, he turned to see his nanny rushing to him, “there you are, your parents and brother is waiting, come along your highness.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Have you taken a look at your school supply list? It should be among your acceptance letter,” Dumbledore asked.
Mariko pulled out her envelope and found another piece of paper, depicting a list of school supplies she needed for her first year including a set of black robes as her school uniform, a list of spell textbooks for her classes, a cauldron, glass phials and ingredients (half the stuff she has no idea what they were) for potions and of course a wand of her own. It even said students can bring a ‘cat, an owl or a toad,’ as a pet to school if they wished.
“Where can you even get this stuff from London?”
“If you know where to go,” the professor said smiling.
They stopped before a worn looking door nestled between two shops and she could have sworn the sign hanging by the door was blank and in a blink of an eye the sign changed and on the surface was a black cauldron of all things with the words ‘The Leaky Cauldron,’ painted on it.
“Clever, if you hadn’t shown us the door we would have missed it. Is it some kind of illusion or perceptive misdirection of sorts to make it unnoticeable to the non magic population?” Washu asked.
“Something like that yes, we have to take precautions if we want to hide ourselves from the Muggle World,” he said.
“Why must we hide?” Mariko asked.
“For our protection and by extent yours as well,” was his reply and opened the door.
Inside was a ‘pup?’ No a ‘pub,’ she once read in a book, a place for people to drink and socialize and usually get intoxicated. The place had looked dark, shabby and smoky looking with only lights that came from several lit candles, with varying smells, unidentifiable and pungent which flooded her senses. It almost made her eyes water. Tables lined with food and several ‘wizarding’ people sat around them drinking whatever it was they were drinking from their mugs or small glasses and a few of them smoking from long pipes. They approached the counter minded by a withered old man who looked up and smiled.
“Ah professor, come for a drink today?”
“I’m afraid not, I’m here to assist a new addition to our world for her school supplies,” the professor said his hand on her shoulder.
The bartender glanced at Mariko for a moment, “A Veela?”
Veela?
“No, she’s not a Veela, she’s a human girl who just happens to have a very pale complexion,” Dumbledore said quickly.
One of the customers by the bar looked at her closely, “So a Muggle – Born lass then eh?” he murmured, though he didn’t sound too convinced.
Muggle – Born?
“Her name is Mariko Hakubi and her mother is Ms. Washu Hakubi,” he said gesturing to Washu.
“A pleasure madam,” the bartender said to Washu, shaking hands with her, “Can I fancy you for a drink?”
“Thank you but another time perhaps and I’m quite eager to see what this world is like,” she said.
“After you get your girl her supplies then?”
“Of course,” she said.
Apparently they were getting a bit behind schedule when Dumbledore ushered Marilyn and Washu towards the back of the pub and outside to a small walled courtyard. Mariko was practically bouncing on the soles of her feet even though she had no idea why they were in a closed courtyard with no other visible way out of there other than the door leading back to the pub. Without a word Dumbledore pulled out his wand and tapped a certain number of bricks in a certain order and immediately the bricks began to shift and move on their own.
“Are you ready?” Dumbledore asked Mariko, not certain what he was going to do she nodded anyway. “There is a whole new world out there . . . . waiting just for you.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
By the time the bricks stopped moving they opened up a large new archway through the wall.
“Welcome to Diagon Alley,” said Dumbledore.
A cobblestone street that twist and turned stretched as far as her eye could see (and she could see pretty far) with dozens of shops lined messily along the path. Narrow as it was, it was still crowded with all sorts of people she wondered how they were able to hide all of this between the shops outside. This time Akiko was allowed to ride on Mariko’s head (she can also get rid of the hat too) as they went through the crowded streets. There were so much to see in every direction, people coming in and out of the shops, looking through the glass windows or browsing through the wares outside. Before long when they walked a distance they came across a three story white marble building that towered over the rest of the buildings. Magnificent as it was compared to the rest of the buildings, she had to wonder who the architect was and perhaps get him back to the drawing board. The building and columns were slanting in odd angles, one side was slanting one way, the other was slanting on the opposite direction. It’s a wonder it didn’t collapse upon itself.
“This is Gringotts, our wizard bank,” said Dumbledore.
“Usually when informing a student from a Muggle family of their place within our world and because our currency is different than that of Muggle money, they are given compensation, enough for them to buy their supplies. But if you insist on . . . . . what you decided then perhaps we should secure a bank vault in her name? I do have the funds she needs for this year and if you wish I could write to our ministry to see if the rest of her savings could be added if its needed for the rest of her academic years.”
“But it would only cover her school supplies won’t it?” Washu asked.
“I’m afraid so, for any other expenses you would need to use you own money, but Gringotts does trade with Muggle money for our money.”
“Useful . . . . . I’ll have to make arrangements later, but for now?”
“We can put a request to set up a private vault for her and get her a key to her own vault.”
“We can do that now.”
“Then shall we?” he asked gesturing to the bank.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Going up the marble steps and passing the huge double ornate doors, inside the entrance hall they passed between long rows of counters, they met little men with pointy ears, elongated fingers with long sharp noses who worked tirelessly either stamping papers and writing documents or weighing precious stones and money bags on weight scales.
“Professor, these . . . . . people are?” Washu asked.
“They are goblins, they handle the entire financial systems in our community but they aren’t . . . . . entirely friendly, so let me handle the arrangements,” said Dumbledore.
They approached the goblin at the end of the hall over a desk taller than the rest indicating he’s a high ranking employee.
“We like to open a vault,” Dumbledore inquired.
The goblin looked up from his work, “A vault? And who is the recipient?”
Dumbledore glanced to Washu, “Under the name Hakubi, it’s for her daughter,” he said gesturing to Washu and Mariko.
While Washu and Dumbledore were discussing terms with the goblin Mariko got bored (again) and decided to take a look around. She didn’t notice at first but someone’s had been neglecting clean up since there were cobwebs and dust everywhere, hanging from the crystal chandeliers, to the wall ornaments, the desk lamps, Sasami and Noike would be appalled by this obvious lack of cleanliness. She’s surprised the workers weren’t covered in cobwebs. Speaking of workers, the goblins, the professor said, were going on about their business, sorting out documents, examining jewels or pulling carts filled to the brim, some of the gems the size of apples (one was the size of a watermelon) or assisting other people with their money. She watched as the goblins counted stacks of cold, silver and bronze coins for a while till she got bored again. Then the sound of creaking door hinges caught her attention and she saw a pair of goblins pulling the carts of jewels (including the watermelon sized one) enter a side hallway; she wondered where that went.
“Hey Akiko, what do you think is down there?” Mariko whispered to Akiko sitting on her head this time.
She glanced back to Washu and the professor, still talking to the goblin about whatever it was they were talking about.
“Well I don’t think they would mind if we just take a look around right?” Akiko meowed softly, “Hey I’m just taking a quick look; after all we’re new to this whole magical world thing so it’s best we learn as much as we can right?”
“Mreow.”
“Come on, let’s follow those goblins. Maybe they have rooms full of treasure.”
So off they went following the goblins down the hall, twisting and turning and going down it seemed until at the last turn they lost track of the goblins before finally they came out of the hall and into a vast underground cavern going down miles and miles below. And she wondered what’s the difference between stalactites and stalagmites. Along the walls she noticed were large iron doors, perhaps they were the ‘vaults’ where they kept the treasures. She walked along the cavernous hall, just looking and not thinking of taking a peek inside the vaults. No siree . . . . . . well maybe a little peek, she’s sure no one would mind. Right? . . . . . . And why has it gotten dark of a sudden? And what’s that awful smell? She and Akiko looked behind them to see two towering . . . . . bald creatures with lumpy, grayish clammy skin, with dumb looking faces and enormous feet, carrying oversized clubs.
“Oh . . . . . . .”
“Everything seemed in order Professor Dumbledore, Miss. Hakubi and here is your key to the vault, vault #746. I assume your daughter will be accompanied by someone when she makes a withdraw; we cannot have nor be responsible for a child wandering about on her own,” said the goblin.
“Yes, her guardian will be with her,” said Washu.
“Very well, if you wish to expect your new vault someone will escort you down,” replied the goblin.
“Yes, we would like that,” answered Washu.
“Very good ma’am, I’ll send someone to take you down,” the goblin said waving to one of the free goblins.
“The higher the vault number, the higher the security . . . . . and larger the vault size,” said Dumbledore.
“If she is going to be staying here, might as well take care of her finances while I’m present and she’s going to need quite a bit of funds if she is to at least have some comfort far from home,” said Washu.
“A moderate size vault would have sufficed,” he said.
“Not with the amount I plan on filling it, it won’t,” she said with a curious grin.
“Speaking of which, where has Mariko. . . . . and her rabbit gone to?” he wondered.
Before Washu could say a word several goblins ran passed them down a hall towards the side.
“One of the security Trolls had been found frozen in a block of ice! And another is wreaking havoc in the lower vaults!” one of them shouted.
“. . . . . . . Oh.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“How did we manage to get out of there and in one piece?” asked a slightly confused Dumbledore while the three of them exited the bank filled with hysterical goblins. Mariko was carrying a money pouch filled with gold, silver and bronze coins with a pleased look on her face.
While the goblins were in a current state of panic at the possibility of a break – in, Washu and Dumbledore watched as the goblins ran around in frantic circles, while they completely forgotten that the new vault was shown. Of course this didn’t help the fact that Mariko was missing . . . . . and there was a probability at she was the cause of the ruckus. That is until they saw said girl running across the hall and hiding behind the now empty counters. Curious and concerned they quickly raced to her to find Mariko and Akiko huddled behind the counters looking a bit shaken and slightly dirty . . . . . and a little smelly like they both had been rolling in dirty socks. After making sure she was alright and giving her a lecture about wandering off on her own, it took awhile (after cleaning Mariko up a bit) before they managed to get a less than panicked goblin to show them the way to Mariko’s new vault far, far down below in the cavernous underground, with a few pauses along the way while the goblins searched high and low to see if anything was taken. As Dumbledore said the vault was very spacious, around the size of a grand bedroom chamber that could fit quite an excessive amount of gold. Much to Washu’s pleasure, even if she thought it was a bit too small (somehow) for her tastes but it would do for now. Thankfully they managed to get out with none the wiser.
“Have you ever heard the saying, ’what they won’t know won’t hurt them,’ professor?” Washu asked, “Think of it this way, this could be a sort of test run, to poke and prod its defenses, to see where its weak points are.”
“They will probably increase security to avoid such an embarrassment. Gringotts was supposed to be the safest place in the world.”
“See! This little hurdle turned out beneficial for them after all!”
“Sigh.”