Dreams, Cookies, and a Mother's Resolve
Sally was sitting on the sofa, still wearing her coat after coming back from the zoo. Her gaze was distant, thoughtful, even a little worried. She knew very well what could happen if either of her sons awakened their demigod powers, and that thought filled her with terror.
Her life so far had been full of happiness and tranquility. Yet deep inside, that shadow of fear always lingered: what would happen the day Percy or Harry discovered the truth of their blood?
The memory of that old man and his wife, who seemed to notice things no one else could, only increased her confusion. What little she had learned from Percy's father was that children born of gods had to go to a camp… a place she knew nothing about. But what the woman—who she suspected had been Harry's grandmother—explained and left written in that letter seemed to describe something completely different.
It was as if two different worlds existed, and yet at the same time the same one. Two paths intertwining… and she had to choose the right one, the one that would keep her children safe.
The first was the letter from that man called Dumbledore, originally addressed to the Dursleys. It said that Harry had to live with them so that a supposed spell in his blood could protect him, and by extension protect his whole family. However, according to the notes she found—surely written by Harry's grandmother—in truth it was only necessary for Harry to be near them, and that she herself, Sally, could amplify that protection for Percy, not for that horrible family.
That was the reason why she had to move to England.
Another note said that at eleven years old Harry would be sought to attend a school of witchcraft and wizardry, where he would learn to use his powers as a wizard. There were still years to go, since he was only six now. It also explained that Percy could easily pass as a wizard, and that staying close to Harry would help him greatly. But it carried a disturbing warning: when either of them discovered the truth of their blood, that illusion of normality would break, and the concealment would no longer work.
Beyond those warnings, there was no further information.
Sally knew absolutely nothing about that school of magic. She feared it might not be safe, or that they would take Harry away forever without letting him come back. And if one day they discovered he hadn't lived with the Dursleys as he "should have," what would happen then? On the other hand, there was also the camp Poseidon wanted Percy to attend. In her mind, both options seemed equally uncertain… and equally terrifying.
"What's wrong, Mom?" asked Harry in his sweet little voice, noticing the shift in her emotions and approaching with concern.
Sally looked at him and, though she felt a knot in her chest, she offered him a soft smile.
"Nothing, baby. I'm just a little tired," she replied, brushing his hair gently.
Harry watched her for a few seconds, as if he didn't fully believe her, then ran off to the kitchen. He came back at once with a bottle of juice, which he set on the small table in front of the sofa. Then he ran back several more times, bringing glasses, plates, and snacks, until the living room slowly filled up. Sally watched him silently, tenderness in her eyes, perfectly understanding what he was trying to do. He looked like a little hardworking ant, tireless, wanting to help his mother.
A few minutes later, Percy entered the room, confused by all the commotion, and immediately received a push from his brother to join in. Within seconds, he too was running back and forth, and in the end the two of them seemed like a pair of restless little ants preparing an improvised feast. They even brought a blanket to cover their mother's legs.
When they were finished, the table was full: snacks, glasses of juice, the leftover ice cream from the other night, and a pile of movies to choose from.
Sally, wrapped in the blanket, watched with emotion as Percy and Harry climbed onto the sofa, each settling at one of her sides.
"You can pick the movie, Mom," said Harry with a big smile.
"Even if it's one of those boring romance movies," Percy added with a mischievous grin.
In that moment, all of Sally's worries seemed to fade away, even if just for a little while. She looked at them with love and pulled them close into a tight embrace.
That night, the family had another movie night. Though Sally could hardly focus on the screen, because soon she noticed her sons' breathing grow calmer and steadier. She turned her head and found them both deeply asleep, each curled up against her, clinging to her as if she were their anchor in the middle of a vast sea of uncertainty.
…
Harry heard a strange murmur, like an echo that didn't come from any nearby voice:
"A wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around…"
His eyes opened, and he realized he was once again in a different place. This time it wasn't a field or a house, but a sort of alley filled with brightly lit shops with old-fashioned signs, crowded with people rushing about. The storefronts displayed strange objects: steaming cauldrons, leather-bound books that seemed to shift on their own, brooms leaning against windows, robes floating without anyone holding them.
Harry looked around in confusion. The people wore long, odd clothes, and although they walked right past him as if he wasn't there, it was as though they couldn't see him at all.
"Gringotts, the safest place… well, apart from Hogwarts."
The voice rang out again.
The voice rang out again. Harry turned in all directions, but no one seemed to be speaking directly to him. It was as if the bustle of the crowd didn't exist, as if the entire alley had gone silent, leaving only those clear phrases in his mind.
He walked forward with some caution, both intrigued and nervous.
"Harry Potter comes to see his vault."
The boy froze. In front of him rose a great stone building, imposing, with massive doors guarded by two small creatures with pointed ears and polished armor. Goblins.
Almost without thinking, he was drawn inside. Once he crossed the doors, the world changed: he saw dozens of goblins seated at tall desks, writing with long quills, attending to wizards who walked out with bags filled with golden coins. A shiver ran down Harry's spine.
"The Leaky Cauldron… there we can enter Diagon Alley."
One last voice echoed before something invisible yanked him back. Everything went dark at once. And then he opened his eyes, gasping.
—
"Harry, Percy, breakfast time! Get up or you'll be late for class!" Sally shouted from the kitchen, while the smell of toast and eggs filled the house.
"Ugh…" Percy got up half-asleep, dragging his feet until he sat on the bed like a zombie.
Harry remained thoughtful, the image of the alley still vivid in his mind. He grabbed his small diary and quickly scribbled down some words before they slipped away.
Percy, with half-closed eyes, poked his head out from the bunk.
"Harry… bring me breakfast. It's an order from your older brother."
"No," Harry answered firmly before running out of the room.
"Evil Harry!" Percy growled, though sleep still weighed too heavily on him and he let himself fall back onto the bed.
That was when Sally, from the kitchen, spoke the magic phrase:
"Percy, if you don't get up, Harry will eat all the blue cookies and leave you only the green ones."
Percy's eyes snapped open. In a second he leapt out of bed and ran to the dining room as if life had suddenly returned to him.
"Harry, you idiot! The blue cookies are mine, yours are the green ones!" he shouted as soon as he saw the table.
"There's no such rule," Harry shot back with a mischievous smile, biting into a blue cookie on purpose while looking at him teasingly.
With a quick move, he grabbed the rest and ran off with all of them in his hands.
Percy reached the table and saw that only green and red cookies remained. The blue ones had vanished.
"Harry, get back here! From today on, we're sworn enemies!" he yelled, launching himself after his brother.
Sally watched them running all around the living room, Harry dashing off with a cookie in his mouth and Percy chasing him as if it were a life-or-death mission. She sighed with a tired smile, shaking her head.
Calmly, she picked up a green cookie and took a bite.
"They all taste the same…" she murmured. Then, thoughtfully, she added: "Maybe I should just make them all blue from now on."
—
"What's a Gringotts?" Percy finally asked, already sitting at the table with a cookie in hand, after Sally had forced them to calm down and eat breakfast.
"I don't know. But it showed up in my dream," Harry said with excitement. "First I had to go to the Leaky Cauldron, and from there into Diagon Alley. Then there was Gringotts, a place full of ugly, bad-tempered goblins. I saw people walking out with bags of coins, and one of the goblins was staring at gold with a huge magnifying glass."
Sally went silent at his words. The mention of gold struck her sharply, and at once she remembered the inheritance Harry's grandmother had left: enough money to buy the house they now lived in and raise the children in comfort. That memory made her frown.
"And where is this Leaky Cauldron?" she suddenly asked.
"I don't know," Harry admitted.
"It's just another one of your weird dreams," Percy added indifferently.
"Maybe… but this one felt different. It was full of magic, with people dressed like wizards straight out of the movies," Harry insisted.
Sally remained quiet, her thoughts turning over.
"All right, that's enough. Time to get changed for school," she finally said, trying to sound natural.
"Ugh, I hate school," Percy complained instantly. Harry didn't say it, but he felt the same.
"Come on, up you go. Get dressed," she urged them with a smile, repeating the same routine as every morning.
"Fine," they answered in unison, shuffling off toward their room.
Sally watched them leave, then took a piece of paper and a pen. She began writing down the names Harry had mentioned. After that, she walked over to the phone and dialed a number.
"Hi, Clarissa, it's me, Sally. Yes, I finished the manuscript, I'll send it to you this afternoon. But I need something else… I want to find a place. I'm not sure it'll be easy. Yes, I might need a private detective. Could you give me the contact?"
She jotted the number down calmly, hung up, and stood still, breathing deeply. This was no longer just a vague worry. Now she had a direction, a path she had to follow.
Because she was Harry and Percy's mother. And she would never let anyone else decide where they belonged.
With a steady gaze, she walked toward the boys' room. She was ready to face whatever world she had to.