Chapter 1

I do not own anything!!! The setting and characters in this novel belong to the talented J.K Rowling! NO infringement intended. Thank you ~

Chapter 1

 

“May I sit with you?  Everywhere else is full…”  I said, timidly.  I was never a particularly outgoing girl.  Even the prospect of sitting with strangers terrified me.  The part about everywhere else being full was a lie… I didn’t have many friends back at home, and I desperately wanted to sit with people.  Call me pathetic, I do all the time.  The two strangers looked at me with what seemed to be surprise.  The first was a girl with hair lighter than stars, and a distant expression in her brownish hazel eyes.  The second girl had bright red hair and gorgeous blue eyes.  She smiled.

“Of course you may.”  She beckoned me in.  “My name is Rose Weasley.”  I shook her outstretched hand.  “And this is my friend, Trillium Longbottom.”

“How do you do?”  She smiled, distantly.  Her accent was muddled, and I wasn’t able to figure out where it was from.  She offered me her hand and I shook it, smiling shyly.

“My name is Sophie.”  I said.  “Sophie Frederick.”  They smiled at me.  Rose gestured for me to sit next to her, and I took my seat gladly.

“Have you been to Hogwarts before?”  Rose asked me.

“No, I really haven’t… It’s my first year.  Actually, I didn’t know anything about being a wizard until I got my letter… Even then they had to send five or six of them to my house, and even a wizard to convince my mother.”  I laughed, softly.

“They sent a wizard?”  Trillium gasped.

“Yes… He said his name was… Well, Longbottom, actually.”  I smiled.  “Would you be related?”

“Oh I know who you are!”  Trillium said, excitedly.  “That was my dad!  Your parents are both muggles, aren’t they?”

“You mean to say you didn’t know anything about Wizards until now?  That’s crazy!”  Rose said, grabbing my arm.  “You must tell us about your first trip to Diagon Alley!”  Her eyes lit up.

“Well…” I took a deep breath, glad to be accepted by someone.  “I guess it all started the day we got the seventh letter…”

 

It was on a Saturday.  School was to start up soon, and the desolation of returning to that awful place had sunk deep into me.   I was eating cheerios out of a bowl full of milk and reading when my father brought in the post.  He sighed, “Another letter for you, Sophie.  This one is completely handwritten.”  He rolled his eyes.

“Dad…” I said, swallowing a bite of soggy cheerios.

“Yes, dear?”

“What if it is real?  What if I am special?  I mean… Things have been happening lately.  I’ve been… Moving things.  Sometimes, when I’m really happy, or angry, or sad, things happen.  I’ve broken two glasses just his week!  What if it’s all true?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Soph.  This is all someone pulling on our legs, trying to get our money.  You know it’s not real.”  He ran a hand through my hair.  Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“I got it!”  I said, my hopes soaring.  Part of me knew it would just be a marketer, and it would have nothing to do with me being a ‘witch’ or anything like that.  I opened the door to a man with brownish hazel eyes, his dark hair parted on the right side.

“Hullo.”  He said.  “Is Sophia at home?”  He wore a suit with a crest that matched my letter.  In his hand was an odd-looking stick I took to be a wand.

“Y-yes.  That’s me.”

“Very good.  I think we need to sit down and have a little chat.  Are your parents home?”

“Yes, sir.”

“They can sit down with us too.”  He took a step forward and hesitated.  “May I come in?”

“Of course…” I stepped to the side and gestured that he come in.  He nodded and followed me into the kitchen.

“Sophie!” My dad said, putting down the dish he’d been drying.  “We don’t let marketers in the house.  I’m sorry sir, I’ll have to ask you to go, and we really aren’t interested in buying.  Thank you, though, have a nice day.”

“W-wait just a minute sir.”  The man said, moving around our table.  “I’m not here to sell anything.  I’m here about the letters.”

My dad turned.  “Those fake letters?  Don’t you think you’ve taken this joke a little too far, young man?”  It was true.  Compared to my father, the man was young, but he had to be more than 30.

“It’s not a joke, sir.  If you just let me explain it-“

“This is too far!”  My father boomed.  “My daughter is no witch.  Witches are the stuff of children’s books and Halloween stories.  Now kindly get out of my house.”

“But dad!  Can’t we just hear him out?”  I plead.

“No!”

“But look!  He has a wand and everything!”  The man seemed to realize that he did indeed have a wand and he looked to my father.

“It’s true, I’ve got a wand.  And I’ll show you what it does, if you’ll let me.” He said.

“No!  This is ridiculous, I’ve no time for parlor tricks!” My father growled.  Just then my mother, groggy from having just woken up, walked around the corner of our hallway.

“What’s all the racket, Nigel…” She noticed the man and immediately flipped up the hood of her sweater.  “Who is our guest?”  Her hair was all wrapped up in curlers and her face was clean of makeup.

“It’s no one, he was just leaving.”  My father replied, glaring at the man.

“If you please, ma’am,” the man said, turning his lovely eyes her way.  “Your daughter is very special.  I hail all the way from Scotland just to tell you about Hogwarts.”

My mother’s hospitality kicked in.  “Scotland?  Just for us?  Well have a seat, sir!  Tell us all about it.  Nigel, dear, will you put the tea on?”  My father grumbled, but obliged.

“My name is Professor Neville Longbottom.”  The man said, finally giving his name.  “I’m a teacher at Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry.  I’m sure you don’t believe me, but I can prove it!”  He said, his eyes filled with contradiction.

“Well by all means, do then.”  My father said, sitting with us at the table.  I sat down bravely, right by Professor Longbottom.  He intrigued me.  I wanted to believe his every word, even if he was just a man in a costume.  Something about the idea of witches and wizards thrilled me.  Perhaps I was just convincing myself, but something smelled different about him.

The man nodded at my father and held up his wand.  “What would you have me do?  I can do almost anything with this wand.  It’s 13 inches, cherry wood, with a Unicorn Hair core.”

“That’s very nice.”  My father rolled his eyes.

“Can you make me fly?” I asked, quietly.  If he was truly a wizard, he would be able to.

“Actually, yes I can.  You’re small enough.”  He smiled.  His smile was warm and inviting, not cold and mean like most of the teachers at my school.  “Don’t be afraid, Miss Sophie, it won’t hurt a bit.”  He waved his wand at me with a swish and a flick.  “Wingardium Leviosa!”  I felt like my insides had become air, and butterflies filled my stomach, though that might have been from the thrill of flying.  I was lifted from my chair.  At first I felt the need to cling to it, but I let it go with a smack as it hit the floor.  My mother screamed, and my father stood, his chair falling back.

“This is all a ruse!  It won’t work!  You put her down this instant, Sophie your friend isn’t funny!”  My father cried.  He let me twirl about in our big, open dining room for a moment before returning me gently to my seat as my father demanded.

“Now, Mr. Frederick.  How would you like to fly?”

“I-that would-“ My father slowly lifted from his chair.  “What the blazes is this?  Stop this instant what are you?”  Professor Longbottom slowly let him float about the room.  “This is madness!”  He said, struggling.

“Daddy, just enjoy it!”  I called.  “Isn’t it fun?”  He stubbornly crossed his arms.

“This is stupidity…. This is… This is…”

“Witchcraft and wizardry.”  My mother finished.

“Do you believe me now?”  Professor Longbottom asked.

“Yes, please put my husband down.”  My mother smiled.  The man kindly set my father down in his chair, almost feet first.

Once my father was safe and sound, the Professor seemed to relax.  I could see his wand hand shaking, even as he lowered it to rest on his leg.  I thought about it and realized that he’d been nervous the whole time.  I couldn’t remember if his hands had always shaken like that, but he did have a pale look about him…  Professor Longbottom interrupted my thoughts with a rather shaky clearing of his throat.

“Now, Miss Sophie, this is your class list.  I can show you and your family where you need to shop for supplies, and where to get everything on that list, if you would like.”

“Oh, yes please!” I smiled.

“Very well.  Shall we get going?  Diagon Alley is very busy this time a year.”  He smiled widely.  “Do you mind if we use my car?”

“Not at all!”  I started to pull him toward our door before my parents could object.  He and I both walked out the door, leaving my parents.  When the door opened and closed again, only my mother exited the house.

“Oh, isn’t he coming?”  The Professor inquired.

“He says he’s had enough madness for one day.  If you’ll give me a moment to fix my hair, we can get going straight away.”  She smiled her beautiful smile.  Professor Longbottom nodded and leaned against the passenger door.   Her comment made me realize that I hadn’t really done my hair either.  I quickly slipped into the restroom, leaving Mr. Longbottom all by himself, and fixed up my hair.  I added a little purple eyeliner under my eye for the occasion.  When I rejoined him, he was sitting inside of the car.  I slid into the passenger seat, knowing that my mother would probably kick me to the back of the car soon.

“All ready?  Do you have your list with you?”  He asked.

“Yes, sir.”  Just then, my mother slid into the back.  I smiled, a small victory for me.

“Do you have money, Mrs. Frederick?  We will need to purchase the items on her list.”

“I should have enough.”  My mother replied.

“Very well.  We’ll get going, then.”  He smiled.  He backed the car out of our driveway and we made our way down to the bad side of town.  No one went down there, not even the gangs.  It was dirty and an all-around bad place to be.  I was afraid, gripping the side of the car.  “Have you been to this part of town before?  It’s actually nice if you can see through the charms.” He winked.  Suddenly, as we passed a building that smelled of mold and desperation, everything changed, and there were people running about in robes, waving wands just like Professor Neville’s.

“Is this Diagon Alley?” I asked.

“No, Miss, this is a wizarding community.  We’re just using it so we can take off without anyone seeing us who’s not supposed to.  See, I borrowed this car from a friend so we could fly there…”  He pushed a button and the car took off into the sky.  My mother squeaked.  “Are you all right, Ma’am?”

“Yes.” She squeaked.

“Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe.  Arthur promised.”

We flew for a few minutes before landing on a back road just outside of London.  He drove us in, and began to talk about what we would see.

“You’ll have to keep an open mind about all of this.  Headmistress McGonagall said to brief you on it before we got there.  Basically, we’re going to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron.  But we aren’t going to be there buying drinks.”  He added hurriedly.  “There’s a secret room there that wizards and witches are allowed to go in.  You just tap a few bricks and you’re there!  Another good way is to use floo powder, but I hadn’t gotten your home approved for that just yet.  There will be many shops there where you can buy things, but first we’ll have to exchange some of your money for the wizarding currency.  We pay in Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.  It’s a bit complicated, but after a while you get the hang of it.  Ah, here we are.”  He pulled in front of a pub that said “The Leaky Cauldron” on it, as promised.  Just like he said we would, we went inside to a secret room, after the Professor nodded his head to the cheery old bartender.  He tapped some bricks in an order I’d already forgotten in my excitement and they shifted themselves to reveal a crowded alleyway.

“Sophie, Mrs. Frederick, welcome to Diagon Alley.”

He took my mother to swap the money for Galleons and left me in a pet store.  My mother kissed the top of my head and said I could pick one if I’d wanted.  The shop keeper nodded at me.  There was a wide variety of cats, owls, rats, and toads about the shop.

“I want my own owl, mum!” I heard a boy say, loudly.  “That way I can send you letters!”

“All right, dear, let’s get you an owl.”

Once they had made their purchase and the loud boy left, I boldly approached the shop keeper.  He looked at me from over his glasses.  “Can I help you, little one?”

“Yes, please… What… um… Uh… How is it that an owl can send a letter?”

He laughed, the few customers that were perusing turned to look in our direction.  I felt my face turn bright red. “Why you’re not from around here, are you?  No?  Well in the wizarding community, we send our mail with owls.  Would you like to hold one?”  I nodded, my embarrassment beginning to ebb away.  He brought down a little brown owl with tan and brown feathers.  “This is a little Spectacled Owl.  He’s still growing, just like you are, I suppose.”  He handed me a glove.  “Here, put this on so he can’t claw you.  Don’t be afraid.  Here you go, hold your arm out, yes there it is, good girl.”  He smiled, as the owl situated itself on my arm.  I looked at it, it’s deep eyes boring into mine.  I started to laugh a little.  “Well he seems to like you!  Yes, someday he’ll be good for sending letters, delivering the paper, you name it.  Would you like to get one?”  The door opened and little bell sounded.  The shop owner looked up, “Hullo, Professor!”

“Hullo.”  Professor Longbottom replied.  “Well look at you, you’ve already got your eyes on an Owl eh?  Smart creatures, owls.”

“Would you like an owl, dear?”  My mother asked, quietly.

“Yeah.” I replied.  “Can I get this one?”  I looked into it’s little brown face.  As his name suggested, he had little tan feathers sprouting around his eyes.  My mother nodded and discussed prices with the shop owner, who took her shiny galleons and handed her a cage for me to put the bird in.  “I’ll call you Barnabus, after the old bookkeeper… You sort of look like him, you know.”  I said softly, hoping no one would hear me.  We left the shop, then Mr. Longbottom took us to many other shops.  We stopped in a shop that contained all sorts of books I’d never seen before.  The next contained cauldrons and scales, then one with all sorts of potions ingredients that disgusted me and smelled terrible.  We walked by a shop full of brooms and children pressing their noses into the glass.  There was a robe shop, where I tried on multiple robes that just didn’t fit my awkward build very well.  Finally, we found an inexpensive one that fit me decently.  The next stop we had to make was to Gringotts, where we went through the lengthy process of getting a key and a vault.  There were creatures there with long noses and grotesque fingers.  I tried not to stare, but they honestly scared me.  When we were done with all of this, I was given a key to keep track of, and some money was deposited for me.  My mother gave me twenty Galleons for whatever I wanted, and I thought we would leave.  As we were almost to the door that would take us back to The Leaky Cauldron, Professor Longbottom stopped us.

“You didn’t think we’d leave without a wand, did you?”  He smiled and held the door to Olivander’s open for me.  “We’ll wait out here, if that’s all right.”

“Okay…” I said softly.  The idea of being a witch gave me courage to go in alone.  I walked up to the counter.

“Hello, dear,” said an old man, who seemed like he should be dead.

“Hello.”

“Come to get a wand?”  He smiled, his eyes hidden.

“Yes.”

“Come on over, then.  Hm… Here, let’s give this one a try.”  He handed me a slender black box, and I opened it.  I pulled out the wand, fascinated by it. The wood felt so light in my hand, but something about it felt odd, like a piece of a puzzle that completed the picture, but didn’t seem to fit just right.

“Well, go ahead!  Give it a wave.”  He smiled.  I waved it and sparks blasted from it, breaking a lamp.

“I’m sorry!  I’m so sorry!”  I said, bending to pick up the glass.

“Nonsense.”  He pulled out his own wand.  “Reparo!”  The shattered glass fit together and the lamp was fixed.  “That lamp breaks twice a day!”  He laughed.  “Try this one, dear.”  He handed me another black box.  I waved it and it sent off a little red spark, pathetic in comparison.  This one didn’t feel quite right, either.  “No, that’s not it.”  Four wands later, he handed me an off-white box.  I pulled out the wand within, feeling special to have received a box of a different color.  The wood was a light color, and sanded perfectly.  The handle fit into my fingers perfectly, and I felt like it fit perfectly.  I gave it a hesitant wave, and a warm breeze filtered through the dusty room.  “There you are, my dear!  10 inches, Hickory, with a phoenix feather.  This is a very rare wand….” His sentence trailed off.  He took my galleons.  I had a burning question before I left.

“Mr. Ollivander, how is it that you know so much about wands?”  He turned from putting boxes back.

“Experience, my dear.  Years of experience…”

 

After that, he’d given us detailed directions about an impossible platform, called 9 and three quarters.  He promised that we’d find it and gave us a date for departure, then he flew away in his car and I hadn’t seen him since.

Author's Note

No infringement intended! Harry Potter and the Wizarding world belongs to J.K. Rowling! Please comment and enjoy :)

Reviews

[Bryan]

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[Greek Geek]

I love harry potter fan fiction yours is really good, but your print is really small so I had a bit of trouble reading it. Oh and can you read and review my work please?

[Jessie]

Sorry about the print :P I'll work on that n_n
And done! Can't wait to read more! Thank you xx