Disclaimer: are they even necessary? No, I don't own Harry Potter.
Reese Silva is the only child of Louise and Martin Silva. Martin, a Spanish immigrant, had lived in the East London borough of Newham since his parents had settled there after their move during his childhood from the Spanish countryside.
Freshly graduated from Hogwarts, Martin was working on the final project of his internship at the Department of Mysteries. The final ingredient to the potion component of his project was a cup full of nettles kneaded underneath a new moon.
After failing to find the outlandish ingredient in Diagon Alley, Martin wandered into Aesop's Apothecary on the outskirts of London in hopes of finding his missing ingredient. Aesop's Apothecary was an alternative, anti-corporate, free trade, organic apothecary that prided itself as being a source of alternative potion ingredients and an alternative source for potion ingredients.
Recently hired and on cash register duty for the day was Louise Koren, amateur potioneer and local activist extraordinaire.
Possibly it was fate. Maybe the stars were aligned in some way. One might even hazard a guess at serendipity. For all one knows it could have been a matter of timing. Whatever it was, Martin found the necessary kneaded nettles and a date with one Louise Koren for later that week.
Sixteen months of a whirlwind romance fitting for an Unspeakable and local magical creature's rights activist, the two were married. Nine more months after that and our dear Reese Silva was born.
Reese was your average London city kid, with the abnormal fact of having a witch and wizard for parents. To keep up appearances with the neighbors, and to avoid notice of local muggle law enforcement over not sending their child to school, Reese was sent to the local primary school like any other muggle kid. It was at primary school where Reese met her best friend Joaquin "Quinn" Vos.
It was the first day of the second week of third grade when Grace Watson, designated snack leader of the day, decided with less grace than her namesake that Reese was less deserving than her peers of her fare share of carrot sticks. With all the authority of one whose position was chosen by selecting a name out of a hat, Grace shorted Reese half of her designated carrot sticks. On witnessing this, Joaquin, a bit of a social outlier due to his name, "accidentally" squeezed his juice pouch too hard and "made it rain" apple juice on Grace.
Grace was never made snack leader again, and Quinn lost any chance of ever holding that precious classroom leadership title.
What Quinn lost in classroom leadership that day was gained in the friendship of Reese, and extra carrot sticks from her whenever it was Reese's turn for snack duty.
Thus began the wonderful friendship of Reese and Quinn.
Through primary school, Reese and Quinn partnered with each other for school projects, sought each other out on the playground, defended each other's honor from cooties, protected each other's snacks, and volunteered together for parts as trees in the Fourth Grade musical, Little Red Riding Hood: Revenge of the Wolf.
Summers were spent in and out of Reese's apartment, sprawled under a tree in the park, challenging other neighborhood kids to bike races, or sheltered in the air conditioning of the local public library among stacks of books. While Reese never questioned why they never stopped to hang out at Quinn's place, Quinn in return never questioned the ever-present wreath of nettles on the door of the Silva family's apartment.
The summer after Fifth Grade saw the arrival of an owl in the Silva family kitchen. Reese, already aware of her parent's magical education, was happy to finally receive her Hogwarts acceptance letter inviting her to take her place at the school come September.
However later that afternoon while strolling around the block in the company of Quinn in search of a suitable swimming pool to beat the heat, she realized her leaving for Hogwarts would mean parting from her best friend. They had just put on a riveting performance as boulder backdrop pieces in this year's sequel to last year's play, Little Red Riding Hood: Ride Harder. Now she would leave him to fend for himself on his first day at his new secondary school. She would be thrust into her new magical education at a new school, with new students, and without Quinn. Not only this, being absent from each other's lives and not being able to communicate by regular post would most likely mean the end of their friendship.
Adolescent life is cruel, Reese thought.
It was after returning from her family's trip to Diagon Alley to shop for her school supplies in mid August that Reese could put off goodbye no longer.
Reese hated the thought of lying to her closest and only friend, but the thought of breaking the International Statute of Secrecy to tell her friend the truth was slightly more serious.
Two weeks before September first, Reese met up with Quinn at a convenience store across from their neighborhood park. After selecting their ice creams, they crossed the street and strolled along the path that wound through the park. Mid-way through the chocolaty goodness that was her Fudge Bar Supreme, Reese told Quinn her parents had enrolled her in an all girls boarding school (her mother's idea) in the north of the country. So far north and away from civilization that keeping up a regular correspondence would be next to impossible.
It was mid-way through Quinn's Rainbow Sorbet Deluxe bar that he let her know of his elusive parent's sudden desire to send him to spend time with his extended Vos family in the Netherlands. He determinedly told her they'd make the most of her time left until they parted ways.
A small comfort, Reese was relived Quinn was taking the news relatively well, but was no less sad about the fact of her going away.
The next two weeks saw Reese and Quinn spending every minute from dawn till dusk roaming around the park, taking note of their shared favorite books, and adhering to their own made up advice of 'an ice cream a day keeps the heat at bay.'
September first was here and Reese has all her new belongings packed and ready for the trip to King's Cross Station. Her new wand, inflexible redwood with a phoenix feather core, was stuffed somewhere in her trunk. Her Little Owl, whom she named Godot, was sitting apprehensively in its cage.
Tearful goodbyes shared with Joaquin had happened the night before. The two had promised not to become strangers when they met again, and Reese sincerely hoped they could resume their friendship next summer.
Her parents had both taken the day off of work. What her father took a day off from she would never know, in fact she thought it best not to know about his Unspeakable work. Her mother, now in charge of running Aesop's Apothecary, had packed her daughter's potion kit full of extra and most likely unnecessary ingredients. Reese's belongings were gathered and the family of three headed out the door and to the metro bound for King's Cross Station.
At the station as the time drew closer and closer to 11am, her parents let loose a stream of advice.
"Mom I'm not sure I'll need powdered narwhal horn…"
"All the same dear, better safe than sorry."
"You're all grown up now," her father added.
"Dad what? I'm eleven."
"Watch out for the caretaker's cat."
"Don't trust boys."
"Don't venture too far in the library alone."
"See if you can get the specifications on that squid that lives in the lake."
"Don't drink the pumpkin juice on Thursday mornings before 8am."
"Seriously, ask around about that squid and write back."
"If any clubs try to recruit you, see which one offers better food before you decide."
"I'll be waiting for Godot with your report on the Giant Squid."
"We'll still love you if you decide to join the Gobstones club."
"Seriously, boys are the worst and just avoid them at all costs."
"It's okay to forget your homework once or twice."
"We don't really care about what house you get sorted to, we just want you to be happy."
"Ignore your father about that blasted squid"
"Don't make friends with people who make you feel bad."
And with that last bit of surprisingly serious advice from her dad, her parents hugged her their last goodbye and shoved her onto the train.
She huffed, puffed, and struggled a bit with her trunk, but managed to struggle along to an empty compartment where she stuffed it into the luggage rack and took a seat to wave one last goodbye to her parents on the platform.
A/N: Right, so this is my first attempt at publishing a fanfic. It's going to be eventual Sirius/OC. It might seem slow moving at first, but I want to give Reese a chance to develop on her own so you can get a sense of her character. Good things come to those who wait! Beaaaaar with me please. Second chapter is nearly finished. Thanks for reading :)
Please review, I'd love to hear what you think. Thoughts, questions, advice, and more are all welcome in the review page.