Hello reader.

So, I've had this idea forever, and it's not a complete puzzle yet, but I've got a plot and a couple of characters that I think will be fun to work with so I thought why not scratch the itch. So, this is an SYOC, and I will give you all the information you will need for that aspect at the end.

For now, enjoy the chapter. It's just a little something to introduce a couple of the characters you'll be seeing in the story.

~Lost~

Anabelle was striding ahead, pushing effortlessly through the crowd of robed men and women, who didn't even bother to look at her as she passed. Arabella scrambled to catch up, but she wasn't used to the crowd and people kept bumping into her and nearly knocking her over. "Ana!" she cried when she couldn't see her long, auburn braid anymore. "Anabelle!"

Panic began to set in, and she began to cry, which only made her feel worse. Her first time amongst actual witches and wizards, other than her sister of course, and she looked like a baby.

Someone touched her arm, and she jumped, and stumbled into a wall. "Hey, it's okay."

She turned to see the person speaking to her, and found herself face-to-face with a boy. "You look lost," he explained when she only stared at him, arms tucked around herself protectively. "I lost my parents too, so I thought we could look together."

Her mouth opened slightly, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. He held out a hand and smiled. "I don't bite, I promise." Something about his smile was relaxing, and besides, what else could she do? So she reached out and took his hand. "I'm Connor by the way," he told her. "I'm here to get supplies for school. Hogwarts."

"Yeah, me too," she replied quietly, then, realizing she hadn't introduced herself, she added sheepishly. "I'm Arabella."

"It's nice to meet you Arabella." They walked a short way in silence, Conner weaving around people and through small opening with so much ease Arabella thought could only be natural talent. "Do you know where your parents were planning on going? Mine said they were going to Gringotts," he was saying as they came out into a more open space, and he gestured to the huge white marble structure across the way, "but when I got there I couldn't find them. I tried asking a goblin if they'd seen them," at this he chuckled to himself, "definitely won't be trying that again. Horrible little creatures, goblins. Have you ever met one." Arabella shook her head. "Me neither. Well, not before today anyway. I guess you could have guessed that though, huh?" She didn't answer.

They veered to the side of the stone path, and Conner stepped up onto the sidewalk, tilting his head at her. The extra inch or so that it gave in put them at eye level, and she thought that he looked rather like a bird when he did that with his head. Then again, he probably looked like a bird no matter how he stood with his thin frame, and narrow features, and thin white hair that looked like soft down feathers. "You don't talk much do you?" he asked, and she couldn't help a smile, which caused a sparkle in his big, round blue eyes.

"No, I don't."

"Well you should," he told her, taking her wrist and pulling her along behind him. He led her into a store that smelled of dust, and was filled with stacks upon stacks of books. "If you don't talk, how are people gonna know how smart you are?"

"How do you know I'm smart?" She wondered, but she wasn't looking at him any more, she was taking in all of the titles around her. How she would have liked to take a seat and just stay there all day, with no crowds or noise or goblins. Just reading.

"You just look smart." Conner had his hands behind his back, and was meandering through the paths between piles, glancing at titles. "And you lit up when you realized where we were, which means you must like books right?"

Arabella crept forward, and stuck her head around a pile, watching him pause, and run a hand along a spine. "My sister says you shouldn't make assumptions about a person. They're usually more than you think."

Conner turned his head, flashing his teeth in a grin. "It wasn't an assumption," he retorted, "it was an observation. And anyways, I asked you about it to make sure I was right, so it's okay." He pulled down the book and flipped it open, and Arabella saw dust catch the light.

"I do like reading," she admitted, coming into the aisle, and leaning over to see the words.

"Then you've come to the right place." She jumped, but Conner, only turned his head. A man stood at the end of their aisle, his skin pulled taught over his bones, and what little hair he had standing at odd angles from his head, fragil and grey as him. "If pleasure reading is what you're here for."

Arabella shrunk behind Conner as the man began hobbling towards them. Conner, turned to face him, holding up the book. "Could you tell me about this one? Why is the writing so funny."

The man tilted his head up, and examined the cover, then smiled. "The writing's not funny, boy. It's poetry, that's how you write poetry."

"What's poetry?"

"You don't know what poetry is?" Arabella asked quietly.

"Not many magic folk do," the old man told her. "Wizards don't see a point to it anymore."

"It sort of looks like a song to me," Conner told her, turning to smile, and she offered a half-smile in return.

"It is like a song, except there isn't any music to it," the man told them. "And it can be very beautiful when it's done right, and also very dangerous."

"Why's that?"

"It can't be explained. You just have to find out for yourself." He handed the book back to him. "Would you like it?"

He shook his head. "Thanks, but I don't have any money on me right now."

The old man nodded. "How about you," he peered around Conner at Arabella. "Would you like it?"

She shook her head. "My sister wouldn't approve if I was getting things besides what I need from school."

They heard the door open, and a familiar voice filled the musty air. "Hello? Arabella."

"That's my sister," she said, backing away. "It was nice meeting you both." Then she disappeared around the stack of books.

When they heard the door shut again, Conner turned back to the old man. "Actually, I think I'll take the book, but could I come back at the end of the day when I've gotten all of my supplies? You know, just in case I don't have enough money."

"You're going to give it to your friend?" the old man asked. Conner smiled.

"You know, you shouldn't make assumptions about people. They're often more than you think."

The old man laughed. "I heard that girl say that very thing to you not five minutes ago, boy."

"Conner," he corrected. "My name is Conner. What's yours?"

"Hugo," the old man replied. "Hugo Weasly. Now come on, humor an old man. Are you giving her the book?"

"Yes. She sounded like she like she really liked poetry when she asked about me knowing what it was."

"You're a young man, you shouldn't be so concerned with girls yet," Hugo told him.

Conner smiled. "She was interesting to talk to, once I got her talking. I just want to be friends."

"Um hm." Hugo eyed him suspiciously a moment, but then handed him the book. "You can have it. A gift from an old man who wants to spread what his mother loved."

Conner smiled at him. "Thank you, sir."

"You had better be a good 'friend' to that girl."

Conner laughed a little, then turned and left, with the book of strange words tucked under his arm.

~Lost~

"You're lucky you're so predictable," Anabelle scolded as she marched her sister down the street. "Otherwise I may never have been able to find you, and then what? I would have had to tell Mom that I lost you, and on the first trip she let me take to Diagon Alley alone. Honestly, what possessed you to run off like that?"

"I didn't run off," Arabella objected, allowing herself to be ushered into a store who's windows displayed long robes that spun and modeled themselves. "I couldn't keep up with you, and you wouldn't listen to me and slow down."

"You need to learn stop being so timid and just push through everyone. You'll never get to class at Hogwarts if you can't even make it through the hallways."

"I'm sorry."

Anabelle only shook her head, and wondered into the back of the shop as a plump woman bustled in, and set Arabella up on a pedestal.

"So, your mother let you and your sister come alone this time?" The woman asked as she slipped a robe over Arabella's thin frame."

"Yes ma'am. My sister is fifteen now, and mom figures if she's old enough to take care of herself."

"That's a big responsibility for someone so young, especially when added to being responsible for a sister." The woman paused in her work, and looked up at her. "I apologize dear, I didn't mean to be nosy. You're grandmother was a friend of mine, and I knew your mother as a child. When she and your sister first came, well I can't tell you how happy I was that there was magic in the family again. Usually once there is a squab, the line dies out."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me. Anabelle thinks it's a big honor."

"What do you think?" The woman asked through the pins she had begun sticking into her mouth.

Arabella thought a moment. "I think it makes my mom sad. Her parents had magic, so she was an outcast to them, but maybe she always thought it would be better when she had children, and she could raise them as muggles. No magic. Just like her. Somewhere to really fit in, you know?"

"But she didn't get that."

"Yeah, that's why it makes her sad."

"I see. You're very perceptive for such a young age," the woman told her. "It will help you a lot a school, you'll learn quickly."

"Thank you." But she knew the woman's words couldn't hold through. Her sister was top of her class, and popular, and not to mention a prefect now. How could she ever compete with that?

Okay, that it, now let's talk rules and stuff.

I won't accept submissions through review unless you don't have an account. If that's the case, send it in a review, I'll save it to my computer, but I won't let it actually show in the reviews. Okay? Okay. I'm going to put the form and all other rules on my profile, so check it out there.

I will leave this open until June 15, and if I don't have a suitable cast then I'll decide whether or not to extend that, but I'll start writing chapters at that point with what I have. I won't update until I have closed the SYOC though, and I won't keep it open for more than a month, so the next update could be anywhere from June 15 to July 1.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing what I get to work with.