QUICK A/N BEFORE YOU BEGIN: SERIOUSLY READ THIS IT IS IMPORTANT. Anyway, this is no longer the story of Baylie White. This is now the story of Elise Rivers. Elise River's story will be a little different than Baylie's, but for the most part it will be similar. I was having trouble with Baylie's story and the length of it and where it was going, so I scrapped it and started over. I do hope you enjoy this new story of Elise Rivers.


"The glance has been so much abused in love romances, that it has finally fallen into disrepute. One hardly dares to say, nowadays, that two beings fell in love because they have looked at each other. That is the way people do fall in love, nevertheless, and the only way. The rest is nothing, but the rest comes afterwards. Nothing is more real than these great shocks which two souls convey to each other by the exchange of that spark."

- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables


ONE - SIRIUS ORION BLACK

It was a crisp and bright day in mid July when Elise Rivers and Sirius Black first encountered one another. She was in Diagon Alley with the tiny yet lively Professor Flitwick acquiring her school supplies to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had nearly fainted when she opened the door to hear a voice yet see no body. Her parents –Professor Flitwick had called them 'muggles'- hadn't been too keen on traveling all the way to London to visit the magical alleyway to get her the magical school supplies she required to go to the magical school come September.

Elise thought the wizard way of traveling was strange. Professor Flitwick had taken a handful of dust from a pouch in his pocket –he called it 'floo powder'- and threw it into their fireplace. The flames then turned an emerald green, Professor Flitwick shouted "DIAGON ALLEY" in a perfectly clear voice, and they walked into the flames –which were, to Elise's surprise, harmless. She saw dozens of fireplaces zip past her sight until it finally landed upon one.

It was the most wonderful place Elise had ever seen. Shops were stacked on top of one another selling the most interesting things. Elise was headed towards the beautiful smell of lavender in the nearest store when Professor Flitwick grabbed her hand.

"Not yet, there will be time for that later, Miss Rivers." A frown grew on her face. This was the most wonderful place she'd ever visited, and she couldn't even go where she wanted when she wanted. "For now, we need to transfer your muggle money to wizard money. Did your parents give you money?"

Elise nodded, pulling her purse out of her small cross-body bag. "I don't know if it'll be enough to pay for everything." Her parents weren't very accepting about the news of their baby girl being a witch and having magical abilities, so they hadn't sent her much money to pay for her schooling. They had figured if they didn't give her much, she wouldn't be able to purchase all of her school supplies, and by extension not be able to attend Hogwarts.

"Not to worry, Miss Rivers, I have strict instructions from the Headmaster to make sure you have everything you need in order to attend school." Eleven year-old Elise lets out a sigh and follows the tiny professor to a snowy white building that was far taller than all the others. The front doors were bronze and guarded by two men that looked a lot like Professor Flitwick. However these two men looked far more menacing and were wearing scarlet and gold uniforms. "Ah, yes, those are goblins," Professor Flitwick begins as the pair grows closer and closer to the large building, "They run the Gringotts. Gringotts is the wizarding bank, by the way. I don't believe I mentioned that. Anyway, yes, goblins run Gringotts. I'm half-goblin myself." The goblins opened the bronze doors for the Elise and Professor Flitwick, the latter thanking the goblins earnestly which led to the former following the latter's lead.

In front of them now was a pair of silver doors, engraved with a warning of greed, what danger greed is, and that it is useless to try and steal from Gringotts. Professor Flitwick led Elise to a goblin by the name of Bogrod who exchanged her money.

"The gold ones are galleons, the silver ones are sickles, and the bronze ones are knuts," Professor Flitwick explained to Elise as they left Gringotts, "Seventeen sickles to a galleon and twenty-nine knuts to a sickle." Elise repeated the words in her head as Professor Flitwick pondered about which shop to visit first. "How about robes first?"

Elise nodded with a giant smile and followed him around to shop after shop. First to Madam Maklin's robe shop, then right next door to Amanuensis Quills. Then they headed to Flourish and Blotts to retrieve Elise's schoolbooks and a few extras that Professor Flitwick purchased for her himself because he was positive she would love them. Next they retrieved the cauldron, scales, phials, and telescope from her list of Hogwarts necessities.

"Now for the last item," Professor Flitwick leads Elise through a crowd towards a shop called Ollivander's. "Your very own wand." He led Elise into the empty shop, and then turned to leave, "I'll leave you to this on your own. Besides, I must go pick something up for myself before we leave."

"Good afternoon," an old man appeared before Elise, "what is your name, my dear?"

"Elise Rivers, sir," she stated shakily.

The old man laughed. "No need to be nervous, Miss Rivers. I'm Mr. Ollivander," he stuck out his hand and shook Elise's. "Very nice to meet you. Are you a muggleborn?"

"Yes, sir, I am."

Mr. Ollivander smiles and pulls out a long tape meaure. "Now, dearie, tell me which is you wand arm?"

"Well, I write with my right hand."

"Yes, very good, hold it out," he measures everywhere she could possibly imagine: shoulder to fingertip, fingertip to elbow, wrist to fingertip, shoulder to wrist, around the top of her head, head to toe, head to knee, and every measurement in between. "Now give me just a moment," and with that he hurries off.

He's gone for more than a moment, but Elise sits quietly taking it all in.

Mr. Ollivander goes through three wands before he finds the one that satisfies him: alder and phoenix feather, 11 inches, surprisingly springy. Elise gives him seven galleons and proudly walks out of the store with her new purchase.

She tried looking for Professor Flitwick, which was exceedingly difficult on account of his small stature. Resolving that he would eventually come looking for her, Elise sat down next to the front door of Ollivander's Wand Shop.

"Are you okay?" A boy that appeared to be the same age as Elise bent down next to her.

Elise was enamored by his appearance. Striking grey eyes and beautiful black hair. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm waiting for Professor Flitwick to find me."

"Professor, eh?" The boy sits down next to her. "I'm guessing your parents are muggles then, yeah?" Elise nods. For some reason, the boy likes that she nodded and sticks out his hand, "I'm-"

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! GET OFF THE GROUND THIS INSTANT!"

"I'm just leaving," he stands up and dusts off his trousers. "See you on the train."

As he walks away, Elise is simply confused by the word train. "Train? What train?"


When Elise returned back into her Winchester home through the living room fireplace, she was alone with all of the things she had purchased in Diagon Alley –and she still had a considerable amount of money left over- and the train ticket Professor Flitwick had given to her. Evidently, a train was leaving for Hogwarts on September 1st at 11 o'clock from King's Cross Station Platform 9 ¾.

Her mother had laughed at her when she said there was a train departing for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from Platform 9 ¾. Her father, who had always had a level head and a far more open mind, told her that they would happily take the journey to London to drop her off at Kings Cross Station on September the first by 11 o'clock.

For the subsequent 43 days, Elise spent every moment of daylight pouring over her coursebooks. By the time September the first came around, she had finished all of them save Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, which she had decided to save to read on the train ride to the school. She didn't know how long it took for a train to get to a magical school in Scotland. She had read all about the school in one of the books Professor Flitwick had bought her, Hogwarts: A History by Bathilda Bagshot –which was also tucked into her shoulder bag in case the trip was a long one.