~*~ Annalisa Grimwood, Ann for short, is pretty much on the road to hell. Or that's what her parents and older sister, Tessa, like to say. The fact is that Ann is just too different from her family's pureblood maniac ideals. The only person in her family who Ann likes is her little brother Rowan. Instinctively different from her relatives, she fights to live in a world that wants to smother her. ~*~

Darkness, the smell of curses and magic, and the sound of a person breathing raggedly fill the room. Just enough light shines in through the window to show a young girl lying on a mat with a sword in front of her and sweat pouring down her face.

"Get up Annalisa! Get up! If this is how you're going to act in a little training then you are weak! Get up and start the exercise again!" a man shouts.

The small girl trembles a little from exhaustion as she picks up the blade and takes a fighter's stance. The man starts to throw curses, hexes and jinxes at the girl and she blocks them with the blade. After a while she ducks under a dark red spell and aims a slice at the man's legs. He blocks it with a spell and kicks the girl away.

She hisses with the slight pain and pauses before getting up. Taking the familiar stance once again she hopes that she can soon go to sleep and actually get some rest.

I'm sitting in my bedroom, which is incidentally one of the basements in my family's home, when I hear something that sounds like Regius, the family owl, giving a hoot of warning. He only does that for owls that don't belong to the family, which means that we're getting outside mail today. I ponder this for a moment before there's a small bang from the kitchens above me.

"Annalisa Artemis Grimwood!"

Wincing at my mother's screech I quickly ascend the stairs and enter the kitchen. As usual the place is a mixture of candle light and shadows that are perfect to hide in. I turn to the woman standing at the table and give a slight bow.

"Yes, mother? You called?" I try very hard not to say 'You dragged your nails on the chalk board?'

Mother's eyes narrow, "Watch your tone Annalisa. Mail has just arrived and you received a letter."

She holds out the envelope that has my name on it. I'm so surprised that I've got mail for once that I reach out without thinking. Mother slaps my hand and glares at me.

"What have I told you about grabbing things?"

"My apologies mother. May I please have the letter?" I ask.

She hands it to me and turns to my sister. It's a clear dismissal, but I thank her and bow anyway when I note that her wand is lying on the table next to her. I return to my room and open up the envelope after noting that it had my bedroom listed as the topmost basement. Inside is my Hogwarts acceptance letter. I smile as I read it and look at my calendar. It is July first, so I have two months until I leave this place.

"Annalisa! We are leaving for Diagon ally! Get a cloak and come to the fireplace!" Tessa yells.

I scowl as I remember that this will be Tessa's sixth year at Hogwarts and that I'm not completely rid of my horrible family members yet. Grabbing my cloak, I head up to the fireplace in the sitting room. When I arrive, my cloak is fastened and I have a mask of indifference on. Keeping your emotions closely guarded is something that is practically beaten into a pureblood child's head from the time they are born.

I'm brought out of my thoughts by a hand grabbing onto mine. Looking to my right, I see Rowan holding on tightly. I give his hand a small squeeze and step into the fireplace with him at my side. I wrap my arm around him as the green flames lick our cloaks.

"Diagon Ally!" I call out. A moment later we're spinning through the inter-fireplace travel system, and I watch as each grate flashes by before I see the right one approaching. Squeezing Rowan's shoulder beforehand, I take a step forward as the grate is in front of us.

Rowan stumbles a little as we exit, but I stop him from falling. I exit the fireplace gracefully and give a glance around the room. There are thirteen people in here who are regular witches and wizards, three Aurors on break, a vampire, and another pureblood family exiting a fireplace across the room.

"Come on Rowan, Tessa should be here soon so we should get out of the way," I tell my little brother. We move out from in front of the fireplace and are in position right as the flames light up again. I look around the room again, the habits from living in a house where you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times kicking in.

Tessa exits the fireplace with one of the most minute of stumbles, that if you didn't know her you wouldn't have noticed it. She doesn't let it show that she almost tripped and just brushes past Rowan and me to stand in the shadows. After about a minute our mother appears out of the fireplace. Father, who had been talking with someone by another fireplace, comes to our group and we leave for the small court yard. Mother and Tessa sneer in disgust at the appearance of the small courtyard, but the opening of the archway stops any comments.

Rowan gasps at the sight and smiles. It's his first time in Diagon Ally and he is looking all around taking in as many sights as possible. I'm the only one to hear the little gasps and 'oohs' and 'ahhs' that come from him.

I bend down slightly, "If you think that this is cool then wait until we actually enter the shops."

Rowan looks up at me excitedly and grins. He also doesn't pay attention to where he is going and I steer him out of the way of a couple of distracted wizards.

"Careful Rowan." I check my change purse and smile, "How about we go to the Menagerie? Maybe you can help me find an owl that we can use to send letters back and forth when I go to Hogwarts."

"Can we?" he asks practically bouncing up and down.

"Hold on, let me ask mother and father," I chuckle. I quickly place that mask back on and step up to our group.

"I will go and get money from our vaults. I have a bag for each of you and will give it to you when I come back," father announces and leaves for Gringotts.

Once he's gone I turn to mother, "Mother, may I take Rowan to the Menagerie so that he may buy an owl to keep contact with Tessa during the school year? He has been using the family owls, but it would be advantageous to get him one of his own."

I know that asking to buy an owl for myself would get me a glare in public and a really hard practice at home. Also adding in the bit of him keeping contact with Tessa will probably help with the situation.

"Do you have money?" she asks.

I hold up my bag, "There's enough in here to buy the owl and required supplies."

She blinks and turns to Rowan, "Go pick out a nice owl Rowan, alright?"

"Yes mu-mother," Rowan stutters. He is still trying to get used to calling her mother rather than mum in public.

"We will be at Florish and Blotts in half an hour," I inform mother and then lead Rowan to the shop. As soon as I scan the shop and find no threats I feel myself relax slightly. Turning to my little brother I smile at him.

"Welcome to the Magical Menagerie," I say.

Rowan looks around the shop with wide eyes and we head over to the owls. He watches all the owls until he finally sees one that he deems as perfect. It's a black brown Barn owl with large eyes.

I pick up the cage and look at the price tag. Doing some quick math, I figure that I'll have just enough for the owl, supplies and an extra treat.

"Alright one owl. Rowan can you grab a bag of treats?" I ask.

Rowan picks up a bag and we take the owl and bag up to the counter. The witch at the counter smiles at as and her smile widens even more when she sees the owl.

"So she's finally getting a home. Good thing too, she would nip at anyone who tried to take her. It was almost like she was waiting for you two," the witch smiles.

We exit the shop and I look at the time. We have twenty minutes left so I direct him to the ice cream shop and buy him a cone. Rowan looks at me with his eyes wide and I just wink. Taking that as the go ahead he licks the ice cream contentedly.

Smiling at my brother's happiness, I glance around the ally again and see that father is coming out of the bank and heading this way. I frown and see a small ally between a couple of shops. I know it's not an entrance to Knockturn Ally and I usher Rowan into the small area. I watch as our father walks past and turn back to Rowan. Who is not there.

"Rowan?" I ask and glance around seeing if he was hiding, "Rowan!"

I take off down the ally listening for my brother and glancing around trying to see him. I silently chastise myself for not keeping a closer eye on him and as I turn a corner I see Rowan talking with another boy about his age. I almost sigh with relief, but instead run over to him.

"Rowan!"

Rowan turns around and I stop in front of him and drop to one knee and look him over making sure that my brother is alright. Out of the corner of my eye I notice that the other boy is going through roughly the same thing, but with an older brother rather than an older sister.

"Rowan I swear if you ever do that to me again, you will not like what happens. Oh, don't ever do that to me again! I thought you had gotten lost," I tell him as I stand up and pick him up.

"Ann, I'm sorry, but can you put me down? I'm too old to be carried," Rowan complains.

I shake my head, "No way. I'm going to hold onto you until I know that I won't lose you again."

"Sorry Ann," Rowan mutters.

"Just don't do that to me ok?" I turn to the other two, "Is your brother alright?"

The older boy, who looks to be my age, blinks before nodding, "Yeah, he's fine."

I nod and then turn around and walk back the way we came. When I reach the end of the ally I look Rowan in the eye.

"If I put you down will you promise to hold my hand and not leave my sight?"

"Yes."

I set Rowan down and immediately grab his hand. Holding on tight, we return to the table we had been seated at, grab the owl and treats and rush to the book shop. I glance around and notice that mother and father are over by the Dark Arts section, of course, and that there is a huge crowd in the way.

I sigh and then dive into the crowd weaving my way around the witches and wizards and Rowan and I reach our parents with three minutes to spare.

"Father, mother Rowan and I are back from the Menagerie. Rowan has bought a Barn owl for his letter to Tessa," I tell them, slightly breathless, but still not showing the relief that we had made it on time.

Father nods, "Very well. We only have to go to Ollivander's to get your wand and then we shall leave."

Tiredly I nod. I am too used to being rushed about to even try and complain anymore. I once again lead Rowan through the crowd of witches and wizards and out into the ally.

"Ann?" Rowan asks.

I look back and notice that we have time before our parents and Tessa arrive.

"Yeah?"

"Do I have to use your owl to send letters to Tessa?" Rowan asks.

"If you don't want to, I won't tell," I inform him. I smile at my brother's grin, holding back a snicker. Shaking my head, I follow our parents down the street and into the wand maker's shop.

A bell rang somewhere in the shop as I enter with Rowan and my mother. An older man steps out from the back and looks at my mother.

"Lady Grimwood wand 12 ¾ inches oak with dragon heartstring stiff and useful for curses specifically," the man listed and turned to me, "Annalisa Grimwood wand unknown as of yet. Shall we solve that today?"

"Yes please, sir."

Ollivander, I can only assume that it is the wand maker, pulls out a tape and asks for my wand hand. I hold out my right and the tape measure gets to work. Ollivander, meanwhile, is pulling out boxes and placing them on the table.

"Enough," he instructs the tape measure. The item falls to the floor lifeless and I turn to the wizard.

That's when the trial and error begins. After the first three wands Ollivander shakes his head and pulls out another group. Five wands and another group. Four from that one and that's when he pulls out the thirteenth wand.

"An unusual wand, 13 inches ash with a hippogriff feather core. Perfect for charms and defense work with a light spring," Ollivander explains.

I hold the wand and smile. It feels right. A quick flick and a shower of purple sparks fly out of the wand.

"Interesting choice," Ollivander mutters, "That will be nine galleons."

Mother pays for my wand and we leave the building, go back to the Leaky cauldron, and leave through the floo system. Rowan and I arrive at our house and step out of the way as we brush off our robes.

"Annalisa."

I stiffen and turn to the fireplace where our father had just walked out.

"Yes father?"

"Dueling room in five minutes. If you are late you will regret it."

I nod and know that I will be using my wand this time. I could only hope that I knew the spells well enough.

Hello all! To those of you who have read Crystalline Glass before, yes I've started reposting it. I wasn't happy with different grammar mistakes and plus it was missing a couple of chapters. I also took the first chapter, which was huge, and broke it up into three different chapters. I haven't changed much of the main points in the story, so if you don't want to reread you don't have to.

To those of you who are new to Crystalline Glass, welcome! I hope you enjoy!