Disclaimer: We do not own Harry Potter. All rights go to J.K. Rowling. The only characters we own are Elsepeth, Tamara, Levi, and August.
Warning: This book will be taken place in three different point of views.
Elsie's POVThe letter trembled in Elsepeth's hand. This was her entire future, so she could not let down her family, especially not her father. In her father's eyes all he could see was disappointment. Her sister, her brother, and her mother were all disappointments, and it was not an option for her to be one too.
Today, her Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Acceptance letter had arrived and this was her chance to rise above the rest of her family and exceed even her father's expectations of her. Carefully breaking open the scarlet seal she read the long waited contents.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Miss Balderdashton,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress
Then Elsepeth found the letter with all the supplies she would need but she wasn't worried about that, most or quite possibly all the supplies the letter mentioned were already in hers or her father's possession. The Balderdashton family was the richest and the purest wizarding family known in the wizarding world. They made the Malfoys look like Muggles in their presence, but The Balderdashton family did not strut around boasting about title, blood status, and wealth, so many in the wizarding community often forgot how powerful Elsepeth's family even was.
No matter, the only goal she had to achieve at the moment was being sorted into Slytherin. Suddenly, her father burst into the room.
"Elsepeth, did it arrive yet?" He stammered.
"Yes, Father," Elsepeth said in her usual bored expression while handing over the letter.
Elsepeth's father thoroughly read the letter once, then twice, then three times for good measure. He turned towards her saying,"We have everything but new robes. We'll have to go down to Diagon Alley for them. I'll send in our reply and we will leave Tuesday to go get you fitted for your new robes at Madam Malkin's."
Timidly, Elsepeth asked, "Is it possible that we could stop Eeylops Owl Emporium by any chance?"
"And why would we need to do that?" He replied firmly.
"Well. I figured you might want me to have a new owl for when we need to communicate during the school year." Elsepeth said cautiously.
"What is wrong with your old owl? Hades always served you just fine whenever you needed to owl one of your friends." Her father reasoned.
"First of all, Father. I do not have friends. Second of all, Hades died two years. Now isn't that ironic?" Elsepeth spoke with strength in her voice.
Gaius, her father, got a very embarrassed and awkward look on his face for a split second, but quickly recomposed himself.
"I always just assumed he was out hunting." He muttered.
"Yeah. Maybe in that great forest in the sky." Elsepeth said under her breath.
"What did you say?" Gaius questioned.
"Oh nothing." Elsepeth quickly responded.
"Anyway, we will leave on Tuesday for Madam Malkin's and the Owl Emporium. Okay?"
Elsepeth calmly replied, "I completely agree with your decisions, Father."
He nodded and left the room.
That following Tuesday, Elsepeth's father decided that he was too busy to go to Diagon Alley with her, so Elsepeth's mother went instead. Elsepeth and her mother looked nothing alike because while Elsepeth had dark red hair and dark green eyes, her mother had wavy blonde hair and dark blue eyes. But both her and her mother looked alike in many other regards like in their shorter stature, frail frame, and sculpted face features.Her mother apparated the two of them to the Leaky Cauldron and they entered Diagon Alley through the brick wall. Her mother said that there were other ways to enter Diagon Alley, but she always entered that way with her parents and brother and wanted Elsepeth to have the same experience. The first place they stopped was Ollivander's. Elsepeth had completely forgotten that she needed a wand, but her mother always had a gift for remembering the obvious.
Walking into Ollivander's shop and seeing the thousands of wands, knowing that only one was destined for her, thoughts overwhelmed her mind that it may take all day just to find one that suited her best. Ollivander approached them as soon as we got past the door where he first shook hands with Elsepeth's mother saying,"Oh, if it isn't Xandria Balderdashton. Is your wand still in proper shape, Maple, Unicorn Hair, 10 3/4", Sturdy Flexibility."
"It has served me well for many years." Her mother replied kindly. "This is my youngest daughter Elsepeth."
Ollivander's pale eyes stared in to Elsepeth's dark green ones, which made her feel very vulnerable and she hated feeling anything, then he began to measure her in the strangest of places like in between her nostrals. After he finished measuring Elsepeth, he started selecting dozens of wands and piling them before her. Each wand she tested apparently was always the wrong one because he would barely ever let her hold it for more than a few seconds.
Suddenly he looked as if he had a wicked idea and climbed up to one of his highest shelves and carefully slid out one of the wands in an extremely delicate manner and presented it to her. The second Elsepeth touched it she was filled with the most sensational warmth and the connection she felt to the wand could not be easily severed. Ollivander looked as though he was about to cry as he spoke, "When I first began my career as a wand maker, I was taught of what woods and cores went well together and which were catastrophic together, but one day I wanted to do something just to see if it could be done so I created multiple wands that were made from ingredients that repelled each other so much that only with the right wand bearer could the wand have any use. So I thank you and your personality for being chosen by this wand. I was beginning to believe it would never find a master."
"What are the ingredients?" Elsepeth asked after there was a moment of silence.
"Alder Wood, Dragon-Heartstring Core, 13", Brittle Flexibility." he responded in a proud voice.
Elsepeth still didn't understand why those ingredients made her new wand so dangerous, but as long as it served her well she really didn't care that much. After her mother paid for the wand, Elsepeth rushed to the Owl Emporium without a second thought about her mother trying to keep up with her.
Stepping into the noisy and very lively store was exciting, Elsepeth went straight to the owl section without hesitation for her mother. She noticed many strange things, both animals and people, the strangest person she met while examining the owl section was an extremely large man and with her being on the shorter side, even when it comes to eleven year olds, he made her feel uneasy. Also, there was a skinny boy her age standing behind the gigantic man making the boy almost unnoticeable, he had a mop of messy black hair and startling green eyes hidden behind round glasses.
The man still hadn't seen Elsepeth, so in order to prevent being squashed upon, she announced her presence to the monstrosity of a man, "Sir, I can tell you are on the larger side, but I am on the much smaller side so I just wanted to make you aware of my presence near your foot just in case you casually took a step quite unaware of a smaller person picking out a future companion."
The ginormous man smiled down at her, his voice seemed to rumble as he spoke, "'s okay lil' girl. I won' step on yeh. What kind o' owl are yeh lookin' fer?"
"One that will last me as long as physically possi..." Elsie drifted off when she saw what was inside one of the higher cages.
Even from that high up she could tell it was a giant owl. It had stormy grey feathers and molten gold eyes.
The enormous man looked to where she had locked her eyes and simply grabbed the owl cage and set it down next to her.
"That's a Great Horned Owl if 'm not mistak'n." He informed her. "'m Hagrid, jus' so yeh kno'."
"Well Hagrid, what brings you here? In need of a feathered companion for yourself?" Elsepeth wondered out loud, looking back over at the boy.
"'S fer Harry 'ere." Hagrid declared motioning for the boy to come over to Elsepeth's side of Hagrid. He wasn't much taller than her.
"Which owl do you think you might go with?" She asked with curiosity.
"I'm not sure." He spoke softly. Then he looked over at the cage that was hiding behind Hagrid's large foot. Inside was a flawless white Snowy Owl with wise amber eyes, Elsepeth calmly approached the owl with her arm slowly reaching out to the bird in the friendliest manner she could muster. The owl nibbled her pointer finger in a friendly way in return.
Hagrid chuckled, "Now don' get too close to this owl, yers might get jealous."
Elsepeth looked back over to her chosen owl, knelt down, and whispered, "Don't worry, you're still my favorite, it's just polite to introduce yourself to others and that was what I was doing."
When Hades was still alive Elsepeth would always talk to him as a person and because of that they had a close relationship. Now she wanted the same relationship with this owl. She always had a way with birds.
Elsepeth's mother came around the corner with her hair messy and her glasses screwed on her face, she must've had quite the adventure looking for her. But Elsepeth knew she wouldn't get angry at her for wandering off, that was her father's job. She gently touched Elsepeth's shoulder, acknowledging Hagrid and Harry, looking a little too intrigued by Harry, then whispered to me her daughter, "Time to go get your robes measured. Tell your...friends...goodbye." Then she subtly picked up the owl's cage and left to pay. Elsepeth made eye contact with Harry, somehow he seemed familiar, then she spoke softly as if he also were a fragile bird, "Goodbye Harry, see you at Hogwarts. You definately have the best owl." She saw Hagrid smile as she turned and left, wondering why he seemed so familiar.
"Oh well," Elsepeth thought, she was more hopeful that Madame Malkin had robes small enough so I wouldn't trip in them at Hogwarts. Maybe there is a growth spell at Hogwarts. One can wish.