The long awaited AVOTICA story is here. This story is set in the second Harry Potter book. You may see familiar characters, and some new ones too!

The Squib

A young eleven year old child with long, golden red hair in two pigtails was pulled along Diagon Alley by an older woman, around 50, with grey hair that frizzed around her head like a strange halo. She looked slightly batty, in an annoyed, cross sort of way. The young girl kept her head down, trying to make herself as discreet as possible.

The woman was wearing long, black robes, black shoes, woollen stockings, and the oddest hat. It seemed to be made out of leather, yet it felt like velvet, and was a dark blue, and it didn't match her at all. The hat looked out of place atop the frizzy hair. The woman's face gave the impression that she was much older than she really was, yet it was her eyes that made the most impression upon the people she passed.

They were such a dark brown that they looked black, and her stare was menacing. It seemed she thought she was too good to be having to drag a little girl around Diagon Alley. She was too good to have to mingle with common witches and wizards. Just much too good, was the impression, yet it was far from the truth.

The girl was quite different. Although the old woman and the girl did look alike in some ways, they were not related. The old woman was simply the girls governess, the person who looked after her. The girl's parents paid the woman a lot of money to look after her, which meant he was basically getting money for free. The girl could look after herself.

The girl's parents never really had time for her. In fact, she had barely seen them more than five times in her entire life. Occasionally, she heard them talking in their high-class voices, but she never interrupted, or she would be punished brutally. As a result of having no-one for her childhood, she was a shy girl, and never looked anyone in the eyes. Although… that was for an entirely different reason.

They then came to stop outside a wand-making shop. It was dusty and unkempt, as though it were abandoned years before. The walls were a dusty grey, as though it was originally suppose to be black, and a sign hung over the door that said Ollivanders in faded white letters.

"You stay here and get your wand," Said the old woman, who had a very high-pitched voice. "I'll go to Flourish and Blotts and get your books." Suddenly, the old woman looked wistful. "They say that Gilderoy Lockhart is doing a book signing. Go to the Leaky Caldron when you're done. Don't forget to pick up your caldron at the… caldron place…" And the old woman walked swiftly way, leaving the young girl alone.

She was relieved that the old woman had left her, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She took a timid step into the shop called Ollivanders. She saw that boxes were stacked unevenly across shelves and stands, most caked with layers of dust. And then suddenly, an old man seemed to appear out of no where from between the shelves.

He had white, wispy hair that looked more like a cloud than actual hair. He wore an old, moth eaten suit, but his eyes were the brightest blue-grey the girl had ever seen, and they sparkled as she set his eyes on her. For a moment, Avotica saw words flash in her mind, but she ignored them. She quickly averted her eyes downwards, ignoring the mans gaze.

"Hello," the old man said. "You must be the little Wiccan girl. My goodness, I remember when your father came in to get his wand. Holly, 12 inch, bats heartstring, if I remember correctly. And your mother, willow, 9 ½ inch, dragons heartstring. Dear me, an awful lot of heartstrings in your family. It appears you might be eligible for one to," He said, searching through the boxes. "Ahh, Pine, 10 inch, toad's heartstring. Give it a go."

The girl swished the wand with no effect. Not that she had been excepting one. The old man frowned.

"Perhaps not." He returned to his search silently. He pulled another dusty box, and handed her a wand. "Willow, 9 inch, unicorn hair."

Again, nothing.

"Holly, 13 inch, phoenix feather."

"Redwood, 8 ½ inch, dragon heartstring."

"Ceder, 11 inch, unicorn hair."

But no matter which wand she tried, not one worked. She had not been expecting them to work, but she was disappointed none the less.

"Hmmm," said the man, in that sort of curious way. "Strange. Very odd indeed. I will need to make a new one, to fit the requirements. Please come back tomorrow to pick it up. It will be ready by 10:30." And with that, the man disappeared between the shelves again.

The girl left the store and headed back to the Leaky Caldron, stopping on the way to pick up her shiny new black caldron. She walked slowly, even though she knew she was late, as she had taken quite a long time trying to get a wand. She didn't really want to get to her destination.

"Where have you been?" The old woman's voice snapped icily across the street. "And where's your wand? I told you to get one." She grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her along the street. She dropped the books she was carrying into the girls caldron. "All that time, and you didn't even get a wand! We'll have to go back tomorrow. Come along now, you still haven't been fitted for your robes."

"You don't know that I will be in Slitherin," said the girl, speaking for the first time. Her eyes remained downcast, and her words were slightly muffled.

"Of course you'll be in Slitherin," The woman said in a fake kind voice. "You have to be in Slitherin or else your parents will disown you." The woman smiled to her before pulling her off into the dress store.

For the next few hours, she was poked and prodded with pins, while she had to stand as still as a statue, ignoring the sharp pricks of the pins. When that was done, she was pulled into a pet store.

"Hurry up and pick an animal, Avotica. I don't have all day." The woman didn't seem too fond of the idea of the girl having an animal. In fact, she seemed disgusted that Avotica should get an animal. But she didn't have much say in it, because she wasn't the girl's mother, she was the girl's governess. The girl's real mother thought it was necessary for her to own an animal. A familiar she called it.

Avotica was overjoyed at the idea of owning her own animal. She had only really agreed to go shopping for her things because of the idea that she would get one. Well, it wasn't as though she had much of a choice of whether to go shopping or no, but she had been looking forwards to this all day.

She didn't want an owl, because she was actually quiet afraid of birds. She didn't want a snake, or a toad. She wanted a cat. And it was her lucky day. There was one, lonely, small black kitten cowering in the corner of the cat cage.

"That one only just came in today," The shop keeper said, seeing her staring at the cat. "He's only a few months old. Do you want him?" Avotica nodded her head, not looking at the shop keeper. She gave the shopkeeper the money for the cat, and walked happily out of the store, the cat nestled comfortably in her arms.

"You got a cat? Couldn't you have got an owl, or something useful?" Avotica didn't answer, and she just kept her head down. Mostly because she didn't want her governess to see her smiling.

They returned to the Leaky Caldron, where they would be spending the night. The old governess said that she would go straight to be, for she had a headache, caused by having to run after little girls all day. Avotica was glad to see her go.

She petted her new kitten that seemed to prefer the dusty room to the cage in the shop. She thought of names for her cat, before deciding on one.

"Your name shall be Jinx." She told the cat. Jinx licked her gloved hand as a way of saying that he liked the name too.

Avotica looked through the books that her governess had got her. All brand new. They didn't look very interesting. She picked up the Standard book of Spells Grade 1, and began to flip through the pages. Of course, she wouldn't be able to do any of these spells. She tried to do the one on the very first page, a simple levitating charm. But she had no wand, so the spell was no use.

She looked at her other books. Most of the books were by Gilderoy Lockhart. She had tried reading one of his books before, as Ms. Optimun, her governess, was a big fan. They were the most boring books ever written.

Her potions book held her interest for much longer than the other books, but only because she had always enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen. The house elves weren't that fond of her though, because she was always intruding in their kitchen territory.

Avotica grew tired of this quite quickly though, and she lay down on her bed to rest for a moment. Before she knew it, it was morning again, and someone was banging at the door.

"Are you up yet?" a sharp voice asked, entering the room without even knocking. "Good grief, you're a mess! Get some clean clothes on, wash your face, and brush your hair. You can't go out looking like that!"

"Yes Ms. Optimun." Avotica said, changing her clothes. It was a shame that she didn't have much of a choice in outfits. It was basic black until she was in school, and then the school colours. Not much range of clothing.

She washed her face and combed her hair, replating them again. She felt her stomach growl, and she was about to asked about food, when Ms. Optimun pulled her out of the room and down the stairs.

"Hurry, we need to get your wand before the train leaves."

"But it doesn't leave for another 5 hours!" Avotica complained. She was shocked at herself, actually, bursting out like that. But she was in a rather bad mood, due to a headache, and she kept tripping over Jinx, who followed her around like a shadow.

"Well, if you want to miss the train, then fine, but I don't want it on my conscience." Avotica knew that she didn't really have a conscience; she just didn't want it coming out of her pay check.

They went into the dress shop first, picking up her finished robes. They looked hideous, and still hung off her very loosely. Bottle green really wasn't her colour. For a moment, she fantasized them being yellow and brown, but she knew that to be in Hufflepuff would be disgraceful.

They then went back into the wand shop, where the old man had finished her wand. Oak, 6 ½ inch, unicorn hair. It had a strange shine about it, and it almost looked purple. Ms. Optimun paid him, and then left, without even letting Avotica try her wand. It wouldn't have worked anyway.

They returned to the Leaky Caldron, where Avotica was told to pack her things while Ms. Optimun did something 'important'. She folded and packed her new robes, as well as her old, plain robes, in case she wasn't in Slitherin. She packed all of her books, two quills, several bottles of ink, ten rolls of parchment, a diary, a few leisure reading books, an extra pair of shoes, and her wand. In all, she only had one small trunk. She pack her caldron in the brown box it came in, tying a string around it so it would open and fall out.

"Are you ready yet?" Ms. Optimun called. Avotica quickly stuffed Jinx in a carrier bag, where he immediately started whining. "Can't you shut that cat up?" She grabbed Avotica's trunk with one hand and her wrist with the other, and then dragged her out into the hallway, where they appareted to the London train station. The sensation was nauseating. Quite suddenly, Avotica was being pulled towards a brick wall. She shut her eyes tightly, and when she opened her eyes, she was on platform 9 ¾.

"Have a good time now!" Ms. Optimun called to her, with fake kindness.

"But the train's not leaving for another two hours!" Avotica called back, but Ms. Optimun was already gone.

Avotica walked onto the train, being the first one on. Not knowing where to sit, she walked back and forth through the train before finally choosing a carriage. She placed her suitcase under the seat, her caldron on the seat next to her, and Jinx on her lap, who was still complaining about being in the carrier.

"I'll let you out when the train starts moving, so longs as nobody else comes into the carriage," she whispered to him. He quieted down for a while. She sat there for what seemed like forever before people actually started to pile into the train. She heard talking and laughter pass her carriage, and she hoped no-one would enter hers.

Unfortunately, she was not to be granted this, for just before the train left the station, two red-head boys, twins, entered her carriage.

"…Told mum we'd be late." One said as they entered.

"No, actually, I told her," the other replied. They both noticed Avotica at the same time.

"Oh, hello," they said in unison. She kept her head down, but couldn't help but smile a little, as the pair looked quite amusing.

"What's your name?" one asked. She stayed silent, so the other began.

"We're Gred and Feorge. Who are you?" Avotica giggled at this, but still wouldn't lift her head or speak.

"You're a first year?" One asked. "Do you remember our first year, Gred?"

"Like it was yesterday, Feorge."

"Those were the days," they both said, reminiscing.

"Our sisters an ickle first year too."

"Little Ginny. The youngest of our family."

"Although she will probably outsmart ickle Ronnie by a mile."

"I have almost no doubt about that! At least we're not likely to have another prefect in the family with ickle Ronnie."

"You're the Weasley twins, aren't you?" Avotica said before she could help herself. She immediately regretted it.

"It speaks!" the one that called himself Gred said, astonished.

"You caught us out," Feorge said. "But can't we at least know your name?"

"Avotica." She lifted her head, but kept her eyes down.

"Avotica?" One said, looking shocked.

"Avotica Wiccan?" said the other, looking just as shocked.

"The squib?" They asked in unison.

Avotica nodded.

"Blimey." One of the red head boy's shook his head. "You must have some magic to be allowed to go to Hogwarts."

"I doubt it," Avotica replied, picking at her leather gloves. The carriage was quiet, only broken by Jinx's constant meowing.

Please review, and keep reading! Enjoy!

OcyTavia