Bouncing on the balls of her feet was a short, 11-year-old girl with long light brown hair and bright brown eyes. She watched as an owl flew into the window of the small house, a formal letter in it's beak. The girl took her letter and beamed reading who it was addressed to, Miss. Shadow Illusion.
"I got my letter! I got my letter!" Shadow came running down the stairs to her family, who were just sitting down to breakfast, waving the letter excitedly. The owl followed her, landing on Shadow's older sister's shoulder, looking proud.
"Good job sis!" Abby, Shadow's older sister smiled, "Dragon looks happy too."
"Speaking of dragons," Shadow's father, looked at a second set of stairs going down.
"Right, I'll go and tell Cello!"
Cello, the family's pet ironbelly dragon, and Shadow's best friend.
"Cello! Cello!" Shadow jumped the last few steps into the large room, where the large dragon was kept. "Look, I got into Hogwarts!"
Cello looked at Shadow and seemingly purred with delight. She lowered her nose to Shadow and nudged her happily, as a 'congratulations'.
"Thanks Cello," Shadow smiled, petting the dragon, "Too bad I can't take you with me."
Cello shook her head, but still looked pleased.
"I'll come back to visit," Shadow promised.
"Hurry up Shadow, you're breakfast is getting cold!" Shadow's mother, Angel, called down the stairs.
"Coming mom!" Shadow gave Cello a hug before she ran up the steps to the kitchen, and sat down to eat. She read the letter to herself as she ate.
"Looks like we'll need to go shopping soon then," Angel mentioned.
A few days passed, and Shadow's family finally left to go shopping. They arrived in Diagon Alley in the early morning, to beat some crowds as they quickly jumped from shop to shop. Angel and Shadow were soon separated from the other two, but know that they would meet up again eventually.
Angel pulled Shadow into a run down, old, pet shop. "Take your time," she urged, before going to speak with the shopkeeper.
Shadow nodded to her mother and then left her side to explore the shelved that chirped, meowed, croaked, and squeaked with life. She looked at the tall shelved isles, scared, as she felt they would fall on her. Shaking off her fear, Shadow continued walking, until a strange cage caught her eye. Turning to it, Shadow read the animal that was supposedly inside.
"Ferret" the sign read, but there was no ferret inside.
Shadow looked closer, and suddenly, a screeching erupted, and a ball of brown and white fur came flying at her. No stranger to trouble, especially things falling at her, Shadow caught the fur ball, and noticed that it was the ferret.
"Oi, I forgot about demon!" The Shopkeeper came running to help Shadow.
"His name is Demon?" Shadow asked, stroking the suddenly calm animal, "he seems pretty friendly to me."
"Demon's usually the worst of the lot, that's why I called him Demon," the Shopkeeper spoke, confused.
"I know ferrets aren't usually allowed in Hogwarts, but do you think I could by him?" Shadow asked.
"Are you sure?" The Shopkeeper questioned importantly.
"Yes," Shadow nodded, "mom?"
"Sure sweet heart." Angel nodded.
"Hear that Demon, you're going to be my pet now," Shadow smiled at the happy looking animal in her hands.
Angel lead Shadow to the wand shop next, and upon entering, she waved to Mr. Ollivander. Shadow became distracted by a pile of boxes on the desk, clouded by dust that made Demon sneeze a few times. Shadow began to wander around the front of the shop, deathly afraid of boxes falling on her if the walked between the shelves.
"Ah, miss... Shadow was it?" Shadow turned at her name, and looked at Mr. Ollivander. "If you wouldn't mind coming over here and telling me which hand your wand hand is."
"My left hand." Shadow answered the male, walking over to him.
The measuring tape began to measure on it's own, and Mr. Ollivander began to look for a wand. He soon handed Shadow a thin, gray, willow wand. Shadow barely picked it up, and it sparked violently, nearly catching on fire.
"Oh dear, not this one." Mr. Ollivander quickly snatched the wand back. He handed Shadow a different wand, and then another and another. Demon had left, on his own quest to help. He soon returned with a box. Mr. Ollivander looked at demon, and then took the box. "Oak, dragon heart string, 11 inches, very heavy compared to most wands, easy to handle though," he removed the wand from the box. It was a wonderful red color, and it's base was nearly black, as if charred. "One of my oldest wands," he placed it in Shadow's hand.
Shadow felt the wand in her hand, and smiled at it. It felt warm, and nothing bad happened as she raised it.
"It has been a difficult wand to please in the past few years. I'm glad it found someone it likes." Mr. Ollivander smiled. "It's been looking for someone who has a loyal and kind heart, and a strong sense of wrong and right. As well as a strong mind."
"I'll take good care of it then." Shadow nodded. She looked at her mother and then at demon. They were done shopping for the day, it was time to start making sure everything was ready to be packed and, in a few weeks time, they would be heading off to school.