Gypsy Hart stood by the water's edge. The rhythmic flow of the waves did not affect her at all. She was used to it. Thirteen years by the glorious sea of the Atlantic, she lived in Prince Edward Island. She lived in the most hidden and natural part of the already little town of Udell. She was an orphan, adopted by kind neighbors. Her loose tumbles of russet-brown hair was escaping her loose braid, the cause of the strong wind. A frown was permanent on her face. And no, she was not sad. She was bored. Her chores were done and she'd finished her schoolwork. She wrapped her thick hoodie closer to her body, she could start to feel the chill of the waters. She turned away and started for Miss Jemma's house. It was the only option available at the moment and she liked the old woman, although she was a very strange woman. Gypsy realized that it was her that had brought her up. The strict but not unkind tone of the woman had shaped Gypsy into the young lady she was now.
She was headstrong. Quite so, and a very ambitious girl. She had always tried hard to please whoever se met. The competition with her peers at school was easy, though she didn't know what real standards were. She knocked on the old wooden door of her cottage. Miss Jemma's footsteps could be heard before the door opened and very lively and nimble steps they were. "Gypsy! Come in. Come in girl." She hurriedly rushed the girl into her house. The old woman was obviously in a strange mood. She sat at the coffee table and Jemma came forward in a flash with a tray with two tea cups. How on earth did she know I was coming? Gypsy couldn't help wondering. "Gypsy, you have excellent timing. Look what came in the mail for you." Jemma handed Gypsy an envelope bearing a strange seal. "What is this, Jemma?" Gypsy asked, confused.
"Just open it, Gypsy." She opened it hesitantly and skimmed through the letter. "Jemma, is this some type of funny joke? Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Dear lord Jemma, you have to come up with better names." Gypsy shook her head and gave her the letter, carelessly sipping her tea. "Gypsy. I'm not joking. Haven't you ever wondered why you're an orphan. Why I'm so strange? Why some things happen to you?" Her last sentence caught her off guard. "Jemma, I don't understand." But in her head, she did have an idea. Things did tend to happen to her. Hadn't she fixed little Johnny Branston's sprained leg last year? A little boy she'd grown to love? He fell off a tree and she remembered crying terribly because of it. But when she held his ankle in her hands and prayed to God, she remembered Johnny's gaze on her. "What did you do, Gypthy? Why doethn't it hurt anymore?"
And then there was that time when she'd broke, her guardian Mrs. Hart's favorite vase. She'd tried glueing it together and put it back on the table although it was obvious. She woke the next morning and it was all fine, no cracks or anything. "Jemma. Please tell me what what this means?" She implored, her golden eyes hinting at fear. "Gypsy. You're a witch. You have magic in you like I do. Your parents were murdered by a dark wizard and I was sent to watch over you." She explained slowly. "A witch? You mean the ones that burned in the medieval times?" She was bewildered, caught off guard, but she held together, her curiousity was too great. Jemma snorted. "They tried burning them, but if they were real magic folk, they'd just have to perform a freezing charm." "Dear god. Jemma, I'm going to a school for magic? But the letter says I was to start when I was eleven. I'm thirteen in December, Jemma. How on earth am I to catch up?"
Jemma carelessly waved her hands. "Nothing I can't handle."
And she was right. For the rest of the month left of summer, she loaded Gypsy up with all the spells she was supposed to have learned. The only thing she didn't know on the last day of summer was Potions. Jemma never took it seriously, resulting in Gypsy's weakness in the subject. But all the rest, Gypsy's quick mind took care of. On August 31st, Jemma came to her with green powder in her hand. "Jemma. How on earth do we get to England?" But as an answer, Jemma simply took her hand and yelled. "Diagon Alley." Next thing Gypsy had seen was a big crowd of people and shops all around. A man with red hair saw Jemma and came forward with a big smile. "Merlin's beard, Jemma. Is that you?" "Arthur Weasley! Oh, old boy, it's been too long." She shook his hand jovially. "Gypsy, this is my good friend, Arthur."
Shyly, she shook Arthur's hand. "You'll have to hold on, Jemma. I have to go get Molly." In a few seconds, a woman with matching hair came forward. "Oh Jemma, you've come back at last! We thought you come back with the girl three years ago! And in a place like Canada!" "I would get the children but their all gone enjoying themselves. It's a pleasure to meet you…" "Gypsy. Gypsy Hart." She liked the woman's smile and hated leaving them afterwards. Many people seemed to know Jemma as they went through shops getting their school supplies. "Jemma, how on earth are you so popular?" She asked. "I was quite the flyabout in school, Gypsy." She simply responded in her aloof tone. They were done at last after the robe fittings. "Well Gypsy. It's time to get you an animal. I'm going to get some business done." She handed Gypsy a pouch of coins. "The magical creature shop is right there. Go ahead, sweetheart."
She thanked Jemma and walked towards the shop. It was slightly less empty than all the other shops. There were two students at the counter. "Hello." She approached them shyly. A boy with red hair gave her a friendly glance and and turned back to talk to the witch at the counter. The other boy with messy black hair and glasses smiled at her. "Hi." "I have no idea what is going on." She explained. "What do you mean?" She turned red, embarrased. "My…uh…Aunt Jemma told me to come here and get a…an owl?" She finished off quietly. "Oh. Are you muggle-born?" He asked, noticing her Canadian accent. "No, I'm a Pureblood but I was brought up by muggles. Well, except for Jemma. I'm from Canada. Prince Edward Island." The boy gave her a sincere smile, as if he understood. "I'm Harry. Harry Potter." "Gypsy Hart." She shook hands with him. Suddenly, the boy with the flaming red hair gave a yell.
"SCABBERS!" He scrambled for a rat on the floor. He ran after the creature. Harry followed in and motioned for Gypsy to come with him. It took them quite a long time to find the rat again before Gypsy found him under a garbage bin. She held out the animal to the boy. "Here." "Thanks so much. I'm Ron Weasley." "Gypsy Hart." She smiled. "What was that?" He asked Harry. "It was either a very big cat or a small tiger." He guessed. Gypsy hadn't seen what made the rat scamper for his life. "Anyways, Gypsy needs help to find an owl." She gave a small smile. "No problem, follow us." They led her to a real magical creature shop full of squawking owls which frightened her immensely. "Uhm, which one do you like?" Ron asked gesturing towards the rows and rows of owls. They looked around for about five minutes before she found a small owl that actually looked quite amiable. They paid for it and they ran into a girl who Ron and Harry seemed to recognize.
"You bought that monster?" Ron asked, gaping at the large cat in her arms. "He's gorgeous isn't he? Who're you?" She asked, ignoring the looks he was giving the thing she was holding. "Gypsy Hart. I'm from Canada." She said. "Did you say Hart? I think I've heard of you." "Me? My parents are dead, murdered by some dark wizard." "Hermione Granger." She girl responded. They walked around until she saw Arthur at a bar reading the newspaper. "Oh, I have to ask him something." She pointed towards him. "What on earth do you need my dad for?" Ron asked. "You're dad?" She asked, confused. Ron simply gestured towards his hair. She laughed and approached him. "Oh there you are Gypsy. And I'm glad you've the children. Jemma's left you with us. We've got you a room and you're having dinner with us tonight."
Mrs. Weasley suddenly entered with two boys that looked exactly the same, the twins supposedly, another boy and a very small girl who turned quite red when she saw Harry. Percy held out his hand and shook his hand. He looked at Gypsy questionably. She introduced herself to everyone. "So Ronnie, got yourself a girlfriend haven't you? Or is Harry the lucky man?" One of the twins asked, eyes shining. Gypsy looked at him confusedly. "What on earth? I just met them!" "Another serious one? Dear lord. We have some work to do, George. I'm Fred by the way." They both gave her identical smiles. Gypsy just looked at them.
Tom, the innkeeper welcomed them for dinner, pulling multiple chairs and tables for the big group. Gypsy was overwhelmed by the lively atmosphere, she was never used to such a thing. And her way of talking felt horribly out of place. She sat next to Hermione, who was trying to fill in every single detail about classes, which she knew surprisingly. She kept going until Ron had told her to knock it off. Jemma had managed to teach her everything except for Potions. The family including Hermione and Harry were in Gryffindor, which put pressure on her. She didn't think she was good enough for the legendary house and didn't want to lose her new found friends.
Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad. Hufflepuff would even be bearable. Slytherin, the talk of it was bad, but Jemma said it was stereotyped as a dark house, but really equivalent to Gryffindor in traits, if darker. Jemma, however was a Ravenclaw. As they laughed over the twins mischevious pranks on each of the teachers, Gypsy's guard began to lift, accepting her new found family.