Disclaimer: I do NOT own the world of Harry Potter, so any characters, places, and terms made up by J.K. Rowling belongs to her.
What if Harry Potter wasn't the 'Chosen One'? What if Voldemort had decided to attack Neville's family that night? This is a story of his would-be younger sister.
"Harry!" Mum yelled, "Don't leave your homework 'till the last minute, I've told you a million times!"
I sat on my bed re-re-re-rereading my Hogwarts letter. The day it came I'd squealed and screamed with excitement. Harry was three years older than I, and had told me all about his amazing wizarding school. Tomorrow, Harry and I would be going (by ourselves!) to get our things (books, wand, robes, etc).
Kiwi, our family cat, was snoozing on my bed.
"What if I don't get Sorted into Gryffindor?" I asked her, "Our entire family has been in that house!"
Of course, Kiwi didn't reply, but she woke up and raised an eyebrow as if to say, I'm a cat, don't worry me with stuff.
I decided to go to Cheri and Emma's house, my neighbors/best friends. They're also twins.
"Don't worry about that," Emma laughed when I told her, "Let's play Quidditch!"
Of course, I didn't have a Nimbus Two Thousand like Harry, but I did have a nice Comet, which was better than Cheri and Emma's. They both rode Cleansweeps, passed down from their older brothers, Kayden and Thomas. We used a big red ball, which Cheri had found in a Muggle yard.
"AAAANNNND SCORE!" Harry said, walking onto the lawn just as Cheri made a goal(into a shed).
"Harry!" I yelled, "What're you doing here?"
"Mum says you gotta come back, it's supper time", Harry explained.
"Oh. Bye, then," I waved to the twins, "See you in Diagon Alley!"
"Mel, you've gotta cut that hair!" Mum sighed, "It'll get tangled."
"Relax, Mum, I'll tie it up," I fiddle with my bright turquoise streak, the part of my head that Mum H-A-T-E-D.
"Oh, did I tell you about that time in my first year?" Harry said in his storytelling voice, "Neville Longbottom, he fought You-Know-Who! You-Know-Who was hidin' out in the back of the DADA teacher's head, in a smelly turban. He couldn't even touch Neville, though. After his mum recovered from the Crucio curse thingie, she was so protective of him she cast a spell on Neville to protect him, and guess what? It worked! So, the whole school was-"
"That's quite enough, Harry." Dad said, "Why don't we have some ice cream, and head to bed? Mellie's got a big day tomorrow."
"Yeah!" I said excitedly, "Wands, spellbooks, and oooh can I have a pet like Hedwig?"
Mum and Dad looked at each other, "Of course. You can look in Magical Menagerie. Now, to bed, ya little devils!"
Harry and I ran up the stairs as Dad pretended to chase us.
"Sweet dreams, kids," Mum whispered once she'd caught up and turned off the lights. And, oh boy, did I have a good dream. I could see Hogwarts, and the Sorting hat, and Harry bringing me back sweets from his trips to Hogsmeade. Cheri and Emma were in Gryffindor, but that was where the dream ended, and the nightmare started.
Once I'd put on the Sorting Hat, it'd yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" Harry booed me, along with everyone else. Even the Slytherins were glaring at me.
Luckily, I woke up after that and remembered what a good day today was supposed to be.
"Mel, Harry!" Dad tossed my covers away, then reached to the top of our bunk bed to wake Harry.
"Most of the books we already have for you, Mel, but you'll need Remus's books."
I took a pinch of Floo powder and yelled, "Diagon Alley!" Just by luck, I tumbled out in front of a girl I'd never seen before. I felt my ears getting bright red.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Y-yeah," I said, "Are you Muggle?" She seemed confused when I fell out of the fireplace, so I thought it would be a good idea to ask.
"No, I'm a Squib," She sighed, "Mum runs a shop here."
"Oh," I muttered, not sure what to say.
"Mellie!" Cheri and Emma were running up to me, "There you are!"
"I wanted to show you this beautiful owl in Magical Menagerie." Emma cried, "And Cheri's already bought Spice here." She pointed to the orange tabby cat in Cheri's arms.
"Well, bye..." I said to the girl.
"Katie." She said.
"I'm Mellie."
In Magical Menagerie, Emma pointed out a small snowy owl.
"Wow," I said, "It looks like miniature Hedwig!" Except this owl was… different. He almost radiated cuteness.
"Wish I had money to buy it," Emma sighed, "Dad only gave me five Galleons for personal use."
Later, when Emma left to talk to Mimi, her pen-pal of five years, Cheri and I bought the owl.
"Oh, and can you add a tag that says 'Happy Birthday'?" I asked. Emma was turning eleven in two days.
The clerk looked at us, " 'Course."
We spilled our combined seven Galleons onto the table.
"Eh," Mrs. Grumpy Clerk grunted. She scooped the gold coins away, and pocketed our tip, without a word of thanks.
"Bye," She called lazily. I half expected her to add, Don't come back.
Harry took Jittern(It was what Emma said she would've named him), and agreed to keep him a secret until Emma's birthday came.
We left to find our friend. She was waiting for us outside Ollivander's, and holding a bulging bag, along with a squeaking box.
"I got you Going-to-Hogwarts presents!" Emma squealed. She handed her sister the bag, and me the box.
Cheri received a scratching post and some yarn.
"For Spice," Emma explained.
I got a fluffy kitty with light blue eyes.
"Oh!" I squealed, "Thank you so much!"
"C'mere, Coco!" I laughed as she pawed my long swishy hair. Then, an old man leaning on a cane stumbled out. I recognized him as Mr. Ollivander from Harry's descriptions.
"Loud…" Mr. Ollivander said testily, "Please be quieter."
"Sir.." Cheri asked, "Can we buy wands?"
"Ah! Naughty kids, being loud and then wanting a wand!" But he laughed, so we figured it was a joke.
Inside, Emma went first.
"Eleven and a half inches, unicorn hair, elder wood, hard and nice for transfiguration."
Emma timidly held it, and a loud BOOM erupted.
"No, no," said Mr. Ollivander, "Here, try this. Ten inches, holly, dragon heartstring, swishy, but still for transfiguring."
Emma waved it weakly, but Mr. Ollivander seemed satisfied. He gave her the wand, beckoned for me to step forward.
"Lilly and James's child, eh?"
"Yes, I'm Mellie Potter."
"Try this wand. Holly, unicorn hair, nine and a half inches, good for transfiguration."
However, a second later he snatched it away, "No good!" He slipped his long bony finger deep into a shelf and pulled out a dusty, squashed box.
"Twelve inches, elder wood, unicorn hair, bendy and best for charms." He studied me holding it, but decided it wasn't my wand. It took him three more tries, until a relatively new wand, elder, phoenix feather, ten and a half inches, was pulled out. Mr. Ollivander nodded approvingly, and then came Cheri's turn.
A stack of five wands appeared, and Mr. Ollivander finally decided on a ornamented, elder wood wand.
"That'll be five Galleons each," Mr. Ollivander sighed.
After we paid, we went around getting the rest of our things and hanging out. I decided afterwards that I would get home through Katie's fireplace. I wanted to see her again for some reason. I found her sitting meekly outside her mum's shop.
"Hey, Katie!" I said brightly.
She frowned, "Do I know you?"
"Yeah! I'm Mellie, I fell out of your fireplace a few hours ago, remember?"
A slightly chubby woman ran out, panting.
"Sorry, are you a friend of Katie's?" She asked.
"No, I just met her today, I wanted to drop by and say hi again." I replied.
"Oh," The woman sighed, "Katie has a memory problem. Can't remember a thing. Ever." She looked at her daughter, who smiled back, not understanding that there was anything wrong with herself.
"She told me that she's a Squib." I asked, "Is that true?" Mrs. Port(She called herself) led me inside and explained everything. Katie had been attacked by her drunk neighbor when she was about five, and had had a memory problem since then. Mrs. Port always said that Katie couldn't go to a school because she was a Squib, to make things less complicated. Mrs. Port seemed to need someone to talk to, because it wasn't until an hour later, when a late night customer came, that she told me to head home.
"Bye Mrs. Port," I called, "see you next summer!" Then the whirl of the Floo Network took me back home.