Friday August 30th, 1991

Ara Lestrange was sitting in one of the huge bay windows in her room, anxiously waiting for the sun to hurry up and rise. It was her eleventh birthday, and she would finally get to go to Ollivander's and get her very own wand. Even though she had been allowed to use her cousins' and adopted parents wands during her home schooling, it was the Rosier family tradition to get one's first wand on their eleventh birthday, no earlier.

Her aunt Giselle and uncle Silas weren't immediate family, as they were technically her second cousins once removed, but they were her legal guardians. Ara's parents had been in Azkaban for almost her entire life, and the Rosiers had taken her in and raised her like their own daughter. She loved them as if they were her biological parents, but sometimes Ara hated having to submit to their way of living.

When she was younger, Ara often wished she could have lived with her mother's sister instead, but the Malfoys were far too busy with their own young son when Ara suddenly needed a place to live. So Ara ended up in the Rosier's private township, a cluster of three manors located in Devon, all occupied by her uncle's siblings. The township was enchanted to repel wizards and Muggles alike.

Ara lived in the largest house, with her second cousins Cassius and Julius Rosie. They would both be starting Hogwarts with Ara in just a couple of days. The two boys were 'Irish twins,' since Cassius had been born in early September 1979, and Julius was born in July of 1980. Ara envied them both for already having their own wands, even though Julius had not even had his for two months yet.

Silas' brother and sister had three children between the two of them, so Ara had grown up with five of built in friends. On the far end of the township lived two of her older cousins, Miranda Rosier and her younger sister Elena. They had started Hogwarts six and four years before Ara, respectively, and they were both looking forward to Ara joining them in Slytherin.

Closer to Silas and Giselle's manor sat the home of her aunt Charlotte, who had been widowed in the first wizarding war. She had one son, Emmet Rosier, who was two years older than Ara, also in Slytherin. Charlotte and Emmett frequently visited Ara's house growing up, and Ara, Emmett, Cassius, and Julius had all been homeschooled together by Giselle. The families essentially raised each others' children, and as she grew up, Ara grew to love the township. She would miss it a lot, but she was extremely eager to get to Hogwarts. Ara was already pretty awesome at practical and theoretical subjects alike, so she was eager to excel in school.

Finally, her uncle knocked on her door, with the Cassius and Julius waiting behind him. "It's time," he said with a broad smile, and Ara couldn't help but squeal. The group went downstairs to the fireplace, and traveled to Diagon Alley by the Floo Network.

As Ara had bought the rest of her supplies with her cousins much earlier in the summer, the family headed straight to the wand shop. They entered the cramped and shabby shop, and Ollivander paled as he recognized the infamously Dark Silas Rosier. Though Silas had been a known Death Eater, he had managed to get out of going to Azkaban on a technicality. As a result, a lot of witches and wizards were terrified of him. Ara liked that even though her parents hadn't gotten off like Silas did, she was still being raised by a powerful family who understood the beauty and power of Dark magic.

"Welcome, welcome," Ollivander said nervously, trying not to appear intimidated. "Miss Lestrange, is it?" he asked, knowing fully well that the Rosier family had taken in the Lestrange's daughter. Plus, she looked a lot like Bellatrix, even though her wild curly hair was currently her favorite shade of blue, not black like her mother's.

"Ara," she replied with a grin. "Good to meet you, I've been really looking forward to this," she said politely. Ara had a special way with adults, as she was very precocious.

Ollivander seemed slightly at ease as he measured Ara before turning to grab a selection of wands. He appeared to have a very specific idea of what might work for her, as he was walking back and forth across the stacked shelves and selecting wands in a seemingly random order. By the time he was done, Ollivander had gathered eight wands for Ara to try out.

"Let's give this one a go first," Ollivander said, handing her a short but sturdy wand. "Acacia and phoenix feather, a very tricky and unusual wood, but powerful matched with a quality feather," he said. Ara was slightly offended that he thought she might be suited to an inferior sounding wand that relied on the core more than the wood itself. She took it though, and waved it while thinking the Flame Conjuration incantation. The tip of the wand lit in a pathetic candle sized flame. Astoria handed it back to Ollivander despite having successfully casted a nonverbal spell with it.

"Not for you then," Ollivander noted as he put the wand away and opened the next box.

"Pine and unicorn hair, twelve and a half inches, likes to be used creatively," Ollivander explained. "They tend to adapts to new spells without difficulty."

Ara waved the wand, and a single daisy fell to the floor. Though she had not used an incantation, the intent to conjure a bouquet of the flowers had hardly been effective. So much for being adaptive, Ara thought. She set the wand on the counter.

"Yes yes, not nearly powerful enough," Ollivander agreed. "This one then, vine and phoenix feather, very flexible. This wood is very sensitive to instantly detecting a match, and it's an uncommon one, too," he said, sounding like he hoped the rarity would impress Ara. She picked it up, and it sparked electricity from the tip, shocking Ollivander. He cringed before pulling out his own wand and fixing his appearance.

Ara tried the other five wands, and each was more disappointing than the last. Sh was starting to get irritated with the shopkeeper, and thought he was pretty bad at his job. She also noticed that he tried to pair her with wands containing unicorn hair cores, which Ara knew to be the hardest to turn to Dark magic. Ara was annoyed that Ollivander seemed to be trying to influence her future by steering her towards more benign wands.

Finally, after a long look of contemplation and hesitation, Ollivander climbed the moving ladder to grab a box from the very top shelf. He came down slowly as if he was dreading allowing her to try the wand.

"Aspen and dragon heartstring, fourteen inches. The wand of a duelist, or a witch destined to become one. One of the only wands suited to martial magic," Ollivander said quietly. He handed over the thin and intricately carved white wand, appearing afraid of the potential danger that came with handing a powerful witch such a wand.

When Ara held the wand, she felt it warm comfortably in her hand right away. She shuffled through the list of her more powerful spells as she wanted to test the wand's full power. With a mischievous glint in her eye, Ara concentrated on the wands behind her, pointed the wand at the shelves in front of her, and silently cast, Oppugno!

Every single wand box behind her zoomed to assault the ones in front of her. They managed to avoid her body and the space around her as they rapidly shot forward. Ollivander cringed as most of the wands fell out of their boxes and clattered on the floor.

"Oops, I'm so sorry," Ara said, suppressing a smirk and pretending she hadn't done it intentionally. "Well, this seems to be the most effective one yet..." she said, inflecting an innocent tone.

"Undeniably," Ollivander said gravely. "Use it well, and use it responsibly. A powerful wand in the hand of a young witch can be dangerous, without proper education." Again, Ara was insulted by his assumptions about her. She was a pureblood from a Sacred 28 family, of freaking course she was already acquainted with magic, both with and without a wand.

"Absolutely," Ara said respectfully. Her uncle pulled out his wallet and paid seven Galleons for the wand, and the family left after curt goodbyes.

Once they had returned to the house, Ara ran upstairs to immediately try out her wand. The township's atmosphere was so thick with magical energy that the Trace couldn't precisely detect whether minors were casting spells or not. So all of the children started using their wands as soon as they got them. It was another reason Ara felt lucky to live with her extended family instead of the Malfoys.

Ara conjured a puppy from thin air and played with it for a few hours. When she got bored, she Vanished it, not really caring if it spent eternity stuck in nonbeing. Ara opened her packed trunk and summoned The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One. She also pulled out a roll of parchment and her beautiful lavender quill, which inspired her to instantly change her hair color to match it.

She made a list of all the spells from the first half of the book and set herself to practice them. Fire conjuration, easy, Levitation charm, also easy, Locking spell, like I don't use that every day, Severing charm, that one's not hard either... Ara realized as she went through the spells that she was already really good at the first term's material and probably wouldn't have to study.

Ara spent the rest of the night going through her Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts books as well. Before she went to sleep, Ara made a mental note to steal a couple of the Rosiers' Dark spell books to bring with her to school.