The Day Before Hogwarts

Jason's biceps were crying. His legs were dragging. The twelve-year-old boy was not in high spirits today.

He should've done his shopping much much earlier, but his mother wasn't exactly responsible, and his father Zeus was more absent that not, citing "business trips" as his reason for abandoning his son and daughter. Sure, Jason understood that Zeus had a Ministry to run. But was that an excuse to leave his son to fend for himself on the day before Jason's first day at Hogwarts?

Scurrying to lean against the aged brick wall of Diagon Alley, it was all Jason could do to stop himself from being swept into the crowd of over-bearing parents hustling their children to get new robes and stationery.

"Father. I absolutely must have this parchment. Feel it. Look at it. In comparison, the stuff you insist on buying for me is, for lack of a better adjective, buttwipe-level bad." Jason giggled at the snooty tantrum being thrown by a small, scrawny boy with stringy silvery hair.

"Octavian, no. I do not have time for this. I am too busy," the boy's father replied with a sigh, steering his son by the shoulders with no effort at all.

"At least you got the syllables right," the boy named Octavian muttered bitterly.

Feeling slightly better about himself because hey, at least he didn't have to whine to his father about what he wanted to get, Jason checked out his next destination.

Other Equipment: 1 wand

Yes! Jason grinned, hurriedly picking up his bags, already filled with his cauldron and other potion-making essentials. He had been excited about finally getting a wand—though he'd had ample opportunities to play around with magic as his father had always bent the rules (ironically, as Zeus was meant to uphold the rules as Minister), and Thalia loved practicing charms on her baby brother. Unfortunately though, his sister had bumped into her fellow second-years in muggle London, and they'd whisked her off to go ogle at the painstakingly slow red buses.

He walked into Ollivanders to a shower of sparks. Unable to help himself, Jason squeaked in surprise. The elderly Ollivander charmed boxes of wands out of their perches, and the young blond wizard smiled at how the shelves reshuffled themselves to fill gaps as wands were pulled out of their stacks.

"Not this one either?" a clear female voice addressed the wandmaker, steady with confidence, as if she was speaking to an audience of enraptured listeners. "I'm terribly sorry for causing so much… mess."

The owner of the voice stood before the shop's counter, smouldering wand in hand. It was a girl, about Jason's age, slightly taller than himself. She was already dressed in impeccably neat Hogwarts uniform save for the robes, with a sleek single braid of raven hair contrasting against the white button-up blouse draping down her back. Jason noticed that she stood impressively straight, shoulders squared, like the way his father would when he was telling Jason off.

Before he could help it, Jason had stepped closer. "Don't worry," he said rather uselessly, "I'm sure you'll find the perfect wand."

The girl turned sharply towards him, regaling him with dark, gleaming eyes. For a moment, Jason was intimidated. Then, she turned back towards the counter as if he hadn't uttered a word, carefully replacing the wand she had tried back into its box.

Just as Jason was about to shrivel in embarrassment at being totally and utterly ignored, the girl spoke. "I think you mean that the perfect wand will find me," she corrected calmly, the edge of her mouth lifting a little in victory. Jason didn't know how to respond to that.

The next wand Ollivander chose for her, a long, smooth ebony one, worked perfectly—a beautiful flame erupted from the tip of her wand and circled around her arm as if the wand wanted to give its new owner a hug. After paying, she had left, and Jason couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she hadn't said goodbye, though he was happy that she had gotten her wand.

His own was black walnut with phoenix feather; a slightly rugged grip at one end gave him good control, while the opposite end tapered to a graceful tip, and it rested solidly in his palm.

Next stop: books.

Jason weighed the pouch of galleons that his father had left on the table this morning, instructing him to spend it wisely on equipment. It was still more than half full, thank Merlin—all the more to spend at the bookstore!

Growing up, Jason had been a bit of a loner. His parents had insisted on him being home-schooled until he was of age to go to Hogwarts, rather than send him to muggle school. His teacher had actually been one of the Hogwarts professors, Chiron, who owed his father a favour… long story. Anyway, Jason had limited exposure to other people, instead taking solace in reading and learning more about magic and Hogwarts—he'd always known that his true calling was to be an Auror one day. He was, however, really excited to go to real school for the first time with people his own age… no offense to the centuries-old Chiron.

Ah, the sweet smell of parchment. Jason took a deep breath and, book list in hand, scanned the shelves for his titles. In the Transfiguration aisle, he had a bit of fun with pulling out whatever caught his eye and flipping through. He'd always loved the idea of transfiguration.

Just as he was nose-deep in an understandable (most wizard authors loved fancying up their language, to Jason's chagrin) book called The Modern Guide to Practical Transfiguration: It's Not As Useless As You Think, he heard a shuffle of a book sliding out of its place.

"Don't you think that's a bit advanced for you?" Jason blinked to focus, seeing the same raven braid as in Ollivander's. The girl raised an eyebrow at the book in his hands, while she held up her copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "This is the one you'll be needing for first year."

"How do you know I'm going into first year?" Jason quipped, sky blue eyes sparkling. "Besides, this book is much more practical. It's got tips on using transfiguration in battle." The girl pursed her slender lips, sliding the book she was holding into her book bag. Jason glimpsed a spine titled: The Ins and Outs of Magical Duelling. He smiled good-naturedly at her, trying to get a positive reaction. "Looks like you're doing some research of your own, too."

She looked away briefly, caught, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Can't blame me if I want to know more," she spoke back, words sharp as if he had accused her of something. "Duelling sounds awesome. Now if you'll excuse me."

Before Jason could think of a retort, she had slipped past him and disappeared.

His last stop at Diagon Alley was Madam Malkin's, for three sets of "work robes". Jason couldn't understand how it would at all be practical to move around in robes, much less work in them.

"Robes, my dear?" the stout older woman behind the counter smiled kindly down at the blond. Jason nodded enthusiastically. "Dearie me, all this last-minute shopping! It's lucky I've got so many helping hands!" Madam Malkin laughed to herself as she ushered Jason to a stool in front of a long line of mirrors, waving her wand to summon a tape measure to do her bidding.

Splack. "Get off!" Whap. "Hey! Darling, please do not assault my tapes."

In the mirror, Jason saw a girl with a braid—the girl with the braid—get hit by a flying tape measure. With irritation and disproportionate anger in her eyes, she fought off the tape, flinging it triumphantly to the ground with a few clever movements of her arms. It was terribly amusing, and he couldn't help but chuckle at her antics.

Her gaze snapped to his, and a flash of recognition ignited her obsidian orbs. "You again," she stated, momentary anger wearing off and quickly replaced with the cool, collected poise that Jason now associated particularly with her.

"Me again," he nodded. "I didn't know that by duelling, you meant beating up tape measures."

As he saw a frown crease her brows, Jason internally berated himself. It wasn't like him to mouth off so much, and it wouldn't do him any good to start off on the wrong foot with someone who most likely also went to Hogwarts.

He flashed her a small smile to show that it was all in good fun. Stepping off the stool, Jason looked over her shoulder, seeing a line of house-coloured scarves. "What house are you in?" Honestly, he didn't expect her to answer after he'd so blatantly made fun of her embarrassment.

"I don't know yet."

The girl was now looking at him with curiosity, and he had the weirdest feeling that she was trying to read his mind to predict his next move. She approached life like a game of Wizard's Chess, he thought. One day, he'd like to play against her.

"So you're a first year, too?" Pause. "I'm Jason. Jason Grace."

She fingered the tassels on a Ravenclaw scarf, then held out her hand. "Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano."

He shook her hand—her shake was firm. It was nice to know that tomorrow, he'd be seeing a familiar face during the daunting Sorting Ceremony.

A/N: Hi guys, I'm back! Kinda... This is my first attempt at a Hogwarts AU for Jeyna, because there aren't enough of these out there! :) As always, following and favourite-ing encourages me to keep writing, and I hope you love it. It's been a while, but Jeyna always has my heart.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Next chapter: SORTING!

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