Year One: An Eagle's Beginning

by Whispering to the Winds

It's 1971, the beginning of the Dark Lord's first rise, and little Elisabeth is set to begin her first year of Hogwarts. Attacks on wizards and muggles have begun and Diagon Alley is starting to feel the doom of the war. Is this dark wizard another Grindewald? What will Hogwarts be like for a shopkeep girl? Marauder Era.

1. Chapter 1

Year One: 1971

Chapter One: Alley Kids

"Ah-choo!"

Wiping her nose, eleven year old Elisabeth Ollivander sighed. The dust bunnies were running rampant over Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C. and causing her to sneeze repeatedly. In fives.

Why fives? she wondered before returning to the Daily Prophet sitting in her lap.

It proclaimed in large letters across the front "A GROWING THREAT: A NEW DARK WIZARD". Just under, it showed a picture of a sleepy Muggle town where apparently Millicent Bagnold, the current Minister of Magic, had a squib cousin. Elisabeth grimaced and thought, Awfully bold of that man. Attacking the Minister's cousin? He's made an enemy of the Ministry today.

Leaning her moon-pale eyes even closer to the tiny print, she read the words of the story. Then the next one. Then the next. Shoving her floating black hair away from her face, she dived into news article on a new species of kelpie that had been discovered in the Dead Sea, a body of water so salty that few creatures could live in it. They were muddy brown in color, had long stringy appendages, and were rather bizarre looking if the artist's rendition next to the article was true. How fascinating!

Turing to page 4, section diagonal read from the direction upside down to continue reading the report, she quickly got absorbed. She ignored the need to sneeze and pushed more of her elbow length hair over her shoulders. With all her focus on the newspaper, she could disregard the chaos that surrounded her. Still perusing the articles, Elisabeth jerked in surprise when she someone called her name from the main area of the shop. Her sudden movement disrupted the grime on the floor, spinning it into fanciful whirlwinds. She sneezed.

"Ah-ah-ah-ahchoooo! Ahchoo! Ahchoo! Ahchoo! Ahchoo!"

Tucking the paper into a crevice between two wand boxes, she stood up and stretched out her back before walking down the aisle to the voice that called her name. Tall shelves lined the walls and made rows through the shop, an attempt to create a semblance of order. The ancient floor was a contrast of brightly colored boxes and wheeling dust bunnies, catching light from the two cobwebby windows opening out to the rest of the Alley and the occasional gas lit lamps floating in the air.

As she wandered down the row to the voice's owner, she wondered aloud, "Five. Always in groupings of five. Why would that be? What is significant for the number of five in sneeze patterns? I don't understand-"

Sixteen year old Florean Fortesque interrupted her from the front of shop. "I think it has less to do with the number itself and more to do with the amount of dust in the shop. When was the last time Ollivander cleaned in here?"

As she turned the corner, she saw the mess directly in front of the door; somewhere in there lay a single counter and an ancient register. Florean stood in the middle of the floor with her trunk. I don't remember leaving that there. I could've sworn it was in my room upstairs… She thought, then frowned in concentration. No, I dragged it down here… Why..?

"Florean? Is that you? I didn't think that you were showing me around the Alley again today. There is something important about today, but I don't quite remember…" The tiny girl looked up at Florean as she popped out from between two stacks of empty wand boxes. Catching her toe, she started to fall forward, catching herself on one of the stacks. It teetered over her head, threatening to dump its upper boxes onto her head. Florean eyed the towers next to her and gestured to her to come out from under them.

"It's September 1st today."

Comprehension dawned in her pale eyes. A frown set over her thin features as she walked over to him, saying dully, "Hogwarts."

"Come on, Elisabeth. You will love it there. It's much cooler than the Alley." He poked her side.

Refusing to giggle, she rubbed her toe into the ground, creating a dusty ploom. "I…. I'm…" She paused, then said quietly, "I've barely been here for three months; I don't want to leave again."

He knelt down to her level. "You will be back here soon, silly. Besides, the Hogwarts Library is far superior to Flourish and Blotts. I've only told you about it a million times. So many more books." A merchant's son at heart, he added, "You don't even have to pay for them."

A smile slipped onto her face. "Yeah…"

"Really, you'll love it Elisabeth. And you can use magic there with that new wand Ollivander created just for you."

At the mention of her new master, Elizabeth's mood dropped again. "What if he finds he likes living without me? What if he likes not having to worry about a child?"

An opening door causing a cascade of falling boxes interrupted the teenage boy's reassurances to the contrary. Gerrick Ollivander, already mostly white haired and as thin as a rail, wedged the door to the back room a bit wider before slipping into the shop. "Florean Fortesque? A wand of chestnut from the Appalachians Mountains of the United States of America and the heartstring of a particularly ancient Swedish Shortsnout, if I remember correctly. What are you doing with my apprentice today?"

"You asked me to grab her on my way to the Hogwarts Express, sir." Rolling his eyes, Florean continued, "Elisabeth doesn't want to go."

Both man and boy watched as she shrunk down on herself, staring another dust ploom she'd set adrift on the shop floor. She mumbled unintelligibly under her breath. "No, it's just…. I'd rather…You see, Hogwarts, I'm not sure-"

Ollivander barked a hoarse laugh, then crossed the room to stand next to both children. "Well, she's got to go. I can't teach her to manage the magic of wand components until she can at least manage her own magic. I haven't had a viable apprentice since the forties when Elizabeth's Uncle Thomas showed aptitude. Chose Quidditch over wands, the crazy man…"

Elisabeth had to think to remember Uncle Thomas. I think he used to give me iced lollies when he came around. My brothers loved him- No, don't think of them. Not today. Not when I'm leaving- No. Don't think about that. Because if you think about that, then you'll remember them. . .The screams, the noise… Not that. Think of… Master Ollivander! The dark thought, it seemed could only be shifted in a new direction. But what if he finds he likes not having me around; where'll I go next? No one to take me in- No, don't think of it. Circular reasoning will get me nowhere. Think of… of iced lollies.

… Well, that just started this whole train of thought all over again.

Uncertainty forced the words out of her mouth, tumbling out in a torrent of staccato sounds. "You'll let me come back here? You won't decide you like the quiet the shop had before I arrived? You will-"

"That's why you didn't want to go?" the master wandmaker chuckled and rubbed the girl's head. Kindly he sank down to her eye level, more than a foot shorter than his tall and sickly thin frame. "You always have a place here. It's rather nice having another person in this shop. Gives it some life, I'd say. Life, yes… Say, is that the Gregorovitch creation that idiot March wants me to repair?" He snagged the offending wand off the floor a foot away and lifted it to his eyes. With a sudden passionate fury, he stabbed the wand at a shelf. The wand dribbled a sickly yellow spark. "See this, girl? This is a mixture of niffler fur and young vine. Inferior ingredients for a wand; the niffler doesn't have almost any magic of its own and none of its magic is even stored in the fur. And the vine, it practically weeps sap it is so immature! 'Not working properly-' Of COURSE it won't work properly! It barely has a spark of magic. Why she wants it fixed, not a clue. She's an aspen girl, she is. Perhaps with a dragon heartstring of some sort- No! Maple!"

Ollivander continued his rambling lecture, staring so intently at the wand and its imperfections he didn't see the fascinated smile break across his apprentice's face. Shoving her mass of floating hair behind her, she leaned in closer to the wand and started asking questions to her master.

"Aspen? But why aspen?"

"No, not aspen, you silly girl! Maple, I said maple. Far too ambitious for anything else. And outdoorsy." He nodded at himself, then absentmindedly twirled the wand around a finger. "Definitely dragon heartstring."

"I remember. You said that those cores were for temperamental people because they had their own attitude! Or wait… Was that the kelpie hair one?"

He stopped twirling the wand to shake it in her face. "No! We are Ollivanders! We don't use materials such as kelpie hair. No, I spoke of dra- Ah!" He brought and wand closer to his face and grabbed both ends before bending it to test its flexibility. "See, no flexing. So unyielding!"

"Flexible wands are for adaptable people." Elisabeth whispered to herself, trying to remember. She quieted when the third person in the room laid his hand on her head.

"I am sorry, Master Ollivander, but the train will be leaving without us at this rate. We," Florean gestured at Elisabeth and himself before continuing, "Also have to stop at my parent's ice cream parlor to grab my trunk before we Floo from Tom's to the Express."

Ollivander looked at him sharply for a moment and blinked in surprise, clearly forgetting the presence of another person in the shop, before abruptly standing up. "Alright then. Safe journey." With a pat of his apprentice's shoulder, his glance returned to the wand in his hands. A muttered, "Shoddy creation," were the last words heard from Gerrick Ollivander as he deftly avoided the chaos of the shop and slid back into the adjoining room while staring at the blunted stick. It was clear from the attention refocused on the wand that the two still in the shop had already been forgotten.

"Damn," Florean breathed.

Elisabeth looked at him in curiosity.

"I'd forgotten how easily distracted he is." With a shake of his head, he grabbed the handle of the girl's trunk. "Let's go, shall we?"

She nodded slowly. Following him out the door, she looked back. I'll be back. I will.

I hope.

Y1C1-Y1C1-Y1C1

Following Florean Fortescue XXI out the door, Elisabeth Ollivander barely noticed the hectic activity of Diagon Alley.

The boy had been her guide for the last three months. When she'd first arrived in Leaky Caldron's fireplace amidst green flames, Florean had been the one to catch her as she tumbled out. He had introduced himself before asking her name, only to have her burst into sobs. Between her tears and whispered words, he had picked up her ratty old trunk, the same one he currently dragged along, and grabbed her hand. A free ice cream had been snagged from his parents, stopping the tears and leaving just the sniffles, and a kind ear had listened to the story that fallen from a quivering mouth. It had taken quite awhile for calm to come to her moon-pale Ollivander eyes.

The sixteen year old had walked her over to Ollivander's shop and, in quiet words, given the wand maker a sketch of the girl's background. Though the older man had been expecting Elisabeth since she proved her viability as his apprentice in the family trade at age six, he hadn't expected the rest of the story that followed. When Florean had seen how the bachelor had no idea how to deal with an upset child, he offered to show Elisabeth around Diagon Alley and then introduced her to her new world.

With Florean as her companion, the other kids of the Alley had taken to her, accepting her curiosity and subsequent forgetfulness with a minimum of ribbing. They did tease her about her clumsiness; she had an inability to walk more than few steps without tripping on a pebble, a doorframe, or a stray breeze of air.

Perhaps their favorite example was when she had fallen sideways while standing still with no one around. Though her very pale skin turned a tomato red and she had hid behind her masses of black hair, fourth year Hufflepuffs Marissa Malkin of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and Taris Golken of Golken's Fine Watches and Timepieces had picked her up and brushed her off. They had grinned at her and Taris swung an arm over her much shorter shoulder, saying, "You're a klutz, kid."

"But she's our klutz," Marissa tickled Elisabeth's side, surprising a giggle out of the tiny girl.

Florean had looked on and watched over her as the Alley's kids started to accept her over the course of the summer. Though none were her age, there were a few a year older, like second year Ravenclaw Zacharias O'Toole from the Apothecary, and some two or three years her junior, like Amie Smith of the Second Hand Robes Shop. Florean, Elisabeth had noted, was not very close with any of the Alley's kids either; but all of them liked him for at least his access to free ice cream, if not his big smile and willingness to listen to anyone's problems. He liked to be everyone's friend.

She could see that now as the pair got closer to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Ignoring the other Hogwarts-age Diagon Alley kids impatiently waiting in front, Elisabeth admired the bright, clean shop, so different that her family's store. The ice creamery had been in Florean's family since the opening of the Alley in the 1500s, and though their specialty and half their store name had changed from pastas to desserts to mainly ice cream, the eldest Fortescue, male or female, was named Florean so the shop's deed stayed in family hands. This teenager happened to be the twenty first generation with that name.

"Took you long enough," grumbled Erik Potage of Potage's Cauldrons, a seventh year Ravenclaw. "What did you have to do, battle with Doxies to grab her?"

Smothering a chuckle from beside her, Florean grinned good-naturedly. "Could have. Have you seen Ollivander's recently? Anyways, you could've just gone ahead, Erik."

"No he couldn't 've," Came the sharp response. A stout woman bustled out of the shop, levitating a worn trunk behind her. Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed Florean on his forehead and dropped his trunk in front of him. His mother continued, "It's not safe, not with that dark wizard and his followers attacking randomly. Safety in numbers, especially for you younger children." She waved a finger in Elisabeth's direction.

Several kids frowned and a few others rolled their eyes. Two looked worried, but Marissa Malkin scoffed at Mrs Fortescue. "They only ever attack Muggles in small towns. This is Diagon Alley, the center of British Wizarding Commerce. What could they have to gain from attacking here?"

Shaking her head at the folly of the younger generation, the older woman pursed her lips, muttering "Could be another Grindlewald."

Florean gave his mom a comforting hug, disregarding her mutterings. "We'll stick together, don't worry Mom. We're Diagon Alley kids."

Glancing at one of her many watches lining both arms, Taris Golken grabbed her trunk and poked Florean. "Sorry Mrs F," she grinned in excitement. "But we have to get to the train. See you at Christmas!"

Waving their goodbyes, the eleven children each took their trunk and tromped off to the Alley's entrance to Muggle London, the Leaky Cauldron. Huffing under the weight of her trunk, Elisabeth turned to Florean, curious. "Why are we using Tom's Floo? Doesn't it make more sense to just use the ones in our own homes?"

He paused for a moment, then took her trunk for her. She gave him a grateful grin as he grimaced, tugging it along once again. "Oof. Packing weights to beef up your tiny muscles?"

"Books," she muttered, pale cheeks blushing.

"Makes sense." As they caught up to the others after lagging for a moment, he answered her question. "It's the trunks actually. Because all of us live in the housing above or attached to our shops, most of us don't have very large fireplaces." He grinned. "I mean, you can use a charm to increase the space of a room, but with the magic used for flooing, your fireplace should probably be a bit more… Stable. Mum used to tell me some stories about people expanding their fireplaces only to have it backfire on them."

She nodded in understanding as he continued, "Anyways, the one in the Leaky Cauldron is pretty big because of the inn that is part of the bar. Traffic with trunks is pretty common. Besides," he winked as Erik Potage, leading the group, opened the door to the pub. "Tom likes to give treats as we wait our turn to use the floo. He says it's our last meal before 'succumbing to school' for a few months."

Elisabeth nodded in understanding, following him into the dark pub. Being the middle of the day, it was almost empty except for the other kids and Tom. Florean set the two trunks off to the side of the door before grabbing her hand as she tried to wander off to stare at the wall decorations. Tugging her up to Tom, who was greeting Marissa and Taris with meat pies, he thrust her right into the front of the group.

Tom was a young man, not many years out of Hogwarts, but already was losing his hair. A spell from a drunk customer battling with a clothes hanger had knocked the teeth from his mouth a few months ago, but Tom had yet to take himself to St Mungo's, ignoring his mother's mutters from the kitchen and his father's sighs as he passed the barkeeping boy. Tom didn't seem to care a wit, but Florean always joked to Elisabeth that someday a pretty witch would come about and change that.

"Who's this?" Tom asked.

"Our new Diagon Alley kid!"

"Ollivander's new apprentice, Elisabeth. She's a distant relative of some sort."

"Only arrived a few months ago."

"A first year!"

All the voices spoke at once as Florean rolled his eyes. Exchanging a glance with the barkeeper-in-training, he spoke over the rabble, "A bunch of hooligans, aren't they?"

With a chuckle, Tom smiled at the boy. "Hallo there Florean. I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"Hallo Tom." Florean shook hands with the man. "You might actually remember our girl. Took a tumble out of your Floo three months back when she first came."

With a frown, Tom thought for a second before shrugging. "I don't remember it, but I screwed up some rooms really bad in April; all of May was kitchen work and table cleaning, just like when I was a kid. Wasn't out in the front at all really. Probably missed her."

Erik and Florean, both of whom had taken more major roles in the running of their family businesses, each shook their heads. Erik commiserated, "I know how that feels. Pop finally let me take the shop for whole days at a time this summer, but any time something went even a bit wrong, he put me back at jobs I was doing as a firstie."

"Tom, I thought they were giving you control of the entire bar this summer," piped up third year Hufflepuff, Matthew Corie of Boots and Buckles by Corie.

"I thought so too," joked Tom with a half-grin. "You'd best be going, all of you. The train will be gone in just less than a half hour."

There was a mad scramble first to grab a meat pie from the table next to him, then to the Floo by the kids. Falling from a glancing shoulder push, Elisabeth found herself caught by the barkeep. She gave him a quite thank you when he put her upright and stared at the ground.

"Careful there. You are a small thing, aren't you?" Tom handed her a slightly squished patty.

Florean checked her over quickly, looking for injuries on her accident prone body. "Thanks Tom." He gently pushed her towards the fireplace where Erik, Zacharias, and Taris had already disappeared in a flash of green flame. "You go on and wait with Marissa and the others, ok?"

As she walked away, she heard Tom say, "One of your lost souls?"

In a grim tone, Florean responded, "You should have seen here when she got here. She just needs some support. A parent would be great, but..." He trailed off.

"Ollivander isn't very parental." Tom understood.

Just as Elisabeth was turning to defend her master to them, Matthew popped in front of her. Through a mouth full of crust, he sprayed crumbs all over her, than said, "Thes' 're grea'! You gunna ea' yours?"

Arista Golken, Taris's older sister and a sixth year Gryffindor, pushed him away from the small girl, "Gross, Matt. Finish eating before you talk." As he swallowed and opened his mouth, she followed this up by saying, "And now that you have covered her in crumbs, she is not going to give you her meat pie."

She turned to Elisabeth and started helping her get crust out of her black hair. "He is such a barbarian," Arista muttered to the other girl. Pulling a large piece from above her ear, she said brightly, "On the up side, meat pie is totally in right now."

The two girls giggled. Arista sighed, "I am so envious of your hair, you know. Not this limp blonde stuff," she held up a piece of her own hair. "Yours is so thick and curly and wild and soft."

"It gets everywhere." Elisabeth wrinkled her nose.

"It certainly seems to float around your head rather than obey gravity," Arista agreed.

Florean bustled over to the two, the only left standing at the fireplace. "Ready to go?" he asked. "Woah, Elisabeth, what happened to your hair?"

"Oh shush!" Arista hissed to the boy. She reassured Elisabeth, saying, "It looks fine."

With a shrug at the antics of girls, Florean grabbed both trunks again. "I'll meet you two on the other side, ok?" Elisabeth grabbed his hand just before he hopped through the fireplace. Seeing the look of fear on her face he bent down to her level. "What's wrong?"

,

"I… I don't like…" she whimpered. "Not since..."

The screams, the yells- Hands shoving her through the Floo- no one following and….

Alone… I've never been more alone. Her hands shook at her sides.

As she began quivering, she could feel Florean and Arista exchange glances. He motioned for Arista to go through before him, muttering to her, "I've got this." He then sank to meet her at eye level. "It's ok, Elisabeth. Arista's going to be right on the other side to catch you."

Out of the corner of her eye, Elisabeth saw the older girl nodding her partial understanding; only Florean knew what had happened to her those months ago. Arista hopped into the green flames and spun away with a cry of "King's Cross!"

With the beginnings of a sob shaking her body, Florean whispered, "This is nothing like the last time, ok? You aren't being sent off to-" The tears started in earnest but Elisabeth refused to cry aloud; they wouldn't get that from her. Florean stopped himself. Squeezing her tight, he offered silence.

A tap on his shoulder alerted them both to Tom. Elisabeth ignored him as he mouthed to Florean, "I'll bring the trunks over for you."

With a nod, she felt Florean wrap his arms around her in a comforting hug. She cried silently for a few more second before trying to calm down as Tom Flooed back. Letting her go, Florian said softly, "We have to go now, or we will miss the train. But we can go through together; Tom brought our bags to the station."

Nodding her assent, she gripped his large hand in her small one. He tossed a large handful of powder in, waved to Tom, and then calmly walked into the fire.

Y1C1-Y1C1-Y1C1

Elisabeth watched silently as Florean wedged her new trunk next to his on the overhead shelves. They were already overfull; Florean's friends had grabbed the compartment earlier, and shoved their own stuff up and away. There was little space left for the pair.

When the two had crash landed in the grate of King's Cross, Elisabeth had been worried that Arista and Florean would leave her to find a place to sit alone. Instead, the older girl had picked her up off the ground where she'd flown from the fireplace to, given her a hug, and kindly introduced her to Theodore Tonks, or "Ted" as he had said to call him. In turn, Ted had grabbed her trunk with a grin and told the elder pair that they had already gotten a compartment to sit in.

"Almost thought you wouldn't make it," he had told the others as he led them through the narrow train hallways." The other prefects sent me out here to do a last check before the train left."

"We, uh…. Had a bit of a rough time leaving," Florean hadn't look at the tiny girl as he said this. Instead, he had focused on passing a group of snotty looking kids, well dressed and blocking the hallway. They had laughed nastily, pointing at the shopkeep kids' ratty trunks, scuffed shoes, and well-worn clothes. Even though Florean ignored them, Elisabeth had noticed Arista glaring at the group.

"Bigots. Our blood is as pure as theirs," She had muttered, frowning after they had passed by.

Slipping into a compartment to their left, Ted had remarked, "At least the eldest Black graduated last year."

They'd been welcomed into the room with yells, shouts, and hugs. As Florean and Ted struggled with the trunks, Arista introduced the group. "This is Harmony Jacobs, Addison Peirce, Mali Kutane, Jason Keystone, Marissa Atkins, and, of course, Ted Tonks. They're all sixth year Hufflepuffs, like Florean, but I share a few classes with them too."

Shy, Elisabeth nodded hello to each one. Perching as close the door as she could, she tried to make herself even tinier. Florean finished hefting his trunk up, then plopped down next to her. "Little Elisabeth is Ollivander's new apprentice," he explained. "I showed her around a bit this summer. She's a bit nervous about this year."

"Ah, nothing to worry about, love," comforted dark-haired Jason Keystone from across the compartment.

Harmony Jacobs nodded with a reassuring smile from next to the window. "He's right. You'll like Hogwarts."

"Hey, where were your parents? I just saw you come in with those two." Jason pointed at Arista and Florean.

Elisabeth stared at the ground, feeling the shakes starting to reemerge. My parents….

Arista gave the tiny girl a hidden hug as Florean gave a strained laugh. "Aw, come on Jason! You know us Alley kids come alone to the train. Our families can't take the day off work to send us out! It's always been that way."

"Yean, but usually for a first year, they come, don't th-"

Florean shook his head fiercely at the other boy. Elisabeth's head dropped even lower and she tries to ignore the tears that were so close to falling from her eyes. Ted swiftly changed the topic. "So um…. Did you all know Bellatrix Black graduated?"

Mali Kutane groaned. "Thank God." She said. "That girl was a holy terror."

"Oh look!" Addison pointed out the window. "She's standing right there!"

Elisabeth watched as the others rushed to the window looking into the train corridor. Florean shook his head. "Nah, not her. Too short. Looks like a miniature version of her though. Another sister?"

Moving back to his seat after a moment, Ted frowned. "No, they don't have any other sisters. I think it may be a cousin… I'll have to ask Andy."

Elisabeth wondered who Andy was.

"I heard her other cousin, Sirius Black, the heir of the Black family, starts this year." Mali offered. As the train whistled twice and began to move away from the station, the other sixth years groaned. "Maybe he's not so bad?"

The other Hufflepuff girls gave her a look.

"What's so bad about them?" Elisabeth spoke up.

Florean grimaced. "It's not him, so much as it's…."

"His family isn't very nice." Offered up Harmony. "The Blacks? Always Slytherins. They have a reputation."

"They aren't all like that," piped up Ted, "I mean, even Blacks can be kind and caring."

Elisabeth watched as Mali and Jason laughed and the other kids smiled. Turning to the first year, Florean explained, "Ted has a bit of a crush on Ms Andromeda Black."

"The only decent Slytherin I know," muttered one of the others as Ted turned a little pink.

"You all like her though, right? I mean," Ted flushed a little more. "She's really nice."

The others started to tease Ted, getting dirtier and dirtier, before Arista took pity on the boy. "Hold off for a moment. Let's not give the impressionable Elisabeth an early life lesson, shall we?"

"Nah," Jason piped up. With a wink to Elisabeth, he smirked at Ted. "She'll have to learn eventually."

"I hate you, Jason. Really, really hate you." Ted glared at him.

Arista steered their snickering friends to a new topic. "So, Elisabeth, you excited for Hogwarts?"

Startled by the sudden attention, she blinked and looked down. "…Yes?"

"I heard the class this year is smaller. People transferring to Beauxbatons or Durmstrang," said Harmony with a frown.

"A few of the smaller schools here in England too," piped up Jason. "Some are even taking up apprenticeships." Elisabeth perked up; she was an apprentice. But why would they not go to school?

"Makes sense. Hogwarts might be one of the safest places in Magical Britain right now, but it is also a target," frowned Florean.

"Dumbledore standing against the new Dark wizards, just like he did against Grindelwald." Mali shook her head. Glaring at the ground, she muttered, "Not that it helps that if you take someone's kid, they would do anything to get them back."

"Not that we need to worry about that," Arista backtracked quickly with a glance at Elisabeth. "The headmaster will keep us safe from that threat your mum always worries about, Florean."

Florean nodded as he wrapped an arm around Elisabeth. "You won't even know there are scuffles between those guys and the Aurors when we're at Hogwarts, Elisabeth. Your class'll just be a bit smaller, likely less than twenty, with so many headed overseas.*"

Nodding like she understood the connections between politics and attacks and classes, she tuned out. Arista and Florean continued speaking, giving her advice, something about a trick step? And a Peeves? Bored and easily distracted, Elisabeth picked up a book that someone had tossed on the floor and something called a 'bins' started a discussion of teacher standards that should or should not exist between the sixth years. The book's title read Standard Book of Spells: Year 6. Tucking her feet up onto the chair, she began to read as the Hufflepuffs and single Gryffindor created chaos and someone threw a sock at Ted.

Chapter One: Review of Modern Spellcasting.. . .

Much later, she paused as an elbow jostled her and emerged from a world of swishes, flicks, and sharp left jabs to hear someone say, "-Ravenclaw, no?"

"Yeah, probably." Elisabeth resurfaced from the school text long enough to hear Florean's remark. She noticed the whole group studying her and looked back at them with bewilderment, attention torn from the book pages. Somehow, one of the trunks must have spilt all over the room, because wrappers and socks and jumpers were strewn over every surface not sat on. Mali and Jason each had a shirt draped on their heads as Arista chucked yet another sock in Florean's direction.

Florean chuckled at Elisabeth as he caught the projectile with a single hand. "We were just talking about you."

"…. Oh." Her brow wrinkled, trying to remember what they had said.

Arista smiled kindly at her. "Go back to your book, Elisabeth. We are only half way there. We'll tell you when you should start to change your robes."

Still confused, Elisabeth started to change positions but the sudden opening of the compartment door shifted her in her already precarious position. Tumbling onto the floor into a pile of chocolate frog wrappers, she greeted the newcomer with an "Ooph !"

"Wotcher there. You alright?" asked the round faced girl. Her mousy brown hair fell forward as she tried to help the littler girl up. Elisabeth took the proffered hand with a blush, but the soft grey eyes held no judgment.

"Andy!" cried several voices. Ted hopped up to greet her as she steadied the wobbly first year.

"Andy," he said with a great big smile. "Wasn't sure you would be able to come say hello on the train."

"Who's the little one?" asked the girl.

Florean grinned with amusement. "She's one of mine. A new Alley kid, Ollivander's new apprentice. Elisabeth Ollivander, meet Andromeda Black."

Andromeda gave the black haired girl a look-over. Softly she said, "You must be a first year."

Elisabeth nodded, staring at the book on her lap. The next chapter started to catch her attention and Ooh, color changing spells that change when the attitude of a person changes!

"I have two cousins who are first years too. Maybe you'll meet them. They're really ni- " She stopped herself and Elisabeth refocused on Andromeda. "Well, they're both enthusiastic, though I wouldn't step on Nathandra's toes if I were you." Turning to the others, she gave a wry smile. "She's why I took so long actually. She and Cissa were sitting with me. Neither would approve of…. Well, you know." She and Ted exchanged glances.

As Florean moved to make room for her, he gave Andromeda a wry grin. "Awe, we aren't so bad."

"Yean," added Jason. "We don't bite like that second year Gryffindor girl does." The whole group chuckled as Andromeda sat in between Ted and Florean.

"How in the world is this compartment so messy already?" asked Andy with a grin.

As everyone opened their mouth to blame the mess on someone else, Elisabeth scrunched herself even further into the corner of the compartment. Re-opening the book, she began to yawn. Minutes later, she caught herself nodding off to the words of a modified accio. She shook herself. Not long after, the words began to dance across the page. Huh, she thought. They aren't supposed to do that.

The book dropped out of her hands. As she fell asleep, she heard Andromeda say, "She must be overwhelmed."

"We'll wake her up when we get closer…." Elisabeth thought she heard Arista say as the smaller girl surrendered to sleep.

Ollivander's apprentice dozed off as the Hogwarts Express took her closer to her new home.

A/N:

* Each year in this story will have two full rooms per each gender. This way James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter will share a room but there will be more than 8 kids per house per year. Do the math, and you have 32 kids for the entire year and only 224 for the whole school and 16 kids in Transfiguration with McGongall at a time (Rather small). Assuming you have a population that lives to be, oh, let's just say 130 as an average, your entire British Wizarding world is 4160 people. Let's assume some went to other schools, to a tune of 4 or 5 kids a year and there were a few other schools in England so 4 or five more kids, then you have 4230 wizards, give or take a ten. You don't need a ministry the size that JKR describes to support a group this large. So we inflated the numbers by a bit.

You now have an average class, pre-war of twenty kids a year and during the war it drops to about 18 a year due to fear and people leaving the country (It will drop a few more each year after). ACCORDING TO JKR, THE WAR STARTED THE YEAR PRIOR TO THE MARAUDERS ENTERING HOGWARTS, so this is reasonable. This means now Professor McGonagall has 40 people or fewer to watch over in class, a bit big, but reasonable. Then you end up with a population of 560 at Hogwarts maximum (pre war numbers) and a general population of close to 10,600 total (including random people who went abroad or apprenticed). During the war, this drops every day. There is likely a point where people got scared to have kids, leading to there being far fewer people in Harry's classes. As it stands for these books, there will be larger classes and more kids.