A/N: Here's the first chapter of the prequel to come away, O human child. I've got the first two chapters written and typed up and the third chapter written and half typed up. I don't know how long it'll take for the third chapter to be done so the second chapter will be posted on the 1st of May. I know that there's a lot of seemingly unimportant things in here (such as the purchasing of a trunk and the trip to Gringotts) but they are all explained later and most of it will become relevant.

As in come away, O human child any required knowledge of Doctor Who will be mentioned either in the story or in the chapter notes.

I'd also like to thank the amazing PeppermintAmortentia for the beautiful story cover.

Unbeta'd so this will probably be updated with the beta'd version in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: This has now been edited by yours truly. It was a pretty extensive process (if I do say so myself) however there may still be some mistakes. Let me know if you find anything.

10th July

The doorbell rang out loudly through the front hallway of the Parades house.

"I'll get it!" A young girl screamed, barrelling down from the second level of the house to open the front door. She had long, unusually straight, dark brown hair that came down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were hazel eyes and she was of slightly above average height.

"Good morning," the strange woman at the door said, "my name is Minerva McGonagall. Are you Rhythm Song?"

"Oh, you're here to speak to Mel." The girl replied dismissively. "Are you another school come to see if she wants to transfer?"

"Yes, but I think that the circumstances are somewhat different." The woman replied. "Are your parents in?"

"Yeah, I'll just call them." The child turned away and yelled out, "Mum! There's a strange lady at the door that's here about Mel."

A few seconds passed before a woman, who was obviously the girl's mother, came into the hallway. The resemblance between mother and daughter was unmistakeable. Amie had the same unnaturally straight hair that her daughter had, though hers was cut back to her shoulders. Her eyes were clear blue that was not particularly noteworthy. The same features that made her daughter look elven made Amie look worn out and tired from the stress of raising two children.

"Elaina!" The woman chastised her daughter with the resigned nature of someone who was not expecting it to do much good. "What have I told you about being so rude? My name is Amie Parades, sorry about that Miss…."

"Professor McGonagall." The Professor finished. "I'm here to talk to Rhythm about Hogwarts."

"Another school, then? You'd better come in." Amie sounded resigned even as she directed the Professor into the living room and to a chair before offering her a drink.

"No thank you, Mrs Parades. I'm quite alright." McGonagall responded. Amie shrugged and turned to her daughter.

"Can you please go up and get your sister?" She requested, before calling after and adding, "And be nice."

There was a pause before McGonagall broke it by asking, "I hope you don't mind my inquiring, but your last name Parades is not the one that your eldest daughter bears."

"She's adopted that's why." Amie answered. "Her mother died before she could be named but I don't know what of. Her full name is Rhythm Melody Song. She was named by her mother before she died. I don't know the significance of her name, though. Of course, two years after we adopted her I fell pregnant with Elaina. I don't think it would be as bad if Elaina wasn't so jealous of Melody for her academic and intellectual achievements as well as her intelligence."

At that moment both adults heard the sound of thundering feet and a new voice screamed, "Give me back my book, Elaina!"

"Mum said you needed to come down to the living room, Rhythm!" Elaina yelled back as she raced through the door to the living room. She handed the book to her mother before flouncing off to the backyard just as her sister came racing into the room with a furious expression on her face. The girl had exceptionally long blond hair that fell just passed her hips and curled every which way in an uncontrollable manner. Her eyes were a swirling blue-grey that seemed to change colour every time the girl moved her head and she looked a good deal younger than her purported eleven years. If McGonagall had been asked to guess the girl's age, without prior knowledge she would have said seven or eight.

"Mum, make her leave me alone!" The girl said, the low tone of her voice making a demand of what would have been a petulant whine from any other child that age.

"Melody, we've talked about this." Amie reprimanded but her tone indicated that she had already given up. "You need to socialise more and not isolate yourself so much." Melody simply scowled in response to her mother's words. "Fine, I'll go over to Meredith's house tomorrow, satisfied? Now can I have my book back?"

"We have a guest that wants to speak with you about a school. I need to go and finish dinner, can I trust you to be polite or do I have to stay?" Amie obviously didn't want to leave her daughter alone but also needed to get a number of chores done.

"Yes, I'll play nice." The young girl sighed; Amie didn't look convinced but left anyway. Melody then turned to the Professor and took in the dark green robes the woman was wearing as well as he tightly pinned bun and black pointed hat.

"Now Miss Song, my name is Professor McGonagall and I am the Deputy Headmistress at a prestigious school called Hogwarts."

When the Professor paused, Melody interrupted saying , "I've had many schools come around asking me to transfer there because, all modesty aside, I am a genius, but never have I been courted by one with such a unique name claiming to be 'prestigious' and not have heard of it." She raised a perfectly formed eyebrow at the Professor with a challenging look.

"That," the Deputy Headmistress responded with what she felt was exceeding patience, "is because Hogwarts is a very exclusive school and only accepts those with a unique gift."

McGonagall paused for the girl to interject but she simply frowned and waited expectantly for the clarifying speech to follow.

"Hogwarts, Miss Song, only accepts those with the gift of magic." McGonagall said with a certain amount of drama. Now, the normal response that she encountered was one of denial followed closely by disbelief which was in turn either followed by a demand for proof or a demand to leave. Melody, however, did none of this and simply jumped straight to the final stage, excitement.

She let out a loud shriek that caused the older witch to wince heavily and flinch away into the chair.

"I knew it!" She cried out as she did a little dance around the room.

"Yes, Miss Song, magic is real. I presume I don't have to provide any proof of my claim?" McGonagall asked. Melody waved a hand dismissively.

"No, it's fine."

"Very well, then we can proceed onto some more pressing matters." McGonagall said. "I presume from your actions that you have accepted your invitation to Hogwarts, yes? Good, now to clarify you seem to prefer to be called by your middle name, Melody, instead of your first name, Rhythm, so would you prefer me to change the school records so that you are known as Melody Song?"

"Melody Song, definitely. I'm used to that name anyway as that's the name I go by at the school I attend now." Melody responded carelessly.

"Very well," McGonagall said as she made a note with a quill that she had pulled from her pocket on a piece of parchment. "Now then, would you like me to accompany you to Diagon Alley, which is where you will be buying your school supplies for your school years, or would you like to go alone with your family?"

Melody turned an appraising eye over the Professor that gave her the familiar feeling of her soul being examined before she indicated that McGonagall should wait a minute and then left the room.

McGonagall brushed off the feeling, a child that young couldn't possibly know Legilimency, and glanced around the room to distract herself. She took particular notice of the photos scattered along the mantle and the walls as well as a display cabinet that held many awards dedicated to a 'Miss Rhythm Melody Song' (as well as a couple that appeared to be named after her) and very few for a 'Miss Elaina Teaghan Parades.'

'Sibling rivalry,' McGonagall thought worriedly to herself, 'Miss Song has set a blazing trail and is clearly more accomplished than her younger sister and they both know it.'

Melody chose that moment to enter the room with her mother and younger sister. They all resumed their seats before Amie started to speak. "So my daughter is magical and not some kind of freak of nature."

"Or at least, not anymore of a freak than she already is." Elaina mumbled under her breath clearly enough for everyone in the room to hear. The intended target just rolled her eyes dismissively as Amie berated Elaina for her comment. Once she had finished chastising her biological daughter, she turned back to the Professor.

"And how much will this cost per year?" She asked.

"The cost is 1350 galleons for the first two years and at the end of their second year before the summer holidays, generally during the month of May or June, you can apply for a scholarship for your child or children and the tests are scheduled for some time during July." McGonagall explained. "The general cost of third through fifth year are maximum 1500 galleons, depending on the electives you child chooses. For the sixth and seventh years the cost increases once more to an average of 1700 galleons, again depending on the subjects chosen."

"And how much is a galleon to a British pound?" Melody queried.

"There are approximately five pounds to every galleon depending on the current exchange rate." McGonagall replied.

"So that's 6750 for the first two years, 7500 each for the next three years maximum and for the final two it comes to 8500 per year dependant on subject selection." Melody announced to the room after barely a second's pause. McGonagall had barely picked her mouth up off the floor when she continued. "Meaning all up it costs £53 000 or 10 600 galleons for the whole seven years."

"That is amazing." McGonagall murmured after a pause. Elaina scowled at her sibling; Melody simply smiled back.

"That's not much." Amie replied hesitantly.

"But that's only the tuition, board and food. We have to pay for the equipment and textbooks." Melody said before McGonagall could say anything.

"Yes, that's correct and the Magical World hasn't experienced nearly as much inflation in our prices as the Muggles due to being a much smaller community."

"Excellent! Mother, can I go?" Melody asked.

"I'll have to ask your father." Amie conferred responsibility onto her husband, Carmine Parades. "Can we get back to you later?"

"Certainly," McGonagall answered, "but we will require a response by the 31st of July. If you send a letter to Albus Dumbledore, Care of Hogwarts School, Scotland then our people in the Postal System will make sure it is delivered properly. The appropriate spelling is contained within the letter, if you require it."

"Very well, Professor, thank you for your time." Amie smiled at the Deputy Headmistress.

Later that night while the family was eating dinner, Melody brought up Hogwarts.

"I got another school representative today." She announced matter-of-factly to Carmine Parades.

"Oh really, who was it this time?" He asked. "I thought all the important ones had already been and gone."

"It's a school called Hogwarts and it's based in Scotland. It's a magical school. Pass the potatoes, please." The potatoes were passed down to her as Carmine's jaw hit the table and almost displaced his food.

"What?" He spluttered, "Magic?"

"Yes," Amie sighed. "You have to admit that it does make a sense given all those unexplainable occurrences when she was a child."

They both turned to look at Melody who had served herself some of the potatoes and was now calmly eating them.

"Alright then, would you like to go?" Carmine found his misgivings

"Of course! It sounds absolutely fascinating!" Melody enthused. "And it should only cost approximately 53 000 pounds for the tuition for all seven years."

"Okay then, did the representative give you any other information?" He asked. "When does the term start? Where do we buy the equipment you'll need?"

"Don't worry," Melody interrupted her guardian calmly. "The letter that the Professor left us with is very informative. The term starts on the first of September, I catch a train to get there from Platform 9 ¾ which I get onto by walking through the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 and we get all our equipment and books from Diagon Alley which is on Charing Cross Road."

"Know-it-all," Elaina muttered.

"Elaina!" Amie cried. "Be nice to your sister!"

"Well it's not like she's actually my sister!" Elaina retorted. "She's some kind of freakish magical person."

"You might be one too." Melody said calmly as she started to clean off the dinner table.

"What?" The younger girl sat stupefied.

"Oh yes. We might not be related but new blood would have to come in eventually or they'd have bred themselves into infertility a long time ago. There's probably a test we can do in Diagon Alley when we go. McGonagall said to stop by the bank first and see if I am eligible to inherit anything from a dead family line so maybe there's a similar test we can do to see if you're magical."

"Really?" Elaina asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes probably," Melody replied distantly, having already mentally moved on from the conversation. "I'm going up to my room to finish reading my textbook, goodnight."

11th July

"So where do we go now?" Amie asked patiently as she grabbed Elaina's hand so she didn't run off.

"We go into this store." Melody announced, walking into a doorway that Amie couldn't see.

"The Leaky Cauldron? What kind of name is that?" Elaina snorted in disgust.

"What Leaky Cauldron? I don't see anything." Amie replied, confused, as her daughter took her hand and led her impatiently into the invisible establishment that suddenly appeared before her eyed once she passed the threshold.

Amie looked around herself, gaping in shock at the strange dress of the patrons, before spotting Melody at the bar talking to the bartender, an unremarkable middle aged man. Melody beckoned them over when she saw them at the entrance.

"He's going to open the passageway for us." She announced coolly. "Come on, it's around the back."

They followed her through a doorway that led out to an alleyway at the back of the property with rubbish bins scattered around and saw the man pull a long stick of wood out of his robes.

"Remember this," he said gruffly, before tapping a series of bricks above the bins.

"Thank you, Tom," Melody said politely as the bricks opened up into an arch. Tom nodded his head abruptly and walking back inside the Leaky Cauldron.

They walked through into Diagon Alley together and even Melody was stunned. Her vocal cords produced no sound even though her mouth was open in astonishment.

"Bloody hell," Elaina whispered and privately, Melody agreed.

"Language," Amie admonished automatically before shaking herself back into coherency. "What shall we get first?"

"We'll get the books last because we will undoubtedly get distracted." Melody acknowledged before voicing the rest of her plan. "Let's go to Gringotts first to see about the blood test that the Professor recommended and then we'll get to my trunk so we can carry around the stuff. Shall we?" Melody finished, gesturing in the direction of the wide double doors of the bank.

Amie nodded and they all began to walk down the alley. Melody powering on ahead while Amie and Elaina trailed behind gaping at everything. They moved slowly through the crowd until they found themselves at the bottom of white stairs leading up to an enormous white building with the words 'Gringotts' across the top for all to see.

They entered through the extremely tall doors and entered an antechamber. Melody looked around the walls at the tapestries of small creatures attacking what looked to be a large army of humans until she heard Elaina's gasp and followed her gaze to an engraving above the doors that leading further into Gringotts.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take, but do not earn

Must pay most dearly in their turn

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there

"Nice poem," Melody muttered while filing away a mental note to try and get her hands on some blueprints. She continued to look around at the tapestries until Amie called out for her to catch up. They walked into the main area of Gringotts and quickly found a short ugly looking creature that did not seem to be doing anything and approached him.

"Good morning, my name is Melody Song." She introduced herself politely. "I was wondering if it were possible for my sister and me to have a blood test performed to see if we are valid heirs to any unclaimed family lines."

The impressive sneer which had greeted them from the goblin's face had vanished to be replaced with a respectful visage upon hearing the girl's name.

"Certainly, allow me to call someone to take you to have the tests performed."

"Flexline," the goblin called. He then waited for Flexline to present himself before speaking his instructions. "You are to take these prestigious clients to have a blood test done and then take them to the family vaults of the names that show for the youngest. Follow Protocol One for the eldest."

Flexline nodded his head. "Yes, superior. Follow me."

He addressed the last to the family and they trailed after him through many tunnels and caverns that made up the underground section of Gringotts. Melody made sure to memorise their route in case of an accident or trap as the continued deeper and deeper in the tunnels. The words 'Protocol One' were echoing in her mind as they walked.

"Here we are." The goblin announced, suddenly turning left into a cavern after ten minutes of walking in silence. After they entered the room Flexline turned to them and said to Melody, "As the oldest child miss, you will most likely inherit everything and your sister nothing."

"I'm adopted; it is statistically improbable for us to both be related to the same wizarding family." She informed the goblin. "Also, is there a form of this test that will only work for a witch or wizard?"

"Yes," He answered.

"Is it harmful to one who is not magical?"

"No."

Melody turned to her sister and raised an eyebrow. The younger girl nodded her head slowly.

"Use that one then," Melody instructed Flexline.

"It will take longer." Flexline informed them.

"Doesn't matter," she responded flippantly.

"Very well," he replied before starting to prepare the ritual.

Five minutes later Elaina stood in the middle of eight black diamonds that spanned a length over what looked to be a metre and had placed in grooves on the ground in the shape of an octagon.

"Okay, so what do I have to do?" Elaina asked nervously.

"Absolutely nothing," the goblin stated shortly before snapping his fingers and starting the ritual. Nothing happened for the first ten seconds before suddenly the diamonds exploded into violent and absolute blackness. It was not just that they were black (because they were already black being that they were black diamonds), but more that they seemed to suck all the light from the surrounding area.

Eventually the blackness began to recede from the crystals and leak out into the air, but it happened so gradually that none of the humans noticed until a cloud began to form around Elaina.

Once the darkness had been completely emptied from the crystals, it started to slowly bleed until it was no longer a cloud of oppressive blackness but was a bright, vivid red. The moment that the transformation of colour finished the cloud swirled down into a spiral towards the parchment that the goblin held forming a family tree that kept gaining names until the cloud had been completely absorbed by the parchment.

"What does it say?" Elaina was practically vibrating with excitement.

Melody reached over and jerked he piece of parchment out of the goblin's hand. "Obviously you're a witch, given that the ritual worked and you're from a family called Greengrass." Melody announced coolly, ignoring the glare that the goblin felt fit to bestow upon her.

"How do you know which family it is?" Elaina asked, all previous enthusiasm absent in the face of proving her sister wrong.

"The Greengrass family is not one that has an open vault for their descendants, however I will be taking all three of you down to the vault for Miss Song so you may retrieve some galleons for you younger sibling to purchase things if you wish."

"Which vault is this?" Melody queried, faintly amused. "You couldn't possibly have any idea of the family or families that I am descended from. My sister and I are not blood relatives, as I mentioned before, and even if we were you just told us that there is not vault we can access."

"That's because your vault has been waiting for you for over a thousand years. This way, please." Flexline responded, leading them into a dark tunnel and completely ignoring Melody's attempts to bombard him with questions.

"Have you got the money bags, darling? Good," Amie murmured distractedly. "Let's go off and get your robes first. Hmm… I wonder where we would get those from. Oh, good spot Melody, sweethearts. Let's go and get you fitted quickly because we have a lot of other stuff to do today. We'll pick up the textbooks last because I just know we're going to end up spending hours in there."

Amie continued to mutter plans to herself as the group of three walked down the Alley towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions with Melody and Elaina following closely behind ignoring the murmurs with well-practiced ease.

"Hello there, dearie, Hogwarts?" The woman at the counter asked Melody brightly.

"Yes, thanks and I'd like to order two plain black robes, one plain blue one and a green one as well, please, all for casual wear as well as the school robes." Melody requested politely. "Also, do you have any magical additions?"

"Yes we do, dear. We have in-built Resizing, Cooling, Heating and Protective Charms. They all come in varying strengths except the first, those can only be stretched for up to two sizes either way, and all are of a much higher quality because the thread is charmed before being woven, not after.

"Each added charm increases the cost of the robes by seven sickles, the price of the Hogwarts robes are one galleon apiece and the casual robes are ten sickles apiece."

"I would like to have all the charms added to my robes, including the Hogwarts robes, to the highest degree possible, please." Melody replied, figuring that Scotland could get very cold during the winter and if she was putting Healing Charms on then the Cooling Charms made sense as well and the other two were just common sense with the fact that she had not had her growth spurt yet and seemed to make enemies in copious amounts wherever she went.

"Very well, hop up on this stool here, love, and I'll measure you for your robes." Madam Malkin said as she bustled Melody over to stand on stool so that she can be fitted for her purchases.

Melody zoned out as the fabric was pinned this way and that on her body. A few minutes later Madam Malkin managed to capture her attention after what was obviously a long time spent attempting to bring Melody out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, what were you after?" Melody asked, embarrassed.

"You're all finished, dearie. Your mother and sister are waiting at the front counter as well."

"Of course, thank you madam." Melody said politely. "Have a wonderful day."

Melody walked to the front of the store and paid for her purchases before locating her relatives and walking back out onto Diagon Alley.

"Where to next?" Melody asked Amie carelessly.

"Your wand next, so if that takes too long I can go and get you your Potions equipment and ingredients while you're busy." Amie replied distractedly.

"How about we split up now, then?" Melody suggested. "You take this bag-" here Amie was handed a money bag by Melody, "-and you go get the Potions stuff and I'll get my wand and the trunk. We can meet at the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts, in about an hour, okay? Good."

Melody walked off before either Amie or Elaina could respond.

"Wand shop, wand shop… now where would that be?" She said to herself pensively. She was paused in the middle of the street thinking aloud when a black-haired woman with extremely long and curly hair spoke to her.

"Are you looking for your wand? Your best bet would be Ollivander's, he makes the best wands. You'll find his shop at the very end of the Alley to the right of Gringotts."

"Thank you for your assistance." Melody gave the woman a bright smile and had to brush off a sense of familiarity. She turned to watch the woman leave but she had already disappeared into the crowd. Melody shrugged and followed the directions she had been given, finding herself standing in front of a story with a sign that read:

Ollivanders
Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC

She entered the dark store and looked around avidly.

"Amazing," she whispered in shock.

"Thank you, Miss Song." A creepy, whispering voice came from behind the small girl causing her to jump a full foot off the ground. She turned around disgruntled to face the man she assumed was wandmaker. He held a measuring tape in one hand and a wand in the other. With a gesture, the tape began to take her measurements.

"How do you know my name?" She asked suspiciously.

The old man with the crazy white hair and disturbing silver eyes just smiled mysteriously at her.

"Now, before we can you for a wand I must first ask which arm your wand arm is."

"I'm ambidextrous," Melody replied, faint amusement ringing through her voice as she watched the measuring tape take the measurement of her inner thigh without any physical contact between it and Ollivander. "But how did you know my name?" Melody demanded again.

"Very well then, we'll just have to measure both of your arms. Put them both out to the side and just let the tape do its work."

Melody did as she was bid as she asked again, "How did you now my name?"

"Now," Ollivander continued, ignoring her question for a second time. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Song. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand.

"Let's start with this one, mahogany and dragon heartstring, ten inches, a bit bendy. Take it and give it a wave."

Melody took the wand and flicked it slightly, causing the chair in the corner to disintegrate. Ollivander snatched the wand out of her hand as Melody raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"A bit too powerful for that one, try redwood and unicorn hair, twelve and a quarter inches, supple."

Melody took the wand from him and didn't even have time to wave it before her clothes hair and skin all became the same bright shade of fluorescent orange. She put the wand down on the counter and stared down at herself with her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"No matter, no matter," Ollivander said dismissively, waving his hand to return her to normal. As he spoke the next sentence, Melody watched him speculatively before returning her attention to his words.

"How about this one? Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Melody took the wand and flicked it promptly turning the counter into a pile of splinters.

"No, no, not for you either. A tricky customer, eh? Normally these wands would do perfectly for someone with your personality type. Hmm… may I?" Ollivander had taken out his wand and was holding it loosely in his hand pointing it vaguely in her direction.

"May you what?" Melody queried imperiously.

"Cast a diagnostic charm on you." Ollivander answered, ignorant or simply uncaring of her tone. "To gauge how powerful you are. It may simply be that a wand will have to be custom fitted for you."

"Very well, then." Melody gave her consent warily, watching the wand sharply.

Ollivander muttered the incantation while waving his own wand in a complicated configuration too rapidly for Melody to accurately recall what shape his wand had made. A bright purple glow surrounded the girl, so bright as to be blinding, and Melody watched his face carefully to see if this was a good or bad thing but the shock on the old man's face gave nothing away.

"Interesting… and very curious. I did not believe, but-" Ollivander cut himself off and addressed her directly. "I imagine, Miss Song, that this wand belongs to you." He reached below the counter and pulled out a deep red box that clashed with the faded purples and blues of the other boxes. The old man opened the box and gestured for his customer to take the wand straight from the cushioning inside.

She did so and a burst of multi-coloured sparkles burst from the end of the wand.

"Very good," Ollivander muttered with a fanatical glint to his eye. "I expect great things from you with that wand, Miss Song. Your wand is a natural blend of redwood, silver lime and walnut with phoenix feather, fourteen inches, bendy. Take good care of it, Miss Song, and it will take good care of you. That will be seven galleons, please."

Melody placed the wand back into the box and pulled the galleons out of one of the money bags before hesitating, looking at the length of her wand and then back at her hand.

"Do you have something I could use to carry my wand around for everyday use?"

"Most students, I believe, elect to carry their wands around in their robe pockets. However if you would prefer I can provide you with a holster for ten galleons." Ollivander replied.

Despite being unnerved by his manner, or perhaps because, Melody elected not to try and enter his mind and instead asked, "What part of my body would it attach to?"

"If you adjust the straps then they can be attached to almost any part of your body." Ollivander replied, with an air that suggested he knew what she had been considering.

"Very well, I'll take one. Please," she added as an afterthought, too busy examining his face. Ollivander nodded before disappearing behind the counter into the shelves. He came out with a holster that looked like it was made of leather, except for the magical aura Melody could detect from it.

He handed it to her and she looked over it before nodding, "I'll take it."

She pulled out the required amount of galleons and handed them to the wandmaker before attaching the holster to her arm and placing her wand into it from the box.

"Farewell," Melody said to Ollivander, nodding to him.

"It has been bespelled with a Notice-Me-Not Charm," Ollivander informed her suddenly as she turned to exit his shop.

She glanced back at him, startled, and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"All my holsters are bespelled with a charm to stop people noticing them, as well as an Anti-Summoning Charm and an Ever-Returning Charm. The first stops people summoning your holster to gain control of your wand and the second returns your wand immediately to your holster once you are no longer in physical contact with it." Ollivander replied, serenely.

"Interesting," Melody said, giving her holster an appraising glance. "Thank you for your time, sir."

Ollivander nodded to her in response and she quickly took her leave, still unnerved by the old man;s unsettling manner.

She glanced around as she walked down Diagon Alley looking for a store that might sell trunks, still pondering the mystery of the wand that she was absentmindedly twirling in her hands. She found one quickly once she entered the main part of the Alley and, walking in, she immediately sought out an assistant to help her.

"Hello," she began politely. "I'm looking for a trunk for Hogwarts however I would like it to be able to store a large amount of books, please."

"Yes, I think I have just the thing for you, miss." The attendant said delightedly and smiling widely. He led her to a display of trunks that were positioned under the label, Hogwarts.

"This one here is perfect for any witch or wizard looking to travel with many books." The young man explained pointing to a bronze display trunk with the word Ravenclaw embossed on the front in blue. "It has two compartments, one for general school things such as your cauldron, robes and other things you might like to take with you and your books go in the other compartment on these shelves. Both compartments come with an Undetectable Extension Charm on them and the book compartment has an Ever-Looping Charm on it, one of our exclusive features, so you can place your books in the order you would like and then slide the entire shelf over to the side to view them."

When the attendant paused for breath, Melody pursued her lips and considered before replying.

"Are there ways to include more than two compartments in a trunk?"

"That depends on the trunk, size, type, weight and material as well as many other things. But generally it's between eight and fourtee." The shop attendant answered.

"What sort of compartments can you have in a trunk?" She asked, mentally considering her options.

"Here's a brochure," he handed her a pamphlet from his pocket, "Take a look and see what you like. To get more information just tap on the name of the compartment with your wand. Choose which ones you'd like and then tick which size you'd like in the box. Here's some ink and a quill. Just call me over when you're done and I'll come and sort it out for you."

"Thank you," Melody dismissed him politely as she started looking through her brochure.

There were libraries in different styles, potion labs and even bedrooms and bathrooms. She stood there for several minutes before deciding on a library capable of holding up to 2000 books in a wall panel with a study area and a fireplace as well as a large, professional potions lab with a huge storage area for ingredients, a large bedroom with a bathroom en suite that included a queen-sized bed and a bath because, as part of the sales pitch, the brochure informed her that the dorms only had single beds and the bathrooms only had showers and frankly Melody wasn't going to be without a bath for a minimum of seven months out of the year. She also had two spare bedrooms with single beds and a connecting bathroom put in as well as a kitchenette and dining area with walls and a ceiling that showed the area directly outside of the trunk as if she was standing where the trunk was placed because forward-planning.

She also made sure to have a changeable colour scheme because she had no idea of wizarding customs and didn't particularly fancy having a colour that represented something negative. She then browsed through the pictures to choose the style of her trunk and eventually settled on a normal-looking, brown trunk with her name etched onto it and, as an afterthought, added a normal compartment for her school things. She double-checked all her selections before checking the box that put all her additional rooms off a hallway that would descend from a second compartment, rather than have seven detached compartments and another one that allowed her to set a separate password for access to each compartment.

Melody caught the shop attendant's eye and smiled to let him know she was finished and he came over with a grin.

"Hello again, all finished?" He asked.

"Yes," Melody replied as she handed him the brochure. His eyebrows almost transcended his hairline in a manner that was highly unflattering.

"Are you sure you can pay for this? I mean… it's a lot of galleons, 1820 is." He asked doubtfully.

The young girl's face turned abruptly from open and welcoming to cold and harsh.

"Yes, I am quite sure." She smiled frostily at the man.

"Very well," he said, taken aback by the change in her demeanour. "Will you be paying by deposit or cash?"

"Cash," she answered, pulling out one of the wallets and handing it to him. "That contains 1000 galleons and you'll have to pull out the other 820 from this one with magic."

She put the second bag (the one that she had withdrawn the money for her wand and holster from) for the attendant to deal with. He pulled out what looked like an old-fashioned set of scales that seemed to be missing a set of weights to go with it from under the counter and placed the small mountain of coins onto the scale's tray that magically expanded to fit all the coins. The scales flexed back and forth until they were balanced and then the number 1983:00:00 appeared above it. He kept adding and removing galleons until the first number showed 1820 instead.

The attendant nodded his head and turned back to Melody, handing her a receipt and both the money bags, one containing the remainder of the coins. "That's perfect. Your trunk will be ready in about an hour and we'll keep it in the back for you for a week before putting it on sale and if you arrive after then you'll get your money back minus a 10% fee."

"We'll be coming back later today to collect it so that shouldn't be an issue." Melody replied as she looked over the receipt to make sure everything was in order and spotted sale on the back. 'Get a free book bag for every 500 galleons spent!'

"Actually, can I get two book bags as well?" She asked holding up the receipt to him. "And maybe a small leather purse, too?"

"Certainly," he replied with an eager grin, having regained his enthusiasm. "What styles would you like?"

"One book bag in the same style as my trunk, the purse too, and the other in…" She trailed off as she recalled the brochure. "And another in that black leather with silver trimmings, please."

She'd give the black one to Elaina for her birthday or Christmas.

"Great! And I'll give you the purse for fee and I'll also throw in an Undetectable Extension Charm for free on all the extra purchases." He said cheerfully as he took the receipt off her and stamped it before handing it back.

"I'll see you later then. Bye!" He said, waving his hand goodbye as she walked out the door looking at the stamp covering the offer that read, 'Redeemed'.

Melody walked through the open double doors of Flourish and Blotts, found Amie and absentmindedly handed her the receipt from the trunk store as she stared at her Hogwarts letter before finding a basket. She walked to the front and smiled at the young woman with bright red hair behind the counter whose badge read 'Molly'.

"Can I help you, dear?" She asked genially.

"Yes, please. I start Hogwarts this year and I was wondering if you could tell me where I would find my books?"

"Oh no, you don't have to worry about that, love. We keep sets behind the counter for every student. What was your name?"

"Melody Song, but it may be down under Rhythm."

"Yes here we go, Melody Song – first-year." Molly read her name off the stack of books while she put them on the counter.

"Thank you, ma'am," Melody said, "I'm going to be purchasing some more books though, so could I pay for these and just leave them at the counter until I'm finished?"

"Of course, dear, the first-year set comes to 15 galleons and 7 sickles." Molly announced cheerfully as she rang up the total. Melody handed her 16 galleons from the mostly empty money bag and the young woman counted it before placing it in the till and handing her back 10 sickles.

Melody thanked her before grinning and dashing off with her basket down the aisles. She found herself in the Charms' section and glanced around until she located what seemed to be the books for beginners with titles like, "A Beginner's Guide to Charms" and "When to Swish and When to Wave". She pulled those two down from the shelves and grabbed a couple of others after checking to make sure that they weren't on the book list before dumping them all into her basket and moving on to the next aisle.

Passing the History section, and leaving it until last so she didn't get distracted, she went through all the sections, picking up beginner's books as she went. When she got to the History section, she grabbed an overview from the last two millennia titled, "Magic Worldwide Since Christianity". She also grabbed the last copy of "Hogwarts; A History" on display as well as a history book for the twentieth century that seemed to cover things that weren't goblins (and a swift flick through confirmed this).

She walked along, randomly placing books that caught her fancy into her basket; a history on Diagon Alley and other magical sites, one on the Ministry of Magic and something called the Wizengamot, amongst many others including one that was quite a find as it answered basic questions about the wizarding world and magic and seemed to be meant for muggleborns just entering the magical world. Eventually the basket actually started getting heavier with every book she added to it and she figured that it was probably her cue to pay for them and go before she filled another basket.

While walking up to the counter, dragging the basket along the floor as it was too heavy for her to lift on her own, she brushed up against a man who was browsing the Offensive Magic section. He glared down at her and sneered.

"Filthy mud blood, dirtying up my robe!" He pushed passed her rudely and walked further down the aisle. Melody rolled her eyes, brushed off the unfamiliar insult and continued on her way to the counter to pay for her books.

"Excellent selection, dear," Molly commented enthusiastically. Melody had to repress a sigh at her cheerfulness, not enjoying a bit now that she no longer had the excitement of browsing the shelves to distract her.

"Thank you," she replied, swallowing her irritation and giving a smile instead.

"Oh you're headed for Ravenclaw with brains like that for sure!" "Molly enthused. "That comes to 143 galleons, 8 sickles and 23 knuts."

This amount of money warranted the use of the weights and as Melody pulled the coins out of her purse, Molly pulled the weights out from under the till and gestured for the girl to put the money on them. She poured out the rest of the leftover coins from her previous transaction and counted out 5 galleons and 1 sickle, put them back into the bag and pushed the rest towards the other woman. She magicked the coins onto the scales and the numbers 148:09:23 shone above the stack. She placed the money into the till and withdrew some knuts.

"Excellent, here's your 5 knuts change," Molly said, beaming.

"Great," Melody said excitedly, accepting a single magically expanded and reinforced bag that contained all of her books and her change. "Thank you for your help."

After making her farewells and checking both her purchases and the receipt, she went off to find her mother and sister so they could pick up her trunk and go home.