"Arianna Diana Willson! You have 5 minutes to get yourself down these stairs, so we can leave, or I'll come up after you!" I hear my mother yell from down the hall. I look up from my letter and roll my eyes at my closed door. "I'll be right there mother!" I reply.
I guess I'll have to cut this letter short. I'm sure he'll understand given the circumstances. Dipping my quill back into my ink I continue to write my long-time pen pal.
"...near the London country side. So, I guess this means I'll be joining you at Hogwarts this fall. Mother has already made all the appropriate arrangements with the Headmaster and I'm told I'll be sorted into my house with all the new arrivals. Well I'm sorry but I must cut this short, Mother is yelling at me to hurry up or we will miss our portkey.
Until next time,
Ari W. "
I quickly roll and seal my letter and give it to Minkx, my chocolate brown owl. "Here's his letter, make sure only he gets it" I tell her before rushing to gather my bags and heading downstairs.
"About time, dear," Mother greats me from behind her parchment. Her moving check list I'm sure. Mother is nothing if not always prepared.
"Sorry, Mother, I had to finish... something," I reply. I'm not sure why I've been reluctant to share my correspondents with my parents lately. It may be because of knowing look that flashes in my mother's eyes, or the teasing smirk that crosses my father's face.
"Ah, and how is he today?" my Father teases.
"Dad..." I groan. "I thought we were going to be late?" Changing the subject is always best.
"Yes, yes, fine. Let's go. Take your things to the court yard. The Magical Congress has set us up with a direct portkey to our new home in London."
As I head outside with my bags I can't help feeling nervous. Sure, I was going to live in a different country, and I was going to attend school for the first time in my life, but what I was really concerned about was meeting my one and only friend face to face for the first time. Four years we've been writing back and forth almost daily. I feel like I know him, and he probably knows me better than anyone. But I've never seen his face, and I've never heard his voice. It started off as a project; my mother wanted me to have interactions with kids my own age. But out of all the foreign pen pals my mother set up for me, he was the only one who kept writing back. Now, I'm not only going to get to meet him, but also go to school with him, and meet his friends.
We reach the coffee tin sitting in the middle of the court yard, and I swallow my nerves for the moment. I can't portkey nervous or I'll hurl.
"Arianna, is that really all you're bringing? A backpack and a duffel bag?" Mother nags me.
"Mom, our things will be delivered by the end of the week. Really, this is all I need." I reply.
"Okay, is everyone ready? We've got 30 seconds. Get into position. Arianna, put your hand here, and Marie, you here," My father instructs us.
I count down the seconds until I feel the familiar sickening tug at my navel, and we are off. We are traveling hundreds of thousands of miles, but the journey only takes us a few seconds.
We touch down, some of us more gracefully than others, in what appears to be the enormous back yard of the most beautiful home I've ever seen. It's massive, standing 2 stories high and seems to be covered in windows. What isn't made of glass is painted a pristine white with a beautiful soft blue trim. The strategically placed rose bushes colored in pink and yellow gave the whole look a perfect finish.
It made me want to puke. There is nothing I hate more than perfection, and pastels.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Mom, you said the house was quaint! A humble country home! This looks like something out of a fairy tale!" I complain loudly.
"It's perfect," Mom breaths. My father sends me a scolding look as I make gagging motions behind her back.
We make our way to the back door to find a house elf waiting for us. She introduces herself as Pimzy and shows us inside. Inside is even worse than outside; floral wallpaper and pastel paint.
Pimzy ushers us inside where we find a huge kitchen and breakfast area. "Follow me Sir and Ma'ams and I'll show you to your rooms."
We exit the kitchen and pass what must be the formal dining room. Before we get to a seemingly large room, which I assume is the living room, we turn and go up the stairs. "The first two rooms in the hall are guest suits. Miss Arianna your suite is the next on the right. Sir and Ma'am, your suite is at the end of the hall on the left," Pimzy directs us.
I stop at my door; it's large and made of dark wood and looks very heavy. The handle is silver and fancy looking. Taking a deep breath, I enter. The first thing I notice is the sheer vastness of the room. It's absolutely huge, with what looks like a king size four poster bed on the far wall at its center. The carpet is cream colored and very plush. I immediately take my shoes off, so I can feel it squish between my toes. The next thing I notice is the walls, and instantly decide that they have to go. Whoever decided that pastel floral wallpaper was a good idea was completely nuts. I make a mental note to find the nearest hardware store and purchase appropriate paint to rectify this. There are two doors on the left side of my room. I approach the one closest to me and open it to find a walk-in closet so big that I couldn't possibly fill it. The next door leads to my personal bathroom. Complete with a decent size shower and deep soaking tub. The walls in here are white, and I can live with that.
I head back into my room and put my bags on my bed. Opening my duffel bag, I pull out my Walkman, headphones, and my favorite NoMaj band tape. I lie on my back on my bed and put my music on full blast. I must have fallen asleep because I wake to my mother shaking me.
"Pimzy has lunch ready downstairs if you're hungry. Also, I think you could find a much better use of your time than sleeping your day away. We're in London for crying out loud!"
"Alright Mom! Jeez. I'll be right down."
Before heading downstairs, I decide to take a shower and put fresh clothes on, seeing as how my old ones are all wrinkled. Freshly showered, I open my duffel bag and pull out a fresh pair of jeans and a dark grey band t-shirt. I have quite a collection of NoMaj band t-shirts. I love my NoMaj rock bands, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Queen, and the list goes on! The one I just picked out is AC/DC. I slip on my black converse high tops and head back to the bathroom to tame my hair. I brush my long, wavy, dark brown hair and smile at the streaks of bright purple that I had put in a week ago. Mother was furious, but I didn't care. I love to stand out. I decide to apply some light makeup and go searching for that hardware store. I glance at my too round face and its sharp edges and frown. My mother always raves about my high cheekbones, but I don't see the big deal; they just make my face seem even more round and fat. The one thing I do love is my eyes. Almond shaped and bright, almost crystal blue, they are my best feature. I put on some blush and some mascara and call it a day.
I head downstairs and grab a sandwich off the table. "Mom, I'm going to have to do something about the walls in my room. They are horrendous. I think I'm going to go down to the hardware store and scope out some paint, okay?"
"I knew that was coming. No matter what I do I can't seem to make you feminine can I?" Mother replies.
"Leave her be. Paint is fine pumpkin, but nothing too extreme, understood?" My father counters.
"Got it! Pimzy where is the closest hardware store?" I ask, eager to get on my way.
"It's about two miles east from here Miss. Would you like me to arrange a ride for you? Or perhaps Miss would like to take the bicycle in the garage?" she says.
"Oh, the bicycle sounds nice! Thank you Pimzy." At Pimzy's direction, I find the door to the garage and find a black 3 speed bike on the far wall. I take it outside and head on my way, making a mental note of how the front of my house looks... Much like the back, but with shutters and a rounded gravel driveway.
I pedal down the road at a steady pace, observing the neighborhood as I go. The houses are spaced a decent way apart, nothing like the on-top-of-each-other townhouses where we lived in New York. The houses look much like my own. Though ranging in size and shape they all have light paints and pastel trimmings with lots of flowers. I nod a greeting to the few people I see outside, a couple walking down the sidewalk hand in hand, and a young girl playing in her front yard. Further down the street, about a half mile from my home, I see a yard with a girl about my age lounging out front. It seems a strange thing to do, just lie in your front yard doing nothing, until I see what she is watching. Directly next door is two of the most good-looking boys I have ever seen. They are chasing each other around the yard, and one seems to be holding some sort of ball. Though awfully tall, they too seem to be around my age. The one with the ball has dark brown hair that sticks up all over and wears glasses, but where they would make some people look nerdy, they only seem to add to his appeal. The other is more muscular than the first, with silky black hair that falls around his ears. I nearly stop to keep watching them myself, but I quickly realize that would be weird and continue.
I find the hardware store easy enough, and order enough white paint to cover 3 of my walls. With the last wall I decide to do something dangerous, something I've always wanted. I order a can of black paint, with several smaller cans of bright pink, blue, purple and green. I've always wanted to splatter paint one of my walls. I hope Dad won't be too upset. I order all the supplies that I'll need as well, give the salesman my address and pay with my NoMaj money. Too soon I'm on my way back home.
When I pass the house where I saw the boys, I see that they have gone inside. The girl next door seems to be getting ready to do the same thing, as she's folding up the blanket she was laying on.
"Hay! Hay you!" I hear her yell, and I turn around to face her.
"Are you talking to me?" I ask.
"Ah, American! Delightful! I knew I hadn't seen you around here before. Come over here and so we can properly introduce ourselves." She says.
I park my bike on the sidewalk and make my way toward her. As I approach I notice her long blond hair is tied back in a ponytail. Her long legs stick out very distinctly from her short shorts, and her perfect figure can be seen with how tight her shirt is. She's gorgeous, and I immediately want to hate her. I try to hold back my judgement until I can see what kind of person she is. Walking up in front of her I stick out my right hand and say "Hello, my name is Arianna Willson, my family and I just moved in down the road."
"Ah yes! You're the new neighbors! My name is Bree Martin. How great to meet you! Summer term can get so boring around here!" She's so enthusiastic that I almost jump back.
"OH! Great to meet you too, Bree. So, tell me, what do you do for fun around here?" I ask.
"Would you like to come inside for some lemon aid? My house elf just fixed up a fresh batch," Bree offers casually.
Okay, so she's a witch too. Fantastic! I potentially have two friends going to Hogwarts.
"Sure, but how did you know I was...?" I stammer as we head to her front door.
"A witch? Father mentioned that we had Americans coming to the neighborhood and that the man was going to work at the Ministry of Magic in the Foreign Affairs department. How many Americans could we get in one day?" she laughs.
"Ah," is all I can say.
Bree opens the door and we walk into a house that my mother would adore. "Oh great, more pastels and flowers" I breath.
I hear Bree laugh "Yes I know. I keep telling my mother that floral is out, but she just won't listen."
"My mother is the same way. So, tell me, are there many wizard families in the neighborhood?"
"No. Just us, the Potters next door, and now you. I tell you, it's so boring living in a muggle area."
With this she catches me off guard. "Muggle?" I ask.
"Yes... you know, non-magic folk. What do you call them in America?"
"NoMaj. Muggle, huh. Okay." Apparently, I have some lingo to learn.
The next couple weeks passed by quickly. Bree and I were together constantly. She even helped me paint my room. My parents weren't too upset about the splatter paint wall. I think my mother was just happy that I didn't decide to paint the entire room this way. It was now half way through August. Bree and I were sitting in the kitchen waiting for the cookies Pimzy was making to be finished when I heard the familiar tap of a beak on the window. My heart leaped in my chest. He finally wrote back! In all the time we've been writing to each other, it has never taken him this long to reply. I jumped out of my chair and raced to the window to let the owl in. When I take the letter from the bird, I see that it is not the letter I was expecting, but instead a letter addressed to me from Hogwarts. The disappointment must have been visible on my face because Bree frowns and asks, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. I've just been expecting a letter from someone. But for some reason I've just received a letter from Hogwarts."
"OH! That will be your yearly list of supplies and classes," Bree explains to me.
"I better show Mom, so we can arrange to go shopping," I reply.
"I bet mine arrived as well. We can go together! Oh, it will be so much fun!" Bree all but jumps up and down. I'm beginning to get used to her endless enthusiasm. I grab the plate of cookies from Pimzy and we head up the stairs. Bree is chatting on about the shops in Diagon Alley, but I can't stop wondering why I haven't gotten a reply to my letter.
"Ari, did you hear me?" Bree presses.
"Huh? Sorry, I was thinking about something," I say flashing her an apologetic smile.
"Jeez this whole letter thing has really got you worked up huh? Who's supposed to be writing you anyway?" She presses.
I pause. I don't know what the harm is in me telling her. She may even be able to tell me a little bit more about him.
"Well," I begin. "I've had this pen pal for the last four years. We've become really close. He knows all my secrets, and we used to write each other every day. But the day I told him I was moving here, he quit writing back. I just can't figure out why."
"OH, how romantic! Does he go to our school? Do I know him?"
"Oh yes, he goes to Hogwarts. He's in our year, so you may know him too-" I begin.
"What house is he in?" Bree interrupts me.
"Um... Griffin-something, I think," I say trying to remember.
"Gryffindor! Me too! Oh, I most definitely know him, I know all the boys in my house." She's practically on the edge of her seat.
"I was so looking forward to meeting him. But now I'm not so sure. He's the sweetest, most romantic boy I've ever known, and now he's shut me out for some reason. I just don't know what to think."
"His NAME! What is his name?!" Bree jumps up, grabs my shoulders and starts shaking me.
"Okay, okay! Calm yourself woman!" I say pushing her back. "His name is Sirius Black."