AN: Hi! This is my first ever fanfic and I was so super excited to post this first chapter I may have forgotten to include an author's note or disclaimer... That's okay, I'm doing it now :) Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Shocker, I do not own the HP world... Her majesty JK Rowling does. I do own Audrey and all my created characters.
A quiet, drawn out creaking noise woke Audrey early that morning, mostly because she knew that was the sound her door made when opened. Rolling over a little, as though she were simply stirring in her sleep, Audrey was not surprised to hear the creaking stop as the two troublemakers she knew had to be at her door paused, waiting to be certain that she was not awake. After perhaps five seconds of silence, the door resumed creaking as her brothers began creeping into her room. Audrey waited until the floorboards groan, meaning her brothers were right by her bed, then whipped off her duvet cover and flew towards them, long chestnut hair in a rats nest framing her face and making a screeching noise (she knew both boys, Sean especially, were afraid of banshees.) The younger boys went completely still for a moment, mouths gaping open in shock and eyes wide in fear, then dropped the dung bombs they had been holding and ran out of the room screaming. Smiling, she picked the discarded dung bombs off of her floor; she loved getting the better of her two younger brothers.
Depositing the dung bombs in the boys' room, Audrey padded down the hall towards the bathroom, where she splashed some cold water on her face and gave her teeth a cursory brush. Once back in her room, she threw on a pair of running shorts and an old t-shirt, then shut the door in a futile attempt to keep Evan and Sean from messing with her things. Throwing her hair up into an unruly ponytail, Audrey half ran half fell down the stairs. Reaching the main level of her family's London townhome, Audrey entered the kitchen to find her mother cooking breakfast, her father reading the morning paper, and her younger brothers chasing each other in circles around the kitchen table and generally just wreaking havoc. Reaching into the pantry, Audrey grabbed a granola bar, and promptly shoved half of it into her mouth, chasing it down with a glass of water that had been waiting for her at her seat. Finishing the granola bar, Audrey headed into the main hallway and laced up her favorite pair of running shoes, turning her head to call into the kitchen. "Mum, Dad, I'm heading out! I'll be back in half an hour," Audrey half yelled so that her voice wasn't drowned out by the racket her two younger brothers were making. "All right dear, see to it that you are! You're meant to be getting a very special owl this morning!" Audrey could practically hear the smile in her mum's voice; she didn't even need to see into the kitchen to know that her parents were sharing that look. That look was the one she had first seen exchanged when she had her first bout of accidental magic; that look was the one she had seen exchanged more in the past month than ever before; that was the look Audrey had come to associate with magic.
Grateful to get away from Evan and Sean for a little while, Audrey headed out the front door, shivering a in the chilly morning air. She stretched a moment, then began running down the street, towards the neighborhood park situated only about a quarter mile away. There was a large lake there, and Audrey enjoyed running laps around that, rather than trying to navigate London's busy sidewalks. Running had always helped her clear her head, and on a day such as today, she was incredibly thankful for this escape.
Audrey's family had always been a little odd; her father, the successful owner of Lewis and Co. Real Estate, was fairly normal. He came from an upper middle class family, had done well in high school, gone to university, then found what he thought was a nice, normal girl and settled down. Her mum however, was a bit of a different story. Erin Clarke had grown up a witch. She had attended a school for magic, then graduated and met Daniel Lewis when buying a flat in London. He had been a real estate agent and the two had swiftly fallen for each other. Erin had eventually revealed her secret to Dan, and was shocked to find that he was excited, rather than betrayed. It turned out that Dan had been a magic enthusiast as a child, with dreams of growing up and becoming a magician. His practical parents had not entertained this idea for a moment, and had steered the young boy towards the more profitable business of real estate. Needless to say, Dan was thrilled to find out that magic was real, and that his children would also, most likely, be magical.
Which they were. Audrey had first shown signs of magic at the age of six, when Evan and Sean had stolen her favorite stuffed animal and were threatening to drop it out the window. A very distressed Audrey had summoned the stuffed dog back into the safety of her arms, all the while turning her brothers' hair a brilliant shade of pink. That had been the first time Audrey had seen that look exchanged between her parents.
As Audrey re entered her home after her run, she found her mother and father waiting for her in the hall, large, giddy smiles plastered on their faces. "Darling," her mum said, "this just arrived in the post for you." She offered Audrey a thick, parchment envelope; on the front, in elegant, flowing script, read her full name and address. Audrey took the letter and flipped it over to the back, breaking the red wax seal and pulling out the letter from within. She skimmed it, then looked back up at her parents. "So, when do we get to go to Diagon Alley?" Her mum squealed, then threw her arms around her daughter, but quickly drew back with mock-disgusted look on her face. "Audrey, dear, you really ought to go clean up. You've managed to work up a frightful amount of sweat," she teased, pretending to plug her nose. "Either way, we should be able to go later today, if you don't have any plans…" her mum trailed off hopefully. Audrey rolled her eyes; her mum knew full well that she wouldn't have any plans.
She showered quickly, then grabbed her wallet, which contained an odd mixture of British pounds as well as galleons and sickles and knuts, then hurried downstairs to find her parents. "Can we go now?" Audrey asked, a little impatient. Her mum smiled at her, and got up from her spot from the kitchen table. Moving over to her daughter, she bent over and whispered into the younger girl's ear, "It'll just be you and I today, Audrey. We'll be leaving the boys at home. Hopefully they won't destroy the house while we're out." The two shared a secretive smile, the her mum went out to collect her purse. Audrey waited for her, weight shifting impatiently from foot to foot. Today would not be the first time the young witch had visited the Alley; somehow, going shopping for school supplies made the whole process novel, and more exciting.
Her mum returned soon after, and steered Audrey over to the chimney located by the stove. Grabbing the chipped pot which held their supply of Floo powder, she took a pinch of the soot then passed it to Audrey. The older woman stepped into the fireplace, threw the dust into the flames that licked at the bottom of her cloak, and announced in a clear voice "Diagon Alley!" The flames turned a brilliant green, and Audrey's mum disappeared out of sight. Audrey entered the large brick fireplace once the flames returned to their normal, warm orange color. With a wave to her dad, the scattered the Floo powder around her feet and followed her mum into the convoluted system of chimneys.
Diagon Alley was crowded, something that normally would have had Audrey running in the opposite direction. Today, however, she could not be stopped. Her large blue-gray eyes (a defining Lewis family trait) drank in the familiar yet entirely different scene in front of her. She was seeing the Alley, for the first time, from the perspective of a Hogwarts student. Pausing only a moment to take a deep breath (and coughing once she inhaled a foul mixture of smells wafting over from the apothecary), Audrey quickly grabbed her mother's hand and pulled her into the nearby Flourish and Blotts, dodging witches and wizards of all sizes (was that a hag?) along the way. The cool, slightly stale air inside the bookshop calmed Audrey immediately; as a bookworm, libraries, bookstores and the like were a source of comfort for the usually very reserved girl. Her mum wandered over to the sitting section near the front of the store, dropping gracelessly into one of the leather armchairs by the window, and picking up the newest Gilderoy Lockhart book with a goofy smile. Audrey rolled her eyes, then turned away and consulted her shopping list. She wandered the shadowy, towering stacks of books, picking out the ones specified on the list (and maybe a couple of extras.) Once finished, she found her mum, prodded her awake, and brought her over to the checkout to pay for the new books. The two worked their way through the rest of the list, stopping by the apothecary (which smelled even worse inside than Audrey imagined), Pottages cauldron shop, Madam Malkins, and Wiseacres over the course of the next hour and a half. Sheltered in the doorway to a small cafe, Audrey pulled the list once more out of the pocket of her cloak. "We've got two stops left; Magical Menagerie and Ollivander's. Which one first mum?" She looked up, waiting for an answer from the obviously exhausted witch. "Ollivander's darling; we wouldn't want to annoy the poor man with a noisy owl." Audrey frowned; hopefully not an owl. She couldn't stand birds. Together, the two made their way across the street to the shop, tucked away on a side street. The dark blue paint that covered the outside of the store was chipped and peeling. Audrey pushed open the door; a blast of cold air hit her in the face, and a tingling bell announced their presence from overhead. An old man came zooming in behind the checkout on a ladder. "Ahh, Mrs. Lewis! And your daughter, I presume," he said in a quiet, breathy voice. "I thought I'd be seeing the two of you this summer." He began sorting through the mountains of boxes of wands, pausing occasionally to select one and pass it to Audrey for her to try out. The third wand, he passed over with a smile. "9 and 3/4 inches, pear wood, phoenix tail feather. A little brittle; good for Transfiguration and delicate magic." He offered it with a smile. Audrey grabbed hold of it, and felt a warmth rush from her fingertips all the way to the tips of her hair and down to her toes. She gave it a tentative wave, and the wand produced a gust of chilly air. She accepted the box from Mr. Ollivander, paid him the seven galleons for her new wand, and exited the store in a hurry.
Her mum looked down at her once they reached the main street of the Alley. "Now, over to the Menagerie?" Audrey smiled and nodded.