Chapter 1: The Admittance Letter and Diagon Alley
Dear Miss Pendragon,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…
Emilia's eyes went round as she read the opening line of the letter she had been waiting all her 11 years to receive. She looked up at her father practically glowing with excitement. She started to bob from one side to the other almost unable to contain her joy and her father, Lewis Pendragon, let out a deep rumble of appreciative laughter.
"It seems it's about time for us to make a special visit to Diagon Alley, Emi," Lewis said chucking her softly on the chin.
"Oh Papa, may we go now?" Emilia inquired; the lamp beside her began to levitate. Lewis pushed the lamp back down smiling warmly at his abnormal-even-by-wizarding-standards daughter. He shook his head however and told her they would wait for the weekend. Emilia deflated a little but upon looking back down at the letter in hand, her smile brightened once more before she flung her arms around Lewis' neck giving him a quick peck on the cheek then running into her bedroom, Lewis' laughter echoing after her.
Taking the first page of the letter, the acceptance part, she quickly put it in the frame her mother had left for her for just this occasion. Pressing the brads down on the back to hold it in place, Emilia turned the frame back to her and stroked the curly cued edges of iron lovingly.
"See, Mum, isn't it beautiful?" she asked turning her framed letter to the picture she had of her mother, Zandria, which was always smiling up at Emilia, waving now and again and mouthing the words "I love you". Zandria looked very proud at the moment looking properly critical of the letter before nodding to her child.
Emilia grinned and hung it on the hook the frame had been waiting on and she sat on her bed her knees tucked under her. "Soon, I'll be just like you when you were my age, Mum. Taking classes at Hogwarts and learning all that needs to be learned about our world and magic," she said with a sigh before turning to look at her mother's portrait. Zandria had returned to smiling and Emilia simply nodded. "I can't wait for the weekend," she said to herself.
Although the weekend came quickly, Emilia had wished it to come even more quickly than it had. Lewis held out the jar of Floo Powder to her and she took a good handful before stepping into the fireplace. Glancing back at her father, she grinned and shouted "Diagon Alley!" throwing the powder down and being engulfed in the familiar green flames.
Stepping quickly out of the fireplace she appeared in, Emilia dusted the soot off her jeans and coat. She looked around the alley and bit her lip in anticipation wondering where her father would take her first. A whooshing sound was made behind her and she looked back to see Lewis dusting himself off and looking at her expectantly. "Where should we go first?" he asked. Her excitement showed more readily when he gave her the option.
"Can we go get my wand?" she asked trying to curb her excitement a little seeing as other kids her age obviously here for their first year shopping weren't bouncing nearly as much.
"To Ollivander's we go then," Lewis said turning her around by the shoulders and guiding her to walk in front of him. She knew where the wand shop owned by Mr. Ollivander was. She had always looked at it most longingly when she'd come on trips with her parents earlier on and later when it was just her and Lewis.
She was thankful to see that there weren't any other customers gathered around as a young boy came out holding the box she knew his wand lay in. He had light brown hair and tired looking features but his soft green eyes were kind. He looked startled when he found her looking at him almost expectantly. "Are you for Hogwarts, too?" she asked, eyes bright. He smiled kindly and nodded.
"Well introduce yourself, sweetie," a lady said to him nudging his shoulder slightly. Emilia looked up into her kind face knowing this was his mother but she tilted her head slightly in astonishment.
"You're not a witch," Emilia said bluntly but not unkindly so the woman smiled and nodded. Lewis had finally caught up with his daughter and flicked her ear lightly. "Ah!" she exclaimed holding her ear and looking up at him. "I was just making an observation," she defended.
"It's rude upon your first meeting, Emilia, so apologize," Lewis said gesturing to the lady who had been joined by a man who looked very much like the boy.
"I'm sorry," she said, her bubble of happiness deflating.
"It's alright dear; it's expected of you to be able to tell. I can see that you must be a very skilled young witch already," the lady said causing Emilia's heart to warm to the woman immediately. She grinned as the woman smiled.
"My name's Emilia Pendragon and this is my father Lewis Pendragon," she introduced wishing for this woman's praise and approval.
The lady introduced herself and her husband but nudged her son to introduce himself. "Remus Lupin," he said quietly, almost shy.
"Well, Remus, I guess I'll be seeing you in about a week! Maybe we'll even be in the same House," Emilia said, bobbing up and down as she was prone to do in her excitement. Remus looked surprised at her enthusiasm but it was soon replaced by a smile and a nod. After the Lupins' said their farewells, Emilia scurried into Ollivander's with her father close behind.
"Mr. Ollivander?" Emilia called out when she didn't see the store's manager.
"Yes, yes," a voice answered from deep within the aisles of wand boxes and sheaves of paper, "I saw you just outside the shop, Miss Pendragon, and have been looking for a wand for the past 10 minutes or so." The voice was rather raspy and she assumed it was probably from all the dust that collected along the shelves.
"Papa, he knows who I am," she whispered excitedly looking up at Lewis. He just smiled knowingly before his gaze went to the rows of wands. Emilia looked as well and saw Mr. Ollivander walking down the middle aisle with one box in his hand. She looked at it curiously remembering her father tell her that he once had to go through twenty different wands to find the one suited to him but here Mr. Ollivander set only one box onto the counter and opened it carefully extracting the most beautifully carved piece of wood she'd ever seen.
He proffered it to her and she took it reverently with trembling fingers. It warmed to her touch and she held it more securely in her hand admiring the intricate pattern of vine and rose twined about the handle, curling a little onto the long, thin stem of the wand.
"Rose wood, flexible, 11 ¼", with mermaid hair at the core. Usually, one would offer a wand with Veela hair at its core to one with Veela blood. However, it is said that the hair of a mermaid is very good at harnessing the magic that flows more wildly through the veins of some witches and wizards. Why don't you give it a little wave?" Mr. Ollivander asked looking at her penetratingly, curiously even. Could he naturally feel the power Emilia had always had trouble holding in? She waved it carefully, frost coming from the tip to snow lightly on the ground at her feet. She gasped softly at it knowing she'd keep this moment in her heart forever. Mr. Ollivander nodded pleased before holding the box up for Emilia to put the wand away. "We wouldn't want it breaking before you even get to Hogwarts, now do we, Miss Pendragon?" he asked when she showed her disappointment at having to shut it away. He took her chin in his hand and looked into her face. "You have quite the magic, Miss Pendragon, and I daresay you will be worth a lot more than you can imagine… in the end," he said gently but ominously. She nodded and, the moment having passed, he asked Lewis for payment.
He escorted them to the door and as they walked down the street toward the rest of her new belongings, Emilia glanced back to see him watching, giving her a nod that seemed almost reverent before waving a short goodbye and returning into his shop.
Before her mind could begin to take in her first step toward being a full-fledged witch, Lewis had purchased all of Emilia's things aside from her robes. Gesturing for her to enter the shop, she did so, carrying her new owl in with them in his gilded cage. "Have you decided what to name him yet?" Lewis asked looking down at his daughter as they waited for one of the seamstresses to be free for her fitting. Emilia pursed her lips looking at the tawny colored barn owl with his white face. She'd felt an immediate attraction to the bird upon walking into the store and would not be convinced to take the snowy owl or even the ginger cat.
She noted that he was rather small for a full grown owl, even for one of the barn variety. She stroked his feathers through the cage and he gave her a rather affectionate nip on her finger. "How about Pip?" she asked the owl rather than her father. It had frozen when she'd said Pip and so she did so again. "Pip?" He looked directly at her and she beamed.
"It's decided! His name is Pip! I thought it would be mean to call him Pipsqueak but it fits so well," she said looking up at her father who was visibly trying to contain his laughter. She huffed slightly turning her attention back to Pip. "Don't mind him, he's just jealous," she said quietly and the owl hooted softly.
"We can outfit you now, miss," interrupted one of the seamstresses and Emilia stood up quickly shrugging out of her pea-coat. "Ah, yes. Now, which school? And what year?" the lady asked kindly as she stood Emilia up on a stool in front of a long mirror.
"Hogwarts, first year. So I don't know my class yet," Emilia said proudly as the lady draped some black material over her- an over-sized robe that she began hemming and correcting the sleeve length on.
"You're for Hogwarts too?" asked a girl on the stool next to Emilia. Emilia looked over and felt an instant warmth in her heart. The girl who had spoken to her had flaming red hair and jade green eyes. She was exotic to Emilia's mind as she was reminded of her own plain blonde hair and brown eyes. Shyness got the better of her suddenly and she could only nod.
The girl beamed at her, green eyes bright. "My name is Lily, Lily Evans, and yours?"
"Emilia Pendragon," she managed to answer.
"It's nice to meet you, Emilia. Oh! And this is my friend Severus Snape," Lily said gesturing with her head as her arms were being pinned. Emilia tilted her head slightly to catch a glimpse of a rather pale looking boy with silky but rather unkempt black hair. The contrast between the two friends was so astonishing that it took Emilia a few moments before she could greet him as well. He hummed slightly but didn't say a word. He was rather intimidating to her with his aquiline features. "Don't mind him, he always gets tired this time of day and hardly even speaks to me," Lily said lightly. "I wished we could have gone a year earlier but of course there are rules one must follow, even in the wizarding world," Lily continued. Then the questions came all very light and easy to answer and with Lily's calming manner Emilia was able to respond.
"You got an owl as well? We can send letters to one another before term even starts!" Lily said warmly. "I'll give you my address if you'd like!"
"Er, yes I'd like that very much, Lily," Emilia said happily.
True to her word, Lily wrote her address down on a spare piece of paper while waiting for Emilia's hemming to be done. However, because Lily had to go before it was finished she wrote under the address, "I can't wait to hear from you!" with a little heart at the end.
"Seems to me as though you've made yet another friend and you haven't even set foot on school grounds!" Lewis laughed and Emilia blushed a little holding the piece of paper close to her heart, the faces of Lily, Severus and Remus scattered about in her head.
"Just one more week," she reminded herself as they gathered all of their purchases and went back home.