Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own imagination and plot line. If you do not recognize the characters, they belong to me. If you recognize them, they belong to JKR.
WARNING: NOT CANON! Very little in this story is canon, simply because in most cases, I just didn't care for the canon pairings. Forgive me for switching things around, hmm?
Another year, another school, Angel thought cynically as she felt the train jostling and clanking as it left the station. I wonder how different this one will be. She laughed to herself. What am I thinking? These schools are all the same, even if it is a boarding school. How different can it be? She looked again at the letter that, strangely enough, had arrived tied to the leg of an owl.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," was the name embossed on the front. This could be interesting, she thought. She looked again at the list of supplies she'd had to buy. Very interesting.
begin flashback
The letter had given instructions about how to get to a place called Diagon Alley. Those she had disregarded, since it involved going through a pub. No one is going to allow an eleven-year-old girl into a pub without an adult to supervise her, Angel thought again. But the letter had also given very helpful instructions as to what shops to go to and who to see to get the best quality stuff. All the shops save three had been computerized, and thus were hackable. Fortunately she hadn't needed to hack them, as they also had websites. She bought all the items she needed online, but nowhere could she find a website or computerized accounts for the wand store listed in her letter. But Angel hadn't let that stop her. One Google search for stores carrying magic wands and ten minutes later, she had directions to a wand shop that didn'tinclude going through a pub. Instead, it required going through what was, ironically enough, her favorite coffee shop, The Black Magic Rose. She'd never really bought into the whole Wiccan magic-is-real theory, but it was an interesting idea. She liked the atmosphere of the Wiccan bookstore/coffee shop, and the coffee was good. And cheap.
She'd followed the directions on the site, and emerged into a world filled with the mysterious and arcane. Eli's Emporium: Anything you need for ANYTHING you might want to do, proclaimed the sign on one shop. Jars full of what appeared to be human eyeballs peered out at her through the window of the shop. Angel smiled as she remembered her gasp of shock as one of them blinked at her. She'd looked down the street towards the place where the wand shop should be. Zabini's Wands and Other Magical Instruments read the sign above the door. Angel went into the shop and rang the bell on the counter. She was surprised when a young man barely old enough to be her father emerged from the back of the shop. She'd been expecting someone more…ancient, to be truthful. He glanced at her, then looked behind her, presumably for an adult escort. Seeing none, he glanced back at Angel with some surprise.
"Excuse me sir. I'd like to buy a wand, if I may."
"I'm sorry," he replied. "I'm expecting a customer with an appointment for this time. She contacted me online to set it up."
"Yes, yes, you're expecting right?" She smiled at him.
"Why yes, how did you know that?" He looked at her suspiciously.
"I am the Avenging Angel. Your appointment is with me. Now may we get around to business?" she replied coldly.
"Yes, yes. I'm sorry, I thought you'd be…older somehow. Is this your first wand?" he asked warily.
"Yes, it is. Is that going to be a problem, Mr. Zabini?" Angel pinned him with a dangerous stare. She could hack his accounts, completely ruin every aspect of his life, and she knew it. Idly, she wondered how often he checked his website, and how badly she could ruin his business if she hacked it and…changed a few things. Hmmm, if he openly suggests I go somewhere else, I think I'll do that. Could be potentially fun.
"Oh, no problem, it's just that generally first year students at Hogwarts are encouraged to go to Ollivander's for their wands. Most first years are incapable of handling the power of advanced wands such as mine," he replied.
He's pushing his luck, Angel thought, keeping the dangerous look but raising an eyebrow. One more comment advocating Ollivander's, and his site is so hacked.
"But maybe you could handle one. Come with me, and we'll find out." He turned and headed off toward the back of the shop. Good boy, thought Angel as she followed him into the back.
She left the shop that day with a ten-inch rowan wand with a core of dragon heartstring and kneazel fur. She'd been assured that kneazels, which were small, mischievous creatures that looked like a cross between a cat and a weasel, had very powerful fur that was used for many magical purposes.
She wandered over to Diagon Alley to get her robes, but Madam Malkin's shop was far too crowded for Angel's tastes. She tended to avoid crowds as a general rule. She'd noticed a shop on the same street as the wand shop that didn't look too crowded. It also looked like it had some really classy stuff, too. I think it was called Knockturn Boutique, she mused as she walked along. Soon she spotted a signpost that read Knockturn Alley. Huh, she thought. Must be down here. She ambled down that way and smiled to herself as she passed Zabini's place.
"Bloody hell, I'm good," she muttered.
She found and entered the boutique. The proprietress took one look at her clothes and said, "I'm sorry, but we don't take Muggle money here. You'll have to go to Madam Malkin's."
Bitch, thought Angel as she walked out. I'll be damned if I'll go to that crowded place again. She thought about what the proprietress had said, and suddenly an idea began to form in her mind. She turned and left Knockturn Alley. What she needed could only be found in London proper. She went back to her apartment and got on her computer. She got online and Googled Gringotts Bank. Using their website, she created an account for herself, then transferred half of the money in her bank account into her Gringotts account. She proceeded to exchange her "Muggle" money for the wizarding money she would obviously need. She memorized the chart stating the rate of exchange, and what coin equaled how much. She sent her computer back to sleep, and went back through the coffee shop to Knockturn Alley. She knew what to expect this time, so she moved quickly and confidently onto Diagon Alley. She looked neither to the left, nor to the right, but went straight to Gringotts Bank, and made a sizeable withdrawal. Hmm, I'm going to have to do quite a bit of freelance hacking to cover that, she thought as she headed down Diagon Alley.
As she neared the entrance to Knockturn Alley, a small dark-haired blur streaked past her. Out of instinct, she grabbed the small boy's arm, swung him up, and set him on her hip.
"Whoa, there! Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?" she asked him.
Just then, she heard a commotion behind them.
"James! James Remus Potter, you get back here this instant! You are NOT under any circumstances allowed to go down Knockturn Alley!" Angel turned to see what all the shrieking was about.
"Your name wouldn't happen to be James Remus Potter, would it?" Angel asked the boy wryly. She laughed when the boy nodded cheekily and smiled.
"Well, how old are you, James?"
"I'm five years old," he said proudly. "I turned five yesterday."
"Is that your mum chasing you?"
"Yeah, she thinks I'm too young to see what's down Knockturn Alley. But she won't tell me what's so bad about it." He pouted slightly.
"Well James, I'm going to have to agree to with your mother on this one. The people down there really aren't the nicest." Angel smiled at him. Just then, James's mother ran up, panting heavily.
"Thank God you caught him! I was beginning to think I'd never catch up with him, he's so fast! We were shopping for school supplies for my daughter, she's going into her first year at Hogwarts, and he completely got away from me! I had no idea he would do that." She shifted her shopping bags around to shake hands with Angel.
"Wow! You're not much older than my Lily! Where did she go? By the way, I'm Hermione Potter, the Headmaster's wife. Lily? Oh, there you are. Lily this is—oh, I'm sorry, I didn't get our name." Mrs. Potter blushed.
"Angel. Angel Markham," she smiled. "And it's really okay, Mrs. Potter. Umm, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to run if I want to get to a shop before it closes. It was really nice meeting you both. Maybe I'll get to see you at school, Lily." She handed James back to his mother and started toward Knockturn Alley.
"Oh, but darling, surely you're not headed down that awful place, are you?" Mrs. Potter asked.
Angel turned and pinned Mrs. Potter with a stare that would have given a murderer pause. "As a matter of fact, I was. Why do you ask?" Angel replied politely but coldly.
"Oh it's just that—what would your parents say?" Mrs. Potter asked, flustered by the way Angel was suddenly acting.
"My parents are dead. I've raised myself for the last six years, Mrs. Potter. I am an adult in every way but legally, and I don't like being treated like I know next to nothing simply because I'm a child. I honestly like you, and I hope we can be friends. But not if you insist on treating me like a child." Angel smiled sadly. "Are we clear on that?"
"But—please don't take offense to this, Angel—you are a child still, and there are things down there no child should see. I know what's down there, and that's why my kids aren't allowed to go." Mrs. Potter was wringing her hands nervously.
"No offense taken, Mrs. Potter. And no offense, but there are things in this world that are worse than anything that Alley has to offer. I've seen them all, Mrs. Potter, and even done a few of them. But you're right, I wouldn't allow my kids down there if I were you." She smiled at Lily and little James. "They're far too sweet and innocent for anything Knockturn Alley has to offer." Having said that, Angel turned and entered Knockturn Alley.
What a strange girl, thought Hermione Potter as she watched Angel walk away. She gasped and started forward as a man grabbed Angel's arm and made as if to take off with her. She watched as Angel dug in her heels, glanced pointedly down at the man's hand on her arm, glared up at the man, and quietly spoke a few words. She watched as the man let go of Angel, and bowed to her, apologizing profusely. She watched as Angel calmly moved down the street and out of sight. What a strange girl, Mrs. Potter thought again.
Angel, after threatening to destroy the man's life and then end it slowly and painfully, went calmly down to the Knockturn Boutique to implement her plan.
Angel walked into the boutique and glanced around, looking for that bitch of a proprietress that had been there before. Not seeing her, Angel glanced at the robes hanging on the racks. Hmm, not bad, she thought. Very edgy, almost Goth-chic. Goth-chic clothing was Angel's one weakness, other than computer accessories. Looking around, she still didn't see the proprietress, so she rang the bell on the counter. Well, what do you know, Angel thought when she appeared from the back of the shop. She actually lowers herself enough to answer the call of a bell. Angel smiled tightly at her. As she did, she noticed the woman's name tag, which read Pansy Parkinson. Pansy. Fitting name for a robe-maker, thought Angel snidely.
Pansy looked Angel over insultingly, then spoke. "Look, kid. I told you once that we don't take Muggle money here. Now go run home to your mommy and get her to take you to Madam Malkin's tomorrow." Pansy smiled sweetly at Angel, who was utterly furious. It was this unreasoning fury that perhaps made Angel a little crueler than she needed to have been.
"You know what you are, Pansy?" Angel asked her. "You're a witch. And you know what the Bible says to do with witches? It says to kill them, to burn them. I know of a few Christians who believe in following everything the Bible says, and have the money and power to have you and your precious little shop burned to the ground. After I completely and totally destroy your business. Do you want that? Do you really want me to take this—" she pulled out the bag of wizard coins she'd withdrawn from Gringotts, "to Madam Malkin? Hmm? Say so one more time, and I'll leave now. You'll never see me or my money again." She smiled sweetly at Pansy.
An hour later, a pale and shaking Pansy handed Angel the robes she'd ordered and been fitted for. She went happily home and packed her bags. Her pet was awake, and he chattered questioningly at her as he flew around the room. She told him they were moving again, and he went into a kamikaze dive straight at her face. She waved him off, and continued packing. He'd always hated moving; it took their new landlords too long to get used to a tenant who had a pet bat.
end flashback
Lost in her own thoughts, Angel didn't hear the train's compartment door open. She only realized someone was there when Asylum chattered challengingly at the intruder. She looked up to find Lily Potter, and two of her friends. Lily introduced them as Keven and Narcissa Malfoy. Apparently, they were fraternal twins. Keven was a lanky redhead who looked like he might have the potential to be an underwear model later on, and Narcissa was a beautiful platinum blonde who looked as if she'd be a shoo-in for an ice princess role. In reality, they both appeared to be warm and caring kids, if a bit innocent for Angel's taste.
More or less listening to them converse around her, Angel was the first one to hear the compartment door hiss open again. She glanced up to see a young girl no older than they sneering at the occupants of the compartment.
"Bloody bunch of Muggle-lovers," she muttered as she turned to leave.
"Excuse me? What did you say?" Angel asked dangerously.
"Oh, nothing," said the girl breezily as she started to leave the compartment.
"Oh, no…" Angel said, grabbing the girl's robes and jerking her into a seat across from her. "You will tell me what you just said and why you said it, and you will tell me now." Angel loomed threateningly over the girl, who was now pale and shaken.
"You have no right to do this to me! You have no idea who I am, or what my family can do to you! You can't treat me like this!" she cried.
"Well then, why don't you just tell us who you are? But don't bother telling me what your family can do to me. It'll only bore me, since it's probably already been tried," Angel said softly.
"My name is Patricia Parkinson, and my mother owns the Knockturn Boutique. If I say the word, you'll never get any more clothes from there in your life!"
Angel laughed softly. "If I say the word, your mother's business is destroyed, her shop burned to the ground. The name and location of your father will be tortured out of her, and then I'll destroy his business. I'll burn it to the ground, too. And who knows? I might decide to be nice and hire an assassin to kill him quickly rather than slowly torture him to death like I will your mother." Angel smiled dangerously at the girl. "Have I made myself clear, or do you still want to screw with my friends here?"
Patricia was openly crying now. "Y-yes! J-just l-let me g-go! I s-swear I'll n-never b-bother y-you again! J-just l-let me g-go!" she blubbered.
Satisfied that she'd leave them alone in the future, Angel sat down across from Patricia. "Go on, get out of here. And don't come back."
"Th-thank you!" Patricia cried as she ran out the compartment door.
Satisfied with herself, Angel settled back in her seat and glanced at her new friends. They were staring at her in shock, their jaws on the floor. Angel looked from one to the other, a confused look on her face.
"Whaaat?" she asked warily. "Was it something I said?"
"You…might say that," answered Keven. Angel's new friends laughed shakily.
