Chapter 2
I awoke startled. Remembering the previous day, I peeked through one eye expecting to see eerie trees and damp mud, yet what I laid eyes on was completely different. I was in a wooden room, filled with warmth and love; I was sleeping in a soft bed with delicate pink covers. Fear washed over me, as nice as it was to not be waking up in a cold horrible forest, I did not recognize the room i was in at all. Had I been kidnapped? I doubted that, considering how homely the room felt. After stretching out my legs, I pulled off my covers to find that I was in clothes I had never seen before. They were pajamas, the trousers made of cotton and a pretty cream color, the top being lilac matched nicely. Cautiously I got out of the cozy bed and headed towards the door, aches and pains overwhelming my body. I quietly opened it to see a small hallway with a red rug in the center. As I tiptoed towards the stairs, I stumbled over my own feet- damn clumsiness. Next thing I knew, a plump woman with bright ginger hair appear in front of me. She was wearing the most peculiar clothes: round her neck was an orange scarf matching the knitted cardigan she wore, which too was orange with a bit of red here and there; it looked homemade. Then she was wearing a green and orange skirt which went all the way down to her ankles and to finish off the outfit she was wearing a pair of chunky black shoes. Yet even though she was wearing this bizarre clothing, she somehow looked so motherly and caring.
"Oh sweetie, you're up! Oh dear, I know this will all seem very confusing and scary but don't worry, all will be explained after breakfast. You need to get some food down you, look at you- just skin and bones!" said the woman in a very concerned voice.
"Errm, I should go. My Dad is probably going crazy not knowing where I am... Hold on, wait who are you and how did you even find me?" I said trying desperately to cover up how freaked out I was.
"Oh Merlin! I forgot to introduce myself, how rude! I am Molly Weasley, the rest of my family are out, the children are all at school and my husband is at work. I will introduce them all to you when they get home! Oh and don't worry about your father, he knows where you are and is relieved that you are okay," explained the odd woman.
"…oh? How did you contact my Dad, I didn't know you knew him? Also, you never did explain, how did you find me? Maybe I should go now, I don't want to be a burden." I said- trying to use an escape route that didn't hurt her feelings.
"Oh love, I know this may all seem so confusing and scary but just trust me, I will explain everything to you after breakfast."
Pathetically, I played with my porridge; twirling it round the bowl with the spoon, trying to avoid eating it. I am sure it tasted lovely but ever since…he left, food has just never seemed appetizing. I rarely eat nowadays, only on the occasions when I have to.
"Come on sweetheart, you need some food in your system otherwise you'll get ill" said Molly anxiously. Damn I guess she noticed I wasn't eating, so I did what I was best at, I lied…
"The food looks lovely but I'm not hungry, I guess I am just distracted by where I am and I why I am even here."
"Hm with reason, everything is sure to be overwhelming. I guess I can tell you what is happening now," she hesitated but carried on, "Well love, right now you are in Britain, Scotland to be exact - in case you hadn't noticed from my accent - and this is where my family and I live, we call it 'The Burrow'. A dear friend of mine found you and asked me if I would be kind enough to let you stay here for couple of days; I said with pleasure, it gets a bit lonely now all the children are at Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts?" I asked with clear confusion.
"Ah yes, a school for people with special abilities, erm I am not quite sure how to say this, but I suppose you will find out one way or another so I ought to tell you now... you are a witch, just like everyone in my family, well except the men, they of course are wizards. Now yo-"
"HAHA, I am witch, nice try. Did my Dad put you up to this in the hope I would magically turn happy, well he can think again" I said sourly.
"No love, this isn't a joke, your Dad is fully aware of the magical world, as he too is a wizard. He knew you were a witch too, just like many of us. However we all decided that it was best for you to not to find out.'
"Haha okay, well even if this is true, why have you changed your mind all of a sudden and let me in on this secret?" I snickered.
"Well truth be told, when my friend saw you, he was shocked. You seemed so ill and sad, and when he found you screaming in a forest before you collapsed, he knew something was wrong and thought that maybe you might be safer being around all of us witches and wizards after all."
"Wait?! You're serious aren't you?" the disbelief was overwhelming, but somehow Molly's voice seemed so sincere it made me believe her.
"Why yes dear, I am. Now, usually people join Hogwarts when they turn 11. However you are 15 and so you will be joining the fifth year- ah yes, my son is in fifth year! Ron Weasley is his name! Anyhow, like I was saying- you'll be in fifth year so naturally you will be quite far behind on work; however I am sure Dumbledore will have something in mind."
"Dumbledore?" I asked, thinking what an odd name that was.
"Ah yes, he is the headmaster of Hogwarts. He is the man who found you; he is one of the greatest wizards in our magic world. Anyway, it is coming towards the end of September- you won't have missed out anything too exciting as the students just went back to Hogwarts two weeks ago, although we will need to pop to Diagon alley and get you some bits and bobs for school." explained Molly Weasley .
Molly kept talking, on and on but I soon zoned out, lost in my own thoughts. There was so much to take in- witches and wizards, a school made especially for them, wands, magic – real magic… I, boring, plain, Bella Swan, was a witch. There were so many questions I wanted to ask yet nothing would come out of my mouth, and I am sure this Molly lady was hiding something from me, something big…
After the caring lady suggested I got changed into some clothes and then we go to Diagon Alley (wherever the hell that was), I walked upstairs and headed towards the room which I came out of earlier this morning. As I entered the room I realized that I had no clothes. As I began to turn around and ask Molly, I noticed a neatly folded pile of clothes sitting on a wooden chair. I slipped into them, they were pretty baggy but I guess I shouldn't complain. I caught a glance of my reflection and noticed how hideous I looked; my hair was bushy and tangled up like a birds nest. However my face was worst, I had big black bags under my eyes, I was paler than usual and that's saying something, not only that but also my eyes were completely bloodshot. To be honest I couldn't care less, no-one to impress, but I did make a small effort to untangle my hair, giving up after the brush got stuck for like the third time.
Looking barely presentable, I stumbled downstairs, thoughts of my newly discovered revelations whirling around my mind; I doubted it would ever sink in. Molly was waiting for me, still wearing that shocking outfit. Did all wizards and witches dress like that? Assuming I would be getting into the car, I headed for the door which I could see straight ahead.
"Where are you going dear?" asked Molly curiously.
"You said we were going to erm...Dragon Alley or something?"
"Dragon Alley? Ooh Diagon Alley, ah yes, we are indeed- but the fire place is this way, my darling." explained Molly as if it was the most normal thing on the earth.
"The fire place? What am I, Santa? Ahaha, now seriously let's go!"
"Ah yes, I forgot your muggle ways, we d-"
"Muggle?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound stupid.
"Haha, muggle is what we describe people who don't use magic. Anyway as I was saying, we don't travel by, ah what do you call them…CARS! No, instead, those of age apparate. However as you aren't over 18, we shall be travelling by the floo network. That consists of, standing in the fireplace, clearly stating your required destination, tossing a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and you shall be on your merry go first love, don't be afraid- it won't hurt, just make sure you just say 'Diagon Alley' clearly."
I scanned her face for some kind of sign that she was joking but clearly not. I warily inspected the fireplace, climbed in and then then nervously chucked the floo powder which Molly had handed to me after saying "Diagon Alley."
It was exhilarating. It felt like I had been sucked into a spiraling vortex; I was completely disorientated. I flew past loads of exits but the network's current didn't slow down until it brought me to my exit where I arrived at an odd looking pub. Being careful, I steadily stepped out of the fire place; huh I thought we were going to shopping. And then it hit me: what if I pronounced the destination wrong, how would Molly find me? The panic I felt was almost painful, I could slowly feel my chest tighten and started to lose my breath, but before I could gasp out for air, I heard someone arrive behind me. As I looked around to see who it was, I saw Molly. Relief filled my body and I got my breath back again.
"This Isabella, is a very popular pub called the 'Leaky Cauldron'. Most wizards and witches go here for drinks. I would offer to stop here for a while but we should really get going." She explained as she pointed towards the door.
"Do you mind calling me Bella, I don't particularly like the name 'Isabella'." I requested as we headed towards the door.
"Oh, of course sweetheart." She opened the door for me to exit.
I was completely overwhelmed with what I saw: a cobbled path with shops lined up next to each other. It was pretty crowded; people were everywhere - most wearing hooded robes ; it was quite chaotic. I was awestruck by it all - I even think my mouth dropped a little. Trying to get a grip, I glanced at the names of the shops, 'Flourish and Blotts', 'Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop', 'Eeylops Owl Emporium', 'Ollivanders Wand Shop' and 'Potage's Cauldron Shop'.
"Haha love, I remember the first time I saw all of this, I never wanted to leave! We best get shopping for you equipment and school robes first though." chuckled Molly.
"It is amazing." I exclaimed – speechless. "W-wait, I didn't bring any money." I questioned.
"Oh yes! How could I forget? We need to go to Gringotts Wizarding Bank and get some money out of your vault."
"My vault? How do I even have a vault if I have never been before?" I asked confusedly, starting to get fed up with what little knowledge I had of the wizarding world.
"Oh..erm, it is a long story, don't worry about it, let's go!" answered Molly extremely suspiciously- there was definitely something she was hiding from me. I was about to ask her but then I was shocked into silence as I saw a massive marble building, with a sign saying 'Gringotts Wizarding Bank'. I walked up a set of white stairs, leading to a bronze door. I let out a little gasp as I saw that, standing beside the door, was a creature; it looked like a goblin. Noticing Molly had already walked through the doors, I quickly followed. There was a small entrance hall, however Molly kept walking so I did the same. The hall lead to another set of doors, engraved on the silver doors were the words:
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.
Huh, that sounded pretty scary- guess anyone who attempted to rob Gringotts must be mad then. Through the doors, was a vast marble hall with long counters stretching all the way to the end of the room - all of which had around a hundred goblins sitting along them. At the back there seemed to be doors leading off to the vault room passageways. Thank goodness Molly was there – she seemed to know what she was doing. I followed her lead and when she started talking to a goblin, I couldn't really hear or understand what she was saying so I just stayed out. After about 5 minutes of the Goblin and Molly talking, they seemed to have settled whatever they were talking about and started to head towards this dark eerie place, lit by flaming torches. Suddenly I saw a cart pullover and stop by us, it was controlled by yet another goblin. Molly, the goblin and I, hopped on the cart. Too quickly for me to understand, the cart whizzed left to right, intertwining through various tracks. When it suddenly made a dramatic stop, my mind caught up to my body and I automatically started to feel queasy. However, I didn't want to draw attention to myself so I pulled myself together and jumped off the cart, wobbling as I walked. Molly also looked a bit nauseous but she concentrated on where we were going. The goblin opened this gigantic silver vault, full of tons of gold, silver and bronze coins.
"Gallons, Sickles and Knuts." Mrs Weasley said as she pointed towards each of the different coins.
"Galleons, are worth the most, one Galleon is equal to 17 Sickles or 493 Knuts. Here." Explained Molly as she handed me a soft purple pouch, it looked as though it would fit hardly anything in, however when I peeked inside, it was huge, like the Tardis from Doctor Who.
"Wow, all this money, is it mine? How did I get it?!." I said, utterly gobsmacked. I had only just found out that I was witch and yet I already had heaps of money.
"Yes dear it is, but erm, I will explain later maybe. Sweetheart we do need to hurry up though, I know it seems like we have only just arrived but we have actually be here for a while and we still need to get all your Hogwarts items." With that, I hurled quite a bit of money into the pouch, and told Molly that I was ready to go.
After about an hour of shopping, I had practically everything: text books, potion recipes, cauldron, robes, quills – the lot. However I still had a couple of things to get, I needed a wand and I really wanted an owl, the ones in the shop window tempted me. Molly said we should go to Ollivanders Wand Shop first though, so we did. Inside the shop it was tiny, practically empty except for a single, spindly chair in the corner. Thousands of boxes were piled on shelves that went right up to the ceiling, I assumed the wands must be in those boxes.
"Ollivander?" called out Mrs Weasley, confidently.
"Ah ever so sorry mam, wasn't really expecting any customers as all the students are at Hogwarts. Oh! Is that you Mrs Weasley! You look wonderful! And who is this with you?" said the small, elderly man.
"I'm Bella." I answered.
"Yes this is Bella, erm would you mind if I spoke to you quietly for a second." asked Molly to Ollivander.
"Why yes of course!"
The two huddled together and were whispering. Huh, how odd. Now I definitely knew Mrs Weasley was hiding something, yet I couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.
"Sorry about that Bella, Mrs Weasley tells me you need a wand, let's find you one now!" exclaimed Ollivander.
"Erm okay, what exactly do I do?"
"Well, you see, the wand chooses the wizard- or witch in your case Miss Swan. I am quite experienced so don't worry- we hopefully won't have to go through every wand." winked Ollivander. He got out his own wand and used magic (I was never going to get use to that) to pull out several boxes. He handed me one and told me to flick the wand. I felt silly to say the least, especially when it did nothing. I got to the 6th one and started to get a bit fed up. Ollivander gave me another wand, I flicked it just like I did with all the others, but this time something wonderful happened- a ray of light beamed out of the end of the wand.
"Oh well that is very interesting indeed," muttered Ollivander.
I was going to ask him what he meant but didn't want to come across as rude so I left him to it.
"This wand is 10 and 1/4 inches and it contains a Phoenix feather and willow."
"Is that good?" I asked.
"Well it is bewildering," said Ollivander to himself but I still heard him, "Yes that is a very good wand, ideal for charms." He explained more loudly.
After buying the wand, we went to the shop which I had been most excited for; Eeylops Owl Emporium. I thoroughly checked out each owl, however as soon as my eyes caught site on a barn owl, with a soft white chest and wings a gentle brown color, towards the tip of the wings there was misty black color on them dotted with white spots, the owls face was beautiful, it was fluffy white with deep ebony eyes, the rest of the head was the same color as the wings - a light brown. It was stunning, I fell in love with him, I told Molly I had found the one and she agreed that he was a beauty, so I bought the owl in his silver metal cage, I couldn't wait to befriend him. As we walked back towards the Leakey Cauldron, I poked my finger inbetween the bars and stroked him, trying to decide a name.
We entered the Leakey Cauldron, the pub had a rustic look about it, and headed back towards the fireplace which we arrived in, Mrs Weasely handed me some floo powder and I did the same as before, however this time I said "The Burrow." The feeling of adrenaline pulsed through me just like before, this was so much better than travelling in a car – that's for sure. In no time, I arrived back at the Burrow, followed by Molly, it felt so homely here, Mrs Weasely already made me feel like she was my second mother somehow.
"Alright dear, so now we have all your stuff, we will head to Hogwarts tomorrow; I will use a shrinking charm on your trunk so we can easily take it with us and then enlarge it when we arrive. We can tell your owl where to go and he will understand and go to the owlery at Hogwarts! I know it seems soon but I have a feeling you will be a quick learner and a wonderful witch." Comforted Molly when she saw the fear crawl over my face.
"But I have no idea what to do, what if I don't fit in? People will think I am weird, maybe this isn't a good idea Molly, maybe I should just go back to Forks."
"Now, now dear, I will not have you speak such nonsense, Dumbledore will explain any of your queries, when you get there, you will love it." said Mrs Weasely firmly, "Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes so why don't you go pack all your stuff and feed your owl."
With that I went upstairs and headed towards the room I was staying in, in the corner was my trunk, it was nothing special, just a simple brown case however I got 'Bella' engraved at the top of it. Carefully I opened it and started filling it up with all my new items, my textbooks, wand, uniform, robes, clothes, quills and parchment – once I was done, I buckled the top of the trunk together, everything fitted perfectly. Satisfied with my packing, I got up and went towards my beautiful owl, I still hadn't came up with a name, I was outweighing my options, I played with him for a bit and gave him some food which the kind shopkeeper had given me. I heard Mrs Weasely call for me so I went downstairs and into the kitchen.
For the first time in ages, I actually had an appetite, whatever Molly was cooking – it smelt delicious.
I sat down on one of the wooden chairs by the table, I noticed there were three plates laid out, guessed I would be meeting her husband soon. Molly walked in with her husband following, he too had ginger hair, he was wearing an interesting suit, his shirt was green and white with a red tie, then he was wearing a green waistcoat, his trousers were brown – truth be told, he looked an awful lot like a Christmas tree.
"Ah so this must me Bella, I am Arthur Weasely." He walked forward and shook my hand, huh; I guess Molly must have told him not to call me Isabella.
They both sat down at the table and we all started to eat the delicious soup which Molly had made, I thought it would be awkward at first, and it was however after a while the conversation became more natural. I had asked Mr Weasely about his job, he works as Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, when I asked what 'The Ministry of Magic' was, we got into a lengthy conversation, him explaining all about it. After a while Mrs Weasely gave a subtle cough "Now, I think that's enough, early start tomorrow! Better get some sleep; you don't want to be tired for your first day!" With that, I went to my room, got dressed into my pyjamas, and went through everything that had happened that day, it was extraordinary, not long after, I fell into a deep sleep…
A/N
I hope you liked it! Let me know your thoughts by reviewing, means a lot! This is my first fanfiction and i was seriously debating whether or not to post because i doubt anyone will read it, my thoughts are still the same but hey, i enjoy writing this so i might as well! A big thanks again to Ellie and Soph! :)
