Chapter 2: Completed Pasts and Weird Wands

"It all begins close to thirty or so years ago when a wizard rose to take over. You-know-who..." McGonagall started before Arion interrupted.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"You-know-who."

"Sorry, I don't know who..."

McGonagall sighed. "Right, you wouldn't know. He was known as...Lord Voldemort," she said with a shudder. "No one likes to say his name because of all the horrible things he did. He killed muggles, muggle-borns, anyone against him, and anyone who wouldn't join him. In other words, you were with him or against him.

"Things started getting really bad about fifteen years ago. Almost everyday there was a death somewhere caused by his followers, known as the Death Eaters. Finally, he met his downfall at the Potter's residence on Halloween a couple months after you turned one. James and Lily Potter, your godparents, were murdered. But, little Harry Potter survived with a lightning shaped scar where some people think the killing curse deflection before killing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Now, they had three close friends. Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and your father, Sirius Black had been friends for years. The Potter's has been hidden with a spell where the information where they were located was hidden in that person..."

"And let me guess," Arion interrupted, face paling. "They couldn't be found unless the Secret-Keeper told the person and that was my father."

"Right," McGonagall said with a sad look in her eye for the girl. "We're sure Sirius Black was his second-in-command. The next day, Peter cornered Black and yelled..."

"'Lily and James dead! Sirius, how could you?" Arion finished, looking far away.

McGonagall looked at her in surprise. Thinking that there was more to Sirius Black's daughter then met the eye. "How did you know that?" she asked Arion gently.

Arion shook her head before focusing on the woman in front of her instead of the thoughts in her head. "I dream about it every so often. I see a completely destroyed house. Then the scene shifts and I see the man, Peter? cut off his finger before whipping out his wand from behind his back, an explosion, a sharp pain in my left shoulder, and then showing up at the orphanage, which caused problems..." she trailed off.

McGonagall shook her head after hearing this. "Perhaps after we go to Diagon Ally we can go to Hogwarts..." McGonagall focused on Arion. "Perhaps I can see about having you stay at Hogwarts."

Arion's face lit up. "Are you going to adopt me? I'll be good, I promise!"

"Wouldn't you miss your friends?"

Arion blushed. "I'm pretty friendly, but when someone makes one of my friends upset, they...umm..."

"Prank them?" McGonagall asked with a small smile that Arion nodded to. "So, when your friends got adopted, no one would talk to you...well, let's go get your supplies then talk to Professor Dumbledore before we make decisions."

Arion nodded. "When do we go?"

"Let's go now." So, taking Arion's hand, McGonagall signed her out and hailed the Knight Bus.

"Warning: this bus goes very fast and takes sharp turns. Also brakes without warning," McGonagall said while counting the fare.

Arion went to a seat near the front while waiting for McGonagall. Her head was spinning from the information she recently learned. Sirius Black being a murderer? She had known that accusation form muggle newspapers. The problem, she thought as she rubbed the place where she had a weird star-shaped scar from...the explosion? was that how could it have been her father (which she also found weird to think about) when she didn't remember him taking out his wand...

Arion was jolted from her thoughts by being sent flying forwards. After she was slammed to the right before the conductor caught her and put her back in her seat, muttering "I should retire...this is getting old..."

McGonagall sent her another small smile before they heard "Diagon Ally, The Leaky Cauldron," thus signaling the end of the nightmarish ride.

Entering the pub, Arion put on a brave face as she noticed all sorts of creepy looking people. She followed McGonagall out of the pub to the back where the bricks of the wall and the dustbins were. After tapping the bricks, McGonagall said, "Welcome to Diagon Ally."

Arion's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

Here was a place extremely and so obviously magical. 'Though' she thought after grabbing McGonagall's hand, 'I wish it was a little less crowded...'

While walking, another thought, even though she had asked a couple times, latched onto her brain and stayed there. "How am I gonna pay for my stuff?" Arion asked.

"Usually, students from orphanages would use the fund Hogwarts has set up, but you have an account already since you were just missing, not someone who was just...there. You were known in the wizarding community," McGonagall explained.

Arion nodded and followed McGonagall into the bank where they saw a giant of a man and a small black-haired boy standing at a counter.

"Good afternoon, Hagrid," McGonagall greeted the man before turning to the boy. "Hello, Harry. I'm Professor McGonagall," she said, extending her hand in greeting.

"Hello, Professor," Harry said before turning to Arion. "Hello."

"Hi, my name's Arion Black," Arion said before shaking Harry's hand. She gasped as a stream of visions stormed into her subconscious. 'That's weird' she thought as she pulled back. 'That hasn't happened in a very long time...'

"Harry Potter."

"Hello Miss Black. Rubeus Hagrid's my name, jus' call me Hagrid," the giant man said kindly.

"Pleasure to meet you, Hagrid. Call me Arion."

"Well, we have our business to attend to. See you at Hogwarts Mr. Potter, Hagrid," McGonagall said, ushering Arion to another counter.

"Bye," Hagrid, Harry, and Arion called to each other.

After showing the goblin Arion's vault key, a goblin, Moonscar, showed them to the vault.

Arion loved the ride. McGonagall didn't look like she enjoyed it very much, but didn't look sick. Arion's mouth dropped open again when seeing the contents of the vault.

"Grab mostly the bronze Knuts and silver Sickles, but do grab some gold Galleons," McGonagall suggested. Arion nodded and grabbed some while McGonagall explained the currency.

After going to get Arion's supplies, with some extras ("Shouldn't I learn more about Hogwarts while I can? And, Potions looks like it could be quite complicated" when Arion wanted Hogwarts: A History and another possible first year potions book) all that was left was a pet and a wand.

"Let's get your wand before getting you a pet," McGonagall and Arion nodded eagerly. She was slightly distracted from when she was getting her school robes...

FLASHBACK

Arion entered by herself, McGonagall going to grab a cauldron and stuff needed for astronomy class. Upon entering, a witch swooped down on her.

"Hello, first year of Hogwarts?" the witch asked.

"Yes," Arion answered.

"Go out back, there is a young man being measured," the witch told her, pushing Arion into the direction a blonde boy was standing.

The boy was looking frustrated. "What's taking so long?" he asked.

Arion walked to the other stool beside the boy. "Hello," he greeted. "First year?"

"Yes, I am," Arion told him.

"I can't wait to go. Though, I think I might have to sneak in my broomstick. It would be a crime it I wasn't chosen to be on the team," he said, leaving Arion to think 'What team?' "What house do you want to be in?" he asked.

"Umm...haven't really thought about it..." Arion admitted, not informing the boy that she had only known she was going to Hogwarts for maybe five hours.

"I want to be in Slytherin. My family has been in that house for generations. Though, there is a miniscule possibility that I could be in a different house. After all, look at what happened to the Black family...but, I really don't think they should let muggle-borns in."

"Well, why not? Everyone should have the same opportunity to learn!" Arion said, slightly angry. 'I guess even the wizarding world has prejudices,' she thought.

The boy was about to say something when a witch told him he was done. Without saying anything more, the boy left with his purchases, leaving behind a smug Arion. Who knew the boy would look that good with green hair...

END FLASHBACK

Shaking her head, Arion followed the professor into the wand shop.

Inside was dark, dusty, and full to the brim with boxes. An object that looked like it was a chair at one point was on the floor. Soon after coming in, the owner popped up, effectively jumping Arion.

"Well, hello Miss Arion Black. After seeing Mr. Potter, I was curious as to when I would see you," the man, Olivander she assumed, said.

"Good afternoon."

Arion took a good look at the man. He was old but the one thing that struck Arion when she looked at him were his silver eyes. Meeting his eyes, she had to fight down a shiver because the eyes seemed to go right to her soul.

"You look like your father. It's like it was just yesterday he was in here looking for his wand. Twelve inches long, springy, made with ebony. Excellent for offensive and defensive magic."

Arion gulped and nodded. 'He must have a photographic memory…I wonder if he remembers what Voldemort's wand was made of?' she thought before he continued talking.

"Your mother had an interesting wand. Eight inches, stiff, made with holly. Didn't have any strong points to it, though. From what I heard, she was better with numbers then magic."

Arion's curiosity was sparked. Her mother? She didn't know anything about her mother. Everything she knew about her parents she knew about her dad. Arion didn't even know her mum's name.

"Each wand is different, just like every witch and wizard is different. No one can get the same results using someone else's wand. The closest you can even get to satisfactory work with another wand would be if it was the brother or sister wand."

"Now, let's measure you to find the length of the wand. Which is your wand hand?"

"Umm...my left hand?" Arion said, sort of questioning.

"Good, good," Olivander muttered, looking at the numbers popping up. He left to start picking out a wand.

Arion, after getting rid of the tape measure that was wrapped around her finger, was handed a wand. "Eight inches, holly and unicorn hair," Olivander told her.

After Arion took the wand, she could tell this was not the wand. Olivander gave her wand after wand before stopping and really looking closely at her.

"Another tricky customer, eh? Maybe...hmm...why not?" he muttered before going into the back of the store.

Arion sent McGonagall a stressed look before paying attention to Olivander.

"I've never been able to get anyone to be even close to his wand. Not many people would be able to use this wand because of the picky nature. It's nine inches encased in ash with a griffin feather core and quite springy."

Arion held the wand and sparks started shooting out of the wand tip. Flashes of people holding the wand and the making of the wand streaked across her mind, including some things from the creature itself.

McGonagall gave a little laugh when the griffin wand accepted her. When Arion looked at her with a confused expression, McGonagall explained, "All the Black's have been in Slytherin except your father and you cousin who was born after her mother was disowned. I'm trying to imagine the look on your grandparents faces if they knew about your griffin wand!"

Arion nodded in understanding, smiling a little. She also made a mental note to look into her family tree. "Could we go pick out a pet now?"

McGonagall nodded. So after paying for her wand, Arion went to the pet shop.

"Owls, cats, or toads...I don't care for toads, but I can't chose between an owl or a cat..."Arion said, half to McGonagall, half to herself.

"Well, owls are more useful for mail, so unless you have someone to send mail to, I would recommend a cat. Especially since there's owls at the school," McGonagall said.

Arion nodded before looking around at the cats. Finally, she found a kitten with white fur with blue eyes. It almost looked like each of her paws and tail had been dipped in ink.

"I like this one..." Arion pointed out to the attendant. After getting the stuff she would need to take care of a kitten, Arion walked out of the store, not paying attention to where she was going since she was thinking of a name for her cat. McGonagall smiled and led her to an area that was cleared as an apparition point.

"To get to Hogwarts, we're going to apparate to a place called Hogsmeade. It will feel weird, but you'll be alright," McGonagall said. Arion nodded.

"What do you think of Adria as a name for my kitten?" Arion asked before they apparated.

"It's lovely," McGonagall said before they disappeared.

A/N: Ok, I was able to get this chapter up a lot sooner then I thought...but, I know I won't update for a while after this. After all, we move...err...this morning since it's after midnight. But, all I have to do is type chapter 3. Though, I might restart chapter 4...if anyone gets any ideas, I would love to hear them! Please read and review!

Updated May 28, 2007