Ch 2. Choices
Eva and her parents sat on the couch in stunned silence, "I'm a, I'm a…"
"A witch, darling," McGonagall's eyes sparkled.
Eva's mother cleared her throat, "So, so she, she should go to this school then?"
Professor McGonagall nodded, "Yes. It will be a place for her to learn all about magic, and about herself. She will make true friends, and study under incredible teachers."
Eva's dad nodded slowly. After what the woman had showed them, he couldn't doubt that this was real. His daughter was a witch. He smiled, "So she will be off to live in a castle with other witches?" He couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of castles.
"And wizards," McGonagall added.
"Witches and wizards." Her father whistled.
Eva stared at her slippers.
"Eva?"
Eva's head snapped up to see all three adults looking at her.
"Do you have any questions?"
Any questions?! She was having trouble breathing.
"Well, I do." Eva's mother looked at McGonagall, "How will we stay in touch with her? You said that our cellphones and computers won't work at Hogwarts."
"They won't, but the children will have post by owl almost daily, so you will be able to write to her."
"By owl?"
"Yes, we deliver all our mail by owl post. It is very reliable and actually quite fast. Not as fast as your 'text message,' but still, you will find it quite satisfactory."
Eva broke in, suddenly catching up to the adults, "How much does it cost?"
Eva's parents quickly jumped in, "No, don't worry about that sweetie."
"We will figure it out."
McGonagall watched the two adults closely. She hadn't missed the worn furnishing, chipped paint, or the questionable neighbours in the hallway, "Ah, please don't worry about finances. We have funds for students who need assistance with textbooks and other items. Your daughter will not be at any disadvantage."
Eva's father's cheeks reddened, "That's…good to hear. Thank you."
Eva saw him blink away tears and felt her heart clench.
"It's just, my health hasn't been good lately and I haven't been able to work for a few months." Eva's mother quickly interjected, putting her hand on her husband's leg.
McGonagall gave the other woman a kindly smile, "Please don't let it worry you. Eva will be well taken care of."
Eva looked at her mother's hand. All bone and sinew, with a small bruise from the last IV. She looked back to the professor, "No."
Everyone tuned to Eva in shock.
"I mean, no, I'm not going to Hogwarts. I have a fine school here. I learn History and Maths and other stuff… I don't need to go to Hogwarts."
Eva's parents both broke in, clearly trying to understand why their amazing, imaginative daughter wasn't leaping at the chance to attend Hogwarts. They had seen the light in her eyes and the flush in her face when McGonagall had showed them real magic. She wanted to go. They knew she did.
McGonagall's eyes narrowed in consideration, before turning to Mr. and Mrs. O'Connor, "Perhaps you could give your daughter and I a moment alone?"
Eva watched her parents exchange a quick glance before they both got up. Eva's mother kissed the top of her head before going with her husband into the bedroom down the hall.
Eva looked at her hands and said nothing.
After what seemed like much longer than a few breaths, McGonagall spoke.
"You're afraid to leave your mother."
It wasn't a question.
"She has cancer," Eva choked out. Horrified at the silent tears pouring down her cheeks, she scrubbed her face with her shirt.
McGonagall reached out and touched the Eva's knee gently, "She wants you to go."
"I – I know, b-but what if…" Eva trailed off, now sobbing in earnest and trying desperately to smother her sobs into tattered cushion. She didn't want her parents to hear. She didn't want them to know. They'd only feel guilty, thinking they were holding her back.
"Your mother has doctors here, and your father. She will be taken care of."
Eva noticed how McGonagall didn't try and tell her that everything was going to be okay. After months of what seemed like constant lies from adults and doctors, it was that more than anything else that made her look up.
"You have magic inside of you, dear. Magic that needs to be trained and controlled."
"If I have magic, why can't I fix my mum?"
And suddenly it hit her. Magic.
"You can help her, can't you? With magic?" Eva hadn't even noticed that she had flown to her feet and was looking at the other witch with a kind of frenzied excitement.
McGonagall sighed, "I won't pretend I wasn't expecting this."
Eva glared at the woman, suddenly convinced that the cure she had been waiting for was right in front of her. "So help her."
McGonagall looked up at the young girl with genuine sympathy, "I can't. You see, cancer isn't a disease that our people have. It isn't that we've cured it, it just doesn't affect us."
Eva sunk back into the couch.
"I'm sorry."
"But you have doctors?" Eva's said slowly, the wheels turning in her head.
"We do, yes. They're called Healers."
"And Healers fix all sorts of wizard diseases?"
"Yes, they do their best."
Eva looked at the woman for the first time since her outburst, "Has anyone tried to help us? I mean, them? The muggles?"
McGonagall closed her eyes briefly, she had expected the girl to be concerned about her mother, but the dogged pursuit of an answer was bring them closer to a prejudice that she had been hoping to avoid, at least for a few weeks while the girl settled in.
"Have they? Have the healers tried to cure cancer?"
"No," McGonagall replied honestly.
"Why?"
"Remember how I explained to you and your parents how our world was a secret?"
Eva knew what was coming, but she answered anyway, "Yes."
"We stay separate from muggles for the most part. If we cured their diseases without science, then they would need to know how. We would be out there in the open, and they would be afraid of us. Half the muggles would want magical solutions and the other half would want to destroy us."
"So you let thousands of muggles die without even trying to help them?"
McGonagall could count the times in her life that she had been lost for words on one hand, but this meeting was threatening to change that. "They do quite well for themselves, Eva."
"Well my mother isn't."
The two witches, one young and one old, sat in silence.
"I'll come to Hogwarts."
McGonagall nodded, managing to shield her surprise.
"But I know what I am going to do. I'm going to be a Doct- a Healer, and I'm going to fix everything."
It was 7 o'clock in the morning on the 27th of August, and Eva sat at the kitchen table with her parents, waiting for her escort to a place called Diagon Alley. None of them had eaten much, and Eva's mother kept excusing herself to use the bathroom. There had been a time when Eva's father had tried to distract her when her mother drifted away to hid her pain, but now they both just sat in silence, listening and waiting.
Her mother rejoined them at the table with a shaky smile, "I swear no one changes the toilet paper but me."
Eva's father faked admonishment, "Hey now, I swear I did it last year."
Eva watched her parents exchange their usual banter, and wondered what it would be like if her father gave up and stopped trying to
She decided she didn't want to think about it.
There was a knock at the door.
"These people really don't know how to use the com system, do they?" Eva's dad joked, getting up to answer the door.
As if in que her mother began apologizing again, "Sweetie, I'm sorry I can't come." She choked back more tears, "I tried to switch the appointment, but Dr. Carry couldn't shift me around at all. I had to go today."
Eva hugged her mum, "I know, really I do. I'm not upset at all."
"Your dad could go with you."
"No!" Both Eva and her dad said at the same time.
"But…"
"Please, Adriana, we've settled this." Her dad looked exhausted as he kissed his wife, "We said we'd do all the appointments together, and we will." He reached out and unchained the door, and Eva couldn't help but smile as her dad subconsciously smoothed his T-shirt.
The front door opened to reveal a friendly looking, slightly chubby man. He brushed his hand through his greying hair, "Hello, M. O'Connor. I'm Professor Longbottom."
Eva's dad smiled, clearly more at home with this wizard than the stately looking witch who had come to visit them a month previous, "Please, call me Frank."
A sweet, but slightly sad smile appeared on Professor Longbottom's round face, "Well, then you should call me Neville."
"Nice to meet you, Neville."
Both men warmly shook hands.
Adriana got up and made her way over to Neville, shaking his hand and introducing Eva, "Neville, this is our girl, Eva."
Neville bent down slightly, "Hello Eva, it's a pleasure to meet you." He reached out his hand.
Eva smiled and shook the wizard's hand, remembering what her father told her about a good firm, but not too firm, handshake, "Hello professor Longbottom." She tried not to giggle, but his name really was ridiculous.
Neville smiled, "Do you two have any questions or should we be off?"
"Nope," Adriana said warmly, kissing her daughter on the top of the head.
"Are you sure we don't need to send her with any money?" Frank asked.
"No, no. We've got that covered." Neville smiled at both adults, "Really."
Eva wrapped her parents in a tight hug, before looking up at her mum, "Good luck. You promise to tell me what Dr. Carry says?"
Her mother pursed her lips slightly before answering, "Yes, of course." She smiled again and said jokingly, "Now go with the professor and make sure to take notes so that you can tell us everything when you get back, okay?"
Eva laughed, "I don't need to take notes mum."
Neville laughed, "I needed to take notes for everything when I was your age. And to be honest, even that didn't help much."
Eva couldn't believe her eyes. She wanted to look at everything 100 times, and even that wouldn't have been enough. The streets were alive with colours, and everywhere she looked there were people streaming in and out of shops, laughing and bickering, all carrying the most outrageous items. A tall witch with purple eyes pushed past her with her arms full of what looked like tiny blue elves, and she watched in awe as a slightly drunk wizard, who was burping purple bubbles, collided with what looked to her like a cart full of blue bottled flames.
Everywhere she looked there were things she had no name for.
"Wow."
Neville chucked, "Yes, I am sure this is quite an eye-full." He pulled her gently out of the way of a large squabbling family all wearing orange velvet cloaks. "Try to remember that this will all seem old-hat to you after your first year at Hogwarts. One of my best friends is a muggle-born, and she was the best which in our school."
Eva looked up, feeling like her stomach was full of those tiny blue elves, "She was?"
Neville nodded, "Yes, so don't worry so much. You'll catch up in no time."
Eva took a deep breath and looked down at the list clutched in her shaking hands.
First-year students will require:
- Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)
- One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear
- One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)
- One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all student's clothes should carry name-tags at all times.
Books:
- The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk
- A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
- Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
- A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
- Magical plants of England by Neville Longbottom
- Magical Drafts and Potions by Horace Slughorn
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
- The Dark Arts: A beginners guide to defensive spells by Aros Loran
Other Equipment
- 1 Wand
- 1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
- 1 set of glass or crystal phials
- 1 telescope
- 1 set of brass scales
Students may also bring an Owl, a Cat or a Toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.
Eva scanned the list, "You wrote one of these books?"
Neville looked surprised and went a little pink in his ears, "Yes I did. You're very observant."
Eva smiled at the praise, feeling her own cheeks go red in response.
Neville smiled, "Well, why don't we get your books first then, okay? Get the boring stuff out of the way."
"Okay," Eva agreed, although she couldn't imagine anything boring about magic books. She thought of her maths and English books from her school and grinned.
This will be anything but boring.
They ducked into the crammed bookstore, and looked around. Eva had never seen so many books in her life. The public library near their apartment was pretty sparse, and everything she wanted to read was usually checked out anything. Plus, none of the books looked as magnificent as these ones did. Her eyes quickly fell on the used section, and she made her way over with the list and a basket. Neville seemed to understand that she wanted to do as much as she could on her own, and after guiding her to the bookstore he excused himself to go pick up a butter beer (whatever that was).
"The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1," she mumbled, running her fingers along worn spines, searching for the title. She could almost feel the magic tingling inside her fingertips.
Eva found her books with relatively little difficulty, but lingered among the shelves for longer than she needed, eyeing the various titles with awe.
Ensnare your foes and protect your friends
Potions for the macabre
Eva drifted off into her head, imagining what Hogwarts would look like. She knew that most of the other students would already know lots about magic, but McGonagall had assured her none of them would have been allowed to practice anything on their own yet. Eva knew they'd have an advantage (adults always tried to make kids think things were fair), after all, knowledge was power, and these kids would know far more than she would. Eva took in a deep breath and turned away from the shelves.
About two hours later, Eva had all her books and equipment except for a wand. Eva carefully folded the school list and placed in back inside her jeans, looking up at Neville with bright eyes.
"I know what's next," Neville said smiling.
Eva was so excited that she could barely breathe. A wand. A wand means magic. Real magic. She thought of the spell McGonagall had used to transform their coffee table into a rabbit, and while she didn't see much use for that kind of thing, she knew that Healers used wands to fix patients.
Neville guided her through the throngs of people until they reached a small, narrow shop just hidden from the bustle of the streets. They stepped inside and the noise from outside instantly died, it was like they had stepped into a tiny, dark cave. Eva took a quivering breath as her eyes adjusted to the candlelight.
Then man behind the counter was so old that Eva was shocked when he opened his eyes.
"Ah, Mr. Longbottom. How lovely to see you again. Is this your daughter?"
"No, Mr. Ollivander," Neville said smiling, "This is Eva O'Connor. Her parents are muggles, so I am helping her with her school shopping today.
"I see." The ancient wizard got up and made his way into the maze of dark shelves without another word.
Eva's palms were sweating so fiercely she was worried any wand would just slip out of her fingers. She suddenly wondered if maybe no wands would work for her, and they'd decide it was all a big mistake and send her home.
The wand maker returned with a narrow box, moving like a ghost between the shelves and presenting her with a short honey coloured wand.
Eva reached out a shaking hand and took it, holding it awkwardly before giving it a quick jerk.
Her hair caught fire.
She let out a shriek, but almost before she could register what had happened, Neville had sprayed water from his wand and drenched her hair.
She spluttered, "O-Oh, my god."
Mr. Ollivander looked un-phased and plucked the wand from her fingers, "Perhaps dragon heartstring is not for you."
Even Neville appeared shocked, and he hastily dried her hair with warm bursts of air from his wand.
Eva looked up at him with her round blue eyes, "W-Was that normal?"
Neville hesitated, "Well, no, not normal. But my friend Seamus lit his mother's robes on fire when he was looking for his first wand, so it isn't abnormal."
Before she could decide whether to laugh or cry, Mr. Ollivander had returned with another box.
Eva took a deep breath.
No less than 16 wands later, Mr. Ollivander old Eva that he was sure he had found the one. Instead of getting tired, the corpse-like man only seemed to grow more excited with each failure, and by the 16th wand Eva swore he was ten years younger.
Eva snapped the wand from his hand and swooshed it through the air before she completely lost her nerve. In addition to lighting her hair on fire she had destroyed two shelves, Neville's robes, and Mr. Olivander's glasses.
A warm sensation spread from her fingertips up to her hairline, feeling at once like sunlight and warm water. She felt, for a split second, like she had met a friend.
"Oh," She whispered.
Mr. Ollivander smiled, revealing missing teeth, "Redwood and unicorn hair, 10 and a half inches, unyielding."
Eva looked down at the wand. It was a dark, warm colour, and not completely straight. It dipped down in the middle and then back up again. The grip wasn't sanded at all, and felt just like the bark of a tree.
"I love it."