"Jupiter Flora?" A young secretary poked her head around the Minister's door.
A young girl, roughly around 16, looked up at her. To say the girl was strange looking was an understatement. She had waist length blue hair, with bright purple eyes framed with long lashes that seemed to engulf her face. The girl was pale, short too, with a face that can be described as pretty. No, scratch that, the young girl was mystically beautiful.
"You can come in now. The minister would like to speak with you."
Jupiter stood up from the chair and wandered into the office, blinking against the sudden light of the sun shining through the window. The secretary ushered her in, and closed the door, leaving Jupiter alone with the minister.
The office was large, with 2 windows that had been magically altered to show the weather, even though the ministry was deep underground. It was covered in paperwork, frames of wizards and young witches adorning the walls beaming at her and smiling. His family maybe, Jupiter mused.
"Miss Flora?"
Jupiter transferred her odd eyes from her surroundings to the broad man in front of her. He was mid fifties, with sad eyes, she noticed. He did not look unfriendly, merely having a polite expression on his face as he scrutinised her.
"Please sit. Do you know why you are here?"
"No, sir."
It was true- she didn't know why she was here. Jupiter had been brought into work this morning, as she was every morning, with her mother and father and left to practice her lessons in the gym room. Glancing up at the clock, it was nearing 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Her parents usually picked her up from the gym at 2 to take her home, and instead a blonde secretary had fetched her, ushering her up to this office.
"I am sorry to say your parents were in an accident due to their line of work this afternoon, Miss Flora- Jupiter. They were transferred to St. Mungos instantly, however they did not pull through."
The blood was ringing in her ears. What? What was this man talking about? Her parents wouldn't just leave her! She had nobody else! Nobody-
"Jupiter?"
Jupiter's teeth gritted, her breathing becoming haggard. Her blue hair seemed to crackle around her and she noticed the minister warily noticing the sudden decrease in temperature.
"Jupiter? Jupiter!"
As suddenly as it began, it stopped. The water in the glass that was placed in front of her upon her arrival had turned into a solid block of ice, and looking down, she noticed her hands were turning grey.
xXxXxXxXXxXxXxXxX
After the little incident in the minister's office, time seemed to rush past her without her being a part of it. She heard words but they barely made sense.
"Your parents left you everything, but you're too young to live alone-"
"Your parents have no immediate relations.. In fact you don't seem to have any family at all-"
"You will attend Hogwarts until further matters are addressed, we will keep in touch by owl, for now we will assign you a guardian to look after you until September-"
Whilst Jupiter had been taught to do incredible things with her skills, she had not been taught how to deal with grief. It was a raw, striking pain, something that seemed to stab at you every time you noticed something that dragged up a fresh memory. Grief followed her everywhere, and whilst she had not yet shed a single tear, her pain was slapped across her face like a beacon. It would pursue her to the ends.
"Miss Flora?"
Jupiter didn't even look up. She had been placed in a room above a pub for the time being, and hadn't eaten since she was told the awful fate of her parents yesterday. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the floor.
"Miss Flora." The voice repeated itself, this time sounding a little more pitying. Jupiter felt the bed she was perched on dip as the unknown intruder sat next to her.
"Look at me."
Jupiter blankly looked up and was taken aback by the impossibly blue eyes that seemed to x ray her very core. An elderly... Well, he couldn't be called elderly. He looked old, but he did not seem it. His presence emitted energy, life, magic. He had a long beard, reaching to his mid thighs and he wore a crooked typical wizards hat upon his head. He peered at her, smiling slightly, over his half moon spectacles that twinkled in the sunlight. Jupiter felt an instant warming to the man and offered a mere ghost of a smile back. Oh well, baby steps.
"I am Albus Dumbledore. Well, I will be known as Professor Dumbledore to you soon, as you will be attending my school. But on a slightly less formal note- I have volunteered to be your legal guardian."
He offered out a hand for her to shake. She took it warily.
"I'm Jupiter Flora, though I think you know that already, Mr Dumble- Professor." Her voice came out raspy, a mere whisper compared to her normal happy voice. Happy. She could barely remember that feeling.
He beamed at her.
"I must say, Jupiter, you have very unique hair. Have you put a potion on it?"
"No, sir. My hair has always been this colour. And my eyes, my m-mum had the same col-colour hair and eye- eyes.." She trailed off, a fresh wave of grief breaking against her heart and she squeezed said eyes shut to regulate herself.
"I am deeply sorry for your loss, Jupiter. Losing somebody is a terrible thing, but losing people you hold close to you and very dear to you, most specifically family, can be destroying."
Jupiter choked back a dry sob. Dumbledore raised his hand and placed it upon her shoulder.
"Have you cried yet?" He asked her quietly.
"No, sir. It's not that it doesn't hurt, it's just, tears aren't coming..." She whispered back. Jupiter somehow felt she was betraying her parents by not making her grief clear, painfully evident.
"Tears will come, my dear. And so will the end of your pain, and you will look back on your memories of your mother and father and smile. They would not want you to blame yourself, or waste away hiding within yourself, hm?" His blue eyes, though sad, twinkled at her and he held out his hand.
Swallowing a large lump that seemed to have materialised from nowhere in her throat, she took his hand and was pulled up. She followed him out of the bedroom door and down some creaky, wooden stairs lit by candlelight.
They passed under a small archway and light and laughter seemed to hit Jupiter in the face. Looking around, she noticed they were in a cavern of sorts. The air was warm and friendly, a fire roaring happily in the fireplace and people mingled everywhere with drinks. She'd forgotten she was in an inn.
"This, Miss Flora, is the Leaky Cauldron. Located in Diagon Alley in London! I expect the person who brought you here didn't tell you much about where you were going,"
She shook her head. The person in question hadn't. They'd literally brought her here, whispered rather obviously about her to the barman and left, leaving him some money. The barman had been friendly though, brought her food and though she had left it, hadn't said a word when he came back to fetch it some time later.
"Where are we going?" Jupiter asked curiously.
"Diagon Alley. We have to buy you some school items for your year at Hogwarts- You'll be in sixth year, studying for your NEWTs. I understand you sat your OWLs at home with a Ministry supervisor?"
She nodded.
"May I ask your results?"
He probably already knew, so Jupiter shrugged.
"I got 'Outstanding' in every subject. Although my parents told me not to tell him all the spells I know."
"Why?" Dumbledore probed.
"Because they said I know more for my age than others, and showing him my magic may mean the ministry would be curious as to why my parents were teaching me such advanced stuff, I guess."
"Ah. How interesting. Those grades are something to be very proud of, Jupiter. You'll be almost top of your year when you come to Hogwarts."
He hummed happily as they wandered down the busy street. Year.. She'd forgotten about that. Other people. Friends. People she could talk about boys with (though she knew nothing to talk about) and to do her hair with (her hair was fine as it is, why would she talk about it?) and to study with. Well, that last one she didn't find another reason not to do.
People shot her odd looks on the street. Jupiter was surprised. She knew she looked odd with her blue hair and purple eyes, but wizards tended to look weird anyway so it had never bothered her. She'd never noticed the looks before when out with her mother or father walking down this same street. Maybe now she was walking down this street with a stranger, people's opinions became a lot more important. Suddenly, Jupiter felt very self conscious and vulnerable.
"Ready to get your school robes? You looked rather in a daze there."
Shaking her head, Jupiter managed a half smile and stepped into the bustling shop. There was a young couple looking at dress robes- wedding?- and a large red headed family. Jupiter managed a real smile this time and watched the family. At least she wasn't the only with bright hair anymore- the whole lot of them were completely ginger. Dumbledore seemed to recognize the family and chuckled.
"Why, fancy seeing a group of Weasleys." His voice boomed out.
All the Weasleys turned around, and upon seeing Dumbledore, called out greetings and flocked around him. Jupiter suddenly felt a bit out of place with this warm greeting, stepping back and smiling at the group of happy people. It was nice, seeing happy people. Especially a happy family. It seemed to help, even if her heart seemed to squeeze a bit.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, this is Jupiter Flora. She will be joining school this September for her sixth year. So, you'll be in the same year as Fred and George, Jupiter." He turned to her, his eyes twinkling yet again.
She couldn't even remember their names, even though he'd just told her. She knew Harry because Dumbledore pointed at him, and she assumed the one next to him to be Hermione, as Dumbledore had pointed at her, too. The rest were all redheads, and so mingled in as one.
"Hey." She stepped forward, smiling genuinely. If these people were to become her schoolmates she was going to make an impression. They all gawked at her odd features before smiling and greeting her back. The Weasleys parents finished their hushed conversation with Dumbledore. Jupiter had a feeling it was about her.
"Right, you lot, we better get going, we need to get Harry his owl feed still and that's all the way down the other end of the Alley." Mrs Weasley shouted, ushering them out of the door. They called a goodbye and left, leaving just the parents and Dumbledore and of course Jupiter.
The Weasleys gazed at her sympathetically. Mrs Weasley reached out and placed her hand on Jupiter's shoulder.
"It will be alright in the end, my dear. It always is." She pulled the startled girl into a quick hug with her before walking out of the door, Mr Weasley following her.
Dumbledore smiled after her and looked down at Jupiter, who was still looking shocked.
"Molly is very affectionate. She knew your parents... As well as anybody can know Unspeakables I suppose. The people who worked in the Department of Mysteries did not often venture or converse with the other departments. Your parents, as far as I understand, kept very much to themselves."
Jupiter nodded blankly. She was still trying to control the conflicting emotions running through her. She felt an overwhelming surge of happiness when Molly Weasley had hugged her, yet painful memories of her mother doing the same warm action popped straight into her head.
Shaking her head, she listened to Dumbledore's list of robes and the saleswoman ushered her over to standing stool and she was poked with pins whilst she had them fitted.
Dumbledore hummed in the background and smiled when she came out, clutching her robes.
"Sir, I don't have any money..."
"Not to worry, Jupiter. The minister explained- you have all your parents worldly possessions, as well as their incredible talents as far as I can see," He winked at her.
"This includes your parents Gringotts account, which they have a rather substantial amount of money in. They were paid very generously for their jobs due to the high risk, you see, so you have enough money to fairly... Last you the rest of your life, if you so wish it. I took the liberty of getting enough out for you to pay for your school things."
"Thank you, sir."
After paying for her robes, Jupiter left. She eagerly looked around the street for the friendly family they met, however they couldn't be seen. Feeling slightly disappointed, she looked up into Dumbledore's knowing gaze.
"You'll see them at Hogwarts, Jupiter. Don't worry. Now, may I see your wand? I have to perform some spells with it against mine so your magic recognizes me as your legal guardian."
"Um, sir, I don't have a wand. I've never had a wand."
He looked startled at this.
"How did you perform your exams?"
"I did it wandlessly. I mastered all the spells simply enough, I didn't feel the need for one..."
"But what did the examiner say when he saw you performing magic without a wand?"
"My parents got me a fake one and I simply used my hands, but holding a stick of wood."
Dumbledore gazed at her.
"You managed to do all of the spells required for the exams wandlessly, and still get outstanding results?"
Jupiter shrugged her shoulders. How was this a big deal?
"Yeah, sir."
He set off at a brisk walk, leaving Jupiter trotting after him.
"You seem to have surprised me, Jupiter. Only an incredibly, and I emphasise incredibly powerful witch or wizard can perform spells wandlessly. Let alone a young teenager whom has been home taught and used a fake wand to fool the examiner..." He chuckled.
Jupiter smiled smugly. Powerful? Cool. Of course, she had nobody to compare her powers to, so she didn't really know what powerful meant, but it still made her grin as this came from a professor at a school!
They reached a small shop that could be barely noticed. The sign read "Ollivanders".
"This is a wand shop," He told her.
"If you've been performing your magic outstandingly up till now without a wand, I am insatiably curious as to how you will perform with one."
They stepped inside. Jupiter felt like she was being talked to death, but then again she hadn't said much at all since the news about her parents. The wand shop was small, and very, very long. It was very dark except for a few lanterns and candles stood on shelves- and there were shelves and shelves of small rectangular boxes. The shelves stretched on for so long the corridor cascaded into darkness before Jupiter could see the end of it. She shivered, sensing anothers presence.
"Anybody there?" She called out suddenly to the darkness, not enjoying the feeling.
"Someone has a good sense of presence in them," A murmur came from the darkness and Mr Ollivander stepped out. He was a short man, elderly with a pair of round glasses perched on his nose. He looked like a dusty old librarian.
"Hello, Mr Ollivander." Dumbledore greeted the wandmaker, and Ollivander smiled up at him and tilted his head in greeting.
"You are here for a wand?" He enquired.
"Yes, sir." Jupiter seemed to be saying that a lot. Maybe short answers were becoming her thing.
"How old are you?" She'd forgotten. Today was actually her birthday.
"16, sir. It's actually my birthday today."
Dumbledore looked pointedly at her.
"You should have told me, Jupiter. Happy birthday none-the-less." Dumbledore smiled, amused.
Ollivander watched the exchange.
"And, why, pray, are you asking for a new wand?"
"I was home taught sir. I used wandless magic, and am only this year attending school properly."
"You used wandless magic? How old were you when you first started?" Ollivander seemed startled too. Why was it such a big thing? Jeez.
"5." Jupiter muttered.
"Hm. You are a very extraordinary girl, Jupiter." Ollivander smiled at her, then gasped.
"Wands! You will be a hard choice, very hard choice indeed, wandless magic indeed, maybe raven feather, that is rare..." He was muttering as he stalked down the shelves, throwing boxes on the floor as he shook his head.
Dumbledore had a pointedly interested look after the old man and Jupiter smirked.
"Is he crazy?" She whispered to the professor.
"Hm?" He said, pretending not to hear. He began to hum and rock on the balls of his feet.
"I said, is he-"
"Aha! Here, try this."
Ollivander thrust a box at her, opening the lid. She took the wand out of it. The wand felt cold, and a shiver ran up her arm. Almost instantly she dropped it.
"No. It feels like holding an icicle."
Ollivander began to mutter again and looked at her oddly.
"What is your second name, Jupiter?"
"Flora."
"Daughter of Mercury?"
"Yes, sir."
"I remember giving him his first wand. His was a very odd wand, very short. With a core of lion hair. Wandmakers don't usually use a mammal for the wand core, it's not a magical creature... Hmmm..."
He looked at her. Then gasped again and scurried off.
Jupiter raised her eyebrows at Dumbledore. He looked the other way, a smile playing around his lips.
Ollivander returned, seemingly looking like he really didn't want to give her this particular rectangular box.
"This is the oldest wand we have. It was made by Rowena Ravenclaw, whos familiar was actually an eagle. If I were to sell it to someone who collects founders items, it is priceless. For a student, it is just another wand."
Dumbledore gazed interestingly over Jupiter's head. She warily eyed the box.
"If it's such a precious wand, why are you bringing it to me?"
"Eagle feather. Willow. 11 and a half inches." He murmured, ignoring her.
"Another unique core. But here, try it."
Jupiter didn't even need to touch the wand when he took the lid off of the box before she knew it was hers. It's mere presence seemed to comfort her and make her feel powerful, confident, real. Jupiter raised her hand and the wand flew into it. Raising it, she murmured her favourite spell.
"Expecto Patronum."
As expected, her eagle flew out of the tip of the wand, flying around the shelves, lighting the whole store in a silvery glow. Ollivander beamed, as did Dumbledore. Her eagle flew out of a distant ceiling window, leaving the three alone.
"You know, Jupiter, after you start at Hogwarts you won't be able to perform spells outside of school anymore." Dumbledore said.
"Why not?"
"Your home teaching meant you were not included in the under 17 public magic law, but you will be when you begin to learn at a school."
"So you mean I won't be able to perform magic outside of school until I'm 17?"
"I'm afraid not."
"That sucks so hard."