A/N
Because this chapter contains some reference from the Sorcerer's Stone, I'd like to say the following:
Harry Potter does not belong to me. Only the plot and the OCs belong to me. Enjoy the chapter and PLEASE R&R.
Clarisse stared at her surroundings in wonder. Diagon Alley was easily the most beautiful place she had ever been to. There were shops filled with books and robes and plenty of other things Clarisse didn't have a name for. How could her mother have tried to keep her away from something so incredible? She looked over at her grandmother who was watching her with an amused smirk. Gabrielle seemed to have taken to her granddaughter, which was no small feat as Marissa would say.
"Enough staring, child," Gabrielle said finally. "It's time to get your things. Do you have your letter?" Clarisse nodded. "Good. Come along, then. You're getting your wand first."
The two of them made their way through the crowded streets, Gabrielle keeping a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder. Clarisse couldn't resist staring at all the interesting things she saw in shop windows. She turned her head and saw a crowd of children around her age gathered around what appeared to be a broomstick.
"Grandmother, why are they all staring at that broom?" Clarisse asked, pointing a finger at the crowd. Gabrielle turned to see where Clarisse was pointing.
"That's not just a broom, child," she said, "it's a Nimbus 2000, the fastest racing broom yet."
"Racing broom?" Clarisse asked with an arched eyebrow.
"For Quidditch, child," Gabrielle said with an impatient sigh. "Enough questions. We're here."
Clarisse looked up at the shop she and Gabrielle were standing outside of. The shop was narrow and shabby, quite unlike its neighbors and hardly the type of place Clarisse pictured her grandmother going into. Hastily placed gold letters messily spelled Olivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. over the door. But despite her immediate disapproval of the shop's appearance, Clarisse followed her grandmother through the door and waited for someone to assist them.
Ten minutes passed and Clarisse thought that she and her grandmother would be there all day, when on elderly man with wide, pale silvery eyes approached them.
"Madam Aleshire," the man drawled, taking the back of Gabrielle's hand to his lips. "To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"
"Olivander, I'm here for my granddaughter, Clarisse. She'll be starting at Hogwarts in September and she needs a wand."
The man called Olivander locked his silvery eyes on Clarisse's bright blue ones. Clarisse, while dying to get away from the strange man, held his gaze with all the force she could muster.
"You look very like your mother, Miss...?"
"Arnolds," Clarisse said in her coolest voice.
"Miss Arnolds. Except for your eyes. Would I be correct in saying that you have your father's eyes?"
"Yes, Mr. Olivander."
"Well, Miss Arnolds I don't think I know your father, but the day your mother came into my shop for the first time, she purchased a nine and a half inch wand. Elm with a single unicorn hair at the center. Perfect for Charms, of course. Wait here while I find some wands for you to sample."
Clarisse had listened to Olivander's talk of wands so intently she almost hadn't noticed him walk away. She looked back at her grandmother who gave her a small, albeit encouraging smile. Suddenly feeling much more confident, Clarisse stood a little taller. She didn't know why, but Gabrielle's presence brought some sort of pride out from within her.
Olivander returned a moment later carrying several long, thin boxes.
"Let's start with this one shall we? Twelve and a quarter inches, yew and Phoenix tail feather. Give it a wave."
Giving her grandmother one last questioning look, Clarisse waved the wand a bit, only to have it snatched away from her by Olivander.
"Definitely not. Try this one, ten inches, beechwood and unicorn hair."
Knowing what to do this time, Clarisse waved the wand. Again, Olivander took the wand away.
"That'll never do. Here, nine and a third inches, maple and dragon heartstring."
And it continued like this for many more minutes. Olivander would hand Clarisse a wand and take it away just as Clarisse would begin waving it. But instead of becoming frustrated like his customer, Olivander became more and more gleeful with every wand he took away from Clarisse.
"My, my, aren't we a tricky customer?" Olivander would say with a rather creepy smile. Clarisse and Gabrielle would ignore these comments as best they could.
Finally, Clarisse waved a wand that Olivander did not snatch away from her. As she waved it, she felt a warmth flow through her hand and green and silver sparks shot out of the wand. Looking from Olivander to Gabrielle, Clarisse couldn't help but smile as the wand maker said,
"Well it appears this wand has chosen you, Miss Arnolds. Eleven and a half inches, spruce with dragon heartstring."
Gabrielle took it from there. She paid for the wand and thanked Olivander as he bowed them out of the shop, just as a giant man and a somewhat scrawny, dark haired, green eyed boy entered. Gabrielle did a double take when she saw the boy, but didn't say anything about it.
"Come along, Clarisse," she said."We're getting your robes next."
For the rest of the day, Gabrielle and Clarisse went to various shops all around Diagon Alley purchasing everything from books and potions ingredients to a beautiful, amber eyed eagle owl ("Consider it your birthday present from me, child.") Clarisse was having such a good time, she was beginning to think about asking if she could spend the remainder of the summer with her grandmother, but she knew her mother would never allow it. So instead she ate her ice cream, sulking at the end of the day.
"Clarisse, I was thinking," Gabrielle said slowly. "I know that things have been rather strained with you and your mother. Merlin only knows how you must be feeling about what your mother did to you. So I was thinking that you could stay with me at the manor until it's time for you to board the train. If it's alright with you, of course," she added hastily. Clarisse looked up at her grandmother in amazement.
"Y-you want me to stay with you at Aleshire Manor?" Gabrielle nodded her head.
"I would understand if you don't want to. I was merely thinking-"
"Grandmother it's a wonderful idea, I'd love to stay with you. But do you think my mum would let me?" Gabrielle gave a wave of her hand and snorted.
"Your mother won't be an issue, child. I will personally see to it that she has no objections to your staying with me."
"And my dad?" Clarisse couldn't help but ask. She regretted her decision, however, when Gabrielle's face darkened.
"As far as I'm concerned, you have no father. Why your mother married him is beyond me." When she saw the look of confused shock on her granddaughter's face, Gabrielle sighed. "Many wizards and witches believe that we should come out of hiding and put the muggles in their place."
"What do you mean 'come out of hiding?'" Clarisse didn't fully understand what her grandmother was getting at.
"Wizards had to go into hiding centuries ago just to survive. But this is a story for another time. We'll continue when you get to the manor. Oh look, it's the Malfoys." Clarisse turned around in her seat in time to see a tall, blonde man with cold, foreboding gray eyes and a boy who could only be his son. Upon seeing Gabrielle, the man grabbed his son's shoulder and steered him toward their table.
"Madam Aleshire," the man drawled, bringing Gabrielle's hand to his lips the way Olivander had.
"Lucius," Gabrielle said with a smirk. "I don't believe you've met my granddaughter, Clarisse."
"Pleasure," the man called Lucius said to Clarisse. "I don't think you've met my son, Draco?" The boy stepped forward, nodded to Clarisse and bowed to Gabrielle.
"What a charming child," Gabrielle chimed. "Will he be starting Hogwarts in the fall?"
"Yes. Narcissa and I expect for him to be sorted into Slytherin. But then again, what chance is there that he won't be in Slytherin?" He and Gabrielle shared a brief laugh. "So what house will Clarisse be sorted into?" Lucius asked.
"We're not sure. With any luck she'll be in Slytherin like the rest of her family, but I'm not sure." The adults were silent for a moment until Gabrielle suddenly announced she and Clarisse needed to be going. With a rather long goodbye to the Malfoys, Gabrielle Apparated back to Clarisse's house. Marissa rushed out and flooded them with questions. Though sorely tempted to tell her mother everything that had happened, Clarisse was still determined to be angry with her and ignored all of her mother's questions. She was just about to stalk back into the house when she felt her grandmother's hand on her shoulder.
"I'll owl your mother tomorrow about you coming to stay for the summer," she whispered in Clarisse's ear. Gabrielle smiled down at her granddaughter and Apparated away.