Authors note: Don't own anything. P.S. I made an oopsy with her eye color it has to be green apparently based on a certain Harry Potter Wiki if I'm going with the statement it's like her dads... Okay maybe it can be green with flecks of gray? Yes? Yes. Sorry, the eye color is important... Seriously. I have put a poll up for you all to vote on which house you think she should be in. Please vote! The more people who vote the quicker I can write the next few chapters. Also, if you see any Arabella's instead of Arania's please tell me.
Chapter Three:
The Trip to the Alley
The sun streaming through the window was more than enough to wake up the sleeping eleven year old, but on any other day it wouldn't be. Arania, being a typical pre-teen, was very fond of sleeping in, however today that was thrown out the proverbial window. She had been to Diagon Alley many times in the past, but never to get her own wand, or uniform, or her school books. Needless to say the second light started to show over the top of the Flamel household, her green eyes had snapped wide open.
Sitting up she stretched, running her hands through her messy array of red hair. All of the events of last night had left her both excited and more than a little tired, so after Perenelle had left the room Arania encountered no trouble falling straight to sleep. The rain from the night before had left to reveal a beautiful sunny day, and if anything it just made her just more and more happy. She went about her normal morning routine, hardly able to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.
The only other time she had been this nervous and excited was when she visited Hogwarts as an early eighth birthday present, three years ago. She had spent more than half the time with her head down and her voice quiet. It wasn't that she was normally shy, it was just daunting seeing so many of the students staring at her and her godfather as they walked down the halls. But she supposed that made sense, considering he was the headmaster and was looked up to by many, herself included.
However, she knew that wasn't the only reason. No other child had visited the school like she had, and while it had been during the winter holidays and hardly anyone was there, she had still spent most of her time in Uncle Alby's office. The few times she had ventured out into the main part of the school, she had stuck to her godfather's side like muggle glue, talking only to the teachers and a few of the nicer students who had been curious as to why there was a redhead eight year old following their headmaster.
Slipping on blue and white striped shirt, she attempted one last time to smooth out her hair, before heading down the stairs for breakfast. Reaching the kitchen she practically skipped into the room making her father, who was already seated at the table, smile at her.
"Someone's in a good mood." Her father observed looking at her over his cup of tea, his hand splayed across a copy of the daily prophet in front of him.
"Can you blame me?" Ara asked somewhat cheekily, reaching for her own mug so she too could have tea with her breakfast, just like always.
"No, I don't believe I can." Flamel stated, watching her as she put the kettle on. "You know with the amount of tea you drink in a day, I wouldn't be surprised if you started sweating out Earl Grey through your pores." He teased, and she rolled her eyes.
"If I do it's your fault."
"My fault?" He asked, feigning being aghast. "How on earth would it be my fault?"
"You were the one that introduced me to the every day ritual of a morning cup of tea." She explained plainly, taking her breakfast of toast and marmalade in one hand, and her tea in the other so she could sit across from him.
"So you just added the extra cup at lunch and the one right before bed by yourself then?"
"No, we can blame Mum and Uncle Alby for those." At this her father chuckled, before reaching across the table to ruffle her hair, causing her to scowl at him around the mouthful of toast she had, which of course just made him smile more. They sat in silence for a while. Him reading his paper, her mentally planning the day out in her head. Both of them had been finished with their meal for a good ten minutes when Flamel cleared his throat.
"Well, we better get to it, little wren. I want to get this over with sooner rather than later." Folding the paper in half, he got up taking both of their dishwater to the sink.
"Is Mum coming with us?" Ara asked, curious as to where her mother was.
"Nope, it will be just us, kiddo. Your mother has a meeting to attend to with that herbology group from Romania."
"Oh, okay." Ara said a little disheartened. As much as she loved her father, her mother was the one she really got along the best with, for the most part. There were some things she and her father got on better about, but Perenelle was generally the go to for any 'girl' advice. Not to mention Nicholas was a nightmare to go shopping with on the best of days. She ran upstairs to get ready and by the time she got back down her father was standing at the fireplace ready to use the floo network to get there since Ara couldn't apparate yet. Though, to be honest she didn't mind floo that much. From what she had heard about apparition, it could be pretty uncomfortable, but then that did make sense since you were literally being pulled through the fabric of time and space of one place to that of another.
"Do you want me to go first or do you want to?" Her father asked, trusting her to make the right decision.
"I can go first." He nodded at her, and Ara fixed her grey robes around her before grabbing a handful of floo powder and stepping squarely in front of the fireplace. She cleared her throat once before throwing the silvery powder into the fireplace, producing emerald green flames that licked upwards towards the chimney.
"The Leaky Cauldron!" She commanded before quickly rushing into the flames, and in a blink of an eye they entrapped her completely. Her head spun dizzyingly as her body was rushed past fireplace after fireplace, until finally she came to an abrupt stop at her intended one; a fireplace made of red brick with a wrought iron gate. Spluttering she crashed into the fireplace, stumbling out as quickly as possible into the Leaky Cauldron. A few of the other occupants lifted their heads to look at her critically but the owner of the inn that doubled as a pub, Tom, barely glanced over at her just as her father appeared in the hearth behind her.
He gave her father a respectful nod before going back to cleaning the glass in his hand. He didn't make any comments knowing already that Nicholas didn't like the extra attention that came with being the maker of the Philosopher's Stone. Not that Tom actually knew who Arania was though.
Over the years, her father had become less well known by appearance and more so by name, making it easy for them to go anywhere as long as they didn't mention their surname. Following her father, Ara walked out of the main part of the pub, going instead to the small back courtyard where Nicholas came to a stop in front of a brick wall.
While Ara had visited Diagon Alley on a number of occasions, the way to get in from the outside world never ceased to amaze her. Nicholas had already taken out his wand and walking up close to the wall he ever so carefully tapped it on the bricks in a practiced manner, taking a step backwards as the bricks began to move to form the archway into one of the major centers of the wizarding world.
The sun streamed down into the crowded street, and the chatter of witches and wizards alike going about their shopping filled the air. The ever colorful shop signs hung off the sides of every building and some street vendors offered baked goods and sweets to the shoppers. Looking around Ara noticed that it was quite a bit more crowded than usual, but she supposed that was to be expected since students of every age were out looking for their school supplies. And for the first time she would be joining them.
"So we need to stop by Gringotts first, but after that we can start wherever you like." Her father said, leading the way to the Wizarding Bank. Walking up the steps to the great building, Ara couldn't help but notice the people in front of them. It was a rather large family, one with six kids and parents all of them with bright red hair that rivaled her own. One of the boys looked to be about her age, but the other four were older, while the girl of the family seemed to be younger. Watching them curiously she followed Nicholas inside, the dim interior of the bank a stark contrast to the sunny street outside.
"Darling?" She brought her attention back to her father. "I need to attend to some business, if you would stay up here?" She nodded, her father made to walk away but she stopped him.
"What, no warning not to wander off?"
"Would it make a difference?" He asked, knowing his daughter's inquisitive nature all too well. While it bugged Perenelle to no end, he encouraged it. After all more than half of his greatest discoveries came about just because of sheer curiosity. "Just try not to stray to far, I would hate to have to cast a Carpe Retractum in front of everyone." He commented, and she just nodded not really wanting to being seen being pulled by a supernatural rope to her father for all the wizarding world to see. Accepting her answer, he walked off after one of the many goblins, and Ara glanced over at the family of red heads who were still standing in line.
Three of the boys seemed to be having an argument, and needless to say their words carried rather far in the spacious bank.
"But Perce surely you know what this means? Now that you're a prefect you could-" One of the boys was saying before "Perce" cut him off.
"I'm not going to get you out of trouble just because you are my brothers." He stated blatantly, fixing the horn-rimmed glasses that were perched on the top of his freckled nose. His stance was ram-rod straight, his facial expression one that could only be described as marginally smug.
"Oh you wound me Percy, you really do." The other boy said dramatically, and looking closer Ara saw that him and his other brother were clearly twins. "I was merely suggesting that you perhaps, you know, turn the other way." Percy heaved an exasperated sigh at their antics, rolling his eyes.
"Fred, I am not going to "turn the other way". Percy declared glancing off in the other direction after his parents who hadn't yet started to move. "I don't see the point of it. All you are doing is endangering your future." At this the two other boys snorted.
"Endangering our future? Oh please we haven't even taken our OWLs yet."
"Just because you're in third year means you can slack, and what if you rub off on Ron?" The two twins turned to each other.
"Of course we can slack, silly! We've known how to do that since first year. Plus we don't even need to train Ron in the art of slacking, he's got it covered all on his own."
"Whatever, I am going to go talk to mother." Percy said flouncing off over to the redheaded woman, but he returned a moment later.
"Fred you, Ron, and George stay here. We can only get a small cart." He explained before hurrying to catch up to the rest of his family, leaving the youngest boy and the twins behind. The twins seemed to exchange a look before sauntering up to their younger brother.
"Hey Ron, want to hear a spell? It will turn Scabbers yellow." Fred tempted, or at least she assumed it was Fred, the other twin, who she thought was George, was so similar. The younger boy didn't seem so convinced, crossing his arms over his chest and watching his brothers suspiciously.
"Why would you want to show me a spell?"
"Do you really think we'd abandon you like Perce the Prefect?" George questioned, drawing out the word Prefect. "Nah, we'll help you out ickle Ronnie. Can't have any brother of ours turning out like that Percy boy." With that the twins dragged him closer to the doorway, but Ara could still hear them rather well.
"Percy is our brother. And why do you bring me over here?" Ron stated, and Fred threw his arm around the shortest red head's shoulders.
"Wow, look at that! Eleven and learning already! And plus we can't have anyone overhearing our most ancient knowledge." Ara was hardly able to keep in a snort at that. Most ancient knowledge? Ron seemed to agree with her.
"Who would want to listen to a bunch of students?"
"All sorts! Spies, double agents, eavesdroppers, you name it! So you want to hear it or what?" Fred prompted. Ron nodded hesitantly, and Ara did her best to get closer to the conversing trio without being noticed, hiding behind a pillar so she could listen better. If they were doing magic she wanted to hear for herself, she was already pretty sure how, but she wondered if they actually knew.
"It goes like this... Sunshine Daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow. And then you point your wand at him-"
"And bam! Your rat is now not only grotesquely fat but also yellow!" George finished throwing his arms out in exclamation. Ara frowned at the group of them, that didn't sound like a real spell. After all almost all spells were based off of Latin or Greek or some part of English, not a poem. Not to mention the most common color changing spell was Colorvaria... The twins had to be lying.
"It will really work?" Ron questioned, and Ara face-palmed. How was he so gullible? Any idiot with a pinch of knowledge about magic would know the twins were lying.
"You bet! You wait you'll be the talk of the school! And all we'll hear about is Ron Weasley animal color changing extraordinaire! And you know what we'll say?" George prompted, but Fred didn't give Ron a chance to guess before jumping in.
"That's our brother!" He exclaimed, giving Ron a look of proud, and Ron seemed to stand up a little taller, chest-puffing out as they stroked his ego.Oh that poor boy, Ara thought, his self-confidence must be in absolute ruins after living with those two for eleven years.
"Alright, Ronnie, well as much as we find your conversation stimulating-" began George.
"I'm afraid, there is someone we really must speak with-" Fred finished halfway. Was their voices getting closer.
"Not that we know who it is yet." George said bringing the sentence to an end. They sounded terribly close, and Ara peeked her head around the column expecting to find them only a few feet away but that wasn't the truth at all. Instead just as she looked around a pair of pale arms snaked around her middle picking her up around the middle and carrying her out into the main part of the room, her feet dangling above the ground, before dropping her unceremoniously on the ground.
"Aha, an eavesdropper? What are you a spy? A double agent?" George demanded, and Ara glared at him despite her blush. They were quite a bit taller than she expected, towering over her by a good six inches, and she smoothed down her robes somewhat self-consciously before answering.
"Why would I spy on you? That's not even a re-" a hand was clapped over her mouth by Fred, who gave her a look, clearly trying to get her to stop before she ruined their trick.
"Not real? Not real?! Are you accusing us of lying?" She nodded, as Fred's hand was still over her mouth. Looking over at Ron she tried to catch his eye, but he seemed rather unsure of stepping in.
"Sure sounds like she is, Fred. But I think she's the liar."
"Yes those are my feelings as well, George." Fred peered at her closer, observing her while still holding his hand over her mouth. "And you know what we do with liars? We do all sorts of things!"
"We hang them from their toes-"
"Feed them to the ghoul-"
"And much, much worse." She rolled her eyes at them, all of this got old rather fast. They were clearly trying to intimidate her but really wasn't working. Tired of having Fred's hand over her mouth she took matters into her own hands. Sticking out her tongue she licked him, he dropped his hand, while she drinking her nose at the taste of dirt and sweat on his hand.
"Eugh! It licked me! The fiend licked me!" He gasped horrified, staring at his hand in terror.
"If you didn't want me to do it, you shouldn't have put your hand over my mouth." She replied, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.
"Well, if you didn't tell such horrid lies-"
"We wouldn't have to go to such desperate measures." His twin stated. "But you know what? We're feeling forgiving today so we propose a deal." Fred said, walking closer to her, causing her to back up.
"What kind of deal?" She asked suspiciously, after a moment, knowing full well that she had probably just walked right into their trap. Or rather backed up into it as she felt the pillar against her back. She wasn't afraid of them, but she was a little wary. After all, they were two complete strangers, not to mention two boys that had to be at least two years older than her!
"Well it's not that bad of a deal. If we let you go without punishment..." George trailed off for a moment. "Wait, you are actually going to Hogwarts, right?" She nodded hesitantly, not really liking their idea already. "Oh lovely, thought you looked like a first year. Anyway, if we let you go you owe us a favor once we get to Hogwarts-"
"Which we can collect at anytime-"
"Anywhere-"
"In front of anyone we see fit." Fred stated, and she watched them for a moment debating her answer. This felt awfully like making a deal with the devil, but to be honest at least it would be interesting. Though by the sounds of Percy, those two were trouble makers, not that she minded.
"What kind of favor?" She inquired carefully, and the twins exchanged a look.
"Oh nothing that bad, maybe just helping us with something." Fred said nonchalantly, looking down at the redhead girl, who was glaring back at him in barely concealed doubt. Goodness, she either going to be sorely disappointed or she was no doubt going to regret this.
"Deal." She stated, and she was rewarded with a beaming grin from both of the twins.
"Well know that that's over, I think it's best if we tell you our names-" But instead off being cut by his twin, he was cut off by Ara, who was quite tired of the way they were constantly finishing each other's sentences.
"No need, you're Fred and he's George you're twins and brothers with Ron and Percy. Your last name is Weasley." All three of the Weasley boys stared at her in surprise.
"You know our names?" Ron asked, finally piping up from his spot on the wall.
"Your voices carry terribly far in a large room." Ara commented, and the twins smirked at her.
"So you were eavesdropping!" George announced loudly, and she just shook her head at him, rolling her eyes.
"I never said I wasn't." That seemed to knock them all silent, but they were spared a response by the sound of their family coming back from the innermost area of the bank. Percy was drawling loudly to the youngest child, something or other about the importance of prefect hood, and Ron quickly hurried back over to his mother. The twins however stayed put, eyeing Ara with raised eyebrows.
"You could come in handy-"
"But how long were you listening?" Fred finished the question.
"Long enough to know that your older brother Percy has a stick up his-" George cut her off by putting up a hand before she could complete her sentence, glancing around to see if the boy in question had heard.
"No need to finish that thought there, kiddo, we've known that for thirteen years." Fred said bitterly also glancing over to their family. "What's your name anyway?"
"Arania Fl-Falor. Arania Falor." She answered almost forgetting her "new" last name, she could only hope they wouldn't notice. The twins both grimaced at her, causing confusion to build up a little, had they noticed already? Was that even possible? "What?"
"Arania... it's just so-"
"Stuffy. It's really stuffy. Sounds a bit like one of those muggle flowers. Do you have a nickname or something?" George questioned, his face still pulled into a weird expression.
"My parents call me Ara." At this both of the boys made tsking noises.
"That won't do, that simply won't do. We'll have to change that." Ara mentally groaned at this, great another name change.
"Well, my Dad calls me wren, you know. Since it's part of my name already. Why not that?" The twins shook their heads vehemently.
"We will just have to come up with one of our own."
"Why? You don't even know me. Why would it matter?" Fred gave her a horrified look at that, while George feigned a shocked look.
"Don't know you? Why of course we know you! We know you're great at sneaking around-"
"Have an ear for interesting conversation-"
"And quite a bit sarcastic. Not to mention I would gather a bit bright too..." Fred trailed off. "Speaking of which care to explain how a little first year knows that the "spell" we gave Ron was rubbish?" Ara let out a sigh. How was she supposed to answer that? However, she was momentarily saved by the sound of their mother calling for the twins.
"Give us a moment, Mum!" George called over his shoulder, and that was when Ara realized that none of the rest of the Weasley family could actually see past the twins' lanky and much taller figures, and by the looks of it the Ron boy would be of little help.
"Well, we're waiting." Fred said pointedly, waiting for Ara to explain expectantly.
"The most common spell for changing colors is Colorvaria, not that silly rhyme. If anything it will just zap the rat, if even that. Not to mention, spells can't be poems. Certain enchantments maybe, or perhaps a prophecy but not a spell." Ara explained, and they both uncrossed their arms, impressed.
"Seriously though, how do you know-" thankfully, Ara was saved yet again by the pair of lungs their mother possessed.
"George and Fred Weasley, you come here right now! We still have to get all of our shopping in, and so help me you will have to room with the ghoul for the rest of your holiday if you make us any later!" The redheaded woman commanded loudly and the twins exchanged a wide-eyed glance of terror, before shouting back in unison.
"Coming, Mum!" George ran off right away, but Fred trailed behind slightly.
"We'll see you on the Hogwarts Express." He paused for a moment, before clapping her on the shoulder, effectively surprising her, as her knees buckled slightly from the unexpected force though it was hardly a tap. "You don't seem half bad Arabella Falor." He pulled a face. "We really have to do something about that name. See you!" He called behind him as he walked away, hands in his robes, red hair shining in the dim lights of the bank. She watched the family leave, albeit loudly, but was saved from further boredom by the return of her father.
"What were you doing Papa?" She asked her father, and he just shook his head.
"Checking on a certain matter. One of our possessions will be moved to a new home soon and I wanted to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible." He responded, but before she could ask anymore he changed the subject. "Now where to first, little Wren?"
So I decided to split the chapter in two... To buy myself a little time to get those answers from the poll, but anyway thanks to all those who have reviewed! So far only one person has voted, c'mon guys step it up there's only two more chapters before the sorting! Please vote in the poll, please, please, please. Follow, favorite, review!
Asa stated previous, her name is now changed to Arania. Sorry for any confusion, it was for mostly selfish reasons. (I couldnt think of any nicknames)