Author's note: Ah, another chapter, another day. Exciting, is it not?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter two: Diagon Alley.
"New places always help us look at life differently." -Joan Bauer.
Candace, it turned out, knew a lot more about the wizarding world than she originally let on. But it was befitting to somebody who worked as a judge; she should be shrewd.
Firstly, she demanded that Vanessa not go and tell her friends. The wizarding world was after all a secret and they couldn't let it slip in her hands. Directly after, she intended to take Emily out to go school shopping.
"Mum," said Emily, who was still a little surprised about all of this. "What age do you have to be to attend Hogwarts?"
"Eleven," Candace replied wearily(Emily had been badgering her non-stop with questions).
"Oh!" Emily smiled. "That's why the letter arrived on my birthday then!" The owl was punctual if that was its intention; it had in fact arrived on the tenth of August.
Be that as it may, Emily was in no rush to age. It was by her request that nobody celebrated the day, as she found that the mother ought to be celebrated instead.
To her irritation, she'd still recieved several birthday cards.
The owl in question, to shift the topic slightly, remained with Emily. She had tried to send it back home, but the owl had refused to go. Vanessa had found Emily's struggle rather humerous, and her mother only said that witches and wizards typically kept owl pets anyway. Emily had replied in a burst of indignation that the owl belonged to the school.
"Your point being?" Candace inquired. "You can simply return the owl upon your arrival at Hogwarts."
Emily huffed. "Alright then, but if I get in trouble-"
"Surely you won't get in trouble for the owl wanting to stay," Vanessa snickered. "Unless the owl accuses you."
The owl, who had been listening rather intensely, swooped down next to Vanessa and nipped her ear in a threatening sort of way. Vanessa shrieked, despite the fact that she wasn't really hurt.
Emily chuckled and held out an arm; the owl was there in a second. "You know, this might not be so bad." She smiled. The owl hooted happily in return. "Shall I call you something?"
The owl appeared to shrug, almost as if to say, "Whatever you'd like."
"Hm, you understand me, right?" Emily asked, before pausing. "Hoot once if you understand."
The owl hooted once, ruffling its feathers in a dignified way.
"Excellent." Emily beamed. "Are you a girl?" The own made no sound, giving her a reproachful look. "Boy?" It- or rather, he hooted once. "Right then!" She stroked his head in thought.
"You don't suppose I could just call you Owl?" She teased cheerfully. The owl clicked his beak to show his distaste. "Yeah, I guess not."
Another moment passed in silence. "You're rather stubborn...oh, I'll call you Stub!"
The own ruffled his wings and hooted once, clearly believing the decision to be hers. "Alright then!"
Stub flew from her arm onto the top of the TV set, hooting contentedly. Emily laughed. "So mum, what's a Muggle?"
"Well," Emily said as Candace led her through the bar. "I suppose the trip isn't a total loss if we get some beer. But I've been getting some weird looks."
Stub hooted, as if to say that it had been her choice to bring him along. "Not true!" Emily protested. "You refused to leave my arm!" He clicked his beak.
"Quiet for a moment, you two," Candace smiled as Emily opened her mouth to argue. "Tom, can we get through to Diagon Alley?" She asked. Emily saw that she was directing her attention to an old man behind the bar. What little hair that was left on his head took on an unpleasant yellow shade, but his smile was friendly enough.
"Ms. Jones, a pleasure." he greeted. "I must say, I never expected to see you back here after what happened."
Candace's smile looked forced, suddenly. "Right, well. My daughter here has been accepted into Hogwarts, so-"
"Ah, say no more." Tom led them out back, into a small, walled courtyard. "I don't suppose you have a wand?"
"No, do I need one?" Emily asked, rather nervous.
"You will." The bartender chuckled and tapped the wall three times with a wand of his own.
Emily found herself staring through a brick archway as her mother led the way through.
"What do you reckon?" She asked Stub.
He hooted comfortably and flew from her shoulder through the archway. She smiled. "Good enough answer for me."
Diagon Alley was possibly the most interesting place Emily had ever seen. She hardly noticed Stub hooting at her to get a move on or the brick wall closing back up behind her. She was surrounded by magical shops, people were calmly buying things here and going from store to store as if it was nothing. And, she supposed, it was.
As if in a trance, she put out an arm and clicked her tongue. Stub landed on it and she smiled affectionately. After a moment, she hurried after her mother.
"Mum, this place is incredible!" Emily beamed. "How did you know about this without telling me?"
"I'm not technically supposed to be here, Em," Candace smiled slightly. "Muggles aren't allowed. So keep it quiet, alright?" She winked.
Emily stared at her mother. Her bright gray eyes and neat brown hair always seemed to be hiding something from somebody, but Emily never suspected that her mother would be hiding something from her. With good reason, naturally...
Emily waited while her mother exchanged British pounds for what were called "Galleons," "Sickles," and "Knuts." Being a successful judge, Candace was able to hand her daughter a decent sized bag of money.
It was heavy, so Emily shoved it in the pocket of her coat. (Which she actually hadn't planned on wearing; her sister said she should wear it even if it was hot.)
"Thanks mum." she grunted as her mother took her by the arm and led her away.
"It's my responsibility as your mother." Candace brushed it off with a faint smile. "Now, have out that list of yours so we can see to your books."
After Emily had purchased robes, books, and several other of the required items, Candace took her to Ollivander's to buy a wand. Mr. Ollivander was a pale, elderly man with a fuller head of hair than Tom-but it had long since turned white. The man looked at Candace with an expression of slight distaste- he said it was because she could not use a wand- and took Emily back into the shop.
Ollivander took special care to measure every single limb Emily possessed, attempting to shoo Stub from her shoulder. He hooted reproachfully. The owl stayed.
"Now," Ollivander spoke finally. "You'll have to try with each wand until one chooses you."
"The wand chooses me?" Emily inquired, interested.
Ollivander nodded, taking out a lethal looking wand. It gave Emily a edgy feeling. "Try this, holly wood and a dragon heart string core."
Emily took it and gave it a flick. Nothing happened.
A few wands later, Ollivander handed her one that he said was cedar wood with a unicorn tail core. She smiled slightly, taking the wand and giving it a gentle flick. Yellow sparks flew from the end as Ollivander smiled decisively. "Yes, I think that will do."
After paying, Emily and her mother left the store. They walked around Diagon Alley, noticing with interest the other children who were buying school supplies- presumably for Hogwarts. Far from feeling assured, Emily was worried by the presence of other students. They all seemed to know their footing.
Stub hooted reassuringly, as if sensing her mental crisis. She chuckled slightly. "Thanks, Stub."
They walked for a few moments in moderate silence before coming up to a store with a sloppily nailed sign upon the door.
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." The store looked to be some sort of joke shop... And yet, the sign in front said in shaky writing, "Closed until further notice."
Upon closer examination, Emily noticed that the board was stained with tears. Around it, several pieces of paper were pinned to the door: "RIP Fred Weasley." "Hang in there, George!" "Goodbye, Fred." "We're sorry for your loss." "Good luck!"
The notes continued likewise. Emily turned to her mother, frowning. "Mum, who's Fred Weasley?" Candace smiled sadly and shook her head.
"I'm Muggle, Em. I don't know."
To Emily's surprise, an older boy- maybe around seventeen or eighteen- approached them. "He died in the war that ended a bit ago." Emily stared at him, befuddled. He was average height for somebody who'd just finished college, bearing every look of somebody who'd grown out of a lot of baby fat really fast. He looked a bit like Emily, really, with fluffy brown hair and eyes.
"War?" Emily sputtered. "There was a war?"
"Yeah, against Lord Vol- don't you know this?" He looked confused, but not angry in any way. Emily felt a stroke of guilt for her ignorance as she shook her head. "Well, uh... There was this wizard out who was killing a lot of people because they couldn't use magic. He was defeated this summer, but we suffered a lot of casualties." He looked sadly at the sign on the door. "Fred Weasley was a bit of a genius..."
"Oh." Emily said lamely. "Looks like I'm about to witness a lot more trouble than I expected this next month, aren't I?"
"Maybe." The stranger grinned and extended a handshake. "Neville Longbottom. Are you a Muggleborn that's about to go to Hogwarts?"
"Emily Jones," she replied, smiling slightly. She shook his hand. "And no, my dad was a wizard according to my mum over there." She pointed at Candace. "Never went to a wizarding school, though."
Neville nodded, thankfully letting the subject drop. "Were you raised by your mum?" Emily nodded. "No wonder you didn't know about the war. You'll be hearing about it all over Hogwarts when term starts." He grinned again. "I'm retaking my seventh year because we hardly got any education last year. Do you know about the houses?"
"Erm, I live in a house?" Emily offered. Neville laughed, and Emily grinned sheepishly.
"There are four houses at Hogwarts that you can be sorted into. The people in those houses will be like your family during your time there. There's Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw." He added before Emily could ask: "I'm in Gryffindor."
"Sounds pretty complicated," Emily blinked. "How are you sorted?"
"Well," Neville began.
The two spoke for a while, eventually finding an ice cream parlor to speak in. It was a pleasant exchange, Emily decided, and found herself hoping to see Neville again when she went to Hogwarts.
Author's note: Ending the chapter here because I felt like the next part of the story didn't fit in this chapter.
Anyway, I'd like to point out that I will by no means be pairing Emily up with any canonical character, be it Neville or anybody for that matter. There are plenty of canon ships I don't want to interfere with- for example, Neville and Hannah Abott- and I also don't feel that Emily will be content to be in a relationship at her age and with her personality. Neville and Emily get along well and are friends, but they will by no means be any more than that.
I'm just saying it explicitly because it seems sometimes that non-romantic affection has no place in our world any longer, and I intend to stress the importance of those sort of relationships in my writing.
Ending my tangent, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you later!
~Candy Was Here.