NOTICE:

I do not own any aspect of Harry Potter -the universe, place names, titles, or characters, nor anything else having to do with HP. The plot of this fan fiction is, however, mine. Harry Potter/Harry Potter universe and all aspects are owned by J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 4:

Mercedes slept. And slept. And slept some more. In fact, she didn't fully wake up until about five the next evening. When she finally stumbled her way down to the kitchen to grab a little something to eat, she found her dad and Marcia eating a modest dinner. "Glad to see you aren't dead." her dad joked, chuckling at himself. "Would you have come to investigate before I started moldering away, or only after you noticed the smell?" Mercedes asked darkly, still suffering from a sleep hangover, and not in the mood for joking. She poured herself a bowl of cereal and began slowly shoveling it into her mouth.

Marcia cleared her throat, and addressed Mercedes for the first time since she'd arrived. "How would you like to go shopping with me tomorrow, Mercedes? Your father has work, but I know you need to get a few remaining school supplies, and I'm positive you need better winter clothes. New Mexico gets cold, but nowhere near as cold as it gets here."

Mercedes looked up at her, noting the hopeful expression on her face. Clearly this was a peace offering, and one that she was expected to bite at. She looked from her step-mother to her father, who gave her a withering look. The thought of freezing in some drafty Scottish castle wasn't exactly how she planned on spending the next however many months, so she begrudgingly agreed. Marcia's face lit up. "Wonderful! How does ten o'clock sound?" Marcia asked, her eyes crinkling with her smile. How does that sound? God, that's early. Kill me now...

Mercedes shivered, rubbing her hands up and down her arms before quickly sticking them in her jean pockets. She didn't know why England had to be so bloody cold -mid-sixties in the summer wasn't normal. She was becoming quite grateful that Marcia was taking her clothes shopping at a Muggle mall first, before they headed to wherever Brits got their magical equipment, because her sweater was quickly proving inept at keeping the chill at bay. "Let's go get you a proper coat, dear. You'll need it as the year progresses." Marcia said, turning away from the house and making her way towards Mercedes. "Are you ready to go?" she asked, holding out her hand invitingly. Great. More apparation. Lovely. Mercedes steeled herself to take Marcia's hand, and with a loud pop, they were gone.

After they finished their clothes shopping -which Mercedes actually found herself enjoying- Marcia magicked their bags back to the house. Then she lead Mercedes down the blustery streets to their next destination: Diagon Alley.

"Turn in here," Marcia said, indicating a grim looking shop front, smushed between a record store and a book shop. They had entered what looked to be a pub, Mercedes thought. "Let's grab some cocoa before we continue on. How does that sound?" Marcia asked her, noticing Mercedes rubbing her hands together to rid her bones of the chill. "Alright." Mercedes sighed, knowing this was yet another attempt to get on her good side; Mercedes loved cocoa. "Two peppermint cocoas, please." Marcia told the barman, who nodded silently and waved his wand to begin their order. Marcia handed over the appropriate amount of gold, and they went to grab seats by a window so they could watch the Muggles pass unsuspectingly by. They sat in relative silence as they sipped their cocoa, which had floated over to their table piping hot, with a peppermint stick stuck in it and piled high with whipped cream. "You've got a bit of a mustache." Mercedes pointed out, indicating the foam lining her step-mother's upper lip. Marcia laughed and licked it away, using a napkin on the bits she couldn't reach. "So, tell me a bit about yourself, Mercedes." her step-mother said gently, leaning back contentedly in her seat. Oh, God. "Obviously I know the basics from your da, but you and I haven't exactly had time to get to know each other, and I would like to remedy that." she smiled at her step-daughter encouragingly. Mercedes gulped. She had been afraid of this moment; it's easier to loathe someone when you don't know them well, and Mercedes was amazing at blind hatred.

"What sort of things do you want to know?" she asked, attempting to mask her reluctance with a sip of cocoa. "Anything you want to tell me. What are your hobbies? What's your favorite school subject? What do you want to be when you're done with school? Absolutely anything you feel like, dear!" Marcia beamed at her, clearly happy the conversation was going somewhere, anywhere at all.

Mercedes sighed, looking down at her hands, wrapped around her mug for warmth. "Well, you know I'm sixteen. My mom and dad split when I was three, and my mom and I moved back to the states to be close to her parents. I went to a Muggle school as a kid, and as I grew, I found out I was magical like my parents. My mom pulled me from school when I was eight so no one would notice, and then I started at LLSM when I was eleven. Oh, uh, Las Lunas School for Magic. Pretty normal." she shrugged, refusing to look up from her drink. "When I started LLSM I met these kids -brother and sister- and we became best friends. We did everything together. But, we started growing apart... That's why I left." Mercedes trailed off, not wanting to say too much; it was still a sore subject.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Marcia cleared her throat. "Well, do you want to know anything about me?" Mercedes stayed silent as she attempted to regain control of her thoughts, her focus on some point beyond the Muggles outside. "I was a Ravenclaw, when I was your age. Prefect. My favorite class was Herbology, because it reminded me of my Da and his garden. When I left school, I became an apprentice for the Department of Magical Transportation, in the Floo Network Authority. Very boring job; You get to see into everyone's sitting room, though, so that was fun. Then after a few years, I changed over to the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, all because I had a crush on someone in the department. Ended up right on the bottom. Took me years to work my way back up, and that was after I dumped my God-awful excuse for a boyfriend." Marcia laughed a bit at the memory, then continued, as she could tell Mercedes had been listening, despite seeming indifferent. "It was when I was working in the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee that I met your da. About five years ago. I had to work with the Improper Use of Magic Office, and I was up on Level 2 for the week, helping them sort out this catastrophe with this old blind witch that kept thinking her Muggle postman was her dead husband... Anyways, I was up there, and all the Aurors came in from a late night shift to write up their reports, and this one kept staring at me. They left after not too long, all yawning. It was my last day in the department, and I didn't think anything of it until the next day. When I got to my desk the next morning, there was a single rose bud waiting for me. As soon as I reached for it, it began to bloom, and when it was fully grown, it transfigured into a note." Marcia blushed at the memory. "Turns out your dad had stayed late and asked around about who I was and where I worked. We went on our first date later that week. Only took that long because in all his excitement, your dad had forgotten to say who he was!" Mercedes chuckled at this and shook her head. Typical Dad...

After their little chat, they walked out back, and Marcia showed Mercedes how to get into the alley. "This is the roundabout way." she explained, touching her wand to a brick in the wall. "Usually I just apparate here. But since we were out shopping, I figured we might as well. Besides, I was really craving a cocoa..." The wall parted before them, and they made their way into the busy alley.

Mercedes faintly remembered the colorful shop fronts from when she was a very little girl and her parents were still together. Her parents had needed to go out to collect some ingredient for some potion, and they had decided to bring her with them. Her father had carried her on his shoulders the whole trip until she fallen asleep, lulled by sounds of the shoppers on the high street.

Mercedes stopped for a second, her eyes drinking in the rich scene before her. There was so much to take in, which she had come to notice, via experience, was a unique quality to wizarding shops. "So, we still need to buy you your robes -your old ones won't do at Hogwarts, because students there wear all black- and we also have to get you a new cauldron, since you couldn't bring that with you on the plane, what with it being a massive metal object and all." Marcia said, rummaging in her bag. She exclaimed quietly, fishing out whatever it was she had been after. "You da meant to give this to you himself, but he was rather busy with work." she said, handing over a thick parchment envelope, addressed to:

Miss M. Reyes

Seat 24B, Air France Flight #AF3621

Mid-Atlantic

Mercedes frowned at the strange address. Wizards... "They must've sent it off while you were mid-flight." Marcia chuckled to herself, noting Mercedes' odd expression. "It's a good thing the owl came to the house, though. I don't think things would have gone too well with the jet turbines..." Mercedes turned the letter over and noticed the seal was broken. "Your da and I opened the seal so we could get your things for you before you got here, since we were going to be running short on time. But of course, we don't know your course schedule yet, so we'll be getting your books later and have them sent to you." Marcia said, motioning for her step-daughter to follow her as she walked down the street and opened the door to one of the shops. Mercedes glanced up at the sign -Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions- before entering the shop. A young, cheery witch greeted them as they perused the racks, calling, "I'll be right with you -Just a moment!" from where she was kneeling in the back, pinning up the robes of a tall, blond haired young man. Marcia touched Mercedes on the elbow gently, "I'm going to try to find a nice pair of Chameleon skinned gloves. When she's ready for you, just tell her you need plain black Hogwarts robes, 3 full sets, no house. Okay?" Mercedes nodded, and Marcia was off.

Mercedes shuffled around the shop, waiting, until a piece caught her eye. She was so thoroughly engrossed in examining the beautiful, midnight blue traveling cloak with a fur-trimmed hood, that she didn't notice the shop girl come up behind her. "Beautiful, isn't it?" the girl asked. Mercedes jumped back to reality -she had been imagining herself wearing it- and was instantly greeted with two sets of eyes observing her -the shop girl, and the blond boy, who was still at the register, trying to adjust a small stack of parcels under his arm. "Yes, it's gorgeous." Mercedes sighed, letting her fingers trail over the soft material once more before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

"So, how can I help you?" Shop Girl beamed. "I need three full sets of plain black Hogwarts robes." Mercedes recited. "Come with me, dearie. What house?" Shop Girl asked as she waved for Mercedes to follow her around the register and towards the fitting area, summoning items as she went. "Um, no house, actually. I... I don't have one... yet." Mercedes said uncomfortably, now knowing how irregular the occurrence was, thanks to James and Lily. She was made even more uncomfortable by the fact that the blond boy was still fumbling with his packages, and was still within earshot. "I'm a transfer. From the states. Obviously..." she mumbled, praying no one was listening to her anymore. Shop girl closed her mouth when she realized it had fallen open slightly, and sprang into action, helping Mercedes up onto a pedestal in front of a row of mirrors. "No fear, I'll take care of everything! Once you've been sorted, you can have your parents send away for your proper house robes -if you'd like them. Will you be needing dragon hide gloves as well?" Mercedes shook her head. As Shop Girl helped Mercedes out of her sweater and into a robe, there was a tinkling of a bell from the front, signaling that the blond boy had finally left. About damn time, the wanker. Mercedes thought, still mortified that he had been there to hear about her Houselessness. "I'm Annalynn, by the way. Forgot to mention earlier. Madam Malkin was my gran." Shop Girl said around a mouthful of pins, waving her wand in a complicated fashion that made Mercedes' bottom hem even out.

Mercedes and Annalynn chatted amicably for the short duration of the fitting, discussing America and school, then Annalynn went into the back to whip up the rest of the order and get the sizing correct for the other robes, and Mercedes wandered back towards the front to find Marcia so they could pay.

Once done with gathering her uniform, the two ladies popped next door to gather some quills, ink, and parchment -Marcia decided that it would be a good idea to have some to spare- and finally made their way back up the street towards a shop called Potage's to grab a new cauldron. Once their purchases were all made, Marcia said she was quite worn out from their early start, and they apparated back to the house for lunch.

Mercedes sat on the edge of her bed, folding her new robes with the rest of her freshly washed laundry, and carefully placing them into her trunk. It was 2:37am Wednesday night, and in the morning -in a few short hours, actually- she would be leaving for Hogwarts. She had already packed her cauldron, potion ingredients, scales, writing utensils, parchment, and broom. Now it was just down to her clothes and a few personal items (a picture of her and her mom that was taken last year, one of her Dad and Marcia that they had given her at dinner -"To remember us by.", her radio -which her uncle had rigged to work around magic, makeup, a never-ending Sudoku game her uncle had given her, and a few favorite books from home). Mercedes carefully packed everything in, making sure nothing would shift over the course of the trip. She sighed heavily, looking over her packing list, checking off the last few things she had put in. Other than her bathroom items, she was done, and even those were packed up in her bathroom down the hall, waiting to be used one last time in the morning. She flopped back, exhausted, onto her pillow, blowing a bit of hair out of her eyes. This time tomorrow, I'll be at Hogwarts. And with that not so comforting thought, she fell into a restless sleep.