Auriga awoke early the next morning to an owl pecking at her bedroom window. She groggily got out of bed and stumbled to the window. As she spread her curtains, the brightness of the sunshine nearly blinded her, and as she lifted up the heavy pane, ducked when a loud flutter of wings flew past.

When she finally regained her sight, she took a look at the owl happily perched on top of her headboard, a letter tied to its claw.

"Thank you!" Auriga said, after untying the ribbon from his leg. The owl hooted and flew back to the window, waiting for her to examine its delivery.

The messy scribbles of Lucius's handwriting formed the words: Diagon Alley, Knockturn after? She grabbed a quill from her nightstand and wrote yes right after Lucius's signature. She re-tied the parchment to the owl's leg, and it flew off into the sunrise.

Auriga happily threw on a clean set of clothes (a dark grey dress), and sat on her bed, waiting for Lucius to come over. In five minutes' time, she heard a knock on the wrought iron doors and the heavy creak of it opening.

She galloped down the stairs, skipping every other step. She met her mother at the foot of the stairs and smiled.

"Lucius is going to Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley today to purchase school-things. Do you want to join him?"

Auriga nodded, grabbed the small black coat dangling on the brass coat hanger, and started towards the door. Her mother handed her 100 galleons and whispered, "Treat yourself to something in Borgin's."

The Malfoy family, accompanied by Auriga, left for Diagon Alley by Floo powder. Auriga had traveled by Floo powder often, but never quite got used to the sensation. She waited until Lucius had gone, stepped into the Malfoy's fireplace, dropped her handful of powder, and shouted, "Diagon Alley!" She felt a tug at her core, and soon, tumbled out of a fireplace, coughing, and wiping soot from her face. She looked up and saw Lucius smirking at her.

"I'm not very fond of that type of transportation," she grumbled. Lucius lifted her up off of the floor with his free hand; the other one was holding a dirtied supplies list.

"My father and mother have already landed in Knockturn Alley, I presume. So we're off by ourselves."

Auriga nodded, and so the two began their shopping. When they went outside, the warm smell of porridge filled the air, making the cold cobblestone walkway becoming.

"We're going to Ollivanders first. Is that alright with you?"

"Of course. This is the most exciting day of my life!"

"I know," Lucius said, pulling the door to Ollivanders Wand Shop open, "We finally get our wands. . . now we can do magic."

"Not so fast, Lucius. Not yet, you won't be."

Both children leapt in fright. Ollivander smiled.

"Come come, children. You are the daughter of Volans, I presume? Lovely family, might I say."

Auriga smiled weakly. Ollivander handed her a few boxes.

"Come come, now try those out." He smiled, clasped his hands together, and rocked back and forth on his heels.

One by one, the children tried the pile of wands. A redwood, phoenix feather core, 11¾ inch wand chose Auriga, and birch, phoenix feather core, 14 inches, chose Lucius.

The two happily paid for their wands and walked out of Ollivander's feeling elated.

"You know, my father is going to give me his wand when I'm older," Lucius said, fiddling with his new wand, "Elm. Dragon Heartstring core. 18 inches. It's been passed down for ages."

Auriga rolled her eyes. Lucius never stopped talking about his family, and sometimes it got on her nerves.

They spent the next hour getting books, cauldrons, potions, and more. Lucius was taking the family owl with him to Hogwarts, so Lucius waited outside while Auriga went into Eeylops Owl Emporium. She walked out with a barn owl.

"What are you going to name it?" Lucius inquired.

Auriga stared intently at the bird before responding with "Capella". The two children left Diagon Alley behind and entered Knockturn Alley. Auriga never really liked Knockturn Alley, nevermind Borgin's, so she stowed away the leftover galleons in her coat pocket. The streets were overcrowded and stuffy. At one point, Auriga tripped over a stone protruding from the street and fell into the person in front of her. All of her stuff went flying, and she noticed the person in front of her had dropped his stuff too.

"I'm so sorry!" She shrieked. The boy she bumped into seemed to be her age. His shoulder-length black and greasy hair grazed the collar of a black trench coat that seemed three sizes too big. Torn shoes peeked out from under the frayed material. Instead of accepting her apology he ignored her, picked himself off the ground, and quickly gathered what seemed to be his textbooks and potions for school. Before Auriga could apologize again he stood up and disappeared into the sea of impatient witches and wizards. Lucius helped Auriga pick up her stuff. A few feet away, where the dark-haired boy had fallen, was a piece of parchment.

"What's that?"

"I dunno," she replied. She flipped the dirtied parchment over to find a coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake, surrounding the letter H. When she opened it, she saw that it was a Hogwarts Letter addressed to Severus Snape.

"Nothing, it's just a plain piece of parchment. I'll throw it out somewhere," Auriga lied.

"Auriga! Lucius!" Exclaimed the voice of Abril Malfoy. "Abraxas and I have been looking all over for you! You've gotten everything, I presume? I say we go home now. Agreed?"

Auriga and Lucius both smiled and nodded. She let Lucius walk ahead of her, and when no one was looking, shoved the letter in her pocket.


"You get everything, dear?"

"Yes, mum." Auriga handed her mother the extra galleons.

"Wonderful. Buy yourself anything?"

Auriga shook her head. Hydra patted her daughter's shoulder before returning to her housework. Auriga locked herself in her room, no longer alone since she now had Capella.

"Let's get some light in here," she spoke to the Barn Owl, who hooted in reply. Soon the room was dancing to the silent song of fire.

For some reason, she couldn't get the image of the black-haired boy out of her head for the next couple nights. She found herself studying the name on the misplaced parchment before bed each night, the sound of Capella's breathing lost in the moonlight.