As the day began to break over the bustling streets of New York City, as the sun had just barely started to flare above the horizon, near the outskirts of queens, there sat an unassuming brick apartment building. Sandwiched in between an old broken-out warehouse and the last end of the Brooklyn subway, this unassuming little apartment building appeared from the outside to be nothing more than a small place used for squatters and drug dealers. But on the inside housed one of the largest magic colonies in North America. With an extension spell cast soon to be a decade ago, the inside of this small building had transformed into a full-scale condo, capable of comfortably housing dozens of magic families. One such family was the Cascella family, who all found themselves waking at 6 in the morning to the sound of a shrieking charm cast by the eldest son, Joseph. Joseph was both strong and unusually mature for his age. He had his hair done up in a pompadour and wore ragged blue jeans and a gray wife beater. A booming voice quickly followed the shrieking. "Goddammit Joey, what'd I say about casting charms in the house!?" a heavy-set, gruff-looking, middle-aged Allesio Cascella, the father of the family, came thumping down the very narrow set of stairs leading directly into the kitchen. The muscle-bound Joseph sat waiting, bags packed. "Sorry, dad. I ain't wanna wait for Cy's lazy ass to crawl outta bed" he said. "And you know we wouldn't even have to wake up this early if we could go to Ilvermorny" Allesio quickly snatched Joseph's wand from his hands. "be that as it may, use of magic is still a privilege, Joey. One which you aren't extended outside of school. Or in my house. You understand?" "...yes, sir." Joseph muttered. "and you should be grateful that Sofia is staying at a friend's house because she wouldn't let us hear the end of it if you had woken her up like that." Joseph laughed knowingly. soon they heard a loud rhythmic thumping coming from the floor above. They looked to the stairs as Cyrus, a scrawny brown-haired boy of 11 came down the stairs, his suitcase thumping down behind him. "you ready to go?" Allesio asked. "yep!" Cyrus responded excitedly. "I got everything ready last night." Joseph gave him a nod. "excited for your first year at Hogwarts?" Cyrus looked like he was ready to start jumping up and down. "how could you tell?" Joseph and Allesio chuckled lightly. Cyrus looked around. "where's mom?" he asked. "she'll be meeting us in London. She has to work today." Allesio answered. "Now, if you're both all ready, we should get going." Allesio extended his arms. "grab hold. And make sure you're holding on tight to your belongings there." Joseph and Cyrus wrapped their hands around Allesio's outstretched arms. Joseph looked over at Cyrus. "Have you ever apparated before, Cy?" "uhh, no. Why?" "Hey, dad? I think may-" before he could finish, the three of them had vanished into thin air.
Appearing at the leaky cauldron, Cyrus immediately fell to his knees. Joseph rushed over to his side. "Hey, you ok?" Cyrus coughed. "Yeah. I'm good I jus-" he shoved Joseph away as he turned to the nearest trash can and vomited. Allesio walked up to him and patted him on the back as picked his head back up. "Sorry, kiddo." He said. "I forgot you hadn't done that before." "It's ok," Cyrus said weakly. "you gonna be alright?" Alessio asked. "yeah. I'm fine," Cyrus said. "though a glass of water would be nice." Allesio signaled to the bartender, a tall, slender woman with long dark hair extending down to her waist, who then quickly produced a goblet of water. As Cyrus drank, she spoke to Allesio. "Another school year already, huh?" "Yep." He gestured at Joseph, who sat in front of Cyrus. "feels like I just picked this one up from his first year." the bartender looked over to Cyrus, who still looked a little nauseous. "and who's this one?" Cyrus looked like he'd throw up again the second he opened his mouth so Allesio answered for him. "This is Cyrus. Cyrus, this is Katarina. She went to school with your mother." "pleased to meet you, Cyrus." She said. "likewise." He responded, regaining his strength. Katarina looked around. "Where is maria anyway? I haven't seen her in a while." "she'll be here soon." Allesio responded. "does she still work for the ministry?" she asked. "yeah." Joseph piped up. "she's not around a whole lot these days." "I'm sorry to hear that," Katarina responded. "But that's the nature of ministry work, I'm afraid. With everything that's been going on lately a lot of ministry workers aren't even being given the option to negotiate their time." Cyrus looked up. He looked much better than he had before. "what's been going on?" Katarina looked a little nervous at the question. "well it's probably best if-" she was cut off by the sound of an apparition. The group looked over to see Maria, a middle-aged woman with tied-up brown hair and a pinstripe suit standing near the same spot the boys had shown up. "mom!" Cyrus exclaimed as he and Joseph ran into her embrace. "oh boys, it's so good to see you!" she said as they shared a warm hug. she then focused her attention on Cyrus. "Are you ready for your first year?" "am I ever!" he responded. she kissed him on the forehead. "You're gonna be the most fantastic student this school has ever seen, you know that? Don't be afraid to show them all you're worth." She stood up to embrace her husband, and as she did, caught a glance of Katarina standing by the table where the boys were sitting. After sharing a kiss with Allesio for a moment, she walked up to her, placed her hand on her shoulder, and smiled. "Maria..." Katarina said. "Katarina... " she responded before she reached down and picked Katarina up, holding her above her head as both women laughed and shrieked. The few other guests who were seated around strangely seemed to ignore the two of them. Maria began spinning around as Katarina yelped. "put me down, you miserable hag!" Maria's hair came undone in the scuffle. They heard a throat clearing from across the room. They looked over and saw the manager standing by the stairs leading up to the guest rooms. The two of them let go of each other and started brushing themselves off and fixing their hair. "sorry, boss." Katarina said. The two of them giggled at each other, having been reminded of their school days. Maria felt a tug at her side. she looked over and saw Cyrus standing, looking impatient. "Yes, of course. Let's not forget why we're here." Maria said apologetically. "we've got a lot of shopping to do." She gestured towards the back room of the cauldron and she and the boys started towards it. "it's good to see you again, old friend." she said as she passed by. Katarina nodded and smiled before walking back behind the bar.
the group filed into the back room as Allesio tapped out the code into the bricks. as the group walked through Diagon alley, they passed by the "Potter Store" which had a line stretching out the door. in the window was a poster of Hermione granger and a book about Albus Dumbledore. Comparatively, most of the other stores in the alley were kind of barren. Cyrus was able to get most of the items on his list without even having to wait in line. By the time he had got his cauldron and stashed it away, the rest of the group had gone off to some other errands they had to run in the alley. Checking his list, it seemed all he had left was a wand. as he stepped into Ollivander's, he was almost taken aback by how empty it was. He had expected to see dozens of people all clamoring for their wands, but even though there were wands stacked floor to ceiling in every direction, there wasn't a single person to be seen. Even the more dead stores he had visited earlier in the day would have one or two people haggling with the shopkeepers or browsing the wares. he walked up to the counter and rang the bell. Not long after, a worn-out-looking old man poked his head out from behind a stack of wands. "Ah! hello!" he said cheerfully. "looking for a wand, are you?" Cyrus, being a little intimidated by his unsightly appearance, responded. "y-yeah. It's uh, the last thing on my list." The old man could tell he was making Cyrus nervous, so he backed off a little. "my name is Garrick Ollivander. And who might you be, young man?" "Cyrus. Cyrus Cascella." A cheery look crossed Ollivander's face. "Another Cascella, eh? How's your father doing these days?" "You know my father?" Cyrus asked. "Of course! I remember everyone who comes through here." "for instance, your brother Joseph's wand is an English oak with a dragon heartstring core." Cyrus's composure had changed from nervous to curious. "and what about me?" he asked. "well, that's precisely what you're here to find out." Ollivander responded. As he looked about his immense stores, he looked back and forth between Cyrus and each new wand he considered. before long, he withdrew a dark black wand that shone brightly as he carried it past a beam of sunlight shining in the window. "try this one." he said curiously. upon taking it in his hand Cyrus immediately felt a jolt through his whole body and dropped it. "what was that?" he asked. "that," said Ollivander, "is not your wand." he picked it up and gently placed it back in the box as he began searching for another. He quickly found another one on top of a shelf covered in dust. "This one has been looking for an owner for a great deal of time now." he opened the box and produced a long, greenish-black wand covered at the handle in veiny lines which protruded from the surface slightly. Upon being handed the wand, the sensation Cyrus felt was completely different from the one before. He felt a warmth envelop his whole body as soon as it touched his fingertips, like being wrapped in a cozy blanket and drinking a fresh mug of butterbeer. Ollivander could tell right away that he was successful. "how does it feel?" he asked. "it feels... like my wand." Cyrus said pleasantly.