Chapter 1

Gingers and Spirits

The two witches, once out of sight from Anna's front door, Minerva told the young witch to hold onto her tightly, which Anna obeyed, holding on tightly to the older witches waist. Suddenly, she felt her feet leave the ground before slamming back onto solid concrete a dizzying moment later. Anna was still holding onto Minerva's waist tightly, gasping for breath.

That was so scary! She thought as her eyes clenched tightly shut and her hands bunched into fists, hanging onto Minerva's skirt with an iron grip.

Minerva chuckled at the young girl's tight grip. "You can let go now, Anna. We're here." Minerva's voice chased away Anna's demons of the past few seconds before the young witch slowly opened her eyes and found them somewhere in London.

Anna let go quickly before she looked around in confusion. "H-how did we—we were just at my house? How did we get here so fast, Minnie?" Anna said before she let out a small gasp and slapped a hand over her mouth having not meant to give her Professor a nickname. "Y-you don't mind if I call you that, do you?" She said after a few moments, after she pulled her hand away from her mouth to look up at her Professor.

"No, Anna, I don't mind." Minerva smiled kindly. "Out of school, you may call me Minnie, but during term and class, you must call me Professor McGonagall, alright dear?"

Anna nodded before she took another look at their surroundings. She turned to look at the old building they'd landed in front of and a sign appeared, The Leaky Cauldron. The sign read with an image of a witch stirring a cauldron. "Oh! That sign! It just appeared!" Anna exclaimed quietly, not wanting to draw attention to themselves as their very real and very recent appearance out of thin air would've been quite odd to onlookers or anyone clearly paying attention to them.

"Yes, dear," Minerva giggled. "That is the power of magic." She added with a wink before she looked up at the sign rather fondly. Anna giggled when Minerva winked at her. She was starting to like this "magic". She took the little witches hand and led her inside, where they noticed an extremely large family of redheads walking towards the back. Anna pointed out the large family heading towards the back, finding it a bit suspicious. Minerva simply smiled. "No need to worry, dear. That's where we're going." They stopped in front of the innkeeper at the head of the bar. "Hello Tom," Minerva smiled.

"Minerva!" Tom said cheerfully. "Cherry soda?" Tom asked before his eyes fell on Anna, who simply smiled at him brightly and he returned it.

"Not today, Tom. I'm bringing young Anna here to get her school supplies. Is the back open?" Minerva asked.

Tom smiled as his eyes left Anna to look at Minerva and he held up a hand before he vanished for a moment and returned a moment later nodding. "Back's open now, Minerva. Stop by again soon?"

Minerva smiled and nodded curtly. "Of course."

His eyes fell to Anna once more. "Stop by anytime this summer, dear, you always have a friend at the Leaky Cauldron, okay?"

Anna nodded happily. "Of course, sir." She beamed and Tom grinned at her enthusiasm.

Minnie brought Anna to the back room, where they found nothing but a brick wall and a large trash bin. Anna gave Minerva a rather confused look until Minerva pulled out a beautiful stick that just had to have been a wand, Minerva's wand, and she tapped a few bricks in a specific order—to Anna's surprise the wall started to morph and open; until it turned into a large archway and the entrance to an alley. Anna's eyes flashed violet before she pulled Minerva along, eager to explore the alley.

"Where are we, Minnie?" The little, curly blackberry haired, witch asked with a tone of excitement.

"Well, Anna. Welcome to Diagon Alley. This is where we will be getting your supplies for school, I have the list here," the older witch said before she pulled out a piece of parchment from her emerald robes. Anna was looking everywhere with barely-contained excitement. Minerva smirked. "You didn't think we would be shopping at the Leaky Cauldron, did you?"

Anna turned to look at Minerva before she gave a nervous laugh and shrugged. Yeah, in all honesty, that's what I thought we'd be doing. She thought nervously.

"The Leaky Cauldron simply holds the entrance for Diagon Alley, it offers travelers easy access to shopping and a place to sleep for the night before carrying on with their travels." Minerva explained and Anna inclined her head in understanding. Minerva fixed her glasses and opened the parchment, letting Anna's hand go for only a moment to read.

While Minerva was reading the list, Anna spotted the family of redheads making their way through the crowd, she spotted two in play-fighting and looked to be teasing their younger brother. The youngest boy laughed as did the rest of the family and Anna could hear the laughter as clear as day, like she was standing right next to them. She couldn't help but smile softly at the sound.

"Come along, dear, we'll get your books first, then your robes, cauldron and finally we'll get your wand. And if you behave I'll buy you whatever pet you'd like, as long as it suits the school guidelines. Maybe another owl?" Anna thought about it before she shook her head. Minerva got an idea and smiled before she leaned down to Anna's size and looked to examine her for a moment before she said, "Hmm . . . how 'bout a kitty?" Anna's eyes lit up and she looked at Minerva, her eyes flashing violet in front of the older witch. Minerva gave a nostalgic and kind smile at the sight of the bright violet eyes.

She's going to be a Hufflepuff for sure, this one, with her enthusiasm towards everything. Minerva thought with a smile; thinking of the four Houses the students were divided in once they started their first year.

Suddenly, Anna frowned when a thought crossed her mind. She tugged on Minerva's skirt. "Minnie? How am I going to pay for all this? I haven't got any money, and I'm pretty sure they don't take money where I'm from—er—Muggle money, I mean." Anna corrected herself as Minerva stood tall once more.

"Once we're done shopping, we'll go and set up an account for you at Gringotts," she gestured to the largest and the newest looking building in the entire alley. A large marble building with marble pillars and giant shining bronze doors. "I'll pay for your things this year. Next year, you'll have to pay for it yourself, alright?"

Anna nodded and took her hand. "Where's the book store?" She asked, once again, back to her overly enthusiastic self as Minerva pulled her along towards the bookstore.

Books, cauldron, potion ingredients, new robes and on their way to get Anna's wand. Anna stopped mid-step in front of a shabby looking building called The Magical Menagerie, a pet store by the looks of it. She spotted the most adorable kitten ever sitting in the display window, mewling for attention. A full black, green eyed kitten was mewling at Anna for attention—almost like it was speaking.

Anna felt her hand being tugged at. "Come along, Anna . . . oh, I see. If you behave I'll buy her for you, okay?"

Anna nodded vigorously and turned to the little kitten once more, stepping up to the window and smiling at the little kitten. "Stay put okay, kitty? I'll be extra good so you can come home with me. Don't go anywhere, okay? You'll have a home with me soon." The kitten seemed to understand her because it laid down and went to sleep.

Minerva simply giggled and rolled her eyes, mumbling. "Must be part Kneazle." She turned to Anna. "Stay right here, alright, dear? I'll go on inside and buy her for you since you've already been such a good girl." Anna beamed at Minerva with the brightest smile the older witch had ever seen the young witch wear and Anna had been smiling a lot today to begin with.

Minerva returned Anna's smile and disappeared inside the shop to retrieve the small black kitten. Anna watched as the kitten was grabbed from the window display and disappear, the kitten seemed to put up a fight, Anna looked at the little kitten with reassurance and gave her a small nod, meaning that she was about to get a home. The young kitten immediately stopped struggling against the person holding her, an old witch by the look of wrinkly hands with bright red painted nails, and vanished from sight.

"Looks like the little one's finally gettin' a good home, been there fer ages, she has." A rough voice said from behind her. Anna had been so busy trying to silently reassure her new kitten that she hadn't noticed the large shadow that was blocking the sun from her back. Anna turned to look where the shadow and voice were coming from and found a half-giant standing behind her. He looked down at her and smiled before he spoke with a kind voice. "You takin' 'er home, little one?" Anna looked around before she realized he was obviously talking to her and she nodded with a beaming smile. He returned the smile and held out a hand to introduce himself. "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. You going to be student at Hogwarts, child?"

Anna nodded with a smile as she shook his hand, scared that he would accidentally crush it, but he shook her hand with gentle care. "I'm Tassiyanna Cloud, sir, I'm starting Hogwarts this year. I'm Muggle-born, just waiting for Minnie, er, Professor McGonagall brought me to buy my things, she's inside right now. She saw me looking at the poor thing, told me if I was good then she'd buy her for me, the kitten seemed to understand when I told her to stay put, Minnie said something about her being part Kneazle, whatever that is, and went inside to buy her for me since I've already been such a good girl." She said with a big smile as their hands left once another, each smiling brightly at the other.

"Hello Hagrid, didn't expect to see you here, I see you've met our young Anna, she'll be attending this year." Minerva said from behind Anna. The little witch turned to see Minerva carrying the little black kitten with bright green eyes and she couldn't contain the loud squeal of joy. "You need to give her a name before we leave, Anna. That way it will be on her papers."

"Spirit." Anna said immediately. "Her name is Spirit." Anna had thought up the name from the moment she had seen the little feline. The young feline seemed to love her new name as she jumped from Minerva's arms to the ground and into Anna's a moment later. The three shared a laugh as Spirit nuzzled her face into Anna's neck, purring loudly. Anna held on to Spirit tightly with a wide grin, nuzzling her face into Spirit's fluffy cheek.

Minerva smiled affectionately at the sight of how happy Anna looked at that moment and seared that memory in her mind. She turned to the half-giant and smiled at Hagrid's look of happiness as he watched Anna and Spirit snuggle up to one another. "Well Hagrid, Anna and I will be going now. We shall see you at Hogwarts, Anna will be attending earlier than everyone else, she'll be staying with me." Hagrid raised a confused brow and went to speak before Minerva held up her hand, knowing what he was going to say. She smiled warmly. "I've already sent an owl to Albus, he has no problem with it." Hagrid beamed.

Minerva said her goodbyes to Hagrid, Anna doing the same, but not before setting Spirit down momentarily to give the half-giant a quick hug, which he immediately returned gently; trying his best not to crush the small witch. Once the hug was over, the small feline jumped back into Anna's arms and crawled to her shoulders seeming extremely proud and quite comfortable with her new-found sleeping spot.

They parted ways, the two witches in one direction—towards Gringotts—and the half-giant in the other, towards the Leaky Cauldron. The witches stopped once more in front of an old shop the peeling gold sign read: Ollivander's Maker of Fine Wands since 382BC.

Anna's ocean eyes flashed once more—Spirit sensed the magic from the young witch, opening her green eyes and purring loudly, turning her attention to the building they stood before—Minnie smiled at the pair, smiling softly. Definitely part Kneazle. She thought.

"Come along, you two. Let's go get your wand, Anna." Minerva said, holding out her hand to the young witch, which Anna took immediately as if on instinct.