Madame Squat's Physic Shop
Chapter 1 of Legacy.
I do not own the characters; they're all property of Ms. J.K. Rowling, oh, except for Chloe. ;)
My first fan fic, the story will be continued when I have time. In the meantime, review and make suggestions, please.
Chloe stood in the rain eyeing the peeling letters of a very battered looking sign hanging outside of Madame Squat's physic shop. This was considered the bad part of town but Chloe had no other place to be since she had just run away from home. She lived with her father and his new wife who had never taken to Chloe since she was a reminder of Sara, Chloe's mother. Sara had been a witch and died mysteriously leaving Chloe and her father, Arthur, behind. Once Arthur began dating Clarice, Chloe began drifting from her father. Now that Clarice was married to Chloe's father, Chloe was seen as a nuisance in the newlywed's lives.
A bolt of lightning streaked the sky and low rumbles of thunder could be heard coming from the east. Chloe shivered and placed a rain soaked palm on the doorknob of the small shop. Shaking slightly, Chloe turned the knob and entered the drab and cramped foyer. Upon glancing around, she spotted a small bell on a low desk. Chloe reached out to ring for assistance but was stopped when a crunching sound was heard from behind a violet curtain to the back of the foyer. Curiously, Chloe started toward the curtain. Before she could reach for the curtain, a frail, haggish looking old woman appeared as if from no where.
"You wouldn't want to go in there, dearie," said the hag in a raspy voice.
Half-shocked from the sudden appearance of the woman Chloe mumbled a reply.
"S-s-sorry.i didn't mean."
"To intrude," said the hag as she finished Chloe's sentence.
"Yeah..." muttered Chloe is response. "Are you Madame Squat?...I just wanted a reading.how much are they?" asked Chloe in a small voice.
The hag looked at Chloe for a minute and then responded in the same raspy tone.
"10 pounds for a half hour reading."
Chloe reached into her small traveling bag and fished out 10 pounds. She hadn't had much money with her but Madame Squat's readings were worth the 10 pounds according to Chloe's friends. She dropped the crumpled bills into the hag's out stretched hand. After stuffing the money into her robes, the hag gestured for Chloe to sit in one of the 2 wooden chairs that the cramped foyer contained.
"Let me see your palm," demanded the hag and Chloe did so.
Madame Squat reached a knarled, bony hand out and clutched Chloe's palm. What seemed like an hour passed as the frail woman examined Chloe's hand.
"You're seventeen and on the run with no place to go..." said the hag.
Chloe nodded in reply.
"You have a long life ahead of you but something needs to be cleared up before you can live happily. You are an ancestor to a famous wizard, Godric Gryffindor and you must carry on his legacy."
Chloe had no idea what the physic was talking about, her mother had been a witch but Chloe was raised as a muggle child and knew nothing of the wizarding world. "And what legacy could I possibly carry on?" thought Chloe, "I'm not special."
"Perhaps there has been some mistake," said Chloe, I'm not a wizard, I'm just an ordinary girl, nothing more."
"Silence!" demanded the witch, "do not talk during the reading!"
Chloe shuffled in the wooden chair, her arm was getting tired from holding her palm up for so long.
The hag continued, "you must undergo a great deal of danger to complete your ancestors journey and you will not do it alone." "I see a boy, you need him to be successful in your travels, I do not know his name but you will know him when you see him, he is your soul mate. You will find him in 3 hours time."
The hag finally released Chloe's hand, she said "a perilous trip awaits you, I'll get you started, for the entire wizarding world counts on your success. The task that awaits you must be completed in no more than one month, or all shall be doomed."
With that the witch reached into her cloak and brought out a quill and some parchment. She scrawled a quick letter and rolled up the parchment before Chloe could read what she had written. Slowly, the physic rose and creakily made her way to the back of the foyer and disappeared behind the violet curtain. She returned holding a black owl with the parchment letter tied to its leg.
"Stormy weather," muttered the witch as she went to the door and threw the owl out into the night.
Chloe was baffled as to what the woman had just done and shifted uncomfortably in her chair. The witch then snapped her fingers and a roaring fire appeared in the fireplace behind Chloe. Chloe had never seen magic before but knew it existed since her mother was a witch. Astonished as to what the frail woman had just done, Chloe rose from her seat and was about to ask the witch how she had started the fire but was interrupted by the hag's noisy coughing. After the coughing fit, the woman reached into her robes once again and drew out a small jar filled with blue powder, she reached into the jar and threw a pinch of the powder into the fire, which abruptly turned emerald green.
"Step into the fire and say 'hogwarts'," said the witch.
Chloe looked at her as if she was a mad woman and shook her head.
"Trust me, girl, it's magic," answered the witch.
Chloe slowly stepped forward, bringing her near empty traveling bag with her and uttered the strange word 'hogwarts' and she stepped into the fire.
The small physic shop became a blur as Chloe was sucked into the fireplace and down a long passageway. Not knowing where she was going to end up, Chloe silently prayed that the whirling would stop as soon as she got there.
Suddenly, as if a carnival ride had ended, Chloe fell face first out of a fireplace, hitting the hearth hard, the last thing she saw was what appeared to be a dormitory in a castle, complete with a few four-poster beds.
