Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world
of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest
are mine.
Author's note: Well, this is Chapter Three. I did not have any idea it would even go this far, considering my beginning! And you guys, if you think its too long, please say so, I don't mean to babble on so much, but maybe that's my opinion. Anyway, you know the deal, read and review!
Chapter 3
Harry, Ron and Hermione woke up, tired and crabby.
The drive to Diagon Alley had taken the best part of three hours, and the
passengers were more than happy to get off and go through the magical wall at
the Leaky Cauldron. The old wizard who managed the inn, Tom, gave them
all a toothless grin and waved them through.
"Now, go get your school stuff, and then meet me right
here at exactly 6:00, we want an early start tomorrow, and we've got to pack
you up. So, everyone got that? Three hours, Fred and George!
Have fun, bye now, dears." And with that, Mrs. Weasley collapsed in a
chair at Florean Fortenscue's Ice Cream Parlor along with Mr. Weasley.
After waving good-bye and promising to be there at 6, Harry
, Ron and Hermione walked off in the direction of Gringotts, where they
had a short visit to Harry's underground vault (Harry tried to grab some
money as quick as possible as to not have to see Ron's face) and then left to
explore the rest of Diagon Alley. Hermione succeeded it pulling Harry and
Ron into the bookshop, where they all bought their books, Ron and Hermione with
the money from their parents. When Ron started grumbling, she just said,
"Ron! You and Harry both know that you'll never ever go
in here on your own, and you will have to go here at the very last minute! And
besides, it's really worth while, our O.W.L.'s are coming up and you do want to
be prepared, don't you? Look at this book! 'Your Career After the
OWL's'! Come on, I'm getting this."
Ron and Harry rolled their eyes. "My career after
the OWL's is going to be exactly the same as now! Come on, Hermione, we're not
even in school yet! Besides, we're going to get extra time to
study. We're going in tomorrow, aren't we? That's days ahead of
schedule." Ron said, placing his books on the counter after
Hermione's . Harry grabbed his last book off the wall and joined
them. At least this was exactly what he'd been needing: a distraction.
"Hey! Harry!" Dean and Seamus, their fellow
roommates in Hogwarts, came running up to them breathlessly. "Ron,
your brothers are having a sale at their store, they brought some jokes stuff
with them and set up a temporary booth near the wand store, come on!"
They tugged at Harry's elbows, and dragged the three to the
booth. Yup, thought Harry, exactly what I needed.
* * *
Hagrid took out an old, battered pink umbrella and
muttered, "Three up, two across, right now, let's go!" Nirry
followed, in a state of dazed confusion. Hagrid had explained mostly
everything in his rough manner as best as he could, and Nirry had found it not
to be a dream. She still wondered if this was all a joke, but it seemed
it wasn't. And as Hagrid stepped through the arch in the wall, Nirry
forgot about her dazzledness and just stared. A busy street had appeared
out of nowhere, through the alley wall of the pub, the Leaky Cauldron.
She felt most of her doubt wash away, and to replace it came amazement and
delight.
Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the school she
was going to attend, that is, the wizarding school, had adopted her. How
he knew her parents had died and her grandmother had also passed away just last
month was beyond her. She didn't even know about how to make magic, or
even she really was even a witch. Now that her doubt was drained from
part of her mind, her mind was crowded with questions.
"I've got her key, right here. Hey, Nirry, is it
okay if yer go alone to the vault? My stomach can't take these Gringotts
carts," said Hagrid, turning to her with an apologetic smile on his
face. Nirry looked up, startled. They had walked all through the Alley
without her noticing, and what did Hagrid mean by her vault? Seeing her
confused face, he said, "it's actually yer father's vault- Dumbledore,
that is, great man, great man. I'll be waiting here, don' worry."
So Nirry set out alone with a goblin in a cart. She
rather enjoyed the ride- it reminded her of that long ago day when her mother
had taken her to the carnival. Nervously, she looked at the opened vault
the goblin had opened for her, took her money bag, and went in. There
were mountains of gold, silver, and bronze coins, all heaped here and
there. Nirry's head swooned, and she held onto the wall to regain her balance.
It was too much, in too little time. Too much information. She had
to think about this, all of this, her being a witch, Hogwarts, Voldemort.
Especially Voldemort. Nirry flashed back to the man in the barn... could
it be...? No. She snapped
out of her trance and came back to the cart.
Half an hour later, she and Hagrid were walking to their
final destination, and she noticed a large crowd around two red-haired boys who
were obviously selling something. Then she entered the shop. It was
a wand shop; her most anxious stop. The red night owl and the cauldron
hadn't been so bad, and neither had the robe's shop, but this would determine
if she really was magical or not. A real, magic wand… for the first time
since Hagrid found her, she wondered what would happen if she did get a wand,
but before she could think any further, a man came out of the shadows, his
strange, silvery eyes following her every move. She gulped.
"Well, Hagrid, another one, eh?" The man
chuckled, weirdly soft. Then he went down to business. He moved
around his shop with the ease of a person who knows exactly what he is doing.
"Dragon heartstring and ebony, give it a- no, try
this one, six inches, willow, no, this one, maple, swishy and
flexible.." the man, Mr. Ollivander, handed Nirry wands and as fast
he put them in her hand, he took it back. On and on it went. Hagrid's eyes had become a bit glazed before
the man went into the back room of the store. On the contrary, the wand
maker's eyes had become huge and shining in delight. Nirry wondered why,
since the floor was absolutely covered with boxes and wands carelessly strewn
about.
"Let's try this one, specially imported delivery from
Australia, America, foreign imports, yes, go on, give it a try."
Nirry picked up the first wand her hand touched in the box, and gave it a
wave. Nothing. Just as she was about to give up in despair and
suggest she had no right to try being a witch, she felt a strange warmth in her
hand. She raised it over her head and gave a swish, and lo and behold,
out came thick, green and fuchsia fireworks.
"Oh yes! Bravo! Tricky customer, but you've got a
nice wand there. Aspen and sphinx mane, yes, thirteen inches, unusual
combination, why not?" the man muttered to himself. After
having paid ten Galleons, they departed from the shop, Nirry beaming.
"Did you see that? Wow, wow, wow, I can't believe I
actually did that! Hagrid, I'm a witch!" Nirry babbled. Hagrid
smiled at her and opened his mouth, but was cut short.
"Hagrid! Hi!" The crowd next door had dispersed,
and running up to Hagrid were three teenagers, a pretty girl with bushy hair, a
tall boy with red hair and freckles, and another boy with black hair and green
eyes behind his glasses.
"Harry! Hermione! Ron! Good ter see yer, how's it
going? All right, Harry?" Hagrid seemed glad to see
them. Seeing Ron glance curiously at Nirry, she was about to introduce
herself, but Hagrid beat her to it.
"She's Nirry, got her from Canada. She's in fifth
year, too, she''ll be with yer in school. Nirry, these are Harry, Ron,
and Hermione, these are fifth years at Hogwarts."
Harry stared at her. Why did she look so
familiar? No one he knew had dark brown hair, captivating eyes, and wore
Muggle clothes, but... and her eyes, they didn't rake his forehead…
"I've- I've just been getting my wand and stuff for
school, that is, my owl, and cauldron and..." the girl Hagrid had
introduced as Nirry said nervously. Hermione smiled at her.
"Yes, we just did too, we went and got our books, the
shop is right there," and she pointed to the store across the street.
Nirry smiled, a very bewitching smile. "I've got
all my books, I just had to get my wand." Ron looked confused, the
exact image of Harry at that moment.
"But, you're fifteen, aren't you? How come you're
getting a wand? Didn't you get it in your first- er, I mean," he
stammered at the glare Hermione gave him, meaning, be nice to her, Ron!
Harry noticed that Ron had glanced at Nirry and then didn't take his eyes off
her until Hermione called his attention.
Nirry looked sheepish. "Well, I think something
went wrong with the letters from the school, they said they overlooked me or
something, and then Hagrid came today and said I had to come, and so, well,
here I am, going to Hogwarts, not knowing anything this world or even
myself. But look, here's my wand! I wasn't even sure I would get a
wand, since I thought that maybe I couldn't do magic..." She rushed,
eager to show off her wand.
Hermione reached to take the long wand Nirry stretched out
to her. Harry widened his eyes. With a gasp, he realized that with
the afternoon sunset on it, the wand was green. It was the wand, the wand
from his dreams.
Nirry was the girl form behind the tombstone.