August was coming to an end, and Julia was getting a tad worried.
She knew the trip to Hogwarts would be long for Arrow; she had sent him in
May, telling him to rest frequently because he had until the last day of
August to get back to her. She had assumed that he would get there in
June, and get back before August was over. She was also secretly hoping
that Dumbledore would give Arrow a little something to speed him up, but
she doubted that. What was more important was whether or not she would be
accepted to Hogwarts. She sat on her bed and wondered where Arrow was.
Then she remembered she was psychic. "That's real smart, Julia, forget the
reason WHY you were applying to the school in the first place." As she
quietly scolded herself, a high-pitched male voice entered her head:
"I'm almost home."
"Great, Arrow. . .was I accepted, d'ya know?"
"Julia, I'm a friggin' peregrine falcon. Last time I checked, I couldn't read or understand human language."
"Well, you have the attitude of a couple of humans I know. . .any clue as to when you'll be home?"
"Before the sun sets, most likely."
Julia sighed with relief. As she waited, she looked into her mirror, just to pass the time. She wanted to look presentable if she went to Hogwarts. She saw that she had fine, light brown hair, which went down just past her shoulders. She also saw her sapphire blue eyes, and her perfectly straight teeth ("They weren't always like that. . ."). Her ears remained un-pierced, and her nose seemed as normal as any, which she had no problem with. Finished memorizing her facial features, Julia's eyes wandered down to her neck and shoulders, slender, but not bony. Julia noticed that the rest of her body was as such: slender, but not at all bony. She took full advantage of the fact that she could pass for 21 if she wanted to. That was how she lived alone in her apartment, Arrow being her only company. To be quite honest, Julia's appearance radiated with elegance. When she had gone to muggle-school, as she soon found herself referring to her own kind, guys from freshman to senior had been all over her. She hadn't liked any of them though, because she knew they only liked her for her appearance, and not her personality. As she recalled the fact that she had nowhere to go if Dumbledore rejected her application, Arrow zoomed in to the room in a flurry of feathers. As he collapsed on the bed, Julia frantically tore the Hogwarts seal to read the reply. . .
To Miss Julia Andrews,
On behalf of the safety of others, we at Hogwarts, Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be more than happy to have you join us here in the fight against Voldemort (careful - most wizards and witches, save a small fraction, refuse to speak his name) here at Hogwarts. We are all honored to have you, and trust that you shan't tell a soul of the existence of witches and wizards, etc. I trust that you have access to a fire place, for that is how you shall get to Diagon Alley, where Rubeus Hagrid, your soon-to-be Care of Magical Creatures teacher, shall make sure you get your supplies and that you get safely on the Hogwarts Express, which will escort you to Hogwarts. When you arrive, Professor McGongall will escort you to your house, Griffindor.
Seeing as there is no record of you having any guardians as of recent, you shall be put on scholarship so you may purchase your supplies. Enclosed is your key to your Gringott's vault, where you will find your wizard money, along with your course schedule, and the list of supplies you will need. In a smaller envelope in this letter, you will find floo powder. What you must do is have a fire going in your fireplace. Toss the powder into the flames, then loudly call out "Diagon Alley," and step in. I assure you, if your voice is clear, you should have no problems getting there. I wish you luck in your journey, and am looking forward to your arrival.
Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore
At this, Julia immediately sat down, for fear she would faint.
"Well???"
"I've been accepted!!!"
"Congratulations, but careful: some of those people didn't sound too happy as they were talking."
"I'll survive."
And with that, Julia started packing immediately.
-=-=-=-=-
The next day, Julia carefully opened the other envelope. At this moment, she was very grateful for being on the ground floor, where the chimney was. Double checking that her key was around her neck, she tossed the floo powder into the fire, and bravely called, "Diagon Alley!" out into the flames. After the flames had changed color, Julia picked up her suitcase and made sure Arrow was firmly holding on to her arm as she stepped into the flames.
As she tripped out of the fireplace of what looked like an ice cream shop, Julia looked up and gasped at the gigantic figure standing in front of her. "I'll be s'posing that yeh're Julia Andrews, am I right?" Julia nodded timidly. The giant man suddenly let out a booming laugh. "Well, yeh don' hafta be so scared abou' it," he smiled through his dark whiskers. "I guess I should introduce meh-self." He cleared his throat. "Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Eh, but yeh kin call me Hagrid," he added less formally.
Julia let out a huge sigh and laughed. For a moment she thought she had wound up in a giant's lair. "Hagrid, I am most pleased to meet you," she giggled. "I suppose you're gonna be my temporary tour guide, right?"
"Summat like that, I'd guess. Dumbledore told me all abou' yeh. But a piece o' advice fer ya: whatever yeh do, don' go aroun' tellin' folks yeh're a muggle. It won' go over well at all. So in all the shops an' such, we're s'posed ter say yeh're a transfer student from Durmstang until we get to Hogwarts. Then the teacher who's in charge o' yeh're house'll explain the whole situation to em, but they won' say an'thing abou' You- Know-Who, so don' you say an'thing abou' it either. It won' go over well with your classmates, especially those bloody Slytherins. Every last one o' em's got connections to the Dark Side." Hagrid shuddered. As he was saying all of this they had headed over to Olivander's Wands. "Er, Julia? Yeh wouldn' mind if I stayed outside, would yeh?"
"Of course I wouldn't mind. . .why would you want to stay outside though?"
Hagrid looked at his feet. "Teh be honest with yeh, Julia, Mr. Olivander looks at me a little more suspiciously than I'd like him to." Julia nodded as she went inside. She had learned that Hagrid had been expelled in his third year and his wand had been snapped in half. However, she got a 'feeling' that the pieces were concealed in his pink umbrella.
As soon as she walked in, she felt that this was the type of place to keep your voice down in. After a short moment, Olivander appeared from behind what seemed to be one of hundreds of shelves filled with long, thin boxes. "And who may you be, my dear?"
Julia immediately recalled her story for everyone. "My name is Julia Andrews, and I am a transfer student from Durmstang. I assumed this was -"
"Where you may purchase a wand? But of course. Olivander's has many wands, but," he paused, "the wand chooses the wizard, and not the other way around." His ice-blue eyes bored holes into Julia's. She was quickly realizing why Hagrid had no intention of coming in. He pulled out a box. "Hmm. . .I believe this one shall work. . . .nine inches. . .birch. . .along with a hair from the tail of a unicorn. . .give it a wave. . ."
Julia knew it wouldn't work, but she waved it about a bit to humor the old man. After about two more wands, Julia suddenly felt one box drawing her attention. "Excuse me, Mr. Olivander. . .perhaps this one." She carefully pulled the box off the shelf.
Olivander looked at the box curiously. "I wonder. . .13 inches. . .maple. . .powered by the heartstring of a dragon. . .quite an interesting combination, if I do say so myself. Well, try it out. . ."
As soon as Julia held the wand in her hand, she felt as though she were free-falling, wind blowing in her face. The thrill was amazing, such that she had never experienced before. "So this is what it's like to be a witch. . ."
"Interesting. . .most wizards and witches received a negative reaction from that one, if anything. . ." Olivander eyed Julia suspiciously as she fumbled with her wizard's money to pay for her wand.
"Hagrid, you were right about Olivander. . .he's disturbing."
"What'd I tell yeh? Personally, I think 'e's an ole kook. Well, that's about everything yeh need. . .yeh already have Arrow (who was actually perched on Hagrid's shoulder looking very content with his high roost), so yeh really don' need an owl. . .'Arry's got a nice one, though," he muttered to himself.
At the mention of a name, Julia remembered that Hagrid was a teacher at Hogwarts, and would certainly therefore know a good number of students. "Hagrid, are there any students in my class that I should, uh, 'know' about?"
Hagrid suddenly seemed to wake up from his thoughts. "Eh? Well, lessee.yeh're gonna be a fifth year, righ'? Hrm..oh! 'Arry Potter's in yehr year. . .great kid. An' then there're Ron Weasley an' Hermione Granger. . .brilliant girl, she is. But lemme tell yeh. . .them Slytherin bastards're pretty bad. Eh, Draco Malfoy, he's a real ass. His flunkies ain't no better. . .stay away from 'em, Julia. They're bad news."
Julia had heard lots about Harry Potter, but she had never seen him or knew what he was like (the information she got via channeling was very vague and most likely not too accurate). "Hagrid, being a muggle, I don't know much about Harry Potter. Why is he so popular?"
Hagrid puffed out his chest with pride, being one of Harry's closest and first wizard friends. "'Arry's a great kid, Julia. . .'e survived a supposedly non-defensible and lethal attack from You-Know-Who, which caused the Dark Lord teh lose jus' abou' all 'is power, givin' 'Arry the nickname 'The Boy Who Lived.' 'E's a pretty regular good kid, though. 'E sure knows how teh defend 'imself, that's fer sure," he laughed. " 'E's not a kind o' person the let fame get ter 'is 'ead, if that's what yeh meant," he added. "Yeh'll definitely know 'im by the lightning shaped scar on 'is forehead, but that may be 'ard teh see 'cause 'o 'is black hair. . .uncontrollable, jus' like 'is father's was. . ." Julia let out a sigh of relief. She wanted to meet the wizard who survived a powerful Dark wizard's supposedly fatal attack. She had been worried that he may be a bit stuck-up. Hagrid didn't seem like the type to take crap from anyone, so she trusted that he was a nice guy. "Eh, Julia, I'm gonna head over teh the Leaky Cauldron fer a drink. . .that's where yeh'll be stayin' tonigh', but I'll be assuming yeh'll be wantin' to explore Diagon Alley. I'll meet yeh outside o' the Owlry at 7:00 to bring yeh to the Leaky Cauldron, where yeh'll be stayin' fer the night. After that, it's Hogwarts Express!"
Julia grinned, "Aright, bye, Hagrid!" She didn't know where she wanted to go first, so she decided to go to the ice cream parlor where she arrived. She was a little nervous, wondering if wizard ice cream was any different than muggle ice cream. To her relief, wizard ice cream included all the muggle flavors, along with a few others. Julia didn't think she was ready to try exploding strawberry flavored ice cream, she would try that at a later point if she ever got a little more 'used' to being a pretend-witch. As she sat down at a table in the corner (she wasn't very good at meeting people, plus she didn't want to accidentally blow her cover as a muggle) to enjoy her chocolate ice cream, she saw two boys, both about her age, walk in. One was average height, with red hair and freckles scattered across his face. Julia deducted that by his slightly childish face that he hadn't quite hit puberty yet. The other boy was much taller, with messy black hair and glasses. Julia made mental note of how attractive he was. As she quietly ate her ice cream, Julia found herself stealing glances at the dark-haired boy a little more often than she would like. *Suddenly, when she was catching another glimpse at him, he stopped chatting with his friend and happened to meet her gaze. Turning 50 shades of red, Julia immediately cleared her mind and muttered "Unseen to foreign eyes, concealed in disguise," so quietly and quickly that no one could hear it, even if they had been sitting next to her. She was immediately invisible to all eyes but her own. She didn't need to chant anything to do this, but she felt better whenever she did. All the while she felt her eye candy looking at where she had been. She knew she had disappeared so quickly that it would seem as though the boy had imagined seeing her, but she still couldn't believe how close that was. Looking at her watch, she felt a wave of relief as she saw that it was 6:57. She immediately got up, and without another look at the attractive adolescent, she quickly left the parlor to meet Hagrid at the owlry.
*At the other table:
As Ron dove into his exploding strawberry ice cream, Harry made a slight face. "Ron, how can you eat it that fast? It explodes in your mouth right away, and the more ice cream, the bigger the explosion. Doesn't that hurt your mouth?"
"Harry," POP "that's the whole point of it! You really should try it some time.it's so much better than that rocky road crap," he replied as he pointed at Harry's ice cream. Harry shrugged. All of a sudden he thought he saw someone out of the corner of his eye, but as soon as he turned to look it was gone. "Must be my imagination, he muttered."
"Huh?" Ron looked up with a mouth full of ice cream.
"I thought I saw someone in that corner by the window over there. . ."
"Maybe it was someone walking by, Harry. It's only 6:50 or something. People are still awake at this hour." He commented.
The two boys laughed as they promptly forgot about it and went back to talking about Quidditch.
-=-=-=-=-
YAY! A somewhat long-ish chapter! Remember! Reviews are fuel! =D
"I'm almost home."
"Great, Arrow. . .was I accepted, d'ya know?"
"Julia, I'm a friggin' peregrine falcon. Last time I checked, I couldn't read or understand human language."
"Well, you have the attitude of a couple of humans I know. . .any clue as to when you'll be home?"
"Before the sun sets, most likely."
Julia sighed with relief. As she waited, she looked into her mirror, just to pass the time. She wanted to look presentable if she went to Hogwarts. She saw that she had fine, light brown hair, which went down just past her shoulders. She also saw her sapphire blue eyes, and her perfectly straight teeth ("They weren't always like that. . ."). Her ears remained un-pierced, and her nose seemed as normal as any, which she had no problem with. Finished memorizing her facial features, Julia's eyes wandered down to her neck and shoulders, slender, but not bony. Julia noticed that the rest of her body was as such: slender, but not at all bony. She took full advantage of the fact that she could pass for 21 if she wanted to. That was how she lived alone in her apartment, Arrow being her only company. To be quite honest, Julia's appearance radiated with elegance. When she had gone to muggle-school, as she soon found herself referring to her own kind, guys from freshman to senior had been all over her. She hadn't liked any of them though, because she knew they only liked her for her appearance, and not her personality. As she recalled the fact that she had nowhere to go if Dumbledore rejected her application, Arrow zoomed in to the room in a flurry of feathers. As he collapsed on the bed, Julia frantically tore the Hogwarts seal to read the reply. . .
To Miss Julia Andrews,
On behalf of the safety of others, we at Hogwarts, Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be more than happy to have you join us here in the fight against Voldemort (careful - most wizards and witches, save a small fraction, refuse to speak his name) here at Hogwarts. We are all honored to have you, and trust that you shan't tell a soul of the existence of witches and wizards, etc. I trust that you have access to a fire place, for that is how you shall get to Diagon Alley, where Rubeus Hagrid, your soon-to-be Care of Magical Creatures teacher, shall make sure you get your supplies and that you get safely on the Hogwarts Express, which will escort you to Hogwarts. When you arrive, Professor McGongall will escort you to your house, Griffindor.
Seeing as there is no record of you having any guardians as of recent, you shall be put on scholarship so you may purchase your supplies. Enclosed is your key to your Gringott's vault, where you will find your wizard money, along with your course schedule, and the list of supplies you will need. In a smaller envelope in this letter, you will find floo powder. What you must do is have a fire going in your fireplace. Toss the powder into the flames, then loudly call out "Diagon Alley," and step in. I assure you, if your voice is clear, you should have no problems getting there. I wish you luck in your journey, and am looking forward to your arrival.
Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore
At this, Julia immediately sat down, for fear she would faint.
"Well???"
"I've been accepted!!!"
"Congratulations, but careful: some of those people didn't sound too happy as they were talking."
"I'll survive."
And with that, Julia started packing immediately.
-=-=-=-=-
The next day, Julia carefully opened the other envelope. At this moment, she was very grateful for being on the ground floor, where the chimney was. Double checking that her key was around her neck, she tossed the floo powder into the fire, and bravely called, "Diagon Alley!" out into the flames. After the flames had changed color, Julia picked up her suitcase and made sure Arrow was firmly holding on to her arm as she stepped into the flames.
As she tripped out of the fireplace of what looked like an ice cream shop, Julia looked up and gasped at the gigantic figure standing in front of her. "I'll be s'posing that yeh're Julia Andrews, am I right?" Julia nodded timidly. The giant man suddenly let out a booming laugh. "Well, yeh don' hafta be so scared abou' it," he smiled through his dark whiskers. "I guess I should introduce meh-self." He cleared his throat. "Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Eh, but yeh kin call me Hagrid," he added less formally.
Julia let out a huge sigh and laughed. For a moment she thought she had wound up in a giant's lair. "Hagrid, I am most pleased to meet you," she giggled. "I suppose you're gonna be my temporary tour guide, right?"
"Summat like that, I'd guess. Dumbledore told me all abou' yeh. But a piece o' advice fer ya: whatever yeh do, don' go aroun' tellin' folks yeh're a muggle. It won' go over well at all. So in all the shops an' such, we're s'posed ter say yeh're a transfer student from Durmstang until we get to Hogwarts. Then the teacher who's in charge o' yeh're house'll explain the whole situation to em, but they won' say an'thing abou' You- Know-Who, so don' you say an'thing abou' it either. It won' go over well with your classmates, especially those bloody Slytherins. Every last one o' em's got connections to the Dark Side." Hagrid shuddered. As he was saying all of this they had headed over to Olivander's Wands. "Er, Julia? Yeh wouldn' mind if I stayed outside, would yeh?"
"Of course I wouldn't mind. . .why would you want to stay outside though?"
Hagrid looked at his feet. "Teh be honest with yeh, Julia, Mr. Olivander looks at me a little more suspiciously than I'd like him to." Julia nodded as she went inside. She had learned that Hagrid had been expelled in his third year and his wand had been snapped in half. However, she got a 'feeling' that the pieces were concealed in his pink umbrella.
As soon as she walked in, she felt that this was the type of place to keep your voice down in. After a short moment, Olivander appeared from behind what seemed to be one of hundreds of shelves filled with long, thin boxes. "And who may you be, my dear?"
Julia immediately recalled her story for everyone. "My name is Julia Andrews, and I am a transfer student from Durmstang. I assumed this was -"
"Where you may purchase a wand? But of course. Olivander's has many wands, but," he paused, "the wand chooses the wizard, and not the other way around." His ice-blue eyes bored holes into Julia's. She was quickly realizing why Hagrid had no intention of coming in. He pulled out a box. "Hmm. . .I believe this one shall work. . . .nine inches. . .birch. . .along with a hair from the tail of a unicorn. . .give it a wave. . ."
Julia knew it wouldn't work, but she waved it about a bit to humor the old man. After about two more wands, Julia suddenly felt one box drawing her attention. "Excuse me, Mr. Olivander. . .perhaps this one." She carefully pulled the box off the shelf.
Olivander looked at the box curiously. "I wonder. . .13 inches. . .maple. . .powered by the heartstring of a dragon. . .quite an interesting combination, if I do say so myself. Well, try it out. . ."
As soon as Julia held the wand in her hand, she felt as though she were free-falling, wind blowing in her face. The thrill was amazing, such that she had never experienced before. "So this is what it's like to be a witch. . ."
"Interesting. . .most wizards and witches received a negative reaction from that one, if anything. . ." Olivander eyed Julia suspiciously as she fumbled with her wizard's money to pay for her wand.
"Hagrid, you were right about Olivander. . .he's disturbing."
"What'd I tell yeh? Personally, I think 'e's an ole kook. Well, that's about everything yeh need. . .yeh already have Arrow (who was actually perched on Hagrid's shoulder looking very content with his high roost), so yeh really don' need an owl. . .'Arry's got a nice one, though," he muttered to himself.
At the mention of a name, Julia remembered that Hagrid was a teacher at Hogwarts, and would certainly therefore know a good number of students. "Hagrid, are there any students in my class that I should, uh, 'know' about?"
Hagrid suddenly seemed to wake up from his thoughts. "Eh? Well, lessee.yeh're gonna be a fifth year, righ'? Hrm..oh! 'Arry Potter's in yehr year. . .great kid. An' then there're Ron Weasley an' Hermione Granger. . .brilliant girl, she is. But lemme tell yeh. . .them Slytherin bastards're pretty bad. Eh, Draco Malfoy, he's a real ass. His flunkies ain't no better. . .stay away from 'em, Julia. They're bad news."
Julia had heard lots about Harry Potter, but she had never seen him or knew what he was like (the information she got via channeling was very vague and most likely not too accurate). "Hagrid, being a muggle, I don't know much about Harry Potter. Why is he so popular?"
Hagrid puffed out his chest with pride, being one of Harry's closest and first wizard friends. "'Arry's a great kid, Julia. . .'e survived a supposedly non-defensible and lethal attack from You-Know-Who, which caused the Dark Lord teh lose jus' abou' all 'is power, givin' 'Arry the nickname 'The Boy Who Lived.' 'E's a pretty regular good kid, though. 'E sure knows how teh defend 'imself, that's fer sure," he laughed. " 'E's not a kind o' person the let fame get ter 'is 'ead, if that's what yeh meant," he added. "Yeh'll definitely know 'im by the lightning shaped scar on 'is forehead, but that may be 'ard teh see 'cause 'o 'is black hair. . .uncontrollable, jus' like 'is father's was. . ." Julia let out a sigh of relief. She wanted to meet the wizard who survived a powerful Dark wizard's supposedly fatal attack. She had been worried that he may be a bit stuck-up. Hagrid didn't seem like the type to take crap from anyone, so she trusted that he was a nice guy. "Eh, Julia, I'm gonna head over teh the Leaky Cauldron fer a drink. . .that's where yeh'll be stayin' tonigh', but I'll be assuming yeh'll be wantin' to explore Diagon Alley. I'll meet yeh outside o' the Owlry at 7:00 to bring yeh to the Leaky Cauldron, where yeh'll be stayin' fer the night. After that, it's Hogwarts Express!"
Julia grinned, "Aright, bye, Hagrid!" She didn't know where she wanted to go first, so she decided to go to the ice cream parlor where she arrived. She was a little nervous, wondering if wizard ice cream was any different than muggle ice cream. To her relief, wizard ice cream included all the muggle flavors, along with a few others. Julia didn't think she was ready to try exploding strawberry flavored ice cream, she would try that at a later point if she ever got a little more 'used' to being a pretend-witch. As she sat down at a table in the corner (she wasn't very good at meeting people, plus she didn't want to accidentally blow her cover as a muggle) to enjoy her chocolate ice cream, she saw two boys, both about her age, walk in. One was average height, with red hair and freckles scattered across his face. Julia deducted that by his slightly childish face that he hadn't quite hit puberty yet. The other boy was much taller, with messy black hair and glasses. Julia made mental note of how attractive he was. As she quietly ate her ice cream, Julia found herself stealing glances at the dark-haired boy a little more often than she would like. *Suddenly, when she was catching another glimpse at him, he stopped chatting with his friend and happened to meet her gaze. Turning 50 shades of red, Julia immediately cleared her mind and muttered "Unseen to foreign eyes, concealed in disguise," so quietly and quickly that no one could hear it, even if they had been sitting next to her. She was immediately invisible to all eyes but her own. She didn't need to chant anything to do this, but she felt better whenever she did. All the while she felt her eye candy looking at where she had been. She knew she had disappeared so quickly that it would seem as though the boy had imagined seeing her, but she still couldn't believe how close that was. Looking at her watch, she felt a wave of relief as she saw that it was 6:57. She immediately got up, and without another look at the attractive adolescent, she quickly left the parlor to meet Hagrid at the owlry.
*At the other table:
As Ron dove into his exploding strawberry ice cream, Harry made a slight face. "Ron, how can you eat it that fast? It explodes in your mouth right away, and the more ice cream, the bigger the explosion. Doesn't that hurt your mouth?"
"Harry," POP "that's the whole point of it! You really should try it some time.it's so much better than that rocky road crap," he replied as he pointed at Harry's ice cream. Harry shrugged. All of a sudden he thought he saw someone out of the corner of his eye, but as soon as he turned to look it was gone. "Must be my imagination, he muttered."
"Huh?" Ron looked up with a mouth full of ice cream.
"I thought I saw someone in that corner by the window over there. . ."
"Maybe it was someone walking by, Harry. It's only 6:50 or something. People are still awake at this hour." He commented.
The two boys laughed as they promptly forgot about it and went back to talking about Quidditch.
-=-=-=-=-
YAY! A somewhat long-ish chapter! Remember! Reviews are fuel! =D