Title: Alexandria
'Ship: it's between Alexandria and one of JK's characters not tellin'!!
Rating: PG-13 for now. I'll warn ya if it gets worse.
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: only Alexandria is mine.
Chapter One
I sit here thinking of the beginning, the start of all of this mess. I wonder why things turned out this way. Here's my story .
In June my family moved to England following a job for Dad. No biggie. People do that sort of thing everyday. But I was 15 and at 15 the world revolves around me. Not Dad's job, not you, not anyone, but me. So we moved to some suburb just outside of London. It was a quaint little town. It had its local pub and it's local loon, just like any other little town.
Life went on as normal as possible. Mom was trying to convince me to attend the local high school but I was refusing. I looked up the homeschooling laws and saw that if they would just try, Mom and Dad could finish my high school years at home. I had all of the needed books. But, the logic of a teenager always is overridden by the parents' wishes. I was registered to start school that fall.
But a letter in mid-July changed all of that. A big beautiful brown owl sat outside my window one morning, hooting up a storm. Curiously, I opened the window and then the screen. It hopped onto my desk and stuck out its leg. Attached by a red ribbon was a letter. I untied it and the owl flew out the window and was gone.
The letter was a parchment, heavy and thick. Beautiful calligraphy writing addressed the contents to me in my bedroom on the second floor. Suspicious, I opened the envelope cautiously. The letter inside was of the same heavy, thick parchment. I pulled it out and unfolded the three pages. The letter started with:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
My heart skipped a beat. There's a school here, too!! Yippee!! I continued:
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Miss Foster, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress
The next parchment was of course the list of "books and equipment". Most, of course, I had from school back home. The books I'll need to see about. I scream! I yelled! I hollered! I was so happy that I decided no one was going to sleep any longer! I ran down the stairs yelling for Mom and Dad to meet in the living room.
The relief on my parents' faces as they read the letter meant a lot to me. Mom didn't really want to send me to a Muggle school, but at the time we weren't aware of Hogwarts. So it was immediately decided to cancel the high school and send back a reply to Hogwarts. What we needed was a local owl. Ours wouldn't know where to go. Worried about that, Mom pulled aside the third sheet of parchment. It was directions to Diagon Alley and to Platform 9¾ here in London.
Over breakfast, we made plans. Dad would go to work and miss the excitement while Mom and I would visit Diagon Alley to get the rest of my supplies. Needless to say, breakfast was short. We needed to familiarize ourselves with the locals.
~*~
So, we stood outside of the Leaky Cauldron, doubting the existence of Diagon Alley. Looking around to make sure no one's going to stop a minor, I ventured into the dark, dirty establishment. Mom followed.
At this early hour, it was surprising how many people were already there. It wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty. Mom asked the barkeep for directions to Diagon Alley and he pointed with a smile to the back wall. There, using her finger, Mom tapped the bricks just as the letter said and the wall folded in on itself, opening up to a whole new world, Diagon Alley.
The first place to go was the bank. Chances were pretty good that there was a Gringott's here. And there was. It was a magnificent white building rising over the Alley. After confirming that we held an American account, the goblin accepting Mom's withdrawal and pushed some coins over to her. He then shoved some papers to her and explained that she and Dad needed to sign them to transfer the American account to here. Mom promised to do so and bring them back with Dad in a few days.
Once out in the unusual sunshine, we looked at the list of items for school. Some things, like the scales and caldron, were already crossed off. I just hope my size 3 cauldron doesn't cause problems. The first thing on the list not crossed off was a robe. So we looked and saw Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and headed that way. We ended up going to Flourish & Blotts for books and writing supplies. We visited the Apothecary's for spell and potion ingredients. We stopped by Ollivanders for a wand.
Our last stop was Eeylops. The plan was to get me an owl and Mom and Dad one. The best-laid plans go awry. Mom and Dad now had an owl just as beautiful as the messenger one this morning, while I found a beautiful solid black kitten that adopted me. I named her Zada.
At home, Mom owled off an acceptance letter to Hogwarts while I took our purchases to my room. I piled the books on the nightstand next to my bed for later and unwrapped the wand. 14 inches long and made of mahogany and unicorn hair, it was rather stiff, not unlike a conductor's baton. I swished it around while thinking of the perfect spell in which to start. Yeah, that'll do. "Alohomora", I whispered while pointing the contraption at Zada's cage lock. It snapped open with a click. "It's still quicker without the damn thing," I mumbled.
"Alex!! Get down here!" I looked up, started. Mom never yells. I dropped the wand and ran downstairs.
Shaking a letter at me, she said, "Apparently, you can't cast magic here during the summer holiday, Alex. Please, I don't want you expelled before you even start. Don't do any more, hon."
I snatched the parchment from her hand and read it in disbelief. First I have to use a wand and now I can't practice out of school? What next? The letter explained it all:
Dear Miss Foster,
We have received intelligence that an Unlock Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at 23 minutes past six.
We are pleased that you and your family have moved to our country, and as citizens of England, you must follow English laws. Underage wizards, that is, any wizard under 17 years of age, are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from Hogwarts (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).
We would ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statue of Secrecy.
Enjoy your holiday!
Yours sincerely, Mafalda Hopkirk Improper Use of Magic Office Ministry of Magic
Great. There goes practicing with the wand this summer. The rest of the summer was rather boring. I had no magic I could practice. I couldn't fly my broom. All I could do was read the textbooks and watch Mom use her magic. Beautiful.
~*~
author's note: more later. gotta feed the monsters. back hurts from using the comp all day.
Chapter One
I sit here thinking of the beginning, the start of all of this mess. I wonder why things turned out this way. Here's my story .
In June my family moved to England following a job for Dad. No biggie. People do that sort of thing everyday. But I was 15 and at 15 the world revolves around me. Not Dad's job, not you, not anyone, but me. So we moved to some suburb just outside of London. It was a quaint little town. It had its local pub and it's local loon, just like any other little town.
Life went on as normal as possible. Mom was trying to convince me to attend the local high school but I was refusing. I looked up the homeschooling laws and saw that if they would just try, Mom and Dad could finish my high school years at home. I had all of the needed books. But, the logic of a teenager always is overridden by the parents' wishes. I was registered to start school that fall.
But a letter in mid-July changed all of that. A big beautiful brown owl sat outside my window one morning, hooting up a storm. Curiously, I opened the window and then the screen. It hopped onto my desk and stuck out its leg. Attached by a red ribbon was a letter. I untied it and the owl flew out the window and was gone.
The letter was a parchment, heavy and thick. Beautiful calligraphy writing addressed the contents to me in my bedroom on the second floor. Suspicious, I opened the envelope cautiously. The letter inside was of the same heavy, thick parchment. I pulled it out and unfolded the three pages. The letter started with:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
My heart skipped a beat. There's a school here, too!! Yippee!! I continued:
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)
Dear Miss Foster, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress
The next parchment was of course the list of "books and equipment". Most, of course, I had from school back home. The books I'll need to see about. I scream! I yelled! I hollered! I was so happy that I decided no one was going to sleep any longer! I ran down the stairs yelling for Mom and Dad to meet in the living room.
The relief on my parents' faces as they read the letter meant a lot to me. Mom didn't really want to send me to a Muggle school, but at the time we weren't aware of Hogwarts. So it was immediately decided to cancel the high school and send back a reply to Hogwarts. What we needed was a local owl. Ours wouldn't know where to go. Worried about that, Mom pulled aside the third sheet of parchment. It was directions to Diagon Alley and to Platform 9¾ here in London.
Over breakfast, we made plans. Dad would go to work and miss the excitement while Mom and I would visit Diagon Alley to get the rest of my supplies. Needless to say, breakfast was short. We needed to familiarize ourselves with the locals.
~*~
So, we stood outside of the Leaky Cauldron, doubting the existence of Diagon Alley. Looking around to make sure no one's going to stop a minor, I ventured into the dark, dirty establishment. Mom followed.
At this early hour, it was surprising how many people were already there. It wasn't crowded, but it wasn't empty. Mom asked the barkeep for directions to Diagon Alley and he pointed with a smile to the back wall. There, using her finger, Mom tapped the bricks just as the letter said and the wall folded in on itself, opening up to a whole new world, Diagon Alley.
The first place to go was the bank. Chances were pretty good that there was a Gringott's here. And there was. It was a magnificent white building rising over the Alley. After confirming that we held an American account, the goblin accepting Mom's withdrawal and pushed some coins over to her. He then shoved some papers to her and explained that she and Dad needed to sign them to transfer the American account to here. Mom promised to do so and bring them back with Dad in a few days.
Once out in the unusual sunshine, we looked at the list of items for school. Some things, like the scales and caldron, were already crossed off. I just hope my size 3 cauldron doesn't cause problems. The first thing on the list not crossed off was a robe. So we looked and saw Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and headed that way. We ended up going to Flourish & Blotts for books and writing supplies. We visited the Apothecary's for spell and potion ingredients. We stopped by Ollivanders for a wand.
Our last stop was Eeylops. The plan was to get me an owl and Mom and Dad one. The best-laid plans go awry. Mom and Dad now had an owl just as beautiful as the messenger one this morning, while I found a beautiful solid black kitten that adopted me. I named her Zada.
At home, Mom owled off an acceptance letter to Hogwarts while I took our purchases to my room. I piled the books on the nightstand next to my bed for later and unwrapped the wand. 14 inches long and made of mahogany and unicorn hair, it was rather stiff, not unlike a conductor's baton. I swished it around while thinking of the perfect spell in which to start. Yeah, that'll do. "Alohomora", I whispered while pointing the contraption at Zada's cage lock. It snapped open with a click. "It's still quicker without the damn thing," I mumbled.
"Alex!! Get down here!" I looked up, started. Mom never yells. I dropped the wand and ran downstairs.
Shaking a letter at me, she said, "Apparently, you can't cast magic here during the summer holiday, Alex. Please, I don't want you expelled before you even start. Don't do any more, hon."
I snatched the parchment from her hand and read it in disbelief. First I have to use a wand and now I can't practice out of school? What next? The letter explained it all:
Dear Miss Foster,
We have received intelligence that an Unlock Charm was used at your place of residence this evening at 23 minutes past six.
We are pleased that you and your family have moved to our country, and as citizens of England, you must follow English laws. Underage wizards, that is, any wizard under 17 years of age, are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from Hogwarts (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C).
We would ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statue of Secrecy.
Enjoy your holiday!
Yours sincerely, Mafalda Hopkirk Improper Use of Magic Office Ministry of Magic
Great. There goes practicing with the wand this summer. The rest of the summer was rather boring. I had no magic I could practice. I couldn't fly my broom. All I could do was read the textbooks and watch Mom use her magic. Beautiful.
~*~
author's note: more later. gotta feed the monsters. back hurts from using the comp all day.