Disclaimer: Harry Potter and his world both belong to J.K. Rowling, several publishing companies (Bloomsbury Books, Raincoast Books, Scholastic Books), Warner Brothers, Inc., and as I'm not a part of any of them I therefore own none of it. I'm making absolutely no money off of this, please don't sue. Ahem, I do own the following, however: Geoley, the Hunter family, Cassiope MacColin, Sojin Young, several of the first years, and the story itself. So nyah : P

I know I said this in Chapter 1, but I'm going to say it again just in case people weren't paying attention. Yes, this story is self-insertion. No, it contains no Mary-Sues. I swear. On my muse's grave. Never mind that she's not dead yet....

Chapter 2

Her talk with Jonathan ended up helping Ruth Ann adjust to the idea of attending Hogwarts a great deal. She stopped worrying about it, and concentrated on spending as much time as possible with her friends. While her friends from the wizarding world knew where she was going, she was only about to tell her Muggle friends that she was going to the same British boarding school that her brother attended. Ruth Ann pushed the impending trip so far out of her mind that it nearly caught her by surprise when she found herself standing in LAX on August thirtieth.

"Do you have some gum for popping your ears? What about something to read? Are you sure you haven't forgotten your tickets?" Mrs. Hunter worried as she she rushed both of her children through the airport. While Mrs. Hunter herself disliked airplanes, she had decided a long time ago that traveling the Muggle way was a lot cheaper than the wizarding method of international transport, especially if one knew how to take advantage of special airline offers, which she did.

After dropping off their school trunks, they were herded over to metal detectors in front of their gate of departure. While the children waited for their carry-on luggage to pass through the scanners, Mrs. Hunter turned to admonish her son one last time. "Now, Jonathan, you do have enough pounds to get to the Leaky Cauldron, right? Because I don't want to get a phone call saying I need come over there and rescue you because you don't have any money to get to there."

"Yes, Mother," Jonathan sighed, and stepped forward, about to walk through the metal detectors. He was snagged by his mother at the last moment, however.

"All right then, I'm just making sure. Now, give me a hug, you won't be seeing me until next summer, you know." Rolling his eyes, Jonathan gave her one of his trademark hugs, stiffly putting his arms around her and lightly patting her on the back. When it was over he quickly stepped back, then escaped through the metal detector.

Mrs. Hunter turned to her youngest child. "Come on, your turn, Ruth Ann. Hugs and kisses, then on through to the gate." She smiled encouragingly at her daughter, who was holding back, eyeing the planes that were landing and taking off on the airfield outside the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows nervously.

"Do I have to go? I've never been on a plane before, Mom --Êwhat if something goes wrong and it falls? I'll be squashed like a bug, or I might implode from the pressure if it's high enough up! Or it might fall in the ocean, and I'm a terrible swimmer," Ruth Ann said, her eyes wide and scared.

"Nonsense dear, airplanes are perfectly safe. More people are hurt each year in car accidents than from airplane accidents," Mrs. Hunter reassured Ruth Ann as she bent down to give her daughter a big hug and a kiss on each cheek.

Ruth Ann hugged her mother back, then shakily walked through the gate to join her brother, taking her backpack from him. They both waved to their mother, who enthusiastically waved back before turning to leave. Once their mother's back was turned to them, Jonathan leaned down to murmur in his sister's ear. "What she never tells you when she says that thing about the car and plane accidents is that way more people use cars world wide than they use airplanes. Most likely the percentages are pretty much the same."

Ruth Ann turned to look at her brother and clutched her backpack more tightly to her chest. He laughed and ruffled her hair. "But don't worry, I've got my wand on me and I'll save you if something does happen. We're allowed to use magic away from school if it's a life-or-death situation. And I'm very good at levitation charms, I learned them in first year."

Why does that not reassure me in the least? Ruth Ann wondered as she walked over to a row of seats near their gate and sat down in one. She opened her backpack and took out the book she was currently reading. It was her father's copy of Hogwarts, A History. After she admitted to not wanting to attend Hogwarts, he had dug it out from the attic and given it to her, telling her that she couldn't say she wouldn't go when she knew nothing about the school. "And if you still don't like it at the end of the term, we'll see about having you transferred to Golden Poppy next year, all right?" he had said. Hearing this, she had at last acquiesced to going, figuring that it would be like spending a year as an exchange student. Next year she would go to Golden Poppy, and she would be able to tell her friends all about the weird things that they did at Hogwarts and they would all laugh at that.

Jonathan sat down next to her and settled back, taking out his own book. Ruth Ann noted that it was a sf book, and she hid a smile behind her book. It's weird, she thought lightly to herself, that here we are, witches and wizards, and all of my family reads Muggle science fiction stories. It was a strange twist of irony, in her opinion. Maybe Jon's right, she decided, maybe this won't be too bad as long as we stick together.

The airplane ride took around eight hours, Ruth Ann decided later when she had a chance to think about. When they arrived in London, her watch read two thirty, and their six o'clock flight had been relatively on time, so it had actually been quite easy to do the math while she was try to grab her trunk from the luggage carousel. Jonathan managed to commandeer luggage trolleys for both of them, and they pushed their trunks out to the front of the airport. While they waited for a free cab, Ruth Ann watched with interest as her brother took off his watch and began fiddling with it.

"What're you doing?" she asked him, curious.

"There's a seven hour time difference between here and L.A. While it's two in the afternoon back at home, it's nine P.M. here. Don't tell me you forgot!" Having adjusted his watch, Jonathan put it back on his wrist.

"Actually... I hadn't even thought about it. Does this mean that I'm going to be jet lagged? Hey, Jon, can you get jet lagged if you travel by Floo? Do they even call it jet lagged, or is it 'Floo lagged'?" Ruth Ann continued to spout off several more questions on the topic as they loaded their trunks into a taxi and Jonathan told the driver their destination of the Leaky Cauldron.

Finally, he turned to her and began answering those questions that he remembered. "Yes, we will be jet lagged. Don't worry about it, though. My morning professors were very understanding once I explained my situation to them. After a couple of weeks I'm pretty much adjusted to the time difference. It shouldn't be any different for you."

They soon arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, and Jonathan paid the cab driver, who was kind enough to help them get their trunks out of the car. Ruth Ann was glad that it wasn't very far from the curb to the little pub. Jonathan went first, pushing the door open and shoving his trunk in ahead of her, then turning to help Ruth Ann with her own burden.

Once inside, he instructed her to wait by the door with both their trunks. "I have to go talk to Tom -- he's the owner of the Leaky Cauldron -- and see about arranging for rooms for us. We might as well spend the rest of the day here, since it's late enough that most of the shops on Diagon Alley will be closed," he explained to her before going off to talk to the wizened old man tending the bar.

Ruth Ann was surprised when the bartender -- Tom, she presumed -- left his place behind the counter to walk with Jonathan over to where she stood. "So, you're Jonathan's little sister, eh? I've heard about you the few times he's stayed here. Quite the little rapscallion, aren't you?"

Flushing, Ruth Ann looked down at her hands and mumbled something about Jonathan being a bit biased in his opinion of her. Tom just laughed, then helped them up carry their trunks up the stairs.

"We're a bit full right now, so you'll have to stay in the same room, if that's all right with you. There are two beds, however, so it shouldn't too scandalous." He smiled warmly at them as he opened the door to room five and ushered them in. "You must be tired, after all that traveling, why don't you just settle down and take a nap? I'll come in and leave your supper before I go to bed. Don't hesitate to ask for anything!" And then he was gone.

The siblings dragged their trunks over to their chosen beds, then quickly took off their packs and crawled under the covers. They didn't even stir when Tom came in with their suppers at ten thirty.

The next day they woke up a bit after one o'clock, local time. After going downstairs and consuming a quick late brunch, they went out the back door and into a small courtyard.

Drawing out his wand, Jonathan lightly tapped one of the bricks on the back wall of the courtyard. Ruth Ann watched in wonder as a hole appeared, then grew larger and larger until it was big enough for both her and her brother to pass through. Once she was on the other side, she looked back and was surprised to see that the archway had not remained. Turning to ask her brother about this, the words died in her throat as she got her first good look at Diagon Alley.

When she had first been told of Diagon Alley by her brother in his letters home four years ago, Ruth Ann had envisioned a carbon copy of Tesseract Lane, the magical shopping area for most of southern California. Diagon Alley, however, couldn't have been more different than Tesseract Lane -- well, at least in terms of architecture.

Tall, spindly buildings stood next to squat narrow ones, while in other places there were sprawling shop fronts. All of this was overshadowed by the marble monstrosity that was the London branch of Gringotts Bank with its shiny bronze doors. The overall impression was one of everything being squished into one small space, while still managing to stretch out as far as the eye could see. Ruth Ann considered Tesseract Lane, with its ranch house-style shops, stalls set up in the middle of the street, and wide wooden porches which shaded the sunken shops that were at basement level. She honestly couldn't decide which place she liked better.

Jonathan did not allow her any more time to consider the two magical locations, however, as he was dragging her off to a squished and shabby-looking shop. A sign over the door proclaimed the building to be Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. Dragging her feet, Ruth Ann stared up at the sign, her eyes as wide as dinner plates and her mouth hanging open in surprise. She tugged on Jonathan's shirt sleeve right before he could open the door. He turned to glare at her. "What?"

"It's a joke, right?" she asked, pointing up at the sign. "It can't have been established in 382 B.C., could it? I mean, how would they know? The B.C. and A.D. tags weren't even invented until the sixth century, and the monk who came up with them didn't even get the year zero right, it's actually off by four or six years--" She was cut off as Jonathan rolled his eyes and pushed through the door, dragging her with him into the tiny room.

In the absolute silence that followed the ringing of a bell when they entered the shop, Ruth Ann stared at the walls, which were covered with bookshelves containing narrow boxes that went up to the ceiling. There were thousands upon thousands of the boxes, and everywhere she looked, Ruth Ann saw more of them. Suddenly scared, she drew closer to her brother and looked up at him. She wasn't sure whether or not she should be relieved that he looked nervous as well.

"Good afternoon," said a quiet voice from somewhere off to the left. Ruth Ann let out a squeak and clutched more tightly at Jonathan's arm. Next to them stood an old man with wide, luminous eyes.

"Um, ah... hello," said Jonathan a bit weakly. "My sister needs to get her wand. She's starting at Hogwarts this year..."

"Ah, yes, of course. Mr. Hunter, isn't it? Eleven and three quarter inches, oak, if I am correct?" Mr. Ollivander asked, his eyes lighting up strangely in the gloomy shop.

Jonathan nodded nervously, and Ruth Ann noticed that he was shaking slightly. The shop owner seemed to be more than a bit unnerving, she decided. "Yes, sir. It's very good, but my sister..."

The old man's eyes immediately shifted to concentrate on Ruth Ann, and she squirmed slightly under his gaze. He then proceeded to ask her a whole barrage of questions, at one point taking out a tape measure and measuring her in all different directions. Finally he turned away and began taking boxes off the shelves, seemingly at random. Ruth Ann soon discovered that each box contained a wand, and each time Mr. Ollivander took down a new one, he handed her the wand from inside and insisted that she swish it in the air.

After swishing half a dozen or so wands, Mr. Ollivander handed her a rather plain looking wand. Sniffing experimentally, Ruth Ann studied the wood of the wand. "Excuse me, sir... but is this pine? Because it sure smells like pine."

The old man's lips quirked in a strange manner, and if Ruth Ann hadn't known better, she would have sworn that he had smiled at her. "Yes, it is. Are you familiar with pine, then?"

"Oh, yes. My family goes camping in the forest a lot, and some of my Muggle cousins take this self-defense class where they have to break boards of pine wood with their feet. They have to bake the boards in the oven first to dry them out, so sometimes when we go to visit them their entire house smells like pine wood," Ruth Ann explained happily as she gave the wand a little swish. She was very surprised when the tip emitted a spurt of orange and blue sparks. "Ooo... sparkly... And look, they're complimentary colors!"

Taking the wand back and returning it to its box, Mr. Ollivander gave her an odd look. "Ten inches, pine with a hair from the tail of a unicorn. A rather generic, soft wand. Interesting... That will be seven Galleons and three Sickles."

Jonathan dug the coins out of his pocket and carefully counted out eight Galleons. Mr. Ollivander went behind a desk in the front of the store, stashed the Galleons away somewhere under the counter, then handed Jonathan his change of fourteen Sickles, and the siblings gratefully left the gloomy wand shop for the sunny street outside.

Gradually, as they walked down the street, Ruth Ann loosened her grip on his sleeve, until at last she let go entirely. "Was he... was he strange like that when you got your wand, Jon?"

Her brother slowed down, drawing her close to the wall of an ice cream parlor and out of the busy traffic of the street. "Well, yes, I guess he was. It was weird, he was able to spout off all the stats about Dad's wand too, when we came in. I don't think he ever forgets who buys a wand from him. Like having a photographic memory that can only ever remember one thing."

Ruth Ann Ann laughed at this, and didn't stop until they were inside of the Magical Menagerie. Once she had managed to get herself back under control, Ruth Ann Ann looked around at the shop, taking in the cats, rats, bats, birds, toads, and other animals that could be seen from where they stood. "Jonathan... what are we doing here?"

"Mom said I could get an animal, late birthday present all that. I think I'm going to get an owl, since then I won't have to worry about keeping it in my room." He grinned at her confused look, and explained. "See, Justin has a cat, and so does Ernie, so it's already close to chaos in my dorm room. If I had a cat that would just add to the insanity, and if I got a toad I would have to worry about losing it. Owls stay in the Owlrey, so I wouldn't have to worry about either Justin or Ernie's cats trying to eat it."

They walked over to the wall that held cages of owls and Jonathan began looking at them with interest. Standing to the side, Ruth Ann clutched the box with her wand in it to her chest and scowled. "Mom said I couldn't have an animal. She said that I was too young and that I wouldn't take care of it." She looked longingly at some of the other animals and sighed. "I want a snake or a bat. That would be really cool."

Jonathan, who had been looking at a tawny owl, laughed. "I believe your letter said 'Students may also bring an owl or a cat or a toad.' Though there's a guy who's in the same year as me who had a rat. I don't think I saw it around last year, though... maybe it died."

Looking at the owls, his sister nodded absentmindedly. Suddenly, she stopped in front of one cage. "Oh, Jonathan... look at this one! He's so small, and such a pretty red color." She cooed at the screech owl in the cage in front of her. It was noticeably smaller than the other owls, its dull red feathers standing out among all the grey and brown owls that were in the cages around it.

A short time later, the two siblings were back out on the street, Jonathan holding the cage with the red screech owl in it. Ruth Ann was bending over, stroking the owl carefully through the bars of the cage. "What are you going to call him?" she asked her brother.

Her brother frowned and thought for a moment. "How about Thoth? Wasn't he that Egyptian bird god?"

Ruth Ann stuck out her tongue at him. "Yes, but he had the head of an ibis. Horus had the head of a hawk, and that's closer to an owl, so why not call him Horus?"

"I like Thoth."

"Fine then, call him--" She broke off as her eyes caught hold of something. "Oh, look! A bookstore! Please, can we go inside and look, Jon? Please?"

A thoughtful look on his face, Jonathan nodded, having decided that he might as well give in to the inevitable. They would be taking a taxi to King's Cross in the morning in order to catch the Hogwarts Express. As Ruth Ann was only a first year, she would not be able to go to Hogsmeade and would end up spending the entire year book store-deprived, so it would probably be in his best interests to allow her to waste the next few hours in Flourish and Blotts.

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I want a pet snake... :(

Next chapter: the dangers of Platform Nine and Three Quarters; discourse on a fine art; problems with prefects.