One More Surprise

With a little help from her father Olivia was able to transform her bedroom into something more to her liking. They moved a bit of the furniture around, taking out the rougher pieces, and bringing in a few softer pieces such as a comfy love seat that was placed in front of the fireplace, an oak armoir, and a vanity which Draco told her had been her grandmother's. With one quick motion from his wand the color of the walls went from a magenta, to a mocha color which gave the room a lighter feeling. Olivia was rather busy arranging her new room and getting comfortable around the house that she didn't realize that the school season was fast approaching. It dawned on her one day as she sat organizing her vanity. She happened to glance at the daily calander on her writing desk. The calander looked like an alarm clock, but aside from the time it also gave a read out of the date. And Olivia has programmed it to flash some of her favorite quotes ( like the one it had been flasing at that moment: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything counts can be counted"- Albert Einstein) and trivia questions. It had been a gift from her father who said every office should have one. Deciding now was as good a time as any to clean up, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

She found her father sitting in the breakfast nook looking over rolls of parchment with a quill in his hand.

"Daddy I just realized that I should be starting school again pretty soon, any idea on what the plan is?"

"You know I've been wondering that myself," he said putting down the quill. "I believe that each school gets notices of any changes in the magical community such as the kids that come of age and any new people to the area. I expect that we should be recieving post from the nearest school some time soon."

"Hey," Olivia said with sudden realization, "that probably means that I will be attending the same school as you did."

Draco noted a hint of shock in her voice that he suspected stemmed from the fact that she was going from knowing practically nothing about her father's past, to being completely immersed in it. He did not blame her in the least if she was bitter about the situation. She was starting over at a new school when she had been so close to finishing at her old one. He knew the transition would be hard. Harder still was the fact the he would no longer be able to keep his daughter from learning about the Malfoy name. At Hogwarts, she was sure to run into someone that remembered him. Deep down inside he hoped that she would get an invitation from another school but he knew that was highly unlikely.

In mid August Olivia's letter from school arrived. She had been reading in the library, thrilled at the number of magical books of it contained. Glancing around she wondered where the muggle works were kept, when there was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in, it's open," she called. It was Boscos, he was carrying a small envelope in his hands.

"Miss Malfoy, there's a letter for you."

"Bosco's please how many times do I have to ask you, call me Olivia. 'Miss' makes me feel so old." She has spent most of her time at the manor trying to convince him but Bosco's was so set in his ways that it was difficult

"I beg your pardon Mi-Olivia, here you go."

She smiled as he walked out of the library and then examined the letter. It was adressed to Miss Olivia Malfoy. Turning it over she saw a maroon wax seal bearing a crest with the letter "H". She opened it up and read:

Miss Olivia Malfoy,

We are pleased to welcome you into the community and would like to offer you a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We hope that you will accept this invitation to attend one of the most well known schools of magic and study under some of the best professors in the country.

Since your situation is a little more complicated we will be needing a response to our invitation as soon as possible. If you choose to accept, Ireland's Acedemy of the Magical Art's will be contacted and a copy of your record's will be obtained. The information we recieve will help determine the courses you will take during your sixth year.

Please notify us imediately with your resoponse and we welcome you once again.

Sincerely,

Didius Mezlermork

Headmaster

She ran up the spiral staircase onto the second floor of the library. Here, there was a door that would lead directly into her father's smaller library where she knew he was. Apperantly, aside from leaving him the house and fortune, grandmother Malfoy had also left her son with numerous overseas accounts which had to be managed properly. It was in this work that he spent most of his time, going over piles of parchments and filling out the necessary forms. She ran into the room, barely able to hold her excitement.

"It's here daddy, it's here! The letter from a school called Hogwart's! We must respond quickly it says, so they can sort out the arrangements." As soon as she had voiced the situation she began to feel nervous. She would be starting over at a new school and had no idea what it would be like. What if she found it hard to fit in? She played with her long hair as her father read the letter. He was leaning against the front of the desk his eyes moving as he scanned the parchment. He was worried, but he knew that Olivia had to continue her education. She was a highly gifted witch, there was no doubt about that, but without the proper magical training her gifts would be stifled. Draco was torn but he knew that her education was worth more than his pride.

"Tell Boscos to get the carraige ready we're going to the village."

A few days after they had sent their response, Olivia recieved a thicker envelope. This one included a second letter of welcome, a list of the books and equipment she would be needing, and special instructions on what to do when she arrived at Hogwart's. Even though she recieved no schedule, Olivia had an idea of the classes she would be taking by the list of books. There was advanced potions, transfiguration, Arithmancy, and a few other's. The letter also said that aside from their supplies students could either bring a cat, owl, or toad if they desired. Her father decided that Willow's Creak would probably be very limited in what it had to offer so the best thing for them to do was to go to Diagon Alley, which was where most of the student's from Hogwarts did their shopping.

They set off early one morning for the alley. Their fireplace was indeed connected by floo, so there was no need to make a trip to the village. They landed at a transportation site near the edge of Diagon Alley. Olivia looked around. It was just as busy as the station back in Ireland. There were so many stores! Her father had spoken of this place very few times since they had arrived but apperantly the Malfoy family had an account at Gringotts, the bank directly ahead of them. Looking around and feeling kind of awkward with her father, as most of the older kids walked alone, she decided to let him go on ahead to the bank by himself while she went into Flourish and Blotts to get her books. Reluctantly, Draco agreed and Olivia perked up a bit as she walked into the bookstore. There were a lot of people in the store and the little aisles were cramped. She had a fun time looking at the wide range of books, like an orange book with the title "Idiot's Guide to Charms" and then, was finally able to locate all of hers. There was a line forming at the register and stepping in she began flipping through her potions book on top of her pile.

"Is this the line?"

Olivia looked up and saw a girl with short black hair and in dark blue robes standing beside her. " Yes, it is."

The girl with the short hair looked Olivia over, She was used to it, girls often stared when they met her, it was all very competitive."Are you at Hogwart's," she asked.

Olivia smiled, apperantly having passed the inspection the girl was trying to make small talk. "Yes, actually I am."

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Just turned 16, why?" Now it was Olivia's turn to ask the questions. She was getting curious.

"Well that means that you're in my year, and I've never seen you before." She was tapping her fingers on her pile of books looking extremely bored.

"That's because I just transfered."

The dark haired girl looked at her again then smiled, "I'm Poppy Parkinson." She glanced around the slow moving line as if expecting a reaction from someone. Olivia noticed a hint of conciet in Poppy.

"I'm Olivia Malfoy,and I guess it's my turn," she said as she stepped up to the register. After she paid, and was making her way to the exit she cried out, "It was nice meeting you Poppy. I'll see you on the train then" Poppy waved as Olivia opened the door and went to look for her father.

The rest of the time passed fairly quickly. They bought her robes at Twilfitt and Tatting's choosing it over Madam Milkin's, bought all of her potion supplies, and finally bought a black owl in a little shop that specialized in rare animals. The shop keeper had said it was one of the only entirely black owls in the world, and Olivia had imediately fell in love with it. Without hesitation Draco had purchased the bird and Olivia named it Mozart, after her favorite muggle composer. When at last they were making their way back to the transportation site, she noticed a number of people standing around a particular shop. The windows were bright and filled with objects that spinned, puffed, and exploded. Giving into her childish curiosity she decided to go in. Draco claiming to be to tired from the day, decided to sit outside and wait for her.

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes contained the most elaborate collection of joke items that Olivia had ever seen. They even had a number of muggle magic card tricks, some of which Olivia recognized. Deciding that she would like to try a color changing quill for the fun of it, her father would probably get a kick out of one as well, she headed to the counter. There were a group of people gathered around it when she arrived, one of them had bright red hair and was wearing magenta robes, he was talking to a tall good looking boy with wind swept hair when he spotted Olivia and said, "Quills are your liking then? Why not try our scented kind, every ink has a different odor?"

"Oh, no thanks this will do for now." Olivia paid the man and started turning around when she caught the younger boy looking at her, feeling her face flush she walked away but not before catching sight of two gorgeous green eyes.

The summer ended and Olivia stood a night before her first day of school. She was sitting at the window overlooking the garden going over the plan for the next morning. She and her father were to eat breakfast and side apparate to King's Cross. This, Draco had decided, was the quickest way to get to the Hogwart's Express and Olivia had done it before. After that she was to board the train and once she got to school was supposed to talk to the deputy head mistress, Madame Nocturna, who would fill her in on the rest of the process. Olivia inhaled the summer air, she had slight butterflies in her stomach which were eased when she remembered how easy it had been talking to Poppy and hoped that she might run into her early tommorrow so she'd have company. Finally, stifling a yawn she put on her pajamas and climbed into bed. She really hoped that she ran into the tall good looking boy tommorrow as well.