Chapter Four-

Izzie

Magic was wonderful she decided. Not only could it completely break the law of physics, but it also brought along books. A whole load of books with hundreds of new genres, all non-fiction. In the book shop- was it flourish and boots...well something like that, the high shelves were tightly packed with books, the whole shop seems to be a lot larger than it looked outside as well. Maybe it was like the tardis- way bigger on the inside. As much as it comforted her the that even in the strange, mystical world, there was still books to be read, she felt a burning anger build up inside of her.

The thirst to know was there, the want to- no need to know consumed her, after all, how else was she to protect herself if she was of normal intelligence? Errrg.. just the thought disgusted her.

I'll be looked upon like those other children in The Home- completely ignorant to anything going on.

The anger continued to bubble away, even though she was aware of magic, she still was not be able to read all the books she wished to. The trust funds they had for students who have no money only allocated enough to buy everything on the school list, so she wouldn't be able to buy any other books apart from text books until she earned her own money.

She was well aware of unfairness in life, sometimes it even felt like she'd been set up to fail in life. Other children, not ones in The Home, all had families that can support them and try their hardest to make sure they succeed.

Me-? I've got nothing. I'll never get advice or money to pay for my interests.

Sure, she could deal without love and warmth a family comes along with, but money would definitely come in handy. She couldn't understand why, but when she first heard of this new world, she thought that she might fit in, that she could go from the outsider to just a normal person. From what she'd seen of Diagon Alley has already crushed that wish.

She wasn't normal anywhere, heck- she didn't know the slightst thing about this wizarding culture. Their clothes almost resembled medieval times, there were no phones or technology from what she could tell, and they had completely illogical currency system (seriously, why 17 Sickels in a Galleon and 29 Knuts in a Sickle? It makes conversion such a messy business), the whole society appears to be stuck centuries behind to the dark haired girl.

When she looked to her side, she saw the girl. Rose she thinks. Her light brown eyes were scanning over the various book titles and Izzie was pleased to see the other girl was just as fascinated by books as she was. She could tell- it's that slight predatory look people get when they want something. She was surprised- to begin with, she thought Rose would be a bit of a nuisance, but now...maybe she could use her to her advantage? She decided to ask if she had got any old books she could borrow. Mrs Granger seemed fairly understanding, especially as she agreed to look after another child without any prior warning.

"So..." She asked Rose, "Are you just gon'ta buy textbooks errrrr...or other...stuff as well?"

She smiles at her briefly before explaining "I got the text books a few years ago, got a bit bored see, and decided to prepare myself for Hogwarts."

Izzie nodded. It made sense after all, she would have done the same if she were able to. "You like reading then?" she inquired.

"Yeah, it's a whole load more interesting than quidditch or anything, and will actually be useful at some point. I have no idea what I'd do with my life without books sometimes" she tells her enthusiastically.

She smiled, not fully understanding the keen, babbling girl before her (what on earth was this quidditch thing?) but she clearly has good priorities compared to most.

"Do you think...like... maybe, I could possibly borrow any books you've already read? Jus' cos I'm really confused this, and it'd be great to get more information," She nervously requested.

Izzie hated having to ask people for favours and sounding so desperate, yet this Rose girl was her highest chance of success at the moment.

She smiles back, "Of course, just tell me your address, I'll send some by owl later on."

"Thanks, you're brilliant," was her bright reply. Wow, that was easier then she'd expected, how is anyone that kind she wondered to herself?

Mrs Granger then called both of them over, and Izzie joined the queue to pay for the rather battered textbooks. Once she was done, outside Rose's family waited. Her dad and brother are there as well now. "Right then, let's go to Ollivander's for the wands, Rose will catch us up later," he said, with a rather loud, booming voice.

Her little brother groans slightly and starts muttering something about how long Rose spends in book shops. She followed them both into the narrow shop with peeling gold letters just hanging on. Unlike the book store, the inside was also tiny. Thousands of boxes were messily stacked up on top of each other, some piles even reaching the ceiling! Behind the desk was an old man.

"Yes, yes. Now then I suppose you'll be needing your first wand for Hogwarts ?" He croaked.

"Yes, if that's alright?" she answer awkwardly.

Mr Ollivander was a little creepy with his small, unblinking eyes staring down at her.

"Well then miss, here try this wand- jus give it a wave now, and we'll see..." he says "it's vine and unicorn feather. Nice and flexible."

She took the wand and waved it around, feeling a little foolish.

"No, no, no, that'll never do. Try this one," Ollivander says as he snatched the wand out of her hand.

She picked the next one up, but this time it caused a huge bang. That too was snatched out of her hand. And so she tried the next wand. And the next. And a load others. Each time, she either caused some explosion or broke something in the shop. Eventually, Izzie was given one which felt...right. The warmth spread across her fingers, and a small shower of black mist escaped from it.

Mr Ollivander nodded slightly, but with an expression of horror. That or shock. She was never that good at telling what people thought .

"Well, well well. That's a perfect match!" He tells the confused girl. But it didn't succeed in sounding cheerful at all. "Yew and dragon heartstring. Twelve inches, unyielding." His unblinking eyes continue to stare at her, "I'd think about the actions you make with this wand with great caution, miss...?"

"Izzie, sir. My name's Izzie. Ummm- I guess my surname is Morgan though."

Just as she was about to ask him why he looked like there was some devil in front of him when the wand worked, Rose came through the door.

"Hello," she pants, trying to get her breath back "I'm here for a wand, please."

And so she tried and tried to find her correct wand.

Rose

She clutched her new wand. It was ivy and dragon heartstring. They left Diagon Alley and then traveled in a muggle car to drop Izzie off at her home. It turns out that the girl isn't as bad she thought. To begin with, any interaction was so awkward. Now, she found her alright. Rose was surprised to find out she liked books as well- maybe even as much as she liked them. That'd be cool, Mum was always saying how most kids don't like books too much, so if she become friends with Izzie, at least they'd have something in common.

It's a bit of a pain for her having to go by car. Dad and Hugo went back by floo, but muggleborns don't all have fireplaces which work. Mum isn't allowed to apparate with Izzie without the ministries permission as well. The feeling of being stuck in this metal construction always made her feel a little sick. To distract herself, she stared out of the window. The area is a lot different to where she lived. Graffiti stained almost all the walls. Everywhere she looked was either warehouses, construction work or huge blocks of council estates. The whole atmosphere seemed a pretty depressing place to live.

When her mum stopped the car, they'd reached what looked like a small block of flats. Except, on the wall, the lettering " ratford's H me for Ch ren and Under 1 s" is hammered on. It takes a while for her to realise what the missing letters are, and suddenly it made sense to Rose- the reason Izzie didn't go to Diagon Alley with her parents is because she didn't have any. That was probably also why she had to buy everything second hand. She noticed Izzie herself is thanking mum for the lift and she says her goodbyes before leaving.

"See ya in September I guess, Rose?" She asks.

Nodding, she waved goodbye, "I'll send you those books by owl- I think I'll be getting one of my own soon," she told her.

She watch as Izzie approached the door. It took a while for it to open, and when it did an old woman shoved her inwards, slamming the door behind her.

"Mum, why don't we do something?" she asked

"What do you mean, sweetheart?" She says from the drivers seat.

"Can't we like adopt her or something? No one deserves to have to live here- just look around, we could make her life so much better by letting her live with us- I'd even share my room! Please mum?" Rose begged.

She squeezes her daughters hand a little "Rosie, of course we'd love to help your friend, it's just the orphanage is fine, it has lots of inspections and if it was that bad, it'd be shut down. I know you are just trying to be nice, but Izzie wouldn't like the change anyway. She's had her whole life to settle into... ratfords home?... and it'd be unfair to move her now."

And so Rose went on to spend the rest of the journey trying to convince her mum. But she knee it was useless- no one could really argue with Hermione Granger and win.