Luca drove us home to our small flat in silence, but I was blabbering all the way. Luca didn't hear anything I said until, after a while, I called his name loudly.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"This is insane. THIS IS INSANE."

"I know! Isn't it great? And they're welcoming us into Hogwarts with open arms!"

Luca was silent for a minute.

"They must have been watching us closely for a long time, always in the shadows. But, why did they decide to tell us this now?"

Apparently, there was some prophecy we were supposed to fulfill, the whole of which would be revealed to us in time when we arrived in London. Luca felt an incredible burden bearing down on him, but he looked over, and upon seeing me beaming wildly and twitching my eyebrows, burst out laughing.

"Let's go to the Zoo." He gasped threw tears.

I frowned. "Why?"

"To finally see if you can talk to snakes, Slytherin."

. . .

We were nearly packed, parents placated (of course our parents knew of our condition already, but still, they seemed to be hiding something else), and my sister was with us. Morgan was 13 and itching to go with her sibling and friend to the new year at Hogwarts. They had also accepted her with open arms when she implied that she wished to attend her parents' old school, wishing not to be left behind by her older companions.

"They say we'll have a sorting!" She called from the bathroom gleefully. The sound of a flush and the tap being turned on filled the room before she stepped out, shaking her curly brown hair.

"Even though we're older! A proper sorting so we'll know which house were in!"

I snorted. "We already know which houses we'll be in. I'm not looking forward to sharing the stage with a bunch of snot-nosed brats this new year."

"Well, I don't, and you might be surprised." Morgan replied.

"And dishonor our Slytherin blood? Never."

"I just think you're scared you'll be in Gryffindor." Morgan Replied.

"Oh, I am not."

"Both of our parents were in Gryffindor."

I puffed out a long breath of air. "And the Slytherins bullied them non-stop! Imagine! The Riddles, in Gryffindor! Well, no one will be teasing me, I tell you that!" I was already feeling house spirit.

"I'm feeling a little bit disrespected here." Godric teased, poking me, his friend, in the side.

"Well, we're supposed to disagree on everything." I replied.

"We do."

"And fight a lot."

"We always have."

"And be mortal enemies."

Godric paused for that one. "Who says?"

"I don't know."

"We'll, that one's just not true. We were best friends in a past life."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure things fell apart."

"You're right, you somehow hid a huge basilisk in the chamber of secrets and then left in a huff because you were so prejudiced."

"Hey."

"You know no-mages aren't any the lesser."

I rolled my eyes, "Not this argument again."

"We thought we were no-mages once too."

"Call them muggles, that's what they say in London. That's what our parents called them before they moved here. I always knew I was special. Besides, it's not like I have anything against them. They're just a lesser species. Maybe one day there won't be any muggles."

"That's just irrational. There are way more muggles than magic folk."

"Whatever, the weak fall down and the strong rise up."

The taxi honked outside.

"Let's get to the airport."

"Are you going to wear your real face to this school?" Morgan asked.

I snorted, "No way. This is my real face now."

. . .

London was big and bustling. Our group wasn't used to being in the city, but we did our best to fit in. We got lost on our way to Diagon Alley, where we were stopping to get supplies and sight see before we went to The Ministry, but we got on Charing Cross Road eventually, and located the Leaky Caldron set between a bookstore and a record shop. Luca sneakily tapped the correct brick out back in the walled courtyard, and we slipped inside unnoticed before sealing the entranceway back up behind us.

"Let's get new robes first!" I said, pulling on Luca's sleeve.

"Brooms!" Luca replied. "Mine's slower than molasses and you don't even have one!"

I sniffed. "I don't need one." But I allowed Luca and Morgan to pull me along nonetheless. I had snatched up Luca's broom once when he wasn't looking. Nothing had really happened, but that was exactly the problem.

Luca was positively in awe of the many types of brooms, but one broom caught his attention especially, and that was the Moon Trimmer, manufactured by Gladys Boothby. It had a slim ash handle and was designed to reach great heights while staying in control of the user. His face fell when he saw the price. There was no way he could afford new robes, a caldron, and all his new textbooks if he caved into buying this broom.

I smiled smugly, greed gleaming in my eyes. It was true that I also wanted the broom, but mostly because it was so expensive, and even more so because Luca wanted it but didn't have the money.

I would be charitable to my friend, I thought, and buy the broom for myself, but let him ride it. I knew Luca would be jealous and bitter – I couldn't even properly fly after all this time – and I loved it. We exited the store, me feeling quite smug and Luca feeling quite wronged.

We hit the book store, and where Luca and Morgan set to work acquiring all the books on the list sent from Hogwarts, I succeeded in buying nearly every book except the ones assigned.

We all bought new robes. I, despite not having been sorted into any house yet, got the most flamboyant silver and green robes that I could find, along with the black robes and night robes that were required.

"Let's go to a candy shop." I said, yawning.

"I don't have money for that." Luca replied stiffly.

"It's candy. It doesn't cost very much. But if you're going to be stingy, I'll buy some for you as a gift."

"Oh, I don't need any more gifts of pity from you."

We glared at each other fiercely, but our silent battle was interrupted by Morgan.

"Where are we anyway?"

We all looked around, a bit puzzled.

We had been walking for a while, Luca and I fighting about one thing or another, and things had gotten darker, damper, and quite a bit deserted.

"Seems we're heading out of Diagon Alley and into a seedier corner of the shopping district." I gave them a pointed smile. "I read about this place."

"Thought you'd forgotten how to read entirely with how poorly you do in your studies." Luca said.

"I don't need to study. I'm already smarter than you." I spat.

Luca squirmed. He wondered if I was right. I may not possess what common sense all others seemed to have, I seemed to have something more, an understanding of the creeping underbelly of the world.

We had already passed two sinister looking coffin houses and were rounding a corner on a shop that's sign read Dystyl Phaelanges.

"Were you leading us here?" Luca asked.

I smiled widely, huge amber eyes twinkling in the dark shade.

"That place sells bones." I said simply, and then, "Here!" I stopped the trio in front of quite the sinister looking building, located by a shop called Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, and down the street from Borgin and Burkes.

"I've heard about this place."

"Cobb & Webb's" the sign said. Morgan and Luca barely had time to read the faded lettering before tiny little me was pulling them inside, long fingernails digging into their arms.

"I don't think we should be here." Luca whispered, eyes darting back and forth, "This place gives me the creeps."

"Oh, hush." I hissed.

The inside of the shop mirrored the stores name. The inside seemed otherworldly with many large spider webs twisting on the walls and leading into small tunnels of their own designs.

There was a newspaper sitting on the sales counter amidst the many cobwebs, The Daily Prophet, although the shopkeeper seemed to be absent. The three of us peered at the black and white print, the headline read "The Reincarnate". We were pretty sure it was about us, but we didn't have the chance to figure out what it was completely about. We were nearly shocked out of our skins by what happened next.

"There is nothing for you to buy here." The voice of the dead seemed to speak from deep inside the room. "The items we carry here are not for little kids." It rasped.

We felt a chill run up our collective spines and we squinted into the darkness. I couldn't quite make out exactly what the shop keeper looked like.

I sighed heavily. "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Luca whispered in a panic. Morgan grasped my arm.

"I really need glasses." I said monotonously.