Chapter 7

Tonks seemed pretty cool; though Alli felt there was something familiar about her, like she should know her better. They took a car to Diagon Alley, well to an entrance to it at least. Hermione was so excited when the magical world was opened to her; Alli didn't think she even notice when Tonks's hair went from brown to purple. Alli was a tad shocked but since Tonks didn't seem to care, Alli just let it go.

"So where to first girls?" Diane asked grabbing their arms before they ran off. Hermione started rambling off the names of the stores around them; Alli laughed and, when her friend stopped to take a breath, suggested they get Hermione her wand first.

Hermione's experience in the shop went much smoother than Alli's. Even though they didn't have anything to go off of to select Hermione's wand, nothing got broken, just a few papers were scattered. They collected the rest of her school supplies pretty quickly, except for her books. It took Alli over an hour to get Hermione out of the book store without buying every book. While Hermione was getting fitted for her robes, Tonks went with Alli to the get Balgeria a special treat since Alli had been over working her.

"So the whole hair thing, does that happen often?" Alli finally couldn't resist asking.

"Ha, only when I want it too. I usually keep it purple or some other bright color, I don't think the traditional blonde or brown suit me." Alli agreed, Tonks was a little weird.

"So what department do you work at in the Ministry?"

"I'm an Auror"

"Wow did I do something that they sent an Auror to watch me this time?" Alli said this as a joke but Tonks looked a bit confused.

"You mean you usually have an escort, this isn't a one-time thing?"

"Um, no the Minister always sends someone to watch me." Alli was amazed that she didn't know this; Alli thought she was common knowledge in the Ministry.

"The Minister didn't send me to you, Professor Dumbledore did. He said today was an important day for you. What have you done to warrant such attention form the Ministry? Are you some kind of harden criminal?" Tonks laughed and Alli forced a smile; she had just brought up a topic that was a big red flag in Alli's life.

"Um, no of course not" Alli grabbed what she needed and the pair met Diane and Hermione outside the ice cream shop. When they finished, Tonks started towards where they entered Diagon Alley but Alli still had to get Saharia.

"Your snake is at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Yeah, it's a long story." Alli walked next to Hermione with the adults close behind. In the pub, Tom was wiping off the counter when he spotted them.

"'Ello there, how can I help you?"

"I'm Alli Jerrings, you sent me a letter a bit ago saying my pet snake was here."

"Oh of course, follow me" Tom led them to a back room while continuing, "rather odd how she got here. One minute I'm sweeping the floor then I turn around and she's right behind me with a bottle in her mouth. Figured she got hold of a port key by accident so I went to get a box to put her in. When I got back she was slithering into one of the rooms, she came back out with a small package in her mouth with your name on it. Here we are." Tom opened the door to an office with just a desk, a few chairs, and a box with Saharia guarding a small box. She popped her head up when the group entered and Alli rushed to greet her friend; Alli didn't want to reveal her ability to talk to snakes so questions had to wait till later.

When they left the office, Saharia followed at Alli's side with the parcel in her mouth. Tom went back to the counter while the girls huddled around a table to see what Saharia came to retrieve. Alli took the box from the snake and looked at the brown paper it was wrapped in; there was nothing written it except for Alli's name, her full name, Allestra. Alli quickly tore off the paper and opened it. Inside was two pieces of paper and a ring. Alli unfolded the first piece, revealing what looked like a condensed version of a family tree; Alli saw her biological mother's name on it and dismissed the outline immediately, she didn't care about that lineage. She then looked at the ring while Diane unfolded the second paper, which was a letter that she read out loud.

"My dear Allestra, (Diane struggled saying the name) I hope your first year at Hogwarts was full of excitement. But I was discouraged to hear that you constantly keep your mark hidden from sight. That is why I have fashioned this ring for you."

Diane paused for a second while Alli slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a simple ring with a Victorian style band and a clear polished stone. She thought it was pretty until she tried to take it off and found that it was stuck. Diane continued to read while Alli tugged at the ring.

"When you put it on it will be hard for you to hide it, especially since it cannot be removed. That's right I have charmed it so it will forever be a reminder of who you are."

"There's no signature on it" Diane said looking up in horror. Alli was still fight with the ring and Tonks was trying every spell she knew to help, but nothing worked. Hermione sat in confusion because she wanted to help but didn't know how. Alli stopped pulling on the ring because her finger was starting to hurt and swell; she looked back at the clear stone but it wasn't clear anymore. Now in the center of it was a replica of her Dark Mark. Alli gasped but was startled when Tonks did the same. Tonks had grabbed the family tree and laid it on the table. Alli leaned over to see what Tonks saw.

Alli started with her mother name which was joined with Rudolfus's and had Alli's name linked between theirs. But coming off of her mother's name was another line that went to her Aunt Narcissa's name and her family, and someone named Andromeda. Andromeda was attached to the name Ted with a line between them leading down to the name Nymphadora.

"That's me," Tonks pointed to the name Nymphadora, "and those are my aunts. Which makes you my cousin." Alli and Tonks looked at each other in shock and Alli tried again to remove the ring.

This was all too much for Alli to handle. Some random person sends her an enchanted ring, a letter using a name only the people close to her know, and she finds out she has an aunt and cousin she never knew existed. While she sat there trying to sort it out and Tonks talked to Diane, Alli's arm started to hurt a bit and Alli looked around only to see a bunch of people crowding around a boy who was with Hagrid. They didn't notice her but everyone seemed to know the boy's name; Alli didn't need to hear them say it, she knew exactly who that boy was.