Dis: The sun's last rays cast about their light, setting sea, land, and sky alike awash in golden hues... And yet... I still own nothing.
"I'm sure you'll do fine. Success is in your future." I said, acting like a fortune teller, giggling a little at the World card in my hand. I shuffled the cards myself and drew one. The Fool stared back at me.
"If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is." I said quietly, putting my deck on the nightstand by the bed. Looking over at the other bed, I saw that Hermione had dozed off. Flopping on my back, I started to let my mind wander.
'What the hell am I doing here? I'm not supposed to be in England, I'm not even supposed to be in an eleven-year-old's body! I'm 15 for the Lady's sake!' Sighing, I flipped onto my stomach and stared out the window. 'I mean, I know this is what I've always wanted, but-' Hermione's voice jerked me out of my thoughts.
"You're not really my sister, are you?" she asked quietly, as if to not attract her mother's attention from downstairs.
"What makes you say that?" I asked, sliding into my 'I'm lying but you don't know it' mode.
"After you fell out of the tree, your accent changed. You sounded American. Then you answered Mum's questions about the letter a little to quickly. And then that deck in your pocket wasn't the same as the one that Mum bought my sister. My sister had Fairies, not Dragons. You're also acting more immature, for lack of a better word, than my sister does." Hermione said, sounding very much like she does in the third book when she tells how she found out Lupin was a werewolf. "Mum couldn't tell, but I know how my twin sister acts."
I sighed again.
"You're right. I'm not your sister." I said simply. Hermione looked slightly triumphant. "My name IS Arietta, but I'm really supposed to be turning 16 soon. Just over a month, in fact."
"How did you know what the letters were talking about?" Hermione now sounded genuinely curious. She was now sitting cross-legged on her bed. I sat up and mirrored her position. This was going to take a while.
About 10 or so minutes later
"So you're really 15-year-old American girl who read about this Hogwarts place in a series of books that isn't finished yet and I'm what's called a Muggleborn?" Hermione clarified.
"That about sums it up." I said.
"Wow."
"Yeah. But I can't tell you anything else because I don't want to screw anything up."
"Bugger." I snapped my head up to look at her.
"I might be American, but I know what that means!"
"Sorry, it's just a lot to take in." Nodding, I tried to stand up and almost fell over. Grabbing the mattress, I tried to regain my balance.
"Alright there, Ari?" Hermione asked, sounding worried.
"Yeah, I think my center of balance is a little off. I'm used to actually having a bust and being like a foot taller." I replied, slowly letting go of the mattress.
"Well, that's nothing a good night's sleep won't help. Night, Ari." Hermione changed into her night clothes and went to bed. Following her example, I opened the curtains to let the moonlight in and fell asleep.
The Next Day
"Ari, wake up! We have to go shopping today!" a high-pitched voice and some gentle poking shook me out of sleep. Groaning, I pulled the covers over my head and rolled away from the insistent poking.
"Lemme 'lone, I wanna shleep…" I slurred. I was about to doze off again when a pair of hands shook me.
"Ari, come ON, get UP!"
"Why should I?" I grumbled, pulling the covers off of my head and looking at Hermione.
"We're going shopping today for our school supplies, and you don't want to miss that!" she said bouncily. She was dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a pink sweatshirt. Sighing in frustration, I got up and dug around in the dresser for some clothes. Within minutes I was wearing a pair of jeans that had holes in the knees and a blue sweatshirt. I had almost gotten my shoes on when Hermione grabbed my hand and dragged me down for breakfast.
I was half way done with my bacon and eggs when Hermione dragged me back UP the stairs to brush our teeth. This time, she actually waited until I was done to drag me back DOWN the stairs to get to the car.
'If she's this excited right now, I can't WAIT to see her in Diagon Alley…' I thought as the car pulled out of the driveway.
We spent maybe a quarter of an hour just driving around, trying to find the right place. Finally, we went down a street in London that looked about right. Our mother parked the car and we got out to look around the shops. I was the first to see the Leaky Cauldron.
"There it is!" I said with not-so-fake enthusiasm. Hermione looked where I was looking and literally started to bounce on the balls of her feet. Out of nowhere, I was feeling extremely excited. Mum walked across the street to the pub, with us on wither side of her. Once inside, I led the two of them to the counter where Tom was standing.
"Excuse me," I said politely, since Mum was still kind of dazed and Hermione was too busy looking around, "could you please show us the way to Diagon Alley?"
"Sure, right this way." Tom replied, taking his wand out of his pocket. He led us out a back door and we emerged into a small space behind the pub. I watched Tom tap the bricks in the right pattern to open the gateway. Third one above the middle trash can, then up two, over two, and down one. The bricks started to rearrange themselves to form the gate to Diagon Alley.
"My word… It really is magic!" Mum exclaimed as she watched the bricks move. Hermione looked amazed. I started feeling amazed as well, but I had no idea why.
"First you all will want to go to Gringotts, to exchange money. It's the big white building on your left." Tom advised. Mum nodded slowly, still taking in the fact that a wall just turned into a doorway.
We walked through and I could hear the bricks scraping as the gate closed again. Looking around, I gasped in amazement. The Alley was packed with all sorts of people, most of which were wearing robes. People were chatting, bargaining, arguing, and just generally going about their business.
"Mum, Ari, aren't we supposed to go to Gringotts?" Hermione asked tentatively, still in awe of what we were seeing.
"Gringotts, right. White building on the left." Mum said. We walked over to the bank and up the white marble stairs to the large doors. Above the doors was a large plaque with words written on it. We stopped just long enough to read the words:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed.
For those who take but do not earn
Must pay dearly in their turn.
If you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware,
Of finding more than treasure here.
"Well, that sounds ominous…" Mum murmured. We walked through the doors and stopped in our tracks. There were many little creatures walking around the lobby. They were all short, with brownish, wrinkled skin and odd-looking suits.
"What on earth…?" Mum asked.
"Goblins…" Hermione and I said as the same time. I was the first to recover from our amazement. I walked up to one of the tellers, Mum and Hermione walking behind me.
"Excuse me, we'd like to exchange money, please." I said politely.
"How much do you want to change?" the goblin asked gruffly.
"Two hundred pounds' worth, please." Mum said, having also recovered from her amazement.
"Very well." The goblin then proceeded to tell us how much each coin was worth. We ended up with close to a hundred and fifty Galleons, fifty Sickles, and fifteen Knuts. Mum and Hermione looked confused as the goblin finished the explaination.
Ten minutes later, we were walking around the Alley, looking for all the things on our lists.
"Mum, Ollivanders' is at the other end of the Alley." I said as we were looking around.
"How do you know?" she asked.
"I, um… overheard someone talking about it." I lied quickly.
"Okay…" We started to walk in the right direction.
We walked into the dusty store with the faint tinkling of the shop bell.
"Hello? Is anyone working here? Hello?" Mum called.
"Good afternoon." An old voice said quietly from our right. The three of us jumped. An old man was there. He was bald on the top of his head, and there was gray hair around the sides. He wore a pair of glasses over misty-gray eyes. He was hunched over slightly, making him about the same height as Hermione and I. "I'm assuming you two young ladies are here for wands, right? Well, you first," he said, pointing at Hermione. She nervously stepped forward.
"Alright…"
"Which arm is your wand arm?" Ollivander asked gently. Hermione looked confused but held out her left hand. Ollivander took out a measuring tape and began taking measurements, starting with her arm. Then he walked away into the rows of shelves. That was when Hermione noticed that the tape was still measuring on its own. She jumped and threw it away from her. Ollivander came back with a long, thin box in his hands.
"Try this one. Maple and phoenix feather, ten inches, rather rigid." He pushed a thin stick into Hermione's hand. When he saw her confused look, he added, "Go ahead, give it a wave."
Hermione waved the wand at a shelf. The shelf fell over. Mum, Hermione and I all jumped.
"No, not that one. Try this, willow and unicorn hair, thirteen inches, quite bendy." He handed her another wand. This time, she set a box on fire. After a few more tries, he found the right combination: birch and unicorn hair, eleven inches.
"Now you, my dear." He said to me. I held out my right hand automatically. He took the measurements and gave me a wand.
"Willow and phoenix feather, nine inches."
I waved it and set fire to the curtains.
"Redwood and unicorn hair, twelve and a half inches."
I made half the shelves fall over.
"Willow and dragon heartstring, twelve inches." I took hold of the wand and there was a sudden warmth in the wood. The warmth spread to my fingers and up my arm. I waved the wand, already knowing that it was the right one, and watched in awe as gold sparks flew.
"Well done. Now, ma'am," he turned to Mum, "That will be twelve Galleons and three Sickles." While Mum counted out the right coins, I looked at my wand.
'Wow. I really have a magic wand. I can do magic… This is gonna be so cool…' I thought.