Alrighty! The next chapter of A Serpent's Secret is about to start. I just need to take care of one thing before it does.
DISCLAIMER: Yeah, yeah, move along, people, nothing to see, norights to Harry Potterhere.
'Wow. I really have a magic wand. I can do magic… This is gonna be so cool…' I thought. I numbly followed Hermione and Mum out of the shop, still staring at awe at my wand. I had done it. I had actually done magic. It was just a few sparks, but still, it counts, right?
"Right, now, the next thing on the list is a pewter cauldron. Now where on earth can we get one of those…?" Mum's voice broke through my thoughts.
"Other end of the Alley, Ma… Near the doorway…" I said absently with an American accent, not really paying attention to what I was saying.
"What?" she asked, startled. That brought me back to the world of the waking.
"Oh… I, er, saw the cauldron shop near Gringotts as we were coming here." I stammered, trying to make up a believable lie to tell. Mum looked suspicious, but appeared to have bought what I said.
"Well, since we have to make our way that way anyway, we'll do that last. Now where can we get crystal phials…?"
"The apothecary's down by the bookstore." I said before I could stop myself.
"Yes, I saw it there as well as we passed." Hermione said, coming to my defense. She sent me a 'could-you-PLEASE-be-more-discreet-with-what-you-know?' look.
"Well, the robe shop is right there, so I guess we could go there first." Mum said. We nodded and followed her to Madam Malkin's store. We were greeted as soon as we walked in the door.
"Hogwarts, dears?" A middle aged woman came from what looked like a back room. Hermione and I nodded. "Follow me. I have another student getting measured as well." The two of us followed who I could only assume was Madam Malkin into the room she came out of. Sure enough, there was only one other person in there, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw who it was.
"You two going to Hogwarts as well?" I nodded to the boy as I was put up on a stool and a tape measure just like the one Ollivander used started to take measurements. "Do you know what House you'll be in? Well, nobody really knows for sure until they get sorted, but still. I know I'll be in Slytherin. Best house there is. My whole family's been in Slytherin. I suppose that if I got into Hufflepuff or something I'd leave. What about you?"
Hermione opened her mouth, probably to ask who he was, when Madam Malkin came back in.
"You're all set, Draco, dear. Your robes will be ready in a few hours."
Draco hopped down from his stool and grinned at us.
"I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts then."
Then he left.
Madam Malkin came back a few minutes later to tell us that our robes would be ready soon and that we could get whatever else we needed when we came back for them. Thanking her, Mum led us out to Flourish and Blotts.
As we made our way to the next store, I started thinking. 'In the books, it was HARRY who met Draco, not Hermione and, by extension, me. That meant that Harry got there either earlier or later than we did. After Madam Malkin's, where did he go…? Oh, that's right, that was his last stop…'
I stopped my train of thought there in favor of going into Flourish and Blotts.
Walking in that store was like heaven for me. There were books on every wall, and the shelves reached to the ceiling. Mum handed me my book list and I started zipping around, searching for what I'd need. As I passed the counter for the second time, I noticed the book that Harry saw in the series.
'That Hair-Loss curse has Brittany Hart written all over it…' I thought as I smirked and went to take my books to Mum.
An hour later, we were making our way out of the Leaky Cauldron back to Mum's car. Hermione already had her nose in one of her textbooks, seemingly fascinated with everything it said. From what I could see, the book was Hogwarts: A History. I rolled my eyes. Typical Hermione.
I don't know when I started to drift off, but I opened my eyes to find that we were just pulling into the driveway of home. Yawning, I gathered up my stuff (or what I thought was my stuff, seeing as Hermione and I had put our stuff on the seat between us and everything got mixed up) and got ready to get out of the car. As soon as the engine was turned off, I was out of the car and half way to the house.
After a simple dinner of chicken and rice, Mum sent Hermione and I to bed.
I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. Then I heard some faint rustling. I looked over and saw the dark form of my sister hanging half way off the side of her bed, rummaging for something underneath it.
"Herm. Hermi!" I whispered. "What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for my flashlight. I wanted to keep reading. But I can't find it!" Hermione sat up.
"So light your wand!" I replied easily.
"I can't find it and don't know how!" She whispered loudly.
"Gah…" I felt around on my nightstand for my own wand. When I didn't find it, I sighed in frustration.
"What are you looking for?" she asked quietly.
"My own wand." I replied. When I didn't find it, I got an idea. "Accio wand!" I said experimentally. Warmth spread down my arm and a tendril of it leapt out of my fingers and I felt it attach to something and start coming back.
I heard a faint rattling, like a pencil rolling across a desk, before I felt something bump my fingers. Reaching out, I grabbed it. It was my wand.
"That was so cool." I said. A bubble of excitement blossomed in my chest. I just did my first piece of intentional magic.
"What did you do!" Hermione whispered fiercely.
"I summoned my wand with the summoning charm. Now," I held my wand up, "to find yours. Lumos!"
The tip of my wand flared to life and a narrow beam of light hit the ceiling. I pointed my wand in random directions to get the light everywhere.
"There it is!" Hermione bent over the side of the bed again and picked up her wand from where it had fallen on the floor.
"Good. Nox." The light on my wand went out. "I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow's August 28th, isn't it?"
"Yeah, why?"
"We leave for Hogwarts on September first. What say we practice a few spells before then? Couldn't hurt."
"Sure. Night, Ari."
"Night, Hermi." With that, I put my wand back on my nightstand, and I went to sleep.
If Arietta seems really mature to you, remember, mentally, she's 15, even if she's only physically 11. And she already knows a few spells from reading the books. Just thought I'd clear that up.