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My mind was buzzing. A lady in green robes and iron grey hair pulled into a bun had materialised just as I opened the letter.
"Good day, Ms. Lisbond. You must've been thinking this a joke. I can assure you, it's not." She'd said. She'd told us she's Minerva Mcgonagall, the transfiguration professor. She told me about a secret magical world she lived in.
"You're a witch. Now, come to Diagon Alley with me to collect some school things for you." she said. I glanced at mum. She hadn't spoken through the whole ordeal. She nodded slightly.
"One moment, Professor." I said, grabbing my mum by the arm. I led her to the powder room, and began to talk in a low whisper.
"Mum, did you know?"
"No. Maybe your fath-"
"That's all I needed," I said. I made to open the door, but stopped, turned, kissed her cheek, and said, "come with me, yeah?"
She smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world.
Mum'd been right: Diagon Alley had to be the most magical place in the world. There were robes shops, cauldron shops, broomstick shops, spellbook shops, the wizarding bank, and an owl shop. An owl shop. She and her mother just looked, their heads turning, watching all the sights around them.
"Now, you'll need school robes, books, a cauldron, potions ingredients…" Mcgonagall listed off some school supplies I'm pretty sure Soph, Izzy, and Mar had never had. I looked longingly at the window of the pet store, seeing owls and jewel coloured cats, and such.
"There's not enough money in your school funded account for a pet," said Mcgonagall. She motioned to a bookshop called Flourish and Blotts. Flourish and Blotts was cool, it was two stories (no pun intended) and books were everywhere. There were wall-to-wall, floor-to-floor shelves, tables with piles of books on and under them, piles ceiling high around the room, making narrow halls to walk through, cages of biting books hanging from the ceilings. It was basically paradise. I walked through the maze of books trying to find the books Professor Mcgonagall had told me to find.
"Curses and counter curses…" I muttered under my breath. I finally found the book I was looking for in the middle of a stack of thick, leather bound books with different coloured bindings. I tried to pull it out a little, and just as I tugged it out, all the books above it fell to the ground. Almost. Just before they hit the ground, they stopped, and hovered above the ground. My breath hitched at the magic. The books flew up to form the stack again, and I felt a little embarrassed that I'd made them fall over.
"Really Fred?" scolded a mother's voice. "You just had to knock the books over?"
"It wasn't me!" piped a redhead who I assumed was Fred. "It was that girl over there!" he said, pointing at me. I ducked my head, and hid behind a stack of books all entitled Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms.
"Nonsense, there's no girl over there!" said the woman. I let out a sigh of relief, and in an instant, Fred was by my side.
"It was you." he hissed.
"Shhh. I don't wanna get in trouble." I said.
He snorted. "Are you starting Hogwarts this year?" I nodded. "Me too. Bit of advice- if you hang with me an' George, you'll have just enough fun, widdout the trouble."
"Oi, Fred," a voice said. "Alicia found some purple toads that belch galleons, c'mere!"
"That's George. I'd better go." he said. He disappeared, and I found One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, and set off to find mum and Mcgonagall.
"Well, that's that." said a weary Mcgonagall. "I do believe you can find the rest of your things," she pointed at a shop with a battered sign I couldn't read, "so I shall leave you here. Until September, Ms. Lisbond." With a swish of her cloak and a loud crack, she was gone.
"What'do you wanna do?" asked mum.
"I dunno. We should get the bits and bobs. And my wand." I said.
"You're wand, Ms. Lisbond, is larch with unicorn hair, 13 ¼ inches, quite flexible." said the man with the creepy silver eyes. "Treat it well. Seven galleons." he said. I handed him the gold, and mum and I went back to the warm, sunlight alley. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Platform 9 and ¾?" asked mum, peering down at my ticket. "How could that be?"
We were standing between platforms 9 and ten, looking around for anyone who might be able to point us in the right direction. The clock read 10:35, so we had 25 minutes to find the train and get me and my trunk aboard it. I leaned against the brick column between the platforms, and found myself in a different world, where a scarlet steam engine was the centre of attention for all sorts of young witches and wizards. Mum fell through the barrier too, and her jaw dropped in complete and utter awe.
"Wow" she whispered. She shook her head, and said, "Quinn, we'd better put your trunk somewhere."
I nodded my head, and we pulled my trunk onto the train. I hugged her, said goodbye, and with the help of someone who introduced himself as Marcus, managed to tuck her trunk onto a rack.
"What house are you planning on? Slytherin?" he asked.
I had no idea, so I replied with a small "yes".
"You're pureblood then?" he said.
"What?" I asked, not knowing what he was talking about.
"Both of your parents were born to magic?"
"Er- no. My mum is mortal. I never met my dad." I said.
"Oh, you're a mudblood then." he said.
Marcus left with some friends, and I sat in my compartment, listening to BoA on my MP3 player, wondering what a mudblood was. The music was scratchier than usual, but I could still make out some words.
"Sur-r-r-rechig-g-g-gatte ita f-f-futari dakedo ima nara ieru sunao na k-k-k-kimochi wo
Toosugir-r-r-ru kyori mo koete-e-e-e kimi ni a-a-a-itai"
I smiled as the music played, the scratchiness not effecting the mood of the song. I was joined by two girls a few minutes later, so I pulled out my earbuds and introduced myself.
"Hi! I'm Quinn." I said.
"Angelina." said the girl with dark brown hair.
"Alicia. Alicia Spinnett." said the blonde. "Are you a first year too?"
"Yeah," I said. "I grew up with my mum though, and she's a mortal, so I don't know very much about the wizarding world. I told a third year- Marcus- and he said I'm a mudblood? I'm not sure what that is."
Alicia gasped, and Angelina's jaw dropped. "He didn't!" said Angelina.
"What's it mean?" I asked. It was obviously something rude.
"It's dirty blood. Common blood. Muggle parentage. You see, our mum's a muggle- mortal, you called her. You don't know about your dad, or do you?" I shook my head, and she continued. "Well, you won't be able to know what your parentage or blood status is. There are anti-blood status discrimination laws, but stupid gits like Marcus Flint still judge people on it. Don't take his comments to heart, none of it matters."
"Thanks." I said. "What does blood status have to do with houses?" I asked, wondering about what he'd said for Slytherin.
"It shouldn't have anything to do," replied Angelina, "But Slytherin is famous for only admitting purebloods and the occasional half-blood. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff don't mind. I want Ravenclaw the best. You?"
"Gryffindor, like mum." Said Alicia. "Quinn?"
Just as I opened my mouth to tell them I hadn't the foggiest idea, when Fred from the bookshop and who I assumed must be his twin entered. I couldn't tell which was which, just that one was Fred.
"It's bookshop girl!" yelled the one on the left. He must be Fred. I thought. "Ladies, I'm Fred," he said. Called it! I thought. "And this is George, my cool, but slightly less attractive twin brother." I grinned as George elbowed Fred in the gut. The boys sat down, and we chatted all the way to Hogwarts.
When we had changed into our robes, and the train slowed to a stop, we got out of the train, and a loud, gruff voice yelled "Firs 'ears! Firs 'ears o'er 'ere please!"
A giant man with tangled black hair and a beard introduce himself as Hagrid, and showed us to some little rowboats, where me, Alicia, and Angelina sat together. They began to move across a lake by themselves, which was amazing. I was just staring at the constellations rippling in the inky black water, so when I heard everybody go "Oooh" and "Ahh" I looked up, and saw a huge stone castle with a bunch of turrets and towers everywhere, perched on some mountain-y cliffs. The ride was over too soon, and I found myself listening to Mcgonagall talking to us.
"Each house has produced noble wizards and witches. Throughout the year, your triumphs will earn you house points, and your downfalls, for lack of a better word, will take away points. Now with that, let the sorting begin!
Oh, young witches and wizards alike have tried me on before,
and now standing before me I see quite a few more,
children I'm the thinking hat, the best one all around,
and in my hands, you can trust me, that you'll be safe and sound
You might be made for Gryffindor, where cowards fail to be found,
or maybe good old Ravenclaw, where the astute are all around!
Perhaps you're destined for Hufflepuff, where each heart is fair and true,
but don't discount the Slytherins, where cunningness is more than a virtue
So try me on, it won't take long, yes I'm the thinking cap!
There was a round of applause, and a few mutterings about how the song was shorter than usual, and the sorting began.
My surname starts with L, so when alphabetical order comes into play, I'm always at the middle. That was the case again, when Mcgonagall yelled, "Lisbond, Quinn." I walked up to the stool, sat down, and tried on the hat.
Quinnie Lisbond. I quite remember sorting your father. A Gryffindor if I ever met one. You wish to differ from him, because he abandoned you? It is a mistake. No matter I dub thee a…
Duh Duh Duh! Find out next chapter! That song was hard to write! It was short because of that. Also, excuse any missing k's, my k key is broken and I need to copy/paste them into the story, which is a bother. Review!
PS- this chapter is way longer than the other one! Yay!
PPS- If someone wants to explain what a beta is and how I can get one, I'd be grateful!
Also- I'm starting a QOTD THINGY!
QOTD: What's your fave animal?
AOTD: Cheetahs!
~GoF