Diagon Ally

On that same day, elsewhere in England another letter, (well to be precise two more letters were delivered). The reaction that followed the arrival of these letters was quite different then the reaction of one Lily Evans and her family.

"JAMES!" screamed Mary Alice Potter, a thirteen year old witch with dark hair and dark eyes, although both were hidden by the pillow that was covering her head and the young boy who was sitting a top the pillow laughing maniacally. "That should teach you to switch my soap with the stuff from Zonko's!" James hollered triumphantly, "I still smell like a frog" he muttered to himself, "and I am having the strangest craving to eat flies…" Shaking his head he decided it was better to not ponder the odd urge he was having. "MUM" cried Mary Alice as loudly as she could beneath the very fluffy down pillow covering her head.

A short, thin woman, with hair the same color as James's appeared in the doorway. "Oh for all the stars in the sky I mean really! James get off your sister, she can't breathe." James made a face at his mother and proceeded to role off Mary Alice. Mary Alice threw the pillow off of her head and gasped for air. "You're an idiot James" she wheezed. "You're an idiot James" he mimicked as he dodged the swing Mary Alice had aimed at his head. "Just wait till I get to Hogwarts Mary Alice, you think your so great now just wait until everyone only knows you as the big sister of the great James Potter" James declared as he grinned evilly. "Yeah that will be the day" Mary Alice smirked.

Evelyn pierced her lips and surveyed her children with annoyance. She was almost as excited as her son for him to get his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. It would provide her with the independence and free time that she had not had in thirteen years. Once James joined his sister at school she would be able to drink an entire cup of tea in one sitting or perhaps take a bath instead of a two minute shower. Maybe Evelyn would even be able to go back to work. The very thought of how exciting these opportunities were, made Evelyn Potter positively giddy with excitement. However the excitement must have been causing a very odd expression to cross her face because both James and Mary Alice were starring at their mother with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Ahem" Evelyn cleared her throat and shook her head slightly embarrassed, "I just wanted to tell you both to hurry on downstairs for breakfast. Arabella is here and she is talking to your father." James jumped off of the bed and hurried out the door and down the hall. Mary Alice yawned and leaned back on the bed, "So Mum do you think it's a bit odd that James hasn't gotten his Hogwarts letter yet? I got mine well before now the summer before my first year didn't I?" Evelyn starred at her daughter as she felt her dreams crash down around her. "I-I do think your right. Oh dear. I should go speak to your father." As Mary Alice watched her mother hurry out of the room she couldn't help but think she probably shouldn't have said anything.

As is turned out it didn't matter that Mary Alice had said anything, despite Evelyn getting supremely worked up and yelling at Harold for a good fifteen minutes in his study about something that neither Arabella, Mary Alice or James could hear although all three pressed their ears against the think wooden double doors in hopes of overhearing what was going on, James ended up receiving his Hogwarts letter the next day. Arabella had gotten her own letter the week before, but had politely not mentioned this detail until the day James received his own. After Arabella was very polite and loved the Potter's, so she was not in the market to upset any of them.

Arabella had spent nearly every waking moment of the summer holidays with the Potter's. In the few short months since she had moved to England with her family Arabella had practically become a fixture in the Potter's house. Every member of the household adored Arabella. James, Arabella and Mary Alice spent nearly every day that summer practicing Quidditch. Mary Alice was dead set on making the Gryffindor House Quidditch team in the upcoming school year, and James and Arabella would never argue having to play Quidditch. Initially Quidditch was what really brought the three children together, in the years to come there would be many other reasons why they would cherish the relationship that existed between them, but at first it was all about Quidditch.

Evelyn and Harold realized early on that although the Chiavatti's were very well off and highly respected in the Wizarding community, they lacked in the area of parenting skills. Shortly after meeting Arabella they fell in love with the little girl. Arabella in turn grew to regard the Potter's as sort of surrogate parents. Not that Ruggerio or Belladonna Chiavatti really minded, actually neither of them really noticed their daughter was hardly ever home.

So when Evelyn and Harold Potter offered to take Arabella with them to Diagon Ally to purchase school supplies the week before the three children were scheduled to leave for Hogwarts they were more surprised then anything else. "You want to take Arabella with you? That's very nice but I simply couldn't ask you to do that. She is simply more trouble then she is worth," Ruggerio Chiavatti told Evelyn Potter. Evelyn's mouth dropped open in shock. It was beyond her that anyone could talk about their child that way.

Harold Potter seeing how upset his wife was took the opportunity to cut off anything that she was about to say. "Ruggerio really we would love to have Arabella come with us. We will be taking James and Mary Alice to get their things anyways, it would be no trouble. Besides the two of them absolutely love Arabella, so it would be our pleasure to take her along." Belladonna set down the glass of wine she was drinking, "How do they know Arabella so well? Didn't they only meet her that one time?" Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the women, "She has been over at our house all summer," she snapped with annoyance. Belladonna didn't even notice however. "Oh that's where she has been. I have hardly seen her since we moved here. I just thought she was up in her room."

So as a result Arabella went along with a very irritated Evelyn, Harold, Mary Alice and James to Diagon Ally. Arabella had never been to Diagon Ally although she had heard plenty about it. James on the other hand had been there numerous times and seemed to know half the people milling around the cobblestone street behind the Leaky Cauldron. But everyone seemed to know Harold Potter, he had to stop every three steps to say hello to someone else, after a short while James and Mary Alice were getting very annoyed while Arabella was positively giddy that no one knew who she was. Back in Italy as well as here in England her father, Ruggerio Chiavatti, was one of the most famous political leaders. Everyone knew who he was, just as they knew her mother was.

So Arabella had grown up in the shadow of two of the most famed wizard and witches in Europe, but now here with the Potter's she was just another kid and she loved it. Despite Harold being clearly well known, he enjoyed a bit more anonymity then the Chiavatti's and people didn't seem to look on the Potter family members with the scrutiny that Arabella so readily recognized from the way everyone looked at her family. "For the love of Merlin do you think Dad could take any longer" Mary Alice whispered to James. "I know this is getting ridiculous, we have been in Diagon Ally for twenty five minutes and we haven't even gone in a single store yet" James whispered back.

When they finally arrived in Ollivanders Mary Alice was positively glaring at her father. "Ah Harold Potter" Mr. Ollivander said as he hurried over to the family, "Evelyn" he greeted, "Marigold". This did nothing to help Mary Alice's mood. "It's Mary Alice Mr. Ollivander" she snapped. Evelyn poked her in the back of the head and hissed, "Be polite!" Mr. Ollivander either didn't notice or pretended that he didn't, because he had turned to James. "James Potter, I thought I would be seeing you this week. Is it finally time for you to join your sister at school?"

James smiled uncomfortably up at the shopkeeper, "Er yes" he said uncertainly. Mr. Ollivander nodded and turned to Arabella, "I can't say that I recognize you Miss, are you going to Hogwarts as well." Arabella puffed up her chest importantly, "yes I will be starting my first year in September." Mr. Ollivander smiled at the girl in his usual odd manner turning he began to rummage through the rows of wand boxes behind him;

James noticed that Mr. Ollivander had not asked Arabella her name. Although James also noticed that Arabella hadn't offered it either, shrugging he focused back on Mr. Ollivander who was digging in large pile of boxes muttering under his breath in a very curious manner, "Ah yes Mr. Potter lets try this wand…thirteen inches Yew". James grabbed the wand Mr. Ollivander was holding out to him only to have it snatched back at once. "No, no that doesn't seem to be it" muttered Mr. Ollivander, "try this one 12 inches ash". Grasping the wand that was being held out to him, he waved it around a bit causing the entire contents of the top row of one of the mammoth shelves to crash to the floor.

Finally at least twenty minutes later James, Arabella and the rest of the Potter family emerged from Ollivanders with two new wands in their midst. James had found his wand quickly compared to Arabella. He examined it now as he held it in his hands an obvious look of pride on his face as he memorized the exact measurements of his wand, eleven inches, mahogany, pliable. It was perfect.

Arabella on the other hand had blown up half the shop while trying to find the perfect wand for her. James had a feeling that all though Mr. Ollivander had not known who Arabella was when she walked into his shop that morning, she was definitely someone he would soon forget. Nor wood the floor of his shop, which had very obvious burn marks up and down its length thanks to Arabella.

Still Arabella didn't seem to upset as she also was looking at the wand she was carrying with pride. "Don't you think its fantastic Mary Alice" Arabella said excitedly, "ten inches, Runespoor Fang, quite durable, excellent for defense against the dark arts!" Mary Alice raised her eyebrows at Arabella, "yeah I guess its good," she said. "No it's great! I'm going to be an Auror just like your dad, I always knew it. Now I know for sure." "Right" Mary Alice said, secretly thinking Arabella had lost her mind, "Because the type of wand you have totally determines what you do with the rest of your life."

"Oh quit being such a wet blanket" Arabella said with annoyance, as she walked off the join James.