Choices
July 31st 2001, The White House
Amelia was sitting in the Oval Office, waiting for her father. She knew it was her birthday, but it was usually a quite affair, and there was no real reason she could think of for having a meeting with him. She supposed it could be because she was now the daughter of the President, but that was unlikely. She was stirred from her thoughts when CJ Cregg walked into the room. "Hi Amelia"
"Hi CJ."
"Happy birthday."
"Thanks."
"Have you seen your dad?"
"No, I'm waiting for him myself. He wants a meeting with me, do have any idea why?"
"Afraid not. Ok I'll leave you to wait for him but could you tell him I need to talk to him?"
"Yeah, I'll tell him."
"Thanks." CJ said, and went out the door before shouting back, "Happy birthday."
"You already said that!" Amelia shouted after her, and closed the door. No sooner had she sat down, and then the door from Leo's office opened.
"I'm telling you Leo, this Al-Qaeda lot are going to be dangerous." Jed said. He stopped for a moment, and then saw Amelia. "Hey darling, happy birthday."
"Thanks daddy, but you wanted something?"
"Yeah, Leo send him in will you. By the way, these came for you today. By owl." She looked at him incredulously, before making the link between the two things.
"Finally, I've waited for ages." she said, and sat down on the chair. She recognised the first two letters in front of her. Opening them, she saw they were from the top two American schools of magic, New York Academy and Texas State Centre of Magical Learning. When she looked at the next letter, she was at a loss. The letter was addressed to her in elegant handwriting, and it was sealed in the normal way, not with wax like most magical schools. Opening the letter, it was an offer of partial scholarship from Beauxbaxtons in France. She wouldn't mind going to France, but it would depend on the school, not the location. The fourth and final letter had her wondering about how many schools there were. It was addressed in loopy, green writing. Turning it over, the wax seal was the school badge, A Lion, a Badger, an Eagle and a Serpent, taking a separate corner around a large letter H. When she opened it, she almost dropped it. It was a letter from Hogwarts, Britain's premier magical school, and they offered her free schooling for her seven years there. She was so engrossed in reading the letter from Hogwarts that she did not notice the other man come in.
"Hello Miss Bartlet." He said, and jumped at the noise before looking at him. He was a short, portly, balding man who she struggled not to laugh at.
"Amy, this is Arthur Helmsley, the minister for magic."
"Hello Mr Helmsley." She said formally.
"Ah. Yes. Well. Have you looked at the letters yet?"
"I have minister, but I want to research them before I make a decision. The two foreign ones though do intrigue me."
"Thank you Minister. I think you should have my decision by twelve at the latest.
"Excellent, well good day Miss Bartlet, Mr President." And with that, the minister walked out. As soon as the minister had left, Amelia burst out laughing.
"Oh. Did you see him? I feel sorry for whoever he's married to. Having to deal with someone like that." She said, laughing all the while.
"Amy settle down." Jed said, sitting behind his desk. "Now go on, you have some research to do after all."
"I suppose I do. Bye Dad." Amelia said, then, as an afterthought, "Oh CJ wanted to speak to you." Before Jed could ask why, Amelia was out of the door.
August 1st 2001, The White House
As Amelia walked around the West Wing, she couldn't help but feel nervous about it the days ahead. Having sent off her reply to the minister, it would not be long until she would need to get the supplies indicated in her letter, but it said that they would send a professor, which she found uninteresting. She heard her father then, spouting random trivia to whoever was unlucky enough to be close. "You know you should be happy about our train system. If you went to Iceland, you wouldn't be able to get a train."
"Yes, praise our train system."
"Yes, you should Sam. Ah hello Amy." He said, and Amelia realised he had snuck up on her.
"Hello dad."
"Did you send your reply off?"
"Yes."
"Both to the school and the minister?"
"Yes."
"Good, I'll see you later." He said, and walked off, Sam having escaped a long while ago.
August 1st 2001, Hogwarts
It was getting late at Hogwarts, and a small pre-term meeting was starting in Dumbledore's office. Amongst those present were the four heads of house and Lily and James Potter. "Right then is everybody ready for the term next month?" Dumbledore asked.
"As ready as could be when arrogant children are around." Snape drawled.
"Hey, I saved you, so you have to be nice to me." Harry said. James and Lily hadn't left him alone since that night.
"No I don't you arrogant little ..."
"Severus please calm down." Dumbledore said. "I am going to congratulate Mr Potter here for keeping the DADA job for more than a year, something which no one has done in a long time."
"Thank you Headmaster." James said, but sneered the last word out, still not forgiving the headmaster for what he had done to his daughter. At that moment, an owl flew through the open window, and landed on Dumbledore's desk. Taking the letter, Dumbledore opened it and smiled.
"Miss Bartlet is coming to Hogwarts."
August 2nd 2001, American Ministry of Magic
"Amelia!" Shouted Jed, as he walked through the Ministry building. It was the only place in America where you can buy wands, as they were regulated heavily.
"Yes father?" she asked. All she wanted to do was to look around and maybe find some books.
"There's the shop. Go in and get your wand, I'll be out here." he said, and was suddenly amazed by the speed his daughter could run when she wanted to go somewhere.
When Amelia entered the shop, she got the idea that this would take a long time. Around the shop, instead of the boxes she was expecting, there were lots of different pieces of wood and parts of various creatures and gems. "Ah, and so Miss Bartlet finally enters my shop." a loud voice boomed from behind her. She turned quickly to find an old man whose voice did not match his build. "Lets get started shall we? I know your first question and no, I do not sell wands, I craft wands."
"No, I was wondering if we could start."
"Why of course, sorry but it's what most children ask. So, move your hand around the various woods, and choose the one you feel most drawn to." With that, she started to do as the man said, until she came across a block of a white wood. She felt a tingle from it and handed it to the wand crafter.
"You have chosen a piece of Birch, symbolising new beginnings and cleansing of the past, not surprising for you. Now, the same thing with the cores over there." he said, pointing to the shelf on the over side of the shop. Walking over, she was immediately drawn to a brown feather, and picked it up immediately, also handing it back to the wand crafter.
"Sphinx feather, very intelligent creatures, really says something about you, for you must be intelligent. Now, for an added price, there are two more stages we can go through, would you like to try them?"
"Why not, it can only be better right?"
"Absolutely. Now, go to the case and choose a gem." She walked over and felt over the gems, picking up a brilliant purple gemstone, which she recognised as an amethyst.
"Ah, the amethyst, believed to create clarity of thought and attain wisdom, something destined for you I believe. Now, I place a type of metal into my wands, as, contrary to the belief of other wand makers, I find it increases the strength of the wand. Please choose one." He said and she looked next to the case to see a table laden with different metals. She picked up the block of tin and handed it over.
"Tin, another part of your wand which represent wisdom and knowledge." He said, and placing it with the other items, walked to the back of his shop, only to come out with yet another box, but this one had nothing, save for a small hole in the top. "This I do for free. In here are many small animals, which I will take the blood of. This represents the true character of the witch or wizard. If you pull out a glass vial, then the animal is too big, and it is only a small vial of its blood." With that, Amelia was nervous, but put her hand in nonetheless. She eventually pulled out a small vial, with a label on it saying 'Rat'. Before she could protest, he took it.
"Ah the rat blood. Don't worry, it does not mean you are horrible and smelly. It means you are clever and quick-witted. I will have your wand ready in an hour."
August 2nd 2001, The White House
The next two hours had seen Amelia getting her wand and constantly admiring it. It had cost twelve galleons, five more than Jed had expected to pay. He was pleased for her, and she seemed to be completely enthralled by her wand. He liked the look of it as well. It was white, with small flecks of grey from the tin inside it. The handle of the wand saw an amethyst in it, and the wand looked beautiful. As they walked through to the Oval Office, Mrs Landingham shouted, "Mr President, there is someone in there, calling himself a Professor Potter."