Lost? Me? No, never. Not even in New York City. Haha… ha.
Okay, yeah. So maybe I was lost. What's it to you? I may have been a witch, but it's not like I could use magic in this situation. Why did I think that moving to a muggle-filled city would be good for me? I'm not exactly the most outgoing person out there. I'm the kind of person that would do anything to avoid people I don't know… not talk to them.
I sighed and took out my small map of New York once more. I found the name of the street on the sign and scanned the map for it. I've already seen the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Times Square. I had passed by Central Park, but decided that I'd rather not go there yet… maybe when Harry visited. To be honest, I would like to get back to my apartment and make tea or something.
"Ugh," I mutter softly to myself, "I wish I'd actually paid attention to the street my apartment was on… this is such a pain."
Walking down the street and silently trying to avoid bumping into the other pedestrians, I noticed that I had passed by a very tall, unique looking building. I glanced up at the name, which was written on the side in bright blue letters: Stark.
Stark. Why did that sound so familiar? Stark, Stark, Stark. I'd heard it somewhere. But where?
"Need some help, Miss Potter?"
I jumped in surprise, nearly pulling my wand out of my boot. Oh man, I really needed to start calming down. I couldn't keep trying to pull out my wand at every small movement, abrupt or not. Being jumpy like that isn't going to help anything. And even though I understood that, I still couldn't help myself from scanning the street and sidewalk, the windows of building, and even the sky above.
However, once I turned around and saw that the source of the voice was not an escaped Death Eater, I slowly began to relax. It was only Steve Rogers.
"Steve?" I breathed in relief. "What are you doing here?"
He paused, as if searching his mind for an answer. "Well, I had a meeting for work. Er, what are you doing here?"
"Exploring." I blurted immediately. "You know, since I'm new here and everything. Figured I might as well try to get out and see some sights, you know?"
Steve eyed the map in my hands, making me grin sheepishly and attempt to hide it behind my back. "You lost?" He asked after a couple moments of the awkward silence. "It's getting pretty late out."
I looked down, trying to hide the now bright pink tint of my cheeks. "W-well… I may or may not have gotten lost… which may or may not have led to me forgetting the name of the street our apartments are on… and I may have held the map upside down a couple times…"
"Oh," He chucked, "Well, I'm heading home myself. Want to walk together? It's not far from here."
"Y-You don't have to. I mean it'd be nice but you r-really don't ha-"
"Alright. Let's go then." He flashed me a quick smile, and began to lead me down the street.
Long story short, I'd discovered (very quickly, at that) that it was going to take me a while to get used to everything. I'm used to a small town, not this overwhelmingly large city. Until then, though, I was going to have to be a lot more cautious and actually pay attention to signs.
When you took away the fact that New York was huge, I rather liked it. I mean, some of the people were nice, the sights were breathtaking (especially the city at night), at I had made a pretty great friend. My apartment, though small, was comfortable and gave off this homey feel just like the Burrow. Well, not as much as the Burrow. As much as I loved it here, the Burrow was more of a home than here.
"Okay," I breathed. "It's just cake. You can make cake, Ari. You've used the oven numerous times while at the Dursley's. You. Can. Make. This. Cake." I sighed and turned a knob on the oven, which was hopefully the right one, and smiled when I saw the oven turn on and begin to heat up. That wasn't difficult; now to just make the cake. Right?
Turning around, I picked up the cake box and look at the step. My eyes skimmed through the instructions before I placed the box back down on the counter. I got out a bowl and poured the mix in, then the oil and water, and finally, I cracked open the eggs and added them as well. After that, I picked up a large spoon and I mixed the ingredients together, then poured it into the cake pan.
Finally, I put the cake in the oven and set my timer. I was pretty excited. This was the first time I'd made anything since I lived with the Dursley's. Even then, the older I had gotten, the less cooking they let me do. I guess Aunt Petunia wanted to make sure that Harry and I hadn't poisoned the food or something. Apparently, we played tricks like that and put charms on the food. At this point, I don't even think they have brains anymore. Why would I have charmed their food if I had to eat it as well?
Bloody stupid, if you asked me.
Taking a seat on my couch, I looked around the room for something to do. I didn't want to get out my books from the wizarding world; they were all in my room and that was way too far away. Well, not that far, but I didn't want to go get any of them. And besides, what would happen if someone showed up and-
Oh, right. No one would show up. The only muggle friend I had was Steve, and If I remembered right, he was at work right now. I guess there wasn't anything keeping me from reading now, was there?
I stood up and slowly walked into my room, grabbed the newer copy of Hogwarts, A History, and then walked back into the main room. I took a seat on the couch, covered up with my blanket, and opened the book. It was finally updated last year, and I decided to buy a copy before I came to America. I skipped the earlier things, and went straight to the back to see what was added.
"On the 2nd of May, 1998, near the end of the Second Wizarding War, Harry and Arielle Potter (with the assistance of Mr. Ronald Weasley and Ms. Hermione Granger) found their way into Hogwarts in search of the remaining Horcruxes. Lord Voldemort, upon learning of the whereabouts of the Potter children, immediately sent for each and every creature that had pledged allegiance to him."
Sad thing was, we hadn't expected Voldemort to have as many followers as he did. I mean, we did, of course, know that he had a bunch of them… just… underestimated the amount, that's all.
"'I know that you are preparing to fight. Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you, I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me the Potter children, and none shall be harmed. Give me Arielle Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight.' The Dark Lord had announced.
The students and staff of the school refused to hand over the Potters, and were willing to fight You-Know-Who and his followers.
A battle took place that night. The castle was destroyed in the process, and much of it had been turned to rubble. Several bodies (students, professors, aurors, Death Eaters, and magical creatures alike) littered the ground on both the inside and outside of the castle. At the end of it all, Lord Voldemort was defeated. The Death Eaters retreated (and those that did not were quickly arrested), followed closely by the magical creatures that had sided with You-Know-Who."
Taking a shaky breath, I quickly closed the book and placed it down on the coffee table. While I hadn't been surprised that they included the Battle of Hogwarts, but they had mentioned the cause for it (obviously). Harry and I. I shook my head. No, it wasn't my fault. Just like it wasn't Harry's. Things just… happened. They weren't under our control.
But we're responsible for the deaths-
Shut up, Arielle, Shut up.
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
Pop!
I jumped, let out a squeak of surprise, and then instinctively pulled out my wand before aiming it at the source of the sudden noise. Half of me expected it to be some sort of Death Eater or something, but the other half knew better. Once I saw the four very familiar faces standing in front of the door, I relaxed and put my wand back inside my pocket.
"Harry?" I asked. "Ron? Hermione? George? What are you doing here?"
AN: Hey guys, I'm so so so sorry about the long wait for this! I've had to revise it (because when I first started writing this a year ago, I never paid attention to anything and it's constantly switching between present and past tense, which is really annoying to me and probably you all too. So, from now on, I'll be revising chapters and stuff before posting them. Also there's a lot of stuff I'm going to be changing with the plot, so if you decided to read any of it on my quotev (it's posted under 'Vanna'), keep in mind that it's gonna change. Thank you all for your support. Please leave a review on anything you want to see in this story and of course, let me know what you think so far. Favorites and follows are appreciated as well! I'll try and update again today to make up for the past year.
Thank you!
- Vanna