Chapter Three: Thoughts and Troubling Feelings
Ginny noticed that after Flourish and Blotts, her sister was unusually quiet. Yes, Amber was a quiet person by nature, but something must have happened, for she seemed really down about something.
As the Weasley family plus Harry, walked towards Ollivander's wand shop, Amber's mind was suffering from a turmoil of emotions. Malfoy, that blonde boy that acted like such a gentleman and kissed her hand, not once, but twice, was a Malfoy! Amber didn't know what to think about that. For one, she had been trained since birth to hate the Malfoy family because they worked in the Dark Arts. But, on the other hand… Draco had acted so… nice. 'Ugh! Get over him Amber! It will never happen.' Amber fiercely thought to herself, and shook her head to get rid of her heavy thoughts. She noticed that Ginny was sensing her mood, so when Ginny silently looked at her and seemed to ask what was wrong, Amber simply sent her a small smile to show that she was fine.
They arrived at Ollivander's and Amber let Ginny go first in getting her wand. Ginny went through only four wands before a wand finally selected her. Ollivander smiled and stated that like Weasley tradition, it was similar to all the other Weasley family wands, with a Dragon-heartstring. Then, turning towards Amber, Ollivander gave the girl an appraising look. After watching her for a few moments, he finally spoke up in his quiet voice, "You, my dear, are going to be an interesting one." Amber gulped nervously at that. Thankfully the only one's in the room with her were her mother, Ron, Harry, and Ginny. The rest of the family had gone on to grab some other things.
Shockingly, it took a LOT longer to find Amber a wand then it had for Ginny. She was on her fortieth try when Ollivander suddenly disappeared into the back of his shop and reappeared with one last wand. When Amber picked the wand up, she immediately felt a difference. This wand had a pulsating warmth that spread throughout her body, when she flicked the wand, emerald sparks danced out of the wand and briefly formed the shape of a dragon, before fading away.
Amber smiled, satisfied that she had finally found her wand, while her twin cheered for her success and her brother groaned, "Finally!" Amber turned to look back at Ollivander, and frowned when she found him staring at her intensely again. "Curious, very curious…" He murmured to himself. Amber noticed Harry perk up in interest at those words and glance between Amber and Ollivander, waiting for an explanation.
Suddenly Ollivander turned to Mrs. Weasley and asked, "Molly, I would like to have a quick word with Miss Amber here, if I may?" Mrs. Weasley, having long gotten used to Ollivander's weird quirks, after having to buy so many wands from him, simply nodded her head, paid for the two wands, and ushered the rest of the group outside to wait for Amber.
Once the two were alone, Ollivander turned back to Amber and asked, "Tell me, Miss Weasley, have you ever heard of Soulmates before?" Amber nervously bit her lip and nodded her head, having read a little bit about Soulmates in a book at Luna's house once. "Well, the term soulmates doesn't just apply to humans, it applies to wands as well, though as wand makers we call them coremates." Then gently picking up her new wand from where it had been set on the counter when being purchased, Ollivander handed it to her and continued, "You my dear have a very special wand, Cedar, 12 inches, Unicorn hair core. But not just any Unicorn hair, this hair comes from the mate of another unicorn that I took a hair from. Curiously, the two are very protective of each other and will protect each other at all costs, which is why, they choose wizards who are destined to be soulmates."
Amber was confused and a little uneasy about Ollivander's words and who she was meant to supposedly be a "soulmate" to. She had a small suspicion of who her destined soulmate might be, and that just made her uneasiness grow. Thanking Mr. Ollivander for the information and for her wand, Amber exited the shop and rejoined her family and Harry.
Immediately, Ginny latched onto her arm and asked her "Well? What did crazy Ollivander have to say to you?" Amber noticed Ron and Harry eavesdropping, so murmuring quietly she answered, "I'll tell you later, when we're alone." Ginny nodded in understanding, noticing their nosy brother as well.
With that the family, plus Harry, continued their walk through the Alley, as they passed the pet shop, Amber immediately perked up and called out to her mum, "Hey mum! You said that if I saved up enough money, I could buy a pet for Hogwarts," Mrs. Weasley paused in her walk and turned to look at Amber, "yes, I did didn't I," She answered. Amber grinned and grabbed a small pouch that was in her pocket, "Well I did it! I saved enough to buy a cat, oh please mum? I would absolutely LOVE to have a cat." Ginny nodded eagerly in agreement, loving the idea of having a cat as well.
Mrs. Weasley thought about it for a moment, then smiled and said, "Why not? A cat would be a great addition to the house to help with all those annoying gnomes and any pests that we get." The female twins cheered, and still arm in arm, raced into the pet shop eagerly, with Ron rolling his eyes at they're retreating backs and commenting to Harry, "Their mental, they are." Harry just smiled at his friend, not deeming to comment. In truth he found Ron's sisters to be very nice, though he hadn't spent much time around Ginny, Amber seemed like a really friendly person. It's funny, Harry thought as they waited for the girls to come out of the crowded pet shop, Amber seemed to be the polar opposite of her brothers. Harry noticed that where her brothers were loud, rambunctious, and extremely outgoing. Amber seemed… Quiet. She seemed to prefer diplomatic approaches to things instead of rushing into things recklessly, she was organized, loved to read, but most of all, she was shy at first meeting, which really highlighted her quiet nature.
Harry was taken out of his thoughts about the odd Weasley sibling, when the two girls finally came out of the pet shop. With Amber proudly holding onto a cat carrier, their group met up with the rest of the Weasley's and they all headed back to the Burrow.
A few weeks went by, and then the morning of September the First arrived with Amber waking up extra early. She knew, from past experiences, that her family took forever in getting ready to leave. So quietly, she got up, got dressed, made sure her suitcase was all packed with everything she needed, including her hand-bag that would carry some of her extra things like her sewing kit, Hogwarts a History book, and her deck of playing cards.
During the last year when Ginny and Amber had to stay home still, Amber had asked permission to go to the Muggle village for a day, she took Ginny with her and while in the village they found a game shop. They went in and met the owner of the little game shop who introduced them to Muggle card games, he taught them how to play games like Rummy, Go fish, War, and a few other fun games. Amber's favorite was Rummy. As a gift for visiting his shop for the first time and playing games with him, the owner gave each of them a deck of playing cards.
Amber smiled fondly at the cards as she thought of that memory, and put the cards into her bag that was carrying all her things to do for the train ride. Once she was finished packing, she glanced at the clock that sat between her bed and Ginny's and noticed that she had about an hour before everyone else would be up and about. So going over to her bed, she picked up her little tabby kitten that she bought and named Clover, and went downstairs to enjoy the last few moments of quiet.
Surprisingly, when Amber reached the Kitchen, she found that she wasn't the only one savoring the quiet. Her father sat quietly at the Kitchen table, reading the Daily Prophet and sipping some tea. When he heard her enter, he looked up and smiled fondly when he saw who it was, "Good morning Amber, I see you love to wake up early and enjoy the peace just like I do." Amber smiled and went over to give him a hug and kiss on the cheek before sitting next to him at the table.
Besides Percy and Ginny, Amber was also really close with her father. For though he can be as loud and rambunctious as the others in the family, he also had his quiet, peaceful moments. Moments that Amber cherished because it was great father-daughter time. Amber also loved the Muggle world like her father, and would tell him all about the different Muggle written books that she would read, which he would listen to with a fascination. He also loved to play the muggle card game, cribbage, which Amber enjoyed as well. So sometimes in the evening, as everyone else was finally settling down to get ready to sleep for the night, the two would pull out the cribbage board that Amber had gotten from the nice game shop owner, and her deck of cards, and they would play.
Coming back to the present, Amber shook her head to clear it of all the nostalgic thoughts she seemed to be having this morning and tentatively spoke up in the quiet of the Kitchen, "Dad?" Mr. Weasley looked up from the paper he was reading and raising an eyebrow at his daughter's tentativeness, asked, "Yes?" Amber bit her lip nervously, wondering if she should ask what had been on her mind for a few weeks now. Finally, she took a deep breath, gathered her courage and asked, "What if… at Hogwarts, I get sorted into a different House than Gryffindor… will you and mum be mad at me?"
Unaware to the two in the Kitchen, Mrs. Weasley had come down the stairs to start making breakfast for everyone, but had paused before entering the Kitchen to hear her husband and Amber talking. Hearing Amber's question, Mrs. Weasley's face softened at the obvious worry and anxiety heard in her daughter's voice, and waited to hear what her Husband was going to say.
Mr. Weasley set down the paper he had been holding, and pulled Amber into a fatherly hug. Kissing the top of her head, Mr. Weasley answered, "Amber, sweetheart, whatever gave you that idea? Yes, I know that both your mother and I sometimes have horrible tempers, and yes, we would be disappointed if you did not end up in the family House. But, if you end up in another House, that just shows and proves how special you are. You, Amber, are a bright, intelligent young lady, and your Mother and I will ALWAYS love you."
Amber had tears in her eyes as she fiercely hugged her father back with immense gratitude. And that was the scene that Mrs. Weasley walked in on as she entered the Kitchen. She too, went over and gave Amber a loving hug, saying, "Don't worry so much sweetie, all right?" Amber wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded. Mrs. Weasley smiled and patted Amber's cheek, "There's a good girl, now, go and wake your sister, its time that everyone get ready to eat and leave."
The next hour was just like Amber had predicted it would be, chaotic. None of the younger boys were packed, and everything had to be crammed into the trunk of the Ford Angela car. When everyone was finally piled into the car, they had to end up turning the car back to the Burrow twice! Once because Fred claimed he forgot something, and the other time because Ginny was panicking about forgetting her diary. As they drove back to the house, again, Amber asked Ginny curiously, "What diary? You never told me you had one." Strangely enough, her sister ignored her, which Amber found extremely odd behavior on Ginny's part.
Deciding to think more on it later, Amber just watched the scenery pass by as the Weasley family plus one finally headed towards Kings Cross station.
They got to King's Cross with only a few minutes to get on the platform and the train. Rushing towards the Barrier, Mr. Weasley called out, "Fred, George, Percy you first!" The three older siblings rushed through the Barrier as each of their names were called. Then Mr. Weasley grabbed Amber's cart as his wife grabbed Ginny's and together the four went through the Barrier, leaving Ron and Harry to come through last.
Once on the Platform, Amber and Ginny were whisked quickly onto the steaming red train after saying a hurried goodbye to their parents. At exactly eleven o'clock the train started to pull away and Amber and Ginny waved goodbye to their parents until they could no longer be seen. Ginny then turned to Amber and asked, "Shall we go find a compartment then?" Amber nodded and together, the twins walked down the corridor to start their new adventure as Hogwarts students.