Chapter 4
I nervously gripped Uncle's arm as we stood outside the cottage. I was dressed in the nicest thing I owned, a soft pale blue dress I had actually bought, not made. The dust still clouded around our ankles as Uncle raised his wand. There was a crack and we Disapparated.
When we appeared on a street corner, I staggered to the side, almost colliding with the bank building behind me. Uncle pulled me up and held my shoulder, using his wand to siphon the dust off our clothes. "Are you alright?"
"You know what side-along Apparating does to me."
"We couldn't take brooms."
"Yes, yes, I know." I muttered, resting my head against the cool white marble. "Where are we going first?"
"We're at Gringotts now, so we need your money."
"Alright." I looked up at the tall marble building, and down the bustling alley. Animals chirped, owls hooted, people shouted- it was a chaos of busy shopping day. "Eh, Uncle?"
"Yes, Jack?"
"I know I'm supposed to be royalty or something… but we've been to Ohio. Twice. That's it. Where are we?"
"Diagon Alley. It's where all Hogwarts students get their things."
"Obviously." We went into the bank, where we talked to a malevolent-looking goblin. After withdrawing the money, we got all of my school supplies over the course of a couple of hours. I was hurrying out of Flourish & Blotts when something caught my eye.
A beautiful barn owl with a pearly heart-shaped face, soft brown body, and bright black eyes like buttons perched on a stand. I walked up to it, glancing at the sign. Eeylops Owl Emporium.
"Ouch!" I snatched my hand away from the barn owl, who had nipped the hand I had been petting it with. It looked at me, seemingly saying, What? "Uncle?" I turned to him. He sighed, shaking his head.
"Fine, you can get the owl." I grinned, walking into the dimly-lit shop.
The pretty owl was perched on my shoulder when Uncle and I Apparated to our next destination. The owl- a female whom I decided to name Fion- seemed flustered, preening her feathers and hopping from foot to foot. I was far more nervous than the bird myself, fixing the collar of my dress and straightening the skirt. We stood before Windhithe, the ancestral home of the British Wizarding monarchy. It was smaller than I expected, made of worn stone, precariously perched on the top of a cliff, towers dripping down the cliff face in a vertical palace. The spindly spires punctured the sky, the highest tower topped with a glittering glass dome. I nervously toyed with the tatting on the wide, flat collar.
There was a wide flagstone drive leading up to the front courtyard, where a tall woman in formal navy-blue robes waited. Uncle and I hurried towards her. She offered a curious little curtsey, tucking her right foot behind her left and bending her knees. "Welcome back, your Royal Highness."
"Really, there's no need for that." I blustered, sticking out my hand. We shook, and I said, "Pleasure to meet you, Madam Cleary."
"And you, Ma'am."
I was starting to get uncomfortable. "I'm sorry if this seems unorthodox, but I'd really rather not be called that. I answer to Jack, or if you really insist, Jessica. This 'ma'am' and 'royal highness' stuff seems very silly to me."
"It's the appropriate address for your status." Cleary seemed surprised.
"Yes, well, I'm new at this." I smiled sheepishly, shifting the weight of my books to my other hip.
"I'll get a house elf for your things."
"That won't be necessary."
Cleary gave be a strange look of mixed surprise and disapproval, one I got used to over the next month. I sighed and motioned for Uncle to place his half of the luggage where Cleary indicated. He, after not living with the monarchy for so long, was almost as out of his element as I was. Fion still perched on my shoulder as we came up to the grand front doors.
I was led through a labyrinth of rooms and hallways to my quarters. I had grown up in a house with five rooms. This was completely new to me. The tower rooms I was shown to be ridiculous, paneled in intricately carved dark wood. The high cathedral ceiling loomed above, several ornate gas lamps floating around it. The great four-poster bed was covered in cream colored silk pillows, and the posts, carved with flowers, supported a pleated dome of the same silk. A curved wall of French windows opened to the balcony, filling the room with sunlight. A fireplace as tall as me stood in the wall, an enormous portrait of a beautiful witch in dress robes hanging above it. I narrowed my eyes. She had the same fair skin, dark waves, and high forehead as I did, though her eyes were a pale gray. She shifted and swayed, smiling gently down at me.
Curious, I explored the adjacent rooms; there was a great marble bathroom, a dressing room with empty closets and dressers, and a stairway leading up to the conical tower room, paneled with the same wood and containing, curiously enough, crumpled tubes of paint and old art supplies. I picked one up.
Making my way back downstairs, I heard a faint knocking on my door. It was Uncle. He whistled as he saw my surroundings. "Very nice."
"I feel like I'm in a museum, like I can't touch anything." I replied.
"This was your mother's suite."
"Oh." For some reason, that bothered me. "What's the room upstairs for?"
"She used it as a studio." He nodded to the portrait. "She painted that, you know. It doesn't do her justice, she was too modest."
"Oh." She looked ethereally beautiful to me. I could hardly paint a stick figure. I located an iron owl perch. I transferred Fion to it. She hopped along its length, clicking her beak. "What's your place like?"
"Same as I had when I served your parents. Small, comfortable."
"Uncle?"
"Yes?"
"I think I'm having an out of body experience. Or drank a potion I wasn't supposed to. Or am dangerously high on methamphetamines. Which seems most likely to you?"
"Shock."
"So meth, then."
"Dinner's in an hour. Apparently Cleary got some proper robes for you. A house elf's on its way."
"Uncle?"
"Yes, Jack?"
I took a deep, shuddering breath. "This is completely and utterly insane."
He smiled. "I hope you like it."
I jumped as a tentative knock came on the door. A house elf entered with a paper package tied with a velvet ribbon.
An hour later, I was smoothing the pale green fabric of the dress robes, running my fingers over the delicate colored embroidery at the neck. This was ridiculous, but I can't say it was unpleasant. Not having to make most of my clothes would definitely be a plus.
The house elf led me to the informal dining room. It was a long, narrow room with terra-cotta tile floor and raw stone walls. At the far end of the room was a giant stained-glass window that cast colors along the length of the room.
The long, scarred table was only laid for two places. I sat at the head, Uncle at my right. As the first course was brought out, Uncle went over what would become of me. Mostly lessons. I traced the gouges in the table with my fingertips. It was going to be a long month until Hogwarts.
I picked at the dessert, twirling the cake fork in my hand. Uncle placed his hand on mine. "First off, stop that. Second off, there's something I want to show you."
I reluctantly put the cake fork down and followed him. He led me out of the dining room, obviously knowing his way around Windhithe. Of course he did, I reminded myself, he was the one who lived her for who knows how many years making sure no one killed my parents. It was a curious looking place- some of the rooms were grand, spotless, rich rooms decorated in Victorian, Baroque or Rococo styles. Others were worn-down and spare, the furniture not fitting anywhere else in the castle. Uncle led me to a dusty old room lined with glass cases.
I peered into a case, unable to see anything. I gently laid my fingertips against the glass. The dust immediately was siphoned away. My eyebrows came to a sharp V above my nose. Inside was a circlet, silver leaves and vines cradling five-petal roses made of rubies and scattered with pearls. I cocked my head to the side. "What's this?"
"That's the Crown Princess's Circlet. It was made for your great, great grandmother when she was a little younger than you were."
"It's beautiful."
"It's yours to wear for state affairs."
I took a step back, looking at the diadem. "And the enchanted dust?"
"The spell immobilizes anyone it hasn't authorized."
"Ah."
"Come. There's something you need to see." I followed him to a case at the end of the room, touching cases as I went. It was narrow, smaller than most of the cases. Uncle nodded his head to it, so I touched the glass again, and again the dust whipped away. Inside was a necklace laid out. A single star sapphire laid on the velvet, deep blue and shimmering. It was set in delicate silver filigree, the middle of the tiny silver flowers set with diamonds. It was beautiful, but also much smaller than the other necklaces I had seen- it would be a choker, the silver chain suspending the sapphire in the hollow of my throat.
"It's beautiful, Uncle."
Uncle smiled slightly. "It was made in the Elizabethan times. Many of the previous queens thought it too plain- you could see the amazing jewels around here. But I would like you to wear it. The uniforms will hide it under the collar. It's small, but it's a little reminder of who you are.
My eyes darkened. "Uncle, this isn't who I am. This is a whole new ballpark for me."
Uncle smiled slightly. "I know. And up until yesterday, you were just my niece. But things are different now. It's sad, I know, but we're going to have to get used to this. Please wear it."
I couldn't refuse him. The necklace was taken out, and fastened around my neck.
