Wisteria Grimsley.
A rather odd girl. Who oddly and ironically enough had a rather grim appearance. Never let it be said she was not beautiful though. No, Wisteria Grimsley held an almost unnatural beauty for an eleven-year-old girl.
Her long midnight black hair with its whispy curls gave the girl a somewhat whimsical appearance, or it would have if it weren't for her sunken-in, eerie, icy blue eyes that was. The girl was also pale, almost ghostly so in fact, it was as though the sun had never touched her flawless skin and her delicate features, which some might describe as almost aristocratic in nature, were constantly bathed in moonlight. Her lips were slim, though not unattractively so, and had a dark pink colour to them, almost as if they had been stained that way from the blood of her enemies.
The mixture of dark and light colouring in the girl's visage made for a rather handsome, if a bit unsettling, contrast.
The young girl's beauty, no matter its grim manner, made one question how she could be unfortunate enough to be housed in a dreary, underfunded London orphanage.
Well that, much like the girl, made for a rather odd story.
Wisteria made her presence known at Sister Agnes' all-girls orphanage, an institute with a rather heavy Anglican influence, on a chilly October night in 1981, the night before Halloween to be exact. The Nun who found her had been rather thankful for this, for she believed that had the girl been found just a few hours later on October 31st it would have been a bad omen, it was the Devil's holiday after all.
But oh how misplaced that naive Nun's relief would be.
Little was known about the mysterious babe left in front of the orphanage. The girl had been found in a beautiful little basket, wrapped in a fine silk blanket with an incomplete birth certificate. The unfinished document only denoted the girl's name 'Wisteria Emma Grimsley' and her date of birth, Friday, June 13th, 1980 at precisely 3:33 A.M. The Nun caretakers of the orphanage worried slightly at the odd birthday but ultimately shook it off as a premonition of the poor girl's bad luck to be orphaned so young.
The Nuns searched high and low for any information on the baby's family but ultimately found not even a crumb.
However, young Wisteria's fate began to look up, as not even a month into the girl's stay at Sister Agnes' she was adopted by the lovely Allen couple. A slightly older couple, both in their early 40s, who were never able to have what they desired most, a child. And so Wisteria Emma Grimsley became Wisteria Emma Allen.
This arrangement would sadly last only a short three months. Mrs Allen had been the victim of a vicious dog attack. The big, burly, black beast had left the woman heavily injured, likely handicapped for the rest of her life the doctors had proclaimed, and so Wisteria was returned to the orphanage by Mr Allen. He cited that it was due to him no longer having the ability to look after both a baby and his now handicapped wife.
And the cycle continued. Wisteria would be adopted by a seemingly lovely couple only to be returned in a matter of months after the family befell one tragic accident or another. There was one particularly strange case where just thirteen days after being adopted by the Litwells, Wisteria's new parents were both struck by lightning at the same time while taking a romantic stroll down the street. The young couple would tragically pass away from the strange phenomenon.
The names came and went, Allen, Whitacker, Litwell, Bailey, Green, Anderson… and so on. The names came and went so fast that the caretakers gave up on remembering the new ones altogether. Simply deciding to stick with calling the girl by her birth name, Wisteria Grimsley. And oh how befitting that grim last name was for a girl with such a grim fate.
And the Nuns all felt oh so bad for the poor child, it is not like it was her fault. Why being born on Friday the 13th at 3:33 A.M. was dooming any innocent child to a horribly unlucky fate.
Thankfully the odd little girl seemed to take it all in stride. She was perhaps a bit of a morose child with little to no friends, but that was to be expected given everything the poor dear had been through.
Wisteria… Wisteria certainly was an odd girl, but she preferred to think of herself as exceptionally special. Much more so than the other bleak girls at Sister Agnes' to be certain. They just simply could not compare to her, for they could never dream of accomplishing what she could, and likely they would be heavily punished for even alluding to a desire to.
Wisteria had learned early on it was for the best to keep that specialness to herself. Was it the Andersons or perhaps the Sinclairs that had taught her that lesson? Well, she supposed it mattered little which family it was as they were all done and dealt with.
It wasn't her fault none of them could appreciate just how special she was. Not her fault at all that those horrible families and the other orphanage girls were jealous of her powers. That jealousy however gave them no right to look down on her and sneer at her as if she were beneath them, as if she were the weird one. No right at all.
Her powers though, what made her special and better than them, gave her the tools to exact her revenge and show them exactly who was better than whom.
Her temporary families were easy enough to deal with, there were very rarely many witnesses about to well…witness her, perhaps, unsavoury methods. The nasty little girls she is constantly surrounded by however are a different matter for there is little to no privacy in an orphanage, but she makes do.
And to be fair to them they did all learn their lesson quite quickly, which is commendable. Especially little Tammy who stole the doll the Nuns had so kindly gifted her after the Green's tragic demise; poor little Tammy would never be able to walk on her ankle right ever again. It truly is a pity that Tammy just so happened to step on the only part of the tree covered in sap, slipped, and took a nasty little tumble, Wisteria thought to herself sarcastically.
Things remained business as usual at Sister Agnes' as they had for the past year for Wisteria, people seem to have stopped trying to adopt the strange and beautiful child, somewhat of a pity Wisteria found that at times it was fun to toy with them. Up until July 24th, 1991 that is.
On that strange July day, the orphanage welcomed a plump, older woman through its doors. Quite the lovely woman she was, she was agreeable to all the Nuns who interacted with her. And she was looking for one Wisteria Scott.
Now who could be Wisteria Scott? The caretakers couldn't remember having a child with the surname of Scott in their care. Until it dawned on them, she meant Wisteria Grimsley! This revelation was met with a slight sadness in all the women, for this inexplicably kind woman would surely meet some type of tragic fate should she choose to adopt poor Wisteria; they always did.
The head Nun of Sister Agnes' called for Wisteria, she herself was not sister Agnes for this orphanage was founded long ago and sister Agnes who had founded it was long dead.
Wisteria walked down the stairs with a certain elegance in her gait, she made it look as if it was in her blood to do so. And she looked exceptionally charming that day as well with a couple of strands of her pitch-black hair carefully twisted to the back of her head, framing her dark sort of beauty wonderfully. She was wearing what most all of the girls in the orphanage wore, a simple white blouse, black skirt that fell just below the knee, white knee-length socks, and simple black Mary Janes. One would have thought the girl to have walked straight out of a black-and-white movie if not for her piercing ice-blue eyes and dark-stained lips.
"Come, follow me dear, I have something I would like to discuss with you." The plump woman proceeded to lead the girl outside to a bench with a kind smile on her rosy face.
"I do so love nature," the woman spoke with a serene look on her face as she enjoyed the fresh morning air, "now Miss Scott-"
"Miss Scott?" the young girl interrupted, confused at the form of address, "Oh! Yes, I suppose that was my most recent legal surname."
"Most recent?" the rosy-cheeked woman asked, quite taken aback.
"I just seem to go through them so quickly we don't bother keeping track of them. We simply stuck with using the one I was dropped off with. Much better than trying to keep track of three or four a year you see," Wisteria replied almost smugly.
"I… see," the woman mumbled a bit disturbed, "well, that matter aside, I am Professor Pomona Sprout and I came to discuss your placement in a very special school."
Special?… now this piqued Wisteria's interest. She unconsciously leaned a bit closer to the woman, eager to hear more.
"Hogwarts, my dear," Hogwarts… what an odd and unfortunate name Wisteria thought as the woman continued to talk, "is a boarding school to teach young witches and wizards magic!" the woman finished with an almost childlike flourish and excitement in her voice.
"Magic you say?" Wisteria tilted her head in consideration, yes, she supposed what she did was rather like magic. So that made her a witch, the caretakers certainly wouldn't like that. Best to keep it to herself then.
"Yes dear, magic! We'll be going to get your school supplies from a very special place as well. Diagon Alley, it is called. Come on much to do little time to do it!" the woman exclaimed as she stood up and just as suddenly stopped in her tracks, "Oh my, silly me. I got a little ahead of myself, we must inform your caretakers first."
Pomona Sprout quietly regarded the child she was tasked with introducing to the magical world as she informed the… strangely dressed women, and she meant that in the kindest way, she truly did, in charge of the little orphanage of Miss Scott's placement in a special boarding school, though she went into no further detail. Miss Scott seemed to be quite a curious child so far, her bet was going to be for Ravenclaw. She did so love the little sorting ceremony bet she and the other Professors took part in, even though she typically wasn't one for gambling. As she looked at the young girl, however, she couldn't help but find her somewhat familiar. Something in the eyes perhaps. Yes, there was something about those deep-set eyes she couldn't help but recognise. Oh well, it would come to her eventually.
Wisteria was awfully excited for this little adventure, though she contained it well. It was never good to give away one's cards too early in the game and everything could be a card if you played the game right, including emotions.
She was excited to see what could be in this Diagon Alley, to see what supplies were needed to learn magic, though she felt like she had a pretty good grasp on hers already. She wondered if any of them would make her powers stronger.
"Almost there dear," Professor Sprout said as she led the girl into a rather dingy-looking pub by the name of 'The Leaky Cauldron'.
"What are we doing in a pub?" Wisteria asked, genuinely confused.
"You'll see my dear," the Professor spoke excitedly as she led the girl out back to a small little walled-in courtyard.
The older witch walked straight up to a brick wall, pulled an odd-looking stick out of one of the many pouches on her brown leather belt, and began tapping a brick three times. Wisteria made sure to memorise which brick it was, for it seemed like a rather important piece of information. It was the brick that was five up and two to the right of the brick that looked as though it was almost completely covered in black scorch marks.
Wisteria watched in wonder as the bricks began to spin. The bricks spun and spun until there was a large opening in the wall revealing a colourful and bustling street filled with people in odd fashions.
"Come, come, and be sure to stick close to me. We wouldn't want you getting lost now would we," Professor Sprout said as she ushered the two into the crowded alley. "Welcome to Diagon Alley dear, first we'll be going to Gringotts Bank to link one of the Hogwarts scholarship accounts to you, and then we'll get on with the shopping."
Wisteria followed behind the plump woman as she gazed at the different shop faces along the street. There was an ice cream parlour, an apothecary, what seemed to be a couple of clothing shops, and so many others she couldn't quite make sense of. One store seemed to be completely devoted to selling brooms! Did witches actually ride broomsticks like all those silly stories said? Surely there was a more efficient, and not to mention refined, mode of transport.
What was even more wild though was that all the shops seemed to be leaning at angles. Though they all seemed structurally sound enough and no one else on the street paid any mind to the horribly leaning structures.
"Here we are," Professor Sprout joyfully spoke bringing Wisteria's attention back to her.
They stood in front of a tall and imposing building, though no less slanted than any other building in the alley, made almost entirely out of what appeared to be white marble. It truly was a gorgeous and elegant building. Wisteria silently wondered what it would be like to be constantly surrounded by such grandeur. And on the front of the structure in large gold lettering were the words 'Gringotts Bank'.
The pair entered the building to a just as elegant front office. The bank tells were manned by these odd, short creatures with long pointed ears. Despite their odd appearance, there was still something humanoid to them.
'They are Goblins," Professor Sprout informed her in a soft whisper, "don't forget to be kind they're people just like us."
"Hello there," Professor Sprout kindly spoke to a Goblin as they approached a tell, "We're here to link one of the Hogwarts scholarship accounts to Miss Wisteria Scott here."
"Very well," the strange creature spoke grouchily before going off to grab a key.
"Now, listen here Miss Scott because I'm going to explain a few things to you," the Professor intoned seriously for the first time that day, "this account will only have a certain amount of money, there will only be enough to purchase your school necessities as calculated by our Arithmancy Professor each year. The amount you receive each year will be based on your supply list and should anything be left after collecting your supplies you will deposit it right back into the account to be returned to Hogwarts. Do you understand me?"
"Yes ma'am," Wisteria replied innocently already planning ways to stretch the money further and sneakily pocket some of it for herself. And now that she thought about it, do witches and wizards have a different form of currency?
"Do witches and wizards use a different currency?" Wisteria asked her guide.
"Oh my, I must be getting forgetful in my old age. I nearly forgot all about that, thank you for reminding me, dear." Pomona Sprout was quite convinced now after that question that Miss Scott would be in Ravenclaw, "yes, we do have our own currency, though you can exchange muggle money for some-"
"Muggle?" the eleven-year-old questioned, she had never heard such a word before.
"Don't worry I'll explain that in a minute. Anyway, there are three coins in wizarding currency, the Galleon which is a gold coin, the Sickle which is a silver coin, and the Knut which is a copper coin. There are 29 Knuts to a Sickle and 17 Sickles to Galleon, making it so there are 493 Knuts to a Galleon. Now as for what Muggle means, it is simply a term we magicals use to refer to those without magic. Now here's your supply list, I'll let you decide what order we go in," the plump Professor said as she handed the girl a piece of paper. Wisteria decided the paper looked quite a bit like the papyrus paper that was on display in the church the Nuns brought them to every Sunday.
"The Key," the Goblin they had been speaking with earlier interrupted.
Professor Sprout thanked the creature as she took the ornate key from him, she then turned to Wisteria and began speaking, "Now, I'll keep a hold of this today but after that, it will be your responsibility to keep track of this key."
Wisteria easily nodded her affirmation.
"Good," Professor Sprout began with a smile on her face, "Thankfully your scholarship vault is only two floors on top of us, no need to use one of those dreadful carts. Up the stairs, we go."
Wisteria followed the woman up two flights of stairs to a long, thin hallway. Every centimetre of space on the walls was dedicated to vault doors. They continued down the hall for a full minute until the Professor finally came to a stop. As the vault door opened Wisteria could not help but be amazed. Inside that vault were piles of gold, silver, and copper coins. They were not big piles by any means, quite tiny really. But that did not matter for Wisteria had never seen so much gold in her life, and it was, though very technically, hers.
Wisteria could not help but to feel a bit smug. Here she was with a pile of gold to her name to buy brand new school supplies for a magical boarding school. Meanwhile, the rest of Sister Agnes' orphans were stuck in that rundown little orphanage year-round with only the Nuns as teachers. It was just another sign of her superiority over them.
"Go on, take it," Pomona Sprout urged the rather grim child, "we must get a move on, no time to waste."
Wisteria wasted no more time in taking one of the small draw-string sacks off the wall and filling it with the coins. Being able to carry around and feel the weight of the money in its entirety made the girl quite proud.
"Where to first?" the plump woman happily asked.
Wisteria scanned the list for a moment, "What exactly does a wand do?"
"Well, I'm not exactly an expert on the topic but in essence, a wand acts as a conduit for one's magic making it easier to harness and control. Which in turn makes learning magic easier, though exceptionally powerful witches and wizards are able to cast without. Why Hogwarts' own Headmaster Dumbledore has been known to do a bit of wandless magic from time to time."
"Well, I suppose I would like to get my wand first then." though Wisteria couldn't help but wonder if she would be an exceptionally powerful witch, she made things happen all the time without needing a wand.
"Excellent! Off to Ollivanders then."
Ollivanders was a rather strange shop in Wisteria's opinion. Boxes were messily cluttered everywhere on every conceivable surface. Not to mention the rather eccentric decor, but perhaps that was normal in the magical world. She supposed she would find out once she got to the other shops.
"There you are!," an old man, Wisteria had been quite sure that no one could live to be as old as the man looked, suddenly popped out from the backroom as they walked in, "I can not wait! You are going to be an interesting one I know it!" the elderly man exclaimed as he quickly sped about the shop pulling boxes from the shelves left right and centre.
"You'll have to excuse Mr Ollivander dear, he can be quite eccentric," Pomona Sprout said comfortingly.
"Ah! Here it is, I've wanted to try this one for years and you might just be the fit for this odd combination. Acacia, 10 ½ inches, reasonably flexible and dragon heartstring. Do try it!" Ollivander exclaimed as he practically shoved the stick into the young girl's hand.
She did not like the way it felt, holding it disgusted her, but she swished it anyway. What resulted was a horrible mini thunderstorm that lasted barely a second before clearing up.
"Definitely not that one!" The old man exclaimed somehow still excited.
On and on, wand after wand and nothing was quite right. However, this just served to make Ollivander increasingly excited, the man was downright giddy as he approached with the next one.
"This is one I made a great many years ago in a state of great melancholy, and I admit I was hesitant to try this one. It seemed far too great a coincidence that this would be the one. Wisteria wood, 13 ¼ inches, very flexible, and a phoenix feather, plucked just as the phoenix was going through its rebirth process."
Wisteria grabbed the wand and immediately felt it resonate with her. Her fingers just barely brushed the light-coloured wood and gorgeous silver sparks were sent flying into the air.
"Perfect! Both are very rare materials, though I find on the odd occasion I do work with wisteria wood Pheonix feather goes best with it. The combo you've got there is very good for driven and patient individuals, though I caution you to be careful in your methods to greatness. With enough patience, this wand will be adept at very nearly all types of magic, very adaptable. That will be seven Galleons."
Wisteria paid the odd man and continued to gently stroke her brand-new wand. It made sense to her that she would have a wand made of wisteria, she was far too special to have anything besides the wood she shared a name with.
"Took a bit longer than I expected," The professor said warily, "how about we get you a trunk and satchel next, that way we can store all your other items inside of it."
"Sounds like a plan," Wisteria replied, not quite giving the woman her full attention. She could not believe how powerful a silly piece of wood made her feel.
They purchased a simple and cheap one-compartment trunk with just a shrinking and feather-light charm on it. They also got her a simple satchel to carry her books from class to class. Her course books and potion supplies were found and paid for. It was a pity she could not get any extra books, she would have loved to learn more about this strange and wonderful world. And finally, they were off to get her robes.
Madam Malkin's was a nice, cosy shop, with appealing dark purple walls and deep wood accents. Madam Malkin herself was also quite the friendly woman, easily putting up with her customers' requests. Even Wisteria's odd, at least in Malkin's opinion, request to have her skirts elongated to past the knee.
Wisteria did not like how short the Hogwarts uniform skirt was. While it might only just barely go above the knee, it was still enough to get a knuckle lashing from the caretakers. A young lady must be completely and properly dressed at all times.
Madam Malkin tailored the uniform perfectly to Wisteria's form. For once she would have clothing that didn't look baggy on her scrawny form. All the girls from the orphanage were scrawny, Wisteria no more so than the rest, but unlike them she would have clothing that properly fit her.
With every item on Wisteria's list checked off the Professor and student returned the money that was leftover, the little that there was anyway. On the trip, Professor Sprout made sure to describe to the girl exactly how to get to the Hogwarts Express come September 1st.
As Wisteria lay on her old lumpy bed in the small room she shared with three other girls in Sister Agnes' orphanage she read her History of Magic textbook, though being very careful not to reveal the full title. She did not want to walk into the magical world looking like an idiot. She is supposed to be special and better than everyone else and she can't be better than everyone if she has no knowledge.
It was a rather interesting read, in the wake of the first witch hunts in the 10th century, at least the first known witch hunts at the time of the book's publishing, four witches and wizards from prominent families emerged as pillars in the magical community, creating Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a safe haven for young magicals to cultivate their powers and be able to defend themselves against the intolerant muggles.
Apparently, the magical community prior to the tenth century and the founding of Hogwarts was a very frightening place to live. Magical creatures were all abound and ready to attack at a moments notice. The notorious Grimms stalked prey bringing bad luck wherever they went. And with no learning facilities, many magicals were ignorant as to how to properly use their powers to their full potential, unless they had a long-standing family history with magic that was.
Wisteria wondered if perhaps she had an ancestor with magic at some point. It made sense to her, surely magic couldn't come out of nowhere, completely unprompted. Definitely not magic as strong as hers anyway.
Notes: Oops, I started another fanfic. I don't know, I thought this up at 3 A.M. and have been feeling chaotic, so you get this. I'll still going to update my other Harry Potter fanfic but beware I only write what I have inspiration for when I have inspiration. This is just a fun hobby I have and I'd like it to continue being fun for me. Wisteria has been given special attention from the caretakers after all those horrible tragedies befell her adoptive families and it has given her quite the ego.