Year One| Chapter Two

Even though I wanted to rebel against everything around me publicly and without any remorse for those around me I knew there would be no point in doing so.

I made sure to slowly but surely calm down gradually, so I didn't stop completely the next day.

I knew if I accepted everything outward immediately, they would know something was afoot, and I would end up being in the company of Dumbledore.

The last thing I needed was to be stuck in a room or place with him, where he could easily make sure to secretly give hints towards Mr. and Mrs. Diggory to put some potion into my food or drink.

Something that would make sure I would accept everything at a faster rate, and with him instructing and being their ally in my imprisonment no one in the outside world would know what they were doing. Not that anyone would believe the real reasoning why the Diggory's were my foster family, the magical world thought there was no need for them to accept me in their home other than selflessly and without any selfish rewards.

I learnt that one of Elspeth's cousins had committed suicide after being Sorted into Slytherin and he was ruthlessly bullied by all the other Houses. I had been sneaking around the cottage and was looking for things in the cottage. I might possibly need to blackmail them in the future once I would get enough evidence against them and Dumbledore when I had come across the letters. I had quietly put them back where they had belonged, knowing that was something that needed to stay in the dark and only be a part of the family…blackmail was despicable but using someone's suicide as a means of blackmail was a whole other ballpark.

Today, I was about to head off to Diagon Alley in order to get my school supplies for Hogwarts along with a Familiar to bring to the school with me. I had to decide between an owl or a cat, and I was up for, but I wasn't going to be someone who demanded both animals like I was certain Dudley would have done so in a heartbeat. I mean, I could afford it, since Dumbledore had finally allowed me access to my Gringotts' bank account for the day, but I only needed to worry about one pet at a time and not two of them at the same time.

I was dressed up in just another outfit that Elspeth had bought for me, not caring much about the fabric pattern or the colors of the dress. I had on colored tights and some slip-on shoes.

There were gloves that were put on me, because a witch's skin was sacred.

There were only worthy people who should see them without gloves on and their hair down, and I had to keep reminding myself this. I wasn't living on Privet Drive anymore. I'd never have to deal with them ever again, being thought of as nothing more than a waste of breath.

Though this wasn't that much better for me here either. I had been sold to a bidder that didn't have to bid against anyone else. The system was rigged, I wouldn't be able to attend Hogwarts with an ability or right to feel freedom. I was meant to be pushed down and have a foot pressed against my back to remind me I was still a child, but a child bride, nonetheless. The best that would happen for me would be for me to marry young, and to have children with Ron Weasley.

"Are you ready to go to Diagon Alley? I can't wait to show you around the place," Elspeth gushed as she stood in front of me, her hands clasping together as another dreamy stare came across her eyes. My stomach twisted at that innocence she had; she had been manipulated by Dumbledore. I still couldn't stand being in her presence too long.

"I am. Is Cedric coming?"

Elspeth opened her mouth, most likely she was going to nip it into the butt at the very thought of having a male teenager around me, even if he were my foster brother. She didn't have time to say anything before footsteps came down the staircase and I turned my head, noting that Cedric was coming down the stairs with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his trousers and warmth radiating from him. There was not one person who could meet him and not like him.

"I do have to go and get my supplies too, Mum. I don't want to wait to go with Dad. It'd be easier if we get everything in one trip," Cedric admitted, earning a sigh from Elspeth before she nodded her head, assuring us she would accept this. I had almost expected her to write a letter to Dumbledore and wait to see what he would say about me going to Diagon Alley with Cedric in my company (Merlin forbid that others would mistake Cedric as my future husband instead of Ron Weasley).

"Alright then. Come with me."

I trailed after Elspeth as she led us to where the fireplace was before she prepared us for the Floo Network. I was glad that was something I had already experienced when I went to the bank on my birthday, so the only thing I heard was the calling of The Leaky Cauldron before Elspeth grabbed my hand. Cedric calmly stepped into the fire and after traveling through many fireplaces landed himself in the front room of the Leaky Cauldron–which happened to be a bar with rooms to rent upstairs. The perfect place for witches and wizards to rest at before going on about their business.

Stepping out of the fireplace, I almost tumbled out but managed to catch myself at the last minute. I looked up, seeing how the tall ceiling and multiple landings that were in the bar reminded me of a bar that had been around since the medieval times and gradually became more modern over time. The barkeep was an average man without any seriously unique features about him named Tom, he was the owner of Leaky Cauldron and happened to be older than he looked.

I almost wanted to lash out at the people around me as we became clustered by witches and wizards that wanted to know if I really were the girl-who-lived. I kept my features smooth and instead looked at random spots on the walls around me, sometimes flickering my attention from one stain that was on the wall to another in order to see if they had happened at the same time or if they both happened at different time periods. I dismissed the buzzing of conversations around me, which included Elspeth Diggory eagerly taking in all the attention she could for herself, since she was my foster mum.

"Shouldn't she be shopping for her school supplies with Mr. Weasley? He is her betrothed after all," one of the witches probed, her high-pitched voice was nauseating.

Every inch of her skin was covered in fabric, there was even a shawl around her head to keep her curly gray hair tucked underneath it. Her clothes had many layers, and almost seemed suffocating. Her skirts were dragging on the floor when she moved, I couldn't even tell what her shoes looked like or where she would hide her wand. She was very annoyed, the word blatherskite appeared in my mind. I remembered Elspeth saying that word a lot.

"Mum, we should be going and getting Miss Potter's school supplies and whatever else she needs for school. We don't want to overwhelm her." Cedric shot his mum a look, enough for her to nod her head before ushering me towards a brick wall that was in the back of the bar.

I barely had time to notice her pull out her wand before she began to move it in a certain pattern against the bricks, tapping it in precise manners. She pulled her wand back as the brick wall separated in the middle and magically created a portal/doorway to Diagon Alley. So vast and different from the old bar inn behind us.

My eyes widened incredibly at the beauty of the magical shopping district.

Some of the businesses were small family ones, while others were chain stores.

There was an ice cream parlor that offered all different types of flavors you didn't even know could exist called Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor.

There was Gringotts' Bank that was in the center of the shopping district so any witch or wizard would be able to know where to go and deposit/take out money.

People were moving around in their comfortable cloaks, well most of them were—there were people like that woman in The Leaky Cauldron that were wearing too many layers that would feel even remotely comfortable. Some had their wands out for anyone to see while others had their wands hidden away, most likely attached to wand holsters (Cedric had shown me his wand holster he had gotten his first year at Hogwarts for Yule, it was easier to have it on a holster since it couldn't just random disappear or you'd lose track of it).

"Let's go to Ollivander's first. A proper witch ought to have a wand," Elspeth decided, nodding her head as though she was checking with herself if this was what we needed to do.

Cedric waved goodbye to us, heading off to where his friends were but claimed he would be back in about an hour. I watched him disappear, his tall and lanky figure reminding me I was going to have to fend for myself without him by my side, something I would definitely have to do at Hogwarts. I watched him until he disappeared completely, sighing before turning my attention back to Elspeth. She was already walking towards a building not too far from us.

My eyes barely took in how the shop looked worn on the outside, but I could feel the magic signature of over a hundred wands wrapping around me, demanding me to come in and see if I would be the witch who would have one of them. The shop door gave out a little chime as I entered, the bell above me allowing me to know it was letting everyone else out in the street and the owner of the shop knew I was coming to get my wand.

Tearing my attention away from the bell, I turned when I heard an old voice in front of me conversing with Elspeth. I noted how there was a lone wand sitting on a velveteen cushion for a display. I also noticed there were multiple magical photographs that were on the wall of past clients. There was even a photograph of Ollivander (most likely) standing next to a younger version of Dumbledore who must have already been a professor at Hogwarts. They were talking to each other and then there would be a laugh emitting from Dumbledore before it would rewind itself to the original conversation.

"Ah! Miss Dorea Lily Potter! I remember your parents' wands! Lily's wand was ten and a quarter inch. It was swishy, made of willow and was nice for charm work. You look like a splitting image of her, I almost thought I went back in time."

Ollivander was a short man, perhaps he wasn't short when he was younger, but age had dwarfed him. He had wiry white hair that was in random patches on his head, but he didn't wear a toupee so at least it showed he didn't have any problems with showing off his baldness. His skin was quite wrinkled, and his hands shook some but became quite still when he seemed to focus his attention on something, as if letting me know there would be no issues with him selecting wands for me to pick out. He wasn't going to be dropping any boxes on any feet.

"Your father, James, had his wand made out of mahogany wood. It was eleven inches and pliable. A little more power than you'd expect, and excellent for transfiguration. It's no surprise, he was always an excellent Transfiguration student, Headmaster Dumbledore still talks about your father's great accomplishments he had when he was a student."

I wondered how my dad would have felt when he was a student if he learnt what would become of his daughter. If he would agree with the betrothal contract between our family and the Weasley family, or if he would have told Dumbledore to go fuck himself. I liked to think he would have done the latter, and he wouldn't have decided the best thing for me was to marry me off at the youngest age he could. I didn't know if it was a tradition in our family, but I knew I would have made sure to break that tradition myself for the future girls in the family if that were the case.

Ushered forward, I was soon overcome with Ollivander's extreme excitement at me shopping for my wand. The entire time he was proclaiming how the wand chose the wizard/witch. I tried to focus my attention entirely on the process of being handed wands. I had to admit sometimes I would feel a wrongness appear upon me, creating an uneasiness that crawled through my veins as though they were creeping vines. I didn't like holding a wand that belonged to someone else, the magic signature of the wand did not match my own magical signature.

With each failure Ollivander got even more thrilled.

It was obvious he was someone who was bored when he had gone too long without a good challenge.

Me, almost destroying his shop a few times, made him more determined.

His eyes twinkled and he smirked before he rushed off, claiming that he hadn't thought about the one he was going to get, and I glanced in the corner of my eye to see Elspeth was sitting prettily in one of the few chairs that were provided for the customers.

He came back to the front of the room with a box in his hands, muttering about how he should have known that I would find a connection with this wand. I fought the urge to turn around and look at Elspeth, to see if she could tell me why Ollivander was acting this way. It had been some time since she, herself, had gotten her wand so maybe she didn't remember all the little details of Ollivander…it had been over a decade.

"Ah! Here we go. Holly and Phoenix feather. Eleven inches, nice and supple. Nice for battling against the dark arts…the most interesting thing is…this wand's core has a brother from the same Phoenix," Ollivander informed me, marvel radiating from his voice as he stared at the wand that was still in his hands…before he slowly and surely handed it to me.

Taking the wand from him I had barely made a movement with the wand when a gust of wind came over me and picked me up from the ground. My hair began to glow a brilliant gold, and I closed my eyes as a fatherly hand brushed against my cheekbone. A reassurance that the wand would help and guide me, I would be safe for it would do anything in its power to make sure its caster would never have any harm done to her.

Behind me I heard a strangled gasp, allowing me to know Elspeth was more than shocked at the sight before her. I was certain she had never seen a reaction from a wand like that before. Cedric probably had a subtle reaction from his wand, and for all I knew the same was for his parents but mine…yeah, I could see why it would cause someone to be shocked.

My feet hit the ground a moment later and I looked at Ollivander.

He peered at me as if I was both going to save the world and destroy it at the same time.

I didn't know if I should really have a reaction towards it or not, and I didn't have any time to do it when he spoke once more.

"The person who owned your wand's brother was the one who gave you your scar. He did great things, terrible but great things. It is no wonder that Mother Morgana has decided to place this kind of fate upon you. I can only wonder what great things you, yourself, will do."

I shifted awkwardly at what he said, not knowing how to respond.

I instead moved aside as Elspeth came forward and paid for my wand, which happened to be only seven gold galleons. I didn't have to pay for any of my supplies for school since she insisted, she wanted to be the one to do so. If it weren't for how kind and sweet, she was I would have thought she would be doing it for utter motives.

Amos on the other hand, I knew he would have done so for utter motives.

Reputation meant something very serious for him. I wouldn't be surprised if it were him that had decided to take care of me, to be my foster dad, and Elspeth followed after him like a good wife.

After all, Amos was the head of the family and as the head of the family what he said and did was law.

Any kind of rebellion would have dire consequences.

It was something I had noticed in the short time I had been in his life; he didn't like it when I showed any type of disapproval over my betrothal to Ron. It was partly the reason why I knew I had to calm down when it came to my disapproval.

The next place I found us going to was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions for me to get my school robes. I was nervous at the thought of having a measuring tape checking to see what kind of fitting I needed for my robes, since I knew I still wasn't healthy when it came to my weight.

The last thing I needed was for them to say something about how I needed to eat more, since it was obvious that I must have had a past with abuse…or there could be those that would think I had an eating disorder at eleven.

The shop was in the colors of purple and pink, the outside of the shop was even purple.

It was one of the brightest and colorful shops that were in this area of the shopping district.

I frowned at the colors.

I had never been someone who was into bright colors.

I wasn't against them; they just weren't to my taste. Others would find the shop cute, but I found it quite an eyesore. I was more than ready to go in and get my things before heading out once more.

The first thing I noticed when we entered the shop was the front room of the shop was smug and small, while I was certain the back of the shop had to be bigger in order for them to have their fabrics and other supplies come in and organized. The second thing I noticed was that there were two fitting platforms that were circular and could magically spin with the swish of a wand in order for the robes and other assortment of clothing to be seen from all the angles for not just the tailor but also for the other people in the room. The last thing I noticed was there was a boy that was my age standing on the right platform that had the same blond hair as the teenager in my dream.

I blushed inwardly at the remembrance of me and the blond teenager making love vigorously to the robed figures chanting in some language. The man that stood in front of us that spilled his blood in order to make sure a bond would happen between all three of us.

As I came closer, I noted how he had pinched features, and his blond hair was gelled down to his scalp. He was an aristocrat, and I was certain he must be a pureblood, an heir to one of the ancient and noble Houses. He had some school robes on, which let me know he was about to enter his first year at Hogwarts just like I was. His eyes were a brilliant combination of blue and gray, making it one of the most unique colors I had ever seen someone have.

He arched one of his eyebrows up at me and remembering what Elspeth said, I curtsied in order to show respect. He nodded his head, seeming pleased as Madam Malkins informed me I needed to stand on the other platform. I went over to it and stood up there, my fingers almost messing with each other before remembering how I was wearing gloves. The last thing I needed was for me to have the gloves taken off and for me to cause a scandal for showing off my bare arms and hands (it was almost like the Victorian Era was with flashing ankles).

"May I ask what House you are the Heir to?"

The boy looked at me long enough before speaking, "I am the heir to the Malfoy House. What House do you represent, if I may ask? It obviously is not the Weasleys, despite the fact that you look just like them."

I bit the corner of my lip before responding, "I am the Heiress of the Potter House. My name is Dorea Potter. I am certain that you've learnt about my past, and that I am already spoken for by the Weasleys…"

Heir Malfoy frowned at what I had said and looked as if he had just swallowed a lemon.

He turned and glanced over at where Elspeth was, she was too busy conversing with what looked like his mother, Lady Malfoy. Lady Malfoy didn't seem as if she was too interested in listening to Elspeth, but she still did listen to her because of social etiquette.

"Yes, that is quite unfortunate. I, myself, am spoken for. Heiress Astoria Greengrass. It is quite common for ancient Houses to have their children betrothed when they are very young. I can tell though; it is not ideal for you to be with a Weasley. Especially one who is not the Heir of the House. There is also the fact you don't seem too pleased with the betrothal."

I turned and looked at Lady Malfoy and Elspeth before whispering, "My parents weren't the ones who made the betrothal between me and the Weasleys. My Magical Guardian, Headmaster Dumbledore, is the one who has done so because he has the right to do so…"

Heir Malfoy's eyes darkened incredibly at what he was hearing, about to say something only for Madam Malkin to say that he was finished with his fitting. He turned towards me and bowed, showing respect. "Until the next time we meet, Heiress Potter. Perhaps we will end up being in the same House. I am certain that you have been informed of the Hogwarts Houses already."

After having my own fitting done, the next place I went to was Flourish and Blotts.

It was the bookstore where I would get all my schoolbooks.

I wanted to see if there were any books that were about the wizard who had killed my parents but that was a taboo subject (those kinds of books and magical objects happened to be in Knock turn Alley, where anything to do with dark wizards and witches were there). I was determined to find some books eventually, perhaps when I was older, and I didn't have the Diggory's breathing down my neck.

Apothecary was the second to last shop I went to, and the smells that came from the ingredients to the potions I would be learning made me cringe my nose back. Elspeth had silently handed me a handkerchief for me to cover my nose due to the sour smells. I shot her a thankful look and she nodded her head, as if letting me know it was a common occurrence to walk into this shop with a handkerchief pressed to your nose.

Cedric was waiting for us outside of the last shop we would be going into, Eeylops Owl Emporium.

I was excited for once, realizing I was coming here in order to get a Familiar for Hogwarts. I almost started jumping up and down, acting like my age for once. It was the highlight of the day for me, and one of the few positive things I had looked forward to when it came to being a witch.

Cedric chuckled as I rushed into the shop, noting it was filled to the brim with owl cages that had majestic owls peering down at the customers. There were snakes in the background along with frogs, but I didn't pay attention to them despite the snakes hissing at anyone near them along with having any other snakes near them. Their chatter was common, they were asserting their dominance, and both wanted to be taken from the shop but not at the same time. After all, snakes were moody creatures.

I knew the reason why I was getting an owl, for both Mr. and Mrs. Diggory to write to me constantly but also so Mrs. Weasley would write to me without me being able to say some stupid excuse to keep her from writing to me.

The moment my eyes landed on a beautiful white owl with the most expressive eyes I knew that I would have my first real friend without any strings attached. I named her Hedwig.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: as always: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me.

-it'semmynotemma