It was the most surreal experience of Ari's life as she walked through the stone archway hand-in-hand with Dad. It was nothing she had ever experienced before, an onslaught of sights and sounds and smells, rushing onto her like a million tidal waves. Ari thought she might burst trying to process the sheer volume of it all. There were quaint little storefronts with big windows, but they didn't sell the usual things like TVs or clothes or sports equipment, but big metal pots and jars filled with eyeballs and brain-like objects, and a few windows down, she saw shops selling shoes and clothes and broomsticks and real owls!
And through all of this, the people kept rushing past her, so many people that they were just like the trees in the forest, indistinct and endless. And they were real, actual people who talked and moved and lived, and not the static, imaginary characters from fairy tales. Or maybe this really was just one huge fairy tale, and Professor McGonagall had used magic to transport Ari into their world. Everyone was dressed like Professor McGonagall, with big dress-like clothes and pointy hats. They were all jabbering like crazy, and Ari heard snippets of strange words — gallons, green gits, bee soars — it was like they were speaking a whole new language.
"Dad, look!" Ari squealed, turning around to get a better look as a person in bright green robes with a matching green pointy hat. "That person was wearing a pointy hat, just like Professor McGonagall — and ooh, look!" She pointed to a glass window filled with various furry critters, some of them with more than four legs and more than two eyes. The only animals Ari could recognize were birds with thick, fluffy plumage, as deep and red as flame.
Ari wanted to go and say hi to them herself, all the animals and humans alike, but Dad held onto her hand fast. "Stay close to me, Ari," he said, his face white.
"But Dad!" she protested as he dragged her past the shop. "They had a bird, a real bird with red feathers, like a phoenix! I wanna go and look at it, say hi to all the cute animals!"
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "We can look at the menagerie later. Why don't we pick up your school books first, Ari?"
They walked past a few more shops until they reached the bookshop, which was well, filled with books. But unlike the people outside and the critters in the shop, all the books were still and silent, looking quite plain and ordinary as they sat on their shelves. They didn't move or talk or shoot out sparks; didn't do anything really, except for make Ari's nose itch a lot. She was eager to leave the shop and do something more exciting, but Professor McGonagall insisted that they needed to pick up Ari's books first.
And so Ari went with Professor McGonagall as they looked around the shop and picked off the appropriate books from the school supply list. But Ari got a bit distracted during their shopping and wandered away with Sam a few places down the aisle. She picked up a velvety, gold-embossed book from the shelf, opened it up, and screamed when a huge cloud of red smoke flew from the pages and engulfed her face.
"Sam! Did you see that?" Ari squealed through her coughs. "It just blew up smoke! I didn't even know books could do that!"
He nodded. "Yeah, it's way different than the books we have at home, huh?" He selected a thinner-looking book from the shelf and opened it up, and it immediately gave a huge roar like Sam whenever he had gone two hours without eating. Ari screamed again while Sam winced and immediately snapped the book back shut. "Yeah, I can tell why Dad doesn't want us to get any of our hands on these. They're heart attack inducing."
"But they're fun!" she protested, picking up another book and flipping through it. This one didn't blow out smoke or scream, but it did have some strange symbols that shimmered and wiggled slightly on the page. "If all books were like this, then I'd have way more fun reading them!"
Later, Professor McGonagall finished selecting Ari's books and they went to check them out. Professor McGonagall had a big sack of gold coins which she called Ari's st and used those coins to pay for the books. Ari was quite interested in the gold coins and plucked one from the bag to inspect its round, shiny surface. It was so shiny she could see her own reflection in it, like a mirror. Ari marveled at the shiny goldness of the coin and kept turning it around and watching her face move around and having it glitter in the sunlight.
The next shop they visited, however, wasn't as fun as the book shop. It was stinky and filled with shelves containing slimy green things and dried up jerky-looking things. Professor McGonagall explained that the shop was called an apothecary and they needed to pick out all the right ingredients for a class called Potions. Ari perked up at this, because she had always wanted to brew a potion and stir a big cauldron like a real witch — minus the evil, of course. But in addition to the potions ingredients, Ari also had to pick out the potion's pot, which was called a cauldron. Ari spotted a nice shiny gold one on the shelf, as gold and shiny as her coin, and immediately wanted to buy that one. But Professor McGonagall said they couldn't, because the list only said they could buy one of the boring dark cauldrons.
And it was rather grumpily Ari left the apothecary with her new ingredients and boring cauldron in tow. But she couldn't stay in a bad mood for long, because that was when they headed to the clothing store to get Ari's school uniform. But the uniform was unlike any outfit Ari had ever seen before. The uniform was like Professor McGonagall's long checkered dress thing, only it was black and puffed out when you walked in it. Ari was eager to get one of her own puffy dresses, and she had to stand on a platform while a lady circled around her and measured her with a long ruler thing. Ari felt like a princess being attended to her by her servants while her royal attendants watched.
After Ari got her puffy princess dress, they went outside and bought something called an ice cream cone. Ari had never heard of such a thing before, but the ice cream was sweet and cold and the cone was crunchy. It was probably the most delicious thing she had ever tasted, even better than pancakes or pasta or squash! It was so good that even Sam slurped it all up in two seconds, but then again, he would eat anything as long as it stayed still long enough.
After they had their ice cream, Professor McGonagall led them to a wand shop, where Ari could buy one of those long pencil sticks that the professor had. The wand shop was dim and dusty and stacked with long, thin boxes in the back. There weren't many people inside and the shopkeeper was an old man standing behind the counter.
He surveyed the stack of boxes behind his counter before removing one of the boxes and opening it up. "Cherry and dragon heartstring, springy, twelve and a half inches," he said, holding out the wand to Ari. "Give it a wave and see how it reacts."
Ari didn't really understand the first part of his gibberish, but she complied with his last statement. The moment she took the wand, the smooth surface warmed up her hand, like a mug of hot chocolate. She could feel the warmth flooding down her arm and across her chest until her whole body was submerged in the hot chocolate. Her heart was pounding and her body vibrated with exhilaration, that same breathless excitement she had felt during her dream. Her hand seemed to move of its own accord as she held up the wand and waved it around. At once, there was a loud bang and white sparks flew from the tip of the wand.
"Look, Dad!" Ari squealed, jumping up and down. "Did you see that? Things just came out of it! Like stars!"
"Mm, yes, it was beautiful," Dad agreed, his smile as warm as the hot chocolate. "Now you can create your own stars when they don't come out at night."
"Is that what we get to do at Hogwarts, Professor?" Ari asked eagerly, turning to Professor McGonagall. "Play with wands and make stars shoot out?"
"Yes, you'll have a lot of practice with your wandwork, indeed," Professor McGonagall responded. "And very soon you'll learn to do much more than just create sparks from your wand."
"It's nice, huh?" Ari said, turning to Sam, who had been watching them with a frown on his face. She beamed and shoved the wand up his face. "Look at it, it's so beautiful! And it's mine! I bet you're jealous I got a magic wand, and you didn't, huh, Sam?"
"Whatever," he scoffed. "It's just a stick."
But he was still eying the wand as Ari gave it to the shopkeeper and he packaged it into a box. "I could sense this wand calling for you the moment you walked into my shop," the old man said as he held up the wand. He gazed down at Ari with those pale, watery eyes that reminded her of rain puddles. "There was a part of your soul embedded within the wand, and scattered upon the surface as well. The wood was taken from a cherry tree, you see, a tree that produces the most beautiful blossoms during the springtime. Each year, a cherry tree's blossom reminds us of the conclusion of winter and the upcoming spring, much as this fateful day marks the end of one life for you and the start of another. And yet, despite the outward fragility of the cherry, there is a strong, unwavering core underneath. The power and strength of a dragon's heart, through careful training and refining, can be taught to stand against the fiercest of storms." Still keeping his eyes on hers, he nodded and tapped the wand thoughtfully.
Ari wasn't really sure what he was going on about, and she wished he could give the wand back to her already so she could shoot more stars from it. And so after the shopkeeper packaged up Ari's wand, she skipped out the store with her wand and prepared to shoot more stars with it. But Professor McGonagall stopped her, saying it was best not to play with the wand too much until she had reached Hogwarts and could receive proper training.
Ari was rather grumpy about that, but her bad mood was uplifted instantly when Professor McGonagall said that they had picked up all of Ari's supplies and now could stop at the pet shop to take a look at the cute animals. And if she thought looking at them through the window had been fun enough, the inside of the shop was a complete feast for her senses. There was a rainbow of colors and critters, a squawking symphony of noises, fluffy feathers and spikes you could really touch, and of course…
"Ewww, it stinks in here!" Ari said, plugging her nose. "Just like Sam when he eats too much! PU!"
"Shut up!" the great bear roared, stamping his paws. She snickered.
"Now, Ari, did you want to pick out a pet for yourself?" Dad asked hurriedly, coming up between them.
"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed. She pointed to the bunny enclosure beside her. "I wanted a bunny, just like the ones back home!" Only, the bunnies here were a bit different. Instead of their ears being one whole piece, they sprouted out like giant weeds, and the bunnies had fuzzy green whiskers to match. And instead of eating carrots or grass or regular bunny food, Ari noticed the rabbits were stuffing long, wriggling centipedes into their mouths. Talk about funny!
"Hm," Dad frowned as he peered into the enclosure. "But Professor McGonagall said that first-years could only bring a toad or a rat to school."
"Aw, really?" Ari whined. "But I like the bunny!"
"She can also have an owl, if she so chooses," Professor McGonagall added, coming up to Dad's side.
"Ooh, an owl?" Ari repeated excitedly, jumping up and down. "I want an owl! Those are the ones who have those big eyes and go who-who!" There were owls who lived in the forest back home, in fact. Sometimes, if Ari laid in bed and listened really hard, she could hear their distinctive calls echoing through the vast night. But no matter how hard she looked, none of the owls actually got close enough for her to see them.
But that all changed today! In the back of the shop, resting on perches and nestled in little crannies in the wall were some of the most beautiful creatures Ari had ever seen! The owls were all fat and fluffy, their huge round eyes staring at Ari like pairs of moons. The shopkeeper pointed around and explained all the different owl breeds. Ari couldn't keep any of the names straight, but she could see the difference in their sizes and feather color. Some of the owls were lighter, some were darker, others had stripes and splotches on their coats, and some even had cute little horns sticking out from their heads.
"For beginners, a barn owl is a good choice," the shopkeeper told her. "They're hardy, keen, friendly, and self-sufficient. Affectionate as pets and efficient as messengers. Even when you're at home, you can just let them go from their cage and let them fly around. When you need them back, they'll always find their way to you."
And the shopkeeper called down one of the barn owls onto his shoulder and had Ari pet it. The barn owl had a funny-looking face, kind of shaped like the cross section of an apple, with dark brown eyes as the seeds. Ari reached out and stroked the apple head, and the owl leaned its head closer with a soft sort of hoot.
"She definitely likes you!" the shopkeeper said excitedly, looking at Ari. "I reckon she could hop on your shoulder now!"
The shopkeeper reached out his arm and the owl obediently hopped onto Ari's shoulder. It felt a bit weird, the sharp talons digging into her bones, and kind of uncomfortable. But the owl seemed comfortable at least, and curled herself up and gave another soft hoot.
"What do you think, Ari?" Dad asked once Ari and the owl had both gotten more comfortable with each other. "Do you like her?"
"Oh, yes!" Ari responded, rubbing her cheek against the owl's soft feathers. "I love her, Dad! I wanna buy her!"
"Great!" the shopkeeper beamed. He stretched his arm back out, which the owl hopped back onto. "Then, come with me to the front desk and we can get you sorted out!"
But just as they were leaving the owl enclosure, Ari suddenly noticed a spotted owl perched in a nest on the floor. Compared to the other larger birds, this owl was smaller and even more squishy-looking. Its cute shape caught her eye at once, and the fact it was watching her too only piqued her interest further.
"What kinda owl is that?" Ari asked.
"Hm?" the shopkeeper said, turning back around. She pointed to the small owl, and at once a sort of clouded look came to his eyes. "Ah… that's one of our pygmy owls. Yeah, he's all grown, but they're just naturally small like that."
"Why's he on the floor?" Ari asked. He was the only one on the floor, while all the other owls were soaring above him and perching on roosts along the walls. They were sleeping or preening their feathers or hooting happily to each other, completely lost in their own little world. None of them seemed to spare the owl on the floor a second look.
"His wing's not the best, I'm afraid, so he can't fly very well," the shopkeeper explained. "He was just a hatchling, you see, when we found him injured near our storefront. His wing was broken, the poor thing, and his mother was nowhere in sight. We took him in and nursed him back to health, or at least tried to — the bones in his wing never properly mended, even after extensive healing charms. I reckon it'll be a miracle if he can fly again one day."
"Poor thing," Dad said, frowning at the tiny owl. The owl was still squashed up in his nest, watching all them warily, as though he knew they were talking about him. "Hope he can get better someday, huh?"
Ari frowned at the owl still stuck in his nest. She certainly knew what it felt like to feel small and trapped, overlooked in a tiny corner of the world while the possibilities of the universe soared tantalizingly out of reach. Maybe the owl was like her, wanting with all his heart to escape and fly away, but he was just physically unable to. And of course, Ari felt even sadder when she learned the owl didn't have a mother, because she certainly knew what it was like to not have a mother, either. But even if Ari's mother bear was gone, at least she still had Dad, and he took care of her and loved her.
But this owl didn't have anyone to rely on, no mother or father or annoying big brother, and his other owl friends didn't seem very interested in playing with him, either. They were part of the same enclosure, but still so different, their worlds so close yet never touching. But maybe Ari could change that. Even if his broken wing limited him, he shouldn't have to be limited by other things. Like happiness, or friendship. Maybe Ari could take the owl under her wing and let him know that he wasn't alone and someone did notice his special talents after all, just as Professor McGonagall had come into Ari's life and talked to her. And then in the process, the owl could make a new friend and he and Ari could start discovering this whole new world together.
"Actually, I changed my mind!" Ari declared. "I want to buy that owl!" And then she pointed to the pygmy owl.
"Oh, I'm not sure about that," the shopkeeper said quickly. "His wing's still damaged, and it'll be impossible for him to fly properly, let alone deliver letters."
"But I like him!" Ari protested. "And who cares if he can't fly! He's really cute and I want him, and that's all that matters. I'll take real good care of him. Promise!"
"Well…" the shopkeeper began hesitantly, "he's not really used to human interaction. Or any sort of interaction. He might be a bit hard to care for."
"Nuh-uh!" Ari rebutted confidently. "He'll like me, I know he will!"
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "If Ari likes him, then why not let her take a closer look?" she suggested. "If she chooses to buy the owl, the damaged wing will make things difficult, but not impossible. She can always use one of the school owls if she ever wants to deliver letters. Moreover, if the owl is unable to hunt on its own, we have an excellent and experienced Care of Magical Creatures teacher at school who will be more than happy to provide Ari the proper sustenance and instruction to care for the owl."
"Exactly," Dad said, staring at the shopkeeper with a sort of hard look in his eyes. "No need to complicate things. Ari likes the owl, so just give it to her."
The shopkeeper gave a resigned sigh, clearly realizing he was outnumbered three to one. He let go of the barn owl and went to pick up the pygmy owl. Compared to the barn owl, the pygmy owl was much more finicky and kept dodging the shopkeeper's hand. It took a while for the shopkeeper to coax him up onto his shoulder. And as Ari reached up to pet the owl, he suddenly jabbed her right in the finger.
"Ouch!" she cried, recoiling. "He bit me!"
The shopkeeper gave her a I-told-you sort of look, not unlike the look Sam gave her whenever he proved her wrong on something. Even the owl had a haughty, sort of judgmental look in his yellow eyes. And just like with Sam, their reactions now only hardened Ari's resolve, only made her want to adopt the owl even more and prove to everyone that she could be a good owner and make the owl like her after all!
It took a while and a lot of coaxing, but eventually Ari was able to pet the owl without him biting her. Sure, her fingers were all red and gouged in the end, and the owl was still glaring at her, but it didn't matter. She would get him to like her, sooner or later. Of course, Dad spent the next twenty minutes fussing over Ari's hand, but she insisted she was fine. He must've had second thoughts about her selection, too, because he kept trying to convince her to buy the barn owl instead. But Ari doggedly ignored him and gave the shopkeeper the fifty coins needed to buy the pygmy owl and his cage.
But Ari wasn't the only one who had gotten an unwanted pet. It turned out that Sam had snuck off sometime during their owl adventures and made friends with the snakes. He even managed to get a striped one to crawl around his arm! That really gave Dad a good scare, and he ordered Sam to put the snake back. But then Sam argued that if Ari could buy a pet and a wand and all of these expensive things, then the least he could do was have something he wanted, too.
And thirty minutes later, the four of them walked out of the shop with two new additions to their family. Ari held up her owl's new cage like a lantern and cooed at the owl inside, while its yellow eyes glittering menacingly at her. Meanwhile, Sam had gotten his snake to wrap around his arm like a weird sort of bracelet.
"I think I'll name my owl Prince," Ari declared to them all. "Because if I'm gonna be the princess, he should be the prince! We can take over the world and run an entire kingdom together!"
"Well, I certainly wouldn't want to live in your kingdom," Sam said all sniffily.
"Yeah, you won't!" she agreed, nodding vigorously. "Because you'll be our servant, Sam, and you'll spend all day cleaning our house and polishing our throne and doing the dishes!"
"Prince sounds like a good name, Ari," Dad said quickly before Sam could retort. "What about you, Sam? Have you decided on a name for your snake?"
"Not yet," Sam responded.
"I've got an idea!" Ari exclaimed. "You could name it Stripes! 'Cause it's got stripes!"
Sam rolled his eyes. "How very creative."
"I know, right?" she said excitedly. "Or — ooh, you could name it Long, because it's long! Or maybe you could name it String, 'cause it looks like a string — or maybe Snakey, 'cause it's a snake—"
But despite Ari's very good suggestions, Sam didn't seem to be very interested in giving his snake any of her names. Whatever! Ari was just as glad to spare some of brainpower, 'cause coming up with names was a lot of hard work. Let Sam choose his own name for his snake, then. And then when he ended up choosing something stupid, like "Sam," he'd be sorry that he never listened to any of Ari's suggestions.
Now that they were done with their shopping, Professor McGonagall said it was time to go and return home. Ari was quite sad to leave the bustling, vibrant streets of Diagonally, but Professor McGonagall assured her that she would have many similar fun adventures when she went to Hogwarts.
Professor McGonagall apple-rated them back home, and it was no less weird and uncomfortable as it had been the first time around. Thankfully, the spinning feeling went away pretty quick, but Ari didn't let go of Professor McGonagall's arm and latched around her as hard as she could.
"Oh, Professor, don't go!" Ari wailed, burying her face into the professor's checkered dress. "I've had so much fun today with you coming over and taking us to Diagonally and buying school supplies and Prince, you can't leave! At least stay with us till we get to Hogwarts!"
Professor McGonagall patted the back of Ari's head. "I'm afraid I can't stay with you, Ari," she said softly, "but we'll see each other again very soon when term starts. I'll be here next week on September 1 to pick you up and take you to King's Cross Station. And once you've taken the train, we can see each other every day at Hogwarts. How does that sound?"
"O-okay, that sounds okay, I guess," Ari sniffled, removing her face to wipe at her face. Just a week… she just had to wait another week. She had lived in this house for eleven years with no complaint after all, so what was but another week?
After Professor McGonagall gave Ari her train ticket and reminded her to have all her supplies ready on September first, the professor said goodbye and apple-rated away again. Ari felt a brief surge of panic when she saw the empty spot where the professor had been seconds earlier, but she clung onto the fact that Professor McGonagall would return soon. She had to. Just like how the stars would eventually come out from the clouds, or how the sun always emerged from the tops of the mountains after a night of darkness. And this time, the stars and the sun would shine even brighter than before as their light marked the start of a new life.
