Book: Courage
Chapter 1
Word Count: 2139
Sat in her room, her knees pulled up to her chest with a book held in her arms, 11 year old Layla Lupin flipped the page, getting lost in the woods. That was until a tapping sound interrupted her. She tried to ignore it, continuing to read, but it continued.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Jesus Christ," Layla huffed, placing her book down after sliding her bookmark into it, and looked around for the source of the tapping. That was when she spotted a pretty owl perched on the ledge outside of her window, a letter in its beak. She suddenly grinned. "Is this what I think it is?!" She rushed over, swinging the window open and smiling at the owl. "You're a day late, owl. My 11th birthday was yesterday," she took the letter from the owl's beak, watching the owl fly away, and she quickly ripped open the letter. Her smile widened as she read the words, her eyes locking on the Hogwarts symbol.
"Dad!" Layla sprinted out of her room. "Dad! Dad!" She eventually found her father, Remus Lupin, in the study next door to her bedroom. He had rushed out of the door, worried.
"Layla, what's wrong?"
"I got it!" Layla grinned, shoving the letter into his hand. Remus read the letter's contents before smiling.
"This is incredible, Lay. After your letter didn't arrive yesterday on your birthday, I was worrying you wouldn't be accepted."
"Me too," sighed Layla. "But I'm going to Hogwarts!"
"I'm proud of you. You'll love it there almost as much as I did," Remus pulled Layla into a hug. "Well, it's only December and school doesn't start for just under a year, but why don't we do some early school shopping in Diagon Alley tomorrow? I can do some Christmas shopping while I'm there."
"Okay!" Layla nodded excitedly. "Yay! I can't wait!"
---
As Remus and Layla walked through Diagon Alley after taking the floo network there, Layla read over the smaller letter that she had received with her Hogwarts letter, which held all of her supplies needed.
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
SET BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope set
1 brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
"Come on, Gringott's is right over here," told Remus, leading his daughter towards a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a goblin. Layla always loved visiting Gringott's to see the goblins. She thought they were adorable, but the goblins hated when Layla called them that.
The goblin by the door was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as Layla and Remus walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Hey, that's catchy," Layla giggled childishly as she read the rhyme. She never acted so giddy but she was beyond excited to go to Hogwarts, even if her first day was all the way in nine months.
"It sure is," Remus chuckled at his daughter. A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Layla and Remus made for the counter.
"Good morning, Sparkmack," Remus greeted the goblin, who looked up.
"Ah, Mr Lupin. Good day."
"My daughter here would like to take some money out of the seperate vault I set up for her last year," Remus placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder.
"You have her key, sir?"
"Yes, I do," said Remus, and he pulled out a small golden key, placing it on the counter. "Here you go." The goblin, Sparkmack, looked at it closely.
"That seems to be in order. I will have Someone take you both down to young miss Lupin's vault. Griphook!"
Griphook was yet another goblin. Layla and Remus followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.
Griphook held the door open for them. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in and were off.
At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.
Layla's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but she kept them wide open. They plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.
The cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, and they climbed out. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Layla smiled at the inside contents. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.
"I didn't know you opened up my own vault," said Layla, turning to her father.
"It was time," smiled Remus. "You're old enough now, Lay. This is all yours." Remus helped Layla pile some of it into a bag. "This should be enough to last you to get your supplies today and then save the rest until you go to school, which you can use until Christmas holidays. We can get you some more then, before Christmas."
They then left. One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts.
"Okay, where do you want to go next?" asked Lupin, glancing at Layla.
"Well, I would like to get my robes," replied Layla. "It will make me feel like I'm at Hogwarts!"
"Then let's go," smiled Remus, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The two walked over and entered Madam Malkin's shop. Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.
"Hogwarts, dear?" she said.
"Yep," replied Layla with a bright, outgoing grin.
"You go on in, honey, I'll be in the waiting room," said Lupin. Layla nodded and followed Madam Malkin into the back of the shop. Madam Malkin stood Layla on a stool, slipped a long robe over her head, and began to pin it to the right length.
It didn't take too long. Only a good five to ten minutes, and then Madam Malkin was stepping back with a grin.
"All done, my dear."
Layla hopped down from the footstool, thanked Madam Malkin and handed her six sickles. She then met up with her father in the waiting room and the two left.
They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Layla gushed non-stop to Remus for a solid ten minutes when she found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. They left the shop soon after.
They bought Layla's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.
They got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. Remus asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Layla.
"Can I get a pet, dad?" begged Layla once they'd exited the shop. "Please?"
"Of course," Remus nodded with a loving smile. "What kind? Toad? Owl? Cat? Rat? Dogs aren't allowed."
"Aw, I wanted a dog," Layla pouted. "Well, can I get a cat?"
"Of course. Come on."
Twenty minutes later, they left the pet shop. Layla now carried a cage that held a beautiful American Shorthair cat, fast asleep. The second Layla saw her, she'd fallen in the love with the cat.
"I'm gonna name her Peaches," told Layla cheerfully. "It's what mom used to call me."
Remus smiled at the name.
"Good choice, honey. Your mom would have loved that. Now, let's go grab you a wand."
The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. Layla looked at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. She had been to Diagon Alley more times than she could count, but she had never been in Ollivanders. Her dad didn't want her to have a wand until she was old enough to go to Hogwarts.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Layla jumped. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello, Mr. Ollivander," greeted Remus. "My daughter is looking for a wand ready for Hogwarts."
"Hello, Mr Lupin," smiled Mr. Ollivander before turning to Layla. "It is nice to meet you, Layla." The young girl didn't question how Mr. Ollivander knew her name. "I remember when your father here was in here himself, buying his first wand." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Layla. He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Left, sir. I'm left-handed," said Layla.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Layla from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round her head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss. Lupin. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." Mr. Ollivander flitted around the shelves, taking down boxes. "Right then, Miss. Lupin. Try this one. Ten inches, elm wood, with dragon heartstring. Just take it and give it a wave."
Layla took the wand and held it out in front of her, giving it a flick, and smiled when the lamp on the till raised gracefully into the air, and then lowered it back to the till.
"Oh, bravo! First try, that is rather impressive," Mr. Ollivander grinned.
"Thank you, sir," smiled Layla. She paid nine sickles for her wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed Layla and Remus from his shop.
The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Layla and Remus made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the floo powder, back to their home.
And Layla couldn't wait until nine months passed and she'd be on the Hogwarts Express for the first time, going to Hogwarts.