"Where do we get wands?" Amisty asked, her head whipping back and forth as she her eyes scanned the streets.
"Ollivanders, of course!" Hagrid replied, walking down the street, toward a shabby little shop at the end of the street.
The shop had a ragged old sign with gold lettering, telling the name of the shop, 'Ollivanders'.
When Hagrid pushed open the door, a little ball rang, announcing their arrival. The shop had a strange feeling to it, making the hairs on the back of Amisty's neck rise.
"I don't like the feeling of this," she whispered, mostly to herself as she glanced around. There was something there that didn't feel right.
"Good afternoon," A voice whispered. Amisty let out a small yelp, and ran over next to Harry.
An elderly looking man now stood in front of the three, his shocking silver eyes seemed to bore into Amisty's soul. She shivered involuntarily.
"Hello," Harry replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulder gently.
"I thought I would be seeing you soon, but not with you, my dear," the man whispered softly, shifting his gaze from Harry onto Amisty, "You have your mother's eyes, Harry, it seems only yesterday she was buying her own wand, ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
When the man drew closer to Amisty, she was fighting down the urge to run screaming from the shop. The stacks of thin boxes seemed to be towering over them, almost suffocating Amisty.
"Your father, hm, yes, favoured a mahogany wand, eleven inches, pliable. A little more powerful and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it, the wand does seem to chose the wizard." Amisty had started to tune out, the fact that this man, this stranger knew who she was, and probably know, probably knew her parents.
"Um, sir?" Amisty mumbled, hoping she hadn't disturbed something important.
"Yes dear?" the man turned around from the wall of boxes, Harry's arm magically being measured by a tape. Weird.
"Did you, by any chance, know my mum and dad?" She asked timidly, desperately hoping that he did.
The man tilted his head slightly, thinking.
"Why yes, yes I did, well, your mother, at least," He replied, "Echo River, eight inches long, quite soft, maple, dragon heartstring, good for dueling. Now your father, well, I, hm, don't quite remember, sorry"
"It's okay, really, it's actually just what I needed to hear!" Amisty replied, smiling.
So her parents were indeed a wizard and witch, and they got their wands from here, so that meant they went to Hogwarts. If they went to Hogwarts, that means someone had to know who they were.
"You're quite welcome, now that's enough, your turn dear," Mr. Ollivander ordered, and the tape moved on to Amisty.
"Right-handed, yes?" Mr. Ollivander asked, Amisty nodded, and held her right arm out, the tape instantly began to work away.
Mr. Ollivander began handing Harry wands, telling him to wave it about.
Amisty watched with curiosity, each wand being snatched away quickly, the pile of wands next to her began to grow and grow.
Harry seemed to be very upset about how it was going, but Mr. Ollivander on the other hand, grew more and more excited as the pile grew. Finally, when the pile of wands was about the height of Amisty, Mr. Ollivander gave Harry a wand that actually did something.
When Harry raised his hand above his head, and brought it rushing down, sparks of gold and red shot out of the end, sparkling and sending dots of light across the walls. Amisty and Hagrid cheered, while Mr.Ollivander cried,
"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well well... how curious... how very curious..." He put Harry's wand into a box, all the while muttering something Amisty couldn't catch.
"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry asked.
That must've been what the wandmaker was mumbling.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather -- just one other. IT is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother -- why, its brother gave you that scar." Mr. Ollivander explained, his peculiar eyes focusing on Harry's forehead.
That's when Amisty noticed the faint lighting shaped cut on her friend's forehead. She sent him yet another questioning glance, which was quickly returned with another, I'll explain later.
"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things -- terrible, yes, but great." He continued, his dark tone unsettling the two.
"Now Amisty, your turn." Mr. Ollivander turned away from Harry, who was clearly shocked.
His voice quickly switched to the same airy, mysterious sound it was before.
He handed her a wand, "Oak and dragon heartstring, seven and three-quarter inches, flamboyant, try this out," Amisty waved it around hopefully, only to have it snatched away from Mr. Ollivander.
"No, that won't do, try this one, redwood and phoenix feather six inches, spongy," She took the wand in her hand and waved it around, again being snatched away by Mr. Ollivander.
"Ah, here we go, birch and unicorn hair, nine and a half inches, gentle," Amisty sighed, thinking she would have to go through the same tiring process of Harry, but when she took the wand, her heart felt like it was glowing.
She waved it around in a spiral, and a white swirling mix, dotted with grey paw prints, wreathed around her.
"Amazing, amazing!" Mr. Ollivander exclaimed.
That's when Amisty's vision went cloudy, and she felt her body hit the floor as her eyes fluttered closed.
When Amisty woke up, Harry, Hagrid, and Mr. Ollivander stood over her, their eyes flooded with worry.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked, holding out his hand to help Amisty up.
"I'm fine," she replied steadily, gladly taking Harry's hand. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few seconds," Harry replied, his brow creased with concern. "Why?"
"Nothing, I just thought, nevermind. Do you know why that happened?" She asked, looking at Mr. Ollivander.
The man shook his head, "This has never happened to me before, it seems as though your wand had drawn power from something else other than yourself. By any chance do you happen to be an animagus?" he asked.
"An animagus?" Amisty questioned, confused.
"Interesting, interesting. Well, I'm terribly sorry that this happened to you, Amisty," Mr. Ollivander dipped his head apologetically.
"It's okay, really," Amisty smiled, digging into her pockets to pay for her wand.
Mr. Ollivander waved his hand away, "No, dear, don't bother, it was my pleasure," He insisted, before disappearing in the back of the shop.
Hagrid shrugged, and walked out of the wand shop, checking Amisty every so often to make sure she kept up.
"I promise, I'm fine," she hissed, fed up with his antics after Hagrid looked back at her for the tenth time.
The trio walked back to the entrance, back through the Leaky Cauldron, back through the non-magical part of London, and back to the motorbike.
Hagrid handed Amisty and Harry two envelopes, explaining that inside them contained the tickets for the train.
"But Hogwarts sent me money to buy the ticket?" Amisty wondered aloud, sending her friend a quizzical look.
"Hm, maybe they forgot that I was gonna bring yeh yer ticket," Hagrid replied, shrugging. "Just use yer money at a Muggle shop,"
Amisty nodded, before hopping into the motorbike, along with Harry.
"Lets go" they cheered. Hagrid grinned and jumped into the main seat, he pressed a few buttons, and they were airborne.
Towns flashed underneath them, but Amisty wasn't that amazed, she was confused.
'Why did she black out when she got her wand? Why the white mist with paw marks when Harry had those red and gold sparks?' Her thoughts swirled through her head like a tornado, crashing into each other like waves against the beach until her mind was a jumbled mess.
Amisty barely noticed they had gotten to the two's street until Harry got out. Amisty stumbled out of the sidecar quickly, her head still spinning with thoughts.
Harry and Hagrid had a small conversation, before Harry made his way over to Amisty. They waved goodbye to Hagrid, and Harry walked her to the little camp she had made.
"Thanks," Amisty smiled, tucking the envelope into the drawer of a bedside table she had found on the side of the street. It had become her designated Hogwarts drawer.
"No problem," Harry smiled. "See you soon?"
Amisty nodded, sitting down on a pile of boxes, her hair falling to the front of her face like the wings of a raven. Harry walked back to his house, leaving Amisty alone to her thoughts.
-=+=-
The last month hadn't passed as quickly as Amisty had hoped. Sure, Harry had been able to sneak outside and they managed to buy several sweets from a store near the neighborhood with the Muggle money she had.
But other than that, Amisty was having a very uneventful month.
Usually she moved around, which kept her busy and on edge. But since she met Harry, she needed to stay put. It was a relief to stop worrying about packing up and leaving before sunrise, but it was taking a toll on her sanity. Staying still wasn't somethings she was very good at.
"Ugh, how much longer till we get to leave?" She had asked Harry one chilly afternoon. Her hands were wrapped around her bare arms, trying to keep warm.
"One more day," he replied dryly, resulting in Amisty letting out another frustrated sigh.
"How's your owl?" Harry asked, quickly changing the subject as he shrugged off his jacket and held it out for her.
"She's been doing great, I picked a name for her too," Amisty smiled, gratefully taking the jacket and tugging it on in a flash.
"Really, what did you name her?"
"Echo," she replied softly, looking up at the stars.
"After your mother?"
Amisty nodded, "Even if she's not with me in person, at least she'll be by my side in spirit,"
"I think she would like that," Harry smiled. They lay in a comfortable silence, watching the sun sink into the horizon.
Even though Amisty's camp wasn't the warmest place in the neighborhood, it sure did have a view of the sky. The distant sound of a train whistle distracted Amisty for a split second, until realization hit her like a brick.
"How am I going to get to King's Cross Station?" She jumped up, her eyes wide with panic as she looked at her friend.
"Hmm, good question" Harry's green eyes glittered with mischief. "You could jump onto the back of our car,"
Amisty grinned, "Now that sounds like idea!"
-=+=-
The day had finally come. It was time for Amisty to go to Hogwarts. The raven-haired girl was running frantically around her camp, packing her school supplies as quickly as possible in the trunk she had borrowed from Harry.
"Okay, robes, hat, gloves, cloak, books, wand, cauldron, phials, telescope, scales, owl food, and Echo," Amisty listed off out loud, checking off the items on her mental checklist.
She placed Echo's cage on top of her trunk carefully, checking around her camp once more if she missed anything. Once she triple checked and quadruple checked, she was satisfied.
"Now I just have to wait" she sighed, shifting her gaze to Harry's house.
Amisty wasn't in her school robes just yet, she had put on the cleanest pair of clothes she owned, a blue T-shirt and black jeans. The street was dead silent, that is, until Harry's car sped out of his garage.
Someone wasn't happy.
"Come on Amisty, you can do this," she gritted her teeth, grabbed her trunk and Echo's cage, and dashed toward the car.
Her legs were burning as she struggled to carry the weight of all her supplies. She caught up to the back, and sprung forward, landing on the trunk with a loud thump, resulting in a wince.
Amisty scrambled up to the roof before anyone could spot her.
'Good thing no ones on the streets right now' she thought to herself.
She gently placed her trunk on the top of the car, keeping a tight hold of Echo's cage in her other hand.
The wind whistled in her ears, stinging her eyes and sending her curly black locks into knots.
The ride was treacherous.
Every single harsh turn and stop she had to desperately try to hold still on the top of the slippery metal.
Finally they reached King's Cross Station, Amisty jumped off the car before it came to a full stop, and raced ahead of the car to meet Harry. Amisty watched as Harry's uncle threw his trunk into a cart, and wheeled it for him till they were in the station.
"Hi, Harry!" Amisty grinned.
She raced toward him, ignoring the cold, disapproving look his uncle gave her. Harry waved kindly, before listening to what his uncle had to say.
"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have it built yet, do they?"
Amisty's smile fell, there was no Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and his uncle had a malicious smile on his face. Amisty glared daggers at the back of his head as he turned to walk away.
"Have a good term," He smirked.
Harry and Amisty watched as his family drove away, all laughing hysterically. Harry glanced at Amisty in shock, she didn't know what to say.
"We have to find it, it's got to be here somewhere," Amisty urged.
Harry nodded, and he turned to ask a guard, only to be quickly dismissed.
Amisty was on the edge of panicking, until she picked up a family talking quietly from behind the two.
They were talking about how many muggles there were. Muggles!
"Harry!" Amisty hissed, pointing at the family behind them.
The family all had fiery red hair, and they all pushed trunks ahead of them, talking about the train station as they walked.
Harry stared, and motioned Amisty to follow them.
Amisty nodded and did as he said. A young looking girl, with the same red hair, was talking to her mother, a pleading look in her eyes.
Harry was watching the two older boys as they just vanished out of thin air.
Amisty turned her head as the eldest boy, by the the looks of it, walked straight toward the barrier, and disappeared. Amisty felt like her jaw was on the floor.
She looked at Harry and mouthed, 'how?'
Harry shook his head, clearly just as confused as she was.
Amisty watched as he walked up to the woman, gestured to Amisty, and then pointed to the barrier with a confused look. The woman nodded, and Harry motioned for Amisty.
"All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared, you'll crash right into it, that's very important. Best do it at a run if you're nervous. Go on, she'll go now, then you, then Ron," The woman explained, her brown eyes warm and kind.
"Um, okay," Harry replied. Amisty grabbed her trunk, and ran straight at the barrier.
Screwing up her eyes tight, she felt a wave of terror and excitement at the same time. When she passed straight through it a huge grin spread across her face.
"Yes!" she whispered to herself.
She quickly spun around so she could watch Harry come through. When he came, his eyes were squeezed shut, just like her, until he opened them and stopped, two feet away from crashing into her.
"You did it!" She smiled brightly, watching as Ron came through the barrier as well.
Amisty looked around, quickly noticing a large archway from where she had come, with the words, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. She had made it.