Father didn't come back home for a long time afterwards, which was always quite normal. I guess one could say he was a dangerous dark wizard, and I'd agree, because he taught his daughter how to be like him. And I'd have more years to learn more than he could and eventually carry it on.
It was starting to get boring without Father, though, because what was there to do around the house? I've already taught myself those books, I could probably recite the damn things already.
When Father did finally come back, I had taken to read the potions book yet again, and was halfway through learning a potion for the tenth time, creating it again. "Oh, hello," I said with a tone of pure boredom in my voice as I mixed it through. He didn't really seem bothered. He wasn't a strict parent. "Mind if I ask, but where were you?"
"Bukgaria," he said coolly. "Then Hogsmeade," he added darkly.
I nodded absent mindedly. "There've been a few owls that dropped by. I didn't look at any of the letters, although one of them won't just leave." I set the book aside, and looked up at him with a straight face. "Also, my wand. I was told it was a rather powerful wand. Apple tree, twelve and a half inches, a core of thestral bone."
He didn't seem all that interested, just a polite amount of interested, until I told him its core. "May I ... see it?" he asked.
I nodded, before grabbing it from my robe pocket, and passed it to him. He examined it.
"It feels very powerful," he said, taking a grip on it. He waved it, and a large shot of electricity came out of the end, and out the window where he directed it. "It is very powerful. Most other wands that don't belong to me would have broken ..." he murmured to himself. Did he seriously just try to break my wand? He held it back out, and I took it, putting it back, mildly offended that he used a spell that could have broken it. "Though it's allegiance strongly belongs to you, it will only part with you when you die."
I felt very, very proud of my wand.
I felt a lot of Dark Wizards and Witches had always gone for a goal of immortality, being scared of death. But fear of death was a weakness and while it would be best to avoid death, it was better to set up precautions in the event of your death. And expect to be killed and not let your reign end.
Too soon, September 1st came, and Father couldn't depart with me at the station, so he gave me a gift at home, before both of us went our separate ways. Anyway, the owl had to be payed before it left.
The gift was the family heirloom. The eldest got it when they started school. It was a large ring, it showed my family status amongst purebloods. Though, the tradition was wearing down in these years, nobody saw reason to give the ring to their children, but some, much like myself got the ring when they're supposed to. I decided to not wear it as a ring, instead as a necklace cause my finger wasn't going to fit.
I walked into London, and into Kings Cross station, where it was filled with large trains. But I wouldn't be catching any of these muggle trains, no, I would be catching the train in platform 9 and 3/4. Which meant I would have to go through a wall to get to, if I remembered correctly.
And my memory is not faulty. As I walked onto the train, a boy, my age, tapped my shoulder.
"Do you need any help with your trunk?" he asked. His eyes cast down to my ring. "Ah, you're a pureblood, are you? Abraxas, Abraxas Malfoy."
"Ariana Grindelwald," I told him smoothly. "And I would rather like help, thank you."
"Any house you're thinking of?" he asked. "Or are you a family house girl through and through?"
I smiled at him. "I'm the first of my family to come to Hogwarts. My Father went to Durmstrang," I replied.
"Ah, a school for the Dark Arts," he said, taking my trunk, and pulling it with no amount of work at all. I followed him. "How well did he do?"
"My Father had expelled for being, what would you say, too dark," I said, smiling lightly in mild amusement.
He chuckled a little and turned into an empty compartment, which held a trunk before mine. I was going to presume it's his. He put mine beside his trunk, and took a seat. "I'm going to say you're going to be a Slytherin," he told me, and I took a seat opposite him. "You see, at Hogwarts, there are four houses. Slytherin being the house my family have been in for years, you see, and I will too. The others, on the other hand, are all mudblood and muggle loving idiots. Especially the Gryffindors."
I nodded, taking this information in. "I see," I said. "Ah, well, Slytherin. I guess I'll be there, too."
He nodded in agreement. "I'd be sorely disappointed if a pretty girl like yourself doesn't get in."
"Ah, stop with the flattery. Wait until I am, say, fourteen years old?"
He smirked. "Deal."
After a long ride, we arrived at the station in Hogsmeade. It looked rather strange. I had been here once, but now it looked ruined. I smiled knowingly. Father must have done this.
But that's beside any point. I knew much about Slytherin at this stage, that purebloods really made it in, and usually purebloods who hate mudbloods. I saw the mudblood from Diagon Alley, though he looked back at me with a look of annoyance, and not fear. Peculiar. I'll have to make him fear me.
"First years stay behind!" a voice yelled. I looked over. It was a tall man with auburn hair, and sparkly blue eyes, though, he looked old.
I looked to Abraxas. "Got any idea who he is?" I asked him.
"If I remember correctly," he said. "That's Albus Dumbledore. He's been a teacher here for a long, long time. My Father was one of his students as well."
I nodded. Albus Dumbledore . . . . His sister is where I got my name from. "I see," I said. "Anything else?"
He gave me an amused look, before continuing. "He's the Head of Gryffindor house."
"Okay," I replied, turning back to face Abraxas fully, suddenly uninterested with Professor Dumbledore.
Abraxas chuckled, but didn't say anything.
Eventually, all those who were not first years were gone. Professor Dumbledore looked down on us all, and called us over. "Come along, it isn't a far walk to the boats," he said, before turning around, and leading us down a narrow, half destroyed track.
I felt proud to know my Father did this. I gave Abraxas a quick look out of the corner of my eye, and he was looking around, examining the debris. Professor Dumbledore acted as if he didn't notice it, but he did look rather . . . on edge.
I smiled a little.
"What's got you happy?" Abraxas asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I'll tell you later," I replied, looking at Dumbledore with a slight wariness, but I changed the look to neutralness before he noticed.
"Okay then," he said, and we kept walking, until we arrived at a lake.
There weren't any boats waiting for us, no, we would be waiting for them to get to us, they were off far in the distance, but they were coming quite quickly. Before the minute was over, they were at the edge of the lake.
"Four to a boat, please," Dumbledore called across, and we did just that. I was on a boat with Abraxas, a girl called Avril Bardell, a blonde girl with blue eyes, who really could not stop smiling. Abraxas looked over at a girl over Avril's shoulder with an annoyed look. She and he looked alike.
"Sister?" I asked.
"Yes," he answered.
She walked over. "Yes?" she asked carefully.
"Inside the boat," he told her.
She stared at him, before saying, "no," and walking away. Abraxas stood up rather quickly.
Avril sat there, smiling like an idiot. "You know," she said. "To force your sister to sit in a boat where she clearly has friends over there isn't quite courteous of you."
"I agree," I replied. "Anyway, you would be sitting in a boat filled with girls."
"You'd look rather gay," Avril giggled, finishing my sentence, though not in the way I had expected.
Abraxas gave her an annoyed look, and I couldn't help but smirk. Eventually, a boy, Lucah Lestrange got onto the boat. I found, on the trip there, that Avril was quite easy to get along with, but there were things about her that annoyed me, namely her too bright personality. Lucah, on the other hand, was actually somebody I could put up with though he were boring.
We were told to duck under the sheets of ivy, which we all did, then raised our heads when we passed it. Soon, we arrived at the edge of the lake again, and we started to walk up a rather large hill. It looked much different from Hogsmeade, for one thing, it wasn't destroyed.
As we arrived at the school, I was amazed at how it looked. It was, in one word, amazing. Truely amazing. I have no other words for this school.