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[CHAPTER FIVE]
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IT FELT LIKE IT HAD BEEN AGES SINCE ODETTE saw big groups of people all in one place.
Her blue eyes scanned Diagon Alley excitedly. Wizards and Witches of all ages talked to each other. She noticed the worry on their faces as they hurried from one place to another, but their fear didn't sink in quite yet. Accompanying Odette was Mei, Xia, and Liu. Hua wanted to go, but she had to take care of Emery and Rosie.
In the short time Odette knew the Xun family, she had no idea why Hua would have children so young. From what she heard and noticed, Hua was fresh out of Hogwarts when she had Emery. It was clear to Odette that Hua hadn't quite matured enough to be a mother. She still had things she wanted to experience, places to see, people to meet.
Odette had not met Hua's fiancé yet, but since he was not present, Odette figured he wasn't ready either. Although, he could just be away for work when Odette thought about it.
"Don't go off on your own," said Liu, "That's why there is an even number of us."
"Yeah, we know," said Mei, "You gave us the whole speech before we went to Diagon Alley a few days ago."
"Well Odette doesn't," said Liu, "Do you understand, Odette?"
Odette nodded. "I can't go off on my own," she repeated.
"Yes," said Liu, "It's really dangerous to be alone."
Odette still hadn't grasped the whole "there's a war" subject. It was slowly sinking in though as she saw the wizards all scurry to their next destination. Mothers gripped their children's hands tightly, some families all walked close together.
Xia grabbed Odette's arm, catching her attention.
"That's a Slytherin," she nodded at a direction.
Odette followed her gaze and shrugged, "He looks normal."
"You didn't expect them to look any different, did you?" said Xia.
"Of course not," said Odette, "But it sounded like it when you were able to spot him right away from a crowd."
"He's in my year," said Xia, "I used to share a class with him. He always gave me the creeps. He never talked, just listened. The moment someone did something he didn't like, he used what he knew about them against them."
"Oh, he wasn't that bad," said Mei, "I mean he's not a good person, but he's not that bad. He just gets really defensive for whatever reason. He snapped at me last year for accidentally saying hi."
"How do you accidentally greet someone?" said Odette.
"I thought he was someone else," said Mei, "But I played it off and only said hi, but he still snapped at me, even when he had no reason to."
"Maybe you just scared him with your face," said Xia.
"Or more likely," said Odette, "He thought you had ulterior motives."
"Have I told you I really like you?" said Mei, "I'm glad we met."
"You're only saying that because she's the only person who hasn't insulted you," said Xia. Liu stopped walking in front of a shop, so Odette stood beside her. Mei and Xia, however, kept walking.
"I don't know about that," said Mei, "Odette mumbles a lot of things under her breath."
Liu cleared her throat, "Where are you two going?"
Mei and Xia stopped walking and turned to see Liu and Odette staring at them.
"How did I not notice Odette left our side?" asked Xia.
"Maybe because you lost your glasses," said Mei, "Just a thought."
"Where did you lose them?" asked Odette.
"No idea," shrugged Xia, "They just disappeared."
"Just disappeared?" said Mei, "I think you mean to say that you purposely left them somewhere and declared them missing."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Xia, "Mum, Mei's telling lies again."
"Just hurry inside the shop," said Liu with a sigh. Odette was sure they had that conversation before.
Every corner Odette looked at had books. Books of all colours and sizes.
Liu and Mei knew exactly where to go as they automatically headed to that section. Xia grabbed Odette's arm before Odette could follow.
"They'll get the books you need," said Xia, "Come with me to look for a new book to add to my collection."
Odette nodded and allowed Xia to drag her to a corner of the bookshop. Xia let go of Odette's arm and started to look around.
"Don't you already have enough books?" said Mei a couple of moments later.
"Not quite enough," said Xia, "Aren't you supposed to be with Mum?"
"She's paying," said Mei.
"That was fast," said Odette.
"I did the same book shopping a few days ago," said Mei, "The books are still saved in my mind."
"Can we go get her wand next?" asked Xia.
"It's always worth waiting for the best," Mei mocked Xia.
Xia scoffed as she pulled out another book. She looked it over before she exclaimed, "This is it!"
Xia walked past Mei and Odette, "I'm going to go pay."
"You're going alone?" asked Mei.
"Mum's over there, isn't she?" asked Xia.
Odette ignored the conversation between the two sisters as her eyes fell on a book. It was named something along the lines of "Animagi." She didn't know what it meant, but she enjoyed the cover. She extended her hand out to get the book, mainly out of curiosity, but her hand was pushed out of the way before she could. She let her hand fall back to her side as she stared at the person who so rudely got in her way.
She didn't tell him anything. It wasn't just that she didn't want to, but Mei noticed and immediately pulled her away.
"Let's go to Mum," she said, quietly, staring at the back of the guy's head. From the way Mei was looking at him, it looked like Mei was expecting him to turn around and curse them or something.
"Are you okay?" asked Xia, once she noticed them. She had finished paying for her book and was standing next to Liu.
"Yeah," said Mei, "Let's just leave now."
"Weren't you going to get a book that you needed?" asked Liu.
"Oh, right!" said Mei, "I'll go get it very quickly. Xia, come with me. You should stay with Mum, Odette."
Odette nodded, but she had a prominent frown on her face. She knew she didn't know much, but she didn't like how Mei treated her like a child.
"What happened?" asked Liu.
Odette shrugged, "She started to become really weird once she saw someone in the same aisle as us."
"Oh," said Liu.
They didn't talk as they waited for Mei and Xia to return. It didn't take long as Mei quickly paid for her book and joined them.
"Did you run into Avery again?" asked Liu.
"If I ran into Avery, there would have been a scene by now," said Mei.
"You need to learn how to keep your mouth shut," said Xia, "The only reason you caused a scene Wednesday was because you couldn't stay quiet. I'm surprised the first thing he did wasn't pulling out his wand."
"Let's leave now!" said Mei, hurrying them out of the door.
"So, who did you run into?" asked Liu to Mei. It was Xia that answered, though.
"They ran into Black," said Xia, "The Black from Slytherin, not Sirius."
"I know who you're talking about," said Liu, "Don't think I don't notice how chummy you are with Sirius."
"Wait — what?" said Mei, "I didn't know that."
"Of course you don't," said Liu, "You never go over to the — well, you know."
"But during Hogwarts I never even saw them hang out with each other!" said Mei.
"Because we never did," said Xia.
They went to get Odette's robes next. Odette felt strange having to stand still while Madam Malkin took her measurements. She had a fear that Madam Malkin would poke her with a needle, which left her feel very uneasy and jumpy.
She let out a sigh of relief once Madam Malkin walked away with the things.
Liu was the only one she knew in the shop. Mei and Xia left to go buy some other things Odette needed for school.
Liu paid for the robes and they left the shop to go look for Mei and Xia.
"Mum! Odette!" shouted Mei as she and Xia ran after them, a couple of bags in their hands.
"Can we go to The Three Broomsticks after, please?" said Xia.
"Why do you want to go to Hogsmeade all of the sudden?" asked Liu.
"We saw someone with butterbeer and now we want some," said Mei.
"We have some at the house," said Liu.
"But we want some from The Three Broomsticks!" whined Xia.
"Fine," said Liu, "I'll see if Hua wants to go with you. If she does, I'll babysit and you get to go."
"Sounds fair," said Mei.
"Is it wand time?!" asked Xia excitedly.
"Why are you so excited?" asked Liu.
"I love watching the shop be destroyed!"
". . .Mum, I think Xia's sick," said Mei.
"Not like that!" said Xia, "I just find it very enjoyable."
"Is that where you ran off to with Lola?" asked Mei.
"No," said Xia, "I don't just walk into the shop for no reason. What kind of weirdo do you think I am?"
They came upon Ollivanders, which Odette assumed was the wand shop they were getting her wand from.
They entered the shop, just as a crash was heard from somewhere in the back of the shop.
"A wand is probably acting up again," Mei told Odette.
A man hurried up to the front of the shop a couple of moments later, "Ah, Liu! How have you been?"
"I've been good," said Liu.
"Mei, Xia," he greeted, "How you two have grown."
"Hello, Mr. Ollivander!" said Xia, "Nice to see you again!"
"How can I help you today?" he asked.
Liu brought Odette forward, "She's in need of a wand."
Liu reached into her pocket and pulled out what used to be Odette's wand. "This is all what she has left of it."
"May I?" he asked.
Liu gave it to him. Mr. Ollivander examined it before handing it back.
"It appears to be a Gregorovitch wand."
Odette had no idea who that was, but she didn't say anything.
"I never met someone who has — or had a Gregorovitch wand!" said Xia as Ollivander walked away.
"Um — okay," said Odette.
"Gregorovitch is another famous wandmaker," explained Mei, "But I say Ollivander has the best wands."
Odette didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Odette had no idea how people could easily keep a conversation going, such as Xia and Mei.
"The wand chooses its owner," said Liu, "So all you have to is give the wand a flick and you'll get it."
"Here, try this one," said Ollivander, hurrying up back to them.
Odette pulled the wand out of the box. She was nervous.
"Just give it a flick," said Ollivander.
Odette complied, jumping in surprise when a shelf fell over.
Ollivander fixed the shelf before taking back the wand. He hurried back to the back of the shop.
"Was that supposed to happen?" asked Odette.
"It's normal," said Mei, "The first wand I tried set the desk on fire."
"The first one I tried set my robes on fire," said Xia.
"That's because you did it wrong," said Mei.
"How could you possibly do that wrong?"
Ollivander walked back to them, holding another wand. It felt like it would never end. She started wondered if this was just all a mishap. Perhaps the wand belonged to someone else and she wasn't really a witch. To be frank, Odette was getting bored and so were the others. Liu was the only one wide awake while Mei and Xia napped on each other on the floor. At some point, the windows shattered and the people walking around outside screamed and ran away.
Ollivander walked with another wand, "Try this one."
Odette wrapped her hand around the wand. She expected the windows to shatter again, but nothing of that sort happened. Instead, a warm feeling steeped into her hand.
"Beech Wood with a phoenix feather core, 14 1/2 inches," said Ollivander as Odette stared at the wand in awe, "It also happens to be the wand that was causing such a ruckus earlier."
Everything started to feel real to her as she held onto the wand. She was a witch and was going to Hogwarts.
She didn't know what kind of witch she was before she lost her memory. Whether she was mean or kind, or good or bad, she didn't know. What she did know was that it was her chance to decide who she was. Whether she wanted to become the same witch she was before or become a totally new person, it was her chance to decide.
And she was going to take it.