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Albus Dumbledore seemed like a kind man. Then again, that was when you compared him to old, grouchy Mr. Cowell, a man who had given Nel the impression that all old people were bitter and limped with a cane.
The Headmaster took the girl to a place called The Leaky Cauldron. It seemed to be a blend of a pub and a hostel. There were many people there all wearing odd or peculiar robes, something the eleven year old interpreted to be wizarding fashion. The place was dark and stuffy, yet it was better than Wool's. Hell, anywhere was better than Wool's. On the way there the man had explained to her some of the more complex intricacies of the wizarding world. Rules that she ought to know, decrees of secrecy, the difference between wizard and muggle currency, amongst more information.
In part Nel cried on the way to the Leaky Cauldron which made her face swell. She had never once left Wool's, even worse she had never been completely alone and apart from Lucy.
"I'm afraid I have more pending matters to attend. Busy day, the day before the first day of school you see? Which is why I've appointed a professor to escort you and aid you in gathering your school supplies," Dumbledore said. He gestured to a man that was approaching them that reminded Nel of a giant bat.
The professor was tall, with a large nose and shoulder length black hair dressed all in black. His lips were fixed into a serious thin line and he looked beyond irritate to be here. Overall he seemed to carry an cloud of gloom and looked to be permanently irritated. He looked like somebody that shouldn't be crossed.
"This is Professor Snape," Dumbledore introduced. "He's the Potions Master at Hogwarts and will also be your professor this year."
"Professor, sir" she nodded her head towards him respectfully unsure of how to proceed. Respectfully interacting with adults had never been her forte.
"Miss Saintday," Snape simply acknowledged her.
Dumbledore nodded her to head to her assigned room and leave her small suitcase there. She did and on the way wondered at everything in sight, opened the wrong room and encountered a mummy, opened another door which had a strong gust of wind blow her back into the wall before closing before reaching a normal one she assumed was her own.
Oh how she wished she could tell Lucy. She would not believe the things she was seeing! Once again her eyes swelled with tears and she returned to meet Dumbledore and Snape who seemed to be having a quiet discussion about private manners.
Dumbledore looked at her with an unreadable expression, it wasn't exactly empathy but something else in his eyes. Maybe wariness?
Snape looked at her and his expression became even more irritated at the girl's red, swollen face.
"There will be no foolish weeping in my presence Ms. Saintday," he didn't even offer her anything to wipe her face. He starred until she wiped her tears and nodded. "Are you done?" He drawled out sarcastically poking at her tantrum.
They were about to leave when a man approached them.
"Oh, this is Professor Quirrell," Dumbledore signaled at a stammering man who was wearing a purple turban over his head. "He'll be your Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"F-F-Fascinating subject," he stammered trembling. He looked down at the girl. "I-I look f-forward to h-h-h-ha-" Nel looked at him oddly wondering if he'd ever cough up the word. This was the kind of thing that would get you roasted back in Wool's home. She didn't even want to think about the pain of having this man as her teacher. "Having y-you in m-my c-c-class."
She was about to respond but Snape beat her to the punch.
"I've wasted enough of my time as it is," He interrupted rudely obviously referring to the man's speech disability. He raised a hand and perched it in the back of her neck walking her out of the Leaky Cauldron. "Let's go get your school supplies."
"Where are we going sir?" She asked as they approached a brick wall that was near the pub that was littered with trash. "Diagon Alley," he stated as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.
"What's that?" She asked. "Why are we going there?"
"Are you going to be asking questions the entire time?" His voice dripped of irritation.
"Can't help being curious sir," she said a bit more teasingly this time.
Snape grumbled something to himself and pulled out his wand tapping a pattern which made the bricks shift away revealing a bustling street.
Eyes wide, mouth gaping, the eleven year old starred in awe. Snape eyed his student and the edge of his lip turned up.
"We're here," He said in a nasal tone.
Witches and wizards scampered and bustled from one side of the street to the other. Most wearing pointed hats and robes. Children and what Nel assumed to be students also gathering their school supplies were looking from parchments and up and the magical displays on the stores' windows. Others were simply happily chatting with each other, gladly going about their day or enjoying an ice cream by a nearby parlor.
There were sparks everywhere, owls, and clouds of vapor rising from the chimneys of the stores which seemed to have been erects centuries before.
It was incredible.
Everything caught her eye, everything was new, everything was exciting. The stimuli almost made the child feel giddy. At the end of the street there was a massive white marble building. It stood striking and mightier than the others looking official.
"What is that?"
"That's Gringotts," Snape explained. "It's the wizard bank. It's where you would keep your money if you had any."
Ouch.
"Sir," She frowned at his jab. "That was a low blow."
The edge of his lip curled upwards in amusement.
"Ran by goblins, despicable creatures," he ignored her response.
The two past several stores and Snape sighed in annoyance whenever Nel pressed up her nose to basically lick the display glass windows and marble at the items inside like many other children. Flying broom, beautifying potions, owls? This place was better than Wonderland!
"I'm leaving you here to get your robes fitted. In the meantime I'll go get your cauldron, quills and other equipment that your school curriculum requires. When I return we'll go to Flourish and Botts for your text books and then to Ollivanders for your wand and then back to the Leaky Cauldron. Understood?"
She nodded with mock obedience and the slightest of sly smirks made way to her face. Snape looked at her with mistrust and arched an eyebrow.
"Don't test my patience Saintday."
Nel was taken into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where Snape paid for her uniform and robes using the scholarship money that Dumbledore had given him before stalking off.
The girl would've never admitted it but she was nervous at the trying. She had never owned any new clothes, much less anything that had been made and customed to her perfect size and fit. Madame Malkin was a blonde witch elegantly dressed in mauve who escorted the girl inside of a room and asked her to stand before a mirror. She dropped a black robe on her shoulders and took her measurements. Measuring tapes and pins began dancing around her body magically pinning and measuring her perfect fit. She was too distraught and excited to pay any attention to the two eleven year old boys that seemed to be bickering just a couple of feet away from her.
It took about an hour for her to have her brand new robes ready and neatly wrapped in a purple paper wrap with a golden string. Nel was alone and snape wasn't back. Her eyes wondered up the street where she saw Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. She liked her lips, the temptation of an ice cream cone to much to keep her waiting for the potions professor. Maybe she didn't have any money, her eyes wondered to an older wizard who was sitting nearby obliviously reading the newspaper. How hard could it be to pickpocket a wizard? It was tempting, definitely very tempting. She gave a sneaky step forward ready to sneak around the oblivious man.
"Going somewhere?" Snape's nasal drawl made the girl come to a halt. "Nowhere professor, sir," she said spinning on her foot flashing him her most saccharine innocent grin, but Snape was no fool he knew better. He seemed to be dragging along a levitating trunk with the required items on the shopping list. He rolled his eyes.
"Sir can we get some ice cream?" She pipped, jumping a little as they walked in the direction of the parlour "Please?"
"No," he said dryly without missing a beat. Still walking in the direction Nel was hopeful that he would change his mind but instead they went to the book shop called Flourish & Botts.
She groaned as they walked in. Nel had never particularly enjoyed reading. She didn't even like the smell of them as she walked into the bookstore which seemed to have walls and walls of them from the floor all the way up to the ceiling.
Snape walked around with familiarity waving books with his wand for her to hold. She held them in her arms the stack growing bigger and bigger until it reached past her nose. The weight of them making her strain as she walked.
"I have to read all of this?!" She said in horror.
"I've added some extra-curricular material which will be useful to you."
Nel was more than certain that the man was torturing her.
"But I hate reading!" She protested fighting the urge to drop the tower of books. "Too bad," he responded dully without any kind words of encouragement. Again he seemed to enjoy seeing the student in distress. Nel had a feeling that Snape's class was not going to be a walk in the park.
"Ah, Severus. Thought that was you," a smooth voice called.
The teacher and student turned around and faced a tall man with silver blonde long hair that reached his mid chest. It was sleeked back elegantly and wore the type of robes you'd expect to see an eccentric Muggle millionaire wear. The man wasted no time and focused his icy eyes on the student sizing her up by her black oversized jumped and washed out corduroy pants that used to be brown but were now a faded gray beige color.
"I didn't know you had a daughter," he commented leaning forward with the slightest of interest.
Instead of looking shocked or offended Nel arched an eyebrow at her teacher.
As an orphan it was normal for Nel to wonder who her parents had been, what had they been liked, what had they looked like. She had spent years wondering who these people might have been and why they would've felt compelled to abandon their daughter at the step of an abbey during a cold October night.
The thought of Snape being related to her was a far stretch. However, both did have similar features. The matching dark hair and eyes and the beauty marks that dotted both of their faces, it was no surprise this strange man had made such an assumption.
According to what Dumbledore had said earlier apparently not all witches and wizards were descendent from magical parents. Others were also "Muggle born" as Dumbledore had explained. Which was the most likely scenario with Elowen's parents.
"I am simply escorting a new student," the professor responded curtly.
"I see," He said with disdain. He stretched out an arm and pulled a pale, blonde boy with a pointy face that had been standing nearby reading by the shoulder. "This is my son, Draco," he introduced. "He's starting his first year as well. I can assure you, you can expect nothing but great things from the Malfoy name."
"I'm sure," Snape responded in the same dry tone he had denied Nel some ice cream and continued the conversation with the man. It genuinely looked like could care less.
"Know what house you'll be in yet?" The boy asked, his voice had a snooty edge to it as he sized up the girl just like his father had a moment ago. He looked like the type of boy that she'd pick pocked when taking the tube.
"No," She answered, trying her best not to seem confused by his question and to hide the spots of her sweater that had gaping holes and lose threads in them. Dumbledore hadn't mentioned anything about houses. She was going to be in Hogwarts? That was the main house no?
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, obviously," he said matter of fact tone. As if it was the most obvious statement in the world. "But I'm sure I'll be in Slytherin, all my family have been. It's the best house. Isn't it Sir?" He said trying to capture the professor's attention. Again, Snape remained oblivious to this and continued deep in conversation with his father talking about who knows what. Nel looked at him with a bored expression, it was that same tone that prissy kiss ups like Aisha used to talk to Ms. Wool. She had a gut feeling she wasn't going to like this boy much.
"Imagine being in Hufflepuff!" He scoffed. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
"Mm," she simply hummed in response mindlessly agreeing with him. Really uncertain of what to respond.
"Why is he here with you anyways? Where are your parents?" The boy pressed on with the conversation. He seemed almost curious. Nel glared at Snape impatiently simply wanting to pay for the damn books and get out of here as soon as possible.
"I don't know," she responded flatly. It was one of those questions that you got asked all the time when you were an orphan. "You don't know?" He raised his eyebrow in disbelief.
"What's your name anyways?" He raised his head to attempt to look taller.
"Elowen," she simply said really trying not to stretch this conversation anymore than necessary.
"Elowen what?" He pressed.
"Elowen Saintday," She answered.
"I've never heard that surname before," he said sounding confused.
Right. That's because it's made up.
"Where's your family from anyways?" He inquired raising an eyebrow. "Your parents, they're our kind, right?"
The girl guessed that he probably meant magical people when the boy asked what 'kind' of people they had been.
Hogwarts was going to be a new start, a fresh sheet of paper to start a new. She didn't want to get to school and be immediately known as the orphan girl. It would brand her identity for the rest of her days there as far as she knew.
"France," she lied through her teeth.
She wasn't aware that the boy's father had also had an ear glued to his son's conversation. He looked down and actually spoke in French to her. She wasn't sure just what he had said, just stood pale having been caught in such an obvious lie.
"Ms. Saintday is an orphan," Snape explained placing a hand on the nape of her neck a gesture he figured he often did with his students. "Since she has no non-Muggle guardians the Headmaster has entrusted me with the task of escorting her through Diagon Alley today to gather her school supplies."
Her ears burned from the embarrassment. Not of being an orphan but of having been caught in such a blatant lie. She wanted to glare at Snape why did he owe this man whom she had never seen in her life an explanation?
"You're a Muggle born and an orphan?" The boy with the slick back gelled hair scoffed at her almost mockingly, his words dripped with apparent disgust as he looked at her with disdain.
"So?" She spat back in a challenging tone ready to lower her books and sock him in the eye.
"Be flattered a Malfoy even spoke to you!" He tossed back pompously.
It was then that his fathers cane came between them. He slapped his son across the chest heartedly making him step back. The cane was black and at the handle had the head of a silver snake carved into it.
"Now, now, Draco, don't be rude," the father said to his son in a cool voice. There was something about it that was unfriendly.
Between taking a hit from this guy's cane or Cowell she would've taken the old man any day. She flinched when she felt something cold on her face. It was the end of the man's cane, the snake, the ends of it brushed away her brown bangs from her face revealing more scattered beauty mark dots on her face. "What an odd mark," he remarked in wonder looking at the dotted constellation on her face. "Where did you say you were from again?"
"We best get going," Snape interrupted.
Finally.
Just when she thought her arms were going to give out. "Very well then," the parent dropped it. He bid his goodbye to Snape and turned away.
"See you at Hogwarts," the boy her age said before turning away and following after his father.
"Pompous prick." She muttered under her breath.
Snape lead her away and the books went into the levitating trunk that was following them around.
"There's something you should know about the Wizarding World," he began.
She simply arched an eyebrow expecting an explanation.
"Next time do not be so trustful. Not everyone who exerts kindness to you had good intentions Ms. Saintday."
Was he referring to the two rude blondes that they had just met? They were being kind? What conversation had Snape been listening to?
"There are some families in our world that think that they are better than others simply because they come from generations of wizarding families. They call themselves purebloods. All of their names are registered in the Sacred Twenty-Eight."
There was a deep sense of bitterness that boiled in her. Perhaps it was because she couldn't even trace her family tree one generation back. Maybe she'd be just as pompous if she could. Regardless, big deal. All of their ancestors were dead as dust anyway. Not like it mattered.
"And I'm guessing they're in it," she glared at a random spot in the crowds as they approached the wand store.
"The Malfoys? Yes. They've only married magical people and themselves for generations." Snape explained.
"Yuck! That's disgusting!"
Snape neither agreed or disagreed with her statement. "They look down on magical creatures, and specially on muggle born wizards."
"And what are you, sir?" She asked. Unsure if it would be considered rude to ask. Snape remained silent ignoring her question. Typical. "And what am I?" He turned to look at her for a second.
"Muggle born. Obviously," he drawled out his voice.
Perhaps he was right.
Snape continued to explain to her more of the Wizarding World that the Headmaster seemed to have left out. He explained to her that Hogwarts had four houses in which students were sorted into according to the virtues and values they esteemed: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
Snape, a Slytherin himself, was the Head of the House. However, he didn't seem unbearable like that boy they had just met.
He also briefly spoke about a wizard ominously addressing the taboo name as 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' which made her roll her eyes. However, the stern look the man gave her a look that meant it was to be taken seriously. Apparently he had been the most powerful wizard of the day and had been taken down by an innocent baby.
She wondered if Snape was messing with her but judging by the grave look in his eyes, he was being dead serious.
Ollivander's was an ancient building that would've made Wool's look like the house of the 21st century. The letters on the door read: Ollivander's - Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C.
Well, that was a long time ago. The bell tinkled as the two stepped inside. Like every other store Nel wondered with awe at the products inside. Rows and rows and columns and columns of long thin boxes filled the shelves of the room. The air was dusty and the light was dim.
"Good afternoon," a voice said.
Nel whipped around looking for the source of it and was taken aback when an older man emerged from behind a stack of wand boxes. He had silver hair and large grey almost white eyes. She couldn't help but wonder if he was 1,700 years old like the store.
"Hi," she squeaked.
He looked at the girl and at the Professor and greeted the professor.
"Ah Severus, seems like only yesterday you were here buying your first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, made out of English Oak. Phoenix Core. Good for magics of the natural world. I'm sure it's been useful to you in your potion making?"
Snape didn't say anything. He simply stood next to the student with his hands crossed behind his back. "I'd say it favors you," he turned to look at the eleven year old who was looking between them like a game of tennis. "It's really the wand that chooses the wizard, after all." He said getting so close to the girl that she inched away from him uncomfortably.
It took several tries and testing several wands to select the right one. None of them seemed to be the right fit.
"What if I just take this one sir?" Nel said growing frustrated holding a brown wand, she had forgotten just what type and core Ollivander had said it was.
"Nonsense. No two wants are the same Ms. Saintday, 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" the man shook his head determined. "Most peculiar," he hummed to himself. "Very, tricky customer..."
Nel looked at Snape with worry. What if she never found a wand? Just like she would probably never find out who her parents were.
The teacher however simply looked bored out of his mind, wearing his typical emotionless expression.
"I wonder...." The older man said scratching his chin. He walked away into a hallway and walked a long, long way to the very back. Nel and Snape saw him reach for the very top and pull out a wand box. "This wands been here for a long time. Almost as long as I have," his thin lips stretched into an smile yet it wasn't friendly. The girl couldn't help but wonder just how long that had been. She also couldn't tell if the man was growing more and more frustrated or excited.
"Now Ms. Saintday, why don't you give this one a try?" In total they had tried twelve wands, this being the thirteenth one. He blew on the lid which was covered in a thick blanket of dust from age and opened it to reveal a white colored wand. "Yew and therstal heartstring. Thirteen inches. A most peculiar and grim combination. Just give it a wave."
Without much hope she reached in for it and gave it a quick flick and golden sparks exploded from the tip signaling this wand had been the one.
"Hey!" She beamed triumphantly standing up straighter. This wand felt different from all the other ones. It was an oddly satisfying feeling that couldn't be explained. Her palm felt warm with it in her grip. There was a certain welcoming feeling. It just felt easy, like it made sense for her to have possession of this wand. The wand was long, pale and simple with a slight curve at the end for a better grip.
"Bravo, very good Ms. Saintday," he pondered. "Curious thought... That wand has been sitting in my shelves for almost a hundred years. I was starting to think its owner wasn't going to show." The man seemed to be drawn deep in thought. Ollivander was about to continue speaking. He was about to explain the grim symbolism that yew represented, the tree of death, and the heartstring of a therstal, the creature that embodied death, misfortune and aggression, together in one wand.
"Better late than never, eh?" Nel laughed obnoxiously before waving her wand again making a stack of wand boxes explode and go flying up in the air.
Making the shop owner go silent.
"There will be no foolish wand waving in my presence Saintday!" Snape scolded from behind. She flashed him a cheeky smile in return and apologized. Mr. Ollivander wished her well packing the wand for her in its box and Snape and Nel left with a quick apology.
"I can't wait to get good at this. I'm going to be the best witch in my class sir, I know it!" She gloated enthusiastically with much pride as the two made way back to the Leaky Cauldron. Snape was practically dragging his feet at this point of the day. He couldn't help but roll his eyes at the childish girl he had been stuck with all day.
Snape walked Nel to her assigned bedroom in the Leaky Cauldron where he left the already organized trunk packed and ready to go. He had a feeling this girl was the chaotic type that would just toss everything inside of the truck and carelessly shut it.
"Also," He said catching her attention. She turned to look at the professor and he stretched out an arm and from underneath magically is pulled out a small cage. It was a tawny brown owl. "You'll need it," he said putting the cage on a nearby table.
"Really?!" She looked at the bird with disbelief. She had always wanted a pet, but having lived under Wool's strict thumb who strictly forbade it. The closest thing she had ever had as a pet were several of those pink lizards that lounge in your backyard. The type that can grow back their tails and eat roaches. She was waiting for him to take it back to say that he didn't mean it. That it was all some mean spirited taunt.
"What will you name it?"
She looked at the owl's large marble like beady eyes which starred back at her curiously.
"How about John Paul? I can call you JP!" She suggested to the owl. Thinking about the names of the two lead singers of that band that Lucy really liked, she decided to name it after them.
Her excitement was so much that she didn't notice Snape visibly cringing at the suggestion of the name.
"Its name is Barberry," the professor was left with no choice but baptize the owl and save it from the misery of bearing what he considered to be such a ridiculous name.
"Thank you so much sir!" She was so happy she could've cried.
Snape stepped back and out of the room before he was trapped in a dreadful hug. Children really were not his forte.
"One last thing," he said pulling an envelope from the inside of his cloak. "Your ticket for tomorrow," he began. "You are to report at Platform 9 and 3/4 in King's Cross Station on September 1st. Train leaves at 11 in the morning sharp. Do not be tardy Ms. Saintday." He warned the last part. "The train waits for no one and I doubt you will be the exception."
Snape also explained that her dinner, breakfast and lodging had already been paid for by the school. He also mentioned that other Hogwarts students would also be lodging here and to not hesitate and ask for anything I required with either them or downstairs.
"Do not make me regret leaving you here alone," He looked at her with a no nonsense expression on his face. "Wouldn't dream of it sir," she responded with a glint of mischief in his eyes. With that the dark haired man left.
Nel spent part of her day beaming like a dork. She leafed through some of her text books (mainly to look at the drawings and pictures) fed her owl and felt the fresh fabric of her new robes. She still couldn't believe she was the owner of a brand new pair of clothes. That were hers and only hers. After some time she figured it was time to go downstairs and find a phone to call Lucy and let her know she was okay.
Seeing the eleven year old leaning over the bar counter in between several witches and wizards must've been a funny sight.
"Oi!" She said loudly to capture the bartenders attention. "Do you have a telephone?" She asked.
"A teli-what?" He said back just at loudly confused.
"Telephone," she mouthed louder making a phone sign with her hand and pressing it to her ear. The bartender shrugged not knowing what a telephone was.
"Did you hear?" One witch said to the other one over Nel who was sitting in between them. "Harry Potter is staying at the Leaky Cauldron. I saw him earlier, shook my hand and everything!" She gasped as she spoke about this celebrity.
"Who's Harry Potter?" Nell asked curiously glancing around the room. Afterall she had always wanted to meet a celebrity. However, she had always hoped it'd be Sean Connery.
Both witches gasped as if she had just said the most horrifying thing.
"The Boy Who Lived?"
"The One Who Took Down the Dark Lord?"
"He survived the killing curse from You-Know-Who! Left a mark in his forehead! Saw it myself!"
"Defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named being only an infant! And lived to tell the tale!"
He must've been the person Snape had brushed over earlier. The witches continued yapping their mouths off until Nel nodded her head understanding and left the bar. She sighed in frustration and retreated to one of the large tables to have her dinner. Sitting down alone, she looked around the room still not used to the unusual aesthetics, decoration and fashion of this new world. She ordered a butternut squash soup and loaf of bread for dinner, something she had never tried before but turned out to be to her liking.
"You know where I could get a telephone?" She asked the waitress again who simply shrugged saying she had no idea what that was.
It was then that she felt somebody starring at her. She raised her head from her dinner and her dark brown eyes met a pair of green-blue eyes. She arched an eyebrow curiously at the boy with round glasses who was looking at her with the same curiosity. He stood before her wearing clothes maybe just as ratty and oversized as hers.
"You were looking for a telephone?" He asked almost timidly.
She nodded not saying another word as she ate her soup. Noticing he was holding a tray with his dinner as he stood next to her.
Nel thought he was about to say he knew were to find one or that he would help her look for one but instead he walked around the table.
"Can I sit?" He asked egg shelling around the table. Again not saying another word she signaled him to please do so.
"So you're a Muggle-born?" He asked sitting down across from her placing a tray with a sandwich and some juice on the wooden table.
She had to admit she was a bit hesitant in interacting with him, specially after how rude that other boy had been just earlier that same day. She also thought about Snape's warning. She was really hoping this boy wasn't one of those pureblood fanatics he had mentioned.
"Yeah, you? Are you a student at Hogwarts too?" She asked trying not to seem too interested.
"I figured. I don't think wizards know what telephones are and yeah. It's my first year," he said taking a bite of his dinner.
Why was he having dinner with her? She figured his parents must be somewhere nearby.
"Oh and were are your parents?" She asked mindlessly sincerely not caring.
"They're dead," He answered flatly. His tone wasn't bitter, it almost sounded more as if he was stating a fact.
"What a coincidence," she lowered her spoon. "Mine too... probably," she said the last part more to herself. Part of her wished to know for fact knew that they were. It'd make everything a lot easier. It would make her existence and abandon less lonely. "I'm sorry about that," she added with a small smile.
If there was something Nel believed in was that orphans had to stick together. The world was already cruel enough as it was.
"My name's Elowen by the way, but my friends call me Nel," she stretched out a friendly hand. He took it with a small smile.
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter."