"Come with me." This guy with pale skin, black hair, and black eyes said to me irritable. My mom had introduced him to me a couple weeks ago. Apparently his name is Severus Snape. He was a professor at a school in England.
Currently we were in Heathrow Air Port in London. I'd just flow by myself for the first time ever. My mom had dropped me off at the airport at home after helping me carry my luggage and stuff inside. She'd said Snape would be picking me up on the other side. He'd been late but at least he'd remembered to come, considering I had no cell phone that worked anywhere but the US and even if I had been able to find a pay phone I had no number to call him on.
You're probably wondering why in the world I'm going to school in the UK if I live across the ocean in the US. Turns out I'm a witch. My brothers would be so disappointed they aren't wizards if my mom had told them yet. My mom's known about the wizarding world for a while now apparently. That's how she knows Snape. The radars and stuff she works with for the US government picked up on some weird stuff so British wizards picked her to explain everything to have her cover for it. According to her there was this big war about a year ago. Some bad wizard and his minions killing and torturing people trying to take over the British wizarding population, they also attacked regular people, muggles as wizards call them. They all ended up dying or going to magical jail.
There was a big final battle in the school where I'm going to be attending. Quite a few people died, including the former Headmaster.
I, Allyssa Sara Ashburn, was going to be attending an ancient, important, magical school in England because someone in their Ministry of Magic decided my mom was a great person to make sure we didn't go and interfere with a magical war. Was I scared? Shitless. Did I have any idea what to expect? Hell no. Was I ready? There aren't enough words in the English language to describe how much of a negative that is but I'll just say; BLOODY HELL NO! Did anybody really care if I wasn't ready? My parents might but Snape sure as hell didn't.
I followed quickly behind Snape. I was pretty tall for a twelve-year-old but Snape's legs were still longer. We made it outside the door and Snape suddenly stopped. He put down the bags of mine he'd been carrying and pulled out a dark colored, thin piece of wood from his sleeve. I assumed it was his wand. I stood beside him and didn't ask any questions or say a word.
He waved it a little and my bags disappeared. I still had my purse and carry-on but they were both light so I didn't mind carrying them around.
Snape turned toward me. "Grab my arm and hold on. You'll feel a pulling and you should probably close your eyes."
What the hell was he going to do but I really didn't want to argue with him because he was one scary dude so I did as he said and seconds after I closed my eyes I felt a tugging somewhere in my stomach and then I felt like I was spinning. It lasted for a few seconds before I felt ground under my feet. I opened my eyes and closed them immediately waiting for the dizziness to fade. I let of Snape's arm because I really wasn't a tactile person and I got the feeling Snape wasn't either.
Hesitantly I opened one eye to see if the room had stopped spinning. It had so I opened both eyes. I found Snape looking at me so I met his gaze and raised an eye-brow. "You aren't going to throw up, are you?" He asked. When I shook my head he said, "Good. I hate it when people throw up. That is called Apparating. Side-Along Apparating because I was apparating and took you along."
I nodded in understanding and looked around. We were in front of a plain brick wall with an old wooden door behind us. There was quite a bit of noise coming through the door from the other side.
Snape took his wand out again and tapped the bricks in front of us in what I assumed was a pattern even though I didn't see one. When he was finished the bricks began to shift apart. When they stopped moving it formed an arched doorway. Snape stepped through and said, "This is Diagon Alley. We're here to buy your school supplies. Your mother gave me funds to pay for everything. I have your supply list.
We shopped for quills and parchment first. Then for the books I would need. Next came school robes and uniforms. Great, I had to wear a skirt every day I had classes. It wasn't required on the weekends at least.
"Next should be animals if you would like a pet." Snape always talked emotionlessly I'd noticed and honestly I would rather he do that than treat me like a child and try to strike up a conversation. I was a bit over whelmed and it was better for me to process everything in silence in my own time.
"How about I look while you go and look for something you need. Meet me outside the pet store and if I'm not there I'm inside, okay?" He'd been looking extremely bored and I assumed there was something he needed. I didn't mind shopping with him but I didn't want him to be looking over my shoulder while I looked at animals.
"That sounds fine." Snape turned on his heal and got lost in the crowd seconds later. I walked into the pet store and saw all kinds of owls, bats and other animals.
There were cats. I read the sign hanging from their cage saying they were actually half cat and half kneazle. Well, I had no idea what a kneazle was and I wasn't much of a cat person. So, after gently petting one on the head I moved on. Next was a cage of Shiba Inu mixed husky puppies. I loved dogs. There was a puppy that had the most adorable face and was calm despite how energized the other puppies were. Not wanting to startle it by picking it right up, I scratched behind its ear first. It was adorable.
"Can I help you find anything?" I turned around to see a boy in his late teens or early twenties wearing an apron with the store's logo on the front.
"Umm. I don't have my supply list with me, and I was wondering what kind of pets you're allowed to have at Hogwarts?" I wasn't really sure he would know off the top of his head but it was worth a try.
He chuckled. "Anything in the store except the thing all the kids want, the dragon."
"Why would you have a dragon in the store? Aren't they dangerous?" I asked as I absently petted the puppy in my arms.
"It's only a small dragon; even though that doesn't really matter it's still pretty deadly. Some bloke sold the egg to the store, said it was a bird. When it hatched one of the employees got third degree burns. Haven't been able to calm the damn thing down since, almost had to call a dragon trainer to put the thing in the cage. I swear, I think the owner of the store would give it away to the person who could calm it down." The young man was smiling and shaking his head in bemusement.
"Why not call the dragon trainer?" I asked.
"We did. One came, took one look at it and said the safest thing to do would be to kill it. Apparently this type of dragon can only be calmed by its one person. It chooses, just like wands choose. The tamer also said that it only hatches when their one person comes into their magic." The young man explained, all this seemed so fascination when he told it because he was so into it. He must've really loved animals.
"When did it hatch?" I was curious. Obviously I'd never seen a dragon before and only heard about them in stories and fairytales.
"June 15," he said. It really wasn't much of a surprise that he knew it off the top of his head because parents probably came in constantly asking when it hatched so they could claim that the dragon belonged to their child.
I felt my eyes widen. My grip tightened on the puppy still in my arms until it started to squirm, I immediately loosened it again. Shit, I thought. There had to be an explanation other than the obvious. It was absolutely impossible that the day I'd magically shut my brother up a dragon was hatching across the ocean. Shit, I didn't want this, I didn't want this at all; all I wanted was to fit in with everyone else in this world it was going to be hard as it was, with me not knowing the culture or anything else about what was going on in my life right now.
"Are you okay?" The young man asked seeing my expression.
"Umm. How about you show me this dragon of yours?" I said evasively. It had to be a coincidence.
"Sure, if we can get through the crowd." He still seemed confused but he smiled just the same. "I'm Hudson, by the way."
"Like the bay. I'm Allyssa." I think it's a bay but it might be a river, I never was good at geography.
"Nice to meet you. What bay?"
"Never mind. It's an American geographical feature."
"What?" he asked sounding even more confused.
"Just forget it," I finally said considering it was very possible I was giving him false information.
"So you're from America?" He asked as we tried to walk through the crowd surrounding what I assumed was the dragon's cage. I still had the puppy in my arms. She was licking my hands and occasionally my face as I continued petting her absently.
"Yeah."
"Why come over here to go to Hogwarts when I'm pretty sure there's plenty of good magical schools over there?" Hudson asked.
"My mom knows a professor who teaches at Hogwarts." It wasn't a lie.
"So your mum went to school with a professor, that's cool. Who is it?" We were getting close to the cage now because I caught a couple glimpses of it.
"No. My mom's a muggle, so is my dad. It's a really long story." We were pushing through the last of the people now. When we were finally standing right behind the people in the first row the little ice blue dragon froze, sniffing the air. Everyone that could see suddenly fell silent.
The dragon looked around it still smelling the air. Suddenly, it turned and looked right at me. Hudson stared at me for a moment before saying something I didn't hear and walking quickly away. I was staring straight into the violet eyes of the ice blue dragon.
It was probably a couple minutes later when Hudson came back with a tall, slim, curly brown haired woman. "This is the girl." Hudson told the woman breathlessly.
The woman looked down at me and smiled. "Hello. I'm Hilda Igora, the owner of this store. Hudson said he was talking to you about the dragon and when he told you the day of his hatching you wanted to see the dragon. I'm assuming this was when you came into your magic."
"Yes, ma'am." I replied respectfully.
"It seems odd that you came into your magic so late, most get it around the age of five or earlier. Were your parents worried?" Hilda asked politely.
"No, they were more alarmed when my brother went silent in the middle of a word yet his mouth was still moving." At her confused look I clarified, "My parents are muggles."
"I've done quite a bit of research about this kind of dragon in history and only once has one gone to a muggle-born."
"Okay…" I didn't quite know what to say to that.
"Now, the question is what we are going to do about this. Hudson tells me you're going to attend Hogwarts. Great school, if I do say so myself. I'm going to owl the Headmistress and tell her what's going on. I assume you're here with your parents." Hilda said positively.
"Actually, no. I'm here with Severus Snape." I informed her hesitantly.
"Severus Snape. Is he here?"
A silky voice replied from behind Hilda. "Miss Ashburn what is going on here?"
"The dragon has picked her. I do believe I will give it to her free of price just so that I don't have to turn it over to the dragon trainer that thinks it's best to kill the poor thing." Hilda answered before I had a chance to.
"I'm pretty sure you know the rules of such things, Miss Igora." Snape said standing beside me now.
"Which is why I'm going to owl the Headmistress immediately. I'm sure she'll understand. Besides there are rumors that she's getting a dragon trainer to teach at the school this year." Hilda countered.
"Do what you wish," he said to Hilda before turning to me. "I'm assuming you've picked out the dog on your own before all this occurred.
I looked down at the puppy in my arms. "Yes, sir." I'm a naturally polite child most of the time but something about Snape demanded not only politeness but respect.
"Give it to me." I handed him the puppy. He turned toward Hudson. "Unlock the dragon's cage and go get what will be needed for both animals."
Hudson pulled out his wand and waved it a bit muttering what I assumed were the spells he was using. Before walking off to get the supplies I would need to take care of my new pets. "You need to carefully get the dragon out of its cage." Snape said.
As soon as I lifted the top of the cage the dragon flew up and gracefully landed on my shoulder, nuzzling its head against my cheek. "That was easy enough," I said.
"Hmm. I don't think the dragon will leave your presence so you're going to have to take it with you to get you wand. I will send everything else to the school." Snape said, eyeing the dragon carefully.
"Okay. There's probably a leash amongst the supplies for the puppy so I can walk her with me instead of either one of us carrying her."
"Good. I'm going to pay and see if Miss Igora has gotten a reply yet." Said Snape before he walked to where I assumed the check-out was. I turned my head to look at the beautiful small dragon on my shoulder. I slowly raised my hand to pet her, stopping a little bit away. She moved her head into my hand and if she was a cat she probably would've purred, as it was she sighed as if in contentment.
Snape walked back with a scowl on his face. "The Headmistress wants to see you."
Great, school hasn't even started and I'm being called to the headmistress's office, I thought. I honestly must have been in shock about the whole dragon thing because normally at the prospect of getting into trouble I've got sweaty palms and am just about ready to scream; right now I'm just sarcastic so maybe this will go better than usual.
A/N: Is that better? I honestly couldn't believe how many type-os I had when I went through it.