Chapter 6: One Wild Ride!

I was somewhat reeling from what Mr. Ollivander had said to me as I walked into the Magical Menagerie. It was certainly amazing; not only was I able to do magic with my new wand, but apparently the wood my wand was made from was very particular about the moral alignment of witches and wizards - a wand wood that only chose those who were unlikely to turn to dark magic. How cool is this?!

The thought stuck with me as I began looking around at all the different animals the shop had for sale. I had thought about getting an owl at first, and discussed the idea with the Weasleys a few times, but eventually decided I’d likely do better with a cat. Besides, I thought to myself, remembering an incident involving my great-aunt’s parrot and an explosion of feathers, it’s not like I’m any good with birds anyway…

The inside of store was kind of dark, with various bad smells coming from the different cages lining the walls. The creatures inside each of the cages were screeching, cawing, and yowling loudly with each step I took further into the shop. Closer to the counter, I could see an animal pen with a few little kittens rolling around. Smiling, I moved over there to get a better look.

“Ah!” I jumped, turning around to see the salesman standing behind me, “Interested in a cat, I see?” I nodded. “Well, I have just the pet for you!” Taking hold of my shoulder, he quickly steered me towards the back of the shop. Stopping in front of a very tall shelf, he tilted my chin up in order for me to see the animal properly; relaxing on the very top shelf was a very large orange cat.

“This is Crookshanks!” I gasped slightly as I took in the sight of the half-kneazle cat. Crookshanks stared down at me from his shelf, yellow eyes glinting and mouth turned into a frown from his squashed face. “He’s been here for a while, but I think I might be right in saying he’ll like you!” The tiger-looking cat didn’t even glimpse at the salesman, instead continuing to gaze at me. After a moment he turned his chin up, stood, and walked away, not giving me a second glance. I suppose it’s for the best… Still, rejected by a cat, ouch…

“I think I might be a bit better with a different cat, thank you,” I said, facing the man - who was still somewhat frozen after the cat gave us both the cold shoulder. He nodded stiffly, and I moved past him, kneeling down to smile at the kittens in the pen. One of them looked straight at me, tilting his head when I smiled at him. He had a fluffy, tortoiseshell coat and big, blue eyes. On the top of his head, his ears appeared to be folded down. He’s so cute!!!

“Hey, little guy…” I whispered, offering my fingers for him to sniff. He sniffed for a second, before wiggling his butt - preparing to pounce - and leaping onto my shoulder. I straightened up, giggling as the kitten crawled under my hair, curling up behind my neck and purring madly.

“Aww, I think he likes me!” I laughed, standing back up. The salesman, who appeared to have shaken himself out of his previous shock, walked back behind the counter.

“So,” he drawled, seeming suddenly exhausted, “will that be all?”

About ten minutes later, I was walking back down the alley to Flourish and Blott’s. In my left hand, I carried my new cauldron, filled to the brim with as many of my other purchases as I could fit, and a basket I received from the Menagerie, with the remainder of my purchases as well as the items I would need for my new pet; in my right hand, I held tightly onto my new broom. My new kitten - whom I affectionately named Frodo - was still on my shoulders, napping soundly.

“Come along, little hobbit!” I cheered to him, hearing a mewl in response, “Let’s go get my books!” With a new skip in my step, I made my way from the street to inside the store itself…

...and immediately knocked into someone and fell backwards onto the ground; luckily, I managed not to hurt Frodo in the process.

“Watch where you’re going!” Someone snarled - the person I apparently rammed into - and stormed off. I shook off my shock and looked up just in time to see a tall, pale man brush past me, with a blonde boy on his heels. Frodo growled at them from his place on my shoulder.

“You aren’t the one who ended up in the dirt, ass-munch,” I muttered bitterly under my breath before pulling myself back on my feet. Slightly more irritated than I was before, I tried to enter the store again, just barely managing not to fall over when I ran into someone else.

“Whoops, sorry ‘bout tha’,” a gruff voice said as a - very large - hand helped me stand straight. I lifted my head to tell them thanks but instead of a face, my eyes met the man’s stomach. I continued to tilt my head upwards until my eyes found his face - up near the ceiling, surrounded by a massive black beard. I hadn’t gotten a good enough look at him before when he brought Harry back from Knockturn Alley, but he looked exactly like Robbie Coltrane had in the films - just much taller than I had even imagined.

“Thanks, Hagrid,” I replied, smiling at him before turning and looking back at the door, “Who was the guy that just ran out of here?”

“Lucius Malfoy,” Mr. Weasley answered, holding a handkerchief to his lip, which appeared to be bleeding, “He didn’t cause you any trouble, did he?” I shook my head.

“I bumped into him trying to get in and fell back on the ground, but aside from his apparent attitude, he didn’t cause any more trouble. Are you alright?” I responded, gesturing to his face. He nodded quickly, avoiding Mrs. Weasley’s harsh glare.

“I’m fine, let’s get going.” With that, Mr. Weasley took the kids and Hermione’s parents and followed Hagrid outside. Mrs. Weasley stood there, fuming for a moment before turning back to me.

“I’m so sorry, dear,” she said, brushing something - dirt or dust, I guess - off of my shoulders, “You go on and get your books, I’ll take your things; we’ll wait for you outside.” She then took my cauldron, basket, and broom all on one arm - Frodo crawling up onto her shoulder as well - and stepped out into the street, and I hurried to find my books before I could hear her berate her husband for fighting Mr. Malfoy from inside the store.

The shop, itself, was nothing like how I had envisioned, or even how it appeared in the movies; the insides of all the shops in the movies were very compact, like they might appear out in the Alley.  It was that same, tiny size on the outside, sure, but the interior seemed to go on for miles, in all directions. No matter which way I turned my head, the shelves of books seemed never-ending. Immediately, I began rushing around, pushing around the witches in line for Gilderoy Lockhart’s autograph in order to find the shelves with Hogwarts textbooks.

I was enamoured - enchanted - by the sight of so many options of books to read. I was tempted to get even more, just for my own personal reading use. Already ahead of myself, I snatched up the first and second grade editions of Standard Book of Spells, and a copy each of A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration, Magical Drafts and Potions, A History of Magic, Magical Theory, One-Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection before moving on to collect the required books for third years, including Unfogging the Future for Divination and Spellman’s Syllabary for Ancient Runes, the two electives I had signed up for while speaking with Professor Dumbledore.

Making my way to the counter to pay for my towering stack of books, I saw a few books on one of the shelves I passed that seemed interesting as well: A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions, Jinxes for the Jinxed, and Easy Spells to Fool Muggles. Unable to really control my impulse, I pulled a copy of each off the shelf and balanced them precariously at the top of my stack before continuing up to the counter. The clerk’s eyes bugged out of his head at the sight of such a tiny, pink-haired student carrying so many books, but he, thankfully, didn’t ask any questions.

“Do you need any help carrying those out, miss?” he asked me after I had payed for them all. I glanced at the pile of books - there had to be just under thirty total - and shifted my weight into my hip. I felt a strap fall from my shoulder, and looked under the cloak to see my bag hanging on my back - the same bag that I had arrived with.

How could I have forgotten that was there? I thought to myself, How much easier could I have made my day by just shoving my stuff in there?!

“It’s alright,” I answered the man finally, pulling the bag into view and holding it open, “I’ll just put them in here, if you don’t mind.” He simply shrugged before helping me place the books inside the bag, each one disappearing from view once they were inside.

The last week-and-a-half of summer vacation went by much faster than I would have wanted it to. Sure, I was super excited about going to Hogwarts, but I was also really enjoying myself at the Burrow. After our day at Diagon Alley, I made some more time in my day to study up on some of the books for first and second years, trying to get myself up to speed so I wouldn’t be so far behind.

It was a bit easier to fit these study sessions into the routine I that had fallen into after my arrival, especially since Ginny seemed to be less and less willing to just sit around and chat with me. It worried me slightly - I had never seen her so quiet and reclusive before - but when I asked her, she insisted that she was just nervous about school, so I dropped the matter for now.

Really, the only problem I had with studying more and more was the twins. Fred and George insisted that I spend the rest of the summer enjoying myself, so whenever they caught me studying they tossed my book and dragged me outside to play Quidditch with them. I had taken to not studying in the same place twice, and never out in the open - it almost gave Mrs. Weasley when she found me hiding in one of the kitchen cabinets with Intermediate Transfiguration pressed up against my nose.

But that had all passed. Tomorrow was September 1st, and in the morning we would be leaving London on the Hogwarts Express. After dinner, and once Fred and George’s Filibuster fireworks display had ended, I had rushed back upstairs to begin packing; I remembered that the morning of was a huge hassle for everyone, and I wanted to avoid making it any worse than it was already bound to be.

Pulling my trunk over to the wardrobe, I took everything out of it, trying to figure out what could stay here and what could come with me to school. I better bring a bit of everything, I don’t know what the weather might be like - better safe than sorry. With that, I quickly began making two separate piles of clothes - winter and summer - and once that was sorted, picked a handful of different outfits from each pile.

Once that was done, I put the remainder of the clothes back in the wardrobe before moving onto the shoes, which was much easier. Shoving a bunch of shoes - mostly black, to match the uniform - to the bottom of the trunk in an organized fashion, I then stacked my muggle clothes on top of those, and my uniforms and cloaks on top of those. Then, I grabbed my bag - now with my books, broom, cauldron, and other supplies, including Frodo’s things, placed carefully inside - and balanced it on the top, right next to my wand.

Two hours had passed by the time I’d finished, closing the trunk just as Ginny came in the room for bed. I moved the trunk over to the wall by the door, putting my outfit for tomorrow on top of it, before crawling into my own bed, curling up next to the already-snoozing Frodo and falling asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

The next morning was even more hectic than I had anticipated. Even though everyone was up by dawn, there was still a lot left to be done before we could leave for the train station - it was a really good thing I had packed ahead of time. I, thankfully, had also woken up before everyone else, which gave me plenty of time for a quick shower before getting ready for the day.

I had thought about wearing something that I normally wear, but figured it might be better to at least try to fit in a little in muggle London. A casual, shirt-top dress with a white skirt, high-heeled oxfords with white lace socks, and a simple, white bow in my pink hair - which would still cause staring, but hey, it’s better than nothing.

With Ginny still sleeping soundly on the other side of the room, I worked quietly to move my trunk out on the landing by myself. It was not something to be taken lightly; I had barely made it halfway out the bedroom door before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley left their room to begin waking everybody up.

“Rosie, you already packed?” Mr. Weasley asked, moving up to take one handle and help me carry it down the stairs.

“Yeah, last night, “ I replied, huffing slightly now that I had a chance to catch my breath, “Thought I’d get an early start on the day!” With two of us, we made quick work of getting my trunk all the way downstairs and into the trunk of the car, where Mr. Weasley showed me the enchantment he had used to make it - for lack of better phrasing - “bigger on the inside”.

“Kind of like the TARDIS…” I whispered, earning a confused look from Mr. Weasley, which I waved off before sliding my trunk inside. Once we were back inside, however, chaos had broken loose; Mrs. Weasley was yelling about missing quills and spare socks, the Weasley kids and Harry were all running around half-dressed with pieces of their breakfast falling out of their mouths, and you couldn’t go two steps on the stairs without knocking into someone else.

I sat quietly off to the side to eat some toast with Frodo napping in his basket beside me, unaware of the madness surrounding him. I watched as Mr. Weasley and Percy came down with Ginny’s trunk, and winced as they went outside, where Mr. Weasley tripped on one of the chickens and almost broke his neck. I quickly finished my food after that before heading back upstairs to help the rest of the boys with their stuff.

Harry and Ron, for the most part, had their things packed, aside from the odd shoe lying around and Scabbers hiding underneath Ron’s bed. Fred and George’s room, however, looked like a bomb went off. Both of their trunks lay open, clothing strewn haphazardly over the sides, and the twins were both trying to shove a few prank and joke items into their original boxes to fit at the bottom. I leaned against the door frame, watching them try and shove a Nose-Biting tea cup back into its box when it decided to chomp down on George’s thumb.

“Ouch!” he cried out, waving his hand around wildly. The cup released his thumb mid-wave, sending it flying towards me. It hit me in the face, making the twins guffaw when it bit down harshly on my nose.

“Get it off! Get it off!” I screamed at them over their laughter, trying to pull the stupid prank off my face with losing a chunk of my nose in the process. My foot landed on something - probably one of their fireworks - and I slipped, falling backwards onto the floor, the tea cup still firmly attached to my face. Fred, still snickering, finally stepped up and grabbed the cup, releasing my nose before shoving the toy unceremoniously into its box.

“Thanks,” I muttered, pushing myself up on one arm, my other hand rubbing at my poor nose, which was turning red around the teeth marks.

“Not very graceful in the mornings, are you?” George asked with a smirk, and I sneered back at him.

“I was thinking about helping you boys pack, but if you’re going to act like this…” I got up to leave the room, but they quickly stopped laughing, grabbing me by the arms and steering me back to their trunks. I smirked to myself for a moment, before getting down to business.

Nearly an hour after we had woken up, we had all finally managed to pile into the car. Ron and Harry climbed into the back seat holding their pets, then Fred and George piled in behind them with myself squished in-between them, Frodo’s basket on my lap. Percy and Ginny sat next to their parents in the front seat. We set off to start driving, then had to stop just past the fence to let George get his fireworks, and again for Fred to grab his broom. We had made it down to the end of the driveway before Ginny jolted in her seat.

“My diary!” she yelled as Mr. Weasley slammed on the brakes, letting Ginny out to run back into the house. I looked over at Ron.

“What diary?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“She got it back at Diagon Alley, remember? She hasn’t put it down for days.” I sank back into my seat, trying to think of why that sounded so familiar. It wasn’t until she climbed back into the car with a small, black book in her hand that I remembered.

Tom Riddle’s diary! It took serious effort to keep from gasping aloud. How could I have forgotten?! The Chamber of Secrets! I must have looked freaked out, because Fred leaned over right then.

“You alright?” he whispered in my ear, “You look pale.” I shook myself out of my thoughts, turning over to smile up at him.

“Just nerves, I guess…” He stared at me for a moment, then shrugged and turned to look out the window. I sighed internally. I’ll have to figure out what to do about that diary when we get on the train..

By the time we actually reached the station, it was fifteen minutes until the train left. The nine of us were rushing, pushing carts - excuse me, trolleys - with our trunks and and pets piled inside, trying to reach the platform before the Hogwarts Express left without us. A few people were staring at us - a large family of red-heads with a black-haired boy and pink-haired girl all running in the station - but I didn’t think too much of it; I was more worried about not twisting my ankle before reaching the platform. Honestly, what possessed me to wear heels today?!

“Percy, Rosie, you first!” Mrs. Weasley called out, looking up at the clock overhead. 5 minutes until departure.

I followed behind Percy, running towards the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. I had been psyching myself up for this moment since we got out of the car - unlike the Floo powder, this was something I knew I could do. Taking care not to be noticed by any other muggles, I ran at the wall, closing my eyes right before impact…

...and opened them to Platform 9¾. I almost slowed down, staring in awe at the sight, but quickly remembered to move out of the way to let the others through. Mr. Weasley came behind us, followed by Fred and George.

“Come one, now, quickly!” Mr. Weasley lead us swiftly to the train, helping us lift all our trunks and Percy’s owl into the luggage car before handing me Frodo’s basket and helping us into the train itself. Percy left us there, striding up towards the Prefects’ car, leaving myself and the twins to find an empty compartment. We could see Mrs. Weasley hug Ginny once more before letting her onto the train, and the four of us headed to the window to wave goodbye to her and her husband.

“Have a good year!” Mrs. Weasley called to us, waving back as the last whistle blew. The train began to move, and soon, the platform - along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley - was out of sight. We collapsed in our seats, with Ginny wandering off to meet some other first years, leaving me alone with the twins sitting across from me.

“You know,” George started, catching my attention, “you never really told us anything about yourself.”

“Yeah, Rosie,” Fred added, “not trying to hide anything, are you?” I rolled my eyes; I had been expecting this question from them since my arrival, and had, thankfully, made it clear with their parents and Dumbledore what I should and shouldn’t tell them.

“Alright,” I conceded, shocking them both, “What do you wanna know?” Clearly, they hadn’t been expecting that answer. They stared at me, then each other, and then looked back at me without saying a word. Finally, Fred - cheeks turning pink - broke the silence.

“Um...what’s America like?” I laughed.

“Not too different from England, I guess. Maybe a bit warmer where I lived, though.”

“What’s your family like?” George asked, “Any siblings?” I shrugged.

“They’re all muggles,” I replied, looking down at my hands, “Mom, Dad, and Violet, my twin.”

“You have a twin?!” I jumped up, shrinking in on myself at their reaction.

“Y-yeah…?” I hesitated to answer, “But we don’t get along like you guys. She and I… we’re identical, but completely different people...C-can we talk about something else?” Thankfully, before either could say anything, the sliding door to the compartment opened and Lee walked in, taking the seat next to me that didn’t have my cat napping in it.

“Hey guys, Rosie,” he said cheerfully, “How was the rest of your summer?”

“Hey, Lee,” George smiled back at his friend, “It was great!”

“Yeah, we’ve been teaching Rosie here to play Quidditch!” Fred added. Lee grin widened.

“Really?” He turned to me, “You thinking about joining the house team?” I sighed.

“Guys, I told you, I’m not sure I’m going to try out,” I told them, standing as an old woman with a cart pulled up by the door, “Besides, I don’t even know what house I’ll be in.” Lee groaned.

“Well, whatever house you get sorted in, you should still try out.”

“Anything off the trolley, dears?” the woman asked us, and I moved over to look at the candies on the cart. There were a lot of the same ones I had seen at the shop in Diagon Alley, but hadn’t tried that day.

“Um, two chocolate frogs, a thing of Drooble’s, and a sugar quill, please,” I asked. She handed me the candy, taking the few coins I held out to her, and I sat down so the boys could purchase their sweets as well. Lee was loaded down with chocolate frogs and ice mice, while George had a box of Bertie Bott’s and Fred was chewing on a licorice wand.

“I’m still not sure about it,” I said, coming back to our previous argument as I began unboxing one of my frogs, “I mean, I’ve already been moved back a year because we’re so behind back home - what if it interferes with my studying?”

“You’ve been studying non-stop since you got your books,” Fred pointed out, “If anything, it might set you back enough to stay at the same level as the other third years. But real- hey, watch it!” He was pointing to my frog, which in my distraction, had hopped out of my hands and out into the hall before I could grab it.

“That’s some bad luck right there,” George pointed out, “but at least you got two. What’s the card say?” I pulled the card from the bottom and looked to see a dark-skinned woman smiling at me, a beater’s bat on her shoulder. I turned the card over to the bio.

“Gwenog Jones,” I read, “Captain and beater of the all-female national Quidditch team, the Holyhead Harpies.”

“There!” Lee shouted, standing and gesturing madly at the card in my hands, “It’s a sign! It’s got to be! You’ve got to play now!” I laughed humorlessly.

“Yeah, right, because a chocolate frog card with a famous Quidditch player on it absolutely means that I should play Quidditch.”

“It could be a sign,” Fred pointed out, “You’re taking Divination, after all, you must think this means something?” I rolled my eyes, ignoring him in favor of opening - at this time, actually eating - my second chocolate frog. I nabbed it before it could leap away, biting its head off as I passed the box and card over to Lee. He pulled the card out, reading over the back.

“Cyprian Youdle, only Quidditch referee to die during a Quidditch match...” This time, I practically roared with laughter.

“See what I mean?” I asked, still laughing, “If that first card was a sign, then what would that make this? No, I’d much rather it meant nothing.” We all broke into laughter, our previous arguments forgotten as the ride continued on to Hogwarts.