The Keeper's Snake // Sebastian Sallow

The Meet Cute

Fiona Moriarty woke up on July 31st, 1885 full of excitement. She had been anticipating an owl to drop off a very special letter for her. Since she could remember, she couldn't wait to get her Hogwarts acceptance letter. What 12 year old wouldn't want that? She came from a magical family, so she heard all about Hogwarts growing up, and her time was finally here.

Fiona hailed from Derry, Ireland. Her parents Conor and Claire were both Slytherins during their time at Hogwarts. They both broke from the tradition of their house's founder and loved muggle studies. With their ambition and cleverness, they managed to invest and capitalize on the industrial revolution currently taking place through the UK and Europe. With their amassed muggle wealth, her parents focused on donating their time and wealth to help the poor and oppressed in Derry. They were caring, warm, and generous. They loved their children above all else. The couple had 5 children. Twins Cillian and Colm born in 1864, Michael born in 1869, Sean born in 1871, and the baby Fiona, born in 1873. Funnily enough, all their sons had been sorted in Gryffindor at Hogwarts, and Fiona expected the same for herself.

Fiona was quite a typical 12 year old. She had reddish brown hair, green eyes, and fair skin. She was neither too tall nor too short. She quite resembled her father, while her brothers favored her mother all having dark brown hair and blue eyes. Fiona was nervous when she woke up. She hadn't had any clear indication that she was magic yet. No accidents, etc. But she ignored her bad feeling, as Sean also had no magic indicators until his letter from Hogwarts arrived two years ago. She got herself dressed and headed to the dining room for breakfast. After eating and cleaning up she asked her mother,

"Mam, has an owl arrived yet?"

"Not yet my dear, but no worries. We have all day." Claire responded.

So Fiona waited, and waited, and waited. It was when the clock struck midnight hailing in a new day that it truly hit Fiona, she was not receiving a letter from Hogwarts. She wasn't a witch, just a squib. Her family made sure to comfort her, but she was still crushed. She had been dreaming of Hogwarts for ages. She wallowed for much of August until her parens forced her to pack a suitcase. They were headed to their house in London, where they would go to Diagon alley to shop for her brothers Sean and Michael before seeing them to the Hogwarts Express. Fiona thought it cruel to force her to accompany them, but then again, what responsible parents would leave a non magical 12 year old by herself, in Derry of all places?

Fiona's parents apparated her to the London house, while Sean and Michael took Floo Flame. Cillian and Colm where waiting for them there, having lived there for 3 years, since moving to London to work at the Ministry of Magic in the department of mysteries. From the house, the family made their way to Diagon Alley, which was bustling with eager students and parents, stocking up on school supplies, as they left the following day for Hogwarts. Fiona had been there before, but this time was different. She no longer had the anticipation she once had, for she knew she as just a squib. She followed her parents into a book shop, where they were hyper focused on getting the proper textbooks for Sean and Michael, She glanced out the window across the street to see a sort of jokes shop. She wandered off from her family and made her way into the joke shop.

She was looking at a particular object, a tube of some sort. It looked like it could be twisted. She was about to twist it open, when a voice of a boy stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Those things explode if you twist them open," the boy said with a lopsided grin.

"Oh catch yourself on!" Fiona responded back.

She turned to see a freckled face boy with brown hair and light brown eyes. He was still grinning with a hint of mischief. She felt a bit nervous by his comment, but started to twist the tube open nonetheless. At first nothing happened, but after five seconds a couple of fireworks shot out of the tube startling Fiona, who fell back into the freckled face boy behind her. After a minute on the ground, she immediately realized she was on top of the boy and stood up quickly. She reached her hand to help him up. She began to apologize, when the sounds of the boy's laughter drowned out her voice.