Brightest Star

Chapter Four

They all stepped inside the dimly lit shop of Ollivanders where two men, one woman, a boy and a girl were standing.

"Grandpa Rem Rem!" the girl shouted, wrapping her arms around Remus.

"Hey there Hope, I missed you too."

The girl let go. "Really? Then why are you late?!"

She looked behind Remus and saw Izzy. Izzy froze, looking back at her.

"Who in the world are you?" the girl asked, poking Izzy in the chest. The boy burst into laughter.

"Henry!" Nixie shouted. "Behave yourself."

"Yes Mummy." the boy grinned.

"Sorry about that." Nixie shook her head. "Henry's my son and this is Hope Weasley, Remus's granddaughter, also Fred and Eleanor's daughter." Nixie gestured to the young man with flaming red hair and the mousy haired woman beside him.

Hope smiled deviously at Izzy. "Hi! I'm Hope."

"The Dope." the slightly older man muttered.

"Hey! Be quiet, Paddywhack... I mean Sirius." she said after receiving glares from every adult in the room.

The girl, Hope, held out her hand for Izzy to shake. Izzy took it uncertainly and screamed as her hand was almost shocked off. 

Sirius shook his head. "That little Lupin Weasley Spawn, nothing but trouble."

"Nice," Henry grinned. He held out his hand to Izzy. "I'm Henry, Henry Black. Nixie's my Mum and Sirius is my Dad."

"Umm... I'm Isabelle Sanders." Izzy mumbled.

"Well, don't you shake another person's hand when you meet for the first time?"

"No thanks. I don't want my hand getting almost shocked off again."

Everyone laughed. Izzy turned a delicate pink colour and pulled her hood over her head when suddenly a smiling young man poked his head out from under the counter.

Eleanor smiled. "Hello Dean."

"Hello." Dean shifted his gaze towards the three eleven-year-olds. "You guys ready to get your wands?"

"Oh no," Hope said. "I came here for the snacks-"

Hope was then knocked in the head by her mother. "I mean yes... wand!"

Dean laughed at her feigned enthusiasm.

Dean turned to Izzy. "Are you?"

"Sure." Izzy shrugged, although deep down she was excited as anything.

After Henry and Hope finally found their wands, it was Izzy's turn. Dean watched as she stepped forwards uncertainly.

Dean looked at her carefully from head to toe then reached behind him to one of the shelves. He retrieved a black box and placed it down in front of Izzy.

"Let's try this one." Dean said, opening the box and giving to Izzy.

"How do you use this?" she asked Dean, feeling the wand between her fingers.

"Well, all you do is to just give it a wave."

Izzy held the wand awkwardly in her right hand and flicked it once in the air. One of the lamps on the counter exploded.

"Oh well, not this one." Dean said, taking the wand from her and placing it back in the box. He ducked behind the counter among the myriad of shelves.

He came back with another box with yet another wand. Izzy gave it a wave and it made a sizeable dent in the floor. After countless tries, Izzy felt ready to give up. Maybe she really wasn't made for magic stuff. Dean came back from behind the shelves, looking tired.

"Well, then. Give this one a try." he held out a wand for her. "It's ashwood with unicorn hair as a core, 11 inches, supple. It should work."

Izzy took it uncertainly, seeing that she already destroyed most of the shop, and gave it a wave. The wand's tip glowed blue in her hand. She dropped her jaw in amazement. She turned to Remus.

"This... this is incredible. Is all of this real, or just a dream?"

"Of course it's real, Isabelle. That's why we're all standing in front of you. Do you think you could've imagined all of this on your own?"

Izzy laughed. "No. I definitely don't have enough brains to do it."

Remus smiled. "Exactly."

"But I've got a wand..." Izzy whispered, shocked. "Wow, just wow."

Sirius walked towards Izzy, grinning. He placed a large hand on her shoulder. "Welcome to the wizarding world, Isabelle."

Isabelle lay on her bed in her room. Ella was asleep somewhere, probably surrounded with all of her stuffed unicorn toys. Izzy smiled remembering how Ella freaked out when she'd told her that her wand's core was unicorn hair. She lay in the darkness alone. It was past midnight and she still couldn't bring herself to sleep. All she has to do now is to wait until the summer holidays end, then she would be gone to experience a whole new world. She closed her eyes slowly in contentment, her new books, new robes, new cauldron and her new snowy owl beside her, thinking of the days when she would finally be going to that magical place called Hogwarts.