The Life and Death of a Gryffindor Girl

Chapter 1

"Mom! Mom! Let's go to Ollivander's first!" Scarlet Odgen exclaimed, bouncing around her mother impatiently in Diagon Alley.  In two weeks, she would be starting her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the historical school where young witches and wizards from all over go to learn magic, and Scarlet, like many others, couldn't wait to start.

"Calm down, Scarlet; let's go to Flourish and Blotts first and get your books.  Then we can get the fun stuff," her mother said sternly, leading the irritated eleven year old into the crowded book store.  There, they picked up brand new copies of all the books she would need for school, and fifteen minutes later they joined the bustling crowd of witches and wizards on the main street and headed down to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get Scarlet's robes fitted.  Slowly the mother and daughter got all the supplies she needs for her school year, and Scarlet grew more and more excited the longer she shopped.  She couldn't stop wondering what house she would get into- Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin? Her mother had been a Ravenclaw, but her father did not go to Hogwarts, so she couldn't accurately predict what house she would land in like other kids whose ancestors had all gone to one house.

After a few hours of extremely busy shops, and wandering thoughts, Scarlet had a cat cage and an owl cage in her hands, and her mother was laden with several bags of books, quills, robes, and the like.  They headed against the flow of witches and wizards to Ollivander's Wand Shop, one of Scarlet's most anticipated stops; she couldn't wait to finally get her very own wand, and she could not stop wondering what kind she will get.  They walked into the shop, which was deserted except for a tall, skinny blonde witch wearing black robes and a skinny, pale eleven year old boy with the same hair as his mother.  Ah, the Malfoys.

The Malfoys had always been good acquaintances of the Odgen family; Scarlet's father, Johnathan Odgen, worked with Lucius Malfoy, and Scarlet's mother, Lydia Odgen, had gone to school with Narcissa Malfoy.  Their only son, Draco Malfoy, was the same age as Scarlet, so they would be starting school together in a few weeks.

"Hello, Narcissa!" Scarlet's mother exclaimed, smiling brightly.

The woman turns around and forms her lips into a smile, replying, "Ah, Lydia.  How wonderful it is to see you again."  The women talked for a few minutes, and Scarlet, knowing that the conversation wouldn't end for a good twenty minutes, walked over to Draco and started talking to him.

"Hello," she said, standing next to him and shifting her owl cage.  

"Hello," he responded, turning a black box over and over in his hands.

Scarlet pointed to the box.  "What is that?" she asked, curious.

He smiled, something he didn't do very often, and said, "It's my new wand; I just got it a few minutes ago. This is the first thing we've got so far, but it looks as though you waited until the last minute to pick up yours." He eyed the shopping bags and cages with his pale grey eyes.

"Blame it on Mum," she replied, rolling her eyes.  "Can I see?"  Draco nods and opens the box to reveal a long, thin, dark brown piece of wood.

"10 inches hawthorn wood with a unicorn hair core," the boy said proudly. "It was the first one Ollivander picked for me."

Scarlet smiled and looked up at Draco, pushing a lock of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear. "That's really cool; I can't wait to see what wand I get."  They talked about other things, such as what their favorite subjects would be, until the two mothers politely ended their conversation.

As the Malfoys left the store, Ollivander entered the main shop room.  "Why hello, Mrs. Odgen," the old wandmaker said, smiling politely at Scarlet's mother.