Changes

Diagon Alley


Ondrea ducked behind her brother with a startled squeak as an exceptionally large wizard emerged from the shop across the alley. The boy laughed.

"It's not funny!" the girl exclaimed, slapping his arm.

"Oh, I rather think it is," her brother, Owen, replied.

They didn't look like siblings. Owen was pale-skinned with sandy colored hair and blue eyes, whereas Ondrea was dark-skinned with black hair and brown eyes. Ondrea had been adopted when Owen was eight, however, so siblings they were indeed.

Ondrea pouted, but stuck close to the boy as they made their way along the alley. "I don't see why I have to transfer," she complained, a whine evident in her tone as her gaze anxiously flitted over their surroundings. "I'm happy at Beauxbatons - Owen, talk to mum and dad. Tell them not to transfer me. They'll listen to you!"

"I can't do that," Owen said, resolutely shaking his head. This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. "You've bee acting... strange this year, Faye. Mum and dad are worried, and frankly, so am I. They think transferring to Hogwarts would be good for you. If you would just tell us what was troubling you..."

"Nothing is troubling me!" Ondrea protested.

"The other kids aren't bullying you?" the boy asked skeptically.

"NO!" No more than usual. Which really wasn't much at all - Ondrea mostly kept to herself.

Owen just shook his head. "Fine. But when you're ready talk, you know I'll always listen." They stopped just outside of Flourish and Blotts. "Alright, I need to pick up some more ingredients for my potions kit - I'll get your ingredients while I'm at it. You go in and get your new textbooks."

"What? You're just going to leave me here? Alone?" Ondrea asked, tone panicked.

"That's right, sis," he told her, giving her a patronizing pat on the side of the head before starting to walk away.

"But what if I can't find the ones I need?" she called after him.

"Then, ask the shopkeeper."

"What if I don't want to?!??"

Owen didn't answer and Ondrea let out an anxious whimper, continuing to stand there outside the shop. Her eyes went wide as a large group started down the street in her direction and she quickly ducked inside. She made her way through the shelves, trying to find the texts she would need for Hogwarts. She hoped Owen would hurry back soon. She didn't fancy having to actually pay for them herself - the shopkeeper frightened her.

Melanie trailed her fingers over a book after another, looking for a book to get, she had some extra money left and felt like getting herself a good book to read.

She sighed, walking over to the next shelf, but she didn't seem to find anything interesting.
Just pick a book, McKinnon.
She told herself, closing her eyes and taking few steps forward while pointing her finger in a random direction.

She continued to take small steps - with her eyes closed - it wasn't until her body slammed into someone else's that she realized that walking with your eyes closed, may not have been the best idea she'd ever gotten.

Her eyes flew open quickly and wide. "Oh I'm sorry!" she took a large step back, staring at the girl she'd walked into. "I was walking with my eyes closed because.. uh .. I'm not sure, I'm just so sorry, are you alright? Did I step on you?"

Ondrea gave a startled cry as she collided with somebody else, dropping her booklist in her surprise. She waved frantically with both hands.

"No, no! M-m-my fault!" she stammered. "My eyes w-were open - sh-should've s-seen you. Ve-very, very s-sorry about that. No, no - fine! P-perfectly f-fine." She clasped her hands together to halt their anxious fluttering.

Melanie hid her smile at the panicked girl as she reacted. "Again, I'm sorry and it was my fault, here-" she bent down and grabbed the girls list she'd dropped on the floor and handed it back to her. "Shopping?" she asked, noticing the list was a book list.

She shifted her weight over to one leg and crossed her arms. "I'm such a klutz, I'm terribly sorry,." she apologized again, feeling slightly awkward because she had no idea what else to say.

(O.O.C: Sorry for short and late postage!)

"Th-thanks," Ondrea said, taking her list back. "Yeah, I-I'm changing sc-schools, so, new b-books an-and stuff."

Ondrea could feel her heart rate gradually returning to a more regular pace. She looked at the other girl more closely, now that her mind wasn't practically screaming at her to 'RUN, NOW'. Her face heated up when she noticed she was pretty.

"I-it's fine," Ondrea said, shaking her head quickly. "J-just an ac-accident, after all." Her fingers crinkled the edges of her list as she cast about for something else to say. She really wasn't good at interacting with people. The girl frowned at her book list.

Melanie gave away a small laugh, the girl seemed very nervous. "Anyways, I'm Melanie McKinnon," she decided maybe it was time to introduce herself. "You can call me Melanie, Mel or just 'the girl you knocked me down', whatever you please really." she grinned.

"So tell me, you're changing schools?" she asked, rather interested. "That's wicked, can I ask to which school or is that too forward of me?" she tried to keep her voice soft, the girl still seemed nervous and startled and Mel wasn't really into scaring people away ... just yet anyway.

"Oh, um... I'm O-Ondrea. Montg-gomery," Ondrea responded. "I-it's nice to m-meet you."

She gave a rather strained smile. "W-wish I wasn't, r-really. I-I was going to B-Beauxbatons, but my parents d-decided to transfer me t-to Ho-Hogwarts." Ondrea gave a small sigh, both because changing schools was, in fact, wholly unnecessary, and because she simply couldn't stop stammering. She was just grateful she had dark skin, otherwise her face would probably be bright red.

Melanie clasped her hands together, in an excited way. "Ooh Hogwarts! Hogwarts is great. I'm in Hogwarts," she explained, crossing her arms again. "I'm a third year in Ravenclaw," she said, beaming with house-pride. "So what year are you in? Do you have houses and Beauxebaten? Sorry I really can't pronounce that, never been able to really, sorry. Do you have a lot of veela's?"

She felt the questions fly out of her mouth before she could stop them, she forced a hand over her mouth.
Stop talking! She told her self.
She took a deep breath as if to calm down, "Sorry, I'm curious." she grimaced.

Ondrea was taken slightly aback by Melanie's enthusiasm.

"Th-third year, al-also," she responded. "We ha-have houses. Chevalier, Lefebvre, Renard, and Simon. I-I was Simon h-house. Um..." Ondrea frowned in thought. "O-one of the pr-professors was h-half veela and h-he had a son wh-who went there. Not t-too many, bu-but probably more than other s-schools.

"It's fine. I-I don't mind," she told Mel. And she didn't really, she liked talking about her school - it would always be her school. Granted, she probably liked talking about it more now that she wasn't actually attending it.

Melanie nodded as she listened, when the girl stopped talking she started to talk her self. "I see, I've heard rumors that the school is filled with veela's but I guess that's just crap, I've also heard that the Durmstrang-ers are trained to feed Batons - Yeah, I have to shorten the name of your school sorry - to dragons. But I'm guessing thats just bull as well," she shrugged.

She yawned. "I like your name by the way, if I didn't say earlier, Andrea? But said Ondrea? Or did I hear it wrong?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. "You'll love Hogwarts I'm sure, everyone loves Hogwarts, it is the best place you'll ever discover." she grinned from ear to ear, she couldn't wait to go back to her school - home.

"Th-there's lots of f-funny things said about all the s-schools, I suppose," Ondrea responded.

She flushed - which wasn't noticeable - and nodded - which was. "Th-thank you. I-it's spelled with a-an 'O', ac-actually. People s-still say it wr-rong." She gave a wry smile. "I-I'm sure it's a nice p-place." Ondrea was also sure it was another place she wouldn't quite fit in.

"S-so, any s-scary prof-fessors I should a-avoid?" Ondrea asked. It was a bit of an accomplishment, actually - Ondrea wasn't one to keep up a conversation very well.