A New Friend
Diagon Alley was exactly as Jacob had described to her
Anastasia was surrounded by swishing cloaks and robes as people rushed by her, some kids around her age and others guardians, with large bags she could only assume were full of school supplies. The smell of what she could only assume were sugar quills and cauldron cakes wafted through the air and made her mouth water as loud chatter and laughter filled the open space.
It was wonderful… and very overwhelming.
“Ana, stop that!” She jumped at her Aunt’s hissed whisper and immediately stopped flapping her arms, glaring at her own guardian for her harsh demand
‘Jacob wouldn’t have told me to stop’ she thought bitterly, but she decided not to argue and instead began rubbing her fingertips together in a way that was almost as soothing as the hand flapping, but not quite.
“Now, first we’ll head to Madame Malkin’s to get your measurements, then we’ll head to Olivander’s, after that we’ll grab your cauldrons and other school supplies. Then, we’ll head back to Madame Malkin’s to grab your robes. What do you think?”
Ana thought it over for a second and nodded. She knew her aunt was telling her and not truely asking her opinion, but her aunt knew she hated going anywhere without an exact plan.
“Just one of her strange quirks” her mom always said whenever people asked if there was something wrong with her. Sometimes she wished she would just tell the person she was fine the way she was and to shut up, but she knew her mom wished she was a little less strange too.
‘Jacob never wanted me to be less strange’ she thought bitterly, and from there, her thoughts went down the road they usually did whenever she thought about her brother, an angry, sad road.
‘Why did he have to leave me,’ she thought, ‘he was supposed to be the one taking me through Diagon Alley for the first time, he had pinky promised. PINKY PROMISED’ her face screwed up as she continued down the road of sour thoughts. “This is all the fault of those stupid cursed vaults-’
“Ouch! Ana!” The hand she was gripping was suddenly wrenched away, jerking her out of her thoughts to see her aunt glaring at her and rubbing the new small, red crescent moon marks on her hand.
“Sorry Auntie. Is your hand okay?”
Her aunt frowned deeper and grabbed Ana by the wrist and muttered, “I swear, you could at least try to seem truly apologetic.”
Ana furrowed her brow as she was dragged along the street by her aunt, ‘seem truly apologetic? But I am sorry, how come Auntie can’t see that?’
~
Ana stood, pouting, next to her aunt outside of Madam Malkin’s as she chatted with an old friend about times past or something, nothing Ana cared about so she people watched the crowd around her.
Between the rushing crowd, she saw a kid that looked around her age staring into the window of an accessory shop across the street.
Looking briefly at her aunt and her old friend, she checked that her aunt wouldn’t notice her missing for a few minutes before making her way through the large number of witches and wizards until she was directly beside the other kid.
“Hi,” she said, loud enough for her voice to carry over the chatter… and, unfortunately, also loud enough to both startle the other kid and receive strange looks from passersby.
She flushed, knowing just how awkward that was, but cleared her throat and stuck out her hand to the other kid.
“Uh, sorry about that. My name is Anastasia Rivers, I was just wondering what you were doing in front of this shop.”
The other kid stood, eyes darting from Ana’s unblinking eyes to her outstretched hand, even more startled by the awkward introduction. Finally, the other kid cautiously took her hand with an anxious smile and Ana let go of a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding.
“Um, my name is Rowan Khanna and, uh, I’m just trying to figure out what to buy. I want to make an impact on my new classmates at Hogwarts. It is my first year.”
“Really? Same here!” Ana smiled and turned to the window of the shop, “what kind of impact are you going for? Maybe I can help.”
Rowan smiled a little at the suggestion, “Sure, I’d appreciate the help, so, I want to come across as smart and serious but approachable and cool. Most importantly, I want everyone at Hogwarts to know I’m a serious intellectual who’s well on her way to becoming Head Girl, but I’m not sure whether I should pick a scarf, a sweater, or a hat.”
Ana looked in the shop window and thought for a moment
“I think a scarf would be best. Not only does it look smart, but you couldn’t see a sweater as well under our robes and you may get warm fast, and I don’t think we’re allowed to wear hats in school.”
Rowan nodded and smiled brighter, “you have a point, I think I’ll get the scarf, thanks Anastasia”
Ana smiled brighter, “please call me Ana. Anastasia is a mouthful.”
Rowan brightened, “Are you sure? Does this mean we’re friends now?”
Ana nodded excitedly, her messy light brown curls bouncing on her shoulders “I believe so”
‘Friend acquired,’ Ana thought. ‘Maybe these next few years won't be so bad after all …’
Suddenly, she was grabbed by her wrist and yanked backwards into her seething aunt
“Anastasia Rivers” she hissed, “do you know how worried I was when I turned around and you were gone? What did I say about sticking close to me?”
Ana’s face flushed and began yanking to get her wrist back from the tight grip , embarrassed by her aunt's public scolding, especially in front of her new friend! It's not like she meant to make her aunt worry and, besides, she could take care of herself.
“Did you say Rivers? As in… Jacob Rivers?”
Anastasia and her aunt stopped at that, noticing the small crowd that had gathered around them, blocking Ana’s view of Rowan, murmurs filled the air and her aunt's face reddened in realisation of what she just revealed. Ana looked around as the crowd surrounded her and her aunt with judging eyes, angry frowns, and pointing fingers.
“That's the boy … Hogwarts in danger…went crazy … Didn’t he work with he-who-must-not-be-named?”
Ana shrank in on herself at everyone's gossiping, overlapping voices. She hated to hear what people thought of her brother. She started to rub her fingertips together in an attempt to calm herself down, but everything was too much, it was all happening too fast and everyone was too loud.
“... the little sister … they’re letting her in … Really? After all that… She’s probably just as bad.”
Ana yanked her hand from her aunt finally, ignoring the stinging pain from her nails as she threw her hands over her ears and shoved her way through the crowd, running down the street, heart and feet pounding as she rushed to get as far away from the whispers and insults, ignoring her aunt calling her name.
When she turned the corner, she stopped so suddenly she almost tripped on the cobblestone path, breathing heavily as she leaned on a nearby cafe.
“Wow,” she heard from behind her. She turned to see Rowan, heaving as she slowed to a stop a few feet from her.
“What do you want?” Ana asked bluntly. No way Rowan would want to be friends with her now, not after that whole embarrassing debacle and certainly not after learning who her brother was, better to sever the connection herself rather than deal with the heartbreak of having it severed by the other party.
Rowan looked taken aback and hurt, lip quivering and eyes welling up in tears, “Friends are supposed to check on each other but… does this mean you don’t want to be friends anymore?”
Ana stared at her, perplexed, “you mean you still do?” She questioned, “After finding out who my brother is?” she squirmed and bit her lip.
“I knew your brother was Jacob Rivers when you introduced yourself,” Rowan wiped her eyes as she finally started to fully catch her breath, “but that doesn’t matter to me.”
Ana was taken aback. Everyone cared who her brother was and thus who she was.
She felt guilty now and stupid for jumping to conclusions.
Ana took a deep breath and puffed out her chest, marching over to a still heavily breathing Rowan and throwing out her hand, much like she did a while back when they first met in front of the accessory shop.
“I’m sorry,” she said, face firmly neutral, “I made an assumption based on past experiences and that was wrong of me. I hope you can forgive me.”
Rowan looked from her hand to her eyes as she took 1 last big breath and smiled, grabbing and shaking the offered hand, “Forgiven. In hindsight, I can understand where you’d get that sort of idea.”
Rowan looked past her and smiled, “have you gotten your wand yet?”
Ana turned to see they were standing in front of Olivander’s.
She had not.
That was next on the agenda.