Better Late Than Never

.~*Chapter 1*~.

Better Late Than Never

"Leave me alone; just leave me alone," I scream as I turn to run off. I'm stopped very quickly as my stepmother grabs the collar of my shirt from behind. I turn around so fast that my shirt rips. I stumble and almost fall as she delivers a blow to the right side of my face at the temple. "I hate you," I snarl as I run into the woods behind the house. I feel my vampire fangs begin to grow as I run toward the forest as hard as I can.

"Well, you're not one of my favorite people either," I hear her shout, but I keep on running.

I enter the woods and am immediately calmed and comforted. Blood runs down the side of my face where my stepmother's ring cut me when she hit me, but I hardly notice it. Only in the woods - these woods - could I find a comfort that I found nowhere else. My fangs begin to disappear as I calm even more. I stop in a clearing and drop to the ground. Lying back against a rock, I close my eyes and try to clear my mind of the events that had just occurred.

I am suddenly pulled out of my thoughts by the loud cawing of a raven. I look up and the raven flies down; I extend my arm, and it lands and sits there staring at me. I start stroking it, and amazingly, it produces a letter from under its wing. I see the emblem on the back and know immediately where it's from. It's from Hogwarts, and this time, I wasn't turning them down.

As I run back to the house, I am exuberant. However, the thought of what my stepmother might say begins to weigh heavily on my mind. I quickly decide that I won't tell her. I see my father in the backyard as I run up. He's sitting in the swing, waiting for me I guess. I run up and sit down beside him. He sees the cut on my forehead, and he then realizes what has happened, and where I've been, and why. He then notices the letter in my hand. I smile and hand it to him so he can read it. He then smiles down at me.

"You're not going to pass up this opportunity again are you? He asks as he gives me back the letter. I quickly look up at him and smile.

"Of course not dad, I really want it this time," I reply as we hug each other.

"You're going to follow in your old man's footsteps and learn the art of magic," he says hugging me again. "Well, I guess we better get you supplied and ready to go." As we get up and turn around, my stepmother is standing there with her arms folded across her chest. She notices the letter I'm holding against my chest protectively.

"She's not going," she says defiantly. We look at each other and smirk. We almost burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"

"A petty Muggle like you is going to try and stop me from going to Hogwarts? What a joke. You're the reason I didn't go the first three times I got a letter," I retort trying not to get too angry. I can tell that she wants to say something else, but she holds her tongue and storms off. My dad gives me a high five, and we go in the house to pack our things to leave.

.~*Chapter 2*~.

Shopping in Diagon Alley

In Diagon Alley, there is every sort of magical shop imaginable. I have all of my supplies that I'll need except a pet and a wand. I go to the Magical Menagerie Pet Shop. As I enter, my attention is immediately drawn to the counter where two blond gentlemen are arguing. I then hear a loud hissing from behind me. I turn around to see a king cobra coiled on a stand. I look closer and realize that it is specially marked with special markings. I notice that the shop is now silent; I look back at the counter and see the two gentlemen and the shopkeeper staring at me. I then get a feeling of pride that seems to come from nowhere. I hold my arm out to the cobra, and it gently slithers up onto it.

I turn around to face the stunned trio behind me. The shopkeeper finally breaks the silence.

"He really seems to like you ma'am, but this is strange." The other two nod in agreement.

"How is it strange?" I ask stroking the cobra down its back. The blond boy begins to walk towards me. He is about two feet from me when all of a sudden, the cobra stands straight up and flares its hood. The boy jumps but doesn't move from the spot where he stopped.

"He seems to be very protective of her," The older blond man says to the shopkeeper. "Get back over here Draco. We haven't finished discussing the matter of your pet yet." The blond boy begins backing away.

"Yes father." He walks back over to the counter. The cobra lowers its hood and lays back down, coiling itself around my arm. I then walk up to the counter.

"I would like to pay for my pet now," I say as I reach the counter. As I pay for the cobra, the blond man speaks to me.

"You must think me terribly rude. I did not properly introduce myself. I am Lucius Malfoy. And, you must be Lady Andromeda Mallory, the daughter of the famous Lord Bowen Mallory that everyone's been talking about. This is my son Draco." I look over at the boy beside me. Our eyes meet and hold for a few moments, his stare feeling as though it were piercing straight into the very depths of my soul. I look back at Lucius and meet the same stare. He raises his cane, which has a snake head on the top, to my face and runs it down my cheek. "You are so beautiful," he whispers. I stare back at him, spellbound.

"Vitiis nemo sine nascitur," I reply. He looks stunned for a moment but then recovers.

"Well, a fellow Latin speaker. And, what may I ask, is the fault that such a beauty could be born with?" He asks moving closer to me. Draco has moved so close that I can feel his breath on the nape of my neck.

God, I'm glad that my cobra isn't wrapped around my arm right now, I think to myself as I feel the closeness of the two Malfoys. I reply smoothly to Lucius' question. "Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse require. Nescio. Sed fieri sentio et excrucior." I look longingly at Lucius.

I then hear Draco's voice flow soothingly across my ear. "That is not a fault. That is a gift. All we know is the first. We wish to know the second." He flicks the nape of my neck playfully with his tongue. I then grab my pet off the counter.

"I must go. My father is waiting on me." I turn to leave, but I turn back for just a moment. "I leave you with one piece of advice to your words Draco. Si vis amari, ama." With that, I turn and walk out.

As I am walking down the street to the wand shops, I try to think of a name for my pet. Tristan ...no.........Asfolath....no........What shall I call you? Suddenly it comes to me. "You are a quarrelsome snake. So, I shall call you Ares." The bag rustles, and I can sense that the cobra agrees. "Ares it is then."

I head straight for Ollivander's, because my dad says that he makes the best wands. I open the door and walk in, setting my parcels on a table by the door. "Mr. Ollivander, are you here?" I then realize that was a stupid question. The shop wouldn't be open if he wasn't here. He then pops up from behind the counter and startles me.

"Ah, Miss Mallory, sorry I startled you," he says laughing. I can't help laughing too.

"It's okay Mr. Ollivander," I say, feeling my heart slow down a bit.

"How's that renegade father of yours?" he asks as he starts searching his shelves for my perfect wand.

"He's doing okay. He's still his same mischievous self," I reply as he brings three wands back to the front. He takes the first one from its velvet lined box. It is a ten inch mahogany dragon heartstring - the same kind my father has. However, when I wave it, it is quite clear that it isn't the one for me. The second one is an eight inch maple unicorn hair, but it doesn't work either. The final one has strange markings on its box. Mr. Ollivander takes the wand out of the box and comes out from behind the counter.

"Try this one," he says as he hands me the wand.

When I grab the wand, I feel a sudden rush of power flow through me. I hear a voice speaking within me. It keeps saying, Ad nocendum potntes sumus. Sic erat in fatis. When the rush is over, I open my eyes. "What kind of wand is this?" I ask breathlessly, feeling the remnants of the rush wearing off.

"This is a one of a kind wand. Its wood is from the strongest of all ebony, and its core is made from the scale of a basilisk. And, judging from your reaction when you grabbed the wand, this is the perfect one for you. Would you like me to wrap it for you?"

"Yes sir, I would," I reply. He wraps my wand, and I pay him for it. I then leave and head for the Leaky Cauldron where my father is waiting for me. We head to the hotel for dinner and rest to prepare for tomorrow.