Lydia's Story

Lydia was spinning wildly, feeling like she on an out-of-control broomstick. She closed her eyes to the blurred images of green flames and fireplaces that whizzed past her face. When at last the spinning stopped, she almost fell face first into her aunts living room.

Before she even opened her eyes, she was greeted by her Aunty Gail's high-pitched voice. "There you are, right on time!" Lydia opened her eyes in time to see her aunt rush forward to hug her. A squat, flamboyant blonde in her middle ages, Aunt Gail was very unlike her sister Angela. While Angela's dress and conduct were both settled and reserved, her sister Abigail seemed to radiate pure energy. "How's my little Liddy feeling? Your things should be coming - ah! There they are!"

Turning, Lydia saw that her supplies had appeared in the grate behind her, covered in soot. Mithra hooted indignantly from his cage, shaking his blackened wings and shooting Lydia resentful looks.

"Come, Liddy, let me show you your room!" Aunt Gail continued happily, taking her niece by the hand. "Gelby!" she barked, "Come get Lydia's things!" Before Lydia could say that she would bring them herself, a frightened little house-elf hurried into the room. Pausing to give a quick bow, he continued to the pile of school supplies sitting in the fireplace. Grabbing hold of the cage and trunk, he Disapparated with a loud pop. The trunk and cage disappearing with him, leaving the cauldron sitting alone in the grate.

"Don't worry, he'll come back to get it," Gail said, steering Lydia towards the stairs. Aunt Gail's house, while large and beautiful, was a bit smaller than Lydia's. She lived alone with Gelby, having decided long ago never to marry.

Aunt Gail led Lydia up the stairs and along a hallway to their left. When they reached the very last door, she pushed it open for Lydia, standing aside to let her pass. As Lydia entered, Gelby Apparated into the corner with a pop, holding her cauldron. Giving a last bow, he hurried out of the room.

The room itself was large, and painted a pale beige. An enormous mahogany dresser covered the left wall, it's carved mirror touching the ceiling. The bed across from it was also mahogany, and held a thick pink comforter and several matching pillows. On that wall was also a walk-in closet, large enough to be it's own room. The large picture window across from Lydia was hung with pink draperies, and showed the manicured lawn, circled by neatly trimmed hedges. Lydia's school supplies stood neatly at the foot of the bed, Mithra looking more flustered than ever.

"Is this room good enough for your stay, Liddy?" Aunt Gail asked, looking rather like a puffed up, pompous pigeon.

"It's beautiful," Lydia said with a smile, her eyes taking in every detail of the room around her.

"I was wondering if you were up for a bit of shopping today?" her aunt asked, closing the bedroom door behind them. "We could go to Diagon Alley and start your school shopping, if you like."

"That sounds wonderful!" Lydia said, smiling excitedly. She hadn't been to Diagon Alley in many years, and was eager to get ready for her year at Hogwarts.

"Good! We'll take the underground through Muggle London," Aunt Gail said with a smile, happily clapping her hands. "I will have to go change out of my cloak, I'm a bit sooty. And I dare say you will want to change out of that filthy thing!" she added, shooting a dirty look at the Durmstrang emblem. She had always had misgivings about her sister's choice for a husband. With that, she bustled out of the room, her vibrant green cloak spotted with soot.

Once her aunt had left, Lydia hurriedly changed out of the hated cloak, throwing it into a wastebasket in the corner. Pulling on the dress and sandals, she was grateful that she had thought to bring Muggle clothes. She pulled her vault key and gift money out of the trunk before hurrying downstairs to see her aunt, the key and money in a drawstring bag over her shoulder with her wand.

"What a lovely dress!" her aunt said admiringly. She had always had a weakness for colourful outfits. She herself was now wearing a very frilly Muggle dress, that more closely resembled a Halloween costume than anything else. Pumpkin-orange, the frills along the neck and sleeves were a shade of bright green. From waist to ankle, the dress was made entirely of more overlapping green frills, stopping to show matching sandals.

Aunt Gail leading the way, the two left the house for Diagon Alley. Making their way through the Muggle downtown and underground, they seemed to attract a lot of attention. Never before had the locals seen a dress quite like Aunt Gail's. Lydia noticed that most of the people they passed turned to stare at them, and was much happier when they stepped into the semi-darkness of the Leaky Cauldron. It was a shabby place with a few people scattered about the room; some deep in conversation, others quietly smoking on their pipes. Aunt Gail led her niece through a second door to a small, walled courtyard. Lydia watched as her aunt pulled out her wand and tapped the wall three times. The bricks quivered and rearranged themselves, forming a large archway opening up to a cobbled street.

"Come along, Liddy dear!" her aunt said, pulling on Lydia's arm. "We don't want to waste any time!"

Lydia gazed around happily as they made their way down Diagon Alley. Though she hadn't been there for years, she saw that many of the stores looked the same. Walking along, she tried to think of things she may need for school. Her thoughts were interrupted by her aunt's high voice.

"So, will you be stopping at Gringotts or do you want to go to some stores first?"

"Stores, definitely," Lydia answered, her head turning in every direction. They went first to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Madam Malkin, a squat, kind-faced witch, helped Lydia over to a footstool while Aunt Gail browsed on her own.

"Will you be going to Hogwarts, dear?" the kindly witch asked, summoning a basket of pins to her.

"Yes I will!" Lydia said proudly. Madame Malkin slipped a long robe over Lydia's head and began pinning it up.

At the end of the fitting, Madame Malkin helped Lydia out of the robe. Her eyes caught on Lydia's pendant, still turned to hide the snake.

"Well! Isn't that quite the necklace? Where did you get such an unusual -" her words caught in her throat as she turned the pendant over, seeing the name and emblem. Her eyes grew wide, and she looked back and forth rapidly between Lydia and the pendant.

"Uh, very nice! Very nice indeed!" she said at last, trying to regain her composure. She quickly gathered her supplies and hurried behind the counter.

Lydia let her go, feeling hurt. She realized for the first time what her father had meant. Her name was blacklisted.

*~*~*~*~*

Lydia's enthusiasm was dampened for the rest of the day. She spent the rest of the afternoon with her aunt, wandering through the many shops of Diagon Alley. Before leaving Madame Malkin's, Aunt Gail had tried to convince her to buy a tacky cloak, striped with magenta and yellow. Lydia only got out when she pointed out the her uniform called for black robes only.

"No sense of fashion!" Aunt Gail muttered bitterly as they left the store.

Their next stop was at Flourish and Blotts, where Lydia found the books she would need for the coming year. Her aunt browsed through a few books entitled Makeover Magic: A new you with a few simple spells by Belle Vane, and Cloaks of the Ages: A look at fashions from the dawn of time.

Continuing past the many shop windows, Lydia bought some basic potion ingredients from the apothecary's. Looking down at her list, she saw that she had everything she would need.

"Care to stop for a bite to eat?" her aunt asked. "All this shopping has given me quite the appetite!" She patted her stomach, which was looking quite round as it was.

They stopped at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. Lydia ordered a simple chocolate sundae while her aunt, torn by indecision, at last ordered a scoop of every kind of ice-cream there.

Carrying their food to a table, Aunt Gail's mountain of ice-cream swayed ominously. Miraculously, it didn't fall. They sat down and Aunt Gail began devouring her ice-cream. Lydia poked feebly at her sundae, which was melting in the summer heat, her mind elsewhere.

"Liddy dear, what's bothering you?" her aunt asked at last, her mouth rimmed with assorted flavours of ice-cream. "You've been very quiet, and you haven't even touched your ice-cream!"

Lydia gave a small sigh, still looking at her liquid sundae. "Will everyone be afraid of me at Hogwarts?"

"Liddy dear, whatever are you talking about?"

"Madame Malkin. When I went for my fitting, she found out I was a Meliflua. She was really scared and, well, I was wondering if everyone else would be, too."

There was a brief pause. "How did she find out?" her aunt said at last, the remainder of her ice-cream laying forgotten.

Lydia reached for the pendant around her neck, silently showing it to her aunt.

Aunt Gail gave a low whistle. "So that's what you've been wearing all day! I've been meaning to ask you about it all afternoon. I never got a good look at it."

"Well Madame Malkin sure did," Lydia muttered bitterly. "She looked like she was going to faint!"

Another silence filled the air. Aunt Gail fidgeted awkwardly with her spoon for a few minutes before answering. "Well," she said finally, still not looking at her niece, "I won't pretend that everyone will be comfortable with you. Your father's family is well known, but not well thought of. But don't worry," she said, looking up with an encouraging smile, "I'm sure you'll be fine once they get to know you!"

Lydia gave a small nod, not feeling entirely convinced.

*~*~*~*~*

Now that Lydia was feeling uneasy about her first day at Hogwarts, the days leading up to it seemed to speed by. She made a few more trips to Diagon Alley with her aunt, who seemed intent to put any fears about the coming year out of her mind. She spent most of her time browsing through the books and equipment in Quality Quidditch Supplies, which had quickly become her favourite store. Her aunt bought her a copy of Quick Quidditch Tips: Quidditch manoeuvres made easy. It was a large book filled with advice on everything from proper flying form to performing some of the game's most intricate drills. The pages had many photos of famous Quidditch players performing difficult manoeuvres with ease, looking as if they were born on broomsticks. When she wasn't shopping for Quidditch supplies, Lydia was always found engrossed in her book.

On the morning of September first, Lydia woke up early, feeling like she had swallowed a heavy stone. Her things had been packed the night before, and once again stood in a neat pile at the foot of her bed. Dressed in a pale pink tee-shirt and black skirt, she left the room, which looked much the same as it had on the day of her arrival.

Her throat felt strangely dry as she tried to eat her breakfast. She gave up on trying to swallow her food after a few futile attempts, and just settled for drinking her glass of water.

"Liddy dear, are you sure that's all you want?" Aunt Gail asked between mouthfuls of her own breakfast. Lydia gave a nod as she took a long drink. The water helped to calm her nerves, and she soon asked for more.

Once her aunt had finished her breakfast, she phoned for a taxi while Gelby Apparated Lydia's school supplies down to the door.

"We'll have to take a taxi, dear," her aunt said apologetically. "I know it's slow, but it will have to do. King's Cross will be swarming with Muggles, and I don't know how to drive."

Lydia didn't mind the slow mode of transportation. She was nervous about meeting the other Hogwarts students, and kept fiddling with the pendant that still hung around her neck. Though she feared rejection, the pendant was special to her and she couldn't bear to take it off. She had worn the tee-shirt to help hide it, since its high neckline covered both the chain and pendant.

Far too soon, the taxi arrived at King's Cross. The driver helped to load her belongings into a trolley, giving Mithra strange looks. Aunt Gail tried several times to count out the Muggle money. Finally she handed the change purse to the driver and left, leaving him to stare after them.

Lydia looked down at her ticket while her aunt wheeled the trolley into the station. "Platform nine and three-quarters," she read out loud, looking at her aunt. "Do you know how to get there?"

"Oh yes, dear!" her aunt said happily. "It must be the same as when I went to Hogwarts. How I miss those days!" she sighed reminiscently.

They stopped at the divide between platforms nine and ten. Following her aunt's lead, she waited for a group of Muggles to pass before stepping through the solid-looking brick barrier. Looking around her, she saw that she had stepped onto a platform filled with people. A scarlet steam engine was waiting, and a sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock.

"Well, you best be finding a seat!" Aunt Gail said, pulling her niece into a strong hug. "Have a good time!" Lydia returned the hug, a lack of oxygen preventing her from replying.

Once she was free again, Lydia wheeled her trolley towards an empty compartment. Taking a seat, she gave her aunt a last wave through the window, her stomach in a knot.