❝ Understand me, I'm not like an ordinary world. I have my madness, I live in another dimension and I do not have time for things that have no soul. ❞ —Charles Bukowski

   I didn't slow my pace until I reached Flourish and Blott's, where I stopped running and bent to rest my hands on my knees and catch my breath, my heart still hammering in my ribcage and Ollivander's words still racing through my brain. My life was a conflicted contradiction? An outside force was trying to "guide me into a path I wasn't destined for"? What was that even supposed to mean? His words felt more like weird riddles than anything legitimate. Since when did Ollivander gain the abilities to predict the future, anyway?

   Maybe the old man had really lost it. He was just a wandmaker after all, not a Seer. As far as I was concerned, his words could hold no real value whatsoever.

   "Polly, there you are!"

   I turned around to see Sibi, Mike and Oswald June making their way towards me. Sibi was no longer carrying her trunk and the cage that held Tirol, who she must've set free at some point like she said she would.

   "I bought myself a wand," I said, showing them my new purchase and trying to get my mind off Ollivander's words. "Sibi, where's your stuff?"

   "Gringott's lockers," she said. "Let's get inside and buy the school books, shall we?"

   "I'll wait outside," Mr June offered, taking a glimpse inside the small bookstore, which was packed with students.

   We carefully entered the shop, trying not to step on anybody's foot or robes. He made the right choice not to come in-there were way too many people around. Just looking at them made my heart race with anxiety and my palms began to sweat, so I dropped my gaze to my shoes and followed closely behind Sibi and Mike.

   "So, where should we start?" Mike asked.

   "Does any of you have a list? I, uh . . . didn't take mine with me when I left home," I said awkwardly.

   Being the forgetful person that I am, I added mentally. Typical.

   "Wait, I think I have it here," said Sibi. After rummaging in her backpack for a while, she took out a folded piece of parchment paper, unfolded it and read the names of the textbooks out loud.

   "Okay so, Polly, since you're new at Hogwarts you have to choose your two extra subjects," she said. "Anyway, we can buy these ones first and then you can walk around on your own and see what catches your eye. Both Mike and I, for example, take Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, just so you know."

   I made a mental note to myself to remember that. Although our friendship was still in a big question mark, I couldn't deny that I enjoyed their company, and part of me didn't want us to drift apart when we got to Hogwarts.

   "I'll go this way and find some of the books," Mike suggested, gesturing towards his left. "You two can go that way."

   Sibi nodded and led me in the opposite direction, cautiously maneuvering her way through the crowd and glancing at the list of books in her hand every now and then. We grabbed a basket each and started searching for the required titles amidst the shelves.

   "Look at this!" Sibi exclaimed after a couple of minutes. She grabbed a thick book from the lowest shelf of a bookcase, titled One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. "Herbology is my favorite subject. I actually tutor some underclassmen in it. Also professor Umphassen is just the sweetest. I'm sure you'll love her."

   She grabbed another copy of the book and gave it to me. After a few minutes, we found some copies of Fantastic Beasts and where to find them by Newt Scamander. It took me all I had to keep looking, instead of stopping right there so I could go through the textbooks.

   After collecting some other titles, Sibi decided to go look for Mike, giving me space to browse the shelves and decide on my two extra classes. I started to look around, overwhelmed with choices and not knowing where to start.

   The books that surrounded me had thick and colorful covers; others contained moving pictures, one more captivating than the next. I stopped by a shelf that carried books on numerology and mathematics. Too focused on reading the titles of every single one of them as I traced the spines with my fingers, I bumped into somebody.

   "Oh, sorry," I mumbled sheepishly.

   The guy I bumped into looked up from the book he was reading, his eyes meeting mine.

   He was about three inches taller than me with lightly tanned skin and rather handsome, I had to admit. His mussed hair — a deep and shiny chestnut brown — framed his round face, and his eyes were simply breathtaking. They were silvery grey with evident flecks of milky blue.

   The guy didn't drop his gaze immediately. Embarrassed, I shifted my eyes to the weird book with strange symbols that he was reading, titled Intermediate Arithmancy. Back in my muggle high school, I had never been the best at Math, but I'd always found it fascinating, so if there was a similar subject to that in the wizarding world, why not go for it?

   Intrigued by the book, I decided to be bold and ask the guy if I could have a look at it afterwards.

   "I have to choose my two extra subjects and I'm still making up my mind," I explained.

   "Sure," the boy said with a warm smile, closing it and handing it to me. "I'm done with it now, anyway."

   "Thank you," I said, smiling back at him politely and taking the book in my hands.

   I started flipping through the pages and stopped once I found a particularly mesmerizing chapter with moving pictures of numbers on it. Just as I was about to start reading, the guy cleared his throat.

   "Are you new at Hogwarts?"

   Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that he was still standing there, his eyes fixed on me.

   A rush of heat crawled up the sides of my neck. People wouldn't normally stare at me. Back home in Newbury Park, everybody but Rochelle avoided me like the plague. When someone looked my way, it was either to glare, glower or send me a fearful glance and then quickly look away. On top of it all, everyone had a habit of always looking right through me, as if I wasn't even there. I was used to my presence being ignored, and to have someone not only acknowledge it now, but actually pay attention to it and regard me for more than a couple seconds with a look of curiosity . . . it was a foreign feeling.

   "Uh, yes," I said, turning to the boy again. "I'm starting the fifth year."

   "The fifth year?" he repeated.

   "Yeah. I don't know why I got my acceptance letter so late," I admitted with a shrug. "But again, there are many things that I don't understand."

   The boy didn't say anything for a short moment—just continued to look at me with an unreadable expression on his face. Dammit, why was he staring at me like that? My heart started to speed up with anxiety.

   Should I look down? Nah, that'll probably seem rude.

   Finally, the boy opened his mouth to speak.

   "What's your name?"

   I froze. The reactions of Oswald June, Sibi, Mike and Ollivander when I told them my name came flooding to the forefront of my brain. Briefly, I contemplated whether it was smart to tell him or not.

   "Polly," I blurted, deciding to leave my last name out.

   Polly was perfect. After all, there were so many Polly's in the world so how would he possibly know I was Robert Kin's daughter? What people didn't know wouldn't harm them.

   The boy remained silent but still didn't drop his gaze. This was getting awkward.

   "Do you, uh—have anything to say?" I finally asked.

   "Right, sorry," the boy said. He gave a light laugh and sticked out his hand. "I'm Alex, Alex Forster. Nice to meet you."

   Nice to meet you. What a commonly used phrase, yet I'd never heard it being directed to me. Nobody had ever said that to me. Nobody ever thought that meeting me was . . . nice.

   Why had this guy been staring at me just a few seconds ago like he'd never seen a girl before? Why did he even introduce himself to me? People never approached me, never wanted to start a conversation with me. I mean, there was nothing extraordinary or special about me in the first place. It's not like I even made a witty remark as an attempt to start a friendly conversation or something like that.

   I put my overthinking to a halt and shook his hand, forcing a polite smile. "Nice to meet you too."

   "So," he began. "Starting the fifth year, huh? Looks like we're of the same age. Are you nervous about the sorting?"

   "Oh, no. Not really," I replied honestly. "I have other problems to worry about and the sorting isn't one of them. . . yet."

   "You don't look like the kind of girl to have problems," Alex said.

   I raised an eyebrow, then laughed without amusement.

   "Everyone has problems. You don't know me."

   "I'd like to, though," he replied, taking a step forward as a smirk slid onto his face.

   I looked at him quizzically again.

   "Is that supposed to be a joke or a compliment?"

   Alex furrowed his eyebrows, an almost amused look sprawled across his face.

   "Why would that be a joke?"

   Because nobody's ever told me they'd like to know me, duh! And it sounded too ironic to be a compliment, something I probably wouldn't recognize if it hit me in the face as the only ones I'd ever received were about my eyes, the only feature about me people deemed worthy of being complemented.

   But of course, he didn't know that. Instead of answering verbally and revealing my insecurities, I simply scrunched up my shoulders.

   "Well, it was neither," Alex said, that smirk still evident on his face. "It was a . . . factual statement. A confession, if you will."

   Before I could hold myself back, I burst out laughing. A confession. Yeah, right. Only when I became aware several people turned their heads in my direction did I stop, my ears burning hot.

   Alex gave me a confused look.

   "What house are you in?" I asked him after I had eventually calmed down.

   Obviously he was bored and just wanted to start a conversation with someone, so I might as well go along with it.

   "Gryffindor," Alex replied proudly. "And what house do you wish to be in?"

   "Gryffindor, of course. Not that I have anything against the other houses, but I've always wanted to be a Gryffindor and my friends are there too."

   "Ah, so you've already made friends," he said, sounding a little impressed.

   "Er, I— well, kind of."

   "I'd be glad if you got into Gryffindor. Which I'm sure you will."

   I sighed and shook my head. That's only because you don't know who I really am. If you find out, neither you nor anyone else will want to be in the same house with a murderer's daughter.

   "I don't think you'd be that glad about it," I muttered under my breath.

   "And why is that?" he asked in a low voice, stepping even closer and twirling a lock of my blonde hair around his finger.

   Feeling downright uncomfortable from the close distance between us, a sudden urge to scowl at him rose up in me. Was that what he was doing this whole time, trying to hit on me? Geez, what a jerk. And here I was just a moment ago, thinking he was just being friendly.

   I could glare at him all I wanted and spit out harsh words right there and then, without caring how many eyes would turn to us. But thinking about how many of these people were Hogwarts students made me prevent myself from making a wrong move that I would surely regret later. I wasn't going cause a scene in public. The fact that I was a murderer's daughter was bad enough; I didn't want to be labeled "that lunatic who lost her temper at Flourish and Blott's" as well.

   "I think I just told you that you don't know me," I murmured, my eyes lingering on his bluish-grey ones for a few more seconds before I took a step back.

   Looking fixedly at a huge book on a shelf behind him, I directed all my brain energy to it, fighting the urge to snicker when I saw the book floating above his head. Then I shifted my gaze to his face again, the book trembling at the loss of telekinetic contact before falling on top of his head with a thump.

   "Ouch! What the—"

   Never in my life had I wanted to dissolve into laughter more than I did now as Alex rubbed the spot on his head where the book had hit him, his face twisted in shock and physical pain. Several heads snapped in his direction, eyebrows raised in confusion, but no one suspected I was the one responsible, since I had thankfully backed away enough to create a distance of four feet between us.

   I flashed Alex a triumphant smirk. Well, not so smug now, are you?

   "Now, if you'll excuse me," I said wryly, mocking his British accent as I bent my head. "I have to go find my friends."

   He just stood there, motionless, an unreadable look in his eyes. It wasn't rage-filled or hateful, to my surprise. It somewhat resembled . . . amusement. But before he had the chance to say more, I turned on my heel and walked away, resisting the impulse to laugh.

   "See you around then," Alex called from behind me. "Mysterious girl."

   Yeah, because I'm totally looking forward to seeing you around.

   I rolled my eyes and kept walking. When I finally reached a spot from where I knew he could no longer see me, I let out the wholehearted laugh I'd been holding back the entire time.

   "Polly, did— uh, are you okay?"

   Sibi's voice and the fact that she had just appeared in front of me with Mike by her side took me by surprise. She looked at me in confusion, and I took a deep breath to calm myself down from my laughing fit.

   "Uh, y-yeah. Hi guys. Did you find everything?"

   "Yeah," Mike said. "We were coming to ask if you picked your two extra subjects."

   "Just one. Arithmancy. Did you guys say you're in Care of Magical Creatures?"

   "Yeah," said Sibi.

   "Great. I'll choose that as my second class then."

   Her face lit up.

   "I knew it! Good thing I grabbed an extra Monster Book of Monsters. Here."

   She gave me the book and I put it inside my basket. Mike also handed me a pile of books he had collected for me.

   "Thanks, Mike." I felt the weight of my basket increasing as I lowered the stack into it. "Shall we go pay now?"

   It took us a while to complete our purchases because the line was unbearably long, but after fifteen minutes or so, we were able to place the money on the counter, get our textbooks packed and leave the store.

  Mr June was waiting for us outside, sat on a wooden bench. When we appeared with the packages of books in our hands, he looked up, a relieved smile tugging at his lips.

   "Well, you have spent exactly half an hour there," he said, checking the time on his wristwatch. "Hope you're done with the books, so we won't have to return later."

   "Yeah, we're done," Mike said with an exhausted sigh.

   All of a sudden, an idea popped into my head.

   "You know what we need now?" I said. "A refreshing drink. It's pretty hot, I still have a lot of money left and I've been looking forward to trying Butterbeer. How about we go to the Leaky Cauldron?"

   Mr June rubbed the back of his neck in unease. "Polly, darling, that's very sweet of you but—"

   "I'm sorry Mr June, but I have to insist," I interrupted. "You gave me a place to stay for an entire week and this is my opportunity to thank you for your hospitality."

   He tried again, his attempt feeble. "You really don't have to."

   "I actually do," I persisted. "Besides, no matter the situation, everyone deserves a Butterbeer." I glanced back at Sibi and Mike, smiling at them as though in confirmation. They returned the gesture, shrugging. "Awesome. Off we go then!"

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quick question: are my chapter too long? usually idc about their length but i still feel like i need to ask for your opinion