The morning of July 16th, 2022 was a particularly pleasant morning in Glasgow. It was raining. It had been raining for the past two weeks, but EmmaLee liked the rain. It smelled like new growth and clean air. She was also rather glad that the rain and clouds made it cooler here. Her friends in New York had said that it was rather cloudy and rainy there lately, too and the reminder made her frown. She had refrained from making new friends here because she was afraid that she would just be whisked off somewhere else and forced to make new friends all over again. Also, school was starting soon and she could just make longer-lasting friends there. Victor had said something about Hogwarts offering a summer camp now and she was thinking about going.
After a few extra minutes of snuggling under the warm covers and shaking bad thoughts out of her head, she got out of bed and dressed in a dark blue summer dress. She pinned her hair half up in two pony tails that cascaded down her back in waves along with the rest of her white blonde hair. It felt like a day to be properly dressed.
As EmmaLee headed downstairs, there was a persistent tapping at the kitchen window and she headed over to the window to let in the very wet owl, who gratefully swopped in and perched next to their own owl on a stand near the back door. Avion, the LaChance's barn owl, chittered in annoyance at not only being woken up, but being woken up by something wet flying beside him. EmmaLee grabbed a small kitchen towel and wiped some of the water off of postal the bird before taking their post, filling the little tray with water, and giving it a treat, which Avion found insulting, as well, so he got a treat, too.
"Buggy little bird." EmmaLee said with a chuckle as she turned and looked at the letter. It was addressed to her from "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She let out a little 'eep!' as she turned the letter over and opened it just as her mother came down the stairs.
"Is that your school letter, mon étoile?" She asked, moving over to start making coffee. Celeste LaChance was the picture of elegance even with her black hair in a loose bun at the top of her head and in a red night-robe. EmmaLee nodded as the read the letter congratulating her on her first year and the list of school supplies.
"Shall we go to London today, then?" Came the voice of Victor LaChance as he too came down the stairs in his pajamas. Celeste and EmmaLee nodded and the two adults headed back upstairs to get dressed. EmmaLee packed a small suitcase, as they had decided to stay in London until EmmaLee left for the school.
Once the adults where ready, EmmaLee grabbed her suitcase and her mother's hand and they apparated to Diagon Ally.
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After their apparated arrival, one EmmaLee was certain she would never get used to in a million years, the trio headed to get a hotel room for their stay, dropped off their things, and ate lunch. Now they were back in Diagon Ally and Victor was so excited that he was buzzing.
"The very first thing that we should do is get you a wand. I had hoped to get you a wand in America, but Ollivander's is certainly the next best thing." He said, practically prancing down the cobblestone streets of the shopping district. His wife and stepdaughter giggled at his excitement.
"I think he might be more excited about you starting your first year than you are?" Celeste said with her own more quite excitement evident.
"Do you think so?" EmmaLee asked, cheekily. Victor turned around, wrinkled his nose, and stuck his tongue out at the two. If Celeste had ever doubted his ability to raise her daughter as his own, he had surely proved himself with this adventure and his pure excitement about it. He had completely adopted EmmaLee into his heart almost instantly and as far as he was concerned, she had never not been his daughter, it just took him a while to find his little family.
"Well, here it is. Ollivander's wand shop." Victor said, opening the door for the ladies and waving them inside. "Step one."

EmmaLee stepped through the door of Ollivander's shop in awe. Towers and towers of tiny wand boxes stretched neatly across every wall and quite a few were stacked in towering, but neat piles on the floor.
"Hello, Mr. Ollivander!" Victor called out. "We are here to buy a wand."
"Well you aren't very well here to buy a kneazle are you, now." Gerrick Ollivander said with a chuckle as he came out from around a book shelf and stepped up to the service counter. "Another bright young witch off to Hogwarts, yes?" He asked, peering at EmmaLee over his glasses curiously. The girl's curls bounced as she nodded in excitement.
"Yes, sir." EmmaLee practically squeaked.
"Good. Good. I remember every wand I've ever sold, but I don't believe I know this family. New in town?" The older man asked, peering over his glasses at Celeste and coming around the counter to stand in front of EmmaLee with a measuring tape. He began to measure her from shoulder to finger, shoulder to floor, wrist to elbow, knee to armpit, and around her head.
"Yes, Mr. Ollivander. My husband is from America and I am from France." Celeste said, gesturing to each of them in turn. "We did not attend Hogwarts but we know that it is a fine school for our daughter."
"That it is. That it is. An Acajor wand, I presume?" Ollivander asked, turning to Victor and peering at him. He looked a few times between the tall, tan Victor and the pale, petite EmmaLee, but said nothing and abruptly turned back to Celeste. "Good wands. Not my wands, " He winked with a impish smile, "but good wands."
EmmaLee giggled as the tape measure continued to measure her as Ollivander stepped away and continued to talk to her parents.
"Yes. Ivy and unicorn hair. It has served me well." Celeste said with a smile. Ollivander nodded and turned down the stacks without asking Victor anything, which made the younger man raise an eyebrow and frown at his wife. Celeste shrugged a little and patted him on the shoulder. As Olivander walked around the shop and collected boxes, he explained his methods and the four cores he preferred.
"Now the wand does choose the wizard and you'll never get such good results with another person's wand." He said, coming back into view behind a stack of tiny square boxes and waving off the always excited measuring tape. EmmaLee watched it crumple to the floor dejectedly with an amused kind of sadness for it. "Why don't we start here, then. Apple and unicorn hair might serve you well." Ollivander said, handing her the wand. Almost the second she had it in her hand, he pulled it away from her and handed her another and then another, listing off various cores, sizes, wood, types, and flexibilities.
EmmaLee (and Victor, though she didn't notice) frowned as the pile of rejected wands got bigger and bigger. It almost felt personal. Was she not worthy of a British, Ollivander wand? Would she have to take a whole trip back to France in order to get her a 'proper' French wand?
Ollivander crossed his arms for a moment in thought and rubbed his chin, while they had not cleared the shop of it's contents, the pile was getting quite large. Also, some other customers had popped in, saw the process, and left to wait out their turn doing other shopping.
"Tricky, tricky, but we'll find the one. Your wand is here, young lady. " He said, seemingly more to himself than to EmmaLee. He turned to Victor and eyed him again. "You are the American one, yes?" Ollivander asked in a calculating, almost skeptical way. The wheels in his head were obviously moving more and more quickly.
"Yes, but --" Victor started, about to admit that he was not EmmaLee's biological father, but he was cut off by Ollivander abruptly turning and heading to the back of the shop. He was in the back for quite a bit before returning. EmmaLee turned to her mother in a panic.
"Maman, are we going to have to go somewhere else for my wand?" She asked, grabbing her mother's hand, fraught with worry. Celeste patted her daughter's hand calmly.
"Don't worry, mon étoile, Mr. Ollivander definitely knows what he is doing." She said, comfortingly petting EmmaLee's hair. Shortly after, Mr. Ollivaner came back with a dusty, but beautifully painted box. It had a large thunderbird painted on top and strange symbols around the edges that EmmaLee could not understand.
"Maybe you need a wand of a different color." He said, tapping the box and opening it. "This is not my wand." He continued, pulling out a beautiful, smooth, white wand, with an iron handle and iron accents that looked like waves rolling up the wand. At the end of the handle was a small, white diamond. "I don't sell a lot of wands that I have not made myself, but this wand came into my possession by gift from a very talented wandmaker quite a few years ago. They wanted me to examine it for quality and it is quite a quality wand. Hornbeam wood with a thunderbird core. 12.7 inches. Give it a try, my dear." He finished, holding the wand out to EmmaLee.
EmmaLee took the wand hesitantly from Mr. Ollivander, afraid that this beautiful wand would also reject her, but this time, a feeling of warmth spread out from the wand across her hand and up her arm. She raised the wand and gave it a little swish into the air. Immediately, the wand released a shower of yellow sparks that morphed into a glittering thunderbird before calmly dissipating.
EmmaLee didn't know it, but Victor had been holding his breath and in a large laugh that lasted for a few moments, he let it out. EmmaLee whirled around, shocked and upset at being laughed at.
"What's so funny?" She asked, her anger at being laughed at by her stepfather overcoming her joy at getting her wand.
"I'm sorry, EmmaLee." Victor said, standing straight and catching his breath. "I just find this whole thing amusingly serendipitous." He said, wiping his eyes and turning to the older man. "This is Shikoba Wolfe's work is it not?" He asked, now that he had regained composure. Ollivander nodded knowingly.
"Yes, it is." He said. Victor nodded and turned to EmmaLee.
"I recognized the box. Shikoba paints each one herself and those symbols are Choctaw language." He said, kneeling down and pointing out the strange symbols. "I can't read it, but I know what it looks like. I also have a Thunderbird wand made by Wolfe. My family has been buying her wands for many, many years and she is the only wand maker who makes wands with Thunderbird cores. For my child to end up with a Shikoba Wolfe wand in Britain of all places is completely improbable, but I suppose, possible." Victor explained, standing up and patting EmmaLee on the shoulder. "I was also sorted into Thunderbird when I went to Ilvermorny. So, I just find it really amazing that you ended up with a wand similar to the one I would have bought you." Ollivander smiled and chuckled a little himself.
"Well, as I always say, the wand chooses the wizard." He said, waving the small family off to deal with his next customer.

The rest of the LaChances' shopping trip was much less eventful. They went to Flourish and Blotts, Madam Malkin's, and everywhere else they needed to go in order for EmmaLee to get all of her school supplies. They also bought a few different outfits for EmmaLee to wear to summer camp, which would be starting in a couple of weeks.
After Victor explained that students from all of the wizarding schools would be going to summer camp, EmmaLee was extra exited to go. Granted, none of her current friends would be going, but it would be nice any way to meet some other students from Ilvermorny that she might have gone to school with. She was still pretty hung up on not being able to go to school with her current friends.
All of her current friends were going of vacations with their parents this summer and she had been invited along on a couple, but Victor and Celeste had already planned this trip to London and for her to go to summer camp. Her parents were hoping that this would give her a less rigid opportunity to make friends from Hogwarts and help her warm up to her new school.
The very last thing they did was buy EmmaLee a trunk for all of her things. Unbeknownst to EmmaLee, her mother had preordered a custom trunk for her. It was a beautiful midnight blue trunk with stars, the moon, and blue morpho butterflies painted over the whole trunk. It was one last going away present and EmmaLee hugged her mother tight as the shopkeeper rolled it out. Afterwards the small family went to dinner, had strawberry shortcake, and headed back to their hotel room.

The LaChances spent the next couple of weeks roaming around both the muggle and wizarding sights in London. Before they knew it, it was time to take EmmaLee to the London Quidditch Stadium to attend summer camp. Victor and Celeste told EmmaLee that they were still going to meet her at the train station on September 1st to see her off to the school.

And with that, EmmaLee LeDames started her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.