"This one too! Yes I'm sure." Rosalie turned and placed another book into her father's waiting arms. Just over his shoulder, her mother was giggling at the exasperated look on his face. Rosalie watched as she reached up to squeeze his arm.

"I have the list right here, dear. She really does need all of these books" Her mother turned and winked at her, coming up to link her arm through hers and lead her through the next row of books. Rosalie listened attentively as her mother regaled her with another tale of her time at Hogwarts. She had been a Ravenclaw, and the top of her class. Truth be told, Rosalie was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to follow in her mother's footsteps. She had read about the clever house of Ravenclaw in "Hogwarts: A History" and she just wasn't sure that was where she would end up. She left her mother to search for the last remaining books on her list and wandered back over to her father, who had set down the ever-growing stack of books on a near-by table and was sitting in a plush chair next to it.

Rosalie hopped onto the table next to the books, but one quick glance from her father had her moving to the other plush chair with a sheepish smile. Her father was a muggle who didn't seem to understand much of anything that had happened since they had entered Diagon Alley. He had been really supportive when she received her Hogwarts letter though, and she was always grateful to him.

"Are you ready, dear one?" He asked her, leaning his arms on the small table between them. "Hogwarts will be a big change."

"I know Dad." She replied, shaking her head with a smile on her face. "I think you worry too much." Her father opened his mouth to respond when something caught their attention.

Talia trips, in the middle of Flourish and Blotts, over a large stack of books.

Five books tumble to the ground with a loud thud. She gets off the ground hastily, reassembling the stack and pushing it closer to the edge of the room. "Please don't do that on the stage on your way to the Sorting Hat," Talia's father mutters under his breath. Her mother beside her guffaws, levitating a few books out of ceiling high shelves and delivering them gracefully into Talia's arms. Talia stumbles a little under the weight and throws a weak smile at a group of older students who stifle their laughter, having seen her trip.

"I won't trip. And I won't trip walking back to the Slytherin table either," Talia retorts. She says this, but she's nervous, now thinking of every single possible way she could make a fool of herself on the first day at Hogwarts. Her father pats her on the back, and Talia catches the gleam of a small snake pin on his lapel. Her father never forgets to show his house pride.

A few witches and wizards who've caught sight of her father begin buzzing with excitement, and then Talia remembers he just published the final volume to his latest book series. She groans, tugging on her mom's sleeve: "Let's get in line before he starts signing autographs."

Talia quickly joins the long queue but has a while to go before the checkout. She watches one of the Flourish and Blotts attendants charm a ladder across the room, and in doing so, trips over the bag of the young blonde witch in front of her. Again? "O-oh, I'm sorry about that..."

”O-oh, I’m sorry about that...”

Rosalie smiled at the dark-haired girl, standing up and reaching out a hand to steady her as she tripped over her bag. When she was sure that the girl wasn’t going to fall, she reached down and grabbed the small floral book-bag she had bought for her upcoming year at Hogwarts and slung it over her shoulder.

“Oh you’re fine! Probably I shouldn’t have my bag laying around where someone could trip on it anyway!” Rosalie said with a sheepish smile in her father’s direction. Just then, her mother returned with her remaining books, adding them to the tall stack that had formed. Folding her hands under her chin, Rosalie glanced up at her father with a pleading look on her face, clapping her hands together once when he sighed and gathered the books in his arms.

“In the muggle world, we have carts.” She heard him mutter under his breath. She patted his shoulder and turned back to the girl, who was apparently standing at the end of a very long checkout line. She stepped up to join her, tossing all of her long hair onto one side so she could put on the other strap of her bag.

“I’m Rosalie, by the way.” She said, turning to pull a couple of books off of the stack and hold them herself. “What’s your name? Are you a first year at Hogwarts too? She asked excitedly, hoping to make a new friend. As she waited for an answer, she noticed a small group of witches and wizards twittering with excitement on the other side of the store. I wonder what they’re going on about she thought to herself.

"I'm Talia," Talia answers sheepishly. "Talia Callidus. And yeah, I'm a first year. You?" Talia sees her mom out of the corner of her eye watching Rosalie's father struggle under the weight of the heavy schoolbooks she has accumulated. Talia's own books are floating neatly a few feet off the ground next to her mother.

Before Rosalie can answer, Talia's father jumps into the conversation: "Here, let me help you with that!" He twirls his wand and Rosalie's books are lifted out of her father's hands, settling just by his side, suspended in the air. Rosalie's father looks at Talia's thankfully. The group of wizards and witches that had been observing him burst into applause. Talia cringes with embarrassment as Rosalie stares at her father's growing fan club. "Er, don't mind them, my dad's just..."

"J.M. Callidus, nice to meet you!" Talia's father flashes a winning smile at Rosalie's parents, extending his hand to her father and then her mother. "Forgive me, but I must ask, sir, are you a Muggle? I mean no disrespect, actually, I'm quite fascinated by Muggles..."

"Oh, shut up," Talia's mother snaps goodheartedly at him. Thanks mom, Talia thinks with relief. Her mom continues, grabbing Rosalie's parents' hands in another round of exuberant handshakes. "I'm Kanae Miyuno, auror, at your service. Pleasure to meet you!"

Her mother pauses for a moment, eyes lingering on Rosalie's mother. "Hold on, I'm pretty sure I--
weren't you a Ravenclaw prefect?" Talia groans internally. Whenever her parents get started on reminiscing their Hogwarts days, conversations can stretch for hours.

Rosalie watched with wide eyes as Talia’s father twirled his wand in a flourishing, jubilant manner, effectively lifting her text books out of her father’s arms. She smiled and released her grip as her own books joined the pile now floating next to them. She laughed at her father’s wide eyes as he glanced at her, and then her mother.

“You mean that was an option the whole time?” He asked incrediously. Her mother smiled at him apologetically and Rosalie moved to link her now free arm through his, just as the ever-growing fan club beside them burst into applause. Rosalie glanced back at Talia as she heard her begin to say something, but her words were quickly drowned out by her Father’s booming voice.

“J.M. Callidus, nice to meet you!” Rosalie’s father’s eyes were still wide, as he never was the terribly outgoing type, but he gripped Mr. Callidus’ outstretched hand tightly. Her mother looked entirely too amused, and Rosalie decided she liked Talia’s energetic father. “Forgive me, but I must ask, sir, are you a Muggle? I mean no disrespect, actually, I’m quite fascinated by Muggles...”

Rosalie couldn’t hold back her giggles at the lost look on her father’s face, even as Talia’s mum jumped in and introduced herself as well. Rosalie rolled her eyes as she heard Talia’s mother ask about her mum’s time at Hogwarts. Her mother loved talking about her time at Hogwarts, and she was entirely positive that this conversation was going to last a while. Leaving their mothers to talk about their glory days, and what would have been an amusing conversation in which Mr. Callidus asked her father how washing machines worked, Rosalie stepped up to stand next to Talia.

“We just can’t take them anywhere, can we?” Rosalie joked, taking in the rest of the store’s inhabitants as the line moved forward. The fan club that had accumulated around Talia’s father seemed rather put off that he’d rather talk to her muggle father, and they soon disappated, though they didn’t go too far.

“If Hogwarts is half exciting as this outing has been, I will never run out of things to do!” she said joyfully. They were close to the front of the line now, and Rosalie mentally catalogued all of the things they still needed to do. Flourish and Blotts had been their first stop, and there was still so much to do. “What about you? Are you looking forward to your first year? I know I just can’t wait to go!”

"I'm looking forward to being in Slytherin!" Talia says, puffing her chest out with pride. "It gets a bad rap as the evil house, but I think that's all rubbish. My father was in Slytherin and I want to be too." She pauses, watching her father talk happily with Rosalie's family. Her eyes find her mother, who is playing absentmindedly with her wand, making Talia's books chase each other in circles as she talks with Rosalie's mother. "My mom was in Gryffindor... but I can't imagine myself being in her house. It just doesn't seem to suit me." Talia shrugs. As Talia and Rosalie's parents pay for their books, Talia peers through the shop's large windows out at bustling Diagon Alley.

"Hogwarts better be as full of adventure as my parents say," Talia laughs. "I'm just excited to get my wand so that I can start learning spells as soon as possible. I really want to join the dueling club."
Talia bags her fresh new schoolbooks and feels a thrill rush through her-- suddenly it all feels real. Her whole life is beginning, and the possibilities feel endless.

"Where do you want to go next, girls?" Talia's mom chimes in, breaking Talia's reverie. "How about wands? You'll be real witches then." Talia's observed that her parents and Rosalie's have clicked exceptionally well.

"How about it?" Talia turns to Rosalie with a smile on her face. She likes this girl, and is curious to see what her wand might turn out to be.