Emily Potter and the Cursed Vaults

Chapter 7: A New Pet

Eventually, she found Fred, George, Ron, Percy and Harry looking at butterbeer-flavoured gummy bears in Sugar Plum Sweets, and she quickly debriefed them on what had happened.

'Did you destroy anything? When I got my wand I accidentally threw like 3 boxes off the shelves.' Harry asked as he chucked some bags of candy onto the counter. The witch at the till rung him up and they left the store. Emily contemplated telling Harry about the vase and the lamp, but she wanted him to think she had a better experience than him, (and hopefully be jealous for once) so she lied and said everything went fine. His smile faltered but he brushed it off.

'Well, let's see your wand then,' Fred made a grabbing motion at the wand in Emily's hand.

'I don't know if I trust you not to break it,' she answered, remembering the joke-ish qualities Harry said the twins have.

'I've had my wand for years and I've never broken it! Come on, just let us see.' He snatched the wand out of Emily's hand and the boys laughed. They stopped laughing, however, when they saw what the wand looked like.

'This looks just like how I've heard You-Know-Who's wand described,' George muttered, taking the wand into his hand to get a better look.

'It's made from the same wood, but it's not even that similar. What does it matter anyway?' Emily shrugged but deep down she was quite smug. Her wand did look a lot like Voldemort's.

'Nothing, it's just weird... I guess.' He responded, still staring at the wand.

'Ok time's up! Give it back,' she snatched the wand back from his hand and stuffed it in the pocket of her jumper. After a moment of awkward silence, they began walking back to Olivanders, which surprisingly (and embarrassingly) wasn't far from the sweet shop. Just as they arrived they saw Ginny and Molly waving at them from the doorway of the shop next door to Olivanders, which was a pet shop called The Magical Menagerie. The children ran over to them and we reunited on the steps.

'What wand did you get?' Emily asked curiously, (secretly hoping hers was better).

'Yew wood, phoenix feather core. Almost the same as yours!' she laughed aloud. Emily's heart sank. That was almost as powerful as hers! She obviously didn't want to be like Voldemort, but she longed to have as much power as him; therefore more power than Harry, and now Ginny was just as close as she was! She forced a smile before walking away and huffing to herself. She stood on the steps of the shop as the others talked and laughed, the sound of hurried voices and footsteps echoing around the narrow street. She watched as someone dropped a sack of money and someone behind them picked it up. She watched a little girl running happily down the street, a pet rat perched on her shoulder. She thought about how she had missed all of this when she was locked up in the Dursley's cupboard, how she never got to experience a normal childhood with proper friends and fun days out.

She then made up her mind to make the most of this excursion, because once she left for Hogwarts she didn't know when she would be able to hang out on weekends like this again. She turned back to the group just as they stepped inside the pet store, and immediately all of her feelings of jealousy and annoyance were replaced with happiness and excitement. Cats, owls, rats, toads, and loads of other animals lined the walls in cages. Emily wanted all of them, but she knew she was only allowed one pet at Hogwarts. She didn't even have to think for long to decide she wanted a pet cat.

The Weasleys didn't buy a pet that day because they couldn't afford another one after Scabbers and Errol. Emily however, with the small fortune her parents had left her in Gringotts, was able to choose an animal to bring to Hogwarts. She knew what she wanted right away. She ran straight to the cat section of the store, Ginny at her heels. She rolled her eyes when Ginny wasn't looking, exhausted by her clinginess and energy.

'Which one do you want?' Ginny asked excitedly, tapping Emily on the shoulder. Emily shrugged her hand away but didn't take her eyes off the kittens. Her eyes fell on a small white cat who was eyeing her suspiciously. She was so white she almost looked like Hedwig, which at first annoyed her but after a minute she decided it could be comforting having a familiar pet around since Hedwig would live in the owlery.

She stared at the cat for a while longer before she was shaken back to focus by Harry, who had just run over from where he was standing by the steps, dragging someone along with him.

'Emily! Meet Hermione. She's the smartest in our year. I just saw her walking down the street and I thought you two should meet each other!' His eyes were bright with excitement, and Emily tried to match his energy. She looked to Hermione, who had thick brown hair and a frown plastered across her face.

'Stop talking about me like I'm an inanimate object! I'm right here you know,' She scolded Harry, only half-jokingly. Emily liked Hermione from the moment she met her. They smiled at each other and shook hands before Hermione was distracted by the wall of cats behind Emily.

'Ooh are you choosing a pet? I got a cat too, from this same store!' She pointed at the cage where the white kitten sat.

'That's where Crookshanks was, in that cage with the white cat inside.' Emily stood on her tippy toes to see the cat properly. It looked at her curiously before closing its eyes and resting its head in its paws. Emily decided to take what Hermione said as a sign, and she decided to adopt it.