 For Faith & Zoryn
Sloane heaved the door open, flung herself inside and closed the door quickly, only stopping for a moment to catch her breath. Leaning against the door, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d actually be in trouble for running away from Faith and Zoryn. No doubt Faith would catch up first. It wasn’t that she didn’t want them both there. They’d honestly been super kind, letting her stay with them and even giving her pocket money! That was a first. It didn’t really matter anyway. All that mattered was that she had made it!
Taking in her surroundings for the first time properly, she couldn’t help but focus on the most insignificant of details as she tried to take a mental picture of it all. Not because she was looking at anything spectacular but because, for an eleven-year-old, this dusty, old shop was everything. It was her chance to actually get a wand! Her own wand too and not one she’d borrowed from her brother, Mika. And more importantly, it was her chance to escape everything and go to Hogwarts! Everything she’d been told about the school from the secret passage ways to the ghosts, moving staircases and the lessons themselves sound unfathomable, as though it had been concocted from the deepest parts of her imagination.
Sidestepping several families, she took several hesitant steps away from the door and moved further into the shop towards the glass display of wands. Her eyes wandered from wand to wand, unsure exactly what was so special about each of them, other than the fact they belonged to a bunch of old wizards. Briefly, it did cross her mind that borrowing a famous wand would be such a cool story to tell her siblings at Hogwarts, but all in all, this seemed like a bigger deal than pocketing an expensive quill and because there were lots of people who could snitch on her. With a sigh, she turned towards the door expectantly, awaiting the inevitable arrival of one or both of her carers. She even fixed her face with what she’d hoped was a warm, friendly and not at all intimidating smile. See, she could be nice when she wanted to be?!
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