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Chapter One: Around the Corner

It was a beautiful morning or as beautiful as August weather could get. But to say Mandy was concerned with the weather, at this time of the morning, would be completely immoral. Said girl was currently lying unconscious, arm lying limp over the side and a leg flopped over a disray of sheets and a black mink blanket. The other arm lay tucked under the pillow, propping up her head, her brown hair matted against it. She sleep on peacefully, but her peaceful slumber was not to last...

BRRRRRRRIIIINNNNNGGGG!!!!!

The muggle contraption, known as an alarm clock, cried out from its position on the wooden bedside table. Without opening her eyes, Mandy swung her arm, making the annoying object rebound off the wall then clutter noiselessly to the floor.

"Just five more minutes," she mumbled, turning over.

Twenty minutes later, her door banged open, making Mandy awake in shock. Seeing who it was, she groaned out loud and pulled an edge of the blanket to cover her head. 'So warm...' Her attempt to go back to sleep went unnoticed by the tall brunette at the door. The woman frowned a little before stalking over to the bed, her marron robes following behind, and yanked the covers off. Mandy shuddered at the loss of warmth and curled into the fetal position. Her mother laughed.

"Come on Amanda. We're going to Diagon Alley today. Hurry up and get changed."

A muffled 'sod off' was faintly heard from Mandy, which was ignored by her mother, who smiled.

"You've got 15 minutes to get your sack of bones down stairs. I'll be waiting, so get up."

Without waiting for any sort of response, the woman left, slamming the door in hopes of awakening her daughter fully. Mandy groggily opened her eyes and moaned as an onslaught of sunlight filtered in through her green curains.. She pulled herself up, sitting so she sat on the edge of the bed, her palms rubbing away any sign of sleep in her eyes.

"Hell, so tired. Just another five minutes..."

She started to drift off when her mother's voice rang throughout the house, "AND NO GOING BACK TO SLEEP!"

Mandy nearly fell off the bed in shock but composed herself. "Alright, I'm up already!" She growled to herself.

Hauling herself off the bed, she walked over and opened the curtains, hissing slightly as the sunlight glared at her. Turning around, so she faced a small pile of clothing on the floor, she did a lucky dip and fished out random items of clothing to wear for the day. Slipping into a loose dark green Holyhead Harpies t-shirt and denim three-quarters, she looked around her dark grey and green room that was covered in various Holyhead Harpies and Falmouth Falcons posters. 'I'm gonna miss my lie-in's...'

Once dressed, she glanced at the dark grey-black robes that hung on the back of her door. After a quick internal debate, she slipped the garment off the hook and slipped in on, the material feeling weightless on her shoulders. After giving up the search for her sneakers, she slipped on a pair of black boots then, absentmindedly, reached for the jar of muggle gel and went about 'poofing and spiking' her hair. Once done she glanced in her mirror.

"You look spiffy!" The mirror commented.

"I feel like crud," she muttered, then trudged down the stairs, picking up her abandoned wand on the way. When she made her way down to the last step, she saw her mother lifting various objects, cursing under her breath.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Looking for my purse," her mother said, putting a cushion back in place.

Mandy turned her head to look behind her and smirked. "Found it."

Her mother stopped and looked at her with a questioning look on her face. Mandy jabbed her thumb in the direction of the kitchen, "On the bench. As per usual."

Her mother groaned in annoyance, hurrying over to it then moved over to the fireplace. "Shall we?" She asked, rhetorically. Mandy nodded, muttering something along the lines of 'oldies before newbies.'

Her mother shot her a mock glare, "I am not old!" She turned back to the fireplace, floo powder in hand. "Diagon Alley!"

Mandy waited a minute before grabbing some floo powder for herself and stepped up to the fireplace, a conniving grin, to rival any Slytherin's, on her face. Throwing the powder in, she called out her destination,

"Knockturn Alley!"

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Arriving at Knockturn Alley, or more precisely, Borgin and Burkes, was not Mandy's first time there. Despite being a dodgy place for a 13 year-old girl to be in, Mandy didn't care as she ignored all others, who in turn, ignored her - not that everyone ignored her. There was an occassionl person who came up to her trying to sell something horrid, but Mandy always had ways of getting away, even if it meant purchasing from them, with horror. But her ignorance was not the only thing that saved her, but also he--

Oof! Not looking where she was going, she collided into a muscular dark-haired person, making herself fall onto the ground, hitting her head on the shelf behind her.

"Freaking Hell! Mother Night!" Using a saying from a fantasy book she once read [1], "My head! Dammit!"

Rubbing the back of her head, she looked at who she had walked into - Blaise Zabini. Knowing that being a typical Ravenclaw at this time and place would be fruitless, she stood up, clutching her head where blood seeped from her wound and walked off, cursing her head off, leaving a disgruntled yet surprised Blaise scowling at her retreating figure.

Once outside, she sat down on the rickety seat, her head near her knees, her hand covering the back of her head, where she was hit. Her breathing became shallow as the pain registered, although she was still muttering curses under her breath. No-one cared that she was injured, and she didn't care either. She was old enough and ugly enough to look after herself [2]. Sighing, she lifter her hand away from her head and watched with dire fascination as the deep red blood slowly trailed down her fore and middle fingers. She pressed the other hand to her head, ignoring the shot of pain, then pulled it away to see less blood than before. Sighing again, she wiped her hands on the seat and stood up, too quickly. The world started spinning, so she sat herself back down, her head between her knees and breathing deeply.

Once the world stood still, Mandy stood up and headed towards Diagon Alley. On turning a corner, she came face to back with a familiar blonde-head - Draco Malfoy. Retreating, she walked in another direction, hoping to avoid contact with the Slytherin.

'So many Slytherin's down here today. Too many for my liking' she thought to herself.

Noticing that the surrounding area about her was getting darker, she reversed and walked back the way she came, shrugging off an old witch selling something vaguely similar to toe nails. Turning down the pathway Draco was previously in, Mandy followed the light that came from Diagon Alley, and carried on until the darkness gave away to the light. Shielding her eyes from the onslaught of light, she didn't notice the person reaching for her, until it was too late. A black-clad arm grabbed hold of her grey-black robe and pulled the unsuspecting Ravenclaw towards them, a little too roughly, which caused the brunette to yelp in surprise and pain as her head accidentally hit a wall. Blinking against the light, she growled in frustration before recognising the person.

"What the fu--oh shit..."

End Chapter One.
To be continued...

Notes
[1] Saying is from 'The Black Jewels Trilogy' by Anne Bishop. Awesome books.
[2] That was something my old Maths teacher used to say.

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