Time to explore [Alyssa]

Oh, but this was so exciting! Pixie had been in Diagon alley for an hour already and she felt as if she could happily spend the day...no, an entire week here! The small girl, clad as always in jeans and t-shirt (this one was red) had bought all her schoolbooks and graciously allowed her mother to carry the heavy bag, which left her hands free to explore. As yet, Pixie had no wand, and she was still trying not to feel impatient that it was the last thing she would be allowed to buy. Of course, her long-suffering parents knew that as soon as she had that slim piece of wood she would want to try it out, underage magic laws or no, and they wanted a final few hours of peace before they started wondering what new mischief the 11 year old would be getting up to.

Right now, the mischief was simply that she'd slipped out of the apothecary while her mother was buying her potions ingredients and intended to go for a little expedition on her own. At home, Pixie and her little brother were allowed out to play all the time, and she didn't see why she should have to hold her mother's hand all the time just because she was in London. This was Diagon Alley - there wouldn't be any muggles here to worry about and she would be perfectly safe (Pixie had no idea of how things had been just a couple of years earlier when You-know-who had been in control)...and probably only in a little bit of trouble when her parents caught up with her!

She wandered down the street, looking completely unconcerned by the fact that she was alone, veering from one shop window to the next as she headed straight for anything that caught her eye. She paused for a couple of minutes at the Magical Menagerie, nose pressed up against the window as she watched a cageful of puffskeins rolling around, and then she was off again, crossing the street and staring longingly at the firebolt that was the only thing that hung in another window, surrounded by drapes of green and silver. Pixie would love her own broom - a proper broom that is, not the little childrens' one she had now that only got about six feet off the ground... but at that moment her stomach grumbled and a more pressing need made itself known.

Sweets! Or maybe ice cream...she definitely had enough sickles in her purse for that. Spinning around, she almost bumped into another girl a few inches taller than herself. "Oops! Sorry..." she said, still looking around for a sweetshop before an exciting thought struck her. She grinned at the girl and asked boldly "Do you go to Hogwarts yet?"

Alyssa was in awe. Not having spent very much time in the magical world Diagon Alley was truly something to behold. feeling slightly out of place in her jeans and t-shirt she stuck close to her parents. Never had she been around so many people and the thought of getting lost in London was a scary one. "Stay close Alyssa, we can't go losing our little Hummingbird now, can we?" her dad had warned her that morning as they left the hotel they where staying at.

They got Alyssa's books, which where obviously to heavy for her to car them all at once. Or so she said to her dad, convincing him to carry them for her. Then they went to Madam Malkins to have her robes fitted. She squirmed throughout the whole fitting, asking why wizards still wore robes as they were so uncomfortable and ugly. Her mother laughed and told her that's just the way things where done and to stop complaining

As the left the Clothing shop Alyssa say someone twirling out of the corner of her eye."oft." Alyssa dodged the smaller girl before they could end up in a disastrous collision. "No i'm starting this year. Is it the same for you?Why are you alone, shouldn't you be with your parents." Alyssa said a little worried that such a small girl was running around the shops all by here self. Alyssa's parents where only in the next shop.

Pixie's eyes widened in delight. "Me too!" she squealed, completely ignoring the other question for the moment "What house do you want to be in? My Mum was a Gryffindor, but Dad was in Slytherin...I wouldn't want to be in Ravenclaw, would you? All that hard work..." she giggled at the thought, not imagining for one second that anyone might disagree with her. Before the girl had a chance to say anything else, she continued "Oh! I'm Pixie, what's your name?" Coming from a family as large as the Tricketts, Pixie was quite comfortable with introducing herself to complete strangers, though she generally assumed that everyone would feel the same way she did.

Only then did she glance around, having registered what her new companion had said. The last thing she wanted was her mother hurrying up and demanding to know why she'd wandered off before she could have any fun. "I'm not alone" she answered vaguely, pointing down the street at nothing in particular "Mum and Dad are just over there..."

That was true enough. She wasn't alone; there were lots of people around, and she knew exactly where her parents were - or where she had left them, at least. Pixie thought hard, she really wanted to get something to eat, and while she would have her cousins at Hogwarts, it would be great to already have friends before she even got on the train. "Anyway, I was going to get some sweets, did you want..." she checked herself quickly, sensing that she might be talking to someone who didn't have quite such a cavalier attitude to rules as she did "do you think your parents would mind if you got some too?"

"I'm Alyssa, its nice to meet you pixie" Alyssa said with a polite smile. "um Slytherin or Ravenclaw i guess, those where my parents houses." Alyssa said frowning at the girls comment about Ravenclaws and shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Ravenclaw isn't all about work. It's wanting to know things. Being intuitive and Inquisitive." Alyssa wondered how this girl was so comfortable talking to a complete stranger, and where were her parents!

The girl pointed to where her parents should have been but no one was there. Alyssa began to worry the girl had got her self lost. At the thought Alyssa looked into the shop her parents where, relieved when she saw them standing at the counter. she turned back to the girl who was asking if she wanted to go get some sweets.  Alyssa did want some sweets. "I'd love to get some sweets, I'll just check with them." She made towards the shop just as her parents where coming out.

"Mum! This is Pixie, she's starting Hogwarts this year too. Can we go get some Sweets together?" Her mother laughed a little, commenting on her daughters ability to make friends. She said yes to the sweets but told her to be at Olivanders in twenty minutes. "Okay mum, see you in a bit. Lets go Pixie." She turned to the girl with a huge smile on her face almost bouncing with excitement. A Magical friend at last!

Oh - so this girl would be happy in Ravenclaw? Did that mean she liked reading and studying and was actually going to read all those heavy textbooks they'd had to buy? Pixie managed not to wrinkle her nose in disapproval, but she couldn't see how anyone would actually want to read something if they didn't have to! "My Dad was in Slytherin, but Mum was a Gryffindor" she said, her mind already onto more important matters.

She did grin and say hello to Alyssa's parents though; just as if they were an aunt and uncle she hadn't met before (which, with a family as large as the Tricketts wasn't a completely unlikely scenario). Pixie had learned a long time ago that acting cute would get her places; even if she hadn't just played a trick on the grown-ups in question. It also meant that if her parents wondered where she was, she could now say that her friend's Mum and Dad knew where she was, so...well, here the eleven year old's logic broke down, but she didn't let it concern her. What was important was that they had permission - well, kind of - to go off alone!

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed, now looking around to see where they could go. While she knew there were sweetshops in Diagon Alley, teashops that sold fifty different varieties of hot chocolate and all sorts of other places, she had never actually gone anywhere completely alone. Well, not alone really, because she had Alyssa for company now. "Right. Which was shall we go?" she asked, glancing up and down the street. "I think...this way!" she pointed seemingly at random, before remembering something that Alyssa's mother had said. "Wait...you're meeting your parents at Ollivanders? You haven't got your wand yet, either?" Wouldn't it be funny if their wands ended up being made of the same wood or something!

The girl seemed suspiciously sweet, 'she knows how to get her way, might be usefully' Alyssa thought as her parents walked away from the girls. Alyssa was quite excited now, a new friend! Pixie maybe have been the cutest eleven year old she had ever met.  She her self had felt cute was best left to younger children, but this girl seemed to make it work.

"I'm not sure I've never been here before." she said when asked where to go, she then obediently followed the direction pointed out by her new friend, assuming the girl had more knowledge of the Alley than her self. "no i don't have my wand yet, my parents said its a special thing to get so we decided to leave it till last. Get all the boring bits out of the way first." she said as the made their way up the Alley looking for goodies to stuff themselves on. "how 'bout some ice cream" she said as the sight of an ice cream parlour came into view.

"you're very cute you know, what i was wondering is if its all an act?" she looked at the girl, hoping she hadn't offended the girl, but this was important. Alyssa needed to know what kind of person this girl was.

Pixie wasn't in the least worried that the other girl hadn't been here before. She thought about asking why, but then remembered her Dad telling her that some families didn't like being connected to the floo network and so only shopped locally. It seemed a bit weird to the small girl, but she knew only too well that weird could be fun. Maybe Alyssa came from a tiny island and had never met any wizards apart from her own family! At least neither of them could do magic yet; Pixie didn't think she'd be able to bear it if she met a fellow new first year who was already using her wand...or worse still, someone who had their wand but refused to use it! That would just be...weird!

"Me too. Mum said I needed to wait to get my wand because..." because she wanted a final hour of relative sanity" was what Frejdis had actually said, but Pixie had conveniently forgotten about that "because once I have my wand I won't want to buy books! But I've already got my books, so now we can..." she trailed off as the ice cream parlour came into view and a big grin spread across her already enthusiastic face. "Yes! Great idea!" Pixie was about to say "race you!" when she was stopped in her tracks by a surprising question.

A small frown appeared between the girl's eyebrows. She wasn't upset or annoyed; just confused. She thought for a minute. "Nope. I'm definitely me" she confirmed "But I can act if you like... as if we were in a play or something! Shall we pretend to be ladies whose mission in life is to try every different flavour of ice cream there is?" Pixie had completely misunderstood the question, which wasn't entirely surprising. Having grown up with a big sister and a little brother and more cousins she could count, walking up to someone and striking up a conversation was as natural to her as waking up in the morning. She had just never encountered someone who didn't feel the same way. As far as she was concerned, the matter was now settled as she asked "Race you to the ice cream shop?"

 the girl seemed a bit taken aback by her question. "sorry if the question was rude, i'm just not a fan of fake people" she head dropping her head a little, she was always offending people one way or another. she seemed to shake it off quite quickly, and was almost instantly focused on the Ice Cream shop again.

Alyssa chuckled to her self, ' Should be interesting to see this one try and study'. To Alyssa the girl seemed to be one who would flit from one thing to another, never focusing on anything.  That couldn't be good for school work, but it seemed good for Pixie so Alyssa just smiled.

"sure i'll race you, but i don't think you'll win" Alyssa said with a grin. Though she wasn't one for sports she had a fair pair of legs on her and could hold her own in a running race.

Ohh...Pixie understood now. She didn't really know what a fake person was, but she'd heard the phrase from some of her cousins and knew it wasn't something complimentary. "Oh, that's okay! No, I'm not fake. Though sometimes I wish I could completely disappear...like when I swapped the floo powder for icing sugar at my cousins' house. They knew it was me...but it would have been nice to be able to pretend to be somebody else they THEY got the punishment instead!" Pixie laughed. She knew she had a talent for misbehaving and didn't see it as any great secret. As far as she was concerned that was the end of the matter.

"Okay!" she exclaimed, taking off down the street and realising belatedly that Alyssa was taller than she was and had correspondingly longer legs. Pixie was quick, but she was more the sort of person that could dart round corners and avoid people than win a distance race, even if this was just up the street. Plus there were people in the way; apparently more of them in her way than her new friend. She wasn't surprised when Alyssa got there first, but she didn't mind either. Pixie knew that sometimes you won and sometimes you didn't; she definitely couldn't be described as a sore loser.

"You win!" she said happily, now more interested in their destination as she looked at the long list of ice cream flavours. "Ooh look - they do triple cones with chocolate sprinkles! What are you going to get?"

[OOC: Hope it's okay that I moved them on to the ice cream place. Pixie's hungry xD]

Alyssa set of a with a giggle. She could tell herself and Pixie would make great friends. She ran almost full speed, and expertly dodged the people in her path, although they seemed to be more in Pixie's way than her own.  She made it too the parlour just before her friend. and gave a breathy giggle as Pixie arrived.

"hmm, i'm not...MINT CHOC CHIP! that's my favourite." Alyssa squealed a little, then brought her self back remembering she was in a public place. She got in line behind the other customers and dug her money of her pocket, she had just enough for a double cone!  "What about you? What will you get?" Alyssa was smiling now, She wasn't so nervous.

Pixie didn't think the squeal was anything out of the ordinary. She did the same sort of thing six times a day at home; but when she squealed there, it generally set her crup Jack off barking in excitement as well, making far more noise than was necessary! Mint choc chip...well that was nice, but she didn't want three cones exactly the same - Pixie wanted variety!

"I think I want chocolate caramel...no, wait, blueberry fudge...or maybe..." she trailed off thoughtfully. The small girl really wanted to get some sweets as well and she wasn't sure she had enough money for everything (wisely, her parents hadn't allowed her to carry her own money for potion ingredients and the like). She studied the board for a bit longer, glancing sideways to grin at Alyssa and hoping she wasn't taking too long. "Okay! One scoop of peanut honeycomb and one of chocolate hazelnut...I think" she announced decisively, though if the queue took longer than a couple of minutes there was every likelihood that she would change her mind again. Luckily there were three witches serving and it didn't take long before they got close to the front.

"So have you got any brothers or sisters?" Pixie asked, suddenly curious. There hadn't been any other children with Alyssa's parents, but they might have been too young to come out - or already grown up like Melly. If she didn't have any siblings, that might explain why Alyssa had been surprised by how bold Pixie had been when she introduced herself.

Alyssa giggled at the number of options Pixie went through before deciding which flavours to get.  She finally decided what she wanted and Alyssa giggled again. Eventually the got to the front and put their orders in.

"No, it's just me. I don't have any cousins either, both my parents where only children. You're actualy the only other wizard my age i've met." Alyssa said before taking a lick of her ice cream. It was the best she had ever had and let out a satisfied 'mmm' "What about you?" she asked Pixie before taking a small bite out of her ice cream.

Pixie bounced on her toes as they waited for their ice creams. It wasn't that she was impatient exactly; but she was eager not to miss anything and really, it was exciting to be doing something so grown up as buying her own food - even if it was a double ice cream cone. She couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts when she could pick what she got to eat every single day. Hopefully there would be icecream on the menu at least four times a week!

When they got their cones, Pixie immediately took a big bite of the chocolate hazelnut side, and then the other, trying to decide which she liked best, and whether they made a whole new flavour in her mouth. Her eyes widened at the coldness against her teeth and it took her a moment before she was able to answer Alyssa. "Really? You haven't met any other witches at all?!" she asked, amazed. It was a completely alien concept to her.

"I've got a big sister called Melly - well she's my half-sister really - and a little brother called Kai and about a million cousins" Pixie said, fairly certain she wasn't exaggerating. "There's Freya - she's already at Hogwarts in...sixth year, I think, and Váli and Jari and Aase are going to be first years like us, and Uncle Lyall -" Pixie wasn't sure he was her uncle or second cousin or some other relation, but anyone over about thirty ended up being "auntie" and "uncle" " - is the charms professor, and um... oh, cousin Geri works in Hogsmeade and makes the most amazing pastries and cakes and...well, if you meet anyone with the last name Trickett they're probably my cousin or uncle or something" she finished.

The she had the most amazing idea. "Hey, we can adopt you as well! You can be an honorary Trickett and share all my cousins! Then when you meet everyone on the Hogwarts express, it'll be like you already know them! What do you think?" Pixie thought that was just about the most amazing thing she'd ever thought of!

[OOC: She's not joking about the size of the family - *some* of the Tricketts can be found here]