"If you don't buy the special sweets from Honeydukes and just stick to the free candy provided at Hogwarts, you won't really have much in the way of expenses," Mr. Ollivander said with a soft smile.
Hogwarts didn't charge tuition, and both lodging and meals were free. As long as you didn't go on extra shopping sprees, you really didn't need to spend any additional money.
Of course, that assumed you weren't planning on conducting magical experiments either.
Ariana, who didn't know these details, let out a relieved sigh."Good, then I can just stock up on candy from the supermarket and bring it to school."
But as soon as she said it, she remembered something she didn't really like candy all that much.
Most British foods were high in calories, and to balance her sugar intake, she rarely ate sweets and never drank cola. It was a habit that seemed a little out of place in the wizarding world.
Seeing that Ariana kept asking unrelated questions, Mr. Ollivander couldn't help but gently remind her,"You do remember you came here to buy a wand, right?"
"Fine, Mr. Ollivander. Can you bring out the wands that cost seven Galleons first?" Ariana said with a teasing smile.
"I told you, that's not how wands are chosen," Ollivander said, shaking his head. "Let's get your measurements first to see what type of wand suits you."
After a bit of back and forth, Ariana tried out twenty-one wands before she was finally chosen by one made of alder wood with a Runespoor nerve core.
"This wand has extremely strong offensive power. I thought it would have been selected by an adult wizard purchasing their second wand. I didn't expect it to choose you," Ollivander said, genuinely surprised.
"Looks like I'm cut out for dueling," Ariana said lightly, as if it didn't really matter to her.
"Well, Hogwarts doesn't offer dueling classes. If you were a pure-blood wizard, you might consider attending Durmstrang. Their specialty is dueling," Ollivander quipped.
Ariana chuckled."Too bad my parents died early, so I don't actually know if they were wizards. Besides, I've already accepted Hogwarts' invitation."
"I can already tell you're going to be a handful. Looks like Dumbledore's in for some headaches," Ollivander said cheerfully.
At Hogwarts, acceptance letters were typically sent out in July, and the school term began in September, which meant Ariana still had over a month to prepare.
Since she still had company matters to attend to, she could only carve out about two hours each day to study.
Because of the tight schedule, she didn't rush into practicing spells. Instead, she skimmed through all the books she had bought and created a study plan.
While reading, one particular spell caught her eye.
"This Occlumency spell it's practically the magical equivalent of the Memory Palace technique," Ariana said, her eyes shining with excitement.
In her previous life, Ariana had an exceptional memory and had later mastered the Simonides memory palace method, reaching photographic recall in just a few years.
Occlumency, as described in the book, wasn't just about organizing and categorizing memories like the memory palace it also blocked magical intrusion and protected against false memories. It was, in essence, an advanced version of the memory palace.
What fascinated her more was that this particular copy of the book came with handwritten notes, including a detailed breakdown of the Imperius Curse.
After reading the notes, Ariana understood why the book's previous owner had included the Imperius Curse here it was a useful reference for practicing Occlumency.
But the Imperius Curse could only be cast on others. It couldn't be used on oneself. Ariana would have to rely solely on the training methods in the book to figure things out.
Whether she could truly block external intrusion well, that would only become clear if someone ever tried to use the Imperius Curse on her.
Even with her photographic memory and daily study, Ariana barely managed to finish reading all the second-hand books she'd bought by the day before school started.
"Even if I had squeezed in another hour each day, I would've only had time to read the books. I haven't practiced a single spell," Ariana sighed.
When she had gone to Diagon Alley, she hadn't invited Thompson. He had been a little sore about that. So on the day of her departure, he insisted on coming along with the chauffeur to her villa.
"Are you sure this superpower school doesn't allow outsiders to visit?" Thompson asked, clearly still unwilling to give up.
"It's a school under royal secrecy orders. You really think you can just waltz in? What's your plan, visit today and head straight to jail tomorrow?" Ariana teased.
"Fine, but will I get to meet other people with superpowers someday?" Thompson asked, half-joking but genuinely curious.
"I can't promise you anything in the future. But you'll get to witness a superpower in action in just a minute," Ariana said with a mysterious smile.
Professor McGonagall had been quite meticulous. When she handed Ariana her train ticket, she'd carefully explained how to enter the platform.
She'd told her to crash into the third pillar between platforms nine and ten, making it clear that it was magically enchanted anyone with magical ability would pass through safely.
At the station, Thompson was utterly horrified as he watched Ariana sprint toward a solid brick wall. Ariana hadn't told him the trick in advance, so he instinctively ran after her, thinking he needed to save her.
Ariana, having magical ability, passed cleanly through the barrier. Thompson, of course, slammed straight into the wall.
"Bloody hell," he groaned, clutching his forehead, finally realizing what Ariana meant by "superpower demonstration."
Since Ariana lived in London, she arrived at the station neither too early nor too late. After boarding the train with her suitcase, she quickly found an empty compartment.
Determined not to lag behind her peers, Ariana decided to practice a few spells.
After stowing her belongings, she took out her wand and a box of biscuits. She crushed the biscuits into crumbs, placed them on the table, and pointed her wand at them.
"Reparo!" Ariana said firmly.
The box of biscuits immediately returned to its original, unbroken state.
Touching her chin thoughtfully, Ariana muttered,"Looks like it really is an entry-level spell success on the first try."
Before she could crush the biscuits again to keep practicing, the compartment door suddenly knocked.
When she opened it, she found two handsome boys standing outside. One of them, with rosy lips and perfect skin, had no blemishes at all. His soft features aligned perfectly with Ariana's Eastern sense of beauty.
"Mind if we sit here?" the more handsome of the two asked.
"Of course, there are five or six seats, and I'm the only one here," Ariana said with a gentle smile after all, who could resist a handsome boy?
The particularly good-looking one introduced himself."Are you a first-year? We're third-years. I'm Cedric Diggory, and this is Lucas Grevin. Were you practicing magic just now?"
Ariana was still holding her wand obviously in the middle of spellcasting.
"Practicing magic as a first-year can be quite dangerous. You should probably wait until class starts and practice under a professor's supervision," Lucas added.
"I'm just trying out a few simple spells," Ariana said, then added, "I only found out about the wizarding world when I got my acceptance letter. I'm afraid if I don't know anything, I'll drag my classmates down."
Cedric shook his head with a warm smile."Not at all. Even kids who grow up in the wizarding world usually aren't taught magic at home before starting Hogwarts."
"So, before Hogwarts, wizard kids go to Muggle primary schools?" Ariana asked curiously.
"There's no such thing as a wizarding primary school. It's mostly homeschooling things like grammar and etiquette," Lucas explained.
"Wow, the wizarding world moves at a pretty relaxed pace. Parents actually have time to tutor their own kids," Ariana concluded.
Cedric and Lucas had both grown up in the magical world, and only after entering Hogwarts did they meet classmates from the Muggle world and start to learn a little about it.
But at Hogwarts, people didn't really talk much about the Muggle world, so their knowledge was still quite limited.
"Life moves fast in the Muggle world? Is that why you have primary schools because parents don't have time to teach their kids themselves?" Cedric asked.
Ariana nodded."That's part of it. But more importantly, people generally think it's better to leave education to professionals. Parents tend to go soft on their own kids."
"That's actually pretty true. When we misbehave, a bit of sweet-talking usually gets us off the hook," Lucas laughed.
"Since you're both upperclassmen, would you mind supervising while I practice a few more simple spells?" Ariana asked, her eyes shining with hope.
"Alright, but keep it simple. I'm not sure we could handle anything too difficult," Lucas quickly warned.
Cedric, being more cautious, asked before she started,"By the way, what spell were you practicing when we came in? Did you get it right?"
Ariana pointed to the biscuit box on the table."I was practicing the Mending Charm. Maybe it's because the biscuit was so soft, but I got it on my first try."
Cedric and Lucas exchanged glances and immediately saw the same shock in each other's eyes the difficulty of the Mending Charm had nothing to do with the material's softness.