The summer came and brought the warmth with it.
The start of June made the house look like a magical place, green everywhere and sprawling flower in the gardens. Birds chirped as they ate of the bird feeders.
Fila was outside at the back of the house helping the maids to replant some flowers and other more magical plats, this was all to help her increase her herbology knowledge. It wasn't mandrakes but it was also important.
Elibeth had told Fila that they would go and buy all her school supplies soon, she was excited. If this would have happen a couple of months ago she would most likely cry at the thought about going around people. But now, it made her excited.
For the supplies they would need to go to New York, Elsbeth told Fila about a magical district there where they could buy everything they needed.
"We are leaving in an hour, be ready." Rowan shouted as Fila was running into her room.
She now stood in front of her mirror, she had already tried 4 different outfits.
"God I never realized how hard getting an outfit would be." She complained as she took of yet another shirt to try a new one.
But after about 20 minutes she finally settled on a white long-sleeved shirt tucked into a pair of black jeans. "Alright good enough" all clothes bought by the maids and Elsbeth.
As she glided down on the metal railing by the stairs, she saw Rowan and Elsbeth already waiting. "finally, slowpoke" Rowan said as she landed on her feet.
Fila straightened and smiled sweetly. "You are just jealous."
Elsbeth shook her head, though she was smiling too. "Both of you behave. This is meant to be enjoyable."
The journey was quick and strange, magic folding space in ways Fila still did not fully understand. One moment they stood at the edge of the grounds, the next the air smelled different. Hot stone. Metal. Movement.
New York hummed around them.
They stepped out into a quiet alley that did not exist to anyone who did not know how to look. At first, it appeared empty. Brick walls. A locked door. Nothing remarkable.
Then Elsbeth tapped her wand lightly against the stone.
The world shifted.
Storefronts unfolded from the brick as if they had always been there. Windows lit. Signs appeared in curling gold script. The air buzzed with magic and conversation and the clink of glass and metal.
Fila stopped walking.
Her mouth fell open before she could stop it.
People moved everywhere. Witches and wizards of all ages. Some dressed sharply. Some dressed like they had rolled out of bed. A pair of children chased a fluttering parchment down the street. A shop window displayed robes that rearranged themselves every few seconds.
Rowan glanced at her. "Impressed?"
She breathed out slowly. "Very."
They started with books. Heavy stacks bound in leather and cloth. Titles that made her fingers itch to open them. She chose carefully, listening as Elsbeth explained which ones were required and which ones were simply useful.
Fila stood by the almost infinite books and looked at most of them.
"we don't have all day." Rowan said as he looked at her admiring the books.
She just waved him of as she picked up yet another book about charms.
Next was robes.
"Here it is, the only shop were you should go for school robes." Elsbeth said as she opened the door to the little shop on the corner of a building. it didn't look like much from the outside but inside was much bigger.
Material flew around along with sewing machines and measuring tapes.
Fila ducked as a needle almost flew into her arm.
"ah sorry about that sweetie." She heard a voice coming from longer inside the store.
Fila froze for half a second, then relaxed when the needle zipped past her and buried itself neatly into a floating pincushion.
"It is fine," she said automatically, even though her heart was still catching up.
From deeper inside the shop, a woman emerged through layers of drifting fabric. She was short, round, and moved like she belonged exactly where she was. Measuring tapes floated around her shoulders like curious snakes. Her hair was pinned up with what looked suspiciously like enchanted knitting needles.
"First year?" the woman asked, already circling Fila without waiting for an answer.
"Yes," Fila replied, turning slowly as instructed when a tape wrapped itself around her waist.
"Ilvermorny," Elsbeth added.
"Oh good," the woman said brightly. "I do love first years. They still stand properly."
Rowan snorted. Elsbeth shot him a look.
Fabric brushed against Fila's arms and shoulders, soft and cool. Swatches of deep blue, forest green, charcoal, and black floated past her eyes, pausing whenever the woman frowned or hummed thoughtfully.
"Hmm," she murmured. "You move a lot."
Fila blinked. "I do?"
"Very much so," the woman said. "Magic users who move too stiffly trip over their own robes. We do not want that."
A measuring tape snapped lightly against Fila's shoulder, not unkindly.
"Arms out," the woman said.
Fila complied.
"Good posture," she added approvingly. "Someone taught you that."
Fila glanced briefly at Rowan. He pretended not to notice.
The measuring tapes finally retreated, snapping themselves into a neat pile. With a flick of the woman's wand, a half finished robe slipped over Fila's shoulders.
It was light. Much lighter than she expected.
"Walk," the woman instructed.
Fila took a step. Then another. The fabric shifted easily with her, never catching or pulling.
"Turn."
She turned.
"Lift your arm like you are casting."
Fila hesitated only a moment before raising her wand arm. The sleeve adjusted instantly, widening just enough.
The woman smiled, satisfied. "Yes. That will do nicely."
"we want one with extra padding for cold, or make it two of each actually." Elsbeth said to the women.
Elsbeth and to store owner finished some details, Fila didn't listen to it at all. she was more interested in looking at the people outside walking around.
As they stepped out she wondered where they would go next. She was so excited she wanted to go in everywhere, she stood and looked at every stand there was and tried a lot of random food items.
But as they walked she suddenly thought about something. "Elsbeth, what money are we paying with?" she asked
Elsbeth and Rowan exchange looks and sighed, "I knew this question would come sooner or later." Elsbeth said. "Its money that your grandfather have given you." She said. And now she was waiting for the protest from Fila after hearing about her grandfather.
She waited, and waited but nothing came from the girl.
"oh, okay" she said and kept moving.
Elsbeth was stunned, she never predicted that she would get such response from her. Even Rowan looked confused by now. But Fila just walked up to the next stand and looked at the wares.
After looking around they stood in front of the wand shop.
Fila already had her mothers wand, but both Rowan and Elsbeth recommended that she should get her very own one.
She swallowed.
Rowan noticed immediately. "You do not have to," he said gently. "You already wield your mother's wand well."
"I know," Fila replied. Her fingers brushed the pocket where her mother's wand rested. "But I think I want to know what is mine."
Elsbeth nodded. "That is exactly the right reason."
The door chimed softly as they stepped inside.
The shop smelled like wood and something sharper beneath it, resin maybe, or smoke long since cooled. The walls were lined with shelves, each holding boxes labeled in careful handwriting.
Behind the counter stood a man with dark skin and silver threaded through his hair. He wore simple robes and glasses perched low on his nose as he read from a ledger.
He looked up.
"Ah," he said, voice warm but measured. "A first year."
Fila stiffened slightly. "Yes, sir."
He smiled. "No need for sir. Shikoba Wolfe will do." His eyes flicked briefly to Rowan and Elsbeth, then back to her. "Ilvermorny?"
"Yes."
"Good," Wolfe said. "Then we will take our time."
He stepped out from behind the counter and gestured for her to follow him to the center of the shop. "Do you currently use a wand?"
Fila hesitated, then nodded. She drew her mother's wand and held it carefully, almost reverently.
Wolfe studied it without touching. His expression softened. "Cypress," he murmured. "Dragon heartstring. Strong loyalty. Strong memory."
Fila's throat tightened.
"It has served you," he continued. "But it is not yours."
She nodded again. "I know."
"Good," Wolfe said. "Then let us see what answers you."
He turned and selected a box from the shelf. "Try this."
Fila took the wand. Maple wood. She could feel it hum faintly, eager but unfocused. She flicked it gently.
Nothing happened.
Wolfe nodded and took it back. "Too restless."
The next wand felt heavier. Walnut. The magic resisted her, almost pushing back. A stack of boxes rattled slightly on the shelf.
"No," Wolfe said immediately, plucking it from her hand. "You do not need to fight your wand."
One by one, she tried them.
Some felt wrong instantly. Cold. Slippery. Too sharp. Others responded, sparks flaring or air shifting, but never settling.
Fila began to worry.
Wolfe watched her carefully. "Do not force it," he said quietly.
She closed her eyes and breathed once.
The next wand he placed in her hand was lighter than the others. Pale wood. Smooth.
The moment her fingers closed around it, warmth spread up her arm.
The air changed.
A soft pulse moved through the shop, not loud or explosive, just certain. Dust lifted and settled again. The wand tip glowed faintly, steady and calm.
Fila opened her eyes.
Wolfe smiled slowly. "There you are."
"What is it," she asked, barely above a whisper.
"White ash," he said. "Thunderbird tail feather. Eleven inches. Flexible."
The wand thrummed once more, as if agreeing.
Fila laughed, startled by the sound of it. "It feels like it knows me."
"It does," Wolfe replied. "Thunderbird cores favor those unafraid to seek the unknown"
She held her new wand, it felt almost like her mothers, but different in a good way. And with that they left the wand shop.
Fila had almost gotten everything for her school start now, but she still wanted to look more.
They wandered without urgency after that. Fila drifted from stall to stall, drawn in by color and sound more than purpose. She tasted candied fruit that fizzed briefly on her tongue. She watched a glassblower shape enchanted bottles that sang softly when sealed. She stopped to stare at a display of enchanted parchment that rearranged itself depending on who looked at it.
Rowan had to tug her back by the sleeve more than once.
They eventually stopped in front of a smaller, quieter shop tucked between louder storefronts. The sign above the door showed a carved raven perched on a branch, its eyes catching the light as if it were watching them. Inside, the air was cooler and still, the shelves lined with trunks of all shapes and sizes. Some rattled softly from within. Others breathed. One kicked irritably when Rowan stepped too close.
"These are school trunks," Elsbeth explained, her tone practical. "Ilvermorny prefers students bring something that can keep up."
"One that does not explode," Rowan added.
"That was one time," Elsbeth replied calmly.
Fila drifted toward the back of the shop, drawn to a smaller trunk made of dark wood with simple brass clasps. When she placed her hand against it, the lid clicked once, almost like a greeting. She smiled without thinking. "This one," she said.
By the time the trunk was paid for and shrunk down to a manageable size, the sun had begun to tilt lower in the sky, bathing the street in warmer light. The district glowed gold and copper, enchantments catching in the fading daylight. As they prepared to leave, Fila slowed and looked around one last time. At the shops. At the people. At the world that had once felt impossibly distant.
"I think," she said quietly, more to herself than to them, "I am ready."
Rowan glanced at her, eyebrow lifting. "For what."
"For all of it," she answered. School. Leaving. What comes next.
Elsbeth rested her hand briefly on Fila's shoulder, a grounding weight. "You are not walking into it alone."
As magic folded around them and the noise of the district faded away, Fila held her wand a little tighter. Somewhere beneath the excitement, beneath the nerves, the future hummed steadily, and for the first time, it did not feel like something waiting to overwhelm her. It felt like something she was choosing.
Ones they returned home to the mansion she didn't spare a second, she ran to her room and looked over her wares. The wand, some new clothes, books and a lot of candy.
Fila took her wand and looked at it, admired it. she then waved it in the air making the books on her bead float and moved them to her reading seat by the window. The clothes folded neatly and floated into the Wardrobe.
"its feels like I control the spells better." She said as she felt the magic coming out of the wand. A smile formed on her lips.
The feeling stayed with her long after the last book settled into place and the wardrobe doors closed softly on their own. Fila stood in the middle of her room, wand still raised, the air faintly charged from lingering magic. It was not stronger in the reckless way her spells sometimes had been before. It was steadier. Cleaner. Like the magic listened now instead of being dragged along behind her will. She lowered her arm slowly and let out a quiet laugh, half disbelief and half pride, before sinking down into the chair by the window and watching the late afternoon light spill across the gardens below.
The days that followed slipped into a gentle rhythm. Summer deepened around the mansion, warmth settling into stone and soil alike. Fila practiced with her new wand whenever she could, not pushing herself the way she once had, but testing the edges carefully. Simple charms responded faster. Levitation held longer with less effort. Even her shielding spells felt more natural, less forced. Rowan noticed, of course. He always did. He said little at first, just observed with narrowed eyes and that thoughtful expression that meant he was measuring her progress against something unseen. Eventually he nodded once and said, "Good. You are listening to it," as if that explained everything.
Elsbeth began speaking more openly about Ilvermorny as the weeks passed. Not just lessons or houses, but the feel of the place. The way the mountain wind carried sound. The long corridors carved from stone. The sense of being watched, not unkindly, by the school itself. Fila listened closely, absorbing it all, asking questions she never would have dared ask before. What happens if you fall behind. What happens if you excel too quickly. Whether friends come easily, or if you have to fight for them. Elsbeth answered honestly every time, never softening the truth but never making it frightening either.
Some evenings, when the heat finally loosened its grip, Fila wandered the gardens alone. She practiced small spells between the hedges, coaxing flowers to bloom brighter or guiding fireflies into gentle spirals of light. Other nights she sat on the stone steps with a book balanced on her knees, candy from the city tucked into her pockets, the sugar crackling faintly on her tongue as she read. There was a growing sense of time moving forward now, not rushing, not dragging, simply moving as it should.
One night, long after the house had gone quiet, she pulled out the old wand again. Her mother's wand rested cool and familiar in her hand, heavier somehow now that she knew what her own felt like. She did not cast with it. She only held it, tracing the grain of the wood with her thumb, remembering. Then she placed it carefully back where it belonged and returned to her own wand without guilt. The thought surprised her more than anything else.