Rose walked down Diagon Alley for the first time in her life, her long black hair falling around her face and her brown eyes scanning the area. But this time was different. This time, Rose was there to buy school supplies. It didn't sound really exciting, but Rose had been waiting to go to Hogwarts her whole life. Besides, who didn't want to get their first wand or pet?
"I hope yer payin' this for yerself," Elizabeth stated as she walked beside her first year friend, her shoulder length brown hair tied back in a low ponytail and her eyes squinted at the area. They shoved their way through the massive crowd if witches and wizards, some of whom were also buying things for the start of school. "I sure as hell ain't lettin' you be a freeloader."
Rose sighed. "Are you sure, Liz?" Rose asked over dramatically, "I would really like it if-"
"No," Elizabeth interrupted flatly, continuing to walk.
"You didn't even know what I was going to say!" Rose whined annoyingly.
"No," Elizabeth repeated. "It's understandable in every language, an' I can relate ta it on a spiritual level. The word 'no' is beautiful."
"..."
"Hey, look," Elizabeth announced, pointing to the pet store they were about to pass. "It's the Magical Menagerie. Yer parents said ya could finally get a pet now, yeah?"
Rose brightened. "Oh my gosh, you're right! I want an owl wait, no, rats are sort of cute- or what about a cat, like yours!"
"There is not cat like mine," Elizabeth said, as she pushed open the door. "Cats are devil Spawn. Ellie is perfection. Oh wow, my unintentional pun was great. I should sign up for Britain's Got Talent."
"What's that?" Rose looked confused.
"Got Talent for the UK."
"What's that?"
"Oh. My god, Rose." Elizabeth shot her a deadpanned look. "It's- never mind, just pick a cat or whatever." She sighed. "Wizards must be missin' out on so much," she mumbled. "Imagine havin' ta explain tumblr ta wizards. It's a whole new nightmare I don't wanna explore."
As Rose searched the shop for the perfect animal companion, Elizabeth wandered around, seeing if she could find any cat food. She spotted two other girls come in; a blonde one chattering excitedly to the other dark haired one, who nodded along aimlessly. Elizabeth didn't mean to eavesdrop, but- okay, yeah, so she totally meant to eavesdrop. But she was bored out of her mind and magic rats didn't provide that much entertainment, so could you really blame her?
The dark haired girl finally spoke. "Okay, Kiara. You know, you should choose something cool, like my rainbow chicken!" Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. The hell...? she thought.
"According to you, it didn't even come as a rainbow chicken," the other girl, Kiara, spoke. "You turned it rainbow with a... spell?" The dark haired one just shrugged.
Elizabeth was mildly surprised. Last she had checked, a rainbow chicken wasn't a normal pet. Hey, though, Elizabeth thought, these guys have, like, magic powers 'n stuff, so anything is normal. Elizabeth kept listening out of sheer lack of better things to do.
"Hey, Naomi," that snake is saying something. Is that normal for a witch?"
Naomi looked slightly shocked. "Are you sure he's saying something? You're not just hearing hissing noises?"
In the meantime, Rose was happily looking around the cat section of the store. The air smelled so thickly of unclean littler boxes that she sort of wished that she had a stuffed nose at the moment. "Ugh, I hope my cat doesn't smell like that," she mumbled to herself. But her mind quickly forgot all about the revolting smell when she saw the first cat. "It's so cuuuuuute!" she practically squealed. A few people looked oddly in her direction, but she ignored them and went to look at the cat. Rose reached her hand out to stroke the seemingly fuzzy brown hair. However, before she could get so much as a touch to it, a sharp pain singed down her finger.
"Ow!" Rose exclaimed, causing even more people to look at her. Honestly, she thought, huffing, it's like they have nothing better to do, but stare at me whenever I make a noise. Looking at the cat's smug smile, she realized it had bitten her.
"You're a very naughty cat," Rose reprimanded it, as thought it would actually listen. Rose decided that was not the cat for her and kept on looking. After many failed attempts at petting cats, she found one that at least let her get one stroke in before moving away. Upon further examination, Rose realized it had two different coloured eyes; one a light grey, and the other a sharp blue. Reading the tag next to the cage, Alice found out that it was a male Siberian cat. "I want this one," she said to no one in particular. Rose picked him out of the crate, ignoring the cat's yelp. "Let me just go and find Liz..."
Elizabeth was torn from the two girls when Rose stroked her arm in a totally non-suggestive way. "Hey, Liz! Look! I found a cat and he's so cute and fluffy!"
Elizabeth looked at Rose, who was carrying a cat in her other arm. "Oh. Neat-o, I guess. Oh wow, it's hetero chromatic. Never seen that on a cat before." Elizabeth cringed internally at the tone of her voice. I want to act natural and that's the best thing I can come up with? Do I always sound like that? I'm not even trying and it sounds sarcastic.
"I know, right?" Rose grinned, apparently not noticing the change in her friend's voice. "It's a Siberian cat. What do you suppose I name it?"
"Satan."
"Mwahahahahhahaa, I know! Lucifurr. I'm greeeeeaaaaaat at naming things. Do you like it?" she asked, speaking to the cat in her hands. The cat meowed angrily, but Rose smiled. "Look! He likes it!"
"He looks like he's constipated," Elizabeth remarked. "Are there such things as cat laxatives?"
"Very funny," Rose responded sarcastically.
"Thank ye. I pride myself in my humour, ya know." Rose rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Rose. Pay for Satan an' let's get a move on. You still gotta buy a baguette magique- I mean, a wand."
Rose stared blankly. "What?"
"Nevermind," Elizabeth sighed. "Just pay. I have got ta stop wasting my references on a pureblood."
Rose paid for her cat and walked out the door. She and Elizabeth walked a bit before reaching Ollivander's, which was conveniently placed next door. The person who waited at the counter was not Mr. Ollivander, who, Elizabeth suddenly remembered, had died during the wizarding war a few years back. Eh, she thought, whatever. 'S not like I bought my wand here anyway. 'S weird how Brits get their wands from shops and not from the school. Instead, a cheerful looking man introduced himself as August Park.
Whilst he busied himself with some papers (smiling strangely the whole time, Elizabeth noted), he told them that he would be right with Rose. In the meantime, Rose looked around at the shelves stacked with wands, in a sort of awe. She had never been in Ollivander's before, as she had no need of a wand, so she had no idea what to expect. She noticed a weird symbol carved into one of the shelves, a circle with lines inside of it like a peace sign Elizabeth had showed her once. ("It's one of those hipster things that you see everywhere. On shirts, blogs, pillows, underwear, everythin'.") Each one of the little sections in the circle had a different animal on it; one with a phoenix, one with a dragon, and the last with a rearing unicorn. August saw her staring and explained.
"I carved that myself. It symbolizes the three main wand cores I use. Dragon heartstrings, phoenix feathers, and unicorn tail hair." Rose simply nodded, still drinking in the sight of all the wands.
"Let's have you try out a few wands," August told Rose, his grin never wavering. It was sort of creepy, actually. He took a thin box off from the shelf and opened it, revealing a brown wood wand, it was plain except for some small spirals near the bottom. "Give it a wave," August urged. Rose dumped Lucifurr into Elizabeth's arms and took the wand. Elizabeth grunted at the sudden extra weight placed in her. Rose felt a slight tingle go through her arm, as she held onto the wand. Excitedly, she waved the wand in the air and a wine bottle flew out of the tip. It was lucky that the bottle stayed attached to the tip, or an unpleasant alcoholic glass mess would be on the floor.
Rose stared at it. "What the frick?" Her face showed a rather large bit of confusion, as to why a wine bottle of all things would pop out of the wand. She looked at August but his face showed no surprise. It was only somewhat calming, as his constant smile led Rose to believe he was somewhat mental.
"Can I have it?" Elizabeth asked. "I always prefer whites over reds. And that's a particularly expensive brand." August stared at her, but she offered no explanation.
"Anyway," he said, "I think that's the right wand, as that was supposed to happen. Can you give me the wand please?" Rose obliged, and he waved it again, causing the bottle to disappear.
"Aww, man," Elizabeth said, disappointed. "I really wanted that."
"It's a very nice wand," he told Rose, "It's a cedar wand with a dragon heartstring core. Its twelve inches long and it has a slightly springy flexibility."
"Cool!" Rose grinned happily, and handed over the customary ten galleons. August took them silently but then started to talk again.
"You know, I once sold a wand to this man, and it was almost exactly the same but with a unicorn hair, you know? So one day-" Rose was feigning interest as the man chattered on, wondering why he seemed so desperate for someone to talk to. Elizabeth drummed her fingers on the side of her leg and pursed her lips. Her arms were growing tired from holding her school books and Lucifurr and she really wanted to get the hell outta Dodge. Finally, Elizabeth decided to cut in before he could start his next sentence.
"Excuse me, sir, I am so sorry to interrupt, but Rose and I have to meet up with some people at five. Though I really love your story, I would hate to be late and leave them hanging." Lying straight through her teeth was something Elizabeth was very used to. She had no regrets either, seeing as this "August Park" fellow's French accent was driving her up the wall. She did attempt to sugar coat her words, though.
"Oh..well, I guess you can go then, I..I really would hate for you to leave your friends hanging, I'm sure-"
Elizabeth just managed to refrain from rolling her eyes. "We really must be going now, sir," she said, trying her best to infuse as much fake politeness into her voice. She motioned for Rose to follow her and the two left Ollivander's. "Good god," Elizabeth breathed out. "I was suffocatin' in that place. So, now what?"
"I don't know, you're the third year not me," Rose said, taking back her cat. "I think I have all the school supplies I need, so- wait!" She was hit with an idea, "I know...we should go eat pie! Aren't I great at thinking of things to do?"
"Two things," Elizabeth said. "One: savoury or sweet pie? Because I want savoury. Two: are ya payin'?"
"But I want sweet pie!" Rose whined. "And no, I think you should pay for once."
Elizabeth made a face. "I am not up for diabetic treats, an' I don't have money to throw around so ya can eat. Although, I have been thinkin' about startin' a market inside of Hogwarts so I can sell mundane products. Like pens an' stuff."
"Ok then...let's just go eat pie. You can order whatever you like, and I'll order something else," Rose said, choosing not to comment on Elizabeth's idea.
"Do ye know a good joint aroun' here or do we have to settle for the Leaky Cauldron?"
Rose thought about it, and then answered, "I think we'll have to go to the Leaky Cauldron."
"Well, then we'd better get goin'. By the way, yer paying for both of us anyway. Yer loaded an' a cottage pie ain't gonna dent yer bank account. If it really matters, I'll pay ye back when my market is up 'n runnin'. I could make a hell lotta money sellin' pens for 10 sickles and pencils for 5 sickles a pack. That does sound pretty nice."
"Pencils?" Rose asked, sort of confused. "Aren't those the things muggles use to write? I've been told that they are very old fashioned, and are very hard to use, which is why wizards don't use them. Why would you sell them?"
"No, actually, they're super useful," Elizabeth replied. "They're a lot like quills, only ya can erase the marks. Ya need to sharpen them every now and then, but ya don't have ta buy any ink alongside that. Most elementary- er, primary schools use them. But I prefer pens."
"How did muggles accomplish that?" Rose asked confused, "That seems like you would need magic to make."
"I'm not well educated on the history of writing materials, but I'm pretty sure some random guy saw that you could write stuff with burned wood and said, 'Dang, this is the good stuff.'"
The two ambled down the streets of Diagon Alley until they reached the Leaky Cauldron. Elizabeth pushed opened the door and gestured Rose to go inside. The place was bustling with witches and wizards, from enjoying a pint to reading the Daily Prophet. Elizabeth looked around and thought she spotted the two girls from before. When she looked around again, they were nowhere to be seen. That's some high level weirdo shit right there.
Shrugging it off, Elizabeth found an empty table and dragged Rose towards it. They sat down and called someone over to take their orders. "One cottage pie, an' one..." Elizabeth trailed off, waiting for Rose to finish the order.
"Blueberry pie!" Rose exclaimed, weirdly excited to eat the pie. The waiter nodded and scurried off, leaving Elizabeth and Rose with nothing to do but talk (much to Elizabeth's displeasure).
Rose was about to say something, when Elizabeth saw the two girls again, sitting down at a table a few away from theirs. "What in tarnation?" she muttered, squinting at the two girls.
"Hmm?" Rose tilted her head slightly at her friend.
"Nothing, it's just…" Elizabeth cast one last look at the two girls before turning back to Rose. She wracked her brain to find a casual conversation topic that was somewhat interesting. "Did yer parents actually dump ya here an' leave me in responsibility? If so, then they obviously need to make better decisions in their life."
"Actually, I thought your parents were coming, so I told mine that they were and, well, yeah. Your parents actually aren't here, but my parents don't know." Then, Rose grinned and flipped her hair. "I'm so coolio, right?"
"Um," Elizabeth raised both eyebrows, "yeah, no. Especially since this is, like, the only time ye've been unchaperoned. My mom- mum, whatever, got called in by St. Mungo's for an emergency an' my dad wasn't in the mood. He just gave me some sickles an' told me ta be off. I took the Knight Bus here, because drivin' from one island ta another at a speed faster than any no-maj technology is fun."
Rose gaped at her friend. "Your parents let you do that?"
"Yeah, all the time. Sometimes, I take the Bus ta the States ta see my brother."
Rose opened her mouth, but got cut short by the waiter arriving with the two dishes. As they are, Rose continued to hold conversation with her friend. "For the electives, I chose Divination and Care of Magical Creatures."
Elizabeth paused, the spoon halfway to her mouth. "They let ya choose electives now? I thought that was only third years. Huh. Anyway, I chose Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, an' Runes."
"That's pretty cool."
When they finally finished her food, Rose checked the time on her pocket watch and realized that she was running half an hour late to meet her mum in front of Gringotts. "Agh, I have to go, my mum's gonna kill me!" Rose stood up quickly, grabbing Lucifurr and stuffing her school supplies in her bag. "Bye Liz, see you on the Hogwarts Express!" She ran off just as the waiter returned with the bill scribbled out on a sheet of parchment.
Elizabeth cursed under her breath and grumbled to herself about the many ways she would torture Rose as she dumped her leftover money into the waiter's hands. "That lil' sneak."
(Author's Notes)
Dear Reader-
So! First chapter, eh? Not bad, if I do say so myself. It's fun working with Lupus, even though she's kinda...prickly. I tried being as meticulous as I could with the editing, and we put a lot of effort into working on this. I hope you like it!
Aside from that, I'm hoping we can get a smooth update flow, since I know I hate it myself when authors take years to put up another chapter. That might be an issue, since both of us aren't the most motivated people in existence. However, we've pre-written a good handful of the chapters, but we still need to edit them, which may take some time. Not nearly as much to write them, though. Ah, I should probably just wrap this up.
-Luna
(P.S. I think it's easy to guess who's my favourite character of the ones introduced.)
(P.P.S. #DavidWalliamsBestJudge)
.
So, there's chapter one, in which you meet the first two of an admittedly extensive list of characters. We've already pre-written a few chapters so hopefully updates will be quick. No promises though, as we are still students, and homework and extracurricular activities might get in the way of writing. Anyway, thanks for reading!
-Lupus
