House: Gryffindor

Category: Short

Prompt: A mysterious bag

Word Count: 1087

Beta: Kurotsuba Thanks Tsu!

"Muuuuum!" Rose Granger-Weasley hollered down from the attic. "I can't find it anywhere!"

"Just a moment, sweetheart. I need to get your brother down for a nap."

The five-year-old grunted impatiently. Didn't Hugo realize that there was less than a month left before Halloween? Rose was beyond excited for Halloween - this was the first year that she had been allowed to choose her own costume.

She flipped open the lids to all the trunks within her reach. Rose knew better than to attempt to access the boxes that were stacked up high. Her parents had warned her time and again that she could get hurt while playing up here by herself.

Her mother had promised her that the final piece for her Mary Poppins costume was buried somewhere in the dusty attic.

Rose was enamored the first time her mother read her the stories about Mary Poppins. When her mother revealed that the nanny had in fact been a witch and was employed by the Ministry of Magic to introduce muggle-born children and their families to the magical world, Rose was amazed. She idolized Mary Poppins and wanted to be just like her. Halloween finally gave her the opportunity to do so.

Her mum had already transfigured one of Rose's play dresses into a replicate of the blue dress Mary Poppins wore in the film version of her adventures. Nana Molly had crocheted flowers to adorn a smart looking hat. Her dad and Uncle George had whipped up an umbrella with a parrot head that could talk back. Her costume was nearly complete - all she was missing was a big carpet bag to pull all sorts of odds and ends out of. But her mum promised she had just the thing tucked away in the attic.

Rose quickly dug through the last trunk at ground level. She found nothing that resembled Mary Poppins's carpet bag. She reached down to the bottom of the trunk to feel around, her feet rising off the ground as her small body balanced by her stomach on the edge of the trunk.

"Rose!" Hermione called. "You know you were supposed to wait for me before you looked through these. I don't want you to get hurt, honey."

"I know Mum. But you were taking too long with Hugo and I just couldn't wait. Where is it? Please, Mum, please!"

"Sometimes you are so like you father," Hermione sighed but smiled at her excited daughter. "He's impatient too." Hermione walked around taking inventory of the stacks of boxes. "Let's see now. Where did I put that?"

With a swish and a flick of her wand, she levitated boxes off the pile, floated them over, read the label, and restacked them once more. Rose was entranced by the ease her mother used magic and the way the heavy boxes seemed to dance before her eyes.

"Ah," Hermione exclaimed. "Here we are. Summer 1998." She opened up the box and with a wave of her wand said, "Accio beaded bag!"

Rose watched as a small, purple bag zoomed out of the box and into her mother's hand.

Her head cocked to the side as she critically evaluated the mysterious bag. It looked nothing like Mary Poppins's carpet bag. Maybe she should just ask Nana Molly if she could borrow her knitting bag- that looked much closer to what Mary used in the film.

Hermione noticed her daughter's bottom lip poke out as a frown started to form on her face. She knew exactly what her daughter was thinking.

"Rose, I know it doesn't look exactly like what you've imagined. But I've taught you not to judge a book by its cover. This is a special bag. Come and take a look?" She held the bag out for Rose to examine.

Rose grasped the little bag, turning it over in her hands. She opened the string at the top and peered inside. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "What's so special about it?"

Hermione gave her a knowing smile. "Why don't you try to reach inside?"

Rose arched her eyebrow at the silly request but did as she was told. She slowly lowered her hand into the bag, expecting to feel the bottom. As the bag slowly swallowed up her entire arm, she looked at her mother, eyes wide with wonder. "It's just like Mary Poppins's bag!" she exclaimed.

"That's how I got the idea to begin with. This bag, just like Mary Poppins's carpet bag, has an undetectable extension charm on it. It can hold much more than its outer appearance suggests."

"Wow!" Rose flipped the bag around and tried to fit her head through the small opening.

Hermione suppressed a laugh at her daughter's antics. "I made this bag when I was seventeen. It was very important to me, your dad, and Uncle Harry. I'll tell you all about it when you're a little older. But for now, I'm trusting you to keep this bag safe."

Rose hugged the mysterious beaded bag to her chest like it was precious treasure. "I will Mum!" she promised. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's almost perfect."

"Almost?"

"Well," Rose admitted, "it doesn't really look like Mary Poppins's bag."

Hermione smiled. "I can fix that right up for you." With a wave of her wand, the little beaded bag stretched and contorted so that it looked exactly like the carpet bag Rose had imagined. "A simple transfiguration is all it needed. Now Rose, you can only use this bag for the Ministry Halloween party. You'll have to take a regular carpet bag when your father takes you Trick or Treating around the muggle neighborhood."

Rose nodded her head enthusiastically. "I know mum. I can't let the muggles know that Mary Poppins was really magical. That's a secret. Just like the bag is a secret."

A loud cry from downstairs interrupted their conversation.

"It seems that your brother does not wish to nap today." She ushered Rose out of the attic.

"Hey mum?"

Hermione made a small answering noise.

"Do you have an enchanted chimney sweep brush up in the attic so I can make Hugo play Burt?"

Hermione threw her head back and laughed. "Sorry Rose. Nothing like that up there. But maybe you can ask your father or Uncle George to whip something up in the shop."

"Ok Mum!" She couldn't wait for Halloween to come.