CH 1 – Year Four
Year four this year. I get scared at every turn of the year about grades. I have fun in classes though, learning different spells and such. Sure anyone is scared about exam grades, but my mind is on the sky mostly, watching the clouds and listening to the rain. I walk down Diagon Alley, 90 years after the grand battle. Mother is nearly 40 but she rave's on about it like my grand mother used to. I barely have anything, since the massive airships catch my eye, the only thing bringing me back down to earth is the occasional jet of steam from a pipe every now and then. It's odd to think that there are many technologies at work in the wizarding world, when only Computers are of mass importance to Muggles. It's funny to me at least. I look at my list of what I need and check what I have gotten already, needing to get a wand, a new broom (the last one kinda fizzled out because I used it so much) and a few tomes from some of the different book stores. Before I can even go back to being lost in the sky I can hear a voice calling to me from behind me down the alley.
"Katrina! Come on you goof we can't just lolligag at the sky all bloody day! Let's get a move on!" It was Reemus Skeeter, one of the friends I had made at Hogwarts. His family had a fetish for R's in their names. Reemus, Raymond, Rosaria, but I digress. "Fine I'm coming! You have much else to get?" I call back as I catch up to him, he replies with a no and trots off into the crowd. Ugh, I'm not chasing a git who calls me on and hides from me. I don't like children let alone impatient hypocrites. Following along I take a minute in the Junk Shop. It has always been a neat place and recently Granus Galanth, the shop owner, had taken an interest in steam tech. "Oh hello!" I was greeted by Molly, Granus's wife. "He stepped out a bit ago to report a letter he had gotten. Terrible things written on it; terrible awful... Who even uses letters anymore? I mean really I..." At that point my mind went numb to anything molly had to say because she has an issue with babbling about anything that pops into her head for absolute hours. I took a look around the shop at some of the stuff Granus was working on.
Apparently the shop had been built up, it was rather large when I had gotten here the first time. Past way of just the from of the shop and the grate that stood as the wall was a small banged up airship in the back, an old Steam powered one as far as I could see. "Ah, Molly? Can I stop you there for a moment? I'll stop by later; I need to get the last of my things for school. I'll see you later though!" I scurried from the shop before a tirade of Molly chased me like a Tsunami chases a person on the beach. I bounced in-betwixt shops buying the last of my books, one specifically on Rememberalls, and eventually can to the broom shop that I liked. Mallus's Flying Barn's. As far as I knew there wasn't a Mallus in sight of being in the shop and it had been inherited a fem billion times before resting in a group of owners hands. I didn't have time to talk to everyone though, as I needed to find Reemus and wanted to visit Granus before I left.
Looking in between the racks I wanted to find one specific broom that one of our family friends crafted, eventually finding one and going up to the desk. Charlie, the owner for the day, was reading a letter with his father, both looking rather concerned. "Nothing to stop darkness by heeds light... Doesn't this just read like mystic babble? It's like having a portable Molly! Lord know's poor Granus sees something in her... Katrina my lass! Another Deitshler? You'll burn it up like all the other's you know. Why not a Nimbus?" Charlie liked to support anything the great Harry Potter rode. I never took much interest in him myself. "Well they are family friends and I think I want to give my money to them! Send them a note as always?" I asked, watching his father take the note and wander with it. "Of course!" he replied, wrapping it up and passing it to me. "Thanks!" I called running out the door, money laying for him.
"Bloody Reemus where in Hell are you..." He is a small git; good at hiding I'll give him that. Though for the brief moment I saw him he looked a bit excited, which was new. I wandered, Granus leaving my mind as one of the Freightline ships started to dock at bay. As I walked, talks of these letters filled the air around me. I couldn't really help but pay mind to them, wondering what they said. But then, of course as always, suddenly Remus everywhere. "OI COME ON, oh, there you are." He was yelling down from a side alley, not seeing me mere few feet from him. "I have to show you something!" Reemus was never one for words or description but always one for sight. Following him led me to a small airship for sale. The thought of flying with the ships had always gone across in my mind, but never held fit. It was pricey, as usual, and they demanded a lot for a small run-down Kaiter's ship (usually a mail ship about 10 to 14 feet long and 7 feet high). The thought of the sky filled my mind again, looking over my opportunity. Reemus was giddy, knowing I would buy it. "Can you fix it? Your Dad taught you that stuff when you were younger right?" he asked, almost bouncing. When I was small my Dad had a Kaiter v32, one of the faster, newer models. This rt7 is old enough that anyone could figure it out, even a 16 year old kid like me. "Sure he taught me, but I dunno where I would put it! I only just got the apartment! I don't know how big it is yet!" I had purchased a magics apartment recently to live away from school. No one else lived with me and I hadn't explored the whole place yet. I inquired about the ship, holding a place for buying it for when I could find the garage and started home.