Hogwarts: Legends Unite
Part 1, Chapter 2
Elsa
"Diagon Alley!"
I stepped forward into the emerald flames and let the Floo Network whisk me into blackness. After a second or so submerged in the dark, I landed with a soft thump amidst the soot of a large stone fireplace. I had arrived inside Magical Menagerie, the wizarding pet shop on the north side of Diagon Alley.
I stepped out of the fireplace and onto the scuffed wooden floor. As I waited for Rapunzel and Uncle Frederic to arrive, I brushed the ash from my clothes. The shop was huge, and covered from floor to ceiling with a variety of animals. It seemed like all of them were letting out a noise of some kind. The screeching, howling, and croaking from every corner of the room was making my ears ring.
I caught sight of a shopkeeper, trying to wrestle a Kneazle into a wire cage. It was making a tremendous racket. I decided to keep my distance.
There was another flash of green fire from behind me, and Rapunzel appeared in the fireplace. She had only just stepped out and begun dusting off the soot when her father arrived behind her.
"Alright, girls," he said. "Ready to go?"
Rapunzel had somehow gotten to the other side of the shop, and was on tiptoes staring into a cage.
"Papa, look at the Puffskeins!" she exclaimed, not taking her eyes off them. "Can I have one?!"
I raised an eyebrow. Rapunzel was fond of animals, and animals were fond of her. It was something I could never understand.
Uncle Frederic shook his head, smiling. "We'll have to see about that. Our main aim at the moment is to get the things you actually need."
Rapunzel folded her arms. "Fine. What do we have to get?"
I pulled the crumpled list from my pocket. "Robes for the uniform first."
Uncle Frederic nodded. "Robes it is."
I swung the door open and we all stepped out into the cobblestoned street. A cold wind blew rain into my face, and I clamped my arms down on my skirt to keep it from flying up. The street was crowded with witches and wizards, scarcely any space to move between the hundreds of students and their parents attempting to balance textbooks, cauldrons, and pets in cages. Some of them were also carrying school uniforms, the house colours standing out brightly in the grey weather. I straightened my shoulders out proudly as I walked; I was going to be one of them, soon. I would be walking around at Hogwarts castle, carrying potions homework and sporting my house colours.
We weaved our way through the streets, walking towards Madam Malkin's, the robe shop. I groaned as we approached it. It seemed as if every student in first year had decided to purchase their robes today. We joined the end of the painfully long queue.
We stood in silence as we waited for the line to move on, though we'd barely taken a full step forward in over two minutes. The rain had grown heavier. I could feel it trickling down my neck.
I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder. I turned in surprise to see a girl about my age standing behind us. She was about average height, certainly shorter than me, but looked formidable due to her huge, curly mass of bright red hair. However, she smiled politely, and revealed a Scottish accent when she spoke aloud.
"Are you a first year, too?"
At the sound of her voice, Rapunzel turned around as well.
"Yes, we both are," I replied.
She gave a grin. "You know each other?"
"We're cousins," said Rapunzel.
The girl nodded, then offered her hand to me. "I'm Merida. Nice to meet you."
She shook hands with each of us in turn, and we introduced ourselves, too.
"I'm Elsa."
"I'm Rapunzel. It's good to meet you too."
I glanced around behind Merida. "So, who are you here with? Is your mother or father taking you around?"
"Oh, no," she said. "They're what you folk'd call muggles. I was only told I was magic a few days ago. I'm here with Professor Cogsworth from Hogwarts. He came to tell me about it when I got the letter."
"Professor Cogsworth?" asked Uncle Frederic, laughing. "So he's still teaching, is he? He started teaching potions when I was in fifth year, and he'd only just become a qualified professor. We drove him nuts, and every year he'd tell us he was going to resign. He never did, though, and I suppose he still hasn't."
"Is he nice?" asked Rapunzel.
Merida shrugged. "Nice enough, I suppose. A bit strict, though."
We waited in the queue for a while longer, Uncle Frederic occasionally pointing out some professor or other and telling us all the most interesting facts about them. For example, the muggle studies professor, Professor Sanderson, had been made mute after an encounter with the same type of wizards who'd killed my parents. He hadn't quit his job, though, and instead communicated through a series of images over his head.
Someone else my uncle spotted was the Charms teacher, Professor Toothiana. He told us that she and Professor Bunnymund, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, had been in a relationship when they were students at Hogwarts. There were rumours going around the Ministry of Magic, Uncle Frederic's workplace, that the two had started seeing each other again. Rapunzel giggled, Merida wrinkled her nose, but frankly I couldn't care less what the teachers did in their private lives.
Eventually, we made it into the store and purchased all the required items of clothing. Merida seemed to be having trouble with the money system, and had brought in far too much for school supplies. After she had dropped half her coins all over the floor, I decided to assist her in counting them out and even tried to teach her how wizard money worked. She seemed less than interested.
When everyone had finished paying, we all huddled under the eaves of the building to stay out of the rain. Uncle Frederic pulled out the supply list as we moved further down the street to get away from the crowd.
"Robes are out of the way now. Next up, we've got... textbooks."
"Oh, I wouldn't do that next," Merida said. "That's why Cogsworth and I separated; he said he'd line up for the books while I lined up for the robes. Makes the wait shorter, you know."
Uncle Frederic nodded. As we continued down the street, I could see Merida was telling the truth. Flourish and Blotts was even more crowded than Madam Malkin's had been.
Rapunzel groaned. "Well, that looks fun."
Her father laughed sympathetically. "Well, why don't we do what Cogsworth is doing and split up? I'll wait here, and you girls can go off by yourselves and get some of the more exciting things."
"Oh," I sighed. "I kind of wanted to visit Flourish and Blotts again."
Merida squinted at me suspiciously. "Don't tell me you're a bookworm."
I grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
She rolled her eyes, but overall didn't seem too put off.
"You can go later, if there's time," Uncle Frederic compromised. "For now..."
He took out his wand, pointed it at the supply sheet and spoke sharply. "Geminio!"
A second copy of the paper appeared above the original.
Merida gave a yelp and jumped back in surprise. Uncle Frederic apologised quickly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear! I forgot you weren't used to magic!"
"No, no, that's fine!"
"Well, anyhow, you girls can take this copy and buy some of the other things. I'll meet you at Florean Fortescue's."
"At where now?" asked Merida, confused.
"It's an ice cream parlour," said Rapunzel as we walked away. "So... first on the list we've got wands. Ooh, this should be fun!"
"We get wands?" asked Merida. "That's awesome! Where do we go?"
"Ollivanders," I said excitedly.
We arrived at Ollivanders quickly, and were pleased to see there was only one other family in the shop. A tall woman with brown hair, a girl about Anna's age, and a first year boy with pale blond – no, white – hair. He was holding a wand and the box it came in, looking proud of himself. His mother was paying for it at the counter.
"That will be seven galleons, madam," said the shopkeeper, an old man with wispy grey hair and a kind face. This, I realised, was Ollivander himself.
While the woman rummaged around her bag for the coins, her son wandered over to talk to us.
"Hello," he said, grinning. "Are you first years, too?"
"Yes," said Rapunzel. She introduced the three of us.
"I'm Jack," said the boy. "That," he pointed at the little girl, "is my sister, Emma. She's a bit of a pest, but we brought her along to shut her up."
"Hey!" Emma protested.
I frowned. Jack was showing off in that way boys do, pretending he didn't like his sister and making it look like he didn't care about anything.
I glanced at the other two to see what they thought of him. Rapunzel wasn't looking at me, but she was still smiling. It was typical Rapunzel behaviour: assume everyone is an angel until you've literally seen them murder someone. Merida, on the other hand, had made unimpressed eye contact with me. She didn't like him either.
Before the conversation could progress any further, Jack's mother finished paying and beckoned for Jack and Emma to follow her out of the shop. The heavy door fell shut behind them.
Ollivander could now give us his full attention. He walked around to us from behind the counter.
"Hello there, young ladies. I assume you're after a wand each?"
"Yes, thank you," Rapunzel replied.
"Very good. Let's start with you, shall we?" Ollivander clasped his hands together, studying her face. He closed his eyes for a second. "Ah, yes, I know of a wand that would suit you!"
He strode over to one of many stacks of wand boxes. He ran his finger over some of them, giving a satisfied 'hmm' as he found what he was looking for. He drew the box out slowly, and walked back over to us. He opened the box carefully and presented the wand to Rapunzel.
"Here you go. Alder with unicorn hair, twelve inches long and quite whippy."
Rapunzel took it in her hand, and gave it a small wave. As she did so, the air around her seemed to ripple with warm energy, and Rapunzel magical hair gave a faint glow.
Rapunzel looked stunned. "Oh my!" she said. "Yes, this is the right one, definitely."
Ollivander smiled. "Excellent match. Now…" he turned to Merida. "A wand for you."
His eyebrows wrinkled in deep thought, and walked to the stack of wand boxes next to the door. He stretched right to the top of the pile and snatched up the highest one there.
"Try this one," he said. "Thirteen-inch blackthorn with dragon heartstring, springy." Disconcerted, Merida took the wand from him, and held it in one hand.
"Are you a muggleborn, my dear? Not to worry, just give it a small flick. The wand chooses the witch, after all."
Merida obliged, and waved the wand cautiously. Instantly, a breeze that smelled faintly of the forest sprung up around her.
"Is it supposed to do that?" she asked. "It felt nice, actually."
"Yes, that's the one for you," Ollivander said, pleased. "Now, only one more to go."
He glanced at for only a second before scurrying off to grab one of the boxes. He returned quickly and took the wand out. "Have a go."
I took the wand up in my left hand, and gave it a wave. It grew warm, which is what I supposed Rapunzel's did, but instead of cooling down it kept getting hotter. I had to drop it before I got burnt.
"I think it rejected me," I observed. Ollivander picked it up thoughtfully.
"Low tolerance for heat, eh?" he asked. It didn't seem as if he wanted a response, but he was right anyway.
"Hmm." He put the wand back in its box and walked to the back of the shop.
"What about this one?" he said when he returned, another long box in hand. I took the dark brown wand out of the box and gave it a wave, like as I had the first. I'd tried using a wand before, attempting to practice simple spells with either my uncle's or aunt's, but this - this was a completely different feeling. I felt little patterns of ice fill in the texture of the wand, leaving white swirls across it. It grew extremely cold, cold to the point where most people would have dropped it, and the air surrounding me seemed to freeze. After a couple of seconds, the sensation faded. I blinked.
"Did that feel right?" asked Ollivander.
"Yes," I said, still breathless. "This is the one."
"Brilliant," he smiled. "It's fir with unicorn hair, thirteen inches, and rather sturdy. Is that all for today, girls?"
I nodded, and we went over to the counter to pay.
"That will be seven galleons for each wand," said Ollivander. "They are durable things, wands, but make sure you keep them safe. Good luck starting school in September!"
"Thank you!" I gave him a small wave, and we were out the door, all carrying a wand box each.
We split up to buy the remaining items on the list. Rapunzel went off on her own to purchase the crystal phials and telescopes and scales, while Merida and I worked together to get the heavy cauldrons.
We soon met up back at Florean Fortescue's, where Uncle Frederic was also waiting. He looked up from a copy of The Daily Prophet as we approached.
"Good job, girls," he said, as we dumped our haul next to the table. "Now, I know it's raining and all, but it is technically summer… so how does an ice cream sound?"
"Ooh, yes please!" exclaimed Rapunzel.
I opened my mouth, ready to agree, but remembered I still hadn't been to Flourish and Blotts. I loved the bookshop; it was dark and quiet and smelled like paper.
"How crowded was Flourish and Blotts when you left?" I asked.
"Oh, it's practically empty now," replied Rapunzel's dad. "There was one group of kids - all friends or family or something, I assume - left inside it. Even they might be gone by now."
"Can I go?" I asked eagerly. "I'll only be five minutes, I swear!"
Uncle Frederic gave a fake roll of his eyes. "If you must."
"Thank you!" I flashed him a smile and took off towards the bookstore.
I entered the shop as the group Uncle Frederic had mentioned were leaving it. They were about my age, a mix of boys and girls, all of them tall and tough-looking. I kept my head down. I didn't want any trouble.
The door closed behind me, the bell tinkling lightly. I stood on the doormat, breathing in the musty book smell. Rows of shelves stretched out in front of me, packed full of leather-bound books of deep emerald, black, crimson, and indigo, as well as countless other colours. The metallic lettering on the spines of the books glinted in the dimness of the room, the only light coming from a few dusty lanterns hanging from the high ceiling. A grandfather clock was ticking in the corner. Footsteps creaked on the floorboards somewhere up the back of the shop. Apart from that, it was silent.
"Can I help you?"
Despite being soft, the voice made me jump. The shopkeeper, a youngish witch with very curly hair, smiled at me from across a cluttered counter.
I shook my head. "No thanks, I'm just looking."
She nodded, and went back to her book.
I moved softly, trying not to make any noise. I got to the children's fiction section, and was surprised to find a boy there, sitting on the floor. He was rather scrawny, and had brown hair and pale skin covered in freckles. He looked up at me, smiling.
"Isn't this place amazing?" he asked.
"Diagon Alley?"
"Well, yeah, that too, but I meant the store." He looked up at the shelves above us. "I've never seen anything like this in my whole life."
I raised my eyebrows. Flourish and Blotts was lovely, of course, but it wasn't particularly outstanding in any way. I had seen plenty of book shops just like it. Anyone who had been in a library before wouldn't be half so amazed.
"You've never been in a book shop?" I asked.
"No, never." He didn't elaborate. I decided not to pry.
"Er… I've heard there's a library at Hogwarts," I said. "A big one."
The boy smiled. "Yeah, I heard that too. That's what I'm looking forward to most, honestly."
So he was a Hogwarts student, then. At first I thought he sounded American, but I must have been wrong, otherwise he would've been going to Ilvermorny.
"You're a first year too?" I asked. He nodded, still staring at the books. I decided I liked him.
"Do you know what the time is?" he said suddenly.
I looked at my watch. "Nearly three."
"Oh, shoot." He stood up. "I have to go. My dad'll kill me."
"Oh. Well, it was nice to meet you."
"Yes! See you at Hogwarts!" He looked back at me for a second, then raced out the door.
I took a last look around the shelves, then left Flourish and Blotts as well. I pushed my way through the streets until I made it back to the ice cream shop. I was a little damp, but the rain was subsiding now.
"Elsa's here!" cried Rapunzel. "Can we go home?"
I looked around. Had Merida left?
"Cogsworth picked Merida up," said Uncle Frederic, reading my expression. "And please wait for Elsa, Rapunzel. She hasn't had her ice cream yet."
"I don't want one," I said. That was true; I didn't particularly like ice cream.
Uncle Frederic stood up. "If you're sure!"
We trudged back up the street, past the black turnoff to the infamous Knockturn alley, past Ollivander's, and back to Magical Menagerie. The shop was practically empty, except for the witch behind the counter. We each took a pinch of Flu Powder from Uncle Frederic's pouch. Rapunzel and her father stepped into the fireplace and were whisked home, but I lingered. Sometimes I was overcome with how amazing the world I lived in was, full of vibrant magic and fantastic creatures. I was so lucky to have been born a witch.
I stepped into the fireplace and as the emerald flames engulfed me, I thought, "there's no place like home".
As soon as I arrived home, my sister, Anna, immediately bombarded me with questions about our trip.
"Which shops did you go to?"
"Who did you meet?"
"Did you make any friends?"
"What did you buy?"
"Did you get me anything?"
"Don't tell me you-"
"Anna!" Aunt Arianna yelled over the top of Anna's babbling, cutting off her next question. "Please leave your sister alone, it's been a long day. And she needs to put her things in her room before she can answer your questions. While she's doing that, you can help me peel potatoes."
Anna groaned and stomped off to the kitchen. When she was inside, she poked her head around the doorframe and scowled. I smiled at her, then went upstairs to put away my stuff.
Dinner and the rest of the night was a blur, the only thing that made an impression was that Rapunzel and Anna were discussing Hogwarts so excitedly they managed to knock over a dish of peas. Aunt Arianna cleaned it up with a wave of her wand.
As I drifted off to sleep a few hours later, I kept glancing over at the pile of school equipment sitting on my chair. Every time I did so, another rush of excitement ran through my body.
Two more weeks, and then I'd be going to Hogwarts.
