"Misses! It is the day for Diagon Alley, Miss and Miss, you must not be late for your shoppings!"
Beth groggily opened her eyes. Then she let out a shriek and sat straight up, clutching her sleeping bag around her. It was a few moments before she realized that the enormous green eyes staring back at her belonged to a small elfish creature wearing what appeared to be a lampshade. Despite the fact that it was staring intently at Beth, its expression was more of curiosity than threat.
Melissa yawned and rolled over. "S'okay, Binky, we're up," she mumbled, her long dark hair falling into her mouth as she spoke.
"Nice to meet you ... Binky," Beth managed, still staring at the odd little person. Like its eyes, its ears were extraordinarily large, and its nose was shaped much like a kidney bean. The gender was uncertain.
The creature bowed at the waist, and the bottom edge of its lampshade scraped the floor. "Binky is pleased to meet you, Miss, but it is time you must be getting up and going to Diagon Alley. There is many shoppings to do, oh yes, and Misses must be ready to leave tomorrow morning." There was something unidentifiably feminine about the creature; Beth decided it must be a girl of its species, whatever that was.
"Give us an hour," said Melissa, crawling to a sitting position. "We'll be at breakfast by -- what time is it?"
The creature wrung her hands. "It is nine in the mornings, Miss, you must leave for shoppings by ten in the mornings sharp!"
Melissa gave Beth a sleepy little grin. "Okay, half an hour. Let's see, I want French toast and strawberries. Beth?"
"Uh --" Beth looked at the little creature, which gazed back up at her expectantly. "I dunno, whatever you have."
"Oh come on," said Melissa, shoving her good-naturedly. "We have everything. What're you hungry for?"
"Um, okay ... bacon and a bagel, I guess."
The creature Binky bowed low; the lampshade scraped the floor again; then it turned and scurried away.
Melissa got up and started collecting her shower things. Beth let out her breath slowly. "What -- what was that?"
"Her? That's Binky." Melissa squinted her eyes, trying to decide between two scents of soap, and decided on the laurel. "Oh, I guess you wouldn't know ... she's our house elf. Like a servant, only shorter." She laughed at her own joke and disappeared into the bathroom.
Beth knew from experience that getting a teenage girl ready to go in half an hour was difficult. Getting two teenage girls ready in half an hour proved to be nearly impossible. After they had each managed a hasty shower, the bathroom was a tangle of teeth-brushing, hair-drying, face-washing madness. Beth picked at her bushy blonde hair without much hope, and sure enough, when Binky came in squealing, "Misses must get to breakfast, all their foods is ready and getting cold!" her hair remained as impossible as ever.
They scrambled down to the Ollivanders' large kitchen and plunked down at the table. Mrs. Ollivander was there sipping tea while a small spoon levitated beside her, feeding thirteen-month-old Russell from a small glass of baby food.
"Good morning, dear," she said tiredly, kissing Melissa on the forehead. "Good morning, Beth. I hope you slept well."
Beth nodded. As she did, Binky whisked up and dropped in front of her a plate containing a bagel and at least a dozen crisp slices of bacon.
"Thanks for letting Beth stay over, Mum," said Melissa, who was now being served her French toast with several plump strawberries on the side.
Mrs. Ollivander smiled at her daughter. "Of course, dear. It gave me an excuse to throw a party -- and I had a chance to meet some more of your delightful friends. The young Malfoy boy is quite the charmer."
"Sorry, Mum, he's taken," Melissa replied with a grin.
Her mother smiled back. "Pity, I almost had our elopement all worked out."
"Who's running away with my wife?" boomed a jocular voice from the hall. Mr. Ollivander strode in and gave his jovial wife a sound kiss on the cheek. "I won't have it, I say." He sat down beside her and put an arm around her waist. "I'm rather fond of her."
"Good morning, Rex," smiled Mrs. Ollivander.
Mr. Ollivander turned to the girls. "I'm going to insist that you take Binky to Diagon Alley with you today -- latte, please," he said to Binky, who bowed and darted away. "With this Sirius Black on the loose, I simply don't think that two girls should be out on their own. Of course, you are both perfectly intelligent, capable, and, if I may say, beautiful women -- thank you, Binky, it smells smashing -- but I don't trust the situation, you see?" He took a sip of coffee. "Mmm, this must be a hazelnut blend."
Melissa protested, "It'll go so much slower with Binky there, Dad!"
Russell belched and a large quantity of baby food came tumbling out of his mouth. Mrs. Ollivander sighed and Summoned a dishrag. "He's been sighted again," she said, mopping off Russell's face (who gurgled in delight at the clever prank he had played on his mother). "It was in the Prophet just this morning. I have to agree with your father on this, it's just not a very safe time to be unchaperoned."
Binky hurried into the dining room and bowed low so that her lampshade scraped on the floor. "Sir, there is a head in the fireplace wishing to speaks with you, sir."
"Thank you, Binky." Mr. Ollivander got up and went into the living room, as if it were perfectly ordinary for a head to appear in his fireplace.
Melissa's mother finished cleaning Russell and set the spoon to feeding him again. "You'll need new robes this year, darling," she said, looking over at Melissa. "And don't forget the quills. I'm very sorry for what happened to them, but you know that Russell's just a baby."
"Can I get a crystal ball?" asked Melissa, leaning over to tickle Russell under the chin. "Professor Trelawney is going to be doing some advanced orb-readings this year." Russell rewarded his sister's kindness by spitting up on her hand.
"The school orbs will be just fine," said Mrs. Ollivander, handing her the dishrag. "Just be sure that you do well in Ancient Runes. There are enormous possibilities within that field, and you're very good at it --"
Mr. Ollivander's voice came from the living room. "Beth, could you come out here, please? It's for you."
"Okay," called Beth, undeniably surprised. First of all, she had never gotten a message through the fireplace, and secondly, very few people knew where she was. She left her bagel half-eaten and went out to the living room.
Mr. Ollivander was sitting there on his haunches in front of the fireplace. A translucent blue head, rather larger than usual, was sitting in the flames. They both turned to look at Beth as she came in. Then she recognized the old, balding head and kind but cranky face.
"Mr. Scamander, hi!"
The head of Mr. Scamander smiled and his face creased into a map of wrinkles. "Hullo, Bethy. How was the party?"
"Great!" she said enthusiastically, sitting down next to Mr. Ollivander on the floor. "What d'you need?"
"Oh, your father wanted us to check in on you -- see how you were, and all --"
Without warning, the fire shifted and another blue head popped up beside Mr. Scamander's. It was Mrs. Scamander. "Hullo, Beth!" she said cheerily.
"Get out of this fire, woman, you're hogging all the space!" roared Mr. Scamander's head.
"Don't be silly, Newt, I just want to talk to Bethy," said Mrs. Scamander in a no-nonsense voice. They looked like a pair of sky-blue Easter eggs, hovering there above the ashes side by side. "At any rate there's plenty of space for both of us."
"Well, quit sticking me with your bony elbows," grumbled Mr. Scamander. Beth giggled. She knew that Mr. Scamander was prone to playing the part of a grouch -- especially when he was working on another edition of his book -- but underneath he was more of a softie than his wife.
Melissa wandered in with a glass of orange juice. "Who is it?"
"The Scamanders," said Beth. "They just wanted to check up -- right?" she said to the fireplace.
Mrs. Scamander smiled and nodded. "Simply to be sure you're all right. Your father was a mite concerned. So what are your big plans for your last day before school starts, dear?"
"Diagon Alley. We both need to go shopping," said Beth, indicating Melissa behind her. "Scrolls and things, and Melissa's brother Russell ate all her quills --"
Melissa dropped to her knees beside the fire, orange juice forgotten. "Mr. Scamander, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said breathlessly. "We used your book for two years. I loved it."
"Did you now!" Mr. Scamander's face brightened instantly. "Let's see, that would have been the fifty-first edition, wouldn't it? I redid the section on Kelpies for that -- added a mention of Loch Ness -- took me seven months to rewrite," he bragged.
"Don't listen to him, it was only five," said Mrs. Scamander, while her husband scowled at her. "I don't suppose you two would care to meet up with two old fools, would you? We'll be in Diagon Alley to do a bit of visiting and we'd love to see you both."
"Especially her," said Mr. Scamander, nodding his chin at Melissa.
Melissa turned to her father, who had been listening to the entire conversation with unconcealed amusement. "What do you say, can we meet with them instead of taking Binky?" she asked quickly.
Beth caught on. "You can trust them, I've known them for years," she added hastily.
Mr. Ollivander stroked his moustache, grinning. "It's all right with me if your mother doesn't mind." There was a large crash, gurgling from Russell, and a faintly hysterical wail of "Binky, please come here!" from the dining room. "She doesn't mind," he amended. "I'll leave it to you fine people to settle on a meeting place. Have a good time." He stood up, kissed both Melissa and Beth on the tops of their heads (Beth blushed furiously) and strode out into the dining room to rescue his wife.
"Shall we say, Fortescue's for lunch?" said Mrs. Scamander brightly.
"Not that old fool Florian Fortescue!" grouched Mr. Scamander.
"He's forty years younger than you, dear."
"But he's twice the fool," Mr. Scamander muttered. "An ice-cream stand. What kind of respectable business is that?" His head turned toward Beth and he gave her an evil glare. "You ever go into the ice-cream business, girl, and I'll disown you."
"You can't, we're not related," giggled Beth.
"Little whippersnappers, telling me what I can't do!"
"Oh, hush, Newt, you'll have plenty of time to rant about it all later." She smiled fondly at Beth and Melissa. "We'll see you two at noon -- sharp, now, you know how Newt is about punctuality."
Beth had just enough time to blurt out, "See you then," before they disappeared into a pile of blue ashes.
They took the Floo network to Diagon Alley. "I still can't believe we managed to ditch Binky," Melissa rejoiced, as they strolled among the bustling crowds and busy stores. "Your grand -- I mean, the Scamanders are great."
Beth laughed. "That's all right, they're just like grandparents to me," she said. "Where do you want to be off to first?"
"I have to stop in to see my Uncle Ollivander. Mum and Dad left me with a message." She lowered her voice a little. "Plus, I want to see how those basilisk wands are looking. He just started testing them the other day."
They turned into the narrow shop with fading gold letters above the door. Inside it was dim and dusty, with boxes of wands piled high along three walls. Beth had always felt nervous in such an antiquated shop, but Melissa strode round the counter and into the back room, calling, "Uncle Ollivander! It's me, Melissa!"
She came back out accompanied by an old man with large, milky spectacles. Beth remembered Melissa's uncle well; he had almost terrified her in the process of picking out the right wand. Melissa, however, looked completely comfortable with him, and although he looked no less strict, a small smile floated around his mouth in the presence of his niece.
"Melissa, how have you been?"
"Well, thanks."
"And the Society?" said Melissa's uncle, turning his gaze to Beth. She remembered that he, too, was a former member of the S.S.A.
"Fine, Mr. Ollivander," she said politely.
"Mum and Dad say that they think the unicorn deal with Portugal is going to turn out all right, that bloody Gregorovich is starting to get a share of the market in Spain, and they would like to resume using chestnut wood despite the risk of plague," Melissa recited. "Can we see the basilisk wands? Can we?"
Mr. Ollivander waved an elderly hand. "All right, come on in the back and I'll give you a demonstration."
Beth followed the two of them through the small shop and into a doorway so low and crooked that she had to duck sideways to get in. Unlike the store, which had the dusty smell of old books, this little workroom had the fresh smell of cut wood. Cylinders of wood in all sized and colors lined the walls, and pieces of woodworking equipment littered the floor. Melissa sat down on the edge of a huge vat of sandpaper while Mr. Ollivander made his way to the workbench in the middle of the room. He swept aside a pile of wood shavings and brought out what appeared to be a bundle of sticks. As he laid them out, Beth saw that they were wands -- unpolished, without some of the smaller details, but fully effective.
"Twelve different kinds of wood," said Mr. Ollivander, running a long finger down the length of one lovingly. "Brothers, all."
"Can I try one?" said Melissa eagerly.
"No!" Mr. Ollivander's reply was sharp and shocking. "No," he repeated. "I'd rather you not. You see, the testing has been ... interesting ... Here, let me show you."
He picked up a honey-colored wand and held it at arm's length. "Lumos." A large red fireball erupted from the end of the wand and hovered in mid-air about an inch above the tip. "Nox," said Mr. Ollivander, and the fireball went out with a small bang. He laid it back down with the others.
"Not at all a traditional response," he said severely. "If one of my wands did this, I would dismantle it and burn the pieces. It's not just this one, however -- all of them have the same odd way of interpreting standard spells. I would never sell or give one of these to anyone without a complete queue of tests."
"I'll help," said Melissa quickly. "I can test some over break. It'll give me practice for the O.W.L.s," she added hopefully.
Her uncle squinted at her. "We'll see," he said, in a manner that made Beth suspect that Melissa would never get to touch them.
A bell rang from within the store and Mr. Ollivander perked up. "Excuse me," he said, rubbing his hands together. "My customers call."
"We'll give you a hand," said Melissa, jumping up. "We can fetch the wands for you. All right?"
Her uncle grunted in reply.
They filed back into the shop. There stood a plump, smiling woman with curly hair, and behind her, a tall boy with red hair that Beth recognized immediately: the youngest Weasley boy, best friend of Potter and the younger brother of the twin banes of her existence. Melissa and Beth stood back while Melissa's uncle went forward to greet them.
"Ah, Molly Weasley," he said, reaching out and taking her hands. "Ten inches, a nice solid oak with a phoenix core. I trust it still serves you well?"
"Of course," beamed the woman, whom Beth assumed to be the Weasleys' mother. "I'm afraid Ron has had -- ahem -- a mishap with his wand." She gave her son a bit of a glare. "He'll be needing a new one."
"Happy to oblige," said Mr. Ollivander. He glanced over the Weasley as if sizing him up. "Now this is unusual! I haven't seen you before, have I?"
"Er -- no," said the Weasley, going quite red in the face. "I -- started with Charlie's old wand."
Mr. Ollivander nodded. "Aha. Unicorn mane. A fine wand, but he did need a bit more -- how shall we say -- firepower, for his current line of work?" Laughing to himself, he pulled out a tape measure. Beth watched, fascinated, as Mr. Ollivander measured the Weasley from head to toe and every imaginable diameter. Finally he stepped back and said, "Let's begin with a thirteen-inch, shall we? You've been using unicorn hair with success?" The Weasley nodded. "Melissa, fetch a U-13 with, shall we say, ash?"
Melissa snapped into action. Hurrying to the stacks of wands, she pulled one out with barely a glance and handed it to her uncle. He took it out and thrust it into the Weasley's hand. Almost immediately, he grabbed it back.
"Close," he murmured to himself. "Not ash, though ... not flexible enough ... willow, perhaps?"
Quick as lightning, Melissa had another wand ready. She seemed to be enjoying herself, Beth noticed. This time, Mr. Ollivander let the Weasley try a spell or two before snatching the wand away. "That's the right combination, yes, but let's make it an inch longer -- you'll grow a fair bit, I'll wager," he added, eyeing the tall redhead. He took the wand from Melissa and handed it to the Weasley, who waved it around with a growing look of pleasure.
"Yeah -- this is it!" he grinned, making sparks fly from the end. "This one'll do."
"I thought as much," said Mr. Ollivander smugly. He took the wand back and handed it to Melissa, who put it back in the box and began wrapping it up in brown paper. "A wand can last a lifetime, if properly cared for. I expect that you will polish yours at least twice a week --"
"Yeah, sure," said the Weasley, who still looked rather enamored.
"And bring it in to me for a checkup once per year if possible," Mr. Ollivander finished to Mrs. Weasely, as she was looking much more attentive than her son. "That will be seven Galleons, five Sickles, please, Mrs. Weasley."
Mrs. Weasley heaved a little sigh and dug into a slim, tattered money bag. "I remember that my own wand was only four Galleons," she said, handing several gold coins to Mr. Ollivander. "Bill's was six and a bit. Times are certainly changing, aren't they, Mr. Ollivander?"
"More with every passing year," said Melissa's uncle softly, with a small bow.
Melissa gave the wand to the Weasley and a very vague kind of recognition crossed his face.
"D'you go to Hogwarts, then?" he asked curiously.
Melissa made a bow exactly like her uncle's and replied, "For four years now. Good day." She retreated to the back of the shop, where Beth stood trying to avoid the Weasley's gaze. He'd recognize her, for sure -- she was the one that had slapped one of his brothers (she had never been sure which one) in the cafeteria two years ago, for a prank it turned out that they did not commit.
"It is always thrilling to watch a wand choose its new owner," Mr. Ollivander said softly, when the Weasleys had left. He turned back to Beth and Melissa. "You'll want to be getting along, won't you?"
"Oh -- yes," said Melissa, a little disappointed. "Come on, Beth, let's go to Malkin's first, what do you think? You can look around at the dress robes while I'm being fitted."
Beth nodded gamely, although looking through racks of dress robes wasn't her first choice for a morning of fun. "Thank you for showing us the basilisk wands," she said to Melissa's uncle, and they left the dusty shop for the hot, sunny street.
The morning flew by as the two girls went from shop to shop collecting school supplies or just browsing the exotic wares. At Madame Malkin's Melissa ended up getting three new sets of robes and a blue paisley shawl that she "just couldn't resist." Beth wondered what it was like to have enough money to splurge on things randomly, and made up for her envy by purchasing a bottle of metallic green ink at the Bartleby's Stationery and Supplies.
They met up with Mr. and Mrs. Scamander at Forescue's Ice-Cream Parlor, as planned, and spent the afternoon strolling around window-shopping and listening to the local gossip. Harry Potter, it seemed, was staying in the Leaky Cauldron after an incident in which he had purportedly blown up his aunt.
"Good heavens," said Beth, "you mean like she exploded?"
"Tha's what they say," whispered the pockmarked young Knight Bus attendant who had given them the scoop.
"I suppose they didn't kick him out of school for it," Melissa grumbled. The boy shook his head. "It figures. Even Minister Fudge has a soft spot for the little twit."
The bus attendant looked appalled.
They took the Floo network home as the sun began to set. The Ollivanders had a pair of business guests over for dinner, so Binky brought Melissa and Beth some sandwiches, which they ate on the floor with much teasing and giggling. Afterward Melissa took her on a tour of the mansion -- the estate was so huge that it easily took the entire evening. The family had a vast array of magical objects amassed over centuries of time, including and entire room dedicated to magic mirrors and another draped with moving tapestries.
It had been a long day. As Beth settled into her sleeping bag, the thought of the screaming specter sprang to her mind; but it was overruled by contentment and exhaustion, and Beth fell asleep without another thought.