Remus and his mother walked another long while before they had made it back to the other side of the street. The cauldron shop was rather small but very loud as people knocked on the pots to make sure of their durability. There were cauldrons of every color and nearly every type of metal.
He noticed the dark haired boy who had trodden on his toes in the shop to. He was looking at staring spoons. He found it somewhat odd that both times that he had seen him, that he was alone. The cart that he had was filled with books and other items all piled on top of each other in a way that a mother could never have managed. It wasn't common, he thought, for an eleven year old boy to go shopping for his school things alone. And he knew that know one had come with him because know one else had come out of the fire after he was stepped on.
Remus looked away deciding that he shouldn't really care and was drawn to a solid gold cauldron on the opposite side of the room. He walked over to it and found that his reflection was oddly distorted in the gold. He looked inside, it seemed awfully foolish or pointless even to ever buy a solid gold cauldron. After all, many potions destroyed them. Such a waste.
He reached out his hand to tough it, but was shoved into in instead my someone bumping him from behind. The gold cauldron toppled from the shelve, Remus tried to catch it but his fingers slipped. Instead two arms stretched out so swiftly that he could hardly tell they were arms, and caught it before it his the ground.
Remus looked up and saw the dark haired boy again holding the cauldron. He heaved it back onto the shelve.
"Oh, thanks." said Remus.
"Not a problem." said the boy looking up at him. "Hey, your that boy at stepped on in the book shop." he said.
"Yeah, well I-" "Come here dear." he was interrupted my his mom from the other side of the shop. Remus looked back at the boy, "Sorry," he murmured and headed toward his mother.
The boy called Sirius watched Remus meet up with his mom. "Pewter, standard size 2, that's what you need right?" asked his mom. He watched as Remus pulled his Hogwarts letter from his pocket.
Sirius turned away from the family feeling slightly upset, and just a pang of envy. But he shook it off and walked back to his cart then to the counter to buy his cauldron and stirring spoon.
He walked out of the shop a short time later and began toward Ollivanders. It took a little while. But he pressed on alone pushing his trolley up the stone hills. All across the street were children with their families. He watched as mothers held their sons hands and fathers walked with their daughters on their shoulders whole and happy.
He shrugged and leving his cart outside, walked into the quiet, dusty shop that was Ollivander's wand shop. Their were customers in there besides himself. One boy with red hair was being measured and the other two were flicking wands, and a few parents waiting against the wall.
An old man with white hair and silvery eyes walked toward him. With a measuring tape in his hand he held it in front of Sirius, "Your wand arm please." he said. Sirius gave him his right arm and Ollivander walked away. The measuring tape began to measuring his body on its own.
He watched Ollivander walked over to the other two customers one of which was a girl girl with shiny blonde hair and the other a boy with light brown hair. They were flicking wands pointlessly. He took both of the wands from the their hands, switched them around, and placed the wands back in the their hands the other way around. The boy exclaimed and almost dropped the wand. "I felt something!" he said looking around the room eagerly. Then with a BANG like a gun blast fire shot from the end of the boys wand. A woman, most likely his mother due to the resemblance, screamed with delight. She ran to the boy and started kissing him all over the face.
Sirius couldn't help but laugh allowed as the boys face turned red.
The girl waved her wand in a complicated looking way and a shower of blue diamonds flew from her wand and exploded all around the room turned into silver glitter that fell to the floor and vanished. The girl was positively glowing with happiness.
Mr. Ollivander strode toward Sirius and took the measuring tape from in front of him. "Alright." he said looking at the measurements. He looked back at Sirius and his eyes widened a bit.
"A Black." he said.
Sirius stopped smiling.
"Yes, yes." said Ollivander. "Yes I can see it now. You have your mothers hair and cheeks. But you have your fathers build and height I see now yes. But its curious, these measurements don't match those of Black family before you, no." he seemed to be thinking hard.
He hurried to the shelves and pulled a series of wand boxes and placed in on the table in front of him. Sirius walked to the table slightly reluctantly. He didn't appreciate being told that he had any resemblance to his family.
Ollivander had all the wands out of their boxes and set out on the table. Most of the wands were black or had skulls on them, or serpents engraved into them. He didn't much like them.
"Well go ahead try some out." said Ollivander. Sirius picked up a black on with silver spikes on the top and bottom of the handle.
"Nothing." said Sirius. "Well then that's not your wand." said the old man ushering him to take another wand. "You'll know when its yours, because you'll feel a warm sort of comfort in your hand." he said.
Sirius picked up the next wand, nothing. Then the next, nothing. He was picking them up and putting them back down holding each one for less then two seconds. He looked up at Ollivander. He had finished with all thirteen wands and all thirteen wands were now shrewd across the table un-orderly.
"Curious," the man was saying. Very curious. Well perhaps dragon heart string isn't quite for you. Though it worked for the rest of your family." he said this last part in a mutter.
Ollivander was walking past the blonde girl who tapped him on the shoulder. Ollivander turned around to see the two kids holding their wands and the red headed boy who was now being measured by each eyebrow, hair length, waist length, spine.
Sirius started to think that the magic measuring tape would just continue measuring until someone told it to stop.
Ollivander looked surprised, "Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry." he said "Got a bit distracted, huh, that's enough." he said to the measuring tape and it fell to the ground making the red head boy look relieved. "I'll be right back with you." he said in Sirius' direction.
Sirius walked across the store looking at all the shelves. He was running his hand across wand boxes when a series of POP'S like firecrackers went off all over the room. He turned to see the red head boy smiling as fireworks shot from the end of the wand.
Ollivander was to busy clapping to notice that one of the fireworks had hit the shelve right in front of Sirius and blew it up. The wands that had been on that shelve toppled off. Sirius hastened to catch the wands that had fallen off when, with his arms full of long boxes, half of the demolished shelve fell down and onto him. He fell backward and caught himself on one of his hands all of the wands that had been in his arms fell silently into his lap half the shelve now on top of it.
Nobody even glanced in that direction. Ollivander and some of the parents were using there wands to shoot down the fireworks which, unlike most wand fireworks, didn't vanish.
Sirius sat up and began to put the wands that had fallen out, back into boxes. He hoped to God that the boxes weren't marked. Because he was sure that he wasn't putting them in the correct boxes. He picked up wand after wand. He suddenly felt something warm singe through his fingers. He froze. That was his wand. He felt around frantically in search if the correct wand. There were still plenty across the floor. Then he found it. He lifted it up and felt warmth in his fingers. It was black and square like, it had detailed markings all the way from the top to the bottom. He liked this one much more than any of those that Ollivander wanted him to try.
The red head boy was paying for his wand when Sirius lifted his own and waved it. And the sound of a roaring wind overtook the place. Every eye in the room was watching now as the sound seemed to explode and rain fell. On everyone. Except for Sirius who started to laugh.
"Aw!" came Ollivander's voice walking toward Sirius, his rain cloud following him. The blonde girl, brown and red haired boys left the store, having already paid, soaking wet with their angry looking parents as their rain clouds followed them. The girl however, looked impressed as she was ushered away.
A soaking wet Ollivander was right in front of him, not looking mad that he had upset his customers, drenched his store, or caused the next person that walked in slip and fall on their back, but looked positively ecstatic.
"Oh wonderful magic!" he was saying as he waved his wand and made the water from the ground and the rain cloud above him vanish. Sirius wondered whether or not the others had gotten rid of their rain clouds yet.
"Aw yes." he said taking Sirius' wand and examining it. "11'' Australian Blackwood, yes I got that on my visit more than ten years ago. Uh, and phoenix feather core. Yes very interesting. Not at all alike to your ancestors before you. Well," he said handing the wand back to Sirius. "Seven Galleons."
He walked out of the shop feeling satisfied. What next? He thought as he took up his car again. He had already gotten his cauldron, books, robes. He hadn't gotten any quills yet. He had skipped the store until it was less crowded. He wasn't to keen to attempt to conquer the crowd.
So he headed down toward the stationary shop. By the time he got there he was reveled to find that it was much less crowded then whenever he had come earlier. There was even enough room for his cart to enter too, and so it did. Many of the fancy quills and ink bottles had been knocked over. Behind the counter was a flustered red faced looking witch fanning herself with a notebook from a display on the counter.
It wasn't hard to find everything that he needed. He took two handsome eagle feathered quills from the counter, two ink bottles, then he walked to the notebooks. He was drawn to a collection of notebooks dawned with the the crest of all the Hogwart's houses and the Hogwart crest.
He thought back to what his mom had said, "IF YOU ENTER MY HOUSE WITH A CREST THAT IS NOT SLYTHERIN THEN YOU WILL BE VERY SORRY!" Slytherin. He thought. That was where his entire family was from. If he wasn't a Slytherin then there'd be hell to pay from her.
He chose a plain black one. Bought his items from the red faced witch as she ranted on and on, "This was my day off it was," she was saying. "Oh how I wish I hadn't answered that owl.
He had gotten everything that he needed but was desperate not to return home for a little while longer. He decided to go look at Quality Quidditch Supplies. He didn't have to go far it was just next door.
The shop was rather large and had many people inside of it, most of whom were boys. Against one on the walls was a table where a man was demonstrating to a large crowd of people the speed of the new "Inflare 08." the man was saying. "Fasted broom made yet! Can't find it anywhere but her for now! Look at the control!" the man was pointing at the model of a man riding an Inflare 08 over a quidditch pitch on the table in front of him.
Sirius had never seen a quidditch match before, well from beginning to end anyway. He had sneaked out one night a year or so ago to watch one from the top of a hill. But was caught by his mother and was most sincerely sorry that he had.
He walked over to the opposite wall and saw it full of gleaming, shiny new broomsticks. He looked all across the store. There were balls of all sizes, scarfs, hats, pocket fireworks, clappers, and every other thing that one would use to support their home team. Badges and helmets and knee guards, and leather gloves, goggles, shoulder pads, boots and even quidditch related toys and stuffed animals.
Sirius looked back at the wall of broomsticks. He had never rode one before. Yes, he knew that first years weren't allowed to have brooms but he didn't need to bring it. Then he thought again. His mom would surely destroy it if she found out, she hated anything that was considered- fun. Though if he hid it really well... He took it off the shelve and looked at the price, he could afford it. "Yeah," he thought. "Yeah I'll get it." But then he thought again. Would it be worth it though? He thought of what his mother would do if she caught him bringing it inside the house. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU USE OUR MONEY! OUR MONEY ON TOYS! USELESS JUNK! WE PROVIDE FOR YOU! WE FEED YOU! WITH THE SAME MONEY THAT YOU SQUANDER! YOU UNGRATEFUL BOY! YOU SELFISH BOY! YOU USELESS, FOOLISH, WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE YOUR BROTHER! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? And her hand swung back.
Sirius looked back down at the broomstick. No, no it wasn't worth it. He placed it gingerly back on the wall then walked away from it. Not for from the wall of broomsticks was a shelve devoted to just clothing items. There were large sections of blue and silver, red and gold, yellow and black, green and silver. He new that the colors represented the Hogwarts houses. Sirius grabbed a Slytherin hat, gloves, scarf and flag. His mother had told him to do this. He walked to the counter and bought the items and left.
