Chapter 3: Charming Shopping Rules

Filius dropped the silver strand into the pensive. With a quick glance at Severus to make sure he was ready, he touched the surface.

Severus set the quill on top of the parchment. He would finish the list before the evening was done. He didn't want to forget anything that he spotted. Leaning forward, he touched the charmed bowl, falling into a small parlor decorated in blues and cool grays. The others were already there watching as the memory Filius sat on a small sofa balancing a cup of tea quite skillfully. Smirking, he turned to the present Filius. "Looks like you get to practice your tea balancing skills somewhere else besides the Headmaster's office."

Filius smiled up at him. "Well, one must keep in practice over the summer. I would hate to have the Headmaster think that I had forgotten such an important skill. Even a bit of time off could lessen my ability level, and that would be tragic. I am a Ravenclaw."

Pomona snorted before she could help it. The others were doing their best not to laugh. "And we all know that Ravenclaw's are always striving for perfection."

Minerva shook her head, a small grin still gracing her face. "So, who are you waiting on?" No one else had come into the scene yet.

"Naudia Angelopoulos. She is a good friend. Severus be nice." Filus turned towards the Head of Slytherin.

Severus narrowed his eyes as he took in the warning. "Is she a flighty dunderhead?"

Filius shook his head no. "She is flighty but not a dunderhead. She is just really good at hiding her brains."

Severus folded his arms as he raised his eyebrow at the small Head of Ravenclaw. "I shall endeavor to look past this and withhold my judgment."

Pomona glanced at the door that had yet to open. "She sure is having you wait a long time."

"She was running late, and I wanted to give us a chance to talk before she got here."

The door opened admitting a brown haired, brown eyed witch. She was completely unremarkable in appearance, nothing about her would make her stick in your mind. That was until she noticed Filius sitting on the sofa. Her face went through an entire range of emotions, from mortification, embarrassment, enthusiasm, and settling on happiness. She literally skipped across the room to bounce onto the sofa next to Filius.

Minerva raised an eyebrow at the way the memory Filius kept his tea in his cup. Filius meet her look with a smirk he borrowed from Severus. "Skills."

The other Heads just shook their heads. They focused back on the scene when Naudia started talking in a soft soprano.

"You made it. I was thinking you were going to spend a few more days at the school. I am so-o-o-o-o sorry that you've been left waiting. I was just out at the store. They have the most wonderful bird..." She bounced off the sofa and pulled Filius to his feet. "You've got to come see it. And then you can tell me if the shop keeper is telling the truth."

Filius barely had a chance to put the tea cup down before he was hauled out the door.

Pomona shooed them out the door behind the excited witch and her captured partner. As they followed the two, Severus looked about trying to determine where they were. His attention was drawn back to the babbling of Naudia as she continued talking to the captured Filius.

"I want to get this animated bird..." She spun about to grin at Filius. "You know how much I love birds, but I just don't have time for one." Before he could answer, she continued. "This is an animated bird, so I won't have to take care of it. It sings and flits about and everything I want, but ..."

Severus felt an eyebrow raising as watched the memory Filius try to get a word in edgewise. He had never thought to see the small man treated like this. He looked at the present Filius. "Did you know?"

The look he got was an answer itself, but Filius answered him in words as well. "Naudia has been talking about getting a bird since before you were student here Severus. Yes, I knew."

Naudia's voice broke into their conversation.

"It is here. I hope you can tell me if it has to be in the cage for the charm to work. I don't want it in the cage." Her face was a mixture of hopefulness and wariness. She was prepared to be told what she didn't want to hear.

They stopped in front of a store that was obviously a novelties shop. The windows were crowded with a multitude of different objects that scampered, skittered, teetered, and glowed. The other Heads almost laughed when Severus held back, visibly not wanting to go into the shop.

Minerva smiled up at him. "It is a memory, nothing in there can attack you." Her eyes sparkled for a moment, wondering what he was nervous about.

"The noise still can," was all he said before he strode in.

As soon as they were through the door the noise level raised past the level of the Great Hall filled to capacity with babbling students. Filius signaled for them to come further in. Once they were another two feet into the shop, the noise level dropped drastically. "I don't know if the owner realizes just how much business he is loosing because of that charm."

Pomona eyed the doorway warily. "Is it done right? I mean, is that what the charm is supposed to do?"

Filius turned one corner of his mouth up. "It is done correctly, it is the application that is the problem."

They watched as Naudia pulled Filius over to a large cage with about fifteen small birds. "See, aren't they pretty. And they are made out of some type of fluff stuffed into a metal frame and feathers attached to a cloth stretched over the frame." The birds started warbling a soft song as they looked at them.

A tall, thin, dirty blond haired man wove his way through the small tables that littered the inside of the shop. "Ah! Back again to admire the birds. Are you ready to take one home with you today? I still have one cage left."

Naudia looked at the shopkeeper. "I still think there has to be a way for them to work outside of the cage." She flickered her eyes towards Filius and then back to the shopkeeper.

"She is not asking you to figure out the charms the man is using, is she?" Severus raised an eyebrow at the bubbling witch while waiting for Filius to answer him.

"No, she want me to discover a way to circumvent the use of the cage." Filius watched as the shopkeeper explained in a tired way that there was no way for the charm to work outside of the cage.

The other Heads watched the memory Filius' face register the challenge. They were positive that the shopkeeper didn't recognize the look, but they could tell that Naudia did. The Head of the Ravenclaw house leaned over and whispered in her ear. The ones viewing the memory could see a pure Slytherin smirk cross her face before she wiped it out to face the shopkeeper.

"I'll take it. As there is no other way to get it to work." She heaved a sigh as she waited for the man to bring out the cage.

He lined the doors up carefully so that the openings matched. "Which one do you wish?" He flicked his eyes over towards Naudia.

She gestured to the one in the back of the cage. "The one with the bright red wing tips."

The man summoned the bird into the cage, casting another spell once it entered. "Transfero totus" He then shut the door and headed to the register.

Once they were out of the shop, Filius took the cage from Naudia. "You want the bird to be able to work out of the cage, right?" She nodded. "Then we can do that. Do you have a bit of silver on you?"

When Naudia pulled an oddly shaped lump of silver from her pocket, the Heads turned to stare at Filius. He smiled. "It is part of her job. She tests and carries bits of different types of materials on her person." At their disbelieving looks he shrugged. "She works for the goblins." As Severus raised an eyebrow, Filius just directed them to watch.

Filius had opened the cage and was currently holding the now two lumps of silver near the birds legs. A quiet transfiguration later, and the sliver had become vines that loosely wound their way around the legs of the bird. Picking up the bird until it was in the doorway of the cage, he cast the same spell the shopkeeper had, but he focused the spell onto the metal vines. He then sat the bird on Naudia's shoulder and tapped it two times with his wand.

There all done." He smiled up at the other. "Do you want to take the cage back?"

Naudia smiled at the bird that was singing merrily on her shoulder. "Yes, I would love to. What did you cast when you tapped it?"

"I set a periphery that it could fly in around you, and a setting so that you could leave it in one place, like your parlour, if you needed to."

They walked back in to the shop. This time Minerva, Pomona and Severus moved quickly away from the door.

The shopkeeper moved towards them as the came in. "Is there something wrong with the bird?" His eyes flickered to the cage and then to where it was sitting on her shoulder. His eyes widened. "How... how did you do that? It shouldn't be able to... the spells don't work unless..."

Naudia held the cage out. "I wanted to return the cage since I don't need it anymore."

He numbly took the cage from her while staring at the bird. "But how..." He looked down at the Filius. "How?"

A gleam came to the smaller man's eyes. "It has to do with what you attach the spell to. The metal of the cage is..." He stopped to glare at Naudia who had just cuffed him upside the head. "I was explaining."

"No." She glared at him, her hand held out to stop the flow of words. "It is summer and we are shopping. Remember the rules."

Filius sighed lightly and looked back at the shopkeeper. "You should be able to figure it out. Pay attention to the metals you use." He dodged another swipe before heading out the door. "I wasn't teaching. He asked a reasonable question and I was explaining."

"And the last time you explained something to someone while we were shopping you took five hours. That was the reason for the rules, remember?"

The others followed as they headed down the street. The memory slowly came to an end while the two were still debating the shopping rules.

Minerva looked at Filius as she took a sip of her drink. "Not truly funny, but humorous."

Filius smiled. "I thought you would enjoy Naudia."

"The grade of metal dictates the spell type it can anchor. So, the small amount of silver was able anchor as much as the larger steel cage." Severus nodded to himself. "Basically the same as potions, different types of cauldrons work with different potions due to the grade of metal."

Pomona pushed a biscuit into Severus' hand. "We were supposed to be enjoying the interaction between Filius and Naudia, not answering Filius' question to the shopkeeper, who really should have already known that."

"Well with the amount of work that went into the body of the bird, there might be quite a bit of magic already laced into the structure. I can understand why he didn't place the anchoring spell on the bird itself." Minerva was contemplating another biscuit while the others considered her statement.

Filius was the one who answered. "That is why I made the silver loose. That way it was surrounding the bird, but not part of it. I hope he gets it right." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Severus continuing the list that he was writing for Pomona as he nibbled on his biscuit.

Retrieving his memory, he looked over to the Deputy Headmistress. "Your turn?"

She nodded, a smile wrapping its way onto her face.