Disclaimer: Apologies to J.K. Rowling for stealing all of her characters, but Evan and Lucy are such a handful, I'm quite happy with them! Oh, and once again, please review!
Lucy Potter was walking slowly up a white stone staircase towards the burnished bronze doors of a snowy-white building which towered over the other little shops in Diagon Alley. A goblin, more than a head shorter than Evan, who was holding her hand, was wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, and he bowed as they entered.
Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"You'd be mad to rob Gringotts," Frank remarked, watching Lucy's fascinated stare. "Rumour has it they even have dragons guarding the High-security vaults."
Lucy had never been inside Gringotts, but she could easily believe that.
A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. The group made their way to the counter.
"Good morning," said Frank cheerfully. "We've come to take some money out."
"You have your key, sir?"
"Sure do." He dug in his pocket and produced a tiny golden key.
The goblin looked at it closely. "That seems to be in order."
"Oh, and my brother-in-law, too. And…yes, here they are."
James and Mary Potter were hurrying through the silver doors, brushing soot from their clothes.
The goblin peered around Frank and wrinkled his nose at the bedraggled couple. Lucy watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.
"Dr. Snape, you have your key?"
Severus silently dropped it into the goblin's outstretched hand, and James, reaching the counter, sullenly did likewise.
"Very well," said the goblin, handing their keys back to them. "I'll have somebody take you down. Griphook! Brocklehurst!"
Griphook and Brocklehurst were two more goblins. Once Mary had finished making herself presentable again, she found herself and her husband following one of them – Griphook, she thought – through one of the doors, while the Longbottoms were ushered out of another by Brocklehurst. She glanced questioningly at her old school friend, who was also with them.
"Your vault's near ours," Lily explained, her fingers twined with her husband's.
Lucy, who had been expecting more marble on the other side of the door, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downwards and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks towards them. They piled in, and were off.
At first they just raced through a maze of twisting passages. Lucy tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The cart, she observed, seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.
Her eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but she kept them wide open. Once, she thought she saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late – they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.
Suddenly the cart braked, coming to a stop opposite a little door in the wall.
Griphook unlocked the door with James's key, and the Snapes politely became very interested in the view over the silent, black water. There was a very, very small pile of silver Sickles inside, and just one gold Galleon. "Couldn't carry it all, could you?" Mary whispered savagely to her husband, feeling right into the corners before sweeping the whole lot into her purse.
"I never know," Evan said, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?" even though he probably knew perfectly well.
"No," said Lucy, even though she did too. "Me neither."
He squeezed her hand, and then they climbed back into the cart.
Lucy blinked when the door of the Snape's vault swung open a few minutes later. Inside were mounds of gold, columns of silver! It was a fortune.
Evan felt awful, and tried to block the contents of the vault from view as his mother filled a leather shoulder bag.
One wild car-ride later they stood blinking back in the sun on Diagon Alley. Mary drew her daughter aside. "If you can make do with my old wand – it still works, just…not very well – and second hand robes and books, I think we can just about manage it," she said apologetically. "Can you borrow a cauldron and, um, your scales and vials from Evan's family?"
Lucy nodded mutely, trying to remember that it didn't matter how shabby she looked at Hogwarts, only that she was a star pupil.
It was still awful, though, wondering what she was going to look like on her first day.
"Luce, c'mon! We're going to get our uniforms first, are you coming?"
She looked questioningly at her mother, who smiled in obvious relief. "Yes, of course, love. You go with your friends today, and we'll wait for you in the Leaky Cauldron. We'll do our shopping some other time, when things are more…settled."
Lucy nodded, and hurried to Evan's side.
Lily and Petunia intercepted Mary as she began to follow James, who was sulkily heading off to the pub and another drink.
They whispered together for a moment, and there was a strange gleam in Lily's eyes as she nodded fiercely.
Mary looked startled, but she offered the other women a smile – the first genuine smile Lucy had seen on her mother's face for a long time.
She was curious. Glad, but curious.
Lily beamed back, then kissed Mary's cheek and dragged her sister back towards their husbands, who were walking slowly down the street. She draped herself into Severus's arms and began whispering urgently in his ear.
"Tell you what," he remarked suddenly, nodding and looking up. "Frank and I will pick up the books, the writing stuff and the potions ingredients. You two take the kids to get fitted up, and we'll meet you outside Ollivander's. All right?"
Behind him, Petunia nodded. "That'll save a lot of time. And the crowds will be dreadful in the bookshop right now.
"All right then, Sev," Lily agreed. "See you at the wand shop." She kissed her husband on the cheek and then she and her sister swept their young charges into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. "Three more for Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Lily started to speak. "Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."
In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up hem. Madam Maulkin stood Evan on a stool next to him, draped a long set of robes around his shoulders and began to pin it to the right length. Lucy and Neville watched for a moment, before a third witch smilingly ushered Lucy onto another stool and reached for the pile of Hogwarts' robes.
"Oh," whispered Lucy, turning to Lily. "I'm not…"
"Shush," said the older woman into Lucy's shiny gold hair, and giving her a squeeze. "We've already decided we want to give you your birthday present a bit early this year." Lucy weighed up her options. She also knew she should politely refuse, thinking of how it would embarrass her parents. But quite honestly, she didn't care if they were embarrassed or not. Well, maybe she cared about her mother. And besides that, she didn't like her chances of getting Lily Snape to change her mind once it was made up.
"Don't worry," Lily added gently. "I've arranged it with your mother…it's all fine."
She pulled away and moved to sit on the overstuffed arm chair next to her sister, who was reading a copy of Witch Weekly.
Evan had been watching the proceedings with some interest, but when his mother had gone he glanced back towards the pale, blonde boy.
"Hullo," said the boy as their gazes locked, "Hogwarts too?"
"Yes," said Evan.
"My mother's next door buying my books, and as soon as I've finished in here, I'm going to drag her off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own, do you?"
Lucy shrugged. "Maybe in case we haven't been taught properly."
"Come on, Lucy. How difficult is it to stay on a broom, really?" Evan asked, rolling his eyes.
"You piker! You want your own broom at school too! And here's me thinking you were an intellectual." She nudged him with her elbow.
"Have either of you got your own broom?" the boy went on.
"I've got a Comet Two Sixty," Lucy offered.
"Nimbus two-thousand," Evan muttered finally.
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"A bit," Lucy shrugged. "Not really my thing."
"Too many rules for her," Evan grinned. "I've played before."
"I do, too – Mother says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"
"No," said Evan cheerfully, as though this was the best news he'd had in weeks. "Could be any of them."
The boy glanced over at Lucy, who shrugged and shook her head.
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?'
"I don't know," said Lucy, seriously. "But from what I've heard about the people in Hufflepuff it would have to be – for me, anyway – leave or sleep in the corridor."
"Lucy doesn't suffer bumbling pleasantry gladly," Evan explained. He paused thoughtfully for a second, before remarking, "My father was in Slytherin."
"What about your mother?"
"Gryffindor."
"Really? Well, I suppose it does happen. Is she your sister?" He had turned his attention to Lucy.
"No. Lucy's my friend, and Neville –" nodding at the boy, who was squashed between his mother and aunt, patiently waiting. " – is my cousin."
"Why are you with them?" the boy asked Lucy, curiously, "Where are your parents?"
She shrugged. "At the Leaky Cauldron. Probably pretending they don't have a daughter."
The boy blinked, and Evan fought the urge to laugh.
Just then, the first witch straightened. "That's you done, my dear," she said to the boy, and beckoned Neville, who almost ran across the room and scrambled onto the stool the boy had vacated.
"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," he remarked, collecting the bag with his new uniform in it and sauntering out through the door, back out into the street.
"Fancies himself," was Lucy's verdict.
A while later, they were out in the sun again, each child fully equipped with:
Three sets of plain work roes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
as well as new shoes, socks, grey under-uniforms, and Lucy was the proud owner of a pair of striped stockings for winter.
They were slowly making their way to Ollivanders. The only place for wands.
Frank and Severus were not exactly waiting for them outside the shop. They had found a nearby pub – the Sorcerer's Arms – and were deep in conversation over large glasses of Firewhiskey and a bowl of salted peanuts.
Gathered at their feet were three bags from Flourish and Blott's, three packages from the Apothecary, and three cartons that looked suspiciously like they might hold cauldrons, scales, vials, telescopes, parchment, ink and quills. Lucy gave a little skip of pleasure, and Evan squeezed her hand, happy because she was happy.
"I know it's shallow," she confided. "But I wanted so badly to look right for Hogwarts, rather than…you know. Second hand robes and battered old school books."
"Yes," said Evan, "I know."
"Hullo ladies," Frank said, smiling winningly. "And gentlemen."
"We were beginning to think you'd forgotten about us," Severus added, draining his cup and rising from the table. "Come on, then. Let's do this properly."
Without him doing anything, the bags, boxes and packages jerked into the air and swooped after him as he hearded his family towards their last stop.
It was a narrow and shabby shop with peeling gold letters over the door reading Ollivanders: Makers of fine Wands since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single spindly chair, to which Frank ushered Petunia to wait.
Evan shivered as the door closed behind them. He wrapped his cloak tightly around himself and stared at the thousands of long, narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very air here seemed to tingle with ancient and powerful magic. He glanced up at his father, who smiled back reassuringly.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Evan, Lucy and Neville all jumped. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello," said Evan, undauntedly.
"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you here soon. Evan Snape." It wasn't a question. "You do look like your father." He glanced up at Severus and smiled faintly. "How do you do, sir? Nice to see you again…walnut and phoenix feather. Rare combination, the phoenix and the darker woods…fourteen and a half inches. Yes. Powerful wand, very powerful. I'm glad it fell into the right hands. When I say fell, of course, the wand chooses the wizard."
Mr. Ollivander turned his attention back to Evan, who could now see himself reflected in those misty eyes.
"Hmm…well now Mr Snape, let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
Evan silently held out his right arm. "This one. I'm right handed, see?"
"Yes, yes. Just so, just so." He measured Evan from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr Snape. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand…"
At this, Lucy shuddered at the idea of using her mother's old wand, and Severus placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, almost as though he had read her thoughts. She had heard a very little about his childhood from her parents, and from photographs Evan had shown her. It wasn't much, but she did know that he probably guessed exactly how she was feeling. Smiling fleetingly up at him, she gave Evan her full attention again.
Evan, meanwhile, had suddenly realised that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr Ollivander was flitting around the shelves taking down boxes.
"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr Snape. Try this one. Beachwood and phoenix feather. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Good wand for charm work. Just take it and give it a wave."
Evan took the wand and swished it through the air, but Mr Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once. "Maple and unicorn hair. Nine and a half inches. Springy. A bit more power. Excellent for transfigurations. Try – "
Evan tired – but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back.
"No, no – here, ebony and dragon heartstring. Eight and a half inches. Go on, go on, try it out."
Evan tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the small countertop, but the more wands Mr Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination, ash-wood and dragon heartstring, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Evan took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down trough the dusty air and a stream of blue and silver sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Frank whooped and applauded, his parents were both smiling broadly and Mr Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good! How perfect, how wonderfully perfect."
"Pardon?" asked Evan, intrigued. He watched while Mr Ollivander put his wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, "What's perfect?"
Mr. Ollivander fixed Evan with his pale stare, and Evan gazed right back, eyes glittering like jewels in the dim room.
"It takes skill and courage to harvest the magical heartstrings of a dragon without killing the beast, Mr Snape, but it can be done. It is far beyond my ability, so I engage other, more powerful wizards to do the work. It seems truly perfect that this wand should fall to you, the son of the wizard who brought me its core." He made a sort of half-bow to Severus.
Evan opened his mouth and closed it again, then turned to his father in surprise. Severus shrugged in an "I'll explain later," sort of way, and with that Evan had to be content.
Neville was less difficult, going through only six wands before silver sparks danced from a wand. Nine inches. Unicorn hair and willow. Nice and bendy.
But Lucy, she took almost as long as Evan had, before identical blue and silver sparks to his flashed. She was holding a beech-wood wand. Ten and a half inches. Swishy. Dragon's heartstring.
Once again the adults cheered, and Mr Olivander cried, "Oh, how wonderful! Very good, very good! Well, well, well…curious, very curious."
Evan and Lucy exchanged looks as Mr Olivander began to wrap Lucy's wand, still muttering softly to himself, "Curious…curious."
"Excuse me," said Lucy, just as Evan had. "But what's curious?"
Mr. Ollivander held the wrapped box out to her and fixed her with his stare. "Well, it so happens, Miss Potter, that Dr Snape had skill enough to take another heartstring from the same Norwegian Ridgeback. Just one other. It seems very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand, when its brother – why, its brother was destined for the young man I believe you call your best friend?"
Once more Lucy and Evan exchanged mystified looks, and the adults stared.
Severus and Frank paid twenty-five galleons for all of their wands, and Mr Ollivander bowed them from the store.
