Chapter 4
My name is not J.K. Rowling and I do not own Harry Potter. Please review if you like the story, if you don't like it, you can just review as well.
Red eyes and suspicious looks
When they walked inside the store looked deserted. There were thousands of small, long boxes piled up against the walls or stored on the shelves behind the counter. Damian couldn't help but feel like something creepy was hiding around somewhere. But the store was empty, at least he thought it was, but then, why did he have this strange feeling? Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder from the other side from where his father was standing. He jumped and turned around so quickly he almost tripped on his own feet. "Don't worry son, it's only Mr Ollivander." Mr Gaspari smiled.
"Ah, Balthazar, how nice to see you again, I remember it as if it were yesterday that you came in here to buy your first wand, I recon you still have the same?" Ollivander asked. Mr Gaspari nodded and handed Ollivander the wand. "Ah yes, 12 inches, beech wood, unicorn tail hair as a core, inflexible, yes I remember this one. Is it still as loyal to you as in the beginning?" "I believe it's even more loyal now than it used to be back then" Mr Gaspari answered. "Good, in that case." He turned the wand around between his long fingers, "I see you took good care of it?" "Yes sir." "Very well, here's your wand back." Said Ollivander as he handed Mr Gaspari his wand. "Now I believe it's time to find you a wand." He said as looked at Damian who nodded. "Very well, I'll see what I can do." Ollivander walked away to the back of the store.
When he came back he held three boxes in his hands. "Try this one." He said to Damian as he handed him a wand, it wasn't very long but rather thick. "What do I have to do?" Damian asked, holding the wand carefully, as if he were afraid it might explode. "Give it a wave" Ollivander said. Damian pointed the wand to the floor, careful not to brake anything, than gave a little shake with it. Red sparks came out of the front and burned a small hole in the underside of the counter. "Give it back, give it back, my boy. We'd better try something else. It's probably the core, no dragon heartstring for you my boy, let me see." Ollivander took another wand out of a box.
"Try this one, 11¾", mahogany, phoenix feather, little flexibility, but it's hard to be chosen by a wand like this, so if it doesn't work out for you, don't worry." He handed Damian the wand, the moment he touched it he felt a warmth spread from his fingers, then it went on through his whole body. It was a wonderful feeling, something he had never felt before, it warmed him up and gave him chills at the same time. Slowly the feeling flowed away, and he gave the wand a swing without even thinking. One single golden spark came out of the top and went straight down to the place where he had burned a hole with the other wand. The whole room lit up as if the sun had started to shine from the underside of the counter. The next moment the hole was gone, and the counter looked like it had before Damian had even entered the store.
"Prodigious, young Mr Gaspari, do you know what this means?" Ollivander asked. "Does it mean I've found the right wand?" Damian suggested. "Not only that you found the right wand, my boy, it also means that there is no doubt about your loyalty, if a wand with a phoenix core chooses a wizard, that's one thing to be sure of. Your friends will be very happy to have you one day." Ollivander stated. Damian didn't know what to think of what he had just heard, he didn't really understand the statement and he wondered if Ollivander really meant what he decided to believe he just said things like this to every kid in order to encourage them. "Well, I don't want to be rude but I think we'll be going." Mr Gaspari began, "We still have to buy you some school robes and I'm afraid I'll have to go to the Quidditch store." "Why do you-" Damian began but he was interrupted by his father, "You'll find out, but promise me you won't tell the others where I've gone, okay?" "Okay!" Mr Gaspari brought Damian to Madam Malkin's but didn't go inside with him, instead he went on towards Quidditch Quality Supplies. "Don't tell anyone." he called over his shoulder at Damian, then he left.
When they had finished buying their school robes Damian, Dominique, Sarah and Mrs Gaspari went to the Magical Menagerie to buy Damian a pet for his birthday. When they came in a smell hit them in the face, it made Damian feel a bit dizzy, but Sarah couldn't stand the smell and said she'd wait outside. Dominique walked towards a cage filled with little, fluffy balls that were bouncing up and down like rabbits on sugar. They all had different colours, some were bright blue or green, others had more neutral colours, like brown and white.
Damian's eye fell on a big owl on one of the top shelves for the store, it was looking down at Dominique with what Damian thought, looked like a disapproving glare in it's almost red eyes. Suddenly it's gaze crossed Damian's and there was a flash in its eyes Damian couldn't identify. The owl flew up from where it sat and it was like it was floating in the air, it moved so smoothly, then it slowly circled downwards and finally landed on Damian's shoulder. It clicked its beak in a satisfied way and started nibbling softly on his ear. Damian couldn't help but smile as he noticed the owl wouldn't take no for an answer as he tried to shoo it away. He walked towards his mother, she looked at him, then she stared at the owl, her gaze filled with disbelieve.
"He seems to like me." Damian stated, "I can see that." His mother replied, "I suppose you want to keep it?" Damian couldn't believe his mother would approve of such a big owl, "Can I?" he asked in a cautious tone. "Of course you can darling, as long as you keep it away from me." His mother never really was much of a hero when it came down to owls, and this was probably the biggest Damian had ever seen in his life. Still it was like it barely touched him while sitting on his shoulder, it wasn't heavy at all. "I promise it won't bother you mom!" Damian just couldn't believe how lucky he was.
Suddenly Dominique showed up, holding a little, fluffy ball carefully in his hands. "Mom can I have it? I promise I'll take good care of it, really." Dominique begged his mother. "Have you gone mad? Why on earth would you want a little, PINK, bouncing, fluffy ball? What were you going to do with it if I let you keep it?" Damian snickered, he had a suspicion he knew exactly what his brother was planning on doing with it. Dominique liked experimenting, and this little creature was exactly one of those things he would use to try new spells on. "Mom look at the cutest face ever, just look at it." Dominique almost pressed the ball in his mother's face. "The girls will go crazy if they see me with Spooky!" Dominique pouted.
There was a silence, then Mrs Gaspari started laughing so hard she started grunting like a pig. "Okay but only because I can't say no to those puppy dog eyes." Mrs Gaspari admitted, "You think I have puppy dog eyes?" Dominique was beaming. "No I meant Spooky." Mrs Gaspari laughed. "Have you seen Damian's owl yet?" Dominique spread his eyes in surprise, he had been so busy with his fluffy ball he hadn't even noticed the owl that had been staring at him from Damian's shoulder ever since he had entered the store. Dominique quickly took Spooky out of sight, afraid the owl would try to get it. He didn't notice the dark look in the owls eyes was actually meant for him. Mrs Gaspari, on the other hand, did see the look in the owl's eyes wasn't a hungry stare, but she couldn't really identify what it was. Scared? No this owl was definitely not scared, maybe it was angry? But why would an owl be angry? Suddenly she realised what it was. It wasn't a look of anxiety or anger, the owl was looking at her son the same way she always looked at him when she thought he was up to something, it was a look of suspicion. Then she remembered that Dominique had left earlier when she had still been busy finding Damian some decent school robes.
"Dominique, where did you go when I was at Madam Malkin's with Damian and Sarah?" Mrs Gaspari asked. Dominique looked like she had just caught him steeling something, "I erh… I –" "Show me your back Dom." Mrs Gaspari demanded. Dominique protested but eventually gave her his back. "What were you planning on doing with this?" Mrs Gaspari asked as she took out a brown bag-like thing that Damian recognised as a dungbomb. "What do you think I'm going to do with it? I'm writing an essay on prank supplies and I wanted to study that stuff from up close." "Yeah sure, and this?" she held up a piece of parchment, "Well I need something to write it on." Dominique replied as his mother looked at him incredulously. "And where did you get this stuff?" she asked already knowing the answer, "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes" Dominique mumbled. "Well than you'd better go and return all that stuff." Mrs Gaspari snapped, "I will check your bag before we go home" she warned as she saw the face he was pulling. "Okay mom" he said, than he added in a whisper "Hey Damian, how much space is there left in your bag?" "I heard that young man!" "I expected that, old bat" he whispered the last two words, lucky for him this time really only Damian heard, because Sarah suddenly walked in and distracted Mrs Gaspari.
"Mom, look, look, look, look, look what I found!" Sarah was carrying a little, white cat in her arms. "Please mom, can I keep it? Please, please, please?" "Well as I promised your brother he could keep his 'Spooky' I can't say no to you now, can I?" Mrs Gaspari sighed. "Let who keep his what?" Sarah asked in confusion, while Dominique tried to hide the fluffy pink ball from his sister's sight, but his actions were in vain. "Oh my God! Dominique how adorable! It's so… What is that thing? Anyways it's so cute! Can I have one too mom?" Mrs Gaspari looked amused at her son's face, which had flushed the same colour as the fluffy, little ball in his hands, "No honey, it'll be the cat or one of those fluffy things, it's your own choice."
After a lot of complaining Sarah finally agreed, so when they came out Damian had a new owl he had decided to call Virginia since the woman behind the counter had told him it was a Great Horned Owl, and it's Latin name was Bubo virginianus, also known as Tiger Owl. Dominique wanted to call it Tiger but Damian didn't like it, as it wasn't really a name for a girl. Sarah had decided she liked the cat better, and Dominique had told her she was allowed to hold his little Spooky if she was really careful with it. Dominique was carrying his little, bouncing, pink, fluffy ball, which Damian had seen when he took a closer look, had indeed a very cute snout. It had huge eyes for such a little thing and kind of a cat-like nose and mouth, it fitted easily in one hand.
When they met with Mr Gaspari in The Leaky Cauldron, he was accompanied by the Bardsleys, Helen shuffling impatiently in her seat, her trunk had already been brought to the Gaspari home. "Finally!" she called out as she saw them approaching, "What took you so – aw how cute! Sarah it's beautiful! Is it a he or a she?" she called out as she started petting the little cat in Sarah's arms. "It's a boy." Sarah pronounced proudly as if it were her own child in her arms. Then Helen's eyes fell on Spooky "Oh my God!" she cried out "Dominique, what? How? When? where did you get that?" she stammered, "That's the cutest thing I've ever seen. Can I hold it?" "Of course you can," Dominique laughed, "here, but be careful, okay?" "Aw it's so soft, and so incredibly cute, oh my God Dominique I think I'm in love! Mom can I have one too?" She looked at Mrs Bardsley, who, at her turn, looked at Mr Bardsley.
"No Helen, you've already got an owl, you don't get one of those things, end of discussion." He said, "But dad –" Helen started, "End of discussion I said!" Mr Bardsley said in a stern tone. "Okay." Helen said with a sad face, still holding Spooky. "Don't worry Helen, you can hold Spooky as much as you want." Dominique said in a lovable tone, "Really?" she asked, Dominique nodded. "That's so sweet of you! Thank you Dom!" she emphasized her words by kissing him on the cheek. Mr Gaspari looked amused as his son gave Helen a short hug. "I'm starting to see why you bought that thing." He laughed, Dominique winked at him in a telling way. "Shall we go than?" he asked, trying to distract the attention of his Casanova behaviour. Helen handed him his fluffy ball back, "I think that's a good idea son, by the way, I've got something for you when we get back home." Mr Gaspari said as he guided Dominique towards to fireplace. "Not so fast!" Mrs Gaspari called, "Show me the contents of your bag first Dominique!" "Oh mom, come on, I gave that stuff to Deacon at the Menagerie." Dominique replied. "Well alright than, but if I smell a single bit of dungbomb you've got a problem boy." "Trust me, I'd rather wake a sleeping troll." Dominique winked at his mom before stepping into the fireplace and disappearing in the green flames.