"Good morning, Weiss!"
"That's not my name, Sis." I looked at my phone and saw it wasn't even 7:00. "Why so early?"
"You'll find out if you get sorted into Scientia. Now come on, we have some more shopping to do."
"More clothes?" I spent most of yesterday going through and sorting out all the clothes Jennifer had bought for me at the mall and Kohl's the days before. Why and how she bought me seven different pairs of shoes at the mall was beyond me, especially considering I was with her practically the whole time. I'd have just been fine with the pair for daily use and a pair for the house. The only pair that didn't have that annoying wedge was the slippers, which had this bright ice theme to them.
I hated them, but I was stuck with them.
"Only a few for the school uniform. That aside, we need to get you new school supplies. They're very different from what's needed here in the land of no-majes."
"Like what?"
"You'll need a wand, a broom, potion supplies, books, a storage chest, an owl-"
"Owl?"
"For your mail, of course. Oh, ink, quills, scrolls, a stamp for wax seals, and maybe a few things to keep yourself amused on the train to Henway. Talking and reading will only get you so far, after all."
"Is there anything electronic?"
"Nope. Magic and technology don't get along, mostly when it comes to electronics. They just don't work in the presence of magic."
Great. So much for bringing my phone along. "Why can't I just go to a regular school?"
"Things were set in motion a while ago, so that's not an option anymore." She didn't seem upset about this fact.
I saw I wasn't going to get anywhere, so I got out of bed to get ready for the day.
"The mall again?"
"Yes. And no, we aren't buying your uniform here. There's a spot here that's a gateway to the real place we'll be doing our shopping at."
We went around the outside of the mall until we arrived at a glass store called Clear Lens. I'd been in there once before and found it odd that they didn't actually sell anything with a lens, though the glass certainly was clear.
I followed Jennifer up to the counter in the back. "Excuse me, sir?" Jennifer asked.
"Yes?" The man behind the counter replied. He had a monocle on and looked rather classy.
"My sister and I need some time to reflect, and I heard this was the place to do it."
The eyebrow over the monocle raised a bit and it felt like he was looking into my soul. "Come with me." He left the counter and lead us to a hidden pane of glass. It was a really big thing. He pulled out a wand from his sleeve, tapped the glass a few times, and the whole thing rippled like water. "There you go."
"Thank you, sir." Jennifer and I went through the glass and a second later, we were at what looked like a renaissance fair. "Weiss, welcome to Mirror Row. This is where just about everyone from Missouri that's going to Henway gets their school supplies. It's also a good area for general shopping.
"Now then, we've got time, but not all day, so let's get going!" I had to walk more quickly than normal to keep up with her.
"What's here?" I asked when we arrived at the first store.
"A general store and quidditch shop."
I followed her in and on the right, I saw something interesting. "Is that. . . armor?" It looked kind of like a medieval version of Iron Man's armor, though without the head.
"It protects you from the bludger and keeps you out of the infirmary. It will still hurt to get hit by one, but at least you'll only be bruised, at worst. Also helpful if you go on adventures." Huh. "Anyways, our first stop is this way." I followed Jennifer over to an area with storage chests.
"Am I going to have to carry one of those myself?"
"It's not going to be that heavy."
"Looking for a good chest?" a woman who worked here asked. How she wasn't falling forward all the time with the size of her chest was beyond me. Probably magic.
"You bet I am. My new sister's going to Henway and she needs one."
I let Jennifer do the talking. While she was doing that, I opened the lid of one of the large chests on display and saw stairs leading down into it. "Uh, is this normal?"
"That one?" the woman asked. "That's a higher end one. In there is a kitchen, living room, bathroom, everything you need except a bedroom. If you turn it on its side and open the bottom door, you'll find the game room. There are drawers on the front to store everything for your different classes, and there's even more around the sides to store other things."
"Do you have one that does have a bedroom?" Jennifer asked.
"Yes, but it is incredibly expensive. 1200 Dragots. The lid can lock from the inside as well, and it comes fully furnished."
"We'll take that one."
"You're sure?"
"I also want the featherweight and shrinking charms on it. My sister should have nothing less than the best, and I can afford it."
"1235 Dragots, please. Does she have a wand yet?"
"No, but that will be taken care of before the day is done."
"We'll send you an owl when it's ready."
"Thanks. Alright Weiss, let's go to the wand shop next. Those are easy enough to carry without a chest."
"No, not this one either" the wand seller said as I held yet another wand. All I was feeling was inert wood. I lost track of things like cores and wood types pretty quickly. There was one wand I liked that was made of bone and had a skull carved into the grip, but it didn't do anything when I held it. "I just don't get it."
"Weiss! Weiss! I found a broom for you!" Jennifer shouted as she ran over to me with a broom in her hand. "This is the Agi- are you still trying wands?"
"None of them are working, Miss. This is the first time I've seen no wand work for anyone."
A look of thought crossed my sister's face. "I'll be right back." She tossed the broom to the wand guy and vanished.
"What did she just do?" I asked as I looked around where she was standing.
"That was an Apparate spell. In No-Maj terms, teleportation." That. . . sounded pretty cool, actually. "At least to places you've already been to." That. . . sounded a little less cool.
"So, why do wizards and witches need wands?"
"Wands help bring out your magic. To date, there have only been unbased rumors of people casting without wands."
Jennifer reappeared a second later with a familiar black case. "If this doesn't work, I don't know what will."
"I am not touching that thing again!"
"Oh come on, Weiss. You'd have the best wand ever. Of all time. Besides, nothing else has worked and you need a wand."
I looked at the wand seller and he had his hands up. "Fine, I'll try it."
Jennifer opened the case and I grabbed the sword. Almost immediately, a glowing whirlwind started up around me and I felt something flowing from my hand to the sword, small carvings along the blade's length glowing.
"Well, that's a first" the wand seller said.
"The sword is my wand?" That made no sense and some sense at the same time.
"While I'm here, do you have those new sleeves that can hold wands?" Jennifer asked.
"I don't think they'll work on a sword" the seller said.
"I was thinking more for my wand, but we can try the sword too." I put a pair of sleeves on and tried putting the sword in the way the guy demonstrated with his wand, but it didn't work. Since they didn't work, I didn't want them. Jennifer bought a blue pair for herself and gave her old arm mounted case to him, netting a two Dragot discount. If this sword was going to be my wand, I'd need storage of some kind for it.
"Alright, now that the wand issue has been sorted out, here's a broom for you, Weiss." Jennifer picked the broom back up. "This is the Agilus Type M1 broom. It's the only model of broom to date with metal in its construction, allowing it to reach speeds of up to 200 MPH, possibly higher. Fastest broom on the market and it's made right here in Missouri."
"Sure, whatever" I said.
"I'll get it for you then." Moments later, it was paid for and we were heading out. The broom wouldn't go into the sleeves, unfortunately, leaving me carrying it and my sword.
When we left, a small owl with a message on its leg flew up to us. "You really do use owls for mail." A simple call would have been faster.
"Pretty cool, isn't it?" Jennifer took the message off the bird's leg and read it. "The enchantments on your chest are done." For a moment, I looked down. "Let's go get it."
We went back to the store and got the chest. Apparently, there were magical combination locks operated by wand that did different things. A sheet of the combinations and other information on the chest was handed to me after I held the sword tip to the chest's lock to sync it up with my magic. I felt the combinations practically burn themselves into my memory before the paper vanished in a puff of cold blue fire.
Once that was done and the broom was put away, we moved onto the next bunch of things: basic supplies. I tried writing with ink and a quill and found it was pretty easy. Why they used parchment scrolls instead of notebooks was beyond me though. Jennifer got me a quill and inkwell for each month I'd be in school since that was how quickly she went through her own.
She also got me a basic potion set, which had a number of strange ingredients in it, along with a cauldron and real dehydrated water. It was a fine blue powder, and adding one drop of liquid water to a packet of the stuff was enough to fill a cauldron with clean water. While non-toxic, eating the stuff was not advised.
After that was a bag of holding. I wouldn't have believed it to be one if Jennifer didn't jump into it and then be spat back out. She got me the best one they had, of course. I asked why I would need both a storage chest and a bag of holding when just the chest would work, and she said it was like the difference between a backpack and a dresser.
We went to the bookstore next. "Uh, sis? Are those books. . . malfunctioning?" There were books flying around the store, flapping like wings without a bird.
"Oh no, that's normal." She picked up a basket and set it on the countertop. "I'll need the newest editions of A History of Henway, Basic Brewing, A Fantastic Guide to Beasts. . ." As she rattled off more titles, the books began to circle us like a tornado, and the ones she called for flew into the basket like a bird of prey before closing and neatly stacking themselves up.
"That's a lot of books, Ms. Snowford" the guy on the other side said.
"I just want to make sure my new sister has everything she needs, and some extra stuff as well."
"New sister? I thought you only had a brother."
"She's only been with us for a week."
"And she got an acceptance letter this close to the start of the school year?"
"Yeah. Anyways, how much do I owe you?"
"452 Dragots."
Jennifer paid, we put the books in a bookshelf in my storage chest, and then we left.
"So, do you want to get a pet or an owl next?"
"Do I really need both?"
"You at least need an owl, but there might be a pet for you as well."
"Let's get the owl first."
We went to the right and the owl shop was right there. We were greeted as soon as we walked inside. "Welcome to the Owley Way. Ah, I see we have a new witch here." With a wave of his wand, all the owl cage doors opened, freeing the birds. They all flew out and around me, like a tornado of owls. After what felt like a long time, they all flew back to their cages, except for one little speckled snowy owl.
"Really?" I asked. "This little one is my owl?" It was small enough that I could easily hold it like a can of soda
"It would appear that way, Miss. That one doesn't have a name, and is really young, so you get the honor of naming her."
The little owl perched herself on my right shoulder and nuzzled my face. She really liked me for whatever reason. "I think Frost is a fitting name." With the speckles of black throughout, it looked like someone had taken a pepper shaker to her feathers. I was already starting to feel a connection between myself and the little owl.
"We'll also take an enchanted cage, a few bags of treats, a book on owl care, and enough feed to last through the school year" Jennifer said.
"What kinds of enchantments?"
"Internal stability so Frost always has a smooth ride, self-cleaning so you don't have to clean it, a forest box, and a stand you can easily pull out from it."
"300 Dragots and I can have all those ready in five minutes." The owl seller got a big cage and took it to the back. On the way, he floated the rest of our order out. I was expecting the bags of owl feed to be really heavy, but I didn't get a chance to find out because Jennifer floated it all and simply had me open a drawer on the chest for it to go into, along with the treats. She took the book and put it on the bookshelf with everything else. Shortly after she came out of the chest, the owl seller came back with the cage. "Here you go."
"Thanks" Jennifer said as Pepper flew into her new cage. After paying the 300 Dragots, we left.
"So, why didn't we put Frost in the chest?" I asked as we made the short walk to the pet store. I was carrying the cage and the bird seemed happy.
"So she can see the world. Besides, it's not nice to carry her in the chest so soon after getting her."
We went into the pet store and it was a weird sight. There were normal animals like cats, dogs, non-owl birds, and various kinds of rodents, though I wasn't quite sure why the rabbit cages looked like they were made of heavy duty steel. There were also a variety of other odd creatures, like a weird platypus-like thing and a six winged bird with electricity arcing across its wings.
"See anything you like?" Jennifer asked.
I was about to say 'no' and leave when something purple and spiny in a big cage caught my eye. It was about the size of my head and looked like a cocoon. "What's this?"
"That, my dear, is a Swooping Evil" someone who looked like he could be the store owner said. "This one is particularly unique in that she's not the usual blue and green, but rather black and purple. She's just curled up right now."
"Hey, wake up" I told the cocoon.
"Try this." The guy gave me a bag of treats. I opened the bag and the cocoon rustled a bit. The cage bars were wide enough that I could stick my arm in and hold a couple of treats out. The cocoon unfurled and I saw the entirety of the creature. The part that had been hidden was black with occasional purple lines and very bat-like. I also saw the silver skull-like head as she was biting my hand to get at the treats resting on my palm.
She looked at me and blinked.
I looked at her and blinked.
A moment later, the store owner and my sister were looking at my hand. The bite hurt a bit, but something kept it from actually injuring me. It didn't feel like the magic that went into the sword at the wand shop, but I'm not sure what it could be.
"Let go of my hand" I told the bat-like thing. Slowly, it opened its mouth and backed away. "Thank you." I took my hand, now without treats, out of the cage. There was a bit of glowing blue stuff on my hand, which was cleaned off with a handkerchief. There was no sign of the bite having happened. "I like her."
"You're sure about that?" the owner asked.
"Weiss, you do know that, oh, wait, you don't know" Jennifer started. "Weiss, the main thing swooping evils eat are brains. Are you really sure about this? And why is there one in a pet shop?"
"She's been bred to only need brains once per week, and I have specially designed food for swooping evils that will fulfill their brain diet."
"I want her, and I will call her Barb" I said. Purple, black, spiney, and with a silver skull for a head. What's not to love about that?
"I guess it can't be helped" Jennifer sighed. While she went to take care of the money matters, I got to take Barb out of her cage. As soon as it was open, she flew around, her wingspan easily wider than I was tall, and after a bit, settled down on me like a hooded cape, her silvery head resting on my white hair. I reached up and pet her head, which had this layer of soft fur on it. "Looks like you and Barb are already good friends."
"Yeah. And Frost seems okay with her." The little owl was watching us from her cage, looking at Barb with more curiosity than anything.
"Well, the feed and treats for Barb are in your chest now." Once again, I looked down, and Barb likely followed my gaze. "I'll also throw in a special tube for her."
I accepted the item. "What's this for?" It looked like a plain glass tube and lid to me.
"She can be carried around in it. It doesn't look like you need it for her though. Still, it would be good to have so people don't freak out."
"How would she fit in there?" My question was answered when Barb crawled over my head, wrapped herself up with her wings, and shrunk down to about the size of a small orange. She even managed to land in the tube. "Well, that's interesting."
Jennifer took the tube and put it on my skirt, where it stuck like a weightless magnet. "Now if you need her, she's right there at your side."
I felt a smile grow on my face as I kept a hand on Barb's tube. "So, what's next?"
"Your robes."
I did not like the measurement process. That tape measure went over me everywhere from the neck down. What happened after was pretty cool though, as the tape measure, with some fabric attached, went through the air in the same way it had gone over me and made a black, white, and gray school uniform.
"If you'll just stand still for a moment, Miss Schnee" the seamstress said when the uniform was done. I held still, she waved her wand, and a moment later, my clothes had been swapped with the uniform. With another wave, she brought a mirror over in front of me. I liked the ankle length black robe, which framed the dark gray vest and knee length skirt. There were diagonal white lines across the vest and skirt, which matched the long sleeved shirt under the vest.
I didn't like it.
Jennifer fawned over me for a bit. "It looks good, though I do have a request."
"What is it?" The seamstress asked.
"Weiss's wand is a sword, so she needs some way to holster it. Could you work an enchantment of some kind into the uniform?"
The seamstress developed a thoughtful look. "Try putting it in one of the inner robe pockets." I pulled the left side of the robe away to see some white edged pockets there. The sword went in blade tip first and simply continued in until it stopped with only the lower half of the handle sticking out. "I'd say that's pretty good right there."
Once again, I was amazed. Even though the sword was almost entirely in the pocket, it didn't show in the rest of the robe. Where the blade and hilt should have been, it moved like it wasn't.
"Can we get a couple more?" Jennifer asked. In a couple minutes, two more of the uniform, sans robe, were made by the tape measure. After my uniform was switched back with the clothes I came in with and the sword was back in my grasp, Jennifer paid and we left.
"Is that it? Please tell me that's it."
Jennifer quietly listed some stuff off before turning to me. "There's only two things left to do. The second one is a trip to the bank."
"And the first?"
"Lunch at the Alchemist's Bane."
For being a magical pub, the food was fairly normal. Grilled chicken sandwich, fries, soda, the usual stuff. Halfway through our meal, the fireplace lit up with green flames and a woman practically flew out of it.
"Sis, what was that?"
"Floo travel, Weiss. Hi, Principal Mercia!"
"Ah, Ms. Snowford" the woman said before sliding into our booth, on my side. She was dressed like a witch, but looked like she was almost pulled from a video game. She also seemed familiar, though I couldn't quite place where I'd seen her before. "How have you been?"
"I've had a good time so far with my sister." I did not miss the finger pointing at me. "We've got all her school supplies, and we even found a pet for her. Weiss, show her Barb."
I held up the tube containing Barb for the woman who was apparently the head of my new school. "You have a pet Swooping Evil" she stated.
"Yeah. She's got my favorite colors and I love how she looks" I said.
The principal took a deep breath. "It's not the strangest pet I've seen at Henway. One of my students grew a walking talking humanoid tree during his time there. Named it Gruut. As long as you take care of her and keep her from being too disruptive, there won't be any problems."
"Alright."
"So, are you excited for the start of your magical education?"
"No, not really. I'd rather go back to the regular schools."
"It is a big change, yes. We do our best during the year, especially the first couple of months, to ease new students into the school and the world of magic.
"Anyways, I can't be here too long. I've been asked to personally guide a new student around Mirror Row, so I'll see both of you later." As she left the booth, she pulled out her wand, said something, and walked off. When I looked back at my food, I saw that the remainder of my sandwich was wrapped in a cage made of fused fries.
I looked over to my sister and saw that her soup had been made into a sculpture. "Really?" Jennifer said as she looked at her soup. "My soup is Venus De Milo?" She looked over to mine. "And yours is a bird in a cage. Ha!"
I wanted to make a witty comeback, but something about what she said stopped me. Maybe it was because, thinking about it, I did feel like a bird in a cage. I pushed those thoughts aside and resumed my lunch. The potato cage did add something to the food, at least.
The Dragon Vault bank was run by goblins. I followed Jennifer into a minecart with one to an underground office with a vault in it. I tried to pay attention to what was being said, but nothing really stayed with me. Aside from it being boring money talk, I was overwhelmed by everything here.
Jennifer gave me a brief explanation at the end. "Out of the 50,000 I was given to use on you, Weiss, I spent about 12,000 of it."
"How?" How did she spend that much on me in less than a week?
"On the Dollar side of things, it was mostly on your new clothes and partially time together. On the Dragot side, it was all school stuff. Both sides had some food expenses mixed in as well. With the plan that Principal Mercia and I came up with for the money, you would get some of it as well after all necessary expenses were taken care of. 10,000 Dragots, in this case. You won't be able to access it for a couple months though. You'll get a letter telling you when you can get it."
All that money for me and I'd have to wait. "Alright. Are we done here?"
"Yes, we are."
I was the first of us to get back in the minecart. I spared a glance down deeper into the cavern and saw a dragon that looked like it was made of rock and lava sleeping in front of a large archway. When we left, it was still sleeping.
We made one last stop before leaving Mirror Row: an apothecary/candy shop. Jennifer got us some candied blood orange slices (each with a chance of making you drool blood for a few minutes), jelly beans that came in every flavor (the one I tried tasted like steel with a hint of rust), and chocolate Dragots (not to be used in place of actual Dragots).
After we left the mirror shop, we got in Jennifer's car and went home. I was going to come back here again very soon, much to my displeasure.