Incendio

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Claire woke up with a jolt.

'What the hell,' she whispered trying to find out what time it was. 7:30AM - she read on the clock on her bedside.

There was another knock on the door. She crawled out of bed and opened the door.

'Severus, it's Saturday, I don't get up on weekends before 9.'

'We have to make a trip to wizarding London.'

'Why?'

'I'll tell you later. I've made breakfast, come and eat.'

Claire shook her head, pulled on her slippers and followed Severus who already wore a black frock coat, black pants and black boots, and there was a black cloak folded over a chair in the kitchen. They didn't talk while eating, Severus was reading the Daily Prophet with a frown on his face and Claire mulled over last night: she was a witch. It was simply unbelievable.

'What should I wear?', she said suddenly.

'Hmm?', the wizard looked up from the newspaper.

'What should I wear? I mean, I saw that witches and wizards are wearing robes and cloakes and I don't have any robes and cloaks.'

'Many witches and wizards are wearing Muggle clothes nowadays, especially the young ones. Anything not to frilly would be sufficient. I suggest, however, for you to wear a hooded cloak so you can hide your face in case we encounter some Death Eaters. Do you have maybe a light coat which we can transfigure?'

'I have a trench coat', she said slowly.

'That will do.' Seeing the look on her face he added, 'I will transfigure it back, I won't ruin it.'

'Okay then.'

20 minutes later they were ready to go. Claire decided to wear jeans with a dark blue sweatshirt and black trainers. Snape transfigured her light brown trench coat into a dark brown travelling cloak. The woman had to admit it looked nice.

'Shall we?' Snape asked.

'Sure. How will we get there?'

'With Apparition.'

Claire groaned and Snape chuckled lightly. They headed to the nearby hill where they landed several weeks ago, Snape took Claire's hand and they disappeared.

They arriving was smooth, Claire felt only a bit nauseous. She looked around.

'Is that Charing Cross Road?' she asked.

'It is. Now, hurry,' Severus replied and before long they arrived to a pub called the Leaky Cauldron.

'Hide your face,' Snape instructed the woman next to him and she did so. When they stepped in the pub, there were only a few people in. It was still early in the morning for a Saturday.

'Professor Snape, what a nice surprise, fancy a drink?' a toothless man welcomed the pair.

'Good morning, Tom, I'm afraid, I'm in a hurry,' Severus replied and hastened towards the backdoor, Claire followed him. When they arrived in a small alley, Severus took out his wand and tapped the wall. The bricks moved and a gate towards a street appeared.

'Where are we, Severus?'

'This is Diagon Alley.'

'Oh,' Claire knew this place, at least from books Severus lent her. She followed him closely even if his strides were longer than hers. She saw pictures from this place, amazing moving pictures full of wizards and witches in colourful clothes chatting in front of the shops. Now, it was one of the most gloomiest places Claire ever visited and she used to live in Cokeworth. There were only few people on the streets and they were mostly beggars.

Suddenly, Snape stopped in front of a shop and Claire ran into her.

'Careful, girl,' he drawled.

'Sorry. Why did you stop?'

'We are here – Ollivander's. We will buy you a wand.'

Before Claire could say anything, Severus already opened the door and ushered her in.

A few seconds later an old man emerged from the back of the shop.

'Professor Snape! What can I do for you?'

'We are in need of a wand,' he replied and gestured towards Claire. 'You can pull down the hood now.'

'Oh, and who is this lovely young lady?' Ollivander smiled at her.

Claire looked at Snape and he nodded slightly.

'Hello, my name is Claire Adams.'

'What a pleasure, Garrick Ollivander at your service. You're the one who needs a new wand, I assume.'

'Yes.'

'And what happened to your old wand, if I'm not too indiscreet?' Ollivander asked while studying Claire's face. It made her uneasy.

'Well –,' she started but Snape interjected.

'She's never had a wand before, Garrick. To be honest, we didn't know she was a witch until recently.'

The older man looked back at him suddenly and back to Claire.

'Forgive my impoliteness but how old are you, Miss Adams?'

'I will be 29 tomorrow.'

'Fascinating,' Ollivander murmured and started pacing in the shop. 'I'm not saying that this thing never happened before but it is very uncommon. The magic hidden for so many years … How did it happen?' he asked Snape.

He talked about the events from last night.

'And this is all?' Ollivander replied. 'Wasn't there lately any trauma or some kind of major event in her life which is connected to magic?' Claire felt herself blush.

'There was something,' Snape's voice was calm, 'but I'm afraid I can't share the details with you.'

'Very well,' the old wizard sighed. 'Let's see what we can find.'

After almost half an hour of searching Claire felt exhausted and annoyed. She started to doubt that she was really a witch even if the wands responded to her. She almost asked Severus to take her home, when Ollivander came back from the back of the shop with another wand.

'This has to be it. 10 ¼ inch Yew with Veela hair core. Take it, Miss Adams!'

She sighed but took out the wand from its box. She immediately felt that the wand was indeed different from the others. It was like a part of her. She flipped the wand towards the boxes and some of them exploded. She really felt the energy coming from the wand and she didn't need to concentrate hard to find her inner magical core.

'That is absolutely amazing,' she whispered.

'The Yew wand signifies a witch of great wisdom and intellect. It is very useful in transfigurations, if you're interested in it. The Veela hair means that you, Miss Adams are slightly unpredictable but very powerful.'

'Wow,' she replied.

'Thank you, Garrick,' Snape said. 'We have to go now, how much do I owe you?'

'It will be 12 galleons, Severus. And how is your wand working? 14 inches Birch combined with Ebony with Dragon Heartstring core?'

'It is as perfect as ever. Thank you for your help,' Snape drawled and hurried out of the shop with the wand box in his right hand, Claire said good-bye and followed the dark wizard to the street.