Chapter 6: My New School Supplies
"Careful now," one of the twins says. I blink, glancing at him, then around, realizing that I have no idea where I am. Or even how I got here.
"Wouldn't want you to get lost," the other twin says oblivious to my cluelessness. I look between them, and then up ahead, where the twins' mom and Tonks have left us slightly behind. We're not near the ice cream shop anymore, but instead it seems like we're back in the more populated part of wherever we are.
I blink a few times, the backs of my eyes stinging with tears that I refuse to shed. I don't remember leaving the ice cream shop. I don't remember anything past when Fred, George and I went outside. That's never happened to me before.
"Were you raised by muggles?" one of the twins asks.
"George!" their mom snaps. She and Tonks have stopped and come back to us. "That was terribly rude. I'm sorry about him, dear," she apologizes to me.
"It's not rude!" George protests.
"It was just a question," Fred defends his brother.
"Hush now. Don't ask such things," their mom scolds.
"She grew up in a muggle orphanage," Tonks tells them suddenly, with a tone of finality. She's the first to turn and walk into a nearby shop, with the twins' mom right behind her, clearly ending the conversation. I look around and realize for the first time that the rest of their family seems to be gone. Fred and George exchanged puzzled glances, but just shrug. One of them – I can't tell which – steps forward first to open the door, then holds it open, gesturing for me to go first.
"Thank you, sir!" the other one hurries through with a dramatic curtsy before I can, making the twin holding the door laugh. I wait for him to go through, but he just gestures for me to go first again. I hesitate, thinking it's a trick at first, but slowly pass him and enter the shop. He lets me go, and then steps inside behind me and lets the door fall closed behind him.
As the five of us make our way up and down the street, in and out of several shops, I recognize several things that are already changing. Changing from the my life at the orphanage, and even changing from just my time with Tonks. While Tonks and I were walking the streets of London, on our way to the Leaky Cauldron, I struggled to keep up with her long and quick strides. Even now, on Diagon Alley, I keep falling behind. But this time, I don't hurry myself to keep up with the grown ups, because Fred and George stay back with me.
The five of us make our way in and out of all the necessary shops. We go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where Tonks convinces Mrs. Weasley to try on a beautiful dress and I get my school robes and dragon hide gloves. I wonder if they're really made of dragon hide, then I wonder if dragons are really real. In a dream world like this, I supposed it wouldn't be all that surprising to find out that they are. But I don't ask.
After we leave Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, we go to Amanuensis Quills. I can't figure out how to pronounce the name of the shop, but inside are what must be hundreds of beautiful feathered quills. Some of them wrote in different colored inks all on their own, and some of them just wrote all by themselves. There are even some that took their users words and twisted them all around to make impossible riddles or funny sayings – Fred and George spent the entire time in the shop playing with those quills.
"I think that's most of it," Tonks says after we come out of the cauldron shop.
Mrs. Weasley pulls a piece of parchment out of her pocket and examines it. "All that's left are wands and books," she confirms.
"Why don't you three get the wands and meet us at Flourish and Blotts?" Tonks says to me and the twins.
"And don't get into any trouble!" Mrs. Weasley says sharply.
"Yes, mum," the twins both say at the same time, both wearing smiles that seem way too innocent to be really convincing. The twins turn away and start walking, and I hesitantly turn around and follow them. I trail behind at first, but then they both look back and slow down, dropping back to walk on either side of me like they've done the majority of the shopping trip.
"You're going to get lost if you keep doing that," one of them says.
"We're not going to be able to have any fun with her around," the other twin complains with a sigh.
"I think that's why mum let us go," the first one smiles. "Come on," he pulls open a door to one of the shops.
"Ollivander!" the twins call out at the same time, since nobody's minding the counter. I jump as the ladder slides out from an unseen spot and slams to a spot at the end of one of the book cases quite a bit to the right.
"Ah, young Weasleys," the old man smiles as he climbs down from the ladder. "Are you the last ones yet?"
"Nope!" the twins grin together.
"There's still Ron," one of them says.
"And Ginny," the other adds.
"But they're not for a few years," the first one says. I stare at them both, trying to figure out which is which. After a minute, though, I give up. It's hopeless. They're exactly alike. Even their voices are the same.
"And who is this?" Ollivander asks, now behind the counter and leaning over it to look at me. My eyes widen and I can't help but shrink back a little bit.
"This is Callan Oshiro," one of the twins says.
"Oshiro?" he asks with a strange tone of surprise and recognition. I almost want to ask why, if he knows me or something, but I don't. After a minute of scrutinizingly staring at me, Ollivander draws away slightly, straightening up. "Well then, let's find you three wands."
The twins go first, one by one. After Ollivander has to ask which twin is which, it's easy for me to keep track and watch Fred receive a wand made of some sort of darkish wood that's fourteen inches long and has a handle that looks like a scrawny pinecone. George gets a wand that's the same length, only his seems to look almost like it has several different colors all over, and the base has a handle that looks like it has a design warpped around it.
Then it's my turn. I shrink back at first, subconsciously trying to hide behind Fred and George.
"Come on, we got ours," Fred says – I'm struggling by now to keep track of which is which. Especially when one of them moves behind me and gives me a nudge forward.
"He only bites when he's hungry" George grins. I look at him with wide eyes, horrified, before I realize he's joking and I just glare half-heartedly at him. He, of course, just laughs. I sigh as I turn to Ollivander, who's holding out an open box towards me. "Thirteen inch, rosewood, with a unicorn hair core," he says. I glance over my shoulder, at Fred and George.
"Go on," one of them says. I've lost track of which is which, of course.
"Just give it a wave, like we did," the other says.
The first time George tried, a vase exploded. And a bookshelf nearly toppled over on Fred's second try. Clearly, it is not as simple as just waving the wand.
But I finally, hesitantly, reach out to take the wand. Squeezing my eyes shut, my entire body tensing, I give the wand a wave.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing happens. Nothing breaks or tips over or explodes or anything. I slowly open one eye, confirming that nothing's out of place. Then I relax, my shoulder's slumping, and I stare at the wand.
After three more wands with absolutely nothing happening, Ollivander's taking his time trying to find a fourth for me to try. One of the twins is sitting in a waiting chair, and I'm sitting in the other one, thoroughly discouraged, while the other twin leans against the wall on the other side of me.
What if there's been some sort of mistake? At least the twins made something happen, even with the wrong wands. Nothing happened to me at all yet. It's not supposed to be this way.
PS I apologize there were no updates last night. There was a huge winter storm and the entire county lost power, and you know what means; no internet either. We still don't have power, I'm at my grandparents' and they have power, so I'm not sure if there will be another update today or not. I'm doing the best I can, but I'm limited. Someone pissed off Mother Nature again last night, oh well.
