Diagon Alley~
"So where are we going first?" Oz asked.
Mr. Lupin had gone to pick up Oz and Alice for their Diagon Alley trip after breakfast, and the trio had apparated from Hogsmeade.
"Ah, well, you'll need to get proper wizarding money from the bank—Gringotts. Did your…patrons set up an account?" Remus asked.
"Hm, probably not. But we did bring money, so it could just be exchanged, right?" Oz replied.
Remus nodded. "Dumbledore gave me some extra money in case you needed it, too."
Remus led the group toward the large white bank, and Oz paused to read the inscription warning thieves before going in. He and Alice stared at the working goblins for a while, and then got into line to exchange money.
Once they heard the "Next!", the two walked up to the counter, where a goblin was sitting with a sour expression. His nametag read Ragnok.
"How much?" the goblin grumbled, and looked at them expectantly.
Oz brought out 500 pounds, and Alice brought out another 500. The money they would receive was expected to last the whole year, and just shopping would already take a lot of it. Each one received 100 galleons in return, and they stepped out of line to meet with their guide, who was waiting patiently.
"By the way," Oz asked, "What are the values of the money here?" He saw three different types of coins, and had established that the gold coins were the most important, but he wasn't sure how the coin types were connected.
Remus started walking to the exit while explaining to them, "Twenty-nine bronze knuts equal one silver sickle, and seventeen sickles equal one gold galleon… Also, about which shops we're heading to first, it's probably best to be fitted for robes first, and to get a wand last. Everything we buy in between will be of heavier weight, but we—well, I—can cast a hover charm on them."
The trio exited the bank, and Remus led them to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Oz and Alice gave Remus a total of twenty-six galleons, and he left with a promise to return after buying the pair's cauldrons. Three brief good-byes later, Oz and Alice entered the shop.
Madam Malkin happily greeted the customers who entered her shop. Both were young, but one was a blond-haired boy, while the other was a brown-haired girl. She took a moment to glance over their clothes—the boy was wearing a white-collared shirt, an open black vest, dark green trousers, and black boots. The girl wore a red coat, black skirt, and white boots.
"So, dears, what're your names? And what can I do for you today?" she asked. It was a bit early for Hogwarts students to be buying robes, and these two were a bit too old for first-years anyway. So why had they come?
The boy gave her a smile in reply. "Oz Vessalius."
The girl also introduced herself. "I'm Alice…Rainsworth."
Malkin nodded, and Oz spoke up again. "We're here for our Hogwarts robes—we're not entering first year though. We're kinda like transfer students actually."
Malkin smiled again. "Well, I'm glad you're going to Hogwarts. It's a lovely school! And with a nice headmaster." She led the pair to a podium, and motioned one of them to step up first. Alice took the place, and Malkin pulled out a measuring tape, which started to take measurements by itself. "You'll get one plain black robe and hat for now, but when we get the information about which house you'll be sorted into, you'll receive those robes too—paid for by the school. Do you have the required inner clothing?" At Alice's nod, she motioned Oz toward a rack. "You'll find the gloves you need there."
Oz walked over and examined the gloves before choosing a matching pair. Malkin finished recording Alice's measurements, and she stepped off to allow Oz on. The measurement process was repeated, and soon afterwards, Oz was also done.
"Well," Malkin said, "The gloves are one galleon each pair, and the clothes will come to a total of 8 galleons and 16 sickles. Please come back in an hour, or later if needed."
Oz and Alice nodded and paid her for the gloves, and then the clothes in advance, before leaving the store.
Outside, Oz was met by the sight of Remus carrying a pack of quills, along with two bottles of ink and a roll of parchment. Next to him hovered two new cauldrons.
Remus walked toward the pair with a smile. "Nothing went wrong, I presume? I was able to buy some writing materials for you two, although the school does provide their own."
"Oh. Wait, the money!" Oz's eyes widened.
"There's no need for it," Remus said, "The headmaster insisted on getting you something, and said not to worry about it." Remus deposited the materials in his hands into one of the cauldrons, which sagged slightly and went back to its original hovering position. Oz also put the dragon hide gloves in.
"Now then, you'll still need to get books, and the other required materials, before you get wands." Remus led his charges to Flourish and Bolts and, again, received the money (sixteen galleons each) to buy the scale sets, telescopes, and glass phials from Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment.
Alice walked into the bookstore with Oz to find it packed full of books, coming from every direction. She gently prodded one of books in the middle of a sack, only to have the whole thing fall over. Oz carefully stepped over a stack on the floor, and walked to where a store clerk was, reading a book.
"Excuse me," Oz said. The store clerk glanced up, read a little longer, and then shut the book.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Where do you sell school books?"
The clerk thrust his thumb toward a row of rather neat book shelves, and reopened his book. Oz and Alice treaded through the books to the area and looked around. Oz took out the letter of required supplies and books for Hogwarts from his pockets*, and glanced over them. "Sharon had some of the books we needed classes, but I'll find the rest. I'll get the books we need for the elective classes too. So…could you try and find any information about the sealing stone, or our islands?"
The dukes had told Alice and Oz about the "war" the northern islands had with the United Kingdom's Ministry of Magic, and Duke Barma wasted no time in telling Oz why he believed Zai Vessalius had decided to bring up the notion of separation when he did. Oz showed no visible reaction, but after the time she spent with him, Alice could tell Oz had felt a little more betrayed. They were informed that the event probably had nothing to do with the sealing stone, but it that might reveal something else.
Alice nodded at Oz's suggestion, and weaved through many different shelves and piles, trying to find something that stuck out. In a corner of a room were stacks of old newspapers, each one titled The Quibbler. Alice pursed her lips before taking a few off the top and looking through the dates. 1985—that was the year Oz had turned fifteen, and was cast into the Abyss. The newspaper listed possibilities of new spells. Alice tossed the paper aside after skimming through it, and dug further in the pile. 1970—the year Oz was born. Alice sifted through the pages quickly. The specific newspaper, along with several ones of similar years and months, were chock full of articles about Voldemort.
Alice knew who Voldemort was—it would've been really hard to miss information about him in the books she read. There was one book that had seemed dedicated to listing every evil or strange event that happened after Voldemort's reign as something caused by Voldemort. It was an odd (but entertaining) book, and Oz said he had no idea how it got published. [An example from the text: Y'know those sightings of the, like, flying cucumbers and, like, killer rabbits? It's VOLDEMORT! Ohsmigoshes~, I can't believe I said that! Forgive meeeee! Wah WAH Wah wah wah!]* The author was apparently a distant cousin of one Gilderoy Lockhart.
Alice paused in her searching, and this time carefully looked through the pages of the newspapers during the year of 1970. Near the end of one of them was a rather long article about wizards rebelling during the terror of Voldemort. She spotted a passage about the northern islands, and considering her search to be finished, closed the newspaper. She walked back to Oz, who was carrying a heavy stack of books, but smiled brightly at her. The top book read Unfogging the Future.
Oz carried his books to the counter, and the clerk set down his book and raised his eyebrows, but asked no questions. Alice handed Oz the newspaper, who handed it to the clerk. "And could we also buy this?"
The clerk glanced down at the paper and rolled his eyes before handing it back. "You can have that. We were about to throw the old newspapers out anyway. Besides, it's the Quibbler." The clerk looked through the other textbooks. "That'll be a total of 78 galleons."
Alice and Oz took out their quickly diminishing supply of money and paid the clerk, and they each grabbed half of the pile of books.
Remus Lupin set the carefully wrapped fragile materials into the empty cauldron, and started out of the shop. He leaned against the wall of Flourish and Bolts and let his mind drift a little once he realized the children were still in the store.
The children. Remus shook his head a little, but carried a smile. Molly would've had a fit if she knew about these representatives. Remus had mixed feelings about them, and mixed feeling about going shopping with them. Of course, he was the only one for the job. Dumbledore and Minerva were busy with the school and the Ministry, Mundungus was still guarding Harry, Snape would never agree to the job, Sirius was stuck in his house, Hagrid was negotiating with giants, Molly was busy taking care of her children…and most of the others were working in the Ministry.
Well, Remus did believe handling the ch—representatives was better than dealing with the other two northern-islanders who were currently inhabiting the headquarters. Break would either be spending time with the children (and implanting destructive ideas in their minds) or sipping tea without a care in the world. When called to do chores, he would mysteriously disappear, only to be found in some enclosed space, still sipping tea.
Raven was better, at least. The young man had been reading through some of the books in the house, and occasionally talked to Sirius. He would do errands and chores, although irritably. It showed, and one day, he snapped. When the specialty curtains hanging over Walburga Black's portrait had fallen apart, and she re-started her screaming, Raven had angrily put a few bullets in the painting. Everyone, including Raven and painting, was shocked. The days after that were somewhat calmer, though Raven had increased his queries about going outside to complete the task from his dukes. Every time Alastor was there, a yelling match would occur over the topic, which would be quieted once Sirius' mother decided to join in.
Yes, his task was most definitely easier. Remus cleared his thoughts as he spotted Oz and Alice walking out of the bookstore. He remembered to ask them something that had been bothering him for a while.
Oz had torn out the sheets about the rebelling wizards in the newspaper, and tucked it into his pockets, next to the pocket-watch. The rest of the magazine had been put in the cover of one of the books.
He and Alice walked out of the shop and spotted Mr. Lupin leaning against a wall. They walked towards him and he apparently noticed, as he stood up straighter and headed back towards them with a smile. He took the books from their hands and added them to the cauldron that held parchment. Oz noticed the other cauldron contained wrapped objects—probably their other needed supplies.
"It's almost the end of the trip," said Remus, "Only the wand is left, and you could choose a pet if you wanted one... But we could get pets another day. I'll pick up the robes from Madam Malkin's for you."
Oz and Alice nodded, and started following him again. They were surprised when Remus asked, "Do you know a 'Xerxes Break' and a 'Raven'?"
Oz and Alice exchanged a quick glance before Oz looked up at Remus with feigned ignorance and true curiosity (though it was about other things). "No idea. Well, I mean, there are plenty of ravens all around, but… Why do you ask?"
Remus paused for a second before shaking his head and continuing on. "Never mind. There's no reason."
The trio soon reached Ollivander's Wand Shop, and Remus went on his way.
The store was lined with shelves of stacked boxes, which Oz guessed contained wands. A few seconds later, after Oz was about to call for someone, a white-haired man appeared before them, with shining eyes and an amused smile.
"Well well! I don't usually expect customers this early." The man—whom Oz decided was Ollivander—pulled out a tape measure and looked at Oz and Alice expectantly. "But, what are you here for? Fixing broken wands? Getting a new wand?"
"New wands," Oz answered. "And our first ones. We'll be sort of like transfer students to Hogwarts."
Ollivander nodded. "Well, I'll have you know that the wand chooses the wizard, first of all. Which one of you will be first? And hold out your wand arm, or your dominant arm."
After Oz stepped up, the wandmaker held the tape measure flat against the palm of his hand. It began measuring in the oddest places—between the eyes, from shoulder to shoulder…all the while, Ollivander had been looking through many different boxes, and after a while, he made a motion at the tape measure, which abruptly stopped and dropped to the ground.
"Try this then." Ollivander opened a box and held it out to Oz. "Cypress and dragon heartstring—12 ½ inches. Supple."
Oz peered into the box intently, and looked over the finely carved wood. Would the wand choose him? Would the wand reject him?
"Give it a wave then," Ollivander urged.
He hesitantly reached forward, and grasped the wand firmly.
And then a box shot out and knocked Oz over the head.
"Not the one then!" Ollivander exclaimed cheerfully. He reached out and took the wand from a fallen Oz's hand, then helped him up. After putting that wand back in its proper place, the wandmaker presented Oz with another wand. "Beech and unicorn hair—10 inches. Good for charms!"
And on it went. The more things generally went wrong, the happier Ollivander became, and the wearier Oz became at the wandmaker's happiness. Eventually, the right wand found him. "Cedar and phoenix feather—8 inches. Unyielding." When Oz touched the wand, he could feel the weariness fade from his body. Black sparks shot out of the end of the wand.
"There you are then!" Ollivander smiled, then waved his wand at the fallen tape measure, which started measuring Alice. After seeming to finish its process, the tape measure once again lay dead on the floor. The wandmaker brought out a box and handed it to Alice. "Ebony and phoenix feather—14 inches. Good with transfiguration."
Alice grabbed the wand, which immediately flew out of her hand and slapped Ollivander in the face. Ollivander did not seem to mind, however, and seemed more preoccupied about catching the wand before it could hit the ground. "Wouldn't want it to be scratched now, would we?"
As it turned out, Alice had an easier time finding (or being found by) a wand. After trying "Hawthorn and unicorn hair—11 ¾ inches. Slightly springy," Alice was presented with "Blackthorn and dragon heartstring—9 ½ inches. Good at combative magic." After receiving the wand, Alice looked a little happier. Like with Oz's, black sparks shot out of the tip.
Ollivander walked over to his desk. "It's seven galleons each. I wish you luck at Hogwarts."
After paying him, Oz and Alice walked out of the shop, each examining their new wands.
"Alice," Oz asked, "How did it feel when you touched the right wand?"
Alice held the wand a little closer to herself. "It was warm."
With smiles on their faces, Oz and Alice walked toward the general direction of Remus, ready to go back to Hogwarts.
So, yeah… Lots of line breaks. Also, I'm currently obsessed with a children's card game.
*Oz does have pockets, yes? Let's pretend he has pockets. Because pockets are awesome.
*Yes, random, I know.
If you'd like me to post my reasoning for their wands, ask. I'd probably put it on my profile.
Thank you for your support~
