Chapter 8: My New Mystery
It happens just like in the manga. The light bursts from where my hand is pressed against the brick wall, snapping out like a wind and blowing my ribbons back. The light's blinding, so bright it hurts, but instead of closing my eyes, I find myself opening them wider in disbelief. I don't know what's going on…but the bricks are folding back, layer by layer, parting just like they did before, to reveal Diagon Alley, as the light almost seems to slither away, back into the palm of my hand.
My heart is pounding hard in my chest. I slowly bring my hand back to me, closing it into a fist before pressing almost protectively against my chest, as I stare wide-eyed at Diagon Alley. At where the wall used to be.
The three of us are completely silent for a few seconds, before the twins break it, "Wicked."
"I don't know how you did that," one of them says, coming up on my right.
"But you're amazing," the other adds, coming up on my left. I look to either side of me, at each of them, to see them both grinning. I look down, a little embarrassed but a little proud at the same time, simply because I impressed them.
I nod once, hug my manga to my chest with both arms, and step forward, entering Diagon Alley.
"That's it?" one of the twins asks behind me.
"Nothing?" the other asks. I stop and turn back to look at them, confused. They haven't moved.
"You just saved us!"
"And we don't even know how!"
"You did this insane spell or hex, or I don't even know what!"
"Something we've never seen before!"
"Probably something nobody's ever seen before!"
"And nothing?!"
"Not even a smile?!"
I simply stare at them. After a minute, they both sigh in defeat and follow me, and the three of us head back to Ollivanders, while I try to figure out what the big deal is with me not smiling. Or rather, why it's a big deal to them. I still haven't figured out by the time one of the twins opens the door for me and we enter Ollivander's wand shop again.
"Ah, there you three are," Ollivander says as we come in, approaching the counter. "I was starting to think you'd just left your wands."
"Callan just, er, forgot something," one of the twins says, glancing at me. I step up to the counter and open my manga to the page with my wand on it, turning the book around to show it to him. The picture is beautifully detailed and colored.
"What is this?" Ollivander asks, puzzled. Before I can even try to figure out how to explain without having to actually speak, the twins step up on either side of me to look. I wait for one of them to get it.
"That's her wand!" one of them blurts. The other and Ollivander both look at him like he's mental, but I nod.
"How do you know?" the other twin asks.
Now the first one looks puzzled. "I don't know…" He shrugs, "But it looks like her, doesn't it?"
The other twin looks back at the drawing for a minute, then shrugs, and looks up at Ollivander. "Got any that look like that?"
Ollivander just stares at the three of us for a minute, probably wondering if this is a trick or something. But finally, he sighs, "Alright, I'll play alone. He looks closer at the drawing, examining it for what seems like forever. Finally, he says, "I may actually have one like this…." With a puzzled expression on his face, he turns around and goes to the back, looking for the wand. I step away from the counter, bringing my manga with me and closing it, hugging it against my chest again. Then I look at the twins, who are both still standing at the counter, but now turned to look at me, with an expression I know all too well.
They think I'm cray.
Suddenly, all I want to do is run away, find some place to curl up and hide and just cry. I slowly back away from the twins, looking down, trying to blink away the tears. I don't want them to think I'm crazy. And maybe I am crazy, I don't know. I can't possibly be normal. I have a manga that tells the future and I opened the way to Diagon Alley with some weird light that nobody's ever seen before. Maybe I really am crazy. But even if I am, I don't want the twins to know that. I actually like them, and they seem to like me.
Or at least they did, before I had to go and mess it up. Just like I mess everything up.
"Try this," Ollivander comes back to the counter. The twins turn back around to face the counter, to look at the wand, as I hesitantly step back up to the counter. All I want to do is turn and run before this can get any worse. But at the same time, I need to know if I was right about the wand. Olllivander takes the wan out of its box and holds it out to me, "Eleven inch, ash, with a unicorn hair core."
"It looks just like the pictures," one of the twins says quietly. I feel them both, and Ollivander, looking at me, but I'm too afraid to look at any of them, and I'm too afraid take the wand, so I just stare at it.
"Go on," Ollivander says.
I take a deep, shuttering breath, as I hold my manga tightly against my chest with one arm, hesitantly reaching out with the other hand to take the wand. As I take it, I'm ready for nothing to happen, just like with the wands I tried before. But something does happen.
The wand itself starts to glow from within, a faint but beautiful silvery color, and a light breeze seems to flow from it, whirling slowly around me, lifting my ribbons and making my dress ripple almost like water.
I was holding my breath when I picked up the wand, but now it practically releases itself, as my lips part in surprise and amazement. As I do, the wand stops glowing and the wind dissipates. For a few seconds, the shop is suspended in a strange silence.
"Curious," Ollivander finally says, breaking the silence. "Very curious."
"What?" the twins ask, probably knowing that I'm not going to have the courage to ask for myself.
"That wand is very unique. It's been in this shop for as long as I can remember. No one's ever been a match for it. The core, as I said, is unicorn hair. But the hair is from a creature that many believe to be merely a legend."
I glance at one of the twins as he asks, "What creature?"
"It's called a Celestial unicorn, said to be from another world entirely."
"Another world like the muggle world?" the other twin asks.
Ollivander shakes his head though, "Another world, like another universe, young Weasley."
"Wait, you said many believe it's a legend," The other twin speaks up. "But wouldn't you know for sure? I thought you remember ever wand you make."
"I do. But I didn't make that wand, Mr. Weasley. Neither did my father, or even my father's father. No one in my family made that wand," he points to my wand.
"Then who did?" the other twin asks.
"I don't know."
When Fred, George and I leave Ollivanders, the three of us weave our ways down the crowded Diagon Alley and quickly find Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore. We go straight up the stairs that are just to the left of the door, stopping about halfway up so the twins and look for Tonks and Mrs. Weasley.
"See them?" one of the twins asks.
"No. You?" the other replies.
"No."
"Guess we beat them here then." The twins turn and head up the stairs, so I follow suit, until we get to the second floor and we come to a sitting area, with a couch and few armchairs. Fred and George sit down on the couch, and I curl up in one of the arm chairs. While the twins talk to each other, I close my eyes, just listening to them. It's strangely comforting, having their voices surround me. There's something oddly familiar about it. And the best part is, maybe they do think I'm crazy. But whether they do or not, it doesn't matter. They don't seem to care.
PS Sorry I've taken so long to update guys, I've been dealing with some personal shite that has basically caused me to have complete writer's block. But it's ticking me off, so I'm taking a freaking bulldozer to this writer's block and just writing through it. Thank you for being patient, and I promise you, I'll keep updating from now on. Delays in my own updates don't drive anyone crazy as much as they drive me crazy. Er. Crazier.
