Diagon Ally

The first place we go is the clothes shop, Madame Malkins Robes for all occasions. We walk in and a small bell rings, letting the owner know we're here. She comes out and smiles at us. "Hello dears, Hogwarts I suppose?" she asks and we all nod. She has her employee fit the boys while she takes care of us. Pretty soon she has us being fitted for our robes and we start discussing plans for when we get to Hogwarts.

"My test said I should claim my big title on the 31 of August. That's the day before we head to Hogwarts. But what about my other titles?" I ask Ma' and Rogue, who was already done with her time as a human Barbie. We had made sure that the shopkeeper didn't touch her anywhere on her skin. "When do you think I should claim those?"

"You have three options for your other titles. You could claim them all now and show the world you exist, you could claim them all on the day you claim your big title, or you could wait and see what the wizarding world of Britain is like before claiming your titles." Ma says thinking about it. "I think that the first one might not be the best option but the other two have some credibility."

"Ok, that makes sense. But what do we do at Hogwarts, the man who sent Aeolus and Terris to the lab works there, what are we supposed to do about him?"

"We could wait." Rogue says simply. "See if he shows his true colors."

"Not a bad plan, but how would we execute it in such a way that he would show them?" Artemis intervenes. "It's not like he'll just show them. He is a master of manipulation after all."

"Good point Artemis. Then there's the fact that according to my test I'm the rebirth of some important person. What do I do with that information?" the lady finishes with us and we continue on with our list. "Should we get our trunks next?"

"I think that's a good plan." Ma' says, and we head to the luggage shop. On our way over there I notice a boy who appears to be bullying a girl, the both look to be eleven. The boy has red hair and freckles all over his face. I can't see the girls face, but her hair is a mess of auburn curls, I stop and glance at Ma'. She nods, giving me silent permission to go help. I walk up to the pair of them just in time to see the boy shove the girl lightly.

"You shouldn't even bother coming to Hogwarts, freakshow." He says, and her eyes fill with tears at his hurtful words.

I shove him away from her and glair. "What gives you the right to pick on someone and call them a freakshow Rat face?"

"You're defending a mutant! Their all freaks!" he yells, getting in my face.

"Maybe you should look before you speak, Rat boy." I say, ruffling my feathers as I say this. "You wouldn't want an accident to occur to you for saying the wrong thing, would you?"

"YOU'RE A FREAK LIKE HER!" he yells at me and I feel a strong urge to punch him in the face for that comment. An urge that I don't act on yet, however, because he isn't finished. "ALL MUTANTS SHOULD JUST GO AND DIE IN A HOLE SOMEWHERE."

I curl my fist, getting angrier than when I first saw him bullying the girl. I glance around and notice that a crowd had gathered. I see a large family of red heads pushing their way through and I call out. "Could you all let the red heads through? I get the feeling they are trying to see for a reason." The crowd parts and allows the family to come through. "Is this snot-nosed, rat-faced bully a member of your family?"

"That's my son your talking about young lady!" the apparent mother exclaims angrily. "Don't insult him like that!"

"He called me a freak. He called this girl here a freakshow. He told me that mutants like me should all go and die. Ma'am, my mother is a mutant, my brothers and sisters are mutants. I am a mutant. So, I'm sorry if I upset you by calling him out for bullying someone…but he needs to be punished for what he did." I say.

"He only called you names." The mother snaps. "you shouldn't have upset him."

I pause and turn to the girl, "Did she just find a way to say that this confrontation is my fault?" The girl nods silently and I turn back to the mother. "I did nothing to cause this fight. I simply saw a girl being bullied and came over to help her. I arrived just as he shoved her in front of everyone here. They can all confirm what I am saying. I don't know how it works here, but I do know that a boy should never intentionally hit, shove, or bully a girl. If I see your son bullying anyone again, I will make sure he regrets it." I turn to the girl and take a breath. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." She says quietly. "Thank you for that. I lost my parents in the crowd, I should find them."

"I'll help you." I say smiling. "Come on. Ma' will be able to find them for you." We walk up to my group and I look at ma. "She lost her parents, any way we could help her out?"

"What is your name, child?" she asks the girl who ducks her head and shuffles her feet before shyly answering.

"Hermione Granger, ma'am." She says, and Ma' smiles gently at her before looking at us and drawing her wand.

"Cover your ears, this is going to be loud." She tells us, and we all follow her advice "WOULD THE GRANGERS PLEASE COME TO THE TRUNK SHOP. WE HAVE LOCATED YOUR DAUGHTER. THANK YOU." Even with my hands over my ears the noise hurts a bit. "Let's get going." Ma' says after putting her wand away.

When we arrive at the trunk shop we see two very worried looking people who Hermione immediately runs up to. "Mom! Dad!" she tackle-hugs them before dragging them over to us. "This is my mom and dad, Jean and Dan Granger. Their dentists."

"Hi. I'm Shadowsong, to my right is Rogue, Aeolus, Hyde and Terris and to my left is our ma, Jekyll, Artemis and Apollo." I introduce smiling.

"Nice to meet you. And what interesting names you have." Dan Granger says smiling down at me before looking at Hermione. "Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you? You didn't eat anything bad, did you?"

"Dad I'm Fine. I had a run-in with a bully but Shadowsong saved me. And of course, I didn't eat anything bad!" she says the last part like it offends her greatly that he would ask her such a thing.

"A bully? What did they do to you?" he asks angrily.

"The worst he managed to do was shove her and call her a freakshow from what I can tell, sir." I say, hoping to calm down the overprotective dad.

"Thank you for saving her young lady." Her mother says hugging Hermione to her side. "I suppose the bully was a mutant hater?" she asks, and I finally notice that Hermione appears to be a feral mutant. Her nails are sharp, and more claw-like than a regular humans, her ears are slightly pointed, and her eyes are like a felines.

"Yes ma'am. He was." I answer looking at Hermione's mom. I see that she has similar claws and ears, but her eyes are more like a wolves than a cats. "I see the mutation comes from your side of the family?" I inquire, making casual conversation.

"Actually, Dan is a mutant too, his mutation is just more hidden." She says with a small sigh of relief that I wasn't freaked out about her being a feral mutant. Dan closed his fist and turns it, so the palm faces upward. When he opens his fist a little ball of green fire is sitting in his palm.

"I have a similar ability to his as well." Hermione says calmly. "But my fire is blue, and cold. His is green and warm, but not hot."

"Do you want to shop with us? We need to finish up before the stores close and this way we can talk more." Ma' suggests smiling at the two adults in front of us.

"That would be lovely, thank you." Jean says politely. We walk into the trunk shop and I see the guy behind the counter trying to sell someone a boardgame. I see the box is marks with the word Jumanji and tilt my head.

Pretty soon the game is sold, and the man turns to us. "Sorry about that. I wanted that game gone. What sort of trunks can I get for you fine ladies and gentlemen?"

"What sort of modifications can be added to a trunk?" I ask curiously.

"I can do all sorts of things to trunks, I can even make specially ordered ones if you'd like." The guy says enthusiastically. "If you'd like I could give you a pamphlet of all the options I offer."

"Could I please get nine of those, one for me and my brothers and sisters and one for Hermione?" I request and the man nods and grabs ten pamphlets from under the counter.

"That's not necessary." Hermione says to me as she quietly grabs the pamphlet from the man. "I don't think I could afford a custom trunk."

"I'm buying them." I say simply as I look at the pamphlet I received from the man. "How long do these usually take to make?"

"I can have them done by the thirty-first of August, depending on the modifications you want miss." I open the pamphlet and begin looking at it.

"Can you really make a multi compartment trunk that someone could live in?" I ask, surprised.

"I could." He says smiling. "I've even found a way to make electronics run on magic. Unfortunately, most people don't take that option. The witches and wizards don't know about TV's and stuff. But I do since I'm muggle-born."

"Cool." I say grinning. "Could I get a ten-compartment trunk with two storage compartments, a potions lab, a closet, a chemistry lab, an electronic room, a library, one unfurnished apartment, and one furnished apartment, complete with a small display case and a large unfurnished empty room? And can the two apartments and large room be made to hold running electronics and other such devices?"

"What enchantments do you want on it?" he asks, grinning at the fact that I'm taking his electronic room option.

"Feather-light, shrinkable, every security option you have and what is the editable room enchantment?" I ask looking up at him.

"It's an enchantment that allows you to make changes to the apartments and large room. Such as paint and furniture as soon as you furnish it."

"I'll have that one as well then. When will I need to pick it up?"

"I can have them all owled to you when they are done."

"Shadowsong, you don't have to get me a trunk. I can just have the normal student one." Hermione tells me shaking her head. "I don't want to waste your money."

"It's not a waste if it's a gift to a friend. We'll also get the normal student trunks if you want too, but I insist on buying you one of these, so please just decide what all you want for your custom trunk Hermione." I say smiling at her before turning back to face the shop keep. "Where are the normal Hogwarts trunks please?" I ask and he points to a shelf of trunks.

"Anything else, ma'am?" he asks, and I smile.

"Can I get the nine Hogwarts trunks with the feather-light charm as well, please?" he nods and gets the trunks quickly casting a spell on them and handing them over. The others place their trunk orders and Hermione begins grinning as some sort of realization hits her. "That will be nine-hundred galleons miss."

I pay him, telling him where he needs to mail them too and we exit the store. We spend an hour getting everything else we need. We save the books, pets and wands for last since apparently Hermione is a bit of a bookworm.

As we're walking to the bookstore and we pass the family from earlier, the father appears to be telling the boy off for what he did earlier. We enter the bookstore and I look at Ma', "Can I see if they have any information on seers?"

"Sure dear. I'll get your required books while you go and look for other things that you want." I grin and walk away. Pretty soon I find three books on seers, one on mutants, and one on forgotten Norse deities. The books on seers are uncloaking the future by Mir Lin Ambrose, seers and their kind by Morgan A. Lef Aye, and so you're a seer, how to use your gift on command by Sally Silver the one on mutants is Mutant abilities A to Z by Eric Lenshur and the one on Norse deities doesn't have an author's name on it, its named Forgotten by Time, everyone from Loki's twin sister to the forgotten Valkyries I got it to learn more about my past life.

After I make sure I want the books I walk back over to Ma' and the others who are each holding stacks of books, Hermione's being a bit bigger than the others. "Are we ready?" Ma' asks and I nod, taking my books from her. We each pay for our own books and head to the wand shop, stuffing the books into the Hogwarts trunks to sort later.

As we're walking I bump into someone and fall to the ground. I look up and see a proud looking man with bleach blonde hair and pail skin. "Sorry sir." I say as I stand up. I notice that he dropped a book and quickly pick it up for him. "It's my first time here and I got distracted." I hand him his book and go to walk around him, only to notice that he's not looking at me…he's looking at Apollo. "Sir?" he shakes his head and looks at me.

"Its fine, dear girl. Lucius Malfoy." He holds out his hand and my eyes widen a bit. I shake his hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

"I'm sorry sir, but it's hard to say the same to you." I say before waving Apollo over.

"Why ever not?" he asks releasing my hand.

"Because the boy you were just staring at? The one I just called over? He is exactly who you think he is." I say in a quiet voice that, if possible, makes Luscious pail more. "Apollo. Thanks for coming over!" I say happily to my brother who just arrived.

"What's up Shade?" he asks me, looking suspiciously at Luscious.

"I wanted to introduce you to someone. Luscious Malfoy, meet my brother Apollo, formally known as Draco Malfoy. In other words, your son that you sent to hell for the first eight years of his life." I say angrily. "I am sorry that I cannot say that it's a pleasure to meet you. But, you hurt my brother and that is not something I easily forgive."

"I-I-I—" He appears to be struggling to find the right words to say.

"Now if you will excuse us, we have to get our wands." We walk away, meeting the rest of the group at the wand shop. We walk in and the others look around for the shop keep.

"Where do you think the shopkeeper is?" Aeolus asks.

"He's over there." I say pointing at one of the rows of wands and the shopkeeper slides into view from the top of a ladder.

He looks at me with beady black eyes full of curiosity. "How did you know I was there?"

"I just did. I don't know." I say shrugging. "We're here for our wands obviously."

"Yes of course!" he says before walking up to us. "Who will go first?"

It takes nearly an hour for him to find everyone else's wands but eventually it's my turn. His magic tape measurer measures my right arm and wrist. While he hands me a wand. "Ash wood with an ice phoenix feather. Eleven and a half inches, slightly flexible." I take it and it jumps out of my hand. "Apparently not." I look around and spot one of the wands in the window that appears to be calling me.

I ignore the next wand he tries to hand me and walk over to it. "What's this one made of?"

"That one is most likely to never be claimed. Its wood is from Yggdrasil, the tree of life, with five different cores. My father crafted it. A scale from the world serpent, a hair from Hel herself, a bit of fur from Fenrir, a thestral tail hair and a shadow dragon bone." I pick it up and the lights dim around us, a distant roar sounds and a small earthquake shakes the ground. "It claimed you! B-b-but he made that for…"

I turn to the surprised old man. "Leah Odinsdotter?" I guess, and he nods silently. "Cool. How much?"

"Five Galleons." He whispers, and I pay him shrugging.

"Thank you." I say happily as we walk out. "I think I surprised him."

"Really?" Hyde asks sarcastically from his spot by Rogue, the twins hadn't left her side sense they found out that they're related by blood to her. "Pet shop next, right Ma'?"

"Yes, it's this way." And she leads us to the magical menagerie to get us some pets. Once we're inside we split up, searching for our perfect pet. I watch Rogue, Jekyll and Hyde walk over to the snakes, Apollo and Artemis to the magical dogs, Terris and Aeolus walk over to the owls and Hermione goes to look at the cats. I tilt my head slightly, I'm about to join Rogue and the twins when something catches my eye. I walk over to a beautiful bird in a tiny cage that is obviously too small for it. The sign has it marked as a trickster phoenix and I begin feeling angry for the poor bird. "Hello there." I say gently, the phoenix looks at me.

'Master? Have you come to free me?' I hear the voice in my head and blink a couple of times before responding.

"Why did you call me master?" I ask as I open the cage door and help the beautiful female bird out. She perches on my shoulder and looks me in the eye.

'You are the rebirth of the creator of my kind. The original trickster phoenix was your familiar, and my mother.' She tells me. 'She lost the will to live three centuries ago.'

I bow my head, strangely sad to hear this new before I shake my head and look back to the phoenix on my shoulder. "Would you be my familiar in this life?" she nods, and I smile. "What is your name?"

'I am Trixie. Daughter of Damira.' I smile at the sound of the name Damira. The name reminds me of a home that I don't remember but know is out there. I walk with Trixie and the storekeeper immediately goes to grab her only for me to light my hands on fire and glare at him.

"What are you doing?" I ask him and he backs away before looking at me angrily.

"That bird needs to be kept in his cage, last time he was out he nearly bit my ear off!"

"Maybe because you are offending her when you refer to her as a boy even though it's quite obvious that she is a girl." I say, my glare intensifies. "And I happen to be buying her."

"Don't be ridiculous! You can't afford the ruddy bird." He says once again trying to take her from my shoulder.

"Yes, I can. Her price tag was marked three-hundred galleons, I have that much and you can't stop me from buying her because if you do I will report you for abusing an endangered magical creature as the cage I found her in is two sizes too small to fit her comfortably and she looks like you hardly feed her." I tell him as I pour the required money onto the counter. "Now, I would also like a perch with an ash tray for when she needs to be reborn." he gets the required perch from the back of the store and I pay him and place the perch into my trunk before carrying her out of the store and waiting for my family to get their pets.

As I wait begin having a conversation with Trixie. She tells me about her mother and Asgard and the tree of idunn where the golden apples of immortality grows. As we're talking the red heads from earlier walk up and the dad stops to hold the door for my family and Hermione who is holding a rather large cat with a grumpy looking face and ginger hair. "Isn't he adorable?" she asks me, hugging the cat to her chest.

"Very. This is Trixie, she's a Trickster Phoenix. They can masquerade as any phoenix that has ever existed and has all their powers. What's your cat named?"

"Crookshanks." She says grinning. "He's half kneezle."

"Awesome!" I say and the others begin introducing their pets to the group. After that's done we begin walking back to the entrance of the alley.