Harry Potter stared up at the shop Hagrid was guiding him towards, ready and eager for what was going to come next. He was about to get his wand, the true gateway into the world of magic, the tool that would enable him to tap into magic by choice as opposed to accident, and truly grasp what it meant to be a wizard. However, as he looked at the shop, he could feel his excitement starting to war with confusion. After seeing the Leaky Cauldron, the shop itself looking somewhat shabby wasn't that off-putting. Perhaps magic users had a way of keeping things clean and healthy without keeping them looking maintained and considered a dwelling or establishment that looked somewhat dilapidated to be some form of fashionable? The sign declaring the shop 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.' also didn't concern him too much, even if a dry part of his mind suggested that the building hadn't been renovated since then based on outside appearance.
No, what made him uncertain was the immense and yet brand new looking oak tree that seemed to be sprouting from inside the shop, having punched through the roof and shedding acorns in the Alley in front of the door. Then again, wands were made of wood based on what he'd seen of others in the Alley using them... "...really fresh supply shipment?" he asked uncertainly as he stared at the tree.
"Ah...ah don't think so...?" Hagrid offered uncertainly as he pushed the door open and led Harry inside.
A tiny bell rang somewhat weakly from somewhere, only a spindly chair and a few shelves full of boxes visible around the trunk of the oak. As Harry started to take it in, an elderly voice called out from behind the tree, "Ah, Mr. Hagrid, Mr. Potter, I will be with you both in a moment. It appears my last client's wand was a little overexcited to find its proper witch. Still, I'm sure I'll be able to see to your needs just as soon as I've dealt with this...are you alright, Miss Wyrm?"
A rustling was heard from the branches of the English Oak that filled a good portion of the shop, and a girl about Harry's age dropped halfway out of them, hanging upside down from her robes where they were tangled in the branches. "I'm just fine, Mr. Ollivander!" she called out happily as she swayed, seemingly completely unconcerned with her current situation despite being suspended upside down nearly ten feet off the ground. "Take your time, and see to your next customer! In the meantime, I'll just...hang around?"
Harry couldn't stop himself from chuckling at that as the elderly wand maker stepped around the tree. While Harry tried to pay attention to what Mr. Ollivander said about wands and the selection thereof, he found himself distracted by the girl and her rather infectious smile. Her sapphire eyes sparkled with impish glee as her reddish-brown pixie cut hair dangled from her head, still showing no sign of distress. "Call me Penny!" she offered happily as she spun to offer her empty hand, a ten inch wand that exactly matched the tree she hung from in her other hand.
"Harry Potter," Harry offered as he extended his own hand, managing to take her hand as he stood on tiptoes once Ollivander's magic measuring tape finished with him. "You alright up there?"
"Not the first time I've been stuck like this up a tree," she offered pleasantly. "Not even the highest." She glanced down - well, up relative to her - at the floor below. "Not even the worst landing if something slips." She twisted back and forth as she turned her gaze to her robes. "Wow, Madam Malkin wasn't kidding about how well these things are made. The branches are going to break before this rips, I'm sure."
"So...you made this tree?" Harry asked in surprise as Ollivander began putting wands into his hand, only to take them back soon after. "Is...that going to happen to me?"
"Unlikely, Mr. Potter," Ollivander observed calmly. "Miss Wyrm happened to have some acorns in her pocket as a snack, apparently, and the surge of magic as her wand greeted her infused them with pure life until they fused together and sprouted into this tree. Between the unicorn hair core and the wood being the same type, such a reaction was...energetic, but not unexpected."
"So he should empty his pockets before you continue?" Penny asked impishly as she finally managed to get her feet around the branch she was hanging from. With a full body flex, she pulled herself up onto the branch and began untangling her robes from it.
"I do not think that will be necessary..." Ollivander murmured in awe as the wand he'd just placed in Harry's hand glowed, filling Harry with intense warmth. In response to the warmth, Harry swished the wand and released a flow of red and gold sparks that sparkled in the air like a firework. "Bravo!" Ollivnader declared happily. "Very well done...but very curious..."
"Curious?" Harry asked in confusion. "What's curious?"
Ollivander sighed softly. "I remember every wand I've ever made, Mr. Potter," he explained sadly. "Every single wand. It so happens that the Phoenix that whose tail feather is in your wand gave just one other feather. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand...when it's brother gave you that scar."
Harry brought his hand to his forehead uncertainly.
"Is that significant?" Penny asked from her position halfway down the trunk of the tree, clinging with both hands and feet...and still upside down relative to everyone else, her head level with Harry's waist as she looked up at the wandmaker.
"The wands being brothers?" Ollivander asked, amusement in his voice. "There's all sorts of things to infer from that, and very unique aspects to the magic-"
"I meant the scar," Penny interrupted. "You made it sound like a big deal."
Harry blinked in surprise at that, and Hagrid spluttered. "Where ya been the past ten years ye don't know about the Harry Potter?" he demanded, before looking abashed as Harry wilted in on himself.
"Japan, Australia, Hawaii, Africa, and South America," Penny responded easily. "Mom wanted me to connect with my heritage from her side of the family for some reason."
Hagrid blinked in surprise. "Err...guess that'd do it. So ye don't know about the war with...with You-Know-Who?"
"And how am I supposed to know what you're talking about if I don't know who you're talking about?" Penny asked impishly as she reached the ground and stood upright, showing she was a few inches shorter than Harry and already grinning playfully up at him, her infectious cheer making him smile already without even realizing it.
"That will be seven Galleons, Miss Wyrm," Ollivander observed chidingly.
"Right!" Penny spoke up as she jumped, whirling to drop the seven gold coins on the counter. "Sorry about the tree, Mr. Ollivander! See you around, Harry!" Lunging forward, she gave Harry a surprising hug before dashing out of the shop, leaving a rather stupefied Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry stared out the window of his compartment on the Hogwarts Express, feeling somewhere between excited, relieved, and anxious. The encounter with the red-headed twins had been a little unnerving with the fuss they made over his fame, but the help with his trunk had been a relief. The discussion he'd overheard between them and the rest of their family outside the train had been somewhere between disturbing and saddening. Seeing the warm affection they shared-
"Hi Harry!"
That happy voice caused him to jump as the compartment door slammed open. There was Penny Wyrm, her trunk in one hand as her other had slammed the compartment door open. As she stepped inside, she caught the door with one foot to slam it shut even as she tossed the trunk towards the luggage rack. The trunk seemed to almost float through the air until it came to rest next to his, only for his sight of it to be cut off as Penny seemed to fly across the bench to slam into him in another tight hug.
"Told you I'd see you around!" she offered happily as she - there was no other word for it - nuzzled into him, wriggling her brow against his shoulder much like a cat would into someone's palm when seeking headpats.
"H-hey P-Penny..." Harry managed to stammer, his arms out wide as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do or handle this. Not that it was unpleasant, being held so tight...but it was definitely unfamiliar territory.
Penny blinked for a moment and pulled back. "I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? It's just, my family's really very huggy, so it's gotten to be a habit-"
"It's not that," Harry managed to interrupt. "It's just...I'm not really sure what to do..."
Penny tilted her head in a rather adorable manner. "What, have you never had a hug before?"
"It's a new experience..." Harry managed to say, trying not to sound too gloomy.
Penny's eyes widened and it looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Oh, you poor thing!" she bawled out, not actually crying but only clinging to him all the tighter. "Well, let's fix that, shall we?"
With her pressing so tight against him in the embrace, Harry felt it as something seemed to shift under her robes as she seemed to shrink against him, going from a few inches shorter to a full head shorter. Her nails gripping his robes seemed to lengthen, as did her hair under his chin. Her ears seemed to shift up on her skull, expanding outward into tight curls covered in fur that exactly matched her hair. A slit in the back of her robes - invisible until pushed apart from withing - parted as a long, fluffy tail extended and wrapped around Harry's shoulders in an even more comforting embrace.
"W...wha...?" Harry found himself starting to ask, but couldn't quite get the full question out.
"I'm a Shifter from my mother's bloodline," Penny explained quietly. "Somewhere between an Animagus and a Metamorphagus in how the power works, everyone in the line can shift from fully human to fully animal and anywhere inbetween, each Shifter line being the same animal. We're squirrels."
Harry blinked in surprise. The wonders of the magical world were definitely catching him off guard. "And that's something that just...happens?" he asked in surprise.
Penny shrugged. "I dunno. According to Mom, our bloodline got it because our distant sire had a kid with a squirrel."
Harry tilted his head in confusion. "How did that happen?"
"I dunno, all the family records say about it is that Merlin was involved somehow. He got up to a lot of crazy stuff, apparently."
"You're descended from Merlin?"
"Oh, definitely not! He's just the reason our sire wound up having a kid with a squirrel."
Harry sat in silence as he took that in. Penny, for her part, continued to snuggle into him, now having shifted completely to sitting side-on in his lap. "Uh...I'm still not sure what to do here..." he managed to get out.
"You can stroke my tail with one hand if you like," Penny offered as her tail brushed against his cheek. "I'd appreciate it if you scratched me behind one ear with your other hand. That always feels pleasant."
Uncertain what else to do, Harry complied. He quickly found that the feeling of the fluffy tail in his hand, against his cheek, and around his shoulders was quite comforting, and the vibrating hum Penny let out as he scratched her behind her ear was very relaxing. He didn't know what was coming at the end of the train ride...but as far as starts to the magical world, this was rather...fluffy.