Hi everyone, hope ya'll are having a good month so far. The last time I updated this fic was back in the middle of August (What? Seriously? Wow ya'll are overdue for an update o.o) so I'll be uploading two chapters today as an apology.
The same drill follows. I do not own any characters unless you don't recognize them - in that case those are mine. Please leave a review or drop me a PM, lemme know what ya'll think!
~MJB~
Chapter 4 - Shopping?
June 29th, 1992 - 2 days before Meissa's 12th birthday (Monday)
Location: Diagon Alley
"Come on!" the soon to turn twelve years old girl calls out to her aunt, dashing forward with an excited giggle. In a rare display of emotions she looks younger than ever, a heartwarming sight for the Lady Malfoy who is used to seeing the cold emotionless mask. Yet she cannot help but worry. She heard the childish tone in her niece's voice and knew what that meant.
She follows her young charge with ease, the usual crowd parting from the pair and allowing them to move freely. Her glacial blue eyes follow the giggling raven haired girl with well-practiced ease. Her niece, when she was much younger, was prone to running off without a care so it became a habit between Severus and herself to always keep an eye on their goddaughter lest they lose her to the afternoon shopping crowd.
Despite Meissa's excitement and repeated attempts to hurry her, Narcissa refused to move faster than an elegant walk. All around them the men, women, and children parted from the two, daring not to impede their walk. Moving around the pair as if they are a boulder in the river, creating the illusion that they are untouchable.
The raven-haired girl dashed here, there, everywhere without a care in the world, not realizing how much her unrestrained freedom is uncommon as children of her age are clutched close by their mothers. But regardless of which way she went she does not stray too far from her aunt, her excitement become more and more visible as they went through the shopping district. Bypassing the bookstore from which they've purchased many of her favorite reads, the wand shop where she received her first wand ever - a blackthorn solid wand that started out dark at the grip and gradually lightened to its white tip, twelve and a half inch long, with a phoenix feather core nestled within - and the apothecary her godfather visits occasionally for rare hard to find items that is not available at his preferred store. All of them important, but none of them are the reason why they are in Diagon Alley.
Her birthday is in a few days and after arriving home from Hogwarts her aunt had put a question to her - what would she like for her birthday. Like all times before she did not have an answer. It took her nearly four days for her to decide on a present she would like.
And so, they were in Diagon Alley.
"Meissa," she hears her aunt's careful, precise, voice over the noise of the afternoon crowd.
At the name she halts, her eyes glazing over for a moment as she stares at her reflection in a shop window. Narcissa frowns as she studies her goddaughter, taking note of what she's seeing before calling for her a second time. This time Meissa responds, her dark brown eyes clearing, and she walks calmly over to her aunt. Her hand slipping into the slightly bigger one.
Her eyes take note of the sign, 'Magical Menagerie', before she peers through the only window available to the public. She could see that one of the walls - the only one she could see from outside - was lined with cages, each filled with different creatures available for purchase. She could not make out what they were but she knew, that somewhere inside, was her familiar meant just for her.
She just has to find it.
"Ready?" she hears her aunt ask.
"Yes Aunt Cissy," she mutters, feeling distinctly NOT ready.
But they stepped through the door and all at once her nose was assaulted by the smell of all the animals jammed into one room. The wave of magic that washed over her told her stories, hinted that the owner and staff frequently used cleaning and air freshening spells to keep things tidy. But her nose told her that it was not enough. The stink of scats, unwashed animals, and various things she dared not try to identify overpowered her for a long moment.
What she heard, however, was worse. Her head felt like something was inside it and was trying to pound its way out. The hisses of the various snakes, squeaks of rats, screeches and hoots of owls, and the various sounds a cat can make all laid into her. The migraine that took root close her eyes and raise her hands to her ears, trying desperately and futilely to block out the sounds.
Her aunt, having predicted that this may happen, presses a thin glass vial to her niece's lips, no longer than the palm of her hand - filled with a light pink colored fluid. Without hesitation her niece parted her lips to the vial, tilting her head back as her aunt pours the drink into her mouth. Once every last drop was gone she switches the vial out for her wand and, with a wave, cast a spell to wrap her niece in a bubble to reduce the simulations she was receiving from being in the store.
She waits the first two minutes for her niece to relax, to drop her hands from her ears, before making a decision.
"Better?" she asks, her eyes searching her niece, taking in the squint in her eyes and how her niece's lips were pressed together into a thin line. The potion will take a bit more time to work, she concludes, but it would seem that the worse of the migraine may have been kept at bay with her foresight to have the potion on hand.
"A little," the raven-haired girl admits softly, dark eyes meeting glacial blue ones. "Can we stay?"
The blonde looks at her for a long moment before nodding. "Let me know if you need another dose," she informs her niece, waiting until she gets a nod of agreement before she allows Meissa to move away from her.
Meissa turns to the interior of the store once more - everything still muffled out because of the spell her aunt had cast - and looks around for a place to start. She sees the snakes stacked along one side of the room and decided she'll save them for last and turns to her right, which turns out to hold cages of owls with enough room for them to move about freely. Each one had a personality - some stared at her defiantly, some in curiosity, some just flat out ignored her. But she moved away from them, not quite feeling a pull towards them.
She sees a few cages containing other kinds of birds - she sees a raven but felt that would be cliched for her with her family's crest, a hawk, and the last one had a beautiful plume that was attractive to look at. Yet she felt no pull towards them so she moves on once again.
The toads she did not pause to look at.
The rats she spared a glance but saw nothing of interest. Although she did see one that looked remarkably like the rat Ron Weasley has. She was tempted to get that one just to play a prank on him but decided that it's not worth her time.
She turns into an aisle containing the cats and paused, feeling a pull. 'Finally,' she thinks to herself, 'I'm onto something.'
She wanders slowly along, peering into the various cages as she searches for the One meant for her and her alone. All the ones that were several years old didn't feel right to her so she moved past them. It wasn't until she was at the other end of the aisle that she finally found what she hadn't known she was looking for. It was a slightly larger cage compared to the ones she had seen the other cats in. Within was a cat, several years old from the looks of it, but what made this one stand out to her was the litter of mewling kittens, all of which were old enough to leave their mother's side.
She thinks.
She isn't actually sure.
She watches the kittens for a few minutes. She sees a completely white one with shocking blue eyes crawl over its' mother's body and flop indignantly onto the bottom of the cage with a shocked mewl. She giggled at this one's antics and nearly missed the playful pounce of a pale furred kitten. She sees it just as the kitten lands onto the mother's tail, resulting in a small bat of her paw.
She realizes, as she watched this interaction, that this one is the smallest of the litter and enjoys the smattering of pale brown markings covering its' body. The pale brown stripes on the kitten's face seems to highlight the ice blue eyes. She likes this one. The pull that she has been feeling has actually vanished since she laid eyes on the kitten.
She smiles and went to get her aunt and a store clerk.
She needed to figure out what kind of name to give it.
She finds her aunt in the owl aisle, selecting a few packages of owl treats. She can only assume that the treats are for the owls at the Malfoy Manor. Draco's owl, Horus, refused to eat anything that isn't fresh mice or owl treats. Her aunt's owl, Athena, isn't as picky as Horus but she only accepts the best owl treat. Her uncle's owl, Julius, has a cruel streak and has a tendency to attempt to draw blood if she goes anywhere near him. He seems to match his owner's penchant for violence.
"Aunt Narcissa?" she taps her aunt's elbow.
"Yes?"
"I think I found my familiar," she tells her softly.
"Oh? Show me."
She takes her aunt's hand and leads her over to the cat's aisle. To the cage with the litter of kittens and their mother. "There," she points to the brown patterned kitten that is currently playing with the white kitten she had seen earlier.
"The white kitten?"
"No," she shakes her head and looks at her aunt. "The kitten with the brown spots."
"Mm… it's the smallest one," her aunt observes.
"Is that a bad thing?" she asks worriedly.
"No, it isn't," Narcissa gently runs her fingers through her goddaughter's hair. "Let's go see about getting you the kitten."
She stayed by the cage, watching the kitten as it runs about, pouncing its' siblings. She can't figure out what sex the kitten is. But then again, the kitten hasn't actually stayed still since she started watching.
Barely two minutes went by before her aunt returned with the cashier. She looks at them and steps out of the way to allow the witch to remove the selected kitten. Meissa watches as the kitten mewl and squirm in the witch's grasp. She could sense the kitten's distress as the witch made hushing sounds while lifting the kitten's tail.
"You're scaring the kitten!" she snaps at the witch, stepping forward and grabbing the witch's hand while taking the kitten from her. The second the kitten is in her hand, the kitten fell quiet. The trio paused at this and Meissa stares at the purring kitten. The small furry head nuzzling into her palm.
Meissa let go of the witch's arm without a thought, gently brushing her fingers over the kitten's head and back, getting a purr as a result of her ministrations.
"It looks like you really did find your familiar," Meissa hears her aunt comment before she instructs to gather supplies for the care of a cat. The kitten was busy mewling, getting a response from the other kittens. The mother cat took one look at her, jade green eyes meeting her dark brown eye, before casually dismissing her.
Meissa had to wonder if this meant she has been approved to take one of her kittens.
She turns her attention back to the kitten, studying the light brown markings. The stripes she had seen earlier seems to focus on primarily around the eyes with slight zigzags. On the kitten's left shoulder was a slightly darker brown mark that looks like a heart if she looks at it just right. Everything else she looks at seems rather plain in comparison to the two - there's a slight arrowhead shape to them but compared to the one on its' shoulder they're rather plain.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" she hears her aunt ask.
"No…" she looks at her aunt. "Do you have any suggestion?"
"Meissa, even if I did have a suggestion this is your familiar. Either the kitten will tell you her or his name or your familiar will accept a name given by you and only you." Meissa looks at the kitten in her hands and found ice blue eyes staring back at her. "Once we return home I'll give you a book on familiars."