A/N: Thanks for the reviews, i'm at a lost of words...i mean...gee..thanks for the reviews...i noe that the last two chapters were pretty short but as the story and the plot thickens...the chapters would become longer, but, there is something about this story, is that well...there is going to be a HUGE major twist in the next five chapters....don't say i didn't warn u...
on with the story!!!
Chapter3: Vertic Alley
"Landy! I can't believe it! What a coincidence! What are you doing here?" Janice shrieked. She couldn't believe that her best friend was in the middle of orchard road when she would actually be shopping for some weird magical supplies.
"Janice! What are you doing here! I'm actually here to buy something. Can you keep it a secret?" Landy whispered.
Knowing that it is going to be something secretive, Janice quickly nodded. Landy quickly told her the secret and when Janice heard it, she shrieked with joy immediately, alarming the passer-bys nearby.
"I can't believe it! You were accepted too? So am I!" Janice shrieked. It turned out that her best friend was also accepted to Yap Ee Chian too. She was also wondering how to get into Vertic alley when she spotted Janice.
"You, You mean that you were also accepted too? That means that we would be in the same school together! Isn't this great? " Landy shrieked.
Just then, a man dressed in a kilt and a poncho walked towards them. His style of dressing, in Janice's opinion, was perfectly horrible. She could see Landy wrinkling her nose in disgust at the dress sense.
" Do you guys happen to be Miss Janice Chan, Mrs Maureen Chan and Miss Landy Wong?" The weird guy enquired.
"As a matter of fact, we are," said Landy.
"Good. Everyone in the group has been waiting for you. Please follow me to Vertic alley. I'm Mr Hassim by the way." as the guy introduced himself. Dumbly, they followed the guy, who was walking towards a bunch of nervous looking people whom Janice presumed must be her future classmates.
It turns out that Vertic alley, like Diagon alley, was hidden inside a pub. But Vertic alley wasn't hidden inside a pub. In fact, the only way to get in was through the HMV building. They would actually have to take the escalator all the way up the fifth floor, where it is the Annex (a place where teenagers our age look for funky stuff). They would actually have to walk through one of a graffiti wall and they would reach Vertic alley.
Landy, Mrs Chan and Janice did as how Mr Hassim said and true enough, Verctic alley was right in front of them. Janice almost fainted when she saw what was in front of her. Spread in front of her was a place unlike anything she had ever seen. The structure of the place was still the same, but all the usual shops were gone. In place were shops selling books, supplies, wands, and robes and get this, broomsticks.
"My goodness, Janice, this is place is just fabulous." Mrs Chan gasped. Like Janice, Mrs Chan was stunned at the layout of Vertic alley.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Landy shrieked. They quickly made their way to one of the shops.
"But Mum, how are we going to buy all these supplies? We don't have any wizard money! " Janice shrieked. Mrs Chan stopped dead in her tracks. Her daughter was right. They didn't have any wizard money. What are they supposed to do now?
Just then, Landy shrieked, "There it is! I think that's the wizard's bank! Maybe they would provide money-changing service for people like us! Let's go! They quickly rushed to the bank, LKY Bank for Wizards.
The Bank, like Gringotts, was run by goblins, the moment Janice stepped in, one the goblins at the reception, stepped and said, "Muggles?"
Muggles? What is a Muggle? Janice wondered. Before she knew it she was following the goblin to a counter where another goblin was writing something into his ledger book.
"What is it you want? Grittle? Can't you see that I'm busy?" The goblin at the counter snapped without looking up.
" I can see that, Kruter, but this Muggle girl with her mother and her friend needs help with currency exchange." Grittle said shortly.
Kruter looked up this time and stared at them carefully. Janice felt like as though she was an artefact in a museum, with people constantly staring at her.
"How much do you wish to exchange then, Madam? The exchange rate currently is at 3 warps per dollar." Kruter questioned.
"I suppose…. We could open a account for Janice and Landy…do you want a account, Landy?" Mrs Chan enquired.
"Well…my mum gave me some money this morning. She gave me about a thousand dollars this morning. Ermm. Okay then." Landy replied.
"Okay then so. In Janice's account, I'll think I'll deposit about eight hundred dollars inside, since I didn't bring much money today…all right with you, Janice? " Mrs Chan said.
"Yeah, its fine with me."Janice mumbled. She wanted to get away from this place as fast as possible.
Kruter this time, took out took two small books and began writing Landy's and Janice's names in front. He wrote down the amount of money each of them deposited (three thousand warps for Landy, two thousand four hundred warps for Janice) and the amount each of them withdrawed (five hundred warps for each of them) before handling the tiny book and the amount of money to them.
"See the bronze coins? They are pegs. It takes up about twenty pegs to make up the tresni, which is the silver coins and it takes about ten tresni to make up the warp, which is the gold one." Kruter explained.
" Thanks, now we better get going, we have a lot of things to buy." Mrs Chan said. They quickly walked out of the bank, with the money jingling in their pockets.
The first place they went to was Lee's robes for all occasions, where they went to have their school uniform made. In the meantime their robes were made, they checked out some dress robes that were available for sale. Janice and Landy had some fun checking them out. There was one that had tiny silvery stars that twinkled (sixty warps) and one that actually changed colour whenever you walked (one hundred warps)
After buying their robes, they proceeded to Boarders Horizon, where they bought their schoolbooks, quills and parchments. After buying their books, they proceeded to Ingredients and Supplies, where they bought their basic potion ingredients and supplies. While the shopkeeper weighed their supplies, Landy, Mrs Chan and Janice took a look around the shop while Janice examined some unicorn horns (fifty warps each), essence of belladonna (five tresni per bottle) and self-stirring cauldrons (eighty warps each).
After coming from Ingredients and supplies, they still had their wands to buy. On the way to De Souza's house of fine Wands, they passed by Superb Quidditch supplies, where a lot of boys around Janice's age were ogling at a broom on display (Look at it! It's the latest FireShooter two thousand and two- the fastest racing broom ever). They quickly walked through the crowd, which was very difficult as there were a lot of people looking at the broomstick and proceeded to De Souza's.
This shop was unlike any other shop they had gone to just now. The place was dark and very eerie and in Janice's opinion, seemed to tingle with some sort of secret magic force.
"Good afternoon." came a voice. Both Landy and Janice jumped. Right in front of them was an old man in his fifties. Janice guessed that he must be Mr de Souza.
"Erm, we are here to buy our first wands." Landy said meekly. Janice guessed that she must have been surprised at the appearance of Mr de Souza.
"Okay… so which is your wand arm?" Mr de Souza asked kindly.
"Well, I'm left - handed." Janice said.
" I' m right - handed," Landy mumbled.
Mr de Souza then began to take their measurements and afterwards, he took out a box and gave it to Landy.
" Here, try this. Cedar and unicorn hair. Thirteen inches. Swishy, Give it a wave." Mr de Souza said.
Landy took the wand and waved it slightly, but Mr de Souza took it away from her instantly.
"No…no, try this then. Teak and Unicorn Hair. Ten inches. Flexible. Go on."
Landy took the wand and when she waved it again, there were shots of red and gold sparks shooting out like fireworks. Landy was so shocked that she dropped the wand.
"Well, Miss, it seems that you were destined for this wand now. Now it's your turn now, Miss." Mr de Souza said, turning to Janice.
Janice was feeling very nervous now. What if there was no wand that could suit her? Would she still be considered a witch?
"Here try this, Miss. Maple with Dragon Heartstring. Whippy. Eight inches. Try it."
Janice took the wand from Mr de Souza and feeling very awkward, gave it a wave but Mr de Souza took it away from her instantly.
"Try this then, Ebony with Unicorn Hair. Nine inches. Go on."
Janice tried again but again, the wand was taken away from her. This time, she got very worried. When is she going to find her perfect wand?
The pile of wands that Janice tried was mounting higher and higher on the counter but Mr de Souza didn't seem to mind. Instead, he seemed to be quite happy with it.
"Fussy customer, huh? Never mind. We'll see to that. How about this then. Rosewood with Phoenix feather. Twelve inches. Nice and Supple. Try it."
Janice this time could feel a powerful gust of wind blowing in her direction. When she waved it, red and gold sparks shot out just like Landy's wand, but the sparks took the shape of a Phoenix, which flew around the shop for a few minutes before disappearing.
"Wonderful! Miss, it seems that you have found your perfect wand. But curious…very curious…."
Mr de Souza took the wand from Janice and began wrapping it, still mumbling," very curious, curious indeed…"
"Sorry, but what's curious?" Janice asked timidly.
Mr de Souza whispered" This is a VERY powerful wand, due to the combination. It seems that you are extremely compatible with it. I think, we can expect a lot of great things from you. I can only tell you that what's easy may not be right. Be careful with what you choose, Miss.
Janice didn't like the sound of that advice. She quickly paid for her wand and left the shop hastily.
Now that they had bought all their supplies, they decided to go home, as it was very late. However, with their heavy supplies, it would be too troublesome to take the MRT home. So Mrs Chan arranged for Mr Chan to take all three of them home, who had just knocked off from work and happened to be nearby. On the way back, all Landy and Janice talked about in the car was how their school would look like and how awesome Verctic alley was. That night, when Janice got home, she was so tired that she fell asleep immediately without eating dinner.