Who Knew?
A Fanfic by C Jazz
Janette took everything in. She was outside, in the open air. Snippets of conversations met her ears:
"Of course my cat is yellow!" a young woman said to a man wearing a brown trench coat.
"She's orange, dear." He insisted.
"BUBBLES IS NOT ORANGE!" the woman blew up, spit flying from her mouth.
"…and then Bobbins said 'She looks like a beached whale!'" One man carrying a briefcase said to another.
"He said that?" the other man replied.
"But of course. She did, you know." Briefcase-man insisted.
"Did you see that man? The one in the tight jeans! Can you say tighty-whities?" one rather ugly brunette said to her friend.
"I think briefs would suit him better…" her friend commented.
Janette didn't know quite what to do. She was half laughing, half trying to lug her trunk down the street. Dumbledore was leading her somewhere. She had no idea where. She continued to look at all the shops as she passed them, trying to figure out what was so great about a toy store whose sign read "NEW AMERICAN POWER RANGERS – NIJA LEAGUE!" What in the world is a Power Ranger? Janette thought to herself.
Soon, however, Janette noticed Dumbledore stop, and enter a seemingly grungy Pub. She followed him inside, wondering why she felt like she had been here before. The room she had entered was dimly lit. Many odd-looking people were seated at tables. She looked in front of her to see that Dumbledore now appeared to be wearing some sort of dark-blue robe, much to her surprise. She guessed that this must be what wizards wear in their world. She looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what in the world was going on.
"Er…Mr. Dumbledore?" She said, dumbly. "Where are we?"
Dumbledore laughed at her odd way of addressing him. "We are in The Leaky Cauldron." He said, his eyes twinkling.
Janette stared at him. Like that was any help…she thought. "Why, may I ask, are we in a Pub?" Janette said, still amazed at how weirdly familiar this felt.
"You will soon see, my dear." Dumbledore said, winking. "Set down your trunk. Tom, I'm sure, will watch it for us."
Janette sighed in frustration, and looked around. The barkeep, probably Tom, Janette assumed, looked up, and smiled a toothless grin. "Hello, Dumbledore! Can I get you somethin'?"
"No, thank you, Tom. Just going through to Diagon Alley." Dumbledore said with a smile. What in the world is Diagon Alley? Janette thought, keeping her mouth shut, rather than voicing her question. She got no help last time.
Dumbledore walked out into a courtyard behind the Pub. Janette watched carefully as he tapped the bricks with a wooden stick (A wand? She thought.) and the bricks started to re-arrange themselves. Janette smiled, still surprised with the feeling of déjà vu, and walked out onto a semi-empty, sunlight street.
"Where are all the people?" Janette voiced her thoughts.
"Obviously not here." Dumbledore said, taken aback again by her lack of surprise at the display of magic. "We must do our shopping. You need your school things…" he said, looking at the odd girl beside him.
"Okay." Janette said.
Dumbledore first led her to a shop called Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. An old witch fussed around her, suiting her in black robes. When Madame Malkin had finished taking measurements, Dumbledore called out.
"We'll be needing Dress Robes as well, Madame."
Janette looked around in surprise. "Dress Robes? What for?"
"Many things…you will see…" Dumbledore spoke again, in mystery.
* * *
The day continued much like this: Janette receiving service, Dumbledore making strange comments. Janette kept asking where all the money was coming from, and Dumbledore kept saying. "Never mind that…never mind."
The bought everything: from robes, to spellbooks, to apothecary items, even an owl for the post, as Dumbledore explained. All these new objects intrigued Janette. Finally, they made it to their last stop. The sun had begun to set, and Janette was tired and worn after the long day of shopping.
"Ah, Mr. Ollivander's shop. Wands." Dumbledore stated, smiling happily. He opened the door, and Janette walked in, looking around the misty shop.
A bell rang somewhere, and a man suddenly appeared.
"Janette Watson…Janette Watson…It's good to see you've finally made it." Mr. Ollivander said, observing the two people before him. Janette didn't know what quite to say to this.
"Which is your wand arm, my dear?" Janette held out her left arm instantaneously, wondering why she did so. She was right handed. "Interesting…" Mr. Ollivander said, as a tape measure started to take various measurements. Janette again, said nothing. Mr. Ollivander ducked behind a shelf, and returned with a thin box. He pulled out a wand.
"9 ½ inches, oak, unicorn tale hair." He told Janette, handing it to her. She took it, and waved it around, assuming that's what she was supposed to do. Nothing happened.
"No…No…" Mr. Ollivander went back behind the shelves, and this time returned with a stack of wand boxes. "11 ¾ inches, White pine, dragon heartstring." Janette shuddered, thinking of the heartstring in the wand. She waved it, and luckily nothing happened. She relaxed, and gave the wand back to Mr. Ollivander.
They continued on, much like this, until Mr. Ollivander was on the last wand in his stack. "12 inches, cherry, phoenix tail feather." He stated.
Janette took the wand, and a sense of peace settled inside of her. She waved it upward, and a streak of gold and silver light shot out of the wand. Janette smiled, and Mr. Ollivander put the wand back in the box. "Good wand, my dear. Glad it picked you." He said.
Dumbledore and Janette exited the store, and Janette, carrying her new barn owl (Gwenidol), felt more at home than ever, walking down the street with Dumbledore at her side, thinking just how wonderfully this all was turning out.
