Inklings of Celebrity
Chapter Three: First Impressions & Purchases
A/N: Selena's thought-speaking is this, while Dilandau's is this.
The next day was a Saturday, and the three new students had to go to Diagon Alley to purchase school materials. Folken had volunteered to chaperone them, and Dumbledore had given them the required money. They all had their robes, even Dilandau; Selena had measured him herself and persuaded Van's servants to make robes that size for him.
However, there had been no wands, spell books or flying broomsticks in all of Fanelia, as Van had gotten all the robes for them. The school would supply their broomsticks, but the new arrivals were going to need spell books and wands, and were therefore going to Ollivander's Wand Shop. They were greeted by the owner himself.
"So," he remarked softly, "a new bunch of Hogwarts' students. Interesting, very interesting indeed. Come right this way, and I will help you find your wand." The old man moved agilely to the back room, where he brought in wands to test.
Van was fitted first, and found his wand almost immediately. It was 9 inches long, sturdy oak, with the blood of a dragon; surprise about that, isn't it? Selena was fitted next. It took a while for her to find a good wand. She ended up with a six inch wand, made of pliant ebony and a magical aquamarine stone embedded in it. Dilandau's wand was ten inches long, made out of heavy mahogany wood, with lava inside it and a centaur's hoof melted over it.
"Very interesting wands," commented Mr. Ollivander, "Interesting," he repeated,
After this, they went to the nearest book shop to get their books, then after they were done, they went sight-seeing in the small shopping plaza. There were many things to see, too. Folken remembered that there was usually owl post, so the three went to look at the post office.
They also went to the Ministry Office, or at least a small representative of it. Van found the system of a government amazing. Folken, Selena and Dilandau weren't as enthralled as him, having been in the Zaibach empire, which was at least as sophisticated as the wizarding world.
After this, Van and Folken went to a cafe nearby to talk. Selena went off with Dilandau, much to both Van and Dilandau's relief. They were still wary of each other, and mistrustful. Selena hung on to Dilandau's arm, much as Merle would do to Van. She wasn't really comfortable in this place, while Dilandau looked as if he owned it.
They started a conversation, between their minds, so that it would be completely private. A very useful trait, which would be really important to them throughout their lives. Selena started off, What is the name of the place? Oh yeah, Diagon Alley. Don't you find it creepy?
No, why would you find it odd? I think it's interesting how they are, all natural even though they look strange. Interesting people, alright. Actually, probably not all of them are people.
Hey, did you see anyone interesting at the school? There was one guy I saw, at the table with the snake emblem. He was really pale, with light hair. Maybe that's why I noticed him, because he was fair.
Ah yes, all of us fair people must stick together. I thought I saw a fellow that looked like Shesta, but it couldn't be... could it?
Well, Folken was here, wasn't he? That would be great, if the Slayers were alive and here. I never met them as myself, and I know all about them, so it would be funny, wouldn't it?
I feel really bad now about attacking Freid. If I hadn't, who knows what could have happened. Gaea was a better place to me with the Dragon Slayers. Maybe I was too harsh on them sometimes.
The couple lapsed into silence, thinking about the dearly departed as they unconsciously strolled up and down the lane, banging into a clairvoyant on their eighth time walking around the street. She stopped to glare at them, but her Inner Eye gave a powerful turn when looking at them, making her collapse near the book shop.
This caused a commotion, attracting the attention of passersby. When she came to, the psychic reached up and grabbed hold of Selena's free arm. "The boy... keep him within. Destroy him and squash him. We do not want those like You-Know-Who here," she hissed, loud enough for the whole street to hear.
Unfortunately, Selena did not know who, but she was not willing to eliminate Dilandau anyway. He was the only one to be able to understand her, like Jajuka had, and Selena never would give up on those kind of people. However, she wanted to 'know who', so she started appealing to those around her, "Who is You-Know-Who? I don't know who!" This was all very confusing.
Dilandau himself was taken aback. He did not want to be destroyed and squashed, and would liked to have known who exactly he was like. The psychic started another tirade, "You are wondering how I know, and who you are like? You will find out, Dragon Slayer. More tears will be shed by you than even family of those who you burned, murdered in cold blood..." Here she fainted again, much to Dilandau's relief.
The people surrounding the adolescents were moving back, alarmed and bewildered. There had been rumors that the Dark Lord was back, and that their only hope was one from a legendary civilization- which one, they knew not. Also, a boy who killed without remorse? Men who did that were bad enough, but even so.
Selena started to inch away, dragging Dilandau with her. Dilandau, follow along with me. Pretend this is our crazy old aunt. He agreed, and Selena started to improvise, "Poor Aunt Millie. Always thought the doctors were a bit to harsh, but now I'm not sure."
Dilandau continued, "Yes, you'd think that the newest potion would do her some good. Oh well, we better tell Mumsie what just happened. She won't be to pleased at all." He sighed heavily, and the two departed, giggling violently in their mind's eyes.
Back at Hogwarts, the new students had to choose their classes. Van chose Hitomi's classes, as to stay together. Selena and Dilandau also went for the same classes, but for a more practical reason; they could help each other if one of them had been sleeping during class or something. All of the four students were in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Defense of the Dark Arts was signed up for frequently. This was partly because it was always interesting, involving a new teacher each year, and also since Voldemort was back from the unknown. Also, many young girls had been attracted to the new teacher, who had tattoos and looked very mysterious.
Selena was quiet throughout the evening, mainly because she was still puzzled about what 'Aunt Millie' had said. Dilandau should be destroyed? And who was You-Know-Who? She considered asking her fellow students, and the more she thought about it, the better it sounded. For one thing, she had never really liked teachers; those at Zaibach were the horrid, whip-lashing type.
Also, she knew that the students would tell her more that the teachers might think 'inappropriate'. Selena was a good person for reasoning. She stood on a nearby table, clearing her throat, "Excuse me, fellow students. I would like to ask you all a question; who is You-Know-Who, and what is there to know about them?"
The surrounding Gryffindors gasped, remembering last year's incidents. They looked at Selena askance, feeling it odd that someone wouldn't know who You-Know-Who was. That's what the name was, wasn't it? Because everyone knew!
"Why would you want to know?" asked Fred Weasley suspiciously. He stared shiftily at the girl on the table.
"Someone I met on the road mentioned the fellow," replied Selena, not missing a beat. Harry stepped up to look at her.
"I'll tell you who that is," he said quietly. This was good, because he was one of the few people not afraid to say Voldemort's name; why should he be? He offered his hand to help her off the table, but she jumped off gracefully on her own. "Let's go somewhere else," Harry said.
A/N: Personally, I don't like this chapter too much, but I thought the You-Know-Who quirks were sort of funny. When you review, please tell me which direction you want me to write in: drama, romance, more humor, description, dialogue? I don't think I have enough dialogue (this is because of my gr. 4 teacher. I wrote a story once about my friends and I lost in a forest, and she made me cut out most dialogue. Ever since then...). Also, which characters should I include the most? Selena & Dilandau, Van, Hitomi, Harry & co, Slytherins [Draco was mentioned]?