Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you may recognise from the book. All of them belong to that wonderful writer J.K Rowlings.
Dom, Nicolas, J.P and Anita are all real people that are really enjoying being in my story.
I have created any creature and person you don't recognise from the books.
This story takes place after the publishing of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and the release of the second Harry Potter movie.
Harry is in his fourth year at Hogwarts.
---------------------------------- o ------------------------------------------
Chapter four: Wands and King's Cross.
The shop was dark and seemingly empty as the for teens accompanied by Remus Lupin entered it. Rows and rows of boxes covered almost all the walls, from floor to roof. The counter was dusty as if no one had been there for ages.
J.P was looking at the single wand in the window with mild interest as Nicolas stayed completely still, there were too many things here he could stumble over or walk into, he didn't want to break anything anyway.
Anita and Dom were discussing what kind of wand they would get, Dom claimed he would get a better wand than Anita, while she claimed he would only get a wand good for making silly charms and such while she would get a excellent wand for hexes.
Their bickering was interrupted by a positively ancient looking man.
"Well, well, well. So here they are. The four muggles that, by a twist of fortune, have joined our ranks. Interesting, mostly interesting.
Ahh... A pleasure to see you once more Mister Lupin. Maple, 13 1/2 inches, Unicorn hair, whippy. Am I right"
Remus nodded and smiled at the old man, how he managed to remember each and every wand he had sold was a mystery. But right now he had more important things to worry about than mysteries. He placed a hand on Nicolas' back and pushed him forwards.
"A pleasure to see you again Mister Ollivander, I do believe you know what to do."
Ollivander nodded and smiled at Nicolas that could only watch nervously as the magical measuring tape started flying around him, measuring everything, from the length of his wand arm to the length of his large feet. Ollivander nodded and rubbed is hands as he went and brought back a elongated box, opening it and handing a wand to Nicolas.
"Try this one. Ebony, 12.5 inches, unicorn hair, pliable."
Nicolas lifted his arm as to swish the wand but he didn't complete the movement before Ollivander snapped it out of his hand and handed him another.
"No, no, no... that won't do. Now this one. Holly, 11 inches, phoenix feather, swishy."
Nicola did the same, lifted his arm. But this time he came only halfway before the wand was pulled away from him and replaced it with another.
This happened several times, the poor mister Ollivander starting to grow desperate. It couldn't be that he had a client to whom he couldn't find the correct wand. A small mountain of boxes were already piling on one side of the counter.
But finally he pulled out a box that he had kept hidden under the counter and gently took out the wand before handing it to Nicolas.
"Well. I never thought I would hand out this wand, but its worth a try. 14 inches, cedar, thestral hair, inflexible."
Even before he had lifted the wand Nicolas could feel the warmth that ran trough his arm. Yellow and silver sparks emerging from the tip of the wand.
Ollivander smiled slightly and rubbed his chin. He didn't want to startle the young students so he kept his peace about the wand. But this had proved to be very....interesting.
------------------------------------ o ------------------------------------
A few moments later all the teens were heading out from the shop, each one of them with a new wand in their hands.
J.P was proudly running his fingers over his wand, a inflexible, 11.5 inches oak wand with a core of dragon heartstring. He was eager to try out his wand, and if it depended on him, he would have stated casting spells immediately, but a warning glance from Lupin had been enough to stop him.
Anita was looking quite happy with her own wand, according to Ollivander it was 12 inches, walnut, slightly springy with a core of unicorn hair. She chuckled inwardly, nobody knew how much that actually fit her.
Dom had protested slightly when he received his wand, but as he felt the warmth running trough his arm he gave a damn about the composition of his wand. Which was 11 inches, cherry tree, a siren hair core and rather bendy. Ok, so it was a corny combination... so what? He could still cast spells with it.
Nicolas was looking at his own wand, he knew there was something unusual about it, but had not dared to ask mister Ollivander about it. Maybe he was just over reacting. The warm feeling of his cat as it rubbed against his neck was comforting, and he noticed he hadn't stumbled or walked into something for quite a while. Maybe his luck was changing after all.
Lupin lead them back to towards the Leaky Cauldron. He had explained that since the Hogwarts express was leaving tomorrow they would spend the night at the tavern. Tom had already been given orders about their stay and were expecting them.
As they passed by Quality Quidditch Supplies none of the boys seemed too interested in the several brooms in the window. But Anita couldn't help but admire the brand new Firebolt that was on display. She bit her lower lip and pondered. There were still plenty of galleons in her vault after all. And she still had around 44 galleons left after she bought her crup and some delicious ice-cream at Florean Fortesque. She looked at the boys that were already leaving and decided to do it. If she was going to fly she would better buy a broom.
As she entered the shop she immediately walked over to the counter and pointed at the window.
"How much does that Firebolt cost?"
The tender seemed rather confused as the young girl busted into his chop followed by a small crup that was barking at her ankles. It took him a moment to realise what she had just said, a sad smile coming to his lips as she spoke, he had seen so many disappointed faces since he had placed that broom in the window, he didn't feel like disappointing another young witch, but nevertheless he told her.
"It cost 100 galleons little miss."
Anita did indeed seem quite disappointed as he sad the price. She knew that she, and the rest of the guys, would only receive 500 galleons each year, and maybe they would need them later. She sighed and headed toward the door.
The tender's hear ached as he saw her shoulders slumped like so, there was something about her that called out to him and made him feel bad about making her sad. He looked around the store and his eyes fell on the new brooms he had received just last week. They were from a small company, almost unknown one would say. During the whole week he had not managed to sell a single of the brooms. He pondered a moment before calling Anita back just as she was about to leave the shop.
"Hey miss. I got this offer to make you. I got this unknown brand of brooms. To be honest I didn't even know the company existed anymore, the last thing they actually made was the Silver Arrow way back there. I know it may not be as fabulous as the Firebolt, but maybe you should give it a try. They are called WhirlWind."
He took out one of the aforementioned brooms and handed it to Anita. The handle was of polished ash and seemed to be both soft and smooth to the touch. Close to the end of the handle the engraving of the name of the broom could be seen, two large intertwined 'W' followed by smaller characters that spelled out the complete name of the mark. Anita smiled as she slowly ran her hand over the polished surface, but there was still doubt in her eyes as she asked the price. The tender smiled, and for some odd reason felt really generous.
"I´ll tell you what. You give me 30 galleons and I´ll throw in the broom cleaning kit, just for you little miss."
Anita smiled widely, her green eyes positively shining with joy as she dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out 30 shining pieces of gold and placed them on the counter. She bit her lip slightly as he handed her the cleaning kit and the broom, and before the tender knew what was going on she had given him a swift hug and grabbed her things only to dance out the door of the shop, singing merrily.
"Well isn't she a nice girl."
The tender said as he placed the golden coins into the register, a slight smile still on his lips.
----------------------------------------------- o --------------------------------------------
"So what are you going to name yours?"
The quartet was sitting at their table in the Leaky Cauldron. After many hours of simply observing the people that were moving in and out of the pub they had grown weary and were now speaking about their new pets. Anita had brought her book about 'Notable Magical Names of Our Time' and was slowly leafing trough it trying to find a name for her crup. J.P was pondering whether to call his owl a muggle name or a wizard name. Nicolas was trying to remember the word for Luck in latin, as that was what he wanted to name his cat. Dom was also pondering how to name his rat, that in those moments had curled up inside his T-shirt and was sleeping calmly.
"Um.. I think luck is Fortuna or something, but I'm not sure."
Anita said diverting her eyes from the book for a moment as she tried to answer Nicolas' question. She looked over at J.P and Dom that both shrugged and returned to their own pondering. Nicolas thought about it for a moment and then a smile came to his lips.
"Fortuna... I think I like that name. Now I just hope it is a she.. if not I would have to change its name later."
So one pet was down and three more were to go. The small crup was sleeping under the table along with the now named Fortuna, he didn't seem to mind the feline even when dogs and cats were supposed to be deadly enemies... maybe it was because he was a crup, and not a dog.
Suddenly Anita slammed the book close with a wide smile on her lips, it appeared she had already found a name for her four-legged companion. Bowing down and looking under the table she spoke to the small crup.
"Hey cutie.. what do you think about Devlin as a name? You are after all a quite a cute little devil."
The forked tail of the now named Devlin started thumping against the floor as a sign of agreement. Anita laughed happily and turned to Dom and J.P, the only ones that had not yet named their pets.
But not for long as Dom started chuckling and pawing at his stomach, the rat having woken up and was sniffling at his master, tickling him with his long whiskers. Dom struggled and managed to get the small rodent out of his clothes and while smiling at it he named it
"Oddball!"
This attracted the eyes of all of his friends who seemed to ponder about the name for a moment before returning to their own business. So now there was only the large eagle owl of J.P that didn't have any name. The nut brown eyes of the teen seemed to be staring trough the wall as he pondered over and over on how to name his owl. Exasperated he asked Anita to borrow him the book on magical names and opened a page at random, letting his finger follow the lines of the page until they stopped.
"So his name will be...."
He read the page and smiled. His luck had not abandoned him. For the name under his finger was the name of one of the greatest wizards of all time.
"...Merlin."
---------------------------------------------- o -------------------------------------------------------
The night passed without any incidents and early next morning Lupin came to pick up the still sleepy teens. The one looking worst for the wear was J.P, his hair was standing up like he was some insane genius like this Instone guy, that muggle guy that invented time or something like that. Besides he seemed unable to articulate any sound that wasn't something quite similar to a growl.
Lupin was worried someone had cast a sleeping charm on him but the other three teens assured him that J.P was always like that in the mornings and he just needed some time to return to the world of the living. Anita made a rather witty comment about a dynamite having to explode to actually wake J.P up, making Dom and Nicolas laugh rather loudly. Lupin laughed along with them, wishing he knew what a dynamite was.
Lupin led them out of the Leaky Cauldron along with their trunks and their pets. He looked around to make sure no muggle was paying attention and lifted his right hand.
With a loud 'BANG' a three floored purple buss with the golden writing "Knight Buss" appeared in front of the small group. The four teens jumped back at the violent sound but soon noticed by Lupin's demeanor that there was nothing to fear.
A tall and rather gangly young man with pimples and glasses jumped down from the buss and started loading their trunks into the large vehicle all while chattering like a parakeet to the elderly driver of the buss.
Lupin nodded to the quartet and strode about of the buss. The teens didn't wait for long before climbing aboard of the strange transport. Nicolas, as usual, managed to bang his head against the top of the door as he walked up the steps.
Lupin walked over to the driver and greeted him in a rather familiar way and handed him several silver coins while grasping the pole by him rather hard with his free hand.
"Good morning Ernie.
We are headed for King's Cross Station, I do believe that would make around 15 sickles for all of us."
The man named Ernie returned the greeting as the doors of the buss slammed closed and the large vehicle started moving, causing Nicolas and J.P to both fall down the middle hall of the buss, rolling until they reached the back. Anita and Dom somehow managed to hold on to the brass bedstead of one of the many beds that seemed to be there instead of regular seats.
The tall young man walked over to Nicolas and J.P and helped them up from the floor, all while the buss swerved from side to side, seemingly avoiding pedestrians, buildings and other obstacles with incredible ease.
"First time on the night buss no? I thought so.
My name is Stan, pleased to meet you. I do suggest you take a seat on the beds, besides we will be at the station in no time."
As he spoke he pulled Nicolas and J.P off the floor and helped them take a seat on one of the several beds. Both of the teens looking rather confused about this strange vehicle.
Soon enough they arrived at King's Cross and got off the buss. Lupin got them some trolleys where they loaded all their luggage and the cage with Merlin that was sleeping soundly.
As the four teens already knew from reading the books the entrance was at platform 9 ¾, but it still took them quite a bit of courage to walk straight into the brick wall without hesitating. Nicolas was almost completely sure that he wouldn't make it trough and had to be convince by Lupin to actually push is trolley across the barrier between platform 9 and 10.
Soon all of them were standing in front of the red steam engine that seemed quite ready to leave the station, there were people everywhere, witches and wizards alike. The four teens couldn't believe their eyes as they actually saw the real Harry Potter in company with Ron and Hermione approach Lupin and the quartet.
Harry looked over the four teens that seemed to be his same age than him, except the plum teen with glasses and curly hair, that apparently was starting to grow a beard.
Ron and Hermione waved to the quartet that quite shyly waved back.
"Hello Professor Lupin. What are you doing her? Don't tell us The Ministry has changed their mind about you being too dangerous to be a teacher?"
Harry was speaking to the teacher and really hoping that the answer would be yes, not paying much attention to the quartet.
Hermione and Ron were discussing in a low voice about the four teens, apparently students of Hogwarts, but none of them had a house badge or tie of any sort. Besides they did look awfully confused and puzzled. Besides, both of them were sure that they had never seen those students before.
Lupin only had time to shake his head in response to Harry's questions before the whistle of the train announced that it would be leaving the station soon. Harry, Hermione and Ron waved good bye to Lupin and ran off to get a empty booth.
Lupin turned to the quartet and smiled slightly before turning away and leading them into the train and a booth that seemed to be empty by art of magic.
The train blew its whistle once more before starting to move, first slowly, then faster, out of the station.
In a few hours they would be at Hogwarts.
----------------------------------------------- o ------------------------------------------------------
End chapter four.
Now a bit of explanations.
None of the quartet knows about the Qudditich tournament, the fourth book had not yet been published by the time they did their little prank in the theatre, so they couldn't possibly know anything about it.
The WhirlWind is my own little creation and will be described in more depth later in the story.
As for the crup.. I know you need a special licence to own one and that the tail must be docked.. so don't despair, there will be more information on that later.
And we'll see what happens to our friends during the sorting ceremony ;)
Thanks for all the nice reviews and I promise I´ll try to keep up the rhythm.