Chimney Trips and Giants
I woke up late in the afternoon; my mother woke up a half hour later. I sat in the kitchen still in my nightclothes. My mother came in abruptly wearing the most outrageous shade of purple I had ever seen.
"Come on dear, we have so much to do today!" She said as she produced what I could only assume to be a wand out of her cloak sleeve. "Hurry! Go get dressed; I haven't seen Diagon Alley in ages! We have so much to buy! Oh, and don't forget the letter!" She said as I scurried off to change. I pulled on my favorite purple (nothing like my mothers current purple mind you) sweater over my black spandex body suit. Finally I tugged on a pair of violet pants (so at least mom wouldn't be the only plumb person in London) and my flip-flop sandals (also purple). I grabbed the letter and ran into the kitchen, looking for my mother.
"Mom where are you? I've got the letter. Where are you?" I call as I enter the washroom connected to our huge kitchen.
"In the living room dear!" She calls to me. I enter the living room and she's standing by the fireplace, holding what appears to be a flowerpot. "What's the pot for Momma?" I ask standing next to her.
"This," she says tipping the pot toward me, so I can see inside of it. "Is floo powder. It will take us exactly where we need to go in a matter of seconds." I stare into the pot and see what appears to me lime green talcum powder, only much shinier, like someone had spilt glitter into it.
"Floo powder, eh? So this will take us to that Diagonal place?" I ask with a slight tone of doubt in my voice. Luckily my mother was to excited to notice and continued on.
"Yes where ever we say, it will take us. All we have to do is light the fire place." She says already brandishing her wand again, then pointing it at the logs in the fireplace a spark flies from the wand and lights the logs aflame. "There now hold on to me tightly, I don't want us getting separated." She adds taking my hand. She took a fair sized pinch of the green powder and threw it into the fire. All at once the fireplace grew taller and the flamed of the fire turned to same color as the powder. Then my mother and I stepped into the flames and she shouted, "Diagon Alley!" I closed me eyes and it felt as though we where flying. Suddenly we landed with a thud. "All right then dear?" My mother coed reassuring me that it was now safe to open my eyes.
"Where are we? This doesn't look like London!" I say in amazement.
"This is Diagon Alley, the magickal side of London. First we have to go to the bank." She said as she began to walk in the direction of a rather crooked looking building labeled "Gringotts".
"Is this really a bank?" I say in awe as I look around the enormous building. There where creatures wandering around, some pushing carts full of gems, and others that must have been the tellers of the bank. By the looks of their long fingers and huge pointed ears, they had to be goblins. My mother and I approach a high desk with another goblin, this one wearing spectacles and writing in a huge logbook. My mother clears her throat to get his attention; the goblin looks down his nose in a cheeky manner and says in a voice like a rake on a chalkboard.
"May I help you?"
"I am Dominique Ravenclaw, I would like to make a withdrawal from my account. Here is my key," She said handing the creepy little man a mall gold key.
The goblin suddenly looking very embarrassed was suddenly very polite upon hearing my mother's maiden name. "Begging your pardon Ms. Ravenclaw ma'am. I will fetch someone to help you right away." He said in a higher tone.
Within minutes a little goblin with chestnut colored hair appeared and beckoned us to him. We crossed the gate and he held a lamp up and whistled and within seconds and empty cart, which resembled a roller coaster car, rolled up. The little goblin pulled the door open and we all filed in. All of the sudden the car lurched into motion causing my to yelp as we speed through the tunnels. Finally after the cart has come to a complete stop we climb out of the cart. My mother and the goblin both look unphased, but I think I may have lost my stomach back on the tracks somewhere.
"Key please." The goblin says as my mother hands it to him. He pulls back an ornate seal on the door of the vault, which bears a large bird of prey with it's wings spread and clutching a large letter "R" in it's talons. The goblin inserts the key and slowly the massive door creaks open.
"Wow" I say with a low whistle. There are stacks upon stacks of Gold, silver, and bronze coins. I gasp as I realize these are the same as the odd coins in my mothers glass cabinet. "Momma? What are theses called, I can tell they aren't pounds or euros." I ask under my breath as not to let the goblin know I am new to this.
"The gold ones are called Galleons, the silver is called Sickles, and the Bronze are called Knuts. Here's a pouch, take Ten galleons, twenty sickles, and forty knuts. Then we can go shopping." She said handing me a leather satchel. I do as she told me and before I knew it we where back inside that god awful cart, I lost my stomach for real the second time around. Finally we reached the front of the bank again and exited.
"Where to now Momma?" I asked, still lightly woozy from the ride at the bank.
"A wand should be the first thing, so we'll go to Olivander's. That's where I got my first wand." She said with a smile. As we walked the streets on our way to Olivander's, I noticed so many things I hadn't before. I saw shops filled with animals, others with just the parts of some animals, even a shop that sold broomsticks. After many twists and turns we arrived at a very old looking shop whose sign read; "Olivander's, makers of fine wands since 450 B.C". We stepped in side of the shop but there was no one to be found. My mother walked up to the counter and rang a dusty silver bell on the front counter. Instantly an elderly yet gruff looking gentle man swung around on a ladder.
"Dominique Ravenclaw, birch wood and unicorn hair, ten inches." The old man said eyeing my mother. "It seems only yesterday I sold you your first wand. Now you have brought your lovely daughter for hers, I'm flattered."
"Son." I stated plainly.
"Excuse me? Oh! Terribly sorry, I... well you look so like your mother did as a girl..." the old man stuttered out.
"S' alright. It happens all the time." I say accepting the elderly mans apology.
"Alright then Mr. Olivander, lets have him fitted then." My mother says with a slight chuckle. "Right then, on to business." Olivander says walking to the shelves. He stands there muttering wood names to himself occasionally pausing and turning to look at me. "Here we go the, try this." He said handing me a nine-inch wand made of mahogany. I give it a wave and a picture flies off the wall. "No, definantly not." He says taking it from me as though he had expected worse. He hands me another, this one made of red dog wood. Suddenly there is this feeling, sort of like electricity running up my arm and down my spine. I give the wand a wave and a long ribbon of purple sparkles and glitter come out the end. "Perfect." Olivander says as I spin with the ribbon.
"How much?" my mother asks.
"For this wand? Oh, this is an odd wand Dominique, very unusual combination. Red-dog wood and the hair of a Veela. However it seems this wand was made for your child. Seven Galleons." He said as my mother handed it to him.
"May I try a spell?" I ask impatiently.
"Do you know a spell Vittorio? Even if you do You can only do it here in Diagon Alley." My mother said cautiously.
"I would like to see what he thinks he can do, since he just got his first wand." Mr. Olivander said, a smirk of amusement crawling across his lips. "Go ahead. Give it a try."
"Expecto Patronum!" I shout slightly and point my wand forward. Another purple light is emitted from the end of my wand and slowly it takes the shape of a dolphin, shining a purple it soars around the room and back into my wand.
Mr. Olivander and my mother stand there looking at me in awe. Finally Mr. Olivander finds himself and speaks, "Young man, do you realize what sort of talent it takes to produce a patronus? Your own mother probably can't produce a patronus like that!" he shrieked. My mother's eyes looked all misty again; slowly she too managed to speak.
"I am so proud of you." She said placing her hand to her heart. "was so worried you would have a hard time getting the hang of magic. I was so... I am so proud of you Vittorio." She finished; she looked even more overcome than when the owl brought us the letter. Collecting her self she turned to Olivander. "Thank you so much Mr. Olivander. See you around."
"I have a feeling," he said turning to me. "that you will do wonderful things with that wand. To see in you the marriage of muggle earth magick and modern magic is truly awe-inspiring. You should be proud of your self, and never loose your confidence." He said turning to collect the pictures I had knocked down.
"Bye, and I will. Thank you." I said waving to the old man. I caught up to mother as quickly as I could; we headed to several stores getting every thing (and quite a bit more) that was on my list. The last thing we needed was a pet for me to take to school. Mother said she was tiered and would wait for me in the ice cream parlor across the street. I stepped into the shop and saw several strange and exotic animals in cages and tanks lining the walls but the thing that surprised me most in the shop was a man. He must have been at least eight feet tall and he was as big around as an old tree. His hair was wild and long, he also wore a beard that was twice as wild if not ten times. He had just purchased a large snowy white owl. I turned away so he wouldn't think I was rude and staring. He looked at me and a look of shock crossed his face.
"Umm, er 'scuse me. But would you happen ter be a Ravenclaw? The giant said in a rather meek voice.
"Yes, that's my mothers maiden name anyway." I said looking up into his beetle black eyes.
"Rubius Hagrid, Well I look forward ter see'n ya at Howarts." He said cheerily extending a hand to me.
"Yes, are you a teacher there? Mr. Hagrid?" I asked as he shook my arm lightly.
"Mr. Hagrid! Mr. Hagrid she says! No I'm the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts." He says happily. "Well bes be off, I gotts get this ter me friend"
"Bye" I say as I turn back to the cages. I wander deeper into the shop and see the one animal I love more than any cetacean. Cats! Loads of cats of every size and shape imaginable. I wander among them settling at last on a tiny Persian kitten. She is so tiny she fits in the palm of my hand; she looks like a cotton ball with eyes and a tiny, fluffy tail. I walk up to the counter to pay for her and the lady at the counter looks at me with confusion.
"Do you know what this is?" she asks with concern in her voice.
"Yes a Persian kitten." I say returning her look of confusion.
"No dear, that is no mere cat. Under the light of the moon she will change into a tiger sized animal with wings. Unfortunately you have to but her now. You picked her up, so now it will love you unconditionally as well as those closest to you." She says looking kind of upset.
"Yes what's wrong with that, and what's it called?" I ask still confused.
"Well anyone who crosses you will be in danger of her wrath, is the only real problem. They are called Shiva's. You have a rare color of Shiva. But they are normally sold as bodyguards. That will be twelve sickles." She said noticing that it was getting dark.
"Bye then." I said with a wave to the shopkeeper. I held the tiny fluff ball up to my face and gave her an Eskimo kiss (rubbing my nose to hers). "What should I call you little one? What shall I call you?" I walked over to mom, her reaction was worse than the shopkeepers.
"You bought a Shiva? For eleven sickles?" she yelped.
"Mom she's only dangerous if I dislike someone. I'm gonna call her Luna" I said looking fondly at down at her. I looked. Up into the sky and saw it was getting steadily darker and the moon was beginning to peek over the clouds. I placed Luna on the bench and watched as she grew. Slowly her tail extended and her body became sleek and powerful. Finally Her glossy white wings Sprouted from her back. Every one in Diagon Alley seemed to be staring at her. Then I got yet another surprise.
"Master?" "Luna? You can talk too?!" I exclaimed staring at her my eyes as big as dinner plates. "This is so cool!" I squeak after about three minutes of staring. I wrap my arms around her neck, and bury my face into her silky fur. "You are the coolest pet ever!" I squeal as I pull the collar I bought for her out of my bag and fasten it around her neck. She purrs loudly as I fasten on the leash, straighten and walk with my mother back towards the floo chimney.
I woke up late in the afternoon; my mother woke up a half hour later. I sat in the kitchen still in my nightclothes. My mother came in abruptly wearing the most outrageous shade of purple I had ever seen.
"Come on dear, we have so much to do today!" She said as she produced what I could only assume to be a wand out of her cloak sleeve. "Hurry! Go get dressed; I haven't seen Diagon Alley in ages! We have so much to buy! Oh, and don't forget the letter!" She said as I scurried off to change. I pulled on my favorite purple (nothing like my mothers current purple mind you) sweater over my black spandex body suit. Finally I tugged on a pair of violet pants (so at least mom wouldn't be the only plumb person in London) and my flip-flop sandals (also purple). I grabbed the letter and ran into the kitchen, looking for my mother.
"Mom where are you? I've got the letter. Where are you?" I call as I enter the washroom connected to our huge kitchen.
"In the living room dear!" She calls to me. I enter the living room and she's standing by the fireplace, holding what appears to be a flowerpot. "What's the pot for Momma?" I ask standing next to her.
"This," she says tipping the pot toward me, so I can see inside of it. "Is floo powder. It will take us exactly where we need to go in a matter of seconds." I stare into the pot and see what appears to me lime green talcum powder, only much shinier, like someone had spilt glitter into it.
"Floo powder, eh? So this will take us to that Diagonal place?" I ask with a slight tone of doubt in my voice. Luckily my mother was to excited to notice and continued on.
"Yes where ever we say, it will take us. All we have to do is light the fire place." She says already brandishing her wand again, then pointing it at the logs in the fireplace a spark flies from the wand and lights the logs aflame. "There now hold on to me tightly, I don't want us getting separated." She adds taking my hand. She took a fair sized pinch of the green powder and threw it into the fire. All at once the fireplace grew taller and the flamed of the fire turned to same color as the powder. Then my mother and I stepped into the flames and she shouted, "Diagon Alley!" I closed me eyes and it felt as though we where flying. Suddenly we landed with a thud. "All right then dear?" My mother coed reassuring me that it was now safe to open my eyes.
"Where are we? This doesn't look like London!" I say in amazement.
"This is Diagon Alley, the magickal side of London. First we have to go to the bank." She said as she began to walk in the direction of a rather crooked looking building labeled "Gringotts".
"Is this really a bank?" I say in awe as I look around the enormous building. There where creatures wandering around, some pushing carts full of gems, and others that must have been the tellers of the bank. By the looks of their long fingers and huge pointed ears, they had to be goblins. My mother and I approach a high desk with another goblin, this one wearing spectacles and writing in a huge logbook. My mother clears her throat to get his attention; the goblin looks down his nose in a cheeky manner and says in a voice like a rake on a chalkboard.
"May I help you?"
"I am Dominique Ravenclaw, I would like to make a withdrawal from my account. Here is my key," She said handing the creepy little man a mall gold key.
The goblin suddenly looking very embarrassed was suddenly very polite upon hearing my mother's maiden name. "Begging your pardon Ms. Ravenclaw ma'am. I will fetch someone to help you right away." He said in a higher tone.
Within minutes a little goblin with chestnut colored hair appeared and beckoned us to him. We crossed the gate and he held a lamp up and whistled and within seconds and empty cart, which resembled a roller coaster car, rolled up. The little goblin pulled the door open and we all filed in. All of the sudden the car lurched into motion causing my to yelp as we speed through the tunnels. Finally after the cart has come to a complete stop we climb out of the cart. My mother and the goblin both look unphased, but I think I may have lost my stomach back on the tracks somewhere.
"Key please." The goblin says as my mother hands it to him. He pulls back an ornate seal on the door of the vault, which bears a large bird of prey with it's wings spread and clutching a large letter "R" in it's talons. The goblin inserts the key and slowly the massive door creaks open.
"Wow" I say with a low whistle. There are stacks upon stacks of Gold, silver, and bronze coins. I gasp as I realize these are the same as the odd coins in my mothers glass cabinet. "Momma? What are theses called, I can tell they aren't pounds or euros." I ask under my breath as not to let the goblin know I am new to this.
"The gold ones are called Galleons, the silver is called Sickles, and the Bronze are called Knuts. Here's a pouch, take Ten galleons, twenty sickles, and forty knuts. Then we can go shopping." She said handing me a leather satchel. I do as she told me and before I knew it we where back inside that god awful cart, I lost my stomach for real the second time around. Finally we reached the front of the bank again and exited.
"Where to now Momma?" I asked, still lightly woozy from the ride at the bank.
"A wand should be the first thing, so we'll go to Olivander's. That's where I got my first wand." She said with a smile. As we walked the streets on our way to Olivander's, I noticed so many things I hadn't before. I saw shops filled with animals, others with just the parts of some animals, even a shop that sold broomsticks. After many twists and turns we arrived at a very old looking shop whose sign read; "Olivander's, makers of fine wands since 450 B.C". We stepped in side of the shop but there was no one to be found. My mother walked up to the counter and rang a dusty silver bell on the front counter. Instantly an elderly yet gruff looking gentle man swung around on a ladder.
"Dominique Ravenclaw, birch wood and unicorn hair, ten inches." The old man said eyeing my mother. "It seems only yesterday I sold you your first wand. Now you have brought your lovely daughter for hers, I'm flattered."
"Son." I stated plainly.
"Excuse me? Oh! Terribly sorry, I... well you look so like your mother did as a girl..." the old man stuttered out.
"S' alright. It happens all the time." I say accepting the elderly mans apology.
"Alright then Mr. Olivander, lets have him fitted then." My mother says with a slight chuckle. "Right then, on to business." Olivander says walking to the shelves. He stands there muttering wood names to himself occasionally pausing and turning to look at me. "Here we go the, try this." He said handing me a nine-inch wand made of mahogany. I give it a wave and a picture flies off the wall. "No, definantly not." He says taking it from me as though he had expected worse. He hands me another, this one made of red dog wood. Suddenly there is this feeling, sort of like electricity running up my arm and down my spine. I give the wand a wave and a long ribbon of purple sparkles and glitter come out the end. "Perfect." Olivander says as I spin with the ribbon.
"How much?" my mother asks.
"For this wand? Oh, this is an odd wand Dominique, very unusual combination. Red-dog wood and the hair of a Veela. However it seems this wand was made for your child. Seven Galleons." He said as my mother handed it to him.
"May I try a spell?" I ask impatiently.
"Do you know a spell Vittorio? Even if you do You can only do it here in Diagon Alley." My mother said cautiously.
"I would like to see what he thinks he can do, since he just got his first wand." Mr. Olivander said, a smirk of amusement crawling across his lips. "Go ahead. Give it a try."
"Expecto Patronum!" I shout slightly and point my wand forward. Another purple light is emitted from the end of my wand and slowly it takes the shape of a dolphin, shining a purple it soars around the room and back into my wand.
Mr. Olivander and my mother stand there looking at me in awe. Finally Mr. Olivander finds himself and speaks, "Young man, do you realize what sort of talent it takes to produce a patronus? Your own mother probably can't produce a patronus like that!" he shrieked. My mother's eyes looked all misty again; slowly she too managed to speak.
"I am so proud of you." She said placing her hand to her heart. "was so worried you would have a hard time getting the hang of magic. I was so... I am so proud of you Vittorio." She finished; she looked even more overcome than when the owl brought us the letter. Collecting her self she turned to Olivander. "Thank you so much Mr. Olivander. See you around."
"I have a feeling," he said turning to me. "that you will do wonderful things with that wand. To see in you the marriage of muggle earth magick and modern magic is truly awe-inspiring. You should be proud of your self, and never loose your confidence." He said turning to collect the pictures I had knocked down.
"Bye, and I will. Thank you." I said waving to the old man. I caught up to mother as quickly as I could; we headed to several stores getting every thing (and quite a bit more) that was on my list. The last thing we needed was a pet for me to take to school. Mother said she was tiered and would wait for me in the ice cream parlor across the street. I stepped into the shop and saw several strange and exotic animals in cages and tanks lining the walls but the thing that surprised me most in the shop was a man. He must have been at least eight feet tall and he was as big around as an old tree. His hair was wild and long, he also wore a beard that was twice as wild if not ten times. He had just purchased a large snowy white owl. I turned away so he wouldn't think I was rude and staring. He looked at me and a look of shock crossed his face.
"Umm, er 'scuse me. But would you happen ter be a Ravenclaw? The giant said in a rather meek voice.
"Yes, that's my mothers maiden name anyway." I said looking up into his beetle black eyes.
"Rubius Hagrid, Well I look forward ter see'n ya at Howarts." He said cheerily extending a hand to me.
"Yes, are you a teacher there? Mr. Hagrid?" I asked as he shook my arm lightly.
"Mr. Hagrid! Mr. Hagrid she says! No I'm the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts." He says happily. "Well bes be off, I gotts get this ter me friend"
"Bye" I say as I turn back to the cages. I wander deeper into the shop and see the one animal I love more than any cetacean. Cats! Loads of cats of every size and shape imaginable. I wander among them settling at last on a tiny Persian kitten. She is so tiny she fits in the palm of my hand; she looks like a cotton ball with eyes and a tiny, fluffy tail. I walk up to the counter to pay for her and the lady at the counter looks at me with confusion.
"Do you know what this is?" she asks with concern in her voice.
"Yes a Persian kitten." I say returning her look of confusion.
"No dear, that is no mere cat. Under the light of the moon she will change into a tiger sized animal with wings. Unfortunately you have to but her now. You picked her up, so now it will love you unconditionally as well as those closest to you." She says looking kind of upset.
"Yes what's wrong with that, and what's it called?" I ask still confused.
"Well anyone who crosses you will be in danger of her wrath, is the only real problem. They are called Shiva's. You have a rare color of Shiva. But they are normally sold as bodyguards. That will be twelve sickles." She said noticing that it was getting dark.
"Bye then." I said with a wave to the shopkeeper. I held the tiny fluff ball up to my face and gave her an Eskimo kiss (rubbing my nose to hers). "What should I call you little one? What shall I call you?" I walked over to mom, her reaction was worse than the shopkeepers.
"You bought a Shiva? For eleven sickles?" she yelped.
"Mom she's only dangerous if I dislike someone. I'm gonna call her Luna" I said looking fondly at down at her. I looked. Up into the sky and saw it was getting steadily darker and the moon was beginning to peek over the clouds. I placed Luna on the bench and watched as she grew. Slowly her tail extended and her body became sleek and powerful. Finally Her glossy white wings Sprouted from her back. Every one in Diagon Alley seemed to be staring at her. Then I got yet another surprise.
"Master?" "Luna? You can talk too?!" I exclaimed staring at her my eyes as big as dinner plates. "This is so cool!" I squeak after about three minutes of staring. I wrap my arms around her neck, and bury my face into her silky fur. "You are the coolest pet ever!" I squeal as I pull the collar I bought for her out of my bag and fasten it around her neck. She purrs loudly as I fasten on the leash, straighten and walk with my mother back towards the floo chimney.