Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.
At the Market
"Be back in time for dinner," Lucius cautioned his children on their way out.
"Don't worry, we will!" Ryua called back as she and her brother left the hotel to hit the streets. It hadn't been easy to pry Draco off of the Sony. Eventually she had to bribe him with promises of goods illegal in Britain that were easily obtainable here.
"So, where d'you think we should go first?" Draco asked, happy to be out on their own for a while.
"First, I'm... losing... these... robes!" Ryua pulled off her long, white, concealing robes to reveal a much shorter white skirt and halter top. She shrunk them down to handkerchief size and folded them carefully into a pocket for when they got back. "Ah, much better!"
"Are you mad?" Draco asked, "Father is going to kill you!"
"Only if he catches me." Lucius had earlier forbidden his children to wear too revealing clothing, in case they looked to 'common'. "And you won't tell him, will you?"
"Well, probably not, but you'll get burned from the sun..."
"No, I used that burn charm I found before we left." They had all learned a complete sunblocking charm, because mother's fair skin didn't agree with the sun, and Ryua had picked up the more selective one on the next page.
"What about a tan then? He'll be furious with you when he sees that."
"So I'll cover up. Those robes work both ways. The only thing he can see is my hands and face, and that's what makeup is for. Once I'm at school again, it won't matter."
"You are either brave, or insane. No, wait, stupid or insane. Take your pick."
"Hmm, it's only stupid if I get caught, right?"
"Sometimes, I really don't understand you."
They had, by now, gotten to the first of the markets. Most of it was just tourist stuff, nothing really valuable, although it was fun to look at. Ryua did pick up a necklace of palm beads, marveling at their rich color. Eventually they managed to drop through the magical barrier into the wizard's market, and things got much more interesting.
"About bloody time." Draco had very little patience for idle tourists, and was glad to get somewhere most of them couldn't go. Only a quarter of the guests in the Dominican were magically inclined, and as a result, their market was a lot calmer. These witches and wizards had translation spells in place, so everyone could understand each other, something the twins much appreciated. Most of the goods here were being hawked from the cloth and palm frond tents, same as outside the barrier, but they were remarkably different products. There were lots of tropical ingredients for potions and complex spell castings from palm heartwood to Man of War poison to full moon-dried salt. Draco let out a low whistle "I've only ever heard of half of these in textbooks. And advanced ones at that."
"I know, and a good handful of it's lethal without even mixing it... What do you suppose those are?" Ryua asked pointing over at a rather exuberant witch showing off bits of rope and things knotted up from a couple knots to intricate webs.
"Dunno. Looks complicated, though."
Ryua went over to the witch, asking, "What are these ropes, please?"
"They're elemental knots, of course! Haven't you heard of them? Most famous ones are the wind knots, even show up in muggle literature. Everyone knows how to make them here."
"That explains it then, I'm from Britain..."
"Enjoying the sun for winter then, are we?"
Ryua grinned at the friendly woman. "You have no idea. The dorms at our school get so cold ... underground, you see."
"Cold, eh?" she raised a dark eyebrow. "Would you like a sun knot, then?"
"Sun knot?"
"Well, it holds the sun's energy, heat and light, although I've got some spelled separately too. You can release it by manipulating the individual knots..." the saleswitch poked one of the tiny knots on the outside of a gold web with a handmade mahogany wand and the pattern of string emitted a pale glow and pulse of heat.
Ryua was absolutely sold. Something to heat her bed, especially if it was something too strange for Millicent to steal for her own use, would be absolutely worth just about any price. Although, she was curious, "So, what other ones do you make? I want one of those sun ones, but what else is there?"
"Well, just about any elemental force that can be captured easily. Lightning, those small ones there, they're good for just one or two strikes, 'cause lightning's not exactly a long-term thing. I've got a couple earthquake knots, those smaller ones there. Many places with more natural land than Britain make 'em. Japan has the best earthquake knots, get just as intricate as my sun ones. And places like Norway and Canada get some wicked good storms and ice webs. It's possible to get life force tied in one, but it's a nasty business, you're likely to end up with serious consequences for making or using 'em. Tidal forces you can tie up easily, they're popular for gardeners or boaters 'cause of their water magic. Fire, much like sun, but I saw a magma one from Hawaii once, more heat power than my entire collection here. Wind, there's lots of variations, they're the oldest knots. Back before muggles got stupid about magic superstitions, sailors used to pay witches to tie up winds for them, the cardinal winds and such. And the main reason us magic folks' homes ain't been wiped out by hurricanes is we wrap up just the part on our property. Them's wicked powerful webs," she said pointing to a stack slightly apart from the rest. "I've got a few fog and shadow ones too, don't get many buying them, no one has much use for 'em. That's all I got here, anything you want?"
Ryua's head was spinning slightly from the amount of information she'd just been assailed with. "How about I take one of each?"
"Sure, if that's what you feel like," the witch said, wrapping up webs in sheets of charmed paper. "I've got 'em color coded, yellow for sun, blue for water, gray for fog, black for shadow, and the brown's earth. The bigger and more intricate the knot, the more power. If you're careful, they can be recharged and retied, if you can get to a source, anyway. Practice with the smaller knots before you go onto the more powerful ones, okay? You might blow something up by accident if you aren't careful. Store 'em in this paper, or something like it, else you'll end up with leakage, and that can be ugly. And, that's twenty three sickles all together."
"Thanks! Here you go," Ryua handed the witch a pair of galleons as she picked up the small stack, "keep the extra, thanks a lot..." She had just noticed Draco about to sample a piece of pufferfish flesh (probably told it was tuna), and ran over to smack it out of his hand.
"Hey, what was that for?" he whined.
"Well, if you really want to eat it, go ahead..." she said as she walked towards the magical gate back to the muggle world.
"Never mind." Draco had learned that if his sister said he shouldn't eat something, it was for a good reason. He jogged after her, asking, "So, got what you wanted?"
"Oh, some. We've got a few days left, I expect to be back once or twice."
"Yeah. Hey, why did you stop me from eating that fish?"
"It's pufferfish."
"So?"
Ryua sighed. "Didn't you pay attention when Professor Snape gave that lecture on natural poisons? Pufferfish is quite a toxic one."
"Ugh! How can you keep thinking about school now?"
"Well, if you would rather I just kept my thoughts to myself..."
"No! I mean, no, it's not that big a deal."
"Thought you might say that. Ugh," Ryua said as they turned onto their hotel's street, "back into those robes..." Swirling them neatly up over her head as they enlarged again, she grimaced at the extra heat the cloth covered her with. "Good thing the dining room's air conditioned. It's so unfair that you get to wear shorts around, and I'm expected to stay in long skirts."
"Yeah, well poopy for you. You'd better pale that complexion of yours a bit, you're starting to tan. Honestly, why couldn't you just keep on the full charm?"
Ryua looked witheringly over at her brother while rubbing light concealer on her skin. "Because, I don't want to."
