Quest of the Seekers: A New Haven
Year Three at Hogwarts
Chapter 2: Wand Heirs of Hogwarts
Tyler had woken up the following morning and found Pandy at his perch, sipping water from his water bowl with three letters on his leg. He untied them and read each one from his fellow seekers. According to each one, all of their parents agreed to go to Diagon Alley that day, since their school letters came the previous night from school owls. Tyler couldn't wait to meet with Jacke, Reggie and Brad and present them with the wands inside the box. He only hoped that the wands chose them like his had chosen him.
When Sunday had rolled in, Tyler went through all of his morning choirs and activities like there was no tomorrow. He wanted to go to meet his friends so badly that he felt like he had the energy to battle a whole army. His parents saw this and tried to calm Tyler down telling him that they would go at 1 o'clock no matter what but that didn't really help at all. It just made Tyler look at his watch every other minute counting down the time along with it.
Eight minutes before they were set to leave, Tyler was sent to get himself ready. He put on his Hogwarts robe with the Slytherin crest and colors open over a black shirt and jeans. Then he put on his wand holster and placed the other three wands in there with his. He put different color bands on them so he could tell which wand was which so he wouldn't be mixed up when he gave them to his friends. However, he made sure that his cloak covered them up so that his parents wouldn't see them.
His parents were already in the study dressed and ready.
"Okay Tyler, do you have your list with you?"
"Yes dad."
"What about your wand for protection?"
"Don't worry mom, got it right here," he said patting his side where his wand was underneath his robes. "Mom, Dad, Is it okay if I brought some of my money for a little spending?"
"Well...okay, but nothing too crazy."
"Deal."
"Alright Nora, Tyler, I have the portkey," which was a pocket watch "right here which will take us over to the gate in the back of Leaky Cauldron. In one minute it should take us there so grab on."
Tyler and his mother held out for the watch portkey that his father had out but before they were about to be going, Chaos and Tyler's father's familiar snake Serpentine came slithering in the room with pleading faces.
"No, Serpentine, Chaos, You two can't come with us," his father said shaking his finger.
Chaos and Serpentine both bowed their heads in disappointment and slithered out of the room.
"Dad, I think that Chaos and Serpentine have been bored just like most of us and are a little jealous that we're going out to have quality time and fun."
"Yeah, but it won't be fun if someone sees them and gets the wrong idea on us especially these days. Now watch. Only 15 seconds."
Then, after 15 seconds the portkey let out a glow and there was the familiar feeling of being tugged really fast in one direction until they made a stop at the wall, which was the hidden entrance to Diagon Alley at the back of the Leaky Cauldron.
"Tyler, in order to get to open the gate you must take your wand and tap the third brick from this metal bin."
His father went to the third brick from the garbage can and tapped it with his wand and the brick wall started to disappear revealing Diagon Alley. It was full of witches and wizards shopping but Tyler noticed that there were a few that moved their heads around like they were expecting something to attack them and had their wands ready in their hands.
Tyler's dad saw this and put his hand on his shoulder. "Come on, don't let this tense attitude ruin your day. Let's just take this time to forget all the trouble and just have a good time especially you and your friends, okay?"
"Okay."
First, the Slytherins went over to Gringotts to withdraw some money to use. Tyler loved going on these carts. He loved the way they turned and sped through the maze of tunnels that made the Gringotts Vaults. He just laid back and let the air blow at his face and looked on at the series of vaults and passages until they stopped at their family vault. Tyler's mom filled a moneybag with bronze knuts, silver sickles, gold galleons to spend. They then went back into the carts to leave Gringotts.
"Tyler," his mother Nora said. "Comb your hair and fix it up. It's all messy."
Tyler touched his head to discover that letting himself be blown by the tunnel winds made his hair all messed up. He ran his fingers through it and made it look decent, at least it didn't look like he had vines for hair.
"Where to first?"
"Well, Pandy needs some more treats and we could get some for our family owls too."
"I agree Simon. Let's go to the Owl Emporium first."
"Alright."
They stepped into the shop where the place was filled with the sounds of owls of many breeds screeching and hooting. Tyler went to the food shelf and got Pandy's favorite blend of sweet owl treats and when he went to head to the counter he accidentally bumped into someone.
"Oh, sorry," Tyler started until he dropped his jaw and then broke into a humongous smile at the person who he had collided with. "Severus!"
His old friend Severus Snape who had left Hogwarts after his first year at Hogwarts looked nearly the same as he had when he last saw him. His hair was a little longer and still a little greasy looking, his skin was a little paler but he still looked pretty much the same. He gave a ghost of a smile to Tyler but he knew that he would've smiled even deeper if they weren't in a public place.
"Tyler! Well, it's great to see you. I wasn't expecting to bump into you for some time."
"I can't believe it. What are you doing here?"
"Er...shopping Tyler," he said in the most obvious tone of voice that Tyler had ever heard.
"Oh,"
"Well, anyway, it's still good to see you. You've grown a little from when we last met. It's been a while."
"Yeah, ever since the end of your 7th year I believe. Come with me, I want you to meet my parents."
Tyler took Severus over to where his parents were looking at grooming combs and they looked over at them.
"Tyler, we...oh, whose your friend?" his mother asked.
"Mom, Dad, this is my friend Severus Snape, he left Hogwarts after my first year. Severus," he said turning to his friend. "My father Simon Solemn and my mother Nora Solemn."
"Please to meet you both," Severus said reaching for their hands.
When he and his father shook, his dad spoke. "Snape? Ah, yes, I remember, I knew your mother at school."
"You did?" said Severus.
"You did?" Tyler said.
"Not too well though, I only knew her by appearance."
Tyler noticed that his dad looked a little observant of Severus, not too different than Professor Arnold had looked at him his previous year.
"Well, I must be off. It was great seeing you again Tyler. I hope we'll see each other again. Give my best to Regulus and Matt."
Then he turned and left the shop. Tyler was happy at seeing his friend again. When his mother took the things to the counter to be paid for, his father pulled him aside.
"Tyler, how close are you to Severus Snape?"
"He...was a real help to me during my first year when I was having trouble adjusting, he looked out for me. Why?"
"Tyler, I did know his mother by appearance. His mother was a good expert at the dark arts. She was one of Slytherin House's darkest and dodgiest witches at the time. You shouldn't be hanging around with him."
"But dad...he's my friend. He was like a big brother to me at school."
"Yeah, I understand that...but...well, I've seen his type and they're the ones who most likely become associated or part of people like the Death Eaters." Tyler felt a pang in his stomach since he knew that Severus had joined the Death Eaters because of his father's influence. His mother also could've had something to do with it as well. Come to think of it, Severus never really did mention her. He just kept going on about his father made him do this and that.
"Dad, you hate for us being judged, right?"
"Yeah?"
"So, why are you judging Severus by his mother?" Tyler knew that that was going to win over him.
"I guess you're right. But, I'm only looking out for you. If you suspect he becomes a Death Eater anytime soon please tell me and/or distance yourself from him, okay?"
"Okay," Suddenly Tyler was very grateful that he didn't say that he was indeed a Death Eater. He felt Severus wasn't bad on the inside even though he seemed like it. He still was set on showing Severus that he was making a mistake for letting his father make him join.
"What's going on?" His mother had gone over to them after paying for their things.
"Nothing Nora. Just listening to Tyler tell me about his friend that we just met."
"Oh, well he seems like a fine young man. Very polite with the introduction like a gentlemen."
"Yes quite. Come, We still have more to buy. We should head to Florish and Blotts next for Tyler's school books and then get some Floo powder and refreshments for his potions kit."
"Mom, what time is it?" Tyler asked suddenly.
"It's 2 o'clock Tyler, why?"
"Well, I'm meeting my friends at the ice cream parlor now. Is it okay if you go without me so I could hang out with them for a bit?"
His parents seemed to be thinking about it together silently until his mother spoke.
"Of course Tyler. We do have other things to pick up other than what I just said. We'll go over there and pick you up in one hour, understand?"
"One hour, you bet."
"Okay, careful son, and don't stray into Knockturn Alley."
"Don't worry dad, I will and won't."
Tyler and his folks separated from each other and headed off in separate directions. His parents headed for Florish and Blotts while Tyler headed to Florescue's Ice Cream Parlor. When Tyler arrived, he saw three very familiar people, who like him were in their school robes open with clothes underneath, already there having some ice cream cones.
"Jacke, Reggie, Brad, great to see you. Are you happy to see me?"
They turned to look at their fellow seeker. Jacke looked a little taller than when Tyler last saw him. He was about an inch taller than him now. His red hair was a little longer towards the back of his head but other than that he hadn't changed. Reggie's height was about the same making him a tad shorter than the other three but hardly anyone could tell unless they were sizing them up. His hair was thicker and had gotten quite curly towards the front to the middle making him look a little older than he seemed. Brad was always the shortest one but seemed to get a little of his growth spurt started. He was just as tall as Tyler was now. His brown hair had a few spikes on it giving him a cool look. On the other seeker's analysis, they saw that Tyler hardly grew any taller over the summer. His hair was longer all around and wasn't too neatly groomed. Thanks to the Gringotts' carts, his hair had thick strands flattened and pushed forward but were happy to see him.
"Tyler, mate. We were starting to think you might show," Jacke was smiling a little foolishly but it made Tyler start mimicking it.
"Are you three going to just stand there or what?" he said in a joking matter.
Jacke, Reggie and Brad went to Tyler and all four of them went into a friendly group hug.
"Where are your parents?"
"Oh, we all separated from them to come here like we said we would in our letters."
"Same here Reggie. Let me join you guys."
Tyler bought himself a mint chocolate chip cone and began eating it with his friends.
"It's great to be out with you guys. I've been trapped at my home grounds ever since I got back."
"Yeah," said Jacke. "I haven't gone out of my house too much either. My parents are playing it safe especially with the news."
"Yeah, Voldemort getting those Dementors on his side," Brad said with a glum look.
"You heard about it?" Reggie asked to the hufflepuff seeker.
"I made a subscription to the Daily Prophet. I had a lot of explaining to do to my parents since they decided to read it too. But, I managed to make it sound less serious than it actually was. If they knew how truly terrible Voldemort is, then they'll never let me go to Hogwarts."
"Sorry about that," Tyler said.
"It's okay. It's not your fault, it's his. By the way, how is your family dealing with stupidness anyway?" Brad asked cleverly since they were still in public.
"Oh don't get me started on my dad. He's as mad as hell over what my cousin has been up to lately. Me, I've been annoyed with my cousin since I've spent my time being bored at home since the wizard community cancelled or postponed almost everything good. But I'm not going to spoil this time talking about my idiot cousin, let's just enjoy ourselves."
They just sat at a table eating happily in silence until Brad spoke.
"Hey guys, I noticed that in our school letters, there were permission slips about visiting the village of Hogsmeade. I've never heard of it."
"Never? Oh right," Tyler said immediately embarrassed for not remembering that Brad didn't grow up learning about wizarding life until 2 years ago.
"It's the best Brad," Jacke said saving Tyler some embarrassment. "It's a complete wizard village."
"An entire village with nothing but wizards?"
"Yep, the only one in Britain," said Reggie.
"Well, I'm definitely going to get my slip signed."
"Same here," the other three said simultaneously.
"Well, where to?" asked Jacke.
"Why don't we go to Ollivander's? We still need new wands after we lost ours in the battle with Arnold," said Reggie.
"No need. I have your wands right here," Tyler said tapping his wand holster under his robes. "For you," he said giving Brad the yellow band wand. "For you," giving Reggie the wand with the blue band. "And finally for you Jacke," giving him the wand with the red band on it.
The wands gave good eerie glows when Jacke, Reggie and Brad gripped them. Brad's had good yellow and black sparks. Reggie's also gave out sparks of blue and copper. Jacke's wand gave a glow of gold and green.
'I knew the wands would like them. Just like mine did. Now the seekers are "the wand heirs of Hogwarts,"' Tyler thought with pride.
"You already went?" asked Brad.
Tyler then went into debate on the matter. Should he tell them where he really got them or should he just go along with it? They already knew that he was an heir of Salazar Slytherin. Tyler didn't know how much startling information they could take if he told them he was his wand heir too. Also, that he was about to give them the wands of the other founders to replace their old ones.
"Tyler?"
"What? Sorry."
"I asked if you already went to Ollivander's. Did you?"
"Let's just say, I got a good deal on them." 'The deal being that they were somehow gotten from among the most famous wizards of all time for nothing,' he thought to himself. "Do you like them?"
Jacke was just staring at his. "Yeah, my new wand feels so comforting and...warm. I feel like it's me."
"You know...me too," said Reggie. "It's like I feel complete somehow."
"Feels nice," added Brad admiring his own wand.
"I know the feeling."
"You do?"
"Er...yeah, I got that too with my wand."
"Cool."
"Yeah, it is Jacke. Hey, guess whom I ran into a while ago," he said repocketing his wand and changing the subject.
"Who?" asked Reggie.
"Severus."
"Severus...oh, Severus Snape from our first year," said Brad.
"Yeah, the same one."
"How's he doing?" Jacke asked.
"Oh, he's going about fine."
"What's he doing?" asked Reggie.
"Oh...I forgot to ask." He wasn't going to talk about Severus' private business since he made an oath to him that he wouldn't tell anyone.
"Tyler!" a voice said.
It was his parents.
"Are you ready to go son."
"It's been an hour already?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes, we have everything on the list and got the supplies we needed. It's time to go back home."
"Okay mom." He turned to his friends. "Sorry it was so quick."
"Don't worry. We still have the train ride and the school year to do stuff together," Jacke said cheerfully.
"Yeah, I guess we do."
"Don't worry, we'll still owl each other for the last two weeks of summer," said Reggie.
"Yeah, no problem. I'm getting my own owl today so I won't have to wait for a letter from one of you guys so I could send letters," Brad said.
"Good luck on that. Goodbye."
"Bye."
"Bye Tyler."
"Until next time mate."
"Until next time," Tyler said.
Then Tyler went to the barrier to Diagon Alley outside the Leaky Cauldron so that he, his dad and mom could take the portkey back home.
End of Chapter 2I'm not the weakest link: Good to hear from you again.
Kierra: It's so good to know that I have another faithful reader. Oh and about your problem with accessing my story. I tried to e-mail you back but for some reason I couldn't. Send me an email with the chapters in each book you can't get to so I could send a return with them.
Author Notes
There we go. The Seekers now have the wands of the founders, the Hogwarts Four. Though only Tyler knows the truth. The next chapter will contain the trip back to school Also, the meeting of the new defense against the dark arts teacher. Chapter 3: Third Year Begins.