A/N: Rakka: haha... now it's MY turn..

CC: oh dear.. i'm in trouble, aren't I?

Rakka: well, you'll know soon enough!

chapter 3:

"Alright, students," Snape sighed. "You're to be on your best behavior, understand?"

"Yes, professor Snapey person," Genna nodded eagerly, tucking her hair back behind her ears.

"Five points from Ravenclaw for every time I hear you call me that from here onward, got it, Miss Concepcion?"

"Please, just call me Remi, Professor," Genna smiled widely, almost taunting him.

"Anyway... where is Ewart?" Snape sighed. "That boy, I swear..."

"If you don't kill him by the end of the year, professor," Nikki sighed. "I probably will."

"Hey, you weren't leaving without me, were you?" Tyler ran in from the Great Hall, a napkin full of something that smelled like bacon in his hand.

"What took you so long, Mr. Ewart?" Snape sighed, half afraid to hear the answer.

"Well, since I spent all night sitting up instead of lying down, you know, I burned more calories," Tyler grinned, holding up the napkin, which looked to hold about a pound of hot bacon, with a few other things mixed in. "Needed to eat more, see?"

"Whatever," Snape shook his head. "Let's go."

About fifteen minutes later, around the same time Tyler finished his breakfast, they arrived at Diagon Alley. Snape led them straight to where they were getting their robes, at Madam Malkin's, and they were fitted. Tyler screamed incessantly that she was stabbing him with the pins, even when they were a good foot away from him, and Remi flapped the sleeves of her oversized robe, declaring herself a bat. Snape, losing his patience, decided to wait outside. When Nikki and Remi, the first of the two to be finished, came outside, the professor hurried to hide something that looked rather like a flask in his robes before Tyler and Courtney joined them, and the group headed off to Ollivander's.

"Hello, Professor Snape," Mr. Ollivander nodded. "Oh.. and these are new faces.."

"Hi, I'm Remi," Genna smiled, extending her hand.

"Remi?" Ollivander looked a bit confused, but shook her hand anyway.

"Miss Concepcion, can you please try not to be so... weird, just for one day?" Snape sounded frazzled. "Don't mind them, they're Americans. It took six years for their letters to get through, and they've got alot of catching up to do."

"I see," Ollivander nodded, looking over all of them, getting especially close to Tyler.

"Ummm... hi," Tyler said flatly, leaning back, away from the man.

"And what is your name, young sir?"

"Tyler. Tyler Ewart," Tyler sighed.

"Ah! Mark's boy! I can remember your father coming in here for his first wand... beechwood, eleven inches, dragon heartstring... very good for transfiguration.. your father was a pro at it.. here, try this one.."

Ollivander handed Tyler a wand, but took it back right away. "Perhaps.. perhaps one more like Albus'... let's see..."

"Albus who?" Tyler raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Dumbledore, your grandfather, who else?" Ollivander tried to hand Tyler another wand, but Tyler didn't take it.

"Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, is my grandfather?" Tyler stammered.

"Yes, of course, your father's father. Mark went to Beauxbaxtons, of course. Was afraid people would think he was being favored if his father was headmaster, didn't want special treatment. Good man, your father. Here, try this. Cedar, eleven inches, dragon heartstring. Pliable, but can take a beating."

"Good thing, as Tyler breaks everything," Nikki snorted.

"I do not," Tyler huffed, taking the wand, quickly forgetting the comment as he realized that if he swung it in a tight arc, gold sparks came out of the end of his wand.

"Perfect!" Ollivander grinned. "And you, miss.. who might you be?"

"Nikki LeComte," Nikki stepped forward, flinching a little when the measuring tape started flitting all about her.

"Hmm... LeComte... Are you Brian's, or Tracey's?"

"Tracey's," Nikki sighed, watching the tape flutter off to attack Courtney, then Remi, who swatted it away, squeaking with fear.

"Ah... yes, I thought so," Ollivander smirked. "You look like your father. You might have inherited his feel for wands, too, eh? Let's try you with this, ebony and phoenix feather."

Nikki held it for a moment, then frowned, giving it back. She tried four more before ending with an eleven inch Willow wand with a core of unicorn hair. Courtney stepped up, and Ollivander grinned.

"When your grandmother left here, she left this with me," Ollivander came back with a particularly dusty box. "Said to hang on to it until another of her line came in here. Let's give it a try, eh?"

The thirteen inch bloodwood wand, with a core of dragon heartstring, was a perfect match. Courtney took it and stepped aside, letting Genna through.

"Ah, another Concepcion. All of your family have used beechwood wands for generations... you look like a unicorn hair kind of girl... let's try this.."

Genna tried seven different wands made of beechwood, five maple, three holly, an ebony, four willow, and a cedar wand before ending up with a mahogany wand, eight inches long, with a unicorn hair core. By that time, she had accidentally singed Nikki's hair, nearly jinxed Snape's nose off, and hit Tyler in the foot with some sparks by accident. Courtney, who had been too busy digging through Ollivander's messy but organized (or at least it was when they got there) shop to be in the line of fire, was the only one who came out of the shop unfrazzled, Remi aside. As Ollivander ushered them out of the store, he forced a smile and told them all that if they ever needed another wand, all they needed to do was owl him, most likely because he didn't want any of them setting foot in his store again. Remi, completely nonplussed, spotted what looked to be an ice cream shop across the street.

"Ice cream! Ice cream!" she cried, jumping up and down. "Let's go!"

"Miss Concepcion, we have already wasted too much time here, we need to get back to the school so we can..."

"ICE CREAM!" she howled, jumping up and down in the middle of Diagon Alley, earning stares from everyone on the street.

"Ice cream!" Courtney joined in, crossing her arms and refusing to move. Snape made his digsust known with several hissed mutters under his breath.

"Food?" Tyler perked up. "Oh, I want ice cream, too!"

"Guys, come on, we'll get ice cream tomorrow when we come back, we need to go catch up on our work so we can actually come back," Nikki pleaded, trying to delegate before Snape hexed all of her friends into next week. "If you wait until tomorrow, I'll buy. Come on."

"Ice cream!" Remi sat down on the ground, refusing to move. Courtney stomped her foot, and Tyler just walked right up to the shop window, reading the flavors out loud.

"Come on, guys. We don't even have any money on us. We will tomorrow, let's go."

"Peanut butter... rum raisin... butterscotch ripple... Ohh, they have cheescake flavored ice cream!"

"Come on, Tyler. Cut it out. We've got to go."

"Ice cream!"

"Remi, for the love of all that's holy, get up off the ground. You're making a scene."

"Ice cream!"

"Courtney, don't encourage her!"

"Come on, Miss LeComte," Snape sighed. "We might as well shut them up."

Dumbfounded, Nikki followed Snape into the ice cream shop, shaking her head. Fifteen minutes later, they were finally on their way home again, ice creams in hand, paid for by Snape.

"You didn't have to do that, professor, really," Nikki said, having noticed that he'd taken the money from his own wallet instead of the bag he'd taken the robe and wand money from.

"It's a small price to pay to shut them up," he sighed. "And one I'm more than willing to pay myself, Miss LeComte. Pay it no mind. Now, if we are all done with the childish outbursts, we will be heading back to the school, and myself or another member of the staff will pick up your robes later this week when they are finished."

Luckily, the others were too preoccupied with thier ice creams to make any comments. About two minutes after getting in their thestral drawn coach to ride back, Remi, Tyler, and Courtney finished their ice creams and fell asleep, and something about the professor's knowing smirk gave Nikki the feeling that neither their naps nor the impeccable timing of them was an accident, but she was thankful for the quiet ride, and fell asleep on her own before the coach rolled onto the school grounds.