Chapter 7
As they entered the Ministry, people were hurrying from one place to another. Mr. Weasley said good-bye to them and disappeared into the mass of people before them. Bill and Charlie led them through the massive crowd into an empty elevator. The elevator quickly descended and finally came to stop. They quickly exited and walked down a long narrow hallway and finally walked through an open door.
"Mr. Pelerine," Bill said looking around the room.
"Yes," said a tall, thin gentleman in his early fifties. "How may I help you?"
"These three are here to take their Apparition test," said Bill pointing to Ron, Harry, and Hermione. "Our father made the appointments a couple days ago."
"Names please," asked Mr. Pelerine.
"Ron Weasley," said Ron.
"Hermione Granger," Hermione said.
"And you, sir?" said Mr. Pelerine, looking at Harry.
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Ah, yes I see," Mr. Pelerine said. "I've been waiting for you to come in for quite a while now."
"I'll be back in a couple minutes," Charlie said leaving the room.
"Shall we get started?" asked Mr. Pelerine looking at them. "You first, Mr. Weasley." Ron stepped forward. "Please Apparate to these coordinates and remember to concentrate very hard. There will be a gentleman waiting for you."
Mr. Pelerine handed Ron a sheet of parchment that had a set coordinates written on it. Ron closed his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, he disappeared with a loud crack. Harry and Hermione looked at the empty spot where Ron had stood. Nothing was there.
"I hope he's okay," Hermione said gripping Harry's sleeve tightly.
"If he wasn't, there would be something still there, wouldn't there?" said Harry.
"Miss Granger, your next," Mr. Pelerine said holding out a piece of parchment.
"You'll be fine," Harry told her as she stepped forward.
Hermione took the piece of parchment, closed her eyes, and disappeared. Nothing was left where she stood. Harry stepped forward and waited for the piece of parchment that would tell him where to go.
"Ah, Mr. Potter," Mr. Pelerine said with a wide smile. "I know you'll be able to do this just fine. Here you go."
Mr. Pelerine handed Harry a piece of parchment and stepped back.
"Good luck, Harry," Bill said.
Harry smiled at him and turned his attention to the piece of parchment. It said: Hogsmeade left of the door to the Three Broomsticks. Harry closed his eyes and concentrated very hard. The next thing he knew he felt himself flying through the air. When his feet touched something solid, he opened his eyes and saw that he was standing to the left of the door at the Three Broomsticks. There sitting at the bar was Ron, Hermione, and a wizard he did not know.
"Butterbeer, Harry," Ron said.
"Yeah, thanks," Harry said sitting down beside Hermione.
"So how was it?" asked Hermione, taking a drink.
"It was fun," said Harry. "I like that feeling of flying through the air."
"It was amazing, wasn't it," said Hermione with a smile. "But we have to go back in a little while."
"You mean Apparate back?" said Harry.
"Yep," Ron said. "That's why Mr. Palatine here is for."
"Hello, Harry," Mr. Palatine said with a smile. "How's your summer going?"
"Better than usual so far," said Harry taking a drink of his Butterbeer.
"That's good," said Mr. Palatine, looking at his watch. "You almost done there, Ron?"
"Yeah, I'm done," Ron said standing up. "I don't really care for the feeling of Aparating but I can tease Ginny with the fact that I can and she can't."
"Ron, you should be nicer to Ginny," Hermione said. "She's the only sister you have and if you piss her off, you're not going to be happy."
Ron just looked at Hermione as he took the piece of parchment from Mr. Palatine. He closed his eyes and disappeared. Harry quickly kissed Hermione's cheek as she stood up. She looked at Harry and smiled. As she took the piece of parchment, she winked at him and disappeared.
Harry smiled as he took the piece parchment from Mr. Palatine. He looked at the parchment, closed his eyes, and once again began to fly through the air. Once his feet touched the ground, he opened his eyes and saw that he was back in Mr. Pelerine's office. Everyone was sitting about the room watching him.
"Congratulation, Mr. Potter, you passed," Mr. Pelerine said handing Harry a piece of parchment. "Here is your license. I hope all of you have a nice day."
"Good bye, Mr. Pelerine," Bill said leading them back into the hall.
"Oh, by the way," Mr. Pelerine called after them. "You three are now allowed to use magic since your all seventeen. I almost forgot to inform you about that."
"Thank you, Mr. Pelerine," called Bill as they piled into an empty elevator.
Once they were out of the Ministry, Bill led them to the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley.
"What are we doing here?" asked Ron. "We don't have our school list yet."
"We're just hanging out," Bill said. "Look there's Charlie and Shannon. Hey guys."
"Hey, Bill," said Charlie. "Guys you remember Shannon."
"Yeah," said Ron.
"Shannon, this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter," introduced Charlie. "They're Ron's friends."
"Hello," Harry and Hermione said together.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Shannon said with a wide smile.
Harry looked at Shannon intently. She wasn't the same person that he saw in the Weasley's kitchen when he arrived. This woman had light golden brown down to her chin and violet eyes. She was wearing a short denim skirt that stopped in the middle of her thighs, a light blue halter-top, a pair of knee high black leather boots, and a black robe.
"Do you like what she did to her look?" asked Charlie. "Personally I like the dark look but this is cute."
"I'll give you your dark look tonight," said Shannon. "Does anyone know where the candy store is? My sweet tooth is acting up."
"It's right over there," said Ron, pointing to a store behind Shannon and Charlie.
"Why don't you guys go with Shannon," suggested Bill. "I need to talk with Charlie about something."
"Okay," said Hermione as they made their way to the store.
As they entered the candy store, a small plump witch with curly white hair and a motherly smile greeted them.
"Good morning," she said, handing them each a cauldron. "If you need any help just let me know and I'll be right there."
"Okay," Shannon said with a smile. "I'm not familiar with your sweets."
"Everything's good," Ron said. "Just don't trust anything Fred and George give you."
"Yes, your brother Charlie warned me about that the other day when Fred offered me a piece of toffee," said Shannon, looking at what appeared to be metal bottle caps. "Bottle caps, I suppose."
"Yeah," said Harry, noticing her expression. "Do they look different than what you've seen?"
"Yeah," said Shannon picking up a small bag of bottle caps. "They look like candy bottle caps. Not the real thing."
"So how do American witches and wizards deal with muggles?" Harry asked picking up a large box of Bertie Bots Every Flavor Bean.
"We live in peaceful harmony with them," said Shannon. "Actually, every other house where I grew up is of a wizarding family. You see, it goes muggle house then a wizard house and so on."
"You actually live in the same neighborhood?" exclaimed Ron, who just picked up what looked like pink flying pigs in a jar. "Wicked."
"Yes," said Shannon also picking up a jar of pink flying pigs. "I'm guessing these are peppermint pigs."
"Yes," said Hermione looking quite taken back. "I, too, haven't had much time to try several wizard sweets. Some are very new to me."
"Well, at least I'm not alone," Shannon said grinning. "Enchanted worms in dirt. Blythe will like that."
"Did Blythe have her Puffskein when she went home?" asked Harry, remembering the humming hairball.
Shannon thought for a moment. "No, cause she was running around tossing it in the air when she went to bed, why?" she asked.
"Cause I found one this morning next to my head," said Harry.
"We had one and then we had two and then come to find out we only had one," said Shannon. "So that may be the elusive second Puffskein, but you can keep it."
Once they were done shopping, Shannon had bought a collection of assorted sweets. They slowly made their way down the street, stopping at almost every shop they came across. As they left the bookshop, a ringing sound filled the street. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Bill looked at Shannon with curious looks.
"Sorry," apologized Shannon as she pulled out a black cell phone. "Hello. This is her."
Charlie dipped his hand into Shannon's purse and pulled out a red sucker. He quickly unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. Shannon had felt him slip his hand into her purse and pull it out. She shook her head and pulled the sucker from his mouth.
"Stop it," teased Shannon. "No, not you. My friend here. He's picking on me today."
"What is she talking on?" asked Ron.
"It's called a cell phone," said Hermione.
"Two people can talk to each other by using one of these cell phones?" said Ron. "Wow."
Harry looked at Hermione and both shook their heads. "Ciao," Shannon said hanging up her cell phone. "Sorry about that guys."
"Who was it?" asked Ron.
"It was a friend back in America," Shannon said looking at Bill and Charlie. "She says that an unsuspecting wizarding family with twelve children received a package with six Erklings and a Knarl in it."
"Did anything happen to their children?" asked Bill.
"No," Shannon said. "Only three of the kids were in danger but the older ones were quick enough to recognize what they had. But the father ended up getting his hand injured from the Knarl. Deadly things."
"What's an Erkling and Knarl?" asked Hermione.
"An Erkling is an elfish creature from the Black Forest in Germany," said Bill. "They're three feet tall with pointed faces and a high pitched cackle that puts children entrances. They lead kids away and..."
Hermione gasped as she gripped Harry's shirt. "And what's a Knarl?" asked Harry.
"A Knarl looks like a hedgehog and you can't actually tell the difference between their appearances," Charlie said. "The only way to tell the difference is by how they act."
"If you put food before a hedgehog it'll accept and eat," said Shannon, "but with a Knarl, it'll think your trying to trap it and it'll destroy anything from plants to ornaments, even people."
"What are they doing about the Knarl and Erklings?" asked Ron.
"They're taking them back to where they belong after record the attacks," said Shannon. "Shall we move along then?"
"So, Shannon, why don't you tell us a little about yourself," suggested Hermione as she linked her arm with Harry's.