Chapter Four

Shopping

Jennifer arrived at the Whitebridge Gatehouse with little more than her Chest Cloak and a small portfolio case with all of her paperwork. She stepped outside and blinked since the sun was a great deal higher than what it had been a few minutes ago. Sighing softly, she climbed up the steps of the Assembly Building, went inside the doors, and walked straight over to the office of the Associate Dean of Undergraduates, glad to find the office open. Sitting behind a desk was a dark haired woman with dark skin and deep brown eyes that were framed by large but stylish glasses. She was tastefully dressed, wearing black slacks and a deep green blouse with a necklace of shiny green and black beads. Jennifer knocked gently on the door.

"Oh, hi! Who are you?" the Associate Dean asked curiously.

"Jennifer Craw Snape," Jennifer replied.

"Oh, right! The exchange teacher, come on in," she said. "I'm Doctor Brenda Johnson, you can call me Brenda or Mrs. Johnson. Feel free to sit down. Most of your paperwork has your last name as Craw and Snape almost interchangeably. How should we address you?"

"Jennifer or Ms. Craw is fine," Jennifer replied, and Brenda made a note.

"And you're staying on property, correct?" Brenda asked.

"Yes," Jennifer agreed.

"Let's see... oh, Wind has you as a resident director for floors five and six... probably because you're boarding here," Brenda mused.

"It's quite all right, I'm a head of a house back home and graduated from here, so I know the basics. That's Rose level, correct?" Jennifer recalled.

"Yes, oh, I guess you do know how it is around here then," Brenda said with amusement. She got out a pair of credit-card like keys, very similar to the ones Jennifer had struggled with when attempting to get into their hotel room at Lucky's wedding last year. "This one is to your room, and this one is to your classroom, just in case you want to start decorating it early."

"That's right, I forgot we did that here," Jennifer said thoughtfully. "Can I get a list of wizard shops in the area?"

"Well, there's a book store and a restaurant in the area," Brenda said with a smile. "For the most part, we have everything shipped in."

"So that part hasn't changed," Jennifer said with a sigh. "I take it the book store is S&S. What's the name of the restaurant?"

"It's called Quickbrooms. It's known for delivery, but they planted one just across the street from the school with a large dining area, a pizza buffet, and arcade games to cater to the students. There are also a few liquor stores around here with a back room with wizard wines if you need that sort of thing. That's easier to come by," she added, handing her a piece of paper with directions. "But really, if you're looking for things like class supplies and S&S doesn't have it, it's just easier to use the Wizardnet to order whatever you need, especially through Charmbasket, of course. They have next day delivery."

"Charmbasket?" Jennifer repeated unsurely.

"Surely you have it where you're from, I'm pretty sure it's world wide now... it's a Wizardnet delivery service. 'If you need it, they can get it, just like magic.' That's their slogan," Brenda said. "Just put 'ch' in your net computer, it'll come up."

"Right," Jennifer said, pushing her spectacles up with a smile.

"Do you have a car?" she inquired.

"No," Jennifer admitted.

"Then we'll skip the key to the garage. Here's the Portkey to the Gatehouse and the key to the pedestrian entrance next to the main gate," Brenda said, handing Jennifer a much more traditional looking set of keys. "Anyway, it looks like I have all of your paperwork. Do you need me to show you where the class and your room is?" Brenda inquired.

"No, thank you. I'm sure I can find my room in the dormitory. I also know where the Items classroom is, as long as it hasn't changed locations recently," Jennifer said.

"Nope, it's in the same place it's been since the place was built," Brenda said with amusement. "The Commissary will be open for breakfast for staff, but it won't be serving lunch and dinner until next week. If you don't want to cook, there's always..."

"Quickbrooms. Yes, I got it." Jennifer said with a smile. "Thanks, Brenda!"

"You're welcome! I look forward to working with you," Brenda said with a smile, shaking her hand.

"You as well!" Jennifer agreed, then strode directly to her classroom. She stared at the card keys until she figured out which was which and tried two directions in the slider mechanism before she was able to get the door open. She pushed a button, and bright lighting panels in the ceiling came to life. The tables were against the walls with metal and resin chairs stacked on top of them, the project shelves were all empty and dusty, and her workbench and desk were near the back of the room next to a chalkboard... that was white? She stared at it a moment.

"What in stars am I supposed to use on that?" she asked herself, then checked the supply closet filled with supplies for making Items projects. Well, at least that looked normal, she decided.

Closing the door of the classroom with a wave of her hand, Jennifer surveyed the walls until she found one with what looked to be a sturdy enough hook. Then she set her cloak down and unbuttoned one of the pockets on both sides, greatly increasing its width. Then she reached in with both hands and slowly began to pull out the painting of Severus Snape. She carefully placed the painting on the hook and checked the painting over. Other than him blinking at the bright light level in the room, he seemed all right.

"I'm sure we'll get used to it," Jennifer said, then pulled out a small painting of a violin and hung it next to him. "And I'm sorry to say this, but I think I'm going to need some backup already. Lunette told me to 'holler' if I got stuck, and hopefully she meant it. She said she was going to be spending most of her time at the New York office." The Rogue nodded in understanding and stepped out of the painting.

Jennifer began to pull some books out of her cloak, knowing she could at least fill her personal bookshelf so that it felt as if she had gotten something done. But when she felt for her Magical Properties of Metals and Gems reference volume, she noticed that something was tied to it. Pulling it out, she saw a small confections tin. She smiled at that, unsurprised when it was filled with butter tablets.

"So sentimental," Jennifer murmured. "And I bet I'm going to be going through these in a flash."

She heard a violin and glanced up at the Rogue, who signed to her.

"Well, if she wants to meet here, there's only a restaurant called Quickbrooms from what I understand," Jennifer explained. "But it's supposed to be really close." He nodded and signed again. "Oh really? That soon?" she asked in surprise. He nodded. "Thanks, Severus. Tell her I'll meet her there."

Jennifer took only a moment or two to pull out the rest of her reference books, piling them on her desk to make room in her Cloak Chest for other items. Then she buttoned the Cloak's pocket, donned her Cloak, and stepped outside, taking the garden route to get to the front gate faster.

As she was passing the Gatehouse on the way to the entrance, a tan dark-haired wizard wearing a pair of jeans and a polo shirt stepped out from the Gatehouse.

"Good afternoon," he said.

"Good afternoon," Jennifer said with a smile, pushing open the ironwork gate and slipping outside.

He immediately fixed his eyes on the diamond on her finger, but he still couldn't help but stop to watch her as she walked towards the street.

"Twelve out of ten," he decided in appreciation, wondering who she was as he walked to his classroom.

Jennifer stepped into the restaurant and glanced around thoughtfully, frowning at the gimmicky signage and the 'AYCE' pizza bar. Jennifer wasn't quite sure what 'AYCE' meant, but the restaurant appeared to be divided into two halves. One half was focused on pizza and noisy games, and the other half looked more like a traditional diner.

Jennifer immediately stepped towards the diner half, looking around. Compared to New York, it was set up more like Bergen's Deli than Kingler's, and it didn't seem to have any table service at all. She found herself staring at a large menu that stretched the entire length of the counter. At the end of the counter closest to her there was a register, where a bored-looking teen seemed to be waiting just in case she ever decided to order something. One person stepped past her, ordered a bunch of numbers, and was handed a little plastic stand with yet another number written on it and a drink cup. As he sat down and put his nose next to his phone, Jennifer turned her attention to the large menu board again.

"Nope. I haven't got a clue," Jennifer said softly to herself.

"First time?" asked someone beside her jokingly. Jennifer looked over to see Lunette standing there with a thin smile.

"You got here fast," Jennifer replied.

"I've been on standby, actually, because I asked Severus what time you were going to be here. I had a feeling that you'd want backup from someone that was already in the country and not related, so I took the day off," Lunette explained.

"You didn't have to do that," Jennifer protested.

"Consider it my way of showing how much I approve of this sabbatical of yours," Lunette replied.

"Forced sabbatical," Jennifer corrected.

"Still haven't completely forgiven him for it, yet? Anyway, let me walk you through this. Got a phone?" she asked. "How about a credit card?"

"You're joking I hope," Jennifer said. "I do have regular money on me, of course, and I do know how credit cards work after running the register at Kingler's. It's just that there's so many choices on this menu..."

"No problem, I'll order. You go find us a table," Lunette suggested. "Pick something out of the way, and let me have the seat that puts my back to the door so that it's less likely that anyone recognizes me."

"Alright," Jennifer said, and went for the booth in the back corner. It was obvious that no one was sitting there because of the current position of the sun, but it didn't take Jennifer long to figure out how to work the blinds and bring them down to block out the glaring light across the table. Not long after, Lunette came over with two cups of coffee and a number.

"Here we are," Lunette said. "Once the server gets here with our stuff, we can throw a privacy shield up if you like, but fortunately, there's no one around us at the moment. I bet this place gets packed when school's in session."

"Hardly necessary, is it?" Jennifer asked. She took her spectacles off and pocketed them.

"Thanks, that makes things much easier," Lunette said with a grin. "So what's up?"

"Shopping," Jennifer admitted. "I knew going in that this school was surrounded by a desert when it comes to wizard services. It's always been catalog heavy here, but apparently the catalogs are all on the Wizardnet now."

"Ah yes, Charmbasket... the Wizard's answer to Amazon," Lunette said with amusement. "You'll find there is a wizard clone of every single major American business here... pretty pervasive, actually. Normally even the names are similar to non-magic companies, but the copyright laws make wizard businesses their own entity. They have to play nice with each other when it comes to trademarks and copyrights et cetera, but if it's a business that is exclusive to the magic community, they don't have to worry about non-magical businesses suing them for copyright infringement," she explained. "A good example of that is Pumpkin. It's a company that makes Wizardnet computers here that has the logo of a pumpkin silhouette."

"I've heard of them. Anna has a Pumpkin computer," Jennifer said.

"Quickbroom is its own beast, though. This place grew out of a pizza delivery service for wizards that grew so popular that it began gobbling up other wizard restaurants. Then they started combining them to make places like this," Lunette explained. "As for Charmbasket, it was a charmed jewelry catalog originally. But unlike those two which developed their businesses organically, most magic businesses in the U.S. are clones of Muggle ones, especially ones listed on the Wizardnet."

"Well, I'd very much like to shop in person where I can clearly see what I'm buying. I need to do shop right now in any case, because I certainly don't have a Wizardnet device, and the computer at the house is much too bulky to bring," Jennifer said.

"Shopping is not the only thing those computers are used for, Jennifer. There is probably a lot of school business done on the Wizardnet too," Lunette warned her. "Do you have free time today to come to New York so I can help you get set up?"

"Yes, I do. I decided to come early when I realized that I was going to have my hands full teaching their Items curriculum. I am free until a meeting that I have to attend at noon tomorrow," Jennifer said.

"Well, I doubt it'll take that long," Lunette said with amusement. "But probably most of the day. We should also set you up with a better banking account while we're at it," she decided, pausing when the food arrived. Jennifer gazed at the burgers, fries, and pizza skeptically. She even picked up a piece of the pizza, watched it flop over, and then stared at Lunette, nonplussed. "Do you feel like you're in the U.S. yet?" Lunette asked bemusedly. Jennifer set the slice back down, wondering how much weight she was going to lose.

Severus frowned when Jennifer stopped taking items out of her Chest Cloak just minutes after she got her books and the Rogue Painting. Frowning at the "Elsewhere" on his watch thoughtfully, he got an idea and pulled out a box full of Chocolate Frog cards and flipped through them. He found one of his own from the Alchemist collection. It featured a photo of him that had been taken by Minerva after his last set of dress robes were made and was only a couple of years old.

"Can you find out from the Rogue or the locket portrait where Jennifer went? She was supposed to be unpacking," Severus asked his card. The card looked thoughtful for a moment, and then signed to him. "Shopping with Vallid?" he repeated and he rolled his eyes. The card nodded to him as if agreeing with his reaction. "I should have known it would be something trivial. Are you capable of letting me know when she returns to unpacking if I leave you out?" he asked, and the card nodded. "Fine," Severus said. He dug out a small frame from a desk drawer and stuck the card in it, putting it on his desk before getting back to work.

Jennifer got back just after nine with both miniaturized bags and bags that couldn't be miniaturized.

She stopped in her classroom first to drop off two of the smaller bags, hearing an insistent violin.

"I know, but I'm back now. He's not still up, is he?" Jennifer asked, and the painted nodded at her sternly. "I could have written him a note for him to read in the morning! All right, tell him I need to figure out where my room is, then I'll try to find my contact mirror," Jennifer said.

She hurried out and locked the classroom. Then she walked to the Gazebo nearest the dorm so that she didn't have to navigate the stairs, glancing at her room number so that she could find it.

Attempting to work the key and still juggle the bags was a bit of a trial, but finally she managed to get in. She dropped her bags in a pile on the unmade bed, glad that Lunette had suggested some sheets and other basic home necessities. Finally, she slumped into a comfortable chair next to a window overlooking the garden and brought out her contact mirror, opening it and having it contact Severus. She could tell from his view that he was still in the Headmaster's Study and was using the School Mirror.

"About time," Severus said irritably.

"Sorry, Severus. You didn't need to wait up. I could have left you a note," Jennifer told him.

"Considering you just got there today, I thought you'd check in," Severus complained.

"I haven't gone anywhere questionable all day, I assure you. I was with Lunette all day, trying to get caught up on all of the silly gadgets people are using in education here these days. Besides, from what I gather from the scolding I received from the Rogue Painting when I got in, you found some way to contact him."

"Via a Frog card, actually, although it can hardly do much more than relay messages to the Rogue," Severus said.

"Well, from what I'm learning, I have my work cut out for me," Jennifer said. "But I'm really too tired to go into that now. I'd rather write it all down if I can catch a moment tomorrow."

"Very well," Severus replied with a sigh. "Until tomorrow, then. Let me know when to send Radiance so we can coordinate that transfer."

"I will," Jennifer said. "Good night."

Closing the mirror, she stared at all of the stuff that she had bought, very glad he didn't ask how much her shopping trip cost. Moving the bags off the bed, she found the one with the sheets and a blanket. Using her wand to make the bed so that she could lie down, Jennifer was so exhausted that she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

At Hogwarts, Severus listened to the silence dourly for awhile before going into the bedroom, cracking the windows open before attempting to get some sleep.