Chapter 13: Familiars

We walk into the wand shop and look around. I frown at how much dust is here as the others begin searching for the shopkeeper, who I sense hiding in the isles of the shop. Aeolus is the first to speak, frowning as he asks, "Where do you think the shopkeeper is, Shock?"

"He's over there." I say pointing at one of the isles of wands as the shopkeeper slides into view from the top of a ladder.

He looks at me with his beady black eyes full of curiosity as he asks, "How did you know I was there, young one?"

"I sensed you lurking." I say with a small shrug, "We're obviously here for our wands."

"Yes of course." he says as he climbs down the ladder and walks up to us. "Who goes first?" It takes him an hour to find everyone elses wands but eventually my turn comes. Before his magic tape measure can measure me I feel something call to me and turn my head, trying to find it which makes Ollivander ask, "What is it?"

I walk away from him and walk over to the source of the call, finding one of the wands that are on display in the window. I look at it and ask, "What is this one made of?"

"That one is most likely to never be claimed. Its wood is from Yggdrasil, the tree of life, with six different cores. My father crafted it. A scale from the world serpent, a hair from Hella herself, a bit of fur from Fenrir, a Thestral tail hair, a trickster phoenix feather, and a shadow dragon bone." he tells me and I pick it up. Instantly the light around us dims, a distant roar sounds and a small earthquake shakes the shelves, I look at the shocked wand maker who stutters as he says, "It claimed you! But...but he made that wand for..."

"Let me guess, was it made for Leah Odinsdotter?" I ask and he nods silently. "Cool, how much for both the wand and a wand holster?"

"Eleven Galleons." he whispers so I pay him.

"Thank you." I happily tell him as we walk out. "I think I might have surprised Ollivander a bit."

"Really? I hadn't noticed" Hyde asks sarcastically from his spot next to Rogue, who he hasn't left the side of since they found out that they're related by blood to her. He then looks at Ma and asks, "Pet shop next, ma?"

"Yes. It's this way." she says before leading us to the Magical Menagerie to get us all pets.

Once we're inside we split up, searching for the perfect pets. I watch Rogue, Jekyll, and Hyde walk over to look at cats, Stone Breaker, Artemis, and Apollo to the magical dogs, Nightshade and Aeolus both walk over to the owls. Hermione hesitates, looking at her parents who nods encouragingly to her, before walking over to look at the cats.

Wanda, Pedro, and Raine share a look before before moving to look around. I consider for a moment, about to go join Rogue, Jekyll, and Hyde, when something catches my eye. I turn to look at my right and tense up at what I see. Sitting there, in a cage two sizes too small for it, is a beautiful bird with emerald green, silver, and black feathers. The sign has it marked as a trickster phoenix and I feel a swell of anger bubble in my chest, something in my mind letting know that there is only five hundred in the seven realms.

I walk over, glaring at the cage before waving my hand at it. The cage vanishes and the phoenix looks at me. I hold my arm out and she lands on it. I reach up and gently stroke her chest feathers as I quietly say, "Hello there."

'Did you come to free me, Mistress?' I hear a female voice ask and blink a couple times.

"Did you just speak to me?" I mutter to the bird, "Why did you call me mistress?"

She walks up to my shoulder as I note that she's too thin. She then looks me in the eye and tells me, 'You are the rebirth of the creator of my kind. The original trickster phoenix was one of your familiars, and my mother. She lost the will to live three centuries ago.'

I bow my head, saddened to hear that before looking back at the phoenix that is on my shoulder as I ask, "Will you be my familiar in this life?" she nods so I smile, "What is your name or do you need me to name you?"

'I am Trixie, daughter of Damira and Desmond.' I smile at the sound of her parents names. They remind me of a home that I don't remember clearly but know is out there. I walk with Trixie over to the reptiles and find a small reptile with wings in a darkened cage. The tag marks it as a Shadow Lizard, which my mind tells me is wrong because this is one of the seven hundred Shadow Dragons on earth.

It peers at me with flaming orange eyes before an ancient voice in my mind asks, 'Mistress? Is it truly you or do my eyes deceive me?'

I smile at it before saying, "Hello. I'm her rebirth. I don't remember my past life fully, just a few muted memories. Can you tell me your name?"

'I am Onyx, the original Shadow Dragon.' he says as he walks towards me, and his booming voice becomes gentler, 'I was one of your familiars. I see you already found Damira's daughter. Would you take me as your familiar in this life as well?'

"Of course." I say before opening the cage and reaching in, he walks up my arm and sits on my other shoulder. I then take them to the front counter where the storekeeper immediately tries to grab Trixie from my shoulder only for me to stop him by lighting my hands on fire as I ask, "What do you think you're doing?"

He backs away before looking down at me angrily and saying, "That bird needs to be kept in his cage! Last time he was out he nearly bit my ear off!"

"Maybe that's because you keep offending her by referring to her as the wrong gender." I snarl, glaring at him, "Not to mention the fact that she is my familiar, same with this Shadow Dragon which you had marked as a simple Shadow Lizard. Now, I would like to purchase a perch with an ash tray for when she needs to be reborn, a heating rock for when my shadow dragon feels cold, and plenty of food for the both of them. Get them quickly and I will consider not reporting you for the abuse of an endangered creature as the cage I found her in was two sizes too small to fit her comfortably and she looks like you hardly feed her."

He gets what I asked for and I pay him before walking out of the store to wait for my family to get their pets and calm myself down. As I wait I have a conversation with my familiars. They tell me about my original familiars, which also included a Thestral, and about Asgard and the tree of Idunn where the golden apples of immortality grows. As we're talking the red heads from earlier walk up and the dad stops to hold the door for my family and Hermione who is holding a rather large cat with a grumpy looking face and ginger hair.

"Isn't he adorable?" she asks me, hugging the cat to her chest.

"Very," I say before gesturing to Trixie, "This is Trixie, she's a trickster phoenix. They can masquerade as any phoenix and has the powers of whatever phoenix they take the form of." then I gesture at Onyx and add, "And this is Onyx, he's a Shadow Dragon. They can manipulate the shadows and breath ice flames. What is your cat's name?"

"Crookshanks." she says with a grin, "He's half Kneazle."

"Cool." I say and the others introduce their pets to the group.

After that's done ma seems to recognize Hermione's new cat. She pulls something from her pocket and walks next to Hermione as she says, "Here you go, Crooks."

She hands him the thing she pulled out, which I now see was one of the cat treats she bought for Jekyll and Hyde's new cats. I frown before looking up at her and asking, "You know Crookshanks?"

"Yeah, he used to belong to Aeolus' biological mother, who was a good friend of mine. I thought he was lost when they died or something. It's good to see him again." she says while petting the feline's head. Aeolus looks over at the news before blinking as he stares at the cat.

A few moments pass before he cheerfully says, "Hey there, Cookie."

He pets the cat and smiles at Hermione as we all head back to the entrance of the alley.