Chapter Two

Waking up the next morning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Anastase had nearly forgotten the wild theories and discussions he and the twins had come up with the day before, that was until Liniște poked his head around the bedroom door and dropped his elder brother back to earth with an unpleasant bump.

'Remember to act normal while you're out with Mamă!' he hissed quietly.

'Did you have to remind me?' Anastase demanded, 'I'd almost managed to convince myself that I'd just dreamed the utter idiocy we came up with. I mean "Somethings happened", "isolating relatives"? What a load of rubbish! If you go to Decebal and Simu about it, I'll die of shame!'

After going through the calming motions of writing his letter all of his fears had vanished, but now they'd been replaced with sheer embarrassment!

'Anastase! I thought you trusted that I am smarter than you?' Liniște planted his hands on his hips and glared at him.

'Not anymore!' Anastase hiss-shrieked at his brother.

'Well, even if you don't, Kronid and I are still going to do it', Liniște had an obstinate expression on his face as he paused, 'And if you're going to have a mental breakdown about it at least you'll be in the right place won't you? If you're going to see Luminița that is.'

'Why you…', Anastase trailed off in frustrated admiration. This was why you always had to watch what you said around the twins, they could twist everything you said until you ended up confusing and insulting yourself, though on the other hand, 'Liniște don't let Mamă hear you making jokes about going crazy unless you want to be gutted. It's not funny.'

'I'm aware of that but it's not as if you care, do you?' Liniște countered, 'Now that your little tantrum is out of the way-'

'That's beside the point and I did not have a tantrum!' Anastase argued back hotly.

'Yes, you did but never mind that', Liniște dismissed him, 'Just act as if yesterday didn't happen alright. Then while you're having fun, we'll start asking the cousins what they think okay?'

'Fine', Anastase grumbled, 'But if they think that you're crazy, I am taking no blame. I tried to stop you.'

'And if they think we're right then we get bragging rights', Liniște already sounded insufferably smug.

'Agreed' Anastase ground out between his teeth.

Liniște snuck out of the room and back across the landing while Anastase got out of bed. Pulling on his slippers and straightening the duvet cover, he left his room, padded across the landing, and headed downstairs.

Irinel was in the kitchen as expected making breakfast. It looked like eggs on toast today, very British as opposed to the Romanian fair she sometimes served.

'Did you sleep well Anastase?' she asked as she handed him his plate.

'Yes, Mamă. Like a log', he mumbled through a mouthful of egg.

'Don't talk with your mouth full of food. I can see everything in there!'

'Oops, sorry', Anastase replied showing a second flash of semi-chewed breakfast.

Irinel sighed, boys would be boys, no matter what you did. She turned back to the worktop and had just picked up the remaining plates and turned around when the twins stumbled into the room.

'Here you are baieți. I'm guessing you did not have such a good night's sleep then', she raised an eyebrow at their dishevelled appearance.

'The pair of you look like zombies', Anastase laughed. In the dim light of the bedroom, he hadn't seen how tired Liniște looked, knowing them they'd stay awake half the night coming up with more ideas, something that the dark circles under their eyes could attest to.

After breakfast, Anastase hurriedly got dressed and was downstairs and ready to leave by 10 o' clock.

'Anastase, there was no need to get ready so fast', Irinel scolded, 'Your brothers are nowhere near done yet and we have to wait until Mircea and Lăcrămioara arrive.'

'That's okay Mamă', Anastase reassured her, 'I need to go out to the owlery and send the reply to my Hogwarts letter before we leave.'

He went through the back door and walked down the garden path towards the small stone building where Zgripțor and his elderly mother, Vântoase, who was no longer used for sending mail, lived.

As Anastase entered he was greeted by a harsh screech, 'Hello, Vântoase. I'm here for Zgripțor today.'

The large Eagle Owl swooped down from his perch as if he understood Anastase's words, and landed on a small table to allow Anastase to attach the letter to his leg.

Anastase ran a hand over his smooth feathers, 'It's the reply to my Hogwarts letter', he informed the owl, 'So you'll be going much further than normal, I'm afraid, but I am buying you some treats today.'

Zgripțor hooted at him as if to say, "You'd better!" and Anastase laughed.

Wandering back to the house he found that the twins were still not ready and nor had Unchiule Mircea and Mătușa Lăcrămioara appeared yet, so he went up to his to get the book he'd been reading the day before and plonked himself down on the front steps to continue it as he waited for his brothers to get ready and his aunt and uncle to get here.

Half an hour of boredom and three chapters of his book later, and both the twins and their aunt and uncle had arrived and were ready to go.

'Hello, now I'm sure you want to be off, soon don't you?' Mircea, a short stocky man with dark copper hair liberally streaked with white, has a booming sort of voice and was in Anastase's opinion the most opposite person you could get from someone like Lăcrămioara, who shared her sister's tall slender frame and dark hair.

'Be good both of you and say hello to your cousins for us', Irinel reminded the twins as Mircea steered them out of the house.

She then turned to her sister, 'I hope they behave themselves. They don't mean to be bad but they're just so inquisitive!'

'Don't worry soră. We have our own children, we know exactly what it's like', Lăcrămioara reassured her. She was much softer than Irinel Anastase noticed, more gentle and motherly.

'I know, I'm their mother, I have a right to worry', Irinel said. She almost sounded like she was answering Anastase's thoughts about her.

Shaking that disturbing thought out of his head he called out, 'Are we going Mamă?!'

'Oh dear. I'd better go Lăcrămioara', Irinel sent a quelling look in her son's direction.

'Rămas bun, soră. Have a nice day out', Lăcrămioara waved.

'Rămas bun!' Irinel replied cheerfully.

Irinel walked back over to Anastase, 'We're going now. Remember hold tight.'

Anastase gasped her hand and closed his eyes as the sharp twisting and squeezing sensation of Side-Along Apparition surrounded him.

He opened his eyes with a gasp as they arrived. Stumbling on impact he barely grabbed onto Irinel's arm in time to stop himself from falling flat on his face.

'Oh dear, you've never been good with landings', Irinel said as she pulled him upright, 'I remember when you were five and went through the Floo the first time – nearly gave Mircea a heart attack.'

Anastase dusted himself off and looked around, they were standing in the small courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron just in front of the wall that led into the Alley. Irinel drew her wand and briskly tapped the brick that opened up the archway.

Anastase looked around as they entered, thinking of all the places they needed to go to.

'Are we going to Gringotts first?' he asked. The bank was unmistakable, towering as the white marble building did over all of the others.

'Yes, I have a bit of money with me but not enough to get everything,' Irinel explained, 'If you want I can give you some, so you can start shopping rather than come with me.'

'No, I want to look in the vault and see if I can find any old books, I've read most of the ones at home.' Indeed, the only books Anastase hadn't read was the one he was currently reading and the other old ones still under his bed.

'Ah, I see' Irinel nodded mock sagely. As somebody who was rather less of a bookworm that her sons she didn't quite understand the complete boredom that came with having no new books to read.

Anastase grinned at her as they walked up the steps, passed the scowling goblin guard, and through the doors.

'They love giving wizards ominous warnings, don't they?', Anastase noted, glancing at the engraving on the second pair of doors.

'Well, they have a good reason. There have been numerous Goblin Rebellions against wizards, so they like to keep the things they control very much theirs.'

He nodded as they walked up to the counter where Irinel handed the key to one of the tellers, who called over another goblin to lead them down to the vault. Walking through one of the many doors leading out of the main hall of the bank, they entered a narrow, sharply sloped stone passage that was lit by torches. Waiting on a set of railway tracks was a small cart. After getting in Anastase couldn't help but whoop slightly as it picked up speed, taking hairpin turns around stalagmites and stalactites. His eyes watered slightly as the air rushed into them, he didn't have a clue how any of the goblins knew where anything was down here, it was a complete maze, and the cart seemed to steer itself. He idly wondered what would happen if a cart ever broke down, would the people trapped just starve, or could the goblins get them back to the surface?

Once they reached the vault Anastase immediately made a beeline for the bookshelves at the back while Irinel put some money into her bag. He pulled out a couple of interesting looking spell books: Focuri ale Războiului, which seemed to be about fire spells, and The Ways of Change, a book on Transfiguration. Hopefully, they'd be a bit more interesting than the last lot of books he'd taken(stolen) from the vault which had been a mix of so boring that it boggled the mind, way over his then five-year-old head, and in a completely foreign language.

'Are you done yet?', Irinel called, 'I've got the money.'

'Yes, I'm done Mamă.' Anastase scrambled back to the door, the last thing he wanted was to get shut in. As far as he knew the goblins only checked the vaults for intruders every ten years or so, after which he would be long dead. Although, he did like to think that Mamă would notice his absence long before then. He grinned at his own silly thoughts.

Once they were out of Gringotts they decided to work out where they would go next.

'I think Flourish and Blotts is where we need to get the most so let's go there first to get it over and done with', Irinel began.

'But then we'll have to carry it all around with us', Anastase pointed out, 'If we leave it 'till last we can go straight home. Besides I want to get my wand!'

'Well, let's go to Ollivanders then', Irinel led the way down the street further into the Alley.

Ollivanders was a small shabby looking place, with Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC written in faded gold paint over the door, a single lonely wand layout as a window display. Anastase wrinkled his nose slightly, the building certainly looked like it had been around since 382 BC, hopefully, the wands did not.

A bell tinkled as they entered the shop, and Anastase sneezed as a cloud of dust flew up in his face.

'I guess he doesn't get many customers apart from first-year students, does he?' Anastase coughed as he looked around the shop. All that could be seen in front of the counter was a single room that was crammed from floor to ceiling with boxes of wands. 'After all, not many adult wizards need wands unless they get broken or stolen, and you'd have to be pretty stupid for that to happen', a wand was the most important item a wizard could own and Anastase shuddered to think of anybody losing theirs.

'Very well surmised Mr Atarescu', a soft voice wisped out of the darkness.

Anastase yelped and jumped backwards onto his mother feet as a silvery eyed old man materialised in front of him out of the gloom at the back of the shop.

'Irinel Grecueanu, 12 and a quarter inches, ash and dragon heartstring, yes?' the old man peered at Irinel intently.

'Of course, Ollivander', Irinel said, her voice was high pitched, and her eyes watered slightly as she rubbed her toes from where Anastase has lept on them, 'The day you forget a wand is the day the world ends! Although I've married and been widowed since then I'm afraid so it's Irinel Atarescu now.'

'Ah yes', Ollivander nodded, 'Now let me see, hmm.' He eyed Anastase up and down before pulling a tape measure out. 'What is your wand arm?'

'My right, Mr Ollivander', Anastase held it out to him.

'As I'm sure you know, all wands are different as are the creatures they come from, and it is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the other way around', Ollivander stated as he flitted between shelves collecting boxes.

Anastase tried to both nod and keep himself still as the tape continued measuring him before giving up.

'That's enough', Ollivander informed the tape as he returned. It dropped back to the floor limply. 'Try this now. Maple and unicorn hair. 11 inches. Nice and flexible.'

He snatched it away before Anastase had finished raising it. Replacing it with, 'Cypress and phoenix feather. 8 and a half inches. Firm.'

This too was discarded before finally, 'Yew and dragon heartstring. 13 inches. Ridged but brittle.'

Anastase felt a rush of magic through his veins before bright silver sparks shot from the wand's tip.

'Very good, very good', Ollivander cried happily, 'A quick discovery often means that you know yourself very well, which is a very handy skill to have, not many people do. Though', his tone shifted abruptly, suddenly becoming serious, 'I must give you a word of warning, wands choose their wizards well, and I believe that you are someone who would break before bending to anything. You might wish to change that one day, such force of will is admirable but it can also be very dangerous – to yourself and others.'

'No need to scare him now Ollivander', Irinel scolded, '7 Galleons for the wand isn't it?'

'Indeed, indeed' Ollivander continued to mutter under his breath as Irinel paid.

Anastase shivered as they left. 'He's a bit strange.'

'All the oldest and most powerful wizards are.', Irinel said, 'It's something to do with their power I think, it makes them go slightly mad.'

Anastase pondered this as they headed down the street towards Eeylops Owl Emporium to get Zgripțor his treats. It kind of made sense after all Grindelwald and Voldemort, the two most infamous Dark wizards in the last century, had been both extremely powerful and extremely mad. He was so deep in thought that he nearly wandered straight past the Emporium until his mother grabbed him by the arm to steer him in.

Five minutes later they were back in the Alley walking towards Madam Malkin's for his new robes.

'Hello, there,' Madame Malkin a short, squat witch smiled as she greeted them, 'Hogwarts dear?'

'Yes, and we'll take some regular day clothes too, he's been growing like a weed the past few months', Irinel commented, 'He also needs the hat and protective gloves, I'm afraid we can be a bit lacks with potions safety at home.'

'Oh, who isn't? After all, we're not making the dangerous stuff that the professionals do' Madam Malkin responded with a chuckle.

Anastase hopped onto a stool as Madame Malkin slipped a robe over his head and started tucking and pinning it to size.

'Any particular favourite colour or just a general selection?', she asked.

'I like dark colours best', Anastase mused, 'But I don't mind too much, except maybe bright orange or something.'

'No neons then', Madam Malkin laughed.

'Or pastels', Irinel added, 'Years of dressing myself have told me that it simply makes me look like a ghoul and all of the sons have inherited my colouring!'

The two women gossiped between themselves as Anastase was tucked, pinned, and fitted into his new clothing.

Anastase was in high spirits when they left Madam Malkin's for the Apothecary. He grinned as they entered. He liked making potions but what he really loved was experimenting, of course, not all of his experiments were successful – he'd lost eyebrows more than once – and Mamă never let him work alone, but it was still excellent fun. Having a full stock of ingredients before he went to Hogwarts where there would be so many more books to read and things to do was, is his opinion, vital.

Anastase inhaled the musty, sulfuric smell of the place as they walked in, it reminded him of the scent of the potions room they had at home, though the plethora of colourful feathers and ropes of fangs and claws hanging from the ceiling was different. He went to the back of the shop to search for the more unusual items while Irinel asked the shop assistant for the basic set. Now, what did he need? Or rather what did he want? After all none of this was on the Hogwarts list. Aconite, wormwood, asphodel, Mandrake…all very dangerous and all used in the most tricky and interesting potions. He grabbed some anyway, you never knew what you might need, and Mamă was hardly going to stop him. He also took some valerian, lacewing flies, beetle eyes, and Jabberknoll feathers to disguise the more suspect objects.

He hauled the bag over to Irinel who handed it to the assistant, while the man was checking the price of the ingredients, Anastase wandered about examining the bundles of herbs and jars of powders that lined the front of the shop. He had just started poking at a silver Unicorn horn when Irinel finished paying for their purchases and called him away from it.

Stepping out of the shop, Irinel turned to her son, 'Anastase don't think I didn't see what you had in there, I won't stop you but be careful. Remember, Decebal is at Hogwarts if anything happens that you don't want the professors to know about, go to him.'

'I'm always careful!' Anastase protested, 'And of course I'll go to Decebal if I need to – he's my cousin!'

'It's just a reminder and please try not to get caught', Irinel begged, or, she thought, better yet don't do anything that might require you getting caught, 'Now, do you want to get ice cream now or shall we do Flourish and Blotts first?'

'Ice cream, please, I'm starving!'

The pair happily settled down outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where Anastase ordered a cherry and coconut sundae.

'Having a good day then', Irinel asked, watching him tuck into the sundae.

'Yes, today's been brilliant! I got a couple of books out of the vault, I have loads of new ingredients, we've still got to go to the bookshop, and I'm eating ice cream!' Anastase declared, 'Not to mention Zgripțor has his treats so he'll be happy too. Though I just realised that we're going to need some more quills and ink, I forgot about that last night.'

Irinel nodded thoughtfully, 'Yes, we will and while we're here do you want to get your brothers anything?'

'Oh', Anastase gasped, 'I forgot that too! They would have killed me! I'll get them some books on Ancient Runes, Kronid was going on about how we didn't have any at home, and I know Liniște wanted a Lunascope, so I'll get him one of those as well.'

'We'll have to go to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment for the Lunascope and Scribbulus Writing Implements for your quills and ink, and parchment before I forget that', Irinel listed.

'Mamă?' Anastase started uncertainly.

'What?' Irinel looked up from her parchment.

'On the Hogwarts list, it says that you can bring a pet, and I love Zgripțor but he's not mine and-. Could we get a pet? A Crup like I wanted when I was little?' He stopped, looking at the ground, feeling a red flush crawl up the back of his neck.

'Oh, Anastase', Irinel breathed, 'Oh, I wish I could say yes but…um, maybe when you're a bit older. Now, it just isn't a good time to bring a pet into the family. I'm sorry.'

'It's fine Mamă', Anastase mumbled, 'I knew you probably wouldn't say yes anyway but I…just wanted to try.'

'If not for…', Irinel trailed off, 'Well, never mind, it's a shame but if anything changes next year, perhaps we can see about getting one, alright?'

'Really?' Anastase stared, 'Okay, that's great!'

Irinel smiled, 'Ready to go to get your lovely books now?'

Anastase finished his sundae quickly and eagerly headed towards Flourish and Blotts while Irinel paid for the ice cream. He smiled as he entered and the scent of books, old and new, wafted over him. As in Ollivanders the shelves were floor to ceiling and packed full, however, they were far more neatly laid out and filled with books rather than wands of course. And what a range there was: books as big as paving slabs, and ones as small as Muggle stamps, books of leather and silk, books who contents changed, and more!

He started to peruse the shelves picking out the ones on his school list: The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), Magical Theory, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Those were all he needed, they had the rest: A History of Magic, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, at home. Course books in hand he started looking at the rest of the shop. First, he went to the Ancient Runes section picking out three books that he thought would keep Kronid occupied of a while, then he wandered over to the history books: Recent Developments in Wizarding History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Hogwarts: A History…the list went on and by the time Irinel found Anastase he was heavily laden down with over a dozen books.

'If you get any more you'll break something, like your back or the bank!' Irinel exclaimed.

'I'm finished now', Anastase huffed in response, dumping the stack onto the counter with a loud grunt. The books made solid thump as they hit the countertop, which made a wild-haired girl jump and frown at him in disapproval. Anastase rolled his eyes at her, what a stuck-up git, he thought, she couldn't have been any older than him.

'A Ravenclaw if I've ever seen one', said the witch behind the counter, 'I imagine he'll have read them by the end of summer.'

'That's him alright', Irinel agreed, 'And I've got another two just like him if not worse! If I'd brought them all in, we'd have never left!'

They both laughed at Anastase's disgruntled expression as they ignored his protest that not all of the books were for him, not to mention he had to get most of them for Hogwarts, he'd only added a few more.

'Right, now we just need stationary and Lunascope and we're done here', Irinel said, checking her list.

Scribbulus Writing Implements had every type of quill and ink that Anastase could think of ranging from gaudy Peacock feathers to sleek Raven, and simple black ink to Ever-Changing and Spell-Checking.

'Let's get you 10 quills, that should do you for a good long while. How about these nice Eagle feather ones?' Irinel pointed to a stand full of handsome dark grey quills with golden edges.

'Those are nice, but I also like these black Raven ones, maybe 5 of each? I'll also have some Spell-Checking ink, it'll come in handy for essays', Anastase suggested.

Purchases in hand they made their way to Wiseacre's to get Liniște's Lunascope.

A bright flashing sign directed them to the main entrance and Anastase blinked as walked in. The multi-story shop was bustling with people buying everything from cookware to cauldrons and was incredibly noisy.

'Hey, Sir, could you help us?' Irinel called an assistant over.

The plump man turned to her, a look of annoyance flitted across his face for a second before disappearing, 'Of course Madam. What can I do for you?'

'We're looking for a Lunascope', Anastase informed him, 'Where can we find one? Because neither of us had any desire to search this whole shop.'

'Right, it should be just along here somewhere', the man lead them down a floor and through several aisles.

'Oh, ah, um', he trailed off as he noted the distinct lack of anything even vaguely astronomy related on the shelves.

Ten minutes, a bit of foot tapping from Irinel, and a large number of sighs from Anastase, they found themselves on the other side of the shop looking at telescopes.

'It looks very useful doesn't it?', Anastase said as he finally spotted the Lunascope sitting on the shelf. Wiseacre's was huge and highly disorganised, and the poor shop assistant had looked ready to pull his hair out in despair if it'd taken one more minute to find it.

'Oh, it certainly is young man, no more need for old Moon charts with this. You can save so much time-'

'We'll take it', Irinel spoke hastily to prevent the man from going off on a spiel.

Anastase scoffed, who was he to talk about saving time when he'd just wasted theirs sending them on a wild goose chase around the shop.

As Irinel paid for the Lunascope the man tried to persuade them to buy a half-priced crystal ball, an antique pensive – only 100 Galleons, and a set of Astrology books that were apparently an incredibly rare Muggle made edition from before the Stature of Secrecy.

'They're very messy in there', Anastase said feeling slightly bemused, 'You'd think they'd try to be a bit tidier, wouldn't you? I mean some of that stuff is really expensive and it's just shoved in all over the place.'

'And that is why you will never become like the people who run that shop', Irinel sounded pleased.

'What do you mean?' Anastase peered at her in confusion.

'Some shops are messy because they are small and there is only so much room, other shops are messy because the people who run them are lazy, and some shops', she took a deep breath, 'are like that because the people who run them don't care about what they're selling, simple that it's sold. Those are greedy people and hopefully, neither you nor your brothers will ever be like that, not for money anyway, the hunger for knowledge, in and of itself, is never a bad thing in my opinion but greed for money or power…that can be terrible.'

Her face darkened as memories of Voldemort's War filled her mind, that had been a war of greed and power, and it had torn Britain apart for the very same reason her own parents had fled their homeland.

Anastase shuddered, 'How do we keep coming across ominous warnings today? First Mr Ollivander and now you! Let's talk about something nicer, like how happy Liniște and Kronid will be with the Lunascope and those Ancient Runes books.'

'Yes, micuț, let's.'

They made their way up the Alley towards the Leaky Cauldron, chattering about their purchases as they went.

'I'm really looking forward to reading the books I got', Anastase enthused, 'They all look so interesting! Though one thing that I did wonder about, was how do Muggle-borns buy all the things they need? I mean, Muggles can't get owl post can they, and the Leaky Cauldron is invisible to them isn't it?'

'Hmm', Irinel closed her eyes in brief thought, 'I'm not totally sure of all the details but I think that a Hogwarts professor gets sent out to tell the parents what their child is and about the Wizarding World. I imagine that they also tell them about Diagon Alley and give them some way of entering. Tom, the barman, must open the gateway and I know that Gringotts offers exchanges of Muggle money so that's it, I suppose', she shrugged, the exact details of how Muggles dealt with Wizards had never really interested her. It was, she guessed unsurprising that the ever curious Anastase would bring it up.

Once they had reached the entrance courtyard Irinel turned to face Anastase.

'Now we only have one more thing to do before we go home. As I said yesterday, we're going to visit your sister.'

'It's been years Mamă', Anastase whispered, 'I can barely remember her', he lied.

'I know', Irinel said softly, tears welled in her eyes, 'It's been far too long.'

'Do you think she remembers me? I know that when she lived with us…sometimes she didn't know who I was.'

Anastase really hoped she didn't remember him or if she did then not as the little boy who she had so enjoyed terrorising.

'I don't know Anastase. Maybe, maybe not. The Healers -' Irinel broke off suddenly, her breath catching in her throat, 'I never meant for any of this to happen! We were so happy and then…it all went wrong. Luminița, Radoslav, even Camil. And now-! Never mind, never mind. Anastase ignore me, I'm just being stupid.'

She breathed hard, forcibly calming herself. Composed again, she stiffly wiped her eyes.

Anastase stared at her, all the theories and ideas he and the twins had come up with spinning around his head. What had happened? It was easy enough to work out Luminița and Radoslav but what about Uncle Camil? And now? It must have something to do with the letter, and maybe something to do with the visit. He watched as Irinel strode into the pub back straight before hurrying after her. He would find out what was going on. He would!