Hello, and thank you for the favs, views, follows, and reviews! I've enjoyed reading all of them.
This chapter actually took some research in the area of wands, and if you care to do the research I did, you'll find there is a purpose behind every detail of the turtles wands. If you're too lazy to do so, PM for info.
Enjoy!
I wished I had at least eight more eyes as we walked down Diagon Alley. Everywhere, there was something new and bizarre to look at. The stores looked old-fashioned, with hand-carved signs and crooked stone facades. The signs announced a "sale on newts eyes and unicorn hair", "buy one get one free wand polish", and "new owls in stores now." The streets were full of displays; owls in cages, strange items set out like produce, stacks of books in front of what looked like a bookstore (we were going to have the worst time getting Donnie out of there).
The people were equally interesting to watch. The majority wore black robes, but a few younger wizards wore muggle clothing like us, and some wore brightly colored robes. Several times I saw people whip out a wand and cause something to levitate, or something to vanish, or even sparks or mist to come out the end.
Mikey and Don seemed equally fascinated, their heads swiveling in every direction. I was a bit more inconspicuous with my movements, looking more with my peripheral vision. Raph's head didn't move at all but I saw his eyes travel from store to store, taking in the sights.
McGonagall led us through the crowd swiftly, not stopping to talk with anyone who called her name. I caught a few people glancing at us, but not with fear, to my delight, but with mild curiosity. It was nice, to not be treated with fear.
Dumbledore broke away from the group as we approached a large white marble building. "Gringotts " was carved over the large double door entrance. He simply stated he had "Hogwarts business" to take care off, then went inside. McGonagall led us on, and I soon forgot about the older wizard.
Finally, we stopped in front of the oldest looking building in Diagon Alley. It was also the only one without a crowd of people in front of it. In fact, it seemed deserted.
"Ollivander's. Makers of fine wands since 382 B.C." I read the golden words on the store front aloud.
Donnie whistled. "Impressive."
McGonagall reached into her robe pocket, and pulled out 4 folded pieces of parchment. She handed one to each of us. "These are your school supply lists. You will need to get everything on it today."
I took my list and unfolded it. Unsurprisingly, it was written in green ink.
Books:
-The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
-A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
-Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
-A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
-One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
-Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
-Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
-The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
-The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 2) by Miranda Goshawk
-The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 3) by Miranda Goshawk
-Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
-The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger
-The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 4) by Miranda Goshawk
-The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Goshawk
-Defensive Magical Theory by William Slinkhard
-Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablasky (if attending Divination)
-The Monster Book of Monsters (if attending Care of Magical Creatures)
-Spellman's Syllabary (if attending Study of Ancient Runes)
-Numerology and Grammitca (if attending Arithmancy)
-Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles by Wilhelm Wigworthy (if attending Muggle Studies)
Uniform:
-Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)
-One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear
-One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)
-One Winter Cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all student's clothes should carry name-tags at all times.
Other Equipment:
1 Wand
1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set of brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
"Cool!" Mikey smiled. "I can bring Klunk!"
"Klunk?" McGonagall inquired.
"His cat." Donnie explained.
"I'm guessing we're getting a wand first." I stated, looking up from the long list to the store front. A buzz of excitement went through me. A magic wand. I was about to get a magic wand.
"Yes. This may take awhile, so we shall do it first." McGonagall said. Why would this take awhile? There's no one here.
Mikey hurried over to the door and opened it without hesitation. Raph, Donnie and I shared a look, and followed him, stepping inside just as the door was about to close. McGonagall did not follow.
At first, all I could see was black, before sunlight from the large window filtered in, and my eyes adjusted to the poorly lit shop. It didn't seem like much. It seemed rather dingy and run-down. The lighting didn't help. There was a counter with a bell on it, and behind that rows of shelves that stretched back for as far as I could see.
My brothers and I approached the counter, and stood shoulder to shoulder. I squinted my eyes and looked for even a hint of a person, but I saw no one.
Mikey reached out a hand, and hit the bell. A loud ding ran out, and the sound of wheels on a track followed. From one of the rows, a ladder on wheels rolled to the front. Standing on the ladder was a pale old man with wild white hair and large silver eyes.
"Ah, customers. Muggleborn, I see." He said matter-of-factly as he climbed down the ladder. I shivered slightly as a chill ran down my spine. How did he know we were muggleborn?
"But you are a bit too old to be receiving your first wands. Are all four of you here for replacements?" He asked as he moved to the counter.
"No, sir. These would be our firsts." Donnie answered politely, but I could tell from the sound of his voice he was unnerved as well.
"Curious." The man hummed as he reached beneath the counter. "Well, who wants to go first?"
We shared a look, and it was obvious to me that the answer is no one. But Raph raised his hand. "I will." He declared.
"Wonderful." Out from under the counter, a tape measure flew into the air. "Which is your dominant hand?" The man - Mr. Ollivander, I assume - asked.
Raph held out his right arm, and the tape measure flew over, beginning to measure Raph's arm by itself. Raph flinched, but quickly resumed a casual stance. But that wasn't the only thing the tape measure measured. It measured his other arm, his height, the length of his legs, the width of his chest, even the length of his nose. I watched Raph go cross-eyed trying to keep an eye on it, and suspected that if the tape measure didn't finish soon, Raph would grab it out of the air and crush it.
"Hmm." Mr. Ollivander hummed again, and the tape measure returned to his side. He retreated into the shelves, and reappeared a few seconds later carrying a small narrow box.
"Ash, dragon heartstring core, 11 1/2 inches." He flipped open the box lid, took out a wand, and handed it to Raph, who took it uncertainly.
"Well, give it a wave!" Ollivander cried. Raph gave a half-hearted wave, then jumped as the bell exploded into little pieces.
"No!" Ollivander snatched the wand back, placing it back in its case. "Not quite right." He pulled out his own wand and waved it, repairing the bell in an instant, before he went back into the shelves. A few seconds later, he returned, carrying a new case.
"Blackthorn with dragon heartstrings, 12 inches." He stated as he pulled out a black wand and handed it over. As Raph took it, he did something completely unexpected. He smiled. He genuinely smiled. He gave the wand a wave, and a ball of light formed at the tip of the wand, glowing like the sun.
"Ah, yes! Yes!" The shopkeeper smiled, and held out his hand for the wand. Raph gave it back, reluctantly so, and the shopkeeper placed it back in its case and into a bag before returning the wand to Raph.
"Who's next?"
"Oh, oh! Me please!" Mikey shot his hand into the air. A snap of Ollivander's fingers, and the tape measure returned to measure Mikey. Ollivander didn't even wait for it to finish before diving into his wands. He returned with a case and snapped his fingers to stop the tape measure. He opened the case and took out a light brown wand.
"Dogwood, unicorn hairs, 13 inches long." He said as the wand switched hands.
Mikey laughed as he waved the wand eagerly. Wind began to blow in the shop and it swirled around Mikey, blowing his hair around. Mikey grinned, and the wind settled before dying.
"Yes, yes, good." Ollivander muttered, placing Mikey's wand in its case and in a bag.
"I'll go next." Donnie offered. The tape measure zoomed over, and began its ritual. This time, Ollivander waited until the end before searching for a wand.
"Elm, dragon heartstrings, 12 inches." Donnie waved the wand, and jumped back as a bang thundered in the shop, and a hole was punched in the counter. Ollivander wasted no time in snatching the wand back, and going to find another one.
"Not the right core, too stubborn." I heard him mutter.
"Hawthorn, unicorn hair, 12 inches." Donnie waved it, and this time the bell caught on fire. Ollivander made water shoot out of his wand and doused the flames, then took the wand back.
"Perhaps a different wood." Ollivander suggested to himself.
A minute later, he returned with a new one.
"Walnut, unicorn hair, 12 1/2 inches." The wandmaker stated. Don took it carefully and gave it a cautious wave. To everyone's surprise, rope flew out of the end of the wand, and tied Donnie's long hair back into a ponytail. Donnie smiled.
"Perfect." He whispered, and Ollivander nodded before returning the wand to its case and placing it in a bag.
Then he turned to me.
"And last but certainly not least." He muttered before snapping his fingers for his magical tape measure to get started.
I can honestly say it was strange to have a tape measure zoom around my body, taking what seemed to be random measurements. All the while, Ollivander stared at me with unblinking gray eyes, a pondering expression on his face.
Finally, the tape measure finished, and returned to its owner. Ollivander stared at me a second more before heading into the back to find a wand.
He came back with a light brown case, and pulled out a wand of the same shape.
"Apple, dragon heartstrings, 13 inches." He rattled off.
I gave the wand a testing wave, and nothing happened. Absolutely nothing.
"No, no." Ollivander snatched the wand back and turned back to his crowded shelves.
The next time, he came out with a dark brown wand. "Pear, unicorn hair, 12 1/2 inches."
I waved this wand, and it shot out of my hands in a flash, crashing against the counter.
"Hmm, curious. Well, let's keep trying then."
So Ollivander went to his wands again. And again. And again. None of the wands he gave me seemed to work. Either nothing happened at all, or I destroyed something in the shop. Ollivander seemed to take this in stride, though, repairing the damage with his wand, then giving me a new one.
A stack of tried wands sat at the edge of the counter, and it was growing alarmingly large. I began to worry. What if I couldn't find a wand? What if I didn't really have magic?
"The wand chooses the wizard." Ollivander said as he handed me a wand he described as "English oak, dragon heartstrings, 13 1/2 inches". I gave the wand a wave, and was only half-surprised that nothing happened. As I handed it back, the wandmaker continued. "Wizards only get the best results with the wands that choose them. So you are a tricky customer. It means that one wand in particular is destined to choose you."
Ollivander disappeared again, and I heard Raph snort behind me. I whirled around, a flush creeping onto my face.
"Shut it, Raph." I hissed.
He held his hands up in faux innocence, a smirk plastered on his face. "Sorry, but that is the worst excuse I've ever heard."
I frowned. "Well, it took you and Don a couple tries to find the right wand. It's just taking me a few more tries."
"Mm-hmm, sure." Raph smirked.
I turned away from him, glaring at the wooden counter instead.
It took all of three minutes for Ollivander to return; the longest time yet.
"Hmm," he murmured, cradling a dusty old box. "An odd combination, but maybe it's the right one."
He sat the box down in front of me and opened the case, spinning it around to face me. Laying inside on a bed of velvet was a long white and brown patterned wand.
"Willow with a phoenix feather core, 13 1/2 inches long." He said as I picked the wand up. Instantly, I felt a rush of energy flow from the wand, up my arm, and into my chest. I gasped, then gave the wand a wave. Blue and gold sparks rushed out of the wand, and showered me. I couldn't help it; I laughed.
Ollivander clapped softly before taking back the wand to put it in a bag.
"Would one of you call in Professor McGonagall to pay for your wands?" He asked as he handed me the bag.
And just like, the uncomfortable feeling I had got when we first walked into the shop returned. How did he know we were shopping with Professor McGonagall?
Donnie went to the door and cracked it open. He stuck his head outside. I couldn't hear what he said to McGonagall, but it brought her into the shop.
"Professor McGonagall," Ollivander greeted with a smile. "Fir, dragon heartstrings, 9 1/2, correct?"
"Yes. Still 7 galleons a wand, correct?" McGonagall asked, reaching in her robes and pulling out a lumpy, heavy-looking bag.
"Yes, 28 galleons total." Ollivander summed up.
"Very well." McGonagall reached into the pouch, and pulled out a large handful of shiny gold coins.
"Whoa," Mikey gasped, rushing up to the professor. "Is that real gold? Dudes, we're rich!"
"I am afraid not, Mr. Hamato." McGonagall said coldly, taking a step back from Mikey. "These coins are made of fools gold, not worth much more than a few muggle dollars. And this money is from the Hogwarts scholarship fund, meant for school supplies for students who can not afford them on their own."
"Oh." Mikey muttered sheepishly, taking a few steps back.
McGonagall stepped up to the counter and dumped the coins in her hands. She counted them out, then dipped her hand back in the pouch and withdrew a few more. Ollivander swept them up, and deposited them beneath the counter.
"Come. We have several more stores to visit." McGonagall walked briskly out the door, and my brothers scrambled to follow. With one last look at Mr. Ollivander, who gave me a small smile, I joined them.
Our next stop was a shop thats sign proclaimed "Pottager's Cauldron Shop", located just outside the brick wall we traveled through to enter the alley. As the name suggested, the store sold cauldrons. The entire room was filled to brim with cauldrons; big ones, small ones, travel-sized, collapsible ones. Brass ones, iron ones, crystal cauldrons. Self-Stirring, Self-Cleaning, Self-Brewing. Every type of cauldron you could possibly imagine, they had one. I even caught a glimpse of a solid gold cauldron tucked in the corner.
We, however, were only there for "pewter, standard size 2" cauldrons, which we quickly found and purchased. The cauldrons were not very large, about a medium size, and came with a handle. I tucked the bag with my wand (I got goose bumps every time I thought those words. My wand. This was all so surreal) inside, and flipped out the handle to carry the cauldron. I saw my brothers do the same out of the corner of my eye.
The next shop we entered was a dimly lit (what was it with wizards and a lack of proper lighting?) building named "Slug and Jiggers Apothecary." Donnie informed us that in the muggle world, an apothecary was similar to a pharmacy, where people could buy medicine, or even have people make medicine for them. McGonagall explained that in the wizarding world, apothecaries sold potions supplies and ingredients.
Thankfully, we didn't need ingredients; they would be supplied by the school. I had no desire to pick out our own. The apothecary was filled with the weirdest things. Beetle eyes, spiders, grasses, figs, crocodile hearts, salamander blood. The building was stuffed to the gills with bizarre items. All we needed, though, were brass scales, dragon-hide gloves, and sets of phials.
We each quickly picked some out (steering Mikey away from the crystal phials; this wasn't our money to burn) and gave them to McGonagall to pay for. I watched the exchange of coins, and wondered if it would be possible for us to earn money in the wizarding world. We weren't desolate, but extra money was always appreciated, and perhaps there was a way to transfer any wealth in the wizarding world to the muggle.
We spent far more time in the next shop then we should have, considering we only needed telescopes, quills, and parchment (Donnie was shocked to hear that wizards did not use pens, pencils, or paper), but we got distracted by everything in the shop. UFO's whizzed over our heads, random shouts were thrown at us, and ordinary-looking items squirted unknown substances in our faces. And by our, I mean Mikey, who never knew when to keep his nose out of things. McGonagall just whipped out her wand, sighed, and sucked the sticky gunk off of Mikey's face while the rest of us laughed at the look on Mike's face.
We then spent a good 20 minutes exploring the shop and picking out quills and ink bottles. We each grabbed 10 rolls of parchment (any more we would need later in the year would be supplied by Hogwarts), and snagged a telescope, which were all paid for and placed delicately in our cauldrons.
Next up on our shopping list was the uniforms. McGonagall led us to a small shop that was emblazed with the name "Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions." Madame Malkin, like Ollivander, turned out to be a real person who took our measurements one by one, clothed us in robes, and hemmed and hawed at them until they fit us perfectly. After she got that, she made two more robes identical to the fitted ones, bringing us each up to the three robe minimum in the supply list. She also supplied us with thick black cloaks (which Mikey wore like his "Turtle Titan" cape until McGonagall shot him a stern look) and black pointed caps that were apparently for special occasions at the school.
Needless to say, doing this four times took a long while, and though Madam Malkin was a perfectly nice woman, being kind and gentle as she fitted the robes, I was glad when we could finally leave.
Our final stop was a bookshop that, while looking quite small on the outside, was absolutely huge on the inside. From the look on Don's face, you would think that he had just gone to heaven, and didn't even have to die to do so. He immediately dove into the maze of shelves, exploring the different sections, skimming book titles, and even flipping through books that caught his eyes. Rolling my eyes good-naturedly, I pulled out my list and made sure to grab two copies of everything, having a feeling that Donnie would be too distracted to actually do so.
Sure enough, 20 minutes of searching and 30 books tucked in my cauldron and stacked in my arm later (15 for each of us), I found Don curled up on the floor, speed-reading an incredible thick book.
"Donnie? Little help?" I called, the tower of books starting to sway.
Donnie looked up from his book, and noticing the quickly destabilizing tower of books, leaped up and grabbed 3/4th's of them.
"Thanks." I smiled gratefully. "I got your books. Well, most of them. I wasn't sure about the books that said "if attending fill-in-the-blank"."
"Oh, thanks Leo." He gave me a sheepish grin. "I forgot that we actually had to find certain books."
I sat my cauldron down gratefully (it was becoming heavy) and sat on the floor next to it. Don joined me, and I began separating his books from mine.
"What caught your attention?" I asked.
"What didn't is the better question. But this book is about Hogwarts." He showed me the cover of the book. Red with gold writing; "Hogwarts; A History."
"And check this out!" Donnie grinned, flipping open to a random page. He showed the left page to me, which was taken up by an illustration of four people in long robes. But - the people were moving! The people in the picture were walking around, waving wands and mouthing words to each other.
"What - ?" I gasped out.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Donnie said with that excited grin.
"Yeah." I said faintly as I watched a wizard conjure stone bricks out of thin air.
Donnie reached across my lap and slid the books I had gotten for him across the floor in front of him. He scooped them up and stood, placing the Hogwarts book back on the shelf behind him. I followed his lead, shifting the books into a manageable stack, and we began to search for the others. We found Mikey and Raph in a section about wizarding sports, with McGonagall hovering nearby. Smart woman. She had already figured out Mikey and Raph were the ones that needed to be watched.
"Leo!" Mikey half-shouted, scurrying to me with an orange book clutched in his hands. Flying with the Cannons. "Leo, they have a sport that they play on broomsticks! Broomsticks!"
"It's called Quidditch." McGonagall began to explain. "It is similar to muggle basketball, soccer, and hockey."
"Casey would love it, then." Donnie smirked, and identical ones grew on the rest of our faces.
"Definitely." Raph chuckled, thinking of our vigilante friend.
"Casey?" McGonagall inquired.
"A friend of ours that's into hockey and a lot of other rough sports." I summed up quickly.
"Hmm. Well, Quidditch is a very popular sport. We have house teams at Hogwarts that compete for the Quidditch Cup."
"Radical! Leo, can we play? Please?" Mikey begged, holding the book open for me to see. On the page, a wizard clad in bright orange robes flew on a broomstick across an enormous field.
"Maybe, Mikey." I answered vaguely, privately thinking that with our track record with flying objects we should stay far away from Quidditch.
"Professor?" Don asked. McGonagall nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Some of the books are marked as optional."
"Third years and up take two electives. Muggle Studdies, Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, or Care of Magical Creatures. Each class requires a different text."
Donnie's eyes widened comically. "Wait, Divination? Like, telling the future?"
I caught McGonagall ever so slightly rolling her eyes. "Basically, yes, though very, very few can actually accomplish the feat, and even then, such permutations and prophecies are vague and unreliable." It was clear from the tone of her voice that McGonagall held very little stock in Divination.
"What's Arithmancy?" Don changed the subject, picking up on the vibes in McGonagall's voice.
"It is a mix of Mathematics and Divination. Arithmancy uses numbers and their magical properties, which is also studied, to predict the future. It is far more reliable than Divination, which uses crystal balls, tea leaves, palm lines, and the like to predict."
"Awesome." Donnie breathed, and I knew what one of Donnie's electives was going to be.
"The others are rather self-explanatory. Muggle Studies take a look at the life of muggles. How they live without magic, their culture, and the like. As you are all Muggleborn, you should not need to take the class. Ancient Runes deal with the old language of wizards, that were once used in rituals, spells, wardings, and curses. Care of Magical Creatures teaches you how to handle the various creatures that inhabit the wizarding world. Some can be dangerous if you don't know how to treat them."
"I know which one Mikey is going to pick." Donnie whispered, and I smiled. Mikey has always had a thing for animals; there's no way he would turn down a class about magical ones.
Donnie then raised his voice. "I think I'll take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. They sound interesting and quite useful. If we could predict the outcomes of battle plans with Arithmancy, we could avoid getting hurt, or falling into traps." I blinked. I hadn't thought of that. Knowing what would come of a certain plan before we put it into effect could allow us to avoid defeat.
"Care of Magical Creatures, definitely!" Mikey cheered.
"You need two electives, Mr. Hamato." McGonagall reminded him sternly.
"Oh, right." Mikey lifted a hand to his face and tapped a finger thoughtfully. "I'll take Divination." He shrugged after a moment of thought.
"Same as Mike." Raph muttered before the professor could ask.
"And you, Mr. Hamato?" McGonagall nodded to me.
I bit my lip in thought. Muggle Studies is out. I'd take Arithmancy, but I've never been very good with math, especially not compared to Donnie. Divination sounded like guesswork. How could you predict the future from someone's palm, or a crystal ball? Then again, how could you with math? Either way, telling the future seemed rather iffy. I'd leave it to Donnie. So that just left -
"I'll take Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures." I announced.
McGonagall nodded, and I thought I caught a gleam of approval in her eyes. "Then go pick up your books."
We scattered, Don and I heading to pick up books on runes and, in Don's case, Arithmancy, while Raph and Mikey head off to find the Divination book. After a few minutes of searching, we all meet up in the section for Care of Magical Creatures. It took us a few moments to find the book Mikey, Raph, and I needed. Once we did, though, I started to reconsider taking Care of Magical Creatures. The books in question, The Monster Book of Monsters, were in cages, each bound with thick metal straps.
"Er, are these books . . . safe?" I asked Professor McGonagall.
"Yes, they are simply a bit rowdy." McGonagall opened up a cage, reached inside, and pulled out a book. It struggled against its bonds, attempting to snap at the professors hand, but McGonagall barely reacted. Instead, she stroked a long finger down the spine of the furry book. It shuddered, then fell limp in her hands.
"Whoa." My brothers and I chorused.
McGonagall handed the copy to Mikey. Raph and I picked out our own, and tamed them the same way McGonagall had. The books complied, and soon we were buying our huge stock of books. The shopkeeper looked like he was about to cry from joy at the size of our order. Thankfully, he was kind enough to provide us with bags. There were only so many books our already full cauldrons could hold.
It was with hands full that we exited the bookshop, and privately, I wondered how we were going to get them back home. If we traveled the same way we had before (Portal Key? Port Key?), our bags would go flying everywhere.
We walked down the street until we were standing in front of the tall marble building that Professor Dumbledore had gone in earlier, Gringotts. In fact, Dumbledore was standing outside then, waiting for us.
"Is all the shopping done?" Dumbledore asked as we approached him.
"Yes, Professor." McGonagall answered.
"Then, if you all will put the excess luggage down, I shall send it ahead to the warehouse above your home." Dumbledore requested, pulling out his wand.
Gratefully, we sat down the heavy bags and cauldron. I reached into mine and, after a bit of digging, pulled out my wand. Something about it made me uneasy to let it out my sight.
Dumbledore nodded to me with a smile, and my brothers grabbed theirs as well. We all stuff them into various pockets.
The silver-haired professor waved his wand, and in a blink, all of our stuff was gone.
"We are going to send you back home with another Portkey. At 7:00 AM tomorrow, I will come to take you to Hogwarts. I recommend you be packed for a long stay by the time I come. Most students pack a trunk. Oh, and I'd also advice you not to bring electronic items. Electricity and magic do not mix, and gadgets tend to explode in the presence of a large quantity of magic.
"Noted." Raph said, ignoring Donnie's crestfallen face. Don's tech was like an extension of himself. To leave it behind would kill him.
"We're ready to return, sir." I said.
Dumbledore reached into his robes and pulled out a rubber ball. He handed it to Donnie, and we all clustered around him, laying a finger on the ball.
"Everybody on?" Dumbledore asked. We all nodded.
"Tweak." The old wizard said clearly. Behind my gut, I felt a sharp pull, and felt myself being pulled into a whirlwind of color and light for the second time that day. The odd feeling of the world being muffled came once again as I watched everything around me spin.
With a final spin, the wind let us go, and we fell onto solid concrete. Hard.
"You think they could figure out a way to put a pillow on the other end." Mikey grumbled, followed by a high-pitched, "Ow!"
"We're in the warehouse." Donnie said, rubbing his hands through his long hair as he sat up. I looked up to see the Battle Shell a total of 5 feet away.
"That Portkey cut it kind of close." I said, wiping dirt off my clothes as I stood.
"Yeah, a couple of yards to the left and -"
"Splat." Raph deadpanned.
"We should probably inform Sensei of our return." I said, moving to the panel that lifts the elevator.
"Hey, here's our stuff!" Mikey shouted from a corner. Sure enough, there rested the bags and cauldrons from Diagon Alley, neatly stacked just as we had left them.
"Why couldn't he have sent us home this way?" Mikey complained.
"It's probably harder and more risky to transport living organic tissue than inanimate objects." Donnie lectured as he helped Mikey and Raph pick up all the bags. I tapped the panel, then picked up my stuff before returning to the recently arrived elevator.
It took a minute to get all the bags and us into the elevator, but we made it work and soon began to descend to the Lair. I patted my pocket, and felt relieved to feel the shape of my wand. It would have been awful if I had lost it on the return trip. Losing your wand within a couple hours of getting it. Pathetic. And even after only having it for a short itime, I was already pretty attached. Every time I touched, I got this rush of energy that just made me feel so . . . right. Was it magic? If it was, I couldn't believe I had been missing out on this my entire life.
The massive stone doors slid down to reveal our home, and my brothers and I moved our haul of magical items into the center of the room, out of the way of the doors. The sliding doors to our master's room opened, and Master Splinter stepped out, a smile on his snout.
"My sons, you are back." The relief was clear in his voice.
"Master Splinter! You would not believe it! They have sports on broomsticks, and moving pictures and books, and talking objects, and spells for everything and -"
"He gets the point, Mikey!" Raph shouted over our bubbly brother.
Master Splinter chuckled. "It sounds like you all had fun."
"Well, Don's probably going to go nuts. No techno-stuff for him. The professor dude said the magic at the school would just fry it."
"I wonder why that is. Maybe I could bring some to experiment and get around that." Donnie mused.
"Um, didn't he say they liked to explode around magic?" I asked, my voice pitched with concern. How big an explosion had Dumbledore been talking about?
"I'll be careful. I'm sure I can find a place that's secluded enough to run tests." Donnie assured me.
I sighed, but decided not to argue about it. It probably couldn't be anymore dangerous then what he already attempted daily in his lab.
"We're supposed to be packed and ready to go by tomorrow morning. Same time. Then we Portkey to Hogwarts." The rather silly name felt strange on my tongue, and I vaguely wondered why anyone would name a school Hogwarts.
"Did the professors happen to say when the potion would wear off?" Master Splinter asked. We all look at Donnie.
The genius shook his head. "He didn't. I'll ask tomorrow. But we should stock up on Muggle clothes as well. Schools uniforms won't last us the entire time."
A good idea. One problem. We had no clue how to shop. Wizarding shopping was simple. There was only one shop and one price for each thing. Muggle shopping, not so much.
Us former turtles shared a look. "April."
So next chapter, the turtles get to do a little muggle shopping (not much. Shopping. Shopping is boring.), a little traveling, and a little magic. Okay, a LOT of magic.
See you next time!
-Blue