Part 3: Of Wands and Time
I heard a hooting to my left and saw Hermes flying next to me, he came closer and landed on the broom in front of me, I stroked his feathers, my fingers and ears getting cold from the crisp air, turning slightly red. Suddenly I saw Dumbledore's broom begin to descend, and I followed, tipping my broom down slightly. Soon our feet touched down on chill, lightly frosted grass that crunched softly as we walked over it. Dumbledore knocked on the door of a small house, my sisters and I gathered close around him. The door opened, a man looking cautiously out, relaxing when he saw Dumbledore, opening the door wide for all of us to enter. "Hurry, everything's ready for you." Dumbledore nodded to the man and ushered us into another room in which the fireplace was burning brightly, the heat wonderful on our half-frozen skin. "Okay, we must do this quickly, take a pinch of this powder, and throw it on the flames. Then step into the fire and call 'The Leaky Cauldron' clearly, do you understand?" We all nodded despite the uneasy feeling stepping into fire gave us. "Beautiful, now Marari, you first, take your broom and Hermes with you."
I gulped and resisted the urge to whine, 'Why?' and took a pinch of the powder Dumbledore had indicated, threw it on the flames, which instantly turned a brilliant green colour, then stepped in, shouting "'The Leaky Cauldron'!" The world suddenly seemed to be spinning, and I closed my eyes tight, the quickly passing glimpses of homes beyond fire grates giving me horrible motion sickness.
Suddenly the spinning stopped and I flung my arms out, Hermes latched onto one the broom in a death grip in my other. I open my eyes slowly, coughing, taking in a bar-like room full of people staring at my soot-covered self. Then I heard a voice, "You're with Dumbledore then? Right on time you 're." I looked up to see a man behind the counter was talking to me. "'Agrid isn't 'ere yet." I looked at the man, trying to pretend I knew what he was talking about where suddenly someone ran right into my back, coughing up a storm.
"Geez what a trip." I distinctively heard the voice of my older sister Chandria say behind me. I took a hurried step forward, not wanting to be plowed down by the arrival of more of my sisters.
"Oy, you two twins or something?" the man behind the counter asked, just as my third sister appeared in the grate, quickly moving toward us, rubbing soot off of her face with her sleeve.
"Triplets actually." I answered him. "The twins are our younger sisters." added Shashi. The man whistled. Tavia tumbled out of the fireplace, immediately followed Teva, the second plowing into the first.
"Watch it!" Tavia cried, falling to the ground.
"There's not any more of ya is there?" asked the man, and we shook our heads as our two younger sisters joined us. With a sudden pop Dumbledore appeared next to us, smiling at the man behind the counter. "Ah, Dumbledore, quite the family there." he said nodding toward us, cleaning out a glass with a rag.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "Yes Tom, I believe they are, where is Hagrid?"
"Late professor, sorry, 'ad a bit of 'o run in out at 'Ogwarts with a unicorn and a gryphon, they were having a bit 'o a disagreement, you see."
"That is quite alright Hagrid, you are still here."
"Thank you professor, an' you lot must be the Yanamari girls. Pleasure to meet you all." We turned to face a man of gigantic proportions, his head seemed to brush the ceiling and his hands could easily fit all the way around me. His face was almost completely hidden behind a thick, wiry beard spanning across his chin and cheeks, his beady black eyes shining joyfully.
"Hi." I said shyly, tilting my head back and offering my hand to shake, he smiled and shook it, nearly lifting me clear off the floor as he pumped my arm up and down. "'Ello there! I am Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts School."
"I'm Marari Yanamari." I answer.
"That you are." the huge man replied, "And you must be Chandria and Shashi, and you littler ones, you must be Tavia and Teva." My sisters nodded, shy of the bulking man who took up a whole corner of the room by himself.
"Welcome to England." Dumbledore said, blue eyes twinkling.
"Can I get anything for any of you?" asked the man behind the counter. Dumbledore answered, "Another time Tom, we must get their things then be moving on."
"Ah." said Tom knowingly, "Headed to Diagon Alley then are you?"
"That we are." said Hagrid, beginning to herd my sisters and I through the bar and out of it, coming into a small walled area, where all there was too see was brick and a trash can. Suddenly Dumbledore started tapping what seemed like random bricks, but when he stepped back, the bricks of the wall began to roll back, revealing an entrance to a whole new street, bustling with people shopping, talking, simply walking about. Colours and signs everywhere. Hagrid led us through the archway, headed toward a huge building, snowy white coloured, with bronze shinning doors. We walked to the entrance, and Dumbledore told us to wait there with Hagrid, since there were so many of us, and he would go in alone. While he went in, Hagrid explained. "This here is Gringotts, the Wizard bank. It's run by goblins," he nodded toward the guard standing by the bronze doors.
Before long Dumbledore had returned, handing a bag to Hagrid saying, "Hagrid will take you girls to get your supplies; I have some things to attend to." We nodded and he walked away.
"Well I suppose we should get your get yer uniforms first of all." said Hagrid and started toward a shop called, 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. We entered the door and a smiling woman whom I assumed was Madam Malkin walked up to us.
"And would you lot all be Hogwarts then?" We nodded, and she motioned for us to follow her as she counted out how many of us there were. "Let's see now, we'll start with you older one's, just stand on these stools..." and we stood there as she draped robes around us, pining them to the right length and fit, and soon each of us had a couple sets of plain black robes and she asked, "Will you be needed dress robes as well then?" and I nodded, remembering them being mentioned in the note. She gave us all a good look then started pulling out three different coloured robes, fancier than the plain black ones. She draped a deep, chocolaty brown one around Chandria's shoulders, a bright sky blue one about Shashi's, and finally a beautiful dark emerald green one about mine. "They match your eyes." she muttered then asked, "Do you like them?" We nodded looking in the mirrors then at each other, amazed at how much the colours brought out our eyes. She finished hemming and fixing the robes and then we removed them, getting down from the stools, allowing our younger sisters to step up on them.
Soon each had their own set of robes plus a dark bluish-purple one for Tavia and a light violet-indigo like coloured one for Teva. We left the store leavened down with the packages, and Hagrid led us to a store with a sign proclaiming, 'Flourish and Blotts' which turned out to be stacked with wall to wall shelves covered in every kind of magical book imaginable.
I pulled the list of supplies out of my pocket, juggling my packaged robes into one arm, reading down the list of course books, realizing I was going to have quite a bit of reading to do, since it seemed I was going to be starting as a sixth year despite the fact that I hadn't known of the wizarding world until earlier today. A man came up to us asking if he could help us, I just handed him my list, and his eyes roved over what I knew to read:
COURSE BOOKS
The Standard Book of Spells (Grades 1-6) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
Intermediate Transfiguration
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phylida Spore
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
Monster Book of Monsters
Magical Drafts and Poisons by Arsenius Jigger
The Dark Forces: A guide to Self-preservation by Quentin Trimble
The man gave me a look as if wondering if I was serious about needing all these books, when I just returned his look with a level one of my own he sighed then glanced at my other sisters, looking relieved that the two youngest at least had a normal list worth, then turned around, going to get our books, telling us to wait where we were. Not to long later the man returned with two other employees, all three leavened down by books, they set them down in front of us, asked for the price, and as soon a Hagrid gave them it, walked away quickly, as if worried we'd ask them to help us carry the books. Each of us picked up as many as we could carry, Hagrid easily taking the bulk of it.
"Perhaps we should drop these off before we finish getting you things?" Hagrid suggested, and again we nodded, following him as he headed back to the leaky cauldron entrance, and soon we were in the bar again, but this time we headed up the stairs and Hagrid opened a room with a three beds and set down his load, as we did the same.
I took out my list again, Shashi doing the same and reading off, "Now all we need to get is a cauldron, a set of phials, a telescope, a set of brass scales, and-"
"A wand." I whispered, looking forward to the moment.
"We better get to it then, shan't we?" Hagrid says and we pile out of the room again, making the trip back to Diagon Alley. As we walk out of the door into the walled courtyard once again I glance at my watch, then do I quick double take. What the... I think, seeing the date reading June 4th, while only just this morning it correctly read November 6th.
As I stare at the face of my obviously broken watch I hear a voice say in my ear, "Do you find something curious, Miss Yanamari?" And I jump around, seeing Professor Dumbledore's smiling face.
"Oh, hello Professor, it's just that my watch broke, I guess I'll have to get a new one, though it's a pity, my father gave me this watch for our birthday a couple years ago." (I don't say our as if referring to myself as more then one person, but when you're a triplet and you basically share everything with your sisters, starting with your birthday.)
"And what, may I ask, leads you to the conclusion that your watch is broken?" asks Dumbledore, still smiling.
"Well Professor, the date is all wrong, it's already November, but my watch thinks that it is June."
"And what makes you think your watch is wrong?"
"But- what?"
Dumbledore smiles wider, "It's seems the vortex we traveled through earlier may have messed up the time a bit, so really, it is the 4th of June. Though in truth I find it curious that your watch itself survived the vortex, normally muggle technologies...hmmmm. May I see your watch?" I hold out my wrist for him to examine it. "Ahhhh, yes, it isn't a muggle watch. It's wizard produced, put plainly, it is a magic watch."
I look at my watch with new eyes, "So that's why I've never had to replace the battery...and why it didn't implode when I wore it deep sea diving...heh." I murmur to myself and Dumbledore laughs.
"Well I believe you must be on your way," Dumbledore says, indicating the open archway, my sisters and Hagrid already walking down Diagon Alley without me.
"Whoops! I better go catch them! Good bye Professor!" I call back over my shoulder, waving back as I run after my siblings. Behind me Dumbledore laughs and shakes his head, turning around and in with a pop he disappears.
"Good thing Hagrid's so tall otherwise I'd get completely lost." I mumble to myself while trying to push through the crowded streets to catch up with Hagrid and my siblings. I finally caught then as they entered a shop with large brass and crystal scales in the front windows, and a sign proclaiming in bold white letters, 'SALE ON EYE OF NEWT 50 OFF'. I snort shaking my head and enter the shop, finding my siblings in a corner, looking over phials and scales, and I walk up to them. "Thanks for waiting." I say sullenly, and Shashi says, "Oh, hey Marari, where you been?" I sigh rolling my eyes and give up, looking over the scales.
After getting all our other supplies we came to a store whose sign read: 'Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.' in fading gold letters, pealing slightly. I looked at the small, shabby shop questioningly and Hagrid said, "No better wand makers than Ollivander's."
I shrugged, not about to argue, and entered the dim shop, not realizing that Hagrid and my sisters had remanded outside, I was about to go back out and ask what the hold up was when a voice from the shadows spoke, "Good Afternoon Miss Yanamari, I was wondering when you and your sisters were going to finally show up." I turned quickly to see a thin, old man, eyes shining through the darkness of the shop.
Okay, slightly freaky, I think, quickly mastering my surprised face. "Oh it seems just yesterday your parents were in here getting their own first wands, you have the look of your father, but your hair is most definitely your mothers." I twitch under his scrutinizing gaze and suddenly he asks, "Which hand is your wand hand?"
"Well, I'm left-handed if that's what you mean." I answer him, and he pulls out a tape measure, taking the length of my arm, from elbow to wrist, fingertips to shoulder, shoulder to my waist, around the circumference of my head, and I tolerate the proceedings wondering what in the world any of them could matter for. Bbeing so distracted it took me a moment before I realized the tape measure was now taking measurements on its own, and the man was up on a ladder, reaching for a dusty box, black, thin, and long, and pulling it from a shelf.
"Enough." he says and the tape measure falls lifeless to the ground at my feet as he begins to descend the ladder saying, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand. Ah, here we go." He finished as his feet reach the ground and he walks toward me, removing a long, thin wand from the box. He hands it to me saying, "Cedar and dragon heartstring, 13 inches in length, quite strong and solid." I take it from him and stand there feeling extremely stupid and he says, "Well, go ahead, give it a wave!" gesturing wildly. I lift my arm and before I had even managed to flick the tip he took it from me saying, "No, no, that's not right. Hmmmm, try this one, Willow and unicorn hair, 10 inches in length, extremely whippy." I took the new wand but again he took it back, shaking his head. He pulled down another box handing me another wand, "Maybe this one, Ash and Dragon heartstring, 7 inches. Nope." He says, handing me the wand then taking it away again. I sighed, this was more work than I expected. About 13 wands of different wood, length, and cores later, he finally rolled the ladder far back into the shelves, and climbed up to the top shelf, pulling a dusty box in the corner down, blowing some dust off the top, then slowly begins his descent again, pulling a dark coloured wand from it, and hands it gingerly to me saying, "Hawthorne and phoenix feather, 10 and 3 quarter inches in length." And as I grasped it a warm flooded my fingers and beautiful silver sparks flew from the tip. "Ah, very good. You see the wand chooses the wizard Miss Yanamari, and this wand has chosen you." I stared at my wand still emitting silver sparks. The sparks finally died away but the warmth remained, I turned to look out the grimy window to see what was holding up Hagrid and my sisters when I suddenly felt like someone tipped the world on it's side and my stomach dropped, as I watched Hagrid, my sisters, and myself walking toward the shop joking around, the world blanked and next thing I knew, I was outside, the noise of the street greeting me, the bright light of day making me cover my eyes.
"Ugh," I say holding my head and Shashi says, "You okay Marari?" I look up to find myself walking down the street with my siblings and Hagrid. "Yeah, yeah, I'm...fine." I say staring as we walk into the dim confines Ollivander's.
"Good Afternoon Misses Yanamari, I was wondering when you were going to finally show up. And Good Afternoon to you as well Hagrid."
"Afternoon, Afternoon. You've a good amount of business today what with this great family." responds Hagrid, and Mr. Ollivander steps forward, scanning each of us, he eyes seemed to remain on me a second longer, but it may have been my imagination.
Then he said, "Please outstretch your wand hand." while pulling several tape measures from various pockets. I promptly stretched out my left arm as my sisters glanced at each other questioningly, and finally stuck out whichever hand was their writing hand. Soon tape measures were flying everywhere once again taking their insane measurements. Beyond the fury of the measuring tapes I could see Mr. Ollivander climbing up the ladder and reaching for the exact same box in which the wand I had first tried lays. As he climbed the ladder he was saying, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." He pulled the box of the shelf, "Let's start with you Miss Marari Yanamari." Remembering all the wands I had tried and how long it had taken I spoke up and said, "Perhaps I might try a Hawthorne wand, with a phoenix feather core, 10 and 3 quarter inches in length?" My sister's all stared at me mouths hanging open as if wondering what the hell I was taking about, since none of us knew anything about wands beyond what Mr. Ollivander had just told us. Mr. Ollivander, though, didn't miss a beat.
"If that is what you wish." he responds, face blank, but his eyes twinkled. He put the box back on the shelf and rolled to ladder back into the farthest corner, then climbed all the way to the top shelf pulling a box out of the corner. He blew some of the dust off the top then descended the ladder, taking the dark coloured wand out of the box as he walked toward my sisters and me, then handing me the wand saying, "Hawthorne and phoenix feather, 10 and 3 quarter inches in length." I grasp the wand and feel warmth flow into my fingertips, and silver sparks shoot out of the tip. As my sisters oh and awe at them and Hagrid watches on appreciably, I look up past them at Mr. Ollivander, and he nods his head the slightest bit, a shadow of smile on his face, the sparks reflected on his dark eyes.
The rest of the time I spent in the wand shop was a bit of a blur, being too lost in my own thoughts to really think about the process of each of my four sisters wands finding them, as Mr. Ollivander had put it, 'The wand chooses the wizard,' or, well, witch in this case I suppose. Soon enough, or maybe much later, my sense of time seemed even more messed up then the stream of it, we were exiting the shop, a wand in each of our hands, and my only thought was Time seems to be a relative term around here...