DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you've seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$
A/N: There might be a delay for Chapter 3 or 4 as I have a trip coming up real soon. But no more than a week or so. I was stunned by the response to CH1 (and the prequel to this sequel). Thanks.
CHAPTER TWO: DIAGON ALLEY
MONDAY, AUGUST 5th, 1991 – POTTER HOUSE, LONDON, U.K.
"You up Harry?" a voice called into the room of Harry Potter. He was in his private bathroom finishing his shower.
"Toweling off," he called out. He had gotten up earlier than normal. This was not because he was excited, rather he knew today would be a busy day for him and the others. They were going to Diagon Alley, the largest magical shopping district in Britain. He had been there before. He always went several times a year to shop for birthday and Christmas presents, or at least always after leaving the Dursleys forever. However, to be honest, he preferred the wonderful shopping district in Kyoto, Japan where he had gone to school. The Japanese - most of the magical world in fact - did not "ban" nearly as many things as his own countrymen. Harry had already bought presents in Japan, but he knew he should probably buy some more.
Today should have been a big day for Harry Potter and his family. Under other circumstances, this was the day he was to get his first wand, along with all of the other supplies he needed for his first year at a magical school. However, Harry and his friends were not normal by wizarding standards. He already had two wands. He had purchased his first wand in Japan a little over three years ago when he really started magical school. That same summer, for his sister's birthday, a lot of them went to climb Fujiyama, the iconic mountain in Japan. There was a path that anyone could walk to the summit, provided the altitude did not get to them. Everyone could buy a walking stick carved from oak or a similar hardwood at the beginning of the trail, even the Muggles. However for magicals such as Harry and his friends, their walking sticks had a magical core. At various points along the trail there were shrines to various Shinto gods and such and at those shrines it was custom to have the walking stick branded. The last such shrine was at the summit and getting all of the brands meant one had climbed Fujiyama. For magicals, however, these brands activated and transformed their walking sticks into magical staves.
In Japan they had learned far more magic and far more types of magic than were taught in Britain. The British Magical Government barred such magics in the schools for one very simple reason: they could not control them. In Japan, every student learned to project magic - as in cast spell - both with a wand and without. Starting in Fifth Year, they began learning to use magical staves as well. Britain did not teach wandless magic because it could not be easily detected or controlled. All British wands were registered and tied into a magical detection system such that the government could detect such magic and if the magic used was "forbidden" for whatever reason, they could find the person who did it. Staves were not allowed either because they could be used to make wards and curses that could not be undone with a mere wand. With a stave, a person could make their home nigh on impregnable to wand users, thus they could avoid the controls of their government.
Harry knew just how stunted the British Magical Education was. In Britain, magical education began at age eleven. From the first day, students learned with wands exclusive of any other kind of magic. They were taught precise wand movements and precise verbal incantations for scores if not hundreds of spells. All of which, in reality, was quite unnecessary. True, that method of instruction was easier and the children did achieve results more quickly than had Harry and the others under another system. But the method had a side effect. The children became dependent upon their wands. So much so that unless they began to learn other magic on their own at a young age, by the time they were adults and "fully qualified," they would be incapable of casting any spell without a wand. In effect, they could be rendered powerless simply by taking their wands. A perfect system if one envisioned a system designed to control a population.
The truth was that any young witch or wizards could learn wandless magic. It was an innate talent they were all born with. Every magical child's first magical event or events was a form of uncontrolled wandless magic. Control could be taught even at a fairly young age and one did not need the crutch of a wand to teach it. Clarice had begun magical school less than two weeks shy of her seventh birthday. Harry was barely eight. They had both learned wandless magic with ease. This was in part because their first month or two of school was entirely about mind exercises, the beginning of mind magics. The control of one's mind that led to skills in occlumency also taught the student the skills necessary to master wandless magic as well as learn to use a wand without the intricate and predictable wand movements or slow, verbalized incantations.
The three types of spell casting magic were similar, yet each had its own magical advantages and disadvantages. Wandless magic was by far the most flexible as one merely had to desire a result and cast for effect. However, it required the greatest degree of mental focus and discipline. It also lacked the precision, delicacy and concentrated magical energy that one could attain with a wand. Wands were not as flexible, although they neared that point if the user was skilled at wandless casting. In combat, the ideal situation was one adept at both. Their defensive spells would be wandless. Shields, blockers and distraction magics did not require the same focused power and precision as an attack. While attacks could be done wandlessly, wands were better. Primitive muggles could throw a pointed stick by hand and do some damage. Use a bow or a spear thrower, and the pointed stick became deadly. The situation was somewhat similar between wandless and wand attacks. The wand was both more accurate and delivered comparatively more concentrated magic energy to the target than a wandless attack.
The "eastern" or "freeform" style of magical combat differed greatly from what was common in Britain. British magical combat was not unlike fencing where the combatant thrust or attacked with a spell then parried or blocked the counter attack. The "eastern" style, which was more global than eastern, the combatants defended continuously without a wand while attacking rapidly with one. As their training did not require the complex wand movements or incantations that British duelists trained in the "classical" style used, they could maintain a much higher rate of fire. The O.W.L. standard in Defense was a continual magical shield with simultaneous attack spells at a rate of three spells every two seconds for fifteen seconds. Power was not a consideration as power levels differed with age. A young person such as Harry could not hope to equal the raw magical power of even a below average yet fully mature adult. Still, the style he had learned could be advantageous. It was not unlike the British "fencer" facing an armored knight with a machine gun – a weak one to be sure, but even a hail of pellets could at least deter or prevent a successful attack.
Harry had no illusions. Physically and magically, he was still a child – highly trained and skilled, but still a child. Almost any magical adult could overpower him if he gave them a chance. His weapons were not raw power, but speed, agility and skill. In Japan, like all upper level Defense Students, he had dueled against adult instructors. When they fought in the "eastern" "freeform" style, Harry's few successes were when his opponent made a mistake. When they fought in the "western" "classical" "fencing" style, the adult's successes usually occurred when Harry made a mistake. And Harry knew that there were now over four hundred and fifty "children" like him in Britain, all of whom had Defense Masteries from Japan.
If there was a general weakness to normal wanded or wandless spell casting, it was that the source of the magical energy itself was the caster's own magical core or center. That was not unlike a battery in that it could be run down if overused. A stave, however, could even the odds. With a stave, one was merely a conduit for magical energy and not the source. The source was the ambient magical energy all around, which was comparatively limitless and certainly could not be run down. As one was not relying on one's own magic for power, the stave made the magic user much more powerful than any other form of "expressive" magic projection. But it too had limitations. The stave was not unlike the plug on an electrical appliance. It tapped into the comparatively limitless energy of a massive energy grid, but it had to stay tapped in at all times. A stave would not work unless it was in continual contact with the ground. Picking up a stave was not unlike pulling a plug. Thus, while a stave user was a much more powerful opponent, he also could not move. This placed him at a severe tactical disadvantage.
Harry held four magical Masteries. In addition to Combat Defense and Potions, both of which had but limited uses, if any, for staves, he was also a Curse Breaker and Warder. Those were two branches of magic where staves were incredibly useful. Any curse created by any wand could be broken by a stave. The same was true for wand based and even ward stone base wards. A stave could overpower them. Likewise, even the most powerful wand user would be hard pressed at best to break stave-based wards or curses.
Harry liked to think that anyone could learn such magics, but he knew the ability diminished with age. When Harry began his second summer in Japan, ten new students joined Hermione, Clarice and him. Three were their age and the remainder were older. The oldest three had taken their O.W.L.s and completed their sixth year. Those three had learned the skills, but that was after a year of mind magic and wandless exercises. They would say that without that year, they would have never made it through their first summer in Japan. Harry would have liked to respectfully disagree on this point, but to date those three were by far the oldest to start at the Japanese school. The following summer saw over four hundred new students from Britain, not one of whom was beyond their third year in Britain. That group too had a year of training behind them and as a group did not struggle to the same extent as the older students had. Thus, there was some verifiable basis for the theory that over dependence on wand magic, coupled with approaching magical maturity made learning the ancient arts difficult and eventually near impossible. The obvious conclusion was that the British system made its magic users entirely dependent upon wands; wands that were supposedly registered with their government, wands that could be monitored by their government, and wands that could be taken away.
The funny thing was there really were not any laws that prohibited learning wandless magic or mind magics. They were not taught in the British schools and the books on those topics that Harry had seen in the local bookstores were not particularly useful, but it was not illegal. Ask an adult witch or wizard – especially one who did not know about the British contingent from the Japanese school – and they would say it had always been this way and that everyone knew those magics were nigh on impossible to learn which was why they were not taught. Harry smirked at this knowing there were now nine hundred and twenty-seven young British witches and wizards who were living proof that such a notion was little more than fantasy, and perhaps wishful thinking on the part of the British Magical Government.
Still, even though such magics were not illegal per se, Harry tended to agree that it was not prudent to rub the control freaks' noses in it … yet. When magical school resumed again in a few weeks, about a quarter of the students would be both far too advanced for their years and adept at magics that were supposedly too difficult to learn. But this little "protest" had remained a secret now for two years and the hopes were it would remain one for at least a while longer. Keeping it a secret was almost a full time job for several people, including Harry, Hermione and Clarice who were intimately aware of the security measures in place at all six magical schools in Britain, even though none of them had ever been to any of the schools. Now that they were slated to begin such a school themselves, Harry wondered how long it would last.
But that was a problem for another day, he thought as he headed down for his breakfast. Today he, Hermione and Clarice would begin their "undercover" life. They were going to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies they really didn't need to attend a school that for them was, at least from an educational standpoint, entirely unnecessary. There were indeed reasons for them to go to Hogwarts. But those reasons had nothing to do with their formal education. What could Hogwarts possibly teach three people who were already better educated than many of that school's staff?
____________________________________________________
"Morning Harry," a few voices called out as he entered the "informal" dining room just off the kitchen. It seemed that he was the last to arrive as all of the current residents of Potter House were already sitting down to their breakfasts. There were the Grangers, his sister Clarice and his best friend Hermione. Remus Lupin and his godfather Sirius Black were clearly just finishing up and Sirius's wife Sophie was busy with their soon-to-be one-year-old daughter. The Longbottoms were there as well.
Neville and his Gran had moved into Potter House "temporarily" almost a year earlier just before Neville and Luna Lovegood rescued his parents from St. Mungo's. Neville's parents had been wasting away in the Long Term Care Ward since November of 1981 following a Death Eater attack on their home. Most people believed they had suffered permanent insanity due to overexposure to the Cruciatus or Torture Curse. It was Hermione and Clarice who found out that was not what happened at all. The two had been hit by an almost unknown Curse recorded only in the Journals of the Black Family. That Curse had almost literally imprisoned Frank and Alice Longbottom in their own minds. Neville and the others brought them here and freed them from their prison.
The reason they moved from their Manor to the Potters was that the group suspected that the man behind the attack would try and prevent any attempts at a cure. Unfortunately, they were right as Albus Dumbledore saw to it that the Aurors made finding the missing Longbottom's a priority. While he had forgotten why their hospital stay was so important, he had not forgotten that he once believed they were there for a reason. Unfortunately, that reason was already public knowledge thanks to the Child Abuse Investigation that nearly cost Dumbledore his many positions in society. Some months ago, Dumbledore finally remembered the why and realized, belatedly, that his need to find the Longbottoms no longer had any import. Still, the man was reluctant to let anything go. To suddenly call off what had been a major investigation without much of an explanation might cause more harm than allowing it to continue; at least more harm to the already tarnished reputation of one Albus Dumbledore. However, he was subtly reminded that to continue the investigation without explanation might result in another very public inquiry, particularly considering the cost in both time and money which had already been expended. The Longbottom matter was quietly dropped.
And yet the Longbottoms had remained at Potter House. This was in part because Neville was so close to the children who called this place home. But it was also because his parents were still recovering from at least the physical effects of their long incapacity. They had stayed in London until it was time for Neville to travel to Japan for his third summer of school. Frank and Alice joined him there as Minders: adults who lived in the dormitories to supervise the students. The Japan trip gave them four years and forty days of recovery in one month. They were once again hale. And one might argue that their eyes were now open to all of the ills in their world they had once either not noticed or ignored. Still, they remained at Potter House after returning from Japan, although they were planning to move back to Longbottom Manor once Neville left for Hogwarts.
Today, however, they would be escorting the four children of Potter House to Diagon Alley. The task fell to them as it would look odd for such children to be wandering about without adult supervision and, as it was a Monday, they were the only adults who had the time. Prior to their incapacity, they had been Aurors whose job was to hunt down Death Eaters and other "Dark" witches and wizards. Since their "escape" they remained unemployed and now were the only such younger adults in Potter House. The Grangers had two dental practices: one in the Muggle World and one in the Magical. Sirius and Remus were both Agents with Office W of MI-5. Sophie had been a Healer at St. Mungo's but had left that position for a job with the magical health clinic the Muggles had set up for their magical employees. The pay was comparable, but the hours were better, and with an infant to care for, she could not work the twelve hour shifts. As the Longbottoms were the only ones without other places to be, today would be their first trip into Diagon Alley since before they went into hiding almost twelve years ago.
"So," Sirius said, "the Weasleys going to be there today?"
"I think so," Harry said. "We talked about meeting up today."
"Excellent! We have something for them!" Sirius then handed Harry a polished, wooden box. Harry gave him a confused look. "Go on, open it." Sirius said.
Harry did and saw a folded piece of blank parchment inside.
"Is this," he began.
"Marauder's Map, 1991 version," Sirius said. The map was the creation of Remus, Sirius and their long-dead best friend, Harry's father. It was an enchanted map of Hogwarts that was blank unless one knew the command to activate it. Once activated, it showed a map of the school with every secret passageway or room the Marauders had ever found. It also showed the exact location of every person in the school or on the grounds at any time. This feature had the added advantage that it could not be fooled by any known deception magic. Invisibility, potions, transfiguration, even the art of animagus transformation where a wizard turns into an animal, would not trick the map at all. It would always show the user the person in question even if that person was otherwise invisible or unrecognizable. It was a useful tool to those who liked to sneak about at nights and set up elaborate pranks.
"1991 version?" Harry asked.
"New and improved!" Sirius beamed. "First off there's the box. Should some overly zealous faculty member ever confiscate the map, the box automatically will generate its replacement. Second, this map can be keyed into the users. Anyone else even try and touch it and it will automatically wipe itself clean. No more cancellation charm. Third, if you or they find something not on this map, it will automatically update with your discovery and update every other map."
"Other maps?"
"Of course, Harry my boy! You didn't think we would give the Weasleys exclusive rights, did you?"
"Er…"
"We got others. You'll be getting one, as will Hermione, Clarice and maybe Neville and Luna as well. We can make others as well. In fact, that's the brilliant thing about these new maps. We can make copies quite easily."
"You will need them," Remus added, "given your – er – extra activities this year."
"Thanks."
"Just what do those things do?" Alice Longbottom asked. It was clear that other adults were interested. Sirius explained the maps' unique features. "That explains a lot," Alice said.
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"Your father and his friends were known prank masters. The staff and Prefects set up patrols at night just to catch them and they were never caught."
"We were on occasion," Remus said.
"When we wanted to be," Sirius added. "Sometimes it was useful as a diversion."
Alice and Frank Longbottom stepped through the huge fireplace burning with a magical, green fire. It was what was called a Floo; a magical transportation system that connected one magical fireplace to another. It was perhaps the easiest way to move from one place to another with magic. Even Muggles could use it if they knew how. It also doubled as a form of communications system, however as former Aurors, the Longbottoms knew it was hardly a secure communications system as the Ministry of Magic could tap into it at any time. Worse, anyone with a knowledge of how the system worked could also do so to some extent. Still, things were quiet these days, so it was relatively safe.
The kids had actually suggested using the Muggle underground or walking. Potter House was located across the road on the southern side of Hyde Park in London and their destination was a magical tavern located a block from the Charing Cross Road Underground Station. While the kids seemed perfectly comfortable with using Muggle mass transit, the older Longbottoms were not, so they used the magical equivalent.
The kids had gone on ahead of them, but that was only a matter of seconds. The two Longbottoms stepped from the fireplace into the tavern.
"It hasn't changed," Alice noted to her husband.
"Tom looks older," Frank replied noting the bartender and proprietor.
"It has been twelve years, Dear," Alice said. "We look older as well."
They both saw that five children were awaiting their arrival. In addition to the four who currently considered Potter House their home, the fifth was their friend who seemed to be with them more often than not. She was blonde haired with pale, blue eyes and looked as ordinary as any other girl of ten or eleven, which was her age when measured from her date of birth. Luna Lovegood was about two months younger than their Neville. However, like Neville, Luna had also spent three summers in Japan. Her real age as measured in days of experience and learning was about the same as Neville's. They were both twenty-three.
Alice and Frank were having similar thoughts as they watched the five children and friends. These children sometimes acted their physical ages and at others their much older intellects could not help but come to the fore. People who either did not have need to observe them closely or generally paid children little mind would never see the "older ones" lurking just below their still childlike exteriors. But the Longbottoms knew better. They had been to Japan and had watched as these children studied in courses far beyond anything they had been exposed to in Britain. Today, however, they were trying to act like the ten and eleven year olds that their physical appearance displayed to the world.
It was part of a ruse. It was a ruse hundreds of other children were also putting on for the majority of the magical world blissfully ignorant of the quiet but growing rebellion against what had always been. Alice and Frank were released from their mental prisons into the middle of this strange, new world. It seemed that everything they had believed to be true was being challenged and proven false. These children, and the many like them were both the proof that the old world was false and in many ways the challengers to the old world.
Alice had surrendered first, opening her mind to thoughts and ideas deemed subversive when she was their age. She had done so for her son, who was clearly in the middle of this new, emerging wizarding world. Frank had taken longer. As head of an Ancient and Noble House, as he understood things it was his role to protect the world that existed. Over the months, then Time Compressed years, he had learned on his own this was not truly the case.
Once there had been three hundred Ancient and Noble Houses. Each was a small Clan of families centered around the main family and its patriarch. Each had been largely independent of all the others their only commonality being Hogwarts, at least for a time. By the twelfth century, however, Wales, Ireland and England also had their own magical schools mainly because of the problems of transporting magical children to Scotland and across what were somewhat hostile lands. As much as each Clan might have liked it not to be the case, the British Isles were a hodgepodge of Muggle kingdoms and fiefdoms whose national sport seemed to be making war on one another. And, as much as the Clans might have wished it to be otherwise, the various Muggle kingdoms and fiefdoms expected the local magic users' support both in terms of wealth and manpower. As the Clans' lands and the Muggle boundaries were not one and the same, it was not uncommon for Clans to be expected to pay more than one tax or to provide magic users to support two warring nations that happened to control that Clan's lands.
In the 1190's, the magical finally banded together to change this. They entered into a treaty with the most powerful King in the Isles, Richard the First of England. The treaty freed them from their Muggle Lords and allowed them to rule themselves as they saw fit, provided that the magical allied themselves with the English Crown. It was not an alliance as Muggles would understand the term. The magicals were not expected to support the Crown in their wars. Rather, the magicals were expected to stay out of the way. They would keep the King's Peace within their world and prevent magic from interfering with the Crown or from being used to harm the Crown or its subjects. To seal the agreement, each of the Heads of the then three hundred Clans took a magical oath binding themselves and all their heirs pursuant to the terms of the Treaty to the King and all rightful successors to the throne in perpetuity. Should any Clan Head ever stand against the throne or become a threat to the peace and stability of the non-magical realm, their entire clan would lose its magic forever.
The Journals of the Houses Black, Longbottom and Potter all dated back to before the founding of Hogwarts which itself was at least two hundred and fifty years old when the Treaty was signed. Frank had read the relevant entries regarding the Treaty, all diligently identified, copied and compiled over the last couple of years or so by these children. Well, he thought, it was mostly Hermione Granger, but the others clearly helped out. There had been questions as to the effect and what might cause the Treaty to end.
The first such questions occurred in the fifteenth century when the succession to the English throne was in doubt and two rival lines fought for control in what became the War of the Roses. A third, lesser line – the Tudors – eventually took control, ending the direct line of succession dating back to William the First who defeated a rival claimant to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom (Harold Godwinson) at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Magical Chroniclers wondered whether that broke the Oath. One Ancient and Noble House, apparently, decided to find out and lost its magic forever. The other Houses learned that Henry Tudor, known to history as King Henry VII, was descended from Matilda, the wife of William I.
As it would later turn out as dynasty replaced dynasty, every King or Queen of England and later Britain had that same common ancestor. Any doubt was dispelled when it was shown that four Ancient and Noble families lost their magic in the 1970's during Voldemort's attempted rise to power. Three Heads were Death Eaters. The fourth was an Oblivator whose job was to erase the memories of Muggles, as it was forbidden to use magic against Her Majesty's subjects. The Oath and consequences for breach remained in full force even eight hundred years later.
The true implications were staggering, Frank realized when he learned of this past. The legal and magical authority to rule Magical Britain rested not with any witch or wizard, but with the Crown. At the time of the Treaty, the oaths taken by the three hundred wizards united magical Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales under the English King centuries before such unification happened in the Muggle world and survived the independence of the Republic of Ireland. Those three hundred became nobles within the English nobility and as such exercised the King's authority on his behalf. They were collectively called the Magical Council. They, in turn, had authority to set up the organs that would actually govern day to day. That was the birth of the Wizengamot, the government created by the Magical Council and which answered to the Magical Council and the King. Every act of the Wizengamot was considered a temporary measure unless it was later ratified by the Magical Council. The Council last met in the fifteenth century and even then it did not meet to review the actions of the Wizengamot but to discuss the ongoing succession crisis within Muggle England. The last action of the Wizengamot that was properly ratified occurred in 1407 and was a tax on breeding certain magical creatures. Thus, every subsequent act of the Wizengamot was still temporary. This included the passage of the International Statute of Secrecy and formation of the Ministry of Magic.
It seemed that all of this had been forgotten by most of Magical Britain. In the eight hundred years since the Treaty, the three hundred Ancient and Noble families had been reduced to a mere fourteen. Even among the fourteen, until recently many did not know the full meaning and heritage associated with the elegant titles. Magical Britain had forgotten the Treaty and its implications. The History of Magic taught in the schools never mentioned the Magical Council or the Treaty. Then again, the "official" history was Pureblood propaganda. Few if any of the Clans could have been considered Pureblood back then and the mere thought that Purebloods had no right to rule and that their government was "temporary" would be considered sedition, to say the least.
Frank watched as the children met with four red haired boys and a red haired girl who just exited the Floo with a short, plump and red haired woman. These were the Weasleys. As he saw Harry hand two wooden boxes to the boys and begin talking, probably about the contents, Frank realized that five Ancient and Noble Houses were interacting. Harry was the Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, having attained the title on his eleventh birthday just days before. Harry was also second in the line of succession to the Ancient and Noble House of Black behind the Heir Apparent Sirius Black now that Lord Arcturus Black had disowned the Malfoy line. Frank's son Neville was the Heir Apparent to the House of Longbottom. Luna Lovegood's father was Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Lovegood. Her one year old younger brother Harry was Heir Apparent. And the Weasley children's father was Head of the House of Weasley. Less than one month ago, all fourteen remaining Houses met, although the meeting took place both in Britain and Japan. Every head of house and heir met to learn or be reminded of the oaths of their ancestors and the responsibility such oaths entailed. It was the first such meeting in over five centuries and Frank wondered what it truly meant for the future.
The Weasley family left the group to themselves as they headed to Gringotts to get the funds necessary for their day of shopping. Luna's parents were not with them as her father was busy at work preparing to publish the most recent edition of the Quibbler, which Luna had assured them was going to throw a little more fuel on the ongoing Time Chamber Scandal, but that would be on page two or three because her Daddy felt the most recent sightings of a suspected Crumple Horned Snorkack near Falmouth was more important even if it was probably rubbish. After all, everyone knew the Snorkack was not native to Britain. Luna's mother was at home taking care of Luna's one year old brother and sister. Frank remembered that had it not been for Luna's friends, including his son, Jasmine Lovegood would have died in a fire almost two years ago now and the two youngest Lovegoods would never have been born.
The trip to Gringotts was quick. There were mercifully no heart stopping rides on the Goblins mine carts into the subterranean vaults. The Heads of Ancient and Noble Houses were not treated with such disdain by the Goblins. Apparently, the cart rides were more to humble wizards than because the wizards were absolutely needed to access the vault to withdraw money.
Their magical money bags filled with galleons, the coin of the magical realm, the group split up. Neville and Luna went with Alice to do their shopping while Frank took Harry, Hermione and Clarice. Frank really did not mind Alice taking Neville, as he hated shopping or at least Alice's idea of shopping which was to spend hours looking and not buying anything. The Grangers had told him that these three would only be a pain in two stores: Quality Quidditch Supplies, which Harry and Clarice loved, and Flourish & Blotts bookstore, which all three might take an interest in. Frank decided these two were last on the list.
The first stop was Madam Malkins for wizarding attire. The kids were perfectly practical. Despite the proprietor's best efforts, if it was not on their school list, they were not interested. They each bought three sets of black, Hogwarts academic robes and heavy duty robes for "dirty" classes, specifically Potions and Herbology. There were then mercifully quick stops at The Magic Users Warehouse & Emporium where the children bought cauldrons, scales, and other potion equipment; The Stargazer Shoppe where they purchased a telescope and star charts for Astronomy and Carwell's Apothecary for their First Year Potions ingredients. Not surprisingly, Harry the Potions Master was not thrilled with the lack of selection. Then again, Hermione reminded him he had a full, Master's Level Lab at home, including ingredients that were hard to obtain in Britain. The Potions done, they hit the Scrivener's Loft where they purchased blank parchment, quills and ink. Hermione complained about the archaic writing implements. Except for calligraphy and Runes classes, the Japanese school used modern pens and paper which were both less expensive and not nearly as messy.
Their next stop was Dylway's on Hermione's suggestion. This shop sold magical trunks and luggage and was where most Hogwarts students bought their trunks. Most first time students bought very simple trunks that only had a magical locking charm. The kids knew the charms were not terribly difficult to unlock, so given some of their less than school issue kit, such as staves, extra, unregistered wands, "banned" books, Master's Level equipment and Defense Master weapons, something far more sophisticated was in order. The kids were not going to abandon their former training just because they were "attending" Hogwarts and they needed the necessary tools.
The trunks they purchased were not the highest end available. Those had features not unlike the magical tents that this store also sold. In theory at least, and for enough gold, a witch or wizard could buy a trunk that had a veritable palace inside. Such luxuries were just that, as well as a bit fantastical. Even if one could buy such a trunk, there did not seem to be any demand. The trunks Harry and the others bought had no secret rooms or apartments or any such frivolities. They were trunks, not secret hide-a-way fortresses to be forgotten in a closet no one used or would search. But, they still had features. There were compartments within compartments, none of which could be detected with any degree of ease and all of them as difficult to break into as the trunk itself. These trunks could hold a ton or more of stuff, most all of it invisible and inaccessible to all but the owner. Even full, an eleven year old Harry could lift it with only its size as an obstacle. It was the perfect place to store a Potions Master's ingredient collection, banned weapons, unregistered wands and a host of other things a First Year was not supposed to even know about much less have.
"Seems to be a popular model," the salesman said.
"A friend recommended it," Clarice replied. "Good for hiding stuff."
"That it is," the salesman agreed. "Although what children would need to hide…"
"Got a huge collection of joke stuff," Harry said. "A friend said it's not supposed to be allowed, but…"
"And I can't keep my Diary just anywhere," Clarice added.
"You have a Diary, Sissy?" Harry asked.
"Er…" Clarice blushed a little.
"Oh I'd love to read what it says about me," Harry laughed. "Probably calls me 'odiferous' or some other big word," he added more to Hermione than anyone.
"I most certainly did not!" Clarice objected.
"You did last week!"
"You were!"
"Oh, and you're one to …"
"Kids!" Frank interrupted. "I'm sure the gentleman has better things to do than listen to you bicker."
"Sorry," Harry and Clarice both said.
Frank did note however that Clarice and Harry winked at each other while the salesman was not looking. Obviously that display was more part of the ruse to hide the real reason for the trunks. Then again, Frank did seem to recall a rather juvenile discussion from about a week ago…
Once the trunks were paid for, the kids packed their other new belongings inside and the group headed back out into the alley. Frank noted that every once in a while they would meet some other young people they knew. He suspected that the kids were probably from "The Club," the group of children who were receiving their real education in Japan. Among other reasons for his suspicion was it was clear that aside from the Weasleys and the glimpses of Alice and the others, everyone else they seemed to meet and talk to briefly was heading off to another school.
The longest conversation occurred outside of Quality Quidditich Supplies as there were several children practically drooling over the new Nimbus 2000 in the window. Harry was asked repeatedly if the Club would buy some and Harry did his best to remain noncommittal. Frank knew the Club had Quidditch Teams and a League with "experimental" rules. Among them was that the teams used the same make and model brooms at each position. This was one rule Frank liked as it truly meant no team could complain that the other had an advantage due to better equipment. He understood the need for some of the other new rules such as a time limit and liberal player substitutions and would admit it made for an exciting game given the skill levels, but the standard broom rule was one he wished the pros would adopt. The best teams in the pros did have the best brooms and the worst had what they could get. Frank was grateful that the kids did not seem to need to go in. One of the "problem" shops went by without any real problems.
Flourish & Blotts was next. They went there to buy their required school books and Frank knew these three loved to read. He hoped that with their access to three large, private libraries, they had no need to spend hours browsing in a bookstore. At first, he was pleasantly surprised as the kids efficiently collected all their course books for the coming year. (Standard Book of Spells - Grade 1, Encyclopedia of Magical Plants and Fungi, Into the Heavens (A Course Book on Basic Magical Astronomy), The History of Magical Britain, Beginner Potions, Introduction to the Art of Transfiguration, Basic Charms, and On Darkness and Magic) His hopes faded when he heard Hermione and Clarice giggling another row over.
"Harry?" Hermione called out.
Frank followed the voice and saw the three of them looking at a selection of New Releases.
"Oh you've got to be kidding!" Harry complained.
"You know we just have to have all of them," Hermione chided.
"I don't believe you two!"
Frank caught up with his charges and saw they were looking at the newest of the various Harry Potter: Boy-Who-Lived children's books, adventure stories and comics.
"You've got to be kidding!" Harry moaned. "A Harry Potter love story? I hope it's about a boy and his dog or something!"
"Says it's about a girl," Clarice chided. "He is getting older," she added with a giggle. Frank could tell they were both teasing the poor boy mercilessly, but he also knew Harry gave as good as he got.
"And you just want to be that girl, don't you," Harry said. "Snogging said boy hero after he rescues you from rogue dust balls."
"Eww!" Clarice said. "Thank's a lot, brother. Now I'll have nightmares for weeks."
"About what?"
"About Hermione hexing me into the next century," Clarice said. "And the mere thought of that is just …"
"I doubt Hermione would…"
"Not Clarice," Hermione said. "She'd never give me cause. But should any other girl…"
"Fine. Please tell me you won't buy this rubbish."
"We could," Hermione said taking Harry's hand.
"But we'd be lying," Clarice added as she picked out one copy of each for her and Hermione's collection.
Harry rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Oh come on Harry," Clarice chided, "they're funny!"
"Fine!" Harry groaned.
After the books were purchased, and to Harry's chagrin that included the Harry Potter fictions, there was but one stop left on their shopping trip. Even though they all had two wands, they knew they needed to buy a "legal" wand; one made in Britain and registered with the Ministry of Magic. Their other wands needed to remain secret for now. Sensei had recommended Ollivander's Fine Wands. It was the oldest wand maker's shop in the Alley and was reputed to be the best as well. It was also the most expensive of the three shops. It was where Sensei bought his first wand in his timeline and Sensei believe that it was a way to gauge just how far reaching the changes had been.
However, before they even reached the shop, Harry stopped. He looked into the window of Eyelops Owl Emporium and his jaw dropped.
"I don't believe it," he said to Hermione.
"What?" she asked.
"Look!" he pointed. There on a perch near the back of the shop was a pure white, snowy owl. "You think?"
"Sensei's stories," Clarice said recognizing the bird.
Hermione nodded. "But if it is her, I'm going for Crookshanks!"
Harry nodded and led his party into the shop. He looked around to see if there were any other snowy owls. There were not and he walked right up to the majestic bird. "Hello there," he said softly getting its attention, or so it seemed, "I know you don't know me, but I've heard great things about you."
"Can I help you young man?" a lady asked. Harry turned and saw a woman dressed in some kind of leather apron.
"This is a snowy owl?" he asked.
The lady nodded. "Lovely bird. Never had one before in the shop. Poor thing."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, no one seems to want her," she replied. "They're not native and that puts some people off. Throw in she's a bit of a stand out…"
"I'll take her!" Harry said.
"You sure?"
Harry nodded.
"She has a point, Harry," Frank began.
"Then we'll all get owls, but I'm taking this one."
Frank shrugged.
As he held out his arm, the large, white owl seemingly floated with a slight beat of her wings from her perch to his arm. "Hello Hedwig," Harry said softly. "I'm Harry."
Frank would swear later the bird knew that already and seemed to have been waiting for the boy. Then again, all owls look like they know things.
It was over an hour later that Frank set down in the alley outside Ollivanders. With three children, it would be a tight fit in the tiny customer portion of the shop. With three trunks and the "Potter Zoo," it would have been impossible. Hedwig was sleeping comfortably in her cage with her "new friends" in their cages beside her. Hermione bought a large, brown owl she named Merlin ("cause he looks so wise," she joked.) and Clarice a dappled grey owl she named Alvin, because he looked like one. After the owls and their supplies, they then entered Magical Menagerie where sure enough, Hermione left with an orange, bow legged half kneazle named Crookshanks and Clarice could not leave without the one non-magical creature in the shop, who like Hedwig no one else seemed to want, a ferret she named Sabrina.
The three children entered the shop. The waiting area for the customers was not very large at all and while there was room for the three of them, there was not much. Barely four feet from the front window and door was the counter. Behind that seemed to be long, almost endless rows of shelves stacked from the floor to the ceiling with boxes. It did not look neat, but there was a sense of some kind of organization. One hoped the proprietor could find something.
An elderly man slowly shuffled from the back to the counter and looked at the three children for only a moment.
"First wands?" he asked.
The kids nodded. They knew this was a lie, but they could not tell a man who sold wands registered with their government that they already had wands.
"Your parents?"
Harry was tempted to say they were dead, which was true for all three of them.
"At work," Hermione said. "A family friend brought us. He's outside minding our purchases."
The old man nodded. "Okay. Who's first? You have your school letter?"
Hermione stepped forward and showed him her Hogwarts letter. The man shrugged. He then asked her what was her wand arm and as he measured her right arm from shoulder to wrist asked her the month and day of her birth and some other questions they had never been asked before when buying wands.
"Sometimes one's birth wood is important," he said. "The Celts believed so and this was Celtic land long ago. However, birth woods are not always a key. No two wands are the same just as no two witches or wizards are the same," as he looked Hermione over in a way that made all three uncomfortable. He then smiled and went back between the shelves. He went on about knowing wands and how wands choose the witch and a few other comments that began to give all three the creeps. It was also unnecessary banter. Skilled in wandless magic, the kids could use just about any wand. They all knew, however, that a fitted wand worked best and that was a wand that seemed to naturally respond to their magic.
He brought back some boxes and opened one handing Hermione a wand. None of them remembered what he said it was made of for it really did not matter since when she held it nothing happened meaning it clearly was not a match. She went through eight other wands before she had one that seemed to glow with the touch of her hand.
"Interesting," he seemed to say more to himself than the others. "Vine and dragon heartstring, not a common combination. And your Celtic birth wood as well."
"Is that unusual?" Hermione asked.
"Not necessarily. See it a lot in very old magical lines from these isles. Then again, who's to say."
Hermione paid for her new "legal" wand and Clarice went next. It took ten tries before she finally got a powerful reaction from a holly wand with a unicorn hair core.
"Another birth wood," the man said. "Very unusual. I might see a couple a week…"
It was now Harry's turn and he reluctantly handed the man his Hogwarts letter knowing there was a chance it would trigger whatever suppressed memories there were. The part of the blood ward protection that made people forget did not work if you voluntarily told them who you were.
"Mr. Potter," the man said in recognition. "I have wondered when I'd see you! I remember selling your parents their first wands. Such a pity."
Harry wanted to tell him to get on with it. Fortunately, while creepy, the man was somewhat professional and did not waste time chatting and doing nothing. He was soon back from the shelves with boxes of wands.
After seventeen tries with no success, the man started to focus on birth wood wands only. After five of these proved to be useless, in the matched wand sense, the man seemed to gaze off for a bit before saying: "I wonder."
He came back from the shelves with only a single box and carefully handed Harry the wand as if it was a priceless relic. As soon as Harry's hand grasped it, the whole room seemed to glow.
"Curious," the man said.
"What's curious?" Harry replied.
"Wand cores are made from a variety of magical substances, although my family has only used three types since we founded our shop: dragon heartstring, unicorn hair and phoenix feathers. I see no need to change what has worked for my ancestors since before the rise of Rome. Now, in most cases, one such creature can supply cores for several wands, maybe scores or even hundreds. But I remember every wand I ever made, and that wand has a very unique core. The phoenix feather came from a bird that was not inclined to – er – cooperate and only produced two feathers. It is curious that this wand should choose you as its Master when it was its brother wand that gave you your scar!"
"Is there any reason to consider the two events connected?" Harry asked.
"No," the man replied. "It simply is one of those curious coincidences. Happens quite often in my work. The fact three young people all came in together and all have birth wood wands is also curious. But the uniqueness of the core? I shall be watching. He-Who-Must-Not-Be named did great things, Mr. Potter. Terrible, 'tis true, but great in that no others achieved as he did. Perhaps you are so destined?"
"Don't believe in destiny," Harry said dismissively as he paid for the wand.
The kids soon were outside.
"Well?" Frank asked.
"Got them," Clarice replied.
"Took a while."
Clarice shrugged.
"Let's just get out of this place," Harry grumped picking up Hedwig's cage and heading towards the Leacky Cauldron.
"What's wrong with him?" Frank asked.
"History," Hermione replied, "seems to have a funny way of repeating itself."