Chapter 2: Let's Go Buy Your Stuff!
At this statement Hagrid walked away, and the twins followed him, as one of his strides was three of theirs. Hagrid explained that, as muggle-borns, their booklists would be delivered to him instead of to the muggle-borns, for safety reasons. He pulled out two letters and handed them to the twins. They read as follows:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, Internation Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Tamora and Arcius Comet,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Taroma began reading her equipment list aloud.
"Three black robes…pointed hat-"
"Oh, you don' need to wear the hat except at big feasts," Hagrid said.
"Pair of protective gloves…" continued Taroma, "winter cloak…the books are…Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, A History of Magic, Practical Magical Theory and Use, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
As quick as a flash, she stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and rifled through it to pages to number 66.
"What the ruddy hell…?" said Hagrid.
"Only different books we've got this year different from the book is Practical Magical Theory and Use, which replaces Magical Theory and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection," Taroma said quickly, then continued reading the list, "wand, pewter cauldron, set of phials, telescope, brass scales, and cat, owl or toad if we want. No broomsticks, yadda-yadda-yadda."
"Oh, the broomstick rule is gone now. Since Harry showed that even first-years can be good. The letters are all copied by magic, so they didn't bother to change the little note," said Hagrid.
"Can we get our wands first, please, please, please, please, PLEASE?" Arcius begged.
"Sure, whatever you want," said Hagrid, grinning again.
So they trooped over to where they knew Ollivander's was supposed to be, and received a small shock. There was no Ollivander's. There was just Alivan's.
"Alivan's? Isn't that where we got our wands?" asked Arcius.
"Yeah. Wow…real wands! We've had real wands this entire time!" said Taroma.
"Ohhhhh…so that muggle's memory was slightly changed…she mixed up Ollivander's with Alivan's," exclaimed Hagrid.
The three of them stepped into the tiny shop, and rung the bell on the counter. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared with a crack!. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie, and look awfully like a businessman. He had black hair that came to a neat spike on his head, and the spike stuck out diagonally forward. Then he took out a wand, gave it a wave, and his suit was replaced with a fine, blue silk robe.
"Hello!" the man said happily, "I am Finneas Alivans, master wandmaker and broom-maker! Oooh, twins, very nice…"
Finneas flicked his wand, and immediately several long, thin, blue boxes came soaring from the back of the shop onto the counter, accompanied by a thin, red box. Out of the red box popped the very same
silver tape measure described in the books. The side that was pointed to the sealing bent over, so it looked as if it had a head. The "head" looked from Tamora to Arcius, and then suddenly cloned itself. The measurers tapped Tamora's left arm, and Arcius's right arm, for Tamora was left-handed and Arcius was right-handed. They lifted the arms that were tapped and the measurers were immediately all over them. Shoulder to fingertips, shoulder to wrist, elbow to shoulder, shoulder to shoulder, nostril to nostril.
"That's enough," Finneas told the measurers, which were simultaneously measuring that little bit of skin you have dividing your nose in half, when the clone disappeared and the original folded itself neatly back into its red box. Finneas stepped up to the first blue box, which said "Alivan's Master WandMakers" with two lions rearing at each other in gold on the top, as the red one flew into the back of the shop.
"Well, well, let's begin with this one," he said, pulling off the top so it revealed a wand lying on red velvet in the tan bottom of the box, "Willow and ebony, 14 and a half inches, flicks well, the best you can get for Charmwork. Go on, give it a wave," he said to Arcius, who knew that from the books, he wouldn't wave any wands except the one he would be buying, but was surprised when Finneas let him hold it for two seconds without snatching it away immediately. When he waved it in an elegant sweeping pattern, pointing it at an empty glass vase on the counter, it levitated. Arcius was momentarily thrilled, until the wand decided it didn't wand Arcius as an owner and dropped the vase, so that it smashed. Finneas calmly waved his wand, and the vase repaired itself instantly. Similar things happened with the other wands he tried, which all ended in either something breaking or the wand emitting strange noises and forcing itself out of his hands.
After what seemed hours of trying out wands, though in reality it was about 5 minutes, Finneas jumped, as a look of comprehension was on his face. He hastily ran into the back of his shop and returned half a minute later, caring a thick file. He slammed it down onto the counter, read the name of the file, which was "Taroma and Arcius Comet" his eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Aha!" and tapped his wand on the folder.
The folder flew open and neatly sorted itself into two piles. He pulled the left pile towards himself, and asked, "You are Taroma and Arcius Comet, who ordered from my site two solitaire wands?"
"Yes," Taroma answered quickly.
"Bloodwood and ebony, padauk and holly?"
"Yes."
"Aah, yes, yes, of course! Only wizards can actually see the solitaire collection option on my site, therefore your wands are real! Do you have them with you?" he asked.
"Yes, but why, if the wands were real, didn't they work?" asked Arcius.
"Because, if you went further down the page you'd see the words: All wands purchased here must be registered for use at Alivan's. Wand will not work until registered. You see, even though websites are a muggle thing, it is, in fact, very fun to code one! Obviously, to get my website to limit things to muggles and get the wand to choose the wizard at that distance was very hard, but enjoyable! So, let's see those wands!" Finneas said.
Arcius and Taroma took out their wands and handed them to Finneas, who placed Taroma's wand onto thin air above a machine that was not unlike a typewriter. He pressed a button, and the wand gently rested inside the machine. After about six seconds the machine spat out the wand description, which Finneas read aloud and Taroma confirmed. Then, the wand levitated back up to its floating point, and then spun very fast. The wand glowed yellow for a moment, then flew at Taroma's hand, who caught it and, instinctively, waved it. It shot out a dove, which sat on her head and dissolved into thin air.
The same thing happened with Arcius's wand, except that he flicked instead of waved it, and the shop counter suddenly became clear of dust and scratches, good as new.
They paid seven galleons each for their wands, and were almost out of the shop when Arcius remembered something.
"Sir, our broomsticks work too, right?" he asked tentatively.
"If you registered them, which I did before sending them to you."
"Then why didn't our brooms work?"
"Did you kick off from the ground?"
"Yes."
"And you just fell back down?"
"Yes."
"Did you really believe it would work?"
"Well, no, I had no idea…."
"Then there's your answer," Finneas said sleekly.
The three of them went through the rest of Diagon Alley, buying their books, potion supplies, Quidditch supplies (in case they could fly well), and their owls. They left Eeylop's Owl Emporium with four large boxes of owl nuts and two snowy owls. Tamora's had green eyes and Arcius's had blue.
That night they went home with Hagrid by Floo powder, and although their parents had been informed about their children and how they would be arriving, they jumped when Taroma and Arcius popped out of the fireplace, knocking over their mother's wine glass, which fell and broke. Taroma quickly siphoned up the wine as Arcius repaired the glass with a little hard effort to do the spells right. She knew that even though this year she could do magic outside school, starting next summer she wouldn't be allowed.
The twins went to sleep that night, agreeing to try flying, and fell asleep as soon as they had done this. It had been the best day of their lives.
And it was about to get better.