Notes: Thanks again for the follows/favourites! Appreciated, as always, as is Priya darling (sleepy queens) for reviewing! Okay, if someone doesn't realize where I'm getting all these names from, I'm going to scream because I'm just dying here.
When I'm done with this, I'm going to be combining the chapters because I don't really like how short they are. But that's when I'm going to be done with this story, and we have a lot of Hogwarts years to go through, not to mention summers and stuff. This is going to be awesome. I'm trying to make this show people the other sides of the Wizarding World, and I hope I can do so.
Competitions and Challenges this is entered in: The Long Haul Competition lll, more to be announced in later chapters, probably something really random.
Currently Listening To: Angel With a Shotgun by the Cab
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I only own my idea and character(s) that are far from being perfect human beings, thank you.
THE GAME
HARRY POTTER: THE JOURNEY OF ENGIMA
Nikolai's parent s came through a few minutes after Tom- as that was the bartender's name, the young boy learned- had Evanesco'd away all the soot from Nikolai's clothing, and had given him a free Butterbeer to calm his stomach down. Nikolai learned then that he absolutely adored Butterbeer, and nearly choked himself by trying to down the whole thing at once.
"Woah, kid! Don't kill yourself." Tom laughed, patting the wheezing boy on the back. "The drink ain't going anywhere."
The brown haired boy reluctantly slowed down and noisily slurped his drink, as his mother suddenly appeared in the fireplace that roared a bright green, and immerged looking a lot less flustered then Nikolai was, and a lot more gracefully. "Are you okay dear? I'm sorry for taking so long. We had a bit of trouble getting Luminita through the fireplace, so your father's going to apparate here with her."
The part Romanian shook his head as Tom nodded his. "It's been a while since I've seen you, Mary!" the old man greeted, smiling warmly at Nikolai's brown haired mother. "Your son did have a little trouble with the Floo Powder, just normal problems, don't worry. I gave the kid a Butterbeer. He seems to like it almost as much as you do!"
Mary just laughed and patted her seven year old on the head. "That's my boy." She leaned down and stage whispered to him, "Don't worry, I'm still not very good at Floo Powder." Nikolai snorted into his drink.
Just then, Lucian arrived through the back door, leading out to the Alley, holding Luminita and looking rather frazzled. His face relaxed when he caught sight of Mary and Nikolai, and hoisted Luminita back on his hip. "Ah, there you are!" he noticed Tom. "Tom! Wonderful to see you!"
"You too, Lucian!" Tom greeted back, before smiling apologetically as another customer called for him. "Have a good time in the Alley!"
"Thanks, we will!"
Mary grabbed Nikolai's hand and pulled him off his chair, making the boy laugh as his mother acted like an overexcited child headed to Diagon Alley. She met Lucian at the door and took Luminita from him, and Nikolai felt a sense of excitement bubble in his stomach as his father got out his wand and tapped the bricks.
The wall opened less flashily then he expected. One moment the wall was whole, looking like, well, a wall, and the next it was cleaning spreading outwards, not disrupting the finish but making space for a large hole that they could walk through. It was strange. The wall didn't move or disappear, it just… it looked like the middle part of it was sent to another dimension, but that dimension was this dimension.
Nikolai couldn't explain it, only look on in wonder at the Alley that had suddenly appeared before his eyes. The streets weren't too crowded, it seems like they had made it before the rush. The shops already had their wares out, and the wine eyed boy stared as several post owls emerged from the post office window, carrying large packages of mail and parcels to be delivered that day.
[New Location Achieved!
Diagon Alley – 1,000 points
Total Until Level Two: 1,790/2,000 points
New Goals Earned!
First Butterbeer – 100 points
First Time in Diagon Alley – 100 points
Didn't Fail Like Harry Using Floo Powder – 100points
.
CONGRATULATIONS PLAYER!
YOU HAVE BEEN ELEVATED TO LEVEL TWO!
YOU HAVE EARNED 5 EXPERIENCE POINTS FROM DOING SO.
PLEASE WAIT UNTIL YOU START YOUR HOGWARTS JOURNEY TO ADD IN YOUR EXPERIENCE POINTS.
Total Until Level Three: 90/5,000 points]
The stones under his feet gleamed, like someone had just washed them, and the small shops packed together didn't give off a crowded feel, on the contrary, it gave it a more friendly and homelike warmth. To his left was Scribbulus Writing Instruments, and to his right was a small café, already filled up with customers seeking tea and coffee to start there morning. Eeylops Owl Emporium was loud and bustling, Flourish and Blotts had a cashier setting up the newest best sellers in the window. Madame Malkins had music floating out through its wide open doors, and TerrorTours, the wizarding travel agency that Nikolai's family always used to visit their family in Romania, had just turned their closed sign to read 'open'.
The Alley was up and running and Nikolai felt a childish sense of happiness grow in his stomach as he pulled his father to look at the newest brooms in Quality Quidditch Supplies. "Dad, can I get a broom?" he looked up at his father with puppy dog eyes. The brown haired man sighed, and said, "Only if your mother says so."
The two men grinned at each other before both of them turned to Mary with puppy dog eyes and pleaded with her, "Can I/Nikolai please get a broom?"
The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, how many times must we go over this! It's too dangerous and too much work, besides, we live in a muggle area. Where would you fly it?"
"I could take him to the field where I used to practice-"
"Not one word from you, Lucian. I don't trust you with a broom after '68."
"Once, I fall off my broom, and she doesn't let me touch one ever again." Lucian complained to Nikolai, who was snorting at his father's misfortune. "And I was bloody drunk!"
"Language, Lucian! I don't want Luminita's first word to be a swear word, and if it is, so help me-"
"It won't, dear, I promise."
Mary sighed as she gave Luminita to Lucian. "I'll take you up on that promise. You go to Flourish and Blotts and get me some of the books I need, and I'll take Nikolai to Madame Malkins. His dress robes are getting far too small." She handed Lucian the list.
Nikolai wrinkled his nose and tried to hide behind Lucian, but Mary tutted and pulled him out from behind him. "Oh, don't be like that. If you're good, once we're done shopping, maybe we can get ice cream."
The boy lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really?"
"But only if you're good."
He bobbed his head. "I will! I promise!"
Mary smiled and led Nikolai to Madame Malkins, with the boy trailing behind her, eagerly turning his head to both sides and wishing that he had eight eyes to see everything, like the stores down the side streets leading off of Diagon Alley. Madame Malkins wasn't busy at that time, so Nikolai and Mary didn't have to wait long for the witch herself to show them up to the stools. Mary and Madame Malkins easily starting chatting about the latest gossip or politics that was happening in the Wizarding World, as Nikolai shifted his weight on the stool as a needle threaded itself through the cloth and a tape measure took his height without any hands holding either of the tools.
The bell above the door rang, and although Nikolai couldn't see who it was, Mary's face lit up as she welcomed over the newcomer(s) with a loud greeting of, "Irina, Eiríkur! Wonderful to see you here!"
Nikolai looked up. There, awkwardly standing in the door, was a petite woman with her even smaller son, both who had fair skin, with light hair and blue-ish eyes, was the Icelandic ambassador and her only son, Eiríkur.
The Romanian liked Eiríkur. Usually, when he was stuck going to some event where the ambassadors brought their kids so they could brag about how amazing they were at magic, he sat with Eiríkur in the background, convincing the shy kid to participate in pranks to liven up the place. Sometimes he succeeded, sometimes he failed, but the Icelandic boy (who was about six or so) could come up with some amazing ideas that had even Nikolai feeling rather glad to have him on his side.
So yes, Nikolai very much liked Eiríkur. Much better than that mean old Norwegian kid, who for some reason always seemed to hang around Eiríkur.
"Hi!" Nikolai cheerfully said at the small boy when he came up to stand on the stool next to him, smacking him on the back in greeting. Eiríkur nearly fell off the stool, and gave his friend a halfhearted glare. "Hello."
"So what are you here for?"
"Robes."
Nikolai sighed. "I know that, but why are you doing here, in the Alley?"
"Ah, mum needs some new potions ingredients. We decided to kill two birds with one stone, as you might say, but going and getting me some new robes."
The brown haired boy could never get over Eiríkur's awesome accent, he pronounced each word with an extra push behind the vowels, but his voice sounded so melodic that you didn't mind since he managed to make his sentences sound smooth.
"Neat! I'm doing the same, extra Ma wants to get some books. Dad wants a broom, but, well…"
Eiríkur hid his snicker behind his sleeve, and Nikolai smiled as he started to break the icey wall that Eiríkur always had up when they met.
"Hey, do you want to get ice cream with us?"
The pale boy blinked and looked at his mother, who had heard the tail end of their conversation. "Can we, mum?"
Irina pursed her lips and looked at Mary, who sighed and said, "Fine. I told Nikolai if he was good he'd get some, so I don't mind."
Eiríkur had a faint smile on his face, and Nikolai was grinning broadly as he jumped down from his stool and sat down next to his mother to wait for Eiríkur's fitting to finish.
The Icelandic boy probably knew that he was using him as an excuse to get ice cream, but that was what he loved about having him as his friend. Mary had a soft spot for Eiríkur, so she would get any chance she could to baby the younger boy.
Sweet!