Squamata Corvidae

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nor do I own Pokemon or Doctor Who. I do, however, own Loki, Athena, and associated characters. Put it this way: if you recognize them from somewhere, they aren't mine.

My parents didn't have a clue why someone had tried to kill me last night. Or so they indicated.

Which was odd, since he seemed to have an axe to pick with at least one of us. One would think that you'd know if you had an enemy like that.

Anyway, since I didn't know how to proceed on the murderer front, we went ahead with the shopping trip as planned.

To my surprise, Athena and her mom were waiting at a dingy pub called The Leaky Cauldron (Hello? Doesn't that kinda scream "witch"? Obvious much?) to meet us.

"How'd you know we were shopping here today?" I asked.

"Magic," grinned Mrs. Talon.

"No, seriously, how'd you know?"

"I can't give away all my secrets, can I?"

I couldn't refute that, so we went on.

"I have lots of information about Hogwarts and wizardry," Athena told me. "My mum was quite helpful on that front."

"I've got news as well," I replied cheerily. "Someone tried to kill me last night, but he failed and I got his wand."

Athena blinked, probably unsure if I was joking. "…say again?"

"…so I'm hoping to stop by the wand shop to see if he knows whose wand it is," I finished. "Plus, I wanna know if it's legal for me to use it."

"I would imagine so," Athena replied. "After all, a would-be murderer usually doesn't have the right to claim something stolen from him during the murder attempt."

We came to a brick wall at this point; Athena's mom tapped a brick three times, and they sort of…dissolved outward, leaving a large hole that revealed what looked like a very large, magical carnival beyond it.

Honestly, though, it was the wall that was more impressive. Before, I had only seen spells that missed, so it hadn't really sunk in that this was magic.

"I'd rather not risk breaking wizard law, though. Who knows what's illegal with wizards?" I continued (with forced casualness, I must admit) after we walked through the wall.

"A fair point," Athena conceded. "Perhaps we should look at the supply list now, see what we need…"

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Uniform

First-year students will require:

Three (3) sets of plain work robes (black)

One (1) plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One (1) pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One (1) winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

Course Books

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade One) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' 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

Basic Defense (I suppose it might be spelled Defence to you Brits, I can never remember who spells it which way) Against the Dark Arts by Rayye Offlyte

Other Equipment

One (1) wand

One (1) cauldron (pewter, standard size two (2))

One (1) set glass or crystal phials

One (1) telescope

One (1) set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

I snickered a lot over the contents of the list.

"Could they make you look any less like a witch in those clothes?"

"Who ever heard of a wizard with a name tag?"

"I really hope that I don't have to read too much of that Waffling book if his name indicates the contents."

"Rayye Offlyte writing a book about defending against the Dark arts? Bet you five bucks he changed his name on purpose."

"Who'd want a toad? I know these are witches and wizards, but still! It's a toad!"

Athena took it all with good grace. She was used to my poking fun at everything. She'd make a comment every now and then, as well.

"One has to wonder what we'll be handling that we'd need dragon-hide gloves for."

"Well, I can provide the telescope, at least. My mum got me one for my birthday last year for some reason. Might be because of this…"

Athena's mum cut in. "We'll be stopping by Gringotts before we do anything else. Wizard bank," she added, sensing the question before it was asked. "We have our own currency, so we can't keep it in a normal bank."

"What's wrong with nonwizard money?" I muttered to Athena as we followed our moms. After all, it wasn't as if we knew where Gringotts was.

She shrugged. "Probably just a tradition established by wizards wanting to distinguish themselves from Muggles."

"Mugwha?"

"Muggles. It's a term for people without magic."

I shook my head. "Who comes up with this stuff? I mean, 'Muggle'?"

Athena shrugs. "My mum thinks that the term was coined by some witch named Rowling some time ago, but there's no solid evidence one way or the other."

"Weird."

The Gringotts building wasn't all that impressive, to be honest. Sure, it was bigger than everything else around it, but trust me, you haven't seen big buildings until you've visited New York.

The goblins weren't overly impressive either. A bit taciturn, but I could say the same of my math teacher.

But the money!

Turns out, both Athena's and my families are filthy rich. I had never seen so much gold, silver, or copper before in one place.

We withdrew enough for school supplies and a little bit for pocket money and we were off to get our supplies.

Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions wasn't overly interesting, either. We went in, had ropes pinned to fit us, got hats and gloves, and we were out. Boring as all get out.

We picked up parchment (not paper, parchment), quills, and ink at a small place called Pracktikal Parchments. In my opinion, the quills and ink were a waste of money; what are pens for? But Mum insisted on this point for some reason.

Flourish and Blotts Book Shop was significantly more interesting. Bookstores have always been one of my favorite places, magical or not. Interestingly, there was a large cage full of books that were literally biting each other, ripping them to pieces.

"I'd think it'd make more sense to keep them in separate cages," I mentioned to the harried shopkeeper. "That way they can't kill each other."

For some reason, the guy was so grateful for the idea that he gave me a 50% discount on all of my books. And a telescope as well. Why telescopes were sold at a bookstore, I have no idea.

Anyway, moving on…we got cauldrons, scales, and phials at Caldron's Cauldrons; very high-quality shop, and apparently the cauldrons and phials were spelled not to melt unless it contacts the most corrosive of potions (which made me a little worried about what we might be brewing).

We also stopped by an Eeylops Owl Emporium to get an owl for Athena. Well, for me too, but I wouldn't have gotten one if my mum hadn't put her foot down once again.

I changed my mind when I saw him.

He was mostly light brown, but the outside of his wings were a darker brown. That same darker brown expressed itself in the form of four downward-pointing triangles on his chest. He also had a large feathery crest on his head vaguely in the shape of a W, which gave a bit of a severe look to him.

In other words, he was a dead ringer for the Pokemon known as Noctowl.

How could I resist that?

Athena's owl, I must say, had appeal as well. It was a new magical breed, with feathers that were a sort of blue-white and that (supposedly) would glow in the dark. She (the owl, not Athena) had an ethereal beauty because of the feathers' interesting color.

So all in all, we left Eeylops feeling very satisfied.

The Apocethary was our next stop, full of potion ingredients. Apparently the place was frequented by Hogwarts students, because there were several sets of boxed ingredients labeled "First-Year", "Second-Year", and so on. There was a lot of weird stuff in the shop; I think there were molds available for purchase there that could move, and I know for a fact that the large jar on the back desk had some sort of dead mutant cockroaches in them. The place smelled rather weird too; almost like a mixture of gasoline, cinnamon, and snake. Athena disagreed on the smell, though; she claimed that it smelled like spearmint, toilet cleaner, and bird poop. Regardless, the smell wasn't pleasant, so we were mutually glad when we left the place.

Finally, we went to Ollivanders. The wand shop.

"Mister Silthren. Miss Talon," he greeted us from the shadows after we had spent thirty seconds in the shop looking for him. Athena jumped, and even I was somewhat startled.

Had to wonder how he knew our names.

"Your father was in here just yesterday, Mister Silthren, in need of a new wand for some reason. Holly and unicorn hair. Thirty-two-and-three-tenths centimeters. Rigid and powerful. Good for jinxes and hexes. I do wonder what his first was. He chose to buy elsewhere, you see…but your mother…" He peered at my mom, silvery eyes glinting. "Oak and dragon heartstring, I believe. Approximately thirty-and-a-half centimeters, brittle. Excellent for Transfiguration."

Mum nodded.

Turning to Athena's mum, he continued, "Yours, as I recall, was a little over thirty-eight centimeters, unusually long. Cherry and phoenix feather, flexible, good for Charms."

Yeesh, he really needed a hobby if he could remember all of his wands that exactly.

Ollivander shuffled over to his desk and took out a measuring tape thingie and began measuring Athena's arm.

"Mr. Ollivander? We actually already have wands."

This surprised everyone in the room, except for Athena's mom.

"When'd you get a wand?" I demanded.

Athena shrugged. "It was a family heirloom. It had been gathering dust for decades, waiting for someone that it was compatible with. Evidently I am compatible with it."

"May I see it, Miss Talon?"

She pulled it out. For some reason, it was painted blue and a lot smaller than mine.

Ollivander looked startled again. "Miss Talon…do you realize just what this is?"

"A blue wand?" I cut in.

"Not just any blue wand, Mister Silthren," he corrected me as he handled it gingerly, reverently. "This is willow and thestral talon. Nearly seventeen-and-four-fifths centimeters…this is the wand of Rowena Ravenclaw."

Everyone in the room gasped in surprise except for my mum and I. Me, because I had no clue who Rowena was. My mum, because she just wasn't a gasp person.

"Meaning…"

Athena filled me in. "Rowena Ravenclaw was one of the four founders of Hogwarts School. To put it in perspective…it's as if George Washington was a wizard and I had gotten his wand."

Whoa. Impressive.

"The wands of the four founders are famous to those who study wandlore," Ollivander informed us. "It is said that, being the wands of such auspicious wizards, they are unusually powerful…and discerning."

"You make it sound as if it's alive," Athena commented.

"Wands, to some extent, are alive, Miss Talon," Ollivander said. "It is the wand that chooses the wizard or witch, not the other way around…and the Founders' Wands are said to be far more choosy than other wands. Ravenclaw's, for example, is said only to choose those who have extraordinary intellect; I believe that the wand's last owner was one Einstein…"

"Albert Einstein was a wizard?" I blurted.

"Indeed," the wandmaker acknowledged. "However…Miss Talon, would you be so kind as to give your wand a wave? I need to be sure that it has chosen you…"

She accepted her wand from Ollivander and flicked it.

Blue and silver sparks formed a raven that flew around a few times before flickering out.

"It would indeed seem that it has chosen you, Miss Talon," Ollivander said, piercing her with those weird silvery eyes. "I believe you will go far. Yes, very far indeed…I will register you as having ownership of this wand, Miss Talon, for administrative purposes…how much any person can own that wand, however…"

He trailed off into a thoughtful silence, which I promptly broke.

"My wand is actually someone else's, Mr. Ollivander. Someone tried to kill me and I took their wand before he could…" Ignoring Mrs. Talon's stifled gasp, I pulled out the wand (now that I saw it in the light, I noticed that it was green) and handed it to the wandmaker (careful not to stab him, of course).

And for the third time, Ollivander was startled.

"Snakewood and basilisk fang, thirty-five centimeters precisely, counting the basilisk fang tip…this is the wand of Salazar Slytherin. So long without any trace of the Founders' Wands…and now two of them in one day…"

Another one? Something seemed weird about that…it felt like someone was trying to orchestrate some sort of plan and being a bit heavy-handed with it. This was simply too big of a coincidence.

But who could possibly have orchestrated this? And why only our two wands? Why not the other two as well?

"How does Slytherin's wand choose its user?" asked Athena.

Ollivander was silent for a time. "It is not conclusively proven how Slytherin's wand chooses a witch or wizard. Slytherin was always the most reclusive of the Four, and when he left Hogwarts, there was never any documentation as to where he went after that, or to whom his wand was given. I suspect, however, that it must be taken from the previous owner, using cunning and swift thinking…and if that is the case, then your mysterious attacker was very foolish to use this particular wand to try to kill you…if you would give it a wave?"

I took the wand from Ollivander and flicked it, with the same result as when I had done it in my bedroom the day before, the silver-eyed spark snake.

"Curious, very curious…" Ollivander looked a bit disturbed for some reason. "Your ownership of the wand will also be registered, Mister Silthren."

And with that, we left, far more confused than we had been when we entered.