Chapter Three

"Ger- Luddy, let's go shopping!" Italy was jumping up and down excitedly, much resembling a five-year-old child on Christmas morning. He rushed off in a random direction and Germany ran after him. Italy had the mentality of a child; he'd go off with anyone if they offered him food. Not that Germany was worried or anything; okay, he was worried. He pushed through the crowd of Diagon Alley trying to stay on the Italian's trail.

"I am guessing that we should be following them?" Russia looked quizzically towards the other two nations who had been left behind.

"Probably. My idiota brother will end up doing something stupid, especially if the potato bastard's with him." Russia and China simultaneously sighed. Romano was like a stuck record; ever since England had left them it had been "potato bastard" this and "tomato bastard" that. Currently, Romano was stood with his arms crossed, a scowl lined his face and he was staring daggers in the direction that Germany and his brother had run off in- even though the German was no longer in sight.

The three nations decided to head off in the same direction that Germany and Italy had gone. Romano was still grumbling whilst Russia was humming a soft tune with his typical childlike smile plastered across his face. China was stuck in the middle of the two nations, really wishing that he was somewhere else.

The trio walked past a variety of different shops. They marvelled at the absolute magic of it all. Though they knew magic existed (due to England, Norway and Romania ), they had never expected there to be a public display of it, or for them to be witnesses to this public display. They walked past Eyelops Owl Emporium where they saw a wide selection of many owls that they would have to purchase later. They walked past a shop that sold robes, their new uniform, and Romano shuddered at the thought of having to wear the same thing as the potato bastard. As they walked the trio couldn't help but notice the atmosphere that was present; it seemed tense and China couldn't help but notice the headline of The Daily Prophet which mentioned something about a "Death Eater" attack at the Quidditch World Cup. China had no idea what this meant but he gathered from the glum expressions on the faces of the wizarding public that it wasn't good.

After what seemed like quite a while, the trio finally managed to identify the whereabouts of the two missing nations. "Ve~ Luddy! I've found a wand shop; it says on this paper that we need wands. Hey, this is kind of like a treasure hunt, isn't it fun?" The trio could now see the two other nations who were stood outside a shop named Ollivanders. Italy was clinging onto a frowning Germany's midriff and he seemed to be showing no signs of letting go. Furious, Romano marched over to the two, his face as red as one of Spain's tomatoes. He pulled Italy off of Germany whilst glaring daggers at the blonde nation and if looks could kill then Germany would've spontaneously combusted. "Idiota fratello! Don't just run off like that, stupid! We're supposed to be keeping a low profile, that's why we're staying in groups!"

Someone cleared his throat and Romano spun around, he was currently shaking Italy by the shoulders. "If you want us to keep a low profile then stop yelling at Feliciano, we're receiving a lot of attention right now." Romano looked around to find that China had a point. Many witches and wizards had paused in their browsing to observe the commotion outside of Ollivanders. One teen, in particular, was sneering at Romano and Italy; he had blonde hair and he held an aura of self-importance and cockiness, he seemed to think that he was better than everybody else. Romano turned to the teen and glared at him, causing him to simply scoff and walk away.

Germany cleared his throat, "right, now that that's done, I guess we should get our wands. It's on the equipment list, though I have no idea how it works. England just gave me these and said that this is the currency that is used in the wizard world. " He then pulled out a pouch of galleons from his pocket and held them out so that the other four nations could see them.

"They're very pretty, just like you Luddy!" Germany blushed whilst Romano scowled.

"I don't see why Arthur gave them to you, he can trust me more." Romano glared at Germany as if it was his fault.

China, being the most mature and stoic of the group, stepped in. "Can we just buy the wands without killing each other, please? Then we can get on with the other stuff." He walked past the bickering nations with Russia following him; the other three also hopped on the bandwagon and entered the shop.


They were greeted by an elderly man who, despite his age, appeared to be rather chipper. He was stood behind a counter reading through a book when the group of five walked in. Germany momentarily worried about how they were going to convince the old man- presumably Ollivander- that they were students. His panic was short-lived when he remembered that England had turned them all into teenagers and that they appeared to be fifteen.

"So, what can I do for you? Are you in need of a wand repair? You look a little old to be buying your first wands." The old man squinted at the five, almost as if he was trying to guess their purpose in his shop- without being told.

Germany cleared his throat, "Actually… we're all transfers. We were told to leave our old wands behind and purchase new ones. "Ollivander nodded and brought out his list of wands that they currently had in stock. As well as the wands behind the counter, there were some highly powerful and expensive special wands dotted around the shelves in glass cases. Ollivander had begun to give a lecture on the different types of wands and their individual strength but Italy, being typical Italy, grew restless and he began to wander around the shop. He stopped outside a display case, it was labelled: Ebony, Dragon Heartstring. Italy noted that it looked very pretty. He wanted a closer look, but he didn't want to make the old man, (what was his name again?) angry. He silently debated with himself about removing the wand from its case. Eventually, curiosity triumphed over common sense and Italy removed the wand. Italy held the wand in his hands, he could feel the immense power of the wand inside him, and it was coursing through the nation's veins. Italy noticed that the old man had stopped speaking and that every head was turned towards him. "Look, Luddy! I've got a wand, it's so pretty!" Whilst Italy was talking, he waved his arms about frantically and the wand began to emit a green glow from its end, Italy assumed that this was a good thing and he carried on yelling to Germany. What Italy didn't notice, however, was that the light was destroying everything in its path: the glass cases shattered, books flew everywhere and the shelves clattered to the floor. By this point all of the nations, save Italy who was still wielding the wand like a toy lightsaber, had taken cover behind the counter and Ollivander, though slightly livid, was cowering with them. Italy finally noticed that something was wrong when he realised that he was standing in the middle of a mess and that the others were nowhere to be seen. "Guys? Where are you?"

Romano, sensing that the random wand outbursts had stopped, stood up and glared at his brother. "You stupid idiot! Look at what you've done. You've made such a mess and I'm not cleaning that up, I had enough of cleaning from when I lived with that tomato bastard!" Italy then began to burst into tears.

At hearing Italy cry, the people cowering behind the counter also stood up, different expressions lined their faces. Russia looked happily at the scene, China looked indifferent whilst Ollivander stormed off looking rather angry, it should've been him bursting into tears, after all, his shop had just been destroyed by an overly-emotional Italian. Germany's expression was soft and almost sympathetic at seeing his friend cry. "Don't worry, Feli. I'll help you clean up, it's okay. Just please stop crying."

Italy looked up and began to sniff, his tears already fading away due to the German's words. "Really Luddy?" Germany nodded. "Ve~ that's so kind of you!" Italy then reached out to embrace Germany, but this sudden action caused the seemingly-dormant wand to spurt back into life. There was a loud explosion and everyone in the room recoiled from both the sound and shock. A large amount of smoke covered the room. Italy whimpered and threw the wand down. He was just about to ask if everyone was alright when he was interrupted by sudden laughter.

"AHAHAHAHA! Oh my goodness, look at the potato bastard! He's wearing a dress, a pink dress. Oh, you look so manly in your pink frilly dress. AHAHAHAHA." Romano struggled to breathe as he wiped the tears from his face. Italy looked over to where Germany was stood and, sure enough, in place of where his ordinary clothes had been, there was a frilly pink dress. Well, it was actually a pink leotard and a tutu, to be more precise. Romano wasn't the only one to find this scene hilarious. China was struggling to maintain his mature composure and Russia was giggling like a schoolgirl. Italy on the other hand, had a different approach to the situation.

"Aww, Luddy! You're so adorable. You're all pretty… and pink! Aww, it's so cute!" Italy was once again clinging to the furious German. Germany looked down to what he was wearing, then he looked up at the laughing nations and then he looked down again.

Not really caring about keeping their identities secret at that moment in time, Germany grabbed Italy by the shoulders. "ITALIA!" He said it so loudly that practically all of Diagon Alley heard, but the German really didn't care. "What did you do? Change it back! Change it back!"

Italy finally managed to read the atmosphere and noticed that Germany was slightly angry at him. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't know how to change it!"

"WHAT?" Germany bellowed. He was extremely livid and his face had begun to go a red colour, a mixture of rage and embarrassment. By this point, Romano was now rolling around on the floor, revelling in the sheer humiliation of his worst enemy, (most disliked frenemy anyway). Germany had now managed to reel off an extensive amount of German curse words and they were all directed towards Italy who was cowering behind the counter, looking like he was going to cry again. Russia and China were stood to the side. China was trying not to laugh, which was a lot harder than it sounded.

Suddenly the shop door was flung open and America stepped into the chaos with a cry of: "Never fear, the Hero is here!" He paused when he saw Germany and joined Romano on the floor. He broke into uncontrollable fits of laughter and felt compelled to take a photo on his phone. England was the next one to walk into the room. He surveyed the scene before him, muttered an incantation and everything was back to normal. America and Romano were finally able to stop laughing and spent a large amount of time trying to catch their breaths. Canada and Japan, who had just stood in the doorway, were soon joined by Russia and China.

"What just happened?" Canada whispered. His inquiry was aimed towards Russia and China who rolled their eyes at the same time. "Don't even ask" was the only response the Canadian Nation received.

The remaining nations emerged from the shop. England was forcibly yanking America by the arms of his jacket and Germany had the Italian brothers locked firmly in his grip. "Right, it's now 3:45. We said we'd meet the others at four; we have fifteen minutes to get everything from our lists. Understood?" The other nations nodded at the Brit. "Good, let's go."


"What's taking them so long?" Hungary tapped her foot impatiently on the cobbles .She was absentmindedly swinging her frying pan which gained her weary looks from the BTT who all now had bruises on their heads.

"They're probably stuck in a queue or something," chirped Finland.

The Nordics and Hungary's group had arrived at the meeting spot exactly on time and they had successfully managed to buy everything that was on the equipment list. They had now been waiting for an hour for the other two groups to arrive. They heard the other nations bickering before they saw them.

"Hi, sorry, we're so late. We had a spot of trouble." At the word "trouble" all of the newly-arrived nations glanced at Italy who squeaked in a weak protest. "Anyway, has everyone got their things?" All of the nations nodded and England sighed in relief, the day from Hell was officially over. He could now go home, bake scones and pretend that the whole thing never happened. Until tomorrow, when they would board the train to Hogwarts. England shuddered and tried to repress that thought.

After a lot of fuss, they finally ended up back where they started: the meeting room. "Right then, that's it. Everyone meet here again at 10, the train leaves Kings Cross at 11." England was the first to leave the room, but many others followed as they wanted some time to themselves.

Romano was just about to leave when a pair of arms was wrapped around his shoulders. He looked up to find Spain beaming down at him. "So, Romano, you never told us why you guys took so long…"

Romano smirked. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Ask America; he's got pictures."


A/N: Phew, that was a long chapter!

But, the next chapter will feature Hogwarts! :D The story will really begin then!

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