Sunday, 8 August – Friday, 13 August 1993
Granger Home, East Farleigh, Kent
Mary's unscheduled week with the Grangers was much more relaxed than the first week of summer had been (or, truly, any week she could recall in quite some time). There was no argument about whether Hermione could go back to school; no flurry of planning to take over the wizarding world; no shopping sprees or sudden trips to Gringott's. Mary's arm was still broken, of course, and there was still a low-grade anxiousness whenever her thoughts turned to Sirius Black, but she was easily distracted with stories of France and the latest exploits of the Drs. Granger, by movies and music, and of course by Hermione's latest mad idea: disguises.
The idea of disguising Mary for their trip to Diagon Alley had come up quite accidentally. On Tuesday, when both of the adults were at work, Mary and Hermione had been sitting in the living room, watching Disney movies and practicing first-year spells with left-handed wand movements. Mary had mentioned the latest article in the Prophet reminding the public that Black was still on the loose, and they had gotten to talking about why Black could possibly have been after her, and how he would know her when he saw her. That was when Hermione said, "You know, if we could change your hair color and get you contacts, you'd look like a different person."
They hadn't been able to get her contacts on such short notice, but they had managed to get a bottle of hair dye from the corner store, and, with much giggling, had made Mary a brunette to match Hermione. After extracting the reason behind the sudden makeover (and making Hermione bleach the leftover dye out of the bathtub), Emma gave the girls a lesson in applying muggle makeup so that they could hide the tell-tale scar. She also pointed out that Mary was due for a real haircut – her fringe was nearly long enough to cover her nose.
On Wednesday, therefore, the girls had gone on an adventure, taking a bus into town and wandering around until they found a likely-looking salon. The stylist clucked her tongue over their clumsy dye-job, and insisted on fixing it before styling Mary's hair into an adorable bob, which Mary was certain she would never be able to duplicate. Sure enough, after her shower that night, it reverted into a mop of messy curls, which made her look even more like Hermione's sister.
Dan's reaction – a comment to that effect – was the impetus for part three of the plan (after changing her hair and covering up the scar): for the duration of their visit to Diagon Alley, Mary would be referred to as 'Elizabeth Granger.' Hermione tried to get her to agree to pretend to be a new first-year as well, but Mary put her foot down at that. She might have been small for her age, but she definitely wasn't little enough to be an eleven-year-old anymore. (She was absolutely sure, because Emma had made her try on all of her clothes when they re-organized her trunk at the beginning of the summer, and all of the clothes she had bought on her first trip to the Alley were far too small.)
Between these exploits, the girls had exchanged several letters with Lilian, Catherine, and the Weasleys, whom Hermione had been writing regularly all summer, despite the fact that she was well aware that Mary was still angry with the twins. When Mary asked her about it (accused her, actually, of neglecting their friendship by not supporting her feud with the boys), Hermione insisted that she was biding her time and lulling them into a false sense of security so that she could do something truly awful to them when they got back to school. "Don't forget, Lizzie," she had said with a frankly terrifying, predatory grin, "they turned me into a catgirl. Even if I wasn't mad at them on your behalf – and believe me, I am – I have my own score to settle with them." She refused to tell Mary what she had in mind for revenge, which meant it was either horrifying beyond words and completely illegal, or she hadn't come up with anything suitable yet, and didn't want to admit it. It really could go either way with the Ravenclaw.
Lilian and the Weasleys had been informed of Mary's misadventure first thing Sunday, when Hermione finally woke up. Catherine had come to tea in person on Sunday as well (and brought Mary's trunk, which she was very grateful to have), and had since been sending daily owls checking up on Mary. She, for one, agreed with Mary that refusing to heal her arm was a horrible punishment, especially since it meant Mary couldn't really answer her letters, and instead had to ask Hermione to do it. This resulted in rather short replies, as the older girl thought it unnecessary to elaborate on "Yes, Lizzie's still fine. Nothing of note has happened since yesterday."
"Nothing of note has happened since yesterday" wasn't, strictly speaking, true. There was always something going on, whether it was improving Mary's disguise or introducing her to what Hermione considered classic muggle culture ("You've never seen Star Wars?! Dad! What did you do with the Star Wars tapes?") or discussing the latest developments in the Grangers' attempts to get a floo connection (On Catherine's recommendation, Emma had contacted a lawyer named Andi Tonks to deal with the fact that Bethany Edgecombe, Head Regulator of the Floo Network Authority, was apparently an outrageous bigot), but none of these things had anything to do with Catherine.
Lilian and Aerin returned from Spain on Thursday, and were immediately invited to join the muggleborn shopping trip on Saturday. Lilian agreed at once, but Aerin said she already had plans to go school shopping with Lara Zuthe, a fellow Ravenclaw, the following weekend. Hermione spent all of Friday morning trying to decide if this meant Aerin was still upset with her over the Veritaserum Plot. As much as Mary tried to comfort her friend, she suspected it did. The older Ravenclaw had not been pleased at all with the outcome of their plan.
Friday afternoon in particular was very noteworthy. Both of the Drs. Grangers were at their practice, even though it was supposed to be Emma's day off. Padraig, one of their junior partners, had called in sick. Dan had (rather reluctantly) told the girls to expect a witch called Devon Troy (whose sex, apparently, had been a great mystery for the better part of Hermione's summer) to drop by with a prototype of their magical generator. He seemed worried about the girls meeting the strange witch without himself or Emma present, but there was really nothing he could do about it at that point, since it was too late to re-schedule Devon's trip – Iris, their owl, would never reach her in time, and she was off on a trip to Emma's lawyer friend, anyway.
As Mary had learned over the course of the week, Devon was an enchantress who specialized in mechanical artificing – creating magical artifacts with lots of moving parts. Even better, her father was a mechanic, so she had a basic understanding of how engines and electrical generators worked. She was a friend of Bill Weasley, a wardcrafter and cursebreaker who had the dubious pleasure of being the twins' eldest brother.
Dan had been put in touch with the pair of them through Arthur Weasley, whom Xeno Lovegood had recommended when Dan asked if the eccentric publisher knew of anyone who would be interested in trying to overcome the problems of making magic and muggle technology work together. Apparently Mr. Weasley owned a flying car. He did not, however, know anything about electricity or how it interacted with wards and other enchantments, so he had forwarded Dan's letter to his son and peppered the muggle man with a flurry of questions about muggle life, including "What is the purpose of a rubber duck?" and "Why does air need conditioning?"
Dan had answered these queries with good humor, even going so far as to send the wizard a book on muggle home maintenance, but he had been far more interested in his correspondence with Bill. The younger wizard had explained that while some of the ideas he proposed for integrating magic into muggle life, like a chime that sounded when anyone who was intending to visit the Grangers entered their street, were completely feasible and relatively easy to accomplish, others were completely impossible. These included enchantments to cut down on manual cleaning by getting rid of dust and dirt in the carpets and for heating and cooling the house (such enchantments had to be worked into the structure of the building, and would wreak havoc with any electrics nearby, plus cleaning enchantments were considered more trouble than they were worth – it was less work to clean by hand); and spells to replace yardwork (not only were spells on living things tricky, delicate to maintain, and likely to kill all their grass outright instead of keeping it properly short, but it would look suspicious if no one ever mowed the Grangers' lawn).
The one idea that Bill said real merit and needed further development was the magically powered generator. It turned out that Dan had been absolutely correct – even if they put up wards worthy of one of the Old Families, as long as they were perimeter-based and didn't fill the space inside the building, electricity should work inside. This shouldn't be a problem, as most blanket wards were keyed to an individual witch or wizard, so they wouldn't work for the Grangers, anyway. (Dan had apparently been bluffing when he threatened to disinvite the Professor from the house – such a ward would never work for a muggle, as awesome as it sounded.) Bill had passed the generator idea on to Devon, who was more than happy to collaborate on the project. The two enchanters had quickly come up with a series of spells they thought should work to spin the rotor and insulate the primary enchantments from interference as electricity was produced.
Dan had visited Devon's workshop to see the model she had built on the same day Emma had fetched Mary back to the Grangers. It seemed to work on a small scale. Fabricating the pieces of the full-sized prototype had taken a bit longer, but it was finally done.
The witch, a short, thin woman whose movements reminded Mary of a bird, arrived at half two, carrying a small drawstring pouch which opened until it was more mouth than bag. This she set on the picnic table in the garden, and from it she heaved a large contraption of copper and magnets, set in a bluish steel frame. From it protruded several copper wires, roughly wrapped in muggle electrical tape and attached to what looked like a pair of standard wall outlets.
Hermione had, at Devon's request, brought a lamp outside to test the device. After warning the girls not to touch anything, the older witch had spoken the activation word, and the mass of copper began to spin, the occasional spark jumping from the coil to its cage. These looked more like magic than electricity, blue-green or red, rather than white. After running a few diagnostic tests (establishing, she explained, that nothing had gone wrong in transport and reading the ambient magical and magnetic fields in the area), Devon cautiously clicked on the lamp.
It worked, briefly. The light came on, and stayed on for nearly a minute. But then the bulb began to swell, balloon-like, and the stand of the lamp began to melt, dripping in rivulets like a strange, wooden candle. The enchantress killed the power at once, but the transfigurations didn't stop until the lamp had melted enough that the bulb could float free of its housing. It hovered at about head-height, still glowing, as Devon took notes excitedly.
She was still taking notes when three representatives of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad appeared with a coordinated crack at points surrounding the generator and the hovering balloon-bulb. Devon and Mary jumped, and Hermione let out a little eep of shock and fear. Mary nearly had her wand pointed at the nearest witch when one of her partners announced their official affiliation and ordered her to stand down. She did so reluctantly, not putting her wand away, but at least lowering it to point at the ground.
"Troy? Devon Troy?" the witch whom Mary had threatened apparently recognized the enchantress. "What in the name of Merlin's saggy left ball is going on here?"
"Myrna! Language!" the other strange witch reprimanded her.
"Who the bloody hell are all you people?" Hermione demanded of them. "And what are you doing in my garden?"
The wizard who had announced that they were an Accidental Magic Reversal Squad repeated himself, adding that "The one with the mouth like a jarvey over there is Myrna Wilkins. The stuck-up swot is Rose Parkinson, and I'm Kris Saunders. May I ask who I'm addressing?" he inquired, ducking Ms. Parkinson's swat at his head.
"Elizabeth and Hermione Granger," Hermione answered, "and I guess Ms. Wilkins already knows Miss Troy," she added, but this went unnoticed as Ms. Parkinson noticed Mary's scar, which she hadn't bothered to cover up for a quick trip out into the garden.
"You're Mary Potter!" she exclaimed. "What're you doing here? Pansy said you're living with old Minnie McGonagall!"
Mary had no idea where Pansy had heard that. (Well, actually, she could guess that it had to be Lilian, and they'd be having a talk about it later.) She blinked in confusion for a moment before she said, "I'm visiting a friend," as though this should be patently obvious.
"You're getting off track, Thorny," Ms. Wilkins interrupted. "Troy, why are you here, and what the bloody fuck did you do?"
Ms. Parkinson didn't bother correcting her partner's language this time, instead giving the enchantress a hard glare.
"What makes you think I did anything?" Devon asked cagily.
All three strangers pointed silently at the generator, and Ms. Wilkins added, "I did spend seven years in a dorm with you. This has Devon Troy written all over it."
Devon sighed. "Fine, yes, it was me. It needed to be tested in conditions where the ambient magic was undisturbed by regular magical practice!"
"So you thought you'd just bring it over to a muggle garden and light it up? What does this thing even do, anyway?" Mr. Saunders asked incredulously.
"I reserve the right not to discuss the artefact as it's still under development," Devon responded automatically.
"It's a magical-electric hybrid power source," Ms. Wilkins answered with a smirk, now peering at the generator from a safe distance.
"Do you have a technomancy permit?" Ms. Parkinson asked sharply.
"Of course I do!"
"Let's see it, then."
"Oh, for Merlin's sake! This isn't even your job!"
"We deal with all accidental magic," Mr. Saunders said, backing up his colleague. "Not just kids' stuff. Hand it over."
"Fine!" the enchantress huffed, and summoned a bit of parchment with several official-looking seals and stamps from the depths of her bag with a quick "Accio concessus!"
While the three witches argued over whether Troy had been outside the bounds of her permit to test her artefact outside her workshop, Hermione tried to get Mr. Saunders to explain exactly what had happened and why it had triggered the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad's intervention, despite the fact that Hermione and Mary were allowed to do simple spells on the Grangers' property.
"Well, it's not like that was a simple spell," he said, motioning at the still-hovering lightbulb and half-melted lamp. "It set off our sensors as being big, uncontrolled, and with a lot of unfocused magical discharge."
"What does that mean, though?" Hermione asked, clearly frustrated.
The man shot a look at his partners, and, apparently deciding that they had Devon well in hand, took a seat at the picnic table to try to explain more thoroughly. "You guys are, what, fourth-years?"
"Going into third," Mary answered.
"Right." He brushed a hand over his close-cropped hair in obvious frustration. "So, it's like this: wand magic, the sort of spells Flitwick and McGonagall teach, is tightly controlled, and doesn't make much impact on external magic outside of the intended effects. Same for wandless magic like Dumbledore sometimes uses. It's very precise and deliberate. There's wards on the house that detect anything like that. You mentioned you have some kind of exception, right?"
Hermione nodded.
"Well, that didn't actually disable the sensors, they would have just changed the range of effects that trigger the notification at the Underage Magic Office. You'd still get an owl if you tried to curse your parents or something." Mary nodded. She had heard Hermione complain about the fact that she could only practice up to third-year spells more than once.
"The next most common sort of magic, and most of what we deal with, is accidental, uncontrolled magic, where your power lashes out and rather clumsily creates the desired effects, but also makes major ripples in the natural magic of the area. We have a net up over the entire country to alert us to that kind of thing, because it's often that which comes closest to breaking the Statute. Plus it's how we identify muggleborns. If you have big, uncontrollable magic happening around you, you're going to need to go to school to learn how to control it."
"But I did loads of accidental magic before I came to Hogwarts, and I don't remember ever having a visit from the Magic Reversal Squad," Hermione objected.
"Me either," Mary confirmed.
Mr. Saunders had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Well, Miss Potter, you may not ever have gotten one. I'm not sure how they deal with muggle-raised purebloods. You could have already been on a list or something. But Miss Granger, it's likely your memory of your first several episodes of accidental magic were completely obliviated. We do that if the accident is spectacular enough or has far-enough-reaching consequences that it can't be otherwise explained or covered up, especially if the child isn't old enough to understand and keep the Statute." He ignored the girls' horrified looks. "Of course, most children do eventually begin to access magic without the extreme emotional upheaval that accompanies accidental magic, and that doesn't have nearly as much fallout, so it's largely ignored by our sensors."
"Like charming my teacher's hair blue?" Mary asked.
"Or making the lights flicker?" Hermione suggested.
Mr. Saunders nodded. "Things like that have less of a broad impact, but aren't… sharp enough, I guess you could say, to register as wand-magic. They look more like natural fluctuations in the ambient background magic."
Hermione nodded, and Mary, thinking of the very odd conversation she had had with Snape at the end of the previous year asked, "Like freeform magic?"
The wizard's eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline. "Yes, very much like freeform magic."
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"It's, erm… Something Snape mentioned to me last year. You were busy turning yourself into a cat," she added, when the indignant Ravenclaw looked to be about to ask why she hadn't said anything about it sooner.
"Oh," she said, flushing under the ministry official's questioning stare.
They were saved from having to explain that aside by the sudden arrival of a Ministry owl, which swooped into the garden, dropped a letter in front of Hermione, and then swooped away immediately.
Dear Ms. Granger, Mary read over Hermione's shoulder:
We have received intelligence that a Summoning Charm was used at your place of residence this afternoon at three minutes of three.
The Summoning Charm is classified as a grade-four spell, and is therefore not subject to your exception to the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. Said exception has accordingly been rescinded. Any further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1857, Paragraph C).
We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy.
Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,
Andrew Carson
IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE
Ministry of Magic
The doctors Granger returned home not long after the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad and Devon Troy departed to find their daughter in near-hysterics over the thought that she might be expelled from Hogwarts for something that wasn't even her fault. Mary, on the other hand, was rather anxious about the fact that the ministry officials now knew where she was. Her best defense in the muggle world was anonymity (and apparently anti-tracking spells), and they had rather ruined that.
Devon had written an affidavit admitting to casting the charm, and the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad had promised to deliver it and have a word with their department head (Accidental Magic and Improper Use of Magic were both in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement), but Hermione was unable to calm down without official assurances that her name and record had been cleared. She had made Mary put her wand in her trunk and had done the same herself, so they wouldn't forget and do a levitation charm or something by accident. This was probably a good idea, as Mary found her hand straying toward the pocket that normally held her wand more than once, itching to continue practicing her left-handed casting. It had taken her a shameful amount of time to get her wand out and pointed when the ministry officials had arrived.
Emma was rather irritated with Dan when she heard the story, since it was his guest who had set off the whole situation. She drafted a letter to the Improper Use of Magic Office and sent the recently-returned Iris back to Mrs. Tonks with a summary of the day's events, inquiring as to whether the Ministry could actually expel students. From the books she had read, it seemed they couldn't. The referenced paragraph only said that the ministry could recommend expulsion, and could refuse to allow a child to sit their OWL exams. After apologizing for the whole situation, Dan cooked quietly, keeping his head down around his irritated wife and worried daughter.
After dinner that evening, instead of researching wards or laws or electrical engineering, the rather tense and snappish Grangers sat down together to make their shopping lists (new uniforms, new books for classes, a dicta-quill for Mary) and discuss the Alley excursion the following day. They had been owling back and forth to Hogwarts all week, making arrangements and arguing about The Plan.
All of the muggleborns had long since RSVP'd to the trip – eighteen of them would be attending, with twenty-six assorted parents, guardians, and siblings, plus the Grangers and Mary, and Professors McGonagall, Burbage, Vector, Sinistra and Snape. Mary had some reservations about introducing Snape to the muggle parents – he wasn't really the most welcoming person on the staff and had, after all, been a Death Eater – but he was one of the youngest professors, and had been raised in the muggle world with Mary's mum, which meant he was probably better-suited than most to interact with actual muggles. Probably.
It had rather quickly been decided that the party would be split into seven groups, with one chaperone and at least two muggle parents per group. Emma had wanted each of the adults to cover a certain shop or set of shops, meeting up periodically, perhaps for lunch or ice cream. Mostly, she admitted to the girls, this was because she wanted a chance to talk to each of the muggle parents, not just the two or three in her group, but it would also be good if each of the families had a chance to talk to all of the professors, to ask any questions they might have about the school that the Grangers couldn't answer. The Professor had agreed, promptly delegating the whole planning process to the Grangers and Professor Sinistra.
According to Professor Sinistra, the Deputy Head was a bit overwhelmed, as she had put everything on hold to visit the muggleborns' families in the first place. She was currently buried under a mountain of ministry-mandated paperwork she had neglected throughout the course of July. It was left unsaid that Mary's running off and getting lost hadn't helped a bit with the Professor's workload, but she felt very bad anyway.
In any case, as the Astronomy professor wrote, with Professor McGonagall legitimately too busy and all the other professors involved claiming to be so as well, it fell to them to get everything organized for the trip. She had drawn a map of the Alley and marked out where each of the shops they would need to visit were located, and sent a list of the families attending, broken into the agreed-upon groups.
First would be the bank for everyone, they decided, since all of the new students and their parents would need to change pounds for galleons. Then each of the chaperones would take one of the groups to one of the shops. Professor Sinistra volunteered to cover both the astronomy instruments shop and a leather goods store, which sold book bags and wand holsters as well as the required gloves, and was conveniently located next door. Professor Snape had already called dibs on the Potioneering Supply Center, surprising no one who had met him. According to Professor Sinistra, none of the other professors really cared which shops they supervised, though it probably would be better if a witch were to cover Ollivanders'.
Neither Granger had a problem with this, as they both agreed with Mary that the old man was incredibly creepy. They did, however, have a bit of a row between themselves over which of them would be better suited to handle the bookstore part of the trip. Dan won, with the argument that the bookstore would be far too crowded and hectic for the sort of conversations he knew his wife wanted to have with the other muggle parents. They reported this decision to Professor Sinistra, who said she would make the other witches sort out who was to take care of which of the other stores, and let Emma know what was left.
As it transpired, the Muggle Studies professor ended up with robes, the Arithmancy professor with trunks and stationary, and the Deputy Head was to be stuck with the wandmaker for the day, leaving the pet shops for Emma. The new muggleborns and their families would proceed more or less in a circle around the Alley, moving from one to the next, armed with copies of Professor Sinistra's map.
The enormous party would assemble for lunch – Professor Burbage had made reservations for them at a popular café called the Glass Octopus – and for ice cream at Fortescue's midway through the afternoon (with an option on the tea shop next door for the adults), in addition to the initial meet-up at the Leaky Cauldron. They discussed a check-in at the end of the day as well, but decided that it would be more trouble than it was worth – the chaperones would simply have to check that whichever group they ended up with last had everything they needed.
Professor Vector had enchanted and owled anti-muggle-repelling amulets for all of the parents and siblings at the Grangers' suggestion, so that they could meet inside the Leaky, rather than as an enormous mob on the pavement in front of it. The Grangers had acquired their own such amulets weeks prior, and found that they dispelled the disreputable air that hung around the pub in a way that simply holding the girls' hands as they passed through the door didn't. Professor Burbage had volunteered to arrive early and wait outside to direct anyone who seemed lost.
That left only the decision of which group the girls would accompany. They wouldn't need to go to most of the stores the professors were supervising, but they did want to go to the pet stores – Mary was considering getting an owl of her own, and Hermione wanted a cat – and they both needed new books and quills and ink. They needed new robes and apparently shirtwaists and ties as well, but they wanted to go back to Peaseblossom and Puck's instead of Madam Malkin's.
Hermione thought that at thirteen and nearly fourteen, she and Mary should be allowed to explore the Alley by themselves. Lilian was to meet them at the Leaky Cauldron, and the three of them were definitely capable of buying robes by themselves. Unfortunately, as Dan pointed out, they were not necessarily capable of fighting off escaped convicts by themselves, especially given Mary's impaired arm, and the Professor, when Mary owled her, was not keen on the idea of her ward wandering the alley alone or with only muggle supervision, disguise or no disguise. She had sent back a rather short message in return (on Wednesday), that she would see what she could do, but with no further elaboration, the girls' plans were stuck in limbo.
Eventually Mary threw up her hands at the whole mess, and said that if she couldn't get what she needed, she might as well not go at all. The Grangers wouldn't hear of her not participating, though – Hermione because she wanted the younger girl's company and the adults because they had promised to return her to the Professor at the Leaky – so she resigned herself to tagging along, despite the fact that it seemed she was not to actually get any of her own shopping done, except maybe picking up that dicta-quill.
Between Hermione's anxiety, Mary's dissatisfaction with the unresolved plan, and the irritation still simmering between the doctors Granger, all of them were only too pleased to make an early night of it.
Saturday, 14 August 1993
Diagon Alley
The Grangers, with Mary in tow, arrived early to the Leaky Cauldron, at barely a quarter past eight. Professor Burbage was not yet waiting outside, so they went in and ordered tea to pass the time. The five professors arrived in short order, accompanied by three children who had to be new first-years and a phenomenally clumsy young woman with one green eye and one blue.
Professor Burbage slipped outside immediately, while Professors Vector and Snape, neither of whom were what might be considered morning people, excused themselves to threaten the barman for coffee. Professor Sinistra went with them to make sure they didn't actually follow through on their threats, cheerily telling her friends that they should have followed her lead, and just not gone to bed at all.
After exchanging greetings with the elder Grangers and expressing her appalled horror at Mary's new haircut ("It's a disguise, Aunt Minnie! Call me Elizabeth!"), the Professor introduced her ducklings as Kelsey Jefferson, John Shaw, Christine Wright and Nymphadora Tonks.
The first three were indeed new firsties, and seemed very reluctant to talk to any of them, clumping together shyly behind the Professor. Nymphadora flushed pink, all the way to the tips of her short, spiky, formerly brown hair, when she was introduced, and asked them to please just call her 'Tonks.'
"Any relation to Andromeda Tonks?" Emma had asked.
"Yeah, she's my mum. You know her?" The young woman looked surprised.
"She's been helping me with a couple of projects. But that would make you the auror-in-training she's so proud of, right?"
Tonks had flushed again at that, but nodded nevertheless as the Professor took over the conversation, explaining her presence.
"Indeed. I've asked Trainee Auror Tonks to accompany Ma – Elizabeth today to act as her security. I don't doubt your abilities as chaperones, you understand, but if Black's got a wand…" she explained delicately.
Both doctors Granger nodded at this. The Professor seemed relieved that Dan hadn't started yelling at her about anti-muggle prejudice again.
"We've taken precautions as well, Professor!" Hermione fairly bounced in place as she swept Mary's fringe aside to show that her scar was invisible.
"How…?"
"Muggle makeup, yeah?" Tonks guessed, peering closely at Mary's face. "And muggle hair color, too. Smart, that. Glamours are easy to break. Moody would approve."
"Who's Moody?" Mary asked, edging away from the witch's scrutiny.
"Senior Auror Alastor Moody. My mentor for training. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! It's kind of his thing."
"Erm… okay, then. There's one other part of the disguise," she added, ignoring the excitable auror cadet. "I'm going by the name Elizabeth Granger today."
"Granger, Granger, Granger," her bodyguard repeated. "Does that mean you lot are all Grangers, too?" she asked suddenly, drawing attention to the fact that introductions had only been half-completed, just in time for the other professors to return, steaming mugs in hand.
Dan, Emma, and Hermione introduced themselves (the former to the professors as well as the auror-in-training), and after a quick explanation of metamorphmagi – witches and wizards who could change their appearance at will – Tonks assumed a disguise of her own, her suddenly-chestnut hair growing longer and curlier to match Hermione's and her skin darkening to a tone halfway between Mary's impossible-to-tan paleness and the warm brown Hermione had brought back from France, while her eyes became a brilliant green. "There!" she said happily, "Now I can tag along without looking out of place!"
Hermione, who had been debating the likelihood of this idea's success with Mary over the course of the older girl's transformation, immediately announced, "I have a better idea!"
All of the adults stared at her momentarily, surprised at the sudden outburst, though most of the professors were quickly distracted by the arrival of a woman who looked about as old as Tonks and Catherine, and a boy who couldn't possibly be her son, both dressed in muggle clothing. "Um, excuse me," the young woman said, "but is this the Hogwarts group?"
"Go on," Emma said, raising an eyebrow at her excitable daughter.
("Indeed," Snape drawled, looking down his nose scornfully at the woman's jeans and worn trainers. She glared at him, and Professor Sinistra said, "Oh, shut up and drink your coffee, Snape. Yes, this is the Hogwarts group. Aurora Sinistra, Astronomy Professor.")
"Well, since Tonks is here to keep an eye out for trouble," the auror trainee gave them a mock-salute, "and we – Mary, Lilian, and I – don't really need to go to all the shops, we could do our shopping with Tonks, and jump between groups whenever we wanted!"
("How do you do? I'm Fiona Campbell, and this is my brother, Morgan.")
"And we could go to Peaseblossom and Puck's," Mary added, "and spend more time looking at the animals and going to the bookstore even though it's just Emma and Dan there."
"Pleeeeease?" Hermione begged, fixing her father with her best puppy-dog eyes.
He caved, as expected. "It's alright with me if it's alright with the ladies?" he said, nodding at Tonks, who would have to take full responsibility for the girls all day.
"Fine by me!" she said cheerily.
Emma nodded, and the Professor looked a bit uncomfortable, but, after a moment's hesitation, gave her consent as well, just in time to greet the Campbells before the arrival of a family of three.
"I've told you Ophie, it was classified! I couldn't tell you!" the man hissed at the woman as they entered Mary's earshot.
"John Fredrick Taylor, I am your wife! If you know something that affects our son or our family, I expect you to tell me, classified or not!"
The boy cleared his throat. "Mum! Dad!"
The Grangers introduced themselves as they awaited the next arrivals. Mary eavesdropped as she could, listening to Hermione ask Tonks questions about metamorphmagi with one ear while the Taylors, Campbells, and Grangers got acquainted in the other.
The young wizards, Morgan Campbell and Patrick Taylor, seemed to become instant friends, based only on their shared age and recent introduction to the wizarding world, and pulled each other off to the side of the group, discussing their favorite comic books and TV shows. The adult Taylors ceased arguing only long enough to introduce themselves before Ophelia returned to haranguing John about his work – which he claimed was as assistant to a minor government official.
Lilian arrived next, practically jumping out of the floo, and nearly bowling Mary and Hermione over in her enthusiasm to catch them up on her trip to Spain before realizing that Professors Snape, Sinistra, and McGonagall were watching her, at which point she went very red and greeted them properly.
Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and excused himself to fetch more coffee, muttering about how it was far too early to deal with students, despite the fact that he regularly taught eight o'clock classes at Hogwarts.
Mary and Hermione introduced Lilian to Tonks and outlined their hastily constructed plan for the day, which she agreed to, with the addition of a trip to a Quality Quidditch Supplies, because she needed a new pair of chaser's gloves.
While they had been talking, they missed the arrival of three more families: a group of four with two daughters, only one of whom was old enough for Hogwarts; another group of four with a boy and a girl who both looked like they were about Hogwarts age; and a family of six with two boys and two girls – the Murrays, Mary thought. If she remembered the list correctly, they were the only family who were large enough to warrant their own group.
Two mothers arrived almost at the same time, a harassed, blowsy-looking woman called Mary MacBrady with her daughter Lorna, and Maura Wilson, a divorcee in a sharp suit, with her son David Rhees.
While Lorna MacBrady and the other children, whose names Mary hadn't caught, seemed pleased enough to join the established cliques – the boys and girls, with the exception of Professor McGonagall's Ducklings, had separated themselves, whether by accident or design – to chatter about their experiences with this new world of magic and their favorite muggle hobbies, David instead approached the trio of older girls. He made no move to introduce himself, but stood close enough to look like he was part of their group, shooting what Mary thought might be envious looks at the Ducklings, still lurking quietly out of the way, near the Professor.
"Hey, Rhees!" Lilian called after a moment, "Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?"
The boy rolled his eyes. "It's Dave. And I'm not eavesdropping, I'm just trying not to look antisocial."
All the girls laughed at this. "You could try actually not being antisocial," Hermione suggested. "There's a whole group of boys over there you could talk to."
"Nah, they're talking about X-Men. Not really my thing."
"What is your thing?" Mary asked, slightly intrigued by the boy who didn't want to look antisocial. She wondered if this was how the girl who said to call her Elizabeth had seemed to Morgana on her own first visit to the Alley.
The boy shrugged. "Dunno. Not comics. Are you all Hogwarts students?" he asked, looking interested for the first time since he joined them.
"Yeah, what did you think? They're just letting a bunch of muggle teenagers hang around?" Lilian replied. "I'm Lilian Moon, Slytherin. This is Elizabeth, and Hermione Granger. Liz is in Slytherin with me, and Hermione's a Ravenclaw. We're all third years."
"What's… Slytherin? And Raven… Ravenclaw, did you say?"
Hermione's impromptu lecture on the school houses was cut short by Professor McGonagall calling for their attention. Everyone else had apparently arrived, their group having expanded from the corner where the Grangers had originally been sitting to fill almost all the seats in the thankfully-otherwise-nearly-empty pub.
Professor Burbage was standing next to Professor McGonagall with a scroll in hand, and proceeded to read off the groups, ending with: "David Rhees, Patrick Taylor, and Samuel Watson, you and your families will be with me!"
Then there was a two-minute period of absolute chaos as the families sorted themselves out, all talking at once and trying to shift positions to stand nearer their designated chaperone. One of the younger siblings, a child no older than three, was separated from her parents and began to cry. Lilian picked her up and stood on a chair to ask who she belonged to, just as her parents must have noticed she was gone and asked Professor Vector for help. The arithmancy professor put a mass silencing charm on the group so she could make herself heard saying, "Anyone seen -" Professor McGonagall, however, almost immediately dispelled the charm… which was not quite in time to stop parents from at least three different families panicking. When their voices returned, they were screaming in various tones of anger and fear.
Professor McGonagall pulled Professor Vector aside to harangue her for her decision, either behind her own privacy charm, or too quietly for Mary to overhear as Professors Burbage and Sinistra soothed the frightened parents. Professor Snape, Mary noted, was nursing what had to be his third cup of coffee and silently observing the chaos in a generally unhelpful way.
A boy of about seven dragged his older brother over to Lilian's chair and tugged on her robes, calling up to her, "That's my sister! Kelly!"
The little girl looked down and immediately began struggling to reach the boys, unbalancing Lilian, who very nearly fell off the chair before she could set the child down.
"Thanks," the older boy shouted over the din as the girl threw herself at the younger one.
"No problem," Lilian grinned.
All of them startled badly as Professor Sinistra set off a noise like a gunshot, and silence fell over the crowd again, save for the wailing of a baby and Professor Snape's extraordinarily sarcastic, "If you're all quite finished…"
"Kelly! She's gone!" the girl's mother said, and her father added in a much more exasperated tone, "Now the boys've run off, too. Jack! Henry! Where are you?"
"Over here, dad!" the older boy called back, and led his siblings through the crowd.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly. "Right, then. We're headed up the high street to the bank – large, white marble building, colonnaded. Can't miss it. Follow on, now!" Apparently she had decided that it would be for the best to just soldier on.
They proceeded through the tunnel into the Alley and turned toward Gringott's. Mary couldn't wait to get away from the crowd of first-years and their parents. From what she recalled, there were only about forty of them, but as they paraded through Diagon, with parents trying desperately to maintain their hold on small children even as their own heads swiveled this way and that, drawn by the strange sights and sounds of its wonders, and professors putting various degrees of effort toward keeping everyone on track, she would have sworn there were at least twice that many.
At Gringott's, Lilian cut to the front of the line to make a withdrawal while Professors McGonagall and Vector and the Drs. Granger explained the exchange rate (still five pounds to a galleon) and how to deal with goblins (politely). She returned, jingling her coin purse as the first group of anxious-looking parents approached the tellers. The goblins were grinning in a way Mary suspected was calculated to make their customers nervous, intentionally barring their very pointy teeth.
"Okay!" the brassy-haired Slytherin said breathlessly, rejoining her friends, "I'm ready!"
Hermione laughed. "Let me just tell mum we're leaving."
"I should tell the Professor, too, I guess," Mary admitted, looking around to see where she had gone.
A scant minute later, the three girls, shadowed by their attentive trainee-auror guard, burst out of the main doors of the bank, cheering their freedom. After several minutes visiting the nearest kiosks just because they could, they made their way through the crowded streets to Mary's favorite tailor shop.
The hobs were not pleased with her cast. After she explained that she would need the robes fitted as though she didn't have it, because it would be coming off as soon as she got back to Hogwarts, they spent twenty minutes arguing amongst themselves about, Mary presumed, the best way to fit her. Eventually, the lead hob decided that they would mirror the right and left sides, and slice open all of the right sleeves while they adjusted the fit. They would then repair all of the right sleeves. There would be an extra fee for the inconvenience, which, Mary hastened to assure the small creatures, she would be only too happy to pay. Their work was amazing – she didn't mind the extra charge if it meant she didn't have to go back to Madam Malkin's off-the-rack uniforms.
The only bad part about the hobs' method of tailoring, as far as Mary was concerned, was that she had to try on each garment individually. Madam Malkin's assistants had pinned one robe or shirt to fit, then created duplicates to the pattern of the first. Unfortunately, in addition to her new school robes, which were cut lower in the front to reveal the collar of her shirtwaist and her tie, and fitted more closely in the bodice, she also needed several new casual robes (for it was not appropriate for a witch of thirteen to wander about in her underthings), the shirtwaists themselves, and undershirts, as well as new bloomers, skirts, and, of all embarrassing things, bras. (Personally she didn't think she needed the last yet, but Emma and Catherine had both made comments to the effect that she would need one very soon, so she had best get them now.) She supposed she was lucky that her hob-made clothes would grow with her, so she could get them now and not worry about them for the rest of the year, but that didn't mean she was looking forward to stripping in front of the little creatures, or, since they were helping with her cast, Hermione and Lilian. At least Tonks had agreed to stand guard outside the door, after establishing that the girls were the only humans in the shop.
Thankfully, the only comment either of her friends made about her skinny frame was to remark on the tattoo which had appeared during her birthday ritual, and ask whether she had found out anything about it yet. The answer, of course, was no – she hadn't even given it much thought since owling the two of them and discovering that neither had had their own strange symbol appear during their rituals, aside from occasionally being surprised to see it in the mirror. Hermione gave her a reproving look for her apparent indifference, and said, with a sigh, that she would look into it.
On seeing the bloomers the hobs insisted were appropriate for a girl her age (which actually looked like bloomers, with fitted cuffs and waists that laced closed, instead of just the loose, pajama-style trousers they had given her the year before), Mary insisted on three pairs of actual trousers as well. The trousers were not so terribly different, save that they reached her ankles instead of the top of her calves, and felt substantial enough that she wouldn't feel under-dressed wearing them without robes.
Slytherin crests for the school robes, two green-striped ties (one spare, on Hermione's recommendation, in case the first was dirty or misplaced), and nametags affixed to everything, as well as a stack of spare nametags to attach to her muggle clothing, completed Mary's order. Watching the crests and nametags attach themselves was particularly interesting – under the hobs' magic, the patches seemed to root themselves to the robes, and the thread to embroider her name moved like ink, spreading tiny black tendrils out into the white of the tags, spelling ME Potter over and over.
She successfully hid her wince on realizing exactly how much the extra fee for inconveniencing the hobs amounted to, and waited patiently while Hermione and Lilian had their own fittings. Thankfully the hobs were able to do them simultaneously, now that they were done helping Mary. She watched, still fascinated, as the tailors worked their magic over her friends, and with a good deal of embarrassment as they were fitted for their own undergarments: Hermione, taller than Mary, but a good deal shorter than Lilian, looked very curvy and grown-up in comparison to herself, and Lilian, who, like Mary, was still rather flat and boyish, had visible muscles in her abs, as well as her arms and legs.
Lilian, predictably, called Hermione chubby, and the latter responded with a quick crack about pumping iron over the summer. Lilian rather uncharacteristically took this at face value, admitting pseudo-casually that yeah, she might have been working out a bit. She was determined to make the starting line-up for Quidditch this year.
Discussions of Quidditch and whether they would even be able to play, given the punishment Snape still held over their heads, carried them through the rest of their fitting, and a stop at Daily's, the cobbler, too. Mary's boots weren't in nearly as bad of shape as they had been the year before, since she now had other shoes to swap with them, but they were still her favorite, and it showed in their wear.
Their last stop before lunch was Scrivener's. All three of them needed new notebooks and fresh rolls of parchment, replacement ink and quills, and in Mary and Hermione's cases, new nibs for their fountain pens. Both of them had learned to manage a quill over the past two years, but pens were still more convenient, so far as they were concerned. Mary had also decided, about two days into this whole broken arm business, that she desperately needed a dicta-quill, if only so she would be able to write Hermione and Lilian for the last two weeks of summer. She spent several long minutes staring at the different options before selecting one with a sleek, black-lacquered "quill" and a silver nib (despite Lilian's suggestion that she take the acid-green 'kwik-quotes' version). It was more expensive than she had hoped, but it would be worth it to be able to keep in touch, especially if she could set it to take notes for her in Binns' class as well.
Professor Vector and had had a new group of muggle families arrive just before the girls, so once their decisions had been made, they were able to spend the rest of their time talking animatedly about school houses (Hermione) and eavesdropping on the muggle parents (Lilian and Mary).
The Slytherins had more fun, Mary thought, though she suspected their know-it-all friend might not have agreed. They learned that Susan Angau, Sam Watson's aunt and guardian, was a pediatrician and what Lilian called a skeptic – the sort of person who refused to believe that magic was real, even when it was staring them right in the face. She kept muttering to the Taylors about how illogical it all was, and wondering if it wasn't too late to move to the Americas and get away from all this weirdness, which Mary thought boded ill for her nephew. Sam seemed unconcerned, however, marveling at the wonders of magic with Patrick, delightedly pointing out strange sights as they caught his eye. The Taylors, for their part, seemed to be too wrapped up in their own argument to give Ms. Angau the slightest notice.
Dave was the one who had cornered Hermione, asking her to finish what she had been telling him earlier about the Houses. Ms. Wilson, his mother, had joined them after a few minutes, asking rapid-fire, practical questions about things like laundry services, how many classes were held per day, and how many hours per week, what kind of extra-curricular activities were available, and whether the hospital wing did an adequate job of treating minor illnesses. When Hermione suggested that perhaps the professors or her parents might be able to answer these questions better, the woman waved a hand impatiently. "Nonsense. I want a student's opinion." Hermione had fairly glowed with pleasure – she was so rarely sought out for her opinion, especially by adults – and began rattling off the answers at once.
The only word to describe lunch was chaotic.
The restaurant had reserved their entire upstairs for the party of fifty-five. The adults had three tables, and had split themselves into two camps – those who were interested in the magical world, and those who were not. Those who were interested were eagerly questioning their chaperones while they waited for their food to arrive. Dan looked to be nearly as much in his element as Hermione, as he chattered animatedly about all the things he had learned about magic in the past two years.
The kids had four tables – girls, boys, little siblings, and third-years. Tonks, who had been remarkably stealthy all morning for someone who had managed to trip over her own feet twice and elbow an elderly wizard's toast into his face between the Leaky Cauldron's floo and the table where Mary and the Grangers had been waiting, had elected to sit with the girls. Fiona Campbell, a university student who was acting as her half-brother's guardian, asked to join them as well, probably because Tonks was the only person in the crowd anywhere near her age.
Kelsey Jefferson and Christine Wright, two of McGonagall's ducklings, also joined the third-years, though they hardly spoke, obviously uncomfortable with the crowd of strangers. Mary could easily understand that, having been in a similar position only two years before, when Hermione alone was a bit too much to handle. She accordingly distracted their older table-mates from trying to draw the Ducklings into conversation, and was rewarded with a grateful smile from the Jefferson girl.
The two older girls, with a few questions from Mary, managed to strike up a lively conversation about their relative courses of study, Tonks seemingly very interested in what exactly a computer did, and Fiona equally interested in the examinations Tonks was studying for at the end of summer. To Mary's complete lack of surprise, the auror trainee was concerned about Stealth and Tracking, but said she had Concealment and Disguise in the bag. Mary, for one, found this conversation fascinating – she knew almost nothing about computers or how the wizarding equivalent of police worked, but Hermione and Lilian were quickly distracted by arguing with each other about whether they should visit the bookstore or the Quidditch supply center next.
Around the time the adults started trying to divvy up the bill, the persistent Dave slipped away from his own table and took up the empty place at the older girls'. Much to Mary's surprise, his target this time was not Hermione, but Mary and Lilian. "You guys are Slytherins, right?"
"Yeah," Mary said, uncertain of where this opening gambit might lead.
"So that means you're the practical ones, right?"
Hermione snorted with laughter, but Lilian cheerfully said, "More practical than Jeanie, anyway. Why?"
"Well…" the boy hesitated.
"Well what?" Mary asked.
"WhatdoIneedtoknowbeforeIgettoschool?" he asked in a single, rushed breath.
"Merlin's beard," Lilian giggled, "It's like Creevey all over again."
"Take a breath and try that again," Hermione advised.
Dave did. "What do I need to know before I get to school? Hermione's told me about the houses and teachers and classes, but… what do I need to know so I'll fit in?"
Mary and Lilian exchanged a look. Lilian shrugged, and Mary said, "Why not?"
The older Slytherin sighed. "Alright, kid, here's the deal. The first thing you need to know that no one will tell you is that there's this thing called the Truce…"
About halfway through Mary's gleeful, third-person skewering of the Mary Potter legend, Professor McGonagall announced that it was time to go. This was just as well, because it meant that Dave had no chance to ask why Lilian, Hermione, and Tonks were unsuccessfully trying to hide their amusement at one of the most important tragedies in recent wizarding history. They promised to tell the boy more over ice cream as he was dragged away by his mother.
Hermione had won the debate about where to go next with the argument that if she had a new book to read, she wouldn't be nagging them to hurry up while they were in the Quidditch shop, so the girls headed off to the bookstore.
Mary was considering the rather crumpled booklist she had retrieved from the depths of a pocket, comparing it to Lilian's. Most of their books were the same, for their shared core classes, Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. Lilian also needed Unfogging the Future for Divination, and Mary's list had Numerology and Grammatica, Algebra for Arithmancy, and Arithmantic Logic. Hermione didn't have her official list, but said that she had decided to get all of the books for all of the courses, arguing that there was no reason she couldn't read up on the other subjects, even if she wasn't able to take all of the classes.
The other girls had no luck in getting her to admit which subjects she had finally had to drop, and gave up pestering her when they reached the shop. Their sudden distraction could be attributed to the new and unusual window display. The fancifully bound and illuminated books which generally graced the window had been replaced by a large, iron cage containing about a hundred copies of a green and brown book. The mad things were flapping their covers wildly, grappling with each other and trying to bite curious patrons through the bars. A shop attendant was watching the children carefully, and smacking their hands when they reached for the vicious books.
Lilian sniggered and wondered aloud when Flourish and Blotts started carrying books that clearly belonged down Knockturn Alley. Neither Hermione nor Mary could answer, though Hermione noted that the cage definitely hadn't been there a month prior.
The first five books on their list, for Charms, DADA, Transfiguration, and Potions, were bundled together and easily located at a display near the registers, but they would have to hunt for the required books for electives. They headed toward the Divination section first, and after a bit of looking, found two copies of the required text on high shelf. Hermione flipped through it, saying things like, "Ooh, look, there's a section on scrying," and "Goodness, I hope we're not really going to do that!" as she trailed the Slytherins to the Runes shelves.
The Runes texts were easier to find, a whole shelf of them located right at eye level, but they spent nearly twice as long in that section, anyway, looking at introductory manuals for enchanting and wardcrafting. Neither of the Slytherins had forgotten that they had only one year to figure out how to ward their bedrooms, and it was rumored that Professor Babbling was not very big on the practical side of Runes until NEWT level.
Two of the Arithmancy books were easy to locate, but the third evaded them for nearly twenty minutes before they found a copy tucked in a corner, behind a much larger tome. Once they knew what it looked like, it was much easier to spot others, lurking in odd spots along the shelves. Mary wished, not for the first time, that the bookstore would invest in a better system of organization.
The Muggle Studies section was organized by color, for instance. Hermione located that class's books quickly enough, but that was probably more due to the pathetically small size of the section than their navy and lavender covers.
Finally, the only book left on their lists was the Monster Book of Monsters. They searched high and low through the Care of Magical Creatures and Magizoology sections, paying special attention to the larger books, but when half an hour's hunting failed to locate it, they turned to a shopkeeper for help. He went a bit pale as he led them back to the front of the store and the iron cage.
"We need three, Carl," he said to the poor wizard guarding the cage.
Carl blanched and cursed his manager under his breath, but he grabbed a knobbly cane and carefully approached the door.
The books went wild. Mary thought they might be able to sense his fear, but she was happy that she wouldn't have to fetch her book herself. She was beginning to worry about Care of Magical Creatures. There was a new professor this year, and though she didn't know who it was, whoever had assigned this book had to be even crazier than old Kettleburn.
The shopkeeper kicked viciously at the books as they tried to bite his ankles and hands. He batted one of them across the cage hard enough to (apparently) knock it out, and it was set upon by its fellows, allowing him the distraction needed to swipe up three copies, pinning them closed against his chest with both arms.
"Get the door, Gus!" he shouted at his coworker, who fumbled with the latch. "Gus! Let me out of here right now!" He kicked away yet another book, as the mass of them tore into the fallen copy, loose pages flying everywhere. "Shite!" He hadn't been paying attention, and one copy had managed to propel itself into the air, latching onto the poor man's arse. "Get it oooooff!"
Gus finally had the door open, and took the cane to whack the offending book, slamming the door closed as soon as Carl escaped. "Come on, then, up to the counter," he said, sounding exhausted. Gus was left to take up his place guarding the Monster books. The three copies in Carl's arms were still struggling.
"Dorothy, get these girls rung up asap so I can hand these off," he said, nodding at the girls' armloads of books. She did as he asked, quickly totaling their purchases. Once their other books were bagged and they were each able to hold their own book closed, Gus tied them shut with copious amounts of twine, all the while complaining about publishers who shipped wild books loose and owners who refused to invest in individual cages. Finally, he warned the girls that the longer the books were tied shut, the angrier they would get. He had been advising everyone who bought a copy to head over to Eeylops and get an owl cage to keep it in.
Since they were planning to visit the pet stores anyway, later in the afternoon, the girls agreed to take this under advisement. Their actual shopping done, Mary and Hermione browsed the new releases for a few minutes, ignoring Lilian's pleas to go to the Quidditch store. She shut up when Dan appeared out of nowhere, asking how their day was going, in favor of complaining about their vicious new textbooks, but when Raven Anderson and her step-father Charlie joined them to ask why all these books were so old-fashioned, she took the opportunity to drag her friends away, calling "Bye, Mr. Granger," over her shoulder.
As they slipped through the crowd, Mary heard Dan say, "…it's called 'Why parchment? A Guide to Wizarding Anachronisms.' I'll ask Brian if they've got another copy…"
About halfway to Quality Quidditch Supplies, which had an enormous crowd around its display window, Hermione remembered that she had agreed to pick up a few things for the twins. She ducked into Brown's Apothecary without giving Lilian a chance to object. Mary and Lilian, both of whom were now eager to see what was going on at the Quidditch shop, followed reluctantly as she meandered around the store, poking at different ingredients and holding them up to the light. She even smelled a batch of frog spawn, before glaring at the shopkeeper and demanding to know if that was what he considered fresh. Fortunately, the man at the counter seemed more amused than offended by the thirteen-year-old witch glaring down her nose at him, and pointed her toward a different barrel altogether with a wink and a nod. After that, he and Hermione dickered over prices for nearly fifteen minutes before coming to an agreement.
By the time the girls left the Apothecary, Hermione had half a dozen packets of magically sealed, stasis-charmed ingredients, and they had only seven minutes to get back to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, which meant they definitely didn't have enough time to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies and have a look-see. Mary and Lilian were rather put out, and refused to speak to Hermione all through their break. After telling them at length how immature they were behaving, Hermione stomped off to talk to the Hallinans – the family with Hogwarts-aged twins – with her father, while Mary and Lilian gave Dave a crash course in Things Not to Do at Hogwarts, beginning with "Don't call older students by their first names," and "Don't raise your hand in class," and running all the way through, "Don't try to sneak a dragon off the top of the astronomy tower at midnight."
That last bit of advice had a very curious Tonks inquiring as to what the girls got up to at school, and necessitated a recounting (in hushed voices, so as not to distress the muggle parents) of the story of the Norbert the female dragon and Hagrid's ill-fated attempts to mother her. Tonks had seemed rather wary and appalled at first, but by the time they described Professor Snape's reaction to the whole situation (after looking around cautiously to ensure he wasn't behind them), she was nearly doubled over laughing. "Oh, Merlin, that's hilarious. Did you ever owl Charlie after? He'd have got a kick out of it! I can just see old Snape taking points for getting caught. And Malfoy, Morgan and Mordred, I can just imagine his pointy little face, getting told off by his Head of House like that! Got to wonder if he told Narcissa…" Dave just listened with an expression caught somewhere between complete incredulity and wide-eyed awe.
In short order, the groups were re-formed, and headed off in different directions. Hermione rejoined her friends, following along as they finally reached the Quidditch shop. Lilian grabbed her gloves, and then she and Mary joined the crowd of young wizards and witches clamoring around the newest display model broom in the store: the Firebolt.
It was gorgeous, the handle a pale, golden ash, carved to perfection and polished sleek. The tail was made up of individually shaped birch twigs, only slightly redder than the handle, bound in place by bands of gold, folded and curved around to create a perfectly aerodynamic brush. It was, hands down, the most beautiful thing Mary had ever seen. Best of all, it claimed an acceleration of 150 mph in ten seconds. She could only dream of moving that fast. Her Nimbus 2001 normally topped out at around half that speed, though she was certain that she had broken 110 in a Suicide Dive last spring (a feat which she had only accomplished by accelerating straight down from 500 meters, and which Flint had forbidden her to ever try again).
The Irish International Quidditch team was rumored to have bought a full set of them for their World Cup bid. Mary hoped they would make it through. She planned to go see the final, which would be held almost exactly a year from now somewhere in Britain, and it would be brilliant to see a whole team of Firebolts in action. She and Lilian were happily debating the merits of having all your players on the same type of broom when Hermione finally interrupted them.
"You've been staring at this thing for over half an hour. Can we go yet?"
"It's not a thing!" the Slytherins chorused, as half the customers in the shop turned to look at their friend incredulously.
"This broom, then. Whatever."
With much sighing, the girls left the shop. Mary didn't have the heart to inquire after the price. She was certain she could afford it, but it would probably empty her whole trust vault. The Nimbus had been expensive enough, and it wasn't anywhere near the quality of the Firebolt. It would be better to just avoid the temptation.
The girls caught up with Emma and her group at the Magical Menagerie, as Emma finished explaining to Mr. and Mrs. Moore the wizarding post system, and the pros and cons of the different pets allowed at Hogwarts. The children were already off, looking at crup puppies and puffskeins and a vast array of kittens.
The Grangers had agreed that at nearly-fourteen, with two full years of classes under her hat, Hermione was now old enough to take care of a pet, and had given their permission for their daughter to obtain a cat. She gravitated at once to the few adult cats in the shop, claiming that she had no patience for kittens. Lilian said she was crazy.
"I'm a dog person through and through, Jeanie, and even I think these guys are adorable," she teased, playing with a piebald bit of fluff and a spare bootlace someone had left in their cage.
Hermione just shook her head. "I want a cat that's grown-up and smart enough to be a good familiar. Part-kneazle, maybe, if I could find one."
At that, the witch at the counter, who had been shamelessly listening to their conversation, interrupted, saying that she had just the cat. His name was Crookshanks. He was an enormous, bow-legged, ginger beast with a squashed, grumpy-looking face. He walked right up to Hermione when she held out her hand and butted against it, purring loudly. Ten minutes later, they were leaving the store with Crookshanks in a basket.
Their last stop for the day was Eeylops, the Owl Emporium. It was just next-door from the Menagerie, and the last group of kids and their parents, the Murray family, had already moved in to explore it, quietly approaching the softly hooting birds and questioning the attendant about their training and care, while Emma discussed whether it was really worth it to get an owl with Mr. Murray. The answer, of course, was yes. Emma and Dan had decided that with as many letters as they were sending lately, they actually needed a second one.
Mary found a medium-sized female tawny that nibbled curiously at her fingertips, and was quite gentle and affectionate when Mary held out her left arm as a perch, gripping just hard enough to steady herself, mindful of her talons. She carefully fluttered up to Mary's shoulder and began preening her hair, to Hermione and Lilian's amusement.
After paying for the owl (and her cage, a box of treats, a set of thongs to tie letters to her ankles, and three extra cages for the Monster books), the girls headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to wait for the other groups and debate names for her.
Hermione suggested mythological names, like Pallas and Arianrhod, while Lilian listed off common messenger-related names, like Gabriella, Hermia, and Angelica. Tonks offered up what seemed like all of the Roman empresses and half of the minor Greek goddesses before they settled on Eirene, a goddess of peace. When the girls asked how she knew so many Classical names, the auror cadet glowered and said that if they had been called 'Nymphadora,' they would have spent a lot of time thinking about changing it too, which they all had to admit was very true.
Shortly after the decision was reached, Professor McGonagall rejoined them, seeing her group out the front of the pub with a reminder that they would receive a letter regarding the train in a few weeks' time. The Professor looked more than ready to go home. Mary didn't blame her. If she had had to deal with Ollivander all day, she would have given up long ago. Dan's group was next. He was escorting the Moores, a girl named Meghan Murphy, and McGonagall's male Duckling, John Shaw. The Professor bustled off to reclaim her charge and, presumably, to ensure that the unaccompanied Meghan knew how she was getting home. It might have been Mary's imagination, but she thought the older witch seemed pleased to get away from Ms. Angau, who was still denying the magic all around her.
Several groups arrived, then, in quick succession, Professors Sinistra, Vector, and Burbage obviously having escorted their charges back to the Owl Emporium to pick up their birds, since each group had at least one owl with them that Mary definitely did not recall having made an appearance at lunch. The families thanked the professors with varying degrees of sincerity and their children – even the younger ones – swore to call each other, with the older ones grinning like loons and calling "See you at Hogwarts!" as they followed their parents out the front door.
Professor Snape came in next, in the middle of what sounded like a surprisingly civil conversation with Mrs. Hallinan about recent history in the wizarding world. Mary was instantly disappointed that she hadn't been able to hear more of what he had been saying, because she'd had the impression that the Hallinans were not very impressed with the magical world, but also because she thought it must be either hilarious or seriously impressive to watch Snape explain Voldemort's war to muggles, and she suddenly very much needed to know which.
Emma's group was last, arriving just at half four, chattering amicably and admiring Kelsey Jefferson's new owl. Fiona Campbell exchanged telephone numbers with Mr. Mitchell and reminded Tonks that she had promised to owl the muggle girl the next time she and her auror cadet friends were making a night of it in Town before she and her brother left. Maura Wilson had apparently only lingered to have a few more words with Emma. They exchanged what looked like business cards, and then Maura and Dave were on their way as well.
Finally it was down to the Grangers, Mary, Lilian, the professors and the ducklings. Lilian said her farewells and dived back through the floo to her parents' house, and after a bit of discussion, Professor McGonagall and Mary accompanied the Grangers back to their car to fetch her trunk while the ducklings followed the other professors back to Hogwarts. It was duly shrunk, along with all Mary's packages, and tucked into the Professor's voluminous pockets, at which point Professor McGonagall decided it would be best not to attempt to side-along apparate both a child and an owl, so they trooped back to the Leaky to use the floo. Several very dizzy seconds later, they arrived at the Urquhart Mansion, where a very relieved Catherine was waiting.
The older girl did a double-take at Mary's hair, and the Professor explained their plan of disguise as she emptied her pockets of Mary's purchases. Catherine tisked, but said she was glad the plan had apparently succeeded. Finally, the Professor floo'd back to Hogwarts, and Mary was sent to settle her purchases and her now-ruffled owl in her room (with the help of the nursery elf, since she still couldn't use her right arm).
It was, Mary thought, the longest day she had had in quite some time.