Changing Times
Chapter Two
Charlie looked about her in awe. Everywhere, something magic was going on, people were talking about prices of cauldrons and discussing magical politics. She even heard a group of boys talking about brooms. Her eyes lit up, and she began to move towards them, even as one of the taller ones gave her a look that could kill an elephant.
Professor Sinistra steered her away gently towards another building. It was huge, and made of white marble, which would have been impressive enough in itself, but the entire structure also looked as if it were held together by magic.
"First stop, Gringrotts," she said. Charlie didn't know what Gringrotts was, but she assumed that it was whatever was in the large white building. "We need to pick up your money."
"But, I have my money here, Professor." She held out her purse, inside which were a few pound coins and an old sweet wrapper. Professor Sinistra laughed.
"My dear, in the wizarding world, we have our own currency. I'll teach you when we get to your vault."
"My vault?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes," the Professor replied. "Your great-uncle was a wizard, and a pretty powerful one at that. He left you a lot of money." Charlie frowned.
"I never met any great-uncle. How did he know I was a wizard?"
"He left it to whoever came next in his family, be it witch or wizard." The Professor again frowned at Charlie's use of language, but didn't mention it.
Inside Gringrotts, it was fairly cold. Their footsteps echoed across the marble floor despite the bustle all around them, and Charlie looked amazed at the creatures behind the desks, because they were anything but human. Small wizened people, who looked almost like walnuts rather than any person or creature that Charlie had ever seen before.
"They're goblins, Charlie," Professor Sinistra whispered to her. "Never try and double cross a goblin."
"Hello, Professor!" a girl standing with her parents, who looked slightly terrified of the surrounding creatures, called across.
"Hermione!" the Professor greeted the girl warmly. "And how are you enjoying your break?"
The two chatted for a minute, while Charlie reflected on the fact that she seemed to get on better with Hermione than she had Ron. Maybe she had shown Hermione the magic world for the first time as well? Judging from her parents' expressions, they weren't magical.
"This here's Charlotte Lane, a first year." Charlie was startled out of her thoughts at the mention of her name.
"Hello, Charlotte," Hermione beamed. "Do you mind if I call you Lotte? I do think that's ever such a lovely name, and – "
"Actually, I go by Charlie," she interrupted her. Hermione looked momentarily affronted, before continuing.
"What house are you hoping for?" she asked, kindly.
Whatever house you're not in, Charlie found herself thinking.
"I'm not sure yet. I feel like I could be in any really." Or none. She chided herself for thinking like that.
"I may see you in Gryffindor then!" she said excitedly, and Charlie fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, maybe," she settled for instead.
"We'd better get going, Harry and Ron should be here soon." She waved goodbye to the two of them, and hurried off, her parents following in her wake.
"We're here to access the vault left to Miss Charlotte Lane," Professor Sinistra said to a nearby goblin whose desk was empty. The goblin peered over his desk at Charlie, and she suddenly felt as if she were being scanned by something. She felt her secrets rising to the top, including her darkest secret, and fought to keep control of them. Fear bubbled in her throat as she thought of what would happen if her mother found out, when suddenly the goblin nodded, and hopped out from behind his desk.
"Follow me, if you will," he requested, his voice strangely deep. Charlie followed, as did Professor Sinistra, and the goblin showed them to a truck on a railway line. The climbed in, and as the Professor tucked her robe into the truck, it began to move, slowly at first, then gradually picking up speed.
Charlie was grinning widely as she felt the wind rush through her hair. She had never been this exhilarated, had never once been on a roller coaster that matched up to this ride. And to think that this was in a bank!
It ended far too soon for her liking, but she noticed that Professor Sinistra seemed all too eager to be back on solid ground again. Charlie could barely stifle her smirk.
The goblin handed Charlie a key, which had a warm feeling on her, almost as if she had held it once before, long ago. He, for Charlie assumed the goblin to be male due to the tone of his voice, directed her towards the door, over which the number three hundred and fifteen was inscribed above the door, and a large keyhole stood prominently in the middle. Charlie briefly thought about how this probably wasn't the optimal positioning for a keyhole, before realising she had been holding her breath nervously.
She banished the thoughts from her brain, calling herself ridiculous, and pushed the key into the hole. The door swung open.
The inside of the vault, her vault, glittered out at her as she gazed around at the piles of coins and other treasures. There were a few everyday objects, such as a rocking horse and a fairly fancy chair, as well as more interesting and unusual items, including a sword handing on the far wall. She immediately made a beeline for the weapon, before Professor Sinistra called over to her.
"Miss Lane, we are here to collect money for your school things, not to mess around with dangerous weapons!" Charlie reluctantly made her way over the part of her vault that she could see contained coins of various size and colour.
"Now, the bronze ones, here, are called knuts. There are fourteen knuts to every sickle, that's this silver one here. You with me so far?" she asked, and Charlie nodded. "There are seven sickles to every galleon, which is this big gold one. You will need around thirty galleons for your school things, but you are welcome to take as much as you think you will need."
Charlie was doubtful that even one galleon would fit in her tiny purse, and voiced her concerns to the professor.
"Gringrotts can sell you a money bag for five knuts, Mr… Miss Lane," the goblin said, smoothly covering up his mistake.
"One money bag then, please," Charlie requested, carefully counting out five of the small bronze coins and tipping them into the goblins tiny hand. He grinned, showing at least forty pointy teeth, and handed her a small leather pouch.
"This bag contains a limited undetectable extension charm. Easily big enough to fit up to seventy galleons," he said. "For a small fee of two sickles, I can extend that charm to fit one hundred galleons?"
"Seventy is more than enough for any first year student," Professor Sinistra said firmly, and watched as Charlie stuffed seventy galleons into the bag, before turning to head back to the truck, a look of grim determination on her face. Charlie quickly grabbed five more galleons and stuffed them deep into her pockets, looking at the goblin who, if she wasn't mistaken, winked at her. With one last longing look at the sword, she climbed back on board the truck, ready to ride the rollercoaster once again.
Shopping had never really been Charlie's favourite thing to do, but it was different when everything around her was magical. Their first stop was to buy robes and uniform, where Charlie surprised the robe fitter by opting to choose to wear trousers rather than the school skirt that was offered to her.
"Scotland's cold," she had shrugged when she had been looked at questioningly. To her left, a boy sniggered, and she glared at him.
"What, like you think they don't have spells up there to keep the castle warm?" He laughed again, and the woman who was with him tapped him on the head.
"Can it, John. Don't want to go making enemies before you've even started," the woman said, glancing at the Professor.
"Mrs Harper," Professor Sinistra nodded at the woman, who Charlie supposed was the boy's mother.
"If they have spells, then why does the uniform have so many layers?" Charlie retorted. John scowled at her, and his mother quickly urged him out the shop.
Professor Sinistra and Charlie made their way out the shop, and picked up the rest of her school supplies: a cauldron, scales, various quills and parchment, a set of phials, a telescope (which the Professor had been all too keen to assist Charlie with her decision of which one to buy), a trunk and, to her great excitement, a wand.
Ollivanders had been a strange shop. While it looked rather like a shoe shop store room, in that it had stacks upon stacks of boxes piled up towards the ceiling, it was nothing like a shoe shop. For a start, it was a much more fussy business. With shoes, Charlie simply picked a pair in her size and, if they fit, she'd buy them. With wands, it was a bit different.
"The wand choses the wizard, Miss Lane," he had stated, staring deep into my eyes. I shifted slightly. "You do bear a remarkable resemblance to him, my dear."
"To my great-uncle?" she asked. Ollivander just hummed absently, and made his way into the back of the shop, searching for something.
"Ah ha!" he cried triumphantly, coming back with what looked like fifteen boxes, and Charlie felt her heart sink. How could getting a wand take so long?
"Rosewood and unicorn," he said, handing her a… Stick. She took it with some disappointment, expecting a wand to look far more impressive. He snatched it out her hand almost as soon as she had taken it. "Nope, that won't do. Let's try this one! Hawthorne and dragon heartstring, twelve inches…" He watched as she took it, but took it back instantly again.
Charlie felt like he had taken an age, before he gasped, and suddenly ran off into the back of his shop again. She looked at Professor Sinistra, one eyebrow raised.
"Garrick Ollivander is a little eccentric," she offered as way of explanation. Well, she could say that again, Charlie thought.
Ollivander made his way back to the front of the shop, clasping a leather case tightly in his hands. He placed it with care on the counter and opened the catches. Charlie peered forward curiously, as did Professor Sinistra, she noted.
"Black walnut and white river monster spine. Sixteen inches," he said, almost reverently. "Created in the 1920s in America, by Thiago Quintana." He handed it to Charlie, and she felt a rush of warmth, like lying outside on a summers day.
"This wand belonged to Lorcan McLaid, Miss Lane," Ollivander said, seriously. "And it is often attributed to his eccentric behaviour from the second year of his appointment as Minister for Magic until the day he died, and it was left to the shop." He cleared his throat suddenly. "That will be seven galleons, please," he said, standing upright, as Charlie counted out seven of the golden coins, and Professor Sinistra ushered her out the shop.
"Really, I don't know what's got into that man's head," Sinistra sighed, more to herself than to Charlie. "Well, that's enough nonsense for one day." She looked around, catching sight of the bookshop Florish and Blotts, from which a long queue was snaking out. "So I think we'll be going to somewhere else for your school books. Ordinarily, you would go there to buy your books, but there's a book signing currently. Personally, I think the man's a bit of a…" She trailed off. "I shouldn't say anything bad about him though. Follow me, Charlie," she commanded, and they began to make their way to another shop that looked distinctly more dingy, although was still full of books.
Inside, the shop was empty, aside from one relaxed looking woman who smiled broadly at her.
"First year at Hogwarts? Don't blame you coming here and not to F and B today, it's mad in there, isn't it?" Her grin became even wider, if that was even possible. She moved with grace towards a tall shelf, surprising Charlie by suddenly flying up the bookcase. She filled a bag that was hanging from a hook with a few books, which the woman found with a well-practiced ease.
"They're required to have all the Lockhart books as well, Lucinda," Sinistra called up. Lucinda frowned.
"Well, we've certainly got plenty of those," she sneered, and floated back down to the ground. With a flick of her wand, a pile of books was illuminated, each with a picture of the same smiling wizard on the front. Using an unnecessary amount of force, she threw some of them into the bag, scowling. "People buy them for their friends who already have sets, or know that he's the hugest fraud of this century. Who's the defence professor this year, Aurora? Female?"
Professor Sinistra cleared her throat.
"Actually, Gilderoy is the teacher," she clarified. Lucinda stared for a minute, before laughing.
"You're pulling my leg, darling," she said, wiping a tear. "What on earth was Albus thinking?"
"I'll write to you, Lucinda. How much does that come to?" Lucinda looked at Charlie.
"My dear, for simply the ordeal of having to have Gilderoy Lockhart as your professor, even for just one year, you can have the whole lot of that for just two galleons." She laughed once again, as Charlie took out the coins and handed them to her, before making her way over to a large armchair, giggling softly.
Charlie resolved to come to this funny old woman every year for her school books.
"That's everything, Charlie," Professor Sinistra said, once they were both outside again, blinking in the bright sunlight. "Unless you would like an animal? Owls are quite useful in the wizarding world, they're used to carry our mail."
She thought for a moment. Having an owl would be pretty awesome. No one she knew had an owl as a pet, not even Casper Jones, a boy in her class, even though he did have a gecko.
"I'd love an owl, but I'm not sure that my mother would be entirely happy with me taking one home," she confessed.
"That's quite alright, Charlie. I will make sure that your mother is happy with your pet before I leave you later on."
And, half an hour later, Charlie was happily waving off Professor Sinistra from her house, her new barn owl perched happily on her shoulder.