Canada had never been more concerned about the island nation in over one hundred years. When England began coughing up blood in the middle of the world meeting, it was obvious that there was something wrong with him - you would have to be completely oblivious if you couldn't see that. What was worrying Canada was that nations never got sick unless their economy was doing poorly, or if large amounts of of their citizens were being killed in some way. As far as he knew, England's economy was doing fairly well, so for him to have an attack like that must have meant that a lot of his people were dying. The question was why.

Canada couldn't help but dwell on this on his plane home. Was it terrorists? No, he reasoned, England would have made sure to mention it at the meeting.

Perhaps his odd behavior after the owl got inside had something to do with it - he said that he would be missing meetings due to something he needed to take care of with his magical government. This made no sense to Canada, as he had cut off all contact with his magical government for his own safety. For him to suddenly re-enter the magical world...Something terrible was unfolding, and it looked like England was about to go in head first.

Scotland would know something about this. Even though he and England were hardly ever on the best terms, they would share something like this, wouldn't they?

The cold nation resolved that he would be calling England's brother the first chance he got.


Two days after meeting the headmaster of Hogwarts, Mallina found herself standing in front of a brick wall with Arthur, who was tapping the red stone with his wand. By now, she was accustomed to the odd things that could happen when involved with magic, so she wasn't surprised when the bricks rearranged themselves to reveal a bustling square packed with witches and wizards of every shape and size.

Back in Greenland, she never became very involved with her magical society, sticking instead to the more spiritual aspect of life. It wasn't that she didn't like magic, in fact, she loved magic. It just wasn't her greatest talent. At one point in her younger years, Norway asked her if she wanted to attend Dumstrang in order to become better at performing magic. Unfortunately, the experience wasn't the greatest, so she left halfway through her schooling. Her former peers were nice enough, the problem was that most of them got involved with the dark arts, and it made her uncomfortable. What they did greatly clashed with her beliefs at the time.

Speaking of the dark arts, Dumbledore's question the other night worried her. Mallina was sure that Arthur was going to get caught when he was asked. He didn't specifically use dark spells such as the Cruciatus Curse, but she was sure that rituals and demon summonings were still considered 'dark'. Of course, Arthur hadn't used Black magic in at least two hundred years, but it was no secret that it was a fascination and former hobby of his.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Arthur seemed to be proud of his magical community. This made her smile. Nowadays, there was little the island nation could be proud of. His magical government was messed up, his cooking was the equivalent of the Draught of Living Death and one of the darkest wizards of all time was born in his country. Those were just a few problems - Greenland could go on and on.

She grinned up at him. "Can we go look around?"

"Of course, my dear."

Arthur began to lead her to and from the different shops. On one end, there was an ice cream parlor, a robe shop, a bookstore and a variety of pet stores. The other side had a wandmaker, a broom shop and a potion supply store. The amazing thing was that these shops were not even half of Diagon Alley. At the end of the square there was a towering (and rather crooked) building. Greenland slowed at the sight. It was amazing.

"Is that-?"

Arthur nodded. "Gringotts, yes. The safest place you could ever be, at least in terms of hiding someone or something."

Greenland looked at the building with a longing expression. She heard many stories about the secrets that lay within the Pisa-like bank. It would be wonderful if she were able to take a peek.

"Are we going there?" She asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no. I already have the money that we will need for buying supplies." Arthur replied, frowning.

Greenland sighed, before remembering something else that looked interesting.

"What about over there?" She pointed to a darker end of the square that lead to a shady looking area. "What's over there?"

Arthur stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the place.

"Knockturn Alley. It is full of shady wizards and witches that wouldn't hesitate to harm you. Now come. We have shopping to do." He grabbed her shoulders and began to steer her in the opposite direction.

"Oh..ok…." Greenland complied, although she secretly agreed that she would be going there when she had the chance.

The first place they visited after that was Ollivander's. Greenland wasn't too keen on it, as she didn't see why she needed to buy a wand when she could perform wandless magic perfectly. Arthur then reminded her that normal 15 year olds could barely even perform silent spells.

So there they were, standing inside the seemingly empty wand shop. It had an air similar to that of a bookstore, with small, rectangular wand-filled boxes lining the shelves. The difference between it and a bookstore was that it could in no way be considered organized or orderly. The scents of different woods hung in the air, blending together and giving the shop a friendly atmosphere. It was welcoming. Greenland smiled as she looked around.

"Ah, hello. I don't recall selling either of you wands before. What can I do for you today?" An old man came from behind a shelf in the back. He had a mysterious air about him, but was as warm and welcoming as the shop.

Arthur stepped forward with a smile. He put a hand on Greenland's shoulder. "Mallina here needs a new wand. I'm sure that you can help her with that."

"Of course, of course. But why do you need a new wand, my dear?"

Greenland looked down, pretending to be embarrassed. In reality, she was trying to come up with an excuse.

"Well, uh, you see, I was climbing this tree, and uh.. and my wand fell out of my pocket. I didn't see it fall, so when I jumped out of the tree I - I landed on it and it snapped..." It wasn't the best lie ever, but Ollivander seemed to buy it (or maybe he just didn't care).

"That is unfortunate my dear. You know that it is rather hard to find a good wand after breaking your first. Not to worry, though. I'm sure I can find something that suits you."

The first wand Ollivander had her try was a beautifully crafted oak with a phoenix feather core with jade embedded in the handle. The aftermath of Greenland using the wand, however, was not as elegant. A sort of goo shot out of the tip, connecting itself with the back wall before setting itself alight.

The second wand was no better than the first, shattering the shop windows.

The third was not damaging to the shop, and instead temporarily turned her hair a hideous shade of orange. Arthur found great amusement in this, saying she should wear it like that more often.

Mallina must have gone through twenty wands, her face turning a darker shade of red each try, before Ollivander told her to stop.

"A challenging customer...very interesting…" Ollivander muttered as he moved down the shelves.

He made his way to the back of the store and hesitated. His eyes were locked on a simple, unassuming and frayed black box that was covered in a layer of dust. Ollivander took it after a moment and brought it back to Greenland.

"Now this wand, my father received from a Norwegian wizard quite some time ago. Never once have I been able to get it to work with anyone. I believe this may be because it's allegiance is already with someone else. But...it never hurts to try."

The old man opened the box as he said this. The wand was lightly colored, almost like dogwood or a type of birch. It was abnormally straight compared to the other wands Greenland tried, and the handle had carvings in it that oddly resembled snowflakes. The strangest thing was that she recognised it. This was the wand Norway gave her when she went to Dumstrang, which she promptly returned to him after she left. This was much to the scandinavian country's disappointment, as he had given it to her as a gift.

She picked it it up tentatively, an eerie silence filling the room as she did so. At first there was nothing, the two men watching her expectantly, then small white objects began to form and fall through the air. It was snowing. No one had a chance to applaud this, however, as the light falling of flakes turned harsh and blizzard like, a gale sweeping the room, knocking the contents of the many shelves to the floor. But the snow wasn't flying throughout the room at random. No- they were forming something.

Greenland blinked through the cold to see a great bear standing tall on its hind legs. It stared down at her, and her back at it. The wintery creature roared, rattling the store, before it collapsed into a flurry of ice particles.


Severus Snape watched the strange duo as they left Ollivander's. The boyish girl was smiling widely, explaining something to the man next to her with excited gestures. Kirkland chuckled, bemused by her excitement. Severus couldn't see why Dumbledore would have him follow the two, as they were acting the way a normal parent and child would. Then again, he wasn't the one meeting with the man the other day- Dumbledore was. Severus followed them down the street towards Madame Malkin's. As he did, he noticed Kirkland was beginning to fall behind the girl. She became aware of this at just about the same time and stopped.

With her head facing the cobblestone street in front of her, she said quietly, "Arthur, we can always come back later."

Arthur shook his head. "No, I'm fine - Just need to rest for a moment. Why don't you go on inside while I wait out here?"

The girl gave him a skeptical look. "Fine, but only to humour you. If you cough even once…"

"Mallina, I'm fine!" He snapped.

Mallina didn't flinch, but instead shook her head and jogged over to the robe shop which was now only two buildings away.

Snape moved closer to Kirkland's direction as he ducked into an alley. Pain was evident on his face as he leaned against the wall, with a hand over his heart.


England cursed. Once again, one of his citizens was dying (no thanks to that red eyed freak). He was dying so slowly and was in so much pain it would be mercy to kill them. England felt all of the poor man's pain at that moment, and found himself wishing him into the arms of death. When he did, the final pain hit the nation's heart with full force. He doubled over coughing, red spattering the pavement. Then the pain subsided.

"Kirkland?"

England looked up to see a man dressed in black robes walking to him. Judging from the minimal concern in the stranger's voice, they saw what happened. This made his fears rise. He didn't need anymore trouble right now.

"I'm sorry..who are you?" He asked wearily, standing tall.

"Severus Snape. Are...you alright?" The man asked cautiously.

England mentally groaned. Of all the people to see him, it was a soon-to-be co-worker. "Ah.. You teach at Hogwarts, don't you?" He asked. Snape nodded. "Then, if you would be kind enough as to not tell any of the staff- or Dumbledore about this, I would greatly appreciate it."

Snape crossed his arms, "Perhaps. What even is this?"

England wiped his mouth, looking at the blood now smeared on the back of his hand. What would he tell him? The truth of course. Or at least, a version of what was the truth.

"I'm sick. Not with an illness, or anything that can be cured...actually let's call it my punishment."

"Your punishment." Severus raised an eyebrow at this.

"We've all done things that we regret, haven't we, Severus? Well, some of us don't feel remorse or guilt until it's too late, and have to live with the consequences." With that, Arthur left to join Greenland inside Madame Malkin's.