Chapter 3: Shopping. Oh Joy…
Quick A/N:
Hunny: Hey peoples! Yeah I have to answer this very perceptive reviewer, Miss/Mister (I am sorry, I just don't know) Ani's, question that was that if Dumbles said, "stay for the rest of the summer" why was Ed found in snow. Well the month is July, July 28th to be exact on the date, and is technically summer for Hoggy-warts students, but it can still snow, it's Scotland people, it snows, a lot. I am also from Alaska and there we usually get snow around nine months a year which includes July so I just said snowed, sorry if I confused some people.
Hunny: And I'm sorry that I didn't update last week, but it may be a surprise to you people reading this, I HAVE A LIFE! Also I (by the time most of you will read this) turned the big one six baby! Oh yeah sweet sixteen! Booyah! Alright, enough of that! On with the story!
According to Dumbledore Ed had arrived in the morning on July twenty eight. It has been around a month or so since then and he had officially become bored out of his freaking mind.
The first few days the Medi-witch Madam Poppy Pomfrey had made him stay in the hospital wing, in a way Winry would be proud, threatening glowers every time he tried to escape, and was only entertained by the few books (around ten or so) that the headmaster had given him to catch up on the wizarding world and attempting to get rid of that annoying accent the blonde had.
That last one didn't really work unfortunately.
After that he had been given a small tour of the castle by a stern looking grey haired woman named Minerva McGonagal. He was shown the Great Hall, and marveled at the ceiling for about a second before Ed had realized that it was just enchanted to look that way. Next had been the classrooms and the kitchens where we had gotten a small snack (i.e. A large platter of snack foods that the very generous house elves had given to them upon entering), they had also taken a walk around the Black Lake (he could swear he saw something HUGE just beneath the surface) and the outskirts of the so-called Forbidden Forest (that'd be a great place to explore and train, he didn't want to get flabby and out of shape), and a shabby looking hut.
His favorite place by far had been the library. One look at that place and the alchemist had gone straight to the first row of books he saw. McGonagal had tried to pry the boy away from them, but apparently he wouldn't stop reading and left me there for the rest of the day, while mumbling something about how anyone could think that blondes were dumb when walking away.
That day on he mostly spent his time in there other than meal times. During those times he met a few of the other Professors like a very short man named Filius Flitwick who had greeted him with exitment, an… interesting professor by the name of Horace Slughorn who reminded Ed of a certain Colonel Bastard with his attitude, and others like the kind Pomona Sprout and sharp witted Septima Vector, Madam Irma Pince, they had already met and befriended with their shared love for books, she also gave him some great suggestions on what to read. He met others, but it'd be too troublesome to talk about them all.
But as said previously, that was months ago.
Now he was bored. He had read about two large shelves of the library's collection, mainly the ones having to do with culture and politics of the magical and muggle (oh, how he detested that word, it made it sound like non-magicals were less human, like chimeras (which in this world are a breed of magical creature) or homunculus') worlds.
He was skeptical about most of the concepts in the books and tried finding the equivalent exchange in all of all the magic but was able to find a bit of it hanks to Truth's helpful hint on them using energy and not raw materials to do everything.
He had explored and mentally mapped out most the castle, and now thanks to some overly concerned teachers (coughDumblescough) he wasn't allowed back into the library until school started.
Sitting in his room, the one given to him temporarily till school started and he'd be moved into his house's dorm, Ed looked over some notes he had made of some spells that he would try once he got his wand. Heh, wands, these wizards are so cliché.
There was a crack and behind him appeared a house elf that he had gotten to know, his name was Lorik, who gave him a bow and squeaked, "Master Edward! Master Dumbledore would like to see you in his office."
Ed nodded to the elf with a smile while getting up from his spot on the bed. The elf left and he began his trek to the bearded professor's office. It was never a quiet one, the portraits made sure of that.
He muttered the password to the gargoyle and waited for the steps to make their way up. When they did he knocked on the door and waited for the, 'come in' before entering. Hey, he might not be a perfect gentleman, but he does have some manners.
The aged professor looked up with a smile to him as he entered the office, closing the door behind him. "Edward, good to see you, take a seat. There we go, now I wish to tell you about something of great importance. School shopping" the twinkle was at full, mischievous force.
Ed sweatdropped at the possibly senile old man, but gave him his attention. It was August twenty fourth and school started on the first of September. He hadn't gone to get supplies yet so he was wondering when he would be going to this 'Diagonally' or something like that.
Dumbledore had given Ed a pouch of wizarding money and an old shoe of a portkey, the thing was not his preferred method of travel, which had taken him to a dirty old pub by the name of the Leaky Cauldron and told him to look out for a man named Hagrid. The crazy old man had only said that he would be easily recognizable with that damned twinkle.
Walking up to the front of the bar, Ed gave the place a cursory glance until his eyes landed on something that he was sure that he couldn't possibly miss. There was a grizzly man about the size of Armstrong with a beard that could rival Dumbles', what appeared to be a large animal skin coat and moth eaten pink umbrella that seemed to be searching for something.
When the man's beetle like eyes spotted him a grin lit up his face and he sauntered over the much smaller male.
"Why you must be that Edward fellar tha' Dumbledore was tellin' me ta look out fer!" the giant man happily exclaimed.
Ed got out of the trance at seeing someone that tall again before introducing himself properly and they went to the back door.
Upon entering the area, Ed had been decidedly unimpressed; it was just a plain, dirty brick wall. Hagrid went up to it anyway and tapped a certain sequence on the bricks (one that he memorized in case it was useful later) with that gaudy umbrella he was carrying and the once boring wall was recreated into a brick archway.
The young blonde marveled at the almost alchemic seeming transformation before he was ushered into a large crowd of robed people.
The first shop on their quest had been a place known as Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. When Ed stepped into the little store he had immediately been placed on a stool and measured for the appropriate size robes.
It had seemed that the seamstress had been channeling Winry, for every time he moved she'd chastise him and demand he stay still. The beginning was the worst (mostly because of Ed's incessant yelling of "HELL NO! YOU ARE NOT GETTING ME IN A DRESS!") Other than that the robes weren't a problem, hell, Ed even got his teacher's cross emblazed on the back of them.
They went to the Apothecary, where the blonde alchemist was both fascinated and disturbed by the products they sold there. There were eyes of beetles, dragon livers, essence of something and more. He would have looked at more of the merchandise but was pulled out of the store as he was inspecting the bubotuber pus. Needless to say, he didn't get the crystal phials and golden cauldron that he had wanted.
They went to many other stops, Flourish and Blotts Bookstore being his favorite with the wide range of literature from spell books to wizard fiction. He was busy reading The New Theory of Numerology when Hagrid had to bodily carry him from the store.
They reached the next destination on their shopping spree. Olivander's Wands. He warily eyed the sign that he didn't think was all that inaccurate given the state of the place and walked in, Hagrid not far behind.
Entering the store, Hagrid and Ed went up to the counter and waited for whomever (probably an Olivander given the name) to come and service them.
They did not have to wait long, about a minute or so that Ed had to 'suffer' through, before an old man, older than Dumbledore by far and that's saying something, popped up from only Truth knows where and scared the living daylights out of the smallest of the duo.
"Hello there, I am Olivander, how may I help a young one such as yourself?" Olivander asked.
"'Ello thar Mr. Olivander, sir. We're 'ere for Edwards wand." Hagrid replied.
Ed looked the man over, he fit in quite well with the musty old shop and introduced himself. "I am Edvard Elric, nize to meet you zir." It was good to be polite to the guy giving you you're magical focus.
The man nodded and gestured for Hagrid to take a seat and for Ed to come and stand before him. A tape measure flew from his robes and started measuring the short blonde boy until the man grabbed it and went to the back of the store.
Olivander reappeared with a small stack of boxes and handed one of the wands inside them to Ed. He gestured to the semi-confused boy to wave the piece of wood around, which he did so, and caused many boxes to come flying from their shelves at the poor shopkeeper.
They were cut short by the man's own wave of his wand and took the blonde's wand to come and replace it with another. A seat near Hagrid burst into flame causing the startled giant to fall out of his chair.
It was out with another swish as the process continued, over sixty wands and sixty mishaps took place before a wand was laid into the alchemist's palm. Instead of getting annoyed or frustrated with the blonde the man only got more and more excited by the challenge. With this one a flood of warmth erupted from the spot it touched all the way up the blonde's shoulders to his core. He could tell that one was different and waved the wand.
Sparks, red and gold, green and silver, blue and grey, yellow and mahogany, discharged from the tip of the wand and swirled around the boy in a flurry of beautiful swirls before disappearing as soon as they had come. A shocked silence descended upon the three of them before the old shopkeeper smiled.
"Dogwood and unicorn hair, eleven and a quarter inches, supple*, interesting combination." The wandsmith said amusedly.
The two had paid for the wand before leaving. Ed thought that had been their last stop, apparently he was wrong as Hagrid brought him outside of a shop called the Magical Menagerie.
"Hey Ed! Why don' you go pick one of these lil' guys out and I'll meetcha outside." Hagrid told the boy before placing the bag of money in the boy's hand and walking out.
Ed sighed slightly, he didn't really want a pet, but a companion would be nice. The boy looked around, he saw a large variety of animals, frogs, toads, owls, raven, mice, hell, he even saw a few things he didn't know exisited, they made him a bit uncomfortable with their resemblance to the chimeras back home, he kept looking until he reached the cats and gave a sad smile.
He remembered all the times Al would try and sneak those cats home with him even before he had been forced to be a suit of armor, he knew that his little brother would love to be there, petting all of the kittens and such.
His gaze swept to a particular kitten; this one was a bright gold color with the occasional brown flecks here and there, its eyes were similar to its coat only they practically shined with intelligence, it had a brush like tail akin to a lion's and was mostly fluffy all around.
Looking at the sign underneath its enclosure, Ed saw that the breed of the cat was one called Kneazle. He waved the shopkeeper over and told her that he had found what he was looking for and that he wanted the all of the necessary tools and supplies for the kitten.
She looked happy about the sale and hurriedly got together the equipment before exchanging that with the money, when she asked what he wanted to name the little guy (she had informed him that the kitten was male), Ed looked into the eyes of the feline and told her one word, "Alphonse."
A/N: *This is my wand on Pottermore (it's actually fourteen and a half inches but Ed is short sooo yeah~)! I think it really fits Ed's personality in my own view~.
Dogwood wands are quirky and mischievous; they have playful natures and insist upon partners who can provide them with scope for excitement and fun. It would be quite wrong, however, to deduce from this that dogwood wands are not capable of serious magic when called upon to do so; they have been known to perform outstanding spells under difficult conditions, and when paired with a suitably clever and ingenious witch or wizard, can produce dazzling enchantments. An interesting foible of many dogwood wands is that they refuse to perform non-verbal spells and they are often rather noisy.
Unicorn hair generally produces the most consistent magic, and is least subject to fluctuations and blockages. Wands with unicorn cores are generally the most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts. They are the most faithful of all wands, and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether he or she was an accomplished witch or wizard.
Minor disadvantages of unicorn hair are that they do not make the most powerful wands (although the wand wood may compensate) and that they are prone to melancholy if seriously mishandled, meaning that the hair may 'die' and need replacing.—Excerpt from the Pottermore: Wand Woods and Cores
BTW: The title was in reference to Ed getting his robes *sweatdrops* I'm not very good at naming things…
Hunny: Woo! That took like three hours of planning and typing!
Ed: *sweatdrop* Really? That long? Lame.
Hunny: Hey! Not like you could do better! You came from a timeline where computers don't even exist! You almost blew mine up when you couldn't get it to do what you wanted!
Ed: Not my fault! You must have done something to it that made it impossible for me to use correctly!
Hunny: I did no such thing!
Hunny: Oh well, thanks for reading and if you review please wish me a happy sweet sixteen!
~*EDIT*~
HEY! I AM NOT DEAD! I AM SOOOOO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING! I'm gonna stop caps-ing everything now. I only have one excuse for not updating like I said I would before. Homestuck. That is all.
No not really. I actually have been swamped with homework and other projects that come up. My mum decided that the weekend is officially cleaning day too so I have even less time now. I will try to update regularly though! Again. Sorry~
Ja Ne!
Hunny~