Once the family arrived at Diagon Alley, Harriet knew that there would be many stops and many purchases required; but there were two in particular that she was most looking forward to. Flourish and Blotts held the books that would allow her to unlock her magic, would provide instruction in its use; and Ollivander's Wand Shop, which would provide the means of using that magic. Unlike the muggles, who wandered around wide-eyed and tentatively poked their heads into every shop in a confused and wonder-filled daze, the Greengrass family knew which shops they needed to visit to purchase the required provisions. Unlike those muggles, who had to go straight to Gringotts to change their muggle money into galleons, sickles and knuts, the Greengrass family were already prepared, with a money bag held by Cossima.
The family strolled through Diagon Alley as a group, being careful to allow Astoria to stop and rest at each shop. They entered shops on the left side of Diagon Alley as they walked away from the Leaky Cauldron, with the plan to turn around at the end and do the same returning. The first shop was thus Potage's Cauldron Shop, which was full of cauldrons of all sizes and materials. Large cauldrons that could fit Daphne and Harriet with room to spare rested on the floor, with smaller more portable cauldrons sitting on shelves around the walls. The cauldrons that tehy had to purchase were of the smaller sort and made of pewter (which seemed like a very strange material to make cauldrons from, but they were assured that enchantments would prevent them from melting). They purchased a pair of pewter standard size 2 cauldrons. These cauldrons were promptly shrunk down by Hew and placed inside their carry bags. They stopped in at Blinkhorn's the Bootmakers, where the old white-haired, leather aproned bootmaker had school shoes already on display on the counter. He made them lift a foot up to allow a tape measure to fly off the counter and wrap around for measurements. They walked out with a pair of new shoes each, which were also shrunk and added to their bags. Twinkle's telescopes were unusually busy, with families all waiting to purchase a telescope and few assistants able to help them, but they waited patiently to be served (it allowed Astoria a little extra time to rest up) and eventually two shrunken shiny brass telescopes were added to their spoils.
As they left, Harriet overheard a voice complain, "I don't see why we have to wait for all of these…. These… muggles."
She could tell that it had taken some sort of conscious effort to say 'muggles' and not something more... Uncultured. She turned her head to see who it was. She caught a glance of Missus Nott before Cossima took her hand and pulled her along gently.
"Best to ignore her Harriet," Cossima said quietly, once they were out and a bit more private, "a better person might be ashamed to have been overhead speaking in such a way in public, but it's still best to pretend not to hear."
At Flourish and Blotts, they asked at the counter for two sets of the first-year books and watched as muggle families hunted the shelves for the individual books required, confused at the shelf ordering system.
She overheard a bushy haired girl exclaim, "I'm going to read all of these books before school starts so that I know what's going on. There's just so much to learn!"
Harriet smiled a little to herself, she couldn't fault the girl her curiosity for Harriet would likely read all of her books before reaching school herself; but she wasn't about to just say that out loud.
Although Harriet wished she could have perused the shelves herself for new books, she knew that her desires came a far second to the needs of her family. Besides, there were still books in the family library that she hadn't yet read. With two sets of books added, they continued onwards.
They passed over Horizont Alley, where Cossima had debated whether to go all the way to the end to visit Nox's Nightwear for new nightclothes but in the end decided against. They walked right past Madam Malkin's, where numerous families were waiting to be measured and stopped in briefly at Amanuensus Quills for quills and pots of ink and Mister Mullpeppers Apothecary for their scales and crystal vials. Mister Mullpepper's was an interesting store, full of components for potion brewing that were oftentimes moving, sometimes slimy and quite often very smelly. The associated brewing equipment took up one wall of the shop and the girls were assured by Hew that Hogwarts would be providing all of the components for their lessons.
They were halfway done then, in that they had visited all of the shops on the north side of Diagon Alley that they needed to, but still had to walk farther down the Alley to visit other shops on the South Side. They watched with amusement as a curious muggle family walked into the Apparition Licensing Agency, despite their child appearing to be the same age as Daphne and Harriet.
In Twilfitt & Tattings, Astoria was able to have a bit longer rest while Daphne and Harriet were both re-measured to ensure that their robes would last the year entire.
The store had displays of the Hogwarts uniforms on moving mannequins, which caused Daphne to lament quietly to Harriet, "not quite as fashionable as the Beauxbaton's uniform."
Cossima had overheard however, "If they are not up to your standards," she admonished quietly, "I'm sure that we can send you to school in nothing but your small clothes."
"Oh no Mother," Daphne retreated quickly, "I'm sure that they shall be most satisfactory."
Cossima chuckled even as Daphne reddened at being caught out.
Their work-robes, winter cloaks, hats and Dragonhide gloves (with a lambskin inner layer for comfort), were to be delivered to Greengrass Manor later that day.
Their second to last stop was, finally, Ollivander's. The old wand-maker's shop appeared empty when they entered and a bell rang out from somewhere deep amongst the shelves of boxes.
"Hello?" Came a voice from the gloom.
Somehow the old wand maker was suddenly standing before them.
"Hello" Daphne echoed.
"Ah! Miss Greengrass and Mist…." The old man hummed then and inspected Harriet a bit closer, "not quite who I was expecting, I see. You have your mother's eyes, it seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work. Your Father on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course," Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harriet were almost nose to nose, "or witch… As the case may be. And that's where…" Mr. Ollivander's voice caught as he moved the hair on Harriet's forehead out of the way to touch the lightning scar there with a long, white finger. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly.
"Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…" Harriet jerked back away from his finger and he shook his head, seeming to come to his senses and then to Harriet's relief; stepped back and seemed to see the others in the room for the first time.
"Hew Greengrass! Nice to see you again. Walnut, ten and one half inches long, solid?" Hew nodded along to the wand maker's recitation, "and Cossima! Rosewood, nine inches and very whippy and a core of griffin tail hair; a very good wand, I do hope you are doing good charm work with it?"
Cossima reddened a little, "as much as I can Garrick," she inclined her head at the girls and added, "all things considered."
"Well now Miss Greengrass and Miss…?" Ollivander asked as his attention was brought back to the reason for their visit and Harriet ventured, "Greengrass, Miss Harriet Greengrass."
"Ah!" Ollivander exclaimed in an offhand way, "which one of you would like to go first"
Harriet looked towards Daphne, who understood the wordless plea and the older sister stepped forward, "me first, please Mister Ollivander."
"Well now Miss Greengrass, let me see," said Ollivander as he pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket, "which is your wand arm?"
Daphne held out her right arm and the wand maker measured her from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and around her head.
As he measured he gave a well practiced speech, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two magical creatures are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another witches wand."
"That will do," Ollivander said just as the tape measure was headed towards Daphne's head to measure her nostrils and the enchanted tape fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Ollivander was rummaging through one of the shelves behind him, wiping dust off labels and pulling out boxes a short way only to change his mind and push them back into place.
"Yes, yes," he said absently to himself as he pulled out a green box and as he returned to the counter he opened it up to gently pull out a long pale wand.
"Aspen, thirteen inches with ashwinder skin," he explained as he handed the wand to Daphne, "give it a swish."
Daphne gave the wand a wave and a large fireball exploded out of the top of the lamp Ollivander had resting on the desk. Flames licked the roof beams and left a sooty sort of smoke in the stuffy air of the shop.
"No, no," he said quickly, "not that one. Not that one. Quite the opposite in fact, I think."
He disappeared back into his shelves and returned not a moment later with a different wand.
"Poplar, twelve and a quarter inches with yeti fur," he listed as he handed a new wand to Daphne.
As soon as she held the wand, they all knew that it was the right one for her. A pure white light seemed to illuminate her from above as a small, cold breeze whipped up around her.
"Exactly the one Miss Greengrass, a nice pliable wand that should prove excellent for charm work of a particular sort," he said as he took the wand back and placed it carefully back into its box, which he then wrapped in brown paper and handed back to Daphne.
"Now for you, Miss Harriet Greengrass," he said as he directed her to come forward.
Harriet obediently stepped closer to the desk as Mister Ollivander sent his tape to take her measurements. Harriet stretched out her left arm without prompting as Ollivander disappeared into the back of his shop.
"Right then, Miss Harriet Greengrass. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave," Mister Ollivander said as he handed a wand over.
Harriet took the wand and gave it a wave, but when the drawers of one of his cabinets shot out to crash into the shelf opposite one after the other, Mister Ollivander snatched it out of her hand as quickly as he could.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -"
Harriet tried – but she had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr Ollivander after a vase on the floor exploded.
"No, no – here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
Harriet tried. And tried. She had no idea what Mister Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the counter and the more broken and damaged things littered the floor. But the more wands Mister Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder now – yes, why not – unusual combination – holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Harriet took the wand. She felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. She raised the wand above her head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Mister Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…"
He put Harriet's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"
"Sorry," said Harriet, "but what's curious?"
Mr Ollivander fixed Harriet with his pale stare.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss Harriet. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar."
Harriet swallowed. "Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember...I think we must expect great things from you, Miss Harriet...After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great." Harriet shivered.
Of course she knew of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, it would be hard to grow up in a British wizarding home without hearing about him, and of course the part played by 'The Boy Who Lived'. But she was not 'The Boy Who Lived', she was Harriet Greengrass. She knew what had happened to her birth parents, she had visited Godric's Hollow to visit the Potter Cottage, but those things were all in her past. A past that was dead to her, a past that was gone. She had a scar of course, that she kept hidden and did her best to ensure was always out of sight and forgotten. To be told that there was a solid link to her past was distressing in the least, for that link to simultaneously be her only link towards performing magic of her own? That was agonising.
The excitement and happiness of the day suddenly seemed to have been taken over by a feeling of dread and a reminder of the pain of her past. Storm clouds had covered her clear blue sky. Suddenly everything seemed to close in on her, the air became stuffy and she could hear her heart beating in her ears. One step backwards led towards a second, then a third and then she spun and jerked the door open before she stumbled out into the relatively open space of Diagon Alley. She felt like she couldn't breath deeply, or quickly enough and a darkness creeped into the edges of her vision. Cossima, Daphne and Astoria soon joined her outside and engulfed her in a comforting and calming hug. When Hew joined them a few minutes later, Harriet had relaxed and was much improved, although she had sworn to herself that she would never ever enter that shop again.
"Do you feel up to some Ice cream Harriet?" Cossima asked, "or would you prefer to go straight home?"
Harriet didn't want Daphne or Astoria to miss out on ice cream, though to be truthful all she really wanted was to get as far away from Ollivander's as possible.
She nodded, "I'd like some ice cream, please."
They crossed the Alley to get to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and Harriet tried her hardest to lose herself in the flavours of Earl Gray and Lavender ice cream and the noises and smells of the Alley around her. But part of her mind continued to replay the events in the wand shop, no matter the things around her.
AUTHORS NOTES:
Hey everyone, so sorry for the delays. I've had a very messy past few weeks IRL that have put a dent in my writing. But I'm back at work and filling in my tucker and available time with writing, so chapters should be getting back to a semi-irregular schedule now.
I'd like to thank the following for the story favourite / follows: samuel rodrigo, Phoenixblade17, LogicSticks, AshLass, mozhii, GraceAmarylis, milagroszecarias14, Nicole060406, Gazza117, princess serenity0822, Oolusada
I'd love some of you to read my other newer stories (ESPECIALLY Darkness' Love!), the older ones not so much ;-)
I'd REALLY like to thank the following for the author favourite / follows: Burnup