Wands and Pets
After picking up most of the essentials for their learning, Minerva led the group into a shop titled Ollivanders.
Ushering them inside, she called into the apparently empty shop.
"Garrick, I have an interesting task for you"
An old wiry man appeared suddenly and Lenalee and Alma both squeaked.
"Ah. It's not very often that I supply older magicks with their first wands." He told them as he browsed the shelves.
"I presume these are the apostles you spoke about" he continued as he searched.
"Ah yes. The magic seemed to have been suppressed, so they're being taught from scratch" Minerva explained. Kanda tensed slightly at the term Apostle but stayed quiet. Ollivander returned with an armful of wand boxes which he then lay on the counter.
"Here's some to try. Go on, all of you pick one and give it a wave" he told them. Alma reached forwards and, with a flick, set fire to the ends of Allen's hair which was swiftly put out. The wand was quickly returned to the counter. After a flurry of failures, some very explosive successes began to filter through as Ollivander continued to rotate the selection of wands to try. Timothy's next attempt had a swarm of stars circle him before finally calming.
"Whoa" was all he could say.
"Ah Chestnut and Dragon heartstring. Strong choice" Ollivander stated and Tim grinned. Alma was the next to succeed, summoning paper petals before they fluttered back onto the desk, beaming.
"Red Oak and Unicorn hair. A kind wand" Ollivander gave the man a smile as Alma looked at his wand in wonder of how it could be 'kind'. Kanda couldn't help but help smile at the curious expression on his brother's face. Lenalee gaped as pink glitter exploded out of the tip of her wand in a shower, covering herself and a disgruntled Kanda.
"Sorry" she squeaked. He shrugged and brushed the offending sparkles off him.
"Don't worry about it. You found one" and he ruffled her pink tinged hair.
"Silver lime and unicorn hair. A sympathetic and delicate wand. Well suited my dear" She blushed happily and nodded. Kanda picked up another before putting it back down as deadly sparks threatened to start another fire. Another failure. Allen jumped and the others turned to stare slightly as grey and white wisps leaked of his wand and surrounded him before dissipating. Allen looked just as surprised as everyone else when tears began to roll down his cheeks.
"Huh? I think this is a match but" he tremorred. Ollivander put a hand on his shoulder,
"Yew wood and dragon heartstring. A melancholic wand. It's a match my friend. It's greeting you" he gave the shoulder a squeeze and Allen smiled shakily. Kanda was the only one who had yet to have a success, though he was now scared of what would happen. Tim got stars, Alma petals and Lena glitter. But Allen got what looked like graveyard smoke. What on earth would he get? In terms of darkness, both he and Allen were the closest tied. Kanda swallowed and went to reach for a pale wood wand before he changed and instinctively grabbed the darker wand. When he flicked it, he paled at the teal feathers that exploded out and he stood shell-shocked as they fluttered harmlessly to the ground around him. Allen and Alma looked at him in concern, recognising the feathers as similar to innocence. Lenalee took his arm and squeezed. Kanda placed a hand on top of hers to show that he was okay and turned to Ollivander.
"Last but not least. English Oak and Phoenix feather, a unique and fantastical mix" the old man told him with a smile, "Here are the boxes with wand descriptions. And I assume I am billing Hogwarts, Minerva?" he addressed the Professor who nodded and tucked the boxes into the bag she had brought with her.
"Thank you Garrick. See you again in September" she led the group out of the shop as he waved them off.
"Yuu, you okay?" Alma and Allen looked at Kanda in concern. He shook himself out of his train of thought (which was wondering what Ollivander had meant by fantastical) and shrugged,
"I'll be fine." and he pushed them forward to where Lena, Tim and Minerva were walking ahead.
"You are allowed to bring a cat, an owl or a toad with you to Hogwarts so we thought we would extend the offer," the professor explained as they stopped in front of the pet store.
"Like a familiar?" Alma asked, excited. She nodded and they headed inside. It was less noisy than Kanda had been bracing for and he looked around at the animals. Timothy rushed over to the terrariums to look at the amphibians while Lenalee and Alma looked at the owls. Allen seemed to walk around the shop before eventually joining Timothy by the tanks. Kanda was about to head from the cattery to look at the owls when one cat caught his eye. A dark grey, with long fur, it seemed to eye him with intelligence. He headed closer to its cage and patted the top of its head, having to calm his shock when it began to purr.
He missed the purchases of Allen and Tim's toads, and Lenalee and Alma's owls as he stayed transfixed with the unusual cat in front of him.
"Ah that's new. He doesn't usually shine to anyone. Kneazles are hard to shift, I've only sold one other and he was a half breed" the shop owner appeared by Kanda who looked away from the cat briefly,
"Kneazle?" he asked. The shop keep nodded,
"Smarter than your usual house cat, some even say that they can communicate with their masters. You'd mistake them for animagus" the man smiled.
Kanda looked down at the cat who did look like he wanted to tell him something. He smiled and called over to the professor. Minerva hid her surprise at his choice and smiled,
"Ah what a beautiful Kneazle. What's his name?" she asked the shopkeep who shrugged.
"No idea. He won't answer to anything. Probably refuses to be named by anyone but his master. It makes feeding time a hassle" he sighed.
Kanda pondered this for a moment. The brilliant teal eyes reminded him of the feathers. And of his own irises. He didn't know how the others would react, but he'd only been the master of one name.
"Let's go home, Mugen" and the cat stood and rubbed his hand against Kanda's hand, letting him know that he'd made the right choice.
"You sure?" Allen asked, concerned. Kanda picked Mugen out of his cage and held him close, turning to the man,
"I'm sure" he told him, earning him a lick from Mugen. Allen smiled and replied,
"Welcome to the family Mugen." he ruffled the cat's fur.
"Meow" Mugen replied happily, making several patrons of the store smile and aww.
"Let's head back to Hogwarts then" Minerva told them, before handing the pets in their tanks and cages to be delivered ahead of them. Mugen hopped off the counter and joined Kanda who looked down in surprise.
"You sure? You'll be sick in the fire" the cat stayed stubbornly by his side. Kanda sighed and leant down to pick up the creature, not trusting the busy street.
"I thought he may want to stay" Minerva smiled when she noticed Kanda step out with Mugen.
"I don't mind" he admitted, rubbing his ears, earning him another purr. And with that, they headed back to the floo.