Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 104 for you!
Uploaded the day after Chapter 103, as promised. It's Sophie's eighth birthday, and as we all know, her birthday is on the 7th of July. I forgot to mention the date within the chapter and I don't think many will remember from Chapter 74.
Love DW x
P.S. Enjoy
Sophie's alarm clock wakes her up at eight o'clock in the morning of her birthday on the seventh of July. Excitedly, she threw her quilt off and jumped out of bed. Athena chirped her thanks as the beeping device was switched off.
"Good morning, Athena!" Sophie sings, using some tweezers to feed the owl a worm. "Enjoy your breakfast." She tells the owl, replacing the tweezers on top of the tub of worms her Dad had bought her.
She throws her bedroom door open, listening for her dad's presence. She can't hear him downstairs, so assumed he's still in bed and walks down the corridor to knock on his bedroom door.
"Dad, are you still in bed?" She asks.
"Yes, it's a Saturday. I'm sleeping." He tells her.
"But it's my birthday." She pouts.
"But it's a Saturday." Her dad returns.
"Dad," She whines. "I'm eight years old."
"You sound six." He sighs, and Sophie can hear the bed groan as he climbs out of bed.
"Dad," She snaps. "Stop trying to be funny."
Her dad laughs as he opens the door, tying his dressing gown around his waist.
"I think I saw some birthday breakfast in the kitchen last night." He mentions.
Sophie's eyes widen as she runs off down the corridor and the stairs. David follows after her with a yawn.
"Dad, who made this?" She asks, standing on her tiptoes to stare hungrily at the plate of syrupy pancakes with m&ms, cream and chocolate sauce on the kitchen counter.
"I did, ten minutes ago." He admits, putting the kettle on. "I knew you set your alarm for eight o'clock. I snuck back into my bedroom before you woke up." He smiles. "Quite funny, right?" He kisses the top of her head as he picks up the plate, taking it to the dining table, where Sophie climbs onto the stool, ready for her birthday breakfast. "I'll get you some milk." He returns to the fridge to fill a glass for his daughter. "And don't tell your aunt and uncle about this." He warns her.
"Obviously not," Sophie laughs, digging into her sugary breakfast.
David can feel his teeth rotting just looking at the plate, so makes himself some marmalade on toast instead, joining his eight-year-old daughter at the dining table with his cup of coffee.
"What are we doing today?" Sophie asks, mouth full of pancakes.
David sighs, letting her table manners slide for today. "I thought we'd go to this Diagon Alley of yours and you can show me around." He tells her.
Sophie's eyes sparkle with excitement. "You'll love it, dad. I wish I could tell Percy, Pansy, and Blaise; I want to show you them." She sighs.
"I've seen them before." David reminds his daughter. "Pansy came to your last birthday, and Blaise came around in May to borrow Athena." He explains.
Sophie jumps out of her chair. "I'll be back in two minutes." She states, running upstairs.
David shakes his head as he finishes his toast.
"Athena!" Sophie whispers as she enters her room. "Do you know where Pansy and Blaise live?" She asks the owl who chirps.
She doesn't know if that's a yes or a no, but it's worth trying. She just hopes Athena doesn't get lost on the way. Hermione and Draco would be very cross with her if she lost their owl after they trusted her to look after Athena.
Sophie quickly writes two separate notes to her two friends, Pansy and Blaise, rolling them up and tying them with an elastic hair bobble. She then ties the letters carefully, as she had seen Blaise do back in May.
Holding Athena on her arm, she opens her bedroom window as wide as she could push it. "Okay, Athena, I want you to take these notes to Blaise and Pansy, please." She asks the bird then puts her arm out of the window.
At the feel of fresh air on her wings, Athena spreads them, flapping them for a few seconds before setting off on her journey.
Once Athena had gone, Sophie tries to close her window, but it had opened too far. Checking her Dad hadn't snuck up behind her, she sticks her hand out and tries to focus on closing the window with a pulling motion. It wobbles back and forth for a moment before suddenly slamming shut.
"Sophie!" Her dad shouts, running up the stairs. "What are you doing?" He asks, scanning the room.
"I was just closing my window." She states, pulling the handle down to lock it.
"Why was it open?" He asks, noticing the empty owl cage. "Sophie, where's Athena?"
"I sent her out with letters to my friends," Sophie explains.
"Do you know how to do it?" He frowns.
"I saw Blaise do it and it didn't seem that hard. You just tie it to their leg and tell them who to deliver it to." She says.
"Are you sure?" He asks, not wanting to lose Draco and Hermione's owl.
"Yeah, it's fine, dad." She rolls her eyes, going back downstairs to finish her breakfast.
Thirteen miles away, Benjamin is lounging on his couch with a cup of tea while Pandora is sitting beside him, propped up with a cushion, a bottle of milk in her hands. He was practising his German by attempting to translate an episode of the Powerpuff Girls for the four-month-old baby, who had no hopes of understanding his German or the English coming from the TV.
Blaise was busy in the kitchen, making breakfast for the three of them. Apparently, Pandora's paediatrician had recommended moving her onto porridge from the age of four months, so Blaise made it for every breakfast. Benjamin didn't mind; if it weren't for his flatmate, he wouldn't eat breakfast.
Pandora starts babbling, flapping her arms around.
"What's up, Dora?" He asks, glancing down at the child to find her happily staring out the third story window.
He follows her line of sight, choking on his tea at the appearance of a large white owl on their window ledge.
"What the f-, the… what?" He quickly picks Pandora up, rushing into the kitchen. "There's a bloody owl on our window ledge." He hisses at Blaise, who turns around from the cooker, unfazed, to look at the window.
"Okay, don't freak out, but I know her." He states matter-of-factly, turning the hob off and removing his apron.
"You know an owl." Benjamin stares back at the window when the owl starts tapping at the pane of glass.
"Yeah, it's Athena. She's Draco's owl. I don't know what she's doing here." He says. "I'm going to have to check she's okay. I don't want her to injure herself or get lost. Keep an eye on Pandora." Blaise tells him, running out of the flat.
Benjamin stares at the baby on his hip. "Your dad is stupid." He tells her. "He forgot his keys again." He sighs, picking up a pair from the bowl beside the front door. "Let's go rescue him." He states, throwing the door open and following after Blaise down the stairs.
He opens the door to the building and waits for Blaise to notice them stood a few feet behind him.
"Hi, Darling, have you got something for me?" Blaise calls up to the bird, that swoops down to greet him, landing on his shoulder. "Oh, aren't you a clever girl, you've got two letters. Which one is for me?" He asks, and the owl actually holds one of its legs up for Blaise to remove a rolled-up piece of paper. "Who's the other one for?" He asks, and the owl holds its other leg up. "Pansy? Interesting." He mutters as he reads his note. "Ooh, it's Sophie's birthday. I forgot." Blaise pats his pockets, looking for something.
He seemingly finds a small object in his back pocket, although when he returns it, Benjamin notices it's a pen. He makes a note to book an optician's appointment. His current glasses prescription is three years old.
"Can you take this back to Sophie?" Blaise tells the owl, tying the note back to her leg.
The owl chirps, as though answering his questions, and flies off. Blaise watches for a moment then turns to head back inside, freezing when he sees Benji stood with Pandora at the door to the building.
"I can definitely explain whatever you just saw," Blaise states, his heart beating fast as he thinks back on what he's just done. "What did you just see?" He asks.
"Did you just use an owl as a carrier pigeon?" Benjamin asks. "How did it even know where to find you? Don't you have to train them where to go before they can carry messages?" He asks, confused.
"Yes," He frowns, not knowing what a carrier pigeon was but inferred it was a pigeon that carried messages. "Draco trained her. She's very clever. All owls are, though, aren't they? You've seen Winnie the Pooh; there's a reason the owl is so clever. And Draco's owl, her name, Athena, she was the goddess of wisdom, and in ancient Athens, they represented her with an owl. What are you doing down here anyway?" Blaise tries to change the topic of conversation as he enters the building with his roommate, taking his daughter from him.
"You forgot your keys. You wouldn't have been able to get back into the building without it." Benjamin states, feeling confused. "Are you going to be getting more owl messages?" He asks. "It would be nice to have been warned."
"Probably, sorry." He apologises.
"It's fine," Benjamin says, unlocking their front door. "At least I know for next time. Do you have any plans today?" he asks.
"I do now actually, the message was about meeting Draco's wife's cousin for her birthday." Blaise comments, going back to the kitchen and filling three bowls with porridge.
"Your friend's wife's cousin?" Benjamin frowns. "You're very weird. I knew you were weird before you moved in, but it's like you've turned up the weirdness this past month." He tells him, sitting at the dining table with his bowl.
"I'm not that weird." Blaise defends himself, strapping Pandora into her highchair.
"The past ten minutes were weirder than the past three years I had living with my old flatmate." He admits.
"That's one example," Blaise tells him, feeding a Pandora a small spoonful of porridge.
Benjamin lets the conversation drop, watching his friend feed his daughter porridge as he enjoys his own. Since Blaise was going out, he'd go into university to finish one of his assignments.
Back on the estate, Ron opens the window for Athena to enter. She nibbles affectionately at his finger, although it still stings. He reaches to untie the note and receives a bite in return.
"Stupid bird," He mutters, sucking on his finger. "Pansy, you've got an owl." He calls into the living room.
"Who from?"
"I don't know; it's Athena, she bit me." He walks into the living room, the owl perched on his shoulder, digging its talons into his shoulder harder than necessary.
"Good girl," Pansy states, placing Philip down on the baby play mat, beside his sister.
"Take it." Ron leans his shoulder towards Pansy and the owl jump onto the back of the couch.
Pansy strokes Athena's head feathers while Ron pulls a face at the owl as he sits on the carpet to rattle one of his kids' toys in front of their face.
"You know she's blind and can't see you," Pansy tells him, removing the note and reading it. "We're going to Diagon Alley today." She tells him, folding the letter.
"Are we? Why?" Ron looks at her and Phoebe uses his distraction to grab at the rattle.
"I'm taking the twins if you want to come, you can. It's Sophie's birthday." She explains.
"I might as well come. Family outing." He grins, trying to pull the rattle out of Phoebe's grasp but her tiny fists grip on. "You're a strong one. You'll make a great beater when you grow up." Ron tells his daughter. "What about your brother? You know, when I was at Hogwarts, my twin brothers, your uncles Fred and George, were both beaters together. That could be you two." He tells them, finally managing to take the rattle out of Phoebe's hands and pass it to Philip, who takes one look at it and throws it at his father, hitting him on the forehead. "Great aim, son. You need good aim for a beater. Also, for a chaser." He tells his son.
Pansy snorts in amusement as she stands up, leaving them to their Quidditch talk as she goes get dressed in her bedroom, and set out clothes for the twins.
By ten o'clock, Sophie has opened her presents off her dad, and the ones Gwen had sent from America, she'd had a shower, and gotten dressed in her new top and jeans. Her dad had made three different attempts at putting her hair in a fancy updo before she told him she didn't mind having it down with her new hair slides keeping her fringe out of the way. Her dad locked up the house, and they both climbed into the car, ready to drive into the city.
With the traffic, it takes them nearly an hour to get to the car park near Charing Cross, where Hermione used to park when she chaperoned her Sunday's with Gwen. She wasn't supposed to leave until August, but she left in June to find a house and start training with her new teammates earlier. Sophie hadn't seen her since their last meeting at the end of May. Gwen had promised to come back to England at Christmas and to introduce her to her grandmother finally. She was a little nervous, but she had months to wait before Christmas came.
Since Sophie's a witch, when they reach the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, David can see through the Muggle-repelling charm and is just as in awe as the first time he saw the ornate, Victorian-styled front. He has travelled down Charing Cross road many times in his life and can't believe his eyes had always glossed over the magic pub. Although, he assumes that is the point of the magic spell on the building. Sophie guides him through the crowd of people in the pub comically named 'The Leaky Cauldron', and is surprised when a few people call and wave at his daughter, then worried when she tells him she doesn't recognise any of them.
"Everyone in this world knows Gwen, she's famous, and they must have seen me with her, or in the newspapers." She explains, pulling him into a less crowded section of the pub.
"Are we waiting for something?" David asks, glancing around nervously.
"No, I'm looking for someone I might know." She says, looking around herself. "We need someone with a wand to open the wall, if I can't see anyone, Hermione told me to ask Mr Tom." She explains.
David decides not to question the magic behind opening a wall, letting his daughter scan the crowded bar.
"I know him; he was at Molly's." She drops her Dad's hand, running over to a small table where a tall man with long ginger hair and a beard was sat with his beautiful blond wife, holding a few weeks old baby. "Hi!" Sophie greets them both. "You were at Molly's house for dinner that time I came with Hermione and Draco." She tells the man, who shares a glance with his wife.
"Yes, you're Sophie, Hermione's cousin, right?" The man asks, glancing up at David when he joins them.
"This is my Dad; it's my birthday, and I'm showing him Diagon Alley, but I don't know how to open the wall." She tells him. "Can you help us, please?"
"Of course," The man stands up, a few inches taller than David, who considered himself tall and held his hand out for the other man. "I'm Bill, Molly's eldest son." He introduces himself.
David shakes the man's hand. "David, Sophie's dad and Hermione's uncle." He says.
Bill nods, tucking his hair behind his ear, revealing multiple piercings. David isn't sure he likes this new trend of kids get piercings and tattoos all over, but each to their own.
"I'll let you through; it is a bit of pain for Muggles wanting to visit with their magical family," Bill admits, leading the way out the back door to a small yard. He removes his wand, tapping a specific pattern on the wall and it peels back into an archway.
"Thank you, Bill." Sophie grins, and David nods his thanks, following after his daughter.
Sophie takes her father on a guided tour of Diagon Alley, pointing out every shop and their purpose, occasionally entering the ones she found interesting. They only through six shops before Sophie pulled him by the hand into a book shop called 'Flourish and Blotts', where she told him her friend Percy used to work, but he now works for the Ministry.
Despite the man not working at the shop anymore, he was sat upstairs reading a book and making notes on a piece of parchment.
"Percy!" Sophie squeal, throwing her arms around the man that was obviously a relative of Bill. They had the same facial features, and of course, the ginger hair, which this man also wore quite long but was currently tied back in a small knot.
"Hi Sophie, what are you doing here?" He asks, hugging her back before covering his parchment with the open book he was reading.
"My dad brought me here for my birthday." She tells him, leaning against his table. "This is my dad." She beams up at him.
Percy stands up, clearing his voice. "Hello, sir. It's nice to meet you finally. Hermione and Sophie speak fondly of you." He holds his hand out.
"Thank you," David shakes the young man's hand. "Percy was it?" Percy nods. "I'm David. Sophie is always talking about her friend Percy; it's nice to put a face to the name." He smiles.
Percy chuckles. "Sophie, as it's such a special day, go choose a book and I'll buy it for you." He tells the girl.
Sophie's eye light up, "Thank you, Percy," She runs off downstairs.
"You don't need to buy her anything," David tells him, trying to be polite.
"I don't mind, she's a very bright child, and I see no harm in facilitating her learning." He tells him, brushing a few shorter strands of hair off his face.
David couldn't argue with that, and so follows the man, who's packed up his parchment and book, downstairs to where his daughter is stood reading a book.
"I think I'd like this one." She tells Percy. "Please." She adds, after receiving a look from her dad.
Percy takes the book to inspect and ensure it's appropriate from an eight-year-old. "Wizarding Etiquette for Muggleborns," He frowns at the title until he reads the author's name. "By Helga Hufflepuff."
"Yeah, she was one of the founders of Hogwarts," Sophie tells him. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." She adds, reminding Percy of a young Hermione.
Percy flips the book over. "A list of thirty-three etiquette rules in the wizarding word all Muggleborns should know." He reads the blurb.
Percy has never heard of this book before, which he feels he should have since Helga Hufflepuff wrote it. He flicks through the book and notices a pattern. Helga starts each chapter explaining the specific etiquette rule with examples and history before completely tearing them apart and discussing why they're unnecessary and reminding the readers of the importance of loyalty, honesty, patience and hard work above all else.
He smiles, handing the book back to Sophie. "Here are some coins, do you want to go pay yourself?" He asks, giving Sophie the money.
The young girl thanks him as she takes the coins, running up to the counter to pay.
"Is that book appropriate?" David asks.
"The title is misleading. I assume it's meant to catch the eye of nervous Muggleborn students but don't worry; it discusses how being a decent human being is more important than our etiquettes. I know of a few purebloods who could read this book." He states.
When Sophie returns, they leave the shop together, and Percy bids them goodbye before walking off towards the Leaky Cauldron. Sophie continues their journey a few more shops before entering 'Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes' and recognises the name as that of Molly and her children.
Inside, a horn announces their arrival, and David recognises Pansy as the young woman who attended Sophie's birthday party the previous year. She had a double pushchair with her and was talking to two ginger boys, who he assumes are the mentioned Weasleys'.
Sophie runs up, hugging Pansy, who pretends to be annoyed, pushing her away only to produce a bag of sweets from behind her back for the girl's birthday.
"Thank you, Pansy." She grins, digging into the bag.
"David," Pansy nods at him with a little wave.
"Are these the twins Sophie prefers over her cousins?" David asks with a smile, walking forward to peer inside the pushchair where two babies with mops of auburn hair.
"That one is called Phoebe, and that one's Philip." Sophie pointed out each one. "They're a lot bigger than last time I saw them." She admits, peering into the pushchair.
"Well, they are eighteen weeks old now," Pansy tells Sophie.
"George, has your baby been born yet?" Sophie asks the taller of the two ginger men.
"Not yet, but we haven't got long to wait. Just two more weeks." George smiles. "Bill and Fleur had their baby, though." He tells her.
Sophie grins. "We saw them in the Leaky Cauldron. Bill opened the wall for me."
"He's in the Leaky Cauldron and yet hasn't been to visit his favourite brother." George places his hands on his hip, feigning annoyance.
"We saw Percy too." Sophie smiles.
George rolls his eyes. "Nah, he can stay away." He jokes, making Sophie laugh.
"He was really nice. He bought me a book for my birthday." She tells George.
"Wait, is that today? Is today your birthday?" George asks, face shocked.
"Yes, I'm eight years old," Sophie tells him.
"Well, you are in luck, because I have something special that only eight-year-olds are allowed." He tells her, beckoning for her to follow him up a set of stairs around the counter.
The other man rolls his eyes at his brother's antics.
"If you don't mind me asking how many siblings do you have?" David asks.
"Six, five brothers and a sister." Ron answers.
David's eyes widen. "I bet that was an eventful upbringing."
"It was a nightmare, but now we've moved out of the Burrow, and we can joke about the good old days, we're left with only good memories." He tells him. "You got any more kids?" He asks.
"No, I didn't want any children until Sophie came along when I was in my late forties," David admits.
"Oh Merlin, wait, your Gwen's ex, right? Wow, what was that like?" The man asks him.
"Ronald!" Pansy elbows him.
"I just mean, I'm a fan, she's a great Quidditch player, and she's always portrayed a certain way in the media, but what I've heard from Hermione and Draco, she's not so great." Ron tries to clarify.
"We only dated for fourteen months, June 1991 to August 1992, when she left me to raise our one-month-old daughter. I can't pretend to know her too well since she never told me about this world. As far as I was aware, she was some young, beautiful, rich twenty-something year old looking for some freedom from her mother. She's my complete opposite, and I thought why not, I got my daughter out of it, so I don't regret it at all." He shrugs.
"And you were in your late forties?" Ron asks.
"Yes," David sighs. "I know what our age gap is and don't need reminding. She took an interest in me when I was having a drink one night, and I wasn't looking for anything more than a short fling. I assumed she would get bored of me in a couple of months and go back home to her mother. I'm not one for long-term relationships anyway." He explains.
"I'm not judging." Ron shrugs
The horn sounds throughout the shop when Blaise enters, his daughter strapped to his chest.
"I thought we'd find you in here," He laughs, patting David on the shoulder. "Where's Sophie?" He asks. "I got her owl. She did a great job." He smiles, as Sophie and George coming running around a corner.
"I won!" Sophie cheers.
George groans, pretending to be out of breath. "That means you get it for free."
"Blaise! Did Athena give you my letter?" She asks, hugging Blaise.
"Yes, that's why I'm here. We've been looking for you." He admits.
"I'm giving my dad a tour of Diagon Alley." She tells him.
"I bet you're a great tour guide. You probably know more than me." He tells her.
"Oh, Dad, watch this." Sophie grabs his attention. She shows him the hairbrush in her hands, pulling it through her dark curls.
David watches in amazement as her hair turn bright purple where the brush has been.
"Wow, that is interesting." David takes the brush to inspect, glancing at George and noticing he has a strip of purple in his hair too, having demonstrated for Sophie. "It just went straight through your hair and didn't mess your curls up." He pulls the brush through another section of his daughter's hair. "Do you have any of these that don't change the colour of her hair?" He asks George. "Her school doesn't allow unnatural hair colours." He explains.
"I can make one," George shrugs, waving his wand and another hairbrush soars through the air, into his hands. He spends a few seconds muttering what David assumes are spells at the hairbrush and tapping it with his wand. "There." He passes the brush to David. He brushes another section of hair.
"Wow, thank you." David smiles. "How much?" He asks.
"Don't worry about it?" Blaise takes a few gold coins out of his pocket. "Happy birthday, Sophie?"
"Thank you, Blaise." Sophie smiles, standing on her tiptoes to stare into his baby carrier. "Is Pandora as big as Philip and Phoebe?" She asks.
Blaise looks at the twins in the pushchair. "Pandora's a little smaller, but she's a week younger, and when they're this young, that's a long time." He tells her.
"Is she asleep?" Sophie asks.
"Yes, we had an exciting morning filled with owls and porridge." He tells her.
After a few more minutes of conversing, David and Sophie bid them all goodbye as the group of friends discuss having a late lunch in a nearby café.
Sophie takes him in a large loop, ending back at the Leaky Cauldron three o'clock in the afternoon. She had shown him the wand shop, the sweet shop, the clothing shop, the bank and the post office. She had also stopped beside an alleyway leading to a place called Knockturn Alley, whispering that Hermione said never to go down there because there's dark magic. He'd hurriedly pulled his daughter away from that alleyway, noticing a particularly dark character walking towards them. Had they been in his world, David would have crossed the street to avoid him. Sophie ended the tour by pointing to the building beside the Leaky Cauldron, telling him it was the Ice Cream Parlour.
David chuckles at the hopeful look in his daughter's eyes and suggests they end their day out with a delicious bowl of ice-cream. He regrets it as soon as he sees the toppings board and doesn't recognise any of them.
"Dad, you'll like the chocolate frogs. They're just chocolate, not actual frogs." She tells him, so he orders that.
From the name of the chocolate, he shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when the woman behind the counter brought over his order and the chocolate frogs were actually jumping.
"They're not- alive, are they?" He feels stupid for questioning.
The woman stares at him for a split second before laughing and shaking her head. "No, they're just charmed to jump around for a bit. You're fine to eat them." She tells him, walking off to tell her partner at the till who also laughs.
Feeling embarrassed, he eats the ice-cream around the jumping chocolate frogs until they've stopped jumping and he gives one a tentative bite, finding it to be hollow. He happily finishes his ice-cream off, talking to Sophie about her favourite parts of the wizarding world. Sophie admitted she loved the charms and couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts and learn all of them. David sadly realised he would only have three more birthdays with his daughter, then she would be off to Hogwarts, and she'd celebrate her teenage years there with her magical friends. He promised himself right there, sat in the booth of the Ice Cream Parlour, to make each one of his daughter's remaining childhood birthdays as rememberable as possible.
You should follow me on Instagram (bigdswisdom) to find out when the next chapter will be uploaded.
Thank you so much for reading.
Please FOLLOW, FAVOURITE and REVIEW. It will be much appreciated.