Chapter Two: Diagon Alley
"We're lost." Nathaniel said as a matter of fact, punching his stomach.
"Nah, mom knows where we're going." Michael responded.
Mom looked around frantically, unsure who exactly it is that they were supposed to be meeting. They were in the right location-ish, all they needed to do was find the stupid pub and whatever wizard was supposed to show them around.
The Henderson twins were dressed in jeans and t-shirts that matched at their insistence. The only noticeable difference in style being their sneakers, the different styles of backpack that each one wore and the raggedy grey jacket that Nathaniel almost always wore like a second skin. Meanwhile their mother had chosen a warm sweater to combat the chill that the twins still hadn't noticed.
Suddenly, "POINTY HAT!" Michael shouted, pointing at an aged but still got it woman in emerald robes and indeed, a pointy hat.
"That's the most wizardly hat I have ever seen!" He continued to yell.
"That's gotta be the wizard!" Nathaniel added.
Having left the other kids at home with her husband the mother had been getting fidgety in the long wait, but seeing the woman the boys pointed to, she was dragged across the empty street to the other busy sidewalk with little resistance.
"Are you the wizard we're supposed to meet?" Nathaniel asked.
"You're immoral, right?" Michael asked, "I mean, you have to be to look like that!"
"Stupid," Nathaniel said loudly, "It's immortal, with a Tee…! Tee…! Tee…!"
"Shut up stupid, I knew that!" Michael spat back.
"T!" Nathaniel continued.
Both twins fell silent at McGonagall's stern look, tics slightly muffled as they struggled to stay still.
"Let's get out of this muggle space before we talk about magic, shall we?" She said.
"Muggle?" All the Henderson's asked in concert.
"Non magical folk." The headmistress informed them.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." The twins stretched obnoxiously.
"So where do we go?" The mom asked.
"Follow me." The witch told them and led them to the correct street to the pub and inside.
McGonagall had been looking for the missing group for almost twenty minutes, but she did not let the annoyance show on her face. She brought them to a rather large group of other parents and children and finally took them into the Leaky Cauldron. The muggleborn were excited to finally get moving, they too had been waiting after all.
The twins made their way to the front of the group to ohh and awe at positively everything in sight. They entered Diagon alley, and the twins started fidgeting like mad. The first stop was Gringotts.
Begging the group for pencil and paper, the twins received quill and parchment. Confused but not deterred they dutifully and messily copied down what was etched onto the Bank doors.
"This is perfect for DnD!" Nathaniel said as Michael hurriedly scribbled it down before the quill could drip too much.
McGonagall ushered them inside past the armored goblins once they were finished.
Their mother had to grab them both before they could get too close to the threatening looking guards, although they certainly tried.
What she didn't know was that the guards in turn had no desire for the loud hooting children to come near them.
Once inside, she forced the two to put their hands into their pockets. There was a LOT of shiny objects and the twins often had trouble keeping their hands to themselves as is. One hand on a backpack and the other on one of their hands, this was a tell that she was expecting trouble.
The goblins, as if sensing this, kept a very close eye on the dubious duo.
Despite the extremely boring proceedings with money and bank and stuff, the twins could not keep themselves still.
Eventually, one of the twins managed to wriggle free of his backpack/motherly restraints, and run up to a goblin guard, politely questioning relentlessly.
The goblin, very shocked, stammered out a few answers then tried to frighten off the little brat with a toothy grin but that only seemed to make him even more thrilled and therefore annoying.
"Are you carnivorous or omnivorous?" Nathaniel asked next, punching himself in the stomach very audibly.
Before the guard could respond, the human's mother finally cut through the group and grabbed her son showering the goblin in apologies.
At that moment, Michael took his turn at escaping the grip of the mother.
Sprinting to a random door, Michael pulled it open, ran inside, and slammed it shut behind him.
"NO!" The mother screamed, placing Nathaniel in McGonagall's hand and charging after her other wayward son.
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Michael was amazed. He had run down a series of halls and doors, outrunning the goblins that had chased after him, and found a room filled with weapons and armor. He knocked over practically everything when he jerked his arms and growled. Then he started photographing everything in sight with the camera his mother had bought him the previous day and pocketed a few items of interest.
They would make great souvenirs!
He wanted to but couldn't take anything larger than a short sword that he shoved down the leg of his pants.
He saw another door, this one with a large bolt lock that he immediately unbolted, and ran into.
It was a smithy. A smithy with at least thirty goblins within. The goblins hadn't actually noticed him at first, but then in his excitement, a few guttural throat noises slipped out. In fact, they thought he was saying come get me, B*! In Gobbledygook.
Realizing that he was about to be caught, Michael palmed a pile of scrap metal that he spotted and dashed through the room to the other side and back out again.
Taking stock of the next room and grabbing a few things, he continued on, going back and forth and at one point throwing on a goblin helmet and disguising himself. It didn't fool anyone for a second.
Twenty-eight minutes later, Michael found himself back in the atrium, thirty feet off the ground on one of the intricate pillars holding up the roof.
Nathaniel looked up at him with a mixture of jealousy and sheer joy, ticcing wildly.
McGonagall fixed the boy in the ceiling with an exasperated look and swished her wand, levitating the child down to the ground where he was immediately accosted by his mother who grabbed him, his brother who hugged him, and armed goblins that went about searching him.
They found six daggers of varying size and style, multiple pieces of small body armor, twelve tiny jewels that had once encrusted swords, two pairs of dragonscale gauntlets, a shrinkable warhammer, a short sword once belonging to Salazar Slytherin, five small hand-axes, and a single metal glove.
Unbeknownst to them, he had already slipped something to his twin.
During that hug, Michael discreetly shoved a dagger into Nathaniel's hands. His twin almost blew it when he had to move his hand up and punch beneath his chin but was able to slide it into his long-sleeved jacket (trademark big grey jacket).
Now Nathaniel wasn't one to steal, that was Michael's thing, but he wasn't about to stop him either.
Nathaniel hid the dagger in his waistband while he started on his stomach and snuck it into one of the many hidden pockets in his backpack soon after, just in case he was also searched.
The goblins ended up banning Michael from Gringotts for life, but thanks in due to Nathaniel's inquisitive and polite nature, the twin scraped by with little more than a warning.
Their mother asked for a room to go into and once given, she spanked the boys until they couldn't sit.
But to them, it was worth it. They now had a dagger that might be magic.
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The next stop that they made was for robes and despite the boys cries for mercy, they were fitted first and miraculously, their tics hibernated the entire time, although the same couldn't be said for their ADHD.
"Are you American?" One of the other muggleborn asked Nathaniel.
Standing utterly still so as not to upset the lady with the needle, he responded, "Yep, we just moved here. It's really great so far."
Michael continued struggling in the corner but the robes held him as still as possible. Magic was cool, but also a bit scary.
"I'm Nathaniel, he's Michael. What's your name?" Michael asked.
"I'm Sykes..." He replied in a husky spy voice, "Alex…Sykes."
The three laughed at the reference.
"Darn. I should've done that." Michael lamented. And then Nathaniel's patience wore out and he too started struggling.
Robes were fitted quickly but it still took some time for the entire group to finish.
The next location was Flourish and Botts for books. Here, the twins became absolutely enamored.
"Pleeeeeaaaaaase?" Michael and Nathaniel begged, each barely managing to hold up a massive stack of books. None of which were on the list of schoolbooks.
"Absolutely not." Their mother put her foot down, "You were supposed to be on your best behavior! You had me chasing you down in a huge building where you could have easily gotten lost!"
"Sorry." The twins responded with "genuine" apology written across their identical faces.
"I'll consider it, only if you are on your best behaviors for the rest of the trip." She responded wagging a finger at them,"But, only Nathaniel, and only because he actually behaved somewhat and acted politely."
Quickly gathering up their schoolbooks, the large group left the shop, and headed to the store that supplied potion ingredients. It took all their effort to not touch or grab everything they saw. They REALLY wanted more books.
Finally, after frightening a potions employee with their tics, when the many jars and fun cauldrons were out of sight, and out of mind the twins looked up at the teacher, whatever her name was.
"What's next? What's next? What's next?" They chanted.
Giving them another stern glance, Professor McGonagall addressed the group as a whole.
"Our final stop of the day will be Ollivander's. Where you will be receiving your wands." She called out, "Unfortunately, the building is much too small for the entire group, so we will be going in three children at a time."
She led the families to the little wand shop with a sign that made the muggleborn and their parents laugh or stare in disbelief, and started them off.
The twins waited for the next thirty or so minutes for their turn, however, they made it quite obvious that they did not like to wait.
Eventually, the twins' long sighs and constant ticcing led their guide to allow them to go next.
Sighing sharply, Professor McGonagall gave the boys a small, strained smile and allowed them to enter, next to them, another muggleborn girl with straight black hair that hung down to her waist.
They stepped into the dusty, dimly lit shop and looked around.
Behind the counter, the walls were lined with thousands upon thousands of boxes that presumably held wands. Before anyone could say something, an old man walked into view. McGonagall looked put out that he had disappeared and reappeared in the time it took her to turn around usher in a new group.
"Let's get started, shall we?" He grinned, "Oldest first."
With that he spoke directly to Nathaniel, talking about wands and their fickle nature. The elder twin, for so he was, absorbed maybe a third of what he was supposed to, too distracted by the dust layering the counter to really pay attention.
"Which is your wand hand?" The old man asked, as he used a measuring tape to determine the distance between Nathaniel's fingers while they were splayed out.
"I use both hands." Nathaniel told him, his mother explained that he was ambidextrous.
"Let's try this." Ollivander said, snapping Nathaniel out of his zoned-out stupor and handing him a wand, "Holly and Unicorn hair, eleven inches, stiff as a corpse."
As Nathaniel grabbed it, he felt nothing and looked up at the old man wondering if he was senile. Ollivander snatched the wand back so quickly that his hand had blurred and started shaking his head, already sifting through one of his shelves. It went on like that for a few minutes before he gave Nathaniel a wand that just felt right. Nathaniel switched it to his left hand to punch his chin again before moving it back to his right.
"Hawthorn wood with dragon heartstring, twelve and a half inches, surprisingly swishy, flexibility."
Nathaniel turned to Michael and swished his wand, yelling, "Abracadabra!" Viciously.
McGonagall screamed as Ollivander jerked back in surprise, only to find that the result was much less fatal than they had thought.
Nathaniel's twin had grown a massive beard that covered his entire face and trailed past his feet. Nathaniel laughed as Michael parted enough hair to see his twin began punching Nathaniel in the shoulder, knuckle extended for maximum pain.
Crying with laughter and some pain, Nathaniel stepped to the side as McGonagall fixed his jinx and Michael took his turn, mom giving professor a questioning look the entire time.
And so repeated the old man, his words and wand choosing, except Ollivander instead measured how long Michael's nose is compared to his ears. Michael's wand was found much quicker than Nathaniel's.
"It makes it easier when I've already done his twin." Ollivander explained, "Also Hawthorn wood, with phoenix core, twelve and three quarter inches, and slightly springy flexibility."
Michael immediately turned to his brother, brandishing his wand. Nathaniel cried with laughter as he tried avoiding it, his mom too distracted talking to McGonagall to help him, but tripped and fell prone, a perfect target for his vindictive twin.
"Expecto Patronum!" Michael shouted randomly, using what little Latin he knew incorrectly, and suddenly McGonagall became VERY interested, only to see the spell also not having the result she was used to.
A flash of blue light and in Nathaniel's place, stood a tiny dragon. Norwegian Ridgeback to be precise.
The two foot tall dragon roared and breathed out a plume of flame above his head, but was disappointed to find it the size of a lighter. The little dragon twin slammed his head into the wall a few times, his hands unusable for the tic.
Their mother smiled, holding back a laugh, "That's actually completely accurate. He likes fire a bit too much and has a temper I've heard called draconic." And she fell into giggles.
McGonagall frowned, fixing the transfiguration, and waved her hand for the third student to take her turn.
After almost fifteen minutes of searching, once the circumference of both her skull and left patella was calculated, she got her wand.
"Cherry wood!" Ollivander said with an appraising glance, "with dragon heartstring, six inches, and slight springy flexibility. Let's give it a go."
"Okay, she said, gulping. She gave it a tentative wave and a massive explosion ripped through the store, turning everything white and filling heir ears with a roaring blast of sound that ripped through the walls and shattered the windows into particles.
When the dust settled, the front of the shop was destroyed, the back and storage area already having protective wards in place. A yellow sphere was visibly surrounding the group, McGonagall having put up a shield just in time.
Ollivander cleared his throat, raised an eyebrow at the girl and her mother and started on repairing his store.
McGonagall took them outside, arguing with herself under her breath about whether or not to take the wand from the girl and never let it see the light of day again.
Once they were outside, the three children looked at each other and realized that the explosion had given them all extreme wind swept hair styles and they laughed away any lingering panic.
In perfect sync, the twins looked at the girl and asked, "So, what's your name?"
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Their exasperated and somewhat fearful mother dragged the pair away before they could get an answer. They protested until they realized she was taking them to Flourish and Botts to get the books she promised. The twins looked to each other, maybe that explosion rattled her a bit, but they weren't going to complain. Soon, the famous bookstore was filled with hooting, growling, and garbled gibberish. Their mother's explanations not comforting the wizard at the counter. Searching the store, the twins went about making their picks
"No." Michael said, setting aside the Encyclopedia of Animal Feces.
"This one's not gonna happen." Nathaniel winced, gingerly putting down a Evil Murder Curses to Place on Muggles.
"Nah-uh." Michael shook his head eyeing a beige, 20 Household Charm to Brighten Your Home.
Nathaniel held one up, "Dibs!" He yelled.
"Curses, Hexes and Jinxes, by Arthur Goodthought?" His mother gave him the stinky eyeball.
"Fine." Nathaniel pouted, then as soon as she turned her back, he switched the cover with another book of equal value before submitting that one "instead".
Michael gathered a book titled Obscure Magicks gave it to his mom, and she brought them to the counter to buy them.
"That's one Obscure Magicks by Simon Kowl, and one 116 Ways to Piss off Predators by Schwartz Egger." The teller noted as he asked for pay.
Their mother paid the proper amount with the coins she exchanged for at Gringotts. The twins hadn't missed that she apparently had to pay quite a bit for the coins, something about change rates.
As they were leaving, Nathaniel ran back to the teller and told him about the switch and showed him the other book that he switched with. The shocked man decided to figure out a way to prevent theft this way and approved of the boy's choice.
To the twins surprise, they weren't done just yet. Their mother took them into the pet emporium and bought them a messenger bird. She wasn't willing to spend the amount an owl cost, so she gave the twins their choice of crows. The clerk was astonished, among the wizarding world, you either got an owl or nothing. To wizards, a crow was a bad omen. Nobody was buying a crow. So the shop only had a small selection to choose from. Crows were cheap, but rarely sold.
Michael and Nathaniel took less than a second to choose.
He was a jet black bird with a dull scar on his beak. They named him Odin. He accepted them and the name.
McGonagall went around, collecting all of the muggleborn families and informing them of the trip to King's cross Station later that month.
Some people do author's notes, so why not?
Please review, constructive criticism is appreciated and we might actually incorporate any ideas you would be willing to sacrifice! This is based off of me and my twin when we were younger and (as everyone puts it) literal demons. Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, ADHD, the works. Still have it and still hate it.