AU: Hogwarts, again. This is the Part 0 (Part 0 will have several sub-parts, for convenience's sake) of the previous chapter - mainly an origins-type chapter. Clearly, I am an absolute Potterhead.
Pairings: none yet
Part A. Diagon Alley Discoveries
Stumbling into a strange place called Diagon Alley and accidentally fainting at the sight of it was the last item on Tenten's bucket list. She had awoken, possibly hours afterwards, on a small bed in the middle of a quaint room with strange decorations inside of it. She couldn't tell what the time was either, because the only clock there had seven hands that ticked erratically from behind it's glass pane, and when she looked closely enough, the exquisite paintings on the walls seemed to move and inquire about her 'well being.'
Tenten wasn't sure if that word applied to her anymore. She'd only meant to take a quick peek at the little building in between the record store and the bookshop while on a stroll with her Orphanage caretakers down Charing Cross Road. It was hardly unnoticeable, and stood out to her immediately, but appeared to be almost invisible to the people walking past her. Perhaps it was just one of those Avoid At All Costs buildings that the staff members always warned her about, but she'd also seen a few, strangely-dressed toddlers bounce through the doors with their mother. Tenten couldn't help herself at that time, and sneaked in discretely.
By sight, it looked like a dinghy pub that served a multitude of extremely eccentric people who chuckled merrily at odd jokes like 'Muggles' and 'Hufflepuffs'. Refraining from staring wide-eyed at her surroundings, she caught sight of the previous family and hurried after them as they walked straight out of the other door.
They were all greeted by a brick wall, and Tenten felt mildly disappointed, given all the extravagant sights she'd just seen in the previous room. It was a dead end.
"Going to Diagon Alley too, sweetheart? Where are your parents?" The blonde woman smiled sweetly at Tenten, before taking out a wooden stick. Tenten had no idea why she did that; a wooden stick was just a stick, no matter how polished and ornate it appeared.
She played along, anyway, and nodded. "Yes, they told me to meet them there."
"Wonderful! I'll open up the passageway for you." With a few, select tapping motions on the walls, Tenten was suddenly bombarded by an onslaught of extraordinary sights and had promptly fainted.
"Are you quite alright, dear?" The painting of people eating roast beef together shouted loudly. She stared again, and pinched herself. Not a dream.
The door slammed open moments later. A portly man wearing an outdated top hat waddled into her room while fiddling with the hat's brim nervously. "Hello, dear."
Tenten stared at him. "Hello."
He smiled at her cautiously. "Do you know where you are?"
She thought back. "Diagon Alley?"
"Correct," he beamed, "and, if I may I ask, how did you enter?"
She glanced at the stranger uncertainly, suddenly aware of the fact that this man was in actuality a Stranger, and she'd been taught not to trust strangers.
Tenten leaned back into the pillow behind her while clutching the ever-present golden necklace that had been hanging around her neck since she'd been admitted into Winona Mayweather's Orphanage as an infant. Attached to the chain was an old-fashioned key with a 'G-569' code carved into it's head. It always gave her a sense of comfort whenever she touched it, and at the moment Tenten's gripping on it was so tight that her blood was starting to drain away from her knuckles.
Truth be told, the young girl was frightened. Up until today, everything had been perfectly ordinary for Tenten, with her immaculate school attendance rates and the prized coin collection that dated back to 1967. The staff liked to tease her for having an old lady's hobby, but Tenten had always enjoyed collecting money.
Today, she had allowed her curiosity to get the better of her, and wandered into an unknown place with no Adults to supervise her and currently, Tenten felt like curling up into a ball and crying. She wanted to go home to where people knew her, and where she could live in peace without frightening - alright, frankly, very friendly - objects talking to her.
The man sitting down across from her caught sight of the necklace in her hand. He ceased his questioning immediately, and started muttering to himself while pulling out a roll of old, yellowing paper and quill and scribbling down a message. Words like 'impossible' and 'muggle' were audible, but Tenten was too far away from him to hear his words properly. If anything, she was more confused about his choice of stationary. After a while, he stepped out of the room and returned, empty-handed, sitting himself back down again.
"Excuse me," she managed to find her voice, "what's happening?"
He stood up, looking flustered. "Nothing to worry about, my dear. It seems that there will be a change in plans."
"What plans?" Tenten asked frantically. "What were you going to do to me?"
"Nothing terrible." A young woman carrying a pile of papers strode into the room with a small pig trotting along at her side. "Ah, Shizune. Thank you for coming here on such short notice. Have you brought the uh-necessary items?"
The brunette woman named Shizune nodded briskly, sending an exasperated look to the air. Tenten would have giggled had she not still been terrified out of her wits. The portly man hurried outside, as though her mere presence unsettled him to no end.
The woman turned to Tenten and smiled at her kindly. "Hello," she said softly, "My name is Shizune. What's your name?"
Tenten released a breath that she'd been holding tensely. This woman seemed trustworthy enough, with her hands held open in a peaceful gesture and her kind face smiling openly at her. "Tenten."
"Tenten," she repeated, "that's a lovely name." Shizune sat down on the chair that the man had just stepped out of and rested the papers on her lap. "Tenten," she prodded, after a brief period of silence, "Are you, perhaps, wondering what exactly Diagon Alley is?"
Tenten nodded rapidly, eyes widening more and more by the second. Finally, some answers!
"I'm not sure how to put this," Shizune rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly. Tenten edged forward in an attempt to catch the string of words that were flying from her mouth. "Diagon Alley is a market place for witches and wizards all over England."
Her mind was completely, and utterly blank. Witches. Wizards. She laughed hysterically, ignoring the awkward expression on the older woman's face and the confused looks that the portraits were giving each other. Did she honestly believe that Tenten was foolish enough to believe in wizards? Magic?
Tenten's laughter diminished when she backtracked her thoughts. The portraits were alive; they could talk and walk, and the woman from before was holding a stick. Not an ordinary stick, no. It must have been a magic wand. She pinched herself again. Still not a dream.
This must have been an elaborate ploy to lure her into misbehaving and lose her dinner points for tonight. But then, who would be determined enough to plan something so large-scale? Surely not Augustus. He might be a big, mean bully, but he certainly wasn't clever or resourceful enough to perform something this...grandiose...for the sake of pranking her. Besides, the brute probably would've chosen to simply steal her dinner rather than orchestrate an elaborate plan to do so.
"What?" She managed to eke out.
"Diagon Alley is a market place for witches and wizards around Europe to congregate and replenish their supplies," Shizune restated patiently, "And, by sheer luck, you have managed to stumble into it." Oh, boy.
Tenten remained silent, feeling somewhat less terrified than before.
Shizune pressed on. "The Leaky Cauldron, Tenten, is the passageway into Diagon Alley. In other words, the portal connecting the non-wizarding world with the wizarding. I congratulate you on finding it."
She remained contemplatively silent. "Why are you telling me all this?"
The question seemed to catch her off-guard. "Well," Shizune started, "We, being the Minister and I," at her confused glance, the older woman elaborated, "the Minister for Magic is the man who runs the Wizarding Government, essentially. No, that man was just an official. Nevertheless, we do have reason to believe that you, Tenten, are a witch."
Tenten wasn't expecting that news. She felt like bursting into a new round of laughter at the ridiculousness of Shizune's claim. But the woman's expression didn't change, didn't morph into a wide, jocular smile, or anything of the sort. Instead, she seemed patient, and absolutely certain with her words.
"This is a joke," Tenten barks out, "A huge, gigantic prank. Who set you up to this? Augustus?"
Folding her arms, and looking slightly concerned at the implications of Tenten's accusations, "I assure you, it is the furthest thing from a joke." She leaned in closer, "Tenten. Has something out of the ordinary ever happened to you? Events you couldn't explain, even with the most advanced forms of science you know?"
She thought back to the previous year, when her coin collection disappeared from under her nose as Augustus and his bully friends were trying to find and desecrate it. And the time she'd fallen into the lake on a camping trip - swimming wasn't her forte - and immediately emerged as dry as the wood crackling under the bonfire that same night.
Tenten knew, deep down, that those events were far from commonplace. But, still, that didn't necessarily mean that she was a witch, did it? Shizune seemed to think otherwise, especially when an expression of dawning comprehension appeared on Tenten's face.
"I can't be a witch, Shizune. I don't know a thing about magic, or any mystic arts. I'm just Tenten." The last part came out in a faint whisper.
Shizune smiled. "You're far from just Tenten, sweetheart. I'll prove it to you." Her kind, brown eyes flickered towards the necklace hanging around Tenten's neck. She stood up. "Off we go, dear."
"To where?" Tenten leapt off the mattress, curious to see where Shizune was going with this.
"A quaint little place called Diagon Alley."
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- misspandalily