Anything that rings a bell belongs to JK Rowling
A/N: Heads up, since it's a pain to write great great grandfather, I just simplified it to grandfather.
Chapter Five: Sword of Wine
"Ky…no…I said no. We're not going inside that sh…KY. Put those back. No, you can't have that. KY! You better…"
Her brother didn't get to finish his sentence as the shop erupted in a world of colour, sparks were flying everywhere. Something that looked like a griffon was galloping around, changing from pinks to yellows.
"Sweet Mother of Pie, that was awesome! Don't look at me like that Linus, you're the one that spat on the Dr Filibuster's No heat WET start fireworks." Ky said, as they re-joined their grandfather and Lenzo outside.
"That's because you make me spitting mad. I told you; DO NOT go into that shop. But did you listen? I don't even know what goes through your head…"
Ky zoned out the rest. She turned to Nonno, he was humming, stopping only to nod and smile a greeting at the staring people. It had been like this from the Leaky Cauldron. They just got out of Gringotts, where they had to exchange some 'muggle' money for gold, silver, and bronze coins.
They were heading for Ollivander's Wand shop; well, they were trying to get there. It's not Ky's fault she was distracted, it's like a little bit of heaven fell out of the sky into a sea of splendour, cartwheeled through the Valley of The Awesome and decided to set up shop in London and call itself Diagon Alley.
Well, she felt like it was 'Died-and-gone Heaven'.
"Were you in a famous wizard band when you were younger?" Her grandfather looked at her. Conversation wasn't exactly flowing between the lot of them. Following the decision for her to go to Hogwarts this year, it was also decided she should stay in the Castle, where she had access to teachers who were kindly offering some of their free time to help her prepare for her special entry exams. Linus and Lenzo visited daily, since they also needed guidance in acclimatising to this new world they found themselves in.
Linus had surprised them all by announcing that they would be going into London to shop for wands with Nonno this morning, but in spite of this decision, he was being fairly standoffish.
Nonno chuckled, "What gave me away. The beard?"
"Really! What was it called, wait don't tell me, I'll guess..."
"He's pulling your leg Ky. He wasn't in a band. Everybody is staring at him because he is known to be the greatest wizard of modern times, and he defeated a dark wizard called Grindelwald in 1945, he discovered the twelve uses of dragon blood and also worked on the Philosopher's stone with an alchemist called Nicholas Flamel." Linus said this in monotone, not making eye contact with anybody, and with not a stitch of pride in his voice at being the descendant of such an accomplished man.
"Don't forget, he likes ten pin bowling and chamber music."
Ky looked at Lenzo curiously. When did they find all that out, they left straight for Diagon Alley after breakfast.
"Your face is on the floor."
Linus said this nonchalantly and pointed some feet back.
Ky looked back to where he pointed and found a card lying there covered in dirt and dust, a picture of Nonno smiling up at them. She reached down to pick it up, but someone stepped on it before she could. A surge of unexplained anger went through her, and she snapped at the person, "Why don't you watch where you're going!"
The young boy scurried away, obviously thinking she was mental. She picked up the card and pocketed it, giving her brothers heated stares, "If you saw it, why didn't you pick it up!"
Lenzo and Linus raised their eyebrows at her, shocked at the fact that she was seriously angry. She didn't fully understand why she was this upset, she felt very protective of their grandfather, even though he seemed quite unbothered by her brothers disrespect.
If he's as great a wizard as Linus and Lenzo says he is, then he probably doesn't just go walking around Diagon Alley. He must have a really busy schedule and he actually accompanied them to get their wands. He didn't have to come personally, he could have just sent someone, but he didn't. He was making an effort.
Linus looked the other way; he wasn't even going to apologise for his behaviour. Lenzo had the decency to look abashed; he gave her a small smile.
She didn't return it.
"Well, this is it. Ollivander's, maker of fine wands since 382 BC, and not a bad cherry pie."
Nonno winked at the last part, and they walked in. The room looked cramped as it was full of boxes. They went to a clear spot; Ky reached over to ring the bell, and an ancient man with white hair popped out of nowhere. Gosh, all she could think was, which came first, the Dumbledore or the Ollivander.
"Merlin! Albus, I never thought I'd see the day you waltzed into my shop."
"Why ever so Garrick, I purchased my first wand from this very shop. Well of course it was from your father at the time."
Well, I guess that solved who came first.
"Quit being Headmaster and decided to become a tour-wizard for TerrorTours, have you?" He was looking at them curiously. They did give off the touristy vibe, all wide eyed and staring around. They were just missing the camera.
"Unfortunately, no Garrick. This is Ky, Lenzo and Quilinus. My grandchildren."
Mr Ollivander didn't even bat an eyelid at that and shuffled to the back of the store. Ky looked at her grandfather, he smiled in return, not seeing anything odd at the wizard's behaviour. Maybe she just didn't speak eccentric.
Three measuring tapes magically appeared and started dancing around them, taking all sorts of measurements. Before he could look at any of the readings though, Ollivander came back with an armful of boxes in his hand.
He placed a box in front of Linus, and one in front of Lenzo. The rest he left in front of Ky.
Linus took the box and opened it. A very handsome wand lay inside, he picked it up and immediately a bright light glowed around him. He gave them a nervous look, and after giving it a wave, the bell on the desk turned into a goblet.
Ky's previous anger was forgotten, and she smiled radiantly at him. It would seem Ollivander had this thing down to a science.
"Beech wood with Phoenix Feather, 12 and half inches, pliable. Good for transfiguration." He nodded at Nonno at that.
Lenzo took the top off his box, and snatched up his wand and waved it, all in one movement. Water sprung out, into the goblet that Linus made. He tapped it again, and it turned to wine.
"That's more like it."
"Blackthorn with dragon heart string, 12 and half inches, swishy. Evidently, good for Charms."
Ky bounced forward and took a wand out of the first box and gave it a wave. The boxes behind them burst open. She looked at Ollivander and he shook his head and she tried another.
Six wands later and shards of glass and paper everywhere Ky was getting really anxious. What if she never found a wand? Linus and Lenzo got theirs on the first go…
"Unless…"
Ollivander walked away muttering to himself.
"Don't worry; I had to go through quite a lot to get my wand."
Nonno smiled down at her reassuringly and pressed his index and middle finger onto her forehead, pushing out the worry line crease that appeared. It was such a strange gesture, she laughed. This man was preciously weird.
"Well, give it a wave."
She looked down at the opened box that Ollivander placed in front of her. It was gorgeous. It was so white, it looked incandescent. It had black, intricate carvings around the handle. She picked it up, held her breath and gave it a wave, pointing it at the wine filled goblet.
Immediately the wine gushed out into the air. It suspended for a second and then solidified. It was shaped like a blade, with the golden goblet transfigured into a hilt. It hovered in the air, as if waiting for her to direct it to its victim.
"Fascinating. This wand was made by my grandfather I believe. Something of a prototype, an experiment. It never chose anybody, so he concluded it as a failure. The white part you see, is Aspen wood. The eighteenth-century Silver Spears duelling club's exclusive choice of wood. The carvings etched around it is from blackthorn wood. Like your brother's. Phoenix feather core. Eleven and a half inches. Pliable. Good for duelling."
Ky stopped paying attention after 'grandfather', she was just happy to have a working wand and she already knew what spell she was going to use first. She came across a few whilst reading The Standard Book of Spells this morning. She took out the card that she picked up earlier.
"Scourgify."
The scuff marks and dirt disappeared and the card gleamed. She waved her hand horizontally downwards, "reducio" and finally waved it in the pattern she saw in the book earlier, "Ferula" and tapped her locket.
The shrunk card attached to the locket, and she tucked it back into her shirt. She didn't know what Linus and Lenzo were playing at, but she had space in her heart for one more person.
Especially if that person had space in his heart for her.
-x-x-x-
Ky walked in.
"Leave!"
"What? Nonno said that you were available to watch over my first try in potion making."
"I am aware. Still. Leave, knock on the door, and I might let you in."
"Oh, is that what this little tête-à-têteis about. Why? Madam Rosmerta hiding under that desk?"
"Just leave, don't bother about coming back and knocking. And for the last time, she was here delivering a potion ingredient one needed a liquor license to purchase!"
Ky chuckled, she had walked in on Sev collecting his delivery from the overtly flirty woman just yesterday, and had been teasing him ever since, "Ahhhh come on Severrrruuss." She giggled, mimicking the way the barmaid said his name, "Knocking is so boring, so formal, so…" Ky scrunched her face in thought as the Potion's master narrowed his eyes dangerously at her.
"Polite, disciplined, civilized."
"Yeah thanks! All those things" She sat at the bench in the front. "People like us need not bother about life's little nuances."
"People like us? You and me? And it's Professor Snape for the last time!"
"Of course, people like us! You and me! We're two peas in a puffapod. See what I did there? I've got this whole witch thing down. We're more alike than you think."
"As obvious as it is that I will regret this, enlighten me to what makes us so alike."
"Our adoration for the colour black for starters. Our aversion to boiled carrots, don't think I didn't see you this morning. And the most potent of all, our natural talent for potions."
"Firstly, I do not adore black, I do not adore. Period. I have no feelings towards boiled carrots; I believe it was your spilling of the orange juice all over them that left them uneaten, and you've never made a potion in your life, so the last statement is as bogus as the former two."
"Would you like to put your galleons where your mouth is?"
"I have neither time, nor patience, to be placing bets with you. Plus, I don't think the headmaster would appreciate me hustling his granddaughter."
"Oooh Sev, hustling? Aren't we full of surprises! But I'm not talking about galleons. We both are above that. How about something more interesting?"
"And you assume anything you have to say will interest me."
"Yes, I do. If I win, I get to call you Sev Sensei, because even I admit Sev is slightly disrespectful for a teacher. But I can't stand the sound of Snape. Uurgh, it's like word vomit. No offence. And if you win, I won't bother you anymore. No unannounced visits, no twenty questions at breakfast, no remarks about your clothing."
"And what are the terms of this bet?"
"I'll make all four potions that are necessary for first year exams…in an hour. I just of course need four cauldrons and four sets of scales."
"You do understand that three out of those four potions need ninety minutes to make."
"I'm aware of that."
"Well, if you're sure…here's your four cauldrons. A small price to pay for peace and quiet. Oh, and one adjustment to the stakes, on the odd chance that you do win, nobody calls me Sev. Nobody. It would be Severus…. Sensei"
"I'll take it. Now please move out of the way, I have a bet to win."
Ky had read the instructions for the potions earlier on. Potions was a science, a magical science. The key was to look at what you required from the ingredients to achieve the result. She grabbed what she needed from the storeroom and set to work.
"You're forgetting the mistletoe berries for your Forgetfulness Potion, and the snake fangs for your Cure for Boils. You're making this too easy."
"That's where you're wrong."
Ky pulled a pouch out of her bag, she had stopped at the apothecary in Diagon Alley and got some stuff. King Cobra fangs. They were coated with hanatoxins which contain the alpha neurotoxins and cytotoxins necessary for the cure for boils. The sea snake ones that are used in the school stores are harder and therefore take longer to dissolve, and have less toxins coating it. This should knock off 15 minutes of the brewing time; it should be done in half an hour.
She also stopped at the greenhouses and got some freshly cut mistletoe berries. The waxiness of the berries is what keeps the potion together and viable for longer. The older they are, the drier they are, hence less wax, and they melt faster when they are fresher, knocking off about thirty minutes. Plus, she crushed the valerian sprigs instead of putting it in whole. The spores of the sprigs are what is needed for the Forgetfulness Potion and crushing got to the spores quicker. This knocked a further twenty minutes from the brewing time.
With the Herbicide Potion she chose the four longest lionfish spines as they contained more of the natural herbicide within them. Ky heated the horklump juice before pouring it in, knowing the enzymes needed were most active at a higher temperature. She added some water to the flobberworm mucus, predicting it would become more soluble without hindering effectiveness.
Next was the sleeping draught. She did the same thing to the lavender sprigs that she did to the valerian sprigs earlier. She then added a little bit of poppyseed oil to the flobberworm mucus, rather than full seeds, which took time to dissolve.
Ky was done with five minutes to spare. That was insane fun; she could spend a day just soaking up these fumes. No wonder his hair was so oily.
Snape was hovering near her the whole time. She looked up at him when she was done.
"I guess it was too good to be true."
"Ahhhh Sensei. We both know you were rooting for me."
"And what on Earth would give you that false notion."
"Because you know it's true. And one day you'll admit it. You and me, we're two peas in a puffapod."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed Snape being Snape! Thank you for reading!