Chapter 5: A Small WorldChapter TextSkyla and Hagrid had burned through a significant portion of their available daylight by the time they had finished at the bank, so the two were slightly hurried as they began their magical shopping. They certainly had enough time to get everything done; however they still needed to be mindful of the gradually setting sun that was slowly, but steadily, making its way down towards the horizon.
Shopping in the magical world turned out to be a significantly different experience for Skyla than what she had experienced with her (very limited) muggle shopping. Unlike the anonymous crowds that filtered through London without a word, it seemed that most of the people in the magical world were very familiar with each other and most witches or wizards regularly stopped to greet old acquaintances or work colleagues along the way. The people in the alley all wore strange and brightly coloured robes and some even wore tall, pointed hats with striking patterns or prints upon them. Some of the strangers even spoke to her occasionally; offering casual warm greetings in passing or asking questions about her well-being, though they did not ever seem to wait for an answer.
Skyla was in awe as they made their way through the various shops in the alley and browsed through all that they had to offer; large pewter or iron cauldrons for brewing potions (which, for an extra charge, could be conveniently shrunken down for transport), strange insects and unusual plants that were used as ingredients for exotic potions, glass phials and scales of all sizes along with strange tools that were used in 'alchemy', whatever that was. She even saw a shop that exclusively sold broomsticks, of all things, though they didn't enter it as it wasn't required for first year students (in fact it was the complete opposite and first year students were not allowed to own their own brooms).
"Right, we're making good progress now," Hagrid said as he squinted up towards the sun to roughly gauged their remaining time, "I think we can afford to stop for a spot of lunch."
From the way that Hagrid was licking his lips and looking in the direction of The Leaky Cauldron, Skyla suspected that it wasn't purely food that he was interested in, but she said nothing about it as she followed him back through the magical barrier into the pub.
"Done already?" Tom, the bartender, asked as he spotted them walking back in from the rear courtyard.
"Just hoping that you haven't closed the kitchen yet," Hagrid said eagerly, while guiding Skyla over to a table in the corner.
"Well for Miss Potter, the kitchen here is always open," Tom said with a smile.
"Oi, what about me?" Hagrid asked indignantly.
"You still haven't paid off your tab," Tom pointed out.
"Ah well, you know…" Hagrid said airily. Tom just rolled his eyes slightly.
"What would you like?" Tom asked Skyla, "anything you want, Sam can whip it up for you. Isn't that right?" he called out behind him.
A noncommittal grunt came from somewhere out the back.
"Well in that case, I'll have-" Hagrid began.
"Not you," Tom said briskly, "you can have a bowl of chips until you actually pay off your tab. Now, what's it going to be, dear?"
"Oh…"
Skyla hadn't been prepared for such a question, so she defaulted to the easy way out.
"I'm… not hungry… thank you…"
Her stomach rumbled loudly at the mere thought of food and Hagrid raised a questioning eyebrow toward her.
"But, I mean… if you have an apple that you don't mind parting with…" Skyla added after a moment.
"An apple?" Tom scoffed, "that's not a meal. Look at you girl, skin and bones. SAM!" he shouted suddenly, "give her the works! And make it special!"
"I'm meant to be finis-" a gruff sounding man began to call back, but Tom cut him off.
"Just do it!"
A few grumbles came in response, to which Tom and Hagrid both chuckled at. The grumbling murmurs made Skyla feel absolutely awful however and incredibly wracked with guilt.
"I'm so sorry!" she said, feeling rather ashamed of herself, "I didn't want to cause any trouble. I really don't need anyth-"
"Huh? Oh, don't worry about him," Hagrid said dismissively, "I've known Sam for years. Grumpy old bugger but he's got a heart of gold really. Same with Tom."
The two sat in silence for a time as Skyla shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Thankfully, she still had a coin purse full of galleons so she could at least pay for it all, even if the money still didn't really feel like it was hers. The purchases so far had all felt so impersonal as she was simply buying things off a list that she didn't make, for a school that she didn't really know, with money that she didn't understand. Sitting in a pub and buying an afternoon lunch however felt very different as it felt more like a personal expense; something unnecessary or selfish, that Skyla was not used to in the slightest.
"What's on your mind?" Hagrid asked, noticing that she was very distracted. She had no idea how to put any of her thoughts and feelings into words however.
"It's all just… a bit overwhelming," she said quietly.
"Well, we've only got a few more things to get," Hagrid said kindly, "then we're finished."
"That... that doesn't make me feel a lot better," Skyla admitted, "I… I'm not looking forward to facing Beatrice." Her heart began to race at the thought of the confrontation that was no doubt waiting for her when she got home. Part of her just wanted to bury her face into the worn and tattered chair and never leave.
Hagrid frowned slightly at her obvious discomfort, but said nothing further about it.
Eventually, the mysterious Sam arrived and brought out their food. He was quite a large man, not as large as Hagrid, but still quite tall with a large belly that protruded out through his grimy apron that looked as though it may have once been white in colour. He had a poorly kept beard (that looked to be more due to a lack of regular shaving than any adherence to a particular style) and he looked a little rough and dangerous, however Skyla was distracted from all of that by the plates and bowls of food that he was floating out towards them with his wand in hand.
"What is…?" Skyla began in confusion.
He floated the half-dozen plates and bowls down onto the table that were all filled to the brim with piping hot food. Skyla had never seen anything like it before and she curiously stared down at the strange assortment of items, none of which she recognised.
"This, this is too much…" Skyla said in shock.
"Hm? Ah d'n worry 'bout it," Sam said with a sniff, "I hear that we did well pretty well today 'cause of your arrival." He indicated to the booths on the far side of the pub where a group of old men were snoozing softly in their seats, surrounded by empty mugs and pint glasses. It appeared that her former cheer squad had continued their celebration and ended their own party rather early from a very excessive amount of alcohol.
Sam retreated back into the kitchen without another word and left Skyla staring down at the food before her. Her mouth was watering in a way that she didn't know it could, and the smell was invading her mind and overwhelming her conscious thought with a delirious giddiness. Each plate had something different on it; one plate had two, thick, juicy-looking cuts of steak that were both steaming slightly into the air while another had two positively gigantic burgers that Skyla knew she would never be able to fit into her mouth. There were bowls of salty deep fried chips, crispy roasted vegetables coated in herbs, thickly battered onion rings, and even a large bowl of very creamy-looking pasta that had bacon, cheese and two large forks twisted into the middle. Skyla didn't even know what most of the food was; she was almost content to just simply look at the display in admiration as she didn't even know food like this existed in the first place.
"I thought I was just gettin' a bowl of chips?" Hagrid asked Tom who had wandered over with a pint of mead in one hand and a glass of a strange orange liquid in the other.
"Yeah," he said seriously as he pointed out the bowl of chips, "see? That one is yours. The rest is hers."
"She'll never eat all of that."
"Well, whatever she does with the rest is up to her."
"Told you, heart of gold," Hagrid said fondly to Skyla as he reached forward and picked up the pint of mead with eagerness while pushing the other strange drink in her direction. Skyla was still slightly confused as to the interactions between Tom and Hagrid; she didn't understand the two at all, but then, she didn't exactly have a lot of experience with human interaction to fall back on.
Without touching anything, Skyla took out her coin purse and began picking out coin after coin.
"I'm sorry for troubling you," Skyla said quietly as she held out a fistful of galleons to Tom, "is this enough to cover all of this? I have more if you need it."
Tom waved her off however.
"Ah, I'll hear none of it," he said airily, "you'll never pay me a coin in this establishment, Miss Potter."
Before she could protest any further, he had departed and shuffled his way back behind the bar, where he continued to wipe down the counter with a small, self-satisfied smile on his face.
"Gon' get cold," Hagrid indicated towards the food from around his own mouthful of burger that he had already dug into.
Skyla carefully picked out one of the hot chips from the bowl and sniffed it like a wary fox, to Hagrid's amusement. It smelled salty and it was quite warm in her hand, so with small, careful bites she nibbled lightly at the end of it. The end was crispy, crunchy and it had a satisfying texture as she nibbled away with a growing sense of euphoria. She was surprised when she got to the middle to find that the inside was quite soft and fluffy, which contrasted nicely with the crunchy exterior.
"This is delicious!" she exclaimed.
"It's just a chip," Hagrid laughed.
It wasn't just a chip to Skyla however, it was a brand new experience and she excitedly picked away at the various plates and bowls of food, taking a little of everything and trying it. She needed some help with the steak as she wasn't sure how to go about cutting it, and she stuggled to figure out how to get her pasta onto her fork, but when she did… it was heavenly. She didn't know whether all the food here was this good, or whether it was just Sam's food that was this good, but she adored it either way.
Due to her constant state of near starvation, which her magic had only just barely managed to compensate for, it didn't take long until she was feeling fuller than she had ever felt in her life, despite having only had a tiny portion of what was available.
"Go on, have some more," Hagrid said encouragingly, as she stopped eating and sat back.
"I couldn't eat anything else," Skyla said with a shake of her head, "that's more food than I have ever eaten at once. I think I'm going to burst."
Hagrid blankly stared at her following the statement, since she hadn't eaten very much at all.
"Alright," Hagrid said with a hesitant shrug, "well, if that's the case…"
He polished off the rest of the food in her stead, while she watched on with surprise at the sheer volume of food he could consume at once.
While Hagrid ate the rest, she sipped lightly on her strange drink. It was very sweet; far too sweet for her, but she appreciated it all the same. She wouldn't be inclined to drink it regularly and she probably would have rather been given a glass of water, however she was certainly wasn't going to bring it up and she had no desire to ask for anything more when she had already been given so much.
"Okay, Hagrid said after he polished off the last morsel, "just gotta use the men's and then we can head on." He got to his feet and gave Tom a nod as he walked past, which caused a sudden thought to appear in Skyla's mind.
"Mr Tom, sir," she said as she approached the bar once Hagrid had departed.
"Just Tom, my dear," he said with an amused smile.
"Oh, sorry. Well… I know you said you didn't want any money," she said quietly, "but do you think I could at least pay whatever it was that Hagrid owed you?"
"Oh, that. I just like making fun of him," Tom laughed, "I don't actually mind about all of that. He's been a good friend for years, I'd give him a few pints even if he didn't pay it back."
"I'd still like to pay it," she said insistently, "at least for his sake. Please."
Tom peered at her curiously, but in the end he simply shrugged at her desperate expression, "if you insist."
Skyla grabbed her coin purse and began dumping gold coins onto the counter, however Tom simply plucked out a few and pushed the rest back across to her.
"Done, all even," he said with a smile.
"That's it?" Skyla asked incredulously.
"He owed a few pints," Tom laughed, "he didn't buy the property."
Skyla shook her head at the strange currency and the odd concept of wealth that magical people had, however she at least felt slightly more comfortable now that she had given something back, even if she still didn't feel it was 'all even' at all.
"Alright, ready to continue?" Hagrid asked as he returned, to which Skyla nodded. With a brief farewell to Tom, the two headed back out into the alley for the remaining items on their list, though both were walking slightly slower due to their well-fed state of being.
"Now, this one over here is where you'll get your wand," Hagrid said as he pointed out a rather unassuming shopfront, "you go on inside, this is somethin' you'll have to do on your own, but Ollivander will look after you. I got something that I need to do while you're in there anyway."
He clasped her briefly on the shoulder before turning and heading off down the alley. With a slight shrug, Skyla stepped through the old, worn door that chimed gently as she entered.
No-one appeared to be inside upon her entry, and she looked around to find that it was a rather small and desolate shop that was slightly unclean. A thick layer of dust was visible upon the counter and a few scattered cobwebs in the corners gave the building an almost abandoned feeling. If there was anyone here, Skyla couldn't see them and she wouldn't have been surprised to learn that no-one had been inside within the last fifty years, judging by the state of disrepair. A small chandelier hung overhead, however only a few of the candles were lit and it simply made the place feel more eerie with the soft, gentle orange glow, since the windows were so covered with dust and grime that they hardly let any light into the building at all.
"Hello?" Skyla called out hesitantly.
No-one responded at first, however after a moment an old, frail man with wispy, grey hair and a rather worn face peeked out from around the corner at the back of the shop, appraising her through his thin, half-frame spectacles.
"Ah…"
He stopped what he was doing out the back and slowly made his way to the front counter with a rather unreadable expression on his face.
"Skyla Potter… the time has come at last, I see."
"You know me?" Skyla asked in surprise. It was obvious that most people in the magical world knew her name, however she had quickly realised that if she hid the distinctive scar on her hand, people didn't seem to recognise her from her face alone. All except for this strange old man.
"A spitting image of your mother," the man, who must have been Ollivander, said with a knowing look, "the same confused eyes that reflect a deep pain. The same posture that screams of loss and burden. The same energy that hides something deeper, something… different."
"Uh…" Skyla wasn't really sure what he was saying, but then, she was starting to get used to that feeling by this point.
"Hold out your dominant hand," he instructed. With a shrug, Skyla complied.
"Left-handed, hm?" he said with a hint of surprise, "interesting."
She hadn't been gifted with many chances to practice her writing, not since the early days of Beatrice's home schooling. Even when she had been writing, she had very quickly learned not to let Beatrice see her using 'the devil's hand', or her pencils and crayons would be quickly taken away. She had never understood why it had been so bad to use her left hand for things but it simply felt more natural to her this way. Bleeding Eyes hadn't said anything at all about her using her left hand when she had written her name, yet this old man seemed rather fascinated by it; it must have been a human thing she realised and she unconsciously withdrew her hand at the reminder of how different she was to everyone else, in every way. He had seen all that he needed to see however since he turned away to rummage through the shelves, while a measuring tape appeared and did a rather good job at distracting her, since it was floating around and taking all kinds of measurements on its own that seemed very unnecessarily and irrelevant. What possible use could the distance between her nostrils serve?
"Chestnut and dragon heartstring," Ollivander said as he handed her a long, thin wand made of a very smooth and clean wood, "ten and a half inches."
She took the wand from him and simply stood there in confusion.
"Well? Give it a wave," he instructed idly.
She loosely waved the wand in no particular direction and the counter in front of her proceeded to burst into large flames.
"Aguamenti," Ollivander said in an unconcerned tone as he casually doused the flames with jets of water that poured forth from his own wand, while Skyla backed up quickly in shock.
"I'm so sorry!" Skyla exclaimed with despair as he extinguishing the flames, although once the flames had disappeared, it turned out they had, surprisingly, caused no visible damage at all.
"Think nothing of it," Ollivander said absently, apparently lost in thought. He disappeared to the back of the shop and Skyla very carefully put the wand down on the counter as if it were an explosive waiting to detonate.
"Red Oak and unicorn hair," he said as he handed her a different wand, "nine inches."
She very reluctantly took the slightly shorter, maroon coloured wand and gave it a small wave. Nothing happened at all this time (to Skyla's relief) and Ollivander simply took it back with a frown.
"Hm… I wonder…"
He departed and once again returned with another wand in hand, however that was even worse than the first one. As soon as Skyla took it from him, she let out a yelp of pain as the handle burned her hand and she was forced to drop it entirely.
"Curious," he said, seemingly to himself, "I thought that one might… given the circumstances… well, no matter…"
He continued to hand her wand after wand that either had a disastrous effect when waved, or no effect at all. He seemed to be growing frustrated as he began to work his way through some of his rarer stock, though even those did not have the desired effect.
"Maple and unicorn hair!"
The bright, almost orange coloured wand did little other than shoot a small tuft of smoke into the air.
"Sycamore and dragon heartstring!"
The light green and slightly jagged wand refused to co-operate, and to Skyla's shock seemed to jump right out of her hand of its own accord.
"Applewood and phoenix feather?" he asked questioningly, sounding slightly desperate by this point, "ten inches. An old project of mine; imported wood with very strange properties… not unlike the girl in front of me, I suppose."
Skyla thought that this wand was definitely the prettiest of the wands so far, at least. It was a soft, pastel pink that had been sanded and worked down into a very smooth and clean texture, with a detailed and precise coating applied to the outer wood that gave it a gentle shine whenever the dim candlelight in the shop reflected off the surface. Where Ollivander had gotten the wood, she didn't know, but she adored the colour and the obvious detail that had gone into its making.
It was when her fingers closed around the smooth handle of the delicate piece of refined wood, however, that she knew.
"It's this one," she said immediately, without even needing to wave it at all. The wand felt incredibly exhilarating to hold in her hand as she could feel the charged currents of magic crackling through her fingertips. She had felt something loosely similar before; when she had first touched the letter from Hogwarts, however this was a feeling on an entirely new level. She had felt a small shock at the touch of the Hogwarts letter due to her body suddenly reacting to the unfamiliar magic, however this magic felt very familiar and it felt as though she had known and used this wand her entire life. Shivers ran up her spine as her body tingled and physically responded to the strange calling of the wand. She inspected the wand in her hand with curiosity, sensing that the magic emanating through it was vastly different than the kind of magic she had been doing on her own thus far. Feeling rather adventurous due to the sudden rush of euphoria and finding an odd sense of trust in the beautiful wand, she decided to wave it.
At first it seemed that nothing was going to happen, just like the other wands, however Ollivander and Skyla both let out matching gasps of surprise as the messy and dusty shop suddenly began to spring to life before their eyes. The dust on the counter began to whirl itself into a neat little pile in the corner, the cobwebs were blasted away by an unknown force, the various wands that she had tried thus far suddenly floated in the air before packing themselves neatly into their boxes and even the few indoor plants on the windowsill that were looking limp and lifeless began to brighten and look rather vivacious and lively. The windows set about cleaning themselves and by the time the room had stopped moving itself around, it looked like an entirely new shop; the comforting afternoon sun was streaming in from the outside through the now flawless windows and Ollivander almost looked slightly blinded by the sudden flood of warm light.
"Woah," Skyla said softly, "I didn't know I could do that."
"Very unexpected," Ollivander admitted, "that is magic well beyond the usual experimentation of children. A single spell cast in confusion, fear or anger is very common, but to use several advanced spells at once…?"
He peered at her intently and she could almost feel his eyes burning straight through her own.
"It seems that your mother's talent for charms resides within you as well," he said slowly, "I expect great things from you."
Skyla shifted uncomfortably in front of him while he simply stared at her, before eventually clearing her throat in an attempt to move on.
"How much do I owe you for this one?" she asked as she clutched the light pink wand to her chest in a protective manner.
"Hm, I'm not quite sure just yet," he said thoughtfully, "as I said, it was a bit of an experimental project that I constructed years ago and I hadn't expected to sell it until now. Phoenix feathers are exceedingly rare of course, but I was interested to see how they would react with the unusual wand wood."
Skyla reached into her bag and pulled out a fistful of galleons that she spilled out onto the counter.
"Will this do?"
Ollivander stared at the money on the counter in surprise.
"Yes, I suppose that will do," he said regretfully, although the way he immediately begun to scoop the coins into his hands suggested that he may not have actually been all that upset about the sale.
"Do I need anything else?" Skyla asked as he counted up his coins, "or is that it?"
"Oh of course there's more my dear, there's a whole range of accessories you can buy to go with your new wand," Ollivander said eagerly, "made by yours truly. I'd recommend a holster and a cleaning-kit. The cleaning kit ensures that you don't accidentally discharge any magic while caring for your wand and the holster attaches to the inside of your off-hand for easy access. You just place the wand in reverse, like so- and then you can draw it quickly as needed. In addition, you can also purchase…"
After a brief demonstration, and a significant amount of up-selling, Skyla stashed her new wand into her holster that wrapped around her right forearm with a sense of satisfaction. There was a definitive sense of comfort and reassurance that came from having the wand pressed against the inside of her arm and Ollivander pointed out that when she is wearing robes, which were typically long sleeve, she will have an edge over anyone who has to dig around for their wand between the layers of the billowing and flowing clothing. Those few seconds could be crucial and Skyla could ensure that she always had the edge by merely needing to draw her wand out from her wrist at any moment.
"That is, of course, if worst comes to worst," Ollivander added, "and I do hope that you never find yourself in such a situation."
She was grateful for the additional items and she was in love with her new wand already, however she was starting to feel rather fatigued from the strange old man and she was quite eager to move on. She paid for her accessories and with a final look at the unusual wandmaker, she exited the shop to find Hagrid waiting outside.
"All done?"
"Yeah," Skyla said absently, still a little lost in her thoughts, "he's… a bit strange, isn't he?"
"That he is," Hagrid chuckled, "but there aren't any better wandmakers in the country. Perhaps in all of Europe. Go on, let's see it then!"
Skyla revealed her wand and Hagrid gave a low whistle of approval.
"I haven't seen a wand that looked like that before," he said curiously, "that looks pretty rare. Make sure you don't lose it."
"How come you don't use a wand?" Skyla asked as she stashed her wand away and they headed for their next destination.
"Ah, well… technically I'm not supposed to use magic," he said quietly.
"Why?"
"I was expelled when I was at school," Hagrid said with a dark look, "and they snapped my wand."
"Who did? The school?"
"The Ministry," Hagrid explained, "The Ministry of Magic oversees our laws and use of magic. They have the power to arrest, imprison or snap the wand of anyone in the magical world, if they are convicted in the Wizengamot. Since I had no magical family and I hadn't finished school, I couldn't keep my wand."
"Can't you just buy another one?" Skyla asked, not really seeing the problem.
"I would be arrested if they knew I was using one," he said sadly, "I'm not allowed to use magic at all. I don't really need magic to do my job at the school anyway, but… it would be nice…"
"That seems cruel," Skyla said with a frown, "to be in the magical world but not be allowed to use magic. You have to look at something you can't have every day."
"Ha! Well, you say that now," Hagrid chuckled slightly, "but you aren't allowed to use magic outside of school either, once you start your first day. You'll be in the same boat as me."
"But I've been using magic already?" Skyla asked, confused.
"Accidental magic is different," Hagrid pointed out, "when you are young you are allowed a bit of leeway until you start school. After that, you can be expelled like me if you use magic at home."
"Is that what you did?"
"Well, not exactly," Hagrid said evasively, "but, let's not talk about such things today."
"Oh. Okay."
"Come on, let's get your books."
Skyla's favourite shop of the day was, without a doubt, the incredible bookstore that they visited to obtain her school books. Unlike the strange and disturbing wand shop, which had been sombre and eerie (until Skyla had unwittingly decided to change things), this one was still quite full and lively as people popped in and out with armfuls of all kinds of books. The bookstore itself wasn't overly large, yet it wasn't small by any accounts either; it was a two-story building that had a wide, open staircase to their left as they entered, and both floors were filled with rows and rows of books. Thick leather-bound textbooks, small and dainty journals, feature-length hardcover novels, shrunken pocket-guides; they were all to be found within the bountiful supply of endless knowledge held within the colourful rows that Skyla excitedly rummaged through.
"This looks really interesting!" she said as she eagerly picked up one of the novels, "'The Adventures of Cane Wright and his Hell Hounds'. Sounds intense!"
"Oh, this could be really useful," she mused as she inspected a thick and slightly dusty textbook, "a thousand spells that you never knew you needed… how am I going to know if I need them otherwise? I better get it…"
"A guide to magical beasts?" she considered thoughtfully, "some of these look dangerous. This could be useful to have, especially since I don't know much about this world…"
Hagrid watched on with amusement as Skyla happily browsed the many books that were available, her arms steadily filling with book after book.
"Are you opening a library?" Hagrid joked as he eventually helped Skyla take her school books, and her personal selection of books, to the front counter.
"I love books…" Skyla said quietly, "I would buy the whole shop if I could."
"Well you probably can…" Hagrid pointed out, "… and you basically have."
Skyla gave him a slightly sheepish smile as she fished out her coins to hand to the assistant. She was starting to get more confident with this shopping business, although she still handed the assistant far too many coins. She happily tucked the many books into her backpack, already thinking about how she might hide them to protect them better than the books she had once let down…
"So it's just robes left," Hagrid said as they left the store. Thankfully, Skyla's bag was still holding steady and she didn't notice the weight at all, although she moved her coin purse to separate pocket to ensure that she could actually find it. She was quite impressed with the very useful bag and she wondered privately just how many coins that Bleeding Eyes may have charged the Potter vault for it. Not that there was any shortage of money within her vault and it had already proven to be extremely useful. She was now, finally, starting to understand just how much money was actually available to her as she had bought so many things, yet her coin purse still had a decent weight to it, and that was without taking into account the absolutely overflowing vault that was likely being cleaned up under the eager supervision of her account manager.
"There's either Madam Malkin's or Twilfitt and Tatting's," Hagrid mused aloud, "most people go to Madam Malkin's since it's cheaper but there's no doubt that Twilfitt and Tatting's are the better quality, just more expensive. Although that's not really a problem for you now, is it?"
Skyla just shrugged, "I guess I won't be able to come back here very often will I? So I should probably get the better quality stuff, right?"
"A reasonable point," Hagrid said with a nod, "they do need to last you all year. Although I suppose you can always mail-order something if you really need it at school."
Twilfitt and Tatting's turned out to be quite a fancy boutique on the inside, however the mediocre looking outside didn't do well to represent the stunning interior. Most shops on Diagon Alley were made of wood and stone, with archaic styles of construction and more than a few pieces of architecture were clearly only held together with the use of magic. Twilfitt and Tatting's seemed to be one of the only shops that had embraced tiling and modern construction materials, which led to the inside appearing very sleek and shiny from the white tiled floors and minimalist interior design. Ironically, the shop was frequented by the rich and the elite within the magical world, yet the interior design seemed to be based upon the layout of high-end muggle stores. Perhaps it was because the noble elite were so far removed from the muggle world that they would never know the 'creative' designs (both of buildings and clothing) were being borrowed from the very people they often despised.
At first Skyla thought that they might be only customers in the shop, however she spotted two women standing in the corner, apparently waiting for someone who was changing inside of a small, curtained off area. Skyla and Hagrid walked over towards them, since they both figured that one of them must be the staff member.
"-amount of muggleborns," one of the women was in the middle of saying as they approached, flicking her long blonde hair in apparent annoyance, "increasing every year. Very soon there will be none of us left, and all of our traditions and history will be lost forever."
"Oh yes, hm, I see," the assistant replied in a placating tone. She was of a similar age, however she had shorter brown hair and while the first woman carried herself with elegance and dignity, the assistant looked rather tired and perhaps a little bored of the conversation.
"Mother this doesn't fit at all, it's far too tight!" A boy's voice huffed loudly from inside the changing room.
"Well come out and show us, I can't do anything from out here," the woman with the blonde hair (and the boy's apparent mother) called back.
The boy emerged from the changing room and Skyla was surprised to see that he had strikingly blonde hair, just like his mother's, although much shorter in length. He was quite a handsome boy really, however the scrunched and annoyed look on his face did his appearance no favours as he emerged and pointed down towards himself.
"Look!"
His mother inspected the boy and his black robes closely, however she merely tilted her head slightly at the sight.
"Look's alright to me," she said after a moment, "the stitching could use a lot improvement and the fabric is clearly on the cheaper side of things but, what can you expect from Diagon Alley. You have to be accepting of some things here, Draco, as distasteful as it is."
"Well I certainly-"
The boy stopped talking as he noticed the presence of Hagrid and Skyla standing slightly in the back.
"A GIANT!" He suddenly exclaimed in a very loud voice, "in Diagon Alley? Aren't your kind illegal? How grotesque!"
The women turned and were both startled at first by the presence of the large man behind them, however the boy's mother seemed to recognise Hagrid and her initial surprise turned into a sneering and disdainful look.
"I didn't know you sold to rabble like this," she said with an exaggerated sniffle, peering down her nose at the pair, "and what is this… thing, Hagrid? Find another creature to adopt? You always did choose bizarre pets."
Draco cackled with laughter at his mother's comment, though Hagrid swelled with anger in response. Skyla simply watched on in confusion, not really sure why everything had turned so hostile, so quickly.
"Don't you dare speak of her like that," Hagrid warned angrily, "she's worth a thousand of you, Narcissa Malfoy, and not just in money."
"I highly doubt that," Narcissa sneered in response, "she's clearly muggleborn and she looks like she hasn't eaten in weeks. Are you even feeding your new pets or do you just leave them to starve? Do I even call the aurors on you two, or should I call animal control?"
Draco guffawed loudly as he stared down at Skyla's thin frame with obvious disdain, causing the girl to step behind Hagrid in embarrassment.
Hagrid seethed with anger and he drew himself up to his (intimidatingly) full height as he said, "you can say what you want about me, but there are two people you don't insult in front of me. This girl right here is one of them."
"What makes her so special?" the boy asked as he walked over and stood beside his mother, "she's just a mudblood, isn't she?"
"She's no-one, Draco," Narcissa said quickly as Hagrid stared at them in shock, "they are both no-one. Let's just get out of this dump before we have to wash out their stench." She took out a few coins and roughly pushed them into the assistant's hands.
"See that the additional robes are actually mailed to the right address this time, won't you?"
Narcissa appeared to suddenly realise that she had immensely angered a seven foot half-giant that she was currently inside a building with, so she wisely guided Draco around Hagrid's gradually inflating frame and quickly darted for the door.
"You… you…" Hagrid said as his voice trembled with anger. They didn't wait however and quickly ran off, sensing his impending explosion of outrage.
"What was all that about?" Skyla asked, feeling rather baffled and out of the loop.
"The Malfoys," Hagrid scoffed angrily, "they think they're so much better than everyone else because they're what's known as 'pureblood'; people with magical ancestry that they can trace back for generations. It's all codswallop. There wasn't anyone who didn't start as a muggleborn at some point anyway, even when you go way back. I can't believe they said that, though…"
"They've said much worse than that before," the assistant said with a sigh, "but despite their criticisms they always shop here and always spend a lot of money, so I can't really afford to anger them. It's frustrating, but there's not much I can do about it. Well… anyway… how can I help you?"
So far, the magical world had seemed to be made up entirely of sunshine and rainbows to Skyla, however between the strange behaviour of the goblins, the elitist nobles that she had just seen insulting her and the strange laws regarding the management of magic, she was starting to get an idea that maybe there were a lot of things happening in the magical world that went far beyond the surface image. Still, it wasn't as though she was any stranger to being insulted so she brushed it off very quickly and easily, unlike Hagrid who took quite awhile to calm down. The shop assistant was quite sympathetic however and she did a very good job of calming Hagrid down (while also upselling more than a few additional items at the same time). Skyla ended up walking away with several sets of robes in different colours (in addition to her black school robes), as well as dragonhide gloves, dragonhide boots and a variety of accessories that she got talked into.
"It's soooo cute! It goes with your wand too! That's super adorable!"
"Oh that matches your eyes, you look much older and more mature with that!"
Perhaps the Malfoy order had been nothing but boring, simple clothes, as once the assistant had discovered that Skyla liked bright and colourful clothing, she had almost become more excited than Skyla was. In the end, she spent far more gold than she had anticipated on clothing, although given her personal stake in the stop it was, at least, theoretically discounted (not that she considered that in any way).
It was with a bittersweet feeling that Skyla walked back down the alley for the final time towards The Leaky Cauldron, knowing that her adventure had come to an end and it was time to return to the orphanage.
"This has been wonderful," Skyla said quietly to Hagrid as they reached the magical barrier, "very strange and completely overwhelming, but wonderful. Thank you."
Hagrid chuckled, "oh, it's not over just yet."
Skyla looked at him questioningly, but he said no more as they walked back into the pub once again.
"Ah, Tom," he said happily, "is everything all sorted?"
"All sorted," Tom said with a nod, "here you go."
Tom handed a key to Hagrid who took it with a grin, before he turned and handed it to a surprised Skyla.
"And… here you go," he said in a satisfied voice.
"Huh?" she asked in confusion.
"Third floor, room nine," Tom said with a mischievously smile.
"... Huh?"
"Everything is ready for you," he said, "it's all yours until you leave for school in September."
"What do you mean?" Skyla asked.
"Hagrid explained your situation," Tom said with a nod towards Hagrid, "he said that there was some trouble at home or something like that. Well, I won't let Skyla Potter live unhappily in the muggle world, not while I have a roof and a bed to spare. I can't offer much in terms of living conditions; the pub can be noisy and busy sometimes, but I can offer a safe and secure room with regular meals. From the sound (and look) of it, that's more than what you've been getting, at least."
"... is that what you were doing when I was getting my wand?" Skyla realised as she turned to Hagrid.
Hagrid grinned slightly, seemingly quite pleased with himself, "I was going to go and get you something else for your birthday present but… this seemed like a better idea. Unless you want to go back of course, you don't have to stay he-"
He stopped talking as Skyla impacted with his side like a missile, wrapping her arms around him as far as she could reach in an attempt to hug the large man. Her eyes had begun to fill with tears at the thought that she didn't need to go back to Beatrice and the cellar; she had been so worried about how she would possible return to that life after discovering that all of these wonderful things were awaiting her in the magical world. She never wanted to leave again and even if it was a cardboard box in the corner of the bathroom, she would gratefully live in it if it meant being able to stay in this place. Hagrid patted her gently on her head as she sobbed softly.
"I have a whole vault of gold," Skyla eventually mumbled out to Tom, "you can have it all-"
Nonsense," Tom said with a smile, "the entire magical world owes you their lives. If not for you, the children of this generation would have all grown up in a far worse environment than whatever you did, I can assure you. You don't owe me a single coin."
"I… I promise I won't be a bother at all, you'll hardly hear from me and I don't need much, you can put me anywhere you want and-"
"Relax," Tom said gently, "it's not a bother at all. I had a few spare rooms anyway so you really aren't imposing. Just… don't expect too much of the room, they were only ever meant to be overnighters for the truly intoxicated."
Skyla needed several minutes to sit and calm down before she could even be guided to her room, which Hagrid used to fetch her muggle clothes from his motorcycle, in case she wanted to use them to explore muggle London at any point. With her backpack and her clothes in hand, she was led up to the third floor and Tom used his master key to open the door for her.
Skyla had been expecting something similar to the bedroom at the orphanage; a single bed against the wall with perhaps an old wardrobe and a broken window if she was very lucky, and she had been positively thrilled at the idea. She had disliked the old bedroom in the past, but after her time in the cellar, even that would now be an absolute dream come true. What she found, was (to anyone else) a very ordinary guest room that had a double bed, two old bedside tables, a simple wooden desk with a rather rickety chair and a slightly cramped en-suite attached to the room, where a small shower had been squished in next to a toilet and sink. The room wasn't overly clean, but Tom had tried to sweep the floor and dust a little bit at least, though the carpet was very old and damaged and the small window that overlooked Diagon Alley was still quite rusty and covered in cobwebs. For most, it was a mediocre stay at best, almost exclusively used for a big night that involved too many pints and a disgruntled spouse at home that didn't want to be disturbed in the early hours of the morning.
"This is incredible!"
To Skyla, it was an absolute palace and she couldn't even believe that she had this entire space to herself. It was the biggest bed that she had ever seen in her life and there was not only one, but four pillows for her to use in addition to a fitted sheet, flat sheet, woolen blanket and an old, but very cosy-looking comforter. The thought of sitting at the desk and reading through her books (or even possibly doing some writing) filled with her with a sense of hope and she could even open the window if she wanted to (and even close it when she wanted to).
She earnestly thanked Hagrid and Tom once again for everything, and she practically begged Tom to let her pay something towards it, anything, but he just waved her off with a smile before he departed, telling her to get herself settled in.
"Alright then, so I'll see you at school," Hagrid said fondly, "remember; King's Cross station, platform nine and three quarters, first of September, eleven o'clock. Give yourself plenty of time 'cause you don't want to miss the train!"
"I won't," Skyla promised.
Hagrid gave her a final smile and squeezed out through the door frame, leaving Skyla alone in her new room.
She stared at the double bed for a moment, hesitating, but eventually her caution gave way to excitement and, with a gleeful giggle, she ran forward and dove on top of the covers. She snuggled herself into the soft and comforting bed, sighing loudly at the luxuriously soft and cloud-like embrace as she rolled into the blanket like a cocooned caterpillar.
Tom and Hagrid both smiled slightly from outside the closed door as they listened to her excitedly laughing and enjoying her moment. Their smiles eventually faded however as they met each other's eye and headed down to the bar.
"She's very troubled, that one," Tom said as he poured Hagrid a pint, "you should have told me earlier how bad she had it."
"Didn't have a chance until she was in Ollivanders," Hagrid said regretfully, "I don't think she'd want people to know how she lived, you know?"
"Yeah, I get that," Tom agreed, "and I won't tell a soul, but… she's gonna need help. More than I give."
"I think what she needs is to just live a little, be a happy kid for a change. What better place to do that than in Diagon Alley with a vault full of gold?"
"I must admit I was very surprised when you first asked if she could stay here," Tom said, "this isn't really the place for a little girl to live, you know, and she can't stay here forever."
"Trust me Tom," Hagrid said darkly, "she is better off here than where she was. We'll work something out for her during the school year."
"Who's idea was it to put her in that, what did you call it? Orpha-range?"
"Orphanage," Hagrid corrected, "and that's something I'm very curious about myself."
He downed his pint and began to rummage through his pockets for any money of his own that he had buried in the corners, however Tom just chuckled and stopped him.
"She paid your tab off, you know," he said with a smile.
Hagrid blinked in surprise, before he laughed and looked at the stairs with a strange sense of fondness and sadness for the girl.
"She doesn't really understand money, or much about the world at all," he said ruefully, "I worry for her at school."
"At least she'll have you there to help her, eh?" Tom said with a chuckle.
Hagrid privately wasn't that he would even be that much help, since he was technically just a groundskeeper. He shrugged and downed his pint anyway, deciding to worry about that later.
"Alright, I best be off," Hagrid said with a sigh, "gotta go talk to Professor Dumbledore about more'n a few things now. Put that one on my tab then," he winked as he passed his empty pint glass to Tom, who rolled his eyes with a hint of a smile.
After Skyla had spent some time excitedly rolling around on her bed, or inspecting the bathroom, or swinging slightly on the rickety chair, she had eventually begun to pull out her various magical items, one by one, and set them up around the room. She followed her instructions for her new cauldron and tapped it with her wand, which caused it to immediately return to its full size. She decided to place it in the corner, along with her stack of books that she had no idea what to do with. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do with a cauldron, but, she had a bought a pretty looking one at least and it was very new and shiny.
Eventually, she had emptied her backpack of her new clothes and magical items, and finally pulled out the letter that was still sitting at the very bottom. She had almost forgotten about it in all of the excitement of the day, yet now, she took it to the bed and lay down on her stomach, staring at her mother's handwriting on the envelope with a growing sense of apprehension.
She gulped slowly as she gently broke the seal and took out a very long, double sided letter, written entirely in her mother's beautiful cursive hand writing. It took Skyla a bit longer to read than usual because of it, but she loved the style regardless.
'To our beautiful baby girl Skyla,'
… was as far as she got into the letter before her tears returned and she had to take a moment to recover herself once again.
'If you are reading this, then it is because your father and I are gone. We are so sorry to leave you in this world without us, but we hope that you being alive to read this means that our plan to bring down Voldemort was successful, and that you have grown up in a loving and caring home, among our friends who we know will love you and cherish you just as we would have.
And, that Sirius has kept his promise of never taking you on that damn motorbike. If you are reading, Sirius, you better not have endangered my precious girl on that flying death trap.
In order to keep you safe from Voldemort, we have placed a very powerful rune within your hand. This wasn't an easy decision for us; I have done a lot of experimenting with ancient runes and alchemy and it is never without risk. I can only hope that you aren't experiencing any negative effects from it. You may experience some difficulty with your magic, or you may experience some phantom pain; I can't really be sure what will happen as no-one has experimented with this kind of magic in the way that we have. It was a necessary sacrifice I'm afraid in order to keep you safe and I can only hope that it hasn't caused you any undue stress. It is a single use, highly-charged shielding rune that I have overpowered with our blood; if we are no longer alive, then its power will be increased a thousand-fold. It will protect you from the darkest of magic, though it will only react to the most powerful of spells, and it will only activate once. We are putting all of our hopes into this defense, and I can only pray that he is foolish enough to act as we suspect he will.
We have left everything we own to you, without exception. If my investments have gone as planned, you should have a healthy account to play with. We don't want you to be greedy, nor to lord your wealth over anyone else, but we do want you to use it, sweetheart. Your father grew up with that vault and he said that all they ever used it for was a… throwing contest with other families. Slightly paraphrased.
Anyway, I know that Sirius, Remus and Peter will look after you so if you have any questions you can always ask them. We trust them to guide you in our stead, to instill the values of truth, honesty and integrity within you.
'They better guide you right, or I'll haunt them for a thousand years,' - your father. Sigh.
I think that you may also like to know why we called you Skyla. We haven't told anyone this as this is just for you to know when the time is right; we called you Skyla because you represent endless possibility and unlimited freedom, just like the sky promises us every day as we look out of the window of our little cottage we share with you. We shaped your rune like a star because you are that bright light in the darkness for us, and whether it is night or day, I know you will shine.
(Your father would also like you know that 'la' was his addition and he is very proud of that.)
('At least she's not another _______ constellation,' - also your father.)
Goodbye my beautiful daughter. We will always love you; whether from beside you, or in the sky above you.
Mum and dad.'
Skyla thought that she could hear the rain gently tapping on the roof above her, however she soon realised that it was the sound of her own tears falling gently upon the old parchment that she cradled tightly to her chest, as her fractured heart once again shattered into a thousand familiar pieces.
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