Don't Tickle a Sleeping Slytherin von Lhasbelin ================================================================================ Kapitel 2: Chapter Two ---------------------- That third wand greets me with a shower of green and blue-ish white sparks. I stare at them in fascination. Did I do this? How? I'm a Muggle, I don't... That is magic. Magic that I did. Oh my god. When Godric told me I am a witch, I kind of thought him nuts, sure, I wanted to believe him but...  this. This is proof. I was holding that wand. I made those sparks. That wand chose me. Little old normal up-to-today-magicless me. This is... awesome! I mean... magic. Honest to god magic. That I apparently can do.   I only barely listen to Mrs. Ollivander's explanation of the wand that I chose (not the wand that chose me? I am confused but do not really care at this point): Twelve and a half inches of willow wood with a core of Hippogriff Talon. I wrack my brain trying to remember what the characteristics of both wood and core are but I cannot remember. Mrs. Ollivander only mentions that it is a rare combination and that it will do me good service. Very different from what I am used to when it comes to reading about Garrick Ollivander. She smiles and tells me – I must have looked confused – that I will get to know my wand and learn its traits. Perceived characteristics should be ignored according to her, because they can be misleading.   Godric pays her for my wand and I completely missed the price… Oh my god, I don’t have any money here. How am I supposed to pay for anything? What do I have to pay for anyway? School? School utensils? Now I’m worried. Of course I want to go to Hogwarts but can I even afford that? Do they trade knowledge for labour? Can I, Will I have to help out with things in return? Do they even use Galleons, Sickles and Knuts yet? If yes what are they worth? What about muggle money? Wait. He called me a child. I’m a child. I don’t need to know stuff like this (I hope). It’s not like I can just ask… right? I sigh uneasily and try to repress the rising panic. What am I even doing here?   Godric drops his hand on my shoulder and manoeuvres me to the exit. “Let’s go to see a healer.” Oh, yes please. My pain tolerance may be relatively high (at least according to my friends) but that does not mean that I like the discomfort. Something for the recurring headache would be quite nice. And lying on the ground with some small still bleeding scratches can’t have been that hygienic either… Let’s not go there.   I follow Godric further down the winding road and – did that sign just now say Diagon alley?! –  to a small building that looks ready to collapse. It does not look structurally sound but Godric enters and reluctantly so do I. The inside is… crowded. Oh, we are the only two people inside apart from the shopkeeper yet I still feel crowded. Every single inch of the walls is covered in shelves, we barely have enough room in here to stand next to each other because of the many tables which are also completely covered in things. He seems to have brought me to an apothecary, I think. Most of the stuff I can see I can’t make heads or tails of. Then again, that could be caused by the almost non-existent light. It is so dim, I can’t really see Godric right next to me. He’s a silhouette nothing more.   The shopkeeper asks how he can help us and Godric nudges me forward.  “I have a---“, I start to say but he interrupts me.    “A headache. Let me see.” The shopkeeper is suddenly right in front of me – when did he move? – and pointing his wand between my eyes making me cross-eyed. He mutters something too quietly to make out words. He hums and mutters some more. (It makes me want to ask if he’s capable of more or if he’s just a charlatan. Since I trust Godric to bring me to a real healer and not some phony, I refrain.) He nods and hums and mutters for several minutes. I don’t want to be impatient but the desire to ask what the heck he’s doing is growing. Finally he nods again – more decisively this time – and puts the wand away. “Magical exhaustion.” He says and walks away to rummage around in the back of the room.   Magical exhaustion? From what, I wonder. It’s not like I did anything, heck, I shouldn’t have magic. I don’t. Well, I didn’t. Until today, whenever today is. Thinking about it, when did they found Hogwarts? Somewhere around the year 1000 if I remember correctly – around meaning somewhere in between 950 and 1050… Hey, isn’t that also the time when Genji[1] was written? … Okay, no. Concentrate. First things first. Concentrate on the here and now (when is now?), worry about such things later, Nor---, no, you’re Honoria now, I remind myself.   Whoa. What’s that smell? I blink and when I return to the present (whenever that is, no. concentrate!) I realize that the shopkeeper is holding out a vial.   “Drink this. That should take care of things.” The headache I think he means, not the magical exhaustion. It would be awesome if there was a potion for that… and way too easy probably. He hands me the vial and I frown. It smells awful – the smell alone makes me want to hurl it back up – but I grit my teeth (figuratively not literally obviously) and drink that foul concoction. I gag. The taste is even worse than the smell. But it is well worth it. Mere seconds later my headache clears and I feel almost human again. Almost. Now that the headache is gone, I feel… tired, no, weary. Should’ve known that magical exhaustion involves more symptoms than a simple headache.   Godric smiles, hands the man some coins (I think are Knuts – I am paying attention this time – but I can’t be sure) and leads me back outside. “Since we are here already, we can buy some things you will soon need.” That… kinda sounds ominous. Following him, I am starting like a duckling. I don’t like the feeling. He drags me along to buy some things: a set of robes, an abacus (okay… this is gonna be fun. I have no idea how to use that thing), a telescope (I get my own?), brass scales, a couple of vials, some gloves (though looking at them I doubt they have more use than just an aesthetic one, they seem so flimsy), a cloak, a couple of daggers (or are they knives?). He doesn’t explain, just goes from one shop to the next expecting me to follow and rambling about some mock duel he fought, because we or rather he saw the wife of his former opponent’s second cousin thrice removed (Does a distant relation like that even still matter). I tune him out and try to find out more about this time. Not that there is much to see right here and now.   He is paying in Knuts. I have not seen a single Sickle yet, let alone a Galleon. Do they exist yet? If so, what are they worth – given past, err, future inflation… are they even ‘needed’ yet? Because I think I remember a telescope costing a couple of Galleons and Godric paid three Knuts. There are few people in the streets but then again how many do even live here in, what was it?, Lunden… Lundenburh? The streets are filthy, the houses decrepit (at least some of them). People generally seem to mind their own business. I would’ve expected more people about but then again, I don’t know what day it is nor the time.   I blink when there are suddenly eyes on my eye level. It seems that while I was not really paying attention we met a family Godric knows. I almost miss him greeting and introducing them to me as “Mr. and Mrs. Dumbledore and their daughters.” the younger of which is staring at me. Summoning up a smile (I hope I managed one in my surprise but I am unsure), I politely introduce myself to the family in front of us. Mr. and Mrs. Dumbledore who appears to be pregnant, correction, is pregnant – Godric is congratulating them right now, start asking him questions about the school. Meanwhile, the two girls, Mildred and Beatha who are nine and “four, not three!” years respectively, introduce themselves to me. While the adults are discussing  the merits of a school versus home-schooling, the girls want to know my  favourite game. I am stumped. It is weird enough to so clearly disassociate myself from the adults – I’m 23 for heaven’s sake – and pretend that the girls are around my age – not that I know my apparent age beyond “a child” – but my favourite game? My favourite game would probably be a computer game... Not an answer I can use. What was my favourite game when I was their age? No idea. In the end I go with “hide and seek” because it is the easiest answer. Beatha proudly tells me that her favourite game is quiffling (what that’s supposed to be I have no idea) and Mildred proclaims herself the more mature one (not in those exact words but that’s the drift) since her favourite game is chess (or its predecessor). I ignore the following squabbling over which game is better and listen to Godric’s conversation – it is way more interesting: Apparently just last week, Salazar turned Rowena’s hair blue by accident. I don’t think Godric believes it to have been an accident given how he says it. And if half the stuff is true about Slytherin and potions, I highly doubt he’d miss a spoiled potion.   Mrs. Dumbledore laughs politely and then after a couple of general questions about the school – do you think you have enough people to teach the children? Yes; How many children are there to be taught? He is unsure; What do they intend to teach the children? The basics first and then they’ll see... and one question about a cauldron (if he could recommend one) as we are in a shop that solely sells cauldrons, she asks after me to my surprise. I’m just one of his future students, what’s so interesting about me? Apart from the whole back-in-the-past, inside-another-body, de-aged? Thing – but she doesn’t know about all that. She wants to know if I’ll attend Hogwarts to which he answers with a firm yes and a look that sort-of-says: “isn’t that obvious?”.    Then she asks if he adopted me. Huh. I gather it’s not normal for him too--- Beatha pokes me and demands my opinion but before I can give it she already agrees with me that quiffling is obviously the better game, err, right. If she says so. It’s not as if I said anything about either game but what does it matter. Don’t argue with small children. They always win (at least in their heads). Then she hugs me.   Godric denies adopting me (good to know) and tells them that he’s taking me shopping and that my late parents were Muggles. I feel Beatha stiffen momentarily and see the brief flicker of something in Mildred’s eyes. Mr. Dumbledore offers me condolences, blimey, but they do not sound sincere to me. Then again, I could be biased by the girls’ reaction. Immediately after that, Mrs. Dumbledore reminds her husband about some dinner plans they have and that they have to get going. Herding their children along, they leave the shop. It seems a bit like fleeing to me. Godric only hums to himself that they’re nice people. He seems to have completely missed any subtext. Such a Gryffindor. But hey, he founded that house so I guess he’s allowed.   After buying me a cauldron and another for “school uses” he walks out of the store only to stop abruptly right outside and turning back to me, making me almost run into him. Not appreciated. Give some warning next time please. His smile is kind of scary as he grins at me.   “I almost forgot. If you want, you’re allowed to buy a pet and bring it. Do you want to buy one? Every child needs a pet.” Well, it’s not as if I’d say no to that. At the very least I’d have someone to talk to then – depressing thought that – but I watched enough sci-fi to know that it’s probably not the best idea to tell everyone I’m from the future. Heck, if I talked about computers they’d probably send me to bedlam, or wherever they send crazy people. Not a pleasant thought given how they treated such people in the past (future?). God, the time thing is confusing. But even without that, given the Dumbledores’ reaction, I’m not sure how a muggle-born student will be received. Screw them, I know spells that haven’t been invented yet. (If they actually work for me and I won’t mess up with the wand work… Depressing thought. Let’s ignore that.) I’m getting a pet! It’s been way too long since the last one I had, but my parents wouldn’t let me have another one when it was unsure where I’d end up after school. Well. That argument was over five years ago. So, it’s been way too long. There’s no way I’m turning that offer down, besides, magical pets are cool.   Godric takes me to a pet shop and gives me free reign to find a suitable pet. The only stipulation is “Not a dragon. They're evil when woken up.” I smell a story behind that. He sounds as if he speaks from experience which could explain the Hogwarts school motto. I want to hear that story one day. Right now I only nod and look over the animals. There are cats, kneazles, a weird puppy (what breed is that thing?), a couple of mice, toads, snakes, bats, birds (owls, eagles, a raven, a hawk, a couple of sparrows I think and one that reminds me of a parrot.), rabbits, a wolf pup, some magical animals that look like a mix of a fox and a boar but at the size of a house rat, puffskeins, snails... I wander the shop for a bit and survey the pets. In the end I am undecided if I should get a snake or the wolf pup. Godric sees that I am wavering and tells me to “take the pup. There are enough snakes at Hogwarts as it is.” A wolf pup it is then.   He pays for the pup (1 Knut) and the owner is glad to see it go since it bites – something he tells us after Godric already paid for it. The way the man speaks about it I am not too surprised he's been bitten. I walk back to the wolf's cage and open it. (I refuse to keep an animal in a cage that small.) The wolf growls at me but like a cat it gets curious when I make no move to take it out and wait for it to come to me instead. It sniffs at me and just when I try to reach for it, the shopkeeper stuns it. Easier to transport that way, he says. Glaring at him I gather the wolf in my arms – no, Godric, the pup is not too heavy – and carry him outside.   Godric deems that we have bought all that we need and that we'll go to Hogwarts now. He grabs my arm and everything goes black.   [1]    Genji monogatari: a japanese novel by Murasaki Shikibu written around that time. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)