Chapter 16: Diagon Alley, Ollivanders, and The Wand (1/2)
As they exited Gringotts, Quinn turned to George and advised, ”Grandfather, I want to go to the wand store at the end. If we go there first, I am sure that I won't pay attention to anything after. I want to go home straight home after we get my wand. Can we do that?”
George chuckled and replied, ”Alright, then we will get your wand at the end. Let's get you all the stuff needed. Tell me what do we need to buy.”
Quinn looked at the list of things from his mindscape and listed off things, ”First of all, we need cauldrons. The Hogwarts list only asks for a pewter cauldron, but I require a copper and brass one as well. Similarly, we also need to buy stirring spoons of all the same materials. And all the other preparation equipment like knives, crushers, mortars, and pestles. Oh! We also need potion and ingredient vials of different shapes and shades. And at last, we need potion-grade protective gloves and safety goggles.”
George nodded, and the pair went to Potage's Cauldron Shop to buy the potion supplies. George ordered all the things and told them to deliver them to the West Manor. He also showed Quinn how to use his cheques and pay for things.
They came out, and George asked, ”What is next?”
”Robes. I need five sets of plain work robes in black, two plain pointed hats in black, and three winter cloak in black with silver fastenings. In addition, all clothes need a tag with my name on them,” replied Quinn.
”Alright, let's go to Madam Malkin's. That shop the best when it comes to Hogwarts uniforms,” replied George before supplying, ”Do you know Madam Malkin's has been open since the time of my grandfather.”
When they entered the store, an assistant greeted them, ”Welcome to Madam Malkin's. How may we help you today?”
”We need five sets of standard Hogwarts robes and uniforms; please make them in raw silk. Two black pointed hats, made from a raw silk and cotton blend, and five pairs of white socks. Three sets of sweaters, made from a wool and silk blend. Three sets of winter robes made from your best material.” George paused for a moment before adding, ”Please line the insides of both summer and winter robes with pockets, and I want individual threads to be charmed with suitable charms instead of the final product.”
The assistant jotted down all the requests and replied, ”Certainly, there is a five-minute wait. Please, wait in the seating area. I will call you in when it is your turn.”
George and Quinn sat in the seating area, and Quinn asked, ”There was nothing of that mentioned in the letter.” George smiled and answered, ”If you go to any clothing store, the employees will walk you through the entire process when you ask them for Hogwarts robes. But, it helps if you know the things to expedite the process. Now, all we need for clothing are leather belts. We will get them at another store in Carkitt Market.”
The assistant called Quinn for the measurement, and Madame Malkin used her charmed-measuring tapes to take measures and then asked them to return in half an hour to get their clothes.
They exited the store and talked about the next course of action, ”So, where to next,” asked George.
Quinn thought about it and said, ”I already have a telescope, so we don't need to buy that, so let's get the leather belt and then pass some time at Flourish and Blotts till the clothes are done, and then go buy me a wand,” finished Quinn with a smile on his face.
”You and your obsession with books,” said George while looking at his grandson. ”Alright, let's do that.”
The pair went to a leather accessory store to have their belts made and then went to Flourish and Blotts, where Quinn got the biggest shock of his second life.
- (Scene Break) -
Quinn entered Flourish and Blotts and left behind George to browse the collection of books in the store. Till now, he had been buying supplementary books with the help of catalogs of various bookstores around the world, so he never needed to visit a bookstore, so he decided to take his browsing through the books.
While he was browsing through the books, he reached the fiction section and found some books that made him laugh as they were fictional books on Harry Potter and his supposed adventures. It was a completed series sold in a set of seven books.
With a smile on his face, he turned around and saw a stand of newspaper and magazine. He picked up Daily Prophet, which his grandfather termed as 'A joke of a newspaper.' When he looked at the first page, his body and brain froze.
On the first page of the Daily Prophet, in bold words, the headline said.
「POTTERS SEEN AT THE MINISTRY.」
Quinn's jaw dropped when he saw the accompanying photo and in it, he saw four people; two adults and two children. He immediately recognized the boy child in the photo as the golden boy, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Chosen One, Harry James Potter, with his glasses and the lightning bolt scar on the forehead. He looked like a near-spitting image of the man in the photo who Quinn guessed was the supposed-to-be-dead, James Potter.
Quinn focused on the other two people in the photo, and while he couldn't make out the color of the lady's hair in the black-and-white photo, Quinn was ready to bet his whole book collection that the lady was Lily Potter (nee. Evans). The only one he didn't recognize was the girl in the photo. He didn't know if the girl was a twin or a little sister, but he had to find out about this whole situation,
'Merlin's balls' is this an AU or parallel universe. No wonder things were going too smoothly; fate was waiting to be a b*tch, and now she struck me with a sledgehammer like this,' thought Quinn, as he stared intently at the paper.
He clutched the paper in his hands, and with a quick-thumping heart, power-walked around the store to find books related to the Boy-who-lived and You-know-who.
'I knew these hyphenated bastards were going to make problems for me, but this is ridiculous.' Quinn came to a sudden stop as he found the book he was looking for.
「Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.」
He nearly ripped the book out of the shelf, opened it to find the index, and found the heading, 'First Wizarding War.' Quinn sat down in front of the bookshelf and flipped to the chapter about the First Wizarding War.
As he read it, the book helped clear his doubts. The events were the same canon, but things changed when the war reached the date October 31, 1981.
On Halloween, in Godric's Hollows, it wasn't James and Lily Potter that died, but Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, the grandparents of Harry Potter, who had died. James and Lily Potter were out of the house when Voldemort struck, and in Potter's house were the grandparents with their grandchildren, the twins, Harry and Ivy Potter.
Albus Dumbledore declared Harry Potter as the Boy-Who-Lived. The reason wasn't stated, but Quinn knew it was because of the prophecy and the scar that marked Harry and Voldemort's equal.
'Fleamont and Euphemia Potter didn't die earlier, so they lived till the war. They died, so the remaining Potters are alive, Harry Potter will no longer be the abused boy in the books. By the looks of the photograph, this isn't a Wrong-Boy-Who-Lived scenario or a neglect-plot. Now, Harry Potter has a twin sister,' thought Quinn as he stared at the words in the book.
He clutched his head and groaned in a whiny tone, ”I should have gone to Beauxbatons!” Alas, the time had passed, yesterday was the last day for booking a seat at either of the institutes, and Quinn couldn't do shit now.
Quinn decided to think about this whole situation later as he heard his grandfather call out to him. He put the book back on the shelf and was about to put the newspaper back, but decided to take it with him to the counter. He had questions, and his grandfather was going to answer them.
Quinn walked to George with the issue of Daily Prophet and showed it to him. ”Grandfather, who are these people?” He faced the front page towards George.
George looked at the paper but showed no particular interest in seeing the Potters in the paper. He stared at the headline and the photo for a moment before saying, ”They are the Potters. Don't worry about them. I was going to tell you about the political landscape of Magical Britain this week. We will discuss them during our lessons.”
Quinn nodded as he could wait till tomorrow to get the complete picture. But, there was a discomfort in the back of his thoughts.
He decided to move on from the current topic and spoke, ”Okay, let's go collect my clothes and then go buy a wand.” Quinn thought that getting a wand would cheer him up.
George agreed, and the pair collected Quinn's clothes and moved on to Ollivanders. Ollivanders was narrow and shabby. Even the golden sign on the place was peeling.
「Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.」
A single wand sat on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
When Quinn entered the shop, a tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop greeted them. He forgot about every warning and scene he had read in various fictions and just took in the quiet vibe of the shop and the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. The thought of thousands of wands in this store was a sight of awe.
It took a soft, ”Good Morning” from behind to snap Quinn out of his daze. Quinn shivered, hearing the voice, and with a frown, looked back to see an old man with wide pale eyes that shown like moons through the gloom of the shop.
”You must be Mr. Garrick Ollivander. Good morning to you as well. My name is Quinn West, and I am here to buy a wand,” like a champ, Quinn stuck out his hand for a handshake.
Ollivander stared at Quinn's hand for a moment before shaking it. Then he turned to face George and spoke, ”George West. Redwood, thirteen and a half quarters long, flexible, with a dragon heartstring core.” Ollivander smiled, thinking about the wand he crafted.
”Redwood a rare wood which is always in demand because of its reputation for bringing good fortune to its owner, and if we look at Mr. West's success in business, that reputation might be true,” spoke Garrick Ollivander.
George took out his wand and said, ”It has served me well all these years.”
Ollivander turned back to Quinn and said, ”Now, let's get you a wand, Mr. Quinn West.”
In response to that, Quinn only said, ”Your occlumency skills must be fantastic.” It really was the top thought that came to mind.
Garrick Ollivander stilled for a second before replying, ”Indeed they are Mr. West. I need to remember every wand so that I know how they were crafted. It helps me in maintaining wands crafted by me and is also mighty helpful when I help people find their wands. It helps me when I remember all the thousands of presets to which I can refer to.”
Ollivander stepped closer to Quinn and asked, ”You wand arm?”