Chapter 29. A Test Purchase
The next morning, while everyone else went off to class, we took our new sister—currently dressed in transfigured clothes due to the simple lack of anything in her size—and headed to Diagon Alley. Strictly speaking, of course, she ought to have been accompanied by an adult professor to introduce her to the magical world, but since we were her magical relatives, and moreover had enough power not to be afraid of adult wizards (whose concepts of magical duels are almost nonexistent—just think of what we know from the canon about the Quidditch World Cup, where barely a dozen Death Eaters managed to panic literally thousands of wizards, none of whom even tried to fight back, but simply ran like headless chickens). Besides, if even a fraction of them had cast a single spell, no shields would have saved the Death Eaters. In short, we were absolutely confident in our ability to protect her from almost anything.
And, to be honest, what was most pleasant and surprising was that the girl seemed to have forgotten all the bad things that had happened to her. With genuine delight in her eyes, she first watched the solid brick wall transform into an entrance, then gazed at Diagon Alley itself, which was now festooned for Christmas—a holiday that, for some reason, wizards celebrated according to the Catholic calendar. As far as I know, wizards don't really have any religion at all.
"Do those brooms really fly?" Coraline asked eagerly, pointing at a shop window around which a crowd of children were excitedly discussing the features of the new Nimbus 2001.
"Of course. If you want, we can get you one. But before you can fly by yourself, you'll have to learn under our supervision. There are also a few rules you'll need to follow—to avoid trouble with the law, and for your own safety."
"No need, I was just curious," she said, shaking her head vigorously.
"Hm, all right. In any case, first we need to go to Madam Malkin's to buy you some decent clothes."
"Okay," Coraline agreed easily, her eyes wide as she watched all the bustling wizards buying gifts and magical decorations.
Buying clothes was a pretty emotional experience for her, since she hadn't had anything fancy before. Now she could have anything she wanted, and we told her directly not to limit herself. At first hesitant, she ended up trying on a whole avalanche of dresses and robes—some of which we bought outright, while others we ordered with special charms. The most important, in our opinion, were the fitting charms, so the clothes would last her more than a year, especially since she would be growing rapidly now that she had a proper diet, not to mention potions to fix the consequences of her not-so-great life up to this point. Afterwards, it was time to buy a wand and some gifts for our friends.
The Wand. When we told her we'd buy her a wand almost a year before she was due to start at Hogwarts, so she could learn a little magic at home, we could almost swear her eyes sparkled like real stars. And, of course, Ollivander's shop turned out to be a true one-man show.
"I remember every customer who has ever visited my humble shop, and, looking at your appearance… Ah yes, I remember that distant year when your father first came to buy a wand from me. He was a truly restless rascal—even I had heard tales of his adventures with his friends. However…"
"However?" the girl prompted, utterly charmed by the old man.
"However, it's sad how things ended up. Those were dark times, sparing no one, not even the bravest of us."
"Oh, come on, you make it sound like Sirius is dead," we rolled our eyes.
"And thanks to your efforts, thankfully he isn't," Ollivander smirked.
"So, which hand do you favor, young lady?" he got down to business.
The selection of her first wand—though a major milestone in any wizard's life—wasn't particularly exciting for us, especially as the right wand was found quickly.
"Can we buy some books?" Coraline asked as we finally left the wand shop.
"No need. The Black family library has books for every occasion—it would just be a waste of time and money. Instead, how about a pet? Which do you like more—a cat or an owl? Or maybe something else?"
"I'm not sure… Owls are useful, but cats are cute too," she said thoughtfully.
"Well, let's go have a look, and you can decide there," we smiled, thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to get ourselves an owl as well. Relying on the school ones was getting tiresome.
"All right!" Coraline agreed happily.
The menagerie greeted us with a cacophony of animals and a truly horrible smell.
"Ugh…" the girl grimaced in disgust.
"That's why I say most wizards are just Muggles with wands," we sighed through Andromeda, before protecting us from the stench with a casual flick of the hand.
"Wow! I thought you needed a wand to do magic?" Coraline said with excitement.
"If you practice enough, there's no need."
"So… you've practiced the spell to block bad smells that much?" she gave us a strange look.
"No, that was just a variant of the Protego charm."
"A variant?"
"You'll find out later," we grinned at her curiosity. "Now, let's find some pets."
"Okay," she nodded and ran straight to the nearest owl cage, while the shopkeeper, clearly within earshot of our conversation, glared at us resentfully.
...Hardly had Coraline moved a couple of meters away, she stopped and, with a strange look on her face, silently came back to us.
"What is it?" we chuckled, knowing full well she had stepped outside the boundaries of the barrier, which was anchored to Andromeda.
"I think I'll stay by your side."
"As you wish," we said, fighting the urge to laugh at her adorable expression. Together, we approached the shopkeeper—just as a ginger, squashed-face cat suddenly darted out in front of us.
"Crookshanks, stop that!" the shopkeeper hurriedly scooped up the cat.
"His name is Crookshanks?" our sister asked, a gleam in her eyes.
"Yes, poor thing—no one wants to take him," the attendant said, sadly.
"Then, can I take him?" Coraline looked at us expectantly.
"Why not?" we shrugged, not about to deprive her, even if in canon that cat belonged to Hermione.
"Yes!"
So, in the end, Coraline basically bought Hermione's canonical pet in advance, and we got ourselves a lovely black northern owl. We finished our shopping spree with gifts for our friends and some delicious Florean Fortescue's ice cream.