Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Wing Goes to Hogwarts ❯ Diagon Alley ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Diagon Alley

Hermione stood next to the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room clutching the jar of Floo Powder.

“Now,” Professor McGonagall said briskly as she looked at Quatre, Duo and Roku, who stood in a line in front of her, “this is really quite simple. You grasp a pinch of Floo Powder from the jar, step into the fireplace, state clearly the name of the place you wish to go and then fling the powder at your feet. You'll be whisked directly to your destination, which in this case will be the grate in the Leaky Cauldron, which is the entrance to Diagon Alley. Please watch carefully.”

McGonagall grasped a pinch of powder from the jar, stepped into the fireplace (which contained only a few glowing coals at the moment), and said “Diagon Alley!” in a clear, loud voice. She flung the powder down and disappeared in a flash of green fire and sooty smoke.

Quatre waved a hand in front of his face, coughing hoarsely. “What a mess! We should have just used my spell book.”

“Just get in there,” Duo said, shoving Quatre forward.

Frowning unhappily, Quatre grabbed a bit of Floo Powder and stepped into the fireplace. “Diagon Alley!” He disappeared just as McGonagall had.

“You next, Roku,” Duo instructed.

Roku grinned at Hermione as he grasped some powder. “Diagon Alley!” In a puff and a flash, he was gone.

Duo nodded with pursed lips. “Very interesting.” He got his pinch of powder and stepped in. “See you later,” he said to Hermione and then said, “Diagon Alley!”

Hermione put the lid back on the jar as he disappeared and headed for the portrait hole.

“Hey!” Fred exclaimed. “Where are you going with that?”

“I'm taking it back to Professor McGonagall's office,” Hermione said stiffly, “as I was instructed.”

“Let us have a handful,” George wheedled.

“Yeah, just one!” Fred cajoled.

Hermione scowled at them. “You have double-detention,” she reminded them primly. “You're not allowed off the premises.”

“Hermione!” the twins exclaimed.

“Hmph!” Hermione turned her back on them and stalked off.

“She's hopeless!” George complained.

“Utterly hopeless!” Fred agreed.

In the Leaky Cauldron, Duo popped out of the grate to find the others waiting for him, dusting themselves free of soot. He sneezed. “Wu-Fei could never do this.”

“But at least he'd be in a fireplace when he sneezed,” Roku pointed out.

“True,” Duo agreed.

“Shall we shop?” Quatre interrupted loudly.

“I thought we needed to go to the bank first,” Duo said. “We don't have any of the local currency.”

“Oh, right.”

“Follow me, please,” said McGonagall. She led the way from the Leaky Cauldron's common room, where a handful of mostly unsurprised patrons watched them curiously, and out the back to a tiny brick courtyard. She pulled out her wand. “You must tap the correct brick with your wand to open the entrance to Diagon Alley,” she informed them, tapping on an indistinguishable brick as she spoke. Without fanfare, the bricks folded back on themselves and created an open doorway leading into a busy street filled with people. “This way,” the prim professor said. She led them through the entrance and down the street to Gringotts Bank. “Gringotts can exchange any form of currency into wizarding money,” she said briskly. “It might be best if you opened an account so that you have cash to draw on whenever you need it.”

“That's a good idea,” Quatre said.

“Gringotts is the securest bank in the world,” McGonagall said with a trace of pride in her voice. “There has only been one break-in in its entire history.”

“Really?” Duo perked up. “It must be chock-full of money, then.”

“Other people's money,” Quatre said pointedly.

They arrived at the bank, where they were immediately approached by a pointy-eared goblin. “May I help you?”

“We'd like to open an account,” Quatre said. “We have money to exchange.”

“What currency?” the goblin asked as he led them to a tall desk. He climbed onto a stool behind the desk and opened an enormous ledger.

Roku produced a fat pouch of gold coins. “We have gold coins. These ones are mostly from Nottingham.”

The goblin opened the pouch and spilled out a few of the coins. His eyes widened. He picked up a coin and examined it closely. “The striking on this coin is quite old, but the coin itself looks fairly new. Where did you say you obtained it?”

“Nottingham.”

The goblin hefted the coin. “It's solid gold. Is it a souvenir coin?” He poured more of the coins from the bag.

“No,” Quatre said quickly before Roku could say any more. “But they are collector's coins. I assume they're exchangeable.”

“Oh, yes!” the goblin said. He bobbed his head excitedly. “Quite exchangeable! Do you have any others?”

Roku produced several more bags of coins. “Here are some more from Nottingham, a few from Camelot and some from Asgard.”

“Asgard?!” The goblin's head snapped up.

“It's a town in Norway!” Quatre said hastily. He shook his head slightly at Roku.

Clucking and muttering to himself, the goblin carefully counted out and weighed the coins, making notes in his ledger. Finally, he sat back with a smile. “Well, this is quite a small fortune you have here. The exchange rate is well in your favor. I'll order a vault for you immediately and have it filled with the equivalent value in Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.” He rang a little bell on his desk and another goblin hurried over. He leaned over and whispered into the goblin's ear and the second goblin hurried off. “I've sent the clerk to fetch an advance, as it will take a little time to prepare your vault. I hope the amount is acceptable.” The second goblin returned quickly carrying a heavy pouch.

“I'll take that,” Quatre said before Duo could snag it.

“Dang!” Duo muttered.

The goblin turned his ledger toward Quatre. “If you'll just sign here and list the names of anyone else who is to have access to the account, we'll be all finished.”

Quatre signed the ledger and then wrote the names of everyone else in their party, including the children. He glowered at Duo. “Just because I put your name down doesn't mean you get to withdraw any money.”

“You're no fun!” Duo pouted.

The goblin closed his ledger. “Thank you for doing business with Gringotts Bank. If there is any other way we can be of service to you, please don't hesitate to ask.”

Once they were back out in the street, McGonagall rubbed her hands together briskly. “Very well, now we can get down to business. I think first we should stop by Madame Milkin's and get robes. All students must wear robes during school hours. After that, there's Olivander's to get a wand, the bookstore for textbooks and just down the way, the stationary store to get parchment, quills and ink. And let's see… what else?” McGonagall marched off briskly and the others scurried along in her wake.

At Madame Milkin's, Roku swept dramatically about the dressing area, making his robe flair out. “I like robes! We should get some for Alexa and Jett.”

Quatre shrugged. “I suppose. Do you have robes for, um, eight-year-olds and four-year-olds, Madame Milkin?”

“Of course!” Madame Milkin said with a cheerful smile. “We cater to all ages here.” She brought out two more sets of robes in smaller sizes. “Now, if these don't fit well, just bring them back and exchange them.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Once the robes were paid for, they headed down the street to Olivander's wand shop. This shop was small, dusty and stuffed to the rafters with long, narrow boxes.

Olivander peered at them over his narrow counter. “Good day, Professor McGonagall,” he said in a soft voice.

“Good day. I have a mid-term student in need of a wand.”

“Indeed?” Olivander peered at Roku. “Hmm… Let me think… Let me think…” He turned to the stacks of boxes behind him and examined them thoughtfully. “Ah!” He took down a box and turned to Roku, lifting off the lid to reveal a slender, light-brown wand. “This wand is made of rowan wood and contains a dragon heartstring. It is a very powerful wand. Not many wizards could use such a wand to its full potential. Give it a try.”

Roku took the wand from the box and grinned. “It tingles!” He lifted the wand and a pale orange light swirled up the shaft and glowed brightly at the tip for a moment before dissipating and leaving a faint scent of berries.

Olivander gave Roku a kindly smile. “Ah! I thought so. That's just the wand for you.”

Roku grinned happily as Quatre paid for the wand.

Next they went to the bookstore to buy Roku's textbooks. This went fairly smoothly, except for the Care of Magical Creatures textbook. The manager at Flourish and Blotts looked like he wanted to cry when Roku read the name The Monster Book of Monsters from his book list.

“I suppose I should say you're in luck,” he groaned, “as we still have a few left. We had to put them in separate cages, though. They kept trying to eat each other. It's been just terrible. Worst book we've ever stocked. One of the clerks nearly had his finger bitten clean off. We couldn't get him to come back to work for a week.” The manager shook his head and clucked his tongue as he led the way into the back where three bird cages sat on tables several feet apart. Inside each cage lay a savage-looking book. As soon as they neared them, the books flopped up against the sides of their cages and started gnawing on the bars and growling. The manager flinched back. “There you are.”

Roku approached the nearest cage and bent over. “Be quiet, silly thing,” he said.

The book stopped growling.

Roku opened the cage and took the book out.

The manager stared. “Well, um, what other books did you say you needed?”

In no time at all, they were in possession of a thick stack of textbooks.

“Duo,” Quatre said, “would you carry these, please?”

“Me?” Duo complained. “I'm already carrying the robes!”

“Quit complaining.” Quatre dumped the pile of books on top of the boxes Duo was already holding. “What next?”

“Stationary store,” said McGonagall and down the street they went.

By the time they finished buying things, Duo was staggering under the weight of so many items one could only just see the top of his head over the pile. Roku's cauldron, balanced somewhat precariously on top, kept sliding in front of his face.

“Quatre! I'm going to drop everything!”

“You're such a wuss.” Quatre took the cauldron. “There, is that better?”

“Oh, totally!” Duo grumbled sarcastically.

“Well, I think that's everything,” McGonagall said, studying their purchases with pursed lips. “Shall we head back?”

“All right.”

They returned to the Leaky Cauldron, where a pot of Floo Powder sat on the mantelpiece above the common room fireplace. McGonagall dropped a couple of coins into a little bowl next to the jar and took a pinch of powder. She nodded to the others, stepped over the grate and said “Hogwarts!”

One by one, the others followed and found themselves back in the Gryffindor common room.

“How does it know which fireplace in a place this size?” Roku asked curiously.

Before McGonagall could answer, there was a loud crash as Duo tumbled out of the fireplace, spilling boxes in all directions.

“Some help would have been nice!” Duo exclaimed.

“Wuss!” Quatre muttered under his breath, but he helped Duo pick up the spilled boxes. They sorted out the boxes containing the robes for Alexa and Jett and took everything else up to Roku's room. A big trunk now sat at the foot of his bed and they put his new purchases inside.

“It seems silly to leave all this stuff here when I could just take it with me,” Roku remarked.

“Just leave it in the trunk,” Quatre said.

Roku put on his robes and tucked his wand into a pocket. “How's that?”

“You look just like a Hogwart's student,” Quatre said approvingly.

Roku grinned.

Back downstairs, Quatre and Duo gave Roku hugs and left. Harry, Ron, Hermione and a few other third years crowded around Roku.

“What kind of wand did you get?” Ron asked excitedly.

Roku took his wand out of his pocket. “It's rowan wood with a dragon heartstring,” he said proudly. “It's pretty.”

“Rowan wood?” Hermione said. “It must be very powerful. Have you tried any spells with it yet?”

“No. What should I try?”

“You should start with something simple,” Hermione said authoritatively. Ron rolled his eyes.

Roku studied his wand for a moment and then he reached out and tapped Ron's head. Ron's hair immediately turned bright blue.

“That's brilliant!” Harry exclaimed.

Ron grabbed a handful of his hair and stared at it in horror. “I don't want blue hair!”

“I don't know,” Harry said, straight-faced, “it looks good on you.”

“It does not!” Ron cried. “You can change it back, right?”

Roku nodded. He tapped Ron's head again and his hair turned deep violet.

“That's a pretty color,” Hermione said.

Ron groaned. “This is even worse!”

Roku, Harry and Hermione exchanged grins. The other Gryffindors began to laugh.

Ron clutched at his head. “This isn't funny!”

Roku tapped Ron's head once more and his hair returned to its normal flaming red. “Sorry.”

Ron sank into a chair. “My heart can't take this.”

“With brothers like his, you would think he could take a little teasing,” someone muttered.

Ron just groaned.

After the weekend was over, Roku went to his first classes with his new classmates. His first class was Divination. As they climbed up into the North Tower, several of the girls crowded around Roku excitedly.

“You'll love Professor Trelawney!” they squealed. “She's so mysterious! She can see into the future!”

Roku blinked. “Really?”

“Yes!”

One by one, the students climbed the rope ladder into Professor Trelawney's classroom and took seats. Roku sat at a tiny table with Harry and Ron.

Professor Trelawney appeared from out of a smoky corner, her large glasses reflecting the many candles that were burning and filling the room with a cacophony of scents. “Welcome students,” she began and then her gaze fell on Roku. “Who is this?”

“Don't you know?” Hermione muttered sarcastically, and probably louder than she should have. “I thought you would have foreseen a new student being in class today.”

Professor Trelawney twitched, but she did not look at Hermione. Instead she floated over to Roku and peered closely into his face. “New student? When did you start?”

“Today, Professor,” Roku said. “Can you really see into the future?”

“Ah!” Trelawney exclaimed. “The future is always moving; difficult to grasp. Only a special few can glimpse moments in time.”

Roku scratched his head. “That doesn't make sense. If it's moving, how can you see it? And if you see it, what is to prevent you from changing it? And if you change it, how could you have ever seen it? And if you see something and it doesn't happen, does that mean you were wrong or that someone else changed it?”

Trelawney's mouth hung open in stunned silence. “Uh… Let's begin, class!” she said abruptly in an absurdly cheerful voice. “Today we will resume our lesson on reading tea leaves.”

Harry leaned over and whispered to Roku. “I think you've made a friend there.” He nodded at Hermione, who was beaming at Roku. “She doesn't think much of Professor Trelawney.”

“Well, I don't mean to be disrespectful,” said Roku, “but my brother Hadeya said that only the gods can predict the future, but they usually don't bother because if you wait it will come to you.”

Harry laughed. “That's a very practical way of looking at it. Is your brother a priest or something?”

“No, but his mother is a goddess.”

Harry stared. “Excuse me?”

Roku flushed. “Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that.”

“But you did!” Harry whispered eagerly. “Please tell me what you meant!”

“Well,” Roku looked around and lowered his voice. “When we were living in Asgard, Papa Heero made a baby with Lady Freya, who is a goddess.”

“You lived in Asgard?!” Ron squeaked. “But that's a legend! How can you live in a legend?”

Roku blinked and decided not to mention the part about being in a book. “Asgard is a real place, but it's out of phase with the Earth now so it's not easy to go there anymore.”

“Then how did you get there?” Harry asked curiously.

“Oh, um…”

Professor Trelawney suddenly appeared beside their table. “Students should not be talking so much during class,” she said in her wispy voice. She poured tea into their cups. “Drink your tea and see what you make of the dregs in each other's cups.” She blinked owlishly at Harry. “I expect yours will again show that you are going to die.” And she drifted to the next table to pour more tea.

Harry groaned. “I hate this class.”

By the end of the first day, Roku was bouncing with excitement. “That was fun! I like school!”

“It's great, isn't it?” Hermione agreed with excitement. “There are so many exciting topics to study.”

Ron put his head in his hand. “He's encouraging her,” he groaned. “She doesn't need encouragement.”

As they entered the Great Hall, Draco Malfoy let out a dramatic cry and collapsed to the ground. “Oh my god!” he cried. “A dementor! Help me!” His ever-present crowd of Slytherin sycophants laughed hysterically.

Harry scowled.

“Stupid git!” Ron muttered.

“Why is he doing that?” Roku asked.

“Oh,” Harry frowned. “The first time I met a dementor, it made me pass out. Now he thinks it's the funniest joke in the world.”

“That doesn't sound very funny,” Roku said. “Is he flirting with you?”

Ron made a strangling sound.

Harry's mouth fell open. “What…” he stammered, “makes you think that?”

“Well,” Roku said seriously, “sometimes when a boy wants to get someone's attention, he acts very stupid so he'll be noticed.” Roku peered at Draco. “Maybe he likes you.”

“That…” Harry fumbled for words, “is probably the farthest thing from the truth.”

“I don't know,” Hermione said thoughtfully. “Remember, when we first arrived as first years, he tried to make friends with you.”

“But that was just because Harry's famous!” Ron exclaimed.

“If you say so,” Roku said, “but he smells interested to me.”

“Smells interested?!” Harry stared. “What do you mean?”

Roku shrugged. “Sometimes I can tell when people like each other from the way they smell. I can always tell when people are sleeping together because they smell like each other.”

“You can smell that?”

“Yeah.”

Hermione's cheeks colored slightly. “Your sense of smell must be very sensitive.”

“It is.” Roku looked back at Draco. “But that's why I think he's flirting. He smells interested.”

“What's that?” George said, suddenly appearing beside them. “Who's flirting?”

“Malfoy,” Roku said.

“Who's he flirting with?” Fred said. “Not some frumpy Slytherin girl?”

“With Harry,” said Roku, failing to notice the frantic shushing motions being made by both Harry and Ron.

Fred and George grinned at Harry and then turned to grin at Draco. “Is he really? We'll have to do something about that.” The twins scurried off, chuckling evilly.

Harry put a hand over his face. “Oh, no! I don't even want to think about what they might do! And he's not interested in me!”

“Maybe we should sit down,” Hermione advised. They moved to the Gryffindor table and settled onto a bench.

Just then, Alexa and Jett dashed over to them, their black Hogwarts robes fluttering around their legs.

“Can we eat with you, Roku?”

“Of course.” Roku made room for the girls and shortly after, the food appeared. Everyone tucked into the yummy meal, emptying platter after platter.

Hermione watched Alexa and Jett eat while her eyes got rounder and rounder. Finally, she could not stand it anymore. “How do you stay so slim eating that much?” she burst out.

Alexa stopped in mid-bite. “Mommy says I have a high metabolism and I'm still growing. Jett is, too.”

“I… see…” Hermione said doubtfully.

Jett downed another cup of pumpkin juice and held out the empty cup. “More juice?”

“Uh, sure.” Hermione refilled it. Jett gave her a big smile and Hermione smiled back. “She is awfully cute. You're not eating, Harry.”

“How am I supposed to eat?” Harry moaned. He looked down the table at the twins, who were whispering excitedly and throwing occasional glances toward the Slytherin table. “I just know whatever they're planning is going to get me in trouble.”

“Ask Uncle Duo,” Alexa said.

“Ask him what?”

“Ask him what they're planning. He can find out.”

“I'm not sure I want to know.”

“I don't know,” Hermione said. “It might not be so bad if they make Malfoy look like a fool.”

“It will still get me in trouble.”

“They can't do anything with the Quidditch match coming up,” Ron said. “They won't risk getting a detention before the game and not being able to play.”

“That's true.” Harry perked up a little bit.

“Anyway, the first match is against Slytherin,” Ron continued, “so you can knock Malfoy of his broom and maybe dash his brains out.”

“There's a pleasant thought!” Harry managed a smile.

“Do people really get killed during Quidditch matches?” Roku asked.

“It's not common, but it has happened,” Ron said. “Let me tell you about this one match…” and he proceeded to describe, in detail, a particular Quidditch match in which not one but two players were killed over the course of the game.

“It sounds dangerous,” Alexa said, her eyes round.

“It is,” Ron agreed, “but that's what makes Quidditch the greatest game in the world. It's really exciting.”

When dinner was over, the students returned to their dormitories, but Roku went back to the Gundam pilots' common room so he could have a little tiger time.

“My friend Hermione said she was going to take your class, Mama,” Roku said. “She doesn't think wandless magic can be as powerful as magic done with a wand. She also plans to take Papa Wu-Fei's class. She really seems to like studying.”

“She sounds like an intelligent girl,” Wu-Fei said approvingly.

“She doesn't want to take fencing?” Treize chuckled.

“I don't think she has time, although she seems to be taking an awful lot of classes.”

“How did you like your first day of school?” asked Quatre.

“It was fun. I'm glad we came.”

“Good.”

“By the way,” said Roku, “do you suppose anyone knows that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin, is a werewolf?”

Everyone stared.

“Are you sure?” Heero asked with sudden interest. Up until now, he had looked rather bored.

“Uh huh.”

“That seems kind of appropriate,” Duo chuckled.

“It hardly seems safe to have a werewolf instructing children,” Wu-Fei said.

“But he would not be a wolf very often,” Treize pointed out reasonably. “Although it might be a conflict of interest for him to teach the students how to defend themselves against werewolves.”

“I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has a perfectly good reason for hiring a werewolf as an instructor,” Zechs said. “He seems to have the place under control.”

“I agree,” said Trowa. “At any rate, if it's not common knowledge, it would not be kind for us to expose him, so I think we should keep it to ourselves.”

“I agree,” said Quatre.

“Ok,” said Roku. “I'd better get back to my dorm.” He shifted back into human form, kissed everyone goodnight and hurried out.

“I think we should all get to bed as well,” Quatre announced. “With some of us teaching classes tomorrow, it's going to be a busy day. Duo, you're babysitting.”

“Me?!”

“And no teaching the girls to shoot craps. Goodnight, everyone.”

“Goodnight, Quatre.”

“What kind of a mother does he think I am?” Duo grumbled as he escorted the girls to bed. “And anyway, they already know how to shoot craps.”