Mr. Ollivander
Just as they passed the wall of trees, a car rolled past, on the modern road leading towards the grand castle the family had been traveling to. No one seemed to mind them, even though they came from the forest with a goblin wizard.
“Alright here we go, come along,” he said, motioning with the hand that didn't hold his cane.
Nerine kept up pretty well but her parents were slowly trailing behind, suspicious of what came next.
They made their way to the Castle’s entrance, following another family up the ramp. They seemed a lot more excited to be there. The kid held a lollipop and her mother’s hand.
Flitwick led them through colorful rooms with portraits that seemed to watch as they went. There were orange signs and blocked-off paths with red roping. There were families following guides and adults reading plaques of history. Flitwick seemed to know where he was going and the Champagne's purchase of a tour online seemed to be for nothing. They entered a large room with orange detailing on the walls. It had a fireplace and more portraits, however Flitwick kept on walking into another room.
This one was even bigger, with tall ceilings and gold detailing. It had aquamarine wall panels and a roof to compliment the gold accents. There were paintings of plants and animals above the paneling and three statues of women above its fireplace.
A guide introduced herself as they walked in, mentioning that if they had any questions she was there to answer.
“Thank you, dear.” Flitwick smiled, but with a tap of his cane on the floor, she clenched her jaw and politely walked out, waving her hand to excuse herself.
Flitwick approached the fireplace, ahead of Nerine and her parents who stood back in expectancy.
“Come along, it's just through here.” He said, approaching the fireplace.
“You’ll just have to use this,” he held out a small pouch, then opened it, and finally pulled out a pinch full of powder.
“Throw it on the ground, walk in, and say, ‘Helena’s haven.’” He completed the steps as he said them, disappearing into a green fire that seemed to consume him.
Letha yelled out when it happened, Nolan holding her for comfort. The pouch the man used lay, thrown on the floor in front of the fireplace.
Hesitantly, Nerine picked it up.
“Nerine put that down, we are leaving,” Nolan said.
“We can’t just leave,” Nerine replied.
“Yes, we can.” Nolan’s voice was shaky.
Nerine stepped closer to the fireplace.
“And what will we do then? Live our lives knowing that magic is real?” Nerine shot back.
Her parents were shocked by her aggression, Nerine always knew how to stand up for herself, but never in such direct opposition to her parents. She left them in silence, clutching the pouch and facing towards the fireplace.
The dwarf was able to stand up tall and use the floo flame, however, Nerine had a worse time, needing to crouch in its walls.
She was crouching ahead of some display of logs before throwing the powder around herself and saying, “Helena’s Haven”.
She closed her eyes, and for a second she thought she had been engulfed in the flames. Her heart skipped a beat, realizing the goblin was tricking her. He was an evil spirit, leading her to her doom. Nerine thought that at least it had all made sense, everything she could do led to the moment she disappeared in the flames.
Then she could smell fresh air again. The wind whipped her hair and made the trees shake and rustle. A bird chirped in the distance, she was in a forest again. There was a tunnel of trees that revealed a bright peach building where she could hear some men's voices. No, it was a man’s voice and the goblins. However, before she could listen to what they were saying, a woman from behind spoke.
“Welcome to the only public floo flame to Helena’s Haven, you couldn't imagine the trouble I went through to put this here.”
It made Nerine jump, but when she turned around, no one was there. The fireplace included, there was no remnant of her previous surroundings. A stone statue of a woman’s face stared off, it looked like she was on a gravestone. Where the gravestone met the ground, there was a green flame.
It was the same color as the fireplace in Castell Coche. She then noticed the plaque under the woman’s face saying, ‘Ignatia Wildsmith’.
The voices, Nerine realized, were stopped. She could hear the rustle of leaves on the forest bed behind her. Flitwick and a strange man were approaching and when Nerine saw them, the man said, “I see you’ve found Ignatia, she is a passionate woman, I’ll say.”
Nerine said nothing, taking in the newcomer. She thought all the wizards would look elfish or maybe alien, however this wizard looked like everyone else. Everyone else minus his wearing robes and holding a stick that poked out just below one of his billowing sleeves.
He had curly brown hair and regular enough looking glasses. His eyes were a deep blue that Nerine almost hadn’t noticed. His robe was a dark brown with even darker hemming, he looked like an educated professor at a university. Both the man and Flitwick were smiling, they seemed pleased at something.
“Glad you figured it out,” Flitwick said, approaching Nerine. “Your parents shouldn’t be too far behind.”
He barely finished his sentence before Letha’s voice gasped out of view of Nerine.
From behind, Letha hugged her daughter and started to gasp, “Oh thank goodness, you're safe!”. She turned Nerine around to face her, then hugged her again.
That's when Nolan appeared in a show of green flames. He again fell to the ground, his equilibrium not strong enough for wizarding travel. Letha didn’t let go, she ignored the sound of her husband hitting the ground.
“Hello, welcome to Helena’s Haven, this is Mr. Ollivander, he runs the wand shop in Diagon Alley. Family business goes back further than anyone can count.” Flitwick said.
“Yes, oh, sir, oh…” Ollivander winced and flinched as Nolan kept trying to get up and failing.
Nolan waved his hand showing that he was okay, but it was unconvincing. Finally, Letha turned and helped him up.
“Nolan get up, come on.” she beckoned.
Nerine guessed that her father would have been protesting if it hadn’t been for the unexplainable situation and his state of sickness.
“Yes, yes, let's get inside, I have tea prepared. Yes, that’ll do it, yes.” Mr. Ollivander uttered, he started to tip away from the family and Ignatia’s statue, signaling the direction to where he wanted to take them.
Flitwick approached Nerine’s side, offering a smile of reassurance. She smiled back, then looked ahead, and just past Mr. Ollivander and the bright peach building, she could make out a girl about her age, peering around one of its walls. The girl quickly reproached once she saw that the group was heading that way.
“I’m sorry for your troubles Mr. Nolan, however, it does happen more often than you would think.” Mr. Ollivander offered.
Nolan was speechless and sick. Letha held Nolan up, supporting him to stand and trail behind the two wizards.
Nerine could hear them mumbling as she walked behind Flitwick and Mr. Ollivander. She assumed Nolan was asking her mother if this was real. In fear of what came next, he seemed to not want to ask questions to their hosts.
The two wizards were talking together about things Nerine couldn’t understand. She heard something about the ministry and a new rise in some sort of criminal activity.
It wasn't long before they reached the house and it seemed quaint and cottage-like on the outside. Except it was brightly colored and reminded Nerine of Alice in Wonderland. When they walked inside, everything was unexpectedly grandiose.
It was full of shiny trinkets that Nerine couldn’t even begin to guess the purpose. Lanterns and paper objects floated around whimsically and it was a wonder there wasn't a fire catching.
A cup was washing itself and in the process of shaking off as a cat played with a floating play stick. As Nerine observed these magical happenings, she noticed a girl on the floor of the living room with a puzzle that kept shifting in color. She had enough done for Nerine to tell it was a portrait, but the subject was breathing and shifting.
Flitwick and Ollivander were finishing their conversation about ministry business as they walked in and Ollivander held the door for everyone.
“Welcome in, welcome in,” he said, “Sit down, I’ll make us tea! Oh, and this is Phoena, my daughter.” Ollivander was making his way from the front door to the kitchen and motioning over to Phoena who still sat with her puzzle, but smiled shyly and waved.
He flicked his wrist and a teapot started to make tea, then he sat at the dining table while Flitwick took his seat. Nerine was slightly shy to accept her seat at the table, choosing one next to Flitwick, while her parents seemed to cower still by the door.
“Oh don’t be shy, we have a lot to talk about.” Ollivander tapped to the table with his hand, a signal for them to join.
Letha was first to sit, then Nolan. Nerine noticed that Phoena sat watching the family, not participating in her puzzle.
“Well welcome to Helena’s Haven, happy you’re here. Most of us went to Hogwarts so you’ll have a smooth time adjusting. We are very accepting here, don't you worry.”
“Hogwarts… Hogwarts?” Letha seemed to be starstruck while her husband was just paralyzed.
“Yes, right, your daughter is a witch and she will be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year, and every year until she graduates secondary school,” Flitwick explained.
“Well since you already found the neighborhood you should stay!” Ollivander said with a seemingly exaggerated amount of enthusiasm.
“Are they able to do that?” Nerine could hear Flitwick say to Ollivander, almost speaking in a whisper.
“The house,” Ollivander didn’t pay any attention to Flitwick, “It’s just around the corner,” he motioned his head past his teacup to his right.
Flitwick still looked at Ollivander, Nerine couldn’t decipher what it meant. Phoena still looked at the table in silence.
“It’s been vacant for how many years now?” The wizard said out loud to no one in particular. “Yes, it’ll be a breeze, I have my connections in the ministry, the ministry of housing.”
“Ollivander, there might be questions raised as to the protection of-”
“They’re here now, they’ve found it, might as well stay.” Ollivander still didn’t look at Flitwick.
“We could always-,” That’s when Ollivander looked at Flitwick, his jovial appearance faded.
“She’s eleven,” he said.
“Now again, it's no fuss we were looking at villages-” It was Nolan’s turn to be cut off.
“No, no I would much rather you be adjusted to this life now.”
Letha put a reassuring hand on her husband's arm. “I really appreciate this. I just have a few questions about, well, have you all just been hiding magic for all this time?”
“Yep, it’s always existed just under muggle noses, all this time.” He started answering questions, talking about wizarding life.
He explained Hogwarts houses, quidditch, the first and second wizarding war, and the poaching crisis. Nerine got lost in all his explaining, he showed them pictures of his family who are a long line of wandmakers. The portraits moved like they were videos, looping with the people’s silhouettes breathing and fidgeting. Each man looked the same as the previous with grey beards and balding heads. It was like looking at a portal to his own future.
While Ollivander explained that not only unicorns, dragons, and phoenixes were real, but there were horsebird creatures called hippogriffs and that the golden snitch was a replacement for snidgets, another unknown mythical creature, Nerine noticed Phoena was gone. Flitwick turned in his chair, looking where Phoena used to sit with her puzzle. This in turn distracted Ollivander from his story of the thought-to-be-extinct snidgets.
He looked at his watch, then at Flitwick, “Oh has it been that long?” It had been three hours and the sun was setting. “I’m sorry I kept you.”
“No, no you didn’t keep me,” Flitwick said.
Nerine found it funny how they talked like she and her family weren't there sometimes, like when talking about a ministry policy that was up for debate about whether something called a “Red Cap” should be protected by the “DRCMC”. They also started debating the ingredients used in an “Angel’s Trumpet Draught”.
Nerine was entertained by her parent’s reactions to all this. They seemed paralyzed in all of the wizard’s talk. Occasionally Letha would ask questions, but otherwise, they sat in silence just listening.
“Well I'm sure you're busy, I mean the next semester will be here before you know it.” he started to stand, queuing the shift of everyone at the table.
“I can handle myself, Ollivander, and I am willing to help you with this ordeal anytime.” He spoke past the Champagne’s again.
He hopped down from the seat and seemingly waddled to the door, past Nerine’s knees. With a tap of his cane, the front door creaked open.
“I have something to say before I leave, in privacy, if you will.” The goblin politely suggested.
“Yes…yes,” Ollivander turned to the family that still sat awkwardly at his dining table. “Make yourselves at home, the couch is open, or… you can try your hand at Phoena’s puzzle.” he turned to look and gesture at it.
Then, he nodded his head in excuse and stepped outside the house with Flitwick. Nerine stood to peek out the window and even though they were on the other side of the wall, she could not hear them.
“Nerine, how are you feeling honey?” Letha came behind her and touched her shoulder.
“Amazing, Mom, it's amazing! We have to stay!” Her father tilted his head down, Nerine couldn’t decipher his mood.
“I love it too, I’m glad you’re happy darling, but you will have to bear with us. This is very new and if things don’t work out where we can stay…”
“We have to stay, you have to stay, people dream about this! Magic and witches and wizards.”
“I know honey, I know, it's quite unbelievable. But, well there is something I have to explain.” she bent to her knees. “When there are new people in a new community, sometimes there's conflict,” she paused for a second to look at Nerine’s scrunched facial expression. “and I hate it too, but it’s a real concern for your father and me.”
“But, they love us, they want us here, they offered us a home.”
“I know, I know, but they are one of many. I just don't want you to get too attached to…”
“I’m a witch mom, I’m staying with them, I am going to school here.”
“Yes, honey, yes, I want you to go to their school, in fact, I am overjoyed about it. However, we might have to live in another neighborhood.” Letha brushed the hair out of Nerine’s face.
As much as Nerine wanted to complain and fight back and urge for their staying in the neighborhood, a new mature bone in her body told her it was okay. It was more than enough that she was a witch and going to a magical boarding school, more than enough that magic existed and so did magical creatures.