Just a piece of wood
Well he had done it. The mad man had actually done something to convince the sisters to allow him to go.
Hadrian was raised with the ideas that anything that strayed from God's ideas was evil, dark. And well Hadrian was beginning to agree, nothing that could convince the sisters and put a smile on their faces couldn't have been anything less than some dark magic. If that was even a thing. He's sure that if the - what had the man called it? Muggles, yes if the muggles had angels and demons maybe the same could be said for the wizarding world. Religion was surely a multi word concept. Hadrian for one was itching to read a wizarding religious scripture, he wondered how much it differed from theirs.
It all happened very quickly. One minute Hadrian was bidding the sisters a quick goodbye, then without warning and with nothing less than a touch upon his forearm from Snape and he knew he was far from the orphanage. He didn't know what kind of magic just happened but he knew he didn't care for it. Not if it was going to leave him with the twisting churning in his stomach. By the angels he was going to be sick, how did wizards do this ?
Was all of this normal?
Too distracted with the bile he had to swallow back down his throat, Hadrian nearly missed that not only had they moved but they were surrounded by a mass of moving people.
Hadrian had not seen anything like it, never in his life had he seen such a huge volume of people. Sure Sunday mass was popular but not at this huge of a crowd.He almost felt drowned. That feeling didn't last long though, not when his eyes were taken by their outright peculiar clothing.
People of all gender had pointed hats, long floor length robes that rivaled the sisters. Were these people all religious like the sisters and father Michael? Surely they had a purpose to dress like that. Wouldn't their god be angry at such a display of nonchalance at the usage of such religious garments. Were these the ‘robes’ professor Snape had told him he would need? Hadrian had assumed it was just a posh way to say a suit, much like Snape was wearing at the moment, not this.
Hadrian had robes not too dissimilar from this that he used for altar service.
Hadrian was sure his face held a grimace if the ache in his cheeks was anything to go by.
“Professor Snape, am I going to look like these people in my robes?” Hadrian was skeptical of all of this, they frankly looked- well weird.
“Not too different from them Potter, the shirt and trousers you have on now are not too far off from the uniform you are going to receive. Now come along, we need to get you your wand.” Snape wasted no time in practically man-handling Hadrian in the direction he could only assume was the way to this wand place. Hadrian's eyes darted across the lengths of the shops as he was hauled past them.
Had that shop just said brooms? Were these wizards like the demonic tales the sisters had spun on those fictional witches in the children's books they were banned from reading? Pointed hats, brooms he could only all but assume flew, this was all too much to take in. He knew for certain at that moment as he was dragged to a hault at the door of a shop that these people were everything he was raised to despise. Yet he had no choice but to entertain all this, a man had turned up at his room after all.
Ollivanders. What a name that was.
Slowly Hadrian stepped into the open door that the professor had just passed through.
Dusty, that was the first word that hadrian could think of to describe the shop. Dusty. He had to resist the urge to cough. Did wizards not have dusters? It was also eerily empty, he had just been nearly knocked off his feet in the busy alley yet this shop was practically abandoned. Surely the other kids his age needed wands.
“Ahh Mr.Potter. I was wondering when I'd get to meet you.”
A man said suddenly appearing from behind a remarkaly dusty box covered shelf. The man was huched and looked incredibly old, though Hadrian had good enough manners not to point it out. The man that Hadian assumed must ave been Ollivander had been too quiet, Hadrian nearly jumped from his skin as he spoke.
“Um hello sir. I'm sorry, do you know who I am?” Surely he had never met this man before.
“i know of you Mr. Potter. i gave your mother and father their wands. I give wands to nearly every child that attends hogwarts. Ahh your mother had a wonderful willow wand, ten and a quarter inches if memory serves me correctly, wonderful for charms. Perfect for your mother. And your father, Ohh yes a pliable wand that one, eleven inches made of a nice mahogany. See Mr.Ptter i never forget a wand i make. Now let's see what we can do for you shall we?” Ollivander turned and almost prowled down the length of the rows of wands, fingers grazing the boxes as he went. Until he found the right one, then he quickly took it off the shelf and made his way back.
He was wittling off some information or other but hadrian didn't care to listen to it much, the man was insane. Plus the less he knew the better in his opinion.
The man handed him a wand. It was long and light, you know cause it was just a piece of wood, yet when it was fully grasped in his hands a bolt of something flew from the wand and broke a vase which had been just off to the side. Hadrian's eyebrows rose rapidly as his eyes widened, he was stunned.
“I am so sorry sir.” He all but sighed out, completely horrified with what he had done.
“No need to worry Mr. Potter it happens, that just means that that is not the wand for you.” The man took the wand from his hand and turned to look for another.
“That just happens? Surely that's insanely dangerous. Does that mean i'm unable to touch someone else's wand?”
His question was answered with silence. Mr Ollivander repeated the disastrous process at least five more times. Each time taking longer and longer to pick a wand, Hadrian was exhausted. Mr Snape said that it wouldn't take long, He now knew though that his future professor was a liar. Good to know.
While looking for yet another wand Hadrian was getting a little too agitated.
“I'm sorry Mr. Ollivander sir but its a piece of wood, why is it taking so long to decide what piece of wood need to wave?” It was a reasonable question Hadria had thought, Having moved to practically lean on the counter.. He turned to Professor snape as well, to address him about it all.
“Professor, you said this would be quick.”Hadrian said, a slight whine in his voice.
Mr Ollivander turned around with yet another wand.
“The wand chooses the wizard Mr. Potter, i cannot help it if your particular wand is harder to decide than others.”
“I dont get it sir. There's trees and wood everywhere, what makes this small piece of wood so special?” Surely this was too much of a hassle for every wizard to go through.
“Mr. Potter each wand is hand carved and has its own individual core laced with their own magical capabilities. As i mentioned with all of the other wands you have tried.” Mr ollivander didn't seem to let Hadrian's skepticism dampen his mood.
“Hmm.. Why don't you try this wand for size Mr. Potter. I have a feeling about this one.” A twinkle seemed to appear in his eye, Hadrian was hesitant because of it but went to grab the wand nonetheless. He didn't want to be her much longer anyway, so he had no time to waste.
“You said that about the others too.”
Hadrian gripped the wand, if He had been paying attention to anything but the fact it was yet another piece of wood he may have noticed the difference in this wand to the others.
When Hadrian gripped the wand, a flush of calm air brushed past the occupants of the shop, Mr ollivander had a large smirk on his face.
“It seems we have foun your wand, hmm how curious. That will be 7 galleons please.”
“Huh? a galleon?” Hadrian turned to face Snape. What was a galleon?
Snape walked forward, a pouch had been pulled from his pocket and seven gold coins had been deposited on the counter.
“Its money potter” Snape said with the same annoyance as he had earlier, as if it was Hadrian's fault for not knowing these things.
“This pouch contains a reasonable amount of coins from your vault. when we leave i shall give it and its contents to you. However I don't have the time to explain all of this to you if you want to make it home soon. I will however get you a book to read up on it all if that would please you boy.”
“A vault? As in a bank vault? I have one of those? … Actually you know what? I don't care right now so i'm going to ignore that comment so we can hurry this up. i'll just read up on it later, so yes I'd appreciate a book. … thank you Mr Ollivander.” Hadrian turned to address the man he had forgotten was still there, eerily silent once more.
“You are most welcome Mr Potter. “
Now that the exchange was over, Hadrian noticed something odd. Well odder than what had already happened today. Mr. Ollivander was staring, what he must have thought was subtly, at his scar. Hmm what a weird man.
With a muttered goodbye, Snape and Hadrian made their way back out to the busy street, which was still as busy as it had been earlier. For a second he thought he had heard Ollivander mutter something as he left. Oh well it cant have been too important otherwise the man would've said something at some point in the last twenty odd minutes that he had been in the shop. Plus Hadrian didn't have time, he wanted this to be over sooner rather than later, and the wand shop had already taken too long for his liking.
Once more Snape all but dragged him to this ‘robe shop’, Madam Malkins, at least this shop looked somewhat normal. It was just a clothes shop at the end of the day. Hadrian released a content sigh at the normallicy being back for just a second as he made his way in after Snape.
This shop was luckily a lot cleaner and way less musty then the wand shop. Seems it was just Ollivander who didn't know how to dust effectively.
“Madam Malkin, we need a full hogwarts set for the boy.” It was at Snapes sudden use of his mouth,’how wonderful he hadn't lost his voice’ thought Hadrian, that he even noticed the woman behind the counter. Yet another shop of the busy street that was empty upon their arrival, how convenient.
“Huh?” The woman spoke, before turning to fully face their direction “Oh professor, Snape how wonderful to see you. And who is this young man?” she said while making her way towards them, turning from Snape to Hadrian. “First year is it? Oh what am i saying of course it is. Follow me dear, just up here so i can get you measured.” Measured? Now Hadrian had had his measurements taken before, for his altar robes, but they took quite a while to get to him. Was Snape lying about how long this would take again?
“Look after the boy would you Madam Malkin, I have to go purchase his things.” Snape said, a hint of real politeness in his tone.
“Of course Professor, we’ll be done in around twenty five, that gives you plenty of time.” with that snape sauntered out of the door, being rather dramatic as he did so.
This Madam Malkin's woman was quite different from any person he had met today, not that that should have come as a shock, Snape the gloomy and Ollivander the quiet weren't exactly model members of society from what he could see. No Madam Malkins had a fully present calm smile on her face as she stared at him down, if it weren't for the smile Hadrian would have been shivering under her gaze. He felt like he was being sized up and he guessed in a way he was.
Hadrian's attention quickly went to an object he saw moving in the corner of his eye, flinching as it came far too close for his liking. A tape measure? Of course, not even something as simple as measuring could be spared from the freakishness that was this world.
The next twenty or so minutes were filled with a tape measure harassing him from every angle. Luckily that was soon over and he was soon left alone for the remaining ten of the twenty minutes he had left. The silence was awkward, considering he was the only one in it.
It was nearly perfectly right on time when the door to the shop opened again, Snape appearing from the whooshes of colour floating past the door. Before Hadrian could speak to ask Snape how the shopping had gone, Madam Malkin made her way back from wherever she had disappeared to. A large parcel floating creepily behind her.
“Ah Professor right on time as always, here is the boys things.” She passed the floating package, if you could call floating as passing, over to professor Snape who with a wave of his stic-wand seemingly shrunk the package and float it into the bag he had in his hands.
Without even a glance his way Snape and Madam Malkin exchanged words and what Hadrians sure were more of those galleon things, the woman bid him a quick goodbye before disappearing down the back of the shop once more.
“Well Mr.Potter, i hope that was quick enough for your liking.” the ever condescending tone being thrown his way. “Now I have placed all your things in this shrunken down trunk, I will help place it into your room on your return and will expect you to place the resized clothes inside once I have left. Understood?” The man was a slight squint away from glaring down at Hadrian. What was this man's problem?
“Yes professor, I understand.. can we leave now?” Hadrian just wanted the day to be over. Even if the orphanage wasn't the best place in the world it was arguably better than this.
They exited the shop without another word and Hadrian, out of nowhere felt that same sickening feeling rising in his stomach. Again? surely wizards knew how to warn people or at least tell them before doing whatever Professor Snape had done to them again. Rude man.
Surely enough, once he looked up, he was just a corner away from the orphanage once more. Snape and Hadrian made the quick walk back to the orphanage and through its corridors. Luckily enough for Hadrian it seemed all his fellow children and the sisters were out in the poor excuse of a garden they had access to. It must have been nearing dinner. How long had they been gone?
Hadrian had no time to overthink as once they were at his room's door, Snape all but pushed his way past and took no time at all in placing his things where he deemed they needed to be. Seems he wasn’t the only one wanting this to be over. Waving his wand here and there, everything was of normal size. Well at least he could say his dark brown trunk looked normal and rather nice. Small mercies he guessed.
“Listen Potter, I will say this once and once only. I shall arrive on September first to apparate you to platform nine and three quarters. Be out front at seven am sharp.” Apparate? Had that been the sickening thing Snape had done to get them there and back again? What a peculiar name. Everything about the world he had just been introduced to seemed weird.
“Yes professor, I understand.”
“Good, I shall take my leave. Goodbye Potter.” Snape said, practically spitting out his name as he dramatically exited the room, just as he had done in the robe shop.
Hadrian spent the next ten minutes sorting his trunk, and by sorting he just meant placing the opened robe packages contents where he deemed fit inside.
He haphazardly made his way down to the dinner room once he was done. All too excited to be back, who would have thought he’d ever feel that about this place. He was met in the hallway by the other children who had also made there way to the dinner hall, they moved away from him as they went just as normal, yet it still brought him comfort.
It was just hadrian's luck that nobody here liked him, it let him have the ability to stay silent. To slip back into their day as if he had never left, not a single glance or question thrown his way.
He was thankful for it, it meant he didn't have to lie at all about where he had been, if had ad to lie and sin on top of everything lse he had done today he wouldn't be able to cope.
Now all he was left to do was wait. Wait for september first and not drive himself mad beforehand.
It also gave him more than enough time to pray before he left. Enough time to learn what exactly he was going to be walking into.
Oh how strange his life had become.