Rue Caverneux
“So you must be a witch,” Ethan Zazou said to Ginny, above the noise of the wind. “You do magic, and you’re a woman, so you’re a witch.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So shouldn’t you be on a broom?”
“This is quicker,” said Ginny, shortly.
“But can’t people see us?”
Shahid was listening, and laughed gustily. “No no! This is a truly ancient Eastern magic carpet! Genuinely and totally invisible to anyone below! The sky could be full of magic carpets, and you would know nothing! It’s amazing magic!”
“Shahid, we’re not trying to buy a carpet…” muttered Ginny, uncomfortably.
“You would like to buy a magic carpet? Why didn’t you say? My cousin will sell you an amazing rug! Just arrived from Persia! Beautiful markings, and no fewer than one hundred previous owners! Beautifully fast! In fact, I will take you there directly. You will not regret this…”
“Shahid, no! We’re meeting Raoul at the fountain! I did say…”
It had come as a chilly revelation to Ginny that her generosity in inviting Muggle-born children to join Beauxbatons came at a price. Many of the new parents were cooperative, and were prepared to take their children to Paris to buy their Beauxbatons clothing and equipment, but Paul Turpin, Ethan’s father, had shrugged helplessly.
“I have no car,” he’d said. “And even if I had, Ethan would stop it working on the way to Paris. And the trains here are electric. Are we expected to walk?” So she’d ended up promising to take Ethan to buy what he needed. And she was having to pay for this, too, as Ethan had no wizard money, and the Senate was still being slow about funding.
In addition, the parents of Raoul Kaplan - another Muggle-born discovery of Hector le Blanc – ran a business together, and were adamant they had no time to take Raoul shopping, either. Fortunately, Raoul lived in Paris, and was happy to meet them at the Rue Caverneux, the old shopping street used by the French wizarding community.
“Does magic stop you falling off?” Ethan asked. He was sitting cross-legged in the exact centre of the carpet, but he still looked decidedly nervous, as well as windswept.
“No, not at all!” enthused Shahid. “But a clever wizard knows not to fall off a carpet. And Shahid Bashir’s own taxi company has its very own ancient and secret spell, that protects all our customers in safety. I want to tell you, do not risk other taxis, if you do not wish to fall to your death! Be especially careful of Busoni taxis. They are criminals!”
“OK,” said Ginny faintly. She would have preferred a different conversation; She was easily at home on a broom, but somehow sitting on a carpet, with nothing at all, really, to stop you sliding off, was entirely unnerving. Shahid’s extra casual attitude didn’t help: He was sitting at the front of the carpet, his legs dangling, as if there wasn’t half a mile of empty space beneath his feet.
“It’s raining,” said Ethan.
“Just a little mist!” said Shahid. “A blessing for you!”
Ginny was getting wet, too. “Is Ali Bashir your cousin too, by any chance?” she asked.
“Ali?” said Shahid, angrily. “No! He is no cousin of mine!”
“Oh really?” Ginny said. “My father used to moan a lot about Ali Bashir because he kept trying to smuggle carpets into Britain. He said he was a total crook.”
“He is my brother,” said Shahid, shortly.
“Oh,” said Ginny, in a small voice.
The carpet suddenly tilted forwards, and it felt as if they were about to slide off the front. Ethan gave a cry of fear, and Ginny was about to join in. Are we going to die, because I accidently insulted Bashir’s family?
A great tower – no, a huge brick chimney – loomed out of nowhere, but instead of dodging it, the carpet tilted even further, and plunged downwards, into the chimney. In the gloom, blackened bricks were rushing past Ginny’s head at a frightening rate. She seemed to be falling – the carpet was still there, but she was floating next to it. The air seemed warm now. Are we about to crash into whatever lives at the bottom of a chimney?
The light grew rapidly brighter, and the front of the carpet surged abruptly upwards. Without warning they were in a brightly-lit cave, tall and narrow, above a crowded street, with rickety houses on either side of them. In front of them was a tall stone structure, and they were heading straight for it. Ginny could see water pouring down the stone. They were about to hit the tower, and Ginny was bracing herself for the impact, when the carpet dropped with a lurch onto the ground immediately in front of the column. Ginny had a fleeting glimpse of someone diving out of their way. There was a pond around the tower, which the water running down it surface was pouring into.
“Rue Caverneux fountain!” Shahid announced. “Five gold pieces please. And you are welcome to tip. And I can recommend excellent places you can visit at no extra charge!”
“But you said two gold pieces!” Ginny said indignantly.
“Yes but but but… You brought a passenger, and I did not know how many more passengers you might bring, so I brought our special limousine. Which is very very rare and I must charge more, so I can cherish it properly.”
A huge figure appeared from the fountain, arms raised. It was a great black bear. It roared angrily at them. Its pelt was soaking wet, and they were spattered in water.
Shahid took one frightened glance at the bear, snatched the two gold pieces from Ginny’s palm and vanished, along with the magic carpet from under them. Ginny and Ethan tumbled over backwards onto the cobbles below.
“Oh!” said Ginny, getting to her feet. “This is Raoul, Ethan. Did I mention he can change into a bear? This is Ethan.”
The bear was already shrinking, turning pink, becoming a small boy.
“Cool,” said Ethan, stunned. “No, you didn’t mention that.”
“Hi,” said Raoul.
“Why were you in the fountain?” asked Ginny.
“I… was standing here, when you arrived,” said Raoul, mournfully. “And I thought you were going to run me over. So I dodged backwards, and fell in.”
“I’m so sorry, Raoul,” said Ginny, aghast. She brought out her wand and dried him. She realised guiltily that he must have been dressed in his very best clothes, which were entirely wrecked now, and barely decent. She waved her wand and a folded black mass dropped in front of him, and he caught it.
Raoul unwrapped it in mystification, raised his eyebrows and put it on. She had meant to produce a robe, but in her distraction she’d created a dressing gown. At least it was black.
“Anyway, let’s get what you need,” Ginny said hurriedly. “I thought it would be nice if we could go round the shops together.”
The two boys looked at each other. Even dressed in a dressing gown, it was obvious Raoul was from a well-off family, while Ethan was dressed entirely in badly-fitting castoffs. Raoul was a compact boy with short pale hair and a round face, entirely unlike Ethan’s lean features. Ginny had a powerful flash of memory, half a lifetime old, of her first glimpse of Harry, dressed very similarly. Had Draco and Harry looked at each other in the same way, on their first encounter?
“You’ve already seen what Raoul can do, Ethan,” Ginny said, by way of an introduction. “And Ethan stops electricity working. Which is why you’re both coming to Beauxbatons, OK?”
The boys looked at each other once more.
“Wow,” said Raoul.
“Cool,” said Ethan. “How do you turn into a bear?”
“No idea,” admitted Raoul. “It just seems like a good idea at the time. How do you stop electricity?”
Ethan shrugged. “It’s easy.”
“Well, how?”
Ethan looked uncomfortable. “I truly don’t know,” he admitted.
The three of them looked around. Ginny had never been to Rue Caverneux, because most of her shopping in Paris had been for her wand and her clothes, both of which were in the new magical part of Paris, or in Muggle Paris. The street was long and narrow. Above them Ginny could see the bare rock of the cavern roof, and hanging from the roof were globes of pure light. On either side, shops - three or more storeys high - precariously climbed the rockface. There was a second row of shops above these, which hung like birdboxes from the rock walls. These had front doors that opened into nothing. But the street was alive with broomsticks, busily zipping along the street and upwards, so that riders could enter the highest shops.
Large trees grew between some of the houses – except they weren’t trees, but huge mushrooms, sometimes twice the height of the houses on either side. And two opposite rows of shops were linked by a narrow bridge that towered above the street. Amongst the witches and wizards were Goblins aplenty, and even house-elves could be seen sometimes, mostly in the shadows but occasionally scurrying between buildings. As well as shops there were market stalls, but instead of having wheels they were sledges. Some of these, Ginny realised, were much smaller than the rest and presumably were there for the house-elves.
“OK,” said Ginny, trying for business-like. “How about buying your wands first?” Their eyes lit up, and they both nodded. “The entrance is around here,” Ginny said with all the confidence she could muster. “I think.” But it was easy: Around the back of the fountain was a small brass plate set into a rock, which read Holombec – Wands. Press to enter. Below this was a plain button. “Go ahead,” said Ginny to the pair of them.
They exchanged glances once more – more tolerant ones, this time – then Raoul reached out and pressed the button.
The button shot upwards, into the sky, taking Raoul with it.
Ethan flinched mightily, then straightened. “Cool,” he said.
“Go on,” said Ginny. Strangely, the button was back now, or perhaps had never left. Ginny could see Ethan’s hesitation, but he took a deep breath and nervously touched the button. He disappeared upwards as Raoul had.
Ginny shrugged and pushed the button. The sensation wasn’t like a portkey: Instead, it was as if she had been wrapped in one of Shahid’s carpets and dragged bodily upwards, into a dark vertical tunnel. At the top she could see light on one side, which resolved into an open doorway, and the spell dumped her through the gap, so she was standing in Beatrix Holombec’s wand shop. The two boys were listening to Undine. Undine was dressed in one of her elegant short dresses and both Ethan and Raoul were gazing at her in frank admiration.
Ginny cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows in a friendly way to Undine. Undine, less inhibited, hurried over to her and gave her an ecstatic hug and a warm kiss.
With her arms still around Ginny, Undine looked around at the others with a smile. “Well!” she said. “We are all here now. When we have measured you for your wands, then we shall see if we can satisfy you immediately. We usually can, unless the customer is a complete nuisance, of course.” She gave Ginny a playful squeeze.
Ginny’s wand had taken several days to arrive, and had been engraved by Undine herself from a wand Beatrix had made. She untangled herself from Undine. “I used to stay with Undine,” she said, stiffly. “When I first arrived in Paris.”
“And now she is too busy to come and see me!” said Undine.
The two boys were looking at them wide-eyed, and then at each other.
“Now, who is first?” Undine asked. Both boys stepped decisively forward. She laughed in delight. “Well, one of you must be patient.” She reached out to the counter behind her and picked up a wand. Ginny recognised it as the one Undine used to engrave wands.
“You are Ethan, yes?” Undine asked. “Now stand extremely still…”
Ethan froze, nervously. Undine flicked her wand, and lines of light were running down Ethan, from his hair to his trainers, and rotating slowly around him.
It only lasted a few seconds, and the lines disappeared. “Good!” said Undine. Another flick of her wand and a small narrow box appeared on the counter next to her. “Now, Raoul…”
The lines were painting Raoul now, but they stayed for much longer. Raoul stood as stiffly as Ethan had, but his eyes were moving back and forth nervously.
“Ach,” said Undine, casually. “You are Animagus, yes?”
Raoul looked even more worried, and Ethan asked, “What’s that?”
“He can turn into a bear,” said Ginny to Undine. “An Animagus is someone who can change into the shape of an animal,” she explained to Ethan.
“Now, Raoul, could you change now for me?” Undine asked. “Let me see your bear!”
“You nearly saw him bare earlier,” Ethan remarked. Raoul made a horrible face at him, but then suddenly there was a bear in the room, wearing a tight dressing gown. He roared mightily.
“Oh!” said Undine, impressed. “Is he always this wicked?”
“He used to turn into a bear and scare his sister’s friends in the woods,” said Ginny.
“Very bad,” said Undine. “Just stay a bear for a few more seconds, Raoul… There! You can be a boy again now, if you like.”
From the wandmakers, they headed for Mitry et Courtier, the potions shop, a twisted-looking house full of winding staircases and tiny rooms. Then they had to wend their way down the stairs to pay for everything, where they found a queue had formed. Ethan and Raoul were chattering excitedly by now, their thoughts and words full of newt tongues, dragon toenails and beetle eyes. Instead, Ginny found herself distracted by the girl in front of her in the queue: The girl was tall and slender, and was wearing a Barbegazi suit, figure-hugging and revealing. It was hard to keep her eyes off the girl’s shapely bottom.
“Madame Weasley! Madame Weasley!” Ethan was tugging at her sleeve. “Is it true? Will we be making memory potions…?”
The slim girl in front, hearing this, turned round in surprise, and Ginny was amazed to see it was Lavender Brown. She looks even better from the front, Ginny thought distractedly.
“Ginny!” cried Lavender with a dazzling smile. She reached forward, embraced Ginny and treated her to a full and lengthy kiss. Ginny managed to push herself free, breathlessly. “Ginny Weasley!” said Lavender, in excessive amazement. “And with your clothes on, too!” she said.
Ginny cringed. “Er… These are two of our new pupils, Lavender. Guys, I was… at school with Lavender.”
Lavender laughed. She seemed a different girl now from the sour and moody werewolf of last year. “Is that all!” Her arm was still around Ginny, giving her an affectionate squeeze.
“So, are you into Barbegazi, then?” Ginny asked, striving for polite normality and disentangling herself. She tried to glare her feelings at Lavender, but the latter seemed annoyingly oblivious.
“Actual snow skating?” Lavender shook her head. “No, I just like the look. Are you still seeing that hot artist?”
“Gosse is fine, thank you,” replied Ginny, avoiding the direct question. She could feel her face glowing. “He’s teaching art at Beauxbatons. From this term. How’s Draco?”
Lavender shrugged. “Haven’t seen him much recently But of course, you know all about that. We’re an item now, did you know?”
“No…. Know all about what?”
“About Apolline’s cunning plan.”
“Oh? Yeah…” Ginny said, dazed. What cunning plan? “So what are you doing?”
“Training, mostly,” said Lavender. “For all the stuff Draco doesn’t fancy doing.”
“Such as?”
Lavender looked at her oddly. “Should I be telling you all this? I thought, with you in the First Minister’s pocket, you had all the inside track.”
“You know what Auguste’s like,” said Ginny, breezily. “Wand hand doesn’t know what the other’s doing. So what is it that Draco doesn’t like doing?”
Lavender frowned. “Seriously? Can you ever see Draco ripping out anyone’s throat? And someone’s got to do it.”
“And that’s you?”
Lavender’s attitude was almost chilly now. “If you don’t want to get your hands dirty,” Lavender said shortly. “Use a handy werewolf.”
“Are you OK with that?” Ginny asked uncertainly.
Lavender avoided her eyes and shrugged. To Ginny’s infinite relief, the cashier was calling loudly for her attention, and she turned back to pay.
“Just topping up for my anti-moon juice,” Lavender said over her shoulder. “It’s the pits, but it keeps me nice to know.”
“Do you brew it yourself?” Ginny asked, curiously. She remembered Harry telling her that Snape always produced Remus Lupin’s werewolf potion for him.
I miss him so much.
Where had that thought come from? Somehow meeting Lavender like this took her back to her previous world, of Hogwarts and Voldemort and Harry, and the room around her, Lavender’s voice and the two boys next to her no longer seemed real. Of course she missed Remus. And all the others.
“Are you OK?” asked Lavender.
“Hmm? Oh, yes,” Ginny said, distractedly.
“They want you to pay,” said Lavender in her ear.
Her head in a whirl, Ginny fumbled for her purse and blindly handed over a handful of coins, dropping half of them. Ethan and Raoul were at her feet now, talking excitedly as they retrieved the rolling discs.