The first sights and sounds of Wizarding London were overwhelming to Laura when she stepped off the train. Grant watched her reactions carefully, then took her by the arm and led her into Diagon Alley
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"I think it's over this way," he said, taking a left from the station. "I've heard a lot of things about this shop, but I've never been here myself. It's a shame Ollivander himself is sitting in the popcorn room."
"I know. I'm sure whoever's second best with wands, Mr. Ollivander probably has running things, though. This place! It's like, I don't know, an illustration from a Dickens novel maybe? I mean, the clothes, the carriages - it's almost like time stopped here at the Industrial Revolution or something."
"Well, why would you need anything past the Industrial Revolution? Everything we do with technology, they do with magic. Why have a car when an enchanted carriage will serve just as well?" He watched a man in purple robes walk by. "I've got nothing on the clothes, though."
Laura looked from Grant to the passerby in purple and back again. "...I'll have to give that one some thought. You in robes..." She grinned and looked him up and down, shaking her head.
Just then a woman passed between them, wearing a victorian-looking corset-and-bustle ensemble. "Then again, I'm not sure I could pull *that* look off either. Maybe we better just stick with what we know, hm?"
He returned with two boxes and beckoned Laura to the counter. He opened one, pulled out a dark grayish wand and handed it to her. "Ten inches, ashwood, phoenix feather core. Give her a try - like this." He demonstrated a flick-and-swish
( ... )
The flash of energy had been unexpected, and along with startling Grant and the assistant, it had kicked up more dust into the air. Grant finally succumbed to a sneezing fit as Laura paid. When she had finished he took a closer look at her wand. "It's a nice one," he said. "If you can do that on your first try, I think you'll be okay when it comes to defending yourself. For someone new to magic, you've got talent."
"Talent or something, I guess." She ran her fingertips over the wand's smooth surface, smiling slightly.
"Y'know, until just now I didn't really believe in all this magic stuff, not completely? I mean, little things like wards and screens and the floo, or potions that you could write off as superconcentrated versions of our own chemicals, sure. But I didn't really believe in anything like what just happened - what I just did."
She let out a deep breath. "Okay. If I'm gonna defend myself, next I need some spells. The bookstore to beat around here is Flourish and Blott's, right?"
"There's a quote that goes along the lines of, 'magic is just science that hasn't been discovered yet.' Some things you can write off that way, and I know I'm guilty of doing that, but some of it is honest to God magic. There's no other way to explain it. Didn't it take powerful magic to bring you here?"
He sighed. "I think so, but I have no idea where it is. Would you like to explore for a bit, or should we do the smart thing and ask for directions?"
"Most students need a pair of gloves for Potions, and scales for measuring. I can't think of any other class that requires students to purchase their own equipment. Is there anything else that you want that's not for class?" He slapped his hand down on the table. "I almost forgot, I have to see if I can find a field notebook while I'm here. I need a journal that will stand up to the abuse I put mine through."
Laura jotted the additional items onto her list. "Really just some small toiletries and personal items - y'know, soap, shampoo, hairbrush, toothbrush, that sort of thing. It looks to me like we should be able to get everything in two more stops: an apothecary or general store, and Flourish & Blott's."
She tilted her head to one side. "I was kinda thinking about getting a bathing suit, since you said people swim in that lake. But I really need a girlfriend along to help me pick that out. God, I miss Donna - I always trusted her opinions on those things. Can probably find one in Hogsmeade, anyway."
She looked up at Grant again and grinned. "The abuse you put a journal through can't be *that* bad, can it? As long as you stay out of the tropics and away from the live animals, that is."
"That shouldn't take too long. What have you been using before now?" he asked. "I'm sure there's someone in Hufflepuff that can help you with a bathing suit. Some of the girls there seem to be really nice."
"This is a notebook that I use to record observations and ideas while in the field. I write down measurements, draw some sketches, that kind of thing. It has be be able to survive dirt, rain, mud, Plus all kinds of physical stress. I can't have something that will get torn or fall apart when it gets wet. Fireproof would be nice, too, because you never know what will happen."
Laura sighed. The bathing suit remark had been another opening he hadn't taken. Maybe she really had misread things and the attraction was all on her own side...
"Anything I could beg, borrow or steal, pretty much. Our now-popcorned librarian Mr. Black was a big help, he got me a comb out of the library's lost-and-found, lent me a few things, and helped me learn a cleansing charm. Rather have my own supplies, though. Oh, and if I find one I like, maybe some perfume, too - the sapient cats have been telling me I still smell just the slightest bit dead." She smiled.
"Yeah, I can appreciate the value of an indestructible journal. I kind of freaked when I realized somebody'd torn pages out of my diary - the real one, not the fake normal-girl one I kept for my mom to find. My dad or BOB or some combination of the two, I guess, trying to remove anything that might incriminate him or them. Maybe we can find you one with charms or wards on it to keep it from harm?"
"That sounds good. Of course, what we think of as adventure is probably par for the course for them."
He looked at the cover of the book. "I can't think of any of my friends who wouldn't want to know about the wizarding world. Billy was amazed to see living dinosaurs, but it was like he had always expected to see them. I think he'd take magic in stride, too. What about you? Would your friends want to know?"
"Depends on the friend, I think. Most of the people in Twin Peaks couldn't or wouldn't see the weird things that went on around them every day - I mean, we were living right on top of a portal to another dimension out in those woods, energies spilled out of there and affected things around us all the time, but most everyone just rationalized all the crazy away.
But then there were others, like the Log Lady and my friend Harold and a couple of the Salish I knew, they were aware of it and found it harmful to them - they didn't want to know, but couldn't un-know it, if you follow. And then you got people like Audrey Horne and Agent Cooper as he was when he first came to town, who couldn't stop themselves from trying to uncover these kinds of mysteries even if they tried."
She put the book back and pulled out another one, 'Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed.' "Now this looks like it could have some practical value for both of us!" she laughed.
Laura sighed. "I've said it before and I'll say it again: Do not mock the Log Lady. She's very nice, and very sad. The log she carries around with her talks to her. And yes, she does seem like a garden-variety kook, except that the things the log tells her have often turned out to be true."
She cocked an eyebrow up again. "Do you want to turn some of the popcorn back into people, or is there somebody at school you want to turn into popcorn? Should Agent Cooper be watching his back?"
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Just then a woman passed between them, wearing a victorian-looking corset-and-bustle ensemble. "Then again, I'm not sure I could pull *that* look off either. Maybe we better just stick with what we know, hm?"
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"Y'know, until just now I didn't really believe in all this magic stuff, not completely? I mean, little things like wards and screens and the floo, or potions that you could write off as superconcentrated versions of our own chemicals, sure. But I didn't really believe in anything like what just happened - what I just did."
She let out a deep breath. "Okay. If I'm gonna defend myself, next I need some spells. The bookstore to beat around here is Flourish and Blott's, right?"
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He sighed. "I think so, but I have no idea where it is. Would you like to explore for a bit, or should we do the smart thing and ask for directions?"
Reply
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She tilted her head to one side. "I was kinda thinking about getting a bathing suit, since you said people swim in that lake. But I really need a girlfriend along to help me pick that out. God, I miss Donna - I always trusted her opinions on those things. Can probably find one in Hogsmeade, anyway."
She looked up at Grant again and grinned. "The abuse you put a journal through can't be *that* bad, can it? As long as you stay out of the tropics and away from the live animals, that is."
Reply
"This is a notebook that I use to record observations and ideas while in the field. I write down measurements, draw some sketches, that kind of thing. It has be be able to survive dirt, rain, mud, Plus all kinds of physical stress. I can't have something that will get torn or fall apart when it gets wet. Fireproof would be nice, too, because you never know what will happen."
Reply
"Anything I could beg, borrow or steal, pretty much. Our now-popcorned librarian Mr. Black was a big help, he got me a comb out of the library's lost-and-found, lent me a few things, and helped me learn a cleansing charm. Rather have my own supplies, though. Oh, and if I find one I like, maybe some perfume, too - the sapient cats have been telling me I still smell just the slightest bit dead." She smiled.
"Yeah, I can appreciate the value of an indestructible journal. I kind of freaked when I realized somebody'd torn pages out of my diary - the real one, not the fake normal-girl one I kept for my mom to find. My dad or BOB or some combination of the two, I guess, trying to remove anything that might incriminate him or them. Maybe we can find you one with charms or wards on it to keep it from harm?"
Reply
He looked at the cover of the book. "I can't think of any of my friends who wouldn't want to know about the wizarding world. Billy was amazed to see living dinosaurs, but it was like he had always expected to see them. I think he'd take magic in stride, too. What about you? Would your friends want to know?"
Reply
"Depends on the friend, I think. Most of the people in Twin Peaks couldn't or wouldn't see the weird things that went on around them every day - I mean, we were living right on top of a portal to another dimension out in those woods, energies spilled out of there and affected things around us all the time, but most everyone just rationalized all the crazy away.
But then there were others, like the Log Lady and my friend Harold and a couple of the Salish I knew, they were aware of it and found it harmful to them - they didn't want to know, but couldn't un-know it, if you follow. And then you got people like Audrey Horne and Agent Cooper as he was when he first came to town, who couldn't stop themselves from trying to uncover these kinds of mysteries even if they tried."
She put the book back and pulled out another one, 'Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed.' "Now this looks like it could have some practical value for both of us!" she laughed.
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That could come in handy! Do you think we'd be able to find the spell that turns people into popcorn?"
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She cocked an eyebrow up again. "Do you want to turn some of the popcorn back into people, or is there somebody at school you want to turn into popcorn? Should Agent Cooper be watching his back?"
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