Bruno was coughing so hard his eyes were watering. His trip through the fireplaces hadn’t been very smooth, to say the least. His father’s bulky form staggered out of the fireplace right behind him, his face and hair sprinkled with black fireplace ash. His mother, who had arrived first, dusted them both off until not a trace was visible. They made their way together through the Leaky Cauldron to where the bartender was sitting.
“Excuse me, sir, do you mind showing us how to get into Diagon Alley?” Bruno’s mother asked in the high-pitched voice she used when she was nervous, or excited, and trying not to show it.
The bartender grinned at them. “Your little lad heading to Hogwarts, eh? Call me Tom. I’ll show you the way directly.”
Tom led them through the pub and into a small courtyard with a brick wall and some trash cans. He showed them which bricks to tap, and they entered Diagon Alley for the first time.
Bruno was gazing around eagerly at the space that had opened up to him, full of fascinating stores and wizards and witches going about their shopping. He didn’t fail to notice the conversation his parents were holding in hushed whispers behind his back.
“It’s all right, Otto,” Brunhilda was whispering in a rough hiss. “This is a magic place. I don’t know why you-”she broke off for a second and coughed raspily, “Really and truly, Otto, we can do magic here, and everyone else here is a wizard too. Honestly!”
Otto mumbled something Bruno didn’t quite catch.
Brunhilda hissed back angrily, “It’s safe, Otto, don’t you understand? Bruno has a chance here, to learn real magic and get everything he wants. So don’t let me hear you say that again.”
Bruno tuned out Otto’s reply, which was even quieter, and focused his full attention on the marvels surrounding him. People were hurrying everywhere, dressed in robes and wizard hats, with bulging shopping bags full of things that Bruno hoped he could soon buy for himself. There was an Apothecary, with a lady in front hawking dragon’s blood for sale in a booming voice, and a family with a lot of noisy children walking by, one of the tinier ones escaping the rest and dashing off toward an ice-cream shop until his mother called him back, threatening him with dire punishment if he ever did that again.
Bruno’s attention left the family as a man from a vending stand leaned down and stared him in the face. The man’s breath smelled like he had eaten a good deal too many mints, masking far more unpleasant smells, and his teeth looked sickeningly yellowish.
“Here, little boy, you want some Fizzing Whizzbees? Bertie Botts’ Beans? How about some Ice Mice? Or a cauldron cake?”
He waved a small, colorful package of something that looked like jelly beans in Bruno’s face.
Bruno took a step back, wondering what he was talking about. He guessed it was some type of food, and looked pleadingly at his parents.
“No, Bruno, we’ve got to go to Gringotts first.”
“What’s that? How much farther is it?” Bruno’s attention was caught by a sign over his mother’s left shoulder, with a man standing under it with skin so pale it was hard to believe it was real, and dressed entirely in black, swirling robes. He was holding a shopping bag that had something in it that was emitting bursts of blood-red smoke…
“…we’ll exchange our money there, so we can buy everything on your supply list, and it’s only at the end of this street, I think I see a sign down there,” Brunhilda said.
Bruno grinned and said, “Okay, sounds great.”
“You’ll love seeing them, won’t you, Bruno?” Brunhilda said happily.
“See who?”
“The goblins that run the bank, Bruno, do you listen to anything I say?”
“I do too listen. I heard you; we’ll exchange our money at the end of the street. Then I’ll see goblins at the bank- er, what bank again?”
“Oh, Bruno, you are so- never mind,” she said with a sigh. Leaning towards Bruno’s ear, Brunhilda said slowly and clearly in a loud voice, “Gringotts, the wizarding bank, run by goblins, where we are going now.”
Otto let out one of his rare chuckles. “Paying good attention now, aren’t you, son?”
They arrived at Gringotts and headed to one of the counters.
“I’d like to create an account and get some wizarding money,” Brunhilda said stiffly to the goblin teller at the counter.
“Under what name?” The goblin sounded rather bored.
“Otto Schmidt,” Otto rumbled.
“Foreign, are you?” the goblin asked, staring up at the Schmidts with a strange look in his eyes, a mix between curiosity and scorn.
“Yes, but never mind, we live in England now,” Brunhilda hastily took out their savings and handed them to the teller. He shook his head.
“No, you go down in the cart. Here’s a key, your number is 248. Rumbleguts! Take these people to their new vault, and help them take out some money.”
Rumbleguts, a short goblin whose Gringotts uniform seemed a bit crumpled, led them to a small cart, and soon they were hurtling through dark corridors, along a bumpy track that made Bruno regret his big breakfast. He caught a glimpse of a strangely glimmering lake and a burst of orange light down one passageway, but soon had to close his eyes and focus on trying not to be sick. When the cart finally stopped, the Schmidts staggered out and Rumbleguts leapt nimbly over the side.
“Here’s your vault- I’ll set it up for you to use.”
His long fingers took their key, opened the vault, and did something inside the door that involved some twiddling of his fingers and a lot of talking to himself. A minute later, Rumbleguts slammed the door of the vault shut with a clang and turned back to them, handing Otto the key.
“Open it, then, go on,” he urged. Otto stepped forward nervously and turned the key. The vault door swung open with a creak.
“Put in the money- go on,” he added when Otto hesitated.
“Er, it’s Muggle money,” Brunhilda said uncertainly.
“Not a problem,” the goblin said, “I’ve got change on me, in my bag.”
Bruno, getting bored, wandered off towards the vault while his parents changed their money, leaving some Muggle money and changing the rest into Sickles and Galleons and Knuts. He stared at the vault, fascinated, wondering how exactly it worked. Finally, his musings were interrupted by Rumbleguts pushing past him and depositing the pile of money into the vault. His mother reached in and scooped some out for shopping, putting it inside her bag.
A long, rattling cart ride later, they reached the marble lobby and came out into the sunlight, Brunhilda talking about what she wanted to do next. Otto still looked a bit green, but he soon recovered as they walked down the street to find the things on Bruno’s school supply list. They decided to try the apothecary first.
While rummaging through the potions supplies, Bruno looked up and saw in the street a dark-haired, sullen looking man and a black-haired girl with red blotches around her eyes, looking as though she had been crying. The two strode into the Apothecary and walked up to the front desk.
The woman working at the register looked up.
“Hello, how may I help you?” she said in her usual bored voice, though she seemed to be looking rather carefully at the man. Bruno saw a strange look cross her face, and she ducked her head down to look at something on the counter.
“I’d like the supplies I ordered last week that weren’t here. They were supposed to be laid aside for me. Don’t tell me they’re still not here,” he said, his eyes glancing through the store condescendingly. He glanced at Bruno for a second, and then looked away again, as though considering him beneath his notice.
The woman rummaged under the desk and emerged, her neat blonde hair rumpled and her Apothecary badge askew.
“I think this is what you ordered. Rather rare, bloodrose, so that must be why it took so long.” Bruno noticed the man’s eyes sweeping through the store again at these words, and though he gave a small twitch- of annoyance? - he did not interrupt.
“I do hope that you were not inconvenienced, and will shop here again soon,” the woman continued, in what were obviously her orders to say in these situations, judging by her perfunctory tone. The man took the package impatiently.
“Come, Astra,” he ordered, and the girl stumbled after him as he swept out of the shop. Bruno returned to the shelves of dried roots he was examining, wondering who the two had been and what the package was for.
A few minutes later, as Bruno bent over a barrel of newt’s eyes resting on the floor, he heard a sudden sound behind him. He looked up and saw it was the black-haired girl, standing next to him. Her father wasn’t in the store, or Bruno didn’t see him, at least. His parents were across the room, looking at what they had gathered so far and checking the items off on the list. He was tempted to call to them, but the girl spoke.
“I’m Astra Tager. Who are you, and why were you staring at me and my father just now?”
Bruno looked at her blankly, shy about speaking to a witch when he had still met so few magical people, but decided to answer. “I don’t know, why not? Not much else going on in here, is there?”
He gestured around the quiet room, where the customers were browsing the supplies and the woman at the counter was fixing her makeup. Astra’s eyes narrowed.
“I’d advise you not to do it again. My father won’t think- well, just don’t, all right? It’s for your own good.” Astra’s solemn expression suddenly looked a bit nervous, and she abruptly swung around and marched away, out of the store. Bruno stared after her for a minute, and then walked over to his parents. He decided a split second after opening his mouth to speak that he didn’t want to tell them about the encounter. This might have been awkward, if they had noticed his mouth abruptly shutting, but luckily for Bruno, Brunhilda was looking at the things he had collected.
“Oh, good, you found the sassafras. I couldn’t find it anywhere. And here’s about everything else, so I guess we’re done in here. Let’s go pay and then we can go to buy you a cauldron, all right?”
The cauldron was big and dark and bulky, rather sinister-looking in Bruno’s opinion. They bought gloves and robes in Madam Malkin’s store, and headed toward the bookstore. Loaded down with packages, Bruno overbalanced when something small and fast-moving crashed into his ankles. He hit the ground with a thud, dropping all his packages on the ground. A small, red haired, freckly boy peered down at him. Bruno blinked hard. Now there were two of them- he must be seeing double, which was strange, since he hadn’t fallen that hard.
“Fred! George!” A red-haired woman skidded into view, breathing hard. “What have you done now? Oh, I’m sorry!” she said, spotting Bruno. “Always into mischief, these two. Are you all right?” Bruno realized the two were twins, and smiled in relief.
Brunhilda helped Bruno up, and the two of them started chatting as Bruno collected his packages. He went to get some that were a bit farther away, and a minute later he came back to get the last few bags, right near his mother’s feet.
“So, your mother tells me you’re on your way to Hogwarts this year?” the woman, who had introduced herself to Brunhilda as Mrs. Weasley, beamed at him.
Straightening up, Bruno nodded.
“Well, I have a son Bill also starting there. Speaking of- where is he?” she demanded to one of the twins.
The boy just giggled. Mrs. Weasley sighed.
“I have no end of trouble dealing with my twins, you know, and all the mischief they’re always up to,” she confided. “Some of the others are a bit calmer- or maybe they just seem that way in comparison. Oh, here you are! Bill, Charlie, Percy, this is the Schmidts.”
The boys, who had just walked over, looked at them. The tallest was holding a little baby, which he handed to his mother. Another little boy came over to Mrs. Weasley and clung to her nervously.
“Bill, this is Bruno, he’s the same age as you!” Mrs. Weasley said enthusiastically. “You’ll be going to Hogwarts together soon, isn’t that exciting?”
The oldest boy who had been holding the baby exchanged stares with Bruno. Bruno saw a tall, thin, red-haired boy with sharp brown eyes, wearing patched-up robes and gazing at him with a look of misgiving.
“Er, hello, then,” the tall boy said uncomfortably, under his mother’s glare. “Who are you?”
“I’m Bruno.” Bruno felt embarrassed, with all these red-haired people staring so intently at him. He felt defensive and crossed his arms. Bill did the same.
“That’s lovely, Bruno, maybe you and Bill can be friends now!” Brunhilda said happily. Bruno, still staring at Bill, felt that one thing the two could definitely agree on was that this was an unlikely idea.
Brunhilda decided to stay and chat with Mrs. Weasley for a minute while Otto and Bruno went shopping in the bookstore. She started playing with the baby, who was apparently the only girl in the family, while the twins wrestled in a corner and the other boys played some sort of tag around some trees, except for the littlest one who fell asleep on Mrs. Weasely’s shoulder. Bill was sent by Mrs. Weasley to buy his books with the Schmidts.
Bruno gazed up in awe at the huge bookshelves, thinking about all the English words inside. Reading was still harder for him than speaking, but his mother’s insistence on making him practice constantly had made it easier. Bruno decided he wanted to practice even harder, so he could find out the secrets hidden in these books, and then he could use whatever magic he wanted to go and have adventures. Bill walked with him to an aisle, and raised his hand to get a book off a high shelf. His elbow accidentally knocked Bruno in the face.
“Hey, watch it!” Bruno protested, rubbing his face.
“Watch it yourself!” Bill said grumpily.
“I didn’t do anything, you did!”
“Trying to blame it all on me, so I’ll get in trouble? You’re a nice sweet little baby, going and crying to your mum over a little thing like that,” Bill said in a mock-baby voice.
“I didn’t call my mum! Why are you accusing me of being a tattletale? Oh, and you have way too many babies at your house if you’re starting to sound like them,” Bruno said heatedly.
Bill’s ears turned red and his face darkened, but all he said was, “You’re getting all angry, you’d better calm down before your mummy comes running.”
Bruno growled, and Bill jumped a little.
“Hey, cool it, will you?” Bill said furiously. Luckily, Otto came around the next shelf just then.
“You boys find your books yet?” he asked. Both boys scurried back to look at the shelf, hunting for titles like The Standard Book of Spells and Magical Theory , and wondering if Otto had seen them fighting. They finally paid and left the store- none too soon for Bruno, who felt like he couldn’t stand another second in Bill’s glowering company, and it seemed the feeling was mutual.
The Schmidts and Weasleys parted ways and each returned home. Bruno went up to his room and thought about Astra, and Bill. He was starting to get nervous about whether he would find any friends in Hogwarts, if all wizarding children were like this. It had been easier in Karstbaum, where he knew everybody and fit in with everyone else. He took a piece of paper out of his drawer and drew a calendar of the days until September first. Whether this was in anticipation of school, or whether he was trying to hold on to the last few days before school began, he didn’t know.
Bruno Schmidt by Leahr
Chapter Notes: Sorry this took so long. Bruno meets wizards (and witches) and a bit of excitement...actually not yet, but does Tager remind you of anyone? What job is he likely to have, hmm? Please review!