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Chapter 2- Explanation
Adelaide and her mother shared shocked expressions as the strange woman's words registered. Witchcraft and wizardry were real? It couldn't be; Adelaide's father had said so himself. He was always right, wasn't he?
"Mrs. Marcus?" the woman asked. "Are you alright? You are looking quite pale."
It was true; Adelaide looked at her mother's face, and it was indeed very white. "Mum, do you feel okay?"
"Oh," Mrs. Marcus seemed to be coming out of a trance. "Why, yes, of course."
"Is this real, then?" Adelaide held out the letter to the woman. "It's not a joke?"
"No, dear, it isn't." The woman took the letter from her and held it up. She pointed to the signature. "I am Professor Templesmith. I teach Charms at Hogwarts."
"Charms?" Adelaide's mother asked, clearly doubting what this woman, Zinnia Templesmith, had just said.
"Yes, Charms," Professor Templesmith said. "They are a type of spell that causes an object to act differently, like a teacup eating a biscuit. I teach them to the children at Hogwarts. There is much more I must tell you about Hogwarts; why don't you sit down?"
Adelaide and her mother realized then that they were still standing; they each took a spot on a chair, and waited for Professor Templesmith to begin.
"Hogwarts is a school in Scotland," the professor began. "Only witches and wizards can see it. Muggles, what we call people with no magic, aren't able to see anything. Mrs. Marcus, you, your husband and sons are Muggles. Adelaide is the only one in your family that would be able to see Hogwarts, were you all to stand before it."
"Wait," Adelaide's mother interrupted. "Are you saying my daughter has been accepted to an invisible school?"
"I know it seems unusual to you," the professor said. "But many people are every year. Hogwarts isn't actually invisible, either. It is hidden from Muggle eyes for your own good. Hogwarts is a boarding school, and Adelaide will be able to come home for Christmas, Easter and summer holidays."
Adelaide and her mother nodded, wondering if all of this was fact or fiction. Was the so called 'professor' making all of this up?
"We will need to go to Diagon Alley today to pick up your supplies if you want to go to Hogwarts," the professor stated, ignoring the looks on her listeners' faces. "We're running somewhat behind this year; so many Muggleborns are starting Hogwarts this year."
"I don't know if we can trust you," Adelaide's mother said baldly, finally breaking the silence that had descended upon the room. "I've never heard of any of this before."
"We have a Statute of Secrecy," Professor Templesmith added. "No Muggle can know about our world unless it is absolutely necessary."
"I still don't know..." Adelaide's mother said, disappointing Adelaide a little. Adelaide would love to go to this school, and learn about magic.
Suddenly, Professor Templesmith pulled out something that looked like a thin wooden stick from her pocket. She waved it intricately and suddenly Adelaide's mother's hair turned orange. It stayed that way for a moment before going red, and onwards through the rainbow in that fashion. Adelaide gasped.
"What?" her mother's eyebrows shot up as she saw Adelaide's expression.
Adelaide pointed shakily at her mother's hair. Mrs. Marcus got up and walked swiftly into the bathroom. A scream filled the air, and Adelaide got up and ran after her. Her mother seemed to be hyperventilating, breathing heavily as though she had just run a marathon. "Change. Me. Back!"
Professor Templesmith arrived at their side, with her stick in her hand. "I think it is a rather nice look, Mrs. Marcus. Are you sure you don't wish to keep it?"
"Change me back!" Adelaide's mother screamed. She looked like she was on the verge of throwing something at the professor. Adelaide gave Professor Templesmith a dark look.
The professor waved her wand, and Adelaide's mother's hair returned to its normal dark brown. She breathed a sigh of relief. Adelaide wondered how her father had not heard this exchange, but upon paying closer attention, she realized the water was running upstairs- he was in the shower. They all shuffled out of the small bathroom and returned to the sitting room, settling into their previous positions. "Now do you believe me?" asked the professor.
Adelaide looked at her mother, hoping beyond hope that she would say yes. She jutted out her lower lip ever so slightly, praying that this would help convince her mother that this school was somewhere she really wanted to go.
Adelaide's mother saw her daughter's face, and replied quietly but confidently, "Yes."
Adelaide jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around her mother. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Professor Templesmith watched this exchange with a smile on her face. She had never seen a Muggleborn this excited to go to Hogwarts. This one certainly loved learning...
The professor waited for Adelaide to calm down, and then got up and walked over to them. "We need to start on your shopping now, dear," she said happily. "School starts on September first, and we need to make sure you are ready to go!"
Adelaide's mother quickly went into the kitchen to write a note to her husband, explaining where they had gone, and to grab her purse, and then she returned to the sitting room. Adelaide still had a look of utter excitement on her face, and she was glad to make her daughter feel that way.
Professor Templesmith explained awkwardly that Adelaide's mother would need to drive them into London, as she didn't know how to drive. This scared Adelaide and her mother a bit; what kind of adult didn't know how to drive?
"Oh, hardly any witches and wizards can drive," the professor explained. "I think no matter which professor had come to inform you, you would have ended up driving."
Adelaide and her mother shrugged it off and got into the car with Professor Templesmith. They were told how to drive to a place called The Leaky Cauldron, in the heart of London, for Adelaide's supplies. The professor explained to Adelaide and her mother that she would need to place a spell on this place so that Adelaide's mother could see it.
After about an hour of awkward silence in the car, they arrived at The Leaky Cauldron, a pub, surprising Adelaide, to say the least. Why would a pub sell school supplies? It looked like any ordinary pub, too, which was odd, since they were shopping for wizarding supplies.
"Oh, this isn't the actual place we're shopping at," Professor Templesmith added. "We just need to go around the back and through the wall."
Adelaide shared a glance with her mother. Through the wall? Impossible! But then again, she would be going to a magic school in less than a month...
They pulled up outside of the building and got out of the car. Adelaide and her mother followed Professor Templesmith inside the pub, and they realized - this was no ordinary pub.
There were people everywhere, dressed in odd clothes, just like the professor they were following. They had what Professor Templesmith called wands, and were waving them around and making furniture and other people do odd things like it was normal. The woman behind the bar looked very nice, and she was using her wand to clean glasses. "Hello, Professor! Would you like a butterbeer?"
"No, thank you, Hannah," Professor Templesmith said. Adelaide wondered what this 'butterbeer' was, but had no time to find out before she and her mother were ushered out the back door.
The back alley was fairly plain, with a few barrels and crates. There was an enormous brick wall, though, dominating the space. Adelaide gaped at it, wondering why it had to be so large. The professor took out her wand and tapped a few of the bricks. Suddenly the wall began to move, and a hole large enough for a very tall and wide person opened in the wall. Professor Templesmith stepped through without question, leaving Adelaide and her mother to walk through tentatively, wondering what they would find on the other side.
What they saw was absolutely wonderful. Adelaide had always dreamt of going to a place as extraordinary as this one. There were many different lopsided shops lining a cobbled street that went this way and that. Nothing seemed to be straight, and there were piles of merchandise outside of each store, looking as though they could fall over at any time.
Adelaide and her mother followed Professor Templesmith down the street, their heads turning every which way, trying to capture all the sights. They had never been anywhere like this before, and wanted to remember it all.
They stopped in front of an old looking wooden building, with a sign out front that informed them that this was Lovegood Wands: Since 2004. "This place is only five years old?" Adelaide asked, shocked that such a run-down building could be so new.
"Well, the building is much older," Professor Templesmith said as she pushed open the door. "Miss Lovegood has only been the wandmaker for five years. Not to worry, though; she learned from the best!"
They were stepping into the shop now, and Adelaide gasped when she saw row after row of small rectangular boxes, stacked taller than she thought it was possible to reach. She thought of how she would soon have a wand like the other witches and wizards she had seen, and she smiled at the thought.
Around the corner of one of the stacks came a young woman with bleach blond hair and a dreamy smile. "Hello," she said. "Do you need a wand?"
Adelaide nodded, awestruck by the place. The woman went back around the corner and a moment later, returned with a few of the boxes in her arms. "Here," she said, opening one of the boxes. "Try this."
She handed Adelaide the wand, and absolutely nothing happened. Adelaide looked up at the Professor Templesmith, a questioning look in her eyes. Was this supposed to happen?
"Oh, not that one, then," the woman said. She took the wand out of Adelaide's hand and placed it back in its box.
The young woman opened another box, and handed Adelaide the wand that was inside. Adelaide took it carefully, and was shocked to find that the wand was much warmer than the previous one. It felt more... magical. Shouldn't all wands feel like this? They are magic things, after all. She waited a moment, and purple and silver sparks shot out the end of the wand in her hand. She gasped, and looked at her mother. Mrs. Marcus looked just as shocked as Adelaide felt.
"That's the one, then!" the young woman looked very proud. "Olive and unicorn hair, ten and a half inches. Crumple-Horned Snorkacks like olive trees, you know..." She trailed off.
Adelaide looked over at her mother again, wondering if she had heard right. Unicorn hair? She thought unicorns weren't supposed to exist. Crumple-Horned Snorkacks? What in the world were those? "Congratulations, Adelaide!" Professor Templesmith seemed very happy.
The professor handed the young woman, who was now mumbling under her breath about 'Nargles', some coins that looked nothing like regular ones, and they left the shop, Adelaide's wand in her hand. She liked to swish it around and watch the beautiful sparks that came out the end.
Professor Templesmith ushered them into a bookstore next, called Flourish and Blotts. Adelaide had always loved bookstores, and this was no exception. It smelled like books, and very old ones at that. It was one of Adelaide's favorite smells, and she sucked it in gratefully while looking around at all the books. These were no ordinary books, she noticed. The books had pictures on the cover that moved, and they books were authored by people with unusual names like Bathilda Bagshot and Adalbert Waffling. She saw a book called A History of Magic, and one called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
She was interrupted by Professor Templesmith coming up behind her. "Oh yes, you will be needing those."
Adelaide picked up the books she had been looking at and followed the professor, who was heading over to a display entitled The Standard Book of Spells. Her mother followed her, offering to take some of the books she was holding. Adelaide happily obliged - these books were very heavy and bulky.
Professor Templesmith picked up the very last copy of a book called The Standard Book of Spells: Grade One. She informed an official-looking woman nearby that the display needed to be re-filled, and returned to Adelaide and her mother. They got a few more books, and paid with more of the strange coins. The three left the shop laden with a bag that Adelaide couldn't wait to dig into when she got home.
"Next we need to get your robes," Professor Templesmith said. "You will need three sets, as well as gloves, a hat, and a cloak."
They walked into a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, and Adelaide was immediately greeted by an old woman with a tape measure around her neck. "Hello dear," she said warmly. "Do you need Hogwarts robes?"
Adelaide nodded, and the woman told her to wait while she went to get some robes. "Here, try these on."
Adelaide pulled the robes over her shoulders. They were surprising comfortable, and kept her very warm in the cold shop. They were extremely long, though. She wondered if the woman had factored in her height at all before choosing this set.
"Oh my goodness!" The woman said. "I'll make those fit better."
She leaned over and picked up the trail of fabric behind Adelaide. She then used a pen to mark off where the robes should end in order to fit Adelaide better. The woman lifted the robes off of her and left for a moment, before returning and giving Adelaide a new set of robes.
Adelaide pulled on these robes, and found them much better fit for her.
"Okay," the woman said. "These are perfect! You need three sets, correct?"
"Yes," Adelaide said, taking off the robes. "Thank you."
"Oh, it's nothing, dear." The woman walked over to a register and rang up the robes, as well as a pair of gloves, a hat, and a cloak of the same size. "Here you are. Have a wonderful day!"
Professor Templesmith led Adelaide and her mother out of the shop. "There's only one thing left," she said, a smile spreading across her face. "Would you like to look at the animals?"
Adelaide turned to her mother, who nodded. "Yes, please."
The professor led them to a building that was, if possible, even more lopsided than the rest of the street. Hoots and meows came from inside, and as soon as Adelaide opened the door, she gasped. There were owls of every shape and color, as well as cats, some large, some very small. There were a few close to the door that looked like very young kittens. They were the most adorable thing Adelaide had ever seen.
Her mother seemed to be deep in thought, and shocked Adelaide in saying, "Would you like a kitten?"
Adelaide, shocked speechless, nodded her head, and knelt down to stroke the littlest one there. It had very light fur, almost white, and its eyes weren't even open yet. It snuggled against her hand, and Adelaide knew this was her kitten. She picked it up gently, and it mewed in her direction.
Adelaide, her mother, and the professor walked up to the front of the store, and Professor Templesmith lent Adelaide's mother some of the strange coins to pay for her kitten.
When they left the shop, each of them was laden with multiple boxes. Adelaide had never had this amount of supplies before. Hogwarts must be a very educational place to require all of this. Adelaide was very excited, and couldn't wait for September first.
They stopped right before they got to the brick wall. "Here you are," Professor Templesmith said, setting down her boxes and pulling out a small piece of paper. "Your ticket for the Hogwarts Express. This train will take you from King's Cross station to Hogwarts on the first of September."
Adelaide took the ticket and looked at it. "Platform nine and three quarters?" she asked, confused. "There isn't one of those."
"Oh, yes," the professor said. "I almost forgot! Thank you for asking, dear. To get on platform nine and three quarters, you will have to find the wall between platforms nine and ten, and run at it. You will go right through it, and you will have to hold your mother's hand to help her get through. There will be prefects on the other side to help you from there.
"Oh, I need to be going now," she continued, looking at her watch worriedly. "I need to get to school. I will see you on the first, Miss Marcus."
With that, the professor turned on the spot and disappeared, leaving Adelaide and her mother to carry their boxes out to their car. Adelaide was beaming, and wondering how she would possibly make it to September first. It seemed so long away.
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Luckily for Adelaide, the time went much faster than she had anticipated, and before long, it was the big day.
September first.
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Crashing Down Around Them by ravenclaw1997
Chapter Notes: Again, I'm sorry for the long wait; I haven't has as much time to write now that winter break's over. Thanks, as always, to Bookwom, my amazing beta!
Chapter Endnotes: Care to leave a review?