Here Right Now | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 2 : Diagon Alley

"HERE'S the money for your textbooks and wands. Your father has a friend he's catching up with and I have a meeting at Knockturn Alley. We will meet you here at three, don't be late" 

Their mum walked away, her words jumbling together and fading as the din of the busy street overtook. The twins glanced at each other and Jayden shrugged.

"Let's go then."

They started walking along Diagon Alley, Charlotte's eyes following every wizard and witch walking past the two of them. The alley was busy, being that it was a couple of days away from the school year starting. There were little kids running around, a lot of them excited for their first year and excited to help out their older siblings with school. Charlotte couldn't look at the little ones, the pain hitting her in her heart like a knife.

Throughout the morning, they entered the various shops the Hogwarts letters mentioned, and by two, they were exhausted. They had fought through the crowd, just to get the meagre supplies and textbooks they needed for their last year. They leaned against a wall, not noticing the curious stares from older students. Their supplies were lying next to them, neat and in order.

Charlotte looked down at the list again and groaned out loud.

"We have to get wands." Jayden moaned as he saw the despair on Charlotte's expression, "I knew we were forgetting something."

With a wave of their hands, their supplies levitated and followed them as they starting walking. They walked away from the wall next to Quality Quidditch Supplies and walked towards a smaller and darker shop, Ollivanders Shop. It was much quieter and smaller than the rest of the Diagon Alley shops. It was tucked away and seemed to be in a permanent shadow. Everything else was bright and colourful, busy with students looking for their new school supplies. The shop seemed to be very quiet and small.

She glanced at Jayden as they neared the small door. He looked at her and a competitive expression flashed across her face. He wanted to groan out loud, he knew that look like the back of his hand. 

She started to run, hearing his heavy footsteps coming up behind her. Charlotte triumphantly touched the door first and silently celebrated. He laughed behind her, out of breath. She grinned at him, panting.

"I should've known by now you will win. You always do. Thank Merlin you and I will be in the same Quidditch team."

She winked at her brothers words.

"Of course, I am the oldest and the bestest." He rolled his eyes at her misuse of the word 'best" and snickered.

Their supplies was floating along lazily, as if their magic knew that their competitiveness will cause damage if it went fast too. She gestured to the floor, both of their supplies having a protective spell cast over it. Jayden nodded gratefully to his sister and she nodded wordlessly back.

He pushed the door open and walked in. She walked in behind him and suddenly crashed into his still broad back.

"Really?" Charlotte pushed him forward and rubbed her nose as she came to stand next to him.

She looked around the shop, wondering why he was just standing there. The shop was dark, dingy and close to being a hoarding situation. Every nook and cranny was filled with little boxes, some haphazardly lying on top of each other. Charlotte couldn't help but scrunch her nose at the musky smell that permeated the shop. An older man walked into the room from the ominous looking back corridor, glanced at the two and shook his head.

"More twins, the Jets' it looks like."

She glanced at her twin and he shrugged back in confusion. The twins didn't understand how he knew their names, something that puzzled the highly intelligent Charlotte. Ollivander started walking around and grabbing random boxes.

"Wandless magic for so long, I don't know if their wands will even exist or work for them. But everyone had a wand.." He muttered to himself and glanced towards a box that was jumping around the shelf.

"Sir, how did you know?" She asked, interested in his knowledge. 

He interrupted her with a mass of rushed words.

"Oh you two are very similar to your parents, Linda and Jon. You, Charlotte more towards your grandmother, Lexana though. Oh yes, I remember all of their wands so clearly. Mostly unicorn but one dragon string. Strange that you three went to Uagadou. Family all from Hogwarts. Too bad I didn't meet the other two boys." 

He grabbed a box and spun around, a wild grin on his face. He gestured for Jayden to come closer and he did, albeit a little hesitantly.

"Well, living in Kenya, it's hardly feasible to go to Hogwarts every year." Charlotte stated coldly, crossing her arms defensively, not liking the way he knew all about her family.

He glanced at her, his eyes gleaming in the faint light. It made her uneasy and she shifted on her feet. He then looked at Jayden with the box and gestured for him to open it up. He left the boy to look for some more boxes, grabbing the box that was jumping around crazily.

Jayden opened the box and pulled out a beautiful chestnut wand. Sparks flew off the tip of the wand and he dropped it as if it shocked him. Ollivander came back this time with three boxes, including the wild box, firmly in his hands.

"Oh looks like you two will be a little harder. I really did think that dragon string chestnut would have worked for you." He then handed her twin another one.

"Here, I think this one will be it. An unicorn hair core, 14" and rowan wood." The minute Jayden touched the wand, he slightly levitated. 

Ollivander clapped enthusiastically.

"Oh brilliant, how very noble. Jayden, you my boy, will always be a noble man." 

Ollivander tapped the tall twin on his chest and Jayden looked at his new wand in wonder. They were so used to doing wandless magic, that this was way out of their comfort zones.

"Hmm." Ollivander looked at the two remaining boxes in his hands. 

He put the newer box down, and kept the wild, dingy box. He glanced at Charlotte, frowning a little.

"No, let's try something else first." 

He grabbed a couple more boxes and gestured for her to come to him. She walked forward and held out her hand. He put the first box in her hand.

"Kelpy hair, 11" and walnut." Before she could touch the wand, the box and all flew out of her hand.

"Oh. That's interesting, very interesting." He stated, looking at Charlotte with a small grin. 

He grabbed the old, dingy box he had dismissed at first and laid it on her hand. The minute it touched her skin, it stilled completely.

"Touch it, touch it." He whispered excitedly. 

Jayden chuckled, his mind immediately flashing to the innuendo. She shot her brother a dirty look over the old man's head and he smirked in amusement at Charlotte.

"Dragon heart string, 12 and half inches and vine." She opened the box and looked down. 

The wand looked very old, knobbly and was intertwined together almost as if it was woven together. Charlotte went to grab it but it flew into her hand before she could touch it. She gasped in wonder and looked up as Ollivander started clapping and laughing like a maniac.

"Oh, oh this is interesting! I haven't had a vine owner in so long, especially a dragon core!" He seemed delighted and walked away to the cash register, "You two will do very well with those wands."

The twins looked at each other and found themselves mentally agreeing. 

This man was mental.