Chapter 3
Disclaimer: You know the drill. This world is J.K. Rowling’s, yadda yadda yadda, Elle’s mine. So is Kevin. Feel free to take May.
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Elle loved Hanslow Street, not for the crowds of people, which she’d rather avoid, but for the stores. Her least favorite store was The Cape, which also sold robes. If there was one thing Elle hated, it was shopping for clothes. However, she loved Spaniel Hall, which sold dogs, cats, rats, birds, and more exotic animals. She always made sure to drop in there.
Today, however, she was here for a purpose. “C’mon, Mom. Let’s get my wand now.” She grabbed her mom’s hand and pulled her into Fletcher’s Wands.
The door opened onto a brightly lit store, which was much larger than the façade indicated. Rows and rows of narrow boxes stretched back. The aisles were arranged by wood type and each row was divided into sections by core material. Behind the checkout counter next to the door stood a bored-looking witch a few years older than Josh, chewing gum and flipping through a magazine filled with pictures of shirtless wizards. Mrs. Donovan hustled Elle past her and a group of children, all with new wands, being herded by a harried-looking wizard to the door. Elle walked to the back of the store where a handful of professional types were writing on scraps of parchment. One middle-aged witch was consulting a nervous mother and her boy on which wand would suit him best. Mrs. Donovan pulled Elle up to counter.
The wizard smiled up at them “How may I help you?”
“My daughter needs a wand.”
“Of course. Right this way,” He led them to a table with a new piece of parchment. “Are you right- or left-handed?”
“Right,” Elle said with a reticence saved for unfamiliar adults. They made her nervous, especially the loud, pushy salesperson type.
“Okay, put your hand here.” He pointed to the outline of a hand on the parchment. A faint glow came from it. Elle put her hand firmly on the print. It hummed for a second, then a piece of paper came out of what she had thought was an ink line. On it was printed:
Length: 9” – 11”
| Wood: | Core: | ||
| Maple | Yeti Hair | ||
| White Birch | Unicorn Tail | ||
| Willow | Demagogue |
The clerk picked up the printout and started off to the Maple aisle. He sped down the aisle and stopped at “Unicorn Tail.” He grabbed a wand seemingly at random and handed it to Elle. “Go ahead, try it,” he commanded.
She hefted it dubiously and gave it a flick. One sad, little spark fell out the end and disappeared.
“No, that’s not good at all.” He led them to the “Yeti” section and grabbed another. Elle shook this with much the same results. The clerk shook his head and led them to the Willow aisle, right next to the Maple one. Elle’s next wand only made two green sparks fly out, despite her willing more. “Interesting,” the clerk mused, walking to White Birch, inexplicably at the other end of the warehouse. There he handed Elle a 9 ½” wand with a Yeti hair core. She smiled at the feel of it in her hand and grinned at the rainbow of colorful sparks it shot into the air.
The clerk wrapped it up and they paid the bored witch for it at the checkout. Mrs. Donovan then dragged Elle to the Cape despite protests (“You know my size! Don’t make me go!") and picked up the standard navy robes that NES required. After that, they stopped at Elle’s favorite shop, Wands and Nobles, the magic division of the Muggle chain. Not only did they carry the standard textbooks, they also carried a small selection of Muggle fiction. This was normally where Elle could be found. Today her mother steered her to the stack under the sign reading “Sixth Grade Textbooks”.
Elle stood over the various books with a glazed look. Someone bumped into her from behind and said “Oh, sorry, I – Elle!”
She turned around and saw her friend May, who threw her arms around Elle’s neck. That was May’s most annoying habit – she hugged everyone all the time for no reason. “Long time no see,” Elle said, rubbing her neck.
“Oh, I know! We’ve just been so busy this summer. I mean what with vacation, now I’m going to Van Dalsum’s, and Jen’s going to Florida—”
“Wait, you guys aren’t going to NES? Didn’t Jen go last year?” Elle would never tell May, but she’d probably miss her older sister more.
“Yeah, but she didn’t like all the snow, and Florida has a great art program.”
“And you’re going to an all-girls school?”
“I know, isn’t it horrible? My parents said it would be better for me. Oh no, there’s my mom, gotta run. See you later!”
Elle watched the girl make her way through the people and sighed. She agreed with May’s parents that she’d be better off at Salem, but it still would’ve been nice to have a familiar face at school come fall.
Mrs. Donovan had picked up all the books Elle would need and put them in her daughter’s arms while she picked up Josh’s. To make up to Elle for having to go to the Cape, she let Elle pick out a book from the Muggle section.
They dropped their purchases off in their car (one of the few on the street; most people came by other means) and Elle waited inside while her mother took care of business at Gringotts. She watched the people passing by, some seeming amused by the car, but resisting taking a closer look while Elle was inside. She grinned to herself and cracked open her new book. She had only read a few pages when a loud crash made her look through the windshield. A few strong men were pulling a large boy about Elle’s age off another boy, lying on the ground. He sat up and tilted his head back, holding his nose. Curious, Elle got out of the car and pushed her way to the front of the crowd. The boy with the nosebleed stood up slowly, and as he made his way to his crying mother, Elle realized it was the boy from the wand shop.
“Damn Mudbloods.” The man next to her spit on the ground.
“What do you mean?” Elle asked, angrily.
“Starting fights, and then can’t even take a bloody nose.” He snorted, and then looked at whom he was talking to. “But a little girl like you shouldn’t be worrying about that.” He turned away.
Elle bit her lip to keep from saying that first of all, her mother was a half-blood, and second of all, she was 11 years old and far from little. She merely scowled at his back and stalked away.
She grabbed the box of tissues from the car and made her way to the sobbing mother. Her son was being checked out by a bevy of witches, so she offered her the box and a pat on the back. The box was pulled from her hand by an older version of herself, and Elle quietly explained what she knew to her mother. They left the sobbing woman with her son and quietly made their way to their car.
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Subject line "Elle Donovan 1"