Inside the Ollivander shop Mr Ollivander extended the wand towards Alex. Looking at the wand Alex was a bit hesitant to hold it, the wand released kind of a gloomy aura. "Please try this, I insist" nudging the wand towards Alex Mr Ollivander insisted. As soon as Alex held the wand, the atmosphere in the shop changed. Nicole felt her legs go weak with the sudden pressure which appeared in the shop. Only after a minute or two, everything became normal again. "As I thought, but what a shame" shaking his head Mr Ollivander said. "Will you explain, old man what is happening and whether it is good or bad?" as soon Nicole composed herself she asked Mr Ollivander, concerned about her brother. "For the wizard, Mr Ashbridge it is certainly a good thing, but for the individual Mr Ashbrige I can only say it's going to be a very difficult future ahead" Mr Ollivander shared his point of view. "How so?" Nicole asked, wanting to know more. "This is a dual-core wand. Elder and Thunderbird tail feather along with Horned Serpent horn, thirteen and a quarter inches. Strong and subtle, but unfortunate. The rarest wand wood of all, and reputed to be deeply unlucky, the elder wand is trickier to master than any other. It contains powerful magic but scorns to remain with any owner who is not the superior of his or her company. The truth is that only a highly unusual person will find their perfect match in the elder, and on the rare occasion when such a pairing occurs, I take it as certain that the witch or wizard in question is marked out for a special destiny. The fact that I remembered about this wand was because, over years of study, I found that the owners of elder wands almost always feel a powerful affinity with those chosen by rowan" Mr Ollivander explained in detail about the wand and at the end looked towards the wand in Nicole's hand. Mr Ollivander continued to explain about the wand "Thunderbird tail feather in your wand can sense danger and cast curses on their own. The horned serpent horn too is an exceptionally powerful core and also warns its owner of danger by emitting a low musical tone. I hope you understand what I am trying to say. Although the wand is among the most powerful of wands out there, you will never be at ease and to not lose your wand you will need to grow stronger each day" Mr Ollivander looked at Alex with astonishment, yet there was a tinge of pity in his tone. "Brother why don't you give it back, we will look for some other wand" Nicole tried to persuade her brother into giving up the wand. Mr Ollivander didn't say anything, the fact the wand which has been in the shop for three or four centuries finally chose a master was an incredible feat in itself. "Mr Ollivander the other wands you showed me it's not like I can't perform magic with them, right?" placing the wand on the counter Alex asked. "You certainly can, but you can't utilise their full potential neither can show yours" though a bit disappointed that Alex might not take the wand Mr Ollivander explained. "I will take this elder wand but give me another one for use" Alex finally made up his mind. "Certainly Mr Ashbridge, this one had the highest affinity with you among the rest. Elm and dragon heartstring, twelve inches. Strong yet flexible, of all wand woods, elm, in my experience, produces the fewest accidents, and the most elegant charms and spells. These are sophisticated wands, capable of highly advanced magic in the right hands" feeling elated Mr Ollivander picked one of the wands which Alex previously tried and gave it to him. "Thank you, Mr Ollivander, how much do I need to pay?" Putting away both of the wands Alex asked, " That would be seventeen galleons, Mr Ashbridge" replied Mr Ollivander. "Here, thank you everything, Mr Ollivander" Giving him the money Alex walked out of the shop followed by Nicole. "Brother, is it alright to have that wand? Listening to Mr Ollivander, it looked kind of ill-omened" Nicole asked while expressing her concerns about the wand. "I will be fine, and I won't even use that wand, now leave that and let's get ourselves a pet" diverting the topic Alex grabbed her arm and sprinted towards the north part of Diagon Alley. Soon they arrived in front of a shop, and the board hanging by the door read: 'Magical Menagerie' As they entered, they saw that there wasn't much room inside. Every inch of the wall was hidden by cages. It was smelly and very noisy because the occupants of these cages were all squeaking, squawking, jabbering or hissing. The siblings looked around the shop. "Brother look at this one, it is so cute, fluffy like cotton and look at this snail it's so big" Nicole called out for Alex while looking at a Puffskein and a Streeler kept in the cages. "Calm down you don't just need to go for their looks, but also how they will be helpful to you in your life" calming Nicole, he tried to explain how one must choose their familiars. "Tell me the criteria to choose" listening with interest she asked. "People usually chose an owl because it helps carry letters and other things..." Alex started to explain but stopped in the middle. "We don't have anyone to send letters to so why don't we go for the looks. I read in a book that prof McGonagall is an animagi and turns into a tabby cat should I buy that it will be fun annoying prof McGonagall" oblivious to the fact that her brother stopped talking she started to explain her choice of familiar. "What happened, brother?" not getting any reply from her brother she turned around only to see him spacing out while looking at a cage in the corner. "Sir, how much for that one?" Alex asked pointing towards the cage. "15 galleons" replied the man nonchalantly. "I will buy it" Alex immediately agreed and placed fifteen galleons on the counter. The man walked towards the cage and brought it to Alex. "What is it, brother?" Nicole asked looking at the small, Cat-like animal with black spots and greyish fur, out-sized ears and a tail like that of a lion's. "It's a baby Kneazle about two years old. They are highly intelligent creatures with an uncanny ability to detect untrustworthy individuals" before Alex could explain, the shop owner told Nicole. Soon Nicole also chose a tabby cat as her familiar. Paying a total of 24 galleons both of them came out of the shop and met prof McGonagall after walking for a while. "You are done with your shopping I suppose," prof McGonagall asked while looking at their bags. Alex nodded towards prof McGonagall. "Very well then I will take you out of here" prof McGonagall glanced at the cat in Nicole's arms and turned around. While they were walking prof McGonagall felt uncomfortable, watching Nicole rubbing the cat's head or sometimes caressing her neck, while she gave her meaningful glances from time to time. Soon the trio exited the same way they came in and were standing in front of the shabby bar. Taking out two tickets from her robe, she handed them to Alex. "These are your tickets, the train leaves on September 1 at eleven o'clock don't be late" prof McGonagall explained and without waiting for them to reply disappeared into thin air. Hitching a ride the siblings too came back to the orphanage. There was still more than a month before they board the train for Hogwarts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time flew and today it was September 1st. During this time Alex made certain preparations. He deposited all the money he had left in the bank, explained things about the supplies and donations to the head nun and did some random things. The main thing he did in the last month was to located Harry Potter to know more about him and the family he was living with. In order to protect him, Alex needed to know as much as possible about him. September 1st Nicole woke at five o'clock in the morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. Alex, on the other hand, had only one bad habit, he loved to sleep or laze around when he was free, so even though he woke up by the disturbance Nicole caused in the room he still decided to lay back in the bed. At eight in the morning, Alex finally left the bed, and by this time Nicole has gone through the list twice to make sure they had everything they needed. Putting their pets in their cages, she was ready to move out at moments notice. An hour later, the siblings were standing at the gates of the orphanage with their luggage while the nuns along with the children of the orphanage came to see them off. The siblings arrived at King's Cross at half-past ten. As they got off the taxi, they saw a middle-aged man carrying luggage similar to theirs inside the station and a skinny boy followed behind him. "Brother let's follow them" looking at the man Nicole said urging Alex to hurry up, to which Alex only nodded. "Brother do stations have platforms like nine and three-quarters? Isn't it a bit odd?" Nicole asked while going through the ticket. "You will see when we arrive there, and I guarantee you will be amazed," Alex said to Nicole with a mysterious smile. "Ohh..." nodding her head, Nicole started to look around. It was her first time coming to the station, and it was so grand and magnificent that she could not take her eyes off. As they reached platform nine, the boy who came with the man was all alone and was talking with a plump woman. "Now where to? I only see the numbers nine and ten here" Nicole said, looking at the numbers hung along the wall. She stretched her neck to look far ahead in both directions, but there was no sign of platform nine and three-quarters. "Look over there" look over there. Alex said pointing towards the plum lady only to see the skinny boy and the red-haired boy running towards the barrier between platform nine and ten in succession and vanishing from sight. "Wow... how awesome!" Nicole was genuinely amazed this time, to have a secret passage under the eyes of so many people, it was nothing short of marvellous. "Let's go now the passage will disappear after eleven o'clock," Alex said, pointing towards the watch which struck five to eleven and wheeled his cart towards the barrier. Nicole followed after him. As they passed the passage, a scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. The sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. Nicole looked behind and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. * * * * *