Chapter 29: 28th July 1991, Sunday: Part 17

Back at the border between Diagon and Knockturn Alley, George was climbing up a drain pipe so he could see over the massive crowd. The high advantage point provided him with a great way to plot out a path back to Ollivanders. He had only been gone for roughly ten minutes, so with a bit of luck, his family wouldn't have returned to the wand shop yet. Once he found the best trajectory based on the current flow of the crowd, all he needed to do was wait for a gap and... Oh, wait. Isn't that Dominic's shiny bald head looking up at him?

"George?! What in God's name are you doing up there?!"

Now that was a good question, it was a shame that George didn't have a good answer. His two new best friends, well... maybe only one by now, weren't exactly the sort he wanted to introduce to his foster parents. How hard could it be to make up a reason why he left Ollivanders, crossed the treacherous sea of wizards, and climbed partially up a rusty drain pipe? Hopefully it's not too difficult since he only had the time it took him to climb back down the pipe to come up with a believable excuse. The old reliable, 'I dunno, I'm just a moron child' justification might be the way to go. Judging by the stern look on Dominic's face, George expected the worst no matter what he said.

However, as soon as his feet landed back on the ground, his foster father grabbed his arm and dragged him into the current of people. Since Dominic wasn't insisting on an explanation, George was content to go with the flow and allow himself to get pulled along. After walking for around fifty yards without a single word being exchanged between them, they arrived outside Eeylops Owl Emporium. Remus, Amanda and Ellie were huddled around the entrance of the grey building full of hooting owls. There was a mixture of emotions on their faces, but not one of them looked happy. Obviously, something big must have happened in George's absence.

Remus appeared to have aged ten years through nothing more than pure exhaustion, whilst Ellie was looking like the cat that ate the canary. Amanda seemed calm at first until George saw that familiar twitch in her eye. She was also clenching the Gringotts pouch as if it was some sort of stress ball. George couldn't even begin to speculate what had caused this foul mood amongst his family, but he was more than pleased with this outcome. That was because of one single factor, all signs pointed to this definitely being Ellie's fault.

Amanda locked eyes with George and her anger dissipated instantly, "George! Thank God you're all right. We were so worried about you."

Before George could prepare himself, his foster mother embraced him in a suffocating hug. Whilst the intense hug was limiting George's ability to breathe, Amanda kept him immobilised and began to inspect his body. He was getting the impression that she was looking for an injury, why would she think he'd been hurt? Considering where George had just been, it wasn't unreasonable for him to have been harmed, but she shouldn't know that. Luckily for him, George hadn't gained so much as a scuffed knee for her to find.

The surprise examination ended with only a cobweb on his shoulder being found. A look of relief washed over Amanda's face before she turned back to Dominic.

"Was he still at that wand shop, like Remus said?"

Dominic confidently nodded, "see, there was nothing to worry about. George was absolutely fine."

Now that was an unequivocal lie if ever George heard one. His foster father had gone from not caring about his precarious situation up a drain pipe, to pretending it never happened. As fantastic as that would be, George would appreciate knowing why his foster parents were now lying to each other. Could it have something to do with how ridiculously furious Amanda had been seconds ago? If that was the case, then Ellie had really taken a bullet for George this time. Whatever can of monstrous worms she had opened had utterly overshadowed his minor rule-breaking.

Remus needlessly tried to raise George's already heightened spirits, "don't worry, George. We'll go back and get your wand later. I'm sure Ollivander will understand."

Remus must have been under the impression that ten minutes wouldn't have been enough time for Ollivander to find George the right wand. He probably thought that Dominic had swooped in, and pulled George out of there before the wand tests had finished. The truth of the matter regarding his new wand wasn't in George's best interest to expose. Ollivander had unfortunately seen a peek under the persona, and that man might be open to sharing what had transpired to the rest of the Linwoods. That could result in a chain of questions George couldn't answer without dire consequences. It was for the best if he cleared this misunderstanding before it was exacerbated any further.

George pulled out his wand from his pocket, "I don't think that will be necessary, Mr Lupin."

Remus's tired eyes opened wide, "you've already gotten your wand, truly remarkable. It had taken Mr Ollivander over half an hour and over two dozen wands to find mine, perhaps he's getting better with age.

If I may?", he finished with an open palm.

George remembered to give Remus a big smile, like a child proud to show off, as he handed his wand over.

Remus gave it a cursory inspection, "you've got a beautiful wand, George. Vinewood if I'm not mistaken?"

"That's what Mr Ollivander said", George gleefully responded.

Remus handed the wand back to George before saying, "a wand is to a wizard, what an instrument is to a musician. It's vitally important that you never lose it. Even the most unfathomably powerful wizards are reduced to defenceless old men without their wands."

"Don't worry Mr Lupin, I'll take good care of it", George reassured while reclaiming the wand.

In reality, George didn't have much of a connection to his new wand. As long as the core wasn't a Pheonix feather or a unicorn's hair, he could work with any old wand on the market. His patron had established during the early days that George didn't have a problem with wand loyalty. Most of those magic sticks loved him from the moment he made first contact. However, George wasn't too keen on holding this particular wand any longer than necessary. It might have just been his imagination, but he felt relatively confident that he could feel a weak pulse through the wooden shaft. It was like the wand was still alive, the heart string was still beating.

Ellie stepped forward and eagerly asked, "can I have a look at it too, George?"

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Before George could even think about saying absolutely not, Amanda stood in his stepsister's way.

"Not another word out of you, do you hear me? So much as a peep, and so help me God, I'll force you to walk the two hundred miles back to Yorkshire!"

The hammer came down hard on Ellie, and her reaction was appropriately submissive. His stepsister's hazel eyes welled up with tears, but she didn't start crying like usual. She probably knew that any more attention would only dig herself deeper. George was about to ask about the elephant in the room when he heard the sound of feathers rustling from where Ellie had once stood. He looked down and saw two cages on the floor with owls inside. They appeared to be of the same breed because they both had identical brown feathers and bright orange eyes. Their signature feature had to be the large black protruding feathers sticking out above their brows like miniature fluffy horns.

Remus pointed down at the cages, "so you've noticed the latest additions to your family."

Hold the phone, George's family, as in the Linwoods. These were their owls, how... and why?

Remus chuckled weakly at George's befuddled expression, "it's funny, your father had the same look on his face when he saw them for the first time."

"Rightly so. Don't tell me that you actually bought those birds whilst I was gone. It is a mistake to indulge Ellie's disobedience, she needs to learn running off isn't okay", Dominic rebutted.

"Although I agree that Ellie shouldn't be running off on her own, I can't understate the importance of owning these owls. Please remember that these aren't your normal garden variety pets, Mr Linwood", Remus explained.

"These Eagle owls have been specially bred by Eeylops Owl Emporium for hundreds of years. The owl's sole purpose is to make deliveries and long-distance communication feasible in the wizarding world.

They are already fully trained and are self-sufficient as long as you let them out now and then. Every wizarding family I know of has at least one, including my own."

Dominic gestured at the crowd passing by, "but we're not one of these people. We are a family living in the twentieth century. If I want to send a parcel, I use a courier like Royal Mail. If I want to send a message, I use the phone, or the fax machine, or even an Email for Christ's sake. I'm not going to bloody well start using owls and parchment."

Remus started scratching his head, "I can't say I know what an Email is, but that's not the point. These owls are not for your 'muggle lives', they're for your new wizarding lives.

How do you think Gringotts are going to communicate with you in the future? And how do you think you're going to send a message back to them? It's all done with owls."

Remus then looked at Amanda, "as I've already told you... without using an owl, your family won't be able to communicate with George whilst he's at Hogwarts. I'm sorry, but that's how it is."

Amanda appeared to be on Remus's side, "it's okay, Mr Lupin. We understand perfectly well that this weird world doesn't work the same way we're used to. It's just with my daughter running off and having to leave George... we're a little tense.

And yes Dominic, I did purchase the owls whilst you were gone. If George attends Hogwarts, he can take one owl with him and we'll have the other", she stated after turning back to her husband.

Dominic looked between Remus and Amanda before saying, "alright then. But if George decides to not attend...", he then pointed at the two owls, "they have got to go."

Everything started to fall into place after digesting the adult's argument. George didn't have the whole story, but there was enough to get the general gist. Ellie must have escaped from Amanda shortly after the Linwoods left Ollivanders, her reason for endangering herself remained a mystery for the time being. In a panic, his foster parents and Remus went running after her. Ellie must have been found a few minutes later at Eeylops Owl Emporium, most likely staring at the owls in the window. Then Dominic elected himself to go and pick up George whilst Amanda and Remus stayed to guard the junior escape artist. There was probably a back and forth over the owls and, under Remus's recommendation, Amanda bought two of them.

And George had thought that he'd done a lot in the past ten minutes. He had to take his hat off to Ellie, when she breaks the rules, she makes the most of it. Somehow she had managed to acquire not just one but two new pets, he almost felt proud of her accomplishment. The approval towards his step-sister was only hampered by the fact he now had no excuses to not write home. He'd hoped to get away with his parents not bombarding him with letters whilst he was at school, but now that eventuality was unavoidable. George was going to have a pet to take to Hogwarts after all, lucky him.

On that note, Remus clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention, "okay. I know emotions are still high, but there are many places to visit and little time to do it in. So, I think we should just get on with it and put this mess behind us."

No one gave an immediate response, but everyone turned after hearing the two owl cages lifting off the ground. Ellie's smile had returned as she held the startled owls aloft.

"Right then. Mum, Dad, where are we off to next?", she asked excitedly.

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