Charles Chandler and the Staff of Fury

Chapter Two

"I hope you're hungry," Mrs. Chandler called up the stairs, "I've cooked your favorite breakfast."

Charles got up groggily and sat on the edge of his bed. Everything that he had gone over last night came flooding back to him. Charles stared at his shoes and wondered how so much could have changed in so little time.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Chandler showed up. She told him to get up and get dressed. She bustled out again, and Charles ambled over to his dresser. He pulled out the clothes he was going to wear and headed downstairs.

Charles stumbled to the dinner table, and looked at his plate. On the plate were a big three-egg omelet and some sausages. Charles didn't really have a favorite breakfast, he just happened to call it that once when he was younger, and now got omelets whenever his "favorite breakfast" got made.

The rest of the family was still in bed. It was just Charles and Mrs. Chandler at the table. This struck Charles as being quite curious.

"Why is everyone still asleep?" asked Charles.

"You and I need to catch an early train to London, so the others can have a bit of a lie-in," his mother responded.

Charles finished his breakfast and grabbed his hat. It was a warm summer's day, but it was looking a bit cloudy. He and Mrs. Chandler started to walk towards the station.

"Why aren't we taking the car?" asked Charles.

Mrs. Chandler grimaced. "I don't like those Muggle machines. They're loud and smell funny. I also don't really know how to drive one."

"Oh...I see."

They walked quietly for a while. When they reached the station, Mrs. Chandler purchased the tickets to London. They climbed on board the train and waited.

"Why didn't you tell me I was a wizard?" inquired Charles"

Mrs. Chandler didn't answer right away. She looked a little uncomfortable. After a bit of a wait, she answered.

"When Willis turned out to be a Muggle, I didn't want to get your hopes up. Your father and I felt that until you got your letter from Hogwarts, we wouldn't tell you anything."

Mrs. Chandler looked as though she were hiding something. There was obviously something she wasn't telling Charles. Charles noticed this, opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and changed his mind.

As the train started to move Mrs. Chandler regained her voice and began to talk about Hogwarts. She went on and on. She talked about everything she did at school. Charles was a bit bewildered by all of this, so he just sat quietly.

"My time at Hogwarts was probably the best time of my life," began Mrs. Chandler. "Your grandparents expected me to do well. I don't think I lived up to their expectations, but anything less than Head Girl wouldn't have suited them."

Mrs. Chandler frowned, and looked at Charles. "You don't have to be Head Boy to make me proud. The mere fact you got accepted to Hogwarts makes me happy."

Charles exhaled heavily. "I'm glad, Mum. I don't know how I'm going to make this switch."

"You'll do fine, sweet-ums," said Mrs. Chandler, "No one is ahead of anyone else at the beginning.

"My favorite subject was Charms. It was a lot of fun learning the Floating Charm. That'll probably be the first thing that you learn in that class. Transfiguration is also very interesting, but quite hard. I was never really very good at it...probably why I didn't make Head Girl.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts is really important," continued Mrs. Chandler, looking stern all of a sudden. "That is the one class I want you to pay strict attention in.

"Potions is another important class, but I've heard that the potions master nowadays is really tough...unless he likes you."

"Who did you hear this from? Obviously not Dad," Charles replied.

"No, dear. I've been keeping in touch with old school friends. They have children older than you in Hogwarts now," answered Mrs. Chandler.

"Keeping in touch? How? You barely know how to use a telephone."

"I've been doing it with Janus and Owl Post. You thought Janus was just a pet? He has far more uses than that. You'll see."

After this Mrs. Chandler fell silent. She stared out the window and started mumbling to herself. Charles could pick out words like "slow" and "Muggle machines."

***

Eventually they reached London. Charles had been here once or twice, but was not very familiar with the city. He looked around confused and then hurried to catch up with his mother.

"Where are we going?" Charles asked.

"We have to find the Leaky Cauldron, so we can get into Diagon Alley," she replied.

"Why do we have to go diagonally?" Charles responded in a bemused tone.

"No dear... Diagon Alley is a sort of shopping center for us. You can find almost anything you want," Mrs. Chandler explained with a smile.

They walked around London for a bit. At a certain spot, Mrs. Chandler stopped and looked at a spot between a big bookstore and a record shop. Charles looked around, not seeing what his mother saw. And then, he noticed it. A small dingy tavern appeared. The sign above it read "The Leaky Cauldron."

Charles gasped and said "I see it, Mum! It's as though it came out of nowhere."

Mrs. Chandler smiled wordlessly and led him in. She greeted Tom, the old, bald bartender and continued out the back. Once out the door they came to a brick wall. Mrs. Chandler then pulled out her wand and moved towards the wall.

"It's a dead end! Where is this alley?" exclaimed Charles.

Mrs. Chandler again smiled wordlessly and tapped on the wall a few times. As soon as she touched the last brick, they started to move in an odd fashion. They began to swirl around and an opening appeared. The opening then formed into an archway. Charles gaped at it, looked at his mother, and then started to laugh.

As they walked through the arch, Charles saw many wondrous things. There were witches and wizards all over the place, wearing many different colored robes and cloaks. Charles was looking around so much that he didn't notice where he was going, and ran into someone.

He looked up and saw a hooked-nosed man with shoulder length black hair. He scowled at Charles and snapped, "Watch where you're going boy!"

"Why, hello Severus!" said Mrs. Chandler, a faint smile on her face. "I see you've met my son, Charles."

The wizard named Severus scowled again and looked at Charles. The piercing stare he gave Charles was rather unsettling. After a moment he turned back to Mrs. Chandler.

"Hello Catherine. It's nice to see that your Muggle husband let you out," replied Severus. "Well, I must be going."

With that he turned and left. Charles stood there, very confused. He was going to apologize, but the rude tone from the wizard had taken him aback.

"Who was that, Mum?" asked Charles.

"That was Severus Snape. He teaches Potions at Hogwarts. Oh dear, it doesn't seem like you made a good impression on him," replied Mrs. Chandler.

"Why was he so rude to you?"

"Part of it is that he is just that way. The rest of it probably stems from the time in a Potions class long ago. I, um, messed up a formula for a potion to remove stains, and destroyed his cauldron."

"That was over a cauldron? That seems rather petty..." Charles answered.

"Yes, well, the failed potion also destroyed anything non-living that it touched..." Mrs. Chandler continued sheepishly. "Before the professor got there it had, um...eaten away all of his clothes..."

"There's more isn't there?" Charles asked a smile creeping onto his face.

"Well, I heard that in his desperate run to get back to his dormitory that he got lost and only managed to get back to his room very late that night."

Mrs. Chandler sighed. "I don't think he ever forgave me for that bit of childhood trauma."

Charles chuckled at this. "I guess I better not do anything too bad in Potions, then."

As they were talking, they continued walking towards a big white building with huge columns. Mrs. Chandler walked past the little man standing by the door. Charles almost did, too. But when he saw the little man, he did a double take. The "man" had long fingers, a long nose, and very large ears.

"What? Never seen a goblin before, boy?" asked the "man."

"Er...no," answered Charles.

"Well, now you have. Stop staring at me and get in the bank," said the goblin holding open the door.

Charles hurried in after his mother, and was awestruck by what he saw. There were goblins behind a long counter. Some were helping customers; others were weighing and inspecting gems. Still more were counting piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins.

Mrs. Chandler approached a goblin writing in a ledger. It didn't look up right away when she approached the counter. She cleared her throat and the goblin looked up.

"May I help you?" asked the goblin in a gravelly voice.

"Yes, I need access to my vault. Here is my key," replied Mrs. Chandler.

The goblin picked up the key and looked at it. He turned the key over in his hand and examined it more closely.

"Everything seems to be in order. Garbag!" it called to a goblin standing on the side.

Another goblin walked towards the counter, took the key and directed Charles and his mother down a corridor. At the end of the corridor was a cart on a set of rails. The three of them climbed into the cart, and it took off racing at breakneck speeds.

The cart darted around the tracks, making turns at almost random splits. It was impossible to see where they were going. Charles really didn't care. He was just trying not to be violently sick on the goblin. If they didn't like being stared at, they probably wouldn't like being vomited on.

"Vault 231, everyone out, please," said Garbag, curtly.

Garbag then took the key from Mrs. Chandler, and opened the vault. Inside the vault were three groups of stacked coins. They looked as if they had been meticulously counted and placed in their respective stacks.

Mrs. Chandler approached each stack, and counted out the coins she would need. She appeared to have taken far more of the silver coins than any of the bronze or gold ones. When she finished counting out the coins, she then picked them up and placed them into the bag that Garbag handed her.

"There that should be enough to get you your school supplies for the year," Mrs. Chandler told Charles, "If not, I suppose we'll have to come back."

"What are those coins, Mum?" Charles asked.

"Well, the big gold ones are called galleons, the silver ones are sickles, and the little bronze coins are called knuts," she answered.

"How many galleons are there to a pound?" Charles went on, curiously.

"I don't really know...I never was very good with those bits of paper," Mrs. Chandler replied. "We really should get going now. We have so much to purchase today."

Mrs. Chandler, Charles, and Garbag all climbed back into the cart and it hurtled back along the same path it took to get to the vault. Charles, who was sort of expecting the ride now, did not feel nearly as sick as before.

As Charles and his mother left the bank, he looked back and noticed the sign for the first time. It read "Gringotts." Charles stumbled a little as he looked over his shoulder, and heard another gravelly voice come from near his knees.

"Pardon me, important Gringotts business!" a small goblin said as it rushed past him.

"I really do need to watch were I'm going" Charles though to himself.

As the pair of them continued to move, Charles saw them head to what looked like an ice cream shop. Mrs. Chandler opened the door, ushered him inside, and greeted the man behind the counter with a wave.

"Hello, Mr. Fortescue," Mrs. Chandler said, "I'd like to have two sundaes, if you please."

"It is nice to see you again Mrs. Chandler. It's been awhile since you've last been here," Mr. Fortescue replied.

"Yes, my poor husband just wasn't comfortable with coming here every other week," Mrs. Chandler explained. "It was so hard for him to come to grips with things he couldn't explain scientifically."

"And is this your oldest boy?" he asked, pointing at Charles.

"No, this is my middle son, Charles," she answered. "He's starting Hogwarts this fall, actually."

"Well, here you go, two sundaes, just the way you like them Catherine," Mr. Fortescue said with a smile.

After they finished their sundaes, Mrs. Chandler decided it was time to start shopping for school supplies. The first place they went to was Flourish and Blotts. There Mrs. Chandler handed the list to the clerk and he came back with a big stack of books for Charles.

"Wow! Are all these for me? Cool!" Charles said in wonderment. He reached up and grabbed the book at the top. The title read Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander. He opened it up to a page marked Hippogriffs, and saw a picture of a flying hippogriff. What really surprised Charles was the fact that the hippogriff's wings were flapping and it appeared to be chasing after something. Charles dropped the book in surprise.

"Mum! That picture was moving!" he exclaimed.

Mrs. Chandler and the clerk at the bookstore both smiled at him. She bent down picked up the book, and opened it to another page.

"Of course they do, love," she explained. "Only Muggle pictures stay still. All of our pictures move." She showed him a picture of a dragon; it was breathing fire at a bunch of wizards that were trying to put it into a cage.

"Wow, cool! I think I'm going to like this book!" Charles said happily.

The next shop they went into was the apothecary's shop. Here there were all sorts of funny smells, and weird ingredients. Mrs. Chandler approached the man behind the counter and asked for the standard potions supplies for a new Hogwarts student. The ingredients were all bundled up, and the apothecary smiled as they left the shop.

"Hmm...we probably should have gone into this store first. It would have helped us carry all of this stuff," Mrs. Chandler said as they walked into a store advertising cauldrons of all sizes, and made out of all different kinds of materials. She looked at Charles's list, walked up to a cauldron, grabbed it, and took it to the counter. There she paid for the cauldron and put all of the other packages into it.

"Whew, now I'll just do this..." Mrs. Chandler said as she waved her wand. The cauldron then floated off the ground a little bit, and it started to follow them as they moved through Diagon Alley.

"Now it's time to get you a wand. This will be probably the most important purchase I will make for you. You need to treat this wand with great care," Mrs. Chandler told Charles.

They entered a shop with the name "Ollivander's" on the sign in front. They walked in and heard the tinkling of bells. Mrs. Chandler sat down in the spindly legged chair, and waited quietly. Charles looked around. It was a bit hazy in here from all of the dust. He could see odd shaped boxes that most likely held the wands that were sold here.

"Hello there," a quiet voice said from behind Charles. At the sound of the voice, Charles jumped in surprise.

He turned around to see a man with silver eyes staring intently at him. He looked him over, and then looked over at the chair.

"Ah! Ms. Thomas, how nice to see you again," the silver-eyed man said.

"Actually, I'm Mrs. Chandler now, Mr. Ollivander," she replied with a smile. "This is my middle son, Charles."

"How do you do, lad?" Mr. Ollivander said to Charles.

"Er...fine, thanks," he replied.

"Well, no need to ask why you're here. You're here to get a wand. So let's get down to brass tacks," Mr. Ollivander said, pulling out his tape measure. "Which hand is your wand hand?"

"Um...my right...I think," Charles responded uncertainly.

Mr. Ollivander began to measure the length of Charles's arm, hand, and head. Mr. Ollivander then moved off into the rows of boxes. Charles tried to peer at Mr. Ollivander, but Charles straightened up suddenly when he felt a tape measure press up against his nose.

"That will do," said Mr. Ollivander, offhandedly. With this said the tape measure dropped to the floor. He then returned with an armload of oddly shaped boxes. He opened one, and pulled what looked like a length of wood with a handle.

He held the wand out to Charles and said, "Each wand I make is unique. This one is 10 inches long, made of mahogany, with a unicorn tail hair for the core. Go on give it a try."

Charles grasped the wand. Just as he was about to wave it, Mr. Ollivander snatched it back and said, "Not quite it, but we'll find it."

Mr. Ollivander then handed Charles another wand, and said, "Birch, seven inches, with a phoenix feather."

Charles tried again, but before he could raise the wand, Mr. Ollivander grabbed the wand out of his hand. This continued for about 15 minutes, and then Mr. Ollivander looked as though he was struck by an idea.

"I remember your wand, Mrs. Chandler. It was nine inches, birch, with a dragon heartstring. But it would help me to know who your husband is so that we can find the right wand for young Mr. Chandler, here," explained Mr. Ollivander.

"Well," began Ms. Chandler, "my husband is from America, but he is not a wizard. I think he's from the state called Louisiana," she answered.

"Hmm, yes...I remember getting some wood from there once. I went to...I think the city was called New Orleans. I had heard so much about the local magic culture. I felt like I should try out some of the local wand components. I made a few wands just to see how they would turn out. They make for rather interesting wands," Mr. Ollivander said.

At this he walked into the back of the shop. He then returned with two boxes. "If neither one of these works," he said with a smile, "we're going to just try random wands. Here you are, 11 inches, made of cypress, and dragon heartstring."

Charles grasped the wand, and gave it a wave. As he did so, a large brown bird popped out of thin air. He stared at it quizzically. It almost looked like a pelican he saw once in a cartoon.

Mr. Ollivander smiled. "I thought I would never find someone who would suit a wand like that. Now it seems I have."

Mrs. Chandler paid Mr. Ollivander the 10 galleons for the wand and left the shop. She then turned up Diagon Alley and started to move towards a magical pet store. Charles hurried to catch up.

"Now we're going to get you a pet. I've found that owls are very good pets, but you may choose whatever you wish," she told Charles

As they opened the door, the clerk greeted them, as did a lot of animal noises. Charles wandered the shop looking at all of the different animals. He saw a large orange cat with a face that looked as though it had been mashed against a pane of glass and held there.

Charles then heard a sharp bark behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw a black Scottish terrier. The dog barked twice, and to Charles's amazement, turned into a Yorkshire terrier. It then growled and barked and changed into a Skye terrier.

"Mum! Come have a look at this!" Charles said excitedly.

Mrs. Chandler walked over to where Charles was standing. She looked down at the dog in amusement. The dog then barked and growled and changed into a Jack Russell terrier. After this change it gave another sharp bark, and turned back into the Scottish terrier that Charles had seen earlier.

"Ah, I see you've noticed our Transforming Terrier. It can change into any kind of terrier out there by simply using the proper...um...bark," the clerk explained to them.

"Can I get him, Mum?" Charles asked, looking at the dog as it wagged its tail.

"All right then," Mrs. Chandler said, smiling at Charles.

After they bought the dog and all the necessary pet supplies, Charles was struck with a thought. "Can they be trained to turn into a certain type?" he asked the clerk.

The clerk looked a little doubtful. "They could," he started slowly, "but in my experience the Transforming Terriers prefer to choose their own form. The Shifting Retrievers are much easier train to do that, because they have less of a preference to one particular form."

"Oh, okay," said Charles, a bit dejectedly. He looked at his new dog, which was sitting at his feet wagging its tail. The dog looked so happy to have itself an owner.

Charles and his mother walked from the shop. Mrs. Chandler turned to Charles, put her arm around his shoulder and said, "I think we're done shopping for your school supplies. I'd better get something for Renard so he doesn't feel left out."

They turned up Diagon Alley and headed back towards the Leaky Cauldron. Just as they neared the brick wall, Mrs. Chandler turned and headed into "Magical Toys Emporium." Charles followed and saw a vast store that was much larger than the exterior made it seem. He saw shelves seven feet high with toys of all sorts. He saw "Ever-spinning Tops", "Fanged Frisbees" and even a strange looking leather glove that had a huge web where the space between the thumb and forefinger went.

He examined the glove and noticed a tag. It read, "Imported from the USA. For use in the Muggle game baseball. Guaranteed to catch any ball hit near you. Used by great wizard shortstop Ozzie 'The Wiz' Smith." Charles replaced the mitt and continued to walk down the aisle. He then came across a rack with the sign "Toy Broomsticks" above it. He grabbed one of the brooms and held it up. It looked to be half the size of a normal broom.

Mrs. Chandler walked up behind Charles, and asked, "So, have you discovered that witches do actually use brooms?" She was grinning a bit mischievously. "Muggles of old used to see us flying on them. That's why there are so many pictures of us on brooms. Most Muggles nowadays believe those were all just myths.

"You might find this interesting, though. I know how much you like soccer, and I felt you might like this too," she told Charles. She then handed him a book. He turned it over and saw the title "Quidditch Through the Ages."

"If my memory serves, that will be one of the most popular books in the school library. I feel you'll meet a lot of people by just reading it," she said with a grin.

"What's Quidditch?"

"Well...it's the most popular sport in the wizarding world. I loved watching Quidditch when I was in school. But when I got sent to America, I haven't had a chance to keep up with it. Those Americans are more interested in Quodpot, so Quidditch was hard to find. Then I met your father. I told him all about this, but he didn't believe me for a long time," Mrs. Chandler explained.

Charles looked at the book, and decided that he'd start reading this one when they got home. He then walked with Mrs. Chandler as they continued to look for a toy to give to Renard. They had gone down to the aisle with the stuffed animals and stopped and looked around.

Charles reached out to grab a stuffed tiger, but as his hand neared the toy, it started to growl, and tried to sink its stuffed teeth in to Charles's hand. Charles withdrew his hand quickly and then laughed at the toy. He reached again and grabbed the tiger this time and held it out to his mother.

"Renard would love this. It's so lifelike. It'll also keep him away from my dog long enough for me to get it out of the house." Charles said with a huge smile on his face.

"Alright then, we'll get this," Mrs. Chandler replied.

Mrs. Chandler then led Charles to the witch behind the counter, and purchased the living stuffed tiger. Charles held the toy and looked at it in wonder. It squirmed in his hands like a real cat. Mrs. Chandler watched this little struggle for a bit and then reached over to the tiger's left ear. As she squeezed its ear, the tiger stopped moving, again looking like a normal stuffed animal.

"That's the best way to deal with toys like that," Mrs. Chandler told him. "You just have to find the Freezing Spot on it. Most of them are on the ears, it can be either one. But sometimes you get one with no ears...then you have to improvise."

Charles nodded as they walked from the store. They passed through the arch back into the leaky cauldron. Mrs. Chandler sat down at a table, and waved to get the barkeep's attention. Mrs. Chandler ordered soup and sandwiches for the two of them. As they waited for the barkeep to return with their order, Charles began to read Quidditch Through the Ages. It was a fascinating book; it explained about how the game got started and how it evolved into the sport that wizards play today.

When their food arrived, they had to eat rather swiftly. They only had about 20 minutes to walk to King's Cross Station to catch the train home. Mrs. Chandler stopped the levitation spell she put on the cauldron, and picked it up and began to carry it.

As they arrived at King's Cross Station, Mrs. Chandler walked straight towards Platforms 9 and 10. She approached the barrier between the two platforms and stopped.

"Mum, our train is leaving from Platform 5 in ten minutes," Charles said anxiously.

"I know dear, but I wanted to show you this before we left here today," Mrs. Chandler responded.

She then looked around and walked quickly towards the barrier dividing the platforms. It looked to Charles as if she was going to smack into the wall. And then...she passed through it.

For what seemed like the tenth time today, Charles stared open-mouthed at what he just saw. He walked towards the seemingly solid bricks and pushed with his hand. It, too, passed through the divider. He then felt something grab his hand and pull him through the bricks. He looked around and saw a bright red fire engine that was on the tracks and saw his mother holding him by the wrist.

"You must pass through the divider quickly. If you stand there for too long with part of your body in the wall, a Muggle will see you. That is something you don't want to have happen," Mrs. Chandler explained in a lecturing tone.

"Alright then," Charles answered. "Where does this train go?"

"It goes to the village of Hogsmeade, and from there you will be taken to Hogwarts," Mrs. Chandler replied. "Well, we must go now, our train home leaves in about five minutes."

They moved quickly to Platform 5. With some assistance, they stowed all of their parcels safely on board the train. They then sat down and waited for the train to start moving.

Charles leaned his head back and closed his eyes. It might have only been three in the afternoon, but the weight of everything he learned seemed to be driving his eyelids closed. Right before he nodded off, he saw his mother smiling at him. She reached over, smoothed his hair, and then looked out the window again.

"Hogwarts is going to be something to see," Charles thought.