Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Strains of Melody
-I-I-I-
Still Wednesday, July 22, 1991
-I-I-I-
The demure, silvery bell chimed a farewell behind them as Taka let the door to Ollivander's shop fall closed. By unspoken agreement Master and Apprentice lingered by the doorway instead of immediately braving the now even busier street.
Kaze stared curiously out at the large crowd. Now that the sheer newness of being around strangers had mostly worn off, he often found himself watching the people around him with an intensity second only to that he directed towards his musical studies.
"Hey." He turned at the sound of his Master's voice, and found Taka watching him with a tiny smile on his lips. "May I?" he asked, holding out his hand.
It was a moment before Kaze realized what he meant, and pulled the brand-new wand out from where he had already secreted it in his pocket. Taka took it from him and studied it carefully in the bright morning sunlight.
"Ah. I thought so." He handed the slender wand back to its owner with a smile. "I couldn't be sure before, with how bad the lighting was, but it's made of cedar wood."
"Cedar..." Kaze echoed thoughtfully. "That's one of the wind element woods, isn't it?" He ran his fingers over the smooth, reddish-brown wood.
Taka looked pleased that his Heir had been paying attention to his botany lessons. "Right! Rather fitting, wouldn't you say?"
Of course it is, Zephyr commented with a derisive snort. As if my human would be associated with anything else.
Kaze hid a grin, amused. Careful, Zeph, your elitism's showing...
That depends on what you mean by 'elitism', the air elemental retorted, slipping down his arm and taking off into the air. After all, it isn't elitism if ya really are better than everyone else.
This time the young boy couldn't suppress the giggles that wracked his slender frame. At Taka's bemused glance, he just shook his head helplessly, blushing. "He's trying to argue definitions," he muttered, embarrassed, and covered his mouth with a hand until the giggles stopped.
"Ah..." The mage nodded, a faint twitch at the corner of his lips the only betraying sign of his amusement. "Might I suggest, however," he said quietly, resting a gentle hand on Kaze's shoulder, "that the two of you tone it down a bit? The general populace tends to take it rather amiss when you suddenly burst out laughing with no discernable cause." He stopped and pondered that for a moment. "Come to think of it, it would be a good thing for you to break the habit of even occasionally answering Zephyr out loud before you go to Hogwarts. I know you're actually talking to another sentient being, but your fellow students won't."
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry..." the boy replied softly, staring down at his worn sneakers.
Taka sighed, gazing at the bent, shaggy head of the boy he'd adopted as his own. Honestly, he loved the little lad, but sometimes being around him was like walking on eggshells, even after nearly six years. Silently, he wrapped an arm around the still boy, holding him close. "Not everything I say is meant to be a criticism, you know," he murmured softly. "In fact, I can't remember the last time I had a reason to criticize you."
"I know," Kaze mumbled into his side, "I just... have a hard time remembering it sometimes."
Taka held him for a little while longer, sending a haughty stare that he normally reserved for Gatherings towards anyone that looked at the duo askance. Yes, he knew it wasn't exactly commonplace to see a child as old as Kaze seemed to cling to his father in public, and even less so to see it from people in muggle clothing. That did not mean it was an acceptable excuse for something as rude as /staring/.
"Are you all right now?" he asked, pulling away and catching the boy's green eyes with his own blue ones.
Kaze gave him a small nod, cheeks flushing with his embarrassment. "Yes, sir."
Taka smiled. "Good." He let the boy go and glanced down the bustling marketplace. "Now, what say we go get you the rest of your school supplies?"
"That sounds great," the young mage said sincerely. "Um, where do we go first?" he asked, staring out at the crowds.
"Robes first, I think, then your books, and then home," the Guardian replied, studying the list of requirements he'd pulled from his pocket. "I truly doubt any normal apothecary could provide you with better potions ingredients than I could."
Kaze nodded, having similar doubts. Taka's very affinity was with plants, as his own was with music. Plants responded to his touch and his magic like no other's. His affinity had naturally led to his master making unparalleled potions and poultices, and he'd spent whatever time wasn't occupied with teaching Kaze how to use his affinity on long-winded botany lessons.
So are we finally off? Zephyr asked, gliding down and circling his Bonded.
Kaze smiled wryly, feeling the wind from his familiar's wings brushing his face. Yes, Zeph, we are. In fact, it was at that very moment that Taka took his Apprentice's hand and stepped off into the swirling current of the crowd.
The boy didn't speak again, knowing that the protective air elemental wouldn't be able to resist making a comment on the incident of only a minute before. And sure enough...
You can't keep doing this, ya know. The elemental landed lightly on his shoulder, looping his transparent body around Kaze's neck with long familiarity.
The boy flinched. I know... I just... I don't know what to do about it, except give myself time.
You've been 'giving yourself time' for years now, Zephyr pointed out. How much longer do ya really have before you need to be able to trust people?
I don't know, all right? Kaze retorted in a rare display of temper. It's hard to trust people! I don't know how!
Then learn, the elemental said simply.
There was silence for a long time after that.
-I-I-I-
Somehow Severus wasn't at all shocked to discover that they'd missed Potter again, when Orrick Ollivander shook his white head and told Albus that the duo had left only a few minutes ago. They seemed to be making a rather bad habit of the practice, after all.
"Do you know which way they went?" the aging Headmaster asked, voice resigned.
The teachers, now down to a trio, since both Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout had both peeled off to simply search Diagon Alley, were all surprised when the wand maker nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do. I confess I was curious after I sold young Harry his most unusual wand, and might have eavesdropped on their conversation."
The teachers waited patiently for a minute, until it became clear the old man wasn't going to say anything else. "Well?" Minerva finally demanded, only a second before Severus would have himself. ''Where are they?"
Ollivander blinked at her. ''Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted me to tell you."
The Head of Gryffindor let out a strangled half-scream, looking as though she wanted to throttle the man, and he quickly raised his hands in defense. "Easy, madam. I believe they were going to go buy young Harry some robes."
Albus smiled genially. ''Thank you. We'll just be leaving, then." Still smiling, he herded his various coworkers out the doors. ''Minerva," he said once they were outside, "Severus and I will go and visit Madame Malkin's. I would be much obliged if you would go look around the other robe shops."
The witch nodded. "Of course, Albus." She turned on her heel and vanished into the crowd.
"Albus?" Severus ventured after a couple of minutes as they picked their way through the alley. "Why are we doing this? It seems to me as though whoever this person is, he's intending on sending the boy to Hogwarts."
"Perhaps he is, but..." the Headmaster shrugged. "Call it the foolish whim of a silly old man, but I would like to be sure."
Severus could accept that, even if he still thought the whole endeavor was a waste of time. He nodded silently, staring off into the distance.
Besides, he had to admit he was growing curious about the entire affair.
-I-I-I-
Ollivander watched them go with a secretive smile. Sure, he could have told them where their quarry was planning on going after they hit the robe shop, but...
From what he'd seen of the duo, the older man genuinely cared for the boy, and vice versa. They belonged together, and while the old wand maker trusted that Albus' intentions were noble, he also knew that Hogwarts' Headmaster sometimes acted rashly. It was best to keep him away from young Mr. Potter until he had a chance to think things through.
And besides, he thought with a little smirk, it was going to be so much more fun this way!
-I-I-I-
The silence lasted all through their relatively brief and uneventful stop at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The two Guardians were in and out of the stop in what seemed like only moments.
They went on to the bookshop next, a rather large and very musty place called Flourish and Blotts. The shop was uncrowded, though they did catch a couple of glimpses of what might be future fellow students. An efficient shop clerk pointed them in the direction of the Hogwarts student course books, and the books for the first years were the first ones on the shelves.
Personally, Kaze found it rather odd that he would need so many books. They hadn't had much to do with his life up until that point, since neither his nor his master's affinities could be learned from musty old pages. Because of that, he couldn't help but be a little curious, and so when Taka mentioned that he might want to look around, he jumped at the chance.
It was while he was poking around the shelves, his course books ensconced in one of the enchanted bags that the bookshop provided to its customers, that the slender volume tucked away on a shelf labeled 'Myths and Legends' caught his eye. It was a nicely bound little volume, resplendent in gold and a warn brown, but that wasn't what he found so striking about it.
No, that honor was reserved solely for the Kagayaku emblem on its spine, an eight-pointed star.
Eyes wide, he pulled the thin book from its shelf, and opened it to the first page.
The Shining Ones:
An Anthology and Detailed History on the Origins of the Kagayaku Myth
Collected and narrated by Luke N. Furyew
Kaze felt his lips twitch violently. "A /myth/, now, are we?" he murmured out loud. Hearing Zephyr snicker from his shoulder, he flipped to the next page.
A Preface
by the celebrated cultural anthropologist Dr. Ryan Dustee
Researching any myth or legend can often be an exercise in futility, yet Mr. Furyew has managed the nearly impossible with aplomb. This extraordinary volume, his latest of nearly half a dozen, is perhaps the most complete and comprehensive work I have ever seen on the mythos of the Kagayaku, or Shining Ones. These divine beings were supposedly created to guard our world from-
It was at this point that the air elemental broke down completely. 'Divine beings'? he choked out amidst his gales of laughter. What a load of crock!
The young Guardian was having trouble holding back laughter of his own. Wonder what this Dustee guy would think if Taka-sama and I dropped in on him? he speculated, feeling his ribs ache from the suppressed guffaws. Think he'd faint?
I think that'd be the least he did...more likely piss his pants, since he somehow got it into his head that you were gods/.../ Zephyr returned humorously. Ooh, can we do that?
Openly grinning now, Kaze was about to reply when a hand laid itself on his shoulder. "Find something interesting?" Taka asked curiously.
"Moderately so," the boy replied, smiling brightly. "Is it okay if I get it? It should be good for a few laughs if I get bored with schoolwork."
The elder mage shrugged, turning back towards the front of the shop. "I don't see why not. We'd best get going, though. I left a couple of potions simmering that really need to be checked."
There was a distinct bounce in Kaze's step as he followed his master to the counter.
-I-I-I-
Severus was beginning to wonder if perhaps there were some deity up in the heavens working against them. Every time he and Albus managed to nearly catch up to Potter and the man who had kidnapped him, something managed to delay them just long enough for the duo to move on. First it was that most irritating goblin at Gringotts, then the eccentric Ollivander, and finally, the overturned cart of jars of Vanishing Cream in the middle of Diagon Alley that proceeded to 'vanish' a large section of pavement, and resulted in their making a ten-minute detour.
Which was apparently just long enough for their elusive quarry to complete their errand at Madame Malkin's and move on.
This was not their day.
He sighed as the two wizards stepped out of the robes shop. "Any other ideas, Albus?"
"Not at the moment, my dear boy," his Headmaster replied, blue eyes troubled. "Not at the moment..."
The Slytherin sighed again, and would have leaned against the shop's brick wall if the action wouldn't have ruined his image. He looked out over the milling throng of shoppers, sellers, and just plain tourists with the vague hope that maybe he'd just randomly spot the damn boy and his guardian. Not that he really expected to, since with the way their luck had been going he'd be more likely to see one of that fool Lovegood's Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.
This, of course, was the precise moment that Severus saw a man and a boy matching Tom's descriptions walk out of Flourish and Blotts.
"Albus!" he hissed.
The elderly wizard looked in the direction of his pointing and blinked. Then blinked again. Then he grabbed his much younger colleague by the arm and bodily pulled him into the crowd.
"Pardon me, excuse us," he said repeatedly as they pushed their way through the shoppers. Please, ma'am, let us through..." Albus Dumbledore's reputation made the crowd part after a few moments, just in time to see Harry Potter and his kidnapper- though from all reports, the boy had gone along willingly- turn into a side alleyway.
When the two wizards reached the alley's entrance no more than a minute later, they were stunned to discover that once again, they were too late.
There was nothing in the alley but empty air.
Still Wednesday, July 22, 1991
-I-I-I-
The demure, silvery bell chimed a farewell behind them as Taka let the door to Ollivander's shop fall closed. By unspoken agreement Master and Apprentice lingered by the doorway instead of immediately braving the now even busier street.
Kaze stared curiously out at the large crowd. Now that the sheer newness of being around strangers had mostly worn off, he often found himself watching the people around him with an intensity second only to that he directed towards his musical studies.
"Hey." He turned at the sound of his Master's voice, and found Taka watching him with a tiny smile on his lips. "May I?" he asked, holding out his hand.
It was a moment before Kaze realized what he meant, and pulled the brand-new wand out from where he had already secreted it in his pocket. Taka took it from him and studied it carefully in the bright morning sunlight.
"Ah. I thought so." He handed the slender wand back to its owner with a smile. "I couldn't be sure before, with how bad the lighting was, but it's made of cedar wood."
"Cedar..." Kaze echoed thoughtfully. "That's one of the wind element woods, isn't it?" He ran his fingers over the smooth, reddish-brown wood.
Taka looked pleased that his Heir had been paying attention to his botany lessons. "Right! Rather fitting, wouldn't you say?"
Of course it is, Zephyr commented with a derisive snort. As if my human would be associated with anything else.
Kaze hid a grin, amused. Careful, Zeph, your elitism's showing...
That depends on what you mean by 'elitism', the air elemental retorted, slipping down his arm and taking off into the air. After all, it isn't elitism if ya really are better than everyone else.
This time the young boy couldn't suppress the giggles that wracked his slender frame. At Taka's bemused glance, he just shook his head helplessly, blushing. "He's trying to argue definitions," he muttered, embarrassed, and covered his mouth with a hand until the giggles stopped.
"Ah..." The mage nodded, a faint twitch at the corner of his lips the only betraying sign of his amusement. "Might I suggest, however," he said quietly, resting a gentle hand on Kaze's shoulder, "that the two of you tone it down a bit? The general populace tends to take it rather amiss when you suddenly burst out laughing with no discernable cause." He stopped and pondered that for a moment. "Come to think of it, it would be a good thing for you to break the habit of even occasionally answering Zephyr out loud before you go to Hogwarts. I know you're actually talking to another sentient being, but your fellow students won't."
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry..." the boy replied softly, staring down at his worn sneakers.
Taka sighed, gazing at the bent, shaggy head of the boy he'd adopted as his own. Honestly, he loved the little lad, but sometimes being around him was like walking on eggshells, even after nearly six years. Silently, he wrapped an arm around the still boy, holding him close. "Not everything I say is meant to be a criticism, you know," he murmured softly. "In fact, I can't remember the last time I had a reason to criticize you."
"I know," Kaze mumbled into his side, "I just... have a hard time remembering it sometimes."
Taka held him for a little while longer, sending a haughty stare that he normally reserved for Gatherings towards anyone that looked at the duo askance. Yes, he knew it wasn't exactly commonplace to see a child as old as Kaze seemed to cling to his father in public, and even less so to see it from people in muggle clothing. That did not mean it was an acceptable excuse for something as rude as /staring/.
"Are you all right now?" he asked, pulling away and catching the boy's green eyes with his own blue ones.
Kaze gave him a small nod, cheeks flushing with his embarrassment. "Yes, sir."
Taka smiled. "Good." He let the boy go and glanced down the bustling marketplace. "Now, what say we go get you the rest of your school supplies?"
"That sounds great," the young mage said sincerely. "Um, where do we go first?" he asked, staring out at the crowds.
"Robes first, I think, then your books, and then home," the Guardian replied, studying the list of requirements he'd pulled from his pocket. "I truly doubt any normal apothecary could provide you with better potions ingredients than I could."
Kaze nodded, having similar doubts. Taka's very affinity was with plants, as his own was with music. Plants responded to his touch and his magic like no other's. His affinity had naturally led to his master making unparalleled potions and poultices, and he'd spent whatever time wasn't occupied with teaching Kaze how to use his affinity on long-winded botany lessons.
So are we finally off? Zephyr asked, gliding down and circling his Bonded.
Kaze smiled wryly, feeling the wind from his familiar's wings brushing his face. Yes, Zeph, we are. In fact, it was at that very moment that Taka took his Apprentice's hand and stepped off into the swirling current of the crowd.
The boy didn't speak again, knowing that the protective air elemental wouldn't be able to resist making a comment on the incident of only a minute before. And sure enough...
You can't keep doing this, ya know. The elemental landed lightly on his shoulder, looping his transparent body around Kaze's neck with long familiarity.
The boy flinched. I know... I just... I don't know what to do about it, except give myself time.
You've been 'giving yourself time' for years now, Zephyr pointed out. How much longer do ya really have before you need to be able to trust people?
I don't know, all right? Kaze retorted in a rare display of temper. It's hard to trust people! I don't know how!
Then learn, the elemental said simply.
There was silence for a long time after that.
-I-I-I-
Somehow Severus wasn't at all shocked to discover that they'd missed Potter again, when Orrick Ollivander shook his white head and told Albus that the duo had left only a few minutes ago. They seemed to be making a rather bad habit of the practice, after all.
"Do you know which way they went?" the aging Headmaster asked, voice resigned.
The teachers, now down to a trio, since both Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout had both peeled off to simply search Diagon Alley, were all surprised when the wand maker nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do. I confess I was curious after I sold young Harry his most unusual wand, and might have eavesdropped on their conversation."
The teachers waited patiently for a minute, until it became clear the old man wasn't going to say anything else. "Well?" Minerva finally demanded, only a second before Severus would have himself. ''Where are they?"
Ollivander blinked at her. ''Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted me to tell you."
The Head of Gryffindor let out a strangled half-scream, looking as though she wanted to throttle the man, and he quickly raised his hands in defense. "Easy, madam. I believe they were going to go buy young Harry some robes."
Albus smiled genially. ''Thank you. We'll just be leaving, then." Still smiling, he herded his various coworkers out the doors. ''Minerva," he said once they were outside, "Severus and I will go and visit Madame Malkin's. I would be much obliged if you would go look around the other robe shops."
The witch nodded. "Of course, Albus." She turned on her heel and vanished into the crowd.
"Albus?" Severus ventured after a couple of minutes as they picked their way through the alley. "Why are we doing this? It seems to me as though whoever this person is, he's intending on sending the boy to Hogwarts."
"Perhaps he is, but..." the Headmaster shrugged. "Call it the foolish whim of a silly old man, but I would like to be sure."
Severus could accept that, even if he still thought the whole endeavor was a waste of time. He nodded silently, staring off into the distance.
Besides, he had to admit he was growing curious about the entire affair.
-I-I-I-
Ollivander watched them go with a secretive smile. Sure, he could have told them where their quarry was planning on going after they hit the robe shop, but...
From what he'd seen of the duo, the older man genuinely cared for the boy, and vice versa. They belonged together, and while the old wand maker trusted that Albus' intentions were noble, he also knew that Hogwarts' Headmaster sometimes acted rashly. It was best to keep him away from young Mr. Potter until he had a chance to think things through.
And besides, he thought with a little smirk, it was going to be so much more fun this way!
-I-I-I-
The silence lasted all through their relatively brief and uneventful stop at Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The two Guardians were in and out of the stop in what seemed like only moments.
They went on to the bookshop next, a rather large and very musty place called Flourish and Blotts. The shop was uncrowded, though they did catch a couple of glimpses of what might be future fellow students. An efficient shop clerk pointed them in the direction of the Hogwarts student course books, and the books for the first years were the first ones on the shelves.
Personally, Kaze found it rather odd that he would need so many books. They hadn't had much to do with his life up until that point, since neither his nor his master's affinities could be learned from musty old pages. Because of that, he couldn't help but be a little curious, and so when Taka mentioned that he might want to look around, he jumped at the chance.
It was while he was poking around the shelves, his course books ensconced in one of the enchanted bags that the bookshop provided to its customers, that the slender volume tucked away on a shelf labeled 'Myths and Legends' caught his eye. It was a nicely bound little volume, resplendent in gold and a warn brown, but that wasn't what he found so striking about it.
No, that honor was reserved solely for the Kagayaku emblem on its spine, an eight-pointed star.
Eyes wide, he pulled the thin book from its shelf, and opened it to the first page.
The Shining Ones:
An Anthology and Detailed History on the Origins of the Kagayaku Myth
Collected and narrated by Luke N. Furyew
Kaze felt his lips twitch violently. "A /myth/, now, are we?" he murmured out loud. Hearing Zephyr snicker from his shoulder, he flipped to the next page.
A Preface
by the celebrated cultural anthropologist Dr. Ryan Dustee
Researching any myth or legend can often be an exercise in futility, yet Mr. Furyew has managed the nearly impossible with aplomb. This extraordinary volume, his latest of nearly half a dozen, is perhaps the most complete and comprehensive work I have ever seen on the mythos of the Kagayaku, or Shining Ones. These divine beings were supposedly created to guard our world from-
It was at this point that the air elemental broke down completely. 'Divine beings'? he choked out amidst his gales of laughter. What a load of crock!
The young Guardian was having trouble holding back laughter of his own. Wonder what this Dustee guy would think if Taka-sama and I dropped in on him? he speculated, feeling his ribs ache from the suppressed guffaws. Think he'd faint?
I think that'd be the least he did...more likely piss his pants, since he somehow got it into his head that you were gods/.../ Zephyr returned humorously. Ooh, can we do that?
Openly grinning now, Kaze was about to reply when a hand laid itself on his shoulder. "Find something interesting?" Taka asked curiously.
"Moderately so," the boy replied, smiling brightly. "Is it okay if I get it? It should be good for a few laughs if I get bored with schoolwork."
The elder mage shrugged, turning back towards the front of the shop. "I don't see why not. We'd best get going, though. I left a couple of potions simmering that really need to be checked."
There was a distinct bounce in Kaze's step as he followed his master to the counter.
-I-I-I-
Severus was beginning to wonder if perhaps there were some deity up in the heavens working against them. Every time he and Albus managed to nearly catch up to Potter and the man who had kidnapped him, something managed to delay them just long enough for the duo to move on. First it was that most irritating goblin at Gringotts, then the eccentric Ollivander, and finally, the overturned cart of jars of Vanishing Cream in the middle of Diagon Alley that proceeded to 'vanish' a large section of pavement, and resulted in their making a ten-minute detour.
Which was apparently just long enough for their elusive quarry to complete their errand at Madame Malkin's and move on.
This was not their day.
He sighed as the two wizards stepped out of the robes shop. "Any other ideas, Albus?"
"Not at the moment, my dear boy," his Headmaster replied, blue eyes troubled. "Not at the moment..."
The Slytherin sighed again, and would have leaned against the shop's brick wall if the action wouldn't have ruined his image. He looked out over the milling throng of shoppers, sellers, and just plain tourists with the vague hope that maybe he'd just randomly spot the damn boy and his guardian. Not that he really expected to, since with the way their luck had been going he'd be more likely to see one of that fool Lovegood's Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.
This, of course, was the precise moment that Severus saw a man and a boy matching Tom's descriptions walk out of Flourish and Blotts.
"Albus!" he hissed.
The elderly wizard looked in the direction of his pointing and blinked. Then blinked again. Then he grabbed his much younger colleague by the arm and bodily pulled him into the crowd.
"Pardon me, excuse us," he said repeatedly as they pushed their way through the shoppers. Please, ma'am, let us through..." Albus Dumbledore's reputation made the crowd part after a few moments, just in time to see Harry Potter and his kidnapper- though from all reports, the boy had gone along willingly- turn into a side alleyway.
When the two wizards reached the alley's entrance no more than a minute later, they were stunned to discover that once again, they were too late.
There was nothing in the alley but empty air.
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