Just Another Day [Flower/Open]

[superluigi64]

“Think nothing of it, my boy, you’ve earned it. See you tomorrow!”

He stepped out of Ollivander’s wand shop, waving bye to the man who’d been teaching him the most ancient and vital art of the magical world during his last four free summers. August was in full swing, the oppressive heat beating down on the world, but for Nathaniel this only meant that September was approaching, bringing with it the loss of wandmaking studies and the gain of Hogwarts and all the other classes he had. This year promised to be the best he’d experienced yet. He had been allowed to choose the materials for a wand this summer, finally being allowed the chance to make decisions. The mahogany and Demiguise wand was inside the right sleeve of his robes, opposite his oak and dragon heartstring wand (never hurt to have a spare wand nobody knew about). This year, he’d finally be allowed to start working on learning nonverbal spells, which would speed up his spell casting. He was also going to see about getting permission to have private tutoring on becoming an Animagus, and he thought his dad might start teaching him Occlumency, although Neville wasn’t terribly keen on making his son an even better liar.

And, to top it off, one of the wands he’d done the majority of work on had sold today, and Ollivander had given him two Galleons right off the top. Granted, his dad was both a teacher at Hogwarts and one of the best sources in England for rare herbs, and his mother owned the Leaky Cauldron, the single best piece of magical real estate in England--seriously, an restaurant slash bar slash inn at the entrance to maybe the only place that every wizard in the country visited? No, to say his family was well off was putting it mildly. Still, it felt nice to earn some money, as opposed to working off an allowance, even a generous one. He had never taken pay at Ollivander’s, he was just an apprentice and only recently had begun contributing to the shop in any meaningful way. But when he came back from Hogwarts with a dozen beautifully carved and prepared lengths of wandwood, the old shopkeeper had been only too happy to inspect the craftsmanship, and ten of the set had been deemed worthy of being used for wands.

Nathaniel Augustus Longbottom slipped the gold pieces into his pocket and looked over at the Leaky Cauldron. He was done with work, but the sun was still out, and him being home late was nothing surprising anyway, but what should he do? He could slip back out into London, visit that electronics store with all the cellular telephones again, to marvel at them. Two-way mirrors were rare, but soon the Muggles would have perfectly replicated them on a large scale. It was….unbelievable, and a little scary. As he looked up and down the street, his left hand absentmindedly pulled the oak wand from his robe and began spinning his wand through his fingers with a practiced ease…

[flower]

Life was beautiful. It was full of adventure and mysteries waiting to be uncovered. Even the smallest little things in life were amazing. Well, at least that was how Flower saw things. Flower, what a silly name. Of course she never went by that name. She was known to most of the world by her middle name, Hope. Hope was very different from the rest of the children that were her age. At a mere sixteen years old she was one of the most strangest but yet lovable people anyone would ever meet. There was always a smile on her face and nothing in the world ever seemed to get her down. That was one of the things most people loved about Hope. She could lighten up any room with her dazzling personality and award winning smile. She was genuine and sweet. A soul that had yet to be corrupted by the damaged society around her.

Hope's parents were what you could call different. They were free spirited wizarding artists who would create moving pictures or write odd books about their findings in the wilderness. They were always on the hunt for new and rare types of flowers located in the forests. Hence where they received the name for Hope. She didn't mind her first name, Flower, but ever since she was little the rest of the world had been calling her by her middle name. Never the one to complicate life, she decided to go by the name of Hope in public and Flower at home.

Since her parents did not have a real profession money was often tight in their household. There was four people to feed on their small salary: Hope, her parents and her younger sister. Needless to say, they did not have the money to go off and have a shopping spree or buy extravagant items. This contributed to the reason as to why Hope made her own clothing. It was cheaper than buying the over priced items in the store. Besides, she liked the clothing she made better than the stuff she seen in the stores.

Despite the lack of money in her family and the fact that she made her own clothing, Hope did like to take a trip to Diagon Alley to browse around at the items. Seeing as she had nothing to do on this warm day, Hope found herself walking the stone streets of the Alley, browsing through the stores and seeing what was out there. As always, there was a huge smile on her face that made anyone around her grin. It was one of the things that people loved about Hope. As she was walking along the street she noticed a boy who she had seen in Hogwarts. Always being the friendly person, she made her way towards him with a huge smile on her face.

"That is a really lovely wand that you have there," Hope said in her sweet little voice as she finally made her way next to the boy. Her smile never left her face and her eyes gazed upon the wand that the boy had just taken out of his pocket. It really was something beautiful. Hope had always liked wands. It was a wonder to her how just combining a few items could create such a powerful device.

( w o r d s ) : 564
( n o t e s ) : Here you go! I love Flower <3
( l y r i c s ) : Fireworks - Katy Perry
( c r e d i t ) : Kelsey yo ! Steal and die !

[superluigi64]

The wand whipped around his fingers with blinding speed, and Nathaniel had just about made up his mind to go ahead and go home. He had an inkling to go to his room and try spinning both his wands at the same time, just to see if he could. He wasn’t about to pull the Demiguise wand out in public, after all; what good was a secret weapon if you flaunted it? Ollivander was planning to keep it a secret as well--then again, he didn’t particularly approve of the use of Demiguise hair as a core. But Nathaniel believed that using only three cores was limiting the shop too much. He had of course already used Demiguise hair, but he was also looking into Augurey tail feathers, Graphorn hair, Hippocampus scales, and Occamy eggshells. Naturally, he had no way to collect the Graphorn hair or the Occamy eggshells right now, those creatures being way too dangerous, but as luck had it, he had managed with a little help from Hagrid to get some Augurey tail feathers, which he’d be using in his next trials.

“That is a really lovely wand that you have there.” Nathaniel blinked and turned around, noting that a girl had walked up to him while he was lost in thought. She had long brown hair, and was smiling way too happily not to have an agenda. Well…if it had been anyone else, anyway. Nathaniel was the observant type, and he knew this girl from Hogwarts--she always had that smile on her face. She was…Hufflepuff, if he remembered right. “I do kinda like it, Ollivander said the core is the heartstring of an Opaleye.” He didn’t doubt it--quite aside from the fact that Ollivander remembered every single wand he’d ever created, all of the flames he’d ever conjured with the wand had been the vivid red of the Opaleye’s dragon fire (though obviously not actual dragon flames).

Nathaniel tilted his head curiously. “You’re…Hope Phillips, correct? My name is Nathaniel Longbottom. What brings you to Diagon Alley?”

[bubbles3]

Raegan was the type of girl that couldn't sit still for too long before going completely crazy. She had to always do something with her hands, and as long as she did that, she would be satisfied, but today at her mother's bakery shop in the muggle world, there was absolutely nothing for her to do. She swept the floor twice, cleaned the countertops in the front and in the back where the kitchen was, and washed the dirty dishes. That only took up about an hour and a half, and for the last fifteen minutes, she had nothing more to do. Only a few customers had come inside and ordered a chocolate chip muffin and a strawberry scone, along with a lemon filled doughnut and a nutmeg croissant.

Raegan sighed and called for her mum who was baking in the back, and told her that she was going to go to the wizarding world for a while so that she could see her student Macey that she tutored over the summer. She agreed and Raegan set off for Diagon Alley, her usual place to go when she wanted to do something. Hogsmeade was another place to go to do something, but that was always after Diagon Alley for some reason. She decided she would take a walk to the Leacky Cauldron instead of apparate to give her something to do.

On her way, she passed a number of people that she had recognized from her mum's shop. A few regulars said hi and kept walking, so she said hello back and smiled with a small wave. She loved it when people recognized her from the bakery; for some reason, it made her feel good about herself and her work. Not everyone was as friendly when they entered the shop, but Raegan tried her best to be equally nice to each of them, no matter how rude they were in case they were maybe having a bad day.

As she entered the Leaky Cauldron, she waved to the man behind the counter, and walked to the back, where the infamous brick wall stood. She took out her wand and tapped the appropriate bricks, and it peeled back for her one by one until it made a doorway for her to enter. She walked through with a smile on her face. She always had a special place in her heart for the wizarding world, mostly because she hadn't known about it all of her life. She had learned of it when her father gave her a spell book for her tenth birthday and told her about the magical world.

As she passed shops, memories of her first time going down Diagon Alley washed through her mind. Olivander's, where she got her first wand, was one of the first places she passed. She saw a younger looking boy twirling his wand through his fingers, and she smiled. She had once been able to do something close to that, but nothing so elegant. Another girl noticed his wand, and said "That is a really lovely wand that you have there," he told her that it had the core of an Opaleye, one of the most beautiful dragons in her opinion. They had pearly scales that line its body, and glittering multi-coloured eyes that had no pupils. The boy seemed to recognize the girl, and said You’re…Hope Phillips, correct? My name is Nathaniel Longbottom. What brings you to Diagon Alley?” She knew the name from somewhere, but she couldn't remember where. Of course she knew who Nathaniel was, but she never had the pleasure of meeting him.

She walked towards the two and said "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but did you say that that was an Opaleye core?" Raegan smiled brightly and bit the inside of her cheek.

[flower]

Hope seemed to make friends where ever she went. People seemed to be naturally drawn to her loving nature and always happy smile. She didn't mind that people liked to be around her since she liked to be around people as well. She was a people person and loved to always be with someone. Sadly though, people saw Hope as a person that they could take advantage of. She had been teased and picked on before but she did not let that bother her. She simply kept her head held up high and moved on with her life. She always tried to see the good in people no matter what they did to her.

There was no denying that Hope was different from most of the other girls her age. She was unique and danced to the beat of her own drum. There was defiantly no denying that. How many other sixteen year olds do you know that are constantly happy, adore animals, have odd parents and create their own odd clothing? That was Hope for you. A wonderful, odd, self confident teenage girl. More people needed to be like her. She was not fake and never lied to anyone. She was always honest and wanted the best for people. If she was in a competition and she lost, she would not be jealous or bitter but she would be happy for the other person. Hope was an amazing person, someone others should thrive to become.

"Well Mr. Ollivander must have worked very hard on this wand. You are so lucky to have it!" Hope said with a smile on her face. She had always tried to enjoy the simpler things in life. This wand may not have been the greatest thing in the world but Hope could see the beauty in that wand and just how much hard work went into it. It was a treasure that should be kept on a pedestal. "I've never heard of that kind of core before. Is it a new kind?" Hope asked, a smile still on her face. She was really interested in that kind of core now. She wanted to know where it came from and how it was developed. Once Hope was interested in something she would stop at nothing to learn every possible fact about it.

"It's nice to meet you Nathaniel. You must be from Hogwarts since you didn't call me by my first name. Most strangers who know me through my parents call me Flower," Hope chuckled, her smile still radiating her entire face. She didn't mind it when people called her Flower since it was the name her parents gave her. However, she much rather be called Hope. For some reason she liked her middle name better than her first name. "Oh I am just here window shopping. There was nothing else to do on a day like today. What brings you here? Wand shopping I presume?" Hope asked, pointing to the wand in his hand. She began to wonder why the boy would have a new wand. The most obvious reason would be that his old wand that he received when he was eleven must have been damaged or something. She would soon find out the answer to her question though.

Suddenly Hope saw another girl join the two of them. She seemed familiar and must have been in Hogwarts also. Always friendly, Hope gave the girl a hearty smile and tried to make her feel welcomed. "Oh hello!" Hope said with a smile, waving to the girl. She would let Nathaniel answer the question on the wand that the girl asked. After all, he did seem to be an expert on wands and would know more than what she did.


( w o r d s ) : 632
( n o t e s ) : Sorry for the wait !
( l y r i c s ) : Fireworks - Katy Perry
( c r e d i t ) : Kelsey yo ! Steal and die !