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Sirius Black SI-- Ch 4-Settling In—Part 3
🕑 Added 2022-11-30 19:56:17 +0000 UTCI entered the barber shop and a bell rang above my head. There were three huge chairs placed in front of a huge mirror and a man in his 50s was washing his hands in a sink.
"Take a seat, son. I'll be right with you," The barber said while looking up at me and nodding his head toward the chairs.
I took a seat at the nearest chair, it was a bit worn out but still comfortable. The barber came to stand behind me after getting a scissor and a comb.
"What kind of cut do you need—" he stopped speaking the second he ran a hand through my hair and gasped loudly, "these are the smoothest and silkiest hair I've seen in my 30 years of career, what kind of product do you use my man," he said while continuing to run a hand through my hair in fascination.
"It's a family recipe," I said with a small smile, "Just make my hair more manageable but also not too short,"
"You just relax, son. With hair like this I'll give you the best haircut of my life," he said with a gleam in his eyes.
I decided to trust the barber and closed my eyes to relax and let my thoughts wander. There is one last stop I have to take before my day is over. Kreacher had told me that to access the magical alley you have to go into the bathroom of a pub called PUBISLE.
When I opened my eyes about half an hour later, I was very glad to have trusted the barber because when I looked into the mirror I was very satisfied with my look, the hair made my face go straight from normal to the handsome category.
"You just need to eat some meat to fill up a little and you could even be a model," the barber said while I was admiring myself in the mirror. I gave the barber a very generous tip for a job well done.
"Do you know a place called PubIsle," I asked before leaving the shop.
"Oh, it's the small pub two streets away, not many people go there," he said before shrugging, "except for some weirdos with robes,"
"Thank you,"
I left the shop and after walking for a while, I found the Pub hidden in a side street with very little sunshine. I would have missed it if the barber had not told me about it, the entrance to the pub was a small wooden door with a mold-ridden sign with PuBisle written on it.
The pub was very normal looking with low ceilings, wooden beams, and an unlit fireplace, just a bit dark and empty. There were 5 round tables with chairs unevenly place between them, there were only 4 customers and the barkeep in the whole pub and the weird thing was that there were two bathrooms in the place, one on the right and the other on the right.
Kreacher didn't tell me that there were two bathrooms, that blasted elf. I went up to the bar and ordered some fish and chips before I left for the left bathroom which turned out to be a dud. I came out after a while and my order was already there so took a table and had my lunch.
After I finished eating I left toward the right bathroom the second I came close to it, I knew that I was in the right place because I faintly felt a muggle-repelling ward. I opened it and went inside, I walked in the dark for a while before I suddenly exited into a small street with a handful of shops.
LittleAlley was a lot smaller than DiagonAlley from Sirius's memories, there were hardly 10 shops in there. There was a bookstore, an ingredients shop, a pet shop, an antique store, and some other shops. It was almost empty compared to the hustle and bustle of DiagonAlley.
I went into the bookstore for a while and browsed it but it didn't have many books, just a lot of books about different kinds of birds. I was very disappointed with the book collections so I left after a while without buying anything and went across the street into the pet shop.
The second I entered the shop I was struck with a weird cacophony of all kinds of bird squawks. The pet shop was huge from the inside and it was almost the size of a park, and it was filled with all kinds of tropical birds of various colors from the size of a palm to the size of a person. I looked around with my mouth wide open at the amazing scene in front of me.
"How can I help you, My man," A voice came from behind me and took me out of my trance. A colorfully dressed man was standing behind the counter that was just beside the door.
"um... I am looking for an owl," I told him after clearing my throat.
"You've come to the right place then, Come with me," he said and started walking into the maze of cages. I followed after him blankly, still amazed by this magical sight.
"Is the LittleAlley always this empty," I asked curiously.
"You must be new here," he said with a chuckle, "The mating season ended two weeks ago so obviously it is a lot less bustling. This island is famous around the world for its large population of exotic magical birds. Every year in the mating season people all across the world come here hoping they could get a magical bird for themselves. There were even rumors of sightings of phoenixes here," he said in a mystifying tone, "But alas I haven't seen it yet,"
"Oh, I see,"
"These are all the owls that we have in stock, right now," he said while waving his hands at a collection of various species of owls.
"I need to give it to a teenager so which one do you think is the best one," I said while looking around uncertainly
"Well then this one here is a good choice," he said while pointing toward a brown colored yellow-eyed owl, "It's reliable and very docile so it's good for a gift to a kid,"
"Well, then I'll take it,"
"Marvelous," he said and brought the owl with him toward the counter.
I was looking around waiting for the shopkeeper to complete the procedure when my eyes fell on a Majestic Bird placed in a hidden corner behind the door. It was pure white without a single feather of a different color. It was the size of a person's head and was looking at me curiously, with its bright yellow eyes.
"I see that the WindStealer has caught your eye,"
"What species is it," I asked while looking at the bird's hypnotic gaze.
"It is one of the fastest and deadliest magical birds in the world. Don't be fooled by its small size, it's still a hatchling, but give it a month and it will be larger than most of the owls in here," he explained enthusiastically,
"It is faster than the fastest broom in the world, only the new one, Firebolt can barely match its speed but even then you would have to get the world's best seeker to even be able to touch its feather, the way the bird maneuvers in the air and it's very stealthy because of its color and its silent flight so we almost never catch it, It was caught just a week ago by chance, but alas," he sighed while shaking his head, "The mating season had already ended so almost all the buyers have already left. Now I'll have to wait for next year,"
"I'll buy it," I said, having made up my mind the second I laid my eyes on it.
"Don't joke about it my friend," He said with a nervous chuckle, "It is very expensive, usually there is a very big auction—"
"I'll buy it," I repeated while looking at him with a glint in my eyes.
He must have seen something because he didn't ask anymore and just said the price.
"Would you also like to establish a familiar bond with it? It's a bit expensive but it'll be worth it," the pet shop owner asked.
"Yes," I said while recalling from Sirius's memories, about a small ritual pet shops offered when young students come to buy their owls.
The shopkeeper took me into the back of the shop where a runic circle was drawn on the floor and placing windstealer on one side asked me to sit on the other side. Almost instantly I felt a connection to the mystical bird in front of me. I could vaguely feel its thoughts, It was very curious about the world around it and I could even somewhat feel its emotions.
The shopkeeper opened the cage and the bird instantly flew toward me and gently sat on my shoulder.
"I'll call you Swift, How about it?" I said while rubbing swifts feathers gently who chirped in reply.
"They are very self-sufficient so you don't have to worry about feeding them, he will hunt its own prey," the shopkeeper said.
I nodded and paid for both swift and the unnamed owl. After leaving the shop I called for Kreacher, and gave him the cage for Ron's owl so that he can take it back to the manor. I was about to leave to return back and write the letter to harry with Ron's Owl when the shop at the end of the street came into my view, it was an antique shop so I was intrigued.
I entered the shop and found a guy tinkering with a watch on the counter. I looked around the shop and found it filled with a random assortment of stuff, from a wall clock to chandeliers and all kinds of victorian furniture strewn around haphazardly, but my eyes were attracted to a very tall cabinet colored in black with intricate runes covering it all over.
"Hey is this working," I asked in a whisper to the man who looked up and put down his working glasses.
"No, unfortunately, it is not," He sighed and shook his head, "My grandfather was the creator of vanishing cabinets but he died before he could pass on that knowledge to me,"
"I thought repairing it was easy," I asked recalling how Draco was able to do it while in Hogwarts.
"No, repairing it is easy. Any person with a NEWT in ancient runes can do it but it's replicating that is the problem. I've already repaired this one but its other half is lost so its a bit useless,"
"That's a shame," I said while running my hands over the cabinet in regret, "I would've liked one of those,"
"Here, let me show you something," he said while pulling a small rectangle box from under the counter, its length and width were about a meter, "While I've never been able to replicate my grandfather's work. I did make a prototype but unfortunately, it's a bit smaller and cannot transport any live object,"
"I'll take it," I said while thinking about how it would make a lot of stuff easier.
