The Adventures of Laney Scamander: Lost In Time

Chapter 5-The Book with the Box

The journey to London was about an hour or so. On the way, the girls chatted about where they would go. "First time in London?" the driver asked. "Oh no, we've been many times before, we've just never visited the shops. Is it true there's a store just for jewelry?" Luna asked. The driver was suspicious of this. How could a bunch of normal looking folks not know about jewelry stores? "Yes, but the stores have very high security, so I wouldn't try anything." said the driver.

"I remember my great grandfather telling us a story about this!" Laney exclaimed. "He was in New York, and his Niffler broke into a jewelry store. Then the muggle police men showed up, and he was almost a goner!" The driver stopped the car at once and turned around. "What on earth are you talking about child?" he asked. "Sir, no need to get upset, my daughter, she has a fantastic imagination you see. In fact, she's come up with other creatures too! Would you like to hear about them?" Luna asked. The driver straightened up in his seat and began driving once more. "I think that will be enough nonsense, thank you."

The next few minutes were silent, at least up until they arrived in London. "That'll be £56." said the driver. Addison helped Luna with the money, and soon the driver sped off just before muttering "weirdos". Soon after, Rolf, Lorcan, Lysander, and Jaxson arrived.

"Well, that was a lovely drive! Where should we head off first?" Luna asked. Addison took a look around. "Lets go to Poundland! Everything there is only £1!" Everyone then began following Addison's lead as she led them to a small shop called Poundland. The shop had a variety of things: food, candies, toys, cleaning supplies, and more. Laney was surprised that none of the food was trying to bite at any of the customers, for it had happened many times when she went shopping with her parents in the wizarding world. Then again, this wasn't the wizarding world, so Laney would have to adjust to this strange environment.

"I go here all the time with my mum. They have loads of things here, feel free to browse around!" exclaimed Addison. "You sound like a store employee." laughed Laney. "Yep, I'm a store employee, tour guide, and friend all in one! I'm very good at multitasking." said Addison as she too let out a laugh. "Let's go look around, maybe you'll find something you like here!"

The girls browsed each shelf. In the end, Luna got some yarn and Lorcan got Magic Star chocolates. "Where should we go next?" Jaxson asked. "There's another good store called TK Maxx, and it's also fairly cheap!" Addison said. "We should go there then!" Lysander exclaimed. Addison once again led everyone to the next store. After an hour of shopping, they made their final purchases and went on their way to the next store. In their time in London, they went to a clothing store, a diner, and a shoe store (at Laney's request.)

"I say we should start wrapping up guys, it's almost 7!" Rolf said as he looked down at his watch. "Can we please just go to one more store dad?" Lorcan pleaded. "Oh alright, as long as it's fine with your mother." said Rolf. Luna nodded; she seemed to also want to go to one more store. "There's a bookstore nearby that we could go to!" Addison suggested. "Let's go there then!" exclaimed Laney.

Everyone made their way to the bookstore and looked at the sign; it was about to close, so they had to be quick. "I'll wait out here if you all want to give me your bags." offered Rolf. Everyone thanked him as he took their bags, then went inside. "Remember to hurry everyone!" Luna reminded the children. Addison and Laney rushed off to the Fiction section, and the boys ran off to go look at bookmarks with cats on them.

Laney was fascinated by what she was seeing; there were no books in cages and no books were flying or turning pages rapidly whenever you'd open them. Something then caught her eye; there was a stack of books sitting in the corner. She figured that they must have been sitting there for a while, at least a couple of years or so, because they appeared to be covered in a thick layer of dust. Laney walked over to the pile of books and picked one up. She lightly dusted it off to reveal the cover. "A History of Magic?" Laney said, surprised. "What?" Addison questioned. "This book, it's the same one we used in our first year of Hogwarts." whispered Laney. "Strange. You think a wizard or witch might have dropped them off here?" wondered Addison. "Maybe." Laney said thinking. "We should get it. In fact, we should get this whole stack of books."

Addison nodded. "Definitely." The girls made their way to the counter, where Luna, Lorcan, Lysander, and Jaxson were already standing. "Found something you'd like?" Luna asked. "Yeah, me and Addison found these books. They seem interesting." Laney said. Just as the girl working at the counter grabbed the books to scan them, she jumped back. "Take them! They're free! And full of witchcraft!" shouted the worker. Laney and Addison exchanged looks, and shrugged. By the time they were finished, two vehicles were outside waiting. "I went ahead and called up two drivers to take us back home." Rolf said. "Everything is already packed up in the trunks."

The ride home wasn't as catastrophic, for they were all tired (and had a different driver who didn't mind when Laney and Addison talked about Bowtruckles and Pygmy Puffs.) Once they got home, Rolf and Luna started dinner and Addison and Laney rushed off to their room. "Let's take a look at these books, shall we?" said Laney. "We shall." Addison said. The two of them opened up two out of the four books they had purchased. Nothing seemed strange or out of the ordinary about them, other than the amount of dust piled on them. They then moved onto the next ones. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the book Laney had, but when Addison opened hers, there was a small box inside.

"Wow, check this out Lane!" Addison gasped. Laney looked over. "A box? Fascinating! Should we open it?" "Of course we should, we can't just let it go untouched!" exclaimed Addison. She slowly opened up the box. Inside was a golden necklace with a small hourglass attached to it. "Fascinating!" Addison exclaimed. Laney's eyes widened as she took a better look at the necklace. "That's a Time Turner! It's quite dangerous in a way." Laney said. Addison looked at her with a curious look. "How so?"

"Well, it has an hour reversal charm casted upon it, meaning, if the hourglass is spun, it'd take us to the past. Albus and Scorpius managed to get ahold of one, and it caused nothing but trouble. They even almost brung back Voldemort!" explained Laney. Addison looked down at the hourglass necklace. "Who knew something so small could do so much damage."

"It can only do damage if it gets in the wrong hands. What I wonder, is how it even got in the book in the first place." Laney thought. "Maybe the time turner is a clue to something. Maybe we have to go back in time!" Addison suggested. "No way! Did you not hear the story about Albus and Scorpius and how they almost brought back Voldemort? We're not going back in time!" Laney said. She looked up at the clock that was hanging over a chair in her room. "It's getting pretty late, we should get to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow. We're heading to Dorset for our family reunion." With that, the girls silently got dressed into their pajamas and went to sleep without saying a word.