Carina McGonagall is named after the constellation containing the second brightest star in the sky - and it just so happens one Sirius Black is named after the brightest. They've always had an interesting relationship throughout the years - pranks...
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2nd July 1976
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The two weeks in London had felt like an entire lifetime to Carina. It wasn't that it was bad at all, not in any way, just very different to what Carina was used to. It wasn't that working in the shop was bad, far from it. Aunt Lucy worked in the robes shop that had belonged to her mother and she still kept her last name. Madam Malkin's was very popular as Lucy was skilled at making school robes, dress robes and work robes alike.
So along with her brother, James Malkin, Aunt Lucy ran that little shop. Her husband, Carina's Uncle Malcolm, normally worked in the Honeydukes in Hogsmeade but over summer, he transferred to the one in Diagon Alley to help with the creations of new flavours for the hotter months and holidays. Her cousins, Archie and Mattie, would normally help their father out in that shop but with Carina trying her best to be of use in Madam Malkin's, there was far more fun for them to have in there with their mother.
For the entire fortnight, the twins found little nooks and crannies throughout their mum's shop where they could sit and pester Carina without being in plain sight or in the direct path of her or their mum's wrath. Often, their little hiding places were so secretive that there was no way to incriminate them, driving Carina absolutely mad, because of course it was them, those bloody pains.
The thing was, at age 17, both boys could apparate around basically anywhere, so nowhere was safe and rather frequently Carina had been woken to them standing right next to her head after apparating through her locked door, leaving her shrieking in immediate terror, then anger and them shrieking with laughter. Their jokes and tricks had certainly become more and more advanced as they had gotten older. She suspected their extra work to drive her mad was probably built up from her beating them in the last game of the season in May and them not being able to beat her in family Quidditch this year, as they weren't visiting Minerva's house where the open fields were large enough to play in.
However, it had taken seven pin cushions turning into hedgehogs spontaneously to make Carina realise that she was never going to get anything done working with Aunt Lucy. But Lucy was sympathetic and let the girl spend the rest of the week that she had had left wandering around and exploring Diagonal Alley properly. "They do that to their younger brother all the time," Carina's aunt had told her after her needles had all turned into stick insects. "Oliver will be happy to show you around like you did for him back up in Hogsmeade. Go on, dear, have some fun."
Carina had seen her cousin Oliver around a lot less than the twins. He seemed to have found his own hiding places but instead of using them to play jokes on any unsuspecting victim that was around, he used them to hide away from everyone else. Oliver was only fourteen and a Hufflepuff, which meant Carina didn't see him often and unlike Archie and Mattie, he didn't hunt her down around the Ravenclaw dining table and often played against each other in Quidditch. Occasionally they would bump into each other on the way to classes or the library or meals, but their conversations were short and usually not really about anything majorly important. Small talk. Something Carina wasn't particularly great at, if she was honest, but she tried her best, nevertheless.
It took her some time to find Ollie as her aunt had only given a rather vague description of where he could be, and seeing as she hadn't seen him around at all since Madam Malkin's became open for business once again, it became quickly apparent that this general area was probably far wider as in those hours that had passed since shop opening, Oliver could've gone basically anywhere.
However after maybe an hour or so, Carina had found him in Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour. Florean was a friend of the McGonagalls', so Oliver was sitting in the corner with a book in one of his hands and an ice cream, looking to be made of some sort of Honeyduke's product, in the other.
As Carina had passed by the counter, Alice Fortescue looked up at her and gave her a kind smile. The graduated girl was standing happily behind the till with her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom and she looked so joyful with him that it made Carina feel so good for them. Alice and Frank were such great, sweet, kind people and they deserved the best and that meant they deserved each other so much. Carina gave them a grin back and Alice returned to her work.
Oliver was already staring at Carina expectantly by the time she turned back to him and walked over to his seat. "So you're wanting a tour of Diagon Alley?" The younger boy said. His fingers were flicking through the pages of his book but his eyes were on his cousin. Carina's brow crinkled in confusion.
"You're wearing your boots, so you're planning to walk. You've got your purse so you're planning to spend money and you have come to me - meaning you probably want a tour." The boy rattled off his list of observations leaving Carina rather impressed and sort of confused.
Her cousin laughed at her face as she was trying to figure things out. "Also Mum sent a Patronus message about two minutes before you walked in."
Carina shook her head at the grinning younger boy and as he got up and ran off, she immediately sprinted after him.
Merlin, she hated running, thought Carina as she puffed and panted quite a bit as she struggled to keep up with her cousin as he darted through the packed and narrow side streets of Diagon Alley. But just as they reached the main shopping street, he paused and waited patiently for Carina to catch her breath.
She was not a runner. She could see the irony - her Quidditch was all about chasing things, hence the name, of course - but actually running just wasn't something she was good at.
Then he grabbed her hand and off they had dived into a world of a million new things, strange objects to gasp in wonder at, to gaze in bewilderment and fear at, to wish to reach out and touch with a sense of almost morbid curiosity for.
Thousands of stalls lined just the outsides of the shops and inside, they contained even more weird and yet still awe-inducing things.
Oliver showed her them all, pausing to allow her to watch or feel or buy from any place she wanted and giving her commentary on any things that could be seen at that moment. He recommended items for purchase and steered her away from all the most likely cursed and hexed products that were for sale. Each section and each store was like its own personal world with a strange sense of change and a different feeling to each one. Things on sale varied wildly; from books to buttons to brooches, from silken scarves to spells in bottles of all shapes and sizes to silver swords that could take a man's head off. Carina had to resist the urge to buy a gorgeous bronze dagger, but as she watched it inside the little glass box it had been contained within, a sneaking suspicion arose in her that the minute that was removed, it would attempt to stab anyone who was nearby, as it occasionally violently smacked against the glass lid of the box. Still, there remained something oddly captivating about it, and Carina continued to stare as Oliver dragged her away to some other find he had come across down the street.
But, eventually, they had had to return, with Carina's purse significantly lighter than before, and a rather hefty bag of goods to show for that day.
But at least she had got a lot, Carina thought to herself as she made her way out of Madam Malkin's with her suitcase on the morning of July 2nd. As she spotted her mother's familiar little car, she grinned, waving at Minerva. It had been a long two weeks indeed.
