Family Planning

Chapter Twenty-Seven: U.N.I.

“Hello students!” Professor Millane greeted. She was standing in the front of the Room of Requirements.

“We’ll be entering Diagon Alley in a few moments, but first I need to hand out and explain your cards that hold galleons,” Millane announced.  “Please line up,”

A line was formed within a few moments, with families standing together.

“Okay, these cards,” the professor levitated a pile of differently coloured plastic cards to show the crowd, “Will hold your money; it is designed after muggle credit and debit cards. When you pay for your materials, you shall slip it into a slot that will automatically deduct the amount of money necessary after you have placed the said materials on a charmed table that will, by design, calculate the amount of the resources.”

“Remember to stop by Gringott’s if you wish to add more money to the cards,” she said, and with a wave of her wand, the cards were deposited to each family.

“Off you go now!” and with that, the doors opened, and the students filed in.

“Wow,” Lea said, awed.

Hermione and Draco were standing with Lea and Jake, who were standing with James, Becca, Alicia, and Damien. The other children were also standing with their own parents.

“Let’s get this down,” Draco started in a commanding tone, “We will first shop for the things you will need for school, then you guys can shop on your own, I’m sure your parents agree with me on this one,”

All the children nodded, and the other parents looked at Draco, appreciative that he told their kids what was going to happen today.

“Daddy, are we going to go to Gringott’s now?” Lea asked.

“Yes, is anyone else coming?”

All the adults nodded, probably because their kids had begged for some spending money. The group quietly walked towards the goblin bank, and stopped in front a slot that had a very large sign over it, that stated that the slot was to be used to withdraw money from accounts, and onto the cards.

Taking turns, each parent punched in their account number, and typed in a specified amount. Becca convinced her father to keep the card unlimited, and Blaise put Damien’s card on unlimited despite Parvati saying that they shouldn’t spoil him. Hermione didn’t bother even trying to tell Draco to put a budget, knowing that anything she said about money would fall to deaf ears. Even though Ron had gained a sizable amount of money for being a decorated war hero, he and Padma decided to add a hundred galleons to their card.

“We’re off to Ollivander’s, what about we meet in front of here in three hours?” Hermione asked the group.

They nodded their heads, and went their separate ways. Hermione, Draco, and the twins, walked towards the wand shop, and walked inside. They were greeted by Ollivander himself, who immediately began talking.

“Ah, Hermione Granger, vine wood, 10¾ inches, and dragon heartstring, if I remember correctly, and Draco Malfoy, Hawthorn wood, 10 inches, unicorn hair, I presume,” Ollivander said thoughtfully.

Hermione never ceased to be amazed by the man’s memories of every wand he ever sold. How he did it, she would never know.

“I see these two youngsters are here for their wands, please step onto the platforms please,” Ollivander asked, before disappearing into the back of the shop for wands.

The Malfoy twins stood on the pedestals, waiting for the elderly wand maker. He came out with numerous boxes a few minutes later.

“With twins, it is highly unusual for them to wands with different cores, there has only been two sets of twins in the past century that have had wands that have had different cores,” Ollivander stated. “Here are some wands to try,”