Bruke’s special – The end of the first book

Diagon Alley hasn't changed much since the last time Danil visited it. People of all calibers walked around, some sporting bright colors and others preferring to stick to the shadows with their dark robes. A lot of owls were flying between the buildings, forcing the little fairies – who served as an attraction in one of the shops – to hide from the hunters of the night. And when they flew away, the fairies bravely jumped out of their hiding places and stuck their tongues out at the owls' backs.

And shops: they were countless. Only the main street of Diagon Alley could offer you a bunch of different magical and not so magical things. Who knew what you could find if you walked further and turned into a darker alley? It didn't matter who you were, the little magical corner hidden from the view of the larger world had something for everyone.

A couple of kids who were too young to attend Hogwarts ran past Danil, looking back when they realized just how tall he was. And in general, the three-meter skinny teenager and his old grandfather were given a wide sigh by everyone in the alley.

"Old man, don't you need to engage in some kind of shadow politics now?" He looked down at the disguised Albus's head, but the man only laughed in response.

"My young friend, let me do this for you at least. We both know that at the next meeting of the Ministry, the esteemed Lords and Lady of Wisgamoth will do everything to make life difficult for you." The old man said sarcastically. "And with the situation that arose after Remus left… Well, I think it will be more interesting for him to teach you one-on-one on your trip than to teach the castle to children who will be afraid of him. And it will be good for you to unwind."

Neither of them spoke for a couple of seconds. The whispers that Danil heard behind his back didn't disappear. Students still regarded him with distrust and contempt. For many, he remained a Dark Creature that devours people at night; a cursed invalid who would never be able to fit into normal society – he hangs out with Lovegood, the evidence is there – or he was simply hated because he was a – stupid communist who can't even put two and two together.

Looking at the behavior of the children, it wasn't difficult to guess what their parents would think. They must have gotten their opinions from somewhere.

So Danil was glad that he would spend his summer traveling through the passes of the defenses and learning new things. The things that he wanted to test, it is better to do away from populated areas. You never know what might blow.

"Is it just me, or have you become less… polite? I'm not used to hearing so much sarcasm from one of the great ones." Danil asked as they turned into a narrow passage to shorten part of the path.

"Maybe so." Albus allowed. "Maybe the last few years at school and your appearance have made me admit what I've been denying for a very long time."

The monster boy adjusted his goggles and waited with interest for the continuation of the monologue. But when there was no response, he decided to ask what the old man meant.

"Let's leave this conversation for later, my friend. We are already there."

And together they went into a store already familiar to Danil – Bruke's Wands.

The bell announced their arrival, sending ringing sounds throughout the store. Now that Danil had been around magic for a long time, he was able to feel an almost imperceptible surge of weak magic from the bell. 'Could it be sending signals to particularly noisy parts of the workshop?'

"Who's there?! We're closed today, go to hell!" This time it was a gruff male voice that yelled at them, making Albus smile.

"Oh, like father – like daughter. The best students of their years, if you can believe it." The old man said happily, as if showing off a trophy. "Bruke, I don't think you should turn down good offers when they come to you on a silver platter."

For a couple of moments, the store became quiet, and only then the door behind the counter opened and a middle-aged bald man with a beard no worse than Dumbledore's tumbled out. He was wearing strange-looking clothes, as if someone had mixed a blacksmith's apron with a wizard's robe, and in his hands he was holding… a sharp tuning fork?

"Ah, it's just you." Bruke muttered in disappointment seeing Albus and putting his fork into the pocket on his stomach, but then looked at Danil and widened his eyes. "What's this? Did you decide to introduce me to Hagrid's bastard?"

Coughing even at the thought that he was mistaken for the son of the school Gamekeeper, Danil waved his hand negatively. Meanwhile, the old man took the conversation in the direction they needed. They didn't come here to chat after all.

"We need a Wand for the young man." Albus pointed his hand at the monster boy and Bruke narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Remove the illusions, then we'll talk." And although his words sounded wary, the eyes of the wand maker sparkled with interest.

Danil remembered how Albus described Bruke's work. Most of his Wands were mediocre, barely up to the standard set by the Ministry, but when he found a client who iterested him, he made real works of art.

So, without much debate, removing the illusion from his body, Danil appeared before the eyes of Bruke in all his monstrous grandeur.

"Hooo… So that's why you stuck your crooked nose in here. You were sure that the kid would interest me." The wand maker whistled. "My daughter said that you came with some kind tall guy under illusion magic, but I didn't expect that."

Coming out from behind the counter, Bruke quickly walked up to Danil and began to examine his uniform from all sides.

"What did you say was your problem?" He asked distractedly, grabbing the boy's hand and looking at his palm and fingers.

"Wands explode at my touch."

"And you're asking me to make him another wand? Dumbledore, are you an idiot?" Bruke dropped Danil's hand and looked back at Albus. "He'll just blow it up too. The same problems happened when wizards tried to give wands to dragons, their magic is simply too powerful and aggressive."

"What kind of dumbass decided to give a wand to a dragon?" Danil asked with wide eyes.

"A dead one, but that's a thing of the past." Bruke turned around again, like a ballerina, and stabbed his finger at the boy's ribs; he simply couldn't reach any higher. "And you, an alive dumbass, need something stronger than a wand. A Bruke's spetial will do. Sure, it would be on the bigger side, but I doubt you'll have a problem with that. Come on in."

Having said this, Bruke disappeared behind the door of the workshop.

"The what? What in the name of Gods is Bruke's spetial?" Danil muttered in confusion, walking after the wand maker.

Somewhere just north of Paris, in a rich-looking Manor located in the magical territory of France, lived a family of five people. Appoline Delacour and Jean-Paul Delacour were a happily married couple for three decades and were blessed with three girls.

Born from the marriage of a human and a Veela, the three girls were also Veela. A magical race of creatures who enchanted men with their magic.

Fleur Delacour was the eldest of the three. She was no longer the little girl who followed her parents everywhere with endless questions about the world and magic. This girl grew into a young woman of incredible beauty, although she was helped by her mother's blood. In just a couple of months she will be seventeen years old and will become a legally adult witch in the eyes of the law.

Shoulder-length blond hair, smooth skin without a single flaw, full pink lips and perfect body proportions. It would be difficult for an average man to take his eyes off such a woman even without magic, let alone the famous Vella's charm.

Gabrielle Delacour was the youngest. She was only eight years old and the girl was a ray of sunshine in the life of her family. Her hair was the same blonde as her sister's, but it went down to the small of her back. She was overflowing with energy, just as many children of her age did.

And the second daughter of the House of Delacour – Elizabeth Delacour. The thirteen-year-old girl didn't stand out of the general iddilia of the family pictures in any way. Every one of them always seemed perfect. But it was impossible to guess whether it was just a side effect created by the passive Vella magic, or their usual mood.

Her blonde hair, wasn't flowing freely, it was pulled into a tight braid that fell over her shoulder and ended on her chest. And her blue eyes seemed to be unnaturaly beautiful, even more so than an avarage Vella. Appoline assumed that perhaps her little girl had discovered some hidden talent that was transmitted with their blood, but so far no one has been able to find confirmation of these words.

Now, two of the Delacour sisters – Fleur and Elizabeth – were sitting at one of the small tables in the cafeteria of the Charmbaton and having breakfast. Unlike Hogwarts, the French Magic School didn't have huge communal tables and buffet-style meals. The food was cooked only if someone ordered it. 

"Elizabeth, I heard that a certain Bonier showed interest in you quite recently. And that it resulted in a quite a scandal." Fleur said in pure French with a twinkle of laughter in her eyes. "Do you want to share with your beautiful sister what happened?"

"Your vanity is showing." Elizabeth wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "This frog-eater has decided that we are destined to be together." The girl looked like she would have spat on the ground if she wasn't a proper lady. "I just explained to him where exactly he should go with his declarations of love in simple words. I've never liked pompous idiots who can only talk nonsense."

Fleur giggled softly into her palm. "Liz, we also are a part of the frog-eaters, or have you forgotten?"

Lowering the fork back onto the plate, Elizabeth looked sternly at her older sister.

"There is a huge difference between a frog-eater and a person originally from France, my dear sister. A frog-eater is a model of behavior, and a person from France is just French. I think I've already explained this to you, haven't I?"

The girls looked at each other seriously for a couple of seconds, and then Fleur grinned and went back to eating. She thought that her sister was not serious, and Bonier was a known womanizer and an extremely unpleasant person to the boot. Fleur had no doubt that her sister would reject this pig.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was deadly serious. She'll die before she starts dating a frog. 

"How's your Rune project going?" The eldest of the sisters changed the topic. 

"Good enough, I'd say. I think by the end of the week I will be able to create a conceptual representation of the eternal flame."

So, their breakfast was spent talking, and only when most of the students started drinking tea, owls began to fly into the hall and scattered morning mail. One of these owls threw a bundle of newspapers on the table to the Delacour sisters and flew away without even waiting for payment. Their subscription was purchased in advance and for a long time.

Elizabeth was the first to reach for the newspapers, taking out the latest edition of the Wixen World News and the Quibbler, leaving everything else to her sister.

"I don't understand how you can read this." Fleur glanced at the Quibbler, the magasine was full of bright colors. As usual, even the main headline was on the verge of madness – The escaped Umgubular Slashkilter! Read the story of Ministery prisoner, Danil Khromov! – and it wasn't the most delusional thing that was written. "Just looking at the colors makes my head hurt. And I'm trying not to think about all the theories that that English barbarian printed this time."

Fleur stopped, waiting for a reaction from her sister. It was already a kind of tradition – Fleur tried to tease Liz in the morning to wake her up a little, but nothing usually worked. Liz really wasn't a morning person. 

But the expected response didn't come.

"Wow, what you're reading must be really sensational." She said to herself in surprise and even straightened up in her chair to look at her sister's face, which was hidden behind the newspaper. But Elizabeth abruptly got up from her seat and buttoned her robe.

"I'll have to cut it short today, sorry, Fleur. I just remembered that I have some urgent business." The girl turned on her heels and almost ran out of the hall.

"... Was it something I said?" 

Elizabeth, meanwhile, walked briskly to her private room, since everyone in Sharmbaotna could afford it. And as soon as she closed the door behind her, the girl's expression fell, and tears poured down her cheeks like two perfect rivers.

"He's alive…" she mumbled, and although cats were scratching at her soul, her voice still sounded like an angel's. "He's at Hogwarts. It can't be a coincidence."

She slowly slid down the door to the ground and pressed her knees to her chest, hiding her face in her legs. "He didn't lie, Danil is really alive. He's alive. Alive." she muttered these words to herself like a mantra. Again and again.

It will be a long time before the girl can calm down. But when her emotions return to her control, she will set herself a new goal – to get to Hogwarts, no matter the cost. 

After all, she hadn't seen her brother for more than ten years. Elizabeth "Kat" Delacour wasn't going to let this chance go so easily.

-=-=-=-=-=-

A/N: [Feels like I should've waited with the sister thing. Maybe I'll write a short novel about Kat's life as well.

You know, two more plot chapters were planned, but my departure to the army was shifted to 16th. So I had to change my plans. There will be another crack chapter, at least.

But for now, this is it, comrades. I hope to see you all in a year!]