Chapter 5: Diagon Alley: Part 2

Jenna gave the boy, Denver, a smile and nodded. "I- Thank you. For back there. And this. Helping me, I-Imean." She stuttered, fumbling with what to say. She was still shivering, pale and felt sick, but she no longer seemed like she was going to throw up or about to have a panic attack.

Denver smiled and nodded. "Its fine. How about you start from the beginning. Just explaining what lead you here might help us figure out how to get you back."

Jenna watched him in silence for a minute, then closed her eyes and nodded. She started with going to school, skipping the more unpleasant details about Derrick and the cola incident. She told Denver about the black book, and how it had somehow wound up in her backpack when she had gotten home. Throughout her explanation, Denver never once cut in or questioned her. His expression was one of expectation, understanding, and belief. He believed her story, and accepted it as the truth. She had almost expected him to brush it off as hogwash or her being insane, so seeing that acceptance made Jenna feel more confident and brave.

When she had finished, and he didnt talk right away, Jenna took the initiative to ask, "How is this possible? This is just a story. Books arent real, they're just someone's imagination and creativity put down in ink."

"Yet here we are." Denver replied, giving Jenna a smile. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts, pondering something. Yet even though he seemed to have a lot on his mind, he didnt let Jenna sit with her own fears and anxiety. Instead, he stood up and held out his hand to her. "Time moves on, even if we wish it would not. Since we are here, we may as well look around. Jumping 101: Always know your surroundings."

Jenna blinked up at Denver, then rubbed at her dry, tired eyes. She forced herself to smile, taking his hand and allowing him to help her up. "We dont have magic. If they find out, they probably arrest us or will obliviate us. We shouldnt just wander around openly..."

Denver shook his head, smirking at her. "You dont know the first thing about jumping, so let me be the judge of what we should or should not do."

"But didn't you you say we cant mess with the characters...?" Jenna asked as she started following Denver back out onto the street.

"There are some characters we can and some we can not." Denver answered, looking back at her in amusement. "But there are always things we have to do once entering a story, and since I was pulled here, I need to do those things before we move on."

Pulled here? Jenna looked at him with a curious expression, but he waved her unasked question away, so she let it drop for now.

Now that she was calmer, she took the time to actually look around and take in the sights. She remembered a few of the shops, such as the Apothecary, the Daily Prophet office, and even the large Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The Magical Managerie and Owl Emporium both drew her attention right away. While she had never been allowed to have pets of her own, she loved animals. She had always loved reading about all the different types of mythical creatures that appeared in books, from the large dragons of Pern to the Kneazle from Harry Potter. So actually getting to see some of these critters in person was a dream come true.

"Do the rules extend to animals?" Jenna asked, giving Denver's sleeve a tug as she looked in the window of Magical Managerie. "Can I...? Please?"

Getting a reluctant looking nod from Denver, Jenna sped into the shop to look around. The shop was loud and cramped, with every inch seeming to be taken up with tanks and cages containing some form of creature. The ravens were exceptionally gorgeous, but their loud cawing and word mimicry drove Jenna away quickly. She passed by tanks of poisonous slugs, toads of many types, and rats that seemed to be playing a game with their tails.

She almost screamed when a rabbit she had been admiring disappeared with a loud 'POP', leaving behind a top hat in its place, just to transform back a moment later. Baby nifflers drew her attention, and she cooed at them in adoration as they stared at her through their enclosure.

Finally, she pulled herself away to give a few cats some chin scratches before Denver finally told her to come with him. "I wish I could have a niffler or a raven." Jenna sighed as she followed him out of the shop. "Or an owl. I would love to be able to write and send messages by owl! I'd be a right witch then."

"You would have to have money for that, you know." Denver reminded her, glancing sideways at her as she once again started window shopping. "Gringotts takes lots of different currency, if you wanted to try trading for some galleons."

Jenna looked back at him over her shoulder with a frown. "But why would I do that? It's not like it would make sense to spend real money on items in a book."

Denver laughed, crossing his arms over his chest to look at her. "Jumping has a purpose. We dont just do it for the fun of it, you know. We often use jumping as a means to an end. There are times we are sent in to learn magic spells or alchemy ingredients that work in one world to attempt in another world. And just because you buy something here, doesnt mean it just vanishes once you leave. Every action taken in a book has an equal and opposite reaction."

"Like the butterfly effect." Jenna stated, turning from the store front to look at him. "I understand. But what do you mean, the stuff we buy doesnt just vanish? You mean we get to keep it?" She asked excitedly. Her dad would probably have a stroke if he came home to see an owl or raven in her room, but she would risk it if it meant having such an intelligent friend.

"You get to keep it somewhere here." Denver corrected, gesturing to the world around them. "There are some limitations when it comes to bringing things back into your own world. Magic on different planes dont always agree or work the same way, so bringing something linked to the magic of this world back to your own could have consequences if the two types of magic arent compatible."

"What if you take magic to a world without magic?" Jenna inquired, trying not to seem too eagerly interested in the answer.

"All worlds have magic, it's just presented differently in different places. In some worlds, such as here, it's actively used and manipulated by the people in the world. In other worlds, it could be the smaller things that are easily overlooked during daily life. The smell of the earth after a rainfall, the sunshine through the forest treetops. The curiosity of a child." Denver waved at her, indicating it was time to move on again. "Magic is everywhere, if you stop to look for it."