CARNIVAL du MYSTIQUE
A Harry Potter UNIVERSE/ Sasporilla Bucket Fan Fiction
by Darren Kelly
Chapter 8
Thursday morning Sasporilla awoke bright and early at five am. She had her shower, made some toast and tea and grabbed an apple from the bowl of fresh fruit she kept on the caravans kitchen counter. By ten to six she stepped out the front door into the bright sunny summer dawn.
"Good morning Sasporilla." Agnes the blind fortune-teller said stepping up along side Sassy's front steps.
"Morning Agnes." Sassy smiled taking her friends arm in hers.
"Thought we might stroll leisurely to this mornings meeting." Agnes said in an upper class accent.
"Oh what a perfectly delightful idea." Sasporilla chuckled with false upper crust amusement. "Perhaps we could stroll through the park after, and go have our hair done."
"After we luncheon at the Royals of course." Agnes insisted. "Watercress and cucumber sandwiches perhaps?"
"Oh god no!" Sasporilla gasped.
"Pizza and cheese burgers then?" Agnes smiled.
"You know it!" Sassy laughed.
The carnies gathered at the foot of the Ferris wheel. Ferdinad Beauxchamps, owner of the Carnival du Mystique, took his place before the crowd to hand out the days assignments. He was quite the sight in long flowing green and gold robes with his beard braided into three sections. A series of carousel horses bobbed up and down as they spun around the wide brim of his high pointed wizard’s hat.
"Good morning everyone!" Ferdinad Beauxchamps smiled broadly looking out over the crowd over his half glasses as he unrolled a rather small scroll. "As everything is just about ready my list is rather small this morning. As you know this is opening day. Setting up the turnstile gateway is a job for four. As I and Jonas will be present as always I will require one volunteer. Also Ms.Bucket, I ask that you come along to learn the process."
"Yes Mr.Beauxchamps." Sasporilla said rather surprised.
"Excellent." Beauxchamps smiled. "Also I am looking for a volunteer to help Alana bathe the elephant and I need someone to run the children’s Bubble World Booth as Mrs.Dumbleshire has not yet recovered from her illness."
Sasporilla looked over at Alana. She was the young woman who assisted the muggle magician the Great Rudolffo. She looked a lot different out of her costume. She was very petite, just above five feet tall, with long fair hair and bright eyes behind large glasses above a large bright smile.
"Would it be possible for me to volunteer?" Sasporilla Bucket asked.
"Yes of course!" Mr.Beauxchamps said. "You are a member of the company. Mrs.Dumbleshire has agreed to pay 20% of all monies earned by the booth to the volunteer."
"The only thing is I don't really know how to run the booth." Sassy admitted.
"I can help you there." Alana said. "I've helped out at the bubble booth a bunch a times. If you give me a hand washing Jumbo, I'll teach ya how to run the booth."
"Ok!" Sasporilla smiled.
"Great!" Alana's broad smile always brightened everyone’s day.
"Wonderful." Mr.Beauxchamps said. "Ms.Bucket will help with all our problems today. Please head with Alana from here and meet up with me at the gateway at nine forty five am. Thank you everyone have a productive day. Remember, once the gates open, sell them fun!!!"
Alana took Sasporilla by the hand and lead her away from the crowd. "This way."
Past the show tent was a great caravan almost fifty feet in length. Its once bright blue and gold paint was now chipped and faded but you could still clearly read 'Ferdinand Beauxchamps presents... the Carnival du Mystique' on the side.
"Wow." Sasporilla said. "This must have been quite the site in its day!"
"I'm told it was." Alana’s smile, Sasporilla mused, covered a good forty percent of her face in happiness. It was perhaps the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Before the show had its own areas between worlds, the carnival travelled through the muggle world, like a normal show. Most of it got rolled up and stored on top of the caravan, and a small mule name Edgar hauled it all from town to town."
"That's amazing." Sasporilla gasped.
"Ya." Alana agreed walking Sassy around the far end of the old show caravan. "Now Mr.Beauxchamps just uses it for his private quarters and the office."
"Oh!" Sasporilla smiled. "I was wondering where the office was?"
"Yep, just back here." At the back of the show caravan was a door with a caged window. A long thin rope hung from somewhere above inside and a sign hung from it reading 'Pull Rope for Business' "If you need to do any carnival business you just pull that there rope and either Mr. Beauxchamps or his assistant will see to ya."
"Lovely thanks." Sasporilla said. "Your accent. It's very subtle but it's Irish isn't it?"
"Yep." Alana said walking Sassy past the utility shed. "Born and raised in Dublin."
"Very nice." Sasporilla said. "I spent some time at Drurlily, in Galway."
"Really?" Alana asked rather shocked. "You struck me as a Hogwarts girl."
"Well I am, was..." Sasporilla stammered, "I was at Drurlily for half a year on an exchange."
"Oh I see." Alana chuckled. "Ya I remember those. Did ya get the mickey taken put of ya for being English?"
"Wait!" Sasporilla stopped. "You went to Drurlilly?"
"Ya?" Alana said. "So?"
"So?!!!" Sasporilla laughed in disbelief. "You're suppose to be a muggle!!!"
"No! I'm not!" Alana insisted. "My cousin is the muggle. My whole family are muggles in fact. When the inquisitions started they hid me away here so the ministry couldn’t find me. A muggle born witch to torture and kill."
"I didn't realise." Sasporilla said. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted." Alana smiled.
"So you do the magic? Sasporilla asked.
"No." Alana insisted coming to a halt between two outer sheds with a large canvas tarp stretched between. "My cousin, Lester is his real name, he does all the magic. Real muggle illusions. Brilliant they are! Would have fooled old Dumbledore himself!"
Alana pulled back the tarp to reveal a small area with a muggle made, modern caravan and the elephant standing on a silver plate in the yard.
"Lester you've gone and left her out again!" Alana yelled at the caravan.
"I thought his name was Rudolfo?" Sasporilla asked following Alana inside the canvassed courtyard, giving the elephant a wide birth.
"His Stage name is the Great Rudolfo." Alana said opening the front door to the caravan and seeing her cousin sprawled out on the living room couch asleep. Snoring with a half-finished bottle of whisky in his hand. "People wouldn't stay for the show If I introduced him as Lester the lazy lump!"
The elephant started to get a little uneasy at Seeing Alana do upset.
"Easy my big girl, easy." Alana said turning to Sasporilla. "Alright I was hoping he'd have put her back in her pen but he didn't. Which means I'm going to have to expose some of the mechanics of the disappearing elephant trick to ya, so we can give her, her bath."
"Wow really?" Sasporilla asked. "Cool! I'd love to see how Muggle magic works."
"All right." Alana said. "She's used to strangers being around her, but even still, walk up slow and give her a soft pat on the hind quarters."
"Jumbo won't mind?" Sasporilla asked a bit concerned.
"Not in the least." Alana smiled.
Sassy took a deep breath and walked up behind the pachyderm slowly, softly lulling the large animal with her voice. "Hi Jumbo. Who's a good girl?"
Sasporilla gently patted the elephant but her hand passed right through the animals flesh as if it were a ghost.
"What the???" Sassy gasped.
Alana burst into laughter. "The first rule of muggle magic is nothin' is ever what it appears to be."
The young magicians assistant bent down underneath the elephant and called Sassys attention to a small area she hadn't noticed before.
"Look here Sasporilla." Alana said pointing at what looked like a piece of domed glass on the silver plate the elephant stood on. "This is a lens that makes a simple mirrored illusion look bigger."
Alana pulled the lens off. Jumbo and the large silver disc disappeared. What was left appeared to be an upside down black bowl with a tiny silver plate and a tiny elephant standing on the flat bottom of it, resting on a similar black bowl beneath.
"Try touching her now but be very gentle." Alana insisted.
Sasporilla was terrified but as she reached out to touch the small beast she realised it still wasn't there!!!
"This is amazing." Sasporilla said.
"Like I said the lens increases the size of mirrored illusions. What your seeing is the real Jumbo," Alana said gently lifting up the two bowls and pulling them apart to reveal their mirrored interiors and the tiny elephant standing patiently at the bottom. "Her name is Lily, short for Liliput, from the Gulivers Travels stories. She's a South Indian Microphant."
"Amazing." Sasporilla said looking in as Alana held in her hand for Lily to walk onto. "I've never seen anything like her."
"They're almost extinct as a species." Alana said taking Lily over to her small pen and putting her in so she could get some food. "My cousin won her by cheating rare animal dealer in a card game. Nearly killed by mistreating her."
"That's horrible." Sassy said. "Poor little thing."
"When I came to help I nursed her back to health with some tips from the mirror lady, Nancy." Alana chuckled. "She's knows her animals. I’ve give her that."
"Well that's something." Sasporilla said. "But what I don't understand is if she is so tiny, why do you need assistance washing her?"
"Ah!" Alana said pulling out a small plastic pail and a soft bristled toothbrush. "You see she's very delicate, a bit of a wiggle worm, and very ticklish."
"Oh I see!" Sasporilla laughed.
"Besides," Alana said quietly, "the only other one besides me and Lester who know about Lily being a Microphant is Mrs.Dumbleshire and now you of course. It's all part of the magic you see. People have to believe what they see is real even if it is just a big reflection in a mirror."
"Wow." Sasporilla laughed. "Who knew muggles were so crafty!"
"Devious devils they are!" Alana laughed. "Shall we get started?"
Alana put on a record that played through speakers in their compound. It played a couple of old muggle rock songs she liked and the occasional trumpet from an elephant. Just enough to remind the carnival it was Jumbos bath day and to stay away.
Sasporilla held Lilly gently cupped in her palms as Alana scrubbed her hide with the soft bristled tooth brush and gentle soap. Lilly trumpeted and chuckled as the bristles tickled her tummy.
There were stories where once the elephant had kicked poor old Mrs.Dumbleshire clear out of the muggle compound, all the way back to the Fortune-tellers Tent! It was no wonder no one wanted to volunteer!
"So I accept that what I saw with the elephant right before my eyes was a reflection. Mirrors and lenses and all that." Sasporilla said. "But I stood right there as the cloth went over her! Landed on her solid form!"
"Did it?" Alana asked playfully. "You know it was a reflection. You know she wasn't there. So how it's not at all possible for that cloth to land on anything solid."
"So did you cast magic?" Sassy asked.
"No!" Alana laughed taking her squeaky-clean microphant and placing her in her pen. "It's ALL muggle trickery I assure you."
"The cloth wasn't there either!" Sassy said.
"Oh no!" Alana shook her head. "The cloth is very real."
"I'm stumped." Sasporilla said. "Muggle magic is way harder than anything taught at Hogwarts.
"Well it sure does take a lot longer to learn." Alana agreed. "The cape has four folds. When flicked open it turns into the cloth. When Lester throws it into the air as if to come down to cover the elephant he pushes a button on the corner of it. That activates small air bladders that push air into tubes that take an elephant form in the cloth. You think it’s fallen on the elephant, when it is the form of the elephant. When Lester pushes the button again it releases the air and it falls to the floor over the mirror illusion covering it and refolding the cloth back into the cloak where the illusion has been tucked away, with Lily inside, safe and sound."
"Oh my god." Sasporilla said. "That's so simple yet so bloody complex and amazing.'
"Now comes the worst part of the day." Alana said.
"What's that?" Sassy asked.
"The part where we make it look like Jumbo got the best of you."
Most of the carnies had been mulling around, minding there own business, when that all to familiar angry trumpeting, accompanied by the rattling of heavy chains and cage bars echoed through the muggle side of the camp followed by the unmistakable sight of a lone figure being thrown high into the air, over the Ferris wheel and hurtling down towards the fortune-telling tent.
"Aresto momentum." Sassy cast quietly. Landing with a soft thud before anyone could really see.
"Very convincing." Agnes whispered from inside the tent.
"Thanks." Sassy giggled.
Alana ran to Sasporilla’s aid and helped the pink haired witch to her feet. "Oh Jesus Sasporilla I'm so sorry! I should have warned you to stay away from Jumbos back right side. She's got a mean kick!"
"My fault." Sassy said. "That's what I get for volunteering."
"Perfect." Alana whispered. "That is exactly what they sll wanted to hear you say."
"Well you owe me big time!" Sassy said holding her ribs. "Show me how that bubble booth works."
The Bubble World booth was little more than four padded steel poles pounded down into the ground with about twenty feet of brightly painted board tied between them. Netting made up the highly flexible walls which stretched up about twenty feet towards the open blue sky. The floor was clean white beach sand that Mrs.Dumbleshire always kept clean and pristine! Alana lead Sasporilla up to the front of the booth, reached in and flipped a secret switch on the front panel. A secret door swung open.
"There's a small switch just here." Alana said taking Sassy’s hand and placing it on the secret button.
"Ok got it." Sassy said.
"This opens the booth up for the day and opens the bench." Alana turned yo the left just inside and opened a wooden bench which unfolded into a rack of wands with large rings on the end and a ticket box for taking event tickets. "So it's as simple as this. Open the booth. Try and get the parents to bring their little darlin's in. Take the ticket. No ticket, no play. Once you take the ticket, hand them a wand."
Alana handed Sasporilla a wand and took one for herself. "Now you have to show them how to use them if they haven't been before. They hold the wand up and say BUBBLEY!"
Sasporilla held out the wand and said "Bubbley"
A small bubble formed in the circle on the wand tip, broke free and floated off.
"No offence Sasporilla," Alana laughed, "but that was the most pathetic bubble I've seen in the bubble pit, EVER! BUBBLEY!!!"
A large bubble formed from the tip of Alana's wand. Light that past through it formed rainbows that criss-crossed inside it. The bubble danced around them then slowly settled to the sandy floor and burst.
"One word of warning." Alana Said. "You can never quite tell just what the bubbles are going to do, so be ready for anything."
"Gotcha!" Sassy laughed.
"So do you think you'll be ok to run everything from here?" Alana asked.
"Just let me do one test run on my own." Sasporilla insisted, closing up the booth then opening it up again, pretending to take a ticket and show how the bubble wand worked.
"Ok I've got it, but I've got one question?" Sasporilla asked.
"Sure what is it?" Alana asked.
"How long does each child get in the booth?" Sassy asked.
"Good question." Alana smiled. "The wands run out of bubbles when they've stayed to long."
"About how long is that? Sasporilla asked.
"Don't know." Alana shrugged. "Don't think it's ever happened."
Alana waved goodbye as Sasporilla locked the booth back up until the carnivals official opening in a few minutes. Sassy made her way to the front gate where she awaited the others assigned to putting up the turnstile.
It wasn't long before Mr.Beauxchamps, followed by the small stout man who spent his days in the turnstile, Jonas and a young man Sasporilla had not met before. He was in his early twenty’s. Tall and rather muscular with shaggy ginger hair and freckled tanned skin. Sassy gulped hard when he smiled at her.
"Ah Ms.Bucket." the old Wizard Beauxchamps grinned. "Always best to be a bit early and see the welcoming smiles, than be late and face the frowns."
"Indeed." Sasporilla agreed.
"I believe you have met Jonas?" Mr.Beauxchamps asked.
"Yes sir." Sasporilla said shaking the mans hand. "Once or twice."
"But I don't believe you've met my great nephew?" The old wizard asked.
"No." Sassy smiled, absentmindedly pushing her hair back over her ear. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"Merlauxn Beauxchamps." The young man smiled as he shook her hand.
"My only great nephew and sole heir to the Beauxchamps name and fortune." The old wizard said pulling his wand from his green robes. "When I pass on to the great and show beyond all of this will be his!"
"Hopefully that won't be for a long time great uncle." Merlauxn said.
"Shall we begin." Mr.Beauxchamps said pulling out a scroll and handing it to Sasporilla. "Follow these instructions and follow along with us. You'll do just fine."
The four participants took up positions on the corners of the gateway. With their wands stretched out before them they each drew the four corners of a square along their side of the gateways edge casting "Um diese Wände!"
They then touched their wand tips together in the gates center and cast "Von diesem Punkt!"
Sasporilla tried to read the next instructions as she followed along with the current part of the complex ritual. The four of them had to next walk along the outside of the gateway while still touching wand tips while casting "Umkreisen."
Sasporilla recognised the language of the spell as German. She had no idea what the spell actually said or how it worked. Inter world gateway spells were complex at the very least.
The last part of the spell was to raise their wands high then low and cast "Das tor öffnen wir!"
Like a tornado in the center of the gateway the turnstile formed, a spinning mass of painted wood and metal. Coming to a sudden stop to the applause of the casters.
"I now officially proclaim the Carnival du Mystique open" Ferdinad Beauxchamps laughed most amused. "Jonas you may take your place."
It had been less than a minute that Jonas had taken his place inside the ticket turnstile than Nancy Nightingale came charging through the gate. Head down, bag clutched tightly under her arm, she was as determined as ever to get to the mirror to se her dear departed Severus.
"Ah." Ferdinad Beauxchamps sighed. "I see your gambit bared no fruit, Ms.Bucket."
"Apparently not." Sasporilla sighed. "I wonder what went wrong?"
Thursday morning Sasporilla awoke bright and early at five am. She had her shower, made some toast and tea and grabbed an apple from the bowl of fresh fruit she kept on the caravans kitchen counter. By ten to six she stepped out the front door into the bright sunny summer dawn.
"Good morning Sasporilla." Agnes the blind fortune-teller said stepping up along side Sassy's front steps.
"Morning Agnes." Sassy smiled taking her friends arm in hers.
"Thought we might stroll leisurely to this mornings meeting." Agnes said in an upper class accent.
"Oh what a perfectly delightful idea." Sasporilla chuckled with false upper crust amusement. "Perhaps we could stroll through the park after, and go have our hair done."
"After we luncheon at the Royals of course." Agnes insisted. "Watercress and cucumber sandwiches perhaps?"
"Oh god no!" Sasporilla gasped.
"Pizza and cheese burgers then?" Agnes smiled.
"You know it!" Sassy laughed.
The carnies gathered at the foot of the Ferris wheel. Ferdinad Beauxchamps, owner of the Carnival du Mystique, took his place before the crowd to hand out the days assignments. He was quite the sight in long flowing green and gold robes with his beard braided into three sections. A series of carousel horses bobbed up and down as they spun around the wide brim of his high pointed wizard’s hat.
"Good morning everyone!" Ferdinad Beauxchamps smiled broadly looking out over the crowd over his half glasses as he unrolled a rather small scroll. "As everything is just about ready my list is rather small this morning. As you know this is opening day. Setting up the turnstile gateway is a job for four. As I and Jonas will be present as always I will require one volunteer. Also Ms.Bucket, I ask that you come along to learn the process."
"Yes Mr.Beauxchamps." Sasporilla said rather surprised.
"Excellent." Beauxchamps smiled. "Also I am looking for a volunteer to help Alana bathe the elephant and I need someone to run the children’s Bubble World Booth as Mrs.Dumbleshire has not yet recovered from her illness."
Sasporilla looked over at Alana. She was the young woman who assisted the muggle magician the Great Rudolffo. She looked a lot different out of her costume. She was very petite, just above five feet tall, with long fair hair and bright eyes behind large glasses above a large bright smile.
"Would it be possible for me to volunteer?" Sasporilla Bucket asked.
"Yes of course!" Mr.Beauxchamps said. "You are a member of the company. Mrs.Dumbleshire has agreed to pay 20% of all monies earned by the booth to the volunteer."
"The only thing is I don't really know how to run the booth." Sassy admitted.
"I can help you there." Alana said. "I've helped out at the bubble booth a bunch a times. If you give me a hand washing Jumbo, I'll teach ya how to run the booth."
"Ok!" Sasporilla smiled.
"Great!" Alana's broad smile always brightened everyone’s day.
"Wonderful." Mr.Beauxchamps said. "Ms.Bucket will help with all our problems today. Please head with Alana from here and meet up with me at the gateway at nine forty five am. Thank you everyone have a productive day. Remember, once the gates open, sell them fun!!!"
Alana took Sasporilla by the hand and lead her away from the crowd. "This way."
Past the show tent was a great caravan almost fifty feet in length. Its once bright blue and gold paint was now chipped and faded but you could still clearly read 'Ferdinand Beauxchamps presents... the Carnival du Mystique' on the side.
"Wow." Sasporilla said. "This must have been quite the site in its day!"
"I'm told it was." Alana’s smile, Sasporilla mused, covered a good forty percent of her face in happiness. It was perhaps the biggest smile she'd ever seen. "Before the show had its own areas between worlds, the carnival travelled through the muggle world, like a normal show. Most of it got rolled up and stored on top of the caravan, and a small mule name Edgar hauled it all from town to town."
"That's amazing." Sasporilla gasped.
"Ya." Alana agreed walking Sassy around the far end of the old show caravan. "Now Mr.Beauxchamps just uses it for his private quarters and the office."
"Oh!" Sasporilla smiled. "I was wondering where the office was?"
"Yep, just back here." At the back of the show caravan was a door with a caged window. A long thin rope hung from somewhere above inside and a sign hung from it reading 'Pull Rope for Business' "If you need to do any carnival business you just pull that there rope and either Mr. Beauxchamps or his assistant will see to ya."
"Lovely thanks." Sasporilla said. "Your accent. It's very subtle but it's Irish isn't it?"
"Yep." Alana said walking Sassy past the utility shed. "Born and raised in Dublin."
"Very nice." Sasporilla said. "I spent some time at Drurlily, in Galway."
"Really?" Alana asked rather shocked. "You struck me as a Hogwarts girl."
"Well I am, was..." Sasporilla stammered, "I was at Drurlily for half a year on an exchange."
"Oh I see." Alana chuckled. "Ya I remember those. Did ya get the mickey taken put of ya for being English?"
"Wait!" Sasporilla stopped. "You went to Drurlilly?"
"Ya?" Alana said. "So?"
"So?!!!" Sasporilla laughed in disbelief. "You're suppose to be a muggle!!!"
"No! I'm not!" Alana insisted. "My cousin is the muggle. My whole family are muggles in fact. When the inquisitions started they hid me away here so the ministry couldn’t find me. A muggle born witch to torture and kill."
"I didn't realise." Sasporilla said. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted." Alana smiled.
"So you do the magic? Sasporilla asked.
"No." Alana insisted coming to a halt between two outer sheds with a large canvas tarp stretched between. "My cousin, Lester is his real name, he does all the magic. Real muggle illusions. Brilliant they are! Would have fooled old Dumbledore himself!"
Alana pulled back the tarp to reveal a small area with a muggle made, modern caravan and the elephant standing on a silver plate in the yard.
"Lester you've gone and left her out again!" Alana yelled at the caravan.
"I thought his name was Rudolfo?" Sasporilla asked following Alana inside the canvassed courtyard, giving the elephant a wide birth.
"His Stage name is the Great Rudolfo." Alana said opening the front door to the caravan and seeing her cousin sprawled out on the living room couch asleep. Snoring with a half-finished bottle of whisky in his hand. "People wouldn't stay for the show If I introduced him as Lester the lazy lump!"
The elephant started to get a little uneasy at Seeing Alana do upset.
"Easy my big girl, easy." Alana said turning to Sasporilla. "Alright I was hoping he'd have put her back in her pen but he didn't. Which means I'm going to have to expose some of the mechanics of the disappearing elephant trick to ya, so we can give her, her bath."
"Wow really?" Sasporilla asked. "Cool! I'd love to see how Muggle magic works."
"All right." Alana said. "She's used to strangers being around her, but even still, walk up slow and give her a soft pat on the hind quarters."
"Jumbo won't mind?" Sasporilla asked a bit concerned.
"Not in the least." Alana smiled.
Sassy took a deep breath and walked up behind the pachyderm slowly, softly lulling the large animal with her voice. "Hi Jumbo. Who's a good girl?"
Sasporilla gently patted the elephant but her hand passed right through the animals flesh as if it were a ghost.
"What the???" Sassy gasped.
Alana burst into laughter. "The first rule of muggle magic is nothin' is ever what it appears to be."
The young magicians assistant bent down underneath the elephant and called Sassys attention to a small area she hadn't noticed before.
"Look here Sasporilla." Alana said pointing at what looked like a piece of domed glass on the silver plate the elephant stood on. "This is a lens that makes a simple mirrored illusion look bigger."
Alana pulled the lens off. Jumbo and the large silver disc disappeared. What was left appeared to be an upside down black bowl with a tiny silver plate and a tiny elephant standing on the flat bottom of it, resting on a similar black bowl beneath.
"Try touching her now but be very gentle." Alana insisted.
Sasporilla was terrified but as she reached out to touch the small beast she realised it still wasn't there!!!
"This is amazing." Sasporilla said.
"Like I said the lens increases the size of mirrored illusions. What your seeing is the real Jumbo," Alana said gently lifting up the two bowls and pulling them apart to reveal their mirrored interiors and the tiny elephant standing patiently at the bottom. "Her name is Lily, short for Liliput, from the Gulivers Travels stories. She's a South Indian Microphant."
"Amazing." Sasporilla said looking in as Alana held in her hand for Lily to walk onto. "I've never seen anything like her."
"They're almost extinct as a species." Alana said taking Lily over to her small pen and putting her in so she could get some food. "My cousin won her by cheating rare animal dealer in a card game. Nearly killed by mistreating her."
"That's horrible." Sassy said. "Poor little thing."
"When I came to help I nursed her back to health with some tips from the mirror lady, Nancy." Alana chuckled. "She's knows her animals. I’ve give her that."
"Well that's something." Sasporilla said. "But what I don't understand is if she is so tiny, why do you need assistance washing her?"
"Ah!" Alana said pulling out a small plastic pail and a soft bristled toothbrush. "You see she's very delicate, a bit of a wiggle worm, and very ticklish."
"Oh I see!" Sasporilla laughed.
"Besides," Alana said quietly, "the only other one besides me and Lester who know about Lily being a Microphant is Mrs.Dumbleshire and now you of course. It's all part of the magic you see. People have to believe what they see is real even if it is just a big reflection in a mirror."
"Wow." Sasporilla laughed. "Who knew muggles were so crafty!"
"Devious devils they are!" Alana laughed. "Shall we get started?"
Alana put on a record that played through speakers in their compound. It played a couple of old muggle rock songs she liked and the occasional trumpet from an elephant. Just enough to remind the carnival it was Jumbos bath day and to stay away.
Sasporilla held Lilly gently cupped in her palms as Alana scrubbed her hide with the soft bristled tooth brush and gentle soap. Lilly trumpeted and chuckled as the bristles tickled her tummy.
There were stories where once the elephant had kicked poor old Mrs.Dumbleshire clear out of the muggle compound, all the way back to the Fortune-tellers Tent! It was no wonder no one wanted to volunteer!
"So I accept that what I saw with the elephant right before my eyes was a reflection. Mirrors and lenses and all that." Sasporilla said. "But I stood right there as the cloth went over her! Landed on her solid form!"
"Did it?" Alana asked playfully. "You know it was a reflection. You know she wasn't there. So how it's not at all possible for that cloth to land on anything solid."
"So did you cast magic?" Sassy asked.
"No!" Alana laughed taking her squeaky-clean microphant and placing her in her pen. "It's ALL muggle trickery I assure you."
"The cloth wasn't there either!" Sassy said.
"Oh no!" Alana shook her head. "The cloth is very real."
"I'm stumped." Sasporilla said. "Muggle magic is way harder than anything taught at Hogwarts.
"Well it sure does take a lot longer to learn." Alana agreed. "The cape has four folds. When flicked open it turns into the cloth. When Lester throws it into the air as if to come down to cover the elephant he pushes a button on the corner of it. That activates small air bladders that push air into tubes that take an elephant form in the cloth. You think it’s fallen on the elephant, when it is the form of the elephant. When Lester pushes the button again it releases the air and it falls to the floor over the mirror illusion covering it and refolding the cloth back into the cloak where the illusion has been tucked away, with Lily inside, safe and sound."
"Oh my god." Sasporilla said. "That's so simple yet so bloody complex and amazing.'
"Now comes the worst part of the day." Alana said.
"What's that?" Sassy asked.
"The part where we make it look like Jumbo got the best of you."
Most of the carnies had been mulling around, minding there own business, when that all to familiar angry trumpeting, accompanied by the rattling of heavy chains and cage bars echoed through the muggle side of the camp followed by the unmistakable sight of a lone figure being thrown high into the air, over the Ferris wheel and hurtling down towards the fortune-telling tent.
"Aresto momentum." Sassy cast quietly. Landing with a soft thud before anyone could really see.
"Very convincing." Agnes whispered from inside the tent.
"Thanks." Sassy giggled.
Alana ran to Sasporilla’s aid and helped the pink haired witch to her feet. "Oh Jesus Sasporilla I'm so sorry! I should have warned you to stay away from Jumbos back right side. She's got a mean kick!"
"My fault." Sassy said. "That's what I get for volunteering."
"Perfect." Alana whispered. "That is exactly what they sll wanted to hear you say."
"Well you owe me big time!" Sassy said holding her ribs. "Show me how that bubble booth works."
The Bubble World booth was little more than four padded steel poles pounded down into the ground with about twenty feet of brightly painted board tied between them. Netting made up the highly flexible walls which stretched up about twenty feet towards the open blue sky. The floor was clean white beach sand that Mrs.Dumbleshire always kept clean and pristine! Alana lead Sasporilla up to the front of the booth, reached in and flipped a secret switch on the front panel. A secret door swung open.
"There's a small switch just here." Alana said taking Sassy’s hand and placing it on the secret button.
"Ok got it." Sassy said.
"This opens the booth up for the day and opens the bench." Alana turned yo the left just inside and opened a wooden bench which unfolded into a rack of wands with large rings on the end and a ticket box for taking event tickets. "So it's as simple as this. Open the booth. Try and get the parents to bring their little darlin's in. Take the ticket. No ticket, no play. Once you take the ticket, hand them a wand."
Alana handed Sasporilla a wand and took one for herself. "Now you have to show them how to use them if they haven't been before. They hold the wand up and say BUBBLEY!"
Sasporilla held out the wand and said "Bubbley"
A small bubble formed in the circle on the wand tip, broke free and floated off.
"No offence Sasporilla," Alana laughed, "but that was the most pathetic bubble I've seen in the bubble pit, EVER! BUBBLEY!!!"
A large bubble formed from the tip of Alana's wand. Light that past through it formed rainbows that criss-crossed inside it. The bubble danced around them then slowly settled to the sandy floor and burst.
"One word of warning." Alana Said. "You can never quite tell just what the bubbles are going to do, so be ready for anything."
"Gotcha!" Sassy laughed.
"So do you think you'll be ok to run everything from here?" Alana asked.
"Just let me do one test run on my own." Sasporilla insisted, closing up the booth then opening it up again, pretending to take a ticket and show how the bubble wand worked.
"Ok I've got it, but I've got one question?" Sasporilla asked.
"Sure what is it?" Alana asked.
"How long does each child get in the booth?" Sassy asked.
"Good question." Alana smiled. "The wands run out of bubbles when they've stayed to long."
"About how long is that? Sasporilla asked.
"Don't know." Alana shrugged. "Don't think it's ever happened."
Alana waved goodbye as Sasporilla locked the booth back up until the carnivals official opening in a few minutes. Sassy made her way to the front gate where she awaited the others assigned to putting up the turnstile.
It wasn't long before Mr.Beauxchamps, followed by the small stout man who spent his days in the turnstile, Jonas and a young man Sasporilla had not met before. He was in his early twenty’s. Tall and rather muscular with shaggy ginger hair and freckled tanned skin. Sassy gulped hard when he smiled at her.
"Ah Ms.Bucket." the old Wizard Beauxchamps grinned. "Always best to be a bit early and see the welcoming smiles, than be late and face the frowns."
"Indeed." Sasporilla agreed.
"I believe you have met Jonas?" Mr.Beauxchamps asked.
"Yes sir." Sasporilla said shaking the mans hand. "Once or twice."
"But I don't believe you've met my great nephew?" The old wizard asked.
"No." Sassy smiled, absentmindedly pushing her hair back over her ear. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."
"Merlauxn Beauxchamps." The young man smiled as he shook her hand.
"My only great nephew and sole heir to the Beauxchamps name and fortune." The old wizard said pulling his wand from his green robes. "When I pass on to the great and show beyond all of this will be his!"
"Hopefully that won't be for a long time great uncle." Merlauxn said.
"Shall we begin." Mr.Beauxchamps said pulling out a scroll and handing it to Sasporilla. "Follow these instructions and follow along with us. You'll do just fine."
The four participants took up positions on the corners of the gateway. With their wands stretched out before them they each drew the four corners of a square along their side of the gateways edge casting "Um diese Wände!"
They then touched their wand tips together in the gates center and cast "Von diesem Punkt!"
Sasporilla tried to read the next instructions as she followed along with the current part of the complex ritual. The four of them had to next walk along the outside of the gateway while still touching wand tips while casting "Umkreisen."
Sasporilla recognised the language of the spell as German. She had no idea what the spell actually said or how it worked. Inter world gateway spells were complex at the very least.
The last part of the spell was to raise their wands high then low and cast "Das tor öffnen wir!"
Like a tornado in the center of the gateway the turnstile formed, a spinning mass of painted wood and metal. Coming to a sudden stop to the applause of the casters.
"I now officially proclaim the Carnival du Mystique open" Ferdinad Beauxchamps laughed most amused. "Jonas you may take your place."
It had been less than a minute that Jonas had taken his place inside the ticket turnstile than Nancy Nightingale came charging through the gate. Head down, bag clutched tightly under her arm, she was as determined as ever to get to the mirror to se her dear departed Severus.
"Ah." Ferdinad Beauxchamps sighed. "I see your gambit bared no fruit, Ms.Bucket."
"Apparently not." Sasporilla sighed. "I wonder what went wrong?"
PLEASE REMEMBER
I am in no way affiliated with Warner Bros. or with J.K.Rowling. My work is purely that of fan fiction & do not ask for, nor accept money, gifts or other compensation for my work. If you really feel you must do something, donate to J.K.Rowling's charitable foundation LUMOS! Link below! ( https://www.wearelumos.org/ )
I am in no way affiliated with Warner Bros. or with J.K.Rowling. My work is purely that of fan fiction & do not ask for, nor accept money, gifts or other compensation for my work. If you really feel you must do something, donate to J.K.Rowling's charitable foundation LUMOS! Link below! ( https://www.wearelumos.org/ )