Melody Riddle and the Goblet of Fire

Chapter 2: Maternity Excuses

Rune Dictionary

Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms

Spellman's Syllabary

Advanced Rune Translation

I already had all my books. But mom had promised that, before I left for the Quidditch World Cup in a few days, we would go to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and get me fitted in dressrobes. If she wakes up in time, she might take me today – take me away from the wand shop.... What in the world do we need dressrobes for, though? What would call for something so fancy at school...?

Along with this had been a personal letter from Professor Snape. He was short and precise as always. All it said was that I only need the Rune Dictionary for this year in my Ancient Runes class, but he was allowing me the more advanced books – and the fifth year books; The Standard Book of Spells; Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk and Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard.

I went downstairs where grandpa ate his breakfast cheerfully – bacon and eggs. I didn't want anything big.. my stomach still felt slightly queasy after Disapparating, so I took some bread and put it in the toaster.

The toaster clicked, and I had just taken it out when grandpa said, "Let's go!" He then proceeded to grab my arm and drag me into the living room to practically toss me into the chimney.

Good thing I didn't decide on a bigger breakfast, I thought, taking a bite of my toast as I took a handful of floo powder. "Okay, okay," I said as I chewed. "You know, you sometimes act like people will be sitting in the shop waiting for us."

He gave me a stern look, "Swallow your food, Melody, before you send yourself to the wrong chimney....

With a few more bites, I swallowed my toast. "Gotcha."

"Anyways, I can't allow every shop to open before I do. All students look forward to getting their very own wands more than any other school supply. Of course I can't allow anyone to wait for me."

"You do have a point," I said with a smile. I threw the floo powder down, clearly stating, "Ollivander's Wand Shop!"

⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛ ⚯͛

Grandpa and I only stood around in the shop for most of the slow day. There were surprisingly very few people that came in. We knew parents usually waited until close to the last minute to buy what was needed for school, so this year they were all possibly waiting until the very, very last minute. I rolled my eyes at the thought. Does no one prepare properly?

"Looks like you didn't need to come today," grandpa remarked. "No crowd."

"I guess it doesn't really matter, anyway, I love being here with you.... Urm, while I'm gone to the Quidditch World Cup, do you think Gerald would help you out here?" I voiced hopefully. "At least for a couple of days? Surely he won't mind, it will obviously get really busy here soon enough and I'd hate to leave you here with no help."

Despite my hope, grandpa shared the same opinion as me.

His snort had stated his thoughts clearly. "Sure. And while he's working his hardest, Orele will suddenly find the perfect man and ride away into the sunset with him."

I burst into almost non-stop laughter. Haha, priceless!

That's when I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned around to see that mom was behind me. "Ready to go?" she asked, surprisingly perky.... She hadn't heard what grandpa just said.

I really couldn't help my laughter by that point. It only got worse when she looked at me like I needed to be admitted to a mental institution.

She gave grandpa a curious glance, but he just snickered and shrugged his shoulders as if to say that he didn't know why I was laughing so hard.

"Definitely time for your lunch break, Melody," she said, placing an arm around my shoulders. "It looks like dad is driving you insane with all this work."

Grandpa scoffed, "Then perhaps you will volunteer to help me in the shop while Melody goes for her short vacation."

"I can't," mom said over her shoulder as she guided me out the door. "It's a little something called maternity leave.... I'm sure Gerald would be thrilled to help, though."

"If you really have to turn me down, you could at least refrain from lying to me."

"Love you, dad!"