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The Tower of Leaves

This tower, once named The Crow's Nest, has stood for countless years in Diagon Alley. It's tall, circular and made out of massive, grey, stone blocks. It belonged to an ancient wizard family, and was their home until the last of its members perished about twenty years ago. It remained empty and devoid of life until Margaret Leaves bought it a year ago with an idea on her mind.

It took a long time to make, but today she finally finished her masterpiece and it's open to the public under the name The Tower of Leaves.
From the outside, the tower maintains its style of old, with the only change of its number of floors growing from four to twelve. The big changes happened inside, which you can see once you walk past the grand wooden doors that serve as entrance into something that came out of the Far East.

Almost everything about it has an oriental feel, with the exception of the staff’s outfits. Most of the servants wear traditional, elegant and very respectable French maid or butler outfits, with the exception of the ones assigned to the twelfth floor who wear traditional kimonos. And of course, the ones assigned to the pool.

The tower also comes complete with its own ghost! Little is known about it other than it takes the form of a young girl with a melodious voice. It is thought that she was a daughter of the previous tower owners and died of illness. Despite the new changes though, it seems that she doesn’t mind and sometimes can be seen looking after small children or playing with the slightly older ones. Other sightings include the roof and the library. People have come to call her Little Raven, in homage to the tower’s previous name.

The Ground Floor:

Once you go inside, you’ll see a circular desk with three workers behind it at all times. They are there to accept new guests and guide them to where they want to be. Behind the desk, and opposite the entrance door, there is a group of three fireplaces ready to welcome anyone who arrives through floo powder. To each of the sides there are stone stairways with moving stone steps that take people all around the tower to the top. In each floor there are two entrances with a platform in front of its door for people to step out of the moving steps into, for once, still ground and enter.

The First Floor:

This floor is where the kitchen and the staff rooms are located, only the staff members are allowed on this floor. Its entrances are guarded by twin, stone gargoyles.

The Second Floor:

The common room is located in this floor, a place only the people housed at the tower and the staff can enter. Inside hearty fireplaces warm it in the cold winter nights, and long tables are always filled with food. Comfortable armchairs and various cushions of earthy tones are spread all around the room for guests to sit in.

The Third Floor:

Every building needs a bathroom, and this tower is no exception. And here on the third floor is where they are. Big and spacious, these bathrooms contain even baths for the guests housed at the tower. But the bathrooms are only part of this floor. The greater part of it contains a real, working hot spring, divided for both men and women and with various spells to ensure none goes into the wrong area. When someone enters the rooms it’s like entering medieval Japan, all around them trees can be seen and even touched, and far off even high mountains. Above the clear, night sky is always present and a fence, outlining the room shows people just where the wall is, without breaking the illusion of being out in the open.

The Fourth and Fifth Floors:

The big difference about the rooms in this tower and in any common inn, is that very much like the rest of the structure they’re made in an oriental style. There are no beds, instead, there are floor mattresses that unroll themselves on the floor and can be more comfortable than a king’s bed. The walls are made out of paper and the sliding doors of the same material, but they are enchanted so that they cannot be broken and prevent sound and light to pass through them. The light of the rooms come from the windows in the outer wall, two per room. Other than that, the rooms are complete, comfortable and slightly on the expensive side.

The Sixth Floor:

Have you got any young children or babies with you that need looking after? This tower has a grand nursery where you can leave them in the hands of capable maids. They’ll look after your youngest children and keep them entertained while you enjoy your tea or take a bath in the hot spring.

The Seventh Floor:

One of the most distinctive traits about the library in this place, is that most of the books it contains are for leisure reading, stories and tales of both wizards and muggles. There are quite a number of ‘serious’ books for those who wish to study, but their number is diminutive when compared to the others. Nevertheless, many books can be found except those who deal with very advanced magic, dark arts or forbidden practices. The ceiling in this floor has been made transparent, which makes the room seem as underwater as it is. Visitors here need only look up and see the pool above them and the people enjoying it. This also has another effect as the light here shines through the water and so it bathes the room in a soft, undulating light.

The Eighth and Ninth Floor:

This is where the pool is located. Or to be more truthful, the ninth floor is where the pool is located, as the eighth floor cannot be entered except from the ninth and it’s completely filled with water at a pleasant temperature, warm in winter, fresh in the summer. There are always overwatchers and a couple of nannies in the pool to look after everyone, so it’s completely safe to leave your children, that are too old to be in the nursery, alone by themselves in the pool. The area around the pool is smooth stone, enchanted as not to be slippery and the various tubes and inflatable toys in it are animated to provide fun for everyone and help should anyone start to drown. There are also water slides around the large room and if you swim to the bottom you can look down on the library, or maybe you can swim to the walls underwater to look out its, unbreakable, windows.

The Tenth and Eleventh Floor:

The true reason for the towers name, it’s the tea room. Filling both of these floors and connected through a spiral staircase in its center. There are poofy, comfortable chairs and tables spread out everywhere in here. Small glass prisms all filled with different kinds of tea, and a faucet at the bottom float around the tea room, dispensing it to whoever needs a refill in their cup. Likewise, small glass orbs also float around holding in floating discs inside of them the most delicious pastries one could ever ask for.
Even though at first this would seem like a place only for the old, people of all ages can be found at its tables, chatting, relaxing, playing games or simply reading any book they happened to borrow from the library. Soft, relaxing music can be heard here at all times. A few staff members are always present, guiding the paths of the glass containers and refilling them when necessary.

The Twelfth Floor:

Usually restricted for only the most important guests and visitors, this floor has, like the hot springs, been transformed into an authentic Japanese garden. The trees around are all pink and white leafed Sakuras. A stream with Koi fish runs through the room and the limits are outlined with a small stone wall, also with an oriental feel to it. Like the tea room below, glass prisms and orbs float around serving guests and soft music can be heard. Unlike the other tea room, noise is to be kept at a minimum and loud conversations are frowned upon, especially if the house’s geisha, dancers and artists, are performing. The servants around here are the most professional and experienced, picked from the very best. The entrance to this floor is guarded by an animated samurai armor and only those bearing the correct wardstone may pass.

The Roof:

In the roof there is a small house where all the owls are kept. Whenever they need to rest, here is a place designed to comfort them like they deserve.

More you say?

There are many more things to the tower, and some speak even of a hidden floor and an inaccessible basement, but those are just rumours. The best part about the Tower of Leaves, is that it is now hiring, and anyone above the age of 14 can apply to work temporarily as a servant, and if you are above 17 to a permanent position as anything you want, be it a performer, life guard, regular guard or even cook!