Curse of the Serpent
Green light flashed as a tall man with greasy black hair yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" He moved aside to show a pale women lying on the ground, dead. I started forward, moving slowly, as if in water. Right when I was about to hit the man, he spun around. I tried to scream, but to no avail. The man was wearing the Deatheater mask of Lucious Malfoy! He pointed his wand at me, and the light flashed again.
I woke, shaking and covered in sweat. Another nightmare of the unnamed Deatheater. I looked over at the clock, and was jolted into awareness to see what time it was. 12:00pm! I had to get up! Groggily, I rose and dressed.
"Alex! It's here!" I heard my mom yell from downstairs. Before rushing down, I combed my black hair, and checked my pale, blue-eyed face in the mirror. Satisfied, I shot out of the room and to the front door. Perched on the post was an owl, holding today's mail. I paid him a sickle and untied it. Flipping through the letters, something caught my eye. With a gasp, I pulled out the letter, addressed,
Mr. Alexander Radius Stone
12 Griffin Lane
London
Brittan
Mr. Stone,
You are hereby invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will find enclosed a list of the required books and materials and a ticket for platform 9 3/4.
Term begins July 26. We will await your letter no later than that time.
I flipped to the second sheet and read:
First-year students will require:
Uniform
Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)
One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear
One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all students' clothes should carry name-tags.
Books
The Standard Book of Spells(Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasta and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
Other Equipment
1 Wand
1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set of brass scales
Students may also bring an Owl OR a Cat OR a Toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.
"Mom, can we please go to Diagon Alley today? Term starts next week!"
"Sure, go get the Floo Powder from the hall closet." I ran to the closet and slammed it open. The shelves were littered with magical items. Crystal balls, ornate wands on stands, Rememberalls, and Sneakoscopes among other things. On the very bottom shelf, there was an ornate ashtray holding green powder. I pulled it out and went to our fireplace. It was large, mostly because it's a magical family's fireplace. It has to be large because it is used almost as often as our front door. Just then, my mom walked in the room.
"Alex, how would you like to go to Diagon Alley on your own?" She asked.
"Cool, that would be awesome!"
"Good, because I just got a message from the office that they needed me today. Here's the bank key, take around a hundred Galleons out of Gringott's." I nodded and took the key from her hand. She pointed her wand at the fire and said, "Incendio!" The fire blazed high, than lowered to a perfect transportation height. I tossed in a handful of powder and stepped in.
"Diagon Alley!"
Fireplaces spun past, twirling like fireflies. Up ahead, I saw a sign pointing to a fireplace labeled, 'The Leaky Cauldron'. They put it up because of some famous boy before my time. Larry Totter or something like that. I tumbled out of the fireplace and stuck the landing. I waved hello to the owner, Rubeus Longbottem, then walked out the back door to meet a stone wall. Since I didn't have a wand, I picked up a sizable stick off the ground and tapped the stones that would let me in. The stones began to shift aside and formed an arch. I stepped through and was greeted with the ever familiar picture of Diagon Alley. I began walking down the street, past Flourish and Blott's, until I finally came upon Gringott's'. I walked up to the door. Inscribed upon it was a poem, warning thieves.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there
I pushed open the door, and stepped inside. It was just like it was three-hundred years ago. I walked up to the front desk, past rows of Goblins. Once there, I cleared my throat.
A goblin peered over the desk, and growled out, "Yes?"
"I'm here to make a withdrawal from my family account."
"Do you have the key?"
"Yes, sir. Right here." I held it up and he snatched it out of my hand. He took a magnifying glass out of his pocket and looked closely at the key for about a minute.
He nodded, then said, "Clawfinger, take him to vault seventeen oh nine." He tossed the key to a nearby Goblin. He motioned for me to follow, and we went into a nearby room. We got on a cart and he typed in the digits '1709' on a keyboard. The cart shot off at an immense speed. Lucky I didn't have an ounce of motion sickness. The cart jerked to a stop by two vaults. The only problem was, the two vaults were 1708 and 1710! Clawfinger motioned me off the cart, and stood by the post in the middle.