An Arrival beneath The Rain
Cluttered buildings lined the street, dark and imposing, the kind of street anyone would naturally avoid yet this street was extremely popular. No-one questioned the sudden burst of people that came every summer to visit the unwelcoming road, nor the enormous purple bus that stopped everyday outside a particular building. It was not an extraordinary building, with blackened bricks and an aged wooden sign that had a faded picture of a cauldron upon it; that is to say if you could see it.
This building was known as the Leaky Cauldron to witches and wizards all over the world, but most importantly it was the only entrance from the muggle world to Diagon Alley, a wondrous place filled with anything a witch or wizard would need, charm books for everyday use, pewter cauldrons for the amateur brewer, Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans for those who like surprises; but for all its awe Diagon Alley had its own piece of darkness.
Another alley lead off from the main high street , even in day light it was cast in obscurity, it was a very different place from Diagon Alley and those who did business there were generally scorned and thought to be up to no good. Like Diagon it had everything a witch or wizard needs, poisonous potions for the sneaky assassin, books filled with dark curses for the vengeful, muggle torturing objects for the cruel; everything that is for the darkest witches and wizards around, and thus the alley was named Knockturn.
Tucked away in the eastern side of Knockturn Alley there was a pub not unlike the Leaky Cauldron, due to the beheading of an infamous witch in the pub's parlour it was rightly named The Witch's Head. If you wanted a pint of mead while the Auror's searched for you then this was the place to go. Needless to say the owner of The Witch's Head, a Mr. Bells, was not that much better than his clientele. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and sharp hazel eyes which seemed to pierce you and give a silent warning.
On a rainy night in late October, Halloween to be exact, something happened that Mr. Bells did not expect. A figure could be seen running through the hollow streets of Knockturn Alley, they were clothed all in black and had a small bundle held tightly to their chest. The person stopped between a gap that separated two houses and stood opposite The Witch's Head, breathing heavily the tall form hurried over to the pub's entrance, after a slight pause of hesitation the small bundle was placed gently on the doorstep and a small note was pinned to its blankets, without further delay the figure banged on the pub's door and then with a loud crack vanished into thin air.
The pub's door opened bathing amber light onto the small bundle swathed in blankets and in turn onto the note pinned to the cloth; two inked words shined serenely in the light
Nicholas Capella