First Year: First day
I woke up and hurried to get ready. My mum and dad sent out my letter to Hogwarts to tell them that I was coming just yesterday, well my older sister Daphne and I. Today we would be going to diagon Alley to shop for my books and things. I grabbed my backpack and I slipped it over my shoulder, then I left my room and went downstairs.
Mum was in the kitchen making breakfast and dad was preparing the portkey so that everything would be ready, by the time that I finished eating breakfast. Riley was sitting at the table playing with her muggle toy 'Barbie.' I gave mum a kiss and set the table while she was finishing breakfast. Daphne turned to look at me, "It's your first year at Hogwarts, Astoria, aren't you excited? You'll meet the most wonderful people. Ugh! And the most wretched. Harry Potter goes there, you know..." she told me.
We all sat down to eat at the table. Daphne, grabbed only one pancake and gently set it on her plate. I slid two pancakes onto my plate and spread a thin layer of butter on them before dousing them in syrup. Mum put one pancake on Riley's plate and cut it into squares so Riley wouldn't choke on them and poured syrup on them. I cut my pancakes up and polished them off.
Then I washed off my dish and stood by the fireplace. Mum and da soon followed me. Riley clutched mum's hand and mum bent down to pick Riley up. "On the count to three Astoria." My da said. Daphne and I looked at each other, "One-two-three!" Da exclaimed. I grabbed hold of the portkey and felt the breath rush out of me, my head felt dizzy as if I was being flung through the air and I collapsed on the ground in an alley. Mum and da floated down beside me. Riley giggled when mum set her on the ground and hurried over to me. "Wathn't that fun Astoria?" she asked, Riley was almost eight and she still had not outgrown her lisp. Da laughed and helped me up.
I watched as mum walked over to the wall and counted three bricks up and two bricks over, then tapped the brick with her wand three times. I gasped as a small black hole appeared in the brick and gradually grew larger until it was an archway. "Diagon Alley." My da said with a flourish of his hand. Riley danced ahead, eager to see what was beyond and Daphne and I followed our parents into the archway... ! stopped and gazed in wonder at what was before me.
Rays from the sun hit a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Illuminating the sign above them. 'Cauldrons' it read, 'All sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible', said a sign hanging over them.
Da opened the door and I stepped inside, the shop was darker on the inside and it took a moment for me to take it all in. Mum, Daphne and Riley quickly followed and I pulled out my list of supplies from my pocket:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of
WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
pair of protected gloves (dragon hide
or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothing should carry
name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the
following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)
by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration
by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi
by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts 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 glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set 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
I looked back up at my parents, just as Daphne marched out of the store, with her list, with a box under her arm. She smirked at me as she left. Then she turned to mum. "I'll meet you all later at the 'Leaky Cauldron'!" she exclaimed. Then she turned and hurried from the store. Dad was talking to the witch behind the counter and mum nodded to Daphne, then turned and started moving down the rows of cauldrons. Riley walked along side her trailing her fingers across each cauldron that she passed. Leaving her finger prints on everything. I followed behind them, until we got to the shelf with size 2 cauldrons on it. I picked one up "This is lighter than it looks." I said. Mum laughed, "Yes, it is. Now if we hurry up here and don't run into any trouble in the other shops, we'll finish just in time to stop by 'The Leaky Cauldron' and grab a mug of butterbeer." I licked my lips as we walked to the counter and mum took out some knuts to pay for my cauldron. Da had already purchased my crystal phials, telescope and set brass scales.
Next we headed over to a store called 'Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions'. Inside the store was an old witch, who I assumed was Madam Malkin. She was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. Mum and Da waved to me as Madam Malkin showed me to the back of the shop. Riley tried to follow, but dad scooped her up and carried her off to see something outside.
"Hogwarts, right my dear?" she asked me. "Oh yes, this is my first year and I am so excited!" I exclaimed. Madam Malkin laughed and gestured to a footstool. I stepped up onto it and she slipped a black robe over my head. The robe was much to long for me and trailed on the floor. "Matilda, help this first year get her robes. Would you please?" Madam Malkin called, as she, moved back the way that we had come.
Matilda came and quickly started pinning up the robe to fit me better. The witch doing my robe was muttering something and Madam Malkin ushered another child into the room.
The boy had a pale, almost pointed looking face and a haughty look to him. If mum had seen him, she would have laughed and said he was a 'Slytherin'. As it turned out, all of my family had gone to HufflePuff. So I knew that's where I would be going.
I opened my mouth to say something to the boy, but just as I did. The witch looked up at me. "All done now, my dear. Go up to the front and the rest of your robes will be there in short order." she said. I hopped down from the stool and walked back to my mum and da.
On our way out of the store, we passed a boy walking towards the store. "Mum, look at him!" I exclaimed, "doesn't he look funny?" I asked. The boy had dark brown hair that was swept over his face and his clothes looked 5x too big for him. I started to chuckle. But mum stopped me with one of her signature looks. "I'm sure his family couldn't afford nicer clothes, Emily." my da said. "Sorry," I mumbled and shuffled my feet, to our next stop.
After going to Madam Malkins, we stopped by the Apothecary to get my basic potion ingredients that I would need. "Now, since you're the first one of our children to go to Hogwarts, we'll let you choose the pet that you would like to bring." Da said. I looked from one parent to another. "You're serious?" I asked, hardly believing my luck. "Of course." Mum said. "An owl." I answered. Pointing to the sign that read 'Eeylops Owl Emporium'. "Good choice." da said. "When I was younger I didn't have much of a choice, I got my brothers cat and she was the worst pet ever. She was bothersome too. But owls feed themselves and seldom need to be bathed. How I hated it when Gilah bathed herself on my chair or left tufts of cat fur everywhere." Mum and I looked at each other behind da's back and rolled our eyes.
Riley laughed as da talked about Gilah and we all walked into the emporium together.
There was every shade and type of owl that you can think of! Snowy owls, barn owls, hooting owls, black ones and white ones... In the back of the emporium, I saw the owl that I wanted. He was a silvery gray, with a white spot over his left eye. I heard Riley giggle and turned to glance back at them, before moving towards the owl. His left eye was green and his right, brown. It seemed as if everything had gone quiet when I spotted him.
He smiled, a wizard came over and offered to get him ready for me. "Please." I begged. He grinned, "A lot of other children never even spotted him back here, But this owl was just bidding his time." the wizard said. Da came over and gazed at my owl. "Good choice Astoria. He's a beauty." da said. I grinned, he was. "I'll call him Teo," I said. Mum smiled, "Can I pet him?" Riley asked the wizard, who nodded his head in my direction. "Pwease Emiwy?" Riley pleaded. "Of course, but be gentle Riles." I replied.
Mum paid for my owl and we left the shop, da carrying Teo's cage and Riley hopping alongside them.
When I stepped into 'Flourish and Blotts' I knew that I had found my place in the wizarding world. Shelves were everywhere lined with books, from the floor to the ceiling. There was books of all shapes and sizes, I spotted a large book, the size of a paving stone and went to lift it up. My hands grasped the leather on the back of the book and I lifted and strained with all my 11 year old might, but I could barely budge it. On the shelf next to it was a book that was barely bigger than my thumb. The text on the side was so small that I couldn't read it. I sighed and finished exploring the store.
"Astoria, could I please have the list of books that you need?" Mum asked, I reached my hand into my pocket and pulled it out. "Here it is mum, sorry." I said. "It's fine m'dear." mum said, then she turned and left to go look for the books that I would be needing. "Astoria, let's go over to get your wand while your mum is getting you potion ingredients and books." da said. I followed him out of the shop and over to a store called- "Ollivanders," my da said. "The only place to ever get a wand. He's been around since before I can remember."
Da and I entered the store. A bell tinkled somewhere towards the back. It was empty, except for the thousands of boxes lining the walls, reaching all the way up to the ceiling, and the rickety chair in the middle of the room.
"Good afternoon." said an old man, who was suddenly standing in front of us. His wide, bright eyes shoe like moons through the darkened shop. "Hello!" I greeted him. Da nodded, "Mr. Ollivander." he said. "Ah, Mr. Greengrass. I haven't seen you in here since Andrew passed on." I watched as a dark cloud descended over my fathers face, but quickly disappeared when Mr. Ollivander said, "And now it's our dear Astoria's turn." He turned to face me again. "Rather tall for your age." he muttered. Mr. Ollivander pulled a tape measurer out of his pocket and I watched transfixed as it began measuring me.
Mr. Ollivander moved his fingers along the boxes until he pulled one out. He removed the wrapping and extracted a wand, twelve inches, ebony and phoenix tail feather, somewhat bendy." he said, holding it out to me. I grasped the wand and pointed it out in front of me with a whoosh. Nothing remarkable happened and Mr. Ollivander snatched it up once again.
"This is it," he said handing me a golden brown wand. "Oak, thirteen and a quarter inches, dragon heartstring, sturdy." he said. I took this one from him also, I moved the wand up above my head and brought it down again, whoosh! Bright green and gold sparks shot from the end of my wand. I laughed and hugged Mr. Ollivander. "Always the cheerful one." My da grinned. He handed Mr. Ollivander six gold Galleons from his money pouch and we left the shop. I slipped my new wand back into its' box and zipped it up in my bag.
Outside of the 'Leaky Cauldron' we met mum and Riley. We stopped inside for a Butterbeer and a bite to eat. Then we headed home. Only one more month before I journey to Hogwarts, I thought. One, short month!