Gemma Kirkland had been a Hogwarts professor for exactly five days when she woke up on that chilly Saturday morning. Just a week prior she had been sitting in an office being interviewed to teach Muggle Studies. She had no idea what had qualified her to teach anything but the Headmistress who had appointed her seemed to think she was more than up for the task and who was she to argue. It had been a long journey from America to the UK; but once Gemma had learned about this side of the magical world she knew she needed to be a part of it.

Her first week of classes had left her so busy and exhausted she had decided to stay most of the nights at Hogwarts; she slept in the hospital wing because her room wasn't ready; but as it was the weekend she decided to come back to the Leaky Cauldron and get some real rest. In addition to getting some better sleep; she also really wanted to explore all these wizarding shops she kept hearing about; and get some of her own supplies as she was currently borrowing everything from the school. Hannah advised that her first stop should be Gringotts the wizarding bank, "they'll be able to open an account for you and convert your American muggle money to gold, that way you can shop and put your pay from Hogwarts somewhere."

"Good call Hannah." Gemma agreed with her as she sat at the bar eating some bacon and toast. "Do you think I should check out this wand shop?" Gemma asked.

"Olivander's. Yeah, he just rebuilt and opened back up; he makes the best wands. Are you going to get one?"

"Well that's the thing, I don't know if I actually need a wand, but I'm going to ask what his professional opinion is."

"Good call Gemma." Hannah repeated her new friends' sentiments back to her. They both laughed.

Once she finished her breakfast and her new favorite juice (pumpkin!) she took off out of the back door and into the back-garden area. Hannah came out with her and offered to help her open the doorway; but Gemma decided she wanted to try some of her own magic. She cleared her throat, raised her hands so they were facing the wall and said:

Hey listen up great wall of Brick

You keep out Muggles and that's your trick

But I do practice magic and if you've a keen eye

You'll shimmy on over and let me by

Hannah was about ready to burst into laughter and help her out when suddenly the bricks began to move aside forming the giant archway that led into Diagon Alley. "What the bloody hell was that?" Hannah asked, now impressed.

"Just a simple incantation."

"That was great!"

"Thanks, and bright side looks like I'm magic enough to be here huh?"

"Looks like it. Hey, if you need me today squeeze this coin, I'll feel the heat and I'll come find you." Hannah handed her an old DA coin she'd kept from back in her Hogwarts days.

"Neat." Gemma said pocketing the coin, "do I look ok by the way?" Gemma was still wearing Muggle clothes regularly except during classes when she wore robes she borrowed form the wardrobe in the teachers lounge.

"You look good, I do enjoy the muggle styles. You'll just stick out is all."

"Maybe I should get some robes or something?"

"If you do, make sure you go to Madame Malkins. The other places will rip you off."

"Madame Malkins, thanks."

"Good luck!" Hannah waved her friend off as she walked through the archway. Hannah tapped her wand on the barrel in front of the wall and it all wiggled back into place.

Gemma looked straight ahead as Hannah had directed and saw the crooked white building at the end of the alley. She knew she needed to go there before she could buy anything, so instead of looking into the shop windows she headed straight for the bank. It only took a few minutes to get there and as she walked she noticed many witches giving her second and third looks. She was wearing jeans; black ankle books and a V neck long sleeve fitted black sweater and a scarf, but people were staring at her as if she were walking through town naked. Bizarre she thought to herself as she made her way up the stairs to the entrance to the bank. The doors were large and golden and when she went in the foyer was breathtaking. Everything was coated in gold it was so much gold and wood that she would have though in another setting this would have been very tacky, but not here. It just worked. There was Goblin sitting on a tall stool between the foyer and what was the actual entrance to the bank. Gemma approached him sheepishly, "pardon me sir."

"Who, me?" the goblin answered her, "what are you calling me sir for, I ain't nobody?"

"I'm just wondering what I need to do, or need to see to open a new account and convert some money?"

"Oh." The goblin said, "just head inside and stop at the third desk on the right-hand side of the row."

"Thank you." Gemma said passing the goblin who had clearly never been addressed politely in his life. She felt sad for him for just a second, but then the thoughts were pushed from her head when she saw all the goblins at work as she walked down the corridor. She counted three desks down on the right side and stopped and stood at the tape marking where the next person in line should wait.

About thirty minutes later Gemma emerged from the bank, the proud keeper of a new wizarding bank account and a pouch full of money she could use to finally buy a few things. The exchange rate would up wildly in her favor and she was excited to know she was able to leave quite a bit in her new account for saving. Gemma decided she couldn't wait anymore and had to go and see the shop with the magic wands. She made her way to the shop, a bell jingling as she opened the door. There was a young man about Gemma's age standing behind the counter. "Hi there." He said looking up at the sound.

"Hello." Gemma replied walking up to the counter.

"Replacement?" the man said to her.

"Uhh, no." Gemma began

"So what can I help you with?" the man said again.

"She comes with questions." A shaky voice said from the back of the shop.

Gemma peered through the shelves trying to get a glimpse of who had spoken but couldn't see anyone. Suddenly next to her she heard, "this type of magic typically doesn't use a wand." Gemma screamed and turned to see an old man with wild white hair standing right next to her. He smiled and continued, "apologies my dear. I am Mr. Olivander." He took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips gently. Gemma gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh, hello sir. My name is."

"Ms. Kirkland, yes I expected you to be curious. I heard about your starting up at the school."

"Yeah, I'm quite interested in a wand, but wonder if it's even something I need, or if it would impede what I can already do? What is your professional opinion?"

"That is curious." Mr. Olivander began, "It's rare to come across your type of gift; however, I don't see why we can't give a few wands a wave and see if anything speaks to you. It can't hurt to add any magical tools to your arsenal dear. Mastering many types of magic is not a bad thing."

"That's true." Gemma nodded as she spoke. "So how do I choose?"

"Well dear the wand chooses the wizard but allow me to grab a few to get your started, first I'll need to take some measurements." He disappeared into the shelves and yelled back toward the front, "Jimmy, grab that tape before it goes to far." Jimmy looked up again from his paper and said, "ENOUGH" to the measuring tape that had been going around every part of her body until he spoke up and it crumpled to the floor in a heap. "Help her get started with these." Mr. Olivander dropped about six boxes on the table in front of the man with the paper, "stop being rude Jimmy, that's my grandson by the way Ms. Kirkland, Jimmy."

Jimmy rolled his eyes at this grandfather's antics, "sorry." He said quietly as he began taking the first wand out of the box, "he gets a little excited about new wands."

"I see that, I think it's fun though."

"Fun, yeah you are new here."

"Why so cynical dude?"

"Dude?"

"Yeah, just whatever, Jimmy."

"Sorry, I'm just stuck here helping per my parents force. They think he needs supervision since the battle."

"And does he?"

"I don't know, he seems just like his regular self to me. It's just not that exciting to me I guess."

"Well try coming from a world where magic wands aren't really a thing, even when you practice magic."

"Where's that, who could even do magic without a wand."

Gemma put her hand up and one of the wand boxes flew off the table and into her open hand. She smiled at the man whose mouth was wide open, "Hi." She said putting a hand out to be shaken, "I'm Gemma."

"Whoa" was the only reply he could come up with. Gemma had already taken the wand out of its box and waved it around but nothing happened. Jimmy shook his head and found himself back in reality, "that's not it. I know that much, here try this one." He came out from around the table and handed her another wand. She waved it and huge explosion occurred from somewhere near the back. "Granddad?!" Jimmy yelled looking toward the puff of smoke from the blast.

"I'm alright." Shouted old man Olivander, "that's not the one Jimmy."

"Yeah I got that." Jimmy shouted back, "geez" he whispered as he grabbed another wand from the table. Gemma took it out of the box, and when she placed it in her hand there was a warmth that began to radiate through her from the palm of the hand holding the wand. She waved the wand felt a true sense of completion. "I think we found it." Jimmy yelled toward the back of the store.

Suddenly as if he'd apparated Mr. Olivander was right next to her again, she jumped and gasped at his sudden appearance. "Looks to be the ticket. Hmm, interesting."

"Is it?" Gemma asked as Jimmy took the wand from her and began wrapping everything up for her to take with her.

"Oh yes." Mr. Olivander than disappeared again into the back of the store; and Jimmy stood there holding the freshly wrapped up box.

"That's 7 galleons." He said

Gemma took out her new gold pouch, "you don't talk much do you Jimmy?" she said as she handed him the money.

"Huh?" Jimmy grunted as he took the money.

"Never mind," Gemma said smiling, "see you around Jimmy." She walked through the door and the bell chimed again. She stood there looking at the box that held her new magic wand. Excited about the prospect, but nervous too she decided she might need some literature on the subject, so she headed over to the bookstore on the alley, Flourish and Blots.

The word chaos did not begin to describe this store. Stacks upon stacks of books; floor to ceiling stacks practically made up the aisles, Gemma had to maneuver gingerly to avoid knocking into anything. After a few minutes she began to get used to it though. Turned out it wasn't as chaotic as she thought, but it did take a bit of magic to find what you were looking for; magic or the help of Oscar the assistant manager of the store.

"Books about Muggles huh?"

"Yeah, I need to do a little background reading."

"Taking a class?" He asked as he looked over several books from up on a ladder.

"Teaching one actually."

Oscar turned and looked back down at her, "You're a little young to be a Professor aren't yeh?"

"Well, I'm older than Professor Longbottom the new Herbology professor; besides what does my age matter?"

"Ok, relax, I guess I'm just saying you look young? Is that so bad?"

"I guess not, thanks. But anyway, I need some books so I can know what wizards and witches not raised in the muggle world think about them. I thought I was a muggle my whole life until five years ago; I lived as a muggle and continued to even after I started practicing magic. I have no idea if I'm qualified for this job; and I may in fact fall right on my face. So I think I need to take any advantage I can get." Gemma let out a breath and then sucked in her next breath greedily. She had been speaking so fast, she had no idea what had come over her. "Whoa, I'm so sorry. That was quite an outburst wasn't it."

"Oh yeah, you're definitely a teacher." Oscar moved passed her and gestured for her to follow, "this way."

After leaving the book shop; a few new items in hand, Gemma was drawn to a spectacular looking shop; so spectacular she could hardly belived she'd missed it as she had come in through the archway.

Its bright colors a stark contrast to the dark cobblestone and worn down

looking store fronts that surrounded it. She opened the door, a bell chiming

as she entered. The store was relatively empty, a few customers here and

there, which was great for Gemma as she gawked at all the amazing things

before her eyes.

This was clearly some type of joke shop; there were products on the shelves

with names like skiving snack boxes and U-No-Poo and entire sections of card

tricks and fake wands; even love potions and pimple vanishing cream. She

wandered through the aisles picking up boxes and reading all about them. She

thought that whoever had made these things was pretty genius; "kids must go

nuts for this stuff." She said out loud to no one as she looked more closely

at a Puking Pasties Skiving Snack Box.

"They really do." Gemma jumped at the voice behind her and turned to see a

young girl in an orange shirt that read Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. "Can I help

you find anything?"

Gemma relaxed realizing the girl worked in the store, "Oh, no." she said back

to her, "I was just browsing around, this store is pretty incredible."

"Yeah, it's pretty much the most popular store on the alley."

"I can see why. It's wild. Also while you're here, can you tell me about

these?" Gemma walked over toward a large cage of what looked to be

differently colored poof balls.

"Of course, these are Pygmy Puffs. They are the cutest ever, I have two

myself."

"So, they're pets?"

"Yeah!" the shop girl said excitedly. "Super low maintenance, they'll eat

whatever and you can pretty much carry them around on your shoulders

everywhere. They love people and when you pet them they purr like a cat."

"They're really cute, I think I want one!"

"Great, which one would you like?"

"I don't know there are so many, and what wonderful colors."

"Yeah, we used to just have pink and purple hues, but the owner decided to

expand to include more so that more customers might want one. The originals

were fairly girly."

"I could see that, well, as much as the pink and purple ones are cute, I

think I want this green one." Gemma plucked a green puff out of the cage and

began to pet it as it sat in her hands. The little green puff began to purr.

She put him up to her face. "aww, yes, this one!"

"Great choice." Come up to the counter. Gemma followed the girl to the

register and paid 11 Galleons for her new companion and a small cage. As

Gemma stood chatting with the girl who worked in the store the bell rang

indicating that the door had been opened. The girl suddenly straightened up

and looked very serious. "Good morning Mr. Weasley."

A tall red-haired man, who looked to be about Gemma's age walked up to the

register. He had a kind of stern look about him, but Gemma could see a lot of

pain behind his eyes. However, her sympathy for him began to dwindle as he

spoke to his employee in short barks. "Uh huh" he acknowledged her greeting.

"Messages?"

"None sir."

"Sales?"

"Good, but it's been slow." He made a sound in his throat as if disappointed

in her answer. Then his eyes met Gemma's. She realized she must have had a

disgusted look on her face, because his face suddenly went soft and when he

spoke to his employee again, he sounded much nicer.

"Thanks Eliza." He glanced back over to Gemma and his face grew pink, "I'll

be in the back. Good job today."

"Thanks Mr. Weasley." Eliza replied, sounding a little surprised. The man

went past them and through a large red curtain that separated the main store

from the back room and the office. "Sorry about that." Eliza said to Gemma,

"was there anything else I could do for you?"

"That's ok." Gemma replied, "I think I'm good. Was that the owner?"

"Yeah, that's Mr. Weasley."

"Hmm, you'd think someone who owned a shop like this would have a kinder

disposition?"

"Well, he's been through a lot. I don't blame him at all it's been a rough

couple years for him. He lost his twin brother, who he owned the shop with,

during the Battle at Hogwarts."

Gemma's mouth fell open, "oh my. I had no idea, that's awful."

"Yeah, he's doing pretty well considering."

"Yeah, well thanks, Eliza right?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"I'm Gemma Kirkland." She shook the girls hand. "It was nice to meet you, and

thanks for the help." Gemma left the store and was about twenty steps away

from the front door, when she suddenly realized she'd left her new pygmy puff

on the counter in the store. She turned to go back and ran right into someone

and fell to the ground hard. "Ouch!" she cried when she landed right on her

backside.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." A hand came down to help her up and as Gemma looked up

she realized it was the man from the store who had reached out to help her

up, while he held her new pet in its small cage in his opposite hand. She got to her feet and he said, "are you alright, I'm truly so so sorry."

Gemma brushed herself off, "I'm fine, really, you just surprised me."

"And bruised your bum."

Gemma laughed, "yeah, well there's that."

"You left this little guy on the counter."

"I know I was just turning around to go back when..."

"When I pummeled you." He said smiling.

She smiled at him again and said, "yeah." She took the cage from him.

"So, do you have a name for him yet?"

"I had a thought on it, but I don't know if you'll get it."

"Why's that?"

"Do you watch movies?"

"What?"

"I thought not. So, I'm from America, obviously, but I also have lived my

entire life in the non-magical world and I grew up with more technology than

most wizards are used to, unless they are muggle born you know. So we have

movies, which are basically just fictional stories that people act out and

film so you can watch it over and over."

"What for?"

"Entertainment."

"Ok, I can get behind that, so what's the name."

"Marty."

"Marty, that's a good name, what movie is that from?"

He sounded genuinely interested, so she went on. "Well, my favorite movie is

called Back to the Future and the main character's name is Marty; and I just

feel like it's a fitting name for my little guy here."

"Well, no matter how you got there, I do like the name."

"Well maybe some time I can show you the magic of a movie."

"I'd like that, I'm George by the way." He put out his hand and she shook it.

"I'm Gemma."

"So where are you headed?"

"I was going to go back to the Leaky Cauldron, that's where I'm staying while

the headmistress prepares quarters for me."

"Do you work at Hogwarts?"

"Oh, yeah I'm the new Muggle Studies professor. Professor McGonagall has been

really great."

"Oh she's amazing." Gemma and George were walking now, making their way

toward the end of the alley, "the best teacher I had there, not that I

focused very hard on my academics I was more a prankster."

"I would have never guessed of the inventor of the Skiving Snack Box."

George smiled, "yeah Fred and I worked for an entire summer developing those

candies. I still think they are pretty brilliant."

"They are, and now that I know about them, I'll know pretty quickly if my

class is super boring. If kids start suddenly developing horrible fevers or

throwing up uncontrollably."

"I'm sure you are not a boring teacher." George assured her, "besides Muggles

studies is an elective, anyone taking it should be more than interested."

"Did you ever take it."

"Oh no, that was not really my bag, my dad did though. He loves muggles, he

works closely with them with his job at the Ministry, part of the muggle

relations crew and head of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office."

"So you didn't need to take Muggle studies, you must know all about them?"

George laughed, "I wouldn't put it like that, I said my dad loves muggles,

not that he has a vast knowledge of muggles. He once asked Harry Potter what

the function of a rubber duck was. Took Harry ages to convince him there

really wasn't much to them than to sit in a child's bath as a form of

entertainment."

Gemma laughed at this as well, "perhaps you should sit in sometime on my

class?"

"Can I bring my dad?" they laughed again, "seriously though, he'd love to

meet you, a witch of a different kind, living amongst muggles her entire life, living as one. He'd pick your brain for hours."

"Maybe sometime that can be arranged." They were just in front of the archway

to exit the alley and go back to the Leaky Cauldron. "Thanks for walking with me."

"Anytime." George replied, he cheeks grew pink and he continued, "I'm sorry your first impression of me was bad, I know I must have come off like quite a pratt."

"It's no big deal, besides, I think you've more than made up for it."

"Can I see you again sometime?" George asked

"I'd really like that." Gemma replied smiling, "see you around." She turned and walked through the archway and into the back garden of the Leaky Cauldron and as the bricks closed back into a wall Gemma smiled, feeling the happiest she'd felt in a long time.