People fear what they don't understand, this has been the moto for my life. I have an incredible amount of luck and I always seem to land on my feet, literally in some cases, but people don't like what they don't understand, attacking anything different from what they class as "normal", like is me. For a long as I can remember strange things have always happened around me, lost items suddenly appearing, like the time I left my phone on the bus but it was on the dining room table when we got home or the fact the other kids could never find me when playing hide and seek. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at having a wizard appear at my front door telling me that I was a witch and offering me a place at a school of magic, although my parents didn't quite know how to take it!
It has been over three months since Professor Dumbledore arrived at my front door to tell me I was a witch and that I was being offered a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and today we are going on a trip to Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall, a teacher from Hogwarts, to get my school supplies, this would be a trip that I will not quickly forget. A whole world of magic, that no one knew even existed and Diagon Alley was at the heart of it all and how do you get to this magical world, by walking through a magical wall in the back yard of a pub, no really, apparently in the wizarding world, those who do not have magic are called muggles. Muggles are oblivious to the wizarding world, as I said earlier people don't like what they don't understand, and the vast majority of muggles subconsciously ignore the wizarding world, never noticing the little things, like the Leaky Cauldron, the pub that hides the entrance to Diagon Alley. It is on Charring Cross road, a busy London street and no one even notices it, or the people going into it. So after the initial shock of the wall opening up, we walk through the stone archway that appeared and we are greeted by an incredible sight, there were so many places to visit, book shops, clothing shops, wandshops, even magical pet shops. My head turned every way trying to take it all in, wide eyed and in awe of everything, I didn't know what to do first but luckily my mum had paid attention to what Professor McGonagall had said when we first arrived an she went to full mum mode.
Our first stop was Gringots the wizarding bank, a beautiful white marble building staffed by, well, Goblins, once we had changed our "muggle" money into wizarding money, we were good to go. First on the list were my school robes. I wasn't sure what to expect, it's not as if robes are a fashion item in the muggle world, but they weren't actually that bad, a long black flowing cape like jacket, it probably the best way to describe them, the lady in the shop recommend we get three sets, "in case you get them dirty dear", that made me wonder what on earth must they get up to in Hogwarts. Next on the list was a cauldron, honestly a cauldron, mum and I couldn't believe it, that along with some strange ingredients and a set of scales made up my potions kit. Books came next there were quite a few on the list, the book shop was incredible, books stacked to the ceiling, giant books, tiny books there were even invisible books, they covered more topics than you could ever imagine, not that any of them would be of any real use in the muggle world, but they were fascinating. We picked up a few more supplies before heading over to the wand shop, yes the wand shop, I could bearly contain my excitement, a wand, a real, actual, magical wand and Professor McGonagall had suggested Ollivanders as the best place to buy a wand. Standing outside the dust looking little shop, I couldn't imagine finding anything as amazing as a magic wand inside, upon opening the door we were greeted by tinkling of a small bell and the musty smell of dust and old things. The shop was lined with rows upon rows of small, thin boxes, reaching up to the ceiling and further back that you could see. A voice floated out from between the rows of boxes, "Well hello, let's see what we have for you". A small grey haired man appeared carrying one of the boxes, he looked me up and down for a moment, then turned and walked away, muttering to himself as he went. I turned to look at mum who was just as confused as I was. Suddenly he reappeared next to me, and in his hand he held a wand, it was a beautiful ebony wand, with deep intrict carvings, My eyes light up," Oh it is beautiful " I gasped, "Try it out" he said. How do you "try" a wand?. He handed me the wand and as soon as I took it I could feel it vibrating, only ever so slightly, more like a hum really, which made my fingers tingle. "Try it, give a wave", ever so gently I waved the wand in front of me, a light breeze flowed from the wand, it felt wonderful. " Can I try it again? ", " of course", this the a bit more flourish I waved the wand, the air around me seemed to swirl and glimmer, "is this what magic feels like?" , " this my dear, is what is feels like to find your wand, no other wand will feel the same and no other witch or wizard will react the same. This is how you know the wand was meant for you". We thanked him and paid for my wand, which he placed carefully back into it's box, then made our way outside. " Oh, I almost forgot, Professor McGonagall said you would best to get an owl, so we can write to each other", I shook my head, mum was really getting into this, "Ok, let's see what we can find". We walked down the street toward a shop called "Magical Menagerie" , they had so many different types of animals, but mostly owls, how do you even train an owl? After much debate we settled on a beautiful tawny owl who, according it the shopkeeper, was a real sweetheart. We finally bought a trunk to hold all of my new things, with thentrunk full we started back to the stone archway. Professor McGonagall appeared from inside a shop close to where the archway had been, "Ready?" , "Yes Professor" and with a tap of her wand the archway opened up again .
The decision was made that it would be best if we stayed overnight at the Leaky Cauldron, given how close it was to the station it made sense, Professor McGonagall give instructions on how to get to the train platform, although when she mentioned running at the wall mum and I gave each other a funny look. That night was, different, the people who frequented the Leaky Cauldron were unique. We got chatting to a lovely older witch who was, it appears, the same as me, Muggleborn, she told us all about the magical barrier to train platform and that it is best to run at the wall if your a bit unsure. She told us all about Hogwarts, the history of the castle, the different subjects taught, and about Hogsmeade the only all magical village in the whole country, and it was right by the school. The excitement was growing, I honestly didn't know how I would sleep, it was starting to get late so we said goodbye and thank you to the witch and made our way upstairs. "Are you looking forward to tomorrow?" , "Yeah mum, it is going to great. I wonder what the other kids will be like?" , "Oh they will be just as excited as you hun, I bet you will make some new friends on the train". I love my mum's optimism, but I was a bit worried about meeting other kids especially those from magical families, what if I am the only one in my year who doesn't know what to do. I decided that there was nothing I could do about it now and I am sure they must have beginners classes. We settled down for the night, tomorrow was going to bethe start of something new.
The next morning breakfast was brought up to our room so we could eat and pack, my owl still didn't have a name so mum and I started thinking of names for her, in the end we settled on Rhea. The train would be leaving at 11am sharp and with 30 minutesbto spare we arrived at platforms 9 and 10. Now from our discussion with Professor McGonagall and the witch from the Leaky Cauldron we knew that my train was leaving from a magical platform, what we didn't realise was that there was no sign at all to show where the magical barrier was. The train ticket states platform 9 3/4, it there was no "hidden" magical sign saying platform 9 3/4, what on earth were we supposed to do, just randomly run at walls and hope we found it? I was starting to panic when mum pointed at a small group ofpeople pushing trolleys loaded with trunks and, oh owls. "Lets follow them", quickly we ran after them, and just hung back a bit waiting to see what they did. Two boys slightly older than me, looked at each other, laughed then ran at the wall of the archwaybetween platforms 9 and 10, just as I thought they would hit the wall the disappeared through the wall followed by the other members of the same family. In front of us was a girl my age with both her parents, she turned around as if to check who was watching and caught me staring, she nudged her mum who also turned around, " Sorry, we are new " Oh mum, really, the woman laughed " So is Alice", Alice blushed and put her head down, "Niamh is as well, apparently she is muggleborn?" , Alice's head snaped up, " I am half blood, mum is a witch but dad is a muggle", her dad just smiled and nodded, I got the impression that he heard that a lot. "Well come girls, you don't want to be late", " Come one, let run at it together", Alice seemed just as excited as I was, "Yeah ok", " I hope we don't crash into anyone!", Alice laughed " Well if we do it's their own fault for standing behind a magical barrier" I giggled. So together we ran toward the wall and as we reached it, it seemed to disappear into a cloud of smoke through which you could hear all the hussle and bussle of the platform, the smoke turned to steam which was pouring out of the beautiful scarlet train sitting at the platform. The platform itself was a hive of activity, with parents and children everywhere, our parents came up behind is and Alice's mum directed us toward the train, "Come on, let's get your things loaded up", we heaved and dragged the trunks on to the train and with a flurry of hugs, kisses and write soons we were ushered into the train, and after some last minute waves and goodbyes we started down the train to look for somewhere to sit. We ended up in a small compartment with two other girls, " Hi, I am Alice, this is Niamh ", " Hi I am Lotte and this is Aveah, are you new? ", " Yeah, we are what about you two? ", "Yep, we are new as well, we are both pure blood and really want to be sorted into Slytherin", "I am half blood and my mum is a Hufflepuff, so not sure where I will end up" said Alice enthusiastically, they all turned to look at me, "Erm, muggleborn and I have no idea what you are talking about, sorry" , they all burst out laughing, "They are the school houses, every student is sorted into a house, it like your family at Hogwarts" Alice explained "Oh right, so we pick which one we want", I had every intention of picking the same as Alice, given that she was the only person I actually knew. "Oh no" said Aveah shaking her head " you don't get to pick the sorting hat will decided where you will go", "It's fine" whispered Alice, "We will definitely be together" . I smiled, I ason a train journey that was going to change my life, forever