Once upon a time, there lived a little girl called Lucy Walsh.
She lived in a lovely cottage in Lichfield. One summer morning, she woke up
very early. "Eurgh, six o'clock." she mumbled sleepily looking at her alarm
clock. "Why am I up so early?" She clambered out of bed and drew her
curtains back from the window with a flourish. There, sitting in the tree
by her window, was a large owl, with a letter in its beak.
"What the…?" she gasped. The owl glanced at her condescendingly, made a small "hmph" sound, and started to clean its wings as if Lucy was beneath any kind of response. After a few minutes of deliberation Lucy opened the window, and the owl flew in looking at her begrudgingly. She jumped back from the window, and backed into a corner of the room. The owl dropped a letter on her bed and flew out the room again, completely ignoring her.
She edged over to the bed, peering at the letter. It was written on what looked like parchment. When, after a further five minutes, the letter did not explode, she nervously opened it. After the shock of the owl, Lucy did not think that anything could surprise her, but the letter proved her wrong. It said that she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was surprised and pleased all at once. Ordinarily she would have thought it was some kind of prank, but an owl had delivered the letter. Who would get an owl to deliver a letter for a prank? The letter also said that she would be visited by a teacher from the school, called Professor Snape, at six o'clock that evening, and he would tell her what to do next.
Lucy ran out of her room, jumping around the house and screaming with excitement. Her father came out of his bedroom. "Lucy – have you gone mad? Only it's six in the morning, and you don't usually get up until ten at the earliest." "Look, look!" Lucy cried. Her father quickly read the letter, and looked up at Lucy in bemusement. "Lucy, I think someone's probably playing a trick on you." She quickly explained about the owl, "and who would go to the trouble of sending it by owl just to play a trick on me?" she finished, gasping with excitement.
"Hmmm, well, I suppose we'll find out at six this evening if that Professor Snape turns up won't we?" her father said with a grin. "Now, I'm going to go and explain to your mother what's made her daughter go mad so early in the morning. Why don't you go back to bed?" But Lucy was much too excited to sleep. All day she fidgeted, looking at the clock almost every five minutes, too distracted to really concentrate on anything. When six o'clock finally came Lucy and her parents were sat in the living room, ready to greet Professor Snape; whoever he (or even she – the letter was not clear) turned out to be.
The minutes ticked by torturously, and quarter past came with no sign of anyone; let alone a mysterious witch or wizard. "There, there." Lucy's mum said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "It was probably just one of your friends having a joke with you. Quite a cruel one I must say. I'll bet it was that nasty Stef, I never did like her." Lucy stood up and walked towards the door. "I think I'll just go to my room for a while." she said, trying not to show how upset she was. She had really hoped that Hogwarts was real.
A cold voice came out of nowhere. "Before you ask, it's called apparating, and one day you will probably be able to do it too." Lucy spun around in amazement. A tall, thin man was suddenly standing in the corner of the room. He had black hair just curling against the tops of his shoulders, which was in stark contrast with his pale skin. He was wearing a black suit and a long black cloak, hanging behind him almost like the wings of a bat. It was his eyes however, that caught Lucy's attention. They were jet black, and glittered strangely. " I apologise for my lateness, but it was unavoidable. Sometimes it takes parents quite a while to come to terms with the situation." He spoke quickly, taking in all of the room with his piercing glance as he did.
Lucy's mother gasped and her father went pale. "You're Professor Snape?" he asked. Snape nodded curtly. "Then please, sit down." her mother said, quickly regaining her composure. "Is there anything I can get you Professor? A cup of tea perhaps? Coffee?" Lucy was pleased to see that her parents took Snape's sudden appearance into their stride; it would have been very annoying if they had refused to believe in magic when it had taken place right in front of their eyes.
"No, thank you Mrs Walsh, I won't be staying for very long. I'm glad to see that you acknowledge my existence, and don't believe that I am some form of mass hysteria, or even a ghost, as so many people do." Lucy noticed that he was still standing, in spite of her mother's invitation to sit down. She was surprised at his obvious hostility towards them, and the abruptness of his manner. She could sense that he considered himself to be above visiting them, and guessed that he had probably been forced into it. Snape's eyes suddenly flicked upwards and caught her own where she was still standing in the doorway. They quickly glanced away again, but in that instant Lucy got the strangest feeling that Snape could tell exactly what she was thinking.
"Your daughter has been selected to go to Hogwarts because she has shown the potential and skill needed to become a wizard." Snape continued. "Hogwarts is an old and prestigious school that was set up long ago by four witches and wizards to develop the magical skills of young wizards; both those born into wizarding families, and those who are Muggle-born."
"Muggle-born?" Lucy asked, puzzled.
"Muggles is a word used to describe non-magic people." Snape said, looking strangely pleased at Lucy's questioning. "Wizards can be born into the most ordinary of families, but Hogwarts has ways of detecting them. Pupils at Hogwarts will learn a variety of magical arts, including Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Potions which I teach."
"Dark Arts?" Lucy's father asked, looking worried.
"Yes," replied Snape sounding annoyed at the interruption. "As with all things, there are those who will use their skills for their own gain, regardless of the welfare of others. We only teach students how to defend themselves against these 'dark' wizards, not the ways in which they may become them. It's a very important subject, one which I personally hold in high esteem."
Snape continued telling Lucy and her parents about Hogwarts and the wizarding world for another hour, still never stirring from the corner in which he stood. Lucy was amazed and could hardly believe all the things she was hearing. A secret street in London where she would be going to buy her school things? A beautiful hidden castle where she would be spending the next seven years learning magic? She had to keep pinching herself to check that she wasn't having some kind of wonderful dream. She could hardly keep up with all the things she was being told, and was sure she would forget half of them. Finally, Snape looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the living room.
"I cannot afford to spend anymore time here." he said. " This is your ticket for the Hogwarts Express. Just run with confidence at the wall of the third arch between platforms nine and ten and you will get through. To get to Diagon Alley, just go to the Leaky Cauldron pub in London and someone will open the wall for you. All the information you need is either in your letter or I have told you. I will see you in my Potions class, where I trust you will do well."
As soon as he had finished his sentence, he disappeared. No puff of smoke, no flashing light – he simply was no longer there, in the corner of Lucy's living room. Lucy and her parents gasped with surprise. They sat in a stunned silence for a minute, until suddenly Lucy burst out: "I'M A WIZARD! WOO HOO!"
The tension was broken. All three of them started to talk at once, exclaiming how wonderful it was, how proud they were, how they would miss her, and most of all how exciting it was. This sort of thing did not happen every day! Lucy's parents agreed that they would go down to London the next day, seeing as there was not much time left before the term started.
"Lucy; I think it's high time you went to bed." Said Lucy's mum when they had all calmed down. "You've got a big day tomorrow, what with all the travelling and shopping to do."
"Ok, mum." Lucy said. She walked slowly up to her room, turning over all the things she had heard in her mind. Her, a wizard? If Professor Snape had come she would not have believed a word of it, but after seeing him just disappear – well, after that, anything could be possible. She knew she had a big day tomorrow, but she still did not think she would be able to sleep with all this information still whirling around her head. However, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and dreamed of wizards and spells all night long.
Two figures haunted her dreams, beckoning to her with great urgency. One was Professor Snape, only younger than he had been when he stood in her living room; he looked only a little older than her. The other was a boy of around the same age as the dream-Professor-Snape, quite tall, with dark brown hair, and deep brown eyes. Lucy felt that she should know who he was, and it troubled her that she could not remember. However, when the morning came she had forgotten all about the troubling dream, and instead her thoughts turned towards the day ahead of her.
Later that day Lucy and her father arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. Her mother had not been feeling well, and had decided to stay at home. "Good luck Lucy dear!" she had cried out the window as they left. From the outside the Leaky Cauldron was just a dirty, shabby pub. Most people seemed to ignore it, and Lucy couldn't blame them. Was this really the entrance to the world of magic? It was certainly well hidden, she thought with a wry smile.
Nervously she walked through the large door of the pub. What would see do if it had all been some sort of dream? Her dad squeezed her hand and smiled at her. "Don't worry." He said reassuringly. It took her a few minutes to adjust to the dim light of the pub. Looking around her she could see a large bar at one end of crowded room filled with table and chairs. To Lucy's great surprise, sitting near the door at a small table was her friend Sarah Clements and her mother!
"Sarah!" Lucy cried, and ran over to her. Sarah looked up, her face breaking into a grin as she saw Lucy. "Lucy, what are you doing here?" she asked. After a few minutes of excited conversation it became clear that Sarah was a wizard too, and going to Hogwarts. The mysterious Professor Snape - "and what a babe he was!" Sarah added – had visited her last night too. "Eurgh," said Lucy. "No way. He was well weird though wasn't he?" That Sarah had to agree with.
A strange young man dressed in robes and a turban came over to them. "N – N - New students at Hogwarts?" he asked. "I – I – I'm Professor Qu – Qu – Quirrel. I'll be one of your t - t – t – teachers. I – I – I teach Def - Defence Ag – Against the D – D - Dark Arts." Lucy and Sarah smiled at each other relieved, but slightly amused by the Professor's terrible stutter. This proved beyond all doubt that it hadn't been some sort of demented dream. Professor Quirrel seemed very nice, but very nervous, and Lucy quite looked forward to having him for her teacher. Lucy and Sarah introduced themselves and then Professor Quirrel offered to show them how to get to Diagon Alley.
"Sarah," said Mrs Clements. "Mr Walsh and I have decided to stay here, and leave you girls to get your things on your own without us tagging along behind you." The girls quickly agreed, and after getting their money off their parents, followed Professor Quirrel to a small yard behind the pub. With a small smile, Quirrel tapped a combination of bricks on the wall with a wand he had produced from somewhere within the folds of his cloak, and stood back.
As the bricks in the wall rearranged themselves to reveal Diagon Alley, Lucy gasped in amazement. The rows of shops stretched out, with signs reading "Flourish and Blotts" and "Ollivanders Wands". The street was crammed with witches and wizards of all ages wearing robes of startling colours. A group of children gathered round a window, staring at a broom on display. In the distance, Lucy could see the crowd parting for a really tall man to walk through. Judging by the size of the small, dark-haired boy with glasses beside him, the man must have been about seven feet tall.
"N – N - Now, girls," said Quirrel. "F - First of all, you'll need to change your Muggle money at Gr – Gr - Gringotts B – B - Bank, which is th - that big white b – b - building d - down there." He pointed at a large building in the distance, which towered over the shops beside it. "H – h - have fun! And I'll s – s - see you in cl - class." And with a small wave, he was gone.
Lucy and Sarah went around the shops together and brought all their school things (after changing their money at Gringotts Bank of course). The last shop that they went to was "Ollivanders Wands", to buy the all- important wands they would need to do magic with. After half an hour of trying different wands, Sarah finally found the wand for her: 8 and ¾ inches, redwood, with a phoenix feather inside. Then it was Lucy's turn. She found her wand very quickly, or as Mr Ollivander put it, her wand was in a hurry to find her: it shot out of the box and into her hand, where she promptly made a miniature firework display. The wand was made of maple, was 11 inches long, and contained the tail hair of a baby unicorn.
"Very strange." Said Mr Ollivander. "The unicorn that produced this tail hair died soon after I took it, in very mysterious circumstances. There was only one other wand made using the hair of that unicorn, and I sold that quite recently, to another Hogwarts student."
"Who?" asked Lucy. She was feeling quite scared of Mr Ollivander now; he had a manic look in his eyes, and seemed intent upon frightening her about the other wand. Who did it belong to, and what had that got to do with anything?
"A young Gryffindor boy, by the name of Oliver Wood. Could be quite a powerful wizard if he wanted to be…as could you."
"Erm…ok then." said Lucy. "Well I'd best be off now. Bye Mr Ollivander." He had definitely freaked Lucy out now, and the only thing she could think about was getting out of the shop as quickly as possible. She started to hurry out the door to where Sarah was waiting for her outside. Sarah had wanted to 'soak up the wizarding atmosphere' as she put it, or closer to the truth, get away from the supremely creepy Mr Ollivander. Lucy was halfway out the door, with the wand clutched tightly in her hand when with a burst of green sparkles, the wand spun her around to face Mr Ollivander again.
"Your wand wants you to listen to me, even if you do not." he said with a small smile stretched tightly across his thin lips. "Be careful what spells you cast with that wand, and who you cast them against. Those two wands have some significance that I haven't yet divined, but I can sense their importance. I get the feeling that they will be of great consequence to us all." Smiling at her, he disappeared behind the stacks of wands that littered the shop.
Lucy turned and ran from the shop, almost smacking into Sarah in her hurry. "What the hell was that about?" Sarah asked, her face a mixture of mirth and amazement.
"I don't know," said Lucy, still shaken by the ominous warning given to her. "But from the sound of things, I don't really want to know either." Sarah carried on chatting as though nothing had happened as they were swept through the crowd, but Lucy was having more trouble shaking off the icy fear that Mr Ollivander's speech had made her feel. She had a sudden image of a dark shadow crawling all over Diagon Alley, burning and dissolving everything it touched, leaving only grey spectres of the previous happiness in its place. Somehow she knew that she could prevent this loss; stop the shadow from swallowing the entire world.
Suddenly she was shaken out of her reverie, and Diagon Alley was full of busy people was once more, with no sign of the menacing shadow that had filled her mind only a second ago. Sarah was tugging at her arm. "Look!" she cried excitedly, pointing at a crowded café. "It's Louise and Sammy! Here, in Diagon Alley. They must be witches too!" And there, sitting at a table in the middle of the café, clearly enjoying large glasses of a frothing purple liquid was Louise Turvey and Sam Peart, two friends of Lucy and Sarah. Sarah and Lucy ran over to the two girls and for several minutes it was a whirlwind of excited hugs and chatter. It turned out that Louise and Sam had come to Diagon Alley because they were going to Hogwarts too!
Sarah and Lucy had not been sat down long when they spotted two more of their friends in the crowd: John Conner and Matthew Carver. What a strange coincidence! Hogwarts was certainly getting a lot of Muggle-born wizards from the Midlands this year. Matt and John joined them, and soon they were all laughing and talking, enjoying all sorts of wonderful and weird wizard foods. John had apparently been to Diagon Alley before, because his older brother had gone to Hogwarts too. He had been keeping it a secret but had really been dying to tell everyone.
"I've been hoping to get accepted into Hogwarts ever since Michael was. I was so happy when the letter came! I hope I get put into Gryffindor, and not Slytherin or Hufflepuff." John said with a wide grin.
"What?" said Matt and Louise at the same time. John quickly explained the house system of Hogwarts to them. "I hope we're all in the same house," he finished, "And I hope it's Gryffindor!"
Lucy hoped it would be Gryffindor too. She certainly didn't like the sound of Slytherin, but Gryffindor…the boy that Mr Ollivander had been talking about was in Gryffindor. "John," she asked. "Has your brother ever mentioned another Gryffindor boy to you, one called Oliver Wood?"
"Yeah, he has actually." John replied. "He's the captain of the Quidditch team, quite clever and a really nice guy apparently. Fanatical about Quidditch though. How do you know him?"
"Oh, that weird guy selling the wands mentioned him." Sarah filled in for her. "Something about the same unicorn hair in their wands, and a 'significance he hasn't yet divined' or something. Managed to freak her out good and proper – she hasn't been right since."
"He just scared me a bit," said Lucy defensively. "That's all. I just wondered who he was. Out of interest."
The conversation carried on around her, but Lucy fell into thinking about Oliver Wood, and the significance he was supposed to have. The mystery figure from her dream came back to her, and she had the strangest feeling that that was Oliver. How she knew this she didn't know, but of all the strange things that had happened recently; the letter, Professor Snape's visit, her dream, and Mr Ollivander; out of all these, this was the thing she was most sure of.
After a while, it was time for them all to go home, but it turned out that they were all catching the same train anyway, so there was more time for talk about Hogwarts. When they pulled into Birmingham New Street station, it was finally time for them to go their separate ways. There were lots of hugs, see you soon's, and promises to meet again to get the train down to London the next week to catch the Hogwarts Express.
"Have fun?" Lucy's dad asked her in the car on the way home. "Oh, yes," she replied with a yawn. "I can't wait till next week, when I finally go to Hogwarts." And with that, she fell fast asleep.
To Be Continued…?
"What the…?" she gasped. The owl glanced at her condescendingly, made a small "hmph" sound, and started to clean its wings as if Lucy was beneath any kind of response. After a few minutes of deliberation Lucy opened the window, and the owl flew in looking at her begrudgingly. She jumped back from the window, and backed into a corner of the room. The owl dropped a letter on her bed and flew out the room again, completely ignoring her.
She edged over to the bed, peering at the letter. It was written on what looked like parchment. When, after a further five minutes, the letter did not explode, she nervously opened it. After the shock of the owl, Lucy did not think that anything could surprise her, but the letter proved her wrong. It said that she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She was surprised and pleased all at once. Ordinarily she would have thought it was some kind of prank, but an owl had delivered the letter. Who would get an owl to deliver a letter for a prank? The letter also said that she would be visited by a teacher from the school, called Professor Snape, at six o'clock that evening, and he would tell her what to do next.
Lucy ran out of her room, jumping around the house and screaming with excitement. Her father came out of his bedroom. "Lucy – have you gone mad? Only it's six in the morning, and you don't usually get up until ten at the earliest." "Look, look!" Lucy cried. Her father quickly read the letter, and looked up at Lucy in bemusement. "Lucy, I think someone's probably playing a trick on you." She quickly explained about the owl, "and who would go to the trouble of sending it by owl just to play a trick on me?" she finished, gasping with excitement.
"Hmmm, well, I suppose we'll find out at six this evening if that Professor Snape turns up won't we?" her father said with a grin. "Now, I'm going to go and explain to your mother what's made her daughter go mad so early in the morning. Why don't you go back to bed?" But Lucy was much too excited to sleep. All day she fidgeted, looking at the clock almost every five minutes, too distracted to really concentrate on anything. When six o'clock finally came Lucy and her parents were sat in the living room, ready to greet Professor Snape; whoever he (or even she – the letter was not clear) turned out to be.
The minutes ticked by torturously, and quarter past came with no sign of anyone; let alone a mysterious witch or wizard. "There, there." Lucy's mum said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. "It was probably just one of your friends having a joke with you. Quite a cruel one I must say. I'll bet it was that nasty Stef, I never did like her." Lucy stood up and walked towards the door. "I think I'll just go to my room for a while." she said, trying not to show how upset she was. She had really hoped that Hogwarts was real.
A cold voice came out of nowhere. "Before you ask, it's called apparating, and one day you will probably be able to do it too." Lucy spun around in amazement. A tall, thin man was suddenly standing in the corner of the room. He had black hair just curling against the tops of his shoulders, which was in stark contrast with his pale skin. He was wearing a black suit and a long black cloak, hanging behind him almost like the wings of a bat. It was his eyes however, that caught Lucy's attention. They were jet black, and glittered strangely. " I apologise for my lateness, but it was unavoidable. Sometimes it takes parents quite a while to come to terms with the situation." He spoke quickly, taking in all of the room with his piercing glance as he did.
Lucy's mother gasped and her father went pale. "You're Professor Snape?" he asked. Snape nodded curtly. "Then please, sit down." her mother said, quickly regaining her composure. "Is there anything I can get you Professor? A cup of tea perhaps? Coffee?" Lucy was pleased to see that her parents took Snape's sudden appearance into their stride; it would have been very annoying if they had refused to believe in magic when it had taken place right in front of their eyes.
"No, thank you Mrs Walsh, I won't be staying for very long. I'm glad to see that you acknowledge my existence, and don't believe that I am some form of mass hysteria, or even a ghost, as so many people do." Lucy noticed that he was still standing, in spite of her mother's invitation to sit down. She was surprised at his obvious hostility towards them, and the abruptness of his manner. She could sense that he considered himself to be above visiting them, and guessed that he had probably been forced into it. Snape's eyes suddenly flicked upwards and caught her own where she was still standing in the doorway. They quickly glanced away again, but in that instant Lucy got the strangest feeling that Snape could tell exactly what she was thinking.
"Your daughter has been selected to go to Hogwarts because she has shown the potential and skill needed to become a wizard." Snape continued. "Hogwarts is an old and prestigious school that was set up long ago by four witches and wizards to develop the magical skills of young wizards; both those born into wizarding families, and those who are Muggle-born."
"Muggle-born?" Lucy asked, puzzled.
"Muggles is a word used to describe non-magic people." Snape said, looking strangely pleased at Lucy's questioning. "Wizards can be born into the most ordinary of families, but Hogwarts has ways of detecting them. Pupils at Hogwarts will learn a variety of magical arts, including Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Potions which I teach."
"Dark Arts?" Lucy's father asked, looking worried.
"Yes," replied Snape sounding annoyed at the interruption. "As with all things, there are those who will use their skills for their own gain, regardless of the welfare of others. We only teach students how to defend themselves against these 'dark' wizards, not the ways in which they may become them. It's a very important subject, one which I personally hold in high esteem."
Snape continued telling Lucy and her parents about Hogwarts and the wizarding world for another hour, still never stirring from the corner in which he stood. Lucy was amazed and could hardly believe all the things she was hearing. A secret street in London where she would be going to buy her school things? A beautiful hidden castle where she would be spending the next seven years learning magic? She had to keep pinching herself to check that she wasn't having some kind of wonderful dream. She could hardly keep up with all the things she was being told, and was sure she would forget half of them. Finally, Snape looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the living room.
"I cannot afford to spend anymore time here." he said. " This is your ticket for the Hogwarts Express. Just run with confidence at the wall of the third arch between platforms nine and ten and you will get through. To get to Diagon Alley, just go to the Leaky Cauldron pub in London and someone will open the wall for you. All the information you need is either in your letter or I have told you. I will see you in my Potions class, where I trust you will do well."
As soon as he had finished his sentence, he disappeared. No puff of smoke, no flashing light – he simply was no longer there, in the corner of Lucy's living room. Lucy and her parents gasped with surprise. They sat in a stunned silence for a minute, until suddenly Lucy burst out: "I'M A WIZARD! WOO HOO!"
The tension was broken. All three of them started to talk at once, exclaiming how wonderful it was, how proud they were, how they would miss her, and most of all how exciting it was. This sort of thing did not happen every day! Lucy's parents agreed that they would go down to London the next day, seeing as there was not much time left before the term started.
"Lucy; I think it's high time you went to bed." Said Lucy's mum when they had all calmed down. "You've got a big day tomorrow, what with all the travelling and shopping to do."
"Ok, mum." Lucy said. She walked slowly up to her room, turning over all the things she had heard in her mind. Her, a wizard? If Professor Snape had come she would not have believed a word of it, but after seeing him just disappear – well, after that, anything could be possible. She knew she had a big day tomorrow, but she still did not think she would be able to sleep with all this information still whirling around her head. However, she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and dreamed of wizards and spells all night long.
Two figures haunted her dreams, beckoning to her with great urgency. One was Professor Snape, only younger than he had been when he stood in her living room; he looked only a little older than her. The other was a boy of around the same age as the dream-Professor-Snape, quite tall, with dark brown hair, and deep brown eyes. Lucy felt that she should know who he was, and it troubled her that she could not remember. However, when the morning came she had forgotten all about the troubling dream, and instead her thoughts turned towards the day ahead of her.
Later that day Lucy and her father arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. Her mother had not been feeling well, and had decided to stay at home. "Good luck Lucy dear!" she had cried out the window as they left. From the outside the Leaky Cauldron was just a dirty, shabby pub. Most people seemed to ignore it, and Lucy couldn't blame them. Was this really the entrance to the world of magic? It was certainly well hidden, she thought with a wry smile.
Nervously she walked through the large door of the pub. What would see do if it had all been some sort of dream? Her dad squeezed her hand and smiled at her. "Don't worry." He said reassuringly. It took her a few minutes to adjust to the dim light of the pub. Looking around her she could see a large bar at one end of crowded room filled with table and chairs. To Lucy's great surprise, sitting near the door at a small table was her friend Sarah Clements and her mother!
"Sarah!" Lucy cried, and ran over to her. Sarah looked up, her face breaking into a grin as she saw Lucy. "Lucy, what are you doing here?" she asked. After a few minutes of excited conversation it became clear that Sarah was a wizard too, and going to Hogwarts. The mysterious Professor Snape - "and what a babe he was!" Sarah added – had visited her last night too. "Eurgh," said Lucy. "No way. He was well weird though wasn't he?" That Sarah had to agree with.
A strange young man dressed in robes and a turban came over to them. "N – N - New students at Hogwarts?" he asked. "I – I – I'm Professor Qu – Qu – Quirrel. I'll be one of your t - t – t – teachers. I – I – I teach Def - Defence Ag – Against the D – D - Dark Arts." Lucy and Sarah smiled at each other relieved, but slightly amused by the Professor's terrible stutter. This proved beyond all doubt that it hadn't been some sort of demented dream. Professor Quirrel seemed very nice, but very nervous, and Lucy quite looked forward to having him for her teacher. Lucy and Sarah introduced themselves and then Professor Quirrel offered to show them how to get to Diagon Alley.
"Sarah," said Mrs Clements. "Mr Walsh and I have decided to stay here, and leave you girls to get your things on your own without us tagging along behind you." The girls quickly agreed, and after getting their money off their parents, followed Professor Quirrel to a small yard behind the pub. With a small smile, Quirrel tapped a combination of bricks on the wall with a wand he had produced from somewhere within the folds of his cloak, and stood back.
As the bricks in the wall rearranged themselves to reveal Diagon Alley, Lucy gasped in amazement. The rows of shops stretched out, with signs reading "Flourish and Blotts" and "Ollivanders Wands". The street was crammed with witches and wizards of all ages wearing robes of startling colours. A group of children gathered round a window, staring at a broom on display. In the distance, Lucy could see the crowd parting for a really tall man to walk through. Judging by the size of the small, dark-haired boy with glasses beside him, the man must have been about seven feet tall.
"N – N - Now, girls," said Quirrel. "F - First of all, you'll need to change your Muggle money at Gr – Gr - Gringotts B – B - Bank, which is th - that big white b – b - building d - down there." He pointed at a large building in the distance, which towered over the shops beside it. "H – h - have fun! And I'll s – s - see you in cl - class." And with a small wave, he was gone.
Lucy and Sarah went around the shops together and brought all their school things (after changing their money at Gringotts Bank of course). The last shop that they went to was "Ollivanders Wands", to buy the all- important wands they would need to do magic with. After half an hour of trying different wands, Sarah finally found the wand for her: 8 and ¾ inches, redwood, with a phoenix feather inside. Then it was Lucy's turn. She found her wand very quickly, or as Mr Ollivander put it, her wand was in a hurry to find her: it shot out of the box and into her hand, where she promptly made a miniature firework display. The wand was made of maple, was 11 inches long, and contained the tail hair of a baby unicorn.
"Very strange." Said Mr Ollivander. "The unicorn that produced this tail hair died soon after I took it, in very mysterious circumstances. There was only one other wand made using the hair of that unicorn, and I sold that quite recently, to another Hogwarts student."
"Who?" asked Lucy. She was feeling quite scared of Mr Ollivander now; he had a manic look in his eyes, and seemed intent upon frightening her about the other wand. Who did it belong to, and what had that got to do with anything?
"A young Gryffindor boy, by the name of Oliver Wood. Could be quite a powerful wizard if he wanted to be…as could you."
"Erm…ok then." said Lucy. "Well I'd best be off now. Bye Mr Ollivander." He had definitely freaked Lucy out now, and the only thing she could think about was getting out of the shop as quickly as possible. She started to hurry out the door to where Sarah was waiting for her outside. Sarah had wanted to 'soak up the wizarding atmosphere' as she put it, or closer to the truth, get away from the supremely creepy Mr Ollivander. Lucy was halfway out the door, with the wand clutched tightly in her hand when with a burst of green sparkles, the wand spun her around to face Mr Ollivander again.
"Your wand wants you to listen to me, even if you do not." he said with a small smile stretched tightly across his thin lips. "Be careful what spells you cast with that wand, and who you cast them against. Those two wands have some significance that I haven't yet divined, but I can sense their importance. I get the feeling that they will be of great consequence to us all." Smiling at her, he disappeared behind the stacks of wands that littered the shop.
Lucy turned and ran from the shop, almost smacking into Sarah in her hurry. "What the hell was that about?" Sarah asked, her face a mixture of mirth and amazement.
"I don't know," said Lucy, still shaken by the ominous warning given to her. "But from the sound of things, I don't really want to know either." Sarah carried on chatting as though nothing had happened as they were swept through the crowd, but Lucy was having more trouble shaking off the icy fear that Mr Ollivander's speech had made her feel. She had a sudden image of a dark shadow crawling all over Diagon Alley, burning and dissolving everything it touched, leaving only grey spectres of the previous happiness in its place. Somehow she knew that she could prevent this loss; stop the shadow from swallowing the entire world.
Suddenly she was shaken out of her reverie, and Diagon Alley was full of busy people was once more, with no sign of the menacing shadow that had filled her mind only a second ago. Sarah was tugging at her arm. "Look!" she cried excitedly, pointing at a crowded café. "It's Louise and Sammy! Here, in Diagon Alley. They must be witches too!" And there, sitting at a table in the middle of the café, clearly enjoying large glasses of a frothing purple liquid was Louise Turvey and Sam Peart, two friends of Lucy and Sarah. Sarah and Lucy ran over to the two girls and for several minutes it was a whirlwind of excited hugs and chatter. It turned out that Louise and Sam had come to Diagon Alley because they were going to Hogwarts too!
Sarah and Lucy had not been sat down long when they spotted two more of their friends in the crowd: John Conner and Matthew Carver. What a strange coincidence! Hogwarts was certainly getting a lot of Muggle-born wizards from the Midlands this year. Matt and John joined them, and soon they were all laughing and talking, enjoying all sorts of wonderful and weird wizard foods. John had apparently been to Diagon Alley before, because his older brother had gone to Hogwarts too. He had been keeping it a secret but had really been dying to tell everyone.
"I've been hoping to get accepted into Hogwarts ever since Michael was. I was so happy when the letter came! I hope I get put into Gryffindor, and not Slytherin or Hufflepuff." John said with a wide grin.
"What?" said Matt and Louise at the same time. John quickly explained the house system of Hogwarts to them. "I hope we're all in the same house," he finished, "And I hope it's Gryffindor!"
Lucy hoped it would be Gryffindor too. She certainly didn't like the sound of Slytherin, but Gryffindor…the boy that Mr Ollivander had been talking about was in Gryffindor. "John," she asked. "Has your brother ever mentioned another Gryffindor boy to you, one called Oliver Wood?"
"Yeah, he has actually." John replied. "He's the captain of the Quidditch team, quite clever and a really nice guy apparently. Fanatical about Quidditch though. How do you know him?"
"Oh, that weird guy selling the wands mentioned him." Sarah filled in for her. "Something about the same unicorn hair in their wands, and a 'significance he hasn't yet divined' or something. Managed to freak her out good and proper – she hasn't been right since."
"He just scared me a bit," said Lucy defensively. "That's all. I just wondered who he was. Out of interest."
The conversation carried on around her, but Lucy fell into thinking about Oliver Wood, and the significance he was supposed to have. The mystery figure from her dream came back to her, and she had the strangest feeling that that was Oliver. How she knew this she didn't know, but of all the strange things that had happened recently; the letter, Professor Snape's visit, her dream, and Mr Ollivander; out of all these, this was the thing she was most sure of.
After a while, it was time for them all to go home, but it turned out that they were all catching the same train anyway, so there was more time for talk about Hogwarts. When they pulled into Birmingham New Street station, it was finally time for them to go their separate ways. There were lots of hugs, see you soon's, and promises to meet again to get the train down to London the next week to catch the Hogwarts Express.
"Have fun?" Lucy's dad asked her in the car on the way home. "Oh, yes," she replied with a yawn. "I can't wait till next week, when I finally go to Hogwarts." And with that, she fell fast asleep.
To Be Continued…?