1 Diagon Alley
It was 16th July and Sirius Black was celebrating his birthday in his usual way- hauled up in his bedroom. He did not care for the family gatherings that he had to attend to for his younger brother, Regulus's, birthdays. He sighed and looked around his bedroom. It was mostly boring; he had added a few pictures of motorbikes from muggle magazines, though. He sat up and pulled the biggest of the small handful of presents towards him. He didn't have many relatives he liked, nor that he was particularly polite to, so he didn't expect anything from them. He didn't like his parents and he certainly wasn't polite to them but they had given him a book. If you could call it that. It was full of dark objects, most of which you could find at number twelve Grimmauld place. He had opened it once and stowed it inside his desk, vowing never to read it again. His brother had given him a bag of sweets.
Sirius knew what it was before he opened it, of course. It was a broomstick. Of course Sirius already owned a broomstick, a comet 140, but he'd like to see what one his favourite cousin Andromeda had got him. He opened it and the broom rolled out on to his bed. It was a Cleansweep 1. Sirius knew Andromeda knew nothing about brooms but he assumed she would buy a better one then he already had. He pushed the broom to one side and grabbed a card.
Dear Sirius,
I hope you are having a good holiday so far.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Sorry I haven't bought a present, been too busy you see. Even so I hope you enjoy your day. I won't be visiting but I hope to see you soon nonetheless.
From Uncle Alphard
P.S. I hope you have a good time at Hogwarts! (I wonder if you have your letter yet.)
Sirius smiled to himself. At least some relatives liked him.
He had, in fact, already received his letter from Hogwarts. He had left it open on his bed after reading it 14 times. It read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
Of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Black
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
There was a second page too. It said:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WHICHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes 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 Beginner's 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 and owl OR a cat OR a toad.
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
Sirius opened the rest of his presents (which were a set of gobstones, a wizard chess set and a pack of exploding snap). He fastened his travelling cloak, pocketed the letter and snuck out of his room, shutting the door as quietly as he could. When he was walking across the landing he distinctly heard the family house elf, Kreacher, muttering to the ancient portrait of Phineas Nigellus, Sirius's grandfather and former headmaster of Hogwarts. Sirius shook his head as he passed and wondered what news Kreacher had bought Phineas.
Sirius tip toed down the stairs, remembering to jump the creaky step at the bottom. As he got to the door, he had the feeling he was being watched. Just then a boy, little shorter then Sirius, stepped in front of the door blocking Sirius from getting out. The boy looked a bit like Sirius apart for he was smaller, slighter and rather less handsome. They both shared the same haughty look and black hair. The boy's name was Regulus Arcturus Black. He was Sirius's brother.
Sirius grinned
'Reg, it's you. What're you doing?' he asked, and then he saw Regulus's face and his grin faded.
'Reg?' he said, uncertainly.
Regulus just looked at him, with his arms folded.
Sirius stared at him for another 2 minutes until he got very annoyed.
'Regulus, what do you want? I'm in a hurry here y'know.'
Regulus took no notice and they stood there for 3 more minutes, until Sirius could stand there no longer.
'REGULUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' he shouted.
Regulus raised one eyebrow.
'Well it's your funeral, I guess.' he mumbled, just loud enough for Sirius to hear him.
He stepped aside and Sirius, bewildered, hesitated a second before stepping outside into the warm summer's afternoon. Pushing Regulus to the back of his mind, Sirius started walking down the long road. He was searching for a place that was deserted so no muggles saw him pull out his mother's wand. He supposed he already looked strange enough with robes on.
At last he found the place. He pulled the wand out and stuck it out into the road. A split second later, there was a triple decker, violently purple bus where Sirius's arm had just been. Sirius was too preoccupied to listen to the conductor's speech so he shoved the money into the conductor's hand.
'The leaky cauldron' he said, quickly, before the conductor could speak. Then Sirius walked to the back of the bus and sat down, sliding slightly in his seat. Yawning he thought back to Regulus's strange behaviour. Despite the fact that Sirius considered Regulus to be a little weird already (seemingly being as interested in the dark arts as the rest of the family), he knew this was creepy, even for Regulus.
Sirius knew that stealing his mother's wand would land him in trouble and so would him taking most of her money from her purse. Sirius wasn't concerned about that though. He got in trouble every other day anyway for trying to be as different from the rest of the family as possible. He didn't want to be stuck with his parents all day if they took him to Diagon alley themselves. They would ramble on about Gryffindors being rubbish and Slytherins being the best and they would grumble about all the Muggle Borns buying their school stuff. So he decided to sneak there by himself.
The train pulled up outside the leaky cauldron and Sirius hopped down from the bus, thanked the conductor and entered the leaky cauldron.
Inside it was crowded and stuffy so no one noticed Sirius as he weaved his way through the crowds and to the brick wall. He considered for a moment and then tapped the correct brick with his mother's wand. As the wall disappeared he saw what looked like a cobbled street, weaving its way out of sight. He rushed in and looked from left to right, trying to decide which shop to enter first. He consulted his list. Knowing it was the most important, he went to Ollivander's to buy a wand. The, first thing he noticed about this shop was that it was empty. No one was standing behind the counter or sitting in the chair in the corner. Sirius leaned as far over the counter as he could and peered to the left where there was a door. It was ajar. Sirius was just thinking he would go and look in there, when an extremely old man appeared behind the counter suddenly.
'Well hello Mr Black.' he said looking straight into Sirius's eyes as though reading his mind.
This made Sirius very uncomfortable so he backed away and dropped his gaze. Ollivander then beckoned for Sirius to come closer. Sirius still placed a bit of distance between him and Ollivander. Ollivander took out of his pocket an old tape measure and set it next to Sirius in mid-air. It started measuring his arms, legs, feet, fingers, eyebrows, head and everywhere else that Sirius could think of. It had started to annoy Sirius and when Ollivander when into the back of the shop, he swatted it away. Ollivander returned carrying some long, thin boxes of wands. As Sirius tried out each one he was getting bored. How many more would he have to try?
On what felt like his 100th wand, Sirius felt the tips of his fingers warm up and he knew, before Ollivander told him, that this was the one. Sirius exited the shop feeling happier then when he entered.
Next he went into a book shop called Flourish and Blotts. There were stacks of books and shelves everywhere and Sirius had a hard time finding all the books he needed.
'Excuse me?' he asked an assistant.
'Yes?' the assistant asked, in a bored voice.
'Can you tell me where to find The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 and a history of magic by Bathilda Bagshot?'
'Of course' the assistant replied, in the same bored voice.
He directed Sirius to a pile of books and withdrew a history of magic. He thrust it into Sirius's hands and Sirius glared at him. The shop assistant found The Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 in another pile of books and Sirius bought them, along with the rest of his books. He went into a shop selling cauldrons and bought the only pewter one left and he bought parchment and quills from another shop. He bought all his robes from a little shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
When he had finished shopping he bought an ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice cream parlour. While he ate it he checked his list again and set off through the Leaky Cauldron.
Taking the knight bus again, he arrived back at number twelve Grimmald Place in no time. He was so laden with packages that couldn't ring the doorbell; he couldn't even knock on the door. He kicked it instead and Regulus answered immediately, as though he had been sitting on the other side.
'Mum knows her wand is gone.' He said, as Sirius walked inside. 'And her money. You are her main suspect of course but I told her dad might have taken it to work by mistake. You're lucky you got home now. So give me the wand then! Quick!'
Sirius struggled for a moment and handed Regulus their mother's wand. Sirius then ran upstairs while Regulus span off a cover story to their Mother.
For the rest of the day and most of the following days Sirius lounged on his bed and looked in his new books. He felt very relaxed, which was a first for him as Regulus pointed out one evening while, they tried out Sirius's new exploding snap set. Sirius knew that he was usually bad tempered around his family which wasn't good as his temper was also very quick. He wasn't complaining though. He liked not shouting and raging all the time.