Kate was in the Leaky Cauldron, about to go to Diagon Alley, talking to Tom, the bartender. She was about as excited as a little kid going on the big ride. Tom led them around back and opened Diagon Alley. "First, ye'll need to stop by Gringotts, to get yersel' some money. Then ye'll get ter explore a bit," Tom explained as he led the way. "And mind yer pockets, we ha' some ruffians 'round 'ere."
The McGregors thanked Tom and headed toward the huge stone building. Whilst there, they met goblins and exchanged their money for heavy coins. Mr. and Mrs. McGregor gave Kate a conversion chart (5 knuts to a sickle, 9 sickles to a galleon) and a pocketful of money. "Explore, sweetie, and meet us at Florean's in a few hours," said Kate's mom. Kate grinned and ran to the quill shop, Hogwarts list in hand.
She bought several regular quills, a multicolored quill, an erasable quill with an included eraser, and a self inking quill. She bought two pots of black ink, one pot of red ink, and one pot of purple/blue/green ink. She liked odd things. She also bought a package of parchment (100 rolls per pack, for the writer of the family!). She put all of this in a green book bag and checked out.
Next, she ran to the apothecary. She grabbed a basket and began perusing her list. She checked things off with her self inking quill, and gasped at some of the items. "How do you manage to obtain Minotaur saliva, won't the Minotaur kill you first?" she murmured to herself.
"Domesticated Minotaur are quite friendly, if you speak Minotaurian," said a voice behind her. She turned around to face a tall redhead. He had a long fringed haircut, bright blue eyes, and great lips. "Interesting…" said Kate. She stuck out her hand. "Kate McGregor, muggle-born, and ex-American," she intoned drolly. "Ron Weasley, pure-blood, and born Brit," he shook her hand. His hands were so nice; they were big and calloused, but were gentle enough to be soothing to anyone, and he was—Ron Weasley?!
Kate paled. "Ron…. Weasley… best friend of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, resident potty-mouth of Hogwarts," she whispered. "Erm… yeah, I guess," he replied, "how'd you know?" "Oh, overheard some people," lied Kate. She was actually talking to Ron Weasley. THE Ron Weasley; the one she dreamt of so many nights…
"Anyway, would you like a guide around Diagon Alley," said Ron.
"I'd absolutely love a guide; this place is huge." Ron grinned and led Kate to the checkout.
"Ok, where have you been," inquired Ron. "Quibley's Quills and the apothecary, and Gringotts," replied Kate. "Ok, Madam Malkin's next? She owns the--" "robe shop, yeah, sounds great." Ron glanced at Kate curiously. "Say, Kate, how'd you know that?" "Um… I saw it earlier," Kate hated lying to Ron Weasley, her crush of two years, but she didn't know how much else was true from the books.
Madam Malkin was a plump witch with curly brown hair and kind eyes. "Do both of you need robes?" Both teens replied "Yes," simultaneously. They both grinned at each other, then at Madam Malkin. The elder witch's grin grew as she led them to the Hogwarts department.
Ron and Kate both immediately headed towards the tall section. Ron pulled out two different robes, and Kate found several. They both went to the dressing rooms and tried them on. They were a bit like dresses, you pulled them on and off over your head, and they had loose sleeves. Kate pulled on a robe and walked out to the mirrors. Ron was already there, looking at himself from different angles.
"Like, oh my gosh, like, those fit you, like, perfectly!" Kate gasped with an obvious affectedness. Ron laughed and replied, "Totally!" Both burst into laughter that drew over Madam Malkin. She grinned and said, "Well aren't you two cozy." Kate and Ron abruptly stopped and blushed.
Madam Malkin chuckled and said, "I was just kidding, darlings, you're ok." Kate blushed again, but visibly relaxed. Madam Malkin inspected them both and deemed Ron's robe good, but to Kate she critiqued, "The hem is too short and you need a more formfitting robe, sweetheart. You're a teenager!" Ron coughed a bit and murmured that he'd just wait on her where he was. "Thanks, be back in a few," Kate called, blushing yet again, as Madam Malkin rushed her back to the dressing rooms.
Two robes later, she managed to find one that Madam Malkin thought suitable. She walked out to Ron and spun a bit. "Well Kate, you spin quite nicely but I didn't see the robe, so stop," Ron said exasperatedly. Kate stopped spinning and giggled out, "Sorry, it's so flowy and stuff, not like jeans…"
Ron looked confused, "What are jeans?"
"They're a muggle thing, and they're awesome. I'm wearing them under this robe." "Ok, I'll see them later then."
"So, back to the robe, what do you think?" Ron looked at the robe and grinned at Kate, "looks good to me, let's go get you a wand!" "…a wand? Ohmigod I'm getting a wand…"
Kate and Ron bought the robes and headed to Ollivander's. They entered the shop and looked around. Suddenly they heard a sound behind them and Ollivander appeared.
"Mr. Weasley, you had the 14" cherry with unicorn hair, correct?" "Erm, yeah thanks," Ron replied confusedly. "And… Ms. McGregor, I presume," asked Ollivander knowingly.
"Yes, but how did you know? I'm a muggleborn," Kate smiled uncertainly. "Yes, yes, I know. Try this," said Ollivander, pulling a thin box out of a random shelf. "It's a 13" mahogany with dragon heartstring. Excellent at Defense Against the Dark Arts. Give it a wave," said Ollivander enthusiastically.
"You really enjoy your work," said Kate, giving the wand a wave. Green and red sparks flew out and spun around Kate before disappearing.
"Lovely, you did perfectly dear; you will definitely change the future with this wand."
"What did you just say?" asked Kate. "Nothing, Ms. McGregor, nothing."
Kate and Ron left the store after buying the wand, and headed to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The place was thriving; there was a line at least ten people long. Kate glanced down the line before asking dryly, "Is the place always like this?"
"Yeah, especially during the summer. Half of Florean's customers are Hogwarts students." Kate grinned, "I still can't believe there really is magic. I've always been able to make things happen, but I never really thought it was magic. In all honesty, I thought it was mice, hiding and pushing things around." Ron laughed outright at this.
They finally made it to the front of the line. Ron immediately ordered the Double Chocolate Chip Fudge double cone. Kate stared at the very long list of ice cream flavours and said quickly "yeah, what he got…" Ron chuckled and took the ice creams. He led her to a table and began asking her about what she knew of magical culture. He thought he could teach her about some basics, maybe lead her into admiring his supreme intellect—not for any particular reason… of course… just to… yeah… Ron shook himself out of his troubled thoughts and listened to Kate:
"Well, there's Harry Potter for one thing. There's Voldemort," Ron shuddered at this, "Um… Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. There's Malfoy, who's a freak, Crabbe and Goyle who are dunderheads… You, Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape… Everything."
"How the bloody hell did you know all that?" Ron asked incredulously.
"Erm… Books!"
"But you just got to the magical world, how would you know? And where are me and Hermione in any books?!"
"In lots of books Ronald, and it's 'Hermione and I'." Kate said, grinning.
"Yeah, right, whatever. Do you like the ice cream? I think Florean's is the best, but everyone prefers Hogwarts'," said Ron uncertainly. Ron wanted to please Kate, partly because he saw a new friend in light, and because she was still a mystery to him.
"This is honestly the best ice cream I've ever had, but let me taste Hogwarts' before I compare the two. It would be unfair to Hogwarts the other way," Kate replied.
Ron smiled at Kate and agreed to her terms. What a great smile… Ophelia sighed. Kate felt the same way.
Kate and Ron finished their ice cream and Kate told Ron her parents were at Florean's.
"Could I meet them? I've never actually met Yanks before." At Kate curious glance, Ron quickly said "Yanks are Americans, you know…" Kate grinned and said "I know what Yanks are; I was just surprised you wanted to meet my parents, that's all." She led Ron to a couple and introduced them all.
"Mom, Dad, this is Ron Weasley," at this bit her parents' eyes widened, "Ron, this is Mom and Dad."
Her parents did much better at disguising their surprise. Mrs. McGregor smiled charmingly and said, "Call me Mindy and him Hungry. Just kidding, he's Pete."
Ron laughed at this and replied, "Ok. D'you like Florean's?"
"It's great. I got some kind of peanut butter toffee thing. It kept squeaking 'Eat me'! I was really confused for a minute. I ate some and it giggled. Best ice cream I ever had," Mr. McGregor concluded happily.
"Talking Toffee, on of Florean's best sellers. I personally can't stand my food talking to me. Make me feel cannibalistic," Ron informed everyone. Kate concurred, "That would be weird. Anyway, would you all like to head back to the Leaky Cauldron? I want to try butterbeer!"
Kate's parents nodded and Ron earnestly nodded (a.n. there IS a difference!). On the way, Ron told them that butterbeer wasn't really alcoholic. It just gave you a warm feeling that many associate to drinking. Firewhiskey was the one to look (out) for.
They got to the Leaky Cauldron and ordered their drinks. The place was dark, but fairly clean. The butterbeer was undeniably smooth, and really sweet. Kate loved it. Her parents, however, did not. They grimaced and went to get firewhiskey.
Ron grinned, "If they want burn and no sugar, they'll get it from that stuff. I tried it once; Fred and George brought some home from a party. It really, really burns. You end up coughing up a lung." He imitated coughing, then started pounding his chest. Kate broke into peals of laughter.
Ron stopped coughing to listen to her laughs. They weren't tinkling of musical at all. They sounded like they were really coming from a human, deep and throaty. He liked them a lot better than the little giggles Lavender gave off. Those shrill things bothered him… a lot.
Kate finally stopped wheezing and replied, "You have never tried an atomic fireball, have you?"
"No."
"Try it," she handed him a little red ball in plastic. He popped the whole thing into his mouth. Kate laughed again and said, "You have to take the plastic off first!" So that was why he couldn't taste it… He took the thing out of his mouth, pulled off the plastic, and stuck the ball back in. It was pretty good, but then it got really spicy. He spit it out and took a long gulp of soothing butterbeer. Kate grinned and intoned, "Told you so".
Kate's mom and dad came back with two small glasses of red fluid. Her mom looked conspiratorially at her and whispered, "Dip your finger in and try it… It's like nothing before…" Kate grinned and stuck her finger in. The digit tingled a bit at contact. She smiled again and stuck her finger in her mouth. The liquid burned her tongue, but it tasted great. It had a smoky-ness that captured the essence of fire.
They chatted for a bit, talked about Ohio and American football. Ron had an interest in this, and Kate promised to get one before Hogwarts started. She really wanted to see him without a shirt, running on sunny grass to catch the football. She had just pictured his abs as he got the ball when— "Kate, what are you doing?" Kate shook her head to clear her mind and looked around. One hand was holding up her head, while the other was stroking the table.
She sheepishly grinned at Ron, "Sorry. My mind goes everywhere sometimes."
"Yeah, right, sure, whatever. Just… don't get the table too excited. It might jump you or something." The table was perfectly normal, thank you very much. Kate giggled and replied, "Yeah, cause it's just jumping around in ecstasy…" Kate's mom and dad laughed at this. Mr. McGregor recovered first and informed, "Anyway, we'd best go. Kate needs to get all her beauty sleep."
Kate swatted her dad and told Ron, "Owl me sometime. It'd be nice to keep in touch before school starts. If you need an address, it's 138 McCartney Boulevard, apartment 816. Sounds weird, I'm sure, but Pig'l find it."
Ron stared at her, "More of the mysterious knowledge… Must figure that out. Yeah, I'll write. Bye." He walked back into Diagon Alley in search of his family.