DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and co are owned by the ever fabulous JK Rowling. The only thing I own is Phoenix and various other originals you see running around.

Chapter Two
"Diagon Alley"
September 23, 1989

"Phoenix dear, are you ready?"

"Almost mama Molly!" I tore around the room, trying to find my red trainers. We were headed to Diagon Alley and those were my most comfortable shoes. "I knew I should have got my things together last night." Percy always talked about making sure you were ready. Looks like I should have paid more attention to him. I finally found them – one underneath my bed and the other behind Ginny's dresser. Pulling them on and lacing them up took another minute, but I saved a little time by hopping over the banister and landing on an armchair. Grinning, I jumped off the chair and struck a pose. "Victory!"

"Phoenix Pandora McKinnon, I told you not to jump on the furniture!." Molly gave me a stern look before holding out the floo powder bag. I took some, then waited for the usual headcount. "Phoenix, Ginny, Ron, Bill, Arthur's at work, I'm right here and the others are at Hogwarts. Looks like we've got everyone. Bill, you first, then Phoenix, Ron, then Ginny and I."

Bill stepped into the fireplace, threw down his powder, then said "Diagon Alley." There was a flash of green flames, and he was gone. Traveling by floo fire still amazed me, even though I'd been doing it since I was six. I had no idea how it worked. Maybe it'd be something I learned about at Hogwarts!

After Molly nodded to me, I walked into the fireplace and chucked my powder on the ground. "Diagon Alley!" There was the sensation of spinning and I closed my eyes. It stopped after a moment and I stepped out of the fireplace into the Leaky Cauldron. Bill caught my arm as I stumbled a bit. "Didn't stick this landing, did you." I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. Ron came out of the fireplace next, coughing on soot. Another moment and Molly and Ginny joined us. (Ginny stepped out of the wrong grate once and Molly had been flooing with her ever since.)

"I can't believe you've never been to Diagon Alley," Ron said, once he'd gotten the soot out of his lungs. We made our way through the Leaky Cauldron and toward the brick wall entrance to Diagon Alley.

"I've been to Diagon Alley, I just haven't been in it." Molly and Arthur gave us all a choice: if we wanted to wait until after we'd gotten our letters to visit the Alley, we could. Or we could go before we got our letters. I was the only one who chose to wait. Any time the family went to Diagon Alley, I would wait in the Leaky Cauldron or stay at home (with a chaperone of course.) Once I was old enough to be left alone, the twins and I would explore the Cauldron, getting into things we weren't supposed to and trying to work up the courage to sneak into muggle London. (We never did.)

I was practically vibrating with excitement as we came up to the wall. "Now watch this, Nix." Bill walked up to the wall, pulled out his wand and tapped the correct bricks. Right before my eyes, the wall began to reassemble itself into an arch. And in front of me? Diagon Alley.

"Woah. That was intense!" My eyes were wide as I climbed out of the mine cart. Molly and I were deep below Diagon Alley, about to get into my vault. (The others had gone to look at brooms.) "I didn't know I had my own vault." We'd just come from the Weasley vault where Molly had taken a few coins off of the small stack inside. The ride to my vault seemed a steeper and kind of dangerous. I could have sworn I heard a dragon roar in the distance...

"It used to be your mother's vault," Molly said as we followed the goblin. "She had inherited a bit of money from her mother's family. When she died, the contents of the vault became yours." We came to a tall door, larger than the one that had guarded the Weasley vault. How big was this vault?

"Vault 593. Key please." The goblin, I think his name was Bogrod, took the key that Molly held out and opened the vault. I was shocked. This was a bit of gold? There were stacks of galleons, mounds of sickles and a mountain of knuts. To the back I could see a few pieces of elegant looking furniture. There were empty areas here and there with dusty outlines, as if there had been something there at one point but it had been moved. Close to the door were a few boxes. I went to those first.

"Living room shelves. Linens. P's old toys. Are these..from mum's old house?" A box on top of a nearby desk caught my eye. "Marly's. Do not touch." Underneath it was a list. Photo albums, Hogwarts essays, journal. "Mum's journal!" I opened the box and began pulling things out but I didn't see a journal. There were a lot of photo albums though, and I was interested in seeing more pictures. Maybe there were more pictures of me and mum. Maybe there was a picture of my dad! "Mama Molly, can I put these in your handbag?" She took the photo albums from me and put them into her bag while I looked through the papers mum had chosen to keep. "Hinkypunks, red caps, winged horses, grindylows...mum really liked magical creatures. I think I'm going to take these too." I handed them to Molly.

"Grab some money dear and put it in this." She handed me a red velvet coin purse. "It's a gift from Bill." I remembered the small stack of coins in the Weasley vault and suddenly all of the money around me didn't seem as cool. I shoved a few handfuls of coins into the bag, then followed Molly out of the vault. The goblin locked it back up, then handed me the key. I held it out for Molly, frowing. "Mama Molly? If I had all that money in the vault, why didn't you...I mean, you could have used some of it. I wouldn't have minded."

Molly looked at me for a moment, then gave me a small smile. "Let's go get something to eat and we can talk."

"-and those old pureblood families like to make things difficult, so your vault was sealed until you turned eleven." Molly and I were eating lunch in the Leaky Cauldron, sitting a table away from Bill, Ginny and Ron. We each had a sandwich and a bottle of butterbeer, something I'd been eager to try.

"But you were taking care of me. I'm sure my mum would have been okay with you using my money."

"I'm sure she would have dear, your mother was very kind, just like you are. But we didn't take you in for money. We took you in to be a part of our family." I opened my mouth to protest but Molly wouldn't have any of it. "Phoenix Pandora McKinnon, I won't have another word about this. You don't need to worry about our finances. Finish your sandwich."

I still felt unsure but did as I was told. All those years when Molly and Arthur paid for my things and they could have been using that money for something else. It didn't seem right that the Weasley's had to buy secondhand things when there was a vault full of gold with my name on it.

After we finished eating, Molly asked me if I still wanted to do my shopping. "Can I just get my wand and then come back for my books when the twins are on break?" She nodded and a few minutes later, I was walking into Ollivanders. (Alone. I was too nervous to want any witnesses.)

A strange and intense looking old man came out from behind a shelf. "Ah, a young Miss Malfoy. Come to get your wand?"

"No, I mean...I'm not a Malfoy. I'm Phoenix McKinnon. But I am here for a wand."

He looked confused. "Are you really? You look just like a young Narcissa...hm...nevermind then. I am Mr. Ollivander, the owner of this shop and a maker of wands. May I get your measurements? Yes, good. You may know that there are many types of wand wood but I only use three cores: phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, and unicorn hair. Now you say you're a McKinnon. Was your mother Marlene McKinnon?" I nodded a little bit, trying to hold still as a tape measure floated around me, taking my measurements. "I remember when she came in here. She was chosen by an eleven inch, cherry wand with a unicorn hair core. Rather bendy, excellent for charms. That's enough," he waved his hand and the tape measure dropped. "Let's see which wand will bond with you."

He wandered down the shelves and I waited, watching the tape measure slither around the floor like some sort of weird snake. After a few minutes, Ollivander came back with a wand box in each hand and a puzzled look on his face. "Miss McKinnon, I have seen many unusual things happen in this store. I have seen people get chosen by the first wand they try, I've seen people try every single wand in this shop and only bond with the very last one. Very rarely, however, have I seen two wands call to one witch or wizard. This may be one of those cases." He laid the two boxes on the counter, opened one of them and took out the wand inside. "Eleven and a half inches, willow, phoenix feather. Try this and tell me what it feels like."

I took the wand from him and instantly felt a breeze lift the hair off of my shoulders. Gold light sparked at the tip of the wand. The feelings intensified until Ollivander took the wand from me and laid it gently back in it's box. "It was...strange. But in a good way. It felt like drinking hot cocoa after playing in the snow. It warms you up slowly."

Ollivander nodded, then opened the second case, removing the wand and holding it out. "And again. This one is eleven and three quarter inches, mahogany, with a dragon heartstring core."

Again, I took the wand. This time, instead of gradually picking up power, I felt an intense, immediate response. My hair whipped around my head and silver sparks showered out of the end of the wand. I handed the wand back to him, not waiting for him to request it. "There was that power again, but it was different. Almost too much. I'm not sure I liked that."

Ollivander held the second wand, watching me with his head tilted to the side. "Gold and silver, silver and gold. Not a Malfoy, but a McKinnon. Not just McKinnon though, but what? Gold and silver... Interesting." He shook his head. "The first wand then, Miss McKinnon?" I nodded and he put the second wand back in the box before handing me the first one. "Seven galleons." I paid him, then stopped out of the shop. Molly was outside waiting for me.

"Get a wand, dear?"

I nodded. "Ollivander was weird though."

Molly laughed. "Yes, he usually is a bit odd. Ready to go home?"

I nodded and we went to find the others.