Diagon Alley

The earliest tour date Ruby could attend fell on the following Saturday. She had most of the week to mentally go over what had happened, and talking to Sunny about it all kept her feeling sane. The letter had requested that she come alone because a smaller group will stay inconspicuous. The prospect of meeting other "Lost Children" gave her butterflies. Would they be her age? Older? Younger? Would they be crazy? Would anyone else show up at all? She wanted to feel confident, so she wore a pair of distressed black skinnies, a flowy floral top, and a comfortable pair of flats (to easily run the hell away if things got too weird). She pulled her long ink-black hair into a high ponytail. This was a good look; it said trendy, comfortable, and probably not a lunatic.

Her tour was meeting outside the Herringbone Pub in central London at 10:30am. The pub was closed, but it looked like a crowd of friends waiting for the doors to open at 11am for an early lunch. There were three people already standing there. Ruby mentally went over how she'd greet them as she walked towards them. One of them caught her eye and she didn't know what to do. She smiled slightly. They all looked at her as she stopped in front of the pub.

"Er- hi," she said. "Is this the tour?" she asked, hoping she wouldn't have to be more specific. The woman who'd caught her eye replied:
"Yes, you've come to the right place." Her voice was soft and airy, like a fairy. (Ruby wondered if fairies were also real, and if they indeed sounded like this woman.) "I'm Luna Lovegood, I'll be introducing you to Diagon Alley."
"Oh, I'm Ruby. Ruby Naik." She immediately wondered if she should have used a fake name. "Luna Lovegood" sounded a little fake. And she looked a little off her rocker. She had long blond hair braided down her back and was wearing an oversized woolen sweater with glittery leggings and pink Chuck Taylor sneakers. Ruby didn't want to stare too intently but she was pretty sure Luna was wearing tiny radish earrings.
"I'm glad you came, Ruby."
"I'm Vincent," said one of the other people in the group, holding out his hand. Ruby shook it. He was tall and normal-looking. He looked of east Asian descent with thick black hair and pronounced cheekbones. He was wearing khakis and a purple button-up shirt. Probably not a lunatic.
"Nice to meet you."
"And this is Eloise," he motioned to the tall willowy woman next to him. She was pale with a thin long nose, slightly prodruding eyes, and had brown frizzy hair down to her waist."We only just got here a few minutes ago." Eloise smiled and shook Ruby's hand, though Ruby felt like she was moving Eloise's cold limp hand up and down.

They were joined by two others at 10:25am: a sharply-dressed black man named Stanford (he apologized for being late despite not actually being late), and teeny energetic woman called Tish who had a bright pink pixie cut with aqua highlights.

"Alright," Luna said at 10:30am. "It seems like this is our group. Shall we get going?"

Luna led them to an alley which made Ruby's brain think "She could probably kill us all in there," but her legs kept following. Luna just seemed trustworthy and this time Ruby was going to trust her intuition.

Ruby walked alongside Tish, who only came up to her shoulders if you include the extra height of her spiked hair. They were walking further into the alley until they weren't walking anymore. Luna was looking at the bricks lining alley's dead end. She reached into her purse and pulled out a chestnut-colored wand, delicately carved into what looked like a skinny tulip at the end. She tapped the wand to a series of bricks and stood back. Everyone was watching in confusion and wonderment. What was about to happen?

It started with a low rumble, then the bricks began to vibrate. Dust flew around them as the bricks began to shift. The wall grumbled as bricks rotated and slid around one another, opening a large archway to a quaint cobble-stoned road. Ruby looked behind her, back at the London street across from the pub. Cars drove past and pedestrians rushed by. Nobody looked twice down the alley. Nobody noticed that the weird blonde lady opened a portal to somewhere.

"They can't see," said Luna in her airy voice. Ruby turned back to see everyone was waiting for her to cross into Diagon Alley. "There's a magical charm, they don't notice us at all." Sure. Magical don't-look-at-me charm. Ruby walked through the newly created portal into the magical land that she can't believe she's believing is real. The bricks shifted behind her, closing Ruby off from anything familiar. Luna led them onwards.

"This is Diagon Alley," Luna said. "It's one of the most popular wizarding districts in London."

Ruby's hand instinctively went or her phone. She still had three bars. She texted Sunny the emoji of a witch's hat. Luna kept talking but Ruby couldn't focus enough to listen. There were people everywhere; witches and wizards, some in cloaks, some in pointy hats. Storefronts with impossible products in the windows. A young witch zipped by them on a broom, swerving in between passers by causing another pedestrian to spill his drink on himself.

"Watch where you're going!" he called out. "Or fly higher!" He wiped his cloak indignantly.

Ruby's phone buzzed. Sunny sent her a pumpkin emoji. And with that tiny pumpkin Ruby felt a layer of anxiety melt away. This was real. It was unreal but it was real. She was in an entirely unfamiliar magical part of London but she still had a lifeline to her real world. She suddenly felt safer.

The group of them were moving slowly, taking it all in. Tish skipped over to a storefront window and pressed her nose against the glass. It was a broom shop. Brooms being vehicles here. Ruby wondered if they swept with brooms as well, and if the brooms they swept with and the brooms they rode were inherently different.

"That one is so preeetttyyyy," Tish said, fogging up the glass a little. She pointed to a broom ornately decorated at the handle with bright colourful feathers intermingled with the broom's bristles. It was artful craftsmanship. A sign propped up next to the broom read "250 galleons." Tish let out a long drawn out breath. "Dunno what a galleon is but 250 is a big number," she said.

Ruby nodded. It was a big number, but rupees seem like big numbers until you do the conversion.

"Where is our first stop, miss?" Stanford asked. He was enthralled by a store that specialized in potions.

"The bank," said Luna. "Not too far from here! You may have noticed we don't use British money, but you can exchange your muggle money once we get to Gringotts!"

Gringotts Bank was a beautiful marblesque structure with crooked pillars out front and the name GRINGOTTS BANK engraved across the front. The entrance hallway was dimly lit and echoed as they walked. Sitting at a row of desks were the most hideous bank tellers Ruby has ever seen. Every single one of them, a goblin. The teller at the end had a sign up that said "FOREIGN EXCHANGE." Luna led her tour into his queue.

"They're really quite harmless," Luna whispered to Ruby. She was startled by Luna's insight, or perhaps she was very visibly uncomfortable. Either was a viable option. "They can be stern, but if you go about your business you'll have no problems."

"Ah, so just like muggle banks," Ruby said. She can't believe she said that. Muggle. It felt strange on her tongue, like she was talking gibberish, but Luna gave a light chuckle.

The tour group had their muggle money converted into galleons, sickles, knuts. Ruby ran her fingertips over the embossed wizard on the sickle. It had a dragon on the reverse side. She waited for her tour-mates to meet her back in the entrance lobby. There's no way she was standing there letting those goblins scrutinize her.

"Does anyone fancy lunch?" Luna said, arriving in the lobby with Eloise who was last in the queue. A few nods came from the group. "Wonderful! I can't wait to show you the Leaky Cauldron!" She led the way skipping towards a storefront with a pub sign depicting a witch stirring a cauldron, trailing behind her five Lost Children who are starting to believe in magic.