Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!
A/N: Thank you so much to daniellover1 for reviewing, favoriting and following - you are so awesome!
Btw, just to clear up some confusion - OF COURSE it will be explained why the letter was accidentally sent to Scarlett the muggle instead of Scarlett the witch!
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Scarlett's family spent the rest of the summer trying to cheer her up. But it seemed as though they were the only ones who still saw her the same way, (well, almost the same way anyway; they had at least gotten over the initial at the fact that she was a squib).
Word always spread very quickly through the village of Barnton, and this was no exception. When she went outside one day to play with her friends, she found that they all quickly turned away in a huddle the minute they saw her, as though pretending that they hadn't.
She couldn't believe this! Not even Ernie and Gemma, who she had always considered sort of her "best friends", didn't want to speak to her.
Scarlett blinked back tears. All of a sudden, they found out that she wasn't a witch and now none of them wanted to play with her, and couldn't even stand to look at her?! She was still the same Scarlett as she was yesterday - the same Scarlett that she had always been.
She felt a pang of envy. It just wasn't fair! What had she ever done to deserve this? They would all get to go to Diagon Alley and purchase their school supplies. They would all get to board the Hogwarts Express on the first of September. They would all get to be sorted into houses. They would all get to learn how to do magic and become adult witches and wizards.
All of them. Except for Scarlett.
She couldn't stand it anymore. She dashed back into the house and up the stairs. She leaped onto the bed, curled up into a ball, and began to cry.
Professor Longbottom told Scarlett that she would have to go to a place called Diagon Alley to get everything on the supply list for Hogwarts.
Scarlett's mother asked if she could come along also, and Professor Longbottom replied that of course she could.
And so, the three of them set out on a train for London, where according to Professor Longbottom, they could enter Diagon Alley. This seemed very unlikely to Scarlett, but when she opened her mouth to protest, Professor Longbottom held up his hand as if to say, "I know what you're thinking, and don't even mention it."
When they reached their destination, Professor Longbottom turned to them, "Ah, here we are - The Leaky Couldron"
He led them inside, and as they entered an old looking bar man, who had been polishing glasses with a very old, very dirty rag, called to him, "say, Neville, good to see ya, came for a bit of firewhiskey?"
"Sorry Tom," Neville replied, "but I have to take Scarlett here," he motioned towards her, "for her Hogwarts things."
"Oh well, maybe some other time," he said, returning to polishing the glasses, "and good luck to you miss," he added with a wink to Scarlett.
Professor Longbottom walked up to the wall above the trash can, muttering to himself. "Here we go," he said, and he tapped the wall three times.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley."
Scarlett was aghast, she saw her look of incredulity mirrored upon her mother's face.
It was simply amazing. There were shops selling robes, shops selling brooms and shops selling owls. There was an apothecary, a wandmaker's shop, book stores, and so much more! Scarlett couldn't believe her eyes.
Professor Longbottom walked on and they tailed behind him until they reached a white marble building, towering over the other shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, clad in a red and gold uniform was a- wait, was that a goblin?
"No reason to be alarmed Miss Wood, it's just a goblin," said her companion calmly.
Just a goblin. Did he really say that it was just a goblin? Gosh, this magical world was going to take a lot of getting used to.
The goblin bowed slightly as they stepped inside. They were met with a silver pair of doors, bearing the words:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Wow. . . I can see they don't want people robbing it," Scarlett murmered.
"Yes," replied Professor Longbottom. "And they don't slack off on their security, Gringotts Bank has only been successfully robbed twice in its entire existence."
The Professor marched up to the counter, "I'm going to exchange some of your money, for some of our money. This way you can buy your things for Hogwarts," he said to the Woods.
"Kindly hand me your wallet," he said to Ms. Wood. She did so, a little tentatively.
Longbottom gave the goblin at the desk a wad of cash, and in return he handed to them a bag filled with gold, silver, and bronze coins.
"The gold ones are galleons," Longbottom explained, "seventeen silver sickles to a galleon, and twenty-nine bronze nuts to a sickle."
She must have had a bewildered look on her face because Professor Longbottom smiled at her kindly and said, "don't worry, Scarlett, you'll get the hang of it, it just takes time."
They exited the bank and walked up and down the Alley, collecting the things on Scarlett's list.
First they visited Madame Malkin's robes for all occasions, where a kind old woman fitted her for her robes.
Next they entered a bookstore called Flourish and Blotts. It was a cluttered little shop: there were shelves and shelves all lined with books. Books were strewn everywhere. It took quite some time to find all of the books on the list, and when they finally finished searching, Scarlett was slightly glad to be rid of the claustrophobic little store, (though some of the books were quite entertaining to look at, such as The Arts of Defensive Bogey Use, and Prank and Joke Spells: Second Edition.
Then they entered Eeylops Owl Emporium, where, despite the Professor's constant insists that an owl would be a much wiser and more useful choice, Scarlett chose a beautiful white and beige Ragdoll cat, whom she called Cobbent, a name she found in one of her new school books, A History of Magic. In Scarlett's humble opinion, she could not possibly have chosen a better pet.
As they passed by the wand store, for the third time, Scarlett longed to go in there.
Professor Longbottom seemed to sense this and take pity on her because he said, "well Olivander's looks empty, I was planning on saving the wand for last, but I guess it doesn't really make a difference."
They entered the mysterious looking shop. A young man was sitting on a spindly chair. He looked up when they walked in.
Good afternoon," said the man.
"Where's Mr. Ollivander?" asked Professor Longbottom cheerfully.
"Unfortunately, he is getting old and frail, today in particular he has not been doing too well. My name is Mattias Burleigh, Mr. Ollivander is my great uncle, a since my Hogwarts days I have been fascinated with wandlore, and even taken an internship here at Ollivander's. So my uncle asked me to fill in today, while he is too ill to work."
Longbottom shrugged. "This is Scarlett Wood. She needs to be fixed up with a wand."
"Oh yes!" said the man, sounding very excited, "yes of course."
Wand after wand, Scarlett tried, but none felt right, as she was told it should.
"The wand chooses the wizard," Burleigh kept reminding her, "just be patient!"
Finally Burleigh brought out a wand that specifically caught Scarlett's eye.
"Alpine and Dragon Heartstring" he said, "very powerful."
Though she didn't feel the warmth spreading through her fingers as she held the wand, that Professor Longbottom and Mattias Burleigh had promised that she would, this wand did emit a few gold sparks when she waved it, and Burleigh insisted that it was the right one for her.
Scarlett and her mother paid seven galleons for the wand and the three exited the shop.
"Last stop, the Apothecary," said Longbottom.
The Apothecary walls were lined with all sorts of potion ingredients from shiny stones to slimy goo.
Scarlett wondered off to look at some odd item. She was so transfixed at the store's merchandise, that she hardly noticed when she walked straight into someone.
"Oh, sorry," she said.
"That's okay," she was into the warm brown eyes of a boy around her age. He had messy, jet black hair, and a bit of a mischievous grin.
"I was just looking for uh . . ." what was it she was looking for again?
"That's okay," he repeated, "I'm James by the way. James Potter."
"Scarlett Wood."
"So, you're gonna be a first year this year too. At Hogwarts I mean"
"Oh, yes" she hoped he didn't ask too many questions about the magical world, she didn't want to seem stupid.
"So, what house are you hoping to be in?"
"Sorry, what?" Scarlett was perplexed.
James chuckled, "you're a muggleborn?"
"y-yes." She thought she had heard Professor Longbottom say that a muggle was a non-magical person, so she supposed that a muggleborn meant a witch or wizard whose parents are muggles.
"Gosh, this all must be really overwhelming for you, just finding out that your a witch and all."
"Oh believe me, it has been."
"Well I can try to explain some stuff to you." He smiled sweetly at her, "you know, i-if you'd like."
"I'd love that."
So James began explaining about magic and the four Hogwarts houses. She found herself smiling and laughing with him and having a great time. (Professor Longbottom and her school supplies forgotten.)
When finally, her mother came to find her and tell her that it was time to go, with an exasperated cry of "Oh there you are Scarlett, we've been looking everywhere for you!" And then muttering something about nearly giving her a heart attack.
"Maybe you can come stay with me sometime this summer," James said to her on her way out.
Scarlett smiled broadly, "I think I'd love that."
"Great, I'll owl you."
As she, Ms. Wood, and Professor Longbottom departed from Diagon Alley, Scarlett thought about the many magical experiences she had had, and she couldn't help but smile a bit at the thought that the boy she had met that day, James Potter was going to invite her to stay at bis house for part of the summer.
A/N: Thank you SO SO SO SO SO SO much for reading! So? What did everybody think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN A REVIEW!
