Chapter 2:
As soon as the first rays of light shone through Will's window he woke up, today was the day he finally went to Diagon Alley and consequently also the last day at home with his horrible parents.
Quickly walking downstairs to cook breakfast for his parents and to make some lunch for himself for later, Will came upon a sight he did not normally see, actually, make that one never, his parents down in the kitchen waiting for him without first shouting at him to wake up to make them breakfast.
"So you'll be of today, hmm?" my dad asked, not knowing were this question was going i quickly answered with a nod of my head, "hmpf, i take it you will be needing money for school supplies then?" and there it was, the dreaded question, i didnt know how to ask yesterday as i was to busy doing chores and afterwards to tired to do anything else but think of my bed, i wanted to ask today during breakfast when my parents were happiest but it seems my father beat me to it.
"Yes, i'll be needing some money for supplies and stuff, but you don't have to pay the school itself as Professor Flitwick said," i added that last detail hoping to soften them up a bit, looking at my aunt it didn't work but seeing as my dad brightened up a bit i might just get enough money after all.
"Yes, yes as seeing as we wont be seeing you for quite a while, almost a year in fact we have decided to lend you some money," by the look of my aunt she was obviously left out of this decision, "as such we will be gifting you, exactly 55 pounds and 6 cent."
"WHAT" i almost shout in outrage, but luckily hold my tongue "thanks "dad", for the money its almost to generous" my father was obviously disappointed in my reaction, he probably hoped for something he could've gotten cross at me or something.
Quickly running back up the stairs to pack my meager belongings, thinking of what i could buy with the money my parents gave me, which is, admittedly, almost nothing, except for maybe a book or two.
I went up the stairs to pack my stuff, and... to collect all the money i'd been sneaking away these past four years, which amounts to about 450 bucks, yep thats what you get when you are a git, your own child sneaking away money cause he knows you wouldn't be paying uni for him. That was the only reason i have been stealing money from my parents, to get away from here as fast as possible and hopefully go to uni, but as seeing as my mom luckily did all that for me i can use this for my own pleasure, which is... buying books lots and lots of books.
Going down the stairs for the second time today, with his backpack, 450 from my generous parents a meager lunch and my admittedly few clothes, to see my father and step mom enjoying the breakfast I made, just reminded me how much i'd miss them,
Which is to say not at all.
Collecting the 55 bucks and with not even a word goodbye i left the two story house in the outskirts of London to have a nice 2 hour walk to the "leaky cauldron"as the Professor called the café.
While walking into London i thought about how much my life has changed by that single day in August, all thanks to that strange professor, before finding out about my abilities i thought i'd just go through the boring life of going to school then college and maybe get a good job.
But know, know he had a chance to do what almost everyone dreamed of doing, to practice magic, to be an actual wizard, it was at that moment i realized how lucky i actually was, and vowed to never waste it, that coupled with the fact that i already wanted to find out everything about this world ensured that it wouldn't go to waste.
Breaking out of my reverie i saw that i was nearing the street to where the professor said the Leaky Cauldron would be, "I wonder what Diagon Alley will look like" I think, before crashing into someone and sending us both sprawling to the ground.
"Sorry" i say while helping the person of the ground "wasn't watching where i was going" before getting a good glimpse of the girl i crashed into.
"It's not a problem" the girl said "i shouldn't have been just standing around, anyone could have crashed into me"
The girl had caramel brown eyes with beautiful brown hair that went just below her shoulder blades she was about half a head shorter than him with an oval face and was quite tanned, indicating a lot of time either on holidays or in the backyard sunbathing
"Well i guess we were both distracted" i said while extending my hand, trying to distract myself from her looks "my names Will by the way" "My names Rhany"
"Rhany huh, nice name, is it short for anything?"
"No, just Rhany" the now newly named Rhany said.
"Was there anything you were looking for as you were just standing around" Will grinned.
Giving him a smile she asks "Yeah, do you know where i can find Charing Cross Road"
"Hmm, thats weird thats were i have to be to do you mind if i walk with you" she might even be a muggleborn to, huh what would the chances be?
"Oh no not a problem, let's go" Rhany says as she drags me along
"So what are you doing at Charing Cross?"
"Me?" hmm he wondered if he could subtly inform her that he'd be going to Diagon Alley? "Oh, i'm just having a meeting at some kind of Leaky Pub with an old Teacher of mine" smooth Will real smooth.
She gasps, "You mean the Leaky Cauldron right? Are you one to?"
"You mean a magical? Yep so i take it you are to?" i say, hopefully she is, i might even be able to make friend before we even get on the train, that'd be nice.
"Yeah, we had our meeting with the professor yesterday, he looked really strict i hope we don't have her" Rhany says while actually shuddering.
"Strict? mine was like the exact opposite of strict, he wore trunks as trousers cause he was a dwarf together with neon green shoes and T-shirts" I say while chuckling.
"Really? mine had the greasiest hair you have ever seen and wore a suit, i think my mom didn't know whether to be happy cause' of the suit or shocked cause of the hair"
"Oh man that'd suck, what are you looking forward to when going to Diagon Alley?"
"Well" she says while suddenly becoming nervous "i can't wait to go to the bookstore as i love reading" she says while looking away.
"Oh really" he says while pretending not to notice her nervousness "yeah me to, i can't wait to read all they have about all this" While pointing at the Leaky Cauldron that they now neared.
"Oh were there already are we?" Rhany sounded mildly disappointed.
"Yeah, i guess so, c'mon let's go in see what our first magical building is like" Will said while chuckling.
Inside it was... messy, messy and dirty and not quite what you'd expect from a population that could probably clean this with a swish of the wand. At least they didn't have to wait for the professor or anything as she was sitting on a table with 4 other students waiting impatiently, probably for us.
"Finally our last students have arrived, my names professor McGonnagol and i'll be your guide today"
"She looks even stricter than the Professor i had" Rhany whispers to him.
"Well she also looks like she's 70 so who knows how long she's been teaching" Will whispers back.
"Know today we will be going to get your supplies which include a Wand, a Cauldron Robes, and Books"
"What types of books are you going to buy?" Will whispers.
"Well i'd like to read about wizarding culture and stuff as they probably have very different lifestyles if the robes are any indication" She whispers while pointing at
McGonnagol "of course lots of books about magic that they don't teach at school to, as i really want to learn as much about magic as possible"
Before he could say something back, McGonnagol was already telling them to be quite "be quiet you to or i will leave you behind do you understand, know as i was saying our first stop will be to the bank to collect some money for me and to show you the bank"
"How much money did your parents give you buy the way" he asks.
"Well my parents were kind of put of about me being a witch so i was afraid they wouldn't be giving me anything, but they came by and gave miss McGonnagol 600 bucks, what about you?"
"Well my parents don't really like me but i managed to get £505 out of 'em" Will lied quickly changing the subject he asked "why wouldn't your parents want you to be a witch?"
"Well i think it's got to do with the whole ugly hag thing and covens and dark rituals, you shoud've seen my Professors face when my dad said that" she giggles.
"Hahaha, yeah that would've been funny, so did you WOW whats that" Will said when they stopped in front of a huge eye blinding white building with equally white pillars supporting it, it had 2 huge double doors that where open so that you could see the multiple tellers and marble covered floors, though thats not what Will was shocked at, he was shocked by the creatures guarding the doors, they were small clad in armor were holding axes twice the size of their body and looked quite menacing.
"THAT Mr. Will is a goblin and something you must and will stop gawking at right now, do you understand" the voice of McGonnagol broke through Will's thoughts.
"Yes Professor" Will hastily said before following the rest of the group inside.
Inside it was even more richly clad than Will first thought when looking inside, there was a beautiful crystal chandelier that was a t least half a meter tall hanging from the ceiling, everywhere he looked there were the small intimidating creatures counting piles of gems or gaurding the multiple doors of the building in their armor.
"Now children this is the first and only bank in wizarding Britain, it is guarded and managed by goblins"
"Hey Rhany i wonder if the professor that told me i was a wizard is part goblin?"
"Hmm maybe, i don't know what he looks like though so i can't say"
"The bank was established in 1474 and has been guarded by goblins ever since, and yes Will Professor Flitwick is part goblin" the voice of Professor Mcgonnagol says breaking through their discussion "now since none of you have any wizarding parents you will not have a bank account here, it will also not be necessary, as such the only reason were here is to show the building to you and take out some money for each of you"
"I wonder how she does that?" that Will pondered out loud
"Does what" Rhany asked
"You know hear whatever we say " he answered back
"Contrary to popular belief Mister William i still have excellent hearing now will you shut it or shall i have to do it for you?" The professor said while brandishing her wand.
Gulping Will hastily said "that wont be necessary miss" while hearing the snickers of the other students shooting a quick glare to them which did absolutely nothing the group lined up to a teller.
"Yes?" the boring slightly high-pitch and monotone voice of one of the goblins said.
"Hogwarts batch 1988, here to collect some money from the Hogwarts vault" professor McGonnagol said while handing over what looked like a tiny golden key.
"Follow me" the goblin said while walking over to a door that he was almost certain wasn't there a while ago, and stepping into a really unstable looking mine cart.
"Well hurry up" the voice of professor McGonnagol said "we haven't got all day"
"We don't?" Rhany said earning some chuckles from the other kids and a glare from the professor.
"Just get in" McGonnagol barked making us all scramble into a cart
"Hold on tight" the goblin said while pulling a lever
"Why?" a kid shouted while simultaneously finding out the answer as the cart went from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds.
After what was a nerve wracking 5 minutes we finally came to a stop in front of a hugmetal door inside a solid rock wall, the door didn't even have a key hole in it and looked completely solid and unimpenetrable.
The goblin walked forward while holding the key and seemingly just pushed the key into the door after about 2seconds the door slowly opened to reveal quite a lot of gold silver and bronze coins, but even with the amount of gold in it it still looked empty.
"Professor? why have such a big vault when it's not even close to being filled?" one of the students asked.
The professor looked pained but still answered the question "Thats because we have had a war in magical Britain that lasted 11 years and only ended about 7 years ago, in that time we had hardly had any students go to Hogwarts because a lot were either murdered or didn't want to go because of the dangers that would bring them and their family, because of this we lost a lot of gold and are still recovering"
Will could see that that wasn't the whole truth but decided to not ask any questions he'd find out later himself.
After picking up some gold the professor quickly returned and handed out some money to all the students, saying a quick thanks Will and the other students jumped back into the cart and enjoyed the ride back up as they were actually prepared this time.
Back up at the surface professor McGonnagol caught everyone's attention "now i have here 60 galleons which is about 300 pounds each of you shall receive 10 and you can exchange your money by one of the tellers.
After quickly collecting their money from the professor and converting their money at one of the tellers, they then left the bank after only half an hour.
"Now next on the list are robes and potion supplies half of you go over their" McGonnagol said while pointing to a building called Madam Malkins "and the rest over there" while pointin at what could only be the apothecary.
Will left with two other kids to go to Madam Malkins while the rest went to the Apothecary, Nearing closer to the shop he could make out some of the finer details, it was painted a dark purple that had obvious wear on it, on the left it had a glass window where you could look into the shop with mannequins partly obscuring the view while on the right it had an entrance where they stepped into,
Going was a different experience than with Gringotts but no less interesting instead of a neatly ordered shop where nothing was out of place Madam Malkins was busy with all kinds of objects flying around cutting fabric measuring out silk and moving stuff around all without the help of any human, and in the middle was a plump lady measuring an arrogant looking boy.
"Ow watch where you stick those needles woman" the boy said as he looked around, his eyes landed on their group he looked about the same age as Will with brown hair cut short blue eyes and a square face.
"Hello my names Peregrine Derrick, i can't believe how useless Madam Malkin is are you starting first year to, you better not be a mudblood" the boy now named Peregrine started rambling of as soon as Madam Malkin left to get some supplies or as she said she was probably having a break 'cause she couldn't stand Derrick.
"Here you go dear" Madam Malkin said interrupting Derricks endless spewing of questions. "now how can i help you darlings? New robes? alright stand on the platform here and don't move" standing on the platform uncomfortable to say the least she had this horrible tape measure that measured everywhere and when i say everywhere i mean everywhere so while standing there being uncomfortable my companions were giggling away madly until Miss Malkin said they had to do it to.
Leaving the store to was a godsend they had two sets of normal uniforms a robe, two sets of work uniforms used for herbology and potions you needed to take your own shoes and a pair of gloves.
They met up with Professor McGonnogal to then get sent to the Apothecary and get their supplies including all kinds of weird creatures like flobberworm skin and acromantula eyes, "hmm i'll have to get a book on different magical creatures they all sound fascinating, and you could get a good buck out of them seeing by the prices on some of them" Will thought while leaving the apothecary with his supplies.
After that they all went together to get their writing supplies, cauldrons, parchment, telescopes and a trunk Rhany decided to be the clever of the two and asked if there was a way to make the trunk easier to move, giving the owner ten galleons he added a featherlight charm into the mix.,
Finally though they whittled the list down to three things: School books a Wand and the Magical Menagerie.
They first went of to the Menagerie, opening the door was like walking into a zoo but then with more animals everywhere you looked there were owls mice cats toads and even a... "Wow" Will said softly as he saw a young raven sitting on his perch.
"E's a beauty 'innit?" the old lady said that runs the place, "Yeah, he is' Will said "Shame i can't buy him" "Hmmph, now ain't thatta pain, youse be the only one that can touch im without im biting me fingers of" She said "Oh well, i might one day get lucky"
Hearing that Will made vow to one day return and buy the young, raven but before he could actually say that to the lady Rhany took hold of him and rushed of with him still being gripped in her arm.
Quickly rushing of to get their wand before the other kids as they wanted to spend as much time as possible in the bookshop, they were there in no time and opened the door to the dingy run-down looking shop.
"Ding Dong" the bell went when they opened the door Ollivanders was way bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside, behind the counter were rows upon rows of small wooden boxes of varying length, the shop smelled of wood and cardboard with a healthy mix of dust thrown inti the mix, after almost a minute of waiting an old creepy man came out from one of the many rows.
"Yes, what can i do for you?" which to Will and Freya was an admittedly stupid question, what else would two eleven year olds be doing here other than to get a wand. "we'd like a pair of wands mister...?" Rhany began
"Ollivander, call me Ollivander, now what is your wand arm Miss?" Ollivander said in his barely audible voice.
"Right hand" she said while sticking said hand out "same" Will called out
"Hmmhm" Ollivander hummed while picking up different wands handing one to Will "Unicorn 8 inch yew" and one to Rhany "Dragon heartstring 10 inch rosewood" barely even touching said wands and they were already snatched away and given new ones
"Phoenix 10 3/4 inch yew" and "Unicorn 10 3/4 inch Apple" once again they were snatched away before they could even say anything, until finally "Dragon heartstring 11 1/4 inch Black thorn" he said while bending it a bit "quite rigid to" and handed it over, and to Rhany "Dragon heartstring 10 1/2 inch Reed and inflexible" while bending it and then handing it over.
"Finally" Will exclaimed "i know right" Rhany answered him
Ignoring them the creepy old wandmaker started muttering "curious, curious very curious" while staring at them, Will and Freya just staring right back, after a while of continuous muttering he finally gave up and with a sigh said "it's curious as your wand cores are made of exactly the same dragon one of the only dragons type of dragon on earth a combination of a Bloody Nightgout and a Russian Shadowscale" seeing the blank looks he received he sighed again and explained further "a Bloody Nightgout is one of the most vicious dragons on earth and a Russian Shadowscale a huge dragon that is fiercely protective of its mate, so you can imagine what their child would have been like" finally seeing the looks of awe on their faces he smiled "that will be 10 galleons each please"
Handing over the money they quickly left, Will breaking the silence that loomed "well, he was creepy" making Rhany laugh. "c'mon Will we still have to go to the bookstore" Will immediately took her arm and started running of to the bookshop"
What neither of them noticed though and if they did would only cement their feelings that he was a creep was Ollivander looking at their retreating forms and pondering about another wand he sold a few years ago.
"So our last stop today eh the bookshop" Will says
Rhany grins "oh i cant wait i still have about 70 galleons left, you?"
"50, say what if we only buy books the other doesn't have that way we just swap them around when were done and we can buy more books" he said excitedly
Rhany quickly catching on "oh Will that's an excellent idea let's do that" she said while walking into the bookstore.
Inside it wasn't anything like Madam Malkins Robes or Gringotts it didn't have the splendor or the magic either of those establishments had, in fact it looked like a normal bookstore with albeit older looking books that were much bigger and thicker than normal ones.
"C'mon Will lets have a look around" Rhany said while looking around.
Walking around Will was looking at all the different books there were "alright first the books from the school list, lets see, Standard Book of Spells, A History of Magic, Magical Theory, A Beginners guide to Transfiguration" on and on the list went until finally he was done.
"Lets see i have 20 more galleons to spend if i want to still get accommodation at the Leaky Cauldron. So what shall i get?" seeing someone that could probably help him he want up to her.
"Pardon me miss but do you maybe have any books to introduce muggleborns to the wizarding world?" he said catching the ladies attention.
"Ofcourse dear here let me help you" she said while pulling out some books.
"Here, Hogwarts a History will certainly help and, An introduction to the Wizarding World by Wally Walker" picking uo three more books Will decided to intervene before it became to much.
"Uhm pardon me miss, these are great thanks, but do you have something like, oh i don't know maybe like the different branches of magic or something?" Will said quickly interrupting her he didn't have that much money after all.
"Oh of course, hmm let's see, yes this is probably what your looking for" she said handing him a normal looking book "it's got lot's of different types of magic in it with a small summary of said magic next to it"
"Yes, this is perfect, thanks" Will said and went to the counter to buy his books,
Seeing Rhany already there he quickly rushed over to ask her what she bought.
"So what did you get?" he asked while showing her his books.
"Oh the normal school books and these two" she said while showing Will
"Hmm, The Magical Menagerie of the World" a book of all the types of animals and sentient creatures with a very brief summary of each type and "Seeing Aura's for Dummies" which was obviously made by a muggle born.
"Nice, so i guess after this we'll see each other on the train than?" hopefully not sounding to disappointed
"Yeah, i guess" she said while Will finished paying for his books, walking out at a sluggish pace so as to extend the inevitable they came upon Professor McGonnagol and the group.
"Right" she said in her Scottish blur "i hope this day was informative and resourceful for you as we shall be leaving now, on the first of September i you will be expected on the train to begin your first year of school at Hogwarts, once there you shall be given further introductions like how to behave and rules." And with that the Professor and Students left.
Bidding Rhany goodbye he walked up to the bar manager.
"Tom i'd like to rent a room up until the first of September please." "of course sir that will be three days and 9 galleons please" The hunchbacked man said while extending his hand.
Quickly handing over the money and following the surprisingly quick barman up the stairs to his room.
"Here's your key sir" he said in his slightly high pitched voice. Taking the key and jumping on the bed Will began reading his book on different magics of the world.