Chapter 3

Diagon Ally

Rose awoke quite early the next morning. She felt the daylight falling on her face. The events of this night played through her mind. Briefly thinking it could all have been a dream. But she felt some movement in her covers and she remembered Hagrid saying there were still some mice in his coat. A smile crept across her face and she opened her eyes.

Her heart leaped when she saw Hagrid laying vast asleep on the couch. Not a dream. Not a dream! Suddenly a tapping noise filled the room. Rose looked up and saw an owl tapping on the window. She quickly got up and opened the window. The owl flew through the room and dropped a newspaper on Hagrid. It circled back to her and started picking one of the pockets in his coat, which was still draped around her.

"Hey!" Rose feared for the mice and inspected the pocket the owl was attacking. No mice, just coins.

She pulled out some and looked at the owl. He stuck his claw out.

"Oh, you need to be payed, don't you?" The owl hopped closer.

"Let's see…" Rose inspected the coins but didn't recognize them. She carefully walked over to Hagrid while the owl followed her.

"Hagrid?"

No reaction. Rose gently poked him.

"Hagrid?"

The giant grumbled.

"I think the owl wants to be payed, but I don't recognize the coins."

"Give him 5 knuts, the little bronze ones."

Rose counted 5 knuts and the owl stuck out his claw again. She noticed a little pouch and she stuck the five coins in it.

"Do you want some cake, little guy?"

The owl tilted its head and stayed put. Rose walked to the kitchen and tore off a little piece of her birthday cake. Rose wanted to turn to go back to the owl but she felt a pinching weight on her shoulder. He had flown up to her and had landed on her shoulder. Rose held up the piece of cake and the owl happily ate it. It gave Rose a gentle nibble on her fingers and took off, disappearing through the window.

Hagrid slowly got up and yawned while stretching.

"Best be off, Rosey, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy

all yer stuff fer school."
Rose looked at the rest of the coins in her hands and felt a rock drop in her stomach.

"Um – Hagrid, I don't have any money. You heard uncle Vernon, he won't pay for this."

Hagrid was putting on his boots and stopped. He looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"But didn't the Dudleys get it? They are my guardians."

Hagrid chuckled.

"Don' worry, them muggles didn' get them hands on it. Your parents tucked it away safely until you could come get it. Anyway, it's wizard's money, a muggle has no use for it."

Rose smile brightly at him as a huge relief washed over her.

"So where did they store it?"

Hagrid took one of the remaining pieces of birthday cake and gave her one as well.

"First stop we make is Gringotts. Wizards bank."

Rose took the cake and bit off a piece.

"So, wizards have banks as well?"

"Just one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."

Rose gaped at Hagrid and though of the little green, mean creatures she had read and heard about in school.

"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Rosey. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business."

Hagrid drew himself up proudly.

"He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see."

Rose smiled warmly at him.

When they both had finished their piece of cake, Hagrid got up.

"Got everythin'? Come on then."

"Uhm, can I change first?" Rose asked while she felt her blood pool in her cheeks.

"Oh um, o'course. Sorry"

Rose gave back his coat and hurried to her room, as quiet as possible. She didn't want to wake the Dursleys. It only took a few minutes to get changed, when she got back, Hagrid was waiting at the front door.

"Let's go Rosey."

Rose threw one last glance upstairs and then followed him out the door.

They walked for a bit, before Rose asked a question.

"So where is Hogwarts?"

"Very few people know it's exact location. For protection yeh know?"

"Oh okay, is it far?"

"You need to take the train for a few hours."

"A few hours?" Rose said surprised. "But is that doable every day?"

Hagrid laughed.

"Every day? Oh Rosey, yeh stay at Hogwarts for an entire year, yeh can come home at Christmas but yeh can chose to stay. The school closes in summer."

Rose stopped dead in her tracks. A year? That means she only had to be home for 2 months a year from now one. No more Dursley's and no more Dudley for 10 months a year. A huge grin started spreading across her face. She could honestly say that was the best news she had in her whole life.

Hagrid hadn't noticed she had stopped walking when she heard the news because he had stopped as well. He took out his umbrella and pointed it to a spot across the street.

"Hagrid…?"

BANG.

A bus appeared out of nowhere and stopped with screeching tires. The doors opened and an elderly conductor with a purple uniform leapt out of the bus and began speaking.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is—". We never got to know his name because he caught eye of Hagrid and stared at him in horror.

"Two tickets for London, the leaky cauldron."

"Eh—that's eh—22 sickles please."

Hagrid fished out the money and got on the bus. Rose could have sworn that the bus's doorway adjusted itself to Hagrid's size. She got up behind him.

Another elderly man sat in the driving seat and looked at the new passengers with curiosity. Rose looked for a seat but realized there were only bed's available. Candles were burning in brackets beside each bed, illuminating the wood-paneled walls. Rose looked around amazed. She could have sworn the bus was smaller from the outside.

BANG!

De bus started driving at high speed again, but they were someplace else entirely. Hagrid sat down on one of the beds in the far end of the bus and Rose went to sit beside him – on the tiny place there was left of the bed. Hagrid pulled out his newspaper and started reading. Rose realized that the conductor looked really surprised to see Hagrid. Like for the first time surprised.

"Did you come to the house the same way Hagrid?"

"No I flew."

"Flew?"

"Yeah - but we'll go in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."

A quite comical image popped in Roses head of Hagrid flying. She had to shake it off. She bursted with questions but she had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they read their paper, but it was very difficult, she'd never had so many questions in her life

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.

"There's a ministry of magic?" Asked Rose before she could stop herself. The bus made a sharp turn and she had to hold on to Hagrid for dear life. Hagrid didn't seem to budge.

"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, 0 'course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."

"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"

"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still

witches an' wizards up an' down the country."
Rose thought about this for a second and it made sense. The norma-muggles didn't seem to know about their existence. Of course, they didn't want the muggles to know, if history has it correctly there were witch hunts all through the 15 hundreds to the 18 hundreds.

"Hagrid, you said you'd be mad to try and rob Gringotts. Why is that?"

"Spells – enchantments. They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."

"Did you say dragons?" Rose gasped.

"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."

"You'd like one?"

"Wanted one ever since I was a kid."

Rose gaped at him, what other creatures she read about would be real?

Hagrid stopped reading the paper and put it away while the bus made another sharp turn.

"Oh right, here yeh go, Rosey. I still got yer letter. There's a list of everything yeh need."

Rose took the letter Hagrid handed to her and she opened the envelope once more. She pulled out the second letter and reread it, more in detail now.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set

glass or crystal phials

telescope set

brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED

THEIR OWN

BROOMSTICKS

"We can buy all of this in London?" Rose asked.

"If yeh know where to go."

The bus stopped abruptly.

"LONDON, LEAKY COULDRON!"

"That's us." Hagrid got up and went to the exit. Rose payed better attention then last time and she definitively saw the door widen now. Rose got off the bus as well and with a loud bang it disappeared.

"Here we are, the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

Rose put her attention to the building in front of her. It was a tiny grubby-looking pub. If she wasn't standing right in front of it, she never would have noticed it. She noticed the people hurrying by didn't notice it at all. Of course, it could be because their attention was focused on Hagrid, but she had a feeling only she and Hagrid could see it. Before she could mention this to Hagrid he had guided her inside.

For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass and spoke.

"The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Rose's shoulder and making Rose's knees buckle.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Rose.

"Is this - can this be -?" The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

"Bless my soul." whispered the old bartender. "Rose Potter... what an honor." He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Rose and seized her hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mrs. Potter, welcome back."

Rose was stunned. Everyone was looking at her. Staring. Suddenly all the chairs scraped across the floors and Rose found herself shaking hands with everyone at the leaky cauldron. Introducing themselves. She was shocked. She had assumed Hagrid was exaggerating her fame. Obviously, he didn't.

"Delighted, Mrs. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle." Rose snapped back to reality when she saw the man before her and realized something.

"Hey! I've seen you once. You bowed to me once in a shop."

"She remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? She remembers me!" Rose shook hands again and again –

A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.

"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Rosey, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Rosey's hand. "C-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."

"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"

"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself."

He looked terrified at the very thought. But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Rose to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.

"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Rosey."

Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.

Hagrid looked at Rose whose cheeks where flushed from all the attention.

"Told yeh, didn't I?"

She nodded with a smile on her face.

"Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."

"Is he always that nervous?"

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"

Rose almost couldn't handle it anymore. Vampires, hags? Was everything she heard about true?

"Ah there it is." Hagrid counted the bricks on the wall and tapped one brick three times. The wall trembled and the bricks were turning and sliding out of the way. When they were done, Rose and Hagrid were standing in front of a giant arch.

"Welcome to Diagon Ally." Hagrid said.

Rose's mouth almost fell open. In some streets houses, would be different but she had never seen a street like this. No house or shop was the same. With weird ways to enter, in weird sizes and shapes. Sometime even impossible shapes. And the items in them were even more interesting. Weird ingredients, cauldrons, books… everything was colorful and full of life. She felt alive while walking through the streets and like she didn't have enough eyes to absorb all the information around her.

They passed a broom shop and several students had their noses stuck to the window while looking at the brooms.

"Look the new Nimbus 2000. The fastest ever." Rose picked up from them.

They passed windows with robes, telescopes, strange silver instruments Rose had never seen before, barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...

"Gringotts." Hagrid suddenly said.

They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was –

"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Rose. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Rose noticed, very long fingers and feet. He didn't really look like she had pictured a goblin. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

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.

"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid. A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Rose made for the counter. "Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin.

"We've come ter take some money outta Mrs. Rose Potter's safe."

"You have his key, Sir?"

Hagrid started searching his pocket for a while and Rose could see the goblin was losing its patience.

"Ha got it!" Hagrid handed it over.

"That seems to be in order."

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore." Hagrid said.

"It's about the thingy in vault 713."

The goblin read the letter carefully and nodded.

"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was another goblin and he took them to the back. To Rose's surprise there was no more marble only rock and water trickling down it.

"Hagrid, what's in vault 713?"

"Can't tell you that, secret business between me and Dumbledore."

Rose nodded. Griphook guided them to a cart. With some squeezing she, Hagrid and Griphook got in. The cart felt like Rose expected a rollercoaster would feel like. She never had been in one but from the looks and feel of it, she concluded it had to be about the same thing.

Hagrid looked like he was going to be sick and Rose swallowed a chuckle.

The cart suddenly stopped and Griphook got out. Rose and Hagrid followed suit. The goblin used Roses key to open the vault and Roses mouth dropped open. It revealed mounts of gold coins, colums of silver ones and heaps of bronze knuts.

"All yours." Hagrid smiled.

Rose was amazed, she never got any money from the Dursley, only to do the groceries. And she had to return the change, Vernon even looked at the receipt to see if it was correct. And now… now all this money was hers. Luckily, they didn't know it was here, it would have been gone in a blink.

Hagrid helped Rose to pile some of it into a bag.

"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"

"One speed only," said Griphook

They went deeper now and it felt like it was even faster. They stopped at another vault. The goblin didn't use a key this time, just his fingers.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Rose asked.

"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.

Rose expected something wild, like diamonds or something. But there was only a tiny brown package in the middle. Hagrid quickly picked it up and stuffed it in one of his pockets. Rose didn't ask again what it was.

Another wild cart ride later they were outside again, the sun stinging in their eyes.

"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Rosey, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Rose entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she said. Rose nodded in response. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Rose on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over her head, and began to pin it to the right length.

The boy looked her over and smiled at her.

"Hello, going to Hogwarts too?"

"Yes." Rose said.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Rose was strongly reminded of Dudley.

"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.

"No," said Rose.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"Ergh, I don't know what that is."

The boy eyed her again and his face hardened.

"Muggleborn then eh?" He said with a sneer.

"No." Rose said a bit annoyed.

The boy turned more towards her and she saw he had icy blue eyes, they were quite gorgeous. Too bad his personality suited them very well.

"Your parents never explained Quidditch?"

"My parents died." Rose said flatly. "I was raised by muggles."

The boy was a bit taken aback. Rose saw how Hagrid had return with ice-cream and she smiled fondly at him. She was appreciating him more and more.

"Look at that man." The boy said surprised.

"That's Hagrid." Rose said smiling.

"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper," said Rose. She was liking the boy less and less every second.

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

Rose was getting mad at the boy next to him.

"He's no savage. I think he's amazing." Rose said sternly.

"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you?"

"Because my parents are dead and I was raised by muggles. He was nice enough to explain everything to me."

"And your parents where they our kind?"

His icy eyes burned in Roses.

"Yes."

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"

"So, what am I then?" Rose said her voice slightly risen.

The boy was taken aback.

"My parents where a witch and wizard but I was raised by muggles. I don't know our ways, I had never heard of Hogwarts until I got the letter just like you said. Does that mean I'm rubbish?" Rose said angrily. If this was the reaction she had to expect from everyone she didn't really wanted to go anymore. She felt enough like crap with the Dursleys.

"Euhm—I…" the boy hackled.

Madam Malkin coughed.

"That's it for you my dear." Rose hopped off the stool and shot another angry glance at the boy whose cheeks pinked up a bit. He was at loss for words. Rose kept her head high and followed Madame Malkin who smiled widely at her. Rose got a feeling she was glad Rose had stood up to him like that. Roses eyes fell on some dresses, shirts and trousers that were muggle-like.

"Madame Malkin. Could I order some of the muggle clothes as well?" Rose though of her tattered clothes and the probability that aunt Petunia wouldn't take her shopping this year. Any future birthday as well for that fact.

"Of course, my dear. Just tell me what you like I have your sizes now."

Rose walked around a bit and picked several new outfits.

By the time everything was wrapped up and she had to pay, the other boy hopped off the stool as well. He approached her with determination on his face. Rose quickly payed and got out of there before he could say a word.

Rose was quiet while she ate her ice-cream. Hagrid looked at her with a worried look on his face.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Nothing," Rose lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Rose cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. While they were walking to the next shop, Rose's eyes fell on a shop that sold women's products. She caught a glimpse of the hairproducts.

"Oh, Hagrid can we please go in?" Hagrid looked a bit surprised and flustered.

"We should stick to the list, Rosey."

"Please, I was never able to buy something for my hair." Hagrid looked at her pleading face.

"Well fine, but I'm staying here." Rose nodded happily and went into the shop excited. While she was looking around she concluded that she wanted to buy everything, but she was going to keep her promise and only buy hair stuff. A while later she left the shop feeling really happy. They had a pair of scissors where you just had to say the number of the picture and it'd cut just like it. Rose had paid a sickle to use it. Finally, there was some model in her curls. She had also bought a brush that would brush your hair the way you wanted it. Wavy, curly, straight, etcetera. They also had one that changed the color of your hair, but Rose loved her haircolor. She also had bought a mirror and cream that would style your hair the way you wanted for multiple days. All the products had a warning that the spells wouldn't work as good on extremely curled hair. But the saleswoman had told her that hers was just within the limit.

Hagrid looked very happy when she came back out. Only then she realized how hard she was smiling and that her cheeks started to hurt. They continued walking. Rose caught a glimpse of the boy in Madame Malkins shop in the distance.

"Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"

"Blimey, Rosey, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"

"Don't make me feel worse," said Rose. She told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.

"-and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."

"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line 0' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"

"Does everyone think like him?"

"O'course not. There's just a slimy little bunch like them."

That made Rose feel a lot better.

"So what is Quidditch?"

"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."

They bought Rose's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Rose away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."

"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."

"I was kidding you know."

Hagrid smiled at her. Rose looked around for a long time and bought the books for school but also 'Modern Magical History', 'Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century' and 'Hogwarts, A History'. She didn't want to feel stupid again like with the boy, she loved reading anyway.

They went to several different shops to get all her supplies. Hagrid even let her buy a bag and purse that were huge on the inside but were really small on the outside. The stuff you put in wouldn't affect the weight at all and it came with a spell that you only needed to name the item and it would go to the top.

After that Hagrid looked at the list again.

"Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."

Rose blushed.

"Hagrid, you don't have to."

"I know I don' but I want to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."

Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Rose now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. And Rose was completely in love with it. She realized she really loved owls.

She stammered multiple thank you's to Hagrid.

"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."

They entered the dusty shop.

Rose immediately felt the magic coursing through the shop. Her senses where prickled while she looked at the piles and piles of slim boxes. She felt a weird sensation go through her and some of the boxes started hovering.

"Good afternoon." A soft voice said. Rose was startled and the boxes dropped.

An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. He was eyeing Rose cautiously.

"Hmm, you have a lot of bottle up magic in you. I almost never get a reaction like that out of my wands, miss Potter."

Rose blushed.

"I've been expecting you. You're the spitting image of your mother. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Rose. Rose wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.

"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Rose were almost nose to nose. Rose could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.

"And that's where..." Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Rose's forehead with a long, white finger.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

He shook his head and then, to Rose's relief, spotted Hagrid.

"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.

"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.

"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.

"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.

"Oh, no, sir." said Hagrid quickly. Rose noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke. He did use that umbrella for multiple things since she knew him.

"Well, miss Potter, let's get started." He pulled out a tape measure.

"What's your wand arm?"

"Euhm, I'm right-handed."

"Excellent, hold out your arm."

He measured Rose from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Rose suddenly realized Ollivander had left her to search through his boxes. The tape measure was continuing on its own.

"That will do." Ollivander said while coming back with a wand.

"Right then, Miss. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."

Before Rose could do anything, he snatched it right out of her hands.

"Not quite right."

The next one Ollivander gave her was snatched out of her hands just as quickly. This process was repeated multiple times and while Rose was getting frustrated, Ollivander was getting excited.

After a couple more, Rose started tapping her foot on the floor. She was getting impatient. She didn't was to be rude but it was getting on her nerves. Boxes started floating again and one bumped right against Ollivanders head. He plucked it out of the air and stared at it.

"I wonder…yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

He approached Rose with the wand and gave it to her. When she took it in her hand she felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. Rose gave a gentle whip with it and a stream of gold and red sparks shot from the end like a firework. Which gave a beautiful twinkle around the shop.

Hagrid clapped loudly in his hands and Ollivander gave a surprised cry.

"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... "

He put Rose's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering,

"Curious... curious…"

"Sorry," said Rose "but what's curious?"

Mr. Ollivander fixed Rose with his pale stare.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."

Rose swallowed.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Miss. Potter... After all, He Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

Rose looked at him in shock. She had gone from being rubbish to following in her parent's murderer's footsteps. She quickly payed Ollivander seven Galleons for the wand and Ollivander bowed when they left.

The sun hung low in the sky when Rose and Hagrid stepped back to the street. They made their way through the street as the shops started to close. The Leaky Cauldron was now empty. They stepped out on the muggle street and Rose was still deep in thoughts. Hagrid tapped her on the shoulder.

"Got time fer a bite to eat before yeh go home?" he asked.

Rose nodded and they entered a burgerjoint. Hagrid bought Rose a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Rose glanced around her, the 'normal' streets looked so foreign now she had been in the wizard's world all day.

"You all right, Rosey? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.

Rose chewed on her hamburger while thinking of an answer.

"Today was incredible Hagrid. The best birthday I ever had. But I'm a bit shaken by the people I suppose."

"What do yeh mean?"

"Everyone knows me, they look at me like I'm their salvation or something. But I don't know anything about this. Nothing about your culture. I don't even know how I defeated Vol – sorry You-Know-Who the night my parents died. And the way that boy phrased it, I feel more like an outcast than a celebrity."

Hagrid smiled warmly at her.

"Don' you worry, Rosey. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."

After the meal, Hagrid pulled out his umbrella and pointed it to call the bus.

He conductor stayed out of the way and quite relieved when he saw Hagrid didn't make any step to get on the bus. He helped Rose get her stuff on the bus and then handed her an envelope.

"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Rosey."

Rose wanted to keep looking until Hagrid disappeared from view but she forgot for a second how the bus works. With a loud bang, she was somewhere else entirely.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Don't hesitate to let me know what you think.

XXX D.