On the thirty-first, Mrs. North took the day off from work and with the Grangers and her children, went to Diagon Alley. They drove to London and parked outside the Leaky Cauldron. The Drs. Grangers couldn't see it at first, for the pub was hidden from non-magical eyes. It wasn't until Mrs. North pointed it out and Hermione took their hands that they saw it. They were quite surprised to see the pub appear before their eyes.
Once inside, they saw the barkeeper, Tom, talking with a giant of a man that Mrs. North said was Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Tom turned as the Norths and Grangers approached and his gaze rested on James. "Is that Harry Potter?"
"That's my son, James North," said Mrs. North. "I'm sorry, Tom."
Tom and Hagrid both sighed. "I was hoping Harry Potter would show up," said Tom.
James and Jade exchanged looks, while Hermione smothered a smile. Hagrid shook his head. "I hope Harry turns up soon. Dumbledore's bin worried abou' it all. Harry Potter hasn' answered any of the letters sent to him. An' when Professor Snape was sent to fetch Harry, his aunt and uncle said there was no boy named Harry there. Professor Snape checked an' didn' find Harry or any sign of him havin' lived there."
Mrs. North quickly explained who Harry Potter was to the Grangers and then led them out the pub and to the little courtyard in the back. She took out her wand and tapped a brick on the wall. The bricks began shifting and an entrance was revealed. The six of them stepped through. "Welcome to Diagon Alley," said Mrs. North.
James, Jade, and Hermione gazed around in awe. "This is incredible!" breathed Jade.
Mrs. North smiled. "First stop, Gringotts, the wizarding bank. It's run by goblins."
They couldn't help staring at the goblin standing by the doors of Gringotts. Mrs. North hid a smile and ushered them inside. They went up to the counter where a goblin named Ragnok exchanged their pounds into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. The exchange rate was approximately five pounds to a Galleon. Mrs. North received fifty Galleons, thirty Sickles, and twenty Knuts.
When they were done, they saw Hagrid come in. He told the goblin at the front desk that he had a letter from Professor Dumbledore, about the 'You-Know-What' in vault 713. Naturally, James was very curious as to what the 'You-Know-What' was, but he was unable to ask questions and had to hurry outside after the Grangers.
They first went to Flourish and Blotts. Hermione got all the books on the list, plus a few extra for background reading. To save money, Jade decided to use her mother's old textbooks. James had to buy books, but they weren't new. They were all second-hand. Unlike Hermione, he and Jade did not bother getting any books for extra reading. They didn't want to spend any more of their mother's limited budget than was necessary, and anyway, they could always check out the books from the Hogwarts library.
Next they bought cauldrons and stopped at the Apothecary for Potions supplies. Both James and Jade got second-hand cauldrons. When the Potions supplies were bought, they moved on to buy parchment, quills, and ink. That was followed by the purchase of scales, telescopes, and glass phials. After that were the robes, hat, gloves, and cloak.
The Grangers went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions while the Norths went inside a second-hand robe shop. They looked over the selection of school robes and finally picked out six sets of robes that weren't too shabby and more-or-less fitted James and Jade. A couple were slightly too large, but Mrs. North said she could shrink them to fit. Then they went inside Madam Malkin's, where Mrs. North bought James and Jade each a new hat, a pair of dragon hide gloves, and a winter cloak.
Finally they went to Ollivander's Wand Shop for the wands. Jade offered to use her father's wand, but Mrs. North explained that the wand chose the witch or wizard. Jade would get better results with a wand of her own, not with somebody else's wand.
Mr. Ollivander was a slightly creepy old man with silvery eyes. He greeted them and asked if Mrs. North's wand (birch, unicorn hair, ten and a half inches) was in good working order. She said yes and his gaze then turned on the preteens. He gestured at James to go first and pulling out a long tape measure, asked, "Which is your wand arm?"
"Er – the right one, sir," responded James as he held out his right arm.
The tape measure began measuring on it's own as Mr. Ollivander flitted around the shelves, taking down boxes and explaining the three cores used in his wands.
"That will do," he said finally, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. North. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches, Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."
James took it and waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it almost at once.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try –"
James tried, but he had hardly raised the wand when it was snatched back.
"No, no – here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out." James tried, but that was snatched away as well. He was given more wands to try, but they were snatched away as well. To save time, the tape measure took Jade's and Hermione's measurements and they began trying the wands James discarded.
A few minutes later, Hermione found the perfect wand. It was vine wood, with a core of dragon heartstring. Blue and silver sparks shot out of the end as she raised the wand above her head. Her parents paid for it as Jade picked up another discarded wand. This one was holly and unicorn hair, eleven inches. Green and white sparks shot out the end as she waved it around and it was the perfect wand for her. She grinned broadly.
Meanwhile, James still hadn't found the perfect wand. In the end, he must have tried every wand in the store, except for the one on the cushion in the window. Jade had begun tapping her foot impatiently and Hermione began reading one of her books.
Finally James was handed a wand of holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches. As soon as he touched it, he felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework. "About time," muttered Jade.
Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well … how curious … how very curious …" He put James's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, muttering, "Curious … curious…"
When James asked what was curious, Mr. Ollivander explained that the phoenix that gave a tail feather for the wand had also gave one other feather for another wand. That wand was the one that had chosen He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or Voldemort.
As Mrs. North paid for two wands, James shivered and wondered what it meant. After all, the brother wand to his had killed his birth parents and given him the scar. Well, there was nothing he could do about it. The wand had chosen him and he couldn't get another.
Unbeknownst to the Norths and Grangers, when they left the shop, Mr. Ollivander wrote a letter to Dumbledore. The headmaster frowned when he read that one James North had bought the brother wand to Voldemort's. As North wasn't a wizarding name, James had to be Muggleborn. However, his having that wand was a concern. Dumbledore decided to keep an eye on the boy. He didn't want another Dark Lord to come into power.
Meanwhile, there was quick stop at Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Mrs. North bought a beautiful snowy owl, mainly for James, but Jade would share her as well. Then they stopped at Magical Menagerie, where Jade picked out an adorable white kitten with gold and ebony spots. She hesitated between naming her Faithful, after the cat in The Song of the Lioness Quartet, or Mulan. When the witch behind the counter mentioned that in Asian cultures, three-colored cats were considered lucky, Jade decided on Mulan.
After that, the Norths and Grangers drove home. James wasn't sure what to name his owl at first, but after flipping through his schoolbooks, he decided to name her Hedwig, a name he found in A History of Magic.
That evening, Mrs. North took out the money left over and gave Jade and James each ten Knuts, ten Sickles, and five Galleons for their spending money. The two carefully stowed the money away in their trunks.
Hermione read through the set books and learned them off by heart. Jade practically memorized the contents also, but James didn't. He did retain much of what was in his books, but he couldn't tell you everything like Jade and Hermione did. The three also did some simple spells for practice. The spells all worked for Hermione and Jade. James, on the other hand, had more difficulty. He was able to master the Levitation Charm and repaired his glasses when they accidentally broke, but when he tried a simple transfiguration, it didn't really work. All he was able to do was change the color of the button from red to blue, which was more of a charm than a transfiguration.
Finally he gave up on Transfiguration for the time being. Mrs. North had said that Lily Potter was good at Charms, and apparently he had inherited some of that talent. It was obvious he hadn't inherited his father's talent at Transfiguration, though, and he made a note to ask Jade and Hermione for help in that subject when school started.
James, Jade, and Hermione counted down the days to September the first. They couldn't wait for the start of term.