They stood watching the wall intently. John had his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought, every now and again Lucy kept patting it as if this would solve the problem and Jade didn't know what to do. They had come to London by car in search of Diagon Alley because John vaguely remembered Lily saying something about a pub called the Leaky Cauldron that led to a wall that in turn led to Diagon Alley, where she could get all her books. The Porters had been trying to get in for the last ten minutes an getting nowhere.

"Maybe Lily was telling porkies, and it was the same prankster who sent me the letter," said Jade, giving up. There simply was no explanation. They'd tried asking the bar tender, but he's simply taken one look at their clothes and said, "No, there's no alley behind there," and had then disappeared up the stairs muttering something that sounded like, "Bloody muddles," John had insisted that they try and find it; he was convinced that there was in fact a hidden alley. But Jade couldn't understand - there was no noise (John had described to them in the car what Lily had told him years ago, except now he believed it) and it was just a wall. Just then, a man, a woman and a girl that looked about Jade's age appeared out of nowhere. They all looked bewildered, and, unlike the bar tender, were wearing jeans.

"Hi, my name is Hermione Granger," the girl stepped forward towards Jade and burst in to conversation with her hand outstretched, presumably for Jade to shake it.

Jade shook it nervously, and said, lamely, "I'm Jade Porter."

"Nice to meet you," the girl was brimming with confidence it was getting on Jade's nerves. "Are you going to Hogwarts too?"

"Um, yes," Jade said, aware of the fact that her parents were conversing with Hermione's.

"Is this your first year?" the questions just kept coming, didn't they? Why are some people just so annoying?

"Yes. What about you?" Jade relaxed a bit; if John and Lucy could get on with Hermione's parents, then she could get on with Hermione. And Jade seemed to forget the fact that just a minute ago she hadn't believed a word of what the letter or John said, but now that someone that she didn't know mentioned it, she felt a lot better.

"It's my first year too. Are you waiting to go into Diagon Alley?"

"Well, yes, but we can't work out how to get in,"

"Oh, don't worry, we asked a man in the bar, he said that you do this," and she stepped on her tiptoes and pushed a few bricks, which appeared to be in some sequence or another, and the wall formed a giant archway wide and tall enough for a Double Decker bus to fit in it comfortably. Beyond the archway was, as John had said, an alley, filled with busy people rushing around. People of all ages were there; from babies and toddlers to people who looked as though they were a million years old (to Jade and Hermione anyway).

There was only one word to describe it for Jade, and that was, "Wow," She was staring at the alley, not wanting to miss anything. "How come the man at the bar told you? We asked, and he just muttered something about muddles and wandered off,"

Hermione giggled, so that her huge mass of curly hair shook. "He said that to us, too, but then my Dad explained that I had just got my Hogwarts letter, and it said to come here."

"It didn't say anything to me about an alley," Jade pouted. But now that she remembered, it had said something about an alley at the bottom of the letter, which she had glanced at through her laughs when she had thought that it was a joke. But it was written on a separate piece of paper, so it had probably got lost in the bin.

"Girls, we're going to be here, why don't you go and get all your things together and meet us back here in, shall we say, two hours?" Hermione's Dad called, pointing to a little café.

"Ok," Hermione called, whilst Jade inwardly groaned; now she was stuck with this know-it-all for two whole hours. "And by the way, he must have said 'muggles', not 'muddles'. He explained it to us; muggles are non magic people, and if someone is muggle born, like you and I, then you are a witch or wizard that has muggle parents," Hermione explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh, they aren't my real parents. I think my real parents were a witch and a wizard, though,"

"Hang on," Hermione dug into her pocket and took out a piece of paper. She looked down at the paper. "Ok. We need a wand, a cauldron, robes, a hat, several books, um…" She looked down at the paper again, "A set of brass scales gloves, a cloak, a telescope and…a set of glass or crystal phials." She scanned the list once more. "I think that's more or less it. It says that we can have either a rat, an owl or a cat. But I think owls can deliver mail, can't they? And it says that first years aren't allowed broomsticks"

Jade shrugged. She had been staring at a shop window, not listening to a word Hermione had said.. "Not a clue. Let's go in there first!" as they were talking they had passed several shops, and Jade was staring at a shop window that had a broomstick on display, and Jade didn't have to know anything about the wizarding world to know that the broom was brilliant; although kids that had been brought up in the wizarding world were staring in awe at it too, their faces pressed against the window saying to each other, " Look, the new nimbus two thousand! It's the best yet!" Another voice then said, "But its so expensive - a hundred Galleons!" The first voice argued his point again, "I bet its worth it, though."

Jade looked at Hermione. "Galleons?"

Hermione looked just as clueless as Jade did. "Maybe we should ask someone. We don't really have a clue, do we?"

"I think that's a good idea. How about them? They seem to have enough children to be nice enough." Jade was looking at a red haired family that had just walked out of the broom shop. The family consisted of four boys and a girl, and two of the boys looked like they were identical twins. Three of the boys looked miserable, but their parents were trying to cheer them up. The youngest of the boys was whining. "Please Mum. Everyone will have one,"

"Ronald Weasley, how many times do I have to tell you? We don't have the money and you know it. And besides, first years aren't allowed brooms anyway,"

"But Mum, it would be for at home,"

"Well you'll have to save up then," Mrs Weasley, if that was her name, had appeared to have won the fight. Ronald must have wanted the new broom.

"See, Ron, told you Mum and Dad would never buy it for you," it was the oldest boy that spoke, and the smugness in his voice annoyed Jade and the comment wasn't even directed at her.

"Can't you just shut up? Ever since you got your letter and you were made prefect," Ronald said with scorn, staring at his brother, who, like the rest of the family, had fiery red hair and a mass of freckles.

"Um, excuse me, me and Hermione -" Jade was cut short by an interruption from Hermione.

"Hermione and I," Hermione said, not realising that when she corrected somebody's grammar it really agitated the person who she was correcting.

"Hermione and I," Jade put strong emphasis on the 'I', and continued. "We were just wondering, well, we don't know much about the wizarding world, and, well, could you help us a bit?" Jade said this mainly to Mrs Weasley, and when she answered was much softer and more pleasant than when she had scolded her own son.

"Of course, dear. Are you muggle born, then?" the plump woman addressed both girls now.

"Yes," Hermione said.

"Wow! What are you wearing? How fascinating!" Mr Weasley was looking the girls up and down. Jade had only just realised everyone else in the alley was wearing robes or a cloak of some kind.

"Um, jeans," Jade said, blushing, aware that everyone was now doing the same their father, or, in Mrs Weasley's case, her husband.

"I have to admit, they are weird, but they do look good on her, don't they Fred?" one of the twins stood with his arms folded, and spoke to his identical brother.

"The brunette?" Fred said, puzzled.

"No, the other one!"

"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean,"

"Well, I certainly see what you mean, George."

"If it was possible, Jade went even redder. "Um never mind," she muttered, "we'll ask someone else," Jade tried to walk off, grabbing Hermione. However, Hermione was frozen on the spot. She eemed oblivious the fact that Jade was embarrased.

"Boys!" Mrs Weasley said, cross.

"I wasn't doing anything, Mum," the oldest boy said innocently.

"I know you didn't, Percy. I know! Why don't you, dad, Fred and George go and do your shopping, and I'll go shopping with the girls, and Ron?"

"Ok, come on boys!" Mr Weasley turned around and headed in the other direction, with the older boys trailing behind.

"Ha ha! Little Ronny got stuck with the girls!" One of the twins shouted, Jade couldn't tell them apart.

"That's 'coz he is one," the other said loudly. It was Ron's turned to blush, and the tips of his ears went bright red.

"Right. First things first," Mrs Weasley said. "This is Ron and Ginny, and I'm Molly,"

"I'm Jade, and this is Hermione," Jade said. Now that there weren't so people staring at her she had relaxed and was less intimidated. In the muggle world, children are always taught not to speak to strangers, but Jade thought it was worth the risk or they would get nowhere.

"Do you have any money?" Molly asked.

"I have one hundred pounds," said Hermione.

"Pounds? What are pounds?" Ginny said nervously.

"I think it's muggle money, isn't it?" Mrs Weasley answered before either Jade or Hermione had the chance. Jade nodded.

"Obviously not. We have to go to Gringotts then," She said. "This way," She turned around and started walking. Hermione and Jade looked at each other with blank expressions.

"Molly?" Jade asked, feeling stupid.

"Yes, dear?" Molly said, without looking back and already a few steps ahead of Jade and Hermione

"What's Gringotts?"