America's Witch 3- Diagon Alley
"Okay, our first stop is to the bank, so Ambellina can get some money to buy her supplies." I dig in my purse to check for that key and pause.
"Hold on. We're not riding in the car…are we?" Percy laughs slightly.
"Of course not. We're going by Floo."
"Floo?" Molly nods and looks at Ron.
"Of course. Here, Ron, show her how it's done." He nods slowly.
"Okay." Ron grabs a small handful of green powder from the bucket by the fireplace and steps into the space. He throws the powder down. "Diagon Alley." In a flare of green flames, he disappears. I gasp in shock.
"You next Percy." He does the same as Ron and disappears in the green flame. Fred and George go next and Molly pushes me into the fireplace. I take a handful of the powder and throw it on the ground at my feet.
"Diagon Alley." The front room of the Burrow streaks into blackness and then is replaced with a bank lobby. The boys are waiting around. I step out of the fireplace quickly and look around. All of the clerks are little short guys with long faces and large pointed ears. They remind me of a description of a goblin.
"Gringott's Goblins. Interesting bunch huh?" I jump slightly—I wasn't expecting to hear Ron's voice right behind me.
"I guess." Molly, then Ginny, and then Arthur, come out of the fireplace and we all head up to a tall desk. The goblin behind it eyes Arthur scrupulously.
"Here to make a withdrawal. From Matthew Dumbledore's account."
"And who is the authorized party?" Molly nudges me, pushing me forward a step.
"He's talking about you. You're the one with the key."
"Oh. Um, I am." The goblin examines me and leans over the desk to look at me closer.
"Name?"
"Ambellina Dumbledore." He nods and backs up to look at something on the desk again.
"And your key?" I fish it out of my purse and hold it up. The goblin nods and in a moment, another goblin shows up. "The small Dumbledore Vault." The other one nods and scurries off. Arthur pulls me after him, leaving the others in the lobby. We get on a cart with the goblin and it zooms through a bunch of underground tunnels, I think designed to make anyone that tries to break in get totally lost on their way out, or even in.
We stop. "Vault number 825." We get out and walk up to the door of the vault. "Key." I hand the key to the goblin and he puts it in a hole, turning it to make a series of locks click at once, and the door swings open. I stare inside it, gaping at the amount of gold in the room behind the door.
"Um…" Arthur laughs slightly.
"I'll help a bit." Arthur helps me get the approximate amount of money I'll need for supplies and then extra for later on. When we finish, the goblin shuts and locks the door, handing me back the key. I put it in my purse, along with the money, and we all get back in the little cart. We zoom back up to the main level and leave from the lobby, Arthur tipping his head in silent greeting to a large man with grizzly, greasy black hair and beady black eyes.
The man nods in return and I notice a boy with him. We get outside before I can say anything. "Okay, you have your list? I have to go help Molly with the boys, so you're on your own." I nod.
"I've done plenty of shopping on my own. Don't worry." He nods and hurries off. Let's see…the first thing on the list is a wand. I look around and spot a little store with a sign over it reading 'Ollivander's Fine Wands'. I go to that store first, a bell rings as the door opens, and a gray haired man looks around a shelf unit.
"You looking for a wand?" I nod.
"Yes, I am…"
"Just a second." Sliding as boxes are moved, and he comes out to stand behind the counter, holding a box.
"Your name?"
"Ambellina Dumbledore." He smiles slightly.
"Matthew's daughter?" I nod slowly. "I remember selling your father his wand. Twelve inch birch with a unicorn hair core. Here. Try this wand." He opens the box, revealing a long stick, cherry red. "Eleven inch Cherry with a Dragon Heartstring Core. Go ahead. The wand chooses its master." I gingerly pick the wand up from the box.
It feels oddly warm, but nothing happens. "Try flicking it." I do, mimicking Mom's move with her wand. A crystal ball on a shelf rises slightly in response, it's the thing I happened to be pointing at with the wand, and then lowers back into its stand. "That's odd. First try. Haven't had that happen in a few years." I set the wand back in the box and he closes it, tapping buttons on an old fashioned cash register. "Twenty Galleons." I set my purse on the counter and count out twenty of the gold coins from the vault. Arthur explained to me the different pieces as best as he could while we were getting out the money.
I hand the coins to the man and shoulder my purse again. "That's an interesting bag you've got there. You half Muggle?"
"No. My mom is a witch as well. I just have an interest in Muggle things." He nods slightly.
"Ah. Have a nice day." I pick up the box, nod politely, and leave the store. I check my list to see what else I need and I notice the big guy from the bank, and the boy he was with. The man is hurrying off to do something and the boy is heading towards the store I just came out of. I notice a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and head across the road to look into the windows of the store there.
A tailor? I need to get a uniform. I go inside and wait for someone to come up. I've never been to such an old fashioned store. It's strange for me. This makes me realize something. What if they don't have electricity at the school? I absently adjust my headphones; I'm listening to Coheed and Cambria on my iPod.
"What are you listening to?" I look at the girl, wild ginger hair frames her face, and she's rather pretty.
"Coheed and Cambria."
"Really? I'm not too wild about that band. I prefer Lost Prophets really." I brighten. Finally someone in this place that knows about the stuff I'm familiar with.
"Cool! I love Lost Prophets."
"I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger." I smile slightly and extend my hand.
"Ambellina Dumbledore. Nice to meet you." She shakes my hand, smiling.
"You're from America?" I nod.
"Am I that obvious?" She laughs slightly.
"Well, yes, actually. Is that an iPod that you're listening to?"
"Yea." Someone comes out and clears her throat.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, ladies. Hogwarts uniforms?" We both nod and then stare at each other.
"You're going to Hogwarts too?" I laugh once; we spoke at the same time.
"We can take care of both of you at the same time." We both nod slightly.
"Okay."
"Sure." We follow the woman to another room and Hermione examines my purse when I set it down.
"Are you…a Muggle-born?" I shake my head.
"No. Both of my parents are Wizards."
"This is a strange purse though." I smile.
"Gaara. From Naruto."
"Naruto? Oh, that really popular graphic novel. I don't care much for books like that. I prefer non-fiction. And lately, wizard histories and fairy tales." I raise an eyebrow.
"Fairy tales? I haven't heard any."
"Really?" I nod.
"I grew up normally…um…" Hermione laughs slightly and nods.
"Oh, I understand. Both of my parents are Muggles. Dentists, actually." I laugh at that.
"My mom's a doctor." Hermione nods slowly.
"What about your dad?"
"He's a Freelance Journalist. Though apparently he also does articles for the Daily Prophet." She looks surprised by that one.
"Wow. When did you find out you were a witch then?" I think of the date…it was three days after my birthday when Mom and Dad told me.
"Um, on the…third of this month." Hermione doesn't look very surprised by that one.
"Really? I found out on the first when I got an owl from Hogwarts." The women working here start with the fitting, having us try on uniforms that are approximately the right size, and then checking to see how they fit. Mine is right on the first try, but Hermione has to try on a couple more sizes before it gets right. I wait for her to finish and we both get five sets of uniforms.
"So, what other bands do you like?"
"Have you heard of Within Temptation?" I nod once, smiling broadly.
"Oh I love that group! Their stuff is a lot like Evanescence." Hermione gasps in mock surprise.
"I like that band too. Amy Lee is such a good singer." I nod quickly.
"I know. What's your favorite song by them?" She raises an eyebrow.
"Evanescence? I think I'd have to say…Tourniquet." I nod slowly now.
"Really? My favorite is Haunted." Hermione smiles as we turn a corner.
"What about Within Temptation?" I wave a hand in front of me.
"No question there. Aquarius." I look at her expectantly and she smiles broadly.
"Memories." I spot the bookstore and head that way.
"Lost Prophets?" Hermione follows my lead and I take a second to think of my favorite song by them.
"Rooftops." I gasp.
"Me too!" We go into the book store and start getting the books on our list.
"So, you have a Naruto purse. Are you a fan of that series?" I nod quickly.
"Oh yes. I love that series. I'm even a fairly popular Fan fiction writer."
"Really? Just for that series?" I grab a book from the shelf and notice the title. Interesting…I tuck it in with the other books and continue scanning titles.
"No. I've also got some stories based on Vampire Knight, Bleach, Sailor Moon, and Full-Metal Alchemist."
"Wow." We finish getting the books we need and start looking at the other books.
"Hogwarts: A History?" Hermione and I both grab a copy of the book and skim the back.
"Sounds interesting." I nod.
"Exactly." We both get a copy of the book and continue looking around.
"Your favorite novel?" Hermione shrugs.
"Lord of the Rings."
"Really? I prefer Chronicles of Narnia, to that series." She gasps slightly.
"Oh, I love the Chronicles of Narnia series." We get into the line.
"Really? Which is your favorite in the series?"
"The Horse and his Boy." Hermione gets to the checkout first and pays for her books. I finish that quickly and turn.
"I like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the best." Finally, we leave the store with our books and head to another store, to get the last of our supplies. I spot the boy from the bank in front of the broom store and walk over. I read the label.
"A Nimbus 2000?" He jumps in surprise. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." A racing broom? What other absurdities will they come up with? I shrug that off and face the boy. "I'm Ambellina."
"Harry."
"Nice to meet you, Harry. Are you shopping for school supplies as well?" He nods.
"Yea." I smile.
"That's cool. I'll see you around." I head to the last store and finish my shopping. I start looking for the others and spot them.
"There you are, Ambellina! Over here! We're about to leave." I hurry over, carrying my spoils.
"How much money did you get? So much stuff…"
"Ambellina, did you get a Carry-All trunk?" Huh?
"What's that?" Ginny jumps into the explanation, but Percy cuts her off.
"It's a trunk that can carry all of your stuff without a problem…you'll need it for school." Molly hands a bunch of stuff to Fred.
"Here, you all go ahead. I'll take Ambellina to get a trunk and then we'll be right along." They all nod.
"Kay." The group of guys, and Ginny, go through an arch in a wall and the bricks move back into place, creating a solid wall. I stare at it.
"That's how the entrance works. You have to have a password to get in from the other side, but it moves out of the way when you want to leave." I nod slowly and go with Molly to a store. I look around.
"Can I help you ladies?" Molly takes charge as I examine some of the trunks in here.
"Yes, do you have any Carry-All trunks in stock?" The woman who greeted us brightens.
"Yes! We have two left actually. Black or red." I decide to speak up and look at her.
"Red." Red is my favorite color.
