Here is Chapter 4! Sorry it took so long to update! It's a bit of a hefty chapter ;)

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley

It was the 15th of August and Bradley waited in breathless anticipation, from the moment he woke up. He knew, he KNEW that a person from Hogwarts school would be coming, yet there was still a nagging doubt. One couldn't help wandering, in such circumstances, whether it was all just a dream. Yet there was the letter he kept next to his bed, and the proof that his mother still believed it all.

He sat on his bed in breathless anticipation, staring up at the large posters of Gareth Bale, and Irish captain Robbie Keane. "Brad! Brad! Come he's here!" He grabbed his wallet and ran down the staircase.

With his mother in the lounge stood a tall gangly man, young, with red hair and freckles. When Brad reached the bottom of the stairs the red-haired man looked up and stuck out a hand, a friendly smile cracking his freckled face. "Hey there! You must be Brad, great to meet you! I'm Hugo, my job's to show new muggle-born's round Diagon Alley… you're my first one" he added with a wink.

"Good to meet you, umm… Mr. Hugo."

"Haha!" Hugo barked with obvious mirth, "Never thought I would be called Mr. Hugo… that's great that is. Right shall we go? Mrs. Murphy you'll be coming along won't you?"

"Yes, yes I'll be accompanying you and Brad."

"Great, now where's your fire place?"

"Fire place? Well there's a fire place in mine and Cliff's room, but why?"

"Floo powder of course… ahh wait, you don't know what floo powder is do ya? I forgot… well, floo powder is a wizarding way of travelling, there is a powder which is mass produced which you throw into a fire, step into the fire and state the place you want to travel too and you will come out in the fire place at your destination."

"Okay… so do you have some of this powder?"

"Of course! Every wizard travels with a bag of flu powder. Especially me because of my job…" and with a smirk he pulled out a small, leather pouch which was sagging with white powder.

"Right then, let's head up to your room Mrs. Murphy."

"Ummm… okay then, follow me." With that she turned around and walked up the stairs followed by Brad and Hugo.

They entered the room with a stylish fireplace, obviously just for show.

"That's a small fireplace… so you're going to have to crawl in." Hugo said looking slightly confused at the impractical size of the fireplace. "Okay… but there isn't any fire, and if there was wouldn't we get burnt?" Mrs. Murphy raised the question,

"Oh, no problem on either count!" Hugo replied robustly removing the same kind of stick that Poppers Poppington had used (Brad had figured out by now that this, was called a wand) he pointed it at the fire place and muttered 'incendio" under his breath, an orange flame leaped up in the fireplace. "Also, to answer your second query, all you will feel is a gentle, warm sensation then you must CLEARLY say "Diagon Alley" and you will come out in the official Diagon Alley fire place. We'll go one at a time, Brad, how about you first? Here's a pinch of powder now throw it in, crawl after it and say what I told you and you'll be fine, trust me! I've done it loads of times."

"Err, ookkaayy" Brad said uncertainly, "How long will it take?"

"Oh, only about 10 seconds I would imagine, it depends how crowded the floo network is." Brad wasn't even going to bother asking what the "floo network" was, he was too confused already. "Right, off you go!" He said enthusiastically.

Brad moved forward slightly unsteadily, then with an unsure movement he threw the powder into the fire, he started slightly as the flame turned an emerald green then crawled with a sudden confidence he certainly didn't feel into the fire place. He stopped for a moment, it was true all he felt was a sensation like that of a warm wind blowing upwards then he said in as clear a voice as he could muster "Diagon Alley!"

A tightening sensation took hold of him, everything went dark and he started to spin faster and faster he caught glimpses of fireplaces as he passed, and then suddenly it all stopped and he found himself standing in a large fireplace looking out on the most unbelievable scene he had ever laid his eyes on.

He couldn't take it in all at once his eyes darted one way then another. He was looking out on a long cobbled streets lined on either side with shops of a most unusual nature. The first shop sign he saw said "Magical Menagerie" then "General Quidditch Supplies: For all your Quidditch needs" and "Flourish and Blotts book store" that was as far as he got when he was tapped on the shoulder, with a start he looked behind him and saw his mother and Hugo standing in the fireplace. "Well? What are you just standing there for? Let's go!" Hugo hurried them out of the fireplace, it was the most breath taking place that Brad had ever been, he stood for a minute on the cobbled pavement, he was finally filled with a sense of finality and belief. Now he knew it was all true, this couldn't be fake.

"Right look at your letter and tell me what's first on your supplies list?"

"It says to get three sets of plain black work robes. Where do we get those?"

"Ahhh you'd have to go to Madame Malkins the 2nd's shop for those!"

"The second?" Mrs. Murphy inquired,

"Yeah, her mother died about 10 years ago, she took over the shop she inherited the knack for robe sizes I'll tell you, there's no place better then her shop."

"Right, but one question… how much will all this cost, in pounds that is, not in wizarding money?"

"Ahhh, of course you don't have wizarding money yet do ya? Well then we'll have to go to Gringotts first, the wizarding bank, safest place in the world to keep stuff that you don't want other people getting at, only had stuff stolen once, and that was Harry Potter who did that, we all know he was special don't we?!"

"Well we don't really know who he is, but anyway let's get to that later. Shall we go to Gringotts now?" She said hurriedly as she saw him take a big breath obviously ready to launch into a detailed description of this famous Harry Potter, whoever he was. "Right, yeah, umm follow me then." They followed him down the street until they stopped in front of what was undoubtedly the grandest building on the street, tall and imposing it's greek styled architecture suggested old age, and the massive golden letters over the entrance proclaimed the famous title of the old bank. They walked up the long flight of stairs through the security at the door where they were prodded with long golden rods, which Hugo informed them were called "Proberty Probes" used to uncover spells of concealment. Brad gave a start when he saw the guards standing by the door, they were small and had grey leathery skin, long pointed noses, and thin spindly hands. "Wha-What are those, Mr. Weasley?" He inquired timidly, "Those? Oh, those are Goblins, they guard the gold in the Gringotts vaults, they also run the whole bank, they are the finest bankers in the world."

"Okay, but were do we go to change money?" Brad's mother was starting to sound a little overwhelmed, which was something because it took a lot to overwhelm her.

"Just over there, at the desk that says Exchange above it."

"Right, let's go then shall we?" With that she led the way over to the desk, behind it sat two goblins, both were crouched over piles of paperwork, muttering to themselves as their quills moved like lightning across the pages.

"Hello and what may I do for you?" The Goblin closest to them rattled off, barely lifting his head from the columns, and figures he was studying.

"The Mrs. here wants to change some muggle money Gorag."

"Oh, it's you Hugo, yes she can change with me, how much do you want?" Gorag's head came up from the page as he said this. Brad stopped listening to the conversation and started to look around the massive room they were in was different to anything he had ever seen, hundreds of desks, all alike to the one they stood at, were placed strategically around the room. All of them with small goblins sitting, bent-headed working hard at whatever their separate tasks were, at the other side of the large room stood large double doors. These did not reflect the shining glory of the rest of the building, they were dark and foreboding, goblins stood at either side of the entrance, armed with proberty probes.

"Alright, thank you, come on Brad let's go! It appears that we have allot to do before getting home this evening!" His mothers voice called him back from his observations and he turned to follow her and Hugo out the door. "Right, we'll go to Madame Malkin's first then shall we?"

"Whatever you say, Hugo."

"Brilliant, then follow me!" They followed him up the alley, and stopped outside a large shop, emblazoned with the words "Madame Malkin's the 2nd's robe shop". They entered a dark musty room, filled with materials of every shape, size, and colour.

"Hello there, may I help you?" They were addressed by a harassed looking young woman, her dark hair was up in a tight bun, and her tall figure was stooped by the weight of the materials she carried.

"Ahhh, Madam Malkins, I've brought this boy to get his Hogwarts robes!" Hugo said genially, and then he added in an undertone "muggle born you see."

"Yes, thank-you Hugo I gathered that. Now, what size are you," she asked, turning on Brad. "Err, I don't know ma'am sorry" he said as he looked pleadingly at his mother, "Probably best you measured him" his mother said, "in-case we use different measuring methods to your kind."

"Very well then, come over here dear." Madam Malkins said kindly gesturing to a wooden block on the floor, "Now just hold still for a minute while I measure your height and width." She started running her wand up, down and across Brad's body. "Aha! I have just the set of robes for your size, I have started doing packages you see, I get the types of robes Hogwarts students will require before each year, and I have started making up packages, it's far less trouble to just pick up a package you know!" With that she lifted her wand and said clearly "Accio robes" there was a whooshing sound and a package wrapped in brown paper flew out of a back room and hovered in-front of her. "Perfect, that will be 18 Galleons for the lot! I'm having a 10% off sale for first years only this week, so you certainly chose the right time to come!"

"Thank you Mrs. Malkins, very much obliged!"

"No problem, enjoy the rest of your time in Diagon Alley!" She called after them as they left the shop.

"Right, what's next on your list Brad?" Hugo asked enthusiastically, Brad consulted the list "It has a list of books next"

"We can go to Flourish & Blotts for those, they also do packages with all the books for each year. Tell you what, we're right next to Olivander's wand shop now, why don't you go in there and get your wand, and I'll go get your books? That way we'll get it done quicker!"

"Alright, that sounds fine to me." Said Mrs. Murphy with a little more energy then she had felt earlier, the whole atmosphere was starting to course through her, and she was starting to feel energised and revived by the jostling crowds of chattering people, all in strange robes and pointy hats, for some reason she couldn't understand it just made her feel happy.

Hugo left them with a warning to wait for him before they go anywhere else. Brad and his mother turned and entered Olivanders wand shop, there was a short, stocky, bald headed man sitting behind the desk his head buried in a book. He looked up as they came in, "Good day! Good day, what may I do for you?"

"Are you Mr. Olivander? I need to get a wand you see, and I don't really know how that works because I'm muggled or whatever it's called." Brad said in one breath, he didn't know why but this place made him nervous. "Muggle? Ahh but of course, I must apologize, you find me most exhausted today. I remember now, I was told that a muggle-born boy would be coming, and to answer your other question, no, I am not Mr. Olivander, Mr. Olivander died 4 years ago, I am his former apprentice the shop's name was not changed in honour of him. But anyway enough of that, you are here for a wand, so let me help you… one of the things that has always been clear to wand makers is that the wand chooses the wizard, in other words you've got to try out many different types of wands before you find the right one. Now there are stacks of wands in the back room, but I think we will start with this shelf here" and he indicated a low shelf lined with boxes, each one had a label with a different description on it. He reached down took a box from the top shelf, opened it, and handed it to Brad. "Here give that wand swing and let's see." Brad did as commanded swinging his arm in an arc, but nothing happened. "Hmm, we will have to try a few more then…" after five more attempts Brad swung his arm once more, and a shower of sparks came out of the end of the wand, giving him a strange powerful feeling. "There we go! That's it, very interesting, elder wood, 11 ½ inches, hippogriff feather core. The only one of it's kind, I made it as a bit of an experiment. Anyway, that will cost 40 Galleons, I never thought that particular wand would actually choose someone, it is extremely powerful… use it well!" With these parting words he accepted the coins from Brad's mother and stuck his head once again into the book lying open on the desk.

Once they were out in the street they stopped, and Brad consulted his list again.

"It says I need:

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales

1 Sneak-o-scope

Where do I get all this stuff?"

"Just wait, I'm sure Hugo will be able to help with that, and here he comes!" she gestured to where Brad could see a now familiar shock of read hair bobbing towards them through the crowd.

"Right you got your wand? Here are your books," Hugo handed them a brown package heavy with books.

"Thank you Hugo, we have a few things left to get but I'm afraid I really don't understand what most of these things are, where do we get them?"

"You can get that stuff at Potage's Cauldron shop, Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, Scribbulus Writing shop, and Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment. Hey Brad, how about I go and get those things with your mother, and you go and browse the other shops, you'll find some great things at 'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes' and at 'Sugarplums Sweet Shop' Oh! But don't go down Knockturn Alley, nasty place that is!."

"Ummm, yeah that would be fun, mam?" He inquired looking up at her,

"I think that would be fine, just take some money with you… Hugo how much would be reasonable, you know I'm not very good with wizard money?"

"I'd say about 10 galleons would be enough"

"Okay, here Brad, meet us back here in an hour… be careful, okay?"

"Sure mam, thanks!"

"Your welcome." With that Brad headed off, peering into the shop windows at the many strange sights that met his eyes. Soon he saw the un-missable building of "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes" he walked up to the door and entered, it was like entering another world joke items of every shape and size whizzed around the room. The shelves were stacked with boxes of merchandise with labels that read things like "Skiving Snackboxes: NEW EDITION, with the all new Jelly-Head Jellybabies! Get out of class easily just pop one of these and your head will start wobbling around the place like a big jelly!" and "Dunghead Dungbombs! The tried and tested Weasley dungbomb recipe, it'll take a month to get this smell out!" Brad wandered around in raptures, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was crowded as well, chattering people mostly between his own age and about seventeen filled the shop all exclaiming over products and teasing each other. It took Brad, half an hour to decide what he wanted to purchase, he eventually decided on the highly amusing decomposing-diaries, "Give it to your mate, watch his surprise as he wakes up the next morning and all that's left is a pile of dust!" It cost 7 Galleons, leaving him with 3 which he decided to save for the sweet shop.

Out in the alley he could hardly believe how much time had passed as he looked up at the large clock on the entrance to Gringotts. He only had fifteen minutes left, he looked from side to side and saw the large lollipop-sign of "Sugarplum's Sweet Shop".

He entered the store and was taken aback by the sweet smell that struck him as he walked in. It wasn't that sticky sweet smell you usually smell in a sweet shop back home, but a wholesome, fruity kind of smell. Shelves upon shelves of sweets he could never have imagined met his eyes, there were no Mars Bars, or snickers here they were all unique and, to Brad, completely unheard of. Titles such as "Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans" "Cauldron Cakes" and "Chocolate Frogs" jumped out at him, once again that overwhelming feeling that he felt in "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes". His eventual choice was two boxes of chocolate frogs, and one bag of cauldron cakes. He was dissuaded from the "Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans" when he was warned that they were indeed "every flavour", and the shop keeper could have sworn he got a tree bark flavoured one once.

He left the shop with his purchases held firmly in his grip, and headed back towards were his mother stood waiting with Hugo and armfuls of packages some of which she handed to Brad when he joined up with them.

"Right, that's all you got to get then?" Hugo inquired, Brad checked his list

"Yeah that's all."

"Great now if you want to go back to the fireplace you can head home via floo powder again. Sorry I got to do one more person today, you were the morning ones ya see?"

"Right, that's fine by us… thank you Hugo for everything."

"Your welcome, ahh here we are" he broke off as they reached the giant fireplace, "O yeah one more thing, on the 1st of September, go to King's Cross Station and go to the barrier in-between platforms 9 and 10 you just walk straight at the barrier, make sure no-one sees you, and you will walk straight through it onto platform 9 ¾!"

"Through the barrier? Right that shouldn't be a problem, thank you again Hugo." With that she threw a handful of powder into the fireplace stepped in saying in a loud, clear voice "11 Puddlesmere drive, Limerick" in a woosh of green flame she disappeared, then Brad stepped forward and threw his portion in, stepping backwards into the fire to avoid getting smoke in his eyes again he spoke "11 Puddlesmere drive, Limmerick" the last thing he saw was Hugo's smiling face spinning before his eyes.