"Are we sure this is the right place?" Calvin's dad asked as he looked around the dimly lit pub. Several oddly dressed people (At least, they seemed oddly dressed to him) turned to look at the new comers.
"It said The Leaky Cauldron outside, this should be the place." His wife stated as she rechecked the map and also looked around at the witches and wizards attending the pub. Calvin simply looked at his surroundings with an expression similar to that of a kid at Christmas.
"Good day." The bartender greeted them cheerfully. "Anything I can get f'you?"
Mr. Mitchell took on a sickly expression. "Uh, no thanks." He said, not even wanting to think about what went into wizard's drinks. He notices that his wife wore a similar expression.
"Ah, c'mon guys!" Calvin said energetically "Live a little!"
"Mr. Mitchell," came a familiar voice "Over here, please." Minerva McGonagall called to Calvin.
"Uh, her again." Calvin's dad muttered under his breath.
"It's nice to see you as well, sir." McGonagall said to him "And you, Mrs. Mitchell, and Hobbes." She nodded to the tiger standing calmly beside Calvin.
"Now," She said, turning back to Calvin "Are you ready to get your supplies?"
"Mmm, yeah" Calvin moved uncomfortably "See, I don't really have any British money – Pounds, or whatever they are." He shot an accusing look to his parents at this.
"It's just as well." McGonagall said simply "You wont be paying with muggle money."
"Huh?" Hobbes looked confused "Then how his he supposed to pay?"
"Why, with wizard money of course." She told the tiger.
Calvin's parents looked at each other. It was weird enough to see their son talking to a stuffed tiger, but to have a grown woman talking to him was just flat-out bizarre.
"Uh," Calvin interrupted "I don't have any of that either." At this, McGonagall pulled a small pouch from her pocket and handed it to the boy. Calvin opened it to find several gold, silver and bronze coins within. He took a few, and examined some of the intricate patterns on them.
"There is a fund at the school for students such as yourself." She said "You may have to buy a few items second hand." She added. "Now, right this way if you please."
The professor lead them out through the back of the pub, into an alley. She walked up to a brick wall. Pulling out her wand, she tapped a few bricks and stood back. At once, the bricks in the wall began to move and rearrange themselves. Within seconds, a large archway opened before them. On the other side of the arch, there were several shops and stores and concourses of people going in and out of stores and looking about of everything.
"Oh my," Calvin's mom breathed
"I've never seen anything like this." Her husband said, removing his glasses and wiping them.
"Awesome!" Calvin exclaimed
"I'm hungry." Hobbes said. Calvin turned to look at his friend.
"Mr. Mitchell, parents, Hobbes…" McGonagall said, looking at each of them in turn. "This is Diagon Alley. It is here that you will find everything you will need at Hogwarts." She started walking down the street, indicating various shops, and explaining what would be found there. "And there's Flourish and Blotts, where you'll find your spell books. Over there is Ollivander's. You'll buy your wand there…" Calvin pulled out his supply list, trying to remember everything McGonagall was saying.
After a couple of hours, Calvin walked out of an other shop with his new robes. He gave the list one last look over.
"Looks like I just need –"
"A wand." Hobbes finished for him, while chewing on his sandwich.
"Right then, to Ollivander's!" Calvin declared.
Calvin let out a small gasp as he entered the wand shop. He was completely awed by the walls upon walls covered in small, rectangular boxes, each containing a wand he assumed. Calvin stepped forward, taking in everything sight, smell and sound of the wonder that surrounded him. Hobbes, noticing that he had finished his sandwich, looked around to see if he had anything else to eat.
Calvin wondered why there didn't seem to be anyone tending the shop. He started pulling out one of the little boxes.
"Good day, sir." Came a voice from behind. Calvin jumped nearly a foot into the air as he turned around. The box he held – and it's contents – fell to the floor. Behind him stood a stiff, stern, yet kind looking elderly gentleman.
"Come for your first wand then, eh?" The man asked.
"Uh,… yes." Calvin answered. The man smiled.
"Right then, let's get started." He said as he pulled something out from his pocket.
"What's that for?" Calvin asked, uneasily.
"I shall need to take your measurements." Mr. Ollivander said as he measured Calvin's arm.
"Is that really necessary?" Calvin asked.
"Oh, quite." The old man said ,calmly taking more measurements. "Now then, you seemed interested in that little beauty," He pointed to the one Calvin had dropped on the floor. "why don't we start with that one?" He went and picked it up from the floor and handed it to the young wizard. "Eleven and a quarter inches, made from maple wood with a core of dragon heartstring."
"Cool." Calvin said "So, do I just go with this one, or what?"
"Well, we have to make sure it's the right one." Ollivander said.
"The right one?" Calvin was confused.
"You see," Mr. Ollivander started "The wand chooses the wizard. We need to know if this is the one for you." Calvin looked up at the man, not understanding what he was saying. "Just give it a wave." The old man said. Calvin barely moved his wand, when Mr. Olivander snatched it away from him.
"No. That won't do a'tall." He said as he laid the wand back into it's box and set it onto it's shelf.
"Try this one." He gave Calvin an other wand "Made of yellow cedar. A full foot long with a core of unicorn hair." Calvin gave his wand a slight flick, and the wand was taken from him again.
"I'm afraid not." Ollivander said "No matter, we'll find your wand eventually."
Calvin didn't know how much time he had spent in the shop. At his feet, sat many, many boxes from the wands that hadn't worked for him. He wasn't sure how many there were, He had lost count after the sixty-eighth one.
Meanwhile, Hobbes had busied himself with constructing the wand boxes into Asian ruins. He sat back, and admired his handiwork – then the latest one that hadn't worked was tossed into his wall, causing his entire project to tumble down. Hobbes gave a pouting grunt.
"I must say," Ollivander said "I haven't had this much trouble finding a wand since Harry Potter."
"Who?" Calvin asked
"What?" He said "You don't know about Harry Potter? Everyone knows about him."
"I'm uh, kinda new to this whole wizarding… thing."
"Muggle Born." Hobbes mouthed to Mr. Ollivander.
"Ah, well Harry Potter is the only wizard to have ever survived the Avada Kedavra – the killing curse."
"That's special, is it?" Calvin asked, contemplatively.
"Oh yes," Ollivander confirmed. "What's even more wondrous, is that when he survived, somehow in doing so, he managed to defeat the dark wizard-" Here, he seemed to have trouble finding his voice "The dark wizard… you know who."
"Um, no… I don't." Calvin stated.
"Oh, well…" The old man seemed to be trying to muster up his courage for… something "The dark wizard,… Voldemort." He cringed as he said it. Calvin looked puzzled.
"What kind of a name is Vold –"
"Shhhh." Ollivander silenced the boy. "He who must not be named was just about the worst wizard ever to have lived. People everywhere lived in a constant state of mortal fear when he was at large – though, most still do, even after his defeat – Anyway, when he went to kill Harry Potter, he somehow was defeated that night. And what is really miraculous, is that Harry Potter was no more than a year old when this happened."
Calvin stood wide eyed at this new information. Hobbes gave an impressed whistle.
"Whoa, this is heavy." Calvin said.
"It has nothing to do with weight, boy." Ollivander said "Anyway, we ought to get back to the task at hand." He paused for a bit, as if contemplating something. "I wonder…" He handed Calvin another wand. "Let's see if this will do the trick."
Calvin gave a quick flick of the wrist, expecting Mr. Ollivander to grab it away again. Instead, some form of energetic light shot out of the wand tip. Calvin looked up to see that the energy had shaped itself into the form of a green pteranodon. the reptile flew around Ollivander's head a couple of times before it crackled and popped out of existence.
"Ah, it's about time." Ollivander said as he took the wand back from Calvin and examined it.
"Huh?" Calvin looked slightly confused. "What do you mean 'about time'?"
"You see, sir," Ollivander continued. "In this shop we utilize three different wand cores. Dragon heartstring, unicorn hair and phoenix tail feathers.
"Now once, – a very long time ago – I experimented with a new potential core that (as far as I know) has never been used before.
"It proved to be a perfectly capable wand – excellent for charms and defensive spells, however, it never quite worked for anyone. So it's been sitting here idle for quite some time."
"So, what kind of wand is it?" Calvin asked excitedly. The thought of having a wand core that potentially no one else had was quite invigorating to him.
Ollivander gave him a warm smile. "Ten inches of walnut wood, with a core of griffin talon. An excellent wand indeed."
Outside the wand shop, Calvin and Hobbes met up with his parents and McGonagall.
"Gotten everything then," McGonagall asked "Very good. Term begins on September first. You will need to be at Kings Cross station, no later than eleven o' clock that day. Now, before I go, do any of you have any questions?"
"Yeah, teach?" Calvin asked. McGonagall looked at him distastefully.
"I would prefer 'professor' if you don't mind."
"Right. So prof, I was wondering if… maybe… Hobbes could… come?" Calvin was expecting a flat out rejection for this question he posed. Which is why it surprised him when the professor said
"Your list of supplies says that you may bring a cat if you wish. It's a bit of a stretch, but the last time I checked, tigers were considered to be cats."
"So, she actually allowed Hobbes to go with you, then?" Susie asked "They would really let a tiger in a school like that?"
"Well in case you haven't figured it out already, Hobbes isn't your average everyday tiger." Calvin answered her.
"Of course. So, just how did you actually get to Hogwarts?"
"Why, by the Hogwarts Express, of course." Hobbes informed her as he lay spread out on the sofa.
"The what?"
