Chapter 4

Diagon Alley

It was a bright and sunny morning in London, the birds were chirping, the sky was clear, and people filled the streets. It would have been a perfect day to go outside, but on this day Julia Alumn found herself stuck inside the Professor's home doing chores. It had been a week since their excursion to Thornwall, in that time the Professor had kept true to his word and the two of them were enjoying a much needed period of relaxation. She was adjusting well to her time with the Professor, she'd take a life of magic and adventure over her dreary life at the orphanage any day. In the time she'd been with him both of their lives had improved much for the better. In just the past week he'd already given her several lessons over the numerous forms of magic, and magical creatures. Of all the creatures he'd shown her, the one she found herself most interested in was the unicorn. Julia had a love of equine creatures, and the beauty and legend surrounding the unicorn had captivated her interest. The Professor happily indulged her curiosity, telling her everything he knew about them. He showed her drawings, taught her about their habits, and even informed her of where they could be found. But above all those other lessons about them, the Professor stressed one above all else.

"It is believed," He told her, "That if one drinks the blood of a unicorn it will grant them eternal youth. But at a horrible price."

"What is the price?" Julia had asked. The thought of someone harming such a beautiful creature hurt her just imagining it.

"Your humanity. Anyone who drinks unicorn blood gains eternal youth, yes, but it is not the kind of life anyone would want to live."

Julia had pondered that lesson for several days now, worrying herself and thinking about what sort of person could do such a terrible thing.

At the moment she was trying to clear her head of all those grisly thoughts by doing what she'd been doing for the past week, cleaning. She'd dusted every surface the house had to offer, tidied up the clutter, and even cleaned the floors. All in all she was quite pleased with herself. The Professor kept his home in a perpetual state of disarray, and Julia simply could not stand it. She'd taken it upon herself to bring order to the chaos he lived in. Finally, there was only one place in the house left to clean, the Room. She'd made good progress on it in the past few hours. She'd swept, beaten the dust from the tapestries, and even filed away all the Professor's notes. In the course of cleaning she'd almost knocked over the large bubbling cauldron sitting atop the table in the center, a tiny bit of its contents had splashed out and made a large splatter over the floor which she promptly had to clean up. With everything else done, she had one last part of the Room to fix, the Professor's books. The hundreds of books lying scattered about had nearly driven her mad, and after much effort she had most of them returned to their rightful place on the bookshelves. She was just in the process of alphabetizing them, when she heard the Professor walk through the door.

"Wow! Would you look at this place!" He said, hanging his coat up on the wall, "It hasn't looked this good since, well, ever. Nicely done!"

Julia slid down the ladder she'd been standing on to speak to him.

"Professor. Do you know how many books you have in this room?"

"No," He said, "Not really. Who ever bothers to count books?"

Julia crossed her arms, "Two thousand one hundred and fifty two."

The Professor raised an eyebrow, "You counted?"

"Yes. I did! Half of those books were lying all about your house and in the Room. And the ones that were on the shelves weren't organized at all! Professor I don't know how you can live like this!"

The Professor wiggled his nose at her, "Julia dear, do you know just how uptight you are?"

"And do you know how laid back you are? I swear if I'd never come along you'd be living in a rat's nest!"

The Professor strode over to the bookshelves and gave them a long look, "You organized all of these?"

"Yes I did. It's taken me three days! You'll find that everything is in order, they're even sorted alphabetically by author." She said smugly.

He put a finger to his chin, "No... no this simply won't do."

Julia was flabbergasted, "What do you mean it won't do?"

He turned around and pointed at the bookshelf, "I had my books where they were for a reason. It may have looked disorganized to you, but I knew exactly where every book was! They were all exactly where I'd left them!"

"But Professor they're in order now, if you need a book you can find it easily!"

"Julia do you think I bother to learn the names of half these books? Let alone the names of the blokes who wrote them?" He scoffed.

Julia stamped her feet, "Fine then! But if you want to put them your way then you have to do it yourself! I've already exhausted myself trying to help you, and I don't get so much as a thank you!"

The Professor pulled his wand from his pocket, "Very well, I will."

He tapped the wand on the bookshelf, and firmly said the word "Ordo." There was a loud whoosh as hundreds of books escaped the shelves in a flurry of wind and danced around the room, Julia looked up to see them spiraling around the ceiling so quickly she couldn't keep track of them. One by one they orderly filed themselves back onto the bookshelves making an enormous thudding sound and sending clouds of dust across the room.

The Professor tucked his wand back into his coat, and smiled at her, "There we are, much better! I decided to compromise with you, they're ordered by genre this time! At least now I can keep track of them in some way. If you'd told me you were organizing them I could've saved you some time you know.""

Julia stood dumbfounded as the Professor gave her a pat on the head and walked out of the Room. She heard his voice call out from down the hall, "Oh, and thank you for helping!"

Several hours later, Julia was seated very comfortably in the Room reading a good book, when she heard a shout from down the hall. She looked up from her book and waited a moment, listening intently for another sound. A few seconds later there was a loud crash. She carefully marked her place and set the book down, then got up from her chair. Very slowly she walked to the door, and pressed her ear against it to listen. She heard a bang coming from down the hall, and a voice muttering something. Silently she opened the door, and crept down the hall. She took a peak into each room as she passed by them, all the cleaning she'd just done had been ruined and the contents of every room strewn all about it.

"Professor?" She called down the hallway. The only response was another loud crash. Finally she arrived outside his bedroom, the door was opened just a crack and she heard rustling inside. With apprehension she flung open the door right as she heard a voice inside scream.

"WHERE IS IT?"

Inside, the bedroom was utterly trashed and the Professor sat in the middle of a large pile of various bottles and materials and other sorts of rubbish. Julia entered the room, and looked around at the disarray.

"Where is what?"

"Egg shells!" The Professor yelled.

"Egg shells?"

"Yes!" He said, "Occamy egg shells! It's a creature that lays eggs with shells made of silver. I could have sworn I had one laying around and I can't find it!"

"Why do you need a silver egg shell Professor?"

The Professor stood up and straightened his surroundings a little, "I need it for a potion I've been brewing, in that cauldron in the Room. Oh no this will not do!"

The Professor stormed out of the bedroom and down the hall, Julia hurried to keep up with him, "Professor what are you doing now?"

"Well," He said as they walked into the Room and he shut the door behind them, "If I don't have one then I need to buy one, and quickly!"

"So, we're going shopping?"

The Professor nodded, "I guess that is one way to look at it. We're going somewhere you can find anything a wizard could ever need."

"Where is that?"

The Professor opened the door of the room, "Diagon Alley!"

The Professor took Julia by the hand and led her through the door, out they came in a place very different from anything she'd ever seen. They stepped out into a busy street bustling with people of all shapes and sizes. She saw wizards in robes and witches with large pointed hats, old men with long beards and young children running about. Around them were all sorts of storefronts, candy shops, potion stores, pet sellers, and almost anything she could imagine.

"This is Diagon Alley." The Professor said. "It's a special place in London where wizards can go to do all their shopping. Pretty cool isn't it?" He smiled at her.

She was still in awe of the whole place, and looking all around. She glanced back behind them to see the door they'd come out of, it was stuck to a barren brick wall, as if they'd just came out of the building behind them. Unlike all the lavish storefronts and brick archways, the door looked exactly the same as it had before, as if it belonged in someone's home, and looked horribly out of place.

"Professor, what if someone notices that door isn't supposed to be there?"

He looked at the door, "Hmm. I guess you're right." He took out his wand and gave the door a tap, "Chameleus."

Before her eyes the door grew and shifted, its wood changing into brick and its shape transforming into a large arch with a heavy wooden door inside of it. With a swish, a sign appeared on the door handle simply saying "Closed."

"There we are, nobody will give that a second thought now!"

Julia was almost shocked at this, but she was beginning to get accustomed to magic and all the oddities that came with it. She simply sighed and accepted this as normal now. She was eager to explore the market and see what interesting things she could find.

"Professor, can I have some money?"

He clapped his hand to his chest, "Wow! Right to the point then!" He laughed, "Well I guess I can spare something, although I'm not exactly rolling in money myself."

He reached into his pocket and produced 5 gold coins, then handed them to her.

"These are galleons. This much is about, oh say, 25 pounds worth."

Julia took the money and held on tight to it, beaming up at him "Thank you Professor!" She went to dash off, but he yanked her back to him by her sleeve. She was puzzled as he leaned in close to her and whispered,

"I feel like I should remind you this dear. You're a muggle, and muggles aren't supposed to be here. Under no circumstances should you tell anyone, understand?"

"What do I say then?"

"Tell them you're a witch, and you're here getting school supplies. If anyone asks, I'm your father, got it?"

She nodded.

"Good. Now, I'm going to go take care of my errands, we'll meet back here in two hours. Try not to get into any trouble, okay?"

She smiled at him, "I'll do my best." He gave a worried smile back to her, and departed down the street.

It had been half an hour since The Professor had left Julia to wander her way around Diagon Alley. In that time she'd visited a a lovely little candy shop that had the most interesting jelly beans she'd ever eaten, they seemed to have almost every flavor imaginable. She used some of her money and bought a few boxes, and had been snacking on them as she walked down the street. She was just recovering from a particularly nasty one that tasted like toe jam, when she accidentally walked right into a boy and made him drop all the things he was carrying.

"Oh dear, I'm dreadfully sorry!" She leaned down to help the boy pick up his things.

"Don't worry, it's fine." He said as they both stood up and she got a better look at him. He looked about Julia's age, with curly brown hair and green eyes, he wore a set of long robes and a yellow striped tie. "Thanks for helping me pick up my things." He said as he got everything back in order.

"Don't mention it!" Julia said with a smile, and went on her way.

"Wait!"

She turned back around to see him approaching her.

"I didn't catch your name! I'm Thomas, Thomas Mortum." He said, reaching out his hand.

"Julia Alumn, a pleasure." She shook his hand.

"You're a student, right? You seem around my age but I've never seen you around Hogwarts. What house are you in?"

"House?"

"Yeah, I'm in Hufflepuff, see the yellow colors of my uniform?" He chuckled. "I'm here replacing some school books that got... burned. Let's just say I'm not so good at potions class." Julia laughed.

"So, what house are you in again?"

"Oh," She stammered, "Well you see, I don't go to Hogwarts."

"Really?" He seemed surprised, "What school do you go to? There's not many others around here, and none are nearly as good."

She bit her lip, "I'm... homeschooled. Yes! My father teaches me. I'm actually with him buying supplies right now, he's around here somewhere."

"Ah, right! That explains it. Well I'll let you get back to it then, it was nice meeting you!" He waved as he hurried off, Julia waved back and smiled. She was happy, she felt like she'd meet him again somehow.

It had been an hour since the Professor left Julia. He'd already gone to several stores in search of what he was looking for, and none of them had the ingredients he needed. Begrudgingly, he now went to the one place he hadn't gone yet. The place he knew would have it, for a price, Nocturne Alley. The shady side of Diagon Alley, where everything was perpetually shrouded in shadow and wizards partook in illicit activities. While at first glance all the stores in the marketplace may have seemed legal, if you knew where to look you could easily find very powerful and forbidden items. In the back rooms of many potion shops you could find any poison you could ever want, or love potions capable of making even the strongest willed person fall helplessly in love. The book stores contained volumes of forbidden dark magic, that they likely sold for a great price.

He knew that if you are to ever go into Nocturne Alley, it was a good idea to keep your wits about yourself. If an unprepared wizard takes a wrong turn, they could easily find themselves at the business end of a mugger's wand. But the Professor was no stranger to danger, and he knew how to defend himself. So he pressed on, going from shop to shop looking for what he needed. Disgruntled that he had yet to find a store selling what he needed, he found himself wrapped up in his thoughts and took a wrong turn down a dark side street not unlike that of which he'd first met Julia in. Thinking back on that day, he was sure the young girl was amazed that someone had stumbled upon her at just the right moment, but it was no accident that he found her that day.

The Professor was snapped from his thoughts as he noticed a man coming down the alley past him, he wore a set of black robes and his face was hidden by a hood. He avoided eye contact and continued past the man, but a few steps later he was stopped by the feeling of the end of a wand being jabbed into his neck.

"Hello there." A deep brooding voice came from behind.

The Professor breathed a long and heavy sigh and remained calm, almost dismissive of the man, "Alright alright, let's make this quick. You want my money don't you?"

"Oh no, not that Professor."

His blood ran cold, the man knew who he was. He heard the sound of the stranger removing his hood. The man stepped from behind into view, being careful to keep his wand pressed into the Professor's neck. He could see the man now, he was a tall fellow with round features and messy black hair. The Professor thought for a moment, thinking he recognized the man. Yes, he did, it had been a few years but he certainly did recognize him. With a smile he shouted,

"Seamus! Old friend! What brings you here?"

Seamus pressed the wand into his neck harder, "Don't be coy with me Professor. It was foolish of you to go out in such a public place."

The Professor narrowed his eyes, "I see. You know the job of auror really does suit you. So what are you going to do, arrest me?"

"I should. The Ministry is still looking for you, you know."

The Professor leaned his head back and groaned, "Oh still? Are they really that mad about some old door?"

"It wasn't just the door Professor, you know that. You stole a lot of things, things the Ministry wants back."

"Oh come on, what does the Ministry care? It's not like they were using any of it anyway. What good are magical artifacts if all they do is sit and collect dust while people study them? That's just like the Ministry, never doing anything. They have the power to change the world and all they do is keep it locked up. Even now they send you to do their dirty work for them, I bet they told you to kill me didn't they?"

"They did."

The Professor pleaded with his eyes, "Seamus, if you could see all the good I've done with the things they had, you'd be on my side too!"

Seamus lowered his wand, "I know, Professor. Which is why I'm warning you to keep a low profile. I know you mean well, but you always leave a trail of ruckus in your wake. If you don't want to go to Azkaban I implore you to stay out of trouble."

The Professor rolled his eyes, "Why do I feel like everyone keeps telling me that."

Seamus tucked his wand away, "Next time I see you, I'm going to have to follow my orders whether I like it or not. Don't come around here again, stay out of London."

The Professor nodded with a sly smile, "I'll do my best, but no promises."

Julia only had half an hour left before she was supposed to meet with the Professor back at the Room. She'd already spent most of her money, and visited all the shops around that interested her. She was merely killing time wandering about when she saw an interesting store she hadn't noticed before. A dusty old shop with a sign on the front that read "Ollivander's." Curious, she opened the rickety door and stepped inside. A bell sounded her entry, but the store seemed empty. She took a look around, all the furniture inside was old and dusty, and the place seemed ancient. On the back wall were rows upon rows of shelves, stacked with dusty rectangular boxes.

She walked up and took one off, and blew the dust off of it. Carefully she opened it, inside was a long pointed stick, no, a wand. She realized it was foolish to assume all wands looked like the Professor's. Unlike his slim black wand, this one was brown and had an ornate handle. She took it out and held it in her hands. It felt lighter than she'd expected, and airy. And there was something strange about it too, like the feeling she got when she held his wand, she could almost feel the magic coursing through it like a heartbeat. When she held it she could feel something, an instinct, just like last time as if a voice in her head was commanding her to wave it. Without thinking she stretched out her arm and held the wand out. Something exploded, a vase in the corner of the room suddenly shattered sending shards of porcelain and dirt flying everywhere. Startled, she quickly put the wand back into the box and put it back on the shelf.

"Having fun are we?"

She turned to see an old man with poofy gray hair standing behind the desk.

"I-I was just curious."

The man smiled at her, "Now now it's alright."

She shuffled nervously as the man watched her, "My name is Ollivander, this is my shop you know. In here, we sell wands. I'm guessing that's why you came here today young lady?"

"I already have a wand, thank you." She said nervously.

"Yes, yes. All young witches and wizards get a wand. Tell me dear, how old are you?"

"Fifteen." She answered quietly.

"Ah, I remember when I was your age. I got my first wand when I was ten. However, by the way you were waving that thing around it seems to me that you've never had a wand before. Why is it that a fifteen year old girl hasn't ever had a wand?"

"Well, I..."

He put his hand up. "No need dear."

She sat quietly as he turned around and pulled a box from the shelf.

"It is not my job to question my clients. It is, as it always has been, to provide quality wands to those who find themselves without one." He placed the box on the counter, and took the wand from it. It was a reddish brown wand, long, and with a bumpy handle.

"Try this one dear."

Julia took the wand in her hand, again feeling the electric sensation of magic within it. She gave it a wave, there was a thundering roar as a dozen boxes flew off the shelves sending plumes of dust into the air. Mr Ollivander's eyes grew wide,

"No! Definitely not that one!" He smiled and carefully took the wand from her and placed it back where it belonged. For the next twenty minutes they tried wand after wand after wand but to no avail, Julia could tell Mr Ollivander was getting frustrated. She felt guilty, it wasn't his fault, she was a muggle after all. She wanted to get out of the store and stop wasting his time. He put his head in his hands,

"You know, my family has been making wands for over 2,000 years, can you believe that?"

"That certainly is quite a long time." She said sheepishly.

"And in all my time of selling wands, I have not met a single witch or wizard that I could not pair a wand with!"

She started to back towards the door, "Perhaps I should come back another time, I'm sure you're quite busy."

"No, don't fret child." He stopped her. "We will get to the bottom of this! Tell me, what's your name? I can remember every wand I've ever sold, and I'm certain I can remember your parents wands. These sorts of things run in the family sometimes, you know."

She looked down at her feet, afraid to say her actual name. "Er, Planter. My mother's maiden name was Planter."

Mr Ollivander stared off for a moment, thinking back.

"Planter... Abigail Planter?"

Julia's pulse quickened.

"Yes, actually."

Mr Ollivander smiled, "Ah yes, I remember your mother. She looked just like you when she was your age."

"B-but my parents were muggles!"

He gave her a quizzical look, "Oh no dear, your mother was a witch. I can remember it as clear as day when I gave her her first wand. Let me think... it was a vinewood wand, 12 inches, and the core was the spine of a White River Monster. Mind you, I've only ever made a handful of wands with those cores, I had to import them from America! Ha! So I'm certain I can remember if I sold one of those to someone. Yes that's quite right, an elegant wand your mother had. Tell me, how is she?"

Julia stared at the floor. "She's dead."

Mr Ollivander was silent, "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I should go." Julia hurried out of the store and ran down the alley. She didn't know where she was going, she just knew she had to be alone. She ran through the crowds of people as tears welled in her eyes. Finally she found an empty side street she ran inside and hid herself far away from anyone who could see, and began to cry. For ten minutes she sat crying over the flood of emotion that had overtaken her. She heard a sound, a soft sound from nearby. She looked up to see what it was, her vision blurry from the tears.

"Meow"

A cat. A shaggy black cat was rummaging around some boxes. She picked up a rock sitting by her feet and tossed it at the cat, "Go away!" The rock landed with a thunk next to the cat and it peered at her with its shining yellow eyes.

"Meow"

Julia sighed and put her head back in her hands. She felt a tug on her sleeve, the cat was next to her now and was rubbing its face against her. She gently reached down to pet it, it started to purr.

"Thank you." She whispered to it. For another twenty minutes she sat there holding the cat and crying, but thankful she was no longer alone.

The Professor stood anxiously by the door to the Room, waiting on Julia.

"Great, now where did she run off to?"

They were supposed to meet there almost half an hour ago, and she was late. He was almost ready to go off looking for her, when he finally saw her skipping down the street towards him.

"Finally! I was wondering where you were! Did you have a good time?"

She skipped to meet him, and stopped right by his side, "I did Professor! I even made a new friend!"

"Oh?"

Out from behind her came a chubby black cat.

"Oh no. I am not having a cat in my house!"

"But Professor! Look at it!"

The cat looked up at the Professor, eyeing him.

"Meow"

"It's name is Whiskers."

"Whiskers? Who names a cat Whiskers?"

She stomped, "I do! Look how cute it is!"

He sighed, "You're going to have to feed it."

"Alright!"

"And clean up after it!"

"And I don't want any cat dander on my things!"

"Done and done!" Julia tilted her head and smiled at him. She happily strode over and opened the door to the Room, Whiskers waltzed between her legs and went inside. She beckoned for the Professor to follow her,

"Are you coming?"

He groaned,

"Yes yes! I'm coming." He sighed again and put his face in the palm of his hand, "What have I gotten myself into?"

He walked inside the Room after them and shut the door behind him. After a moment, the brick entryway sitting in Diagon Alley carefully shifted itself back into the form of a simple wooden door. Nobody passing by even paid any notice as it gently faded away, leaving only the brick exterior of the wall behind.