Diagon Alley

The day had finally arrived when Ella would be able to go to Diagon Alley. She got money from her parents and took a taxi to The Leaky Cauldron. It was late in the afternoon, but she didn't mind. She hadn't been able to get out of the house any faster. Her parents kept giving her chores, probably in hopes that she wouldn't be able to make it. As soon as everything was polished, cut, and sparkling clean she was gone to her world.

Her taxi ride was uneventful, yet eventful all the same. Even at twelve drivers still need a lot of convincing to drive someone so young to London. She didn't think she could actually ask to go in front of the shop that Muggles didn't notice so she asked to be sent to a book store that was only a block or so away. She had to go into the store in order to get the driver to leave. Apparently his worry over her only lasted a few feet because three minutes after stepping foot in the store he left.

Ella walked down past the ordinary Muggle stores and ordinary Muggle people wondering if she could have been these people if things were different for her. Would she have grown up to be ordinary had she not had magic? Nothing appealed to her on the street. She only wanted to go into the magic shops that awaited her. She finally arrived at her destination, a shabby looking pub that only she noticed. Ella had never asked, but she was sure that magic was being used to disguise the place so ordinary people wouldn't walk into it and be exposed to the world of magic.

She entered into The Leaky Cauldron feeling a little frightened at being alone. It was a dark place filled with witches, wizards, and surely other creatures Ella hadn't even learned about yet. She was positive someone she knew had to be in Diagon Alley somewhere, but finding them would be rather difficult because of how packed the shops normally were.

Or not.

Right away she found Hagrid looking a little green. She couldn't help but wonder what he was doing here, but she was thrilled to see him none the less. He was one of her favorite adults at Hogwarts and Ella never missed a second that could be spent in his comfy cabin at the end of the grounds.

"Hello Hagrid!" Ella said brightly to him hoping to cheer him up.

He looked up slightly disoriented and saw that she was there, "Hello Ella, what are yeh doin' here by yeh self?"

She didn't let the question phase her she merely replied, "They just didn't want to come. Why are you here? Seems a little late in the year for you to be out getting anything for the grounds."

Hagrid looked at her skeptically like he wanted to question her more about her parents, but decided against it.

"I'm here on Hogwarts business, helpin' Harry Potter get his school supplies."

Her eyes widened, "Wow, the Harry Potter is here?"

"Yeah, an' it's his birthday too. I wan'ed to get him an ice cream as a little surprise, but I'm no good at gettin' things like tha'. What flavor do yeh think he'd like?"

Ella closed her eyes thinking deeply, "Chocolate…and raspberry. Oh and maybe something like sprinkles, no, they aren't sprinkles. Chopped nuts, definitely chopping nuts."

Hagrid's face broke into a smile, "Thank yeh Ella."

"Not a problem Hagrid, now if you excuse me I need to exchange some money at Gringotts." They exchanged their goodbyes and Ella went on her way. She once again walked down the rows of magical and colorful stores that sold everything that fueled her imagination in days before she knew of this world.

She remembered clearly the days of longing for another place to live and another world to be a part of. Burying herself in books and other fairy tales hoping that Allison didn't find her and destroy the book. The days of feeling apart from the world she was put into and feeling different because she could do things others couldn't and she had dreams that felt real and now were real, but they weren't real then. She'd dream and read and wish, but nothing happened until that fateful day Professor Snape, the potions teacher, arrived at her house scaring away Allison and her cronies, then whisking her off to Diagon Alley and the place she belonged.

She got inside and stood at a line where she could exchange her Muggle money into Wizarding money. Ella was slightly frightened of dealing with the goblin by herself, but figured that she'd manage. Goblins were creatures who worked at Gringotts, the wizarding bank. They were very small but still scared Ella. Of course, Gringotts had human workers too, like Fred and George's brother Bill but you mainly saw goblins.

It was almost her turn when a panic started rippling through the crowds of witches and wizards. She looked around totally lost to what caused it. All she knew was people were running towards the door and she was in a direct path to be trampled. Ella tried to get out of the way of shoving hands but there was nowhere safe. She was lost in the middle of the swarm of people that were fighting to go…where exactly? She couldn't even tell where the door was anymore.

The noise in the room was so loud that she wished she could cover her ears, but there was too much shoving to get her hands close enough to her head without being knocked over. Then she heard one strained voice over the rest.

"Break in!" Two simple words that had more impact on Ella than anyone else. While everyone was still running around Ella's world slowed and she stopped. This was something she had seen, yet hadn't. She had seen what caused this, but not this part of it. She had seen the man try to steal something from a vault, but not the panicked mob of people that resulted from it. All Ella could now think about was whether Dumbledore had gotten the package out of the vault like she had suggested or if he completely ignored that and now some stranger was using it to his advantage.

The people started to thin and only a few remained in the room. Some of them rushed to the door finally seeing an opening but others including Ella looked around for a threat. None came so Ella went to the now empty goblin line and exchanged her money. Then she went out and bought the supplies she had on her Hogwarts letter plus a special owl treat for Rowena who she felt she owed. She was calm yet a wreck. She knew that she couldn't have stopped it and that she could help anyone at the moment so she waited until she could get to Hogwarts and figure out if the man got what he was after.

A/N So how is it? A little more action, which can be expected from the wizarding world. Please Review :) She's on the train next, what do you think is going to happen when she gets back to Hogwarts?