Chapter 1: Diagon Alley
Katherine's PoV
Finally! The day I've been waiting for! As I waited for the person who will help me get my books and stuff, I finished reading the Series of Unfortunate Events. It was a really good book. My favourite character in the book was Klaus because he loved reading just as much as I do. I've read more books than an average 11 year old. More like I've read more books than an average 16 year old.
Just as I closed the book I heard the doorbell ring.
I rushed downstairs, eager to go buy the stuff I need for the school year.
"Hello! I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt. I'm here to assist Ms. Katherine Jones buy her things. I'm taking that you are Katherine?Would you preferred to be called Kate?" Kingsley asked politely. I nodded my enthusiastically.
"Do you have your shopping list with you?" Kingsley questioned.
I was very puzzled. What shopping list? They never sent me a shopping list. What if they sent it to the wrong person? What if I was the wrong person? A bunch of unrealistic possibilities ran thought my mind.
Kingsley, looking at my expression, couldn't help but laugh, "It's with your letter. You can't see it when you get the letter, you can only see once you go shopping." I let out a sigh of relief and dashed back upstairs to grab my letter/shopping list and ran back down the stairs jumping the last few steps.
"I got the shopping list right here ," I told him simply with a shy smile. He smiled back and said, "Please call me Kingsley. No need to be so formal with me." I nodded and kissed my parents goodbye and walked out the door feeling the warm summer air on my skin. I looked at the shopping list in my hands. It said:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Uniform
First year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
Set books
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungiby Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
Other Equipment
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDER THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
I read it thoroughly once then twice. Turning my head to face Kingsley I asked, " - I mean Kingsley, where can we buy all this stuff? In London?"
Kingsley chuckled lightly and answered, "Caught yourself didn't you?Smart girl! How'd you know we were going to London?"
I blushed from the compliment and the mistake of almost calling Kingsley again.
" It was a lucky guess," I said shyly, "can we actually buy all this in London?" Kingsley eyes basically gave me the answer but still answered, "If you know where to look."
He handed me a train ticket and asked me questions about the "Muggle" world. When I asked Kingsley what a Muggle was, he told me a Muggle was a non-magic folk. So a person with not even a drop of magic in their blood.
Once the train was at a complete stop. Kingsley and I got off the train and climbed up a broken-down escalator which led up to a bustling road lined with shops.
We passed book shops and music stored, hamburger bars and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell a magic wand. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge early birthday prank that my parents cooked up? If I hadn't known that my parents have no sense of humor, I might of thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Kingsley told me so far was unbelievable , I couldn't help trusting him.
"This is it," said Kingsley, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Kingsley hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, I had the most peculiar feeling that only Kingsley and I can see it. Before I could mention this, Kingsley had already steered me inside.
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, with tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was holding a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was sitting with the old barman, who was quite bald and looked like a gummy walnut. They looked like they were having a conversation but neither of them moved or talked. As a matter of fact, NOBODY in the pub was moving or talking. They were all staring at a certain spot as if Taylor Swift was standing there a minute ago. "Tom? Tom? Is something wrong? Tom?" asked Kingsley puzzled, " anyone? Hello? HELLO! KINGSLEY HERE!" Kingsley waved his arms crazily trying to get everyone to snap out of whatever just happened.
Tom the barman, was the first to snap out of his reverie. Thank bobness(A/N: I don't like using God's name in vain)because I was getting impatient. When I get impatient I start doing things that are very rash. "Sorry Kingsley, we just saw Amelia Thomas! Can you believe it! AMELIA THOMAS, THE ONE AND ONLY AMELIA THOMAS!" exclaimed Tom, "SHE EVEN HAD THE SCAR! I SAW IT! I EVEN SHOOK HER HAND!"
I was very confused, no, I was really confused. Actually I was EXTREMELY confused. Who was Amelia Potter? How can I not know her? I know all the famous people and in that book of famous people that I have memorized by heart and I don't remember a Amelia in there. Kingsley, being the intelligent person he is, said, "Don't worry Kate. I'll fill you in after." I sighed in relief. I was going to get answers later so one part of my brain relax.
The other part was listening to the ridiculous people in the bar. An old man smoking a big pipe exclaimed stupidly, "I got a piece of her hair! I'm going to make a polyjuice potion and give it to my wife to drink. She would turn into Amelia Thomas then people would think that the famous Amelia Thomas was my wife!" I mean, seriously, she was probably in her school years! How can she be married to an old man like him?!
Kingsley brought me out of the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds.
I studied what Kingsley was doing. I heard him mutter something about three up and two across. Then I realized he was looking for a certain brick. Once he found it he tapped it three times and the wall turned into an archway
"Welcome to Diagon Alley!"
Kingsley led me out of the shabby pub. When we got outside, it looked like any other normal marketplace. There were shops of all kind lining the streets on each side, and adults, kids, grampas and all those other people were walking around. Except these shops had….strange names, such as The Magical Menagerie or Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment. Also, some of the people strolling the streets carried wands in their hands, pointed hats on their heads, toads, cats or owls cradled in their arms, or wearing long black robes.
"First, since you are from a Muggle family and your parents don't have a Gringotts bank account so the school donated some money. Let's see…Yep! This is the key! Your vault is vault seven hundred and seventy-seven. I'll wait here while you go get your money," Kingsley said shooing me away.
Not to soon later, I came back with a bag full of three different colored coins. Kingsley told me that the gold ones are called Galleons, the silver ones are Sickles and the bronze ones were Knuts. Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle.
"Let's go to Flourish and Blotts first" Kingsley suggested.
Once i walked into Flourish and Blotts, I saw a pretty girl that was my age with dirty blonde hair and glasses that were taped together with Scotch tape. Behind the glasses, were two mysterious and intimidating grey orbs known as eyes. Her eyes had a bit of a troublemaker her left hand she had very interesting looking diamond-shaped scar.
I stuck out my hand and introduced myself, "Hi! My name is Katherine Jones but everyone just calls me Kate though." The girl shook my hand shyly and introduced herself, "I'm Amelia Thomas and please don't squeal and jump on me."
I laughed thinking it was a joke, "Of course I won't jump on you! Why would I?" I asked. Then, remembering her name, I reassured her, "Oh! You're the famous Amelia Thomas! I just heard people in the Leaky Cauldron talk about you. I don't really know why you're famous. They were all dumbstruck after seeing you."
She looked relieved, and she smiled and I told her, "Someone wanted to turn their wife into you so it looked like you were married to him!" We laughed in unison. At that moment Kingsley came in and helped me pay for my books. He looked at Amelia for a quick second then focused on what he was doing. "Kingsley, this is Amelia Thomas. Amelia, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt, he's helping me get my stuff for school," I said, and then I asked, "Can we get our stuff together?" Kingsley nodded still in a daze from seeing Amelia Thomas right before his eyes,
"If that is okay with your supervisor."
We went store to store to get our supplies. "Our last stop would be at Ollivanders," Kingsley announced.
We both looked up from our conversation. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as we walked inside. It was a tiny place empty except for a single spindly chair which Kingsley sat on to wait. I felt strangely as though I had entered a very strict library; I swallowed a lot of new questions which had just occurred to me and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of my neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Amelia, Kingsley and I all jumped.
An old man was standing before us, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello," said Amelia awkwardly. I stayed quiet and waited.
"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Amelia Thomas." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
moved closer to Amelia. I could see Amelia trying to blink. Even I had to admit, those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.
"You father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say you father favored it-it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."
As if finally noticed I was standing there, asked, "What is this young lady's name?" I answered bravely, "Katherine Jones. My parents are Muggles." he nodded and said, "Let's find a wand for Amelia first.»
walked up to Amelia and had gone so close that he and Amelia were nose to nose.
"And that's where…"
touched the diamond scar on Amelia's left hand with a long, white finger.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands…Well, if I'd known what that wand was going into the world to do…"
"Well, now-Ms Thomas. Let me see." He pulled out a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Er-well, I'm right-handed," said Amelia.
"Hold out your arm. That's it. "
After measuring Amelia's arm, made Amelia take every wand and give it a swish. After swishing every wand in the shop, Amelia finally found the right wand that was twelve and a half inches, ebony, dragon core, and rigid."Now, am I correct?" asked . I nodded. "I have just the right wand," he said simply and with enthusiasm. "Aha! Here it is! Ten and three quarters, vine wood, and dragon heartstring. "
After we left Ollivanders, we went separate ways. Kingsley took me to eat lunch.
He took me back home and bid me good bye.
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Peace!
Ginnykane+percabethfan