Opposites

Chapter 3, Diagon Alley

A brief time had passed since Dumbledore's visit. After a few days of anxiously waiting, the day had finally come for them to go to Diagon Alley.. Caroline and Tom ate their breakfast porridge as fast as they could, and started to walk out of the Orphanage. It was a sunny day, and Caroline panted as she walked.

"Hey Tom, even though we know how to get to Diagon Alley, how're we going to-" -Caroline almost tripped- "agh, sorry- I was saying, how're we going to get money?" Caroline asked as they were halfway there to the Leaky Cauldron.

Tom didn't stop, but he did frown. How were they going to get money, anyway? Tom had grown up without a single pence, if you didn't count the money he had occasionally stolen from other people. The money he had stolen still hadn't formed much, though, and he had used all the money to buy Caroline a new hairclip. He had seen her looking longingly at a small green hair clip one day, and had bought it for her. He hadn't had anything to spend his money on, since books were too expensive, and there really wasn't anything else he wanted to buy. He wasn't the kind to be entertained by things like toys and dolls. The smile on Caroline's face when he had bought it for her had made up for his money, though. Tom had been too embarrassed to actually say that to her, though. Looking at the green hair clip on her long, dark hair, he thought it looked good on her. Tom looked away and stared ahead of him for the rest of the walk. After about twenty minutes, they finally reached a busy street. Between two tall buildings was an old pub, which seemed like it had squeezed out between the buildings. The people passing by didn't seem to notice it at all. Tom scoffed.

"Do they seriously expect us to go in here?" Tom thought to himself, buf Caroline grabbed his arm and almost ran to the old pub. Tom sighed. She seemed to be naive sometimes. Tom pried off Caroline's fingers and stumbled into the Leaky Cauldron. The wooden floor creaked as Caroline walked to the counter. The seats were empty, and there was a young barman cleaning some dusty glasses with a piece of cloth.

"Excuse me," Caroline asked politely, "are you Tom the barman?"

The barman looked up at Caroline, then the other Tom. Tom shifted away, slightly. He didn't like the barmans gaze.

"Yes, that'll be me. You're here to go to Diagon Alley, am I right?- Caroline nodded her head- ""Good. Now follow me, out in this alley," said Tom the barman. He was surprisingly quick for what Caroline guessed his age was. Caroline and Tom Riddle stepped out of a backdoor into a small alley. There were trash bags here and there, and old posters were starting to tear away on the walls. Tom wrinkled his nose. There was no way this could be the way to Diagon Alley. Surely not, Diagon Alley was supposed to be a magic place, and a smelly old alley didn't seem magic, at least not to him.

"Now, you tap these bricks here, here… where was it, oh right, and here." Tom tapped some bricks on the wall with his wand, and the bricks crumbled to the side to reveal a new alley behind it. Caroline gasped, and for a moment Tom Riddle was stunned, and unable to move. Tom the barman slightly pushed them into the new alley, and went back into the Leaky Cauldron, the bricks forming back into place as he left. Tom and Caroline finally started walking. Caroline was looking around everywhere they went. The entire alley seemed to be bursting with color and unordinary items. Hooting owls, beetle eyes, unicorn hair, some kind of ball that was zooming around… they could've spent all day there and still wouldn't have been able to see everything there was. Tom and Caroline looked at their letters.

"Money, money, money, money…" Caroline muttered. As they were passing a broom shop, Caroline shook Tom, and pointed at a building. It was a marble snow-white building that towered over the other shops, with a sign on it's front. 'Gringotts Wizarding Bank' it read. Tom and Caroline had never considered that the magical community had their own banks, and here it was in front of them, standing in all its might and glory. They cautiously walked up the stairs, trying to ignore the- were those goblins?- guards and pushed open the doors. Inside of the bank, rays of sunlight poured in from windows from either sides, and on each side of the bank was a long row of desks and a goblin writing on a piece of parchment with a quill on each desk. At the end of the long rows of desks was a large desk with a very important looking goblin. Caroline and Tom walked up to him, still unsure of what to do. The goblin looked up as they approached, and put down his quill.

"Hello," Caroline said. "We were wondering how we could get money for our Hogwarts requirements."

The goblin had to look down when Caroline and Tom finally reached the desk, as he was too short on his tall desk.

"First years at Hogwarts, I presume?" the goblin inquired. Tom nodded next to Caroline.

"I see." He pulled out a piece of parchment which popped out from thin air.

"You will each get a hundred galleons per school year, which is seven years. How you will spend these are entirely up to you, however it would be wise to spend them sparingly, as you must purchase the requirements. To get started, sign this contract, if you will." he said.

Caroline and Tom both signed it without bothering to read it. After they signed it, the parchment vanished. Two bags, big enough to have barely squeezed into a pocket popped out of air. It seemed to be full of coins.

"Galleons," the goblin explained, pulling out a gold coin, a silver coin and a bronze coin.

"The gold one is a galleon, it's the most valuable of them all. One galleon equals to seventeen sickles, the silver ones, and one sick equals to twenty nine knuts, the little bronze ones. Understood? Good."

The goblin shooed them out of the bank, and a goblin guard shut the door.

"Now that we've got money, let's buy our requirements, shall we?" Caroline said, cheerfully. After a few hours of shopping, the only things to buy now were their robes and their wands. They decided to buy their robes first. They entered a shop called 'Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions', which was mostly empty except for a boy sitting on the waiting bench. He had short midnight black hair and blue eyes. Tom and Caroline sat down, looking around the shop. It smelled like new clothes. As they sat down, the blonde haired boy looked around at Tom and Caroline and smiled, flashing his white teeth.

"Hello, first years too?" he asked. Caroline was about to open her mouth to reply when Tom interrupted.

"Yes, who're you?" Tom said, a bit rudely. He didn't like him one bit. The boy's smile seemed to falter a bit when Tom spoke, but he made sure to barely show it. It didn't work on Tom, however, as he clearly saw it.

"I'm Thompson," he said. "Wurtsmouth Thompson. What about you?" he asked, curiously. Tom didn't reply for a few seconds, and as Wurtsmouth was about to look away, Tom replied.

"Riddle."

"Nice to meet you, Riddle." Wurtsmouth said. He didn't bother asking for his full name.

"And what about you?" he asked.

"Caroline Diggory!" she beamed. At that moment, a short woman came into the room.

"First years, here for your robes? Good. We'll do that gentleman first,"- she pointed at Wurtsmouth- "follow me, hurry up, we haven't got all day."

As Wurtsmouth followed Madam Malkins, Tom slided slightly closer to Caroline. Caroline didn't say anything, but she smiled at him. Tom avoided her smile and awkwardly stared at a ruler on the floor. After a few minutes of silence, Madam Malkins and Wurtmouth came back.

"This gentlemans just finished up, let's do the girl first, you there, yes you, girl, let's fit you up…"

Wurtsmouth grinned at Caroline.

"Look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts." he said, and exited the shop. Caroline returned a smile and followed Madam Malkins into the fitting room. When Tom had gotten his black robes, too, Caroline and Tom dumped the robes into their cauldrons.

"All we need to do is to get our wands now," Caroline excitedly said. Tom nodded, and they started heading for a shop in the far corner of the road.

'Ollivander's Wand Shop', it read on the window, 'Makers of fine wands since 382 B.C.'. Tom felt jumpy in his stomach. He had seen what Dumbledore had done with his wand. With his wand, he could have unimaginable power. The things he could do when he got a wand…

They entered the shop, which was dusty and had a little growth of mold in the corner of a desk. There wasn't anyone behind the counter, but they walked up to it anyway. Tom noticed a little bell next to a little box. He ringed it, not thinking much. As soon as he rang it, a short, middle aged man came running in.

"Ollivander here, you've come for your wands, haven't you?" he asked. Tom nodded, and a measuring tape began floating next to Tom.

"Stick out your wand arm, please." he said to Tom. Tom wasn't sure what he meant, and just stuck out his right arm. Ollivander stuck the end of the measuring tape on his armpit, in which he scowled a bit, and measured his arm. After measuring his arm, the tape fell to the ground and Ollivander pulled out a dusty box from one of the shelves.

"Here, 14", Oak, Dragon heart strings, very loyal, try it." Ollivander said. As soon as Tom took the wand, Ollivander took it away.

"No, no, that's not right, how about this? 15", Alder, Phoenix feathers. Very helpful. Try it." Ollivander shoved a box into Tom's arms. When he saw Tom's confused look, he grabbed another box.

"Each wand has a personality of its own," he explained, giving Tom another wand to try.

"very loyal one's, very helpful one's, they're all unique. Some used for evil, some used for good. But never does the owner choose the wand. The wand chooses the owner."

As soon as he explained, he pulled out a white wand from an old box.

"Try it. 13" long, yew, affixed with a phoenix feather core. Look's rather much like a bone, say so myself." he said. When Tom held the wand, a sudden rush of warmth coarsed through him, and he felt a rush of power.

"I see you've been chosen. Interesting choice… anyway, now the other one!" he said, pointing at Caroline.

Caroline seemed to be even more difficult than Tom. It was only after a shattered flowerpot, a small explosion, the desk bursting into flames and a small crack appearing on the window before a wand chose her.

"Twelve and a quarter inches, Ash, unicorn hair, try it." he said, pushing the wand into her hand. Caroline could still see all the chaos her previous wands had made around her and nervously pointed the wand at the floor, scared of shattering, burning or blowing up any more items. Surprisingly, she felt the exact same feeling as Tom when he met his wand, and, the best of all, nothing exploded.

"8 galleons for each wand." he said.

They pulled out their bag which was considerably lighter than when they had first gotten them, and each pulled out 8 galleons. They put the money on the counter, and Ollivander bid farewell to them. Tom kept slowing down to look at his new wand, while Caroline tugged him, frustrated by his slow speed. The time to get to Wool's Orphanage took twice as long because of Tom constantly pulling out his wand to look at it. When they finally reached the orphanage, it was around

the evening.

They entered the orphanage to meet Mrs. Cole waiting with a stern face. She opened her mouth to scold them for returning so late, but nothing came out when she saw their new supplies. She stood there, mouth wide open while Caroline and Tom passed by. They went up to their rooms without seeing any other orphans, since they were probably all in their rooms. Caroline neatly organized her requirements beside her bed. After a while of examining their new requirements after changing, it was already 8 PM. They got into bed and flicked the lights off.

"Night, To-o-o-om." Caroline gave out a huge yawn. As Caroline drifted off to sleep, Tom laid on his bed wide awake. After today's events, he had a hard time sleeping. It had been like this since Dumbledore had told them they were magic, and this night was especially worse. As Tom listened to Caroline's gentle snores, he turned over on his bed and reached into his cauldron. After a while of rummaging quietly as to not wake Caroline up, his hand finally touched a long, familiar shape. He grabbed it and pulled it up. It was his wand. The white wand shone in the illuminating moonlight. Tom spent a while looking at his new wand until he fell asleep.