Olivia woke up to a slight stirring in the giant blanket covering her, and Harry trying to get her up. She sat up and quickly jumped out from underneath the coat covering her. There was a small brown owl attacking the coat that she had mistaken for her blanket at the Dursley's. Harry was trying to scare the owl off. "Hagrid!" Olivia said loudly after watching Harry trying to silently scare the bird off.
"Pay 'im..." The giant grunted into the sofa. "What?" Harry and Liv looked at each other in bewilderment.
"He wants payin' for deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Olivia looked at Harry and then the coat. It seemed to be entirely made out of pockets. They each took one side and started going through the pockets. Olivia found soggy dog treats, a quill, ink, paper, keys, string, more sausages, lemon drops, stale bread, string... Finally Harry pulled out a bunch of funny looking coins.
"Give 'im 5 knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.
"Knuts?" Harry asked as Liv examined the coins. "The little brown ones." Harry took the money from Liv and put 5 of the so called knuts into the owl's little brown pouch and the owl flew out of the open window. Hagrid slowly sat up and stretched, "best be off, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school." Olivia saw her brother's face fall. "Um Hagrid..."
Hagrid looked at him, "Mm...?" He said pulling on his huge boots.
"We haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."
"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"
"But if their house was destroyed -" Olivia looked at Harry, " Harry, no sane person keeps their money at their house. They keep it in a bank." She pointed out cutting Harry off.
Hagrid nodded. "Yer sister's right. Firs' stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."
"Wizards have banks?"
"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins." Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding. Liv checked to see if Hagrid was joking, "Goblins?" She asked.
"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you - gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."
They followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.
"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.
"Flew," said Hagrid.
"Flew?" Olivia asked looking amazed.
"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."
They settled down in the boat, Olivia stared at Hagrid, and tried to imagine him flying.
"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving them another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"
"Of course not," said Olivia, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.
"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.
"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."
Olivia sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Olivia stared into the deep water. She was still thinking about what a real dragon would look like when she heard Hagrid mutter into his newspaper, "Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page. "There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked.
"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."
"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?" Olivia asked.
"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an'down the country."
"Why?"
"Why? Blimey, Livvy, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."
At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.
Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Olivia didn't blame them, she still did. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Look at that, Livvy! Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"
"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as we ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"
"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."
"You'd like one?" Olivia asked. "Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go." He answered ushering the two kids into a train station.
They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets. Olivia had never been on a train before. So not only would all the wizard stuff be new, but this was her first time on a train as well
People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.
"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket. "Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."
Harry unfolded a second piece of paper, and read it to himself. Olivia looked at Hagrid. "What are you knitting?" Hagrid looked back at her. "What does it look like I'm knittn', it's a scarf." Olivia looked at the yellow blanket. "Oh, yeah, I see it now."
"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.
"If yeh know where to go," Hagrid answered.
Neither Harry nor Olivia had never been to London before. But Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow. Olivia found much of this hilarious.
"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he muttered as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.
Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all they had to do was keep close behind him.
"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Olivia wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes 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, Olivia had the most peculiar feeling that only the three of them could see it. Before she could ask about this, Hagrid had steered them inside.
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of some kind of adult drink. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry and Olivia's shoulders and making their knees buckle.
"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?" The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent. "Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor." He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."
Olivia looked around the room. Everyone was looking at Harry. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.
Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was shaking hands with Harry.
"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."
"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."
"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."
"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."
"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."
"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again - Doris Crockford kept coming back for more. Olivia didn't mind that Harry was getting all the attention, she in fact found it cool that her big brother was famous.
A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.
"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."
"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."
"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"
"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g- getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m- myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.
But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. "And who might you be?" The old bartender saw Olivia for what seemed like the first time. Everyone else looked as well. "This is Olivia Potter, Harry's younger sister." Then everyone started shaking her hand too. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.
"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, you two."
Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.
Hagrid grinned at Harry.
"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."
"Is he always that nervous?" Olivia asked.
"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject - now, where's me umbrella?"
Vampires? Hags? This was even better than Olivia had expected. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.
"Three up... two across..." he muttered. "Right, stand back." He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.
The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."
He grinned at their amazement. They stepped through the archway. Olivia looked quickly over her shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. She caught Harry's eye and grinned from ear to ear.
The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.
"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."
Olivia wished she had about twelve more eyes. She turned her head in every direction as they walked up the street, pointing stuff out to Harry, and trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump red headed woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."
A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Olivia heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Olivia had never ever seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...
"Gringotts," said Hagrid.
They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was -
"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a couple inches shorter than Olivia. He had a dark skinned, clever face, a pointed beard and, Olivia noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.
A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.
"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry and Miss Potter's safe."
"You have the key, sir?"
"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of the moldy dog biscuits that Olivia had found earlier, over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry nudged Olivia and pointed to the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.
"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key. The goblin looked at it closely.
"That seems to be in order."
"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen." The goblin read the letter carefully.
"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"
Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.
"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.
"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."
Griphook held the door open for them. Olivia was surprised that it wasn't as fancy as the rest of the bank. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.
At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.
Olivia's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but she kept them wide open. Once, she thought she saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, she honestly hoped it was so she could draw a realistic one, but too late - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.
"I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"
"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." Olivia giggled.
He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.
Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Olivia gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.
"All yers," smiled Hagrid.
All theirs - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from them faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry and Olivia cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to them, buried deep under London.
Olivia helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.
"The gold ones are Galleons," Hagrid explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty- nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"
"One speed only," said Griphook, Olivia thought that the goblin had a small smirk on his face.
They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Olivia leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled her back by the scruff of her neck.
Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.
"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked. "About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.
Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Olivia was sure, and she leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least, maybe something else- but at first she thought it was empty. Then she noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Olivia longed to know what it was.
"What's that?" She asked looking at the dirty little package. But Hagrid waved her off, "Livvy don' ask me... I'm gonna be sick. Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.
One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Olivia didn't know where to go first now that they had a bag full of money. She didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that Harry was holding more money than they'd had in their whole lives - more money than even Dudley had ever had.
"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts. Livvy can go in with yeh." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry and Liv entered Madam Malkin's shop without Hagrid, Olivia couldn't wait for next year to experience this herself.
Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.
"Hogwarts, dearies?" she asked, but Harry shook his head. "Nope just me."
"Alright then, head on back. Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact." Olivia looked back and saw a boy with a pale face and white blonde hair. She watched Harry head back there too, but then became interested in the brown tabby cat sitting on the front counter. Suddenly she saw Hagrid come up to the window with 3 ice creams in his hands. She went outside and waited for Harry to come out.
"I got chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts fer the both of yeh." Hagrid grinned at Olivia and handed her one. She grinned too. "Thanks Hagrid." Soon Harry came out of the shop looking quite grumpy. "What's wrong?" Olivia asked Harry as they stopped at a table to eat their ice cream. "Nothing," Harry lied. Olivia looked at him for a minute but decided to wait for the truth to come out, and instead asked Hagrid what real dragons looked like. He loved talking about dragons.
After they were done enjoying their ice cream they stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. Olivia couldn't see why they would need to write with quills and not pencils, but Hagrid told her that quills are easiest. When they had left the shop, Harry finally asked the question that had been bugging him, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"
"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"
"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid and Liv about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's. "- and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in -"
"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"
"So what is Quidditch?" Liv asked.
"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."
"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" Harry asked looking a little less depressed.
"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"
"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.
"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."
"Vol-, sorry -You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"
"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.
"Did he blow up people at Hogwarts too?" Olivia asked.
"No - course not." Though Hagrid looked like he didn't believe it.
They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have loved to get his hands on some of these. Olivia was extremely fascinated by the book she found about unicorns.
"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley." She heard Harry say as they were buying his books.
"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."
Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, "It says pewter on yer list", but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope.
Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Olivia and Harry looked at silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and some dragon teeth, and dragon blood.
Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.
"Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present." Harry went red. Olivia searched her clothes for Harry's bracelet.
"You don't have to -"
"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."
"Found it!" Olivia said out loud. Harry and Hagrid looked at her. "Happy birthday Harry, I meant to give it to you last night." She gave him the bracelet. "Thanks Liv." He took the bracelet and gave her a hug. Hagrid rubbed his hands together, "Righ' then. Let's go get yer owl."
Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.
"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."
A magic wand... this was what Olivia had been really looking forward to. This would really prove it all to her.
The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. 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 they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Olivia felt strangely as though they had entered a very strict library, the kind she usually didn't try to disrupt, but ended up making a noise anyways; she looked up at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry and Olivia jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.
An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.
"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." 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."
Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Olivia watched him closely.
"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."
Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose.
"And that's where..."
Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead 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 out into the world to do..."
He shook his head and then, he saw Olivia.
"Olivia Potter, my my, you have your father's eyes." He laughed. "And yes, you certainly have your mother's looks. I of course will be seeing you next summer." He looked into Olivia's eyes, and she wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. Then to her relief he saw Hagrid.
"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"
"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.
"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.
"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.
"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry and Olivia both noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.
"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then Olivia watched in fascination as he moved back, but the measuring tape continued to measure Harry's wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As it measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." Olivia now wanted to know about Phoenixes as well, but didn't dare voice her forming question.
The tape was measuring between Harry's nostrils, as Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. "That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."
Harry took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -"
Harry had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.
"No, no - here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
Harry tried. And tried. Olivia had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped Olivia looked at the wand in amazement and smiled brightly and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."
He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..."
"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?" Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar."
Harry looked sick.
"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."
Olivia watched Mr. Olivander closely. She wasn't sure she liked Mr. Ollivander too much. Harry paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them all from his shop.
The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Olivia, Harry, and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; Olivia asked Hagrid all sorts of questions. She had asked how many years it took to finish at Hogwarts. She had asked the kinds of jobs wizards had. Then she wanted to know where wizards lived. Then why the wizard kids didn't go to school. And what Phoenixes were like, and what they did. Finally, to Hagrid's relief, they had reached the train station. Hagrid stopped both Olivia and Harry, who had been completely silent the whole way back.
"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.
He bought them hamburgers and fries and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. No Olivia a was asking Hagrid about what unicorns eat and odd questions like that.
"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid interrupting Olivia as she rambled about how excited she was that she would go to Hogwarts in the next year.
Olivia stopped talking and looked at Harry as well. Harry wasn't as much of a talker like she was, she could talk her way out of most situations, but Harry had more difficulty than her. She watched Harry as he chewed his hamburger, trying to find words.
"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night our parents died."
Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.
"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."
Hagrid helped Harry and Liv on to the train that would take them back to the Dursleys, then handed Harry an envelope.
"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon."
The train pulled out of the station. Harry and Liv watched Hagrid until he was out of sight, but they blinked and Hagrid had gone.
Over the course of the weeks leading up to September first, Olivia and Harry had a bit of fun scaring Dudley, but after a while it got quite depressing. Harry and Olivia spent most of the time out of the house and out of the Dursleys way.
Soon Harry and the Dursley's went to London to drop Harry off at the train station and get Dudley's tail removed, and poor Olivia was left with Mrs. Figg and her cats, while Harry was off to Hogwarts leaving Olivia truly alone for the first time in forever.