Note: I do not own any of the characters and such, those are entirely JK Rowling's.
9. New life, new stuff
The next day Stephanie slept in a little bit. She had agreed with Minerva to meet after lunch. The older witch would take her to Diagon Alley to do some shopping. Soon enough it was lunch time. Stephanie was still asleep during breakfast and took her lunch in her chambers. She was truly grateful for Mipsy, who helped her whenever she needed.
At half past one she met Minerva at the entrance of the school. Together they walked towards the gates. They were going to apparate to Diagon Alley. Stepahnie felt slightly nervous, as she could remember apparition often made people nauseous. She grabbed Minerva's arm and within seconds they were inside the Leaky Cauldron.
Stephanie almost felt like throwing up. 'Well, I'm never doing that again.' she said as she took a few deep breaths. Minerva just chuckled as she took out her wand to tap the specific bricks to open up the wall so they could get into Diagon Alley.
Even though Stephanie knew what to expect from the magical shopping street, she still was surprised. There was so much more than what was written in the books, and shown in the movies. There wasn't just the bookshop, and Ollivander's, quidditch gear and a shop for potions ingredients. There were multiple shops for clothes, for cosmetics, and books. There were also many restaurants and lunchrooms to eat at. The shopping street was also much longer than Stepahnie had imagined.
At the end of the street Gringotts bank became visible. They went inside and walked up to one of the desks in the grand hall. 'Excuse me,' Stephanie started, 'I would like to open an account, if it's possible.'
The goblin behind the counter looked up at her and took out a form from one of his drawers. 'Name?' he asked. 'Stephanie Saxton, sir.' she replied. 'And if I'm correct, a deposit request is already here for my new account.' she added.
The goblin raised his eyebrows at her comment, as if he doubted it. He started looking into another big file and took out one paper. 'You are correct,' he said, 'we have here a deposit request for 375 galleons. I will make sure they end up in your vault. To complete registration, we just need your signature and a drop of blood.'
Stephanie was a little taken back by the mention of the blood, but Minerva nodded at her reassuringly. So Stephanie signed the form and let her thumb be pricked. She placed her thumb on the paper to let her blood sink into it. Once her blood touched the paper, the form glowed with a faint light for a millisecond.
'Would you also like to make a withdrawal today?' the goblin asked grumpily. 'Yes please,' Stephanie answered. 'I would also like to exchange some galleons for pounds. What is the conversion rate?' she asked.
'Five pounds per galleon.' He answered. 'Griphook!' he called. Stephanie received a set of keys and a copy of her registration form. Another goblin came to get them to go to the vault. The ride down to her vault was a wild one. It wasn't as fast as a rollercoaster but it had a lot of crazy twists and turns, so when they reached Stepahnie's vault, she was slightly nauseous.
Griphook opened vault number 472 for her, and indeed, once inside she saw a generous amount of golden coins. Why the magical world still worked with only coins, was a mystery to Stephanie. Just to be sure, because she needed a lot of stuff, Stephanie put everything into the bag. She was happy to notice there was a featherlight charm on the bag.
Together with Minerva she went back up, and walked towards the counter again to exchange some galleons for pounds. Afterwards they thanked the goblins for their service and stepped outside. They had some shopping to do.
Suddenly overwhelmed with the options of all the stores to go to, she just stood there a bit sheepishly, not knowing where to go first. Minerva saw her wondering, 'We better start at Ollivander's, getting a wand can take a few minutes but also hours.'
Stephanie nodded at the suggestion and together they started walking towards the wand shop. Behind the window lay one single wand on a purple velvet pillow.
Inside was no one to be seen so they rang the little bell on the counter. Within a few seconds an old man came shuffling to the front from behind the shelves.
'Professor McGonagall, lovely to see you here. Nine and a half inches, fir, with a dragon heartstring as core. Still working for you?' Mr. Ollivander said.
'Correct as always.' she replied with a smile. 'Mr. Ollivander, this is Miss Saxton, she would like to buy a wand.' she said as she mentioned towards Stephanie.
'Ah, a new customer! What happened to your previous wand, Miss Saxton?' he asked her. Stephanie smiled awkwardly at the old man. She didn't know why but she felt a bit embarrassed to get her first wand at almost 30 years old.
'I never had one before. This will be my first.' she explained. Mr. Ollivander frowned and looked at her slightly confused. 'Indeed, interesting…' he said but asked no further questions.
He pulled out a measuring tape to take some measurements and asked her what her wand arm was. 'Uh right I think', Stephanie said.
With a surprisingly quick pace for an old man he disappeared behind the counter between some shelves and got back with a long box. He took a wand from it and handed it to her.. 'Try this one miss Saxton: 12 inches, willow, dragon heartstring.'
Stephanie took the wand from him but nothing happened. 'Well give it a wave!' he said. She felt stupid for forgetting to actually try the wand. She gave a quick flick and green smoke came out of her wand, smelling like rotten eggs. Everybody looked like they wanted to throw up. 'Not this one I think', Mr. Ollivander said as he took the wand from her.
'What about this one: 9 ¾ inches, alder and unicorn hair', he said as he handed her another wand. Stephanie gave it a wave, but actually nothing happened. As if the wand completely ignored her. 'No matter', Ollivander said, 'the wand chooses the wizard!'
They continued for about half an hour. Stephanie had tried almost a dozen wands now. Some did nothing, some produced a horrible smell and some broke something in the store. She even created a crack in the wall. Two wands were taken from her so fast again by Mr. Ollivander that she couldn't even try them. According to his words they were "absolutely a horrible match".
He left again and walked to the back of the store where he took another box. 'Now let's try this one: twelve and a half inches, mahogany and thestral hair, quite flexible.' Mr. Ollivander said as he handed her the wand. She took it in her right hand and immediately knew this was the one, she felt warm, safe, and confident. The wand shot golden sparks and everybody cheered for her. Stephanie was absolutely pleased with her wand and was very glad she now had her own.
Mr. Ollivander put her wand back in the box and packed it in a bag for her. He gave her some instructions on how to care for it and keep it clean. She paid him eight galleons, and with a thank you, the two ladies left the store.
Next they went to madam Malkin's to get Stephanie a new wardrobe. Stephanie just hoped they had something else besides the typical witches dresses and skirts. They walked in and were greeted by a woman dressed in all mauve. 'How can I help you?' she asked them. 'I need at least seven new outfits, also one set of dress robes, two pairs of boots, a winter coat, and if you have something casual, I'll take that as well, could you please help me with that?' Stephanie asked.
The woman was a bit blown away by the big shopping list, but nodded. 'Of course, I am madam Malkin by the way. Let's get you comfortable, this will take a while. Do you need anything as well madam?' she asked Minerva.
She shook her head. 'As this is going to take a while, I was planning to run some errands in the meantime, if that's alright with you Stephanie?' she asked. Stephanie nodded, 'Of course, go ahead. I'll see you later.' Minerva left the store and Stephanie was led by madam Malkin to the women's section.
Stephanie noticed that all the mannequins were wearing dresses, exactly what she didn't want. 'You see anything you like, dear?' madam Malkin asked. Stephanie looked around if she saw anything with trousers, but the options were very limited. 'I'm not a big fan of dresses actually. Do you have any suits? Or maybe some other kind of robes that are a bit less...dresslike?' she asked.
Madam Malkin showed her the ladies' costumes, but she saw only one that she liked. On the other side of the shop Stephanie saw some mannequins with three piece suits. 'What about those?' she asked while she pointed at the other side of the shop?
Madam Malkin looked at what she was pointing at. 'But, that is the wizards section!' she said. Stephanie looked back at the woman, 'But those are just example outfits right? You tailor everything, so it's a perfect fit for every customer?' The woman nodded.
'Okay, soo… What's the problem?' Stephanie asked. She was aware that maybe she was coming across a bit bitchy, but she just hated how some things were specifically for women or for men. Why did it matter? If she liked certain clothing, she should be able to wear it. Also, if a man wanted to wear a dress, he should be able to do just that.
'No, of course, no problem.' Madam Malkin said quickly as she noticed Stephanie's annoyance. In the "men's" section Stephanie found some nice three piece suits with cloaks. She also chose two sets of robes that were suitable to wear as a teacher.
She found nice dress robes but also picked out a beautiful midnight blue dress. They were both perfect if there ever was a formal party or a ball. She also chose some matching shoes and one pair of heels to go with the fancy outfits.
For her day wear as teacher she chose one pair of lovely but sturdy black leather boots, and one pair of leather loafers. For the cold winter days she picked out a dark grey cloak with fur. It would definitely keep her warm in the cold north.
Lastly she chose some jumpers and casual trousers. Madam Malkin directed her towards a stool and sat her down. A measuring tape started taking all kinds of measurements on it's own while madam Malkin was writing everything down that Stephanie wanted. Minerva had also just gotten back to the store and Stephanie pointed at a few examples of what she had chosen.
Once the measuring tape started measuring the width of her nostrils, madam Malkin told it to stop, and it immediately dropped to the floor. She showed Stephanie the list. It was a big, and very expensive purchase, but it was a one time thing. So Stephanie tried not to worry about the price (120 galleons!) too much.
Because it was such a large order, madam Malkin would make a few outfits, so Stephanie could pick it up in a few hours. The rest would be sent to her in a few days.
Stephanie moved on with the shopping. They went to multiple shops to get Stephanie everything she needed. There was even a magical drugstore. Stephanie was happy to see that they also sold make-up. She didn't want to seem vain, but she just felt better with a bit of make-up. Not too much, she chose some mascare, eyeliner and concealer. That was enough. She also purchased some magical shampoo and conditioner that promised to make your hair sleek, soft and voluminous. She couldn't wait to try it out.
Lastly she bought some stationary. She got parchment, quills and ink. But not too much, because she planned to get some muggle paper and ballpoint pens as well. Everybody was crazy if they thought she was going to struggle with ink and quills all the time when muggle paper and pens were so much easier and cleaner.
She stuck to buying the things she really needed. Any other stuff, such as potions, books or maybe an owl would have to wait until later. She needed to watch her money as well, it wasn't unlimited and the big order of clothes had taken a big chunk out of her budget.
They quickly went into muggle London, after a nice piece of transfiguration work from Minerva. They looked like proper 1991 muggles. Here Stepahnie bought some underwear, pajamas, stationary and some comfy clothes such as sweatpants and sweaters.
They quickly returned to Diagon Alley as it was starting to get late. They picked up part of Stephanie's order from Madam Malkin's and got back to Hogwarts, just in time to join the others in the great hall for dinner.