On Monday, 7th December, Mat was up way before his parents and was munching his cereal when they came downstairs. It was the day he was going to Diagon Alley. He couldn't contain his excitement, he felt every bit an 11-year-old that morning. Me meditated, waiting for his parents to be ready. When they were, they made the trip to London. It was a boring 4-hour train ride from Doncaster. They had to get the 6am train to be there at 10 to meet Professor McGonagall. They got first class tickets and were seated in luxury at a table. They had snacks, a full breakfast and were comfortable reading a book or watching the green of England fly past them. They passed through a number of cities and towns, stopping at one or two like Leicester, Northampton and Nottingham; it was the train from Edinburgh to London after all.

It was a bitter day, not snowing, just cold and miserable. The sky seemed like a grey expanse that sucked all life out of the world. Travelling to London, the weather did not ease at all. They were all dressed for the occasion. Mat had a pair of jeans, white trainers, burgundy woolly jumper and a dark green thick parker coat with a black bobble hat. His mum was dressed in a black thick coat, black jeans, hiking boots, massive pink scarf and bobble hat and ivory white woolly jumper. His dad was in a navy-blue coat, thick black jumper, blue jeans and black hiking boots. He looked quite menacing with his size. All had spare gloves if they needed it. Only his mum brought a bag, she is always the one that was prepared for any eventuality.

Mat could never remember going to London when he was younger in his old life and had no idea what to expect in the late 90's/early 2000's. He used to go to football with his mates after 2005, the Troubles had fully died down in 2001 and London had changed. At the end of the 90's, new buildings had been built and the London Skyline was changing. The new builds were already starting to look run down when Mat started to go in 2005. They decided to do some sightseeing while they were there. The Millennium Wheel looked pretty cool, but it was just a big white Ferris wheel after all. They saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and drove past St James's Park and Buckingham Palace. It should have been a 16-minute drive from Kings Cross to Charing Cross. With the little tour, it took 45 minutes. They thought it was quite boring to be honest. York is much prettier.

The nice taxi man, called Ahmed, had to drive past the Leaky Cauldron to park up at Charing Cross Station. Mat saw the pub straight away. His parents didn't even notice it. Ahmed wished Mat a good luck towards his interview. They had told him he was going to one for a prestigious school in Scotland. He opened the doors for them, and they tipped him way above what he charged, he did share a lot of information with them about London and the buildings within on the little tour; it was money well spent. Mat's parents asked Mat if he knew where to go, he pointed to where the Leaky Cauldron was and looked in that direction but couldn't see anything.

"What you pointing at Mat? Its just an abandoned building there." Mat's dad looked confused, he had to shake his head and refocus his eyes after looking at the building.

"Huh," Mat responded, "Mum, can you not see it either?"

"No hun I can't, what do you see?" she looked as equally confused as his dad, a man was walking down the street, she noticed him but as soon as he entered the Leaky Cauldon, she looked away and back to Mat.

"Did you not see that guy walk into it?"

Mat's parents looked utterly confused now. His dad was looking everywhere, he appeared to be on guard. His hands were out of his pockets, and his left hand was squeezing into a fist. His mum was ringing her hands. Mat then took his mums hand and made them both follow him. As soon as they were directly outside it and Mat then pointed it out, his parents were staring at it gobsmacked, both had their mouths open in an 'o' shape. His dad let out a half squeak and half laugh. Mat, amused with their antics, just pushed the door open and walked inside. It was mainly a corner building, black dingy windows that curved round and a door next to a wall. There was a pub sign outside with the words, "The Leaky Cauldron".

The pub was dingy but had a welcoming feeling. There was a fireplace on the far side, opposite the bar with a number of tables in between. Some tables had benches, others stools while others had chairs. There were pictures hooked up to the wall, a cast iron chandelier and whitewashed walls. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. There was a smell of stale beer and food, it wasn't that bad. It was separated into several side rooms, some more well lit and comfortable than the others. There were a few people inside, two shady looking characters in a corner, an old woman at the bar talking to the barkeep and then the barkeep himself. As soon as they entered, their eyes locked onto the woman walking towards them, Professor McGonagall.

She held out her hand to Mat first, he shook it and then she shook his parents' hands afterwards. "Welcome to the Wizarding World Mat, Mr & Mrs Lawson, if you would follow me, we shall head into Diagon Alley."

They didn't really have a chance to agree, she turned on her heel and started walking to the rear entrance of the pub. She waited outside in a bricked courtyard and stopped then faced them standing at the far wall. "This is the entrance to Diagon Alley, I will show you how to get into here, afterwards, Mat here" she gestured to Mat "could open it with his wand, like so." She tapped around a hole, five times, on five separate bricks. Mat had seen this in the films, seeing it in real life was awesome. He said so as well. "Indeed Mr Lawson, I'm sure you are looking forward to learning magic at Hogwarts?" Mat nodded enthusiastically, a small grin twitched the side of her mouth "excellent, I'm sure that you will do us proud." All eyes were on the bricks opening up and folding into themselves, creating an archway into a bustling, ripped right out of a Charles Dickens on acid, Christmas fairy tale land. There was bunting and wreaths everywhere, floating candles and snow that disappeared before it landed. The shops were all decorated with the classic Christmas style decorations in green and red and gold. The odd angled stores that, by rights, should not be staying upright, only added to the festive feeling of the alley. And an alley it was, it was one long street with stores on either side and some odd market stores space intermittently on the street. There were people mingling everywhere, they would not look out of place in Victorian London. It was a very surreal experience stepping through that threshold. The smell of cinnamon, roast chestnuts and mince pies was strong here. It felt like a themed Christmas market area they set up in the big cities.

McGonagall took them down the alley, pointing shops out here and there. She told them that Ollivander's is the place to get Mat's wand; Flourish and Blott's is where to get course books; Slug & Jitter's Apothecary is where to get the potion ingredients from; Wiseacres Wizarding Equipment; and finally, Gringotts bank. She gave a quick overview of each shop and stopped outside Madame Malkins "this is where you get your school robes from, I trust that you have brought the list that came with the letter? Yes? Good, this is where you get the rest of the school uniform from too. Now I apologise for not staying longer but I am meeting quite a number of other muggleborn's today who are doing the same as you. Then I have other duties at Hogwarts, my work never ends" she gave the family a small nod and turned away, they watch her head back to the Leaky Cauldron.

"So" Mat said, "where too first?" He turned from where McGonagall headed, then to his parents.

"Let's go to the bank first, lad, we need to convert our money into…galleons? Yes, galleons, I don't like the idea of lugging loads of gold coins around." Mat's dad said, he pulled a face at the last part, he turned toward to Gringotts.

"Yeah, that's a good idea dad, then we can go on a massive shopping spree" mat had a huge grin on his face and was rubbing his hands together "I can't wait to start."

"Calm down Matthew, yes?" his mum placed a hand on his shoulder, "we can always come down at a later date if it turns out we miss something".

"Okay mum, fair enough" Mat looked a little deflated but still looking at anything and everything around them. The three of them walked up to Gringotts bank. The bank was a rickety looking building, the pillars appeared to barely hold it up, they leaned in every angle imaginable. The stone was an old off-white colour and had small windows in all three stories, the building stretched far back down two side streets that appeared to contain housing. They first walked from the outside into a small antechamber and past the small statues with halberds. One of the statues moved its head to watch them pass and Mat jumped, "not statues" he thought. They noticed an engraving on the silver doors that led into the main building, it read:

"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."

"Well, that's a warning if I ever saw one" Mat's dad mumbled, both Mat and his mum agreed. He pushed the door open in a lavishly decorated, bustling bank. The floor was marble, and the décor was decorated with a deep, dark, ancient looking wooden counters and marble walls, the same colour as the floor, a rich, almost brown colour. Small creatures were milling around or counting money on counters they clearly had to use stairs to climb on. Mat knew about goblins, he remembered them in the movies, but like with actual magic, seeing one in real life was something else. Comparing them to the on-screen versions, these more vicious looking, slimmer and somehow more elegant. They were obviously humanoid and rarely stood higher than four feet, the oldest among them appeared to be taller. They varied in looks, ranging from long sharp noses with long sharp ears to short stumpy ears and a human looking nose, they were still obviously goblins though. They had fair skin, long fingers and feet and had sharp, vicious teeth. The movie versions did a fair imitation of them.

Looking around, one never saw an idle goblin, they were either counting, miscellaneous banking duties or talking to one another in their strange language, Gobbledegook, if Mat remembered correctly. Mat looked around to find the closest, free banker, he found one, a younger looking goblin in a 1920's style suit, but with no jacket. It seemed to have black hair tufts coming from its ears, it had a darker skin to its fellows, an almost brown/yellow. Mat and his parents stood in front of it, he was flanked on both sides, they waited patiently. About 20 seconds of waiting, the goblin slowly looked at the three, it bared its teeth. "Welcome to Gringotts, how may I help you?"

Mats mother took over, she felt that a banker speaking to another banker would work well. "Hello, I and my family are just entering the Wizarding World, our son here, Mat" she placed a hand on his shoulder, the goblin looked from her to Mat, "is starting at Hogwarts next year. We would like to open a bank account and get a foothold into this new world, I was hoping that your fine establishment could help guide us in this area, after all, you do seem to be the only financial power around here." She gave him her best smile, careful not to show her teeth, baring the teeth, in some cultures is a sign of hostility.

The goblin raised its eyebrow at the statement, "we can certain help you with this, we will need to know some details about you and your family. Only your son is allowed to own a bank at Gringotts unfortunately, blame the wizards for that, but we can certainly link bank accounts to the muggle world. If this is acceptable, we can start immediately if you would like?" The goblin didn't smile or show any emotion and said all that in a purely business-like tone.

"Certainly, I have prepared a few notes with most of that information, I would like to speak to an accounts manager to organise some investments for my son's future in this world. Could you help me with this as well?" She dove her hand into her bag and dug out a notebook, flipping to the right page she handed it to the goblin.

He nodded, taking it and the Lawson's watched with amusement as the goblins eyebrows slowly rose in surprise. The note contained details of one of the bank accounts which was funded by a couple of the up and coming, big businesses in the muggle world and their names with links to Lawson Enterprises. He coughed, clearing his throat "you are Michael and Sandra Lawson? The founders of Lawson Enterprises? The company that had made many smart investments and become one of the largest companies in Britain in three years?" Mat's Mum just gave a sharp nod at this "wait here please." The goblin said, and jumped off his stool, to an older looking goblin, who then rushed off towards the back to where, Mat assumed were offices.

Around five minutes later, three goblins walked up to the trio, the original teller they spoke too first and two new ones. The one leading them was slightly taller than the others and looked more vicious, he wore an old 20's style suit, with a jacket this time, a monocle and had a more regal baring. His skin was a dark green and had beady, intelligent eyes. He had an average sized nose and ears (for a goblin) and were both sharp, the ears, were pulled back though, he was completely bald. The other was much younger, had a full head of hair, shorter than average and was a light brown colour. He wore a suit as well. "Greeting Master, Mr and Mrs Lawson, I am Roglud, an accounts manager here at Gringotts, you have already met Guragg, and this is Urgott, my assistant. If you would follow me, we can continue you opening a vault with us." The family agreed and followed him to his office. Guragg turned off, back to his pew.

They walked down the hallways, it changed from marble walls and floors to a tile floor and a purposely cut tunnel with doors and other corridors splitting off. It gave off a feeling of going underground, perhaps they were. This cut rock style was sometimes broken by intricately carved busts or friezes that were in the walls. They eventually got to a rather unremarkable door and Roglud opened it, stepping inside. Urgott motioned them to go inside, they did. They all sat down in not too comfortable leather chairs. Urgott broke the silence "I will not beat around the bush here, we have had an eye on your company for a while, you have been making some waves in the financial sector. It would be my pleasure to represent to your family in the Wizarding World. I know Guragg said that only Mat can have a vault here, but we can give you access to it if you would like? Or we could set up an intermediate in the muggle world to make it easier for you. The conversion rate is £6.21 per galleon. We charge a base of 5%. We take any payments owed to Gringotts directly from the vault. Is suitable to you?"

Mrs Lawson agreed, "that is most satisfactory, I am glad that you are this forward with your business, it is extremely annoying the way the financial world works in our world"

Ugrott grinned "we at Gringotts always prefer to be upfront, we do like to play the game in the muggle world though. The Wizards do not seem to be very… adept with that sort of thing. I would advise you to get an expanding pouch for your money to be kept in, it is feather light as well. Ours at Gringotts are heavily charmed to be unnoticeable and next to be impossible to be opened if they are stolen. They are 100 galleons each, that is none negotiable. Depending on the size and security of the vault, the payments per annum to have a vault with us is from 10 to 300 galleons. A 10 galleon vault is a small safe like vault, sort of like a walk in wardrobe with limited security. A 150 galleon vault is larger, small room sized vault with good security, this is the most popular one. A 300 galleon vault is tope of the line, the best security and a room the size of a house. There are others in between what I just said, the choice is yours. Also you could pay 10,000 galleons now and the vault is effectively your families properties until the end of time."

After a quick discussion they agreed to buy the pouch and then have the 10,000 galleon vault. They also decided to transfer £2,000,000 into the vault, £1,000,000 for Urgott to invest into what he thinks could turn a profit, and the rest for Mat and all his expenses for while he at Hogwarts. Turns out that £2,000,000 is 322,061 galleons, minus the 5% of course. They placed a fair amount into the pouch. Signed the documents and left Gringotts, eager to get shopping. It was 11:30, they decided to get some grub and then start the shop. They went to a little café called Sandy's Sandwiches. They ate their fill and went straight to the Madame Malkin's.

Mat and his family went inside. They were instantly greeted by madame Malkin herself. She was a squat, friendly woman, she was wearing a periwinkle blue robe that covered her from neck to toe, shoes the same colour as her robes could be seen poking out when she walked. She had greying hair turned up in a bun, and glasses shaped like bug eyes. She walked up to them with a large, friendly smile. "Hello, hello! How can I help you dears today?"

Mat and his family couldn't help but smile back, she radiated friendliness. "Mat here is starting Hogwarts next year and needs his robes and everything else for that school year", Mats mum said to Madame Malkin.

"Oh! Another new student! Always a pleasure. Muggleborn I presume? Yes, thought so, come in dear, another new starter is having the final measurements as we speak, she will be done soon. Why don't you come into the back dear and we will sort out what you need?" She ushered Mat into the back and turned back to his parents. "There is nothing here for you two to do other than be bored, there is a waiting room there or you can come back in 15 minutes, the choice is yours." She turned away and followed Mat into the back. They chose to do some window shopping.

Mat walked into the back. There was a lady who appeared to be in her late 20's, diligently working on a girl stood on a circular pedestal. She looked awkward and blushed when she saw Mat walk in. Mat gave her a small wave, she waved back. She was shorter than Mat, had jet black hair, deep brown eyes and was of a clear Eastern Asian descent. "Hi!" Mat said.

She replied with a "hi" back "are you starting Hogwarts this year too?" she asked

"Erm, yeah I am, I'm Mat, Mat Lawson."

"I'm Cho Chang" Mat blinked, his gears working in his head. Wasn't she older than Harry? What the hell is going on? Before Mat could overthink and make a fool of himself, he took a deep breath and focussed back to the present. He would need to think about that later. "are you okay Mat?" Cho asked.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry, I zoned out a bit there" apologised and shook his head clear.

Cho giggled "Its ok, is this your first time as Diagon Alley?"

"Yeah it is, it's a bit overwhelming but so cool too!" Mat exclaimed. Madame Malkin came in and silently started measuring mat up for robes.

"I suppose it is," said Cho, "I come here a lot with my parents, my mum works at the ministry."

"Ah yeah" Mat replied "are you looking forward to Hogwarts?" he asked

"Of course, I'm not sure what house I will be in though. I hope its not Slytherin. My mum was in Ravenclaw, so I would like to be there too."

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Mat asked, faking ignorance.

"Well nothing really, but many of the pureblood kids go in there, also most of the Death Eaters were from that house too." She scrunched her face up as she said Death Eaters. Mat decided to play the ignorant mugglborn again.

"What's a Death Eater? Sounds like a heavy metal band."

Cho blushed and stuttered out "th-they were, there was a war about 10 years ago and they were the soldiers in the enemy army." She looked away from Mat to the floor. The lady who was measuring her up for her robes had finished. She said so and Cho jumped off.

"Sorry for making you uncomfortable, Cho, I really don't know anything about this world. Is there anything you can recommend me to read so I know the history of current events?"

Cho huffed, and rolled her eyes "such a Ravenclaw thing to say." She turned back to Mat, "yes there is, but I am not sure how true it is, 'The Victory of the Boy-Who-Lived', I," she coughed into her hand "I have to go now, see you at school." With that she hurried out of the shop.

Mat turned to Madame Malkin, "was is something I said?"

"No, no dear, you did nothing wrong, most people don't like talking about it. It's still in most peoples living memories after all, she does bring up a good point though, that book has a good overview of the events leading up to You-Know-Who's death by Harry Potter." She smiled and carried on with her job. She didn't speak further and finished just in time for Mat's parents to arrive.

She asked Mat to try on some robes then, "I feel stupid, I feel like I can't move in them!"

"Yes dear, most muggleborn's say the same thing, you get used to it eventually, you could get a cloak and wear it over your other clothes, I'm not sure what the school will say about that though." Mat agreed to try that idea, he got black trousers, a shirt and blazer with a black cloak that, to the untrained eye looked like a robe.

Mat grinned and thanked madame Malkin "this is much better, thank you, what about the other things I need for school? Like the dragonhide gloves and stuff?"

"I can get all that too, I need to ask you though, what material would you like your clothes made from? I go from cotton, to wool to acromantula silk. The gloved and shoes can range from the best, dragonhide, to the cheapest, but still effective, troll skin."

Mat turned to his parents, "what do you think?"

Mat's mum replied, "you will be going to school for nearly a year in Scotland, I think you should have the best there is and take some of your normal clothes with you." She then turned to Madame Malkin, "the most expensive are the best and most durable I presume?"

"Of course madam, not many things can pierce dragon hide, of course most of the clothes we sell can be enchanted to be unrippable, self-repairing and expandable so they last longer. These enchantments do wear out after a while though." Malkin answered

"Very well. Get Mat the highest quality items, including gloves and some shoes and boots too. Make sure that everything is enchanted to last as long as possible."

Madame Malkin, to her benefit, didn't even react to what they ordered, but the could tell that she was elated by it. "Fantastic. Your items will be ready in approximately 7 days, could either come to pick them up or I can get them delivered by owl."

The Lawsons agreed to get is delivered and Mat would get three cloaks for daily school wear, all of them made from acromantula silk; dragon hide boots; shoes and a winter cloak. Apparently a Chinese firebelly hide constantly gives off heat. They left the store happy and went to Ollivanders.

Ollivanders was a dark looking shop on the outside. It had grimy windows and had what used to be blue paint which has long since faded to black. Through the dusty windows, one could see a wand on a pedestal, covered in dust on a faded velvet sheet. The sign outside said "Ollivanders, established 282 B.C." The Lawsons entered the shop. A bell rang as the door opened. A man, presumably Ollivander, was stood at his counter fiddling with something. He looked up as they entered. "Hello, hello, welcome, welcome. A new wizard I see, here for your wand yes? Yes. I thought so. Now let's get a look at you."

He came toward the family, he appeared to ignore Mat's parents completely. He had pure white hair that stuck out in all directions. A suit that looked to be from the 18th century, complete with ruffles and old wrinkled skin, he had pleasant voice and seemed rather… eccentric. As soon as he stopped in front of Mat, a tape measure appeared from nowhere and started measuring Mat at the most random of places, his ears, the bit between the nostrils, thumbnail. It appeared to have no logic at all. Mat just stood there dumbfounded yet watched the tape measure amusedly. He hummed and aah'd while walking around Mat, "I see I see, lets start you off with a basic wand Mr Lawson."

"How did you know my name?" Mat asked, guardedly "we haven't said one word since we walked in." Mat knew that Ollivander was a very knowledgeable wizard, but it struck a nerve and freaked him out that he knew their names before they even said anything.

"Ahh my boy, I know all my customers, even before they buy their wands, all it takes is one look and I can see who they are. The challenge for me is to match the wizard to the wand, this is a thing I cannot foresee." He walked away and pulled a box from a shelf that appeared to defy gravity. He blew some cobwebs and dust off the box. He turned and walked over to Mat. "Oak and dragon heart string, 10 inches, give it a swish." Mat did so, and fire shot out and exploded on the ceiling "nope! Not that one."

Mat was shocked with the reaction of the wand, it did feel off though. He couldn't explain it. Ollivander came back with a new wand, "Pinewood and unicorn hair, 10.5 inches, nice and supple" he gestured for Mat to swish it again. Mat hesitated, but he did so and created a small shockwave which blew up a vase. "Not that one either, not to worry, we will find you match eventually."

"Mr Ollivander," Mat said "the last two didn't feel right, there was something off about them, it was quite odd, I knew they wouldn't work before I tried it."

"Hmmm, most curious indeed, let me try a couple more, lets see what you think then." He was humming when he went away, he came back with three boxes this time. "Let's try this one, black walnut, with phoenix feather, 9 ¾ inch." He held it out to Mat, Mats hand hovered over it before taking it.

"No, it doesn't feel right either." He placed it back in the box.

"Very interesting, I'm not sure how you can tell what wand is good for you. It is a rare talent you have there. Tell me, can you do wandless magic?" He held Mat's gaze, when Mat didn't answer "it's fine my boy, your secret is safe with me, I never reveal my client's secret's, especially when it comes to their wand. Finding the perfect wand for you is a matter of pride for me. It wouldn't do well for a customer to leave unsatisfied, now would it?" He arched an eyebrow at Mat.

Mat sighed, feeling that he had to tell him what he could do, "yes I can, I can make shields and explosions."

A thoughtful expression came over Mr Ollivander's face "I thought so. Shields and explosions eh? Ah! I have an idea" he scrambled toward some boxed up a ladder and pulled out another box then came toward Mat again. "Pear Wood with horned serpent horn, 10 inches and resilient." Mat took the wand and could feel that half of it matched him. He couldn't tell what but there was a feeling. He told Ollivander as such. "Fantastic! Now we are getting somewhere!" He disappeared then came back with another wand "try this one." He didn't say what it was this time.

Mat took it, "yes, it's the same feeling, but this feels more hostile, like half of it agrees with me, the other hates me."

"Yes, yes I thought as much, it is Pear Wood and Phoenix Feather. An unusual combination." Ollivander got more and more excited, and Mat started to get frustrated, 10 minutes went by and he tested different wands with the most random of cores, including kneasle hair, troll whisker, kelpie hair and thunderbird feather. He was quite upset that the thunderbird feather didn't suit him, it would have been pretty sweet. Ollivander then brought out a box with a number of small boxes and vials stored within. He gave them to Mat one after the other. Two boxes and a vial in, he found something that resonated within him. It was a vial that seemed to have some sort of material inside. It glowed with a cool, ethereal blue. The material seemed to move on its own, constantly swirling and giving off more of the strange otherworldly light.

Ollivander carried on giving Mat boxes and vials, until, after six more tries he found a box with a stand of hair inside, it was a golden hair. It looked unremarkable but Mat could feel a singing coming from it. Mat closed his eyes and felt the magic that was coming from the hair. "That is alkonost Hair Mr Lawson, the alconost are a creature native to Russia and are known to lure people by their singing. Quite fierce if you interrupt them. The other one is a Banshee Wisp. A banshee is a creature that is native to Europe and lives on swampland, if threatened it screams at its attacker, the scream could easily kill a man. This is very unusual. Rarely have I had to make a wand with two cores. I have never used these two cores for any of my wands either. It will be my pleasure to make this wand for you Mr Lawson. Now, let me get on with my work. I will deliver it to you in person in one week!" And with that he ushered the family out of the shop and locked the door.

"Huh, that was weird." Mat said, looking around Diagon Alley. "Bookshop next?" he asked his parents, they both just shrugged and nodded, following Mat, it had been a strange day for them.

Flourish and Blotts was a bookworm's heaven. And an OCD's nightmare. Books were stacked everywhere, they were barely hanging on to the shelves. The piles of books seemed to be barely staying upright. Some were at nearly a 45-degree angle. Everything in the Wizarding World appeared to defy the laws of physics. Something else to place in the book about the Wizarding World and how weird it was. He was here to collect one of every book in the shop. He would need some sort of filing system for it and get them delivered to his house. Luckily, Flourish and Blotts was not busy that day. Most people in Dagon Alley appeared to be just milling around or getting food. It was about 3pm now though, maybe the wizarding populace don't shop late?

There was a woman at the counter, she looked to be in her early thirties. She had long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail and had a cream coloured blouse and a black skirt with a badge on her left breast. She was reading a book on the counter, looked up and said "hello", then continued reading. The three started looking around the shop. They found all the books for Hogwarts, that was the main mission completed. They placed them in a basket which, no matter how many books you put in, it never got heavier, and you could still place more in it. They marvelled at it for a good 30 seconds and then carried on shopping. Mat eventually walked up to the lady, she gave him a friendly smile as she sensed him walking up to her. "How can I help you?" She asked.

"I would like one of everything please" Mat replied.

The lady, according to her name badge was called Linda, blinked "erm…what?"

"I would like one of every book you have in here please. Would that be a problem Miss?"

"No, no problem at all, we have never had an order so big before. I presume you would like them all delivered to your home?" She started wringing her hands nervously and looked to Mat's parents for confirmation. They both nodded to her and she relaxed a little bit. They ordered every copy in the shop and made it so that they had different deliveries by each subject by next week. Mat took his first year textbooks home. After Flourish and Blotts, they went to Terry's Trunks.

As the name suggested, it sold trunks. It also sold other items such as bags, purses and pouches. Terry, the owner was a tall older gentleman, he wore smart black robes and half-moon glasses. His hair was slicked back and black, slowly going grey. He was stood at the counter next to the entrance. He didn't say anything as they walked in, just tipped his hat and carried on reading the newspaper in front of him. The shop itself had racks and racks of trunks going in alleys, like a warehouse. There were many different types, made from different materials, ranging from ones made from wood, to leather and some that appeared metal. They had price tags on them that looked to be plain cardboard with some string looped through it with the price written on it. They noticed that the trunks at the front varied in price, but one of the lanes the trunks appeared higher quality. The next one less so. They meandered about for a while, looking at the trunks, then Terry walked up to the trio. "Hi there, welcome to Terry's Trunks, can I help you with anything?"

"Yes, my son here is looking for a trunk to last him for his time at Hogwarts." Mat's dad replied.

Terry smiled a welcoming smile and gestured to his shop, sweeping his arm over it "well, I have many trunks here, all of them are of the finest quality. We have trunks that can be expanded to fit a mansion, one that is extremely secure or both or anything in between. It is your choice after all."

"Mat, what do you think?" his dad asked

"Hmmm, I would like one that is secure obviously. But big enough to store all my things with extras." Mat replied.

"Well young Master, we have trunks made from Basilisk skin which is extremely resistant to both magic and physical damage. Our best security we offer is the blood seal. Every time you open the trunk it takes a sample of your blood, you can't feel it though, anyone else who is not authorised to open it will be instantly paralysed until you come and release them with a word of your choice. We also can have it charmed to be featherlight and can be shrunk to the size of a briefcase. There can be up to seven compartments inside the trunk. Each can, as I said, be expanded to fit in a mansion, including the grounds as well. This is the best we can do for you. We can do anything in-between, the choice is yours."

Mat hummed "I would like a trunk with 6 compartments hidden at the bottom, the seventh so look like a normal trunk but expanded inside to hold all my stuff. The 6 compartments would be the size of a room, let's say, 4x4 metres. I will agree to the basilisk skin and blood seal, they seem like the best choices. I would also like the trunk to be shrinkable and featherlight as well please."

"Excellent choice sir. I assure you this trunk will last a lifetime." Terry grinned and shook hands with Mat. Before they counted the money out Mat asked for a Mokeskin pouch. The man smiled happily and pulled one from the counter, told Mat how to use it and handed it to him. Apparently, one could drop anything inside it, think of the item you wanted out of it and it would shoot into your hand. Very handy indeed. It was about the size of the saucer. They counted the money out, 3100 galleons, and left happy.

It was nearing 5pm now and they had to rush to get the other supplies, they went to Slug & Jitters Apothecary first to get the ingredients for potions class. The place stunk. There were… things in jars, most looked like mutated animals. There were vials that were completely unrecognisable, well, until you read the label underneath, then you knew exactly what they were. Luckily the store had a pre prepared Hogwarts box for 10 galleons. They purchased that and left as soon as they could. The lady at the counter didn't seem to care. They were in there for 10 minutes.

They next went to the Cauldron shop, named Potages. It was a pleasant enough place. They had no idea there were so many different styles of cauldrons. They got exactly what they needed from there, a pewter, size 2 Cauldron. The lady who served them was pleasant enough and had seen manty first years before. She was not unpleasant but clearly was not in the mood to chat about cauldrons. She was a middle aged woman, wore white robes with a black pinafore, it had a cauldron emblazoned in the middle. Her mousey brown hair was in a bun, held together with a stick, it could have been her wand. Regardless, they spent about 10 minute there again and left for Wiseacre's.

Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment was a shop that sold items such as telescopes, magnifying glasses, weighing scales and star charts. They wondered around the shop for a while, it was extremely cluttered, and they felt that every time they turned around, they would knock something over. Everything in there would be best suited to an antiques auction. They were all clearly brand new, just technologically inferior. The telescopes for example would have been top of the range, in 1850. Mat knew that everything seemed to be locked in a time bubble in this world, but this was ridiculous. The best thing they found in there was unbreakable glass phials. Mat thought about learning how to make glass unbreakable. Mum would love some unbreakable wine glasses, and his dad, some unbreakable pint glasses. Regardless, they bought the phials and was served by completely unassuming woman at the counter and they left. Mat decided he would get some better things in the muggle world.

The last shop they went too was Scribbulus Writing Instruments. The stationary was as equally outdated as Wiseacre's. The shop was more organised and had all sorts of writing implements, quills, parchment, inks and other miscellaneous writing stuff. There were sections and were all neatly shelved and presented well. There was nothing in there that mat thought was useful. He did try using some of the quills, but he didn't like the feel of them. He decided to get some normal ones, like Biro's or something, that he knew he could write with. He couldn't wait to get laptops working in the future. They left without even seeing any staff members. Scribbulus was right next to the entrance, or exit, to Diagon Alley.

It was nearly 6pm now and they were all tired, so they decided to have some food and go home. It had been a very productive day indeed. They didn't get everything he wanted, but they could easily go to muggle stores to get something far superior than a 19th century telescope. It was about midnight by the time the family of 3 finally got home. Mat had read a couple of books on the train that he took home directly from Diagon Alley. He went to sleep as soon as he got into bed and dreamt to the future.