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-"I say to you all, once again- in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." -Albus Dumbledore Harry Potter IV
I took my heavy bag and my tired, disarrayed, jet-lagged self out of the plane with the chattering Gabrielle. I couldn't hear most of what she was saying, but I smiled and nod just to be polite. Suddenly, Gabrielle shrieked, "Dad!" She ran toward a man who dressed himself in the most peculiar fashioned. The man wore a blue golf hat, a white blouse, and bright red sweatpants. The lady besides him, who wore a laborious scarlet dress, looked very formal and a lot more fitting to the surrounding than the man did. The man and the woman were Gabrielle's parents. After Gabrielle was done talking to them excitedly, she led them to me and introduced me, "Mom, this is Alice. She's going to Hogwarts, too, and like me, it is her first year. I met her at Saleem Alley in America." Gabrielle's mother held out her hand and said, "I'm Ariel Gladstone, Gabrielle's mother. The Minister of Magic asked me to pick you up from here and drive you to the Hogwarts's Express train, but I knew that you would met up with Gabrielle somewhere along the way."
"Hello, nice to meet you."
Then, Gabrielle's dad, the one in the sweatpants and blouse, approached me, too. He held out his man in a respectable and businesslike fashion, "Hello! I'm Zechariah Gladstone."
"Hi! It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, believe me, the pleasure's all mine. I'm very glad to meet a Muggle witch; it shows that maybe Muggles and Wizards aren't that different."
Gabrielle turned to me in surprise and exclaimed, "You are a Muggle witch, the one that the whole Ministry of Magic had been talking about? Why didn't you tell me? It's no wonder now that you knew so much about Muggle stuffs; you are a Muggle."
"I didn't know that the whole Ministry of Magic had been talking about me." I said shyly, "I didn't think that being a Muggle witch was that big a deal. There must be plenty others who are Muggle witches and wizards."
"It is a big deal, because there are very few Muggle born witches and wizards." Explained Mr. Gladstone as we started to walk, "It's the Ministry of Magic's job to tracked all of the Muggle born witches and wizards down and carefully watch over them and tell those wizards and witches the truth when the time is right. Because if they lost their tempers and their magical instincts broke loose, a lot of terrible things can happen and us wizards and witches might be discovered."
I walked out of the airport and into the parking lot with the Gladstone family in silence. Seeing the family filled with happiness and was so closed made me a little sad and homesick. I've only been gone for less than a day, and I had already missed them so much. When we reached toward a nice red car, we stopped, and Mr. Gladstone turned to Gabrielle and said to her, "Gabby, do you want to go home and change out of those- those clothes, or go straight to Diagon Alley to buy your school the rest of your school supplies?"
"It's okay! I'll change on the way in the train to Hogwarts. I cannot wait to buy my wand." Said she excitedly, "Anyway, I'm quite hungry; the food they fed us was dreadfully terrible. I can't believe they would serve us something as horrible as that; those Muggles have no respect for their customers even Aunt Clair's cooking is better than the food they fed us." Clearly, he did not want his daughter to wear those Muggle clothes as much as he himself wanting to wear his and wander around Diagon Alley full of witches and wizards. Reluctantly, he said, "If you say so," and ushered us into the car.
During the drive, Gabrielle asked me hundred of questions about Muggles, and I answered her clumsily trying to keep up with her questions. She only stopped when her father told her not to bother me with those questions, and I suspected that he was tired of hearing all those information in which he didn't want to stock inside his head. I greatly appreciated him for it because I was exhausted, jet-lagged, sleepy, and in an exceedingly horrible mood. Mrs. Gladstone realized the awful state I was in; she gave me a small piece of chocolate and insisted me to eat it. The chocolate was made of some magical cure because I felt a lot better after I ate it. I muttered some thanks to Mrs. Gladstone and tried to rest while Gabrielle chattered on about something with mud and sugar.
I didn't know how long I'd slept for, but I woke up with a bright August sun shining brightly into my eyes. I felt much a great deal better and so much happier ever since the airplane ride. Before I was done grooming and fixing my hair, so that it wouldn't look like a crow nest, we arrived in front of a small hotel/public restaurant called Leaky Cauldron. It was a lot like Merlin's Goblet with round tables filled with wizards and witches some in Muggle clothes and some in regular wizards' robe and witches' gown. There was one difference between Leaky Cauldron and Merlin's Goblet; Leaky Cauldron was much bigger and brighter. The owner was a middle-age man with dark brown hair, furtive eyes, thin lips, and with an upright stature. He wore a dark blouse, dark pair of trousers, and a maroon robe over them. The owner didn't seem as friendly as the kind lady back home, and she was definitely not as sincere. He was very friendly toward Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone and treated them with the utmost respect, but when Mr. Gladstone back was turned toward him, the man gave Gabrielle's father the most malevolence look a man can give another man. The owner was only friendly toward Mr. Gladstone because of his name and reputations. Then again, the owner-I found out later that his name was Horatio Spellane- looked at every one of his customers with disdain.
When the food we ordered arrived, Gabrielle and I ate as if we hadn't eaten for months. Because the food on the plane was horrible, anything here in the restaurant was food made in heaven. Even though we were starved and parched, Gabrielle and I were extremely careful to watch our manners and tried very hard not to be savaging wolves and hyenas. After we, Gabrielle and I, were fed and watered, the Gladstone led me through the Leaky Cauldron, and like Merlin's Goblet, the gate to the Magical world was found at the end of the pub. Diagon Alley was as amazing, as busy, and as beautiful as Saleem Alley only bigger and with much more hustling and bustling. There were more different shops in many different variety and definitely more people. Wizards and witches in many, many styles, colors, and sizes of gowns and robes-there were even young wizards and witches in jeans and T-shirts. There were shops as ancient as Words of Wisdom as gloomy as the Apothecary shops-some even more frightening- there were also shops as fancy as Ink's Splotch with golden engraved words in silver signs that twice as big as a grown man. I stood stunned, amazed, and excited.
"Ariel, why don't you take Gabrielle to buy the rest of her school supplies while I take our little guest her and give her a little tour?" Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone gave one another a nervous and furtive glance. After a few second of silence with Gabrielle looking back and forth at her parents, her eyes lighted up as if she understood the silence language, which is being spoken at this minute of which I am unfamiliar with. Gabrielle finally knew what was a complete mystery to me. "See you later!" she called as she and her mother make their way through the rowdy crowd giving me a knowing wink. I confused, followed Mr. Gladstone mesmerized. He led me through the busy streets, around the corner outside some kind of shop or store, but I found out later that it was neither. Over Mr. Gladstone's shoulder, I can see enormous golden letters Gringrotts magically sparkling above a large glass double door. Mr. Gladstone led me inside and into a corner out of earshot of everyone, and then he said in a small but clear whisper, "You are probably wondering why I brought you here?" I nodded looking very confusedly.
"Well, you have a Gringrotts vault, it was willed to you by a very wealthy wizard."
Hmm? I thought more confused than I was before. Who would know me well enough to leave me a cave full of gold and silver in their will? Who would know me in the Magic world? I didn't even know I was a witch so how could anyone?
"Who?" I asked out loud before I could stop myself.
"He wished to remain anonymous for awhile before we are allowed to tell you, and to tell you the truth even we, the people in the Ministry of Magic, are not certain who left you the money. The goblins won't tell us that who owned the vault before it was willed to you. The goblins just told the Minister that someone left you his or her Gringrotts vault three days ago and won't tell us of whom it was. The goblins are known for their distrust in other people and beasts, but they are very reliable with secrets and important favors.
The goblins said only this. 'If you, the person who inherited the vault, want to know the identity of your benefactor, you'll be able to find that out on your own.'"
"What does that mean? How could I know who give me all those money? I didn't even know that I was a witch until now in the first place. Still, if he said that if I want to know I'll find out, then that's what I'll do. I'm in debt to him, and I would want to repay him in anyway I could. I wouldn't if he wanted to stay anonymous, but he didn't seem to want to stay anonymous. He seemed to want me to find out. Doesn't he?"
"I guess so. I can't make anything out of this. If you find pleasure in pursuing on this wild goose chase, then by all mean do!"
"Couldn't you tell me more of this person or anything else at all on this?"
"Well, I don't for the minute, but if you want I'll find out all I can for you."
"Thanks!"
"Anyway, we better get going people are starting to get suspicious, but it isn't the people I'm worrying about. It's the goblin once they get suspicious they'll do anything or go to any distance to satisfy their suspicion."
Mr. Gladstone reached into his trouser pocket, presented to me a gold plated, rusted key, and put it down in the palm of my hand. The key, though rusted, can still shined and sparkled like glittering star, and at the shamrock like handle carved a tiny number 222. I looked up at the middle- aged man and then back at my key. "It's mine?" I asked to shocked and confused to say anything more. I looked up, and the kind wizard nodded and gave me a reassuring smile.
-"I say to you all, once again- in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." -Albus Dumbledore Harry Potter IV
I took my heavy bag and my tired, disarrayed, jet-lagged self out of the plane with the chattering Gabrielle. I couldn't hear most of what she was saying, but I smiled and nod just to be polite. Suddenly, Gabrielle shrieked, "Dad!" She ran toward a man who dressed himself in the most peculiar fashioned. The man wore a blue golf hat, a white blouse, and bright red sweatpants. The lady besides him, who wore a laborious scarlet dress, looked very formal and a lot more fitting to the surrounding than the man did. The man and the woman were Gabrielle's parents. After Gabrielle was done talking to them excitedly, she led them to me and introduced me, "Mom, this is Alice. She's going to Hogwarts, too, and like me, it is her first year. I met her at Saleem Alley in America." Gabrielle's mother held out her hand and said, "I'm Ariel Gladstone, Gabrielle's mother. The Minister of Magic asked me to pick you up from here and drive you to the Hogwarts's Express train, but I knew that you would met up with Gabrielle somewhere along the way."
"Hello, nice to meet you."
Then, Gabrielle's dad, the one in the sweatpants and blouse, approached me, too. He held out his man in a respectable and businesslike fashion, "Hello! I'm Zechariah Gladstone."
"Hi! It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, believe me, the pleasure's all mine. I'm very glad to meet a Muggle witch; it shows that maybe Muggles and Wizards aren't that different."
Gabrielle turned to me in surprise and exclaimed, "You are a Muggle witch, the one that the whole Ministry of Magic had been talking about? Why didn't you tell me? It's no wonder now that you knew so much about Muggle stuffs; you are a Muggle."
"I didn't know that the whole Ministry of Magic had been talking about me." I said shyly, "I didn't think that being a Muggle witch was that big a deal. There must be plenty others who are Muggle witches and wizards."
"It is a big deal, because there are very few Muggle born witches and wizards." Explained Mr. Gladstone as we started to walk, "It's the Ministry of Magic's job to tracked all of the Muggle born witches and wizards down and carefully watch over them and tell those wizards and witches the truth when the time is right. Because if they lost their tempers and their magical instincts broke loose, a lot of terrible things can happen and us wizards and witches might be discovered."
I walked out of the airport and into the parking lot with the Gladstone family in silence. Seeing the family filled with happiness and was so closed made me a little sad and homesick. I've only been gone for less than a day, and I had already missed them so much. When we reached toward a nice red car, we stopped, and Mr. Gladstone turned to Gabrielle and said to her, "Gabby, do you want to go home and change out of those- those clothes, or go straight to Diagon Alley to buy your school the rest of your school supplies?"
"It's okay! I'll change on the way in the train to Hogwarts. I cannot wait to buy my wand." Said she excitedly, "Anyway, I'm quite hungry; the food they fed us was dreadfully terrible. I can't believe they would serve us something as horrible as that; those Muggles have no respect for their customers even Aunt Clair's cooking is better than the food they fed us." Clearly, he did not want his daughter to wear those Muggle clothes as much as he himself wanting to wear his and wander around Diagon Alley full of witches and wizards. Reluctantly, he said, "If you say so," and ushered us into the car.
During the drive, Gabrielle asked me hundred of questions about Muggles, and I answered her clumsily trying to keep up with her questions. She only stopped when her father told her not to bother me with those questions, and I suspected that he was tired of hearing all those information in which he didn't want to stock inside his head. I greatly appreciated him for it because I was exhausted, jet-lagged, sleepy, and in an exceedingly horrible mood. Mrs. Gladstone realized the awful state I was in; she gave me a small piece of chocolate and insisted me to eat it. The chocolate was made of some magical cure because I felt a lot better after I ate it. I muttered some thanks to Mrs. Gladstone and tried to rest while Gabrielle chattered on about something with mud and sugar.
I didn't know how long I'd slept for, but I woke up with a bright August sun shining brightly into my eyes. I felt much a great deal better and so much happier ever since the airplane ride. Before I was done grooming and fixing my hair, so that it wouldn't look like a crow nest, we arrived in front of a small hotel/public restaurant called Leaky Cauldron. It was a lot like Merlin's Goblet with round tables filled with wizards and witches some in Muggle clothes and some in regular wizards' robe and witches' gown. There was one difference between Leaky Cauldron and Merlin's Goblet; Leaky Cauldron was much bigger and brighter. The owner was a middle-age man with dark brown hair, furtive eyes, thin lips, and with an upright stature. He wore a dark blouse, dark pair of trousers, and a maroon robe over them. The owner didn't seem as friendly as the kind lady back home, and she was definitely not as sincere. He was very friendly toward Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone and treated them with the utmost respect, but when Mr. Gladstone back was turned toward him, the man gave Gabrielle's father the most malevolence look a man can give another man. The owner was only friendly toward Mr. Gladstone because of his name and reputations. Then again, the owner-I found out later that his name was Horatio Spellane- looked at every one of his customers with disdain.
When the food we ordered arrived, Gabrielle and I ate as if we hadn't eaten for months. Because the food on the plane was horrible, anything here in the restaurant was food made in heaven. Even though we were starved and parched, Gabrielle and I were extremely careful to watch our manners and tried very hard not to be savaging wolves and hyenas. After we, Gabrielle and I, were fed and watered, the Gladstone led me through the Leaky Cauldron, and like Merlin's Goblet, the gate to the Magical world was found at the end of the pub. Diagon Alley was as amazing, as busy, and as beautiful as Saleem Alley only bigger and with much more hustling and bustling. There were more different shops in many different variety and definitely more people. Wizards and witches in many, many styles, colors, and sizes of gowns and robes-there were even young wizards and witches in jeans and T-shirts. There were shops as ancient as Words of Wisdom as gloomy as the Apothecary shops-some even more frightening- there were also shops as fancy as Ink's Splotch with golden engraved words in silver signs that twice as big as a grown man. I stood stunned, amazed, and excited.
"Ariel, why don't you take Gabrielle to buy the rest of her school supplies while I take our little guest her and give her a little tour?" Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone gave one another a nervous and furtive glance. After a few second of silence with Gabrielle looking back and forth at her parents, her eyes lighted up as if she understood the silence language, which is being spoken at this minute of which I am unfamiliar with. Gabrielle finally knew what was a complete mystery to me. "See you later!" she called as she and her mother make their way through the rowdy crowd giving me a knowing wink. I confused, followed Mr. Gladstone mesmerized. He led me through the busy streets, around the corner outside some kind of shop or store, but I found out later that it was neither. Over Mr. Gladstone's shoulder, I can see enormous golden letters Gringrotts magically sparkling above a large glass double door. Mr. Gladstone led me inside and into a corner out of earshot of everyone, and then he said in a small but clear whisper, "You are probably wondering why I brought you here?" I nodded looking very confusedly.
"Well, you have a Gringrotts vault, it was willed to you by a very wealthy wizard."
Hmm? I thought more confused than I was before. Who would know me well enough to leave me a cave full of gold and silver in their will? Who would know me in the Magic world? I didn't even know I was a witch so how could anyone?
"Who?" I asked out loud before I could stop myself.
"He wished to remain anonymous for awhile before we are allowed to tell you, and to tell you the truth even we, the people in the Ministry of Magic, are not certain who left you the money. The goblins won't tell us that who owned the vault before it was willed to you. The goblins just told the Minister that someone left you his or her Gringrotts vault three days ago and won't tell us of whom it was. The goblins are known for their distrust in other people and beasts, but they are very reliable with secrets and important favors.
The goblins said only this. 'If you, the person who inherited the vault, want to know the identity of your benefactor, you'll be able to find that out on your own.'"
"What does that mean? How could I know who give me all those money? I didn't even know that I was a witch until now in the first place. Still, if he said that if I want to know I'll find out, then that's what I'll do. I'm in debt to him, and I would want to repay him in anyway I could. I wouldn't if he wanted to stay anonymous, but he didn't seem to want to stay anonymous. He seemed to want me to find out. Doesn't he?"
"I guess so. I can't make anything out of this. If you find pleasure in pursuing on this wild goose chase, then by all mean do!"
"Couldn't you tell me more of this person or anything else at all on this?"
"Well, I don't for the minute, but if you want I'll find out all I can for you."
"Thanks!"
"Anyway, we better get going people are starting to get suspicious, but it isn't the people I'm worrying about. It's the goblin once they get suspicious they'll do anything or go to any distance to satisfy their suspicion."
Mr. Gladstone reached into his trouser pocket, presented to me a gold plated, rusted key, and put it down in the palm of my hand. The key, though rusted, can still shined and sparkled like glittering star, and at the shamrock like handle carved a tiny number 222. I looked up at the middle- aged man and then back at my key. "It's mine?" I asked to shocked and confused to say anything more. I looked up, and the kind wizard nodded and gave me a reassuring smile.