During the next week, Victoria MacKenna and her parents took a short trip to London to visit Diagon Alley. It was here that they would buy the supplies Victoria would need to start at Hogwarts. Having bought nearly everything on her list, Victoria and her parents headed to Ollivanders where she would purchase her very first wand.

            "Honey, are you sure you don't want a new owl as well?" Her mother asked as they passed a shop full of hooting owls. Victoria looked up at her mother in shock. "Of course not! Feldon is coming with me!" She had owned Feldon, an aging White-faced Scops Owl since she was a young girl and she loved him dearly. Just the thought of buying a new owl to take his place at Hogwarts almost brought tears to her eyes. Luckily, as they continued on their way something caught her eye. "Ooooh, would you look at that?" She pressed her hands against the window, staring in at the broomstick. "Nimbus Two Thousand and One… Now that's something I wouldn't mind having!" She stared at it as she heard her mother sigh. "Victoria it was only last Christmas we got you a Nimbus Two Thousand. You don't need a new one every year."

            "But mom, this one's way better than my rickety old one!" She turned to her mother, a pleading look on her face.

            Shaking her head, her mother led the way to Ollivanders, holding the door open for her now cross daughter.

            "Ahhh the MacKenna's…" Mr. Ollivander himself was standing behind the counter of his store as though he had been expecting them. Victoria stood in front of the counter, her mood changed to one of amazement, looking up at all the boxes of wands covering every last inch of shelf. Her parents talked for a moment to Mr. Ollivander before she felt his eyes on her. She looked up to him shyly.

            "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, young Miss MacKenna. A very special time this is for you." He studied her a moment before heading off, leaving her feeling just a bit nervous. He returned soon enough, opening a box and handing her a wand. "This one is made of the finest holly…eleven inches with a unicorn hair at its core. Go ahead, try it out." Victoria looked nervously up at her father, then her mother before taking the wand, swallowing hard. Turning around, she swished it a bit but nothing happened. She frowned in disappointment.

            "Hmm definitely not the one for you." Mr. Ollivander walked around the counter, taking the wand from her and hurrying to another corner of the store to grab another box. "Ahhh yes. Beech, eleven and a half inches, feather of a phoenix." He stopped in front of Victoria, handing her the wand. She took it and waved it, watching as the glass pane in the door burst outward into the street, scattering into a thousand pieces. Wincing, she handed the wand back to Mr. Ollivander. "Sorry about that…" He hurried away again, not at all worried about the broken window. "Worse things have happened! I do believe I know exactly what you need." She looked up to her parents again, who were smiling down at her. "Ahhh yes…." He came back and handed her a beautifully colored wand. She took it gingerly in her hand and she looked down at it. "Made of Yew, this one is, with a handle of Ebony. Thirteen inches, dragon heartstring." She gave it a flick and watched in amazement as a breeze of fresh air swept through the store, causing the candles to flicker. Just as quickly as it had come, the breeze was gone and Mr. Ollivander had taken the wand back and began to wrap it for her. "I do not doubt you will accomplish great things with this wand!" He gave her a friendly smile as he handed her the wrapped box. "Enjoy your first year at Hogwarts my dear."

            The family stayed the night at a local inn before heading home bright and early the next morning. Victoria talked non-stop about Hogwarts the moment she got in the car. "Dad, how old were you when you got on the Quidditch team?" She asked, when they were nearly halfway home.

            "I didn't get on the team until my third year. But after our first match, they regretted not having me earlier. Said I was the best Keeper they'd had in at least a decade. We won 220 to 0. None of the Slytherins could look the Gryffindors in the face for weeks!" He laughed at the memory.

            "I don't think I'll ever get on the team. At least not until the Weasley twins leave. I've heard how good they are!"

            "You might be the best Beater out of the kids at home, but you're an even better Seeker, you know." Her mother had turned in her seat to look back at Victoria. She felt her cheeks get hot as her mother turned back again.

            "Mom, you know just as well as I do who Gryffindor's Seeker is. I could never replace…Har…him."

            "Ohhh that Harry Potter. I hear he's such a nice young man. And a cute one too." She turned to glance at Victoria again, a grin on her face. "You make sure to be sweet to him, you never know what might…"

            "MOM!!!" Victoria was quick to interrupt her mom. If arranged marriages were still the style, her mother would have found a way to have her and Harry betrothed at birth.

            Her father laughed again. "No, you watch out for him. If he is as much like James as they say, he'll always have a knack for finding trouble."

            Sighing heavily and rolling her eyes, Victoria stared out the window, hoping for silence until they got home.