Disclaimer: I know I do not own anything Harry Potter or anything that has to do with Hogwarts. I did make up my own characters and the storyline is also made by me. The names of the books and their authors are also JK Rowling's as well as the shop names and all of the wand names are from Harrypotter.com!
A/N: Thank you for your reviews! I really appreciate it! And to answer your question TitanicHobbit, I really have no idea where this story is going. I'm writing off the top of my head and perhaps Harry Potter will be in here somewhere but I don't know!
Also, I'm expecting this chapter to be quite long so be prepared!
Chapter Four: Diagon Alley
"Lena! You have to get up! We're going to that diagonal place today, remember?" Mr. Rose shouted up the stairs. Lena was already up and getting changed when she heard him call. When she finished getting changed, she charged into the bathroom to do her hair. There was really not much to do with it; it was short, dark and curly. She just sprayed it with water a few times and then put hair gel in it. Lena was very excited as she jumped down the stairs two at a time.
"Whoa, Lena!" Mrs. Rose was once again almost run over by her daughter who came bolting out of nowhere. "Somebody's excited." Lena just raided the refrigerator and pulled out an apple. Her stomach was too jumpy to have a full breakfast. Lena was sure that this day would be interesting. She had no idea what was going to happen but this witch thing seemed too real to her. Lena sat down and ate her apple faster than she had ever eaten anything before. When she finished eating, she was about to go out the door when she realized that her parents were still eating and drinking their coffee. Lena sighed, grumbled and fell back into her chair at the table. She rested her head in her palms and sighed again. For the first time in her life, she was ready before her parents. I am never letting this happen ever again. She made a mental note of this.
"Why is it that when I'm ready, you guys aren't?" Lena groaned a couple minutes later when her parents were finally getting up from the table to get their shoes on. Lena sprang out of her chair and stood at the door waiting. Her parents seemed to be moving in slow motion. Lena made sure they brought her letter with them that told them where to go. Lena asked to look at it. She read through her list again and looked at the directions. They were going to some sort of pub where they would show the bartender their letter. This man would then lead them to Diagon Alley.
The Rose family piled into the car at last and took off. They had driven by the pub before and knew where they were going. Lena kept asking them if they could go faster. Everything seemed to be moving slowly today. Why aren't we there by now? Lena kept asking herself questions and could not get herself to calm down. She didn't even know where she was going and she was excited as though she was going to an amusement park.
The car came to a halt in front of a shady looking pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Lena didn't much like the look of it from the outside and was glad to be with her parents. She got out of the car and looked back at her mom and dad. They looked a bit worried as well. Together they walked inside and went up to the bar. As soon as they reached it, the bartender came walking over.
"Why hello there! How may I help you?" The man asked. He looked old and was very chipper and cheery for this dark place. Lena lifted her shaky hand. She could just see over the top of the bar counter. She held out the letter to the man and he looked at it carefully and motioned with is hand for them to follow him. He told another person working there to take over for him while he helped out some customers. He led them through the back door and outside. It wasn't much of an outside but rather a brick wall with little room to stand. He pulled out a rather long stick from deep inside his pockets. Then he tapped a few of the bricks and was about to hit the last one when he turned to look at the family.
"Welcome," He tapped the last brick, "to Diagon Alley." The bricks began to move and reveal a large doorway into a street filled with children and their parents. Lena was shocked to see that all of this was hidden behind a brick wall. Mr. And Mrs. Rose looked quite shocked as well. The bartender gave Lena back her letter.
"You can get every one of those things here." The man said to Lena, then he turned to Mr. And Mrs. Rose, "And you two have obviously never done this before so I suggest that you talk to that large man with the beard. He's real friendly and knows how to deal with muggle parents quite well." The bartender bent back down to look at Lena. "You'll love it here, Ms. Rose. I'm sure you'll make many friends!" and with that said he sent them off into the street. The Rose family held hands while they walked past may shops. Lena was looking all around, her shock fading and her eyes twinkling. She saw one shop full of different creatures. At the end of the hallway of shops, she saw a slightly slanted marble building that stood tall above the rest. She could just make out the engraved letters on the top of the archway: Gringotts. Her mother, who was next to her, pulled her arm as they walked to the right side of the street to talk with a very large man.
"Why 'ello, there!" The man said in a deep voice. He had a very strong accent. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid." The man held out his enormous hand to Mr. Rose who held out his own. The four of them sat down outside of Florean Fertescue's Ice Cream Parlor that they were standing in front of. Hagrid seemed like a very nice man even if he was a bit larger than most people. He went on to tell the Rose family of Hogwarts School. They were told of how things were set up, such as the common rooms as well as the classes. Lena was listening very intensely as Hagrid talked about som of the different classes she'd be taking. The Rose family seemed to warm up to the idea once everything was explained and their questions were answered. They were just about to get up when Hagrid stopped them.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Yeh see that there buildin' way down there?" He pointed to Gringotts. "Tha's where you'll be getting' yer money from. These folks don' accept muggle money. I'm sure you'll be able ter make a trade with the goblins." At this the Rose family shuddered a bit. Hagrid laughed, "Well, if you put it tha' way, I'll go with yeh!" He laughed again. Lena liked the sound of his laugh. She half expected it to be scary but he had a very jolly laugh.
The bank's goblins were quite different from what the Rose family expected. They were much shorter and less slimy and scary looking than what they pictured. Hagrid helped them exchange all of the "muggle money" they needed for Lena's things into the…other money. There were large coins that Lena had never seen before in her life as well as names she had never heard of. When they left the bank, Hagrid told them that they could find everything they need and more if they just take a look around. Lena became excited once again and was dragging her parents to the store she saw earlier with the animals inside it.
"Lena, hold on!" Mrs. Rose yelled. She was beginning to get used to this witch thing as she saw many parents with their kids buying things like owls and brooms. She turned back to her daughter who was looking right back at her. "Well, I think we should go down this list and try to find everything that you need…in order." Lena smiled. She was expecting to wake up at any moment. This was the best day of her entire life! Lena pulled out her letter and read the first thing.
"Well, I need, three sets of plain work robes, one plain pointed hat for day wear and one pair of dragon hide gloves." Lena giggled. She couldn't believe that her parents were going through with this. Well, Hagrid was the main reason otherwise they would probably have left. They went looking for a store that had clothing in it and found one down near Gringotts. Madame Maltin's Robes for All Occasions was their one stop for clothing needs and they moved on down the list.
And the following books:
1. The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk
2. A Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
3. A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
4. Magical Theory by Adabert Waffling
5. A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
6. Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
7. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
8. The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Trimble
Lena and her parents looked all over for a bookstore but were unable to find one. Lena worked up her courage and asked an older girl that was nearby. She had shoulder length brownish red hair and looked very friendly. Lena simply marched up to her and said, "Excuse me?" April turned her head and looked at Lena. From up close, April was much taller and had very strong looking arms. Lena opened her mouth again, "I was wondering where I can get all of my books." Lena wasn't too shy when she needed something but when she spoke to anyone she didn't know, she had a very small voice.
"Well, there's a little shop down here called Flourish and Blotts where I know you'll be able to find everything you're looking for," the girl smiled. "You're a first year, right?" She had a thoughtful look on her face, almost a confused look. Lena nodded. "Why do you have an American accent?" Lena quickly explained her move from the USA and the girl smiled again and nodded. "Well, you best be on your way then, huh?" Lena thanked her for her help. Just as she was turning back to her parents the girl said, "I'm April Jacobsen, by the way. I'm a fourth year in Gryffindor." Lena smiled and said her own name April suddenly realized that Lena had no idea what she was talking about. "Well, you'll find out once you get to the school. I hope you're in Gryffindor too, you seem like a nice kid." Lena smiled and the two departed. Lena went back to her parents and they wandered off to Flourish and Blotts.
Lena was very excited about getting her wand. She figured that that would probably be the most used tool for a witch. They found Ollivander's a store for buying wands. The Rose family entered it and saw tall bookshelves as high as the ceiling filled with long cases. The cases were not evenly placed and they looked like they were thrown into the bookshelves. Mr. Ollivander came up to Lena and asked her to put down her things so he could take measurements. He pulled out a tape measure and began to measure her arm length and such. When he finished, Mr. Ollivander wandered through the isles of wand cases. He pulled out a reddish box. Inside was a fine looking wand.
"Holly, 10 inches, with a Pheonix feather. Now, all I need you to do is hold it in your writing hand," Lena grasped the wand handle with her right hand, "and swish it a bit like this." The old man demonstrated a graceful swish of his arm. Lena copied Mr. Ollivander's movement and broke small table lamp that held a candle inside. Lena quickly apologized to Mr. Ollivander who said it happens all the time. He took the wand from Lena and put it back in a random spot. He then pulled out another box, a black one. He placed it on the desk that once had a table lamp on it, and opened it up. Inside was a very light wood wand with a darker handle.
"Mahogany, 8 inches with a couple hairs from a unicorn's tail." Mr. And Mrs. Rose looked at each other. Lena did the same little swish and made another candle explode. "Oh dear…that one is not for you." Again Mr. Ollivander went in search for a wand. He pulled out a blue box which held a reddish wand with a pinker handle.
"Ash, Dragon Heartstring, 11 inches." Lena swished this third wand and a random wand case came flying out at her knocking her over. "Oh! Very good, Ms. Rose!" Mr. Ollivander was so pleased. He must really love his job. Lena thought to herself with a laugh as she pushed herself up off of the floor.
After Lena had gotten everything on her list, she asked for one more -optional- thing. "Oh Mom, Dad, can I please get a pet? Please? Lena wanted an owl very badly. She had seen cats as house pets and her second grade class had had toads for class pets. She thought of an owl as being very unusual but fun. Her parents gave in when she went into how she never got her birthday present. She squeaked with joy and dragged her parents to Eyelops Owl Emporium. There were many different kinds of owls. Lena liked the snowy owl best there was one that she was particularly attracted to and she went to grab its cage when another hand was also on the cage. It was a boy about Lena's age with sort of messy, ear length, light brown hair. He had blazing blue eyes that looked like they could light up the sky at night.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Lena gasped taking her hand off of the cage. The boy smiled and took the cage off of the low shelf. He handed the cage with the snowy owl inside of it to Lena.
"Here, you can have her." He flicked some of his straight hair out of his eye. Lena smiled and thanked him. She could hardly blink. His eyes were so amazingly blue that she thought she could swim in them forever.
"Owen? Owen where-Oh here you are!" The boy's mother had come over to him. "Hi there, I'm Owen's mom, and you are…"
"I'm Lena Rose."
"Well, it was great meeting you Lena!" Owen's mother started to walk away with Owen when he asked if Lena was a first year too. She nodded as her own parents came over. Both parents began to talk and Lena walked around the store with Owen to find another owl that he might like. They passed many beautiful owls. When they had gone around the room once, Owen made up his mind.
"I think I want that brown one over there." He pointed to the opposite side of the store. The owl he picked out was a dark brown and had an off-white face color. Lena thought it was an excellent choice. As soon as Owen had taken his owl off the shelf, all four parents came over to the two of them. Then they all got in line to buy their new owls.
The Rose family went back through the Leaky Cauldron and got back into their car. They were very tired from the day and Lena was sure to thank her parents for taking her. The entire family was finally convinced that there really was a school of witchcraft. Lena had one month before she actually got to go to this school. She would have to sleep over at a school for many months. Well, it will sure be a change! Lena was so happy nothing could get her down.
"Lena honey, the Quirkes…er Owen's parents were telling us about the train ride you have to take to get to the school. The platform that the train is on was…oh what was it honey?" Mrs. Rose turned to her husband.
"Nine and three quarters."
"Oh yes, thank you. Anyway, you're train sounds very elegant and there will be all kids so it sounds like you'll have fun. It'll take some getting used to, for all of us, but as long as you are having fun!" Mrs. Rose turned around in her seat to look at Lena who was petting her owl through the bars in the cage. "Lena, have you thought of a name for your owl?"
"I think I'll name her…Opal." Lena nodded and her owl hooted.
"Opal it is then!" Mr. Rose said with a smile.
A/N: Please tell me what you think so far! Do you think my story sucks? Or do you actually enjoy reading this?
