centerChapter 2 - Diagon Alley/center
After McGonagall had answered all the questions, she told them that a wizarding family had agreed to take Liz shopping for school supplies.
"And they have a son about your age, so you won't be lonely. Now I must go. Oh, and here are your tickets for the Hogwarts Express. The Weasleys will be here at about eleven in the morning Tuesday of next week to pick you up. Goodbye!" And she was out the door.
Liz sank slowly onto the sofa. This was completely overwhelming. The large amounts of information in such a short amount of time made her head ache. She needed to talk to someone. She needed to talk to Emma.
Emma had long since gone up to her room, soon after Liz had learned her real father's name. Liz climbed the stairs two at a time up to her sister's room. "Emma? Oh, there you are!" Emma was on her bed, arms folded, legs crossed, looking for all the world like she was trying to roll herself into a little ball. "This is insane, Emma. I've read about legends of magic and everything, but there's never been actual proof. This is so-Emma? Are you all right?"
Emma's face was pursed up sourly. At Liz's words, she sucked in her cheeks. "Yes. Perfectly fine. Go away."
"W-why, Emma?"
"Because you're strange. You're the daughter of some lunatic who saved magic. Well, I wish he would have lost and magic would have been over. Then you wouldn't be a freak."
"I'm not a-"
"You're going to a boarding school to learn magic. You're a freak."
Life had dealt a blow the tiny eleven-year-old couldn't bear. Because her parents were magic, because she was magic, she had lost her best friend. Liz ran to her room in tears.
For the next week, Liz stayed in her room. She only came out to bring her meals upstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had congratulated her repeatedly, but none of that mattered. She had lost her best friend; that was all that mattered.
On Tuesday at around eleven, the doorbell rang. Liz ran to answer it. Beyond it, she found a tall red-haired man, a woman with big brown bushy hair and a knowledgeable air about her, a tall girl who looked like the woman, and a tall boy who resembled the man.
"Hello," said the man. "We're the Weasleys. And you must be Liz."
"Yes, I am," Liz replied, grinning for the first time in days. "Come in."
"Oh, Ron, she does look like Luna," the woman said, stepping across the threshold.
"You knew my mother?"
"Yes, but we knew your father better. He was our best friend at school."
There was an awkward silence, in which all three children looked at the adult Weasleys, who seemed to be restraining tears.
"Well!" Mrs. Weasley said brightly after a few seconds. "We haven't had proper introductions yet. I'm Hermione Weasley, this is my husband Ron Weasley, and these are our children, Jessica and Michael. Michael is going to be a first-year just like you."
"'Lo," the boy said. Liz grinned.
"McGonagall explained everything that needed to be explained, correct?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Yes. She told me about the four Houses of Hogwarts, Quidditch, the point system, a couple of means of transportation.just about everything."
"And you remember it all?" Mr. Weasley said, unbelievingly. His wife beamed from behind him at Liz, who nodded.
"Well then, I wonder if we could possibly borrow your fireplace," Mr. Weasley asked.
"I'll have to ask my mum," Liz said. "Are we going to Diagon Alley?"
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley told her. Liz ran off and returned a few seconds later with her mother's acceptance.
Jessica took out a bag of Floo powder and tossed some into the fire. The flames turned a glittery green. She stepped in, yelled, "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared.
"Go on, Liz. Michael will come right after you," Mrs. Weasley said.
Liz nodded, took a deep breath, stepped in, and echoed Jessica. The green flames whirled around her, and she stepped out as they stopped. Jessica was waiting for her.
"Was that fun?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was!" Liz responded, surprised with herself. "Will we do it again?"
"Later. Here comes Michael."
Michael appeared, his red hair blackened with soot. "Wicked!" he promptly exclaimed, hopping out. "I love using Floo powder!"
"I don't know, it gives me a headache," Jessica said. "Liz liked it, though."
"It was fun," Liz grinned.
"You think so?" Michael asked her. "Finally, someone who agrees with me!"
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came presently, and after the three females had shaken out their hair, the family plus Liz headed to the streets to look for a store.
"Where first?" Michael asked.
"Gringotts, son," Mr. Weasley answered. "We need money to buy things."
"I know that," Michael said, rolling his eyes secretly to Liz. "Parents," he muttered. Liz giggled.
"Here we are," Mrs. Weasley said as they stood before a snow-white building that loomed above all the other shops. Michael led Liz inside.
"Wow," she said in awe. It was just like at a Muggle bank, but with strange creatures for tellers.
"They're goblins," Jessica said, seeing the look on Liz's face. "They run Gringotts."
"Aren't they awesome?" Michael said.
"We've come to take some money from the Weasley safe and Elizabeth Potter's safe," Mr. Weasley said to one of the goblins, who asked for keys.
"I have a safe?" Liz asked. "McGonagall forgot to mention that."
"But she did give us your key," Mrs. Weasley said. Mr. Weasley beckoned to the rest of the family to follow a goblin to the safes.
The path to the safes was dark and cold, and the ride there (in a rickety old cart that Liz figured had been there since before her father's school day) was bumpy and unnerving. Liz clutched the side while Michael did the same. Both of them pitched forward when the cart stopped abruptly.
"Here we are," the goblin said, hopping nimbly out of the cart. "The Weasley vault."
Mr. Weasley handed him the key, which he used to open the vault. Inside were mounds of coins, gold, silver, and bronze. Liz's jaw dropped in amazement.
"Dad's job pays pretty good," Michael told her. "He's pretty important in the Ministry. And Mum's a teacher. Doesn't hurt."
"Does she teach at Hogwarts?" Liz asked in surprise.
"Yes. She teaches Transfiguration."
Mrs. Weasley gathered some of the money up and stuffed it into her bag. "All right, then. Off to Elizabeth's vault."
Liz was glad when the cart finally stopped at her vault. As the goblin unlocked it, Mr. Weasley told her quietly, "If you thought our vault was full, wait until you see yours."
"But I don't-oh, my gosh!" Heaps and heaps of coins stretched toward the ceiling. Liz was afraid to take any coins from the bottom for fear the rest might come crashing down around them.
"How did I get so much?" Liz asked in amazement, stepping inside.
"Your father was an Auror. A Dark wizard catcher. Paid pretty well, but considering he risked his life and lost it, well, not enough to compensate for that," Mrs. Weasley said sadly.
Liz's joy wilted at the thought of her father being paid to die in the end. This was blood money.
"Are you going to take some or not?" the goblin asked impatiently. Liz took a bunch of coins and stuffed them hurriedly into her bag.
After another jostling ride in the cart, the Weasleys led Liz out of the bank.
"Where to?" Jessica asked, once they were in the bright outdoors. Michael suggested they buy their wands at Ollivander's, so everyone headed to the wand shop.
Michael opened the door, and a hovering bell rang to signify their arrival. From behind cases of shelves full of long, thin boxes, a tiny old man appeared. He took out a tape measurer and began to measure Michael.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome," he said, letting the tape measurer continue on its own. "Let's get right down to business, now, shall we. Here, try this one out," he told Michael, handing him a wand while the tape measurer moved on to Liz. Michael gave it a wave, but nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander handed him another, but took it away almost instantly. "Never fear. Try this." This one worked. As Michael waved it around, tiny sparks flew from the end of it.
"Delightful! Simply delightful. Now for you," he said to Liz, snapping up the tape measurer in mid-measure and handing her a wand. She had barely moved it when another box, off the top of one of the shelves, floated down, landed in her other hand, and opened itself.
Mr. Ollivander's eyes nearly burst out of his eye sockets. "Astounding!" he said breathlessly. "I've never seen that happen before. Try it out, then."
Liz picked it up and instantly felt a rush of heat course through her body. At the first movement, the wand scattered a shower of sparks upon the floor.
"Amazing," Mr. Ollivander breathed.
Mrs. Weasley and Liz paid for the wands, and they left Mr. Ollivander to himself, still muttering fervently about astounding wands.
"Oh! Oh, Mum, may I please have an owl?" Michael asked suddenly, pointing to Eeylop's Owl Emporium.
"Well, all right. I suppose it would be useful," Mrs. Weasley said. "Liz, would you like one, too?"
"I can buy it," Liz said.
"Come on, let's go!" Michael exclaimed, saving his mother and Liz the trouble of haggling over who would buy the bird.
Inside the shop, it smelled of owl droppings and cage cleaner. Liz looked around at all the owls and spotted the perfect one instantly. It was tiny and snow-white with tiny black eyes. It gave a soft hoot as Liz approached. She took the cage off its hanger, cooing softly, and asked the harassed- looking wizard whether it was a boy or a girl.
"Girl," he replied, trying to check out three customers at once.
"Luna," Liz said to the owl. "Your name is Luna."
After Michael found his perfect owl, a magnificent tawny he called George (Liz got the gist that it was one of his uncles' names), they shopped around. They had to get cauldrons, uniforms, book, crystal phials, a telescope for each, brass scales.and that was only Michael and Liz. Jessica, who would be starting her third year at Hogwarts, was taking new classes, and her robes were getting short on her. So it was well into the afternoon when they finished their shopping.
Liz and Michael had shared an ice cream earlier while Jessica searched for her new books. Then they found a fireplace to travel back in and returned to Liz's house.
"That was so much fun," Liz said.
"I know. Wicked!" Michael agreed.
"Will you take me next year?" she asked excitedly.
"Absolutely. Now, McGonagall gave you your train tickets," Mr. Weasley said. "We'll try to find you there, but I can't make any promises. It gets a bit hectic."
Liz nodded as Mrs. Smith entered the room. "Thank you for taking Liz shopping," she said.
"Oh, no problem," Mr. Weasley said. "She and Michael have become fast friends."
Both Liz and Michael beamed and nodded.
"Well, we'll see you on September first. Goodbye," Mr. Weasley said. Michael waved as they exited through the front door and Liz waved back, grinning as she thought of going to school.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Smith inquired, "Why have you got an owl?"
After McGonagall had answered all the questions, she told them that a wizarding family had agreed to take Liz shopping for school supplies.
"And they have a son about your age, so you won't be lonely. Now I must go. Oh, and here are your tickets for the Hogwarts Express. The Weasleys will be here at about eleven in the morning Tuesday of next week to pick you up. Goodbye!" And she was out the door.
Liz sank slowly onto the sofa. This was completely overwhelming. The large amounts of information in such a short amount of time made her head ache. She needed to talk to someone. She needed to talk to Emma.
Emma had long since gone up to her room, soon after Liz had learned her real father's name. Liz climbed the stairs two at a time up to her sister's room. "Emma? Oh, there you are!" Emma was on her bed, arms folded, legs crossed, looking for all the world like she was trying to roll herself into a little ball. "This is insane, Emma. I've read about legends of magic and everything, but there's never been actual proof. This is so-Emma? Are you all right?"
Emma's face was pursed up sourly. At Liz's words, she sucked in her cheeks. "Yes. Perfectly fine. Go away."
"W-why, Emma?"
"Because you're strange. You're the daughter of some lunatic who saved magic. Well, I wish he would have lost and magic would have been over. Then you wouldn't be a freak."
"I'm not a-"
"You're going to a boarding school to learn magic. You're a freak."
Life had dealt a blow the tiny eleven-year-old couldn't bear. Because her parents were magic, because she was magic, she had lost her best friend. Liz ran to her room in tears.
For the next week, Liz stayed in her room. She only came out to bring her meals upstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had congratulated her repeatedly, but none of that mattered. She had lost her best friend; that was all that mattered.
On Tuesday at around eleven, the doorbell rang. Liz ran to answer it. Beyond it, she found a tall red-haired man, a woman with big brown bushy hair and a knowledgeable air about her, a tall girl who looked like the woman, and a tall boy who resembled the man.
"Hello," said the man. "We're the Weasleys. And you must be Liz."
"Yes, I am," Liz replied, grinning for the first time in days. "Come in."
"Oh, Ron, she does look like Luna," the woman said, stepping across the threshold.
"You knew my mother?"
"Yes, but we knew your father better. He was our best friend at school."
There was an awkward silence, in which all three children looked at the adult Weasleys, who seemed to be restraining tears.
"Well!" Mrs. Weasley said brightly after a few seconds. "We haven't had proper introductions yet. I'm Hermione Weasley, this is my husband Ron Weasley, and these are our children, Jessica and Michael. Michael is going to be a first-year just like you."
"'Lo," the boy said. Liz grinned.
"McGonagall explained everything that needed to be explained, correct?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Yes. She told me about the four Houses of Hogwarts, Quidditch, the point system, a couple of means of transportation.just about everything."
"And you remember it all?" Mr. Weasley said, unbelievingly. His wife beamed from behind him at Liz, who nodded.
"Well then, I wonder if we could possibly borrow your fireplace," Mr. Weasley asked.
"I'll have to ask my mum," Liz said. "Are we going to Diagon Alley?"
"Yes," Mrs. Weasley told her. Liz ran off and returned a few seconds later with her mother's acceptance.
Jessica took out a bag of Floo powder and tossed some into the fire. The flames turned a glittery green. She stepped in, yelled, "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared.
"Go on, Liz. Michael will come right after you," Mrs. Weasley said.
Liz nodded, took a deep breath, stepped in, and echoed Jessica. The green flames whirled around her, and she stepped out as they stopped. Jessica was waiting for her.
"Was that fun?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was!" Liz responded, surprised with herself. "Will we do it again?"
"Later. Here comes Michael."
Michael appeared, his red hair blackened with soot. "Wicked!" he promptly exclaimed, hopping out. "I love using Floo powder!"
"I don't know, it gives me a headache," Jessica said. "Liz liked it, though."
"It was fun," Liz grinned.
"You think so?" Michael asked her. "Finally, someone who agrees with me!"
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came presently, and after the three females had shaken out their hair, the family plus Liz headed to the streets to look for a store.
"Where first?" Michael asked.
"Gringotts, son," Mr. Weasley answered. "We need money to buy things."
"I know that," Michael said, rolling his eyes secretly to Liz. "Parents," he muttered. Liz giggled.
"Here we are," Mrs. Weasley said as they stood before a snow-white building that loomed above all the other shops. Michael led Liz inside.
"Wow," she said in awe. It was just like at a Muggle bank, but with strange creatures for tellers.
"They're goblins," Jessica said, seeing the look on Liz's face. "They run Gringotts."
"Aren't they awesome?" Michael said.
"We've come to take some money from the Weasley safe and Elizabeth Potter's safe," Mr. Weasley said to one of the goblins, who asked for keys.
"I have a safe?" Liz asked. "McGonagall forgot to mention that."
"But she did give us your key," Mrs. Weasley said. Mr. Weasley beckoned to the rest of the family to follow a goblin to the safes.
The path to the safes was dark and cold, and the ride there (in a rickety old cart that Liz figured had been there since before her father's school day) was bumpy and unnerving. Liz clutched the side while Michael did the same. Both of them pitched forward when the cart stopped abruptly.
"Here we are," the goblin said, hopping nimbly out of the cart. "The Weasley vault."
Mr. Weasley handed him the key, which he used to open the vault. Inside were mounds of coins, gold, silver, and bronze. Liz's jaw dropped in amazement.
"Dad's job pays pretty good," Michael told her. "He's pretty important in the Ministry. And Mum's a teacher. Doesn't hurt."
"Does she teach at Hogwarts?" Liz asked in surprise.
"Yes. She teaches Transfiguration."
Mrs. Weasley gathered some of the money up and stuffed it into her bag. "All right, then. Off to Elizabeth's vault."
Liz was glad when the cart finally stopped at her vault. As the goblin unlocked it, Mr. Weasley told her quietly, "If you thought our vault was full, wait until you see yours."
"But I don't-oh, my gosh!" Heaps and heaps of coins stretched toward the ceiling. Liz was afraid to take any coins from the bottom for fear the rest might come crashing down around them.
"How did I get so much?" Liz asked in amazement, stepping inside.
"Your father was an Auror. A Dark wizard catcher. Paid pretty well, but considering he risked his life and lost it, well, not enough to compensate for that," Mrs. Weasley said sadly.
Liz's joy wilted at the thought of her father being paid to die in the end. This was blood money.
"Are you going to take some or not?" the goblin asked impatiently. Liz took a bunch of coins and stuffed them hurriedly into her bag.
After another jostling ride in the cart, the Weasleys led Liz out of the bank.
"Where to?" Jessica asked, once they were in the bright outdoors. Michael suggested they buy their wands at Ollivander's, so everyone headed to the wand shop.
Michael opened the door, and a hovering bell rang to signify their arrival. From behind cases of shelves full of long, thin boxes, a tiny old man appeared. He took out a tape measurer and began to measure Michael.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome," he said, letting the tape measurer continue on its own. "Let's get right down to business, now, shall we. Here, try this one out," he told Michael, handing him a wand while the tape measurer moved on to Liz. Michael gave it a wave, but nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander handed him another, but took it away almost instantly. "Never fear. Try this." This one worked. As Michael waved it around, tiny sparks flew from the end of it.
"Delightful! Simply delightful. Now for you," he said to Liz, snapping up the tape measurer in mid-measure and handing her a wand. She had barely moved it when another box, off the top of one of the shelves, floated down, landed in her other hand, and opened itself.
Mr. Ollivander's eyes nearly burst out of his eye sockets. "Astounding!" he said breathlessly. "I've never seen that happen before. Try it out, then."
Liz picked it up and instantly felt a rush of heat course through her body. At the first movement, the wand scattered a shower of sparks upon the floor.
"Amazing," Mr. Ollivander breathed.
Mrs. Weasley and Liz paid for the wands, and they left Mr. Ollivander to himself, still muttering fervently about astounding wands.
"Oh! Oh, Mum, may I please have an owl?" Michael asked suddenly, pointing to Eeylop's Owl Emporium.
"Well, all right. I suppose it would be useful," Mrs. Weasley said. "Liz, would you like one, too?"
"I can buy it," Liz said.
"Come on, let's go!" Michael exclaimed, saving his mother and Liz the trouble of haggling over who would buy the bird.
Inside the shop, it smelled of owl droppings and cage cleaner. Liz looked around at all the owls and spotted the perfect one instantly. It was tiny and snow-white with tiny black eyes. It gave a soft hoot as Liz approached. She took the cage off its hanger, cooing softly, and asked the harassed- looking wizard whether it was a boy or a girl.
"Girl," he replied, trying to check out three customers at once.
"Luna," Liz said to the owl. "Your name is Luna."
After Michael found his perfect owl, a magnificent tawny he called George (Liz got the gist that it was one of his uncles' names), they shopped around. They had to get cauldrons, uniforms, book, crystal phials, a telescope for each, brass scales.and that was only Michael and Liz. Jessica, who would be starting her third year at Hogwarts, was taking new classes, and her robes were getting short on her. So it was well into the afternoon when they finished their shopping.
Liz and Michael had shared an ice cream earlier while Jessica searched for her new books. Then they found a fireplace to travel back in and returned to Liz's house.
"That was so much fun," Liz said.
"I know. Wicked!" Michael agreed.
"Will you take me next year?" she asked excitedly.
"Absolutely. Now, McGonagall gave you your train tickets," Mr. Weasley said. "We'll try to find you there, but I can't make any promises. It gets a bit hectic."
Liz nodded as Mrs. Smith entered the room. "Thank you for taking Liz shopping," she said.
"Oh, no problem," Mr. Weasley said. "She and Michael have become fast friends."
Both Liz and Michael beamed and nodded.
"Well, we'll see you on September first. Goodbye," Mr. Weasley said. Michael waved as they exited through the front door and Liz waved back, grinning as she thought of going to school.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Smith inquired, "Why have you got an owl?"