A/N: I really didn't expect to get this out for another few days, but here you have it. This one is slightly longer than the others, so I hope you enjoy it!

Also, huge thanks to Sage and Snape for reviewing! I only hope you're right.

Chapter Six: Diagon Alley

At precisely fifteen minutes after ten, Sianna arrived at the front door of Hogwarts. Lupin was not there yet, so she was left to wait alone for her professor.

She stood idly for a few minutes, just staring up at the architectural wonder that was the Entrance Hall. The ceilings were so high that she felt dizzy looking up at designs she could just barely make out and overhead staircases that swung from wall to wall. She brought her gaze back down to the ground and regained her balance and focus while studying the shine of the genuine marble floors.

The sheer size of the castle was rather intimidating, and Sianna thought, unnecessary. As she knew from visiting all those empty rooms last night, Hogwarts' space went largely unused.

Sianna turned towards the huge wooden door and wondered how anyone ever managed to open it. She supposed that magic was useful in that sense; it seemed like nothing short of an atomic bomb would move the mass of wood and iron. Why would Hogwarts need a door that big anyway? Surely there was nothing that big that needed to enter the castle.

Her musings were interrupted when Lupin appeared at the top of the main staircase. He approached Sianna, but made no move towards the door.

"Hello, sorry I'm a bit late. Shall we get going, then?" he asked. He turned and began to walk, expecting Sianna to follow him—back into the castle?

"Um, where are we going? Sir," she added, unsure how to address a proper British professor. Lupin continued to walk up the steps as he answered.

"Diagon Alley. It's a—"

"No, I know where we're going, but isn't it outside the castle?"

"Of course it is. But that doesn't mean we have to go outside to get there," he told her. "We'll be taking the Floo Network."

"Um—"

"I know," he cut her off, "you want to know what the Floo Network is." By this time, they had climbed all the way to the fourth floor. "It's...well, it's really a series of magically connected fireplaces, and you use a special powder, it's called Floo powder, to activate the magical link, so to speak," he explained. "What you do is you throw the powder onto the fire, say the name of the place you're going, then just step into the fire and it'll take you where you need to go. Easy as cake."

"Right," Sianna said slowly. She had never imagined that such things could exist, even with magic. Although, she thought that perhaps she should have, considering all the amazing things she had seen already during her first day in the wizarding world.

Sianna had been paying to much attention to the conversation to notice where they were going. Lupin turned a final corner and entered what appeared to be an office, Sianna trailing a few steps behind. The space was unremarkable, considering the rest of the castle, but it was well furnished and inviting. Lupin beckoned to Sianna, indicating that she should stand beside him, facing the large fireplace.

"I need to go first, in case anything is wrong at the other end, so watch me very carefully and do exactly as I do," Lupin warned her seriously. "You must speak very clearly, so try not to breathe in the hot air and ashes. If something goes wrong and you end up in somewhere besides Diagon Alley, stay where you are and I will come find you. Ready?"

Sianna nodded.

"Watch closely," he told her again. He lit the fire with his wand and took a large pinch of dust out of a ceramic bowl on the mantle. When he cast the dust into the flames, they immediately turned bright green and roared at least three feet higher. Lupin said loudly and clearly, "Diagon Alley!" He stepped into the hearth and vanished.

Sianna took a deep breath as the fire returned to its normal state. She approached it and felt its radiating heat, suddenly uncomfortable rather than merry. 'This is easy, no big deal,' she reminded herself. 'I've done things a million times this scary.' She took a healthy pinch of the Floo powder and stood back a few inches before throwing it into the fireplace. The flames roared up predictably, turning the expected shade of green.

'It's all or nothing,' she steeled herself. Her lungs drew in a deep breath of the cooler air over her shoulder (just in case), and she shouted assertively, "Diagon Alley!"

Like the Portkey, Floo travel caused her to spin nauseatingly and made her feel like she was speeding towards her destination at thousands of miles her hour. However, this time, the colors vanished altogether, and the only light came from flashes of what looked like other fireplaces. Something knocked Sianna's elbow and she barely managed to keep her mouth shut as her arm tingled and ached. She had no interest in finding out what would enter she mouth if she opened it to curse.

Sianna had hardly begun to feel herself slowing down when she was forcibly shoved out of one of the passing fireplaces.

She tumbled headfirst onto a soot-covered floor, barely preventing herself from cracking her head on the stone. She stood upright and was less than pleased to find that her clothes were dusted with the same substance that graced the floor. Her face twisted into a grimace and she looked up to find Professor Lupin chuckling at her messy arrival.

"It takes practice," he assured her, laughing a little. "One of my students told me that he ended up lost at the wrong fireplace his first time."

"That's encouraging," Sianna said sarcastically.

Lupin brightened a little, hearing the comment. 'Perhaps Dumbledore was right,' he considered. 'She might just need a little time to settle in.'

"Step over here," he advised. "You never know when someone else is going to stumble out of that grate."

Sianna followed his suggestion, all the while dusting the offending ashes off her clothing. Lupin waited as she finished her task, idly listening to the patrons' conversations. When she looked like she was ready, he led her out the back door of the pub.

When they were outside, Sianna asked, "What was that bar that we were just in?"

"That's the Leaky Cauldron. Most frequented pub in wizarding Britain, I'd bet. The only public way to get into Diagon Alley is through here, so Tom—he's the barkeep—he gets a lot of business," Lupin explained.

Sianna stored that in her memory, as she did with all the new information she was constantly learning about her new life. "So...where's Diagon Alley?" she inquired, seeing no door or entryway to the street.

"Here's another thing you're going to have to remember. Look, watch me...you have to tap these bricks in a special order with your wand," he said, pulling his out of a pocket in his robes. "You haven't got one yet, but you'll learn this when you do." He touched the tip of his wand briefly to several, seemingly random bricks on the wall, just next to the trash can.

Sianna was wondering what was supposed to happen when the bricks suddenly started moving, sliding around and beside each other to create an increasingly large hole. Within seconds, the hole had reached the ground, and only stopped widening when it was large enough to admit a small elephant.

"Cool," Sianna said, but her assessment went unheard, drowned in the flood of noise and talk that came from the bustling cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley.

The sunny Sunday afternoon had attracted more than the usual crowd. What seemed like rivers of people flowed up and down the length of the single, solitary street, which was barely wide enough to accommodate the inordinate number of shoppers. As Lupin and Sianna wove their way slowly down the street, Sianna's eyes bulged at the extraordinary merchandise that the street's shops had to offer. There appeared to be at least one of each type of store—a candy store, a joke shop, a pet store, a clothing store, a bookstore—

"Professor Lupin?"

"Yes?"

"What's Quidditch?" Sianna asked, gazing at the sign above Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Oh, dear. That's going to take some time to explain...why don't we wait until we're off the street?" he suggested. He had momentarily forgotten how many rudimentary things this girl had yet to learn.

Sianna followed Lupin without any further questions, all the way to the end of the street, where Gringotts divided the lane into two diverging alleys. There were fewer people standing on the steps leading to the formidable building than there were on the street. Lupin stopped there and turned to Sianna.

"What's in there?" she asked, referring to Gringotts.

"It's the wizarding bank Gringotts. The only one we have, and this is the only location in Britain," he told her.

"Oh shit! I mean—darn," she corrected herself, still unused to being in the presence of teachers during summer vacation. "I don't have any money with me."

Lupin glared reproachfully at the curse, fulfilling his duty as a teacher, but then laughed. "Fortunately, we planned on that. The school is lending you money for your supplies, you just pay them back whenever you can, I suppose. You'll have to talk to the headmaster about that."

They had climbed the steps by then, but when they reached the front door, Lupin stopped again. He lowered his voice and cautioned, "I forgot to mention that the bank...well, it isn't run by humans."

Sianna raised her eyebrows questioningly at that. "The goblins run it," he said. Sianna started to ask what they were, but Lupin shook his head and said. "You'll see. I'm just warning you, don't offend them."

"Got it," Sianna responded, thinking that she would hardly be surprised after the previous incident with Dobby the house-elf.

Lupin swung open the towering door (What is it with gigantic doors in this place? Sianna thought) and ushered Sianna in before him. The interior of the bank was, she had to admit, slightly smaller than the Hogwarts Entrance Hall, but was no less flooring. She managed to keep the awe off her face as she viewed the polished marble surfaces and glittering crystal chandeliers.

Lupin headed to one of the counters bordering the wall, searching his pockets as he walked. Sianna followed behind wordlessly, letting her eyes wander to the various wizards and the far more interesting creatures that worked as tellers and guides. The goblins barely measured three feet, but they did vaguely resemble humans, aside from the tough-looking, pointed faces and abnormally long appendages. She directed her thoughts back to her teacher, who was conversing with their teller.

"I am here on behalf of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said formally. He seemed slightly intimidated by the goblin. "We wish to make a withdrawal."

"You have the proper authorization, I presume?" the goblin inquired. His tone bordered on menacing.

Lupin handed him a sealed paper and a key.

"Very well. Come this way," the goblin directed, stepping down from the block he had been standing on. He led them to another door, this one slightly more proportionate. The passageway they entered contrasted starkly with the more than spacious marble finery of the first room; this place was colder, darker, and entirely of stone. Torches in wall brackets cast the only light, besides the lanterns that each goblin carried.

Here, the teller handed Lupin and Sianna off to a new goblin. This new guide gestured them down to the end of the hall, where there was a track that resembled those made for Muggle trains. A small cart was waiting on the rails, and the goblin opened its door and held it, obviously expecting Lupin and Sianna to enter first. After a moment's confused pause, Sianna complied, sitting down gingerly on the bench. Lupin sat beside her and the goblin stood on a low platform at the front, somehow directing the cart without a wheel or any such controlling device.

They started to move, slowly at first, but gaining speed as they gained distance. The track began to twist and curve slightly, branching in different directions, and the degree of descent increased gradually. Sianna held the side of the cart lightly, immensely enjoying the feel of the cool air and thrill of speed. Lupin, who looked significantly less happy, held on much tighter.

Eventually, the cart slowed and halted in front of an arched metal door with the numbers 9-1-6 above carved into the stone above it.

"Vault nine-sixteen," the goblin announced, opening the cart and exiting. Once again, he held the door for his customers. "Key, please." Lupin handed him the miniscule golden key. He followed the goblin as he approached the door, holding the lantern just behind the guide so he could see the keyhole, which, like the key, was very small.

As the key turned, Sianna heard many tiny gears click and whirl before the door swung open inwardly, apparently of its own accord. Inside rested multiple piles of gold, silver, and bronze that dazzled Sianna to no end. She wanted to blurt out an endless stream of inquiries, but she knew that Lupin would not be in the mood to entertain her until they were out of Gringotts. The place seemed to make him oddly uncomfortable.

Sianna stood awkwardly outside the vault as Lupin entered, produced a small leather sack, and filled it with an assortment of coins. He completed the job hurriedly and climbed back into the cart. Sianna followed him, as did the goblin.

The ride back was not quite as enjoyable, as they were headed uphill and traveling a bit slower, but it was over quickly. Lupin bowed slightly to the goblin and marched as quickly out of the passageway, out of the bank, and down to the street. Sianna trailed behind, laughing quietly at the man's obvious relief. She didn't quite understand why he detested Gringotts so, but she wouldn't bother him about it. It was none of her business anyway.

"How much money is that?" she asked when she caught up with him at the bottom of the great white steps, choosing the question that happened to be at the forefront of her mind. "It looks like quite a lot."

"It is," he responded. "You have to buy a wand, books, clothing, supplies...it may end up costing over thirty galleons, especially with these books—"

"Galleons?"

"The big gold ones," Lupin explained, pulling one out of the sack to show Sianna. "There are seventeen Sickles—they're the silver ones—in a Galleon, and twenty-nine Knuts in a Sickle. This is a Knut," he said, displaying the penny-sized bronze coin in his hand.

"So how much is that in Muggle money?" Sianna asked.

"Well, it depends on the market, of course, but normally it's about 5 and half pounds."

"Right," Sianna said, trying to remember how many pounds went to a U.S. dollar.

"That would be ten dollars," Lupin reminded her quietly.

"Thanks," she said. 'How does he know all this stuff?' she thought, but she decided to leave that for another time. "So why do the goblins run the bank? Do they own it?" she asked, springing another question on him.

He appeared to contemplate that for a moment. After a pause, he said, "You know, I really have no idea how—or why, or when—the goblins started running Gringotts. I suppose that's something Professor Binns talked about in his class...no wonder I don't know."

"Who's Professor Binns?" she asked. They had begun to walk back up the street, again weaving their way through a thick crowd.

"He's the History of Magic teacher back at the school. He's a ghost, very boring...no one pays attention in that class. Well, Hermione probably does," he conceded. Then, realizing that Sianna would also have no idea who Hermione was, he added, "She's a student...in your year, in fact. You'll room with her if you end up in Gryffindor."

Sianna didn't know how to respond to that, so she just remained silent. A few seconds later, Lupin turned towards a shop, waving for Sianna to follow. She glanced swiftly at the sign before she entered. It read Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

The inside of the shop was full of sunlight let in from the windows. Sianna gazed around at the extensive racks of robes and accessories and the customers that perused them.

"This should be interesting," she said to no one.

"Sorry?" said Lupin. He turned around and looked at his student.

"It just that I've never worn robes before. Then again, I guess that buying my first set of wizard clothing is kind of like an initiation, don't you think?"

He laughed. "I never thought of it like that, but I suppose it is."

A short, round, cheery woman approached. She had a tape measure in her hand.

"Can I help you two?" she asked.

"She's here for Hogwarts robes," Lupin informed her. "And she'll need dress robes as well."

"Oh, you've outgrown your school uniform, have you now? Come back here dear, we'll get you all fixed up," Madam Malkin said endearingly.

Sianna followed the woman to the back of the store, where several customers were being measured and fitted. Lupin, who was left standing alone, sighed and sank into the small couch at the front of the store. He supposed that it had been placed there specifically for the many males who were forced accompany females on shopping trips.

Waiting on such a couch on the opposite side of the room was another male, one with bleach-blond hair and piercing gray eyes. Draco Malfoy waited for his mother, who was once again out shopping for dress robes. The couch was familiar to him, as his father had long ago refused to take his wife shopping for clothes ever again. The duty had been passed to his son. Draco was just wondering how much clothing a single person could possibly need when Sianna passed right in front of him, heading towards the back of the store. Draco looked up and studied her unfamiliar form.

'Now, why have I not seen her before? I cannot possibly have failed to notice a pretty thing like that...she must not go to Hogwarts,' he though to himself, his eyes following the girls movements.

"Now dear, what size robe do you wear? And if you'll tell me what house you're in, I can get those patches sewn on while you're here, if you like," Madam Malkin told Sianna. Draco listened curiously, looking elsewhere but directing his attention toward the girl.

"Actually...I have no idea what size robe I wear, because I've never worn robes before," Sianna told her. The American accent shocked Draco, as did the statement itself.

Madam Malkin, also hearing Sianna's accent for the first time, asked, "Do they not have robes in America?" Draco was wondering the same thing.

This surprised Sianna, but she decided that it would be easier to lie than to tell the whole story. "They have robes, but we don't have to wear them to school," she said.

'Well that's odd,' Draco thought.

Madam Malkin asked, "So you're a transfer, dearie, is that it?"

"Yes, that's exactly it, so I don't know what house I'm in because they haven't Sorted me yet," Sianna explained. It was plausible enough. Draco hoped she would end up in Slytherin...or at least not Gryffindor. Anywhere but Gryffindor.

"Well then, this could take a wee bit more time than I expected. We'd best get started," Madam Malkin said.

The next half hour was filled with enough measuring, pinning, cutting, sizing, trimming, and trying on to last Sianna a lifetime. Even Draco got bored watching her. And she hadn't even picked out dress robes yet! When the seamstresses finished with her torture session, she left the back area to browse the racks while they put together her school robes. Lupin, seeing that she was finished in the back, called out to her.

"Are you done then?" He sounded bored and weary.

Draco, hearing the familiar voice, sat up and glanced across the room, then sank back down when he saw his professor. Lupin was definitely not someone he wished to converse with. So much for talking to her, he thought. He was not going to risk being seen by his teacher to flirt with a pretty girl.

Sianna truly pitied Lupin when she said, "I haven't looked for dress robes yet." His eyes bulged slightly before he leaned back into the couch with a heavy sigh.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the seamstresses finished fitting Narcissa Malfoy's dress robes.

"Draco, dear," she called out, "come here please. I'm finished."

Draco paid for the robes, as expected, and led his mother towards the front. As he held the door open, Sianna turned and glanced up, making eye contact for just a moment. Draco smiled smoothly, but she just looked back down at the rack as if no one had been there. Draco walked out behind his mother, confused and intrigued. He was actually looking forward to the start of the school year.

Sianna quickly found a color that she liked, and though she doubted the robe would fit, she took it off the rack and carried it to the back. She showed Madam Malkin and asked her to adjust it so that it would fit, just using the measurements of her school robes. Sianna, while not quite as bored as Lupin, was not a born shopper, and she was tired of clothing.

"Oh, that blue is splendid, just wonderful for you. And it's nice and dark, it'll make you look so mature..." Madam Malkin rambled in glee at Sianna's choice. "I'll get it fixed right up, you'll look perfect, dear."

"Great. I'll just be...looking around," Sianna said.

Thankfully, Madam Malkin was an adept seamstress and, with a little help from her wand, could prepare Sianna's robes in only ten minutes. Lupin gladly took care of the transaction and rushed out of the shop. Sianna could barely say "thank you" before they were again in the middle of the cobblestone street, headed for another store.

Sianna was overjoyed to see that their next destination was a bookstore—Flourish and Blotts. Lupin looked much happier in here as well, and he handed Sianna a long list of titles to find before wandering off to browse.

The list had enough books on it for at least three years of magical education, which added up to more than twenty texts. Sianna searched for any indicators of organization in the many aisles and shelves, but found only a few of the books on her own. After ten frustrated minutes of searching for Magical Drafts and Potions, she gave up and approached a man who was replacing copies of various books on the shelves.

"Excuse me, sir," she said. The young man turned to look down at her from his ladder.

He began to climb down, asking, "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for these," Sianna explained, offering him the list. He looked at it, eyebrows raised. He let out an appreciative whistle at the number of texts she needed.

"Well I can certainly help you," he said. "Even so, this might take a little time."

The young man took nearly ten minutes to assemble the collection. He would accumulate a stack and take it to the table where Sianna waited, drop it in front of her, and rush back to the shelves for more. Lupin wandered over at some point and laughed at the growing pile of texts.

"We're going to need to shrink those," he said.

"I was wondering how we'd manage to carry them all," Sianna admitted.

Just then, the man returned to the table. "These are the last ones," he huffed, heaving the stack onto the table and slapping the list on top. "Is that all you need?"

"Yes, thanks," Sianna told him. He seemed relieved. They paid right there at the table, then Lupin shrank the package to the size of a single book and handed it to Sianna.

"What time is it?" Sianna asked as they exited the bookstore.

"12:30," Lupin responded. "What would you say to lunch at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Sounds good." Truthfully, though, Sianna just wanted to sit down. Her lack of sleep was making a comeback, and she felt like she would die if she didn't close her eyes for a minute.

A waitress led the two shoppers to a booth near the bar and took their drink orders. Sianna let her head drop to the table with an exhausted sigh, and Lupin, amused, looked at her and chuckled.

"Tired?" he asked.

"More than you could possibly know," Sianna mumbled, her speech muffled by her arm.

"What, didn't have a good night?"

"That would be the understatement of the millennium." Lupin laughed. He liked the girl more every minute.

"Would a Quidditch discussion wake you up, then?" he asked, remembering the first question of the day.

Sianna lifted her head curiously, although her eyes were still half-closed. "So what exactly is Quidditch?"

Lupin grinned. "The best sport ever invented," he responded. "And the only wizarding sport worth playing." Sianna urged him on with a nod. "There are seven players on each team..." and he proceeded to explain the jobs of the multiple players and balls.

"Quidditch is very popular at Hogwarts, actually. Each house has its own team, at the house with the most points scored at the end of the year gets the Quidditch Cup. It's a very great honor," Lupin explained.

"Did you play when you were in school?" Sianna asked.

"No, but my best friends did. One was a beater and the other was a seeker, both on the Gryffindor team."

"You were in Gryffindor too?"

"Yes," Lupin said, looking proud and sad at the same time. Sianna decided not to prod, and she left the subject alone.

"Quidditch...it sounds awesome...but I doubt I'd be any good at it. I'd have to learn how to fly, first of all," Sianna conceded.

"You'll have all summer to learn," Lupin reminded her.

"Do you think I'd be good at it?" she asked.

"I have no idea. I'd have to see you on a broom first," Lupin told her.

They finished lunch lazily and with little conversation, then returned to the street to finish buying supplies. They stopped in an apothecary, where Sianna found a basic potions kit, along with a few extra ingredients. She passed up the offer of a pet, having never had one before. She wasn't sure she wanted to worry about an animal as well as her studies.

Their last important stop was at Ollivanders. Sianna felt a strange sense as she entered the dusty, cluttered wand shop, as if the ceiling-high stacks of narrow boxes were watching her, judging her worthiness. The room was empty...there were no customers or sales people. 'Well you only need to get a wand once,' Sianna considered. 'I guess that means this place doesn't get a whole lot of business.'

Her head jerked towards a hidden aisle, following the sound of a ladder sliding along shelves. The ladder stopped with a bump, and a wizened old man stepped off and approached.

"Ah, Remus Lupin. Ten inches, oak, unicorn hair core...good for curse-work if my memory serves me," Mr. Ollivander said. His eyes turned to Sianna. "And my memory always does," he added.

He looked Sianna over for a moment, appearing to search his mind for a name, and possibly a wand, to put with the face. Finally he asked, "Now who do we have here? You aren't a Hogwarts student, are you?"

"This is Sianna Castell," Professor Lupin told him. "She'll be starting at Hogwarts this year."

Mr. Ollivander turned his head to the side but kept his eye fixed on Sianna's face. "but you can't be less than fourteen..."

Sianna broke eye contact to look questioningly at Lupin. He nodded, so she explained, "I just came here from California. Both my parents are Muggles, and..." She didn't know which parts of the story to leave out. "Well, no one knew I was a witch until now," she summarized. Mr. Ollivander looked unconvinced, but he accepted her story for the time.

He led them to a small counter and set a self-operating measuring tape to work. It measured her arms, wrist, head, neck, ears, and fingers before crumpling to the floor in a heap. Mr. Ollivander completely ignored it and shuffled off to find a wand.

"Well done," Lupin whispered sarcastically when the other man was gone, referring to the introductory conversation.

Sianna relaxed a bit and laughed quietly. "It's just such a long story. I don't want to have to tell it to every single person I meet..."

"I understand," Lupin said. "It was just slightly amusing to listen to you gloss over the whole thing."

Mr. Ollivander returned, carrying a several wands with him. He set the boxes down on the counter and opened one delicately. "Holly and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches," he said, handing the wand to Sianna. She stood stupidly, unsure what to do. "Well, go on, wave it around a bit."

She did so, but before anything happened, Mr. Ollivander reclaimed the wand, saying, "No, no, not that one...here, thirteen inches, beech and phoenix feather." He handed her another wand. This one also did not please him.

Sianna tried all the wands in the pile, but none seemed to fit. This challenge only seemed to cheer Mr. Ollivander, though, and he happily shuffled off to retrieve another stack. None of those pleased him, either.

"Miss Castell, what house are you in?" he asked suddenly.

Sianna was slightly taken aback by the unexpected question, and she told him, "I haven't been Sorted yet."

"Which house would you like to be in?" he prodded. This made Sianna furrow her brow in thought.

"Not Hufflepuff, definitely...I don't know," she though out loud. "Gryffindor seems fun, if a little rowdy...and I've always loved learning, so Ravenclaw sounds good, but I don't really study a lot. And Slytherin...well, I just don't know. I was counting on the Sorting Hat telling me," she said to Mr. Ollivander.

"I see..." he said. This information seemed important for her wand selection. "Hm..." He remained pensive for a minute before turning and shuffling off to find another wand.

"That was strange," Lupin said. "I've never heard of him doing such a thing before. He certainly didn't ask me about my house preference." Sianna didn't say anything.

Mr. Ollivander returned a minute later with a single box in his hand. "Cherry wood, twelve and a half inches, dragon heartstring," he said, handing the wand to Sianna. She grasped it in her right hand and felt the magic surge up her arm. She started to wave the wand, and as soon as she moved, it began to write in the air, leaving a shining pearl trail where it passed.

"Oh, wonderful! Yes, this is perfect. My father made this wand at least a hundred years ago...I have been trying to find its owner ever since...very good, yes, very good indeed," he muttered as he wrapped up the package. They paid seven galleons for the wand and Sianna thanked him and started for the door. Lupin began to follow, but Mr. Ollivander caught his arm.

"Watch her," he cautioned the professor quietly, out of Sianna's hearing. "That wand is as powerful as they come, and since we can only assume that the wand chooses the wizard for a reason..." Lupin, surprised, nodded his understanding and left. He would have to relate the conversation to the headmaster later.

Sianna was ready to collapse by the time they had finished in Ollivanders, but she knew she would regret it later if she passed by both the joke shop and the candy store without even looking around a bit. She shook off the unsettling feelings from Mr. Ollivander's shop, mustered up the last of her energy, and entered the candy store, Lupin trailing behind her.

"You know, if I buy ten pounds of candy and eat it all tonight, then die of a heart attack, it's your fault," he warned her.

"I accept full liability for your health, Professor Lupin, really, I do," she laughed, looking around at the plethora of sugar. "Don't wizards have magic to cure that sort of thing anyway?" she joked.

Lupin laughed, then remembered something rather important. "Oh, by the way, you might want to exercise caution when buying wizard candy. Some of it is..."

"Dangerous?" Sianna suggested, looking at a pile of Pepper Imps ("breathe fire for your friends!").

"Well...yes. Okay, yes, it's dangerous," Lupin admitted.

They spent the next few minutes picking out all the things Sianna "had to try" in order to be as much of a candy connoisseur in the wizarding world as she had been in the Muggle one. She ended up with a huge bag full of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Licorice Wands, and some other things Sianna could not quite name.

"Are we done now?" Lupin asked bluntly as they exited the store. He was getting more than sick of shopping.

"One more stop, then we're through," Sianna said. She yawned.

"What? Where?" he asked as they headed down the street.

Sianna just headed wordlessly into the joke shop. She heard Lupin behind her, unsuccessfully attempting to hide his glee. "I figured it would appeal to a Gryffindor," she told him.

"Hey, you're not supposed to stereotype against houses until you're in one..."

"Alright," she said, looking around at the unfamiliar merchandise, "I take it I'll need just as much help here as I did back there. I have no idea what any of this is," Sianna lamented.

"We can help you there!" Sianna turned and stared at two absolutely identical redheaded boys who approached her and Lupin.

"If it isn't Fred and George Weasley! Good to see you boys," Lupin greeted, shaking hands with both. "Stocking up for the school year?" he asked.

"Actually, sir, we've taken summer jobs here," one of them (Sianna couldn't tell which) answered.

"Who's this, then?" the other one asked, turning to Sianna. She smiled.

"This is Sianna Castell. She's starting at Hogwarts this year," Lupin introduced.

"Nice to meet you," she said, holding out her hand.

One of the twins bowed nobly and kissed it, and the other smacked his brother on the side of his head. That one said, "You can't possibly be a first year, though."

"Well, I'm not really...I'm fifteen, but—well, it's a long story," Sianna said, not wanting to go into it.

"So, practical jokes are a bit different where you come from, are they?" Fred or George said.

"Don't worry, follow us," the other one said, leading Sianna to the back.

"I'm just going to look around then, shall I?" Lupin called, but no one was listening. "Boys," he sighed. "They'll never change."

Meanwhile, the twins were giving Sianna a full tour of the shop, lending their expert advice on the best way to set off a Dungbomb or sneak Frog Spawn Soap into the showers. Sianna had just finished paying for her many purchases when the twins pulled her aside.

"Here," one of them whispered furtively, passing an oddly shaped package to her. "Take this. We invented it ourselves—"

"But we haven't been able to test it yet. So we need you to take it to Hogwarts—"

"And sneak it off to someone there."

"What does it do?" Sianna asked warily.

"You'll see," they chorused. "Just owl us when you do it and tell us what happened," one added. "Our address is in there," the other said.

"Alright," Sianna agreed. "This is going to be interesting..." said as she walked away.

"Don't get caught!" the twins called after her. She turned and waved before following Lupin out the door.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," Sianna lied.

Lupin gave her a disbelieving look, but Sianna was gazing innocently in the other direction.