Chapter Summary: Diagon Alley! Squee!
Rating: Once again, just G
Disclaimer: No, I don't own the characters or the setting or the whole darn thing. Besides, you wouldn't want to sue me anyway. All I've got is this bag of dirt – It's not much, but it's good for potting flowers.
And also – in this chapter there was one passage that I copied almost completely from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. But it's dialogue, and I think it's something that would be repeated. I also decided to use the description of Hermione's wand as it is in the movies, because there was no description given in the books.
A/N: Thanks to Red Roses2 for reviewing (and giving me a good giggle), and Artemis Moonsong, and Princess-Kathleen-The-Great for coming back. And 15 points to hyparly4suger, for getting the foreshadowing about time. Many thanks, and tell your friends! Please review!
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Hermione had, with only a little difficulty, found her way to the Leaky Cauldron pub. It looked severely out of place between a large record store and an equally large book shop – Hermione had to consciously stop herself from going into the book store. She went up to the door and raised her hand to knock, but then reconsidered and opened the door slowly.
Noise filled Hermione's ears as she stepped into the pub. As her eyes got used to the dim light, a small voice in the back of her head remarked that the noise and smells weren't very different from a regular pub's. But as soon as Hermione could see her surroundings, she realized just how different this place was.
The architecture of the place seemed very old, but what really surprised Hermione were the people sitting at the bar or at small tables throughout the room. She had not even thought about expecting people of the wizarding world to dress differently – but here they were, wearing robes of all sorts of different colors. Men and women of all ages sat drinking and talking. The bartender was a bald, somewhat hunched man. As Hermione approached the bar he smiled at her, and Hermione was immediately glad that she had persuaded her parents to let her come here alone – the bartender's obvious lack of teeth would have sent one or both of her parents into shock.
"Excuse me," Hermione began quietly, "I got a letter, from a school named-" The bartender cut her off by finishing her sentence.
"Hogwarts, eh? You must be a Muggle-born, you poor thing, confused as a grindylow in a desert… I'm Tom, remember that in case you need anything. Come out to the back and I'll get you through to Diagon Alley."
Before Hermione had time to ask what a grindylow was, and furthermore what a Muggle was, she was being herded out a door she hadn't noticed before. As Tom opened the door, Hermione caught her breath, expecting to see a street full of magic shops and wizards and the like. She was severely disappointed when faced with nothing but an old brick wall.
"What… where is it?" She asked, wondering if this is where her adventure came to an end. Tom must have seen her crestfallen expression because he laughed good-heartedly.
"Don't worry, lass, there's more than meets the eye here. That's somethin' you'll learn, bein' a part of the wizarding world now, that you can't always believe what you see." He pulled out a wand – a magic wand, Hermione realized – from his robes and counted off a series of bricks before tapping one three times with his wand. Suddenly an archway was opening, and here was the magical street that Hermione had been so excited to see.
Hermione found herself astounded by the sights. More wizards and witches in robes, doing shopping in stores that seemed to sell things like Hermione had never seen before. Hermione also noticed children, most wearing clothing like hers – a small relief for the suddenly very tense girl.
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Following Tom's directions exactly, Hermione made her way to a bank called Gringotts to exchange her money for wizard money. The shock at seeing goblins for the first time in real life was almost as powerful as the surprise to find the coins she received to be the same ones she had seen in the strange cabby's car. Suddenly everything clicked for her, and she forgot where she was and said aloud, "He was a wizard!" The goblin exchanging her money gave her a suspicious look and she rapidly turned red.
Back on the street, Hermione quickly figured out that "Muggles" were people who were not wizards or witches. Like my parents, she thought suddenly. She bought her robes, a cauldron, and all her other equipment, still trying to take in everything all at the same time.
She arrived at a store called Flourish and Blotts and nearly lost her balance from the excitement. A bookstore, with everything in it relating to magic! Hermione figured she had died and gone to heaven. She quickly found all the books on the list, and grabbed a thick volume titled Hogwarts: A History to find out more about the school she would be attending soon. After buying those books, she realized she had enough money left for a few more, so she grabbed a couple history books. She was keen to go into the school knowing at least a small amount about the wizarding world, so that she wouldn't seem a complete fool.
She had left the best for last, she knew. The gold lettering over the door to Hermione's last destination told her that this was where to buy her wand. As a small girl she had waved around sticks with plastic stars on the end, pretending to be a magical princess, but never had she actually thought of really owning a wand. She went inside and as soon as the door closed behind her, the noise from the street was shut out, making for an eerie silence. She looked around for someone, and finally spotted an old, whispery-looking man in the back who she assumed was Mr. Ollivander.
"Excuse me," Hermione said for what felt like the millionth time that day. "Mr. Ollivander?"
He turned suddenly and his eyes shone like a cat's in the darkness. Hermione thought they were just catching the light, but Mr. Ollivander moved towards her and the eerie silver in his eyes remained.
"Hello," he said quietly. "Who might you be?"
"I'm, um, Hermione Granger, sir, I've just come to buy a wand- well of course, I mean, this is a wand shop, so why else would I be here-" For the first time in a long while, Hermione was tripping over her words. "What I meant was, I'm going to Hogwarts, it's a school for- well of course you'd already know-" She stopped short as the old man came closer to her.
"Your wand hand, please," He said shortly. Hermione figured he meant her dominant hand, so she stuck out her right hand and Mr. Ollivander began taking various measurements down her arm, her legs, around her waist and head. Presently he stepped away and the measuring tape continued moving across her. Mr. Ollivander interrupted her thoughts.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Ms. Granger. We use unicorn haris, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's – or witch's – wand."
Hermione was fascinated. She wished she could have been writing down all these knew things, but the measuring tape was currently winding itself between her fingers. Presently it stopped and fell on a table, curled perfectly into a spiral. Mr. Ollivander, who had been going through the huge stacks of small, long boxes on the shelves, came back to the front of the store with a box. It was about the same length as a shoebox, but thinner – Hermione was excited to think that it held a wand. Mr. Ollivander opened the box and brought out a long, dark wand.
"Oak, this one, 12 inches, with a phoenix feather in it – state of the art, I should say." He handed it to Hermione and motioned for her to try it. She waved it in a small circle and nothing happened. She tried again, swiping it across – still nothing. Mr. Ollivander took it back.
"That's all right, it takes a few tries for most people," He said as he shuffled back to the shelves. He brought out another box, identical to the last. But when he opened the box Hermione could see that the wand inside was very different from the oak one.
"This looks like maple.. but the color is so light..." Hermione wondered if her small knowledge of trees was helping her out or tricking her
"It is maple – silver maple. A rare one, I might say. 11 inches with a dragon heartstring. Go on, try it!" Hermione took the wand from the box and looked at it carefully. It had an inlaid carving, of a vine of some sort, winding up the wand. She waved it slowly and, to her surprise and delight, green sparks flew out of the tip like a miniature firecracker.
"Oh, good!" Mr. Ollivander seemed nearly ecstatic. Hermione smiled as she realized this would very soon be her wand. She realized she had no idea how much it would cost and was hopeful that it wasn't more than she had already exchanged. She figured it would be a fair amount of – galleons, she reminded herself. Mr. Ollivander told her the cost and she sighed with relief because she had no more than three sickles more than his price.
She walked out of the store with the wand in its box in her left hand, a large cauldron in her right, and bags full of all sorts of other strange things. Making her way back to the Leaky Cauldron, she was almost overcome with excitement as she imagined the year – and the life – ahead of her.