A/N: Hey all you readers! I'd like to give a special thanks to those three who reviewed. Thank you! Now, on with the story.

CHAPTER FIVE:
To Diagon Alley

Many days past and in no time September first was just a week away. Harry had spent the last few weeks of summer vacation at his friend Ron's house.

Suddenly, an owl popped into the house from the kitchen window, where the four of us were eating dinner.

My dad rushed over to the owl, which was a brown barn owl, and removed two letters from its talons. He then pushed the owl back out of the window.

"I bet those are the letters from Hogwarts," I said matter-of-factly.

Dad gave one each to Tina and I. They were the letters from Hogwarts. I read trough the letter.

"We have to go to Diagon Alley before September first to get our supplies," Tina explained.

"Where's Diagon Alley?" I asked.

"I have no idea, but it is on the floo network," Mom said. "We can go there tomorrow."

The Next Day...

My mom put her hand in the container of floo powder, threw it into the fireplace, and said, "Diagon Alley." She was gone in a puff of flame.

Tina did the same. "Diagon Alley!" She disappeared.

It was now my turn. "Diagon Alley," I said.

Several seconds later, I was standing next to Tina and my mom in a small, crowded alley. My dad then appeared next to us.

"It looks like Gringotts is on the other side of the alley," my dad observed, consulting a map of Diagon Alley.

As we walked there, I noticed many interesting stores. "Look, you can buy owls there. And over there you can buy a broomstick."

"Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions," Tina said, reading one of the signs on a building.

"You'll have to go there to get your new Hogwarts uniform."

Finally, we reached Gringotts. As we entered, I noticed Harry standing in a crowd of multiple redheads and a single brown-haired girl.

"Conrad, Tina, over here!" Harry called.

"Look, there's Harry," Tina said absent-mindedly.

"Ya think?" I asked sarcastically. Harry had come over to our house once before he left for Ron's house. "Hey, Harry! What's up?"

"This is Ron," he pointed to a red-head, "Fred, George," he pointed to identical red-heads, "Percy," another red-head, "Ginny," the youngest red-head, and only girl, "and this is Hermione," he pointed to a girl about my age, who had frizzy brown hair instead of red.

Tina and I shook hands with the five carrot-tops and Hermione. Our parents were off talking to who were probably the parents of the five red-headed kids. The father seemed very excited about something.

"So you two are from the United States?" Hermoine asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" I asked.

"Harry told us."

Tina went over and talked to the twins, Fred and George, who looked her age.

"What's your favorite Quidditch team?" Ron asked.

"The San Jose Sharks," I replied.

"I've heard of them. Are they any good?"

"Oh yeah, you bet they are! They won the World Series in 1944 and 1960. What's your favorite team?"

"The Chudley Cannons."

"Ron's obsessed with the Cannons," Harry piped in, grinning. "You should see his room! You can't even find a place on his wall where there isn't a Cannons poster."

Ron blushed so that I couldn't tell where his forehead ended and his hair began.

"I've never heard of the Cannons. Where are they from?"

Ron opened his mouth to answer but before he could do so, my dad came up to me and told me that we had to go.

"I'll see you later," I said.

Mom nearly had to pry Tina away from Fred and George. "I love their accent! It's so cool!" She began imitating the way the British talk. Tina was such an Anglophile.

We went over to a counter where a goblin was sitting and followed him into a cart which took us underground at about ninety miles per hour. Tina and I screeched the whole way.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! We're going to crash!"

"Ohmygod look out for that stalactite!"

"Ahhhhhhh!!! We're gonna fall into a bottomless pit!"

"That's enough, both of you!"

We made a sharp turn that nearly unseated me.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

Finally, we came to an abrupt stop which hurled me forward, thrusting me into my mom's back.

"Vault seven hundred-seventy-seven," the goblin announced.

I got up to my feet very shakily and fell down in front of the door.

"Step aside, please," the goblin told me. I moved. After we had gotten some money, we reentered the cart, which began moving again.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Look out!"

Once we got home, I dumped my stuff on my bed. I remember being shocked by some of the items that we needed to get. For example, 'parchment.' Why write on parchment? Is that dumb or what? Why don't we just use some binder paper? And then 'quills.' Why should I write with a feather? That's so medieval. I got a few quills, but fortunately, we had packed a large box of pens and pencils that we got in California. I laughed as I imagined what Hogwarts might be like, with candles instead of lightbulbs, and no electricity. Of course, this school can't be that old-fashioned, though. My imagination sometimes got away with me.

I looked at my new black set of robes. They were really quite elegant. I liked them. Plus, they were comfortable. Unfortunately, they also looked like a dress. But, if everyone had them, I guess it would be okay.

September first couldn't come soon enough.