Chapter 2-Diagon Alley
The next morning started out just like any other day. She woke up around half past eight and pulled on a pair of jeans and a top. After having some cereal for breakfast, she got up and grabbed her purse so that she was ready for the trip to Diagon Alley. She thought back to how yesterday, since it was her 'Sweet Sixteen.' She wouldn't get a license to apparate in England, but she could get her license in Bulgaria at age sixteen. The Magical Department of Law Enforcement in England was stricter than most of the countries. Seventeen years old was declared as a legal adult. Then, she would have to wait for another year to be able to use magic outside school.
She noticed that her dad was very different this morning, as he was preoccupied with his outfit. He was wearing black pants, a dark woven shirt, and a heavy black hooded cloak on the outside. His wand was kept inside a wand holster in his cloak. On top of that, he kept glancing at his watch as if he was on a hectic schedule.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah, are you in a hurry? I see you keep glancing at your watch" she said "and you look…different too."
"Oh, I'm just hoping I didn't lose the track of time. Diagon Alley will be crowded at this time of year with all the students buying school supplies." He gestured toward the door and they stood outside for a few seconds. From a distance, she could see a dark purple triple-decker bus. In the flash of an eye, it appeared in front of her and her father. The wind struck and nearly knocked her off. She was quite stunned by the sudden of changes.
"Wow, the Knight Bus! This is cool!" she exclaimed.
"Hey Stan, how do you do?" Harry grinned at the conductor of the bus while climbing in.
"Hello, I've never been better, thank you," said Stan Shunpike through his crooked teeth. "Now, where do ya both wish to be?" Stan had worn his uniform and a hat. They all found a seat before they took off.
"Diagon Alley," replied Harry. She could see that he was trying to gather himself and stay still on the seat despite the violent jerking movements of the bus, which was moving at a remarkable speed. It could avoid traffic jams, and the muggle won't see it because it's magical. They didn't talk much during the trip. A few minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of Diagon Alley which was located at the heart of London.
She and Harry walked through a grubby-looking bar called The Leaky Cauldron. Harry nodded to the bartender before tapping his wand at the wall to the entrance of Diagon Alley. She remembered the last time she went to Diagon Alley was when she was little. Her family recently shopped by browsing the catalogue from owl deliveries.
The Diagon Alley was beautiful in the summer, looking so cheery and colorful with all the magical things. Even though it was crowded with people, it looked very unlike the big city in London. Here, there were pet shops, broom shops, robes shops and were decorated with wizard styles. Wizards and witches were popping up everywhere with their robes swishing around, owls floated over their heads, and children were dragging their guardians into stores. The place was always seems alive with people bustling around.
As they walked, Harry hid his face in the hood. He also had his shoulders hunched forward as they paced slower. His hands were clutching his wand tightly in his pockets. Furthermore, he barely spoke too. His daughter kept wondering why, but was too afraid to ask. After awhile, the silence was getting more and more irritating to her. Harry glanced back once in a while, hoping to catch any tag-along. He also acted as if he couldn't hear his daughter finally talking.
They continued strolling down the road toward a huge building that towered over all the other shops. Harry addressed the building as Gringott's Bank. Both of them walked through the bronzed doors of the building, running into goblins who worked there. The two paced to the counter to speak with an old goblin. The goblin had an overly large pair of spectacle on, a fairly white beard, and a large hooked nose. As he wrote down something on a piece of parchment, Ms. Potter noticed that the goblin kept long fingernails. She wondered if he ever broke any of them or cared to manicure them. At this, she began to imagine the goblin wearing a menacing red manicure to match the clothes he was wearing. She laughed at the thought.
Harry began to lower his hood to reveal his face. He then spoke, "Good Morning. I, Harry Potter, wish to withdraw some money out of my vault and sign an agreement regarding a will."
"Yes, yes, yes. It's the… Black's family vault…and I believe you also owned another vault that was once your grandparent's vault. This vault hadn't been accessible to you until you were twenty, and it seems that we failed to contact you, sir," referred the goblin.
"Very well. After that, I need to give my old vault, number 687, to my daughter."
"All you have to do is sign at the bottom of these pages, sir," the goblin said, pointing to the bottom line of the page.
The goblin took them down into the tunnel. The cart stopped at the first vault number 687. The goblin jumped out of the cart as well as others. Harry handed him the key to the vault and the vault's door opened revealing mounds of gold. The gold shimmered as it was reflected by the lantern that the goblin was carrying. It was amazing to see gold flickered everywhere, in every corner of the vault. Harry squeezed his daughter's shoulder. With that, she realized that she had her mouth open.
"It's all yours, kiddo. Spend them carefully and intelligently. Remember this, money can't buy everything," said Harry. She absorbed the information quickly and nodded.
"Yes, dad."
"I used this vault during my childhood as a Hogwarts student. It seems that I never ran out of gold and they look the same as always." Harry continued.
She picked up some gold and inserted them into a red pouch that the goblin handed her. They all returned to the cart to continue their journey to her father's new vault. After several turns and dives, they slowed down to access another chamber that was guarded by a pair of dragons. The dragons let them through when the goblin waved something between his hands. They all arrived in front of a vault with no number on it. The goblin used an old magic and scratched his fingernails between the doors of the vault. Seconds later the vault was opened.
"Now, Mr. Potter, you're the heir of the Potter's of course, and the heir of Black's family fortune. The Black's vault is just two doors to the right," informed the goblin.
"Very well, thank you Griphook." Harry said while picking up an ancient gold box with letters carved on it. Inside, there were pictures of people he didn't quite recognize. His daughter was peeking at it over his shoulders too. There were mounds of gold on his left and many prized possessions on his right. There were Quidditch trophies, badges, medals, and others. This vault was way larger than the one Harry gave his daughter. He gathered his things to bring home like the photo albums, old books, and diaries. Then he picked up a handful of gold before heading out.
They continued riding the cart until they came to a stop after they passed two vault doors. This vault was quite similar to the one before. It had once belonged to a pureblood family named Black, and the vault continued to flicker with gold. Again, Harry scanned the vault and brought back nothing but framed pictures and diaries. He came out of the vault with an unidentifiable expression.
Harry and his daughter finished their business at Gringott's and headed back down the alley to shop. First, they went into Ollivander's Wand Shop to replaced Ms. Potter's wand that had been snapped after a friendly duel at Durmstrang. Harry kept giving comments and teased her about being so aggressive. She recently broke her wand, her broom, or burned her cauldron.
She tried several wands, but the one that decided to choose her was a wand made of Dragon Heartstring, Maplewood ten and a half inches. It suited herself very well and it's powerful too. The wand was red in color, carved with gold designs. She gave it a wave and resulted perfectly by her command. Every wand chooses its owner, so this wand chose a perfect girl.
After getting her wand, they stopped by the Florean Fortesque's Ice-Cream Parlor where they enjoyed some refreshments. Then they visited Cauldron Shop that was next door to the Ice-Cream Parlor. In there, all types of cauldrons were being sold like, the collapsible and self-stirring ones, as well as the regular copper, silver, brass, and pewter. After buying all her needs in there, she and Harry went to the Apothecary to get potions supplies like unicorn horns, black beetle's eye, armadillo bile, daisy roots, gillyweeds, porcupine quills, and snake fangs. She thought these ingredients looked kind of creepy in the jars.
The next stop was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Both father and daughter bought some pairs of robes. It didn't take long for Madam Malkin to measure their size. She had the robes done in a jiffy. There were school robes, formal robes, casual robes, and oversized robes. The price depended on the type of fabric or material.
The other school supplies on the list could only be found at Flourish and Blott's Bookstore. They were books that entitled 'The Domestic Application of Divinations', 'A Tutorial of Transfiguration', 'The Encyclopedia of Charms', 'The Manual to Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts', 'A Sorcerer's Codex to Potions', 'Magical Creatures Handbook' and 'Ancient History of Magic.'
Next door to the Stationers was the Quality Quidditch Supplies. It's where people get their brooms and Quidditch supplies. Harry noticed that his daughter had set her eye on a certain type of broom that was on display in the front of the shop. The front window of the shop was packed with people staring at the new arrival broom. Some of the children voiced out audible of 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs.'
Glancing back one last time, Harry paced toward the store, and stopped to look at the broom, too. He moved his eyes toward the end of the broomstick and found 'Cheetah' carved in gold. At the bottom of the display, there was a price tag, descriptions, and special features/adaptations. Nonetheless, the newly arrived broom cost quite a lot of fortune compared to the others. However, this won't be a big deal for Harry or his family. He could afford this stuff and it was worth to buy. He thought of how he missed flying. Flying on a broom was his life.
"Do you want it?" asked Harry through his hood.
"It's kinda cool, but my broom is still in well condition," she responded. As soon as she spoke, an adult witch with a gray hood bumped her, sending her down to the ground just before Harry tried to grab her arm. The adult witch ignored everyone and stalked off. "Ouch, watch where you're going!" she exclaimed.
"Are you hurt?" Harry faced her with caring eyes. She noticed that his face-color drained, leaving him looking awfully pale.
"I'm alright. But you're pale from the shock, I guess," she cried, "Oh Goddammit! She took my purse!" With that, Harry pulled her up and broke into a run to God knows where. Both of them spotted the witch heading toward the alley in the back of a pub.
"Stop!" Harry said to the witch with his wand pointed to the witch. His face showed the concentration and determination to hex her into oblivion. He was about to launch a spell when the witch turned another alley. Harry and his daughter were running at nerve-wrecking speed to keep up with the witch. The witch went into the back entrance of a store and they all recognized the store in an instant. It was Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was full with pecks of owl in their cages.
Once they were outside the store, the witch was lost in sight between crowds of people. Standing beside the door was a group of teenagers with blank expressions. One of them was holding the stolen purse that belonged to 'her.' She and her dad came up to them to claim her belonging.
"I think that's my purse, which was stolen by a witch in a gray hooded cloak," she said, while catching her breath.
"Oh, she just came out of the store and threw this at me. Then she was gone," said a guy with dark auburn hair, handing the purse to her.
"Thank you. It's very nice meeting you all," she said, gladly. "You guys go to Hogwarts?"
"Yeah, I'm Brittany, this is Nick and Jake." A girl pointed at her friends.
"I'm Liz and this is my father," Liz Potter gestured. They all shook hands.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Harry spoke in the lowest tone and had lowered his hood to reveal his face. "I'm guilty to interrupt this conversation, but we have to leave." Harry confessed.
"Okay, well see you guys later," Liz said.
"Yeah, see you at school," they waved.
Harry and Liz turned to leave and headed toward the back of the bar where they had entered from. Harry ushered Liz to floo back to their house while he apparated. When they arrived, Harry was nursing his daughter rapidly. He kneeled before her and asked if she was alright or if she was harassed. His face was contorted with determination and concentration. The color started to came back to his face with sweats.
"Did the woman do anything to you other than stealing your purse? Did she say anything to you?" Harry bombarded Liz with questions.
"Erm…No. Why?" she asked, "Do you know her?"
Harry looked away and Liz knew he was hiding something.
"I'm not sure. I couldn't see her face through the hood."
"Why would she want my purse?" asked Liz.
"I don't know. Have you checked if there's missing contents?" replied Harry.
"Nothing's missing," she responded. Harry's eyebrows arched showing that he was in deep concentration.
That night, Liz dreamed of a scene that looked so real. There was a man who looked similar to her father, but he wasn't her father. The man slammed the door hard. He shouted something to his wife who ran upstairs. The whole scene seemed to be mute. There were no sounds but only motions. Then the woman ran upstairs, carrying a baby. The baby looked oddly familiar. When she turned back around, her face was contorted with fear. She denied something to protect the baby. Then she fell to the floor with no source of explanation.
A/N: Well, there it is…Liz Potter. You see, I keep having trouble on naming the characters. This sounds too corny, that sounds too weird… (it's not like I'm gonna name a baby right now at this present time). Any suggestions or questions, just leave some reviews! ) oh btw, you can find 50 Cent and Eminem between the couches.