As promised, my mom took me to Diagon Alley in London. It looked really weird. Everyone was wearing robes and those big pointy hats you usually see at Halloween.

First we went to "Madam Malcom's Robes for All Occasions" where I was greeted by some plump short witch with maroon robes. She brought me over to a stool. Slipped a robe over my head and began to pin it to the right length. This girl with bushy brown hair was getting fitted right next to me. She looked like your regular know-it-all geek, and talked like it too.

"Hello!" she said.

"Hey, sup?" I replied.

"Huh?"

"What's up?" I said slowly trying to dictate every syllable so that she could understand.

"Oh, nothing much. Are you muggle-born?"

"Huh? Well, Mom's a witch but I have no idea 'bout my dad." I guessed that muggle-born meant that you had human parents.

"Oh, why not?"

I was liking the girl less and less every second. She talked too much and asked way too many questions.

"'Cause I have no idea where my dad is. He left my mom 'fore I was born."

"Oh. Sorry I asked, I didn't know." she seemed a bit embarrassed, like she thought I might get all emotional and start crying all over her shoulder.

"Don't be." my voice was flat and expressionless because, since I had never even met the man why should I feel bad about him not being there?

The plump little witch had finished fitting my robe so I stepped down, eager to get away from that girl. She, on the other hand, had other plans.

"My name's Hermione Granger. How about you?" she called after me.

"Jen Smith. Err, it was nice talking to you Hermy." I answered, quickly thinking of the most girly nickname I could think of. She obviously didn't like the name at all. I saw her frown through the window as a rejoined my mother.

"Mom, will you take me to Diagon Alley?" the small girl asked, expectantly.

"Of course, dear." replied the mother. "Now, try not to interrupt."

"Where to next?" said my mom, rubbing her hands together like someone ready to get to work.

"Well, what do we need?"

"We need your wand and a pet. While you were in the shop, I picked up your basic potion supplies and you spell books so we don't have to worry about those."

"What kind of pet can I get?" I asked excitedly. I hoped my mom would let me get some cool snake or some magical creature that would help in my pranks.

"An owl, a cat, or a toad. Toads went out of fashion years ago, and you're allergic to cats, so it'll have to be an owl."

I looked disappointedly at Mom. An owl? I couldn't believe it! Carry your mail and be your friend. I could train it to chase after my victims and distract them so they wouldn't be able to see where they were going. That might work. But how long would that take? Might as well look for one that would be loyal and obedient.

We entered "Eyelop's Owl Emporium" and I immediately was taken aback at how many different kinds of owls there were. There were tiny, hyperactive ones that could fit into the palm of your hand, giant Great Horned Owls, common Barred Owls, sharp-beaked Burrowing Owls, black and white Great Grey Owls, cute Screech owls, and Eagle Owls. I decided on a Great Horned Owl I named Prankster. I decided that it would be very common a school so noone would know it was mine. It also was the biggest and would be a sure-fire distraction.

For a wand we went to "Olivander's". The shop was comprised of an antique desk with a bell on top, a spindly wooden chair, and shelves to the ceiling piled high with slender boxes that, I guessed wildly, contained wands. It seemed like noone had been here for at least five years or long enough to collect a layer of dust on everything. My mom rang the bell and a creepy man with unblinking eyes appeared out of nowhere.

"Ah, Jessica. I wondered when you would be bringing your daughter here. Unicorn hair, 11 and a half inches, yew, good for charms work, am I correct?"

"As always Mr. Olivander. This is Jennifer. She's just starting Hogwarts this year. It's a marvel she got in." replied my mom, who evidently was friendly with Mr. Olivander.

"Well Jennifer, what shall we start you out with today?"asked Mr. Olivander.

"First of all, my name is Jen and I would like to start with something good and powerful." I retorted, hoping that he would get my nickname.

"Well then 'Jen', try this one," he said bringing down one of the boxes from the shelve near the desk, "dragon heartstring, 13 inches, ebony."

I took the wand unsure of what I was supposed to do with it. I decided to wave it at something breakable and it broke. Evidently, that was a sign that the wand was the wrong one because the old geezer snatched it out of my hand and handed me a new one.

"No, well, let's try this one! Dragon heartstring, 12 and a half inches, oak."

I took the new wand and tried it. I had barely lifted it when this one too was taken from me. I tried another wand ( Phoenix feather, 11 inches, cherry) and another ( Unicorn hair, 13 and a half inches, mahogany) and another until the spindly old chair was piled high with used wands. After about the hundredth try, I finally seemed to have found one that suited me.

It was a handsome wand, Phoenix feather, 13 inches, and some apparently rare wood called jarah. It was especially powerful. When I took it in my hand, my fingers got all warm from the wand. I had taken it up in the air and brought it swishing down, leaving a foul-smelling green fog in it's wake. "Very useful," I thought as my mom payed for the wand.

It had been an interesting trip to the wizarding world. I couldn't wait, for once in my lifetime, to get to my new school.

"Wow, Mom! So there really are magic wands?" the small girl asked, in awe.

"Yes, there are. I still have mine up in my room." answered the mother.

"So what I was school like?" she questioned, eagerly.

"Patience, my child. This is a very long story."