Chapter Two: Diagon Alley
Beth woke up with the sun in her eyes and the sounds of many people talking in her ears. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. She sat up in bed, the events of last night flooding back in a few moments. That old man had given her that letter and she'd somehow ended up in London and now she was waking up in a room at the Leaky Cauldron.
She stared around the room as she got slowly out of the bed. A maroon duffel bag was sitting on the table next to the bed. She yanked it open to discover a change of clothes, a toothbrush and assorted toiletries and a large, heavy looking gray key with a tiny piece of paper hanging from a gold string. She dumped the whole thing onto the bed and picked up the key. The tag had the number 497 written on one side and "Gringotts' Vault, for Beth Burke" on the other.
She stared at it hard, as if expecting it to disappear. She had her own vault? Beth shook her head and put it back down on the bed. Whatever was going on, it didn't seem to be a dream. "That means I'm really here, and I'm really going to Hogwarts." She murmured, knowing that she should've been more excited.
"But I don't have a wand…" she stared at the things now scattered across the bed. "I guess I'd better hurry up, I have a lot of shopping to do."
She got dressed quickly and ate a hurried breakfast. She followed a mother with two small children through the brick wall in the back and into Diagon Alley. She had to stop and stare around her as a place she'd only read about suddenly became reality in front of her eyes.
Her first stop was Gringotts' Bank. She was very surprised to learn that she had a rather sizable amount of money in her vault. It seemed strange and a bit too convenient but Beth wasn't really going to argue since she needed more than the regular amount of school supplies.
In fact Beth had to make two trips back to her room at the Leaky Cauldron with her bags and boxes before she stared down at the hastily scrawled list she had made at the bottom of the official list that had been in her letter.
"All that's left is my wand, pick up my new robes, and an owl if I have enough left." She hurried down the street towards Ollivander's shop; she'd been looking forward to this moment all day. She pulled open the door and stepped aside to allow a young man to exit in front of her.
"Umm, hello?" She called into the dim, dusty room. It seemed oddly empty; many of the shelves were empty.
"Good Afternoon," said an old man who was sorting a few small boxes into larger ones.
"Hi," Beth said brightly, brimming with excitement. "I'm here for a new wand."
Mr. Ollivander looked at her hard for a long time. "Well then, hold out your wand arm."
Beth did as she was asked and a small silver tape measure flew over and began to take measurements as Mr. Ollivander walked towards the dusty stacks and pulled a few boxes off the shelves. "That's enough." He called and the measure fell to the floor. Beth waited eagerly, staring at the boxes.
"Here, try this one, mahogany and unicorn hair, 10 inches." He handed her the wand. Beth had barely waved it when he took it away again. "No, no, how about this, ebony and dragon heartstring, 12 inches."
Beth took this wand and waved it but Ollivander snatched that one away just as quickly. "No, but let's try this one – Birch wood and a centaur's tail hair, 11 and ½ inches, odd combination but effective for Divination."
Beth's hand suddenly felt warm and she could barely contain a broad smile as she waved the wand and it produced copper colored sparks.
"Excellent!" Ollivander clapped his hands as he returned the wand to its box and wrapped it. "That will be seven Galleons, my dear."
Beth left the store at a happy jog, the box tucked safely under her arm. She was sure she had enough money left in her bag for an owl. She hurried up the street but paused in front of a shop that had a few cats sitting in one window and several rats dancing around in a cage in the other.
Beth watched the rats for a few moments before she wandered inside. It wasn't Eeylops Owl Emporium but perhaps she could find what she was looking for here. As she stepped towards the counter where a woman was bustling with her back to the door, one of the cats, a yearling with tortoise-shell coloring draped itself across her shoulders and purred.
Beth stared at the creature with a bemused smile. "I'm sorry; I was looking for an owl." She told the cat in a whisper.
The woman turned around and smiled. "Can I help you?" She looked down at Beth. "Ahh, I see you've found someone, that's Balboa."
"Um actually…" Beth began.
"You should be flattered dear; normally Balboa is all tooth and claw when it comes to strangers. You won't be needing much to take care of him, he's a pretty good hunter already…" she turned back to the shelves and pulled down a few boxes.
Beth stared at the cat that didn't appear to want to move from her shoulders. He purred and nuzzled her face with his own. "I guess you're better than an owl." She said, suddenly oddly attached to the cat.
She paid the woman and left the shop. She picked up her new robes before heading back to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner; Balboa never left her shoulders until she returned to her room.
"I really shouldn't be getting used to this. It's probably just some strange dream." She told the cat as she sorted her things into the large trunk she'd bought. The Ravenclaw crest had been emblazoned on the lid with her name underneath and Beth found that she was overly fond of the sight. "If it is a dream, it can go on for just a bit longer."