The next day after breakfast the girls decided to go into London to find the shops where they would need to get their supplies. Before they left however an owl appeared with a letter for each girl. "We got the grant for the extra day and the tickets for the train," Phoebe shared from her letter. "I got the list of what we need to buy and were," Aideen held out her letter. "I got a congratulations and official acceptance from the school and ministry" Briana shook her letter in front of the other two. "We're all set then! We have almost every thing we wanted" Aideen took one of Briana's hands and one of Phoebe's and began to dance around. Caught up in the excitement they danced in a circle until a cleared throat interrupted their celebration.
"What's the occasion girls?" a short woman with light brown graying hair asked. "We're going to school!" They said in choirs. "Oh well then when will you be going?" The woman picked up the dropped letters and noticed the owl waiting for instruction. "On Thursday, we were just about to go out shopping for supplies. Would you like to join us Matilda?" Phoebe looked over her shoulder as she went to get the owl a treat. "No thank you, I'll just start to get the house clean and things put away for your leave." With that the old woman headed to the cleaning closet. Phoebe came back with a strip of jerky for the owl and it flew off for home.
"Let's get going before something else comes up and we are delayed further" Phoebe took their coats off the coat rack next to the door. Helping each other put on their coats they shouted goodbye to Matilda and went out. They had old fashion bike waiting for them by the gate. It was an okay day for the ride into London and none of the girls complained. Once they reached the main part of town they looked for The Leaky Cauldron. Most muggles wouldn't even notice it and those who did stayed away. Briana was the one to spot it first "look there it is!" The others did look and they smiled amongst themselves as they found a place to stash their bikes. Approaching the entrance they took a quick look around to make sure no one saw them go in before darting inside.
The inside of the pub was dark and smoky with a tolerable amount of noise. Keeping their hoods up they went to find the back door exit. The only people who seemed to take notice of them were the bartender and an unusually tall bearded man at the counter. In no time they had found the exit and were standing behind the building facing a brick wall. Aideen pulled out the letter to see what they had to do next. The tall man from the pub came out a moment later. He stood waiting while they looked from the letter to the wall and back again. "Having some trouble?" the man asked in as gruff but friendly voice. "Just a bit," Phoebe walked over to his side and held the letter for him to see. "Can you tell us how this works?" The man read the letter and began to fumble around in one of his coat pockets. "You do it like this," he said pulling out an umbrella and tapping on the wall in a pattern. The bricks began to move and made an opening tall enough for the man and wide enough for them to pass two at a time.
"Thank you sir," Briana gave a small bow to the man after they had stepped through the portal. "Not at all and it's Hagrid by the way. May I know you're names?" The girls formed a line and lowered their hoods as they introduced themselves. "I'm Phoebe Delphi," she went first then "I'm Aideen Delphi," and last "I'm Briana Delphi" they all gave a slight bow. "Are you girls going to Hogwarts?" Hagrid asked stroking his long black beard that nearly covered all of his face. "That we are, we're just here to pick up our supplies for the summer course." Aideen produced the list of things to buy. "Well I hope you have a fun time and I hope to see you at school. I'm the grounds keeper." The girls smiled at him, "then we'll talk again soon, bye." They waved and set out to buy their items.