Dear Sunny,

London is horrible. It rains constantly, and the pollution is unbelievable. Plus, you wouldn't believe what these wizards do to animals!

Wish I was there,

Dawn

"This is it?" I said. We were standing on a dirty sidewalk outside of an equally dirty-looking bar, and it was dumping rain.

"Yes," Mallory breathed. "Isn't it beautiful? I want to find a horse-drawn carriage, just like in Black Beauty."

"No," I said. "It's not beautiful. This place is kind of a dump. And there aren't any horse-drawn carriages anymore."

"There aren't?" Mallory's face fell.

"We're actually in a very historic district of London," Mary Anne said as we picked up our bags. "This road leads to the Via Ductus, which was built by the Romans. In 1622, a fire broke out in--"

"Check this place out!" Abby hollered from inside the bar. I followed, hoping that there was some redeeming quality inside.

Of course, there wasn't. The inside of the bar was filled with even more dirt and grime, if that was possible, and there were all sorts of disgusting people sitting around. I shouldn't say they were disgusting--more like deformed. Abby, Claudia, and Stacey were oohing and ahhing over some stupid flat TV screen that was made up to look like a newspaper.

"Is this a wizard bar?" I asked Stan, who was still carrying Claudia's bags in and trying to convince Mallory that there weren't any horse-drawn carriages in London.

He nodded. "'Cept call it a pub, you're in Britain now."

While I definitely could have chalked the hideous deformities of these people up to simply breathing the air in London, none of the people I'd seen on the sidewalks outside had looked like this. It must be the magic. I wondered if the magic itself was unhealthy, or perhaps these people had just made some horrible mistakes.

"Dawn, quit staring at the hags," Jessi said, bringing me back to reality (unfortunately). "It's rude."

"When did you become such an expert?" I retorted.

"I'm not. I just think it's rude. Like how people stare at me, because I'm black."

"I see your point," I conceded. "But be careful with magic, so you don't end up looking like that. Isn't there organic magic?"

Jessi just rolled her eyes and went on talking to a girl I hadn't noticed. She had long, wavy hair and looked about seventeen, and she wore a plain black robe.

"Who's that?" I whispered to Mary Anne, who had probably been paying attention.

"That's Penelope Clearwater. She's a prefect at Hogwarts, and she's here to meet Jessi and get her settled. We'll be staying here tonight, and leaving for Hogwarts in the morning," Mary Anne whispered back. I wondered what a prefect was, but I knew better to ask Mary Anne. I'd probably get an earful of the Great Prefect Fire of 1781.

Penelope turned towards the rest of us and clapped her hands. "Attention, everyone. Stan and Tom are getting your bags up to your rooms. I'm taking you all out to Diagon Alley, where you can get a feel for the wizarding world, and Jessi can buy her school supplies." She turned to the back wall of the bar--excuse me, pub--and tapped on the brick with what appeared to be a wand. The wall opened up some sort of hidden door that led out to a wide street full of people and shops.

"Wow," Mallory said. "I bet there are horse-drawn carriages here!"

"No, Mallory," I snapped. "All the horses in England are dead. They died of pollution and hags. Now shut up."

I left Mallory in a crying heap (fortunately, Mary Anne stayed behind to comfort her) and strode out into Diagon Alley. And would you believe what the first thing I saw was? Eyelops Owl Emporium. It was a horrible building filled with sad, cooped-up owls. I marched through the door and up to the man minding the counter.

"Now see here!" I yelled. "This is completely inhumane! Has PETA heard about this place?"

The man regarded me calmly. "They're messenger owls. They deliver letters. You must be a Muggle, or a first-year."

"Quit calling me names!" I screamed. "You keep these magnificent animals trapped in here, and then force them to work for you? This is awful!"

I probably would have yelled at the man until he saw my way, or maybe I would have gone on a hunger strike in the middle of the store, but Kristy grabbed my arm. "Dawn, leave the guy alone," she said. "Come on. There's better things to see right now."

"Better than ending cruelty to animals?" I muttered, but I let her lead me out of the shop. I could free the owls another day. There were definitely more important things to do right now, like convince people to switch to organic magic. Of course, I wasn't sure if that existed, but there are organic alternatives to everything, right?