Chapter V
Part one
Of Shopping and Friends
She was still there, in the dreary room of The Leaky Cauldron, when she woke up.
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Ileana was downstairs, sitting at one of the long wooden tables in the tavern. She was slightly depressed, everything around her seemed wrong. Her father sat down beside her.
"I know we didn't tell you anything about it till now. Your mother and I wanted you to grow up like a regular child. Your mother and I are muggles and wanted you to know both worlds. We didn't know anything about it until Eddy got the invitation and a wizard named Bemble, gave us a tour of this place and told us all we needed to know. It was hard for us then and I hope you'll forgive us for not saying anything."
Mr. Shire stared at his hands on the table
"We didn't think you'd take it so hard. You've always liked surprises."
"it's alright father. It's not that, entirely. But usually the surprises weren't this big either."
Mr. Shire sighed. "You're right of course."
Silence followed the conversation until bounding downstairs with Merlin
the Frog-cup in one hand Eddy grabbed Ileana's hand and pulled her up out of her chair. "Hey, Eddy that hurts!"
"Sorry, I'm just so excited to show the sights! We should go shopping. And anyways, Merlin here wouldn't shut up." Eddy said glaring at Merlin. "I've lost a lot of respect for him. Talks too much, always thought he'd be the wise quiet type, you know?" He whispered to her.
"Hey, I heard that!" Merlin said glaring back at him.
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Diagon Alley was packed with shops, the busiest most exciting place Ileana had ever been. For three hours she walked around browsing the book shop and then The Shop of Magical Supplies. She got her robes, three black robes as well as a silvery grey robe with moss green vines decorating the edges, and then spent another hour at a place called Wizard Weaselys Wheezes.
By the time she left the shop, it was getting dark. Eddy pulled her through the streets and into the Leaky Cauldron.
"Night's not a good time to be out and about, even in the wizarding world, bad witches and whatnot."
Eddy told her sternly. "Tomorrow we'll get the rest of your items for school and the day after that is our first day of school. Don't worry though; we don't start our actual schooling till next week."
The rest of the evening passed by uneventfully, except for the few conversations she had with Merlin about his life, which really weren't all that interesting the way he told them, and they soon had Ileana fast asleep.
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The next day, the morning sunrise, turned Ileana's room from a dull gray to a masterpiece of oranges, pinks, purples and reds. She picked up a pair of dark blue jeans, and a plain black long sleeved shirt with white trim.
She ran through the two halls, down the three sets of stairs and into the lobby.
Eddy was sitting in the middle of the room laughing with a girl about his age. She had long blond hair and sat confidently talking to Eddy.
"Hey Eddy, who's this?"
Ileana asked coming up next to him.
"Hey, this is Tanya. She's one of my friends at Hogwarts. From Ravenclaw house, I'll tell you about them later." Eddy said looking at Ileana's confused expression when he mention the house.
"Sure, Tanya, I'm Ileana."
She shook Tanya's hand and smiled.
"Hey, so you're the little sister Eddy can't stop talking about."
She laughed
"Yup that's me."
Ileana turned to Eddy "Hey, I need to go shopping for the rest of my supplies."
"Oh, that's right." Eddy said groaning.
"Hey, I need a few supplies too; can I come with you two?" Tanya asked
"Sure thing," Eddy said "If that's okay with Ileana."
"Yeah, that's no problem! Okay I need a book I forgot to get, a few items for….potions, and ummm….and a wand." Ileana said reading from the list she received from the acceptance letter.
"Oooh, a wand, mine is shaped kind of like a sword. It's really cool!" Tanya said pulling out what looked like a small play dagger except with a rounded point and a very round handle. "The new shop owner is really nice too."
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Ileana walked through the streets that morning staring into the nearby shop windows at the strange items displayed.
"Ah here we are." Eddy said stopping in front of a shop near the end of the alleyway. The sign above the door said "Ollivanders wands"
"The shop was started by a man named Ollivander,' Tanya explained "But he died a few years ago, actually a year before your brother and I got our first wands, say four years ago. His apprentice took over the shop and left it exactly the way Ollivander kept it in his day, Dusty and dark. They say the apprentice is just as good as Mr. Ollivander was, which is saying something!"
Ileana laughed and the party walked through the door into the very dusty room.
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