A/N: Here's a nice long chapter for ya'll :) The name for the goblin came from me typing random letter and saying something random out loud :-D Also, I just got done with this chapter like ten minutes ago, so sorry in advance for any errors :)
Fights in Diagon Alley
On August first, I woke up bright and early. I took a shower and went to my rather small wardrobe and picked out one of my best shirts and a pair of jeans. I grabbed my list of school supplies and looked over it. It said I would need a wand, some robes, a cauldron, and a list of books. Most of the books on the list were by a man named Gilderoy Lockhart. I took my list and slipped it into my pants pocket.
Walking out into the hallway, my mom I could smell my mom making toast. When I got to the kitchen, she handed me a piece and said, "We need to get going. We might need some extra time to find this place."
I nodded and ate the toast while she locked the door to the flat. We hailed a cab outside our building and rode to King's Cross. I watched outside as the buildings going by got less shabby, and finally the cab driver pulled next to the curb. My mother handed the man some money, and we stepped out of the car.
"I am absolutely no good at directions," mum said, holding her hand up to her eyes and looking around for some sort of sign directing the way.
"This way," I replied. I felt an odd pulling in my stomach that took me through a couple of alleyways. The closer we got to the small pub, the lighter the pulling was. Mum was staring at me like I had totally lost my mind, and finally I said, "Here we are."
"Where is it?" she asked, looking around.
"Right there," I pointed to the small building with a witch stirring a cauldron on the door.
"I don't see it."
I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. She made a small yelp, as if something had just appeared before her eyes.
We walked into the pub, and shut our eyes quickly as the pub was very dark compared to the outside. Once our eyes adjusted, we saw that the pub was filled with witches and wizards. All of them were wearing odd clothes. Cloaks to be exact. These people were varying in age from infants to elderly. I even saw a woman smoking a long pipe.
I walked up to the bar and an older wizard (not as old as Dumbledore) with hardly any teeth stood cleaning a glass someone had left on the counter.
"Excuse me, sir? Could you tell me where the meeting is for Hogwarts?" I asked.
"Muggle-born, eh? Go straight through that door back there," he said as he pointed to a door in the back.
"Thank you," I replied. I checked my watch, and we were still a couple of minutes early. I walked to the back and opened the door.
We were now outside and there were a few people there. There was an older witch (at least in her seventies) with a clipboard and a quill who was talking to some of the children already there. When she spotted me and mother, she walked over.
"Name?"
"Drea Brotherton," I replied.
She looked down the list, made a check mark with her quill, and said, "I see you are down for financial aid. I believe there is only one other person down for that." She pointed to a girl with light brown hair standing in the corner. "My name is Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I also teach Transfiguration and am Head of Gryffindor house. You probably won't know what that is. I suggest once you get your money, you buy a book called Hogwarts, A History. It will help you get better acquainted with Hogwarts. Also, I see that you already have your ticket for September first, right?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now to get onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, you will need to walk straight to barrier between platforms nine and ten. Your mother will need to say good-bye to you, however, before you walk through, as non-magical people can't walk through the barrier. After I open the gateway to Diagon Alley, I will accompany you and Miss Christ to Gringott's so you can access your accounts," she said, pointing to the girl in the corner. "Any questions?"
"No, none at all," I replied. I looked over at the other girl, and decided I might as well introduce myself.
I walked up to her, and when I approached, she smiled.
"Hi, I'm Drea Brotherton," I said, putting my hand out.
"I'm Ginger Christ," she replied, shaking my hand. "Are a part of the financial aid program?"
"Yeah. Would you mind if we hung close to you? Me and my mum don't do well with directions," I laughed.
She laughed as well, and replied, "Sure, no problem."
"Attention, everyone!" yelled McGonagall, pulling her wand out. "I am about to open archway to Diagon Alley. Everyone remember to make their way down to Gringott's Bank. You will meet with a goblin to get your money." Everyone broke out into whispers about goblins, and she spoke a bit louder, "Everyone please note which brick you have to tap, as next year when you come to get your supplies, you will need to do the same thing. Any questions?" Everyone shook their head. "Good."
She took her wand and counted three up, and two across. She tapped that brick three times. As if from nowhere, a large archway appeared. Everyone gasped at the sight before them. A large, busy street lay before them. Toward the end was a large white marble building.
"Miss Brotherton, Miss Christ please follow me," said McGonagall.
We both nodded and obeyed. I could have literally stayed in this area forever. There were so many shops of varying subjects. There was an apothecary on one side, while a store that stocked only things for something called "Quidditch." There was a store that had nothing but owls, and near that was a store that had a range of animals from cats to what looked like a tortoise with a jeweled shell. We finally got to the large marble building and noticed a small creature. Ginger let out a small gasp next to me, while I just stood there with my mouth open. Mum tried to pull me back, as if the creatures were going to attack.
"They are just goblins," McGonagall reassured. "They don't attack or harm you unless you steal something from them."
We walked tentatively past them, and into the large building. There were about a hundred or more stations with goblins attending to people.
"Over here," McGonagall said, leading us over to the first vacant goblin.
"Yes?" said the goblin, putting his quill down.
"Drea Brotherton and Ginger Christ need to make a withdrawal from their new accounts. Dumbledore said that you would have the keys."
"Hold on," the goblin replied, hopping off his chair and walking the length of the bank to talk to another goblin. Evidently he was the manager. The manager handed our goblin a set of keys, and he came waddling back to us.
"Here we are. I'll ask you to go through this door." He pointed. "You will meet a goblin named Gofimmen and he will take you to your vaults," he finished, handing us our keys.
"I need to attend to the other students. Do you think you can handle this by yourself?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes," said Ginger and I in unison.
"Good. Have a good day." Then she walked briskly out of the bank.
We walked into the dark room lit by torches. We handed our keys to Gofimmen and he hopped into one of the larger carts that were there. There seemed to be a few different tracks that could be taken. Mother and I sat in the back, while Ginger and her mum sat in front of us.
"Hang on," mumbled the goblin.
Suddenly the cart jerked forward and began going at an unbelievably high speed. Mother closed her eyes and started to look green. Ginger, who was in front of me, threw her arms in the air and screamed like she was on a roller coaster. We kept making twists and turns, and even if I had tried to remember it, I wouldn't be able to. Then the cart jerked to a halt at vaults 301 and 303.
Gofimmen pulled his lamp out and said, "Miss Brotherton, you are number 303. Miss Christ, you are 301."
He opened both our vaults, and in both of them was the same amount of money. They weren't pounds though, they were coins. There was a hefty amount of gold, silver, and bronze coins.
"Here are some complimentary pouches for you." The goblin handed us each a leather pouch with a large "G" embroidered in it.
"Sir," I asked, "what are all these coins?"
He walked into my vault and got one of each of the coins. "These," he held up the bronze coin, "are Knuts, they are worth the least amount of money. The silver ones are Sickles. And lastly, the gold ones are Galleons. They are worth the largest amount of money."
"Like the Olympics, right?" Ginger said from next to me.
The goblin cocked his head to one side and asked, "What?"
"Never mind," Ginger replied, blushing slightly.
"Now, you can exchange the smaller coins for the larger coins. For example, there are seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle. When we get back to the lobby, I'll give you a pamphlet that will tell you this, along with Muggle money conversions. Good?"
"Yes, sir," I said. This was a lot to take in in just one day.
"Let's get going then." He got back into the cart and we rode back to up to the room where we first got on the cart. We shielded our eyes as we entered the bright lobby. The goblin gave us the pamphlets and we were on our way. My mother and Ginger's mum said they would meet us in the pub in a couple of hours so we could get to know each other. In under an hour, we had our robes, our potion ingredients, and everything else besides our wands, books and an animal.
"Where do you think we should go next?" asked Ginger, struggling a bit underneath her load of supplies.
"Let's go get our animals, and then our wands. By then it should be about time to see Gilderoy Lockhart, whoever he is," I replied, pointing to the sign above the bookstore called Flourish & Blotts.
We passed by a store called Eeylop's Owl Emporium, and I saw a beautiful barn owl. It had a pure white face, and the only word to describe it was gorgeous.
"I'd like an owl, but I also want a cat," Ginger said, putting her things down. She pulled her list from her pocket and looked it over. "It says either an owl or a cat or a toad."
"I'll let you borrow my owl. You can go and get your cat."
"Thanks," she smiled.
We walked into the small shop and there was wall to wall owls that were in cages. I went to the counter and found an older hunchbacked man feeding an owl with a dropper.
"He's been sick for the past few days," he mumbled. "Nothing that a few drops of Pepperup Potion won't help." Suddenly, the owl started smoking. At first I thought he was going to explode, and when the owner noticed my expression he said, "It won't hurt him. He'll just be smoking for the next few hours."
I nodded like I understood, but in reality, I didn't.
"Anyways, how can I help you young ladies today?" he asked.
"I'd like to buy that owl in the window over there," I replied, pointing over to where the barn owl was.
"Ahh…I was wondering when she was going to go. Just got her in yesterday," he said, walking over to the owls cage. "I can't believe no one came to buy her earlier. Maybe she was meant for you," he winked. "Okay, owl number five one four," he muttered, pulling out a large book that looked like a ledger of some sort. He pulled a quill and inkwell out and ran his finger down the old parchment until he found what he was looking for. Dipping his quill into the ink, he wrote, "Sold."
"How much for her?" I asked, pulling my leather pouch out.
"Seven Galleons."
I counted out seven of the large gold coins and handed them to the man.
"Have a nice day," he said, bowing slightly.
We walked out into the bright sunlight, and I looked at my watch. "We still have about twenty minutes before the Gilderoy Lockhart show. That should be enough time to get your cat and our wands."
We got to the Magical Menagerie, and Ginger saw the cat she wanted. It was a small gray kitten, and was absolutely cute.
"What are you going to name it?" I asked.
"I'm leaning toward Mudge," she replied. "I've always had a fondness with 'M' names."
I realized I had not named my owl yet. "I still need a name for my owl. I'm thinking Midge," I said, chuckling.
"That settles it then! Midge and Mudge," she laughed. We walked to the wand store, Ollivander's, laughing at our name choices.
We walked into the shop, and it was one of the darkest shops that we had been in. The room was large, and it was stacked with wands, floor to ceiling. We sat our things on the ground and started looking at the wands. While we were looking at the wands, we were startled to see an old man behind the counter. His eyes were snow white, and I tried hard not to stare directly at them.
"Ahh…," he said. "Need a new wand, do you? Well, get on over here." He motioned us over. "Which one is you're wand hand?"
"Err… I write with my right hand," I replied.
He pulled my arm out and started to measure with a silver tape measurer. It seemed like he measured every inch of my body. He tapped his chin and went in the back to grab a wand. He came back out with a thin box and said, "Here try this. Eight inches, oak with a dragon heartstring core."
I held the wand and made a flicking motion. Nothing happened.
"Hmm…interesting. Okay, let's try this. Ivy with unicorn hair. Nine and a half inches."
A slight spark came out the end, but he said, "We're on the right track. How about this? Birch with unicorn hair. Ten inches."
As soon as I touched the wand, it heated my hand. I flicked it and flowers shot out of the tip.
He clapped. "Very good. I'll wrap that up for you," He said, taking the box out of my hands.
Ginger was next, and her wand search ended fairly quickly. On her second try, she ended up with an elder wand made with phoenix feather, eight and a half inches. After paying the older wizard, we headed to Flourish and Blotts.
People were standing outside to see this Gilderoy Lockhart person. We shoved our way inside with a lot of difficulty and grabbed what books we needed for the term, which were conveniently located by the door. We stood near the back, standing on a box that was filled with books.
As we situated ourselves on the box, we saw him. He had hair the color of gold and eyes of sapphires. He wore robes of blue with a matching hat. He had a pearly white smile that reminded you of some celebrities that they showed in the supermarket tabloids.
"Wow," Ginger breathed. I looked at the flashy wizard with my eyebrow arched. Yeah, he was a good looking man, but how could someone who looked like he never got a speck of dirt on him really have saved so many lives? As soon as the real Gilderoy sat down at the table where he would be signing books, pictures, and other things, I realized that the pictures that surrounded the table were of him and they were moving. I let out a small gasp as the pictures started winking at the real Gilderoy, and shortly after that, I heard Ginger next to me make a sound of awe.
We only got a glimpse of Gilderoy, as there was a man who looked like a reporter taking pictures. The camera kept spouting out purple wisps of smoke, and completely hiding Gilderoy's face. When the smoke subsided, he jumped up, almost tipping his chair over, and yelled, "It can't be Harry Potter?"
"Who's Harry Potter?" I asked Ginger.
"Beats me."
"You don't know who Harry Potter is?" asked a frail witch in front of us. We both shook our head. "He made You-Know-Who disappear. He was only a year old, and You-Know-Who killed his parents. Tragic thing, really."
I started to feel sorry for the boy. This Harry Potter was famous and had to have his parents' death shoved under his nose all the time. I glanced back up, and noticed Gilderoy Lockhart pulling Harry close to him like they were old buddies. I had no idea who You-Know-Who was, but he didn't sound like a pleasant person.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said over the crowd. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time!
"When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography --which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge--" Everyone clapped except me. This guy seemed like a total fraud. Lockhart, not Harry. "He had no idea that he would be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September, I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Ginger, who clapped unenthusiastically, whispered, "He sure is full of himself isn't he?" Apparently she had changed her mind of the handsome man.
We continued to watch as Harry Potter received a whole load of books from Gilderoy Lockhart. The boy staggered to a family (or at least I suspect they were all related since they all had bright red hair) and dropped his books into the youngest girl's cauldron. After the photo opportunity, Gilderoy began to sign the fans' books. But my attention was concentrated on Harry Potter, who had just been approached by a boy with white-blond hair.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" he said.
There was more banter between him and Harry, but I couldn't hear it all, as all of the witches who were waiting for their books to be signed by Lockhart (Professor Lockhart I should be calling him now). I heard the distinct thud of something hitting metal, and I looked up to see the red haired boy standing next to Harry lunge for the blond boy. Then a man, who had to be the father of the red haired boy, came up to say something to them.
"Well, well, well---Arthur Weasley," came a drawling voice from somewhere nearby. The man who said it had to be the father of the blond boy, as he looked exactly like the boy only he had longer hair.
"Lucius," Mr. Weasley said coolly.
There seemed to be more noise and it droned out the rest of the conversation. There must have been an argument between the two as Mr. Weasley's face started to get redder and redder. Suddenly, he threw himself at the taller wizard, and in doing so knocked a display of heavy books onto Ginger and I. Before we could regain our balance, a large man (who might have been a giant) knocked us of our box and sent us tumbling to the floor.
Groaning, we hoisted ourselves up and saw that the large man had picked up both men in each of his large hands. Mr. Weasley's lip was seeping blood and Mr. Malfoy's eye was blackening at a fast rate.
"Let's pay and get out of here," Ginger whispered in my ear. I nodded and we slowly made our way over to the counter where a witch stood in shock. She came to and we paid for our books. We left the store quickly and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"You want to tell our mums' about this?" Ginger asked, walking slowly from the load of supplies that she had.
"Are you mad?" I replied. "They won't let us go to Hogwarts if they find out there had been a fight right in front of us." I slowed down a bit and saw a tall building that claimed to be a post office. "You think we can go in and get our stuff shipped to our houses?"
"Worth a shot," Ginger replied. "My arms are about to fall off as it is."
We walked into the post office, and once inside, we were shocked. There was every size owl imaginable, from small Scops owls to large screech owls.
There was an older witch behind the counter helping a man tie a large box to a handsome tawny owl.
"Your friend should get this box within the next day or so. That will be," the witch looked at a little piece of parchment taped to the counter, "ten Sickles."
The man handed her the money and turned to leave. He tipped his hat at us on the way out. Walking up to the counter, our mouths were still hanging open at the sight of all the owls.
"Name?" the witch asked.
"Drea Brotherton."
"Ginger Christ."
"Local or long distance delivery?"
"Local," I replied.
"I live just outside the city," Ginger replied.
The witch nodded and took out a large leather bound book and ran her finger down a list of names. It looked oddly like a phone book, only with addresses.
"Drea Brotherton of 1389 Acris Street?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Okay. Do you have any food or animals being shipped, and if so, what are they?" she asked, slamming the book.
"No, I don't. I can carry my owl home. I just need to ship my school things home."
"Give them here." She took them from me and got a few owls and tied my new school things to their legs. After the owls took flight, I was left with Midge and my new wand. Ginger did the same thing, and she was left with Mudge and her wand.
The witch checked the parchment taped to the counter and said, "That will be fifteen sickles for you Miss Brotherton, and nineteen sickles for you Miss Christ."
We paid for our shipments, and our arms started to get feeling in them. We went back to the pub to see our mothers drinking each a glass of wine and looking fairly red in the face.
"Luckily we took a taxi to get here," laughed Ginger.