Anna awoke the next morning to hear Harry yelping. "What on Earth..."
"Hagrid's owl tried to bite me!"
"Ye gotta pay him." Hagrid mumbled from the sofa, still half asleep. "He wants payment for deliverin' the paper. Look in my pockets."
Anna and Harry rummaged around in the giant's coat pockets until Harry with Drew a handful of odd-looking coins.
"Give him five Knuts." Hagrid murmured. "The little bronze ones."
Harry counted out the coins, putting them into a little leather pouch that was attached to the owls leg.
"Best be off, ye two." Hagrid said as he sat up and stretched. "Lots ter do today, gotta get ter London an' buy all yet stuff fer school." Anna's heart began to sink. How would they buy all the things that they needed? Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia definitely wouldn't pay for it, and Anna and Harry had absolutely no way of avoiding it. But Hagrid assured them that they wouldn't have to worry. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anythin'?"
"But Hagrid..." Harry protested. "If their house was destroyed-"
"They didn't keep their gold in the house! First stop fer us is Gringotts, the wizards bank. Wizards just have one bank. Gringotts, run by goblins."
Goblins? They were real too? Nothing should surprise Anna anymore.
"Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, yeh two. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anythin' yet want ter keep safe. 'Cept fer maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyways. Fer Dumbledore. Official Hogwarts business." Hagrid suddenly stood up straight, seemingly proud of himself. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you, gettin' things from Gringotts. He trusts me, see? Got everythin'? Come on, then."
Anna and Harry followed him outside. The storm had stopped, and Anna looked around for Hagrid's boat, but the only one she could see was Uncle Vernon's, which was now filled with water. "How did you get here, Hagrid?"
"Flew." Hagrid responded.
"Flew?"
"Yeah, but we'll go back in this boat here."
Anna giggled at the look she imagined would be on Vernon's face when he discovered that their only way of getting back to shore had been hijacked.
"Not supposed ter use magic, now I got yeh two." Hagrid continued.
They settled down in the boat, Anna sitting cross legged so as not to get her feet wet. Hagrid gave them an odd look. "Seems a shame ter row though. If I was, to, er, speed things up, could yeh not mention to anyone at Hogwarts?"
Anna and Harry, both eager to see more magic, promised Hagrid that they wouldn't tell a soul. Hagrid tapped the boat with his umbrella, and it began to speed off towards shore. Anna's hair flew behind her, and she laughed in delight. She still wasn't entirely sure that this wasn't a dream, that she would wake up in the cobweb filled cupboard. Anna dangled her fingers in the water. Now that it wasn't stormy, the lake was actually quite beautiful, and fish could be seen swimming just below the surface. If this was a dream, Anna didn't want to ever wake up.
When they reached shore, they started walking down the street. People gawked at Hagrid, but Anna couldn't exactly blame them, especially when Hagrid did things like point at a parking meter and say, "see that, Harry? Anna? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"
They soon reached the train station, and Hagrid, having absolutely no idea how to figure out Muggle money, gave it to Harry to sort out. People stared even more as they got onto the train, especially when Hagrid started to knit. Anna read her letter again, seeing exactly what it was that she would need. Multiple books, robes, dragon hide gloves, a winter cloak, a wand, a pewter cauldron, glass phials, a telescope, and brass scales. They were also allowed to have a pet.
Anna and Harry had never been to London before, and Anna gazed around in awe as they walked off the train and out of the station. There was so much to see, music and book shops, restaurants, cinemas, but nothing that appeared to be magical.
"This is it." Hagrid said as they stopped in front of a building. "The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
For such a famous place, it seemed rather shabby. A few old women sat in a corner, and a little man stood talking to the bartender. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in, and suddenly everyone got up and came over, each person trying to shake Harry's hand. Anna flu herself being pushed out of the way, and she watched with a frown. Anna wasn't going to lie, she felt a bit jealous at all the attention that her brother was getting. Then, to her surprise, one of the people, a pale young man made his way over to her. "M-M-Miss Potter." He stuttered out as he shook her hand. "P-Professor Q-Quirrel. I'm going to b-be one of y-your teachers at H-Hog-Hogwarts."
Anna felt sorry for him and his awful stutter. "A pleasure, Professor." She said, smiling at him. "What class will you be teaching?"
"D-Defense Against the D-Dark Arts."
Well, it seemed like Hogwarts wasn't going to be all rainbows and unicorns. Hagrid and Harry joined them then. "Time ter get goin'." Hagrid said. "We'll see you at school, Professor." Anna waved to Professor Quirrel as they left. While he seemed very nervous, overall he had seemed nice. However, Anna couldn't shake the feeling that something seemed off about him. If only she knew how right she would turn out to be.