Chapter Two: Diagon Alley, Platform 9 ¾, Werewolf, Finally Here

Saturday came finally, and we all got into the car to go to the Leaky Cauldron in London, the entrance to Diagon Alley. The people going were Maggie, Mom, Grandpa, Aashka, and me. Dad stayed behind to keep watch over the magical creatures and Blackout. Again, the drive there was all but frustrating and long. Maggie was still sulking over the fact that she couldn't get her items earlier and Aashka was bouncing with excitement at seeing Diagon Alley for the first time. I, on the other hand, was excited to get my first wand. I also wanted to check out the Joke shop and the Quidditch shop.

Finally, we pulled into the parking lot of the Leaky Cauldron. I looked back and forth and saw that the Leaky Cauldron is nested between a muggle bookshop and a record shop. We went into the pub. The pub on the inside was dark and shabby, with a bar and a number of tables in the shadows of the corners. Grandpa greeted the bartender happily. I walk over to the bar with Grandpa and the bartender named Tom. I wasn't interested in their conversation, but as I looked around I could see people already using magic. One of the cleaning people was cleaning off a table and put a glass between the middle section of the towel they were cleaning with and pressed the sections together. When he opened the towel the glass disappeared.

"Father, we best be going." Mother said.

Grandpa nodded and said goodbye to Tom. We went to the back and there was a brick wall with a trashcan next to it, which puzzled me. 'How are we going to get to Diagon Alley?' I thought.

Grandpa straightened up and tapped the wall in certain places. Then suddenly one brick goes in and makes a small hole. Then the bricks start going outward making a huge arch.

"Welcome family to Diagon Alley!" Announced Grandpa with a huge smile.

I am the first to walk through and I see hundreds of witches and wizards, many of them with their children getting school supplies. Grandpa grabs my shoulder and we all go to the bank. As the younger ones, Aashka, Maggie, and me, stay behind with grandpa as mom gets money out of the bank, I talk with grandpa.

"What shop will we go to first?" I ask.

"That would be Ollivanders. No better shop to get you your very first wand. He has been in business for...ever it seems like." Grandpa says.

Maggie walks up to us, "Then we are going for our books and maybe we will even get a pet to take with us to Hogwarts."

I shake my head, "Not me Maggie, I'm taking Blackout."

She scrunches up her nose, "Are you sure you want to take that CAT with you? How about a kneazle mix?"

I start to get mad, "Blackout is a special cat and he is going with me."

Maggie huffs at me, but Grandpa intervenes, "Maggie, if your sister wants to bring Blackout then she can bring him."

I smile at Grandpa and Maggie huffs in my direction again. Mom comes back and we leave the bank.

Outside Ollivanders Wand Shop

"Amber, how about you and your grandpa go and get you your wand while I go and buy the other things on the list?" Mom says.

I nodded as I faced the wand shop. The shop looked a bit intimidating and I was kind of nervous to go in. Grandpa grabbed my hand and led me in. I looked around and saw a lot of what I guess was wand cases. Some of them were dusty and others looked brand new. I turned toward an older man with white hair as he came out from one of the aisles.

He looked at me and smiled, "I wondered when I would be seeing you Miss Amber Phoenixfeather." I looked at him confused. "Slyvester, here, is always going on about his three grandchildren and how they are so much like his late wife, your grandma."

He goes over to one of the shelves and grabs one of the more dusty cases. He comes back and opens the cases and gives me the wand.

"Is something supposed to happen?" I ask.

He simply says, "Give it a wave."

I nod and point it at the cash register, not the best target, and wave the wand at it. The drawer to the register flies out and hits the wall breaking in half while the money spills everywhere. I grimace and slowly put the wand on the table in front of me.

I look at Ollivander and I see him shaking his head. "Sorry." I say.

Ollivander waves his hand at me, "No. Definitely not that one." He smiles at me. "Let's try another."

Grandpa laughs, while Ollivander goes down one of the aisles and picks up a fairly new looking case. He comes back and opens the box. He hands me a dark brown wand with ivy carved into it. I grab it and pick a target, this time a vase. I waved the wand and the vase went flying at me. I ducked and the vase went flying over my head. Grandpa caught the vase as it went past me.

I smiled at grandpa, "Nice catch!"

Both grandpa and Ollivander laughed as grandpa put the vase back and I slowly put the wand on the table. I watched as Ollivander went further back into the last aisle and grabbed a case. He brought it to me and it was extremely dirty. He opened it and a light brown wand with a rectangle base with grooves in it.

He grabs the wand and hands it to me with the base pointed at me, "Try this one."

I took a deep breath and grabbed the wand. As soon as it was in my hand, hot air blew by. It was hot but not too hot. The air blew my braided hair up and over my shoulder. Ollivander smiled at the response.

"Rowan wood with a dragon heartstring core, twelve and a half inches long, and it's quite bendy. That is an interesting mix." Ollivander stated.

"How so?" I ask worriedly.

Ollivander put a hand to his chin, "Rowan wood is reputed to be more protective than any other, and in my experience renders all manner of defensive charms especially strong and difficult to break. While the dragon heartstring core is the most powerful, capable of the most flamboyant spells, it is also the most prone to accidents because of its temperament. The wand will learn quickly, but because it is quite bendy it can change allegiance more easily than other wand. On the other hand, because of the core, it might only change if won."

Both my grandpa and I looked at him with amazement.

"Is it okay to have this wand?" I ask.

"Yes, it is alright. The wand chooses the wizard, it's not alway clear why. I have a feeling this wand was made for someone like you." Ollivander says with a knowing smile. "That would be six galleons."

"Here you go Ollivander. Sorry about the mess." Said Grandpa as he gave him the money.

Ollivander just smiles, "It happens all the time, I am perfect in the mending charm." He waves his wand and the broken cash register drawer comes back together and the money flies back inside just as the drawer goes all the way in.

"Cool." I said amazement.

Outside of Ollivander's shop

Grandpa and I go outside and see Aashka running to us with a cauldron filled with school supplies.

"Sis, we got you your school supplies for you." Said Aashka as she hands me the Cauldron. I look inside and see a set of glass phials wrapped in cloth, a wrapped up telescope, and a set of wrapped up brass scales.

"Let's go to Flourish and Blotts. I want my books." Whined Maggie.

Mom signs and says, "Maggie, we will get there when we get there. First, let's get your robes, quills, and parchment."

We all sigh then. 'This is going to take forever.' I thought.

Inside Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions Shop

My sister was getting fitted for her robes after mom had to explain why an older student didn't want the specific house robes. Once she understood that Maggie was a transfer student she understood.

"Hey, mom. Can I have the Hufflepuff uniform pack?" I ask.

Mom shook her head, "Amber, you don't know what house you're going to be sorted in. What if you get that Hufflepuff uniform and you're sorted into Ravenclaw like your father?"

"That won't happen! I'm a Hufflepuff through and through!" I announce while standing tall and pounding my fist into my chest.

Grandpa came to me laughing, "You are what you are. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Mom shook her head at her father and motioned for me to come here, "Let's get you fitted for your robes."

I sigh, but walk over to the changing station and change into the robes. They were a little long on the arms and the hood was too big. I stepped out and the lady, Madam Malkin, started to pin the sleeves back and adjust the hood with a flick of her wand. I noticed a girl that looked my age staring at me through the window. It was creepy to say the least. Thankfully, grandpa noticed my discomfort and with a hidden gesture with his wand, he pulled the shades over the window blocking the weird girl's view. I send my grandpa a thankful smile.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to the Quidditch Shop, but Grandpa made it up to me by buying me stink pellets from Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop without my mom noticing. We got the books from Flourish and Blotts, the best book store. The rest of the supplies were bought at Scribbulus Writing Implements, that's where I noticed the creepy girl again. Thankfully, grandpa kept her away from me. I made sure to get lots of parchment because I'm gonna need it to find out how to become an animagus. You see, my whole family is animaguses. My mom is a horse. Dad is a lion. Funny enough, Maggie can turn into an elephant. No one knows grandpa's except me. He is a Kneasle! No one will tell me how to become one, they say I either have to figure it out myself or wait till my third year. None of my family is registered and I don't want to be either, so I guess I'll have to figure it out because I think the teacher would make me get registered. The rest of the summer went by extremely slow for both Blackout and me, we are so excited. Now, though, it is time.

London King's Cross Station

We are in the train station, it's forty-five minutes till eleven, we have to hurry. All of Maggie and my stuff is packed onto two separate dollies, unfortunately Aashaka was riding on the front of mine. Blackout was unhappily in a carrier on the dolly, meowing loudly every time we had to cross over a bump. The station was packed full of no-majes, mom rushed us to the gateway.

We get there just as another family does. The family had a black haired boy about my age with them. He smiled at me and then gave me what I believe was a flirty wink. Then his parents had him run at the wall with his dolly. Just as he was about to hit the wall, he disappeared through it! Soon the rest of his family did the same thing.

"What are you waiting for Amber? Go through already." Nagged Maggie.

I rolled my eyes at her and nodded.

Grandpa came up behind me, "Do it at a run if you are nervous." He patted my left shoulder.

I got into position and took a breath. I looked up and made sure I was between platform nine and ten. Then I started running and instead of hitting the wall, I went through it to a grand platform. I looked above and I saw a sign that had the name of the platform, 9¾. I moved over to the side and watched my family come through the gateway. Aashaka wanted to do it again. We moved to the train and the conductors loaded Maggie's and mine luggage. I opened Blackout's cage and Blackout jumped out. He jumped into my arms. I gave the conductors the cage.

"Are you sure you want him out young lady? You will have to watch him." He said.

I nodded and got ready to get on the train. I looked at the clock and it was ten till eleven. I feel someone tap me on my shoulder. I turn around and see grandpa, he wraps something around my neck. I look down at my chest to see a necklace with an egg looking pedant.

Grandpa whispers in my ear, "I shrunk a phoenix egg. I want you to raise this phoenix. I have a good feeling that it will hatch in a week or so. When you get it to your room put the egg in the fireplace. Okay?"

I nodded rapidly. Then he looks at my parents, then back at me. "And most definitely do not tell your mother." I smile big and laugh a little. He gives me a hug, almost squishing Blackout, then I get on the train. Maggie already was on the train and already found her a cabin with other students her age. She was lazily waving at our parents as the train's whistle blew. I waved to my parents as the train started to move. I went inside and started going down the hall. I looked inside one cabin and then quickly had to move out of the way as a black haired boy and a red haired girl stormed out of the cabin.

I look at Blackout and whisper, "Not that one."

I walk further down and find a cabin with a boy who has short shaggy light brown hair with the bangs flipped up and green eyes. I walked in.

"Can I stay here?" I ask as Blackout jumped out of my arms and started smelling the boy.

The boy started to push Blackout away, but he kept coming back to him. I laughed lightly and grabbed Blackout. I lightly tapped his nose, "Bad Blackout. Don't just go up to people and start messing with them or we will never find a cabin."

"It's okay and yeah you can stay." The boy said.

"Thank you." I said and I sat down across from him with Blackout in my lap.

Blackout looked up at me and started meowing at me. I listened to him for several minutes as the boy across from us looked at me funny.

"Can you understand him?" Asked the boy as he pointed to Blackout.

I looked up and nodded, "Somewhat. My whole family runs a sanctuary for magical creatures like Newt Scamander. He is my idol. By the way, my name is Amber Phoenixfeather. I moved here from America." I put my hand out for him to shake. Shyly, he shakes my hand and I notice small scars on his hands.

"My name is Remus Lupin." He said. Then, he looks confusingly at Blackout. "What did… Blackout say."

I smiled at Remus as I pet Blackout, "He just said that you remind him of my no-maj uncle."

Remus looked at me funnily, "What is a no-maj?"

"No-maj? You know non-magical people?" I say simply.

He starts laughing, "We call them muggles here. How am I like your muggle uncle?"

"Because he too is a werewolf." I say.

Remus looked shocked and scared, "How did you know and please don't tell anyone?"

I waved my hand at him, "You are slightly more pale than a boy your age should be. Secondly, your hands are scarred because when werewolves are in their wolf form if they can't go after humans or don't have animal companions to be entertained with, they will hurt themselves out of frustration. Lastly, you're shy and are in a cabin by yourself. I won't tell anyone don't worry."

The tolley came by and I bought some sweets for the both of us, plus extra for my soon to be fat black cat. We enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the train ride. He talked about how his father was a world-renowned expert on Non-Human Spirituous Apparition. His dad went on many adventures, one even led to him meeting his wife. I talked about life in America and the school my older sister went to. I talked about all the magical creatures that I help raise at the sanctuary. Soon, we took turns and changed into our robes. The train stopped.

We all got off the train with the older students helping the younger ones.

We saw a giant man with long black hair and long black beard. He wore a dark brown leather shirt with a big silver belt and a large trench coat. He was holding a lantern and waving at the students.

"First years! First year student this way!" The giant man yelled.

I made sure to secure Blackout to me, then I grabbed Remus's hand and ran to the giant man. Once he had all the first year in front of him, he said, "Hello, young ones. I'm Rubeus Hagrid. Follow me to the boats."

We followed him and got into a boat. Remus was holding the lantern. I sat next to him and two more boys followed us in. One of the boys was the boy who winked at me at King's Cross Station. He had chin length wavy black hair with grey eyes.

He leaned over to me, "My name is Sirius Black."

I nodded, "That's nice." I slightly pushed him back as Blackout hissed at him.

The other boy had jet-black hair and hazel eyes. He hit Sirius on the back of the head, "Stop flirting with her, Sirius. My name is James Potter." He waved at me from the other side of Sirius as Sirius rubbed the back of his head.

"My name is Amber Phoenixfeather. This is Remus Lupin." I said as I pointed to Remus who gave a shy wave.

Suddenly, the boat started to move across the water. We all looked ahead to see the best view of Hogwarts. 'I'm finally here!' I thought excitedly.

Edited by: hwang_lee_bang