Chapter 2: School Supply Shopping
Once Professor McGonagall had showed us how to get into Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron and had told us that we could exchange our money for wizarding money at the bank, Gringotts, she left, saying she had important business to attend to. She also informed me that I would find my train ticket in the envelope my letter had come in and that the train would leave at 11 o'clock on September the first from King's Cross Station.
Diagon Alley was like no place I had ever seen before. There were tons of people walking around wearing cloaks and robes just like what Professor McGonagall had been wearing. I suddenly felt out of place in my jeans and shirt, though I didn't dwell on it for long, because as we continued walking down the street, I started noticing some other people dressed like me, and I assumed that they also came from non-magical parentage.
Despite my eagerness to start buying books and supplies right away, we had to first exchange our money, so we headed towards the bank. The bank was by far the largest building around, and it was made of white marble with bronze doors. Standing beside the doors, however, was a creature I couldn't identify. It was small, wearing a scarlet and gold uniform and had a pointed beard. When it reached towards the door handles to open it for us, I saw that it had very long fingers. I decided I probably shouldn't think of it as an 'it', and I decided he was definitely a male, though I was extremely eager to learn what kind of creature he was.
Another one of the creatures the next set of doors for us once and we stepped into the bank. It was a vast hall of marble, with long counters behind which the creatures were sitting on high stools doing various types of work.
Unsure how to proceed, I looked up at Dad, "where do we go now?"
He shrugged and looked around. "I suppose we should go up to a counter," he finally replied. So, we walked over to the nearest counter and stood before the creature that was behind it.
The creature raised its head and scrutinized us with his beady eyes before asking what we wanted.
"We want to exchange our money for wizard money," Dad said, holding out a fistful of cash. The creature raised his arm and with his long fingers, pointed to a man sitting behind a counter across the hall. He appeared to be the only human who worked here with the creatures.
Dad thanked the creature and we headed over to the man, who appeared much more jovial than the grim-looking creatures.
"How can I help you?" he asked, a smile spreading across his face.
"I'd like to exchange this for some wizard money," Dad replied, handing him the cash he had in his hand. The man took it and began counting it out.
"First time in Diagon Alley?" the man asked conversationally.
"Yes," Dad replied. "We only just found out today that our little Hermione was a witch," he said, patting me on the back.
The man behind the counter raised his head to look at me and smiled. "Well that's just great news," he said, now counting out some strange-looking coins which I assumed was the wizard money. "Alrighty, here we are," he said, handing Dad the coins. "The gold coins are called Galleons, the silver ones are called Sickles and the bronze ones are called Knuts," he explained. "Every Galleon is worth seventeen Sickles and every Sickle is worth twenty-nine Knuts."
I wondered why they used such random numbers. Seventeen and twenty-nine didn't really seem to make all that much sense to me. They had no common denominator and in fact were both prime numbers, which seemed to be the only thing they had in common – and not a very useful commonality either.
We thanked the man and he wished us good luck as we left the bank, returning to the busy and crowded street. I immediately became excited as I pulled out my list of required items and started picturing myself buying all the wonderful things on it.
School supply shopping has always been one of my favorite activities. Buying new notebooks and binders and getting a new and clean eraser and knowing that you would soon be filling your notebooks with information and dirtying your eraser by erasing mistakes when taking down notes.
I especially loved buying my schoolbooks. Books are one of the best things in life. You can buy a book and have absolutely no knowledge of whatever is inside, and then you open it up and when you've read it, your mind is filled with all this new knowledge that you never had before. To me, a new book was like an untapped pool of possibility just waiting to be learned.
I pulled out my supply list and decided to be smart about things and go in order, so as not to miss anything.
"Alright, the first thing I need is a uniform," I said to Mum and Dad. "Where do we go for that?"
"I'm not sure, maybe we should ask someone," Mum said, looking at Dad, who nodded. They both appeared to be feeling out of place, which made sense, especially since they weren't magic. I suddenly felt bad, knowing that while I was finally feeling like I was fitting in for the first time in my life, they were probably more uncomfortable here than anywhere else, being two non-magical people invading a magical district.
"Excuse me," Dad said to an older lady who was passing by, "we were wondering if you could tell us where we might buy a school uniform for Hogwarts?"
"Oh, are you muggle-born dear?" the lady asked me. I wasn't sure what that meant, but it didn't matter, because she continued, "Madam Malkin's would be the place to go." She pointed us in the right direction and then hurried along and continued with her own shopping. I noted that she hadn't actually answered Dad, but rather had only spoken to me, ignoring both Mum and Dad as though they weren't even there. I decided not to dwell on it, figuring I was overreacting over nothing.
We walked in the direction she had indicated and soon came to a shop called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was obviously where the older lady had intended us to go.
We entered and a very nice-looking lady emerged from the back room, smiling and asking if I was here for my Hogwarts robes. I told her I was, and she immediately set me up on a footstool and slipped a robe over my head. She started pinning it all over and measuring things, and I just stood there, while Mum and Dad settled themselves in a pair of chairs next to the mirror.
The lady, who I assumed was Madam Malkin, hummed while she pinned my robes, and when she was finished, she took them into the back room, telling me to wait. While she was gone, a young boy and his mother entered the shop, clearly in the middle of an argument.
"Why can't I get new robes like Percy?" the boy demanded.
"I'm sorry Ron, but you're just going to have to make do with Percy's old robes. It would be silly to buy brand new robes when we have perfectly good ones at home."
"Why doesn't Percy have to wear Charlie's old robes then?" the boy, Ron, insisted.
"Because Percy is a prefect now. He can't be walking around in Charlie's old things. They're all torn up and scuffed from all that Quidditch he used to play, not to mention the adventures he would go on with Hagrid in that forest. It would be unbecoming for Percy, now that he's representing his house. Besides, Percy's old robes are in great condition."
The boy and mother continued to argue, but I politely tuned them out. This was clearly a money issue, and the mother didn't want to say it out loud. I felt bad, but there wasn't much I could do about it, and I had my own things to worry about.
Madam Malkin emerged from the back moments later my entire school uniform. Mum and Dad paid for the clothes while I pulled out my list again and checked to see what I would need next. There was a whole list of schoolbooks that I was going to need, so before we left, I asked Madam Malkin where I should go to buy my books.
She told me to go to a shop called Flourish and Blotts and told us how to get there. We thanked her and headed in the direction she had indicated. When we finally found Flourish and Blotts, we entered, and I was utterly taken aback. There were hundreds of thousands of books in this shop and the stacks reached all the way up to the ceiling. I walked through the aisles of books and marvelled at all the titles that there were. There were books on every subject I could ever think of and more on subjects I would never have dreamed existed. Eventually, I located all the books that were on my list and I also chose a few extras to read for a little background, since I was new to this world. I was especially keen on reading Hogwarts: A History, since it was about the school I would be attending.
After convincing Mum and Dad to buy me all the extra books in addition to my set books, we went to get the next item on the list; a wand. We went to a shop called Ollivanders. The words on the door indicated that the shop had existed since 382 B.C. which explained why the shop appeared so rundown.
When we entered the shop, an older man appeared from the rows upon rows of shelves all stacked with long and thin boxes.
"Good afternoon," the man said, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous at the way his eyes were shining so brightly despite the darkness and gloom of the shop.
"Hi. I'd like to buy a wand," I said.
"Yes, of course. Your first wand, I believe, let me see…" He peered at me for a moment and then walked back into one of the rows of shelves, leaving me and my parents alone at the front of the shop.
He returned with a tape measure, which started taking my measurements all by itself, which certainly caught me off guard. While the tape measure measured, he began explaining to me about the different types of wands.
When it was finished, he took the tape measure back and chose a box from one of the shelves. He placed teh box on the counter and opened it as though it was the most delicate thing in the world. He gingerly lifted the wand out of the box and handed it to me.
"Maple and dragon heartstring, seven and three quarter inches, springy," he announced.
I stood with it for a moment, not sure what to do.
"Wave it around now, come on," he said, so I flicked the wand in the air, but no sooner had I tried it, it had been snatched out of my hand.
He chose a new wand and handed it to me.
"Beechwood and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches, supple," he said.
I began to wave it, but it too was snatched out of my hand.
"Aha!" he said, upon choosing a third wand. "Vine wood and dragon heartstring, ten and three quarter inches, nice and flexible," he told me. When he handed it to me immediate warmth spread through my fingers and into my body. I saw red sparks shoot out the end of the wand, and the man smiled for the first time since I had entered the shop, clapping his hands together.
"And there you are young miss," he said, taking the wand back and packaging it in the box. "You very own wand."
The rest of the day passed in a blur of activity as we purchased a cauldron and scales and all the other things on the list. I opted not to get a pet, though the supply list said I could bring one. I had enough going on right now without needing to take care of an animal.
When we were finished shopping, though I could have stayed in Diagon Alley for hours more, just experiencing and exploring all the shops and sights, I could tell Mum and Dad were spent, so I suggested we head home for the day. They both looked relieved, and I remembered that I would have to be sensitive to their adjustment period. Though for me, everything felt like it was finally falling into place, it was going to take a while for my parents to come to terms with everything changing so suddenly.