A/N: Okiedokie folkipolkies, just one more chapter after this in the Pre-Hogwarts section! As usual, I don't own Harry Potter! Also, please excuse any errors in punctuation! My grammar is usually pretty good but my punctuation can get a little creative.

Pre-Hogwarts

Chapter 8

August 20th, 1988

Two rainy weekends before Jo and Leili were to leave for Hogwarts, Leili and her parents took Jo, Jillian and their mom through the pub that guarded the barrier between the muggle world and the magic world. Jo and her family watched with interest as the bricks in the wall in front of them moved to create an archway which revealed the bustle of an alley crowded with colorful shops and cloaked people.

Leili watched Jo as Jo watched the people with wide eyes, "This is Diagon alley," she said with relish, showing off just a little.

"Wow," Jo said.

"Ready?" Leili asked taking Jo's hand.

"Where do we start?"

"Trunks and trolleys first," Leili's dad said from under his umbrella. After snagging a trolley, they both bought trunks and went on to find the uniform essentials. They made a stop in Flourish and Blott's and bought Jo the proper schoolbooks; Leili had her sister's old books so she was set. They moved on to Potage's cauldron shop, purchasing two pewter cauldrons before going next door to Wiseacre's and buying two sets of brass scales, two telescopes and two glass phials.

Jillian was having the time of her life; gazing open mouthed at all the things her sister would get to use. To keep her from getting too distracted, Jo set her to schlepping. The girls would hand her the lighter weight items, instructing her to place one of each on each trolley before they carried the heavier things like the telescopes and the cauldrons. Trolleys loaded with almost everything on their lists the five of them headed out once more into the rain, on their way to the south side of Diagon alley to meet Ollivander.

On their way down the alley, Eeylops Owl Emporium and Magical Menagerie distracted all three girls; out front, a bat hung on the sign with a little umbrella keeping the rain off it and wide-awake owls watched passersby.

Jo was drawn to a barn owl that was on a perch without a cage. The bird had intelligent black eyes and tan feathers that would glow golden when the sun shone on them. Leili wandered inside and admired the animals. As she turned around to see where Jillian had gone-Leilani saw it as partly her responsibility to keep an eye on the eight year old-a sleek black kitten with amber eyes dropped from a shelf to her shoulder and mewed in her ear.

Jo pulled her jacket down over her hand and offered her arm to the bird, the owl accepted the proffered arm and they went inside to find Leilani scratching the now purring kitten's chin and Jillian admiring a tortoise with, what appeared to be, rubies growing out of its shell.

"You found a moon-faced barn owl," Leili grinned at Jo.

"And you found a pretty black cat," Jo said with a scratch behind the feline's ears.

"How very Friday the 13th of me, yes?"

"Our letters say we're allowed a pet, right?" Jo double-checked, she really liked this owl.

"A cat, an owl, or a toad," Jillian recited, she'd memorized Jo's letter with just a little envy the night before.

"Muuum…" Jo said, just as Leili went, "Daaad…" they both flashed their best, 'pretty please' grin and they both managed to walk out with a new pet under the condition that they be able to take care of them. Jillian, however was not so lucky, she had to leave the tortoise behind. Her mother told her that the owl was practical, the tortoise was not; she also said, with a conspiratorial smile, that maybe they could get a dog someday. That perked Jillian up considerably.

As the girls walked out of the shop Leilani leaned towards Jo and asked with a grin, "So, is today a good day?" Jo didn't answer; the day wasn't over yet.

They continued down the alley and filed into the dusty wand shop, the bell jingling above the door. Jo, Jillian and Leili immediately began to look around. There were long, skinny boxes piled everywhere, most of them dusty. The sound of a wheeled ladder coming to a stop commanded the attention of the easily distracted girls.

"Ahh, Aloiki Akina, a reasonably springy Poplar and Dragon, 12 inches, good to see you again. Weren't you in here a few years ago with your daughter? Cedar and Dragon, 11 ½ inches, reasonably supple; a good wand, I trust she's doing well with it?" Ollivander asked, addressing Leili's dad as he descended the ladder. He liked it when former customers came back; it gave him the chance to remember the wand. For the Akina's, stubbornness was in their blood and so it had a tendency to occur in their wands as well.

"She is; she's doing very well, she's starting her third year at Hogwarts soon. This is my second daughter, Leilani and her best friend, Jo and Jo's family. Leilani and Jo are also starting Hogwarts in September." Leili's dad replied, gesturing to the two older girls.

Jo's mom stepped forward, hand held out to shake, "Diana Montgomery, nice to meet you."

"Indeed, indeed, all right then," he shook her hand politely before he walked over to the girls. "Wand arms out please."

Leili lifted her right arm and whispered to Jo, "Dominant arm." Jo nodded and lifted her own right arm. Ollivander measured both girls shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, knee to armpit, and oddly enough around their heads.

All the while he talked, "Every Ollivander wand has a powerful magical substance as a core: Unicorn hairs, Phoenix tail feathers and Dragon heartstrings. No two of my wands are exactly alike, just as no two witches are exactly alike." Ollivander turned away from the girls and pulled down a box from one wall and another box from the same spot in the opposite wall.

Jo was handed an Ebony and Dragon heart string while Leili was given an English Oak and Dragon, the results weren't catastrophic but were less then favorable. Two more boxes came out, one containing a cherry wand with a unicorn tail hair core and the other an acacia and phoenix feather. "Give them a wave," he told them. Wands were waved and then taken away just as quickly, "No, no, not those, you might break something." Next were alder and aspen and this time something did break.

Wand after wand after wand was tried before Ollivander took a step back and considered the young witches before him, "I wonder…" he said quietly, before turning back to the counter, unburying the first two wands and giving them back; this time, however, he gave Leili the slightly springy 10 ¼ inch Ebony and Dragon and Jo the reasonably supple 13 inch English Oak and Dragon. Warmth spread through their hands and up their arms, followed by a pleasant tingling. They brought the wands up and swung them down; green and gold sparks erupted like fireworks above their heads.

"Oh yeah, today's a good day," Jo answered Leili's earlier question as she admired her wand. Ollivander beamed, he always enjoyed the difficult matches.