Prologue
The lights were flickering again. Four year old Amy was screaming. To be honest her parents were equally freaked out. No matter how many times your children fused the whole house because of a bad dream it didn't get any less creepy. Her father had had the entire house rewired three times in an attempt to fix the problem. He'd replaced countless bulbs; he'd set up a repeat order on amazon for fuses and bulbs to avoid the check out guys unfunny jokes at the local DIY store.
Mr and Mrs Johnson had decided that the best course of action was to keep their children busy all day. Much to their parents relief the bad dreams and the flickering lights had almost entirely stopped however they still had a stockpile of bulbs and fuses just encase. The strangeness around their children hadn't completely stopped but it was stuff that was easier to dismiss. Although Amy still would not tell them how Peter Harrison had ended up with a clean shaven head; that instance had almost led to a criminal investigation but luckily his mother had dropped the case when she learnt exactly what little Peter had been saying just before the indicant of the vanishing hair. Nobody knew what on earth she had done with the hair let alone where she had got the razor to carry out the act. There was also the rather alarming case of the flooded school on the day Jack had decided that he absolutely did not want to go.
Chapter 1 The Visitor and Diagon Alley
It was a bright July day school had just finished for summer and the Johnson family were going over their summer plans.
"So the first two weeks we have you signed up to attend the children's university and then of course we have karate camp followed by judo camp and then a week in France with your cousins before'' Mrs Johnson was cut short as the doorbell went.
Mr Johnson came back into the kitchen with a young man dressed in jeans and what appeared to be a hand knitted cardigan in red and gold stripes.
"This young man says he's come to talk about the children's schooling" Mr Johnson said looking puzzled,
"Good Morning, I hope this isn't a bad time to drop in" the young man said politely,
"If this is about Peter's hair ..." Mrs Johnson started but stopped when she saw the bemused look on the young man's face and after a moment's pause "This isn't about hair?",
"No, it's about the reason behind the hair Mrs. Johnson" the young man said The young man who's name turned out to be Professor Longbottom preceded to spend the next two and a half hours explaining to the small family all about the wizarding world and a school called Hogwarts. "Their is a small orientation day this Saturday to bring you in to our world we will start at 8am at Kings Cross Station so I can explain about the platform from there we shall proceed to Diagon Alley where you will be able to buy Amy's school supplies. Will you be able to join us or would you prefer to be scheduled on a different orientation day?" Professor Longbottom concluded,
"We will join you on Saturday" Mr Johnson replied still trying to take in everything the Professor had said. Magic would certainly explain a lot.
At a quarter to 8 on Saturday the Johnson family stood looking around the station trying to spot the meeting place for the orientation.
"There'' Jack exclaimed pointing excitedly towards a slowly growing group.
"Good Morning, lets begin. This is where your children's journey to Hogwarts will start'' Professor Longbottom said as he passed out tickets to the assembled group,
"Now I would like each of you to take your ticket and go through the gates, I will meet you on the platform",
The family groups moved forward to use the gates, their was a small gasp from the families as the first group disappeared,
"Yes we use to have to go through a brick wall but after a few incidents the Ministry decided to upgrade the system. Go on then I promise it doesn't hurt" Professor Longbottom said with a smile.
Half an hour later the little group found themselves outside a dingy little pub the Professor led them through to a little courtyard out the back waving to the landlord as they passed through. He took out his wand and said clearly "top left then right" and taped on three cosponsoring bricks and the wall opened up to a bustling street,
"Welcome to Diagon Ally" Professor Longbottom said with a great big smile, "Now I have organised for each family to have wizarding family guide" he said indicating to a small group to his right, "So if the Adam's would like to join the Brown's and the Chichester's would like to join the Boot's" the families paired off and the groups moved away as the Professor went through the list "Williams with West" Professor Longbottom said and then turned to the Johnsons,
"We have a special foundation for adopted children. The Padfoot foundation pays for all seven years of school supplies and any other additional school expenses. You will be guided by my Wife and daughter today." He said as he gestured to a woman and a girl,
"I'm Alice" the girl said holding out her hand politely to Amy, "I'm starting Hogwarts this year too. You're going to love it there."
They started at Gringotts bank an impressive white marble building run by Goblins. The grownups sorted out money while Alice talked excitedly about Hogwarts,
"There are four houses, Gryffindor; My Dad was a Gryffindor same year as Harry Potter, Hufflepuff that's my mum's house, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Hufflepuff's common room is next to the kitchens and Slytherin's common room is under the lake, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are in the towers." and on she went telling Amy and Jack all about the layout of the castle and the dynamics of the houses as they made their way through the streets of Diagon ally. First stop was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where the girls were measured and fitted for their school robes.
Amy didn't know where to start in Flourish and Blotts the shop was filled with so many interesting books. Jack picked up a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Big Foot's Last Stand some comics named Loony Nonby v.s. Cornish Pixie, Famous Fire-Eaters, Animal Ghosts of Britain, Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Charm Your Own Cheese and much to his parents dismay The monster book of monsters that snapped wildly until laughing Jack stroked the spine and the book fell open and quite. Amy added Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts, Self-Defensive Spellwork, Jinxes for the Jinxed, Transformation Through the Ages, Practical Household Magic, Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions, The Healers Helpmate, Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century, Important Modern Magical Discoveries and Ancient Runes Made Easy to her school books and then because Jack was unwilling to share also added a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard to her pile. Alice reappeared with two books one of which she placed on top of Amy's pile before disappearing again to ask her Mother what her allowance was.
Their second to last stop was Ollivander's. A young boy was sat drawing at the cash desk he didn't look up from his labour as the Johnsons and Longbottoms entered. Another boy wondered out of the shelves of wands,
"Dad, Grandpa costumes" he called. He was looking attentively at Amy and Alice,
"I'm Rick Ollivander" he said quickly "I'm starting Hogwarts too" and then he turned around and disappeared back into the stacks. Amy couldn't help noticing that he had turned scarlet. A man stepped forward,
"Good afternoon" he said with a slight French accent, "Welcome to Ollivander's makers of the finest Wands since 382 B.C."
A second older man had appeared he leaned over the desk to examine the young boys work.
"Dad, can you sever the young Longbottom please." the younger Mr. Ollivander asked of the older before directing his attention to Amy, "which is your wand hand?"
"erm" Amy thought for a moment "Right" she replied holding out her arm helpfully,
"Very good, we'll just take some measurements" said Mr Ollivander. Amy could see Rick peeking out at them from behind the shelves, she smiled at him and he retreated back into the shelves. The tape measure was doing it's thing while Mr Ollivander had walked away into the shelves he came back as the tape measure was taking the measurement of her ear, he clicked and the tape fell to floor,
"Let's try Aspen, unicorn hair, 9 and a half inches" he said offering a box to her over the next half hour Amy tried a number of different wands during this time she spotted Rick ducking in and out of the shelves handing different boxes to his father and grandpa. "How about the unusual pairing of Willow and Phoenix feather, 9 and a quarter inches , was one of the last wands to made by my Grandfather a true genius." the young Mr. Ollivander said offering yet another box to Amy, he was watching closely he was excited. Amy took the wand tentatively she had already caused a small avalanche of wand boxes however as she picked this wand up a warm feeling spread through her and brightly coloured sparks filled the air.
"Marvellous" exclaimed both Mr Ollivanders smiling widely, "we wish you all the bast at Hogwarts" the younger Mr Ollivander said as he showed them out of the shop. Amy spotted Rick peaking out of the shelves and waved as she left the shop.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was amazing Amy and Jack took a moment just to spin and take it all in. Jack found the trick wands most amusing and promptly used his remaining allowance on two trick wands and three boxes of fireworks before his parents could object. Amy went for some instant darkness powder, some joke sweets that would make the eater make farm animal noises and some sticky trainers.