Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, people, places, or things within this story. Everything belongs to JKR and Stephenie Meyer.
CPOV
There are many words to describe the man that Albus sent to pick us up from the train station. The man was a giant, well, half giant according to him. He was unkempt but friendly and he wore an overcoat that I could swear I saw moving despite the fact he was standing still. He seemed to be on the same level of depth as my dearest son Emmett. The friendly man's name is Hagrid and apparently he is the keeper of the keys at Hogwarts. He said that our first order of business was to exchange our money for wizarding money while we were here.
"Oi Cedric! What are you doin here? Did the Headmaster tell ya to travel with the Cullen's?" He was directing his mark at Edward.
"I am sorry sir but I am not Cedric. My name is Edward Cullen." Edward said in introduction.
"Ahh Cedric you can't get one over on this ole guy. I will play along with ya for now Edward" Hagrid replies with a big belly laugh leaving Edward to look a little exasperated.
"Hagrid where is the bank located? I can't imagine us going into just any bank and asking or wizarding money." My wife calmly asked him.
"We're goin tuh Diagon Alley o' course. It's where Gringotts is. Ain't no safer bank than Gringotts." Hagrid said with a bit with mirth.
He leads us to the back of what seems like a pub and taps some bricks on the wall. The wall begins to divide into two and my family and I stare awestruck at the bustling ally ahead of us. I notice that as we are walking past the many shops we aren't getting ogled at as we normally are. Oh, there are stares but there is not the usual mystery surrounding us as of to what we are. The mystery now is who we are. I look at my family ogling the different shops and can tell that they are eager to see what the wizarding world has to offer, especially Alice. That girl loves to shop more than any human, vampire, or creature I have ever seen. I can only imagine what type of bill I will end up with when all is said and done with.
APOV
Must shop. Must shop. Must shop. Must shop. Must shop. "Hagrid, how much further is this wizarding bank?" Must shop. Must shop. Must shop. Must shop.
"Well the bank is straight ahead…" that is all I heard Hagrid manage to say as I grab Carlisle's and Jasper's hand and run to the bank. Carlisle looks a little frightened. I wonder why that is? I can feel Jasper trying to calm my nerves but I am too excited for it to take effect. I walk into the bank but I am stopped short by the tellers behind the counters. The group seems to have caught up with us now and I turn to Hagrid wanting to ask what the creatures are when I am interrupted.
"Cool, look Rosie! They cloned Yoda and have him working at the bank!" Emmett exclaimed. Rosalie took his remark in stride. "Hagrid, can you clarify for my husband what these tellers are?" she asks so serenely that it takes Hagrid a minute to collect his thoughts.
"Those are the Goblins. They're in charge of the money. They can be right surly creatures but ain't no one better than them when it comes to handlin gold." Hagrid explained.
"Are any of them named Yoda?" Emmett asked eagerly. Good gosh he was keeping me from shopping with his inane questions! I am about to pounce when my husband holds me back.
"Carlisle, if they are as surly as Hagrid describes than it might be best for me to handle them." Jasper said with his usual drawl. Carlisle didn't even take the time to mull it over before agreeing.
JPOV
I have dealt with my share of surly creatures but none of them are as bad as my wife being detained from shopping. That is one scenario I never want to go through again. *shudder* I go up to the goblin at the very end of the bank and clear my throat to get his attention.
"I need to transfer American currency into wizarding money." I make sure to look him directly in the eyes, not to say please, and not to make it come out like a question. I tend to find direct information and a tense tone can get me what I want faster. If my wife's shaking is any indication than she won't make it much longer and we will all be doomed.
The goblin looks directly at me and then to my family behind me. Carlisle and Esme show their nerves, Alice is twitchy in anticipation, Rosalie looks bored, Edward looks like he wants to leave as soon as vampirely possible and is curiously muttering "who is Cedric?", and then there is Emmett. Emmett is running up to each teller asking if their name is Yoda. The goblin in front of me does not look too impressed nor intimidated in the slightest. I thought him seeing my many scars would leave him unsettled; however, I failed… miserably. It looks like I will have to try another tactic. He starts to say a biting remark until I cut him off.
"I would like to exchange 300 million American dollars for wizarding money." 300 million should be enough for the few weeks we plan on staying. I look at Alice, who is beginning to look a little rabid, and I am not too sure. Oh well…If not, there was plenty more where that came from. The goblin looks at me with malicious glee. I guess he is now satisfied enough not to judge or say any rude remarks that were initially on his tongue.
"Of course sir, my name is Ragnock. Would you be interested in opening an account with us today?" The goblin spoke with a dignified tone.
"Of course. We will also need you to teach us the name of each coin and the value. While I am here I don't expect for people to play me as a fool because I am ignorant of the wizarding culture. Each of us will need a key to the vault as well. You will also let us know the amount of interest that comes out of our vault for having an account here." I exclaim.
The goblin looks at me for a moment before he goes bustling about. We give him the 3 million and he exchanges it for the wizarding money. He takes me to a cart that acts like a moving rollercoaster and then we are off the look at the vault, I opted to go alone hoping Carlisle and Esme can keep the others under control. We are all given a ring that acts like a debit card that takes the money immediately out of our accounts. By the time all is said and done I return from our vault to see Alice rocking on the floor muttering "must shop" repeatedly while the goblin tellers are all trying to run away from Emmett.
"I like you. You are unpleasant to deal with and get right to the point so I am going to do the same for you. The goblin nation will cut your interest in half as long as you agree to never bring the giant man-boy back." Ragnock spoke with haste. He can see the look of fear on the faces of the other goblins as they run in mayhem trying to get away from the excitable Emmett. I shake his hand and let him know we have a deal. I pick up Alice from the floor and we meet outside the bank.
"Okay everyone. We have our rings and you can shop for an hour but after that we must meet back here with Hagrid so that we can meet up to go to Hogwarts." Carlisle didn't even get to say more than that before Alice takes off with me by her side.
EsPOV
Oh Alice…. She will never change. Emmett starts to run off before I drag him back by his ear. "Rosalie, I want you to take Emmett and stay with him at all times. I expect you to behave young man and if I hear one word of you going in that joke shop you will be punished! You should be ashamed of what you did to those poor goblins! Some of them were huddled in the corner and you made two of them cry! Hagrid said that was impossible!" I scolded at him.
"But Mommmm…." He started to interrupt me but I shot him a withering stare.
"Rosalie honey, will you be fine?" Maybe I should go with her to help keep the big oaf in line.
"I will be fine mom." She says with assurance. Rosalie really does do a great job of keeping him in line. Emmett is truly an overgrown child with an overactive sex drive. Sometimes I wonder if something went wrong with his transformation. Oh well, I love him just the same and he makes Rosalie happy. That girl desperately wanted to be a mother and her inability tended to leave her a little bitter.
"Come on Emmett we can go look at the brooms" she tells her pouting husband. Emmett appears to smirk at her, take her by the hand, and skips off into the crowd.
One good thing about the ally is that people don't look at us in wonderment of what we are. They know and there is no deep dark secret that we are working religiously to keep. It is almost as if we were relieved of a huge burden we didn't know we carried.
Carlisle, Edward, and I decided to venture into a bookstore called Flourish and Blotts. I am amazed because the covers of the books move! There are books covering just about every wizarding subject you can think of. I am hoping to read up on wizarding plants so that I can grow a garden when we find a place to settle. People around us are chatting aimlessly and they all appear to be nice with friendly smiles. Maybe Dumbledore was right and they have learned to be more accepting. I am glad it doesn't seem to be too crowded in this little shop because I could tell the hustle and bustle from the ally way was bothering Edward. His mind reading ability made it harder for him than most because he cannot shut it off. It must be hard to never be alone with your thoughts. I do hope that one day he finds his mate so that it may make his gloomy outlook on life a little bit brighter. Edward looks up and shoots me a sad smile and decides to walk to the other side of the store.
EPOV
This entire situation is remarkable and I can't help but feel like my life had been turned upside down since last week. Alice confided in me, not purposely, that we would not be returning to the states. Apparently Hogwarts is to be our home for the unforeseeable future. It is hard to think about a permanent settlement. The idea has merit; however, it makes it harder not to get close to people. A vampire getting attached to humans is like a human's attachment to a goldfish; meaning, they die quickly. Despite that fact, I can't help but want to interact with the people around me since they know what we are. Esme is right that the ally was all hustle and bustle; however, the noise level wasn't what unnerved me. I couldn't help but feel like I was home as soon as I stepped foot into Diagon Alley. It was like a sudden since of déjà vu, almost like I have lived the scene before.
The alley is busy with witches and wizards of all ages. They keep seeing my face fleeting in their minds as I pass them but for some reason they associate me with the same guy Hagrid did, Cedric. I don't have much time to ponder this because a large moving poster at the back of the book store catches my eye. It is a picture of three teenagers with the words "The Golden Trio" hovering above them. There is a guy on the left with red hair and freckles. I can't help but think he looks positively ordinary. The guy in the middle has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead but that is not his most striking feature, his eyes make me feel like he could see to through to my very soul. The last of the trio was a girl who was pretty. She had bushy hair and golden brown eyes. Yes, she was pretty. I wonder what they are famous for.
I look through some more of the poster selections and see that the boy with the scar's name is Harry Potter. One particular poster of him stops me dead in my tracks. He was pictured with three other people. The heading of the poster read Triwizard tournament and I find myself looking at my human form once again. This must be Cedric and that is why people think we look alike. The resemblance is uncanny really. He even had my human green eyes.
"Carlisle, I think I know why people keep confusing me for this Cedric guy." I say as I point him to the poster.
"How is this possible?" Carlisle asks in wonderment.
"I am not sure but maybe we can ask the headmaster if he knows him." I tell him.
"We should leave in 15 minutes so hurry and make your purchases." I do as Carlisle says as I scoop up the books I plan to buy. I pass the poster of the golden trio and look into the golden brown eyes again. Unconsciously I go and grab the poster to purchase along with my books.
RPOV
Oh my Carlisle! Emmett is difficult to keep track of. I feel like I have been running around after him for five hours instead of one. We first went to the broom store where he cried because he couldn't fly a broom seeing as he wasn't a wizard. After 15 minutes of me… umm… "consoling" him we headed to a candy shop.
"Emmett, sweetie, we are vampires. Why do you want to go to a sweet shop when we don't eat?" I asked Emmett.
"Rosie, they are wizards. They may candy for us here. Hey there is a worker I will go ask! Hey you! Hey you!" I can't help but think that Emmett's adventure was pointless but I needed to make sure he doesn't terrify the work to much so I trail behind. The worker appeared to be engrossed in shocking the shelf. He looked as if he couldn't be any older than 15 with gangly limbs and slight acne.
Emmett clears his throat. "Excuse me sir, but could you tell me if you have any candy geared towards vampires?" He smiled to show his dimples but the worker didn't even notice because he wouldn't stop staring at me. Emmett tried asking at least once more before I growled at the guy. He promptly jumps back and screams "Isle four" before scurrying to the back. Emmett and I go to the isle and I see his eyes go as wide as saucers.
"Rosie, pinch me. I am dreaming." He whispers in awe. I can't help but be a little awestruck myself at all the blood flavored candy. We look at each other and then begin grabbing all that we can. We run to the cash register and pay for it before stuffing our faces. I don't remember much after that except for when I came to I was sitting in a dangling cauldron above a pub, coughing up bubbles, and I had somehow acquired a set of bag pipes. Emmett was across the street attacking people with a giant feather and had somehow managed to lose his shoes. I looked at my watch and realized we only had two minutes to get back to the bank. I jump down from the cauldron and race after Emmett.
EsPOV
We all arrive practically unscathed at the bank. Alice has returned back to normal now that she was able to spend money. Edward has gotten over the shock of his human doppleganger. Rose did as well as she could with Emmett but he still won't part with that feather. Vampires don't sleep b; however Jasper and Rosalie looks like as if they could use a good nap, how odd.
"Alright Cullens everyone gather round. What I have here is a portkey." Hagrid booms while holding up a hat that has an ugly vulture on it. "On the count'o three it will take us right outside the gates of Hogwarts!" We all look at what he is holding skeptically.
"Hagrid that is a hat. An ugly hat at that." Alice chirps in displeasure.
"I know tha missy but Dumbledore made it a portkey. Now everyone grab on." We all follow heed to his words and put a finger on the hat.
"One, Two, Three!" Hagrid exclaims. The next thing that I know we are being whirled away by a tornado. We finally land after what feels like a minute later.
"AHHHH AHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH AHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH" Emmett was still screaming in his girly high pitched scream.
"Emmett you idiot we landed!" Edward tells him as he slaps him on the back of his head.
We get enough bearings to look around and right in front of us is the most magnificent castle any of us have ever seen.