Okay it's been awhile. I am highly aware of how long the wait was. However, on the bright side, I got a new laptop, so I can actually write now. That of course made a big difference. Also, I edited the previous chapters a lot. No big changes in plot, just a lot of grammatical errors and rewording of sentences.
To anyone who reads this - thank you so much for sticking with me this long, and I would love you even more if you reviewed
Big thank you to the one person who actually cares enough to review, Kuronique Misaki
~emily
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd be typing this while on the beach in Hawaii, not during another snowstorm in New England.
Call it magic
Call it true
I call it magic
When I'm with you
And I just got broken
Broken into two
Still I call it magic
When I'm next to you
- Magic
Coldplay
"I've told Mrs. Smith that I'm taking you to London to get your school things. As you are new to the world of magic, we shall travel the muggle way." Professor McGonagall announced as she led Emma out the orphanage door and towards the awaiting taxi.
It was a peaceful drive into downtown London, and Emma used the time as a chance to reflect on all that had happened. So much had transpired in such little time and she could hardly believe that only a few hours ago she was miserably munching on cold cereal in the dining hall. She was amazed at how quickly her life had turned around. Hopefully it had turned around for the better this time.
Looking out the window and viewing the passing scenery, Emma couldn't help but ponder over what they would be getting in London, and where they would get it. These thoughts led her to pull out the envelope with her letter. She reached in, her fingers brushing against the thick parchment, and pulled out the other paper, which she hadn't gotten the chance to read during all of the morning's excitement.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
Emma was intrigued by the list, although it also brought a depressing question to the front of her mind.
"Professor McGonagall, how are we going to pay for my school stuff? I haven't got any money and the orphanage fund is far too low to pay for it."
"Do not worry about that. Your parents were very well off and have a large account at Gringotts - the wizard bank - and you have access to it. Although, even if you didn't, the school has a fund for less fortunate children like you." She answered.
"Professor, did you know my parents? No one has ever told me anything about them."
An uncomfortable grimace appeared on the face of the Professor as she hesitated to answer the question.
"Yes, I did know your parents. They both were very talented wizards, in the same year and house at Hogwarts. You look very similar to your mother, Delilah, except you have your father's eyes."
"Oh," Emma said. She had been hoping for a more descriptive and detailed answer, but the stony expression on McGonagall's face had discouraged her from pushing for more information.
The two fell into a disquieting silence until finally the taxi had pulled to a stop in front of a row of buildings. McGonagall paid the driver, though it took her a moment to get the right amount of money.
"Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron, Miss. Wilson." She gestured to the shabby looking pub in front of them. Emma wouldn't have noticed it, had Professor McGonagall not pointed it out, and the people walking by didn't seem to notice it either. In fact, Emma had the most peculiar feeling that only she and McGonagall could see it.
As the taxi drove off, Emma turned to her future professor, inquiring, "Can muggles see the Leaky Cauldron?"
"No, their eyes travel right from the book shop that's on one side and continue onto the record shop, skipping right over this famous wizarding place."
Again, waves of questions began popping up in Emma's mind as her teacher finished speaking. However she didn't get the chance to have them answered as professor McGonagall had begun to walk at a brisk pace towards the shabby building. Emma quickly fell into step behind her, and entered the pub. The bell on the door clanged noisily as they entered, causing a few costumers to look up, though upon realizing that it was no one of importance, they promptly returned to their previous endeavors. Inside was just as desolate as the outside, if not more. There was a group of elderly women in the corner who were chatting and drinking some sort of concoction out of cloudy glasses. One of them was smoking a long pipe, which caused Emma to worry for her health. There was a couple of younger men that looked to be just out of college - did the wizard world have college? - talking to the bartender, looked similar to a toothless walnut with his shin bald head.
McGonagall speedily strode through the bar without delay, for which Emma was very grateful. She hated places like this, ever since she landed in the foster family with the alcoholic father. Against her will she was reminded if the twisted memories of the house that she had tried to forget. Emma struggled with the thoughts for a moment, before focusing on the floor and attempting once again to push the memories away.
The professor led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds. Without pausing to explain why they were standing in such a grubby place, McGonagall pulled out her wand and began counting the bricks in the wall above the trash can. Emma watched as she lightly tapped a brick three times, taking note that the brick was three up and two across, and looked to be quite ordinary. However, her jaw fell open as the brick Professor McGonagall had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared. Dumbstruck, Emma stared in awe at the phenomenon as the hole grew wider and wider, and a second later it had grown large enough for a giant, and became an archway onto a cobblestone street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome," said McGonagall, "to Diagonal Alley."
Emma barely heard the statement, she was already lost in her amazement. At this point, she should have adapted to her new life, that was full of sudden twists and surprises, but alas, she was still thoroughly shocked at the sight before her. There was so much to see, so much to experience! Thousands of things she had never even heard of, much less tried to use.
They stepped through the archway, into the fairytale setting. Turning back, Emma watched as the archway shrunk back into a solid brick wall, and she tested out the firmness with the back of her heel.
Immediately her attention shifted to the side as the sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop, the glaring reflection on their polished surfaces becoming quite distracting.
"Do I get a cauldron?" Emma whispered excitedly.
"Yes, but we need to get your money first." McGonagall answered.
Emma wished she had about eight more eyes - or that McGonagall would walk slower. She was a woman on a mission, and kept a steady pace as they stepped down the cobblestone street. Emma turned her head in every direction as they walked, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, and the people doing their shopping. An elderly couple just leaving an apothecary were laughing about some inside joke. A younger lady near them was looking in the window with a frown, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, that's even more than last week . . ."
They passed by a rather loud shop, with a sign identifying it as Eeylops Owl Emporium. Lots of hooting noises were projecting from the store. Next door, several children around Emma's age were ogling at a window filled with broomsticks, going on about a 'new Nimbus Two Thousand'. There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Emma had never seen before (though she was highly intrigued), windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and other gross parts(less intrigued by that), mile high piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles -
She was so entranced by what was around her that she forgot to watch where she headed and almost tripped on a step. Emma looked up to see McGonagall climbing the white stone steps that led up to a grand building towering over the other little shops and buildings. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a - er, a goblin. The goblin was about half of a head shorter than Emma (she was fairly short herself). He had a wrinkled, clever face, a pointed beard, and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of door, silver this time, with the carefully carved words of a poem engraved upon them:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in return.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
A pair of goblins bowed ridiculously low as they walked through the silver doors and into a vast marble hall. No less than a hundred goblins were seated on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing strange looking coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were countless doors showing the way out of the hall, and even more goblins were ushering groups of people in and out of these. McGonagall headed towards a goblin sitting at the counter.
"Good morning," she greeted cordially. "We would like to make a withdrawal from vault seven hundred and eleven."
"May I have the key, ma'am?"
She pulled out a small silver key from the pocket of her robes and presented it to the goblin, who looked at it closely.
"That seems to be in order, let me have someone take you down to the vault." He turned his head and called out to another goblin. "Durgoff!"
Durgoff was another of the many goblins, who proceeded to lead Emma and Professor McGonagall towards one of the doors branching out from the hall. The door led into a hallway that was the exact opposite from the marble hall they were just in. It was a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches that cast long shadows on the stones. It sloped steeply downward disappearing into darkness, and railway tracks filled the path. The room reminded Emma of the dragon's den in a movie she had loved as a child. Durgoff gave a sharp whistle and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. It stopped abruptly and they climbed in. As soon as they all sat down, the cart sped off down into a maze of twisting passages. They took so many swift turns that Emma was lost within a matter of seconds, not even bothering to try and remember where they went. She assumed that the cart was magical and knew what way to go, as Durgoff had leaned back to relax and wasn't even steering. Though how anyone could manage to relax while traveling at high speeds in a rattling cart completely mystified Emma.
Emma's eyes stung as the cold air whipped past, but she kept them wide open, eager accumulate more memories of magic. Once, she thought she saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake. Emma only had a fleeting glimpse of it, though she still was amazed by the beauty. Huge stalagmites and stalactites grew from the floor and ceiling, and they were reflected perfectly in the crystal waters.
Eventually, the cart stopped besides a small silver door in the passage wall. Stepping out of the cart, Durgoff walked to the door and inserted the key into the lock. As the door slowly opened, with no one touching it, a cloud of smoke came billowing out. As soon as it cleared enough to see inside the vault, Emma gasped loudly. Inside were mountains of gold, silver, and bronze coins.
"This can't be the right vault." Emma stated, clearly still in awe.
"It's all yours, though I expect you will spend it responsibly." McGonagall said in a stern voice. She then proceeded to move towards a pile and began to scoop some coins into a small bag. "The gold ones are Galleons," she explained. "The silver coins are Sickles, and the little bronze ones are called Knuts. There are seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle." Turning back to Emma, she continued to speak. "I've collected enough for your school supplies, and took the liberty to get some extra to convert to muggle money for you, since I doubt they give you much of anything at the orphanage."
Emma was a little surprised at the gesture, but incredibly grateful all the same.
