Chapter 3
"Wake up Elsie, we're going shopping!" called Uncle Ernie the next Saturday morning. Elsie sat up and rubbed her eyes. Mr Maximus, the little grey kitten was now called, was curled up near her feet. She couldn't remember where she'd heard the name Maximus before, but for some reason it had stuck in her head.
She quickly got dressed in her favourite pair of jeans, and a green t-shirt, kissed Mr Maximus on the head and bounded out to the living room.
"How do you get to the magical shops, Uncle Ernie? I've never seen any in London," asked Elsie curiously.
"We'll be apparating. Don't worry, all you have to do is hold my elbow. I'll do all the magic work," he smiled.
Linda watched the two getting ready with sadness. She could see Elsie was excited, but Linda just felt so apprehensive. Elsie was so young, and naiive, and didn't understand the dangers. As Elsie brushed her teeth, Linda pulled Ernie aside.
"Be careful, please. I already lost my husband. Please look after her, Ernie. And don't tell her about her father, for my sake. I want to do that myself, when she's ready," pleaded Linda in a whisper.
"It'll be fine. The wizarding world's changed, it's nothing like it was twenty years ago, Linda."
"I hope you're right, Ernie. Look after her," urged Linda as Elsie came back into the room.
"Will you be coming, Mum?" asked Elsie.
"No, honey. I can't. Be careful, stay close to Ernest," Linda said as she hugged her daughter tight.
Elsie nodded, grabbed her uncle's elbow and then
POP!
They were in a cobbled alley, with shops up and down the street. Elsie looked around, wide eyed. She could see signs and displays that were bright, colourful and some even sparkling. A blur of names came across her eyes as she spun around to have a look.
"This is Diagon Alley, with everything a new Hogwarts student needs to buy right here," explained Ernie.
Madame Malkin's, Flourish and Blotts, Ollivanders, and one particularly colourful display that hurt her eyes, was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. This shop looked like a lot of fun.
"Can we go there, Uncle Ernie?" she begged him.
"The first place we need to go is Gringotts. We'll need money before we can do anything else here. And Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is the sort of place your mother asked me to keep you away from!" he said with a laugh.
Elsie pouted, then grabbed Ernie's hand as they walked up the street towards a building that looked very intimidating. There were gargoyles around the outside that Elsie could swear she saw moving out of the corner of her eyes. They walked inside, and there was a long counter, and the bank tellers looked like goblins.
Ernie explained "I just need to get some money out of my vault. I'll be paying for anything you need for Hogwarts, okay Elsie? Your father didn't leave much behind when he went- I mean when he died."
Elsie nodded, wide eyed, and thanked him. She could hardly keep her jaw from dropping when a goblin lead them down a passageway to a cart, which they got into, and then it wizzed away really fast until it stopped at a gigantic vault door.
"Vault 412? Here it is, sir," said the goblin.
Ernie climbed out and using his key, opened the vault door slightly, and went inside before Elsie could have a look. He quickly came out with a bag of coins, jingling them.
"This is for you, Elsie. You should have enough for supplies and for anything else you want to buy this year. The gold coins are called Galleons, the silver ones Sickles, and the bronze ones Knuts," said Ernie as he climbed back into the cart.
They wizzed back up to the ground floor, got out of the cart, walked into the foyer and outside, and then Ernie stopped, and fished around in his pockets, and with triumph pulled out the school supply list.
"First things first, you need a wand! And Ollivander's are the finest. Are you ready to go on the shopping trip of a lifetime?" Ernie grinned and held out his hand. Elsie grabbed it, and they dashed up the street to Ollivanders.
Throughout the day Elsie kept being amazed at everything she saw. Ollivanders was dusty but she couldn't believe that wall to wall, ceiling to floor was stacked boxes of wands. The shop keeper took one look at her and said "Cedar Wood and Unicorn Hair." He placed a wand in her hand, and told her to wave it. She did, and butterflies made of gold glitter flew out of her wand. It felt light but sturdy, and Elsie knew it was the one for her.
At Madame Malkin's, the shop assistant took measurements with a magical tape that floated through the air, and the robes were made almost instantly.
Slug and Jigger's Apothecary had bottles and jars filled with exotic ingredients like lizard's eyes and spider's tongues and hair of doxy, and all sorts of things Elsie couldn't begin to name.
By the end of the day Elsie's arms were so tired from carrying everything that she nearly dropped it all. Ernie looked at her quizically, and slapped his forehead.
"You need a trunk, don't you! We should have got that first, I'm so sorry for making you carry all of that! Look, there's a vendor selling trunks," Ernie said, and pointed. He took some of the school supplies from Elsie's arms, and they walked over to the stall.
Elsie looked over the trunks. Some were brown, some black, some green. Some even had labels which said "Four times bigger on the inside!" or "Invisible compartment complete with invisible key!"
But Elsie saw one she instantly fell in love with. It was thigh high, and a good width, with black leather and gold clasps. It had a slight scuff on one side, but Elsie didn't care. It looked sturdy, and beautiful.
"Uncle Ernie, can I have this one?"
"That'll be five Galleons. It's used, but in good condition, and as you can see sir, the young lady is in love with it."
"That she is, sir. I'll take it," Uncle Ernie said, and he handed over the coins. "Here, I'll help you put everything in it," he said.
But before he did that Elsie noticed he muttered something under his breath and waved his wand over the trunk. He quickly put his wand away, and helped put Elsie's things inside the trunk.
"Was that a spell?" Elsie asked wide eyed.
"Not here, I'll explain later," Ernie said as he motioned for Elsie to grab his elbow.
POP!
They were back home in the living room, with Elsie's new trunk in tow. It was lighter than she had expected.
"I just had to check for any enchantments on the trunk before you touched it, and I didn't want the vendor to see me," explained Ernie. "There wasn't any, but I had to make sure."
Elsie nodded and turned toward the kitchen, where she heard her mother cooking dinner.
At dinner that night Elsie excitedly recounted everything that had happened that day and Linda smiled knowingly, remembering her first time at Diagon Alley. She had been like Elsie, and didn't know anything about the Wizarding World until her letter from Hogwarts arrived. Linda was a Muggle Born, and could remember all too well the amazement she had felt.
After dinner, Ernie cleared his throat suddenly, and announced "Well, I'd better get going."
"So soon, Uncle Ernie? But you only got here last week!" exclaimed Elsie.
"I have some things to sort out, places to be. I'll be back before you know it, kid.," said Ernie. And with that he Disapparated.
"Has he always been like that, Mum?"
"Yes," said Linda with a sigh. "I only ever see him once a year, and it's just like him to waltz in and change everything, then leave everyone else behind to clean up the mess."
Elsie didn't know what to say.
"Sorry, Elsie, I don't mean to complain. Your Uncle is a marvellous man. I just wish he'd stay for longer."
"I wish he'd stay longer too, Mum."
Elsie and Linda hugged each other for a while, and Linda whispered into her daughter's hair.
"Everything's about to change, Eleanor. And I just don't know if I'll be able to keep you safe."
Elsie looked up into her mother's eyes and saw they were filled with tears. "I'll be okay Mum. And I've got magic now. If anything happens I can just do a spell and it'll get better!"
Linda smiled and shook her head. "It doesn't work like that, Elsie. But you're right. Magic might make us safer. In fact, I've been thinking...
"How would you feel about moving again? Perhaps the countryside?"
"I don't mind Mum. As long as I'm with you," said Elsie, as she burrowed her face into her mother's shoulder. She was going to miss her during the school term.
Linda seemed to understand, and they stood there, hugging for a while.
The rest of the summer holidays Elsie spent just hanging out with her mum, and Mr Maximus. Occasionally, Linda would tell Elsie stories about when she went to Hogwarts, but the subject of her father was one she avidly avoided, which made Elsie curious. But she didn't want to make her mother change her mind about Hogwarts, so she kept those questions to herself, and daydreamed about Hogwarts.