Chapter 3: Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, including the majority of characters, spells etc. used in the fic

Diagon Alley was easy to find, Tom the barman was helpful; he opened up the Alley which was previous concealed by bricks. When the bricks slid away, they revealed hundreds of people wearing cloaks of all different colours: some red, some blue some even bright yellow! There were many shops lining the street, some selling books, or potions or even magical wands.

Edwards face lit up when he stepped onto the cobbled street, it was indescribable; it was truly amazing. He began to wander around, forgetting he actually had a list of items he needed. He passed unnoticed by families as he looked into the many shop windows. As he sat down with his mint and pumpkin ice cream (a surprisingly good combination), he analysed the people that passed; some obviously were there for business, others were buying school supplies for the children's new term at Hogwarts. A group of flaming red heads passed him; two twins were antagonising an older looking boy whist their mother shouted at them. Another family buying ice cream brought his attention away from the family of gingers,

"But I want a broom Mum!" a boy with messy hair and round glasses complained.

"No Harry, it says on the list first years cannot have one. James would you tell him please!" The red-headed mother shouted

"Look kiddo, how about you try out for the team first, if you get in we can send you one?" he smiled doubtingly at his son.

"James! You should not be encouraging him to break rules!" the mother scolded yet again.

"He's obviously going to be on the team Lily, quidditch is in his blood".

Edward stopped listening to the conversation, they were boring him. The boy appeared to be quite spoiled, and the father obviously didn't help. There was so much more he needed to know about the Wizarding world, his world! He could not go to Hogwarts knowing nothing whilst all the other children knew everything, it would be shameful. Edward decided that the following months would be spent studying, and studying hard.

The first shop Edward decided to go to was Olivander's Wand Shop. He opened the door and the bell rang out.

"Hello, little one" a watery eyed man with grey hair spoke mysteriously.

Edward glared at the old man for startling him,

"Good morning, I would like to purchase a wand" Edward said, bored by this man already.

"Of course, that is what I sell! Which is your wand arm?" Olivander smiled at Edward,

"My right" he stated, he presumed 'wand arm' meant which is your strongest hand.

A measuring tape flew out at him, measuring every part of his body, weirdly even his eye-brows.

"Righty-ho! How about this one?" Olivander took the wand from the dusty box and handed it to Edward, as soon as it touched his fingertips a loud bang sounded from the piece of wood.

"Obviously not!" Many wands later, and many broken shelves, Olivander handed Edward another wand.

"Yew, 13 inches, venom from a basilisk fang. Give it a wave!"

Edward proceeded to wave the stick in his hands, silver and green sparks flew from it. He felt more complete with this wand in his hands, he felt powerful.

"Interesting…" Olivander mused,

"Hmm?" Edward wasn't really listening to him; his attention was focused on the wand in front of him.

"You are certainly going to be a powerful wizard, young one. The wood and the core are both symbols of power, but also of darkness. We may see more of you in the future" Olivander's face was blank after this statement

Edward simply said "Goodbye sir" as he walked out of the shop.

The couple with the young son with messy hair entered just as he left. The next stop was Madam Malkins Robes for all Occasions; he did not buy these second hand. However, he did decide to buy all of his books second hand as this meant he could buy more. He left the book shop with all his required books and a few extras, some on the dark arts, others on pureblood traditions and the Wizarding world in general. After all of his shopping, he could not buy a pet, he had no money left at all. Edward had managed to work out the currency though: 17 sickles to a galleon, 29 knuts in a sickle and so 493 knuts in a galleon. He didn't even have a knut left to his name.

When he returned to the orphanage, which was a relatively short distance from the Leaky Cauldron, he went straight to his bedroom and pulled out a book from his rucksack, this one was entitled 'Welcome to the Wizarding World'. Edward continued reading day and night; he only ever left his bedroom for meals. He read all the extra books and his entire class books; he probably read each one around 5 times. After all, he wanted to be top of his classes when the term ended.

Edward was currently sat on his bed, and for the first time in his life, he was truly nervous; today was September 4th. This meant that tomorrow he would be boarding the Hogwarts Express from platform 9 and ¾ . He didn't know what to expect, how talented was everybody going to be? Do they all come from rich Wizarding families? He was excited though; he had practised all his spells from his class books, and could cast them with perfection. He wouldn't have been able to do this without his 'Welcome to the Wizarding World' book, which informed him that the trace spell wasn't activated until he stepped foot in Hogwarts for the first time. A beeping noise interrupted Edwards thoughts, the sound was coming from his watch. The time read 12:00am, so he pulled the covers over him and attempted to get some sleep.

He failed miserably of course. He got around 4 hours sleep, but he didn't care, he was going to Hogwarts! He was packed at 8am, he washed and was fed. At 9am, he made his goodbyes to the pastoral carers, Mrs McFee reminded him that he best not get into any trouble. Edward just rolled his eyes at her, what was she going to do? As he made his way out of the orphanage some of the children were hanging their heads out of the various windows. "Smell you later Weddy!" "Do us a favour and don't ever come back?" and many other insults were hurled at him. He simply turned around smiled and waved and then turned the corner, heading towards Kings Cross Station.

The walk was around 5 and a half miles from the orphanage, he managed to get there at half past 10 which left him with half an hour to board the train. As he was heading towards the barrier between 9 and 10 he spotted two very well dressed wizards complaining about "filthy muggles".

They were obviously father and son; the both had the same white blonde hair and they even had the same style of walking – very elegantly. From their hatred of muggles, Edward knew he would get on well with the young boy. The family was beginning to say their goodbyes, the blond haired child scanned around, presumable for any muggles watching, and then ran straight into the brick wall. If Edward didn't know that it was the entrance to platform 9 3/4 , he would have expected him to leave an indent. The Man then spun around and disappeared before Edwards own eyes, 'I have to learn how to do that!'.

Steadying himself, he made a brisk run into the barrier; he opened his eyes before he had made it through and saw his nose inches away from the bricks, he quickly closed them again. When he realised he wasn't in any pain he peaked his eyes open – in front of his was a scarlet steam engine, bearing the words 'Hogwarts Express' on the front. Family's all around were kissing and hugging goodbye to their children, Edward felt a small pang of some emotion, but he quickly pushed it aside. He spotted the family of red heads easily, there was no change; the older brother looked very angry towards the two twins, and the mother was rubbing a younger boy's nose. Next to them was the messy haired boy and his parents; his mother was in tears and his father smiled at him proudly. Edward couldn't stare at these disgusting moments any longer; it was time to find a compartment.

Chapter 3 up! Hope you enjoy it! The next chapter may include the sorting, I haven't decided yet! :) Look forward to any comments ;)

DarkLady - I can't reveal anything yet, that will just ruin the story for you! :) Thank you for your review.