I don't own the harry potters. :(
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Chapter 3: "Diagonally? That's not a place!"

Sharon brushed heir raven black hair away from her face, looking up at a dingy,dilapidated inn.
"The Leaky Cauldron? Sounds like a horrible place."
"Ahh, but this is just the entrance." the witch replied, smiling down at the girl.
They entered, and Sharon looked around, wondering if all wizard places were like this. The whole of the inn was in semi-darkness, with a smoky haze further impeding any hope of sight in this place. There were shifty looking people with long clothes, the closest type of clothing she could match it to was a long dressing gown, but it didn't look thick. There were groupings of people that looked as if they were dealing with things not for the faint-hearted, and she was sure she heard the wail of an animal from one such gathering.
Mrs McGonagall led her to the back of the pub, then out of a back door, to what looked like a brick wall. She proceeded to tap on the bircks in what seemed like a random order, but it was probably a code of some sort.
After doing this, the brick wall began to, well, sort of loosen it's bricks to reveal an opening.

"Welcome, to Diagon Alley."
"Wait, what?"
"I said, welcome to Diagon Alley."McGonagall repeated calmly.
"Diagonally? That's not a place!"
"Oh but my dear girl, you are standing in said place."McGonagall said matter-of-factly.
Sharon mumbled, but didn't want to contradict what appeared to be common knowledge.
"Now, lets get you off to Olivanders, a wand's your first priority."
"Why do i need a wand?"
"Witches and wizards use wands to perform their magic. It's reffered to as wandlore."
"But, i thought they could just perform magic with their hands?"
"You've probably been watching too much muggle propaganda. Did they also trap princesses and turn people into frogs, newts?"
"Well… yeah." Sharon replied sheepishly. She should've known that real witches and wizards weren't the same as cartoons.

They continued the walk down to Olivanders in silence, with Sharon admiring all the shop fronts;
Flourish and Blotts, what looked like a book shop.
Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, a joke shop for wizards.
Bernies Owl Emporium, a pet store that seemed devoted to owls.
A Sweep A Day, a shop that seemed to seel floating brooms.

When they entered Olivanders, Mrs McGonagall seemed shocked.
A grizzly man with a scar down the right side of his face, with shaggy black hair looked at them and grunted,
"Wachta want?"
"Umm… where is Mr. Olivander?" McGonagall asked nervously.
"People say he was taken by the ministry for questioning, something to do with blood status, rumour has it."
"Okay." McGonagall seemed extremely uncoumfortable and looked as if all she wanted to do was run away, but she continued,
"I'm looking for a wand for this young girl." Pushing Sharon forward.

"Y-y-yes sssir, I n-need a w-w-wand. i t-th-think."
At this, the man smiled, "O'course, lovey, now by the looks o' cha, i'd say 7 inch, cedar, eagle feather. Back in a jiffy." He then promptly scanned through box after box, of a pile which seemed to reach the ceiling.

"Here ya go, try this one." He said, giving her a slim carved, light brown wand. It felt strange in her hands, and it was a little too small, with what she supposed was the grip being just a little on the short side.
"Go on then, give 'er a flick!" The man encouraged.
She slowly gave the wand a flick, but with that, she managed to disshelve a pile of books.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She cried.
"It's all righ' lass, i'm used to it. Now, that looked a llittle small, lets try a 9 inch, oak, hipogriff core." He said this whilst reshelving the displaced books.
She placed the faulty wand on the counter in front of her, and watched him set to work once more.

After many unsuccessful tries, she came out of Olivanders the proud owner of a 8 1/2 inch, beech, dragonheart core wand. Once they had left the shop, Mrs McGonagall turned round and warned her.
"You shouldn't use this wand willy-nilly. There is a "Trace" on you, so if you perfom spells upon people outside of school, you will be arrested by ministry officials, and trust me, that's not something you want."
Sharon grumbled her acceptance of this fact. Unfair, you get magic but you're not allowed to use it? What's the point in having it then?

Before she could get too deep into her own thoughts, they had entered Flourish and Blotts and were looking through the transfiguration section. McGonagall seemed to know exactly which books she did and didn't need, and even suggested some extra reading on transfiguration, but Sharon guessed it was probably because she had something to do with the subject.

They then went on to the "Robe" shop, and once Sharon entered, she realized this was what everyone appeared to be wearing. "Robes", a very strange word to her. She met up with one of the shop assistants who helped fit her for her new robes. McGonagall was explaining something about houses, something to do with a gryffin, but she wasn't really listening, but was more focused on how they were making the robes. They seemed to be stitching themselves!

Once she left the robe shop, there was only a few more things to do, firstly, she needed a pewter cauldron (one of the few things she recognized a witch needed.) and a cat, owl or toad. She looked through the cauldron shop, but with little enthusiasm, she didn't think she would enjoy potion-making.

However, when she arrived in the owl emporium, she could've spent hours in there for each animal. There were cats there too, and apparently there was a limited offer of something callesd a thestral, but she couldn't see anything, so she went back to the owls. After much toying, she bought a tawny owl called "Scoot".

Mrs McGonagall then explained to her that on August the 31st, she would need to go to platform 9 3/4, to get on the Hogwarts Express, which would take her to hogwarts.
After taking her back home, she explained to her parents the same, along with written instructions, and left the house.
The second she shut the door, she was startled by a very very loud noise.
"YOU'RE A WHAT?! YOU'RE GOING WHERE?!"

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AN:

Hi! c'mon you guys! review? pretty please?

i'll give you a cookie, and i'll update super super fast! :D

5 reviews and i'll update :)
xx

Rory

For Kim. :)

PS: Text Files are the fail. I lost all my capital letters. :'(