Diagon Alley was quite unlike any place that Harry had ever seen before. That it was a place of magic was immediately obvious. The nearest shop had a sign that said proudly Cauldrons-All Sizes-Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver-Self Stirring-Collapsible. There was one shop selling a variety of Broomsticks. Other shops sold telescopes, globes and strange silver instruments that Harry didn't recognise. A loud hooting came from a shop which called itself Eeylops Own Emporium. Another shop had a window display apparently consisting entirely of various body parts, which made Aunt Petunia look a bit queasy.
The people that walked around all looked very magical too. Most of them were dressed like Dumbledore, although some were wearing Muggle clothes. A fair number of them looked to be the same age as him and Hermione- fellow Hogwarts students, he presumed. Now and then, one of them would draw their wand from their pocket and point it at something. This always got the desired result. Their trunks got lighter, their clothes folded themselves and their shopping flew into their hands. Harry saw some who disappeared in one place and instantly reappeared in another.
"We must go to Gringotts first" said Dumbledore. "It is the bank of the wizarding world" after some walking they came to a great white building which towered above all the others. Dumbledore gestured for them to stop. "Gringotts is run by goblins and goblins are a proud people. I ask that you do not stare and that you treat them with the utmost respect. And although I am sure that none of you are thieves I am also required to order you to take nothing. To steal from Gringotts carries with it a price far higher than the merely monetary".
Harry saw Hermione mouth "goblins?" at him and shrugged his shoulders in response. Dumbledore had been right about everything so far. I wonder what they look like he thought do they look like people or apes or something else?.
Harry didn't have long to find out. Standing behind the doors was a creature with a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and very long fingers and feet. He (for Harry was sure that it was a he) stood a head shorter than Harry and slightly shorter than Hermione. Harry saw the shock on his aunt and uncle's faces, although they said nothing out loud and quickly moved to hide them.
As they walked inside, they came to a second set of doors, this time with words 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 their turn
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never your
Thief you have been warned beware
Of finding more than treasure there
Harry gulped. He was starting to see what Dumbledore meant.
Behind the doors was a vast hallway, crawling with Goblins. The Goblins were sat on high stools, counting vast numbers of coins. Some other Goblins were showing visitors around the many hallways on the edges of the hall. One Goblin stood up from his stool and walked towards their group.
"Professor Dumbledore" he said "how may we be of assistance?"
"I wish to withdraw money from the Hogwarts fund and from Harry Potter's vault"
"You have the keys for those vaults I assume?" replied the goblin.
"Of course" said Dumbledore, producing two tiny golden keys.
"Very well" said the Goblin "I will have somebody take you down to the vaults. Gormuk!"
Gormuk was another goblin, who led them into a narrow stone passageway, lit by flaming torches.
"What exactly happens to people who steal from you?" asked Hermione. Gormuk replied and said "it's not for the ears of little human girls. Let's just say you wouldn't want it to happen to you"
Gormuk led them to some railway tricks on the floor. He whistled and cart came tumbling over to meet them. "I must warn you" said Dumbledore "that this will be a very bumpy ride. I hope that it has been a long time since any of you have eaten" everybody but Dumbledore and Gormuk looked very alarmed.
They all got into the cart, which seemed to be able to find its own way. At first they stayed in the stone passages but as they got deeper the air got colder and their surrounding changed from passageways to caves. Eventually they came to a small door in the wall. "This is the Hogwarts vault" explained Dumbledore "Gormuk, if you will do the honours"
Gormuk unlocked the door and a cloud of green smoke came billowing out. When it cleared Harry saw that it was full of huge coins- gold silver and bronze.
Dumbledore took a handful of coins and showed them to the group "now" he said "let me explain our currency to you. This" he held up a gold coin "is a Galleon. This is a Sickle and this is a Knut" he held up a silver coin and a bronze coin "there are 17 Sickles to a Galleon and 29 Knuts to a sickle have you got that?" he asked kindly. Hermione nodded her head in response.
Uncle Henry called out "what's the exchange rate?"
Dumbledore replied "a Galleon is roughly five pounds. Now" he took a handful of gold coins and gave them to Hermione. "This is your fund, Miss Granger" he said "don't spend it all on sweets".
"Thank you Professor" Hermione replied.
They got back into the cart which trundled merrily along at faster and faster speeds. By the time it got them to their next destination Harry was feeling rather queasy. A quick look around told him that he wasn't the only one. Uncle Henry was looking very green and Aunt Petunia and Hermione looked to be on the verge of actually throwing up. Of the human occupants of the cart only Dumbledore looked to be entirely unaffected.
Their current destruction was very similar to the their first- a simple, small door. However when Gormuk opened the door and revealed what was inside Harry felt his breath catch in his throat. Inside was more money than he had ever seen before. The vault was covered in Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.
"If we'd known about this we'd never have given you pocket money" said Uncle Henry.
Dumbledore went into the vault to produce a handful of Galleons, about the same size as Hermione's. Harry began to open his mouth to protest but Dumbledore stopped him " you are not yet an adult Harry and until you are your guardians control this fund. I am sure your aunt and uncle will not want you to waste your inheritance on your school supplies"
They went back to the cart, with Aunt Petunia asking Gormuk to go a little slower this time.
The next stop was the cauldron shop they had seen on the way in, then off to Madam Malkin's to get their robes. Harry felt rather silly wearing such strange clothing but he supposed that he wouldn't really stand out among the wizards. After that they went to the Apothecary to purchase a variety of slimy and disgusting potion ingredients. And then what was the most anticipated part for Hermione: Flourish and Blotts bookstore.
Truth be told, Harry was rather interested in what the wizards put in their books as well. Now that the initial shock was starting to wear off he was beginning to wonder about what magic was exactly. He knew quite a bit about science and it was very clear to him that being able to make strange things happen by waving a stick around and saying some words didn't fit in very well with what he knew. Perhaps their books would shed some light on the subject.
At Flourish and Blotts the shelves were stacked as high as the ceiling with books of all shapes and sizes. Some of them were the size of paving stones and some were the size of postage stamps. Many of them had front covers written in languages Harry didn't recognize and a fair number seemed entirely blank. There were books that moved and sang and growled.
They were here, however to get a handful of very specific books, something that Dumbledore was very insistent upon. There would, he said be all the books they could want and all the time in the world in which to read them at Hogwarts. After much pleading from Hermione however Aunt Petunia and Uncle Henry were able to persuade Dumbledore to give them the money to spend on one book each.
It was while Harry was looking through the shelves than he heard a voice.
The voice said "excuse me mate, but do you know where the Potions section is?"
The source of that voice was a gangly redheaded boy who looked to be about Harry's age. He was wearing the same robes as many of the other wizards, although his looked rather dirtier and more frayed than the rest. Their seemed to be a rat sticking out of his top pocket.
Harry replied " yeah I'll show you" and led the boy to the place where he'd purchased his copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. As they reached their destination the boy turned suddenly and looked at Harry's forehead.
"Hang on a minute" he said " are you...?
"Am I what?" Harry replied.
"Harry Potter!" He exclaimed.
"Um, yes, yes I am" said suddenly realized that he would rather not become the object of the whole shop's attention " and don't go shouting about it, I don't want the whole world to know"
"Sorry Harry" said the boy " It's just a bit of a shock is all, its not everyday you meet someone famous. I'm Ron, by the way, Ron Weasley"
"Famous? I'm certainly not famous where I'm from. I didn't even know about magic till I came here"
" didn't know about magic? That's mental that is. I don't know what I'd do without magic. And you're Harry Potter!"
"I'm really nothing special" said Harry" my aunt and uncle raised me with the Muggles and they didn't tell anyone because if I told anybody I'd be sent to the loony bin". A thought occurred to him. " I take it you're going to Hogwarts too?" He asked. It would be good to have someone who could show him around and Ron seemed perfectly willing. If it all turned out for the best he might even have a new friend.
"Of course" Ron replied"why?"
"You look like somebody who knows their way around" saw Harry " and I'd like to know someone who's always been a wizard if I'm becoming one"
Before Ron could answer Harry heard a voice calling Ron's name.
"Sorry" Ron said " I've got to go. I'll see you at Hogwarts. I hope you'll be in Gryffindor!"
Before Harry could ask what a Gryffindor was, Ron was away. Harry saw him talking animatedly to a balding, bespectacled man with bright red hair and an equally bespectacled and red headed teenager.
Ultimately Harry left the shop with several books, including one called The Workings of Magic which he hoped would tell him something about them and a sense that he might just have the ability to fit into the wizarding world as well as he had into the Muggle one.
The final stop on their tour was to get their wands. To do this they approached a rather shabby looking shop called Ollivanders. A sign on the door claimed that they had been makers of wands since 382 BC.
Inside the shop was quiet as the grave. It was a very small shop- it was something of a struggle to fit everybody in. The only distinguishing features were small chair towards the outside and a great many boxes.
Suddenly a voice spoke as if from nowhere. "Good evening" said the voice "I must say I wasn't expecting this"
The source of the voice was an old man who stood before them, his pale eyes shining.
He looked at each of his visitors in turn, then walked up to Harry.
"Harry Potter. You, I was expecting to come here one day" he said "I gave your parents their wands, you know. Your mother's was twelve and a quarter, inches long, swishy and made of willow. A good wand for charmwork. Your father on the other hand preferred a mahogany wand. Eleven inches, pliable. A little more powerful and very good for transfiguration. I wonder which of your parents you will take after?"
His eyes never once left Harry. He didn't even blink. Harry was really starting to wish he would. Then he moved in closer and pointed a single bony finger at Harry's forehead.
"I'm afraid that I sold the wand that gave you this scar, Mr Potter. It was a very powerful wand. Thirteen inches,yew. Of course if I'd known what this wand was going to do..."
He suddenly turned to Dumbledore, as if he had only just noticed that he was there. "Albus!" He cried " it has been a long time since last we spoke. Your wand, if I recall correctly was eight and three quarter inches, rather springy, very good for transfiguration"
He looked closer at Dumbledore's hand and narrowed his eyes" but I see that it is not the wand that you are using now"
Dumbledore replied " I am afraid, Garrick, that the wand you sold me would prove to have a shorter lifespan than mine. But enough of this. I have come here to procure wands for two of my students"
"Very well" said Ollivander. "Why don't we start with young Mr Potter. Just try to do magic with each of these wands. One of them will choose you to be it's wielded."
Feeling very foolish, Harry took a wand and began waving it about. Nothing happened. Ollivander gave him several more wands, to the same limited success. Finally Ollivander gave him a wand "holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple" that allowed him to create some sparks. It was not terribly flashy but to Harry it was quite exhilarating- for the first time in his life, he was consciously doing actual, real magic.
"Oh bravo" said Ollivander "very wild done. But this is curious, most curious"
" what's curious?" Asked Hermione.
" it is strange that Mr Potter should be chosen by such a wand. There are some wands that come in pairs and the twin to this wand was given to the man responsible for that scar"
Much to Harry's relief he moved on to Hermione after that. It only took three tries before she had her wand and they could go.
As they were leaving the shop Aunt Petunia turned to Dumbledore and said wearily
"Are you sure you can trust that man, Dumbledore? I don't like the way he was talking to Harry. Uncle Henry grunted in agreement.
Dumbledore replied " Garrick is a rather strange man but he is quite harmless. He is too focused on wands, to have any nefarious plans. Now, I think we ought to get you home"