Chapter 6

A Visit to Diagon Alley

While Aunt Becky prepared for our trip to Diagon Alley, I unpacked my belongings in my new bedroom with Tinker's help. I absolutely love this room! It's at least twice the size of my old bedroom (which was also pretty big), the bed covered with a red velvet comforter above it, a sheer canopy, and when I looked outside my window, I saw that there was a balcony. I felt like royalty!

"Where should I put this, Miss Melanie?" Tinker asked holding up snake stuffed animal.

"Um," I looked around. "Just throw it over there in the corner with the other dolls and stuffed animals."

She did as I told. I began to feel a bit uncomfortable. I wonder if all wizard families had house elves to do chores.

"You know, Tinker, you don't have to stay. To tell you the truth I have no idea where I'm going to put everything."

"Would you prefer Tinker organized your possessions for you while you and the mistress are away?" The elf gazed up at me waiting for an answer.

"No, that's okay. I'll figure it out later."

Remembering that Aunt Becky was going to take me to this place called Diagon Alley, I shot up, told Tinker I will finish unpacking later, and rapidly rushed down stairs to see if Aunt Becky was ready. As I reentered the living room, I found her along with Uncle Richard standing by the fireplace.

"Are you going too, Uncle Richard?"

"No, darling. I'm sorry, but I'm still a bit swamped in work," he explained. "Don't worry, I'll go with you next time when you go to get your school supplies."

I nodded and looked over to my aunt, apprehensively. "So how exactly are we going to get there? Is it another one of those porkeys?"

She smiled reassuringly. "No, darling. This time we will travel by floo powder."

She showed me this jar of shinny dust.

Gaping at this mysterious dust I asked, "So how does this stuff work?"

This time Uncle Richard answered. "When using floo powder for transportation, you grab a handful of it in your palm, stand in the fire place, state your destination, and then throw the powder down to the ground."

"That's all I have to do?" I demanded eagerly. "Cool! Can I try it now?"

I anxiously reached my hand towards the powder, when Aunt Becky lifted it out of reach saying, "Wait, wait, wait."

"Why? I think I understand how to do it!" I declared still reaching for the floo powder.

"Now, Melanie. You have to make sure you say Diagon Alley very, very clearly, or something could go wrong," she explained.

"Okay, very clearly. I got it!"

She still didn't look convinced. "No, I think this time we should go together. Just to be safe."

"Come on, Aunt Becky," I pleaded looking to Uncle Richard for help. "I want to try."

"I'm sure she can handle it, Rebecca," he offered. "A lot of young witches and wizards do this with no sweat."

But Aunt Becky would not yield. "We'll just go together this first time so you can get a feel for how its done, and then next time, I promise I'll let you go by yourself, okay?"

With reluctance, I nodded and took her hand, hoping I wouldn't be babied the whole time I stayed here. She wrapped her left arm around me, tightly, the foo powder in her right hand, stated 'Diagon Alley', while I closed my eyes in reaction.

When I reopened them, I found that we had arrived. At a glance Diagon Alley appeared as an outdoor shopping center, but when I looked more closely, I saw that these shops were much, much different. I saw broomsticks, wands, owls, and books containing moving pictures on the front cover.

"This place is amazing!" My eyes moved around in wonder.

She smiled. "Now, today we are just going to have a look around. In a couple months, once you get your letter from Hogwarts, we'll come back for your school supplies."

I observed a golden broomstick in a glass case titled, 'Nimbus 2000.'

"Will one of those supplies be a broomstick?" I asked with excitement.

She shook her head. "I'm afraid first years aren't aloud to own brooms."

"Oh," I sighed disappointed. "Are we allowed to own wands?"

"Why of course, Melanie! How else will you learn to use magic?" She beamed. "It will be interesting picking one out. You'll have to wait and see how it's done. I don't want to spoil any surprises for you."

I could not wait to have my very wand, and start practicing magic! Once we explored a good amount of Diagon Alley, Aunt Becky and I stopped in front of a broom shop.

"Melanie, would you mind waiting here for a few minutes at here? I have something I need to take care of."

"Sure," I replied a bit relieved she was actually willing to separate from me, though she did spend a great deal of time explaining to the store owner that she would be right back and to make sure I don't leave the shop. I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Well, feel free to have a look around, dear," the owner said to me kindly. "Lots of great broom sticks here, there are."

Too bad I can't have one yet, I thought to myself.

I decided to look around anyway. Maybe next year I will have my own broom. I tried to imagine what it would be like to fly one.

"Shopping for a broomstick?"

I turned around to see a blonde-haired, pointed face boy appearing about my age.

"No, actually my aunt wanted me to wait here for her," I replied. "Besides, I'm a first year. I can't have one yet."

"Hogwarts?" he asked.

I nodded, not knowing the names of any other magic schools.

"Me, too. It's my first year as well," he explained. "Personally, I think its I stupid rule that we're not allowed to own a broomstick. I may try to smuggle one in anyway. I bet I could convince father to buy me one."

"That's not a bad idea," I agreed remembering times when Dudley and I would sneak in restricted items into our old school.

I got suspended once for having a pocketknife, even though I told them it was only for self-defense. The only problem now, I didn't want to risk getting expelled from this school. I don't know how strict their rules are, and I doubt I could talk Aunt Becky into buying me one. Most likely, she would say it's to dangerous for me right now. I sighed.

I tried to keep the conversation going, not wanting to lose my chance of making friends at this new school. "So have you visited Hogwarts yet? Do you know what its like?"

He shook his head. "I haven't even been assigned a house yet. Father says that will be determined once we get there, but I'm positive I will be in Slytherin. That's the best one."

"Houses?" I asked curiously.

He raised his eyebrow. "You do know about the four houses right?"

"Yes, of course," I answered quickly not wanting to appear too stupid. "I bet I'll get in Slytherin, too if that's the best one."

He still looked at me with uncertainty. "Well, that would depend on your blood status. Only purebloods get into Slytherin, which is how it should be for the entire school. My family strongly believes that magic should be kept within all wizard families. Not people of have muggle blood in them. They're just not the same as us, you know what I mean?"

I did not know what to say. I had a cold feeling that if I told this boy both my parents are muggles, he would want nothing to do with me. Remaining silent, I just nodded.

"What did you say your name…?"

"Are you two finding everything alright?" The owner asked walking by us, setting up more broomsticks.

"Yes, sir," we replied in unison.

Before the boy had a chance to re ask his question, we observed a snake entering the store. To take his mind of my surname, I decided to include the snake in our conversation.

"Hello," I said to the snake.

Hello, there, young lady.

"Are you from the pet shop across the road?" I asked.

Oh, no, I would never allow myself to be anyone's property.

I laughed looking over to the boy to see if he had anything to add. He only gawked at me in shock.

"What?" I asked as though it were nothing. "Is something wrong?"

"You can talk to snakes?" He exclaimed.

"Well, yeah." I didn't understand his shock. "Can't you do it?"

He shook his head still staring at me in surprise.

Great. It looks like I'm a freak in this world too. I guess I'm about to lose my first almost friend.

I still had to try. "Oh, come on. I'm sure you can. You are a wizard, right?"

"No, I can't. Believe me, I've tried. Father says only the certain pureblood wizards or witches can do it. It's a great honor to have the ability to speak to snakes."

"Really," I commented pleased with his impressed expression. Maybe I can keep my friend after all.

"What did you say your name was?"

"Melanie Ro…, Chamberson," I stated rather quickly.

"Chamberson! I know that name. You said you were staying with your aunt and uncle, right?"

I nodded.

"Your father must be Alec Chamberson, right?"

Assuming he was Uncle Richard's brother, I nodded.

"I'm sorry that he died though I guess you never knew him since it was ten years ago. Your uncle did explain to you that he died for a good cause, though, didn't he? He fought hard for our kind."

I nodded planning on asking Uncle Richard about this later.

Right now I changed the subject. "What's your name? You haven't told me yet."

"Oh, sorry." He held out his hand. "Draco Malfoy."

I smiled as I shook his hand.

"Malfoy, huh. I've heard of that name," I lied as he returned my smile.

"Oh, that's my father," Draco said looking out the store window. "I guess I better be going. Goodbye. I'll see you again in a couple months."

"Bye."

Well, that actually went pretty well. It seemed as though I will most likely fit into Hogwarts quite nicely. All I need to do now is figure out how I'm going to pull off this whole pureblood identity scheme.