Chapter 3
The five months went by quickly. The rest of school kind of dragged on, but I got through it. Everyday on summer holiday, Lu would bring me to the park to fly my broom. I loved it. I got better and better everyday. By the end of holiday I was able to do flips and cork screws.
The week before the start of term, Mum and Dad were home and they took me to Diagon Ally. I had been there a couple of times to go on errands with Mum. It's the best place in London! Witches and wizards everywhere! So many magical items! A lot more than what we use at home.
We went into one store after another to get all my supplies. We got my cloaks, books, quills, parchment, and a cauldron and supplies. That left two places to go to still. Gringotts and Ollivanders. We went to Gringotts first. It was amazing! The high vaulted ceilings, tall desks, and the short little goblins waddling around. It was pure elegance. We got an assortment of galleons, sickles, and knuts.
I can't wait to get my wand! Of course I've done magic before- every kid wizard has- but to do magic with a wand is different. My parents tell me that they'll meet me at the Leaky Cauldron and I walk into Ollivanders alone. My first thought is old. The shop is dusty and crammed to the brim with small long boxes and shelves. I start looking through the shelves to my right. I'm about to open one box when someone speaks.
"Hello Mr. Potter." I turn around and spot an old man with crazy white hair smiling down at me.
"Erm… Hello." I reply.
"Got your letter then, have you?" he asks.
"Uh, yeah. I need to get a wand." I say stupidly. He just chuckles and waves me over to a shelf he's standing by.
"Why don't you just pick one off the shelf that you fancy?" He suggests. I scan over them and pick one that's sticking a bit farther out. "Ah," the man who I assume is Ollivander says. " Seven and one half inches, willow and Kelpie hair core. Very nice choice. A more lively wand." He takes it out and hands it to me. "Try it out on the ladder over there." He points to a ladder across from us. I flick the wand and the ladder just falls over. "Hm…." He ponders. "Not quite. You see, the wizard never chooses the wand; the wand must choose the wizard!" I don't really understand what he means, but I put the wand back in it's place.
Mr. Ollivander moves over towards the fallen ladder and his fingers twiddle on some wand cases. He then moves to the front of the shop and takes out a longer box. "Ten inches, cherry, kneazle whiskers." He states. He hands me the wand and tells me to try the newspaper on his desk. It ends up catching fire. We try about five more wands and none of them have 'chosen me' I guess.
Mr. Ollivander brings me to the back of the store and pulls out another box. "Eleven inches, mahogany, Thestral tail hair." He carefully hands me the wand and I feel a spark run through me. There's a sudden flash of white and as quickly as it came it's gone. "Well Mr. Potter, congratulations. You now have a bond with a wand." I widen my eyes and pay and thank him.
Just like I promised, I meet my parents at the Leaky Cauldron. They smile at me when they see a wand in my hand.
"What's in it James?" Dad asks.
"Mahogany and Thestral tail hair. Eleven inches. What's a Thestral?" I ask.
"It's a magical animal. You'll learn more about it in school." That makes me even more excited. We quickly eat lunch and go back home.
"James come down here! We're going to be late!" My Mum yells up to me. All week I had been packing and repacking. I kept my wand in my pocket all week just to make sure I wouldn't lose it. Today was finally September 1st and we were getting ready to go to the train station.
"Coming!" I shout back down. I grab all my trunks and haul them down the stairs. My dad grabs them and packs them into the car. I run to Lu and hug her.
"This year will be so lonely without you OJ." She says. Tears are in her eyes.
"I promise I'll write everyday!" I let go of her and hop into the car. There isn't a ton of talk during the ride and before I know it we're at the station. My parents had never actually discussed how to get to the platform with me but I knew it was magic because there couldn't be a platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross for the muggle eye! Even with my family being magical, we are very muggle based. We have a telephone and many other muggle contraptions. I go to school and my parents go interact with our muggle neighbors. No one could ever guess we were special. Sure my parents do magic but we can basically buy everything we need.
"Alright James," Dad says. "Just run through that wall there." I look at him uncertainly and he just laughs. "It's okay. I promise." I'm still skeptical but I right my trolley and run towards the wall. I cringe as I get close, expecting a crash but it never comes. I open my eyes and I'm on a totally different platform. I turn around and see a sign.
Platfom 9 ¾
My parents suddenly enter right under the sign. My mom grins when she sees my expression.
"Can you believe it James? All this and no muggle out there realizes it." We walk over to a platform guard and hand him my trunks. I look around some more and see many wizard families. Many of them are dressed terribly. I guess those are the ones who don't know what muggles are like. I see one man with pajama pants and the top half of a suit on. I laugh a bit as I look at his wife. She's wearing a frilly pink dress and she has a green skirt on over it so bits of the dress are sticking out under the skirt. I shake my head and look around some more. Many owls are squawking in there cages and there are clumps of kids all laughing and talking.
"Well James, I guess this is it." Dad says. He gives me a fatherly hug and pats me on the back. I go over to Mum and run into her arms.
She laughs and kisses me on the head. "Please don't die while I'm gone." I say.
"I promise I won't." She leads me over to the train and I hop on as the whistle starts to blow.
"I'll write!" I yell as we start moving. I wave until I can't see them anymore. I walk around trying to find an open compartment. I finally come to one with two people in it, a boy around my age with shaggy black hair and another around my age with light brown hair. The boy with the brown hair was in his own world reading a book. The shaggy black haired guy was staring out the window.
"Can I sit down?" I ask making them both jump.
"Uh…Sure."
"Mfemp" The brown haired boy mumbles. I take that as an invitation.
"I'm James."
"Sirius." Says the black haired boy.
"Remus." The other one said not even looking up from his book.
We sat there for a while, not talking.
"What house do you want to be in?" Sirius asks.
"I don't care, just not Slytherin." Remus responds. A dark shadow passes over Siruis' face. Remus finally looks up at me. "You?" he asks.
"Gryffindor!" I declare. He nods his head in approval. We both look at Sirius.
"I'm happy with any as well." He says.
"Even Slytherin?" Remus asks incredulously.
"Well... it's just my family…." He looks at us helplessly for a moment then he shakes his head and the look is gone. "No not Slytherin. Definitely not Slytherin. Actually, I'm kind of hoping for Gryffindor as well." We smile at each other and talk about our knowledge of the teachers.
"I heard Slughorn makes you drink an embarrassment potion if you are outside of the common room after curfew!" Remus tells us. Sirius and I both grimace at each other. An embarrassment potion makes you say and do all these different things to embarrass yourself. There's nothing you can do to stop the effect unless you drink a sleep potion. Neither taste very good, or so I've heard, but you never want to be under the influence of an embarrassment potion. Just one hour can ruin your whole life.
"Filtch makes you do chores if he catches you doing something he doesn't like." Siruis tells us. We all groan.
"Candy from the trolley dears?" A voice says sweetly. We all look to the compartment door and see a plump women standing outside with a big cart full of sweets and treats. I look at Sirius and Remus and I see their mouths watering.
I take out a bag full of money. "Three of everything!" I tell her. She smiles and laughs.
"Are you sure mate?" Sirius asks.
"Yeah! I wanna get something for my friends! Besides, I'm starving!" He smiles and nods.
When I said friend Remus lit up like a light bulb. I wonder if he's had many friends… I've had a lot. I've always been a bit popular. I figure it's because my family is rich, but I try not to think about it like that. It's good him and Sirius don't know exactly how much money I have right now. I want them to be my friend because of who I am and not for what I have.
The cart lady gives us the food and I pay her. We immediately start to devour all of it. This is going to be a good year.
Sorry it took me so long to update! I promise to try to be better about that! Read, Comment, give your opinions! Love you all!