Diagon Alley
After the family embraced, they all entered back into the house.
McGonagall explained that Arthur will need to go get his school supplies and that Hagrid, the giant waiting outside will help him. She was only there to bring the acceptance letter to Arthur and explain a few things to him, like how there's a Ministry of Magic, that Arthur has wizard money in the bank known as Gringotts and other important information he needed to know upon first entering the wizarding community.
He was also told that non magic folk are called Muggles.
He also read the second letter that was in the envelope, which read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First year students will require:
Three sets of plain work robes (black)
One plain pointed hat (black) for special occasions
One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
SET BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
He was shocked to learn that dragons even existed and seeing the titles of the books intrigued him immensely. Plus, the idea of broomsticks actually excited him.
So with this, Arthur said goodbye to his relatives before McGonagall took him out to greet Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Gamekeeper at Hogwarts.
"Hello, Arthur. You look so much like yer dad." The giant man said upon seeing him. Arthur was still dazed being in his presence because he obviously never met anyone as big or as tall as him.
"Hello…" He properly greeted him. He looked behind him, seeing a motorbike that had a sidecar, realising that he'd have to ride in that with Hagrid. McGonagall said her goodbyes and walked off.
"Alrigh'. Let's get goin'." Hagrid said as he got on the bike and then Arthur got on the sidecar. He kickstarted the bike, roaring loudly and then he started the rather tense and fast ride from Little Whinging to London. Arthur clung to the sidecar, especially when Hagrid turned corners.
After what felt like an eternity, because he was so focused on hoping that Hagrid didn't crash, they made it to London and Hagrid parked by a bustling road lined with shops.
Hagrid was so large that he would part the crowd with ease, with Arthur being right behind him. The two passed book shops, music stores, hamburger bars and cinemas, yet there wasn't anything yet that seemed like a wizard's shop. Suddenly, Hagrid came to a halt.
"This is it. The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place." He told the boy, who looked to see a tiny, grubby looking pub. If it wasn't pointed out, he wouldn't have noticed it. The people that hurried on by didn't even glance at it, as though it wasn't even there. The pub was between a large bookshop and a record shop. Arthur felt as though only he and Hagrid could see it, possibly because they're magical folk.
Either way, the two entered. For a place that's supposed to be famous, it was dark and shabby. Arthur saw a couple of old women sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was also smoking with a long pipe. He then saw a little man who wore a hat too big for him talking to the old barman, who was bald and can be best described as a gummy walnut.
The low buzz of chatter in the pub stopped when the pair walked in. Everyone clearly knew Hagrid as they waved and smiled at him, the barman even reached for a glass.
"The usual, Hagrid?" He asked.
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid replied, clapping one of his great hands onto Arthur's shoulder, causing his knees to buckle slightly. Tom looked at Arthur and his eyes widened.
"Good lord, is this… can this be…?" He stammered before gasping as the whole pub suddenly went truly still and silent.
"Bless my soul. Arthur Pendergast… what an honour." Tom then gasped before hurrying from behind the bar and rushing forward to Arthur, seizing his hand with tears in his eyes.
"Welcome back, Mr Pendergast, welcome back." He said.
Arthur didn't really know what to say. He knew he was famous but seeing everyone looking at him, including the old woman with the pipe, who puffed on it without realising it had already gone out.
Then suddenly, a great scraping of chairs was heard and the boy found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Doris Crockford, Mr Pendergast, can't believe I'm meeting you at last"
"So proud, Mr Pendergast, I'm just so proud."
"Always wanted to shake your hand… I'm all of a flutter."
"Delighted, Mr Pendergast, just can't tell you. Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."
"I know you! You bowed to me in a shop!" Arthur recollected.
"He remembers! Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Diggle cried, looking around at everyone.
Arthur kept shaking hands for a while, with Doris Crockford coming back for more.
At one point, a pale young man made his way forward, very nervously, so much so one of his eyes was twitching.
"Professor Quirrell! Arthur, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts." Hagrid introduced the two to each other.
"P-P-Pendergast, c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you." Quirrell stammered as he grasped the boy's hand.
"What do you teach, Professor?" He asked, being really curious.
"D-Defense Against the D-Dark Arts. N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Pendergast?" Quirrell muttered, as he'd rather not talk about it. He then laughed nervously.
"You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He then said, looking terrified at the very thought.
However, the others in the pub wouldn't let Quirrell keep Arthur to himself. It took roughly ten minutes to even get away from it all. Hagrid was able to make himself heard over the babble.
"Must get on… lots ter buy. Come on, Arthur." He said.
Doris Crockford would shake Arthur's hand one last time before Hagrid led him through the bar and out into a small walled courtyard, which only had a dustbin and a few weeds.
The large man grinned down at Arthur.
"See? You're famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh. Mind you, he's usually tremblin'." He explained.
"So he's always that nervous?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first hand experience…. They say he met vampires in the Black Forest and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag, never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject. Now, where's me umbrella?" Hagrid explained, searching his coat.
Hearing that vampires and hags also exist made Arthur feel dizzy. Just the idea of meeting them would be rough in his opinion. As he thought about all of this, Hagrid started counting bricks in the wall above the dustbin.
"Three up, two across… right, stand back, Arthur." He said before he tapped the wall three times with the pointed end of his pink umbrella.
The brick he touched then quivered and wriggled. In the middle, a small hole formed, which grew wider and wider until within a second, the two faced an archway that was large enough for Hagrid to fit through. The archway led to a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Hagrid said to Arthur, grinning at the boy's look of awe and amazement.
The pair stepped through the archway and Arthur looked quickly over his shoulder to see the archway instantly shrink back into a solid wall.
It was a clear blue sky so the sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the closest shop. There was a sign hanging over them that read: Cauldrons - All sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self Stirring - Collapsible.
"Yeah, you'll be needin' one. But we gotta get yer money first." Hagrid reminded him.
The street made Arthur wish he had at least eight more eyes because he would turn in every direction as they walked down the street, wanting to look at everything all at once: the shops, everything that stood outside them, the collage of people doing their shopping. He saw a plump woman outside the apothecary, shaking her head as they passed, saying something about dragon liver and how it cost sixteen Sickles.
Arthur then heard a soft and low hooting from a dark shop that had a sign saying: Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. He knew immediately he'd like to have an owl.
He then saw several boys his age with their noses pressed against a window that had broomsticks in it.
"Look, the new Nimbus Two Thousand, the fastest ever…." He heard one of them say.
There were other shops of note. Ones selling robes, ones selling telescopes and various strange silver instruments that Arthur had never seen before in the Muggle world. There were windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tittering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon, which struck Arthur as interesting.
"Gringotts." Hagrid suddenly said, making the boy look ahead and saw that they had reached a towering snowy white building. Arthur then saw standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of both scarlet and gold was a goblin.
McGonagall explained about goblins earlier when mentioning Gringotts. This goblin, and more than likely others, was a head shorter than Arthur. He also had a really swarthy and clever face with a pointed beard. He also had very long fingers and feet.
The goblin bowed to them as they walked past him up the white stone steps and entered the building.
They now faced a second set of doors, this time being made of silver, and 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 YOURS, THIEF, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, BEWARE OF FINDING MORE THAN TREASURE THERE.
"Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob this place." Hagrid pointed out. Arthur already knew this from McGonagall, who said that this is the most secure and safest place in the wizarding world that isn't Hogwarts.
A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they entered a vast marble hall. There were around a hundred more goblins sitting on high stools behind long counters, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing various coins on brass scales, examining precious stones through some eyeglasses.
There were also too many doors to count leading off the hall and yet there were more goblins that showed people in and out of these doors. Both Arthur and Hagrid made their way to one of the counters.
"Morning. We've come ter take some money outta Mr Arthur Pendergast's safe." Hagrid said to a free goblin.
"You have his key, sir?" The goblin asked.
"Got it here somewhere." Hagrid replied as he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, a handful of mouldy dog biscuits scattered over the goblin's book of numbers. He wrinkled his nose.
"Got it." Hagrid finally said, holding up a tiny golden key. The goblin then looked closely at it to make sure it is indeed the key to the safe.
"That seems to be in order." He told the giant.
"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore." Hagrid then revealed, pulling out an envelope and handing it to the goblin.
"It's about the You Know What in vault seven hundred and thirteen." He then said with an important tone in his voice that Arthur hadn't heard before.
"Very well, I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!" The goblin said after he read the letter carefully.
Griphook was another goblin. When Hagrid crammed all the dog biscuits back into his pockets, both he and Harry followed the goblin towards a door that led off the hall.
"What was all that You Know What business about?" Arthur asked.
"Can't tell yeh that. Very secret Hogwarts business. Dumbledore trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that." Hagrid said with a cryptic tone.
Griphook held the door open for the pair. Arthur, who expected even more marble, was surprised. They ended up in a narrow stone passageway that was lit with flaming torches. It also sloped steeply downwards with little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook then whistled, which caused a small cart hurtling up the tracks to where they were. They all climbed in, though Hagrid had some difficulty and they were off.
At first, they hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. So much so that Arthur tried to remember, going left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but he came to the conclusion that it was impossible. The cart rattled and seemed to know its own way as he noticed Griphook wasn't steering.
Arthur's eyes stung by the cold air rushing past his face, yet he was able to keep them wide open. At one point, he could've sworn he saw a burst of fire at the end of one passage and twisted to see if it was a dragon, but it was too late as they plunged deeper, rushing past an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from both ceiling and floor.
He then looked at Hagrid, seeing that he looked like he was about to throw up, his face being a sickly shade of green.
Once the cart stopped beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and leaned against the wall to prevent his knees from trembling.
Meanwhile, Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke billowed out and when it cleared, Arthur made the loudest gasp he ever made in his life. Inside were many mounds of gold coins, just as many columns of silver and heaps of little bronze coins. He remembered McGonagall saying that gold coins were Galleons, the silver coins were Sickles and the bronze ones were Knuts.
"All yours." Hagrid smiled. Arthur's mind was blown. His family must've been famous and successful if he had this much wealth. He was also sure his relatives would faint upon seeing all this wealth.
Hagrid then helped Arthur pile some money into a bag.
Hagrid explained how seventeen Sickles make up a Galleon and that twenty nine Knuts make up a Sickle. They were able to get enough money for Arthur to get his school supplies.
"Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?" Hagrid asked, turning to Griphook.
"One speed only." Griphook replied.
They made their way deeper underground and gathered speed. The air grew much colder as they all hurtled around tight corners. They rattled over an underground ravine and Arthur dared himself to lean over the side to try and see what was in the dark bottom but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.
Once they reached vault seven hundred and thirteen, Arthur noticed that there was no keyhole.
"Stand back." Griphook warned the par before stroking the door gently with one of his long fingers and it melted away.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there." The goblin told Arthur, who was disturbed upon hearing that.
"And how often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" He asked, dreading what the answer might be.
"About once every ten years." Griphook replied with a nasty grin.
Arthur naturally assumed something incredible had to be kept in the top security vault. So he leaned forward expecting something like fabulous jewels when instead, the only thing inside the vault was just a grubby little package wrapped up in a brown paper bag on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep within his coat. Despite being curious, Arthur knew better than to ask what it was.
"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut." Hagrid demanded.
After the really wild cart ride back, they stood blinking in the bright sunlight outside Gringotts. Arthur didn't really know where to start getting his supplies considering his bag of money.
"Might as well get yer uniform." Hagrid said, nodding at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
"Listen, Arthur, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick me up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He then told Arthur, who noticed that he still looked sick. So he nodded and entered Madam Malkin's, feeling a bit nervous. He saw said witch, who was a squat, smiling woman dressed in mauve.
"Hogwarts, dear?" She asked him before he could say something.
"Got the lot here, another young man being fitted up just now, in fact." She then said as she led him to the back of the shop. There, Arthur saw a boy with a pale and pointed face standing on a footstool while a second witch was pinning up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Arthur on a stool next to the boy, slipping a long robe over his head and started pinning it to the right length.
"Hello, Hogwarts too?" The boy asked Arthur, who nodded.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands." The boy said, sounding bored with his drawling voice.
"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." The boy continued on. Already, Arthur didn't like him. He had this air of superiority to him and even reminded him of that blonde oaf at his primary school.
"Have you got your own broom?" The boy went on.
"I don't." Arthur answered honestly.
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No." Arthur shook his head. He guessed that Quidditch must be a sport involving broomsticks, which he thought was cool.
"I do, father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" The boy asked. Arthur's dislike for the boy started growing, sensing how much this boy thinks he is the greatest at everything.
"Not really." Arthur answered his question, not really knowing what these houses are.
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been. Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" The boy once more asked.
Arthur shrugged, not wanting to give a proper answer since it became more clear that this boy was a bully if he looked down on others.
"I say, look at that man!" The boy suddenly shouted, nodding to the front window. Arthur looked to see Hagrid grinning at him and pointing at two large ice creams, indicating he couldn't come in.
"That's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts." Arthur told him, for once telling him something he didn't know.
"Oh, I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?" The boy asked.
"He's the Gamekeeper." He said, his dislike growing more and more.
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage. Lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed." The boy mocked.
"Well, I think he's brilliant." Arthur coolly replied.
"Do you? Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" The boy sneered.
"They're dead." Arthur said shortly, hoping he didn't talk more of this with him.
"Oh, sorry." The boy said, not really sounding sorry.
"But they were our kind, weren't they?" He then asked.
"If you mean they're a witch and wizard, then yes." Arthur said.
"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"
Arthur was about to answer when Madam Malkin told him that he was done and was actually grateful for that as he no longer wanted to talk to the boy, hopping down from the footstool.
"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose." The drawling boy called out to him.
Arthur was unnaturally quiet as he ate his ice cream that Hagrid bought him (vanilla and strawberry with fizzy bubbles). Hagrid was saying something about always wanting a dragon when he noticed that Arthur's attention wasn't on him.
"What's wrong?" Hagrid asked him.
"I'll tell you later." Arthur replied.
After they were done with their ice cream, they went to get parchment and quills. This cheered him up slightly as he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote.
"Hagrid, can you tell me what Quidditch is?" He asked as they left the shop.
"Blimey, Arthur, I forgot how little yeh know, not knowin' about Quidditch!" Hagrid gasped.
"Please don't make me feel worse." Arthur begged before he explained about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.
"...and he said that those from Muggle families should even be allowed in-"
"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were, he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw 'em in the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles, look at yer mum!" Hagrid cut him, being vocal of his opinion. Arthur found himself agreeing more with what he said, liking that even Muggle-borns can be great.
"So can you tell me what Quidditch is, exactly?" He then asked.
"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like, like football in the Muggle world, everyone follows Quidditch, played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls, sorta hard ter explain the rules." Hagrid finally explained, confirming Arthur's suspicions. He already started liking the sound of Quidditch.
"And what exactly are Hufflepuff and Slytherin?" He then asked.
"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but-"
"And what about Slytherin?" Arthur wondered, thinking that the name sounded evil.
"Let's just say there's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You Know Who was one." Hagrid replied darkly.
"He was at Hogwarts?" Arthur questioned, respecting that Hagrid was still afraid to say Voldemort's name.
"Years an' years ago." Hagrid said.
The two went on to get Arthur's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where shelves were stacked all the way up to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather, books as small as postage stamps in covers of silk, books filled with odd symbols and a few books that had nothing in them all. Arthur was sure that even his aunt would be wild to get his hands on some of these to pour through them.
They then got a pewter cauldron, a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope.
The apothecary was next, which was fascinating enough that Arthur was able to ignore the awful smell, being a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. There were barrels of slimy stuff that stood on the floor, jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powders that lined the walls, strings of fangs and snarled claws that hung from the ceiling.
Whilst Hagrid asked the person behind the counter for a supply of basic potion ingredients for Arthur, Arthur himself examined stuff like silver unicorn horns that cost twenty one Galleons each and even minuscule, glittery black beetle eyes, which cost five Knuts a scoop.
Outside, Hagrid checked the list of supplies.
"Just yer wand left an' an animal." He said.
Twenty minutes later, the two left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which was dark and full of jewel bright eyes that flickered. Arthur carried a large cage which held a rather beautiful and even cute barn owl, fast asleep with her head under a wing. He named her Athena, which the owl liked.
"Now, just Ollivanders left, only place fer wands, and yeh gotta have the best wand." Hagrid said.
Knowing that he was about to get a wand, Arthur felt excitement at the prospect.
The shop was narrow and shabby. There were peeling gold letters over the door which read: Ollivanders: Maker of Fine Wands since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a faded cushion in the rather dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop upon entering. It was a small place, empty except for a spindly chair which Hagrid sat on to wait. Arthur felt as though he entered a really strict library, swallowing many new questions which entered his mind and just looked at the thousands of narrow boxes neatly piled all the way up to the ceiling.
Arthur then felt goosebumps on the back of his neck, thinking that the dust and silence tingled with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon." A soft voice said, making the boy jump, as well as Hagrid based on the loud crunching noise behind him. He turned, seeing he was off the chair.
He looked back to see an old man standing before them with wide pale eyes shining like moons.
"Uh… hello." He greeted him awkwardly.
"Ah yes. Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Arthur Pendergast." The man said, Arthur noting he did say it as a question, as though he really did expect him.
"You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." The man, clearly Mr Ollivander, recollected before he moved closer to Arthur. He had wished he would blink since those silvery eyes creeped him out a bit.
"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more powerful and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it. It's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." He said. He had also come so close that he and Arthur were nearly nose to nose. Arthur could actually see himself reflected in Ollivander's eyes.
"And that's where…." Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Arthur's forehead with one of his long, white fingers. He also had a look of regret.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands…. Well if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…" Ollivander said softly, shaking his head and much to Arthur's personal relief, spotted Hagrid.
"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again…. Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?" He greeted. Arthur was amazed how much this man knew his wands.
"It was, sir, yes." Hagrid confirmed.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Ollivander suddenly became stern. The revelation of Hagrid's expulsion shocked Arthur. What did he do to be expelled?
"Er… yes, they did, yes. I've still got the pieces, though." Hagrid said, shuffling his feet.
"But you don't use them?" Ollivander asked sharply.
"Oh, no, sir." Hagrid said quickly. Arthur suspected he kept the pieces in the umbrella when he noticed him gripping his pink umbrella very tightly. This garnered a piercing look from the wandmaker before his attention was back on Arthur.
"Well, now, Mr Pendergast. Let me see." He said as he pulled out a long tape measure with silver markings from his pocket.
"Which is your wand arm?" He asked the boy.
"Uh… I use both hands but I'd prefer my right." Arthur answered honestly.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." Ollivander said as he started measuring Arthur's arm from shoulder to finger, then from wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head.
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr Pendergast. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." Ollivander said while measuring.
It was then that Arthur realised that the tape measure, which was now measuring between his nostrils, was doing this all on its own, with Ollivander going through the shelves, taking boxes down.
"That will do." He then said, which made the tape measure crumple into a heap on the floor.
"Right then, Mr Pendergast. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." Ollivander told him as he handed the wand. Arthur took it and waved it a bit before Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.
This happened over and over again, Arthur trying out various different wands and Ollivander snatching them back. He just didn't know what the wandmaker was looking for, yet he saw that he was happier the more Ollivander pulled more wands from the shelves.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere. I wonder now, yes, why not? Unusual combination… holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." Ollivander said, holding out a wand for Arthur to try. He noticed that the bottom of the wand looked like a flame that was hardened into wood, it intrigued him.
He took the wand and that was when he felt a very sudden warmth in his fingers and wind brushing his face. He then raised the wand above his head, swished it down through the dusty air, forming red and gold sparks that shot out from the tip like fireworks, throwing various dancing spots of light onto the walls. This garnered an enthusiastic response from Hagrid, who clapped and cheered.
"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious." Ollivander cried before he put Arthur's wand back into the box it came in and wrapped it in brown paper, muttering "Curious… curious."
"Excuse me, but… what's curious?" Arthur asked, wondering what he meant. His question made Ollivander fix him with a pale stare.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Pendergast. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather. Just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother… why, its brother gave you that scar." Ollivander explained, making Arthur swallow at this revelation.
"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yes. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember…. I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Pendergast…. After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things, terrible, yes, but great." Ollivander then added, making the boy shiver at those words, already having expectations thrown at him at nearly eleven years old. He also didn't grow fond of Ollivander. He then paid the seven Galleons needed to get his wand and Ollivander bowed to him and Hagrid as they left.
The sun hung low in the sky, signifying that it's late afternoon. The pair made their way through Diagon Alley, back through the wall and into the Leaky Cauldron, which was now empty. Arthur hardly spoke as they walked down the road to Hagrid's motorbike, unaware of the attention they were gaining from their packages and the owl in the cage.
Eventually, they reached the bike and somehow were able to fit in everything with enough space for Arthur to sit in the sidecar. They sped through the many streets until they made it to Privet Drive. Hagrid finally noticed his quiet state.
"You alright, Arthur? Yer very quiet." He asked.
"It's just that… I've stepped one foot into the magical world and already, people have expectations placed on me. I don't even feel that special. And I'm famous for something that will constantly remind me of what I've lost." He confessed, letting all of his feelings out. Hagrid, however, placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a kind smile underneath his beard and eyebrows.
"Don' you worry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be fine. Just be yerself. Yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts. I did, still do, 'smatter of fact." He assured him, which worked as Arthur realised that he's right. That all students, no matter what status will begin at square one and he was always a fast learner at primary school as well.
The two pulled the packages out from the bike and before Hagrid would drive off, he handed Arthur an envelope.
"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts. First o' September, King's Cross, it's all on yer ticket. See yeh soon, Arthur." He said before he drove off, the roar of the bike attracted the attention of his relatives, who opened the front door of their home and saw their nephew/cousin with his school supplies.
I feel like I have to note something a Guest made a comment of that I lack creativity because this story has an OC having the same story as Harry and not give him a different backstory.
I don't lack any creativity, I just decided to make a story where an OC is in Harry's position but with certain aspects changed like actually having loving relatives and that he'd have different opinions and reactions towards different characters, locations etc...
And the next chapter will introduce other OCs that replace the Weasleys and Hermione.