The knight bus finally stopped outside what appeared to be an old wooden shack. Stan Shunpike tossed Faith her suitcase and helped her outside. Before the eleven year old could ask any questions, Stan tucked himself back into the Knight Bus and it sped away out of sight. Nervously, Faith opened the door of the shack.

The shack was no shack on the inside. In fact, it was a huge and it appeared to be an old, dingy restaurant. She looked around curiously, wondering if she was in the right place. A few tired eyed workers pointed their wands at chairs to get them off of tables and tidying up, most likely getting ready for the day. Faith took a step back, about to leave the place when a man approached her.

"Ah, you must be Faith," he said. Faith nodded, inspecting the tall man. "My name is Tom, I was told you'd be arriving today. Heading to Hogwarts tomorrow, eh? Well you're in the right place to get all of your supplies. This is the Leaky Cauldron, pub and inn, but more importantly for you, entrance to Diagon Alley."

"Diagon Alley?" Faith asked quietly.

"Yes, m'dear. Diagon Alley is one of the main places to go shopping, for us magic folk, and it's darn near the only place you can get the majority of your school supplies," Tom explained. "I can show you to your room, if you'd like. When you're ready to go shopping, just come on down and see me."

"Can I go now?" Faith asked, excitedly looking up at Tom. She ran to the closest wall and set down her suitcase before running back to Tom. "I can go to my room later." Tom smiled at the young girl.

"Well, alright," he said, patting her on the shoulder and redirecting her to the back of the pub.

At the feeling of his hand on her shoulder, she tensed up, not liking to be touched. She tried her best to ignore the gesture, however, as she was more interested in shopping for her supplies. When the two met the back wall of The Leaky Cauldron, Tom pulled out his wand and tapped a few of the bricks on the wall. To Faith's amazement, the bricks opened up into a great archway, leading into an alleyway with a good handful of witches and wizards traveling up and down the streets, heading into and out of the long line of shops.

"I'll take your suitcase to your room, come back whenever you'd like," said Tom. "Oh, and I almost forgot, Professor Dumbledore said you'll ought to be needing this," he said, pulling a sack of coins from his pocket and laying it in her hand before ducking back inside the pub. The bricks began to shut and Faith looked into the sack in awe. It had been a long time since she had seen wizard currency, and she certainly wasn't expecting to have a whole sack of it handed to her to shop with. To be honest, she hadn't really thought about how she was actually going to buy her supplies. Shewalked the street in complete amazement. The first thing she noticed was how strange everybody was dressed. She had been so used to seeing and wearing muggle clothes that the robes and outfits she saw now were very curious. Of course, to everybody else, Faith was probably the one who looked silly; clothed in a pair of jeans with a black and white graphic t-shirt.

Faith didn't care, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter she had received from Hogwarts. It was a detailed list of all of the supplies she was to need for her first year. She had no idea where any of the shops were located or what half of the items on her list were, but she had the entire day to figure it out.

One of the first shops Faith found that was relevant to her list was Madam Malkin's. She stepped inside hesitantly, looking around at shelves lined with some of the ugliest robes and gowns she had ever seen. Faith closed the door behind her and walked through the store. Her footsteps were so quiet that the woman behind the counter, reading The Daily Prophet, hadn't heard the girl come in.

"I need some robes," Faith finally said to get her attention. Startled, the woman put down the newspaper and stood up, looking over her counter at the eleven year old.

"First year?" the woman said with a thick cockney accent. Faith nodded. "I can get ya fitted right away."

When Faith exited Madam Malkin's, a couple of school outfits and a set of robes later, she found herself in a much busier alley than when she had stepped in. There were many witches and wizards now, a lot of younger children and teens bustling about with their parents as they all were shopping for last minute supplies for the upcoming school year.

Faith bought all of the books on her list from Flourish and Blotts. She hated the thought of actual schoolwork. Sitting in a classroom learning about boring stuff. She hoped Hogwarts wouldn't be like muggle school. How could it be? You get to wave a wand around and do magic! From the looks of the books along the shelves, Faith deducted that the classes would be anything but ordinary. In fact, she spent a good fifteen minutes sitting on the steps, peering down at the shopkeeper as he wrestled a certain book called "The Monster Book of Monsters." She laughed as the man struggled to get the book, which seemed to have teeth and was biting at the man, paper bits flying everywhere. She left Flourish and Blotts happily.

The girl had her arms full of supplies; a cauldron, robes, books, and she even bought a rat that tried not to lose his balance as he was shaken around in his cage as she strolled down the alley. She explored the streets, browsing through the candy shops and quidditch supply shop- of course eyeing a fancy broomstick called the "Firebolt" in the window. Finally, Faith found the one shop that she had been looking for all morning. Ollivander's Wand Shop was straight ahead and Faith scurried quickly through the doors, dropping her load of supplies near the door.

There was another student in front of her. A blonde haired girl jumping about excitedly as her mother handed the man behind the counter a handful of coins. It was clear that, like Faith, this girl would be attending Hogwarts as a first year and just bought her first wand.

"Thank you!" she said eagerly, turning around the leave the shop and excitedly waving at Faith as she exited. Faith didn't wave back, but instead narrowed her eyes as she watched the happy eleven year old met her father with a hug back on Diagon Alley.

"I take it you're in need of a wand as well?" the shopkeeper said from behind the counter, gesturing for Faith to approach him. Faith stepped forward, nodding her head. "I'm Mr. Ollivander. What's your name?"

"Faith," the girl answered.

"Hmm, let's see," he said, inspecting the petite child thoroughly before turning around to grab a few wands off of the shelves. "Try this one out."

Faith took the wand the man held out for her. Her eyes lit up and she smiled, happy that she was finally going to get a wand of her own. "I don't know any spells," she told Mr. Ollivander after he told her to test it out.

"Not a problem, give it a wave!" he explained.

Faith waved the wand. From its tip erupted a steam of fire which ignited the papers cluttering up the shopkeeper's counter. Without hesitation, Ollivander drew his own wand and said, "Aguamenti!" The fire was put out. Faith blinked, her heart nervously racing at how bad that could have ended. "Well, it's not that one," Ollivander said, carefully taking the wand from her hands. "Give this a go."

Faith tried out what seemed to be at least ten wands, each time something strange and unfortunate would happen around the shop, which Ollivander would then have to quickly repair. Ollivander looked at Faith for a few more moments, temporarily puzzled until it seemed to have remembered something. "Ah!" he said, perking up a bit before digging through the shelves of wands. He set down a new, dark red box before Faith and opened it, pulling out a nice looking wand from inside.

"Wood carved from the rowan tree, twelve and three quarter inches, unicorn hair, firm," Ollivander said. He handed the wand to Faith. This wand felt different in her hands. She felt warm all over and she was no longer nervous about what was going to happen.

"I like this wand," she said with a smile.

"Give it a go, then," Ollivander replied with a smile. Faith waved the wand. The candles hanging about the room grew, making things a bit brighter, the shelves that were in disarray after searching for the perfect wand reorganized themselves, and the scorched paper on the counter became legible again. Faith's smile grew. "I think we've found it," said Ollivander.

"Don't you use it until you're at Hogwarts, understand?" Ollivander told Faith after she paid as she was gathering her belongings by the door. She nodded again. She was well aware of the rules- they had been very clear in all of her letters- but she desperately wanted to start performing charms and spells immediately.

"Thanks," she said, leaving the shop, making her way back toward The Leaky Cauldron.