A/N: Hello peoples! Whazzz up? Just kidding(I'm not that annoying!). Well, I do not really have much to say in this note, but I would like to briefly plead for mercy. I am writing all of this on WordPad and it has no spellchecker! I am running it through my email's but I may occasionally miss a few errors. I apologize ahead of time. Thank you:))
I fell asleep last night with a smile, and awoke this morning with the very same smile. This has never happened. I dressed quickly and walked as calmly as possible up the dingy stairs into the house's kitchen. The sun was shining gloriously through the dusty pimento curtains. I danced my way into the living room only to be greeted with the not so glorious shout of, " Hey, you little brat, stop dancing and get your fat arse to cleaning!" Rita really does have a way with words. After cleaning the house in record time I asked, neigh begged, for permission to go to the library. John said it would cost me later, but I could go. I was willing to put up with the 'cost' because it was pretty much inevitable either way. After packing my rucksack, I high-tailed it out of that hell-hole.
On my way to Andie's for our magical rendezvous, I encountered an alarmingly tall man with the beginnings of a beard. He was walking along the sidewalk in the thundering manner of a giant. 'Hmm', I thought to myself, 'I wonder if this is the "employee" Mr. Dumbledore said he was sending. Only one way to find out. "Hello sir, how do'ya do?" I asked in a seemingly confident tone. The big oaf just peered over at me with a weariness I was accustomed to. I decided that maybe he was not the man I thought him to be. I trailed silently behind him all the way to Andie's. He stopped and looked up at the house, then at me. I smiled shyly, hoping that this meant my original assessment was indeed right. It was. "Hullo Miss, are you Josephine Hayworth?" Asked the friendly giant of a man. I full-out grinned and replied, "Why yes, yes I am and this is the house of Andrea Rodriguez." He said he would properly introduce himself once we acquired Andie.
I walked up the the door and rang the bell. Seconds later the door was flung open by a rather flushed Andie. "So sorry it took me so long, I was brushing my hair." Classic Andie, thinking she was late when she was early. Teasing her I said, " It's about time you got here you slacker!" This received a hearty glare. After our little greeting she walked out the door and greeted the giant man. He introduced himself as Rubeus Hagrid, junior groundskeeper in training, of Hogwarts. Ah, so that's what Dumbledore meant by "an employee of sorts."
Well, he seemed nice enough and I was ready to get a move on so I said, "Well, let's get a move on. How exactly will we be traveling to the store and what kind store will we be traveling to that has wizarding stuff?" He told us that we would have to go to a secret place named Diagon Alley, in order to get our supplies. An alley seems like an odd place for a store, but nothing has been exactly normal lately so I didn't question it. The answer to my question of transportation was a motorcycle with a sidecar. "I call the sidecar!" I yelled whilst running to the vehicle.
After sorting out the seating arrangements, we were off. About thirty minutes later we arrived at a pub. "Are you sure this is the place?" asked Andie wearily. He said he was sure. We walked into the fine establishment and our burly friend was greeted by the bar tender, "Hagrid, my favourite customer. Would you like your usual?" This caused Hagrid to erupt in one of the reddest blushes I have ever seen. "N-no Tom, this is official Hogwarts business." he stuttered his reply. Hearing this, Tom led us to the back of the pub into a separate room with a brick wall. After saying his thanks Hagrid pulled out a stick and began prodding the wall. Soon, the wall began to open up and we were greeted with the sight of a bustling street. 'Must have been a wand." I whispered to Andie.
Hagrid steered us into the crowd and told us to follow him to the bank. Andie made a transaction with the ugly old goblins and exchanged her muggle money for wizard money. I began to panic, realizing that I had no money, muggle or wizard. Hagrid, seeing my distress kindly pulled me aside and informed me that, under the circumstances, the staff had taken up a collection in order to pay for my supplies. I was embarrassed but grateful and said my thanks, reminding myself to thank everyone once I arrived at the school.
Next was Ollivander's. Inside was cramped with boxes and boxes of what appeared to be wands. "Oh my, who do we have here?" Came the slightly crazed voice of an eccentric looking old man. "This is Josephine Hayworth and Andrea Rodriguez, Mr. Ollivander. Dumbledore sent me to help the get their school supplies. They need wands." At hearing this the old man's eyes lit up and began buzzing around his shop bringing box upon box over to me and Andie. "Pick a wand and give it a flick."
I stepped up before Andie and chose a large, lumpy one. Flick. That little flick made a vase explode and I readied myself for a beating or berating. The crazy old bloke just handed me another and said, "Very good Josephine, very good." Four wands and four explosions later and I finally saw my wand. It was beautiful. It was a silvery purple wood with intricate carvings of vines all along the length of it. As soon as I touched it I knew it was 'the one'. It blew my hair back and with a flick I healed all of the mess I had made earlier. "My, my we have quite the little witch here Hagrid." I blushed and handed him back the wand. "This wand, your wand, is very rare. It has a core of Boomslang Venom and is made from Ivy, it is 8 and 3/4 inches long. Seems that you won't be very tall m'dear." he said with such chipperness that I let the short comment go. "Now it's Andie's turn!" I yelled excitedly. Andie ended up with a Birch wand with a Unicorn hair core, and on her first try too! It was just a little bit longer than mine at 9 and 1/2 inches.
After saying our farewells to Mr. Ollivander, we went to buy our robes. Hagrid left us in the capable hands of the shop lady and told us he would be back in thirty minutes. After getting our robes we waited out front for him. He was a few minutes late, but he was there and that is all that really mattered. We went to Flourish and Blotts for our actual school supplies.
Finally we went to the pet shop. Andie got and brown owl, so she could send home letters. I got a black cat because I really like their sauciness and I have never had a pet, so I wanted to get the cuddliest one possible. Andie named her female owl Guinevere and I named my male cat Harold because it sounded like the name of a pudgy old father, and I liked the thought of that. Hagrid told us that we made fine choices and he would be back in two days time to take us to the Hogwarts Express. He dropped us off at Andie's house and we said goodbye.
I went to Andie's room with her and hid my purchases in her closet. This had been quite the morning and I had to get 'home' before I got in more trouble than normal. I hugged my best friend goodbye and ran most of the way back(I am rather chunky and can not run that far!). I walked calmly through the front door waiting for the berating to start. "There you are you little bitch! I told you that you could go to the Library not Texas! Get over here and let me teach you a lesson." I walked calmly and donned my emotionless mask reserved only for my 'lessons'.
John beat me until I couldn't see out of one eye and my other eye was bleeding. I think my wrist was fractured and I knew I had a bloody lip. Broken ribs were normal as well. After my first 'lesson', he took me to my room and gave me my second. I do not want to go into detail, but let's just say it was worse than the first, so much worse. I fell asleep to the sound of his laughing as he left the basement. Great way to end the day.