Chapter 3:

Diagon Alley

Finn woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door to the room. He quickly sat up and looked at his surroundings remembering that he was no longer in the orphanage but at the Leaky Cauldron. He slowly laid back down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling and for the first time ever, he had a smile on his face having gotten a real night sleep. He sat up again and looked over at the desk in the room and saw new clothes sitting on the desk. He got out of the bed and made his way over to the desk. There was a note sitting on the clothes.

Mister Barrett,

I thought you'd appreciate some new clothes other than the clothes from the orphanage.

-Your Friend

Finn smiled, he knew that it was the woman and despite not knowing who she was, he could tell that she was someone he could trust and call a friend. Finn quickly pulled on the brand new clothes and after checking himself out in the mirror he opened the door to see Mr. Longbottom standing there with a smile on his face.

"Ah, the clothes you friend left for you, great. Now I will accompany you to Diagon Alley to gather your things for school but first, there's food awaiting you downstairs. You'll want to fill up before we leave" he said with a smile turning and making his way back downstairs.

Finn quickly gathered the letter from yesterday then walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him and made his way downstairs to the main floor. He looked around and saw people were sitting around tables but thankfully none were paying him any attention. He glanced up to see Mr. Longbottom carrying out a plate of food and a mug for him placing them down on an empty table. He walked over and took a seat. Finn reached over to grab his fork only to stop when the door to the pub opened up making him turn his head to the door to see a man with a woman and two girls. The first girl looked to be three years older than Finn while the other girl looked to be his age. He watched them for a while only to quickly look away when the girl his age looked over at him. He didn't look up from eating until he thought the family had made their way past him. He glanced up again and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that they were indeed gone.

"Ah, I see you noticed the Dragomir family" Mr. Longbottom said as he took a seat across from Finn. "That's Drake Dragomir, the head of the family, the woman next to him is his wife Serena. The two young ones with them are their daughters, Karin who is in her fourth year and the other one is their youngest daughter Raven who is startin' her first year just like you are" Mr. Longbottom said with a smirk.

Finn nodded his head but again his attention was really on what Mr. Longbottom had said to him as he kept stealing glances over at where the family was sitting most importantly where Raven was sitting.

"Well, it looks like we should get going, don't want to be there when it gets really busy" Mr. Longbottom said as he stood up, so Finn quickly ate some more food before standing up as well. He followed the older wizard to the back of the pub to a back door. Finn was confused as to why Mr. Longbottom was going this way, his confusion only continued when Mr. Longbottom opened the door and the two of them stepped out into a small enclosed area with a brick wall in front of them. The two stood there for a minute, Finn looked around, he expected something magical to happen but soon the air was filled with awkward silence.

"Bloody hell, what the was pattern again?" Mr. Longbottom said as he rubbed the top of his head.

"It's three up and two across three times" came a voice from behind them making them turn around to see a woman standing there, her arms were crossed but she was smiling. "Honestly Neville" the woman said as she shook her head and walked over to them.

The two proceeded to hug. When they pulled apart the woman turned to face Finn who was looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, Finn, this is my good friend Hermione Granger" Mr. Longbottom says as he motioned to the woman standing next to him.

Hermione offered out her hand to him which he accepted and shook.

"Your starting your first year?" she asked him.

Finn responded with a nod.

"Good, I too will be attending so we'll be seeing a lot more of each other" she said with a smile.

"You're seriously going back to finish?" Mr. Longbottom said with a raised eyebrow, Hermione opened her mouth to respond but stopped when Mr. Longbottom raised his hand. "I forgot who I was talkin' too" he with a smile then Hermione walked forward and pulled out her wand and proceeded to tap on the wall.

Finn stepped back then watched as the brick she had touched quivered – it wiggled – in the middle, a small hole appeared – it grew wider and wider – a second later the three of them were facing an archway large enough for all of them to pass through, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome Finn," said Mr. Longbottom., "To Diagon Alley."

The two elders smiled at Finn's amazement. The three of them stepped through the archway. Finn looked quickly over shoulder and watched as the archway shrunk instantly back into a solid wall. Finn turned back around again and followed the two old friends from behind. As he walked he glanced around at his surroundings. He looked at the many different witches and wizards. It amazed him that there were so many people like him. Finn finally began to feel like he was starting to belong somewhere. The thought of that brought a smile to his face. After getting all the required items for school. Mr. Longbottom said they had one more stop to make since the Orange haired woman had left Finn some money to purchase the most important item. The three walked until they came to a stop outside a shop called Ollivanders.

"Here ya go Finn, some money so you may purchase your first and hopefully only wand" Mr. Longbottom said as he held out his hand with some money in it.

Finn accepted the money then looked down at the coins in his hand, he had never seen money before, but he knew that it didn't look like what he had in his hand. He looked up at both Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Granger hoping for an explanation.

"So, what you have in your hands are what we call gallons which are gold, sickles which are sliver and finally knuts which are bronze," Mr. Longbottom said as he explained the money that Finn would mostly likely be using during his training as a wizard at Hogwarts. "Hermione, would you mind accompanying Finn inside while I run this quick errand?" Mr. Longbottom said to his friend.

"Of course, Neville, we'll meet you at Flourish and Blotts" Hermione replied before leading Finn inside the shop.

When they entered Finn saw small boxes lying everywhere, some were opened while others weren't, he followed Hermione up the counter were an old man stood with a smile on his face.

"Ha, Mister Barrett, nice to finally to make your acquaintance" the older man said.

"You know who I am?" Finn asked shocked.

"Of course, I remember everyone who comes through that door and every wand that leaves this store" he replied before turning his attention to Hermione. "Ah, Miss Granger I hope that 10 ¾, vine wood and dragon heartstring is still holding up nicely?" he said.

"Hasn't failed me yet Mister Ollivander" Hermione responded with a smile of her own.

The older man smiled before turning around and making his way into the back where there were rows of shelves. Finn couldn't help but watch as the old man grabbed about four boxes and then made his way up front carrying them in his arms. Mr. Ollivander opened the first box then held out to Finn.

"This wand is made with Alder wood with unicorn hair." Mr. Ollivander spoke as Finn reached out and took the wand. After a few minutes and nothing happened Ollivander took the wand away from Finn and placed it back in its box before pulling out another one which he held out to Finn. Again after a few moments the wand was taken from him and another one was placed in his hand but this time it was different, the moment Finn's fingers wrapped around the wand he felt something raise up inside of him and there was a shining light surrounding him for a few seconds before disappearing. "Ah, the rowan wood with Dragon heartstring, that makes perfect sense" Mr. Oliverander says.

The last remark caught Finn's attention but before he could ask the older man what he meant by that, the door to the shop opened and the girl that he had seen in the Leaky Cauldron entered with her older brother. Finn understood that he wasn't going to be getting an answer from Mr. Ollivander so he and Hermione walked out of the shop.

"You alright Finn?" Hermione asked seeing the look on Finn's face. Finn jumped as he had been deep in thought, he turned to face her but shook his head instead of telling her. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow before speaking, "If you're sure, then we better head off to Flourish and Blotts to meet Neville."

Finn nodded his head then turned to walk only to walk right into someone knocking both of them down to the ground. Finn shook his head and reached up to rub the bruise that he felt forming on his forehead. He looked up to saw a girl his age with black shoulder length hair on the ground across from him. He stared at her for a moment and noticed a scar above her right eyebrow. He realized that he had been staring too long because she was staring daggers at him.

"Watch were you're going freak" she spat then jumped up to her feet and stormed inside of Ollivanders.

Finn was confused. He didn't know why but he felt like he had a connection with the girl, 'Why is my life so confusing?' Finn thought to himself as he got back up to his feet. He dusted himself off and fixed his shirt before being led away from Ollivanders by Hermione. As Finn walked around he started to feel uncomfortable the more people he saw. He didn't know what it was, he felt a mixture of uneasiness and nervousness. His fingers started to get a tingling sensation. It felt like someone was watching him, so he spun around but came to find no one looking in his direction.

"Finn are you alright?" Hermione asked him

"I don't know, I just feel like someone's watching me" Finn replied as he continued to look around.

As they started walking again, he still felt that someone was watching him. Ever since the orange haired woman came and got him from the orphanage, he had become more anxious. He no longer felt comfortable in Diagon Alley.

"Can we just get back to the Cauldon? I don't feel comfortable" Finn said with some nervousness.

Hermione didn't need to ask any more questions as she could tell by the expression on his face and his demeanor, she nodded her head then placed a hand on Finn's shoulder and lead him towards Flourish and Blotts.

(!)

Finn and Hermione entered Flourish and Blotts, because of his anxiety he didn't noticed the amount of books in the small shop. Finn clasped his hands together and started ringing them. He could feel his chest tightening and nausea started which was once in his stomach but, was rising up his throat. Hermione placed a comforting hand on Finn's shoulder making him look up at her.

"Why don't you wait outside and I'll gather your books, once Neville shows up we'll get them and head back to the Cauldon as soon as possible" Hermione said trying to comfort him.

Finn nodded his head then quickly went outside without saying a word. Once outside he started to calm himself down and breathed in and out. He walked over and sat down on the ground placing his back up against the shop. He leaned his head back against the wall and continued to slow his breathing down as he tried to calm himself down. He didn't understand why he was feeling this way. Maybe it was because everything was changing so fast and it was freaking him out.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Finn's head shot up and looked around trying to find the source of the voice, his eyes finally fell upon a girl his age standing before him.

"Huh?" Finn asked confused to make sure the girl was talking to him.

"I asked if you were okay?" the girl asked again.

"I um… I'm just freaking out a little bit cause everything is changing so fast" Finn replied honestly.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, my name is Faye Cooper" the girl said offering out her hand to him.

"Finn" he responded as he shook her hand.

"Hi Finn, it'll get easier, just remember to breathe." She said smiling at him. "Well, I better get back inside or my mother will freak out" Faye said rolling her eyes with a smile, then waved goodbye to Finn and went back inside Flourish and Blotts.

Mr. Longbottom eventually showed up after finishing his errands and went inside the shop to pay for Finn's books with the money that he had gotten from the orange haired woman. Finn waited outside the shop until both Mr. Longbottom and Hermione emerged from the book shop. Finn was amazed by the stack of books Mr. Longbottom was carrying for him.

"Come on Finn, let's head back to the Cauldon" Mr. Longbottom said then the three made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron.

What Finn didn't know was that standing near the entrance to Knockturn Alley, a lone dark hooded figure stood quietly watching him.