The events all happened in a flash, but all I remember was getting plane tickets sent to us a couple days after the letter, saying bye to all my chickens and our dad, and then leaving home with most of all our clothes. Our plane ride was a long wait with our ears popping and sitting there playing games on the TVs that were on the flight. And when we finally stepped out of the plane we saw…
An airport. SURPRISE!!! I thought it would look better than a normal airport actually (since I never really wondered what London airports look like), it looked almost exactly like the one we just left from. So, we got off the plane and went on our journey through England in a taxi to get to our destination, the Leaky Cauldron.
Our taxi brought us there and wished us good luck as we gave him the money. Then we walked into the bar. Mom towed Becky and I across the place to stay away from the uncertain looking people that were in there, and led us through the back door where the entrance to Diagon Alley is. But as we went outside, we remembered that none of us had a wand. So without a word, she took us back inside and went to the bartender.
We explained our situation and then asked if he could help us. He obediently led us to the back door even though we already knew our way. He shut the door behind us and the other family that creepily followed us (probably for the same reason), and grabbed his wand from his pocket. Then, he tapped a sequence of bricks that I didn't understand. The brick wall opened with a rumble and revealed the wonderous world of Harry Potter that I had read of.
As we gaze down the street, there are crowds of bustling people of all ages wearing cloaks and hats. There are shops varying color and sizes with the marvelous Gringotts bank tipping ever so slightly in the distance. The bartender wishes us good luck and we head down to Gringotts first, to see if I had an account of some sort. A guard outside of the bank pulls open a giant marble door for us and we look inside. It has shiny floors without the faintest sign of dirt on them, a sparkling chandelier on the ceiling, and a bunch of desks with tiny goblins behind them.
We go up to the closest looking goblin (probably the most cheery one out of all of them) and he says in a rough voice, "May I help you ladies?"
My mom responds, "Yes… um… we are a…" then she whispers to me, "What are we to them again?"
"Oh." I say "Muggle Born family".
"Yes, we are a Muggle Born family, so we don't have any wizard money to shop for school things."
The goblin explains that we can trade in our normal money for the same amount of wizard gold. So mom gives him $100 and asks how much we can get for it. That much ends up being 15 galleons, so mom gives him another $100 to have enough for a while.
We head out of Gringotts with a big bag full of galleons, and go out to buy our school supplies. On our way to our first destination, Madam Malkin's, we pass by a person about my age with black hair and glasses. But before I can look at him again, the boy is too far away. Oh well, I might pass by him again.
We walk a little bit further, my mind still on the kid, and then reach our destination. We step in and the bell attached to the door tinkles. The witch in the shop (that I assume is Madam Malkin) greets us with a welcome and a warm smile. She asks if both Becky and I need new robes, but I have to explain that she doesn't go to Hogwarts. Madam Malkin looks a little disappointed after that but she quickly moves on.
She measures the length for everything, which takes a couple of minutes, and then finally fixes up a nice black robe for me to wear. We pay her with 3 galleons and she hands us a neat box with my robe in it. Mom thanks her, and then leaves with Becky and I trailing behind. We then buy a cauldron, telescope, and the potion ingredients that I need.
The next place we go into is Flourish and Blotts to buy my first year set of books. Once we get in, I head straight to the biggest display of books and search through it to find the books I need. The first one that is on my list that catches my eye is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander. I start reading, because obviously who doesn't like this book? I've read it way too many times, but I still love it. Mom tries to get me to help her find the other books, but she can't make me. So, she angrily finds the rest on the list, pries my fingers off the book, and drags me to the counter out of a stack of books that I don't need. We pay for all of the books, with a total that I totally forgot, (it was still a really big price) and we once again headed out of the store and went in the next.
This next shop was the Eeylops Owl Emporium. Becky, mom, and I casually stroll through it looking at all the somewhat cute and menacing owls, and leave the store considering to purchase one later. Then we go to look at the pet cats, which Becky absolutely adores, but mom and I don't want to stay too long because we are both allergic to cats. One or two cats are fine, but a store full of them… nope. Mom rushed us out of there and told us that we are definitely choosing an owl, since it can send messages, be a nice pet, and replace my chickens since dad was planning on cooking them now that I wasn't there. I start crying because of the loss of my favorite chickens ever. I mean, they aren't dead yet, but they will be. So I am sort of happy that we get an owl, but still a teeny bit teary. We then go back into the owl shop, I find the one owl that reminds me the most of a chicken. It is a barn owl with its white heart shaped face and tan colored feathers for the rest of it. I name it Chica, in memory, and pay 7 galleons for her. My mom lets me buy it anyway, though because the loss. But I promise my mom to pay her back anyway. The last thing on the list was to buy a wand. So we stroll down the street to Ollivander's and step in. Inside, we encounter a ginormous mess that spreads throughout the whole shop. Amongst it is that one boy that I had seen earlier and Mr. Ollivander himself. Ollivander weakly smiles to welcome us, apologizes for the mess, brings us outside, and politely asks us to wait there until the boy was finished. We soon got invited back in as the boy was out. Ollivander stared at me for a moment and then went straight to the shelf of wands. He pulled out a really old looking box and opened the lid delicately. Inside, of course, was a wand. "I'm not sure, but consider this," he said. "An Alder wood wand. In length, it is 11 ¾ inches long. This wand's core is a phoenix feather."
It had a rugged handle and sort of crooked end with a spherical shape like a ball in the middle. It wasn't that fancy, but I fell in love with it anyway.