It had been a month since Professor Minerva McGonagall of Hogwarts informed the Nortons that Christina was a witch. At first, Chris and her father were very sceptical but then Minerva McGonagall showed them real magic and Mr Norton was over the moon. It took a while to Chris to wrap this whole thing around her head but at the end, she realised that deep down she knew something wasn't right with her. Now it was official that she wasn't normal. She was a witch. She wanted to do and learn magic right away but the first instruction from Professor McGonagall was, "Do not try to do magic outside of school. After the admission, underage students are forbidden to use magic outside. You could get expelled if you intentionally use magic at home in front of Muggles."
Yes, Muggles, that's what they called non-magical people. Professor McGonagall also told them about Diagon Alley, the wizarding market and how to get there; then the wizarding bank, Gringotts, where they needed to change their Muggle money into wizards' money; and last but not least, the absolute secrecy of the magic world from the normal world. Mr Norton and Chris seriously listened to all the rules and things McGonagall advised them about and at the end she instructed them to go to Diagon Alley a few weeks later so that they could easily find the things they needed for school. But Mr Norton couldn't wait, and he went to Diagon Alley the very next day, changed his money and bought a bunch of books. Half of them were not even in her first-year curriculum. Since then Mr Norton was reading as much he could about the wizarding world to know what kind of world her daughter was stepping into. Chris was very happy to see her father happy. She also started to read books about magical stuff, she found everything fascinating. . . except for a few books written by one Gilderoy Lockhart and surprisingly his books were in her first-year syllabus.
And just like that, a full month went by. The day before Chris was supposed to go to Diagon Alley with her father, she was reading a book in her room, titled, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" when Mr Norton knocked on the door.
"Come in, Dad."
Her father entered the room with a big smile on his face.
"Fantastic Beasts and where to find them?" He noticed the name of the book in Chris's hand.
"Yeah. I found this book very interesting. It's fascinating, you know, the creatures are dangerous but still, you can't help but admire them," She gave a genuine smile.
"It's been long since I have seen this beautiful smile on your face. I am glad this magical thing happened," Mr Norton said in an emotional voice.
"Huh? I thought you are just happy because you got to know about this magical world and read 50 books about it," Chris joked to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, well that too, but I am also VERY jealous of you. So at least make your magical adventure as fun as possible, for me, okay?"
"Will do," She chuckled.
The next day, Chris and Mr Norton entered the Leaky Cauldron in London. As they crossed the pub Chris understood how much wizards maintained the secrecy of their world. After they came in front of a small, walled courtyard, Mr Norton tapped his pen on a brick three times and the brick quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway on to a cobbled street which twisted and turned out of sight. Chris grinned. As they stepped through the archway she saw the archway shrink instantly back into a solid wall. Chris looked around and saw different people, different shops. She was trying hard to suppress her smile, but no matter how much she tried, she was still grinning with amazement.
"Chris, do you want to see the bank?" Her father asked as he saw her smiling face.
"But you changed the money last time, didn't you?" Chris asked surprised.
"Yes. I did. But You didn't see it."
"Let's go," Chris smiled.
Smiling more broadly Mr Norton led the way and they roamed around the busy bustling Diagon Alley. Finally, they stopped in front of a tall snowy-white building. And there was a short creature standing beside the burnished bronze door.
'Goblin,' Chris remembered reading about them.
"You want to go in, kiddo?" Mr Norton asked.
"No. I read about Goblins, they are not very much friendly type. So no need to disturb them without any reason. We got to buy other things, come on," Chris looked at tall white goblin bank again then turned around.
"Okay, follow me. I saw the robe shop last time," Mr Norton said hurrying ahead.
"Dad what's that?" Chris pointed at a dark alley, few steps away from Gringotts. Everyone was keeping their distance from the alley and barely looking its way.
"No idea, but the last time I was here I realised these people avoid talking about that place. I think something must be weird there. Or maybe they didn't want to tell a Muggle about it. Who knows? I kind of got this feeling last time that they don't really like a Muggle roaming alone in their market. But I don't. . ." Mr Norton's voice faded away as he strode forward. He didn't realise that Chris wasn't following him. She was standing in front of the dark alleyway, thinking about what could be there. Suddenly, she was very curious but the alley looked really creepy so maybe there was something wrong or bad there. Just when she was starting to walk again, she saw two men standing in a corner looking at her. As she looked at them, they looked away and she heard them muttering something like, "mud blood," and "Falling of magical education and stuff."
Not understanding much, she stepped forward to follow her father, who was now far ahead of her. Squeezing through the crowd she was about to reach for her father when someone ran out from the direction of the dark creepy alley and collied with her, almost toppling her over.
"Hey, watch it," Chris steadied herself grabbing the front of the boy's shirt.
"Sorry. I am very sorry. I didn't mean to. . ." The boy said nervously. "I wasn't seeing -- My glasses, you see . . ."
Chris stepped back from him and saw the boy was very nervous, out of breath and his glasses were broken.
'Maybe something bad happened to him,' she thought and soften her tone. "It's alright. There is a spell to fix broken things, but I haven't bought my wand yet, so I can't help you."
"Oh. No. It's ok. I will fix it. Sorry again," the boy relaxed a little bit.
"Fix it fast or you will go knocking people all around you," Chris smiled seeing the boy's embarrassed face.
The boy tried to smile back and that's when a big, giant, bearded man appeared behind the boy.
"Yeh alrigh', Harry?" The giant man asked in a gruff voice.
Surprised Chris backed away. The man was very very tall and had lots of messy hair and beard. He was scary looking this close.
"I'm alright," the boy replied to the giant man.
Chris looked at him for a few seconds then turned to the boy. The boy gave a smile as he saw Chris's expression.
"Oh yes, I am Harry and this is Hagrid," the boy said as he pointed the giant man beside him. "You should know, Hagrid is one of the kindest people in this entire wizarding world."
"Oh!" Now Chris felt embarrassed for judging an unknown person. "I am Christina."
Harry was about to say something when a voice called "CHRIS!"
Chris turned around and saw her father on the side of the road. He was waving at her.
"I have to go. Bye Harry. Bye Hagrid," She gave a small wave at both of them and ran towards her father.
"Who was that boy? Did you already make a friend?" Mr Norton asked as soon as Chris came to him.
"No, Dad. I just bumped into him, literally," Chris sighed.
"At least, try to make friends here," Mr Norton said looking serious all of a sudden. "It's a whole new world. People won't be the same everywhere, my eagle."
"I will try," Chris said after a moment then spotted the shop named 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. "I need robes."
After taking her school robes, they left the shop and his father led her through the other shops.
"Now your Wand." Mr Norton smiled and they stopped in front of a shop named, 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC'.
'Wow. That's pretty old.' Chris thought.
They stepped into the store and a tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop. Chris saw a red-haired plump woman standing there with a young girl with same flaming red hair. She looked almost the same age as Chris.
"Umm, sorry. We will wait outside," Chris said hastily and tried to leave.
"It's ok, dear. You can stay," The red-haired woman said kindly. "We're almost done, I hope. First Year?"
Before Chris can answer Mr Norton said, "Yes. We just found out a month ago. Professor McGonagall came to our house and informed us. This place is very amusing if you ask me. I am glad that my daughter got this opportunity. I couldn't be prouder."
The woman gave a knowing smile and started to ask him about how he found the other wizard things. Mr Norton began talking with her more enthusiastically and bragged about Chris a lot. Chris sighed and noticed the red-haired girl looking at her.
"Hello."
"Hello," The girl smiled. "I am Ginevra Molly Weasley. But call me Ginny."
"Christina Norton," Chris smiled then hesitated but at the end decided to give it a chance for her father. "Well, call me Chris."
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