I blinked open my eyes and looked at the unfamiliar white popcorn ceiling. I faintly reminisced of scratching the roof of my childhood home that had a similar war. My mother had raised hell at the destruction I'd caused. She'd had to call in contractors to smooth out the rest of the ceiling so that my room looked like a human lived in it and not a rabid raccoon. My father on the other hand had faintly smiled and told me he always wonder what it would be like to take a scraper to the ceiling and watch as only smooth walls were left behind. This had of course turned my mothers ire away from me and onto my father as he quickly realized he should have kept his mouth shut.
Shaking my head, I rubbed the grit out of my eyes as I focused on the task at hand. Slowly liding out of bed, I landed silently onto the laminated hardwood floor. My threadbare grey socks doing nothing to protect from the cold wood under my soles. I padded over to the bathroom and I stood in front of the bathroom as I got a good look at my new face.
I had piercing grey eyes and tousled raven locks that tumbled down towards my neck. While I still had plenty of baby fat, you could still faintly see my high aristocratic cheekbones. I had soft eyelashes that were the perfect length and straight sharp eyebrows. I didn't quite know my relation to Sirius Black yet but it seems I had clearly inherited his good looks. I let a small smile show as I admired my looks. I might not be a vain man but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy being good looking.
As I began my morning routine and began to clean myself I thought about how I would get to the Leaky Cauldron, and from there Diagon Alley. From what I remember, the dingy pub was located on Charing Cross Road or somewhere close by. As I set my mind to my destination I quickly put my clothes on, packed my meagre belongings into a pack and sneaked out of the dormitory. As I padded across the various rooms and halls of the orphanage I heard George H. W. Bush on the TV(I guess I have to call it telly now since I'm British?) denouncing the Russians. Having been a Gen Z who was born at the beginning of the millenium, seeing the older Bush on the TV only served to drive home the fact that I was in a new universe. Reading about the Cold War was one thing. Waking up and realizing you're living through it is another.
I quietly sneaked out of the orphanage and quickly walked across the courtyard outside the orphanage. My memories told me that there was a hole in the wall behind the shrubbery that I could crawl through.
As I finally hopped onto the right bus that I was told would go past Charing Cross Road, the driver looked at me weird but didn't ask any questions. Guess it's not every day a 5 year old gets on the bus this early in the morning.
A 20 minute ride later, I was standing on Charing Cross Road gazing down the road at a variety of boutiques and restaurants. And there I saw a dingy little pub sandwiched between a bookstore and an optometrists. A small crooked sign hung from the side of the store with the words spelled out "Leaky Cauldron" over a depiction of a large cauldron.
A grin stretched over my face as I came face to face with the establishment that lead to a world full of mysteries, miracles, and hidden wonders, that only a select lucky few were privy too. As I quickly stepped inside I made eye contact with Tom the Barkeep.
Thankfully Tom was the old man shown in the first movie not the creepy hunchback that was shown in the third movie. Seriously that dude gave me the creeps. I don't know who made the decision to switch the actors but the new actor almost gave me nightmares.
"What can I do for you, lad?" Tom asked with a professional smile, breaking me out of my thoughts, even as his eyes shone with curiosity about what a small boy my age could be doing here alone this early in the morning.
My grin somehow stretched even wider as I replied, "I needed entrance into Diagon Alley, Sir."
A flicker of amusement flashed across his face as he turned around and gestured for me to follow him.
As he approached the wall he turned around and says, "that'll be 5 knuts."
The smile dropped off my face as I realized I had only about 100 pounds to my name which I had managed to scrounge together by cleaning cars and doing various odd jobs for the people who lived near the orphanage.
Tom, seeing my face fall, chuckles and says, "It's alright, boy. Just this once I'll waive your fee, but make sure you're prepared next time."
"Thank you, sir", I said gratefully. I was beyond relieved that I wouldn't have to end my adventure before it even begun. Trying to gather together money was difficult enough, I couldn't even begin to think how I'd gather together knuts, sickles, and galleons.
Tom raised his wand and tapped the brick three up and two across from the rubbish bin, and as I saw my first piece of magic unfold I couldn't help the smile that graced my features. This is gonna be fun.