flourish and blotts

•chapter one - diagon alley•

       

        Hi, I am Talia, Talia Baudelaire, and I just got transferred to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! For my first and second year of learning the magical arts, I went to Beauxbaton School for Girls, but, because there were rumors that You-Know-Who had resurfaced, my grandparents decided to send me to Hogwarts instead, hoping it would be safer.

First, I need to explain my family history. When I was about two years old, my parents divorced, so there was a custody battle over me. But, since I was so young, I wasn't able to understand anything, meaning I didn't get any input as to who I would live with.
Long story short, I ended up with my two loving grandparents, Sonny and May Baudelaire who were my mum's parents. But, neither my grandparents nor I had been in contact with my mum, or my dad for that matter, since the divorce. So, naturally, I didn't know much about my parents.

Though I was curious, my grandparents insisted that I do not try to get in contact with either of them because of how sensitive the situation was. I still don't get the big deal, because what the harm in trying to get to know your real parents?

But, anyways, today I am going to Diagon Alley, a very popular street lined with numerous stores where I can get all of the supplies I will be needing for the upcoming school year. My grandmother, who was coming with me, decided that it would be best to use floo-powder to travel to the shops because I was still underage. We arrived at around 12pm, meaning it was very crowded and hard to stay near my grandmother, but, together we made it to the first store on our list, Flourish and Blotts.

"Okay Grams," I say walking through the small door, hearing a chime signaling our entrance, "From here, the list of schoolbooks says that I need The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 by Miranda Goshawk, Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky, Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch, Numerology by L. Wakefield, Grammatica by M. Carneiro, Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles by Wilhelm Wigworthy, Spellman's Syllabary by Rosana Amorim, and lastly the entire collection of Gilderoy Lockhart books." I saw my grandmother's face light up at the mention of the famously enchanting gentleman.

Along with my core subjects that I will be taking at Hogwarts, I chose four electives to add to my schedule. Which meant that I wouldn't have too much time outside of class and studying to socialize, but that was kind of the whole point. You see, I have had a pretty difficult time making friends all my life because I have anxiety, not horrible anxiety, but it's bad enough that I overthink everything, making it really hard to be social.            
So, I decided that, since I would already be very anxious about transfering to a new school, it would be better to focus on my education and to avoid as much social interaction as possible while I was there.
My grandmother and I made a plan to split the book list in half and each separate to collect the schoolbooks I needed.

As I made my way into the Muggle Studies aisle, I started scanning the books on the middle row of the shelves. I kept walking down the aisle, but still couldn't find Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles, so I quickly turned around to look at the shelves positioned opposite of me. But I must've turned to quickly because I slammed my head into a figure that had just entered the aisle holding a mountain of books.

a/n: sorry!! i know this chapter is kind of uneventful, but i needed to give you all some background! and dw, you'll meet fred soon!