Welcome to your First Year of Hogwarts (On Hold)

Chapter 5

"The Leaky Cauldron, a very famous place for witches and wizards," your dad says as he points to a building nested between a bookshop and a record store. Your father starts walking towards it, and you follow.

When you walk inside, it is very dark and shabby. It has a bar, and many tables hidden in the shadows of the corners. You notice a young boy with black hair, and about your age, shaking hands with a lot of people. He is with a very tall man, maybe eleven feet tall. The man has black, scraggly hair, and a long beard. Your father gasps.

"Why, I'd never," your dad says shockingly. He walks over to the boy and shakes his hand. "Glad to have you back!" The boy nods awkwardly, obviously not knowing how to cope with all the attention.

"Who is it, Dad?" you ask.

"Why, it's Harry Potter!" a woman with gray hair yells.

"The boy who lived!" someone shouts.

"I'll explain later," your dad says to you. You look at your mom standing behind you, and she looks very uncomfortable.

"Professor Quirrel!" the very tall man with the boy yells.

"Ha- Ha- Hagrid!" a young man with very pale skin and a purple turban wrapped around his head replies shakily. The man's eye twitches and he seems anxious.

"Harry, this will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts," Hagrid explains in a gruff voice to Harry Potter. Harry extends his hand to shake Professor Quirrel's, but he does not take it. Harry puts his arm back down.

"Are you a first year?" you ask Harry. He nods sheepishly.

"We better be going," Hagrid tells Harry and they both walk out of the room through the rear.

Your dad starts talking to someone he knows, but you can't help thinking about the mysterious Harry Potter.

Your dad leads you and your mom through the same back door that Harry and Hagrid walked out. The door enters into a chilly courtyard. Your father walks over to a brick wall, and taps the bricks in a counterclockwise order. The bricks move away, causing a doorway to form.

"Come on!" your father yells as he walks through, and you and your mother follow.

On the other side of the doorway, you reach a cobble stone path. People are all around you, walking from store to store. There are shops selling robes, telescopes, and strange silver instruments, and windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, piles of spell books, quills, rolls of parchment, and potion bottles. There is so much stuff to look at in just the little alley.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" your dad yells.

"Where do we start?" you ask.

"Why, we get you a wand of course!" your dad says as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

Your dad takes you to a narrow and shabby looking store. A sign with peeling gold letters reads: Olivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. All three of you walk inside of the cramped looking store.

When you walk inside, you find small, thin boxes lining every inch of the walls up to the ceiling.

"What are these?" you ask as you touch a box.

"They are wands," a man with white hair, light skin, and pale, silver eyes says to you.

"Mr. Olivander!" your dad exclaims. "Nice to see you! You gave me my wand, so I'd like to keep the tradition in our family."

"Yes, I remember. You're wand is 12 inches, made of Ash wood, and it's core is made of unicorn hair," Mr. Olivander explains.

"Wands?" you ask as your eyes light up.

"Here," Mr. Olivander grabs a box from a nearby shelf, "try out a wand." He opens the box and lifts out a dark brown, gilded wand. You take it out of his hand.

"How does it work?"

"The wand chooses the wizard. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard learning from the wand, " he says as if he answered all my questions. "Give it a whirl."

You flick the wand in the air, and boxes fly off the shelves. "That one surely isn't meant for you." He places the wand back on the shelf. "Each wand has a core," he explains as he grabs another box, "and each body of a wand is made from a choice of different woods with different magical properties." He hands you another wand.

After several tries, Mr. Olivander hands you a box from the very top shelf. "This wand is 9 inches and it's core contains unicorn hair; it is also made of cherry wood," he explains. You flick the wand in the air, and surprisingly, nothing bad happens.

"I think you've found the one!" Mr. Olivander explains.

"Can I get it, dad?" you ask.

"Of course," your father replies as he pulls out seven golden coins and hands them to Mr. Olivander.

"Thank you," you say to your father and to Mr. Olivander.

Go to Chapter 10