The life of Serenity

Chapter 2

Professor Snape stood with my mom at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for me. I was dressed in dark blue bootcut jeans, with a grey sweater to keep the chill out. Even in summer, it was still cold.

"How do we get to Diagon Alley?" I asked, once I realized he didn't have a car.

"Apparation of course. Now, both of you grab onto my arm and don't let go. Keep your minds blank or anything other than holding onto my arm. Understand?"

I nodded along with mom as we both grabbed onto his arms. I felt this pull from my navel before darkness surrounded me. We popped into an alley in London. I felt a wave of dizziness surround me for a moment, and I held myself up with the wall. It took a moment, but I gathered my barrings and straightened out. Mom wasn't having so much luck.

"Everyone alright?" Snape asked, once I straightened out. I nodded, and saw my mom nod as well from the corner of my eye. "Good, let's go." He lead the way out of an alley and into a...bar? I instantly saw the disapproving speech on the top of mom's tongue.

"Severus! What can I get you today?" A rather jovial man called from behind the bar. "Who might those be?"

"I'd rather not today, Tom. This is Serenity Shappen, along with her mother, Terry. It's Serenity's first year at Hogwarts."

"Muggle-born I presume?"

"Muggle?" I asked Snape.

"Basic humans. And you would presume correctly. Come along, through here."

Snape lead is through a back door that came out into a blocked off alley. I noticed their was missing bricks in a few places, but nothing that could cause the wall to collapse in on itself. Snape pulled his wand out and tapped a series of places along the wall. After a moment, the bricks wiggled and moved aside to reveal people dressed similarly to Snape, but more of the stereotypical wizard. Music played from a local band somewhere off to the side, kids ran around adults looking at the different sweets and items in the windows of shops. And the adults were talking to everyone else. Most likely about gossip, or what they did over the summer, or catching up with someone they hadn't seen in awhile. I grinned at the items flying around without some sort of string attached to it.

"This is Diagon Alley. You'll get your supplies here every year. Did you bring your list?" Snape asked, startling me from my thoughts. I nodded and pulled it out of my pocket. "Let's start with your books, then your cauldron. After that we'll grab your wand and animal."

"Animal? I don't remember it saying anything about an animal." Mom cut in.

"It says a student is required to have a toad, cat, owl, or rat. Seeing as I'm terrified of birds, I'll make the safe decision and go with a cat." I stated, looking up at mom; only to see shock written on her face.

"Alright, we know what the animal is. Let's grab the books."

Snap walked us down the crowded alley, where my mom latched onto my hand like a life line. I on the other hand was looking around in fascination. In all the years I've been alive, I never dreamed of fantasy becoming a reality. I dug my nails into my skin to see if I was dreaming, but when all I felt was stinging pain, and everything remained the same, all I could do was smile.
I heard various people walking down the street comment on my looks and how cute I looked. Well, I was only four foot, so I was surprised I was attracting so much attention. I'm sure I'm not the first muggle-born to walk around Diagon Alley.

"This is the book store. You'll get your books here. We need volumes one from the list of books on the parchment. Let's head in shall we?" I thanked him as he held the door open, and stepped inside. Looking around at the piles of books that lined the staircases, and the mounts of bookshelves surrounding the walls, caused my heart to flutter in excitement. I heard mom chuckle behind me.