Sasha Jackson & The Trials of the Pendragon

Chapter Three: Diagon Alley

Sasha and her parents had went through the wall after doing the password. She stayed close to her parents and was amazed to see everything on the street, trying to take in everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A redhead woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head and was scolding twin redhead boys. A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Barred, Gray, and Snowy. Several kids around Sasha's age were gawking against a window with a broomstick in it with a sign that says "Comet 260 for Sale!" They were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Sasha had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon, and so on.
They had gathered her school supplies and robes, but Sasha still felt at unease. She met a dark-haired wizard's dark eyes by accident as she passed a potion shop, Sasha felt herself flinching as she broke the eye contact with the wizard and hid in between her parents.
Twenty minutes later, they had left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and filled with rustling and flickering, glowing eyes. Sasha was now carrying a large cage that held a handsome Eagle Owl. He has tawny and dark brown feathers, along with bright amber eyes. Sasha had decided to name the handsome owl Hamish, after a character in a book series she had read.
"You go ahead and get a new wand from Ollivander," said Mum. "It's where me and your father had gotten our first wands."
"We'll be waiting for you out here." Both of Sasha's parents both went inside a café together.
Sasha felt her curiosity replace her fear at this thought of getting a magic wand.
As Sasha headed towards the shop, she soon met a girl around her age, who was looking at one of the bookstores. The girl has long and silky black hair, coppery-colored skin, and warm hazel eyes underneath her glasses. She was wearing black robes, not yet placed into a House in Hogwarts.
"Oh! Hello." Sasha could tell that the girl's greeting was genuine with kindness and not nasty nor fake. Sasha felt drawn by the girl's enthusiastic and compassionate nature. "I'm just so excited to go to Hogwarts. It's been my dream to become a Perfect in the House I might be going into." The girl shook Sasha's hand. "I'm Rowan Khanna, and what's yours?"
Sasha raised her head with wary pride and her hair had started cascading over her shoulders, feeling wary and self-conscious by the excited girl, before she said softly, "I'm Sasha. Sasha Jackson."
"Sasha Jackson?" Rowan said with wide eyes. "Are you related to Jacob Jackson?"
Sasha's breath was caught in her breath as if she had been punched and looked away from Rowan's curious dark brown gaze as she said quietly, "Yes. He was my older brother."
"Oh sorry." Rowan looked a little awkward of the situation, but she soon perked up all again. "Your brother was quite legendary and I'll bet you'll be legendary as him too."
"Yeah," said Sasha with a smile. "Maybe one day." Sasha soon looked at Rowan and they both smiled at each other. "Do you...want to be friends?"
Sasha caught Rowan's eye, the two girls exchanged small smiles. Sasha had never been asked to be friends with another person before, other than Nicholas and woodland critters (including magical ones). Rowan had gave Sasha a rare hand of friendship to her.
"I would be most honored to be friends with you," said Rowan with a small smile. "Do you know any clothes that might gave me some confidence of being a good Perfect?"
"Usually, confidence comes from the heart," said Sasha wisely. "But if you want to get something, maybe you should get a scarf if you want."
Rowan nodded and was about to head towards the clothes store, but she stopped and looked at Sasha in concern. Rowan thought she saw a faint outline of a scar on Sasha's right side of her chin to her cheek, but it disappeared all too quickly as Sasha stepped closer to the shade and continued watching Rowan curiously.
"Do you want me to meet up back here?" Rowan asked Sasha.
"Fine by me." As the two girls both separated, they didn't noticed that both of their families had been watching them during their encounter of each other with small smiles.
The shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B. C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single spindly chair. Sasha felt as if she had entered a very strict library; she took a deep, inward breath with a whole lot of new questions that just occurred to her and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled on the shelves all the way up to the ceiling. She felt her skin have goosebumps. Despite the dust and silence in the shop it seemed to tingle with some hidden magic.
"Hello there," said a soft voice, making Sasha jumped in place.
An elderly man soon slid down the aisle with a wheeled wooden ladder. His big, pale blue eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"Um... Hi?" Sasha looked up at the man curiously.
"I was expecting you, Sasha Jackson." It wasn't a question. "You have your father's eyes and your mother's determined spirit. It seems only yesterday your brother was in here himself, buying his first wand. Ten and eleven inches long, sturdy, made of maple and dragon heartstring. Nice wand for combat work. Shame it broke in half when he had disappeared."
Sasha felt herself snapped in anger and her eyes flashed a brief golden color before turning back into its regular blue color as she said quietly, but very fiercely, "It's not his fault. Somebody else must of gotten hold of his wand and somehow broke it."
Ollivander hummed thoughtfully as he looked through the shelves and avoiding Sasha's fierce glare as he said, "A fiery and feisty spirit needs such a wand." He pulled out a wand case and opened to reveal a brown wand. "Twelve and half inches long, good for charm spells, made of willow and dragon heartstring."
Sasha carefully took the wand, as she waved the wand around and felt as if something felt wrong as she held the wand. A small windstorm had happened and started to make a mess in the store. Sasha had managed to put a stop to the wand and looked at Ollivander fearfully.
"I'm sorry," whispered Sasha as she placed the wand on the counter. "I didn't mean to make a mess."
"It's okay my dear. Your brother had made my favorite ink cup explode when he first tried out his first wand," Ollivander reassured. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Jackson. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. Of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
Ollivander started looking through the shelves, taking down another box. He soon pulled out another box from the shelf and placed it on the counter. He soon opened the box to reveal another wand.
"Ah, here's a good one," said the wand maker. "It's a rare combination — eleven and one quarter, laurel, dragon heartstring, nice and strong for dueling magic."
Sasha took the wand. She felt a sudden warmth in her fingers. She raised the wand over her head, when she brought it swishing down through the dusty air, a magical steam of amber and gold sparks shot from the end like a binging of a small fire, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.
Mr. Ollivander clapped and cried out, "Well done! This is most curious...how very curious..."
"What is it?" asked Sasha.
Mr. Ollivander looked at her with a slight smile as he said, "I remembered every wand I've ever sold, Miss Jackson. Every single wand. It's quite interesting that this wand had chosen you as a wielder at a young age. Usually, grownup Aurors use these types of wands, but it looks like this particular wand wants you as its wielder."
Sasha thanked Mr. Ollivander and paid for the wand before she slipped away from the wand store. She looked around and was surprised to see Rowan waiting for her patiently, she clearly stood to her word. But what's really strange was that Rowan had actually took her advice and had bought herself a multi-colored scarf that had little ball-shaped tassels hanging from it, which was wrapped around her neck.
"Hey Sasha," greeted Rowan with a bright smile. But she seemed surprised to see Sasha's new wand. "You bought a laurel wand?"
Sasha gave Rowan a surprised and curious look, her friend noticed as she explained, "My family owns a farm that supplied high-quality wood for both wands and broomsticks."
"Okay," said Sasha softly. "According to the shopkeeper in there had told me that this wand had chose me."
The two girls soon started to chat to each other and began to learn more about each other's backgrounds: Sasha had almost never made any human contact after her brother's disappearance and Rowan likes to read a lot and is a bit of a teacher's pet.
"Sasha." Sasha turned to see her parents standing outside of the Three Broomsticks.
"Rowan." Rowan turned to also see her parents and little brother besides Sasha's family.
"It's time to go," said their dads.
Both Sasha and Rowan turned to look at each other, a silent look of sadness and longing. A friendly bond had begun to form between the two girls.
"I'll see you at the train station next month?" Sasha asked, sounding a little awkward.
"You know it," said Rowan with a bright smile.
Sasha never thought she'll be making friends on her very first day of getting outside of her home turf. She felt a warm feeling go through her, a deep fondness for Rowan.