They Hate Harry Potter

Chapter Three: Father Knows Bex

After that, things seemed to happen much too fast for Bex.

One moment her father was telling her she was a witch, the next he was taking her out in the world for the first time in her life. 

In his defense, he gave her a lot of prep beforehand.

"Alright, Bex." Her father was rummaging in the closet, looking for something that he had apparently hidden in the very back. "Now, I'm sure this is gonna be very overwhelming for you, so I'm just gonna give you a few tips, alright?" 

It was the next day, after her father had finally told her the truth and she received her acceptance letter. Today, he was almost back to normal, and he woke up very talkative. He told her that they were going out that day, to buy her school supplies. Bex was feeling many emotions. On one hand, she was excited to go out for the first time, into the world and out of the woods for longer than just an hour, but on the other hand, she was nervous and confused. She had no idea what was really going on, even after her father had explained it. 

"Alright." The entire situation still felt like a weird fever dream to Bex, so she just stood, wondering what her life would look like and how it was going to change very soon. 

"Aha! Found it!" Bex's father stumbled out of the closet, a big grin on his face. In his arms, he held two weird looking...blankets? Bex couldn't tell.

"What are those? They look..." Bex's father hit the things, and a cloud of dust rose. "Dusty."

"These," He said proudly, "Are cloaks. They're like jackets for wizards and witches. Here," He handed her own of the dusty cloaks. "Put it on, I wanna see who it fits on you." 

Bex did as she was told, slipping the large cloak over her shoulders. She struggled to put it on, as it kept slipping down. It was a nice burgundy color, but it felt too big, and the dust made her sneeze. "Where did you get these Dad?" 

Her father put the other one on. It fit him nicely, and he didn't seem to have any trouble getting it on. "That cloak was your mothers. This one was mine. We would wear them whenever we went on dates out in the wizarding world, specifically to Diagon Alley, which is where we're going now."

Bex didn't even have time to process the fact that she was wearing her late mothers clothes, because her father kept talking, walking over to her to pull the cloak's hood onto her head. "So, some things you need to know," He started. "Number one, do not talk to strangers. This goes for everywhere, but especially here." 

She nodded as her father began to button up the cloak in the front. "Number two, do not touch anything without my permission. Unless you wanna explode or turn into a frog, do not touch anything." 

Bex's eyes widened, alarmed, but her father didn't notice, smoothing out her cloak. "It's too bad I don't have robes for you..." He was saying, "Anyway, number three, the most important. Don't take the cloak off."

"Why? I'm already getting hot in this thing!" Bex complained. 

"If someone sees you, it might not end well. Better to just keep hidden." He gave her a firm pat  and smiled. "Alright? That's all. You should be fine. You've always been a trooper." 

Bex didn't know how to feel. Her father was still acting strange. Why was it dangerous for someone to see her? Would she really explode if she touched a certain thing? She couldn't, no matter how hard she tried, make everything feel real, even if it was. Maybe she was in shock, but it wasn't clicking. 

"Okay, then, I think I've covered all the bases. Are you ready, sweetie?" Bex's father stood, his own green cloak making him look like a wizard. An actual wizard, though, he was a muggle, right?