They Hate Harry Potter

Chapter Four: Diagon Alley

After her first ten minutes in Diagon Alley, Bex's eyes hurt. 

She looked everywhere, and she saw so many things. There were people, no, wizards, everywhere. They wore odd pointy hats and thick robes. Bex tried not to stare too much, as her father advised her, to seem as if she belonged there, but it was hard. 

There were a lot of children around her age too, probably all there for the same reason as her. Back to school shopping. She had an urge to go up to them, talk to them, she wanted to know everything about this world, and meet these people. She couldn't though, as her father held a firm grip on her hand as they walked down the long cobblestone streets. 

Eventually, they stopped on a street corner, and Bex's father reached into her cloak and pulled out the list of school supplies she required. "Alright, sweetie. You need a cauldron. I think your mother once told me about a shop that sold them...hm, come along." 

That was how it went for a good two hours. Bex's father navigated the crowded street by memory, while dragging his daughter along. All the while, Bex stopped to stare at everything.

They visited a shop called Flourish and Blotts, and there was a large leather bound book that had a mouth, she almost got her finger bitten off with that. They passed a large brilliant white building, that her father informed was apparently something called a bank named Gringotts. They even popped into the Magical Menagerie, whatever that was. Apparently, it was a place full of interesting animals, which Bex found herself fighting the hardest not to leave. 

Eventually, they had a bag full of supplies that Bex knew she would pour over later when they got back home and she had proper time. But now, there was only two things they were missing.

"Alright," Bex's father consulted the list once more. "All you need now is a pet, preferably an owl, and...oh, your wand!" 

"An owl? Like, my own pet owl? Why would I need that?" Bex asked, eyebrows raised. 

"Well, you do remember how your letter came yesterday, don't you?" Her father asked, waving the list in a explanatory manner.

 "Oh." So everyone used owls as a way of communicating in the wizarding world? Did they not have post offices? (To be fair, Bex had never even been to a post office, but she at least knew it was a thing.) 

"Exactly. The owl will be a necessity for you at Hogwarts. You'll understand why. And anyway, you need your wand as well." He reached into the pocket of his cloak, pulling out a fistful of gold coins, the same coins he had been using to pay for everything here. Apparently, Bex had learned, wizards didn't use euros like regular people, like what she saw her dad use on his yearly town trips. Instead, they used these coins, called galleons. She wondered where her Dad got the galleons from. 

He handed them to her. "Here, take these and head over to that shop over there." He pointed behind her, and she turned to see a quaint shop with a sign that read: Ollivanders, on it. Bex's eyes widened.

"Go alone?"  She asked, turning back to her father.

"Yes. You have to. Your mother told me once, I remember her saying that every kid needs to go get their wand alone, it's just the way it is. So...go. But remember the rules, alright?"  Bex looked up at her father, and he looked down at her with an expression she could not read. Amused? Melancholy? Worried? 

She smiled. "Alright!" 

"I'll be in the owl's emporium, come fetch me when you're done if I'm not out by time you are!" He called to her, because she was already running off towards the shop that sold wands, ready for her first time alone in this strange, amazing world.