THE HIDDEN LOVES AND LIES

CHAPTER-5, DIAGON ALLEY, PART-TWO

CHAPTER-5
DIAGON ALLEY
PART TWO

I am in London! We just landed here. It is 12 pm and we have our luggage with us, and there were just so many people here to guide passengers to London. One of which approached us instantly. He was lean, fair with a little beard, wearing a military green colored uniform of shirt stuffed properly in the pants, and a cap. He talked with papa, and now we were sitting in his horse cart with 4 other passengers.

One after another, they all left, but my mind and eyes weren't on watching who was coming and going, it was stuck at the window, to outside, to London. London was so beautiful!! So mesmerizing!! There were big buildings, pretty shops, shops with those long gowns as well, rail tracks between the roads and trains as well. There were people wearing all those clothes that I always see in movies, girls wearing shorts, men with long coats, different hats, with pets, cars, telephone booths, and it's just so hard to capture all those in one!! If London's like this without magic, how would Hogwarts be, with magic? Now, I am super excited to be there. I just wanna go there!!

And guess, I am one step closer to it, because finally, I am at Diagon Alley. The guide was a big help!! He helped us all through the Alley, which was deeply hidden!! It felt like I was in a mystery movie where we are some detectives trying to find some criminals' location and another spy is helping us! First we went through a 'drinking shop'(but of wizards, where I also saw someone holding what seemed like a newspaper, unless there were photos in it), and then we came to a dead end. Just then, the guide flickered his wand on a specific brick (which I memorized this time because I have to, three up, two across), and then the same brick started to quiver. In no time, a hole appeared where the , I guess exact middle brick was, and then slowly it expanded. Where there was a dead end till now, had a pathway opened. Yes. This is it.

Now, we were in Diagon alley. It looks like London, but with magic.

As soon as they entered the alley, the pathway went to its original state, just like a movie in backward play.

"We need to find this bank named 'Gringotts', to exchange money into, the currency that shopkeepers here would take for your things." I nodded. And just then I noticed the exact opposite shop, 'Potage's Cauldron Shop', and this cauldron word seemed familiar. I took out the letter from Hogwarts, and read the list of things that I would need for my school. There it is, I was right. I need a cauldron, pewter and standard size 2. I don't know what it is, the size and pewter, but at least I know what a cauldron is now. I found the first shop!
"You did good. Keep that list out, and let me know the shops, and what to buy from it, but after I have exchanged the money."
"Okay papa. And also, that shop is where I can get the cauldron." I pointed out the shop to him. He nodded and then said, " Good. Now stay here, and I will exchange the money."
"Okay."
He went away with that saying. And my eyes fell on another shop at a distance, 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions', guess where I will buy my robes and hat. And then I found another, and another. I found a few shops to the distance where my eyes could fall. But there were shops nearby still not seen properly, because the area had a big crowd. One could get easily lost here, and so, I shouldn't move from here. But the cauldron shop is not that far away. I mean it's just the opposite, papa would find me there. Right? I don't know, and it seems like I am not at all concerned about this. Because I am feeling safer here, even though it's a strange place, it feels like a place I belong, and so it feels safe. And with this thought, or maybe no thought at all, I am already standing outside the shop, looking at the cauldrons outside, kept for the views. There were all types of cauldrons. The list hanging outside on what the shop has, also mentions cauldrons of gold and silver. I mean why would one even want those.
"Hey, little miss, you want to buy something or are you lost?" An old man, with an assuring voice came out of the shop. And he talked to me? Yes, maybe. Because he is looking straight in my eyes. "Are you lost?"
"Me?" He nodded with a pleasant smile.
"Nope. Not at all. I am not lost. My father's coming back here to get me." I said it all so fast, I don't know if he understood it or not.
"Well, then I guess it's fine. So, are you lookin' for a new cauldron? I have the finest cauldrons in the whole London!" He smiled big. It's his shop.
"Yes! I want a cauldron! And a...." I tried to remember what type it was, "...size 2 and .....um...."
"Pewter, size 2?"
"Yes!!"
"Oh! So you are going to Hogwarts this year!! Great! I will give exactly the one you want! Come inside." He started to go inside the shop when I stopped him, "But my father wouldn't know where I am if I would come inside the shop."
"Oh. That's true kinda. Where has your father gone, I ask?
"He went to Gringotts."
"That's a 10 minute walk through this crowd and if your father's new here, it can also take 15 minutes." He was talking to himself now. I just heard the '15 minutes' and then it seemed like he was rumbling all by himself. After few minutes, he said, "Your father would take time to come back accordin' to my calculations. So, now would you...?"
Well, 2 minutes fine I guess. But I guess I said it out loud, because now I am inside the shop and he said 2 minutes is perfectly fine. There weren't many people here. Two men, 3 teenage boys, one girl maybe in her 20's, a little girl, must be the same age as me who was also peeking me from whatever big cauldron she was looking at, and a very old woman, who had a crooked back due to the weight of a big gold cauldron that she just put on the counter. I heard the old man say, " 1 Gold cauldron, size 20, 30 galleons the price for the same Madam Rosemary."
"Here is your money." She put the money, wizard money, while the old man was wrapping up the new cauldron.
"Brewing something new this time Madam? I must say Madam, your potions are really appreciated even outside London. I am so pleased that my cauldrons were a part of such powerful potions Madam."
Now I got it. Cauldrons are used to make potions, just like beaker and flask in science to mix two chemicals. It's like making chemicals. Got it!! One mystery solved! Now I was smiling foolishly. I wonder if people would consider me mad if they saw me like this. Maybe they did, or she did. The girl, same age as mine was still looking at me, hiding behind the same cauldron. As if she finally noticed my staring at her as well, she hid away completely. Shall I talk to her? Maybe, yes. But before I could go to her, the old man stopped me, " Do you wanna see the pewter, size 2 cauldron, little miss?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Just wait here, I will get it for you. Do you want one as well, little miss behind the big bronze cauldron one? He has raised his voice a little so he can ask that little girl as well.