A few days later (the day after my birthday, to be exact), Uncle Remus told me we were going to a place called Diagon Alley to get my things for school. It's been an adjustment, having magic around now, but I was slowly getting used to it.
*****
Diagon Alley was magnificent! There were all kinds of shops selling all kinds of things. I wanted to go inside every shop, but Uncle Remus told me we had to go to Gringotts, the wizard bank, to get money first. He told me it was run by goblins, but I didn't believe him until we got there and I saw it for myself.
Once we had acquired my money, and Uncle Remus had explained how the coins worked (the gold ones were Galleons, the silver ones Sickles, and the bronze ones Knuts. There were seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle), we could finally go into the shops to buy my things for school. I couldn't believe that I had all this money yet we had been living in near poverty my whole life.
"Might as well buy your uniform first," Uncle Remus stated, so we walked toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
We bought my school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts, where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books of all kinds. I was in heaven; I would've stayed in there all day if Uncle Remus hadn't of dragged me out.
Next, we bought my scales and a collapsible bronze telescope before visiting the Apothecary to receive some basic potion ingredents. Outside, we consulted my list again. "Only my wand left- and a pet."
The wand was the part I was looking forward to the most. Uncle Remus showed me his own wand, and I was completely in awe of it, and the magic he could produce with it.
A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of Ollivanders. I sat down on a single, spindly chair to wait. Meanwhile, I looked at the thousnds of narrow boxes piled nearly to the ceiling. The back of my neck prickled, and I shivered. Someone was watching me. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon," a soft voice said. I jumped up.
An old man was standing before me, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. I thought they were beautiful, but they reminded me of the actual moon, which reminded me of my ailment. I glanced behind me to see that Uncle Remus had taken my spot on the chair .
"Hello," I said quietly.
"Ah, yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Annabelle Potter." It was a statement, not a question. "You look just like your mother. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Mr. Ollivander moved closer to me. Those silvery eyes were piercing, yet beautiful.
"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for Transfiguration." At this, Uncle Remus chuckled. "Well, I say your father favored it-it's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course. Now your brother, Harry, had a holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Mr. Olllivander had come so close to me that I could see myself reflected in those misty eyes.
"And that's where..."
Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar below my eye.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I had known what that wand was going out into the world to do..." He straightened up and rubbed his hands together. "Well, now-Miss Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Er-well, I'm left-handed," I said.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured me from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round my head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Miss Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstring of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
I suddenly realized that the tape measure was measuring on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. He told the tape measure to stop before stepping close to me.
"Right then, Miss Potter. Try this one. Just take it and give it a wave."
I took the wand and waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander took it back almost at once. Several wands later, and still nothing. I was getting discouraged, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry-I wonder, now-yes, why not-unusual combination-beech wood and phoenix feather, twelve and a half inches, pliable."
I took the wand. I felt a sudden warmth in my fingers, so I raised the wand and gave it a wave. A stream of green and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework.
"Oh, bravo! How curious...how very curious..." Mr. Ollivander said.
"Sorry, but what's curious?" I asked.
"I remember every single wand I've ever sold." Mr. Ollivander fixed me with his pale stare. "It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave two other feathers-just two others. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when one of its brothers-why it gave you that scar."
I swallowed. I wanted to leave now. Uncle Remus and I paid seven gold Galleons for my wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed us from his shop.
************
Our last stop in Diagon Alley before going home was a shop called Magical Menagerie. I needed an animal. I didn't know what I wanted, but I knew that I would know as soon as I saw it. I spent a few minutes looking around before i heard a small noise in a dark corner. I slowly approached the cage where the noise came from and saw a small black kitten. As soon as I laid my eyes on it, I knew this was the creature that I wanted. When I brought the cage to the counter, the cashier looked at me strangely.
"Are you sure you want that? It's...strange," he said.
"Yes, I'm sure."
The casher looked at me for a moment longer before ringing up my purchase. By the time I left the shop, I had everything I needed to care for my new cat. Uncle Remus went back home, finally, with all my supplies. I couldn't wait until it was time to go to Hogwarts!
Well, I've finally updated after forever. Not gonna lie, I kinda forgot about this story. But I'm back now, and I have several more chapters written and just waiting to be typed up. Hope to see you soon!!
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Sun and Stars *Improved*
Fanfiction"I just feel so lonely, all the time. And I want it to end." Annabelle Potter had lived a normal life for eleven years. Well, as normal as you can when you're a werewolf. But everything she's ever known gets turned upside down when she gets her let...
