An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Three

A/N: Hey, in this chapter, no offense to my awesome Slytherins, I'm just writing from what I think Fred and George would say when your house comes up later in the chapter. Personally I'm a Gryffindor, but I totally love you guys 💚😄 also, this story is not going to follow the third book exactly. The differences should be pretty minor though, so hopefully it doesn't bug you guys too much 🤞🏼😄

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I woke up and packed quickly, managing to squeeze everything into a few bags. Normally, I was an expert at fitting all my stuff into one suitcase, but this time I was bringing everything in sight, since I didn't know how easily I'd be able to get normal things at Hogwarts.

My dad and I left late that night, but because of the time difference, we arrived in London at 11:00am. Thankfully, I'd managed to sleep on the plane.

"Here we are!" announced my dad, flinging out his arms as we stepped off the jet. Private air travel was a perk of being a Stark.

"Let's check into our hotel so we can start seeing the city!" I said excitedly. We were going to do all the wizard shopping tomorrow, so today we were going to explore London on a father-daughter bonding trip.

We drove to the hotel incognito, since my dad was usually recognized if he didn't wear a disguise, and a surprising number of people were starting to recognize me as his daughter. As we toured the city, even the ball cap and shades didn't keep us totally anonymous. Still, we managed to enjoy things in relative-anonymity, what with the whole 'Stark' thing.

The next day, we were headed to a place called Diagon Alley. It was hidden in a wizard "pub" (British for bar) that no one but wizards could see. I had to lead my dad through the door like he was blind.

The bartender lead us to an alleyway in the back, where he used a magic wand to open a brick archway that literally lead to a whole other world.

People were rushing back and forth along the street in robes of all colors. Owls swooped overhead and people stood on the sides of the street selling everything from livestock to potion ingredients.

"Wow," I muttered, looking out at everything. I couldn't even begin to articulate my feelings, and my awe was amplified by my dad's reaction: for the first time in his life, Tony Stark was speechless.

As we wandered down the street towards the bank (our first stop), I realized something was seriously different (besides the magic), but it took me a minute to put my finger on it.

"Dad," I suddenly said, realizing what had changed. "Do you notice anything weird?"

"Alexa, we're in the middle of a street with magic spells. I notice everything weird."

"Yeah, but no one's recognizing you! You're not even wearing a ball cap!"

My dad actually stopped walking for a minute as this donned on him.

"You're right. Hm, it works out for us today, doesn't it?"

I nodded. It was so nice to be able to walk down the street without getting those looks of recognition. I could seriously get used to this, but I could already tell my dad was starting to fidget. He thrived on the attention, so he'd definitely be excited to get back to the normal world.

Now, I didn't necessarily mind attention. I just wanted it for something I did, rather than because I was related to Tony Stark.

My dad and I got a whole new level of shock as we walked into the bank and found it completely run by goblins. Goblins! The first bank guard I walked past got an exaggerated movie-level double take.