Twice Chosen | Esmerelda Potter

2. It's That Day

I wake up extra early and remember what's happening today. I get dressed in record time and wake up Dora, who never made it to bed last night. She probably was doing some work stuff and was too lazy to move upstairs, hence her position on the couch.

"It's that day!" I yell at Dora. 

"I know. We still have a few hours yet," she says, glancing at the clock.

"We do..?" I say, looking at the clock. Unless the clock is wrong, we have to be in Diagon Alley in half an hour.

"NO WE DON'T! WE OVERSLEPT!" Dora runs upstairs, her hair turning blue, and also gets dressed in record time. 

We will use floo powder to arrive at the Leaky Cauldron. Floo powder is the method of travelling through fireplaces. I take some powder out of the coffee cup into my hand and step into our fireplace. 

"The Leaky Cauldron!" I shout while dropping the powder. I close my eyes as green fires surround my body while feel my feet lift off of the ground. I feel my body beginning to spin while the wind rushes in my ears. I shut my eyes tightly. All of a sudden, the spinning stops and I am standing in an old, rustic fireplace with soot on my face. 

Dora jumps out of the fireplace right behind me and tells me to put my hood on my head, because she knows that, if I am seen, people would surround me and we wouldn't be able to get by. Plus, we are really late.

As we pass the bar, I carefully wipe soot off my face with my jacket, turning my red jacket a darker color. 

I can hear people buzzing about meeting Harry Potter and how he had just been there, and how nice of a boy he is. I know I am minutes away from getting to meet my brother.

We exit through a door and walk over to a brick wall that is divided into two parts, leaving a wide gap.

We move through just before the bricks shuffle and close the gap.

"This is Diagon Alley," Dora says with a smile on her face, her hair turning green. "Ahh, it brings back so many memories." 

It looks just like the town square back home, with stores lining the street on either side. Each store is a different size and color. 

"We just have to find a giant man, and then you've found your brother," Dora says to me. I scan the crowd, but no sign of an unusually tall man anywhere. 

"I can't believe I'm going to see my brother!" I yell, almost too loudly.

"Shh!" Dora exclaims. "My goodness, you are too loud sometimes!" 

One particular store catches my eye, called Eeylops Owl Emporium. I can see at least six different species of owls outside the shop. I love owls, I even have a stuffed owl at home.

"Dora, can I get an owl?" I ask.

She pauses for a moment. "We'll see."

A barn owl catches my eye, and when I look at it again, the owl winks at me.

"Oh, look! I see Hagrid by Gringotts!" she states.

"Who is Hagrid?" I ask.

"Hagrid is the giant man over there. He's the Hogwarts gamekeeper, and has been at least since I was there," Dora says.

Wow. He is taller than I thought. His hair is long and when he turns around, he also reveals a long beard too. He must be a giant, or a half-giant at best.

"And Gringotts is the Wizard Bank, if you forgot. Let's go meet them there!" I hold my breath as we get closer and closer. I can see Hagrid move through the large doors.