incantation ━━☆ a stucky au

Chapter Three: Diagon Alley

A/N: I swear to god if I say Harry instead of Steve once in this fic I'm going to delete myself.

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Steve comes to realise that his taxi driver isn't his regular. His parents had often put him in taxi's to visit his aunt, who is a fourty minute drive away.

"Right now, I'm taking you to Hagrid and he will show you how to get to Hogwarts. He will accompany you there and get you settled in. Oh, no need to look so worried!" The driver says as he glances in the rear-view mirror. "You're in good hands. At any point once you're at Hogwarts, you can contact your family if you are needing to," he glances in his mirror again. "Hah! Those won't work once you're there. You may as well throw it out the window."

Steve looked down at his phone. He'd pulled a picture of his family up on the gallery application. He missed them already, and he wasn't willing to throw his life away just yet. Steve pressed the lock button on his phone and looked up out the window. It had started to rain outside, but not very heavily, which felt very sombre. The weather looked how Steve felt on the inside.

They drove for what felt like hours before they reached a cottage close to the train station. It was made of bricks with a thatched roof, and there was a garden outside. The rain seemed to have stopped, and Steve wasn't sure when as he'd zoned out for the majority of the ride. He stepped out onto the gravel road, the stones crunching beneath his feet. There was a rainbow painted in the sky above them, the autumn sun beating down on them harshly, a stark contrast to all the rain they'd been getting.

The taxi driver wheeled Steve's luggage over to him and shook his hand, before wishing him a safe journey to Hogwarts. Steve thanked him and began walking down the stone path to the cottage. Halfway there, a big and burly man emerged from the front door, plodding out heavily onto the path. He was over seven foot, which shocked Steve as he himself was less than six foot.

"Are you Hagrid?" Steve called out, watching as the man hurried over to him. He engulfed Steve in a big hug, lifting the boy off the ground in the process.

"I am!" he exclaimed. "You must be Steve Rogers," his smile beamed and made Steve smile uncontrollably in return.

"The one and only."

"Yes, well let's get going! There's no time to waste. I've heard the other students are on their way," Hagrid's voice seemed as big as he was, and Steve winced at the volume. He nodded as Hagrid patted him on the shoulder, leading him to the car that was parked on the road. It was a classic, and Steve wasn't sure how Hagrid would fit in the driver's seat, but he did manage.

Once they were settled in the car and on their way to the train station, Hagrid got talking. He was a big talker, Steve had noticed. There wasn't a moment where Hagrid didn't speak, and taking a breath didn't count.

"I'll help you all the way to the train stations entrance, and I'm sure some students will take you from there. They're very nice, this generation. We will need to stop off for some supplies first; as you read in your letter, you will need a uniform, a few books, and various other things," Hagrid droned on and on, until they rounded the corner of an old brick road. "Ah! Here we are."

"How do we shop for everything that I need?" Steve questioned. As he got out of the car, Steve was skimming over the list attached to his acceptance letter, eyes landing on words like cauldron, wand, pointed hat, and some titles of the various books he was required to pick up. Steve couldn't say he'd read non-fiction about spells and magic. Everything was seeming too outrageous to be true.

"You just have to know where to look!" Hagrid smiled down at Steve as he opened a door to a store on the corner. It was dim and musty on the inside; the air smelled stale like it hadn't had a breath of fresh air in years. People were sat around tables and at the bar swigging from their mugs, and Steve knew exactly what was in them. Many nights, Christopher had stayed up drinking the exact same thing.

Hagrid exchanged a few hello's to the bartender and the people sat around him, before quickly excusing himself since they were running late. The pair emerged from a back door, which led to absolutely nowhere. They faced a tall brick wall. Hagrid whipped out a stick from his coat pocket, and tapped the end on the wall a few times. Steve watched in amazement as the wall opened up before them, the bricks shifting and transforming, revealing an archway that led to a crowded alley.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" Hagrid spoke, appearing to be chuffed with himself after seeing the look on Steve's face.

Hoards of people were dressed in long black coats, their heads decorated with pointed black hats, excitedly conversing between one another. As Steve and Hagrid walked past shop windows, Steve saw mannequins dressed in uniforms, bats hanging from store signs, broomsticks sat proudly on display. 

Half an hour and a dozen shopping bags later, Steve realised he still needed a wand. Hagrid gestured to a store called Ollivanders, before parting ways with Steve to run some errands of his own.

Nervous, with a shaky grip on his purchases, Steve pushed the door to Ollivanders open with his shoulder. The store was very earthy; everything was made of a dark wood and overgrown plants decorated shelves. Steve couldn't see anyone, so he decided to call out as he placed his belongings down in a corner. A mop of grey, unruly hair popped out from behind a shelf, greeting Steve with a wacky grin

"Who do we have here?" he asked, cocking his head to one side as if to read Steve.

"Steve Rogers, sir," Steve smiled up at the man, who placed his hand below his chin and nodded.

The man spun around on his heel and made a beeline for a shelf behind the desk. Carefully, he slipped out a long, black box and slowly opened the lid. The inside of the box was decorated with a cream coloured plush silk, and within lay a wand.

"Try this," he spoke as he handed the wand to Steve. A few moments passed before he nodded, gesturing for Steve to give the wand a flick.

"Oh!" Steve exclaimed. With the wand aimed at a plant pot sat atop the shelf, Steve lightly swished and pointed the wand, causing the plant to grow.

"Your wand is made of elm wood, with a unicorn hair core, and is ten inches in length. Oh, and it has a quite bendy flexibility too."

"Thank you!" Steve breathed as he stared in awe at the wand clutched in his hand. Three sharp raps of knuckles on the glass door pulled Steve from his bewilderment.

Hagrid stood on the other side, holding a fluffy black cat under his left arm.