What do I want?

Chapter 4

When we had composed ourselves, we went back into the lounge room. As we entered, Professor Chang closed her book. We sat down and Dad told her what we had discussed. She nodded and asked us to wait a second. She took out her wand and a silver thing erupted out of it. It was a swan and it looked at her for instructions. She said, "She has excepted her place. Going to Diagon Alley now, Cho." The swan nodded and flew off.

Annabelle stammered, "What was that?"

"That was a pratronus. It a sort of protecter and messenger. Everyone has a different animal that matches their personality. Its quite difficult though so you won't learn it for a while. Now Mr and Mrs Robertson, I need to discuss some things with you about this."

"Ok. Annabelle and Eva, can you go upstairs for a bit?" Mum asked us.

We grumpily trudged out of the room, Bonnie trailing at our heels. We went upstairs and into my room. I lay down on my bed and Annabelle sat at my desk. We both picked up books and started reading contentedly.

About half an hour later, my mum came knocking at the door. "We're going to go to the wizard shops now! Can you go and put your shoes on?"

We both jumped up and ran downstairs and were out the door pretty quickly.

After a long car ride, we arrived at a small street in the centre of London. I looked around but there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. If you could call a shop that sold mutated fruit and vegetables that were all coloured with food dye ordinary. I was still staring at this phenomenon when Professor Chang called out.

"Eva! Come on, we're going!"

We made our way down the street and stopped outside a small pub. There was a sign out the front that said, the Leaky Cauldron. Mum seemed to hesitate before entering the dark smelly hole it was, but she pulled herself together and went in. I followed close after and the smell hit me like a wet sock. When my eyes got used to the half darkness, I took in the many odd people that were sitting at the bar. They were all wearing strange robes and hats. My parents looked very uncomfortable and they quickly hurried Annabelle and I after Professor Chang. We went past everyone and some said hello to Professor Chang.

When we went past the bar, we went out into a little alley way that only had a bin in it. It was quite crowded with all of us in there but we all squished in. Professor Chang reached up and tapped on a few bricks on the wall and they creaked. I jumped in alarm. Then to our complete surprise, the wall began to shift. It changed to create an arch and we all walked through it in awe. The street we walked into was another world.

There were so many people walking around and they were all dressed in strange robes of many different colours. They also were wearing pointed hats and it seemed to be a competition to see who had the highest hat. As soon as I got over the initial shock of seeing so many people inside a space that wasn't supposed to exist, I started to stare at all the crazy shops we were walking past. We went past a sports shop that seemed to be about a sport that I had never heard of. Many kids were crowded around it staring at a broom that looked like something someone from the 1900s used to sweep but they were looking at it like it was a crazy new invention that was brand new. I was very curious to have a closer look but I was dragged on by Annabelle. She pulled me over to another shop that was full of animals. But it wasn't normal animals, it was owls and toads and cats and they were all screeching loudly making the most horrendous noise. We quickly moved on and went into a shop called Madame Malkin's Robes for all occasions. As we entered, an old plump lady ran up to us and said to Annabelle, "You'll be wanting your school uniform wont you dear," She looked Annabelle up and down and seemed to be sizing her up.

"Actually, It will be this one who is getting fitted," Professor Chang interrupted.

The woman, who I assumed was Madame Malkin, turned to look at me. Then suddenly I was dragged up onto this fitting stool and was asked to stand still. She waved her wand and a tape measure flew towards us. I flinched, sure that it had been thrown but it stopped a few centimetres from me and started measuring of its own accord. I was dumbfounded. Once it had measured me, it curled up and put itself back in the draw. Then, some material came out of the cupboard and gave itself to another lady who had come out of a back room. After I got over the shock, it was very funny. It seemed like some demented scene from beauty and the beast. Very quickly, I was loosely dressed in black fabric. It was then put in a bag for me and we went out to find the next thing on my list.

When we went out, I said to Professor Chang, "Can I please get a wand now? Please?"

"Sure! Let's go to Olivander's."

We made our way down the street to what looked like the oldest building there. We went in and it was just row after row of boxes. A young man came hurrying out of the depths of the store.

"Hello! Hogwarts first year?" He said happily.

"Yes. This is Eva. She needs a wand."

The man called out into the back of the shop, "Mr Olivander sir! We have a customer."

An old man hobbled in and sat down in a chair. He looked me up and down and said, "Try oak 8 inches unicorn hair."

The young man scrambled off and came back holding a long thin box and panting. He opened the box and handed me the wand inside. I felt weird in my hand and when I waved like I had seen others do, bright sparks emitted out of it and it grew hot in my hand. I dropped it in surprise.

"No that is to small. How about an oak wood with unicorn hair 10 inches."

Very quickly I had another wand in my hand. Yet this one didn't feel right either. I tried three more wands until I was given a Sycamore wand with unicorn hair 10 and three quarter inches. It just felt like it fit in my grasp and when I waved it my hair lifted off my shoulders and I felt brighter.

"That's the one," said Mr Ollivander. Mum paid and we left the store me holding the box that held my wand tightly against my chest. We then went to the book store and got me books and to a supplies shop to get me a cauldron and we also had to get quills. I thought that the wizarding world would be more advanced but they are still using quills and ink like in the 18th century.

When we had finished shopping, we went to the leaky cauldron and got a drink. Since Annabelle and I are underage we tried something called butterbeer. It looked like a Fanta but when I drank it, it was kind of spicy but refreshing at the same time. It exploded in my throat and I couldn't speak for a while afterwards.

We left Diagonal Alley holding bags of stuff. Professor Chang was telling us how to get to school.

"You will have to get to Kings Cross station at about 20minutes to 11. Then I'll meet you there with the other Muggle born families to take you too the train. We went straight home.