two rings and bad things

2_ london, england

The next month finally arrived, and because Ed ended up receiving her Hogwarts acceptance letter from Dumbledore himself, the Koldings family bought cheap plane tickets to travel to Diagon Alley in London so Ed could get her school supplies.

They decided that they would also stay there for a night, so they could send Ed off on the Hogwarts express right after their trip to Diagon Alley.

On the way there, she read over her Hogwarts acceptance letter over and over, in fact so many times that she practically had it memorized. She could hardly sleep the night before either, she was just too excited for the new opportunity.

They finally found the entrance, and Ed was absolutely amazed when the brick wall revealed the most amazing town she had ever seen.

She noticed how shops were multiple stories high, but slightly confused when she noticed how they were staying upright, even though they were the most crooked buildings she had ever seen.

Witches and wizards were all over the place, talking about Quidditch, the Daily Prophet, and many other things. Magic was being used around almost every corner, and the energy was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

She couldn't help but smile, as it felt like this was a dream come true.

"Well, I need to go into Gringotts to get some wizard money out of my grandmother's vault. Ed, Kai, Leo, you three need to stay here with your dad. I'm not sure you'll enjoy it if you went," said Mrs. Koldings.

They did as she said, except for the fact that they got ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor while they waited.

When Mrs. Koldings got back with a bag of gold coins in her hand, the family decided they should go to Ollivanders first to get Ed her very own wand. They walked in, and, to Ed's surprise, it was empty.

"Ah, welcome! Going to Hogwarts I suppose?" Said a raspy voice that belonged to an old, scrawny man. Ed nodded in response.

"Here, try this one," he said, while giving her a smooth, light colored wand.

Ed didn't really know what to do with it.
        
"Well go on, give it a wave."

She did as he said, and at that very moment sparks flew out of the tip of the wand and set a piece of parchment on his desk on fire.

"I'm so sorry!" Ed shrieked.

She felt terrible, maybe this whole wand thing wasn't a good thing after all.

"Oh don't worry my dear, I was expecting much worse," he reassured her as he turned around to look in the back of the shop. He seemed to be mumbling to himself, but Ed couldn't quite make out what he was saying.

"Perhaps this will be a better fit. Walnut wood with a phoenix feather core, 12 and one half inches, unbending flexibility. Very unique wand indeed, one of a kind," he said as he made his way back over to where the family was standing.

Ed examined the wand, it was absolutely beautiful. The handle was very smooth and had gold painted around two pieces of protruding, yet carefully carved wood that marked where the wand should be held. The end of the wand was similar, as the dark brown wood had a smooth finish, and the tip was perfectly straight.

She really hoped this would be the right wand, for she had already fallen in love with it.

Just as before, Ed gave the wand a quick wave, but unlike last time, a streak of golden mist came out of it.

"Brilliant! I knew this would be the perfect wand for you," Mr. Ollivander stated.

"I love it!" Ed exclaimed, not being able to help her excitement.

"But you must not be mistaken, the wand always chooses the wizard," he said with a smile.

Ed was very curious about what this meant, but the family had paid the man, said thanks, and started walking out of the shop before Ed could question the matter any further.

Next, with Ed very satisfied, they entered Flourish and Blotts to get school books.

The place was crowded, but books were still visible in every direction. For some reason, it was so much more interesting than a muggle bookstore.

In fact, Ed was so intrigued by all of the items that she wandered away from her family, but immediately recognized this and went to search for them.

Along the way, she tripped, which she always seemed to have a knack for, over a piece of floorboard sticking out, and went flying into another young boy.

"I'm so sorry!" She immediately apologized as he turned around.

She noticed that the boy had the lightest blond hair she had ever seen, along with the brightest blue-grey eyes. He also looked around her age, and wondered if he was going to Hogwarts too.

"You better watch where you're going," the boy said, rather bitterly.

He had been in a bad mood lately since his parents didn't bring him to Diagon Alley as soon as he would've liked.

"I just tripped, I didn't mean to run into you," Ed snapped back.

"Don't worry I was just messing with you," he said with a smirk.

"I'm Draco Malfoy."

"My name is Edeline Koldings, but everyone calls me Ed," she replied with a smile on her face.

But before they could take any more, Ed's family was calling her over, and the boy, who she now knew as Draco, had disappeared into the crowd.

After Ed got all of her school books, and argued with her parents about how she wanted a pet, her parents finally agreed to go to Eyelop's Owl Emporium to get one.

It didn't really smell the best, and the rest of Ed's family was clearly disgusted, but she knew it would be very useful to have an animal to send letters, which was the main way of communication in the magical world.

She left the shop with an adorable, rather small scops owl with big, brown eyes, who she decided to name Mercury.

The family eventually finished school shopping, considerably quickly for a family with three young kids, and made their way to the Leaky Cauldron to spend the night.

They walked in, questioning how safe it was. It looked very run down and everything was dark, not a single hint of light was present except from small candles. Witches and wizards were in the lobby, but their clothes were very tattered and worn.

Ed and her brothers were instructed to stay close to their parents, which they did very obediently.

They went up the creaky stairs and entered their room, which looked just as bad as the lobby.

However, they were so tired that they decided it was fine to sleep there, especially since it was only for a night. The family closed their eyes, and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.