Chapter Two
Diagon Alley
When Lilly got through that spectacular Saturday, she wouldn’t have wanted it to go any differently. Joan and Lilly had a splendid time gardening and talking about Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. When Lilly finally went to sleep, all she could think about was the next day. It was like Christmas!
In the morning, Lilly hurriedly got ready and ran down to the kitchen. Her parents were there, but they looked like nothing Lilly had ever seen them. Joan and Dan were wearing long, velvet, cloaks. Dan’s cloak was forest green, and Joan’s was deep purple. Lilly smiled at this sight. Her parents even had long, brown sticks. Lilly immediately knew that these were their wands. They also had a piece of parchment which Lilly knew was her Hogwarts letter.
Lilly quickly ate some breakfast then ran into the car. Dan and Joan followed her, and then they drove for an hour up to London. Then, Daniel pulled into an old building’s parking lot. Lilly’s excitement was building more and more with each step.
When the Green family walked in it, appeared to be a bar. People in long robes and cloaks were eating, drinking, and talking.
“Lilly dear,” said Joan happily, “I give you, The Potion Room.” Lilly was fascinated. It looked a whole lot different then in the Harry Potter movies. It looked more alive and more magical.
Lilly’s parents led her to the back where they came across a big, brick wall. Now Lilly was really excited. She thought she’d burst with it.
Joan pulled out her wand out of somewhere in her cloak and tapped it in a few places on the brick wall and said to herself aloud, “I’m so happy to do this after so long.”
Then, the wall parted. Just like that. What welcomed Lilly was overwhelming. A sea of people and places greeted her yearning eyes. She knew this place was Diagon Alley.
It looked just like she had hoped, bustling with people trying to get their supplies for the school year. Daniel took out Lilly’s letter and glanced at it.
“Alright Lilly, let’s get your wand first so when we buy your books, you’ll understand them a bit more. But first, we go to Gringotts Wizard Bank.”
Lilly was a bit disappointed because she wanted to get her wand now, but that disappointed feeling soon departed as she enjoyed the ride in a cart down to her family’s coin vault with a goblin. Their vault was number one hundred sixty-six. Daniel handed the small goblin a golden key and the vault opened. Inside were Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons galore. Lilly recognized each coin from the many times that she had watched the Harry Potter movies. Lilly was happy that her family was pretty well off in this world. The Green family went inside the huge vault and they each got a small sack of each type of coin.
When they got back to Diagon Alley, the Greens went straight to Ollivander’s Wand Shop. Daniel and Joan knew how excited Lilly was to get her wand first because they too felt the same way their first time in Diagon Alley. Ollivander’s shop looked magnificent. It had mahogany wood walls and floors, and on top of mahogany shelves were millions of little black boxes which Lilly knew were many different wands. Even Lilly’s parents had to smile at this jolly sight.
Mr. Ollivander came out of the back where was writing something and greeted them. He recognized Daniel and Joan and said an extra special hello to them.
“Ah, and this must be the ever-popular Lilly. You look like you need a nine inch phoenix feather,” said Mr. Ollivander. He walked to the back and pulled out a box from a shelf and lifted out a smooth, black wand. Lilly was very excited. She picked it up and twirled it at the door. The door became a pig and started chewing on a desk leg! Lilly’s jaw dropped. She twirled the wand again at the pig and it became the door again. Joan shook her head and took the wand from Lilly and gave it back to Mr. Ollivander. He nodded, and then put it back into the box, then into its proper place on the shelf.
Then he walked over to the front of the room and pulled out a box from the bottom shelf. He walked back over to Lilly.
“Try a ten and a quarter inch willow, Ms. Lilly. I think you’ll find it quite swishy. Excellent for charm work.” Mr. Ollivander took out a plump, smooth, dark wand and handed it to Lilly. When her fingers touched the wand, a warm sensation flooded through her fingers, wrist and arm. Lilly gripped the wand tightly and turned to her parents and smiled. Daniel had one arm around Joan, and her head was leaning on his shoulder. They were smiling back at her with pride. Lilly turned to Mr. Ollivander, put the wand on his desk and nodded.
Then he said, “Good choice. I hope you shall be satisfied with it.” Then he put it back in its box and wrapped it light brown paper. Then, he tapped it with his wand and words in bright green ink appeared that read, ‘Ollivander’s Custom Wands, for Lilly’.
Then he winked at Lilly and said, “A little thought.” Lilly smiled and thanked him, then joined the swarming crowd outside.
The rest of the time at Diagon Alley was wonderful. Lilly got a male, gray cat with black stripes which she named Doan for her parents. The family had loads of fun getting Lilly’s books, cauldron, robes, cloak, and some fun magic things of Lilly’s choice. Lilly chose a miniature boggart, which she could practice spells on, and an indoor broomstick. As Lilly marveled over these things, she spotted an invisibility cloak. She quickly purchased it thinking of what mysterious things she could do with it.
All of these things took a lot of money, so they were left with just four Sickles, and two Knuts, which Joan and Daniel gave to Lilly.
“We have more in Gringotts, and this is for Hogwarts in case you need it. You can even get a few snacks on the train. Speaking of the train, we’d better get there before eleven o’clock,” Daniel glanced at his watch. “It’s nine thirty. We’d better get going.”
They went back through The Potion Room and into the car. They sped off to King’s Cross, than ran to Platforms nine and ten. Daniel grabbed a trolley for his nervous daughter and they had to wait a bit because there were a lot of other students trying to get through the brick pillar to the train. Lilly was all jumpy with nerves jostled with excitement. When it was the Green family’s turn to run through, Lilly and her parents ran to the barrier, anxious to see what awaited them.
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A/N: FINALLY! My second chapter got approved! I'm so happy! It got rejected three times, but finally, it's here! Please review! The third chapter has just been sent. REVIEW!!!