We soon found ourselves back at the foot of the stairs up to Melinda’s flat. Diagon Alley was at our feet once more. Melinda nodded, and said, “Right. I expect we should go to Ollivanders first and get Susan a wand.” Mum shook her head.
“Gringotts first, Melinda,” she put in. Melinda laughed.
“Of course! How could I forget.”
Heading off down the street, I couldn’t helping gaping at all the various shops we were passing. Eelops Owl Emporium, for example. They apparently sold all kinds of owls, from Tawny owls to Snowy owls. It made me think back to the day when I had let an owl into the house. That had been July 18th. Pushing that memory to the back of my mind, I saw more shops. Some sold broomsticks, others cauldrons or quills. Presently, we arrived at a large white building. A strange creature stood next to the door. It took me a moment to realize that it was a goblin. Melinda, however, took no notice of this, and walked right past him. I kept my head down as we walked past; I could feel him looking at me.
Soon, we were inside and I instantly forgot about the goblin at the front door, because inside this great hall were a great deal of them behind a counter that must have been tens of yards long. They worked away, oblivious, measuring calculations and weighing coins or jewels. Melinda strode up to a goblin who sat gazing around the room and placed the key on the counter in front of him.
“We’d like to withdraw money from Mary Sholt’s vault,” Mum said. Melinda smiled at the goblin and pushed the key toward him. He picked it up and examined it over his large nose before nodding to them.
“Tarmich,” he croaked. A goblin stepped forward. It was then that I noticed the hall was filled with countless doors, most with a goblin standing by, waiting for a command. Tarmich was one such goblin. The goblin from the counter handed him the key and waved his hand toward the door. We smiled, and Melinda thanked him. The next thing I knew, we were in front of the Tarmich’s door. He opened it, and I was surprised to see a little cart in a dark passageway waiting to be ridden in. Tarmich ushered us inside before letting himself in and closing the door. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light of torches.
Before I could blink, the cart threw itself down the tracks, which dropped quite suddenly. I gasped and grabbed Mum’s arm. She smiled at me encouragingly. I smiled weakly in return. I didn’t find myself loving it and began to feel quite sick. I continued to clutch Mum’s arm.
Eventually, we stopped in front of a little door. Tarmich stepped out onto the ledge. Melinda, Mum and I followed (with much wobbling of legs on my part) as he unlocked the door. It swung open, revealing a few neat piles of coins. I nearly gasped again, but this time managed to keep it to myself. Mum looked around half-heartedly. It was clearly less than she had hoped.
“I can lend you some if you need it,” Melinda said anxiously. She shook her head. I realized that the room clearly could hold much more than it already did. Sweeping some coins into a little pouch from Melinda, Mum turned her back. I followed her, with one look over my shoulder. I choose to remain silent.
Not too much later, we were out in the sunlight of Diagon Alley once more. I took deep breaths of fresh air. It felt good. Before I could sit down to rest on a nearby bench, Melinda was walking away. “On to Ollivanders!” she said cheerfully. I sighed and moved onward, a little disoriented after the wild cart ride.
Melinda soon stopped walking in front of a small shop. Ollivanders turned out to be “Makers of Fine Wands,” boasting of business since 382 BCE. Though not quite impressive at the first glance of the exterior, the shop inside proved to be quite interesting. Each wall was lined with what seemed to be an infinite amount of thin boxes. Staring up and down the many columns, I didn’t immediately notice a peculiar man appear suddenly beside me. After a moment of gazing, my eyes came to rest on him. I jumped, not having seen him arrive, but quickly recovered.
“Why, hello Susan, child,” he murmured. “It is nice to see you at last.”
Melinda and Mum smiled at the man, who I realized was Mr. Ollivander himself. They were without a doubt remembering their first trips into Ollivanders to buy a wand. I couldn’t think of anything to say to him, so I smiled meekly and waited. He seemed to size me up, before turning to Mum and allowing his face to break into a smile.
“I’m glad you’re back, Mary,” he said pleasantly. “I’ve heard too many stories of the trifles of the Muggle world.” He turned to Melinda. “And you, my dear. I believe you’re living in Diagon Alley currently? Yes? I thought I saw you pass my shop on a few occasions.” His lip quivered, but he said no more before turning his gaze back on me. “Now,” he said softly, “which is your wand arm?”
I automatically stuck out my right hand, thinking it was most likely the same as with writing. He nodded, and Mum relaxed a little. She allowed herself to collapse into a small chair behind her. Melinda, however, remained standing by her side. I watched as Mr. Ollivander turned on his heel and swept over to one of the numerous columns of boxes. Running his finger down the length of six or seven boxes, he eventually selected one and pulled it out of the stack. Looking at me quickly, he nodded to himself.
“This should do,” he said. Before he opened the box, he snapped his fingers and a measuring tape materialized in his hands. After taking various measurements, he put that aside and removed the top of the box. A thin wand rested inside it, waiting for me to pick it up. I did so, and held it out in front of me, unsure what to do. “Beechwood and phoenix feather. It’s eleven inches long.”
“Just wave it about a bit,” Melinda suggested. I obeyed, swishing the wand here and there in front of me. Mr. Ollivander surveyed me over his glasses. After a moment, he stopped me by holding up his hand.
“That won’t do,” he said simply. He turned away and began to pull more boxes off of the shelves. He handed me a new box, which I opened and removed a wand from. “Mahagony and dragon heartstring. Go on.” I flicked it about, but Mr. Ollivander took it from my hand without comment.
We went on like this for one time, trying so many boxes that I started to fear that a wand for me wouldn’t be found, until he pulled one out of the farthest column. He handed it to me, and watched with immense interest as I warily pulled out the wand, afraid of another failure. “Willow and unicorn hair, only nine and a half inches long, but quite good all the same. You see, of all these boxes, no two wands are the same…” He trailed off, watching intently as I raised it just as I had with the others. For some reason that I couldn’t name, this wand felt different from the others. I swished it and pointed it at Mr. Ollivander, but he didn’t grab it from me. Instead, he began to rise off the ground ever so slowly, just as Misty had that one day in my childhood. Melinda let out a gasp, but Mum merely clapped her hands with delight. I grinned at her over my shoulder, glowing with pride. When I turned back to the man, he was still in the air.
“Aim your wand down now, dear,” he suggested kindly. I slowly lowered it, and he followed. I jerked the wand back when he reached the ground, and my power over him passed. I put my wand back into the small box and looked at it fondly. I felt like we knew each other already, that is, if a wand could have feelings. Mum pulled out the little pouch of money from Gringotts and pulled out several golden coins. Mr. Ollivander nodded to us and disappeared into the back of his shop, magically moving boxes back to their places.
Once we were back out on the street, Mum threw her arms around me in a huge hug. I was content. I had a wand! Did this mean I was initiated into the wizarding world?
Apparently, there was more to do in Diagon Alley. Melinda beamed at me once before striding over to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. I entered the shop to see a short, cheery woman in colorful yellow robes was standing by another young girl on a footstool that looked about my age. I walked over shyly; Melinda and Mum had chosen to sit outside and catch up on adult-like matters. Madam Malkin noticed me almost immediatley. “Are you here for your uniform?” She said, after smiling at me. “Hogwarts, right?” I nodded. She smiled again and pulled out another footstool next to the other girl. “Let me go get you some robes, dear. Claire! Here you are; attend to this young girl, will you?” Claire did a small curtsey in her golden robes and strode over to me. They were both very friendly. I allowed the tension to leave my shoulders. After a moment, I stole a glance at the girl next to me.
She was thin, with wispy blond hair and large eyes. She seemed to be staring off into the distance, pondering something very important. She held her arms out limply as if she didn’t really know where she was. I looked away. What a strange girl she was. A moment later, Claire pulled a large robe over my head and went on to stick many pins in it. It turned out I needed nearly a whole box of pins to fit my robe. I felt embarrassed. I was a small person, but I had never cared much before then. I bit my lip, unsure if I should apologize for taking up so many pins. I never got the words out, however, as the girl next to me startled me out of my thoughts.
“What’s your name?” she asked suddenly. Her voice was just as strange and wispy as her appearance. I nearly jumped. I hadn’t expected her to say anything.
“Er,” I said awkwardly. “I’m… Susan.”
“I’m Luna Lovegood,” she breathed, staring at me piercingly. Her eyes still looked vacant, but I still felt as though she was staring right through me to the wall behind, which was covered in soft, pink-colored wallpaper.
“Hi,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“So you’re going to Hogwarts, too?” she noted, staring off into space again, though she was still addressing me.
“Yes,” I replied, trying to think of a question to ask her, to be polite. There was no need, because she continued a moment later.
“My father is getting me an owl,” she said proudly. “Is your father getting you something, too?” I didn’t quite know what to say to that. I knew right away that he most certainly would not, but what about Mum? It made me think of Misty. I wondered how she was getting on back home. Before I could form a careful answer, Claire stepped back to admire her work, and told me I was free to go. I took my magically sewn robes from her, and quickly left the shop, taking one last look over my shoulder at Luna Lovegood.
Melinda led us down Diagon Alley to yet another store. This one was called Flourish and Blots, and was filled with books. Pulling out my envelope, I noticed the required list once more. I handed the parchment to Melinda. She frowned, scanning it. “It has certainly changed since we were in school, Mary,” she said. “Look, here they have a half dozen Gilderoy Lockhart books listed for Defense Against the Dark Arts!” Mum’s eyes widened. This was going to cost us, I knew it. She sighed and took the sheet from Melinda.
“Let’s get it over with,” she said in a resigned voice. We stepped inside.
I was nearly pushed back out the door, the room was so crowded. Chaos reigned, with excited chattering and some happy squeals from the back of the shop. It took me a moment to realize that thre was a line formed, curving all around the room. I was taking it all in when suddenly a redheaded boy not too much older than I was bumped into me. I nearly fell over from the impact. His ears turned pink as he grabbed my wrist to steady me.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. He followed his black-haired fried with a strange scar on his forehead towards door. Mum placed her hand on my shoulder as if to steady me. I looked up at her, and she smiled.
After a minute, the line began to move forward. Melinda went off and soon reappeared with all of the necessary Lockhart books. She opened her mouth to speak, when shouting came from two men near the entrance. They were both clenching their fists and had angry bulging eyes. I cringed, flinching at their yells. Mum wrapped her arm around my shoulders. I held my breath. One of the men had light blond hair and wore flowing black robes. A nasty expression dominated his face. The other man had flaming red hair like the boy who had bumped into me earlier. He wore an equally ugly expression. I retreated as far as I could into Mum’s warmth. It was then that I noticed the two boys watching from the side. Their faces were unreadable. I noticed a girl my age with the same red hair behind the cowering just like I was, standing next to a defiant girl with bushy brown hair.
Mum knew I was scared, so she said, “Oh Susan, don’t worry! They’re not going to-“
CRASH. I shrieked.
The men had leapt at each other, kicking and hitting. Their momentum had carried them into a large bookcase, which had spewed books all over. The sound resonated all around the room. For a moment, everything was silent but for the angry snarls of the men, who were still fighting. Then Melinda screamed. The men were fighting viciously, and a few more books rained down, people began pushing for the exit, while a man by the door pled with the crowd to calm down.
Ten minutes later, we had escaped, and with only two bruises between the three of us: one on Mum’s right wrist and one on Melinda’s left shoulder. “Why don’t we go home?” Melinda offered, contempt for her injury clearly in her voice. Mum instantly agreed, so we trudged back to Melinda’s comfortable flat.