I awoke the next morning feeling giddy and strangely happy. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I turned around and saw the letter from Hogwarts lying on my bedside table. Grinning, I picked it up and re-read it, soaking in each word.
Excitedly I donned more casual clothes and retrieved the letter from the table to put inside my pocket. I was going to Diagon Alley today to get my school supplies.
School supplies. School supplies for Hogwarts. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was going there! I was enrolled! The same old excitement filled my being as I clunked down the hollow steps.
I ate breakfast quickly as Mum explained what type of transportation we would use to get there. “We will use side-long apparition,” Mum informed me. “All you need to do is grab onto my arm and not let go until we land.”
I glanced around our cottage. “Isn’t Dad coming?”
Mum shook her head and fiddled with something in her purse. I suspected she was purposefully making herself busy so she would save the trouble of answering me.
“Isn’t he happy for me?” I piped up, ignoring her distracting manner.
She sighed. “Of course he is, dear. But I don’t think he’s ready”“ she paused and hesitated, then took out the supply list and pretended to read it.
“Ready for what?” I asked, curious. I had finished my breakfast; suddenly I wasn’t extremely hungry.
“Never you mind,” she said quickly but firmly.
I pressed, “But”“
Giving me a silencing look that did its duty, she motioned towards the front door and we walked into the glorious sunshine. She beckoned me closer to her and I held on tight to her arm.
The sensation of claustrophobia mixed with breathlessness pushed upon me as we apparated and by the time we hit solid ground at the end of Diagon Alley, I was panting and lightheaded.
“You’ll recover quickly,” Mum assured me, giving me a piece of chocolate. Once I ate it, I felt better”I made a mental note to remember this remedy for future reference.
After I got past the nausea stage, I began looking around and the wonder of it all blew me away. I almost laughed aloud at the sight of everything. Mum and Dad had told me about Diagon Alley, but it was no more than a pretty picture in my mind. Now that I was here, I could smell the aroma of butterbeer drifting from the Leaky Cauldron behind us, hear the clank of cauldrons from the cauldron shop nearby, and see the swish of robes.
There were so many people here! I craned my neck to see through the sea of bobbing heads and grinned. My eyes absorbed the sight of the Apothecary right beside the Leaky Cauldron with its quirky smells and a Quidditch shop up the road.
“Mum, can we go in there?” I asked eagerly, pulling on her arm. Many boys and girls like me were peering into the great window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. I’d heard of Quidditch my whole life and had read books on it, but had never seen it played live. I doubted I’d be good at it, but just to catch a glimpse of a real life broom would be wonderful…
Mum laughed and followed my lead as I rushed to see the shop display, which showed a shining new Nimbus 1001. I wasn’t exceptionally tall, so I could only catch a glimpse of it from behind all the taller individuals in front of me.
A few minutes passed consisting of an open mouth before Mum hurried me off in another direction. “Remember, we’re here to buy school supplies, dear.” However, I knew that she didn’t mind my dawdling.
A shop loomed up closer on our right with a rickety sign that read ‘Flourish and Blotts’. “Here we go!” Mum exclaimed, pushing me into the shop gently.
And so it started. I came out of Flourish and Blotts with an armload of textbooks, tried on robes at Madam Malkin’s (we could only afford to buy two sets”they would do), and I begged Mum to have a cone at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor (the ice cream was the most delicious I’d ever tasted).
As we proceeded down the road, I saw a dark alley turning from the straight path. A sign told me it was Knockturn Alley. “Mum, what’s down there?” I asked, taking a few steps towards it.
She pulled me back hastily. “Don’t ever let me catch you going down there, young man,” she reprimanded. “It’s not a good place, that’s for certain. We’d best be on our way to get your wand.”
I reluctantly fell in step with her as we passed a magnificent white building that towered above all the other shops. “That’s Gringotts, the wizarding bank,” Mum explained.
“Aren’t we going in there?” I stared up in wonder at the building; it seemed to sparkle dazzlingly in the sunlight. There was an itch inside me to see how it looked like, to feel the hardness of the marble steps underneath my feet as we ascended.
Mum shook her head. “I don’t have to withdraw today, Remus. We’re on a time restraint. Maybe another time.”
We walked by the Magical Menagerie, and I had to resist the urge to ask Mum for a cat or perhaps even a toad, because I knew we were running late. However, I allowed my eyes to linger on the craze inside the shop.
“It’s not too far from here,” Mum explained, pulling me along.
Ollivander’s was nearby; Mum was right. The sign that read ‘Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC’ looked ancient and ready to fall off any minute.
The shop was quiet and I could smell different scents of wood and other interesting magical things. It tingled my nose as I stepped into the cool atmosphere. An old man, who I assumed was Ollivander, met us at the door.
“Hello there! I assume you would like a wand?” He smiled down at me with misty, bulb-like eyes.
I nodded meekly, intimidated by the large stacks of wand boxes looming over me. Mum placed a warm hand on my shoulder. “We’d like a wand for Remus Lupin, please, Mr. Ollivander.”
“Ah! I remember your wand,” Mr. Ollivander addressed Mum. “Rosewood, nine inches, dragon heartstring core.”
Blinking in astonishment at his flawless memory, I gaped at him further. This only made him chuckle. “Yes, I get that a lot from younger wizards like yourself,” he said kindly. “Anyhow, I will be back in a moment.” He bustled off to the depths of the shop as I shifted from foot to foot. What if no wand would take me and I was wandless forever? How would I do magic? Worries crept into my mind.
Mr. Ollivander returned with two boxes. “It’s best you give these both a try,” he suggested, opening the first box and holding out a long wand. “Just give it a gentle wave.”
Nervously I gave my books to Mum to hold while I tested the wand out. Stepping away from both of the others, I squeezed my eyes shut and waved the wand, but nothing happened.
“Give it a bigger wave,” Mr. Ollivander encouraged. “And don’t close your eyes, for heaven’s sake!”
Taking a deep breath, I willed my eyes to stay open and waved the wand more dramatically, and was caught by surprise: I was blown backwards a few feet! Shaken, I stared at the wand in my hand, which was trembling.
“Hmm, that doesn’t seem quite right,” Mr. Ollivander murmured to himself. He took the wand from me and handed me another one, which was slightly shorter and black. “What about this one?”
Did I have a choice? Hoping that nothing would blow up, I inhaled and exhaled, then gave it a wave. This time, I felt a pleasant pulsing in my fingertips. This was it; I could feel it. A shower of golden sparks flew from the end.
Smiling, Mr. Ollivander announced, “The wand has chosen you, Remus Lupin. It is ten inches, ebony with a unicorn hair as its core.” He took the wand lightly from me and deposited it into its original case. “That will be six galleons,” he told Mum when he reached the counter.
“May I pay, Mum?” I asked keenly, looking at the many coins in her palm. I’d never really handled money before, not to buy something, at least.
She smiled warmly at me. “Why, of course. Do you know which one the galleon is?”
My eyes raked the selection of coins. I pointed to a silver coin. She shook her head. Furrowing my brow, I jabbed at the big, fat golden one. “That’s the one,” she confirmed. “Six of those will do.”
I carefully took six from the pile, relishing the weight of the coins in my palm before I placed them on the counter.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Lupin,” Mr. Ollivander said, bowing his head and handing me the wand box with two hands. “Use your wand well.”
“I will try,” I answered meekly, opening the box to gaze fondly at my new wand. I could almost feel the magic emanating from its core.