Diagon Alley
Poppie could be heard singing from two houses away on the morning of her Diagon Alley visit. By his mother’s orders, Dean kept quiet.‘You mustn’t dampen her spirits like that, Dean! Poppie is looking forward to it, and I bet she’ll love it.’ Despite the fact that Poppie had been to Diagon Alley numerous times before, whether it be for Kendra’s supplies or Dean’s school equipment, she was looking forward to it. Not as much as she looked forward to Hogwarts though.
To Poppies glee, it was soon time to go.
‘Now, Dean, you must behave for Mr and Mrs White. They are quite elderly as you know and I won’t be expecting any of your little tricks.’ Kendra gave Dean a stern warning before she dropped him off next door, and then climbed into the car. ‘I’ve always found these machines quite difficult to master…’ she murmured, more to herself than anyone as she fiddled about with all the pedals and buttons. However many times Kendra had driven, she still preferred apparating, but she couldn’t do it with her daughter.
Poppie could not sit still throughout the whole journey to Charing Cross Road, and she clutched her equipment list in her hand so tightly her knuckles turned white. After what seemed like forever, Kendra and her daughter soon arrived at their destination and left their car parked outside a shabby pub called ‘The Leaky Cauldron’. Anyone new coming to Diagon Alley would probably be quite disappointed by now, and as for Muggles- they wouldn’t be able to see it at all! Kendra hastily shuffled into the building, pulling overexcited Poppie behind her.
‘Good morning, miss!’ The barman, who looked to be around fifty, grinned toothily at the pair that had just entered. Much like the pub, he was old and worn out, wearing a brown, moth-eaten waist coat over a grubby what might’ve been white shirt. Kendra simply nodded, and Poppie did not acknowledge the man at all, but this was usual for her. ‘Hmm, are you interested in anything today?’ His eyes glinted, obviously hoping for new customers.
‘Perhaps not, Bartimus. We’re just visiting Diagon Alley.’ Still clutching her daughter’s hand, she pulled the pair of them right through the pub and outside. They faced an ordinary wall, and stood alongside several large bins. However, neither Witch seemed perturbed by this, as Kendra drew out the midlength sort of stick she kept in a special compartment inside her coat. Poppie knew this was her wand, and she was about to open the entrance to Diagon Alley.
***
After a complicated sequence of tapping bricks with her wand, Kendra grinned as the wall began to transform into an archway. Beyond it, the most bizarre collection of Witches and Wizards wandered around amongst the most bizarre collection of stores, stocking the most bizarre collection of things. A sign reading ‘Unicorn Horns- 10 Galleons each! Bargain!’ hung on the door of one shop which looked to contain frog legs and a strange bogey-coloured substance that flopped around of its own accord. This came as no surprise to Poppie or her mother, but several young children appeared to be gawping at the wonders of Diagon Alley, rooted to the spot while looking at broomsticks or owls. ‘Come on then, Poppie. We’ll go to Gringotts first.’ The pair walked along the cobbled street, past various Witches and Wizards, some wearing long robes, billowing behind them as they walked, and others wearing ordinary Muggle clothes like jeans and a sweater. Finally, they reached a huge building made of what looked to be marble, and Kendra spoke again. ‘The only building that remains of what I knew to be Diagon Alley…’ She gazed at the huge pillars, remembering the various shops she used to find her school equipment from- Madam Malkins, Flourish and Blotts, Eeylops Owl Emporium… Poppie and her mother strode through the great wooden doors and into a hall full of ugly looking creatures with long nails sat at desks. Most of them wore half-moon glasses that looked tiny compared to the huge, hooked noses that they rested on. Kendra and Poppie approached the closest goblin. ‘Hello. I’m here to withdraw some money from my vault.’
In a shockingly deep voice, the goblin asked, ‘Name?’
‘Kendra Dimble.’ Apparently Kendra was rather used to this rude reception, since she continued as normal.
‘Vault number?’
‘942.’
Then the goblin leant forward over his desk and said, ‘Key?’ He outstretched his hand slowly, uncurling those yellowing fingernails. When Kendra reached into her pocket and pulled out a shiny silver key labelled ‘942’, he looked slightly disappointed, but a hint of hope was visible as he examined it for any kinds of forgery. There were none, his face dropped. ‘Hm,’ he took the key, and jumped down from his stool behind the desk. Poppie always found it hard to stifle a laugh at this point, because she found it hilarious at how short the goblins were and how they jumped from their seats. After the usual procedure of withdrawing money, she and her mother seemed quite glad to leave.
‘Nasty, rude creatures, goblins.’ Kendra muttered as they began to stroll back down the cobbled street. Since they were now just wandering about instead of heading for a direct location, Poppie got a better look of the peculiar street. Whereas most shops looked quite warm and welcoming, well prepared for the new students, certain ones looked really suspicious and dark. At one particular spot, mothers could be spotted steering curious children away from a deathly looking alleyway.
‘Knockturn Alley,’ Poppie muttered to herself. Kendra had warned her of the place, and she, unlike many of the other children, had no desire to experience it first-hand. She had been told of how the Dark Arts peaked in there, even people believing and supporting the return of Voldemort, but they knew he’d been killed for good ages before. Even so, just the thought of such a man returning sent a shudder down her spine. Swarms of Witches and Wizards were known to approach you in there, offering disgusting and dangerous dark objects, you couldn’t get from one shop to another. Not that you’d want to, the shops were awful like the people who ran them. Overall, Knockturn Alley was a complete no-go to Poppie.
Her thoughts soon left Knockturn Alley and began wondering where they should go next. As if by reading her mind, her mother spoke up.
‘So, where’d you like to go first? I was thinking you might like to get your wand?’ Kendra asked. Poppie squealed with excitement- of course she wanted to get her wand! Her mother grinned, ‘Off we go then.’ They set off to the wand store with each other. Years and years ago, it used to be ‘Ollivander’s’ but now it was just simply ‘The Wand Shop’. However, Ollivander’s grandson still ran the shop. As they reached the new, modern building, Poppie pushed open the door and a little bell tinkled. Mr Ollivander Jr looked up at the sound.
‘Hello!’ He smiled as Kendra and Poppie entered. He had a general sort of kind and fatherly look about him, wearing a similar waistcoat to the barman in the Leaky Cauldron, but it looked brand new. Furthermore, he had it on over an immaculate white shirt and paired it with well-polished leather shoes. The shop was as of a similar state to its owner; well-kept and quite up to date. Black wand boxes were stacked neatly around the room, ordered by length, core or wood. ‘You’ll be here to buy your first wand, I expect?’ He asked Poppie.
‘Yes please, Mr Ollivander!’
‘Right. Your brother had 10 ½ inches, elm and thestral hair… correct?’ Poppie was quite shocked- he had remembered!
‘Y-yeah.’
‘I don’t think I’ll try that one on you… You seem fairly different.’ He pondered on this for a minute, and then took three boxes from a shelf quite near to him. ‘Yes, yes, these seem quite correct.’ Poppie pulled out the first wand from its red velvety cushion and waved it, as she had seen Dean do three years previously. It didn’t seem very comfortable in her hand, and she felt it was a bit big for her. As if to confirm her suspicions that this wasn’t the one, a red light produced from the end of the wand, and burnt Poppie’s hand. She yelled and dropped the wand on the floor. Mr Ollivander Jr walked around the counter and picked it up, examining it. ‘Yes, 10 inches is a bit too long for you I’d say, and that phoenix feather isn’t helping. This one ought to do the trick.’ He retrieved another box from the shelves and handed to Poppie. She picked it up, but this time, golden sparks flew out of it, emitting a beautiful glow around her. Mr Ollivander smiled. ‘That’s the one, all right. 9 inches, yew and unicorn hair. It’s slightly springy, so be careful with it.’ The young girl stared in awe at her new wand.
‘Thank you very much, Mr Ollivander. You are just as skilled as your grandfather,’ she said, looking at her own wand.
‘Why, thank you, Kendra. May I take a look at your wand?’ Kendra handed it over willingly and watched as Mr Ollivander Jr turned it over and examined it in his hands. ’10 ¾ inches, oak and kelpie hair, perhaps?’ He tugged at it a little, and then added, ‘Reasonably springy?’
‘Exactly.’ She smiled.
***
The next place Kendra and Poppie visited was ‘Every size Every colour Robes’. This wasn’t quite as exciting as the wand shop, but it was a necessity for Hogwarts.
‘Hello, dears!’ A lady known as Madam Jolly welcomed them happily as they walked in. Without waiting for either of them to reply, she carried on. ‘Kendra! How lovely to see you again. This is your beautiful daughter, I believe? Yes, yes, I remember seeing her last year when your handsome son came to get his robes fitted. Where is Dean, anyway?’
‘Oh, he didn’t want to come today, said he’d rather come later on. He’s such a…’ Kendra was interrupted by Madam Jolly.
‘Yes, of course. First year, aren’t you, Poppie? Oh what a beautiful name! And a beautiful face to go with it!’ Poppie blushed but before she had time to thank Madam Jolly for the compliment she had carried on. ‘Right then, oh we must find some wonderful robes… Such a shame you need to have black robes, oh how you’d look stunning in colour changing ones, then again- with your hair…’ She frowned at Poppies violet hair, but shook it off. ‘Well, I suppose we’d better begin. Ooh how I love first years! Off you go then!’ She seemed to be talking to nothing, until a flying tape measure zoomed out from behind the mirror but stopped in front of Poppie, unwilling to go on. ‘Oh, yes, of course, I forgot! Come on, get on the podium dear. Just jump right up, that’s it, good girl!’ The tape measure had followed Poppie on to the podium, where she stood awkwardly looking at herself in the mirror. It whooshed around her, measuring her arms, legs, chest and waist, until finally it came to a halt, dropping to the floor at Madam Jolly’s feet. ‘Thank you, thank you!’ She exclaimed, picking up her little helper. She appeared to be examining some numbers as she calculated widths and lengths in her head, before throwing the tape measure aside. ‘Rather small for your age, you are… No matter, no matter!’ Madam Jolly performed a swishing motion with her hand and a clothes rack full of plain black robes came clattering down the stairs.
‘Erm, Madam Jolly…’ Poppy was a bit worried about the huge clothes rack that was zooming straight towards them.
‘It’s ok, dear!’ Madam Jolly held up her hand and the robes came to an immediate halt. ‘Now which one of you is right for this young girl?’ She appeared to be speaking to the clothes. A rather small set of black robes launched themselves at Madam Jolly. ‘Ah, yes, you look like you might do the trick.’
Several tugs and changes of robes later, Poppie left Madam Jolly’s ‘Every size Every colour Robes’ with one more thing crossed off her supply list.
‘Mum, I still need all my books, an owl or a cat (there’s no way I’m getting a toad) and some equipment, like a cauldron and some weighing scales.’ Poppie told Kendra, scanning her list and crossing off robes and wand.
‘Yep, how about I go off and get the boring stuff, like the books and the equipment, you can look at the owls and the cats. You know Miss Leash, she’s really kind. Wait for me there and I can pay for you.’
Poppie did as she was told and wandered off to ‘Leash’s Pet Palace’ whilst her mother went the opposite way towards ‘Paperwonders’ where she would find the books and ‘Topple and Mip’s’ for the equipment.
Upon entering the ‘Pet Palace’, Poppie realised not much had changed since her last visit one year ago. Owls screeched in cages that lined the walls of the store, and amongst them was the odd cat or toad. However, she spotted one small bird shivering in a cage right at the back of the shop. It was pure white with shocking blue eyes, but unnaturally skinny and somewhat sad looking.
‘Miss Leash?’ Poppie called, craning her neck around the corner. Immediately, a short but rather slim Witch came hurrying over.
‘Poppie, oh how wonderful to see you! Where’s your brother?’ Miss Leash had an annoyingly high pitched voice but Poppie had learned to cope with it because she was so kind and gentle.
‘He’s coming another time. Didn’t want to come so early on.’
‘Ah right. Well! Have you found anything you like?’ She swept a hand all around, indicating the many different animals to choose from. Miss Leash had quite a strange fashion sense; she was wearing bright blue robes, but paired them with purple ankle boots and added yellow sunshine earrings, a white cloud necklace and several rainbow bangles that jingled when she moved her arm. To top it all off, the shopkeeper’s short bobbed hair was a vibrant shade of red. She wasn’t able to change her appearance at will like Poppie, but usually had different colour hair every month.
‘I was just about to ask about this little owl…’ Miss Leash looked a bit uncertain.
‘Well, you know dear, he’s been in the shop quite some time. He looks ill, and I wouldn’t want you to go home with an owl that has-you know… nearly reached its end.’ Poppie seemed positively angry at this.
‘He deserves a chance, Miss Leash! I’ll do all I can to look after him!’ If she didn’t get him, she wouldn’t have any.
‘I suppose… we have no use for him anymore… you can take him… seven galleons…’ Miss Leash muttered.
‘Only seven galleons?’ Poppie was shocked; owls were usually at least ten galleons. Oh it’s obviously because he’s ‘near his end’, she thought. This made her absolutely furious, but she daren’t raise the subject with Miss Leash. Just then, Kendra walked in holding a paper bag full of books and two what felt like cardboard bags full of equipment. ‘Yay! Mum, I think I want this owl,’ Poppie told her mother. Kendra, unlike the shopkeeper, seemed happy to agree.
‘Of course, dear! How much is it, Miss Leash?’
‘Seven galleons, please.’ Miss Leash smiled weakly.
‘Brilliant.’ Kendra handed over seven large gold coins and left the shop with Poppie. ‘I think that’s it now then!’ Poppie, looking disappointed, glanced at her supply list and crossed of all the books, all the equipment, and a pet. Her mother was right, everything now was crossed off.
‘Aw… Do you need anything?’
‘Nope, not today, ‘fraid not.’ Kendra smiled sadly, took Poppie’s hand and began to walk towards the exit wall.
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