❀ 1.1 ❀
❀ Magic, Mystery, and Friends ❀
ISLA-MAE GARCÍA had gotten her Hogwarts letter a few days prior, and already she was confused and irritated. Her father was reading out the letter and frowning, while Isla-Mae was ready to start having a mental breakdown. “ Mija, stop worrying. I’m sure Dumbledore wouldn’t make ‘Diagon alley’ too difficult to find. First, we should find this ‘leaky cauldron’ pub and ask them,” The calm voice of Isla-Mae’s father - Bernado García - rang through the air to reach Isla-Mae. The 11 year old took some deep breaths and tried some of her breathing exercises.
Breathe in. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Breathe out. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
She nodded and looked around. The house that Isla-Mae and her father lived in felt empty without her mother. Although Isla-Mae hadn’t known her very long, only around five years, the loss of her mother was very apparent in her life. She never had a mother to talk to about boy trouble or periods, and she had never had a mother figure in her life that she had ever felt comfortable to talk to about those things.
Despite this, Isla-Mae had never been particularly lonely; she still had her father and she would always have her friends. Except now she would have to make new ones because she grew up in a non-wizarding community, and all of her previous friends were muggles. She would still send them letters, but the only time she would be able to see them would be at the holidays, and it would be sad if she was friendless in her new school.
The letter her father was reading had said to go to the ‘Leaky Cauldron’ pub and then go through to ‘Diagon Alley’. Just as they were calming down after freaking out about how to even get to this ‘magic’ place, a sudden crack split through the air and a small, wrinkled, skinny little… thing stood up in their living room.
” ¡Perra! ¿qué carajo? “ Isla-Mae exclaimed, jumping on a sofa. Her father scolded her, ”Mija, language! But she’s right, what are you doing here? “ he took out her swearing and rephrased her sentence but the gist was basically the same.
The wrinkly creature bowed low a said in a squeaky voice, “ Forgive me, masters, Flimsy was only sent by Professor Dumbledore to check on the raised-muggle students. And also to bring their ‘yes’ replies back to him, “ Bernardo frowned slightly, as did Isla-Mae. Professor Dumbledore, no matter how esteemed, shouldn’t send out others to do his work.
“ Why would Dumbledore send someone else to do his work, not even another teacher? Also, would you like some tea? “ Isla-Mae asked her father the first question, then turned to Flimsy and directed her second question to the nervous-looking… well she didn’t really know what Flimsy was, but she decided that tea was as good as any drink to question Flimsy over.
” Sure, mija, I’ll just put the kettle on. Ginger or Chamomile? “
“ Um, ginger for me and do you want Chamomile? No? Two ginger teabags then, please. Thank you, padre, “ The determined 11 year old had decided a few years ago that ginger tea was superior to all others. She would still drink other types, but ginger was just so comforting to her.
She looked at Flimsy and asked a question that she had wanted to pose since the creature had appeared in her house: “ Who - or what - are you? We were never told that someone would be coming over to talk about Hogwarts. Also, where will we get all of this stuff? We both know that we are meant to go to this ‘Diagon Alley’ place, but it’s not on any of our maps, “ Isla-Mae gestured to their relatively messy room, some papers on the floor, some folded on shelves, and some just shoved away into corners. The girl and her father had been searching for the pub and alley for the last few days.
Flimsy started to reply, “ Miss, I am a house elf. We live to serve-“ Isla cut the house elf off right there.
“ No need to call me ‘miss’, Flimsy, I’m just Isla-Mae. And also isn’t it extremely unfair for you to ‘live to serve’ if people have magic and can just whoosh something to do something else? “ The house elf shook her head and covered her eyes with her floppy and flimsy ears.
” No, miss! I am here to help you get to Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, we should be going by now… no problem, I’ll just come back tomorrow and we can go then, “ The house elf didn’t answer any more questions, finished her cup of ginger tea, snapped her fingers and vanished with a crack.
Bernardo and Isla-Mae shared a look. One that clearly said ‘What the heck just happened? ‘
❀ 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓮𝔁𝓽 𝓓𝓪𝔂 ❀
Flimsy arrived at 9:15am precisely. Isla-Mae had been up and awake since 6:48am and had almost face planted into her bowl of Count Chocula cereal at 7:35am, when she decided that she needed to take a nap. Bernardo let her sleep for about an hour. And when she woke up and wanted to finish her cereal, Bernardo reminded her that she face planted in her last bowl. She was not happy.
When Flimsy arrived, both Bernardo and Isla-Mae were dressed and ready for the shopping they were about to spend an entire day on. Bernardo had around £135 to exchange for wizarding currency; in the letter it had said that all of the supplies should cost around 30 galleons if you got everything first-hand. They also suggested some good second-hand shops for those who didn’t want to spend that much. It seemed that the most expensive thing would be the wand. It said on the sheet that it could be priced anywhere from 6-16 galleons.
Flimsy held their wrists, snapped her fingers, and with a crack we were sent flying. Right into a constricting void that pressed on all sides for a few seconds, before they landed in a dark pub. “ We are here, masters, “ Flimsy declared. “ This is the Leaky Cauldron, just out in the back is the entrance for Diagon Alley. Master Tom, can you explain the rest to them? They just need to know how to get through to Diagon Alley, “ The man at the bar nodded, and Flimsy smiled. “ Thank you, goodbye miss, “ With a snap of her fingers, and a resounding crack, Flimsy vanished into the air.
” Well, to get into Diagon Alley you need to tap a brick that’s three up and two across from the rubbish bin, you need to tap the brick three times as well, “ Tom said in a dry voice. As Bernardo and Isla-Mae walked out, and into the small un-roofed room, she thought about how Hogwarts was going to work.
Was everyone still going to be doing Maths? What about English? How about Science? Even though she hated to think it, Isla-Mae was worried about all of the core subjects she had been taught. Not only that, but she was also worried about the actual school building, how was she going to find her way around the school if she didn't even know what it looked like?
Bernardo was tapping on the brick three times, like they had been told to do, and all the bricks started rearranging themselves to make an entrance to a bustling street, full of colour and warmth. There were so many shop fronts that Isla-Mae was looking at, she didn’t notice when she walked into someone. Someone who said a few seconds later: “ Whoa there kid, watch your step, “ the voice came from someone who was at least a whole head taller than Isla-Mae. And also really strong. And also a girl.
Although she didn’t know why, Isla-Mae held some reverence for the girl for a few seconds, before hurrying to catch up with her father, who had only just noticed that she wasn’t by his side.
The girl who she had bumped into had elbow-length, light brown, wavy hair that had been put up in a half-up half-down style. Her deep brown eyes had been crinkled up in surprise as she caught Isla-Mae, the base of her eyes had touches of purple eye-bags.
Once Isla-Mae and Bernardo reached Gringotts, they were shocked at the size of the doors at the entrance, even more at the carved warning at the top of the door:
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there
It was a chilling poem, and it scared the wits out of both Isla-Mae and Bernardo. As they entered the grand entrance, with its high ceilings and gold embellishments everywhere, they both noticed the short, hook-nosed (literally looked like they had hooks for noses), hairy goblins. Most of these goblins were looking at the gold and jewels with a sort of reverence.
“ Hello? Is there anyone that can help us to exchange some currency? “ Bernardo asked a goblin at the big front desk. The goblin looked at Bernardo, then at Isla-Mae. It paused and said, “ Yes, follow me Mr… García, “ Bernardo had hesitated when the goblin had paused for his name, but he just went with it.
” This is Pyro, the currency exchanger, “ The front desk goblin said, before walking off. Pyro looked quite threatening, he had muscles bigger than Bernardo’s head. It was quite a shock when he spoke and it was basically just a high-pitched squeal. “Follow me,“
Isla-Mae was trying, as hard as an 11 year-old could, to not laugh at Pyro’s high voice, while Bernardo wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or scared. In the end, both of them were too confused by wizard currency to care much about Pyro’s squeaks. “ One galleon is how many knuts? “ Bernardo asked Pyro.
” 493 knuts make a galleon, we’ve been over this five times already! It’s fine though, I’ll just repeat myself. One galleon is 17 sickles, and one sickle is 29 knuts, that means 493 knuts are in a galleon. Now, are you ready to exchange your money? “ A slightly exasperated Pyro explained to Bernardo for, like he said, the fifth time.
And, finally, Bernardo handed over £135.50 to Pyro. The goblin looked at it for a few seconds before handing Bernardo 27 galleons and 12 sickles. Bernardo looked at the round, gold coins and put them in his wallet, “ Thank you Pyro, “ Pyro looked shocked and happy, he smiled, it came off looking like a grimace, but Isla-Mae could see the happiness in it.
As Bernardo and Isla-Mae walked through the packed street, Isla-Mae read out her list, " We need to get a collapsable pewter cauldron and some books, we can get those second-hand, and then all we need is my wand. Sound good? " Bernardo nodded and they walked off to the potions supply store.
❀ At Flourish & Blotts ❀
Isla-Mae had to stop accidentally walking into people. She had just bumped into two ginger, freckled twins who had introduced themselves as Fabian and Gideon Prewett, and she was feeling guilty about looking down at her feet instead of at the two boys. “ Sorry, “ She mumbled, before they looked at each other, smiled and they both said, “It’s no problem, really,”
Then Fabian, “We’re going to be fifth years when you start as a firstie, we can help you around. We just want you to help us out sometimes,“ Gideon ended it with saying, “You know, be a lookout or something, you have enough of that child-like look about you to get away with things we can only dream of,“ Isla-Mae nodded, smiled widely at the compliment, and looked around for Bernardo, he was on the other side of the shop; they had both been looking for Hogwarts a History and Magic Theory. Isla-Mae had found the books before she had accidentally bumped into the Prewett twins, she had put them in her bag and she was just about to walk over to her father.
” Well, I’ll see both of you at school. You’re going to show me around even if we aren’t in the same house, right? “ Isla-Mae asked them before she turned around to walk off to hear father. The twins both nodded and explained that if she wasn’t in Gryffindor then she wouldn’t be suspected as their accomplice, therefore able to get away with more things. Isla-Mae looked happy enough with this arrangement. She smiled, told the twins that she would see them at the start of September.
The twins really just wanted someone to stir up more trouble than them, Isla-Mae was just the first person they had asked that said yes - technically she was also the first person they had asked, but that was beside the point - and she also looked like she could get away with more than them.
Bernardo had seen his daughter talking with the ginger twins and had decided that she was most likely, and hopefully, making friends. Bernardo was always worried for his daughter; she had never had a proper mother figure past the age of five because, after her mother passed on from an incurable disease known as 'Dragon Pox', Bernardo could never find the right person. The love Cynthia would have wanted him to have after she died. But he had never found the right person, and had just given up.
" Mija, did you find the books? " Bernardo questioned Isla-Mae as she came walking over to him. She nodded silently and handed the two books from her bag. As they walked over to the counter to pay for the books, Bernardo studied his daughter’s expression; beaming, but her eyes looked nervous and hesitant. They paid and walked out of the shop together, hand in hand, smiling and strolling over to a shop with a sign that spelled out:
Ollivanders
Makers of fine wands since 382 BC
The pair opened the door, and a little bell sounded in the shop, just as a head with fluffy white hair turned around and spoke,” Another Anderson I see? Sorry, García, then,” The man said when Isla-Mae looked confused. “ You have Cynthia’s - your mother’s - eyes, “ Isla-Mae smiled brightly and thanked the strange man for the compliment.
" Well. " The man said, holding out a thin, wooden stick. " Give it a little wave, " Isla-Mae did just that, and a gust of wind blew a pot over, the pot shattered on the floor. Isla-Mae hurriedly put the wand on the counter, as the man handed her another wand. This one was darker and lumpier, with ridges and grooves. When she swished it about, a golden light emitted from it and the odd man looked curious.
" Walnut wood with a phoenix feather core, 10 ¾ inches and reasonably supple flexibility. Your wand has chosen you, and an interesting wand it is. Phoenix feather is unlikely to turn against you, paired with walnut, this wand has an affinity for protection and defensive spells. Use it well, 8 galleons please, " When Bernardo handed over the money, Mr Ollivander gave Isla-Mae the box, and put away the cash in his old till.
Walking out into the busy streets of London after a day of shopping, Isla-Mae and Bernardo García were safe in the knowledge that this day would be a fond memory that they would look back on in years to come. For comfort, to remember their first day it the wizarding community, and for the start of a long and arduous journey through childhood to adult years; the journey of finding their places in this new world of imagination and possibilities.