Diagon Alley - part. 1
August 2, 1975. (Saturday)
“Rise and shine, beautiful!”
Ivy blearily opened her eyes, seeing the smiling face of her eldest sister staring at her. Her eyes felt puffy, and she had a minor headache. She stared at Petunia for a little while, too sleepy still to remember yesterday’s events. But when she did, her eyes filled with tears again. Petunia jumped from the chair she was in and came cradling her in her arms.
“No, no, don’t cry sweetheart, please. We have a solution! I know you are magical, and we will prove it today, alright?”
In-between irresistible sobs, Ivy managed to agree. Slowly, she calms herself down, soothed by the singing from Petunia. Finally, when she thoughts she was calm enough, she asked how they were going to prove it.
“We’re going to Diagon Alley, sweetheart, to see the goblins and take their test to check if someone is magical or not. And then, we will find you a place in a magic school, because you obviously are magical. Who reenacted the Cheshire Cat the day before yesterday? That wasn’t me.”
Her mood brightening, Ivy let Petunia guide her to the bathroom. She took a quick shower while her sister was choosing her a pretty dress for the day. Petunia then braided her hair, forming a crown around her head, and placed some shiny hair clips in it. She loved when Petunia was taking care of her hair. The three Evans sisters had all different shades of red hair. Lily’s was bright and fiery, gleaming in the sun like her head was on fire. She always wore her hair flowing freely, never tying it down. It complimented her emerald-green eyes very well. Petunia had hair that was more blond than red, but it still shown when she was out in the sun. It was always forming some sort of strict bun on the top of her head, and it was well assorted with her sage-green eyes. And Ivy, she herself has auburn hair to go with her tea-green eyes. She let Petunia made her hair every other day and kept it free the rest of the time. She thought she was a good mix of her two sisters.
Looking in the mirror, Ivy was satisfied to see her white summer dress was falling right under her knees, showing her slightly tanned legs. She grinned at Petunia in the mirror, seeing the older girl with a very prim and proper dress coming right from the fifties. She was beautiful in her own way. Ivy chuckled when thinking of what Lily would wear today. Probably a flare jean, with a psychedelically dyed tee-shirt. Lily was the kind of girl who could wear a jute bag and still be beautiful.
“Are you ready for a bit of breakfast, sweetie?”
Ivy nodded emphatically, her stomach grumbling at the same time. She had not eaten anything yesterday, too stressed about knowing if she was a witch for real or not.
“Let’s go. I let Lily do breakfast today. If the toasts are burned, we will pretend it is delicious, yeah?”
Giggling, Ivy followed Petunia out of the bathroom, and down to the kitchen. Lily was singing in time with the radio, but her tune was horrible. Pretending to be hurt, Ivy let out a strangled scream, covering her ears.
“Oh no, my ears! They are bleeding! Please, Lily, stop that infernal noise!”
Affronted, Lily turned to face them and chucked the spatula at them.
“Betrayal! By my own sister! I can’t believe it!”
Sighing, Petunia caught the spatula before it landed on the crisp white dress of her sister. But Ivy caught the faint smile lingering on her pale-red thin lips.
“Eating time, girls. No fighting!”
“Yes Tuney!” Lily and Ivy chorused, laughing.
Their parents, already seated, were chuckling. Their dad had a steaming mug of coffee and was munching on some definitely too-burned toast. Their mum was eating fried eggs and bacon with a cup of tea.
“So, girls. What do you want to do today?” Asked their father, pleased that the mood of the day before was gone.
“We’re going to Diagon Alley, dad,” answered Petunia, taking place at his right side while Ivy was taking his other side. “We’re going to the goblins. They have a test to know if someone is magical or not.”
Their parents’ smile fell a bit at that.
“Are you sure, dearie?” Asked their mother, clearly worried. “Do you want us to come with you?”
“Yes, we’re sure,” said Lily, bringing the rest of the burned toasts on the table and taking place on the left side of their mother. “And we’re fine. Besides, I thought you had your Tupperware party this afternoon?”
“I do have it. But if you want us to come, we will.”
“No, it’s okay, we’re good. Thanks for the offer. We will take the Knight Bus; it will be fun.”
Petunia was a little green at the mention of the bus. She tried it once, with Lily, and she felt sick at the memory. Ivy was excited at the idea. She had never had the opportunity to take this bus before.
“Well, if you’re sure…” Her father was less than pleased, but he trusted his daughters. “Don’t forget to pick something for Grandfather Marius’ birthday, yeah? He will be so sad if you forget it.”
“We won’t, promise!” Chorused the girls, laughing.
When everyone had eaten, the girls kissed the cheek of their parents.
“I cooked; you wash!” Exclaimed Lily, laughing at her father disappointed face. “See you tonight, we will be back at six, promise!”
Taking her purse, Lily led her sisters out, in front of their garden. All the street was made of similar houses, with a tiny garden in the front and one a little bigger in the back. All houses were made of brick, with the same form, the same internal distribution of rooms, and the same feeling. Cokeworth was an industrial town, after all. But with Lily’s touch, the tiny garden in front was blooming with colourful flowers and green-green-green grass. She was the one who loved gardening. When she was at Hogwarts, Ivy tried to help but it never turned out better than Lily. And Petunia didn’t even try.
Lily was with her entire arm in her purse, in front of the tiny garden, before she withdrew it, a victorious smile on her face. She had a leather pouch on her hand. She flicked it facing the street, and a huge purple double-decker bus was coming out of nowhere with a loud “BANG”. Ivy slipped her hand in Petunia’s, a little bit apprehensive. Her eldest sister, looking a bit green, squeezed it gently.
“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is David Monroe, and I will be your conductor today. Where can we take you?”
The man who helped them inside was a blond one, with hazel eyes and a tanned skin. Lily gasped, recognizing him.
“Monroe? I didn’t know you were working in the summer.”
“Oh, Evans, hi! Yeah, I needed a bit of pocket money for the next year. What with the tournament and all the Hogsmeade weekend we will have. Where do you want to go?”
“The Leaky Cauldron, please. And good luck!”
“Thanks! It will be eleven sickles per person. For thirteen, you can have a hot chocolate!”
“Just the ride, please,” answered Lily, taking the thirty-three silver pieces from her pouch, and placing it in the hand of the Monroe guy.
“Have a good ride, Evans!”
The doors closed, and Lily guided her sisters to sit.
“Hold on tight,” she warned them, chuckling when seeing Petunia gripping her seat with all her might.
Ivy did the same, wondering why that was necessary. When the bus took off again, she understood. It was like a roller-coaster! It was so fun! She laughed with Lily, loving the sharp-turns, the hard-stops, and the commentary of the little shrunken head hanging in the front. When their stop finally came, Petunia looked like she would be sick really soon.
Lily and Ivy helped their older sister to climb down from the bus and waved to the Monroe guy before the bus took off in another loud “BANG”. They were in front of the Leaky Cauldron, the pub leading to Diagon Alley.
“Great, we’re here. Do you want something to drink, Tuney?” Asked Lily, worried for her sister.
“No. I’m good,” she said, shaking her head. And putting a hand on her mouth. “Well, I will be,” she amended. “Let’s go. Time is money!”
Taking the lead, Petunia led her sisters inside the pub. Lily and Ivy waved at the barman, smiling, before Lily took her wand from the leather holster she had on the wrist and tapped some brick.
When the archway was forming, Ivy leaned on Petunia, taking her hand once more.
Lily took the lead, guiding them toward a huge gleaming white building. Ivy remembered it was the bank, from her previous visit. She had quite liked the goblins, finding them fascinating. She wondered if they would be helpful today.
Greeting the one guarding the entrance with a smile and a “Hello sir!”, Ivy followed her sisters to a desk. Lily straightened her back up and sneered.
“Goblin, we need a test to know if someone is magical,” she said coolly.
“Lily!” Gasped Ivy, horrified with the way her sister was talking. “You’re awful!”
The witch turned toward them, frowning.
“I’m not! That is how we talk to them, Sev told me. They are greedy little buggers, he said.”
Petunia scoffed.
“The Snape boy is bad news, I told you! Why do you still listen to him? Clearly, he doesn’t know everything. And he is rude. And mean.”
“He is my friend! My first wizarding friend, even! I will not let him drop!”
“Well, he is rude, Lils,” added Ivy. “How can you think that what you did is the correct way to address people?”
“They are not people, they are goblins,” pointed the fiery redhead witch.
“They are still people! Look!”
She pushed Lily out of her way and smiled at the goblin.
“Hello sir! My name is Ivy Evans, and these are my sisters, Lily, and Petunia. We were wondering if you knew of a test to know if someone is magical or not?”
The goblin arched an eyebrow, his dark eyes going from one redhead to another, before finally coming back to Ivy. Just when Lily opened her mouth, probably to say, “I told you so”, he spoke.
“Hello miss Evans. You are looking for the magicologic test. Our expert, Grindore the Sage, will come to fetch you soon. Have you an account in the bank? There are some fees to the test, whether the results are positives or not.”
“Oh, thank you! And no, we don’t have an account here. But we have non-magical money. How much are the fees?”
“12 sickles and 26 knuts. Which means 174£.”
Lily gasped.
“It’s expensive!”
“But we need to do it, Lils. I know Ivy is a witch, like you. We need to prove it!”
Ivy, wide-eyed, stood motionless for a moment. Before thanking the goblin.
“Thank you very much, sir. May I know your name? It feels wrong to not know it when you have been so nice!”
“You’re welcome, little witchling. I’m Blastblood. At your service.”
He mimicked a bow from where he was seated, making Ivy chuckling.
Almost immediately, another goblin came from behind the tall desk.
“Is there someone in need of a magicologic test? I did not run one since forever!”
The three girls seemed taken aback by this goblins attitude, but Ivy caught Blastblood rolling his eyes and giggled softly.
“We are indeed in need of this test, sir,” said Petunia with a slight smile.
“Good. Follow me, witchlings! Time is money, after all. Is that not what the non-magicals say?”
Laughing, Ivy followed suit, taking the hands of her sisters to lead them. She couldn’t wait to know if she was really magical!
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