Diagon Alley
Saturday 17, August 1991
Waiting the whole week for this trip felt like agony. My excitement never seemed to fully diminish, but only got more and more prevalent as the weekend drew nearer. Finally, when the day came, I was up at dawn and ready to go by the time dad finished cooking breakfast.
“I know you're excited, but the shops aren’t open yet. You have to be patient, you can watch the telly for a little bit to help pass the time, as I know it must be absolute agony having to wait.” he teased. Dad is good like that, always making sure that I am happy or cracking a joke to make me feel better. It’s just who he is.
After about two more hours of waiting we were finally able to go to the shops. We decided to take the floo connection to the Leaky Cauldron, seeing as it would be faster.
As we stepped into the pub the bartender gave us a friendly wave, as we stepped into the back alley to enter Diagon Alley. As I walked through the stone entryway I was immediately in awe of how pretty the shopping center really was. It lived up to everything I remembered and hoped for.
“Alright” Dad said, breaking my trace, “I suggest that we get you fitted for your uniform first, come on.” Upon entering Madam Malkins a friendly, but clearly very stressed witch came up to me, and had me step up on a platform to start taking measurements.
After she finished she said “Come back ‘round three o’clock and I should ‘ave your robes all sorted out by then.” We continued down the busy street stopping at shops here and there to get my school stuff, and looked at a few other storefronts that piqued my interest (sweet shop, and the animal store mostly), but it wasn’t until we got to flourish and blotts that I was completely lost in that shop. I personally love reading, one of my favorite things to do. Being in that book store though…it was like being transported to a different dimension
It was only after we got all of my school books (and a few extra for personal reading), that we stopped by Olivanders to get my wand. We walked in and after we got Olivander's attention my dad turned to me, and said “I’ve got one more errand to run, but I’ll be back before he finds you a wand, I promise” and with that, he walked out of the store leaving me alone to find my wand.
It was a surreal experience, having all different sorts of measurements taken, before he even gave me a wand to try out. The first three wands caused some explosions; I feel kind of bad about that, considering that one of those times it took out a self. But finally I chose a wand- or rather the wand chose me, as I was told. It really is a beauty in my opinion; 13 inches long, rowan wood, with a phoenix feather core, it suited me well.
As promised, my father had walked in the door before my final wand was handed to me, with a box in his hand that he wouldn’t tell me the contents of until we returned home. This was delayed a little bit, because we ended up stopping for lunch and a spot of ice cream before heading home.
We decided to disapparate because it would be easier with all of our stuff. After we got home and I put all of my things away, my father called me into the kitchen. On the table was the box that he had been holding earlier. “Open it, consider it a late birthday present from me,” he was smiling now, as I cautiously opened the box to find a beautiful black kitten. “She’s all yours. As requested, I got you a cat… Do you like her?” he asked, not sure of how I was feeling, but I absolutely loved her. At a loss for words at that moment, I just walked up to him and gave my dad a really big hug to show my appreciation and love.