Prologue Part 2
A week later, Brielle couldn't believe it. Her, a witch? She supposed this made Audrey right about her. That was perhaps the only unpleasant thing about the whole ordeal. Brielle sat on her bed, rereading the letter that the Professor woman had given her. That had been just about the only thing she'd done since she'd received it, almost as if it would disappear and everything would go back to normal if she didn't keep rereading.
Because things most definitely weren't normal. Her parents had pulled her out of the summer academy and unenrolled her from the middle school she was meant to start in only a few weeks. Auradon Prep Middle School started August 15th, but Hogwarts didn't start until September 1st. That meant she could laugh at her brother as he studied and went to school while she was hanging around the house for three weeks longer than he could. Although, she would surely resent the fact once it was late June and she was still in school. Or maybe she wouldn't, maybe she'd love Hogwarts so much that she wouldn't complain. She had already fallen in love with the idea of going to magic school. Even the list of supplies was enchanting.
Supplies! How could she have forgotten? Professor McGonagall had told her that she needed to go to a place called Diagon Alley to buy her supplies. She had even said she would attach the fireplace to the... what was it? The flea network? Flew? Floo, that's what it was. Professor McGonagall had shown her how, just step into the fireplace and say where she wanted to go. It couldn't be too hard, right? Her parents had said she could go get her stuff whenever she wanted, as long as they didn't have to be bothered by her "magic stuff," as they referred to it. Her parents were quite firmly anti-magic and had been acting quite distant towards her ever since it was confirmed she was a witch. Well, they had shoved an envelope under her door with enough money to buy supplies. Enough money for all seven years, to be exact, and something told Brielle that this was intentional. But the handwriting on the envelope resembled her twin brother's penmanship too much for her to credit this to her parents.
Brielle crept downstairs towards the parlor, careful not to be spotted by any of the staff. Not that she was doing anything wrong, but in case something with the Floo Network went awry, she didn't want to have to answer any questions about why she was standing in a fireplace. She brought the money envelope with her and shoved it in her purse, a black messenger bag Mrs. Potts had gifted her the year before. Slowly but surely, she crept into the parlor fireplace and shut her eyes tight. She took a fistful of the powder stuff, said "DIAGON ALLEY," and threw down the powder. She was off to Diagon Alley.
If Brielle could forever stay in the moment she first saw Diagon Alley, she would. There were just so many sights to take in, so many things to do, to see. But first, her money. Professor McGonagall had instructed her to trade in whatever money she brought for the wizarding currency. The envelope had about 7,000 Auradon dollars in it, all in bills of 500. She could use about two 500 bills per school year. Now just to find a place to exchange it...
Brielle decided to ask for help. These were wizards, they must know how to navigate better than she could, right?
"Excuse me!" She spotted a portly-looking man with round spectacles. He looked rather friendly, and he had a boy who looked about Brielle's age with him. This was promising. The man turned towards her, a friendly smile on his face.
"Hello, my dear. Need help?"
So he was friendly. This was a good sign.
"Um, I was just wondering if you knew where I could exchange-"
"Oh, trying to exchange muggle money, are we? Well, that would be at Gringotts, the wizarding bank. Cedric and I were just heading there ourselves, weren't we Ced?'
The boy, apparently named Cedric, nodded. His father continued, "We're shopping for Cedric's school supplies and need to make a withdrawal. It's my boy's first year at Hogwarts!"
So they were shopping for school supplies too! "It's also my first year at Hogwarts!"
Cedric's father chuckled. "Oh, small world, isn't it! Would you like to come along with us to buy our supplies? No offense, but you seemed a bit lost."
Brielle nodded vigorously, grateful for both assistance navigating this new wizarding world and a new friend to do it with. The man gave a hearty laugh. "Well then, let's go! I'm Amos Diggory, by the way," he added.
"And I'm Cedric!" The younger boy piped up. "What's your name!"
Brielle stopped abruptly, which startled Mr. Diggory and Cedric. How to introduce herself? Was she Princess Gabrielle, second in line to the throne of Auradon? No, she decided firmly. Hogwarts would be a chance to start over, to be defined by something other than her family. Brielle realized the father and son were still staring at her, a bit confused. She took a deep breath and said four words that, unbeknownst to Cedric and Mr. Diggory, were perhaps the most important words she would ever utter.
"I'm Brielle. Just Brielle."
Whatever Brielle was expecting to encounter at Gringotts, it certainly wasn't what she saw. The entrance hall seemed to be made of pure pearl, with exquisite gold decorations on the walls. Archways led into long passageways on either side, with magnificent gold plaques reading "Vaults" on top and center. Long rows of curiously short bank counters that appeared to be some sort of black marble stretched on either side of the grand entrance hall, leading up to a main desk that was significantly higher than a normal desk ought to be, especially compared to the counters. But that wasn't the most amazing thing about Gringotts, not in the slightest. The bank seemed to be operated by strange little men, some working as guards, some at the shortened little counters, all buzzing around the bank like bees.
"Mr. Diggory?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Who're they?"
Mr. Diggory chucked. "Why, those are the Gringotts goblins!"
This only provided more questions than answers, but Brielle resolved not to ask any more. Mr. Diggory gestured her towards one of the counters. "You can go exchange your money there, dear. Ced and I'll just go and make a withdrawal." With that, Cedric and Mr. Diggory went off and Brielle was left alone. "Next!" barked a goblin behind a small counter that said "Exchanges"
Politeness was not a word that would describe a Gringotts goblin. Efficiency, however, would be a more appropriate word. Fastidious, perhaps, as well. Within ten minutes Brielle had successfully exchanged her Muggle currency ("Muggle" being a word that Mr. Diggory had taught her on the way there, meaning a non-magical person) and she was off to the shops. Well, she would be off, if she could fit this godforsaken bag of coins into her purse. Why, oh why, did the wizards have to operate with such bulky coins? They weren't exactly space-optimized. Indeed, she had only exchanged two 500-dollar bills, and yet she had been given back nearly two hundred assorted gold, silver, and bronze coins. She was beginning to attract stares now, the small eleven-year-old attempting to shove a bag of coins bigger than her head into a bag. Either she had been struggling with it for longer than she thought, or Gringotts' withdrawals were incredibly fast. Mr. Diggory and Cedric had finished their withdrawal and were rushing towards her.
"Oh, let me help you, my dear," said Mr. Diggory hurriedly. He pulled a long stick (his wand, Brielle had realized later) and muttered some sort of incantation. Brielle found she could now fit the bag into her purse. Pleased, she then followed the Diggorys out into Diagon Alley, excited to see more of the magical world.
First on the list was a wand. Mr. Diggory had sent Brielle and Cedric into a little shop called Ollivander's. He instructed them each to buy a wand while he went and bought their cauldrons, scales, etc. "The boring supplies," Mr. Diggory had called them.
Ollivander's Wand Shop was a peculiar place. The place was tiny and mostly empty, save for a single rickety chair in the corner, which Cedric took. Rows upon rows of tall shelves held thousands of long, skinny boxes, which presumably held wands. The whole place seemed to be covered in a thin layer of dust. The most peculiar part of Ollivander's was, perhaps, Mr. Ollivander himself. He was an elderly man, with wide silvery eyes and pale skin. His hair was white, the color of flour. He was a strange man, muttering to himself as he picked out several wands for Brielle and Cedric to try. Brielle ended up settling on (well, Mr. Ollivander had settled on selling) a 13-inch ash wood wand, with a phoenix feather core. The wand wasn't particularly flexible, at least compared to Cedric's, which was more springy. Cedric's wand was also shorter, and though they both had the same wand wood, Cedric's wand had a unicorn hair core rather than Brielle's phoenix feather. They paid 7 galleons for each wand and Brielle bought a wand polishing kit for them both, mostly because maybe more sales on excess merchandise would help Mr. Ollivander afford a better chair.
Second were robes. Mr. Diggory had yet to return from his shopping endeavor, so Cedric and Brielle decided to go next door, to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Brielle decided she very much preferred Madam Malkin's to Ollivander's. For one, the place was roomier. In fact, you'd assume the shop was about a fourth of its actual size if you were looking in through the outside. It was clearly better taken care of as well, not a speck of dust in sight. The displays were ornately arranged and Brielle could tell Madam Malkin had certainly put more thought into them than Ollivander did his displays. Madam Malkin was a squat woman dressed all in mauve, which matched the color scheme of her shop. Brielle wondered if Madam Malkin dressed all in mauve to match the mauve of her shop, or if she decorated her shop mauve to match her aesthetic. Or maybe it was just a particularly coincidental day.
Madam Malkin was speedier as well, as Brielle and Cedric were able to be in and out within fifteen minutes, By this time, Mr. Diggory had found them and the trio ventured into Flourish and Blotts to buy their course books. Brielle was most excited to visit this shop, ("Magical books!" she had kept saying excitedly. "Books about magic, oh can you imagine, Cedric, can you imagine!") though Cedric was admittedly less enthusiastic.
"Can't we just do this later," he had moaned. "I want to go to Florean Fortescue's, books are boringgg." Brielle didn't understand him, but Mr. Diggory had agreed to get them both ice cream if they didn't complain.
Flourish and Blotts was perhaps the most magical store she had ever been in, even compared to the shops that sold wands or magic broomsticks. Rows upon rows of shelves of books lined the walls. Each aisle was neatly organized with little gold plaques with the names of different genres. There was a vague scent of parchment and ink that fit the academic ambiance in the shop. Though Brielle would rather spend a day with Audrey than admit she took after her mother with her love of books, she most certainly did. Ignoring Cedric's moans and groans, Brielle wandered down each towering shelf shopping for her books and even bought a few books that weren't on the list. The only thing keeping her from buying a copy of each was imagining how it would feel to ask for money again next year. She had to make her galleons stretch for all of her Hogwarts years.
Next door was Magical Menagerie, so the trio took a small detour there. At first, Brielle hadn't thought much of the small note at the bottom of her list that said "Students may bring an owl or a cat or a toad," but now she found it odd. Were the students allowed to bring their... pets into school? Being surrounded by owls, Brielle didn't think she wanted one. Plus, the way they hooted and glared at her almost reminded her of the taunts and glares she got back in Auradon. She half expected the birds to start screeching "Witch! Witch!" at her. While a much less bothered Cedric chose an owl, Brielle wandered over to the cat section.
Brielle had always liked cats, but her parents had never let her get one. Ben was a dog person, and so three years ago they had gotten a border collie that Ben had named Oliver. Their parents had demanded that they compromise and pick an animal they both liked, which as always ended up meaning that Ben got to pick. Despite Ben's insistence that Oliver belonged to both of them, Oliver was Ben's dog. But if Ben got a dog, why shouldn't Brielle get a cat? Scanning the several options, one fluffy ginger cat stuck out to her. Reading the small description next to the cat, she could see that it was a female Persian cat. Cedric had picked out an impressive-looking brown owl that he had already named Darwin, and Brielle started to think about what she should name her cat. She had been reading A Midsummer Night's Dream the other day... what about Titania? The fluffy cat seemed to approve. Titania it was.
As promised, after the pet shop Mr. Diggory took them to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Mr. Fortescue was a nice man, and even gave her three scoops of ice cream when she only asked for two. Somehow, the dessert tasted better than anything she ever tasted in Auradon. Perhaps it was something magical in the way the recipe was created. Or perhaps it was because, for the first time in her life, she was eating her ice cream in the presence of people who enjoyed her company.