~ Diagon Alley ~
The next morning, Harry woke up early.
He knew it was already morning, but he kept his eyes shut tight.
"It was a dream," he said firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me and Lucy we were going to school for wizards and witches. When I open my eyes, I'll be at home in our room."
Suddenly he heard a loud tapping sound.
And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, heart sinking.
But he kept his eyes closed. It had been a beautiful dream.
Tapp.
Tapp.
Tapp.
"All right," Harry murmured. "We're getting up."
He straightened and Hagrid's heavy cloak fell from his shoulders.
Sunlight flooded the hut; the storm had died down.
Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and an owl, a newspaper in its beak, tapped the window with its claw.
His sister was still sleeping peacefully.
Harry picked himself up, careful not to wake Lucy.
He was so happy that it felt like a big balloon was swelling inside him.
He walked straight to the window and opened it.
The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on Hagrid's stomach.
However, he slept soundly.
The owl fluttered to the ground and began pecking at Hagrid's robes.
"Don't do that."
Harry tried to shoo the owl away, but it angrily pecked at him and continued to shred the robes.
"Hagrid!" Harry said loudly.
"There's an owl–"
"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.
"What?"
"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."
Hagrid's cloak seemed to consist of nothing but bags:
bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, mint humbugs, teabags…
Eventually he pulled out a handful of strange looking coins.
"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.
"Knuts?"
"The little bronze ones."
Harry counted out five small bronze coins.
The owl stuck out one leg and he put the money in a leather pouch tied to it.
Then she fluttered away through the open window.
Hagrid yawned loudly and sat up, stretching his limbs.
"Best be off, Harry and Lucy, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy" all yer stuff fer school."
Harry put his hand on Lucy's shoulder and shook her awake.
While Lucy woke up, Harry thoughtfully turned the coins between his fingers.
A thought had just occurred to him that had pricked the lucky balloon inside him.
"Um– Hagrid?"
"Mm?" Hagrid was just putting on his huge boots.
"We haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night– he won't pay for us to go and learn magic."
"Don't worry about that," Hagrid said.
He got up and scratched his head.
"D'yer think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything."
"But if their house was destroyed–" Harry pointed out.
"They didn't keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."
"Wizards have banks?" Harry asked in astonishment.
Lucy looked at her brother with a not serious 'how stupid are you?'–look.
Her brother was aware of it, of course, and stuck his tongue out at her.
"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."
Harry dropped his sausage.
"Goblins?"
"Yeah– so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe -'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business."
Hagrid straightened proudly.
"He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you– gettin' things from Gringotts– knows he can trust me, see."
"Got everthin'? Come o, then."
The twins followed Hagrid out onto the rocks.
The sky was clear now and the sea shimmered in the sunlight.
The boat Uncle Vernon had rented was still there.
A lot of water had accumulated on the ground.
"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for a second boat.
"Flew," said Hagrid.
"Flew?"
"Yeah– but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh," Hagrid explained.
The three got into the boat.
The two children sat across from Hagrid.
Lucy and Harry didn't weigh nearly as much as Hagrid, so his side of the boat had sunk deeper in the water than hers.
Harry kept staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.
"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another one of his sideways looks.
"If I was ter– er– speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts"
"Of course not."
"We won't say a word," said Lucy and Harry at the same time.
Both were excited to see more of Hagrid's magic.
The giant pulled out the pink umbrella, smacked it twice gently against the side of the boat, and off they went toward the land.
"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.
"Spells– enchantments," said Hagrid, opening his newspaper
Lucy thought that the words 'spells and enchantments' were really interesting.
And she didn't know exactly what that meant, but she wondered if she would be able to do something like that later.
"What exactly does that mean?" Lucy wanted to know.
"They say there's dragons guardin' the high-security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way-Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."
Lucy nodded and thought about it while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet.
Lucy and Harry knew from Uncle Vernon that adults wanted to be left alone when they read the newspaper.
And even if it was difficult for them now because they had never had so many questions on their minds.
"Ministry o' Magic messin' things as usual," Hagrid grumbled, turning the page.
"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry blurted out.
"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so cold Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So, he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."
"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?" Lucy inquired.
She could imagine the Ministry of Magic being like the Muggle government.
"Well, their main job it to keep if from the Muggels that there's still witches n' wizards uo an' down the country," Hagrid explained.
"Why?"
"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."
At that moment, the boat bumped gently into the harbour wall.
Hagrid folded the newspaper, and they climbed the stone steps to the street.
People gaped at Hagrid as the two walked through the small town to the train station.
Harry couldn't blame them.
Not only was Hagrid twice the size of everyone else, but he was also pointing at ordinary things like parking meters while shouting aloud: "See that, guys? Things these Muggels dream up, eh?!"
"Hagrid," said Harry.
He and Lucy were a little out of breath having to run to keep up with Hagrid.
"Did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"
"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."
"You'd like to have a dragon?" Lucy asked in disbelief.
Dragons were dangerous.
At least that's what Lucy imagined when they were guarding dungeons.
"Wanted on ever since I was a kid - there we go."
They had arrived at the train station. There was a train for London in five minutes.
Hagrid, unfamiliar with what he called 'Muggle money', handed the twins some bills, which they used to buy tickets.
On the train, people stare even more at Hagrid, who took up two seats, knitting what appeared to be a canary– yellow circus tent during the ride.
"Still got yer letters?" he asked while counting the stitches.
Lucy and Harry pulled the parchment envelopes from their pockets.
"Good," said Hagrid.
"There's a list there of everything yeh need."
Lucy unfolded a second piece of parchment and read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF
WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
- Three sets of plain work robes (black)
- One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
- One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
- One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
SET BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
"Can buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.
"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.
The twins had never been to London bevor.
Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, but obviously he wasn't used to getting there the normal way.
He got tangled up in the underground turnstile and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.
"I don't know how muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led onto a busy, shop-lined street.
Hagrid was such a giant that he could easily drive a wedge through the crowd, and Lucy and Harry had only to stay close behind him.
They passed bookstores and music stores, fast food restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere looked as if there were wands for sale.
This was an ordinary street full of ordinary people.
Could it really be those heaps of wizard gold were buried many miles below them?
Were there really shops that sold spell books and brooms?
Was all this just some big joke the Dursleys had planned?
That's what Harry might have thought if he hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humour whatsoever.
But even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was simply unbelievable, he just couldn't help but trust him.
"This it is," said Hagrid, stopping.
"To the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
Their eyes darted from the big bookstore on one side to the record store on the other, as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all.
In fact, Lucy felt like only she, Harry, and Hagrid saw it.
But before he could open his mouth,
Hagrid pushed him through the door.
For a famous place it was very dark and shabby.
A couple of old women were sitting in a corner, drinking sherry from small glasses.
One of them smoked a long pipe.
A short man in a top hat was talking to the old innkeeper, who was completely bald and looked like a sticky walnut.
As they entered, the low hum of conversation stopped.
Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the innkeeper reached for a glass: "The usual, Hagrid?"
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, slapping Harry on the shoulder with his large hand that made him kneel.
"Good Lord," said the innkeeper, peering over at Lucy and Harry, "is this - can this be -?"
All of a sudden, the Leaky Cauldron went dead quiet.
"Bless my soul," the old bartender whispered.
"Harry and Lucy Potter… what an honour."
He hurried out from behind the bar, strode briskly towards the twins and, tears in his eyes, grabbed first Harry's hand and then Lucy's.
"Welcome back, Mr Potter. Welcome back, Miss Potter."
Lucy did not know what to say. All eyes were on her and hers.
The girl didn't like being the centre of attention and would have preferred to crawl into the next corner.
There was a great chair-shuffle in the Leaky Cauldron, and one after the other the guests shook hands with Lucy and Harry.
"Doris Crockford, Mr Potter, Miss Potter, can't believe I'm meeting on the Leaky Cauldron."
"So, Mr and Miss Potter, I'm just so proud."
"Always wanted to shake your hands - I'm all of a flutter."
"Delighted, Mr Potter, Miss Potter, just can't tell you. Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."
"I've seen you before!" Harry exclaimed as Daedalus Diggle lost his top hat in excitement.
"You bowed to me and Lucy once in a shop. Didn't he, Lucy?"
"Yes, that's right, I remember," said Lucy.
At least now the red-haired eleven-year-old knew who the man was. Aunt Petunia would freak out.
"You remember it!" exclaimed Daedalus Diggle and looked around.
"Did you hear that? They remember me!
Lucy and Harry shook hands here and hands there- Doris Crockford couldn't get enough.
All the while Lucy wondered why everyone thought that she and Harry were special.
Did people really think they were special just because the twins survived? Especially because of something they couldn't remember.
A pale young man made his way forward. He seemed extremely nervous and one of his eyes twitched.
"Professor Quirrell!", Hagrid greeted the man.
"Harry, Lucy, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."
"Mr P- P- Potter and M- Miss Potter", stammered Professor Quirrell, "c - can't t - tell you how p - pleased I am to meet you."
"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?" Lucy asked. "D-Defence Against the D-Dark Arts," Professor Quirrell murmured, as if he'd rather not think about it.
"N-not that one of you n-need it, eh?"
He laughed nervously.
"You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself."
Just thinking about it made him look terribly scared.
Lucy couldn't imagine someone as insecure as Professor Quirrell teaching them how to defend themselves against evil witches, wizards, and creatures.
The rest would not let Professor Quirrell talk to Lucy and Harry alone.
It took almost ten minutes to get rid of everyone. Hagrid was finally able to make his voice heard in the general commotion.
"Must got on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry and Lucy."
Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time.
Hagrid led the twins through the pub and out into a small walled courtyard where there was nothing but a dustbin and a few weeds.
Hagrid grinned at Lucy and Harry.
"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you were famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."
"Is he always that nervous?"
"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some first-hand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject -now, where's me umbrella?"
Goblins? vampires? Lucy was totally fascinated. If there were vampires, were there werewolves, too?
That would be awesome, Lucy thought.
She really hoped that she would eventually meet a werewolf if they were real.
While Lucy let her mind wander, Hagrid counted the bricks on the wall above the trash can.
"Three up... two across..." he murmured. "Right, stand back, yeh two."
He tapped the wall three times with the tip of the umbrella.
The stone he had tapped on shook, wobbled, and a small crack appeared in the middle.
It widened and a second later they were in front of an archway big enough even for Hagrid.
It led out onto a cobbled lane that ended in a tight bend.
"Lucy, Harry, welcome to Diagon Alley," said Hagrid.
Harry and Lucy's stunned looks made him smile impishly.
Without taking their eyes off the road, they both tapped their left shoulder synchronously before they fist bumped.
They stepped through the archway.
The sun lit up a stack of cauldrons in front of a shop door.
Cauldrons -All Sizes- Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver -Self-stirring- Collapsible said a sign above their heads.
'Yeah, you'll be needin' one,' said Hagrid, 'but we gotta get yer money first.'
Lucy turned her head in all directions as they walked down the street, trying to see everything at once: the shops, the displays in front of the doors, the people shopping there.
A plump woman was standing in front of an apothecary, and as they passed, she said, shaking her head: "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."
Muffled hooting of owls came from a darkened shop
A sign above the entrance read: Eeylops Owl Store - Barn, Brown and Snowy Owls.
Some boys of Lucy's and Harry's age pressed their noses against a shop window with brooms.
"Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever-"
Some shops only sold cloaks, other telescopes, and strange silver instruments Lucy had never seen before.
There were shop windows crammed with barrels of bat spleens and eel eyes, rickety stacks of spell books, quills, scrolls of parchment, potion bottles, moon globes...
"Gringotts," said Hagrid.
They had arrived in front of a snow-white house that towered high above the small shops.
Beside the polished bronze gate, in a scarlet uniform embroidered with gold, stood a-
"Yeah, that's a goblin," Hagrid said quietly as they climbed the stone steps to him.
The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry and only slightly shorter than Lucy.
He had a dark-skinned, intelligent face, a goatee, and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and large feet.
With a bow he showed her inside.
Again, they faced a set of double doors, silver this time, engraved with the following words:
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.
"Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.
A pair of goblins bowed as they passed through the silver door into a vast marble hall.
A hundred or so goblins sat on high stools behind a long counter, scribbled numbers in large folios, weighed coins on brass scales, and examined gems with watchmaker's loupes tucked under their brows.
Countless doors led to adjoining rooms, and other goblins ushered people in and out.
Hagrid and the twins stepped in front of the counter.
"Morning," said Hagrid.
"We've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry and Miss Lucy Potter's safe."
"You have their key, sir?" asked the goblin.
"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, beginning to empty his pockets and spread their contents out on the counter.
As he did so, he spilled a handful of crumbly dog biscuits all over the goblin's ledger.
He wrinkled his nose.
Lucy watched the goblin on her right weigh a pile of rubies the size of egg coals.
"Got it," Hagrid finally said, holding a small golden key in front of the goblin's nose.
The goblin took a good look at him.
"That seems to be in order."
"An' l've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest.
"It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen"
The goblin read the letter carefully.
"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid. "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"
Griphook was a goblin too.
Once Hagrid had stuffed all his dog biscuits back into his pockets, he and Lucy and Harry followed Griphook to one of the doors leading out of the hall.
"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?", Harry asked.
Lucy also looked at him briefly with a questioning look.
"Can't tell yeh that," Hagrid said mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."
Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who was expecting more marble, was surprised.
They were now in a narrow stone corridor lit by blazing torches.
Narrow railway tracks were set into the ground, leading steeply down.
Griphook whistled and a small cart trundled up the rails towards them.
They climbed in and sat down - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.
First, they drove through a maze of crossing corridors.
The rattling cart seemed to know where it was going because it wasn't Griphook steering it.
Once Lucy thought she saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and turned around quickly, because maybe it was a dragon - but too late.
Proceeding deeper, they passed an underground lake with huge stalactites and stalagmites sprouting from the ceiling and floor.
"I never know," Harry called out to Hagrid over the noisy rattling of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"
"Stalagmites got an 'm' in it," Hagrid said. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."
His face was green.
Lucy leaned towards her brother.
"Stalagmites are on the floor and stalactites are hanging from the ceiling," she told him.
When the cart finally pulled up next to a small door in the wall of the underground passage.
Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to steady his shaking knees.
Griphook unlocked the door.
A puff of green smoke erupted, and when it cleared, Harry caught his breath.
Inside were mounds of gold coins, columns of silver, and heaps of little bronze knuts.
"All yours, guys," said Hagrid, smiling.
Everything belonged to Lucy and Harry– that was unbelievable.
The Dursleys couldn't have known about it, or they could have taken it from them faster than they could blink.
How many times had they complained about how much it costs them to take care of Lucy and Harry?
And all along, a small fortune belonging to them had been buried deep beneath the streets of London.
Hagrid helped the children put some of the treasures in a bag.
"The gold ones are galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough."
Lucy nodded and tried to remember.
"Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh."
He turned to Griphook.
"Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"
"One speed only," Griphook said.
They descended even deeper now and gradually gained speed.
As they sped through sharp turns, the air grew colder.
Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.
"Stand back," Griphook said in a foreboding voice.
With one long finger he gently stroked the door - which just melted away.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there", Griphook said.
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?", ask Harry.
"About once in every ten years," Griphook said with a nasty grin.
Something very special had to be kept in this high-security dungeon, the twins were sure of it.
Lucy poked her nose in eagerly to see at least a few fabulous jewels - but at first glance everything seemed empty.
Then she noticed a dirty package wrapped in brown paper on the floor.
Hagrid picked it up and tucked it away somewhere in the depths of his cloak.
Lucy would have liked to know what it was, but he knew better not to ask.
"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut", Hagrid said.
After another hair-raising ride on the cart, they were finally back outside Gringotts, squinting in the sunlight.
Now that Lucy and Harry had bags of money, they didn't know where to run first.
They didn't have to know how many galleons were in a pound to realize they had never had so much money in their lives.
More money than even Dudley had ever had.
"Might as well get yer uniforms," said Hagrid, nodding at Madam Malkin's suits for All Occasions.
"'Listen, you two, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."
He still looked a little pale.
"Of course not," said Lucy.
And so, the slightly nervous twins entered Madam Malkin's shop alone.
Madam Malkin was a stocky, smiling which dressed in mauve from head to toe.
"Hogwarts, dears?" she said as soon as Harry opened his mouth.
Lucy and Harry were led in different directions.
Lucy stood on a small pedestal and the salesperson began to measure her.
"You go to Hogwarts, right," she prompted again.
Lucy nodded. She went into another room, probably to get the robes or something.
"Hi." Startled, Lucy looked to the side.
On another pedestal stood a girl her own age.
She had light brown hair, light brown skin (a bit lighter than her brothers) and gray eyes.
"Hello. I'm Lucy. And you?"
"Ophelia."
Lucy held out her hand.
"Are you a first year, too?" Lucy asked Ophelia.
Ophelia nodded.
Unfortunately, they could not talk further as the other girl got her cloaks.
"See you at Hogwarts," Ophelia said goodbye.
She jumped down from the small dais, paid for her robes and left the shop.
"Yeah, see you then." Lucy smiled.
If the others in her year were as friendly as Ophelia, nothing could go wrong
A little later Lucy was also finished, and she left the shop where Hagrid and Harry were already waiting for the girl.
While Lucy couldn't stop talking, Harry ate his ice cream in silence.
"What's up?" said Hagrid.
"Nothing," Harry lied.
Lucy saw through her twin right away, but she did not want to force him into anything unless he wanted to talk about it.
They went into a shop to buy parchment and quills.
Harry's spirits lifted slightly when they bought a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote.
When they were outside, he said, "Hagrid, what is Quidditch?"
Quidditch? What the heck was that?
"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh an' Lucy know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"
"Don't make me feel worse," Harry said.
He told Hagrid and Lucy about the pale boy at Madam Malkin's.
"- and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in -"
"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizard-in' folk - you saw 'em in the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles-look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"
"So what's Quidditch now?" Lucy asked.
"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like football in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."
"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"
"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but–"
"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," Harry said gloomily.
"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly.
"There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one!"
Lucy frowned.
She could not imagine that everyone in Slytherin was evil, or that everyone who was evil was in their school time in Slytherin.
"Vol-, 'sorry- You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"
"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.
They bought Lucy and Harry's school books from a shop called Flourish & Blotts.
The shelves there were crammed to the ceiling with leather-bound books the size of paving stones; others were as small as postage stamps and bound in silk
Many books contained strange symbols, and there were also some with nothing in them at all.
Even Dudley, who never read, would have been keen on some of these.
Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from works like Curses and Counter-Curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.
Lucy was also disappointed when Hagrid forbade her to buy a thick book about dark curses.
"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley!" Harry explained to Hagrid as the three of them left the store.
"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special cir-cumstances," Hagrid said.
"An' yeh couldn't handle those curses yet anyway, Lucy. Yeh still have a lot ter learn before yeh can do that. Also, Lucy, stay away from dark magic. It's no good."
Hagrid didn't want Harry to buy a solid gold cauldron either ('it says pewter on yer list'), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing the ingredients for the potions, and collapsible brass telescopes.
Then they stopped by the apothecary.
It smelled terribly of a mixture of rotten eggs and rotting cabbage, but there were many interesting things to see.
The shelves along the walls were crammed with jars containing herbs, dried roots, and bark-coloured powders; tufts of feathers, fangs strung on strings, and bundles of claws hung from the ceiling.
While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a selection of essential potion ingredients for Harry and Lucy, Harry himself examined the silver unicorn horns at twenty-one galleons each and the tiny shiny black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).
Outside the pharmacy, Hagrid glanced at the list again.
"Just yer wands left - oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."
Lucy felt herself blush.
"You don't have to get us–" Lucy began.
But Hagrid waved her off and would not be dissuaded from his plan.
The store was cramped and shabby.
Above the door, in peeling gold letters, it said: Ollivander - Good wands since 382 BC. A single wand lay on a faded crimson pillow in the dusty window. They walked in, and from somewhere at the back of the store came the high-pitched ringing of a bell.
The room was small and empty except for a single straddle-legged chair.
Harry felt so alien here, as if he had entered a library under extremely strict supervision.
Lucy looked at the thousands of oblong boxes neatly stacked to the ceiling.
For some reason, their necks were tingling.
Just the dust and silence here tickled him with a secret magic.
"'Good afternoon."
An old man stood before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the store.
"Ladies first, I suppose."
"Seems like your mother was here herself just yesterday and bought her first wand. Ten and a quarter inch long. wwichy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Mr Ollivander approached.
Lucy wished he would blink once. Those silver eyes were a bit creepy.
"Your dad, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your dad favoured it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course. Your Father got a wand made out of pine wood, 11 inch, pliant flexibility, dragon heartstring."
Lucy could see her reflection in Mr. Ollivander's misty eyes.
"And that's where…"
Mr Ollivander turned to Harry and pointed a long white finger at the lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it", he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands ... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"
He shook his head.
"Now to you, Miss Potter. Let's see."
From his pocket he pulled a long tape measure with silver lines.
"Which hand is your wand arm?"
"Er - I'm right-handed," Lucy answered the question, hoping her answer was of some use.
"Hold out your arm. That's it."
He measured Lucy from shoulder to fingertips, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to feet, knee to crook of arm, and finally ear to ear.
As he worked with the tape measure, he said:
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr und Miss Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
Mr Ollivander scurried between the shelves, taking down boxes.
"That will do," he said, and the tape measure purred into a heap on the floor
"Right then, Miss Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."
Lucy picked up her wand and waved it back and forth a little (feeling silly), but Mr Ollivander immediately snatched the wand away from her.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try- "
Lucy tried, but no sooner had she raised her wand than Mr Ollivander snatched it from him as well.
"No, no - here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
But Mr Olivander took that wand from her as well.
Then he went back to the shelf.
This time the older wizard was looking for a specific wand.
He pulled out a certain oblong box and re-joined Lucy and Harry.
Mr Ollivander handed Lucy the wand and watched intently what happened.
As soon as Lucy had the wand in her hand, she felt her fingers tingle and the tip of the wand began to glow.
She had a feeling that, in some way, the wand understood.
"I knew it," Mr. Ollivander murmured, giving the twins a wry smile. "10/2 inch, stabil, dragon heartstring and mahogany."
The older wizard was putting away the remaining wands when the shop door opened, and Hagrid stepped into the shop.
"Happy birthday," he said.
Hagrid kept a large cage with a snowy owl for Harry and a carrier with a small black, baby cat for Lucy.
The twins thanked Hagrid several times, who sat down in the small chair as Mr Ollivander re-joined them again.
"'Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"
"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.
"Er– yes they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet.
"'I've still got the pieces, though," he added, beaming.
"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.
"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly.
Lucy noticed that Hagrid was clutching his pink umbrella tightly as he spoke.
"Hmmm," said Mr Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look.
Then he turned to Harry.
Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for.
The second stack of discarded wands on the stool kept growing, but the more wands Mr Ollivander pulled off the shelves, the happier he seemed to get.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes, why not-unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Harry grabbed the wand. Suddenly he felt warmth in his fingers.
He raised the staff over his head and brought it down through the dusty air.
A stream of red and gold sparks shot out from the top like fireworks, throwing dancing spots of light onto the walls.
Hagrid hooted and clapped, and Mr Ollivander exclaimed, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious... "
He put Harry's wand back in the box, still mumbling: "'Curious… curious..."
"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"
Mr Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.
"I remember every wand l've ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other 1
very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand. When its brother - why, its brother gave you that scar!"
Harry swallowed.
"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember ... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter… both of you... After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."
The twins shuddered. They weren't sure if they liked Mr Ollivander or not.
They each paid seven gold galleons for their wands and Mr. Ollivander bowed them out the door.
The late afternoon sun was low in the sky as the twins and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the Wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now deserted.
Lucy looked back at each store as they passed before exiting Diagon Alley
Harry was silent as they walked down the street.
He did not even notice how many people on the tube gaped at them, laden as they were with their strange packages and the sleeping snowy owl on Harry's lap
They went up another escalator and out onto Paddington Station.
Harry didn't realize where they were until Hagrid clapped him on the shoulder.
"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.
He bought three hamburgers for himself, Lucy, and Harry, and they sat down on the plastic seats to eat.
Harry kept looking around.
Everything seemed strange to him.
Lucy was now thinking too. From now on, her and Harry's whole lives would change.
They would go to the same school as their parents. And that meant they could learn more about them.
"You all right, Harry? Yer both very quiet," said Hagrid.
Harry didn't quite know how to explain it. He had just spent the best birthday of his life.
And yet, he was chewing on his hamburger, trying to find the right words.
"Everyone thinks we're special," Harry finally said.
"All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? We're famous and we can't even remember what we're famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol- sorry - I mean, the night our parents died."
Hagrid leaned across the table.
Lucy saw a loving smile behind the wild beard and bushy eyebrows.
"Don' you worry, Lucy an' Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yehself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts-I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."
Hagrid helped the twins onto the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.
"Yer tickets ter Hogwarts," he said.
"First o' September-King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me… See yeh soon."
The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he sat up and pressed his nose against the window.
But he blinked and Hagrid was gone.