A trip to Diagon Alley
Andromeda is lying in her Queen sized bed, her hazel eyes open and staring at the ceiling. So many thoughts are racing through her head, so many she looses track of them, but the one big thought stays. I am leaving for Hogwarts in a few days.
There are nine more days left to be exact. Andromeda has been counting them the whole summer. Bellatrix, her older sister started her second year last September, and she did not stop talking about it, not once! On one side it was cruelly annoying, especially with their parents praising her so much, saying she made “important contacts that will be proven helpful in her future” in her first year and developed them in her second, but on the other side it made her even more excited about what was going to happen. Floating candles in the great hall with every meal you can imagine? Racing on brooms with your friends, feeling the wind in your hair? Brewing mysterious bubbling potions that can make someone suffer an excruciating pain??
A knocking on her door pulls her out of her thoughts. A raspy voice calls for her. “Miss Black, you must wake up. You are awaited for breakfast. Miss Black!”
The girl slowly gets out of bed. She glides into her slippers and walks to the door. Opening it, she finds the family’s house elf, Louise standing there. She sheepishly looks up at Andromeda.
“Good, you’re finally awake. Breakfast has been served in the dining room. Will you need assistance getting ready?”
Andromeda scoffs. “I’ll manage, you are excused.”
“Thank you, Miss Black,” the house elf croaks and leaves, tripping down the hall. The girl closes the door and looks inside her closet, putting on an appropriate morning gown.
After getting herself ready in the bathroom she runs down the staircase, toward the dining room. Arriving at the door she peeks around the corner, seeing that her whole family has been seated and have started eating. She was late again…
Her mother, Druella notices her. “Andromeda, do come to the table. We have already begun.”
She walks up to the table, where one of the other house elves is pulling out a chair for her. She sits down on her seat, right in between her two sisters, her older sister Bellatrix to her right and her younger sister Narcissa to her left.
She sits down and observes the luxurious meal in front of her. Bacon, fried, scrambled and cooked egg, sausages, toast and more… everything she could ask for. She fills her plate, hungrily, when Druella gives her a repulsing look. She slowly puts the second toast she was about to eat back on the pile, earning a slight smile from her mother.
Right, she thinks. I should be eating enough to satisfy my hunger and not one crumb more.
She tries to distract herself from all the other delicates spread out by listening to the conversation at the table. She looks to the right, where Bellatrix is seated. “Mother, father,” she asks, “what do we have planned for today? Will we have any visitors like last week? I did enjoyed the Malfoy’s company and Regulus was such a peach! I can’t believe he is three years old, he was tiny last christmas!”
“To answer your question,” their father Cygnus replies causing Bellatrix to blush a tad, “we do have a suggestion of what we could do today. I know this is short notice, but I thought it would be a nice idea to go to Diagon Alley. What do you say, darling?” The last part is directed towards his wife.
Druella looks at him. “I do not have this planned… it really is short notice. But Andromeda does need robes and all the other supplies since she is staring Hogwarts in a few days, and so does Bellatrix for her third year, and it would be nice for Narcissa to tag along…” Her face turns from her husband to her daughters. The three sisters look up with pleading eyes and small smiles. Druella’s mouth cracks a tiny smile. “All right, we will leave at eleven o’clock,” she says, earning small smiles hugs from her daughters.
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The sisters are delighted. “I didn’t think they would let us go now, I thought it would be next week or so!” Andromeda squeals. After breakfast they all decided to go to the oldest sister’s room, where they are now furiously planning the trip.
Bellatrix, who has been there more times than the others lists a variety of shops they should visit. “We NEED to go to Flourish and Blotts, we can get all our books there!”
“Yes, here is the list of books I will need this year. Do you think they’ll have them all?”
She quickly surveys the list. “Of course, it is the best bookstore in Britain, it will have any book you want. Not like the second hand bookshop. Promise me to not ever go there! Last time it reeked of poor muggles. Oh, and Dree,” the look of disgust that formed on Bellatrix’ face turns into excitement once again as she calls her younger sister by her nickname, “you can finally go to Ollivanders and get your wand! The man himself is a little… strange and eccentric… but I remember when I got my wand last year, it was the most amazing thing!”
Narcissa crosses her arms and pouts, “It’s not fair, I want a wand too!”
“Now now,” Bellatrix says in a slightly angered voice, “we don’t pout here, okay? You get your wand in one year when you attend Hogwarts with us, alright?”
“Okay, I can wait that long.”
“Good,” Andromeda says. “What do you say, should we start getting ready to leave?”
Bellatrix and Narcissa smile. “Yes,” Bellatrix responds. “Everyone to their rooms, and hurry!”
The younger sisters run out of the door, laughing with excitement and rush to their chambers. They are located on the same floor but there is quite some distance between them, since they are all so large. Andromeda runs into her room and closes her door, filled with joy and excitement.
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Barely an hour later Andromeda walks into the living room, wearing her family cloak. It is a cloak that was specially designed for the Black-Rosier family, black robes with waves of green and silver flying across it that were perfectly fitted for all the sisters and the parents. Andromeda remembers the appointments every half a year where they were readjusted. They were dreadful, especially with her mothers remarks on how her body gained too much weight or too much height.
The living room is the most formal and elegant room in the house, with the great fireplace which is always lit on one wall, standing out from everything else – the dark green sofas, the grey tables, even the family heirlooms and jewelry kept in glass boxes all around the room. Like the rest of the house the walls have the same green-silver tapestry, except the wall on the left side of the chimney. This wall is covered with heads and names of the members of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, all connected with branches from a tree, and above it the family motto “Toujours Pur”. Andromeda stops in front of the drawings, examining them. She finds her family history incredibly interesting. The way they have expressed their beliefs for more than a century, to build such an enormous, loyal family is in her opinion incredible.
“Andromeda,” a sudden voice fills the room. She turns around to see her father making his way towards her. Her back straightens a little and she holds her head high. His lips are tilted to a light smile.
“How is my little girl? Are you excited for the trip?”
“Yes father, thank you so much for surprising us! I hope we will have a great time.”
Her father sighs, “I hope so too, and I hope we can leave soon. Why are the others taking so long? It is a form of disrespect. Time is a very valuable thing Andromeda, and I can’t have people throwing mine away.”
“With all due respect father, until now they are only two minutes late. They will be here in just some time.” His words make her wonder, were they talking about her the same way when she was late this morning? She shakes the thought out of her head, just when Druella enters the room.
“Dru!”, her father exclaims. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, darling, we just need to wait for the others. Andromeda, don’t you know where your sisters are?”
“No mother, I don-,“ but before she can finish that sentence, Narcissa and Bellatrix come running into the room, wearing the family cloaks, just like their sister.
“Bellatrix! What have I taught you about running in the house? You should be setting a good example for your sisters!” Cygnus yells, then sighs. “Oh well, we are complete now. Dru, I say we take the floo powder. Bellatrix is old enough to do this on her own, so you take Narcissa and I take Andromeda, alright?”
Andromeda doesn’t know what she was thinking in the moment, maybe it was the fact that she was eleven, or that she will finally be attending Hogwarts soon, or maybe the question just slipped out. She asks, “Father, may I travel alone? I know it can be dangerous but I have watched you do it and it is so easy! And Bellatrix is barely older than me! Please?” She looks up to him pleadingly.
Cygnus thinks about it and gives in. “Alright, fine. You are grown up now, and it may be a great experience for when you go to Hogwarts. You can go alone”, her father says with a little hesitation. “Alright, I will go first, Bellatrix you will follow, then Andromeda and then you two,” he says pointing at Druella and Narcissa.
And so it goes. Cygnus takes a pinch of floo powder out of the vase and throws it into the fire. After a small explosion the small, red fire turns green and almost reaches the top of the fireplace. He steps in the fire, not flinching at all and shouts in a commanding voice “Diagon Alley!”. Then he is gone.
Bellatrix does the exact same thing, though she does flinch when walking into the flames, and after she has disappeared Andromeda steps up. She slowly takes some floo powder and throws it in the fire. She turns and looks at her mother one last time, who gives her an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath she walks into the flames, almost screaming the words Diagon Alley.
Then suddenly Andromeda finds herself spinning around rapidly. She closes her eyes, and hopes, prays she will arrive soon. And then she does.
The next thing Andromeda knows she is standing back on her feet and breathing in the smell of animals. She still has her eyes closed, causing her to fall forward, reaching out her arms, hoping for something the grab onto. She feels her body connecting with another and both fall to the ground. As she opens her eyes she finds herself looking into the darkest, most mysterious eyes she has ever seen. Time suddenly stands still as they stare into each others eyes. The boy blinks and both come to their senses.
“Apologies. Are you alright?” he asks, a grin spreading over his freckled face.
Andromeda’s face turns red and she hurriedly gets on her feet. “Yes, of course I am. And I am so sorry, I didn’t know you were standing there, well I just came out of the fireplace and I didn’t even know people are standing here and… wait. Are you okay? Sorry I should have asked sooner. Can you stand up?” She holds out a hand and curses herself. Why is she ranting like this? And why is she holding out her hand to help up a boy? Isn’t it the other way around? What was happening?
The boy grins, accepts her hand and stands up. “No worries, I’m fine. My name is Ted Tonks.” He doesn’t let go of her hand, but shakes it instead as a welcoming gesture.
Tonks. As hard as Andromeda thinks, the name doesn’t ring a bell. This means he probably isn’t part of the sacred 28 pureblood families. He must be a half-blood, or worse. Andromeda looks him up and down. “Andromeda,” she says coldly, taking back her hand. “I’m sorry. I have to leave.”
She looks around them and realises that she isn’t at Leaky Cauldron as she should be. Instead of tables with waiters and food and drinks she sees all kinds of magical animals stacked in cages along the walls. This is a pet shop! She slowly tries to make her way through the crammed crowd and all these cages, not daring to look back.
Finally making it outside she turns her head and reads the shop sign. It says the shops name is “Magical Menagerie”. She remembers it from when she passed the shop on her trip last year, meaning she did arrive at Diagon Alley. Looking through the store window one more time she sees that boy again. She feels light, as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders. Shaking her head she starts walking to where she remembers the Leaky Cauldron being.