Shopping
A week later and it was the day they had planned to go to Diagon Alley. It was a dull grisly Tuesday and the family got up early as they had to drive up to London. Traveling by flu was much faster, but very uncomfortable. As well as this it was much easier to travel with all their packages by car rather than by flu. Anne was excited that her mind was wandering, she was going to get a wand!
“Anne!” Remus called gently, “eat your breakfast, we need to get going!”
Anne quickly ate her grapes and raspberries which she had completely forgotten about in all the excitement of the day.
“Right everyone!” Sirius announced as she finished her last bite “Cloaks! And put a jumper on kids, it's cold outside!”
Anne rushed upstairs to fetch a purple striped jumper that her grandmother had made for last Christmas. She tried to reach for her cloak on the coatrack trying to jump and down to reach it because she was so short. Sirius chuckled as he handed Anne her deep purple cloak and he took his own off the rack, Remus and Harry were already waiting in their cloaks. They were having to wear cloaks today as it was cold and rainy and they all piled into the car.
It was only half-past seven because they had a long drive up to London. Remus and Sirius both had muggle driving licenses but today it was Sirius’ turn to drive, Remus was going to drive back from London. Anne looked out the window as they drove through the countryside before they eventually joined the motorway. Three and half hours later, they had arrived in London and Sirius parked near the Leaky Cauldron. Even though they had got up so early, it was already eleven o’clock!
They entered the Leaky Cauldron where they were greeted by the landlord “Good Morning!” greeted Tom, “getting your school things? Looks like the Potters are finally going to Hogwarts!”
Remus tried to shush the landlord but it was too late! The pub was suddenly full of people shouting and cheering for Harry Potter! There were people clamoring to shake his hand. Anne started to clam up, there were too many people crowded around and shouting! A few of the patrons were even trying to shake her hand!
“Oi!” yelled Sirius silencing the crowd. “Harry and Anne have some very important shopping to do today! They are only kids please give them space!” The crowd reluctantly backed away and went back to their drinks.
“Are you alright dear?” asked Remus gently as they went into the alleyway outside the pub.
Anne nodded uncertainly. This is why she hated Diagon Alley! It was always full of people clamoring around Harry and her. They made her nervous, all the shouting, and strangers crowding around trying to shake her hand!
They went to Gringotts bank first, they had to get the money out for the school supplies, and Remus wanted to check all the paperwork was in order. Harry and Sirius went down to the vault as Anne didn’t like to ride on Gringotts carts, they made her stomach churn and feel unsafe.
Remus was talking to one of the goblins about arranging for the school fees to be sent directly from the account set aside for the Hogwarts fees to be sent to Hogwarts once a term. Anne meanwhile was chatting away to a young trainee goblin about what it was like to work for the bank.
Once done in the bank they started shopping. They had decided to visit Flourish and Blotts last, as they knew that Anne would want to spend at least two hours in there, and they also didn’t want to have to carry all the heavy books around all the other shops.
They went to the robe shop Madam Malkins first. Harry wasn’t skinny and about average height and Anne was extremely short for her age and also quite skinny.
“Hogwarts dears?” asked Madam Malkin warmly as they came into the shop. As Madam Malkin measured Harry and Anne for their robes, Remus and Sirius tried to look through the cloaks for the black winter cloaks for the twins.
About an hour later, they all left the shop laden down with their new uniforms. As it was now one o’clock, they stopped at Florian and Fortesques were they sold sandwiches as well as ice cream. Anne had a ham sandwich followed by a large strawberry and cream ice cream cone with real pieces of strawberry in it.
After lunch, they went to the apothecary where they bought their potion supplies. Anne enjoyed picking the freshest of all the herbs and plants because Mr. Lovegood had shown her how to tell if a plant was fresh or not when Anne and Luna helped him in the garden. They also went next door to buy their equipment including their telescopes and cauldrons.
Then was Ollivander’s and the wand shop. “Ah, Mr., and Miss Potter! I’ve been expecting you!” Mr. Ollivander said slightly creepily.
Mr. Ollivander's tape measurer started to measure Harry as he told them about the different types of wands. He tried so many different wands and Mr. Ollivander was getting very excited, but eventually, Harry was given the phoenix feather wand. Then it was Anne’s turn she had tried several different wands, one was holly another had a dragon heartstring but none of them had much of an effect.
Eventually, Mr. Ollivander came back with another box. As Mr. Ollivander came back with the box the wand had started to sing softly, as he approached Anne the wand got louder. Mr. Ollivander looked shocked as he handed Anne the wand. Anne took the wand and as she took the wand it stopped singing bit she felt a surge of magic go through bigger than anything she had ever felt before. Anne waved her wand and a collection of pink sparks and even a few small roses came spurting out of her wand.
Remus and Sirius cheered loudly, Mr. Ollivander clapped enthusiastically. “Well that is a surprise!” said Ollivander “I have worked with wands for nearly a hundred years but I have only seen a wand react like this a few times never such a strong connection!” he exclaimed, “Well you will be a great witch I’m sure if you have such a strong connection with your wand!” Remus looked at Anne in shock “Your wand is eleven inches made of Willow with a Unicorn hair core. It is slightly flexible and extremely good at charms.”
Harry and Anne both paid for seven galleons for their wands and they left the shop. “Anne?” asked Remus quietly once they had left the shop “have you been doing any wandless magic?”
“Only levitating books and turning off lights and things” Anne shrugged “I don’t really think about it” she explained. “I haven’t done something wrong haven't I?” Anne asked nervously.
“No of course not!” answered Remus “It's just your mum told me about getting her first wand and how it had started to sing as she got close to it, not as loud as yours did but a similar experience. At the time I thought it was impossible but now I believe her. Your mum used to do a lot of wandless magic before she got her wand” Remus explained.
“Oh!” Anne exclaimed. She had never known that about her mother.
“Your mother was a very powerful witch. If your reaction according to Mr. Ollivander was stronger than any initial reaction he has ever seen, you must an exceptionally powered witch!” Remus pointed out.
Sirius looked down at his watch. “Ok guys it's four o’clock, you can have an hour and a half in the bookshop Anne and then we’ll stop for a burger before starting home.”
Anne in all the excitement of choosing her new wand had forgotten all about the books! Harry didn’t want to spend so long in the bookshop so after a while, Sirius and Harry to go find Harry a new owl. Sirius gave Remus the money for the schoolbooks and an extra fifteen galleons for Anne to spend on any extra books she wanted to get.
Fifteen galleons! Thought Anne as she thought about how many books she could get. She decided that she would get the Standard Book of Spells Grade 2-7, the book list had already required her to get the first book but that still left her another twelve galleons.
She had always enjoyed crystal ball reading and interpreting her tea leaves with the Lovegood’s, so she decided to get a book on basic divination. The assistant recommended a copy of Unfogging the Future which was apparently the assigned book for the OWL Divination course at Hogwarts. Anne wouldn’t be able to start Divination for another two years, but she thought she could still use it for now.
The assistant who by this point was enjoying helping Anne choose her extra books asked what else she was interested in. “I’m quite interested in History!” she told him. She had always enjoyed their lessons on muggle History when learning with Remus, all the different people, and wars
He led her towards where they kept the books on magical history “A History of Magic is very good at course, but it's not particularly detailed as it has to fit so much in one volume!” He showed her the different history books they had. There was a set of five large books Magical History: A Complete Guide. These books covered a period of history in each book and each book was just as long as A History of Magic. She also got a book called Revolutionaries in the Magical World, which had chapters on different wizards such as Merlin who had made advancements in the magical world. She also got a book called Modern Magical History.
Remus and Anne left Anne’s steadily growing stack of books by the till, whilst the assistant helped them get two sets of the books required for the first years, Anne got two extra books on Herbology as she had always enjoyed gardening at the Lovegood’s. There was now a mountain of books between all Harry and Anne’s schoolbooks as well as all Anne’s extra reading. The assistant wrapped up all the books and Remus gave the money whilst Anne started to load the books into her and Harry’s cauldrons which Remus and Anne struggled to pull back onto the street.
Sirius and Harry had just left the pet shop with a large snowy owl in a cage. “Did you two leave anything behind in the bookshop!” Sirius exclaimed as Harry and Sirius came over to help with all the parcels with Harry and Anne’s school things in.
They struggled their way through the Leaky Cauldron and lifted the two full cauldrons and assorted over parcels into the boot of the car. They all went to a burger bar for a quick meal before heading back to Devon. Anne picked all the toppings off her burger which Harry happily ate for her. After dinner, they all piled back into the car for the drive home.
It was past six and it had been a long day and Anne snuggled back into her seat wrapping herself up in her cloak as she looked out the window. When they got back to Elm Place it was gone ten o’clock and Anne had fallen asleep in the back of the car. Remus lifted her carefully out of the car and carried her up to her room, he helped her off with her cloak, and she’s and then put her to bed still wearing her jeans and jumper.