Chapter 12: Diagon Alley
1st August 1991, London
It was some time after breakfast. I was relaxing on one of the armchairs in the small library in the common room and reading The Pit and the Pendulum, one of the short stories from E. A. Poe, when I heard a knocking on the front door of the orphanage. I returned the book without putting a bookmark as I already read it before. In the library were not that many books worth reading from my point of view. And the few books that I found interesting, I read multiple times already.
There was not much I could do to entertain myself as I was currently back in the 90s. My current hobbies were reading, practicing my magic and demonic energy control, making origami, flying, and scaring others.
Hmm, hunting bad people is also fun sometimes, and it has the sweet reward in the form of their dark souls. The darker the color of the soul, the better its taste and strengthening effect. Ordinary grey souls taste bland and give me almost nothing. And a pure soul I have not tasted yet as I haven't any luck in finding a person with a pure soul. Until now the only pure souls that I saw were the souls of babies. Although I am a Demon now, I am not a monster that eats the souls of a babies or children. I may have slowly lost most of my humanity and morals after my reincarnation, but there are still things that I wouldn't do.
I walked to the door as I was closet to it at the moment and I know who is behind the door thanks to my magic sense that I created and honed myself. And they said that they will come today.
I opened the door and greeted the older which with her black hair combed back into a tight bun and a stern face. "Hello, Professor McGonagall."
Hello, Ms. Green. I will have a few words with the adults so please get ready to go outside in the meanwhile." She said in a teacher-like tone.
I quickly went to my room and changed from my black leggings into jeans and put on my green hoodie. I put Woody from my hair into one of the pockets of my hoodie. If I let him hang on my braid I would be most likely be bothered by other people in Diagon Alley. He could conceal himself, but then I would have to come up with a reason why I didn't take him with me if McGonagall asked me. Which is a bother. And I can't tell her that Woody can turn invisible.
I went back to the hallway and put on my black sneakers. McGonagall was just finishing her conversation with the Director. I then went outside with the older witch while the Director waved at me and wished me a safe trip.
"Are you bringing your Bowtruckle with you?" The Transfiguration Professor asked.
"He is in my pocket," I answered.
After a short walk, McGonagall stopped and pulled out her wand. "We will travel to Leaky Cauldron, where the entrance to Diagon Alley is, by Knight Bus. It's one of the most used means of transportation for wizardkind." She said and stuck her wand in the air. She then started telling me a few things about the Wizarding World until she was interrupted by the loud sound of the purple triple-decker appearing before us.
The door on the bus's end opened and a conductor in a purple uniform and unkempt appearance greeted us in a bored tone without even looking at us. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve—" He paused after he noticed McGonagall's stern face. "—Oh, Greetings Professor. Are you introducing another Muggle-born to the world of magic?" He asked when his gaze fell on me.
"Greetings Mr. Shunkpike. Two tickets to the Leaky Cauldron, please." Said the older witch.
"That will be twenty-two Sickles. If you add another two Sickles, you will get a hot chocolate for the little miss." McGonagall paid twenty-four Sickled after she felt my burning stare.
We boarded the bus. Inside were a lot of seats that were not bolted down. There were already few people inside and all of them were clothed as if they came straight from a Victorian era. Some luggage was lying randomly everywhere.
When seated themselves and a small cup of hot chocolate soon floated into my hands. I took a sip snd it tasted really good. I love chocolate. It's another one of the new traits that I blame Agony for. Like my very big appetite.
McGonagall suddenly cast two spells on us and I felt her magic keeping me glued to the seat. "These were Sticking Charms, they will keep us on our seats during the ride. And make sure that you don't spill the hot chocolate on me." I nodded.
The bus drove off like a racing car and after a fast and furious ride full of twists and turns, and some luggage and even passengers flying around us, we arrived before Leaky Cauldron, a pub located on a Charing Cross Road.
McGonagall walked out with unsteady steps and a slightly pale face while I calmly got out, finishing my cup of hot chocolate.
{This was fun and we even got chocolate. We should ride on that thing more often from now on.} Agony said in my head I could only agree to that.
We went into the pub and I could already feel a lot of wards around the building and behind it, where Diagon Alley should be. The Leaky Cauldron looked really old from the outside and even from the inside. Like a few hundred years old, but it looked rather clean. Must be because of house elves and Cleaning Charms.
McGonagall said that we arrived rather early so we had to wait. We sat at the bar counter and the older witch started to talk with the pub's owner, Tom. He even offered me a free drink as a welcome to the Wizarding World. He seems nice. I accepted the drink, it was something called Butterbeer. But after the initial sip, I didn't even touch it. That's not a drink, that's an abomination.
I fell into my thoughts. It was 1st of August today, so Harry Potter should currently be staying in one of the rooms upstairs after he visited Diagon Alley with Hagrid yesterday. I activated my Soul Sight and looked above me and I soon noticed a very shiny and rather pure soul with a small black blob latched onto it. Found him. He has the most powerful soul that I have seen until now. As expected from a protagonist. That small black blob should be a part of Voldemort's soul. Looks tasty.
I licked my lips.
McGonagall interrupted me from my thoughts, saying that the others are here. I walked with her in the direction of a group of three families that were the only normally clothed people apart from me in this pub. The adults looked at the things and people around them with sceptical gazes.
"You came perfectly on time." Said McGonagall and then she introduced us.
The first was the Finch-Fletchley family. As their double-barrelled surname implies, they are an upper class family as one can see from their clothes and the haughty air around them. Justin Finch-Fletcher was a rather lanky boy with brown eyes and brown hair, neatly combed to the side.
The second was the Perks family. It was a duo of mother and daughter, Sally-Anne Perks, she was a slightly chubby blond-haired bespectacled girl.
The last was the Granger family. A couple, both of them dentists, with their daughter, Hermione Granger, a bushy brown-haired girl with bright brown eyes and rather large front teeth.
After some words, which were mostly questions from a certain bushy-haired witch, McGonagall led us to the rear of the pub which opened up onto a small courtyard. We stopped before a large brick wall and the older witch pulled out her wand and tapped a brick that was located three up and two across from the rubbish bin. Then under others' amazed and my bored eyes, a large archway formed in the wall.
We stepped into the Diagon Alley and I could feel a lot of magic everywhere around us. Others gasped and marveled at the sight of the magical shopping district full of shops and restaurants that lined up along long cobblestone paths. The shopping district was busy as it was only a month before the start of school. There were a lot of strangely dressed people and a lot of owls were flying above us.
I felt nothing apart from a slight irritation because of the big crowd before us that we would have to go through during the shopping. I have already been to Diagon Alley before when I sneaked here using Apparition at night to hunt some tasty snacks for Agony and myself. Well, I mostly went to Knockturn Alley as there was a bigger selection of dark souls to choose from. And in addition, it wasn't uncommon for someone to suddenly disappear there.
We first walked to Gringotts Wizarding Bank, a towering snow-white building on the north side of Diagon Alley. A set of white stairs led up to a set of big bronze doors that were guarded by goblins in scarlet and gold uniforms with spears in their hands. The door led to a small entrance hall with another set of doors, this time made from silver, with words engraved on them.
[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.]
{Sounds like a challenge.} Agony said in an eager voice and I could only agree and I already had a plan to rob a certain vault in the future. And maybe another few on the way if I will be there already.
We walked through the silver door into a vast marble hall with long counters along both sides of the long hall. Atop the long counters sat goblins that looked down at us over their long pointy noses.
McGonagall led us to a free counter and withdrew enough money from the Hogwarts fund for orphans for all the things I would need. I wasn't feeling ashamed at all. I will get everything I need for free so for me, it was a win.
After that, the Transfiguration Professor helped the others to exchange their Muggle currency into wizarding money. After that, we left the bank and started our shopping trip for school supplies.
At Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, I requested Madam Malkin if she could make my uniform with pants instead of the skirt. She agreed to my request with an understanding smile on her face.
McGonagall didn't buy me an owl as it wasn't necessary and she said that Hogwarts has an owlery with owls that students can use. Might as well get my owl by myself.
The visit to Flourish and Blotts, where we got our course books, ended up being rather long as the Granger couple decided to buy an extra book for their little witch. Hermione walked through the whole bookstore until she decided that she wants a book named 'Hogwarts: A History'.
She really is a bookworm. I thought while I was going through some interesting books on potions.
{Hypocritical much.}
I don't know what you are talking about Agony.
The shopping trip ended with the most anticipated destination for the young wizard and witches in our group: the wand shop. The building was narrow and shabby with peeling gold letters over the door of the shop that read 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.' The shop's display consisted of a solitary wand lying on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
A brass bell chimed as we entered the store. The shop was rather tiny but it was filled with towering shelves filled with narrow boxes that were reaching the ceiling of the shop. I scrunched my nose as there was dust everywhere in the shop, making a dust layer on almost anything in sight.
In the shop was only an old man with white hair and pale silver eyes that were curiously peering at us.
"Greetings, Mr. Ollivander." Said the older witch.
"Ah, Greetings Minerva. Nine and a half inches, fir and dragon heartstring." He said to the with and then looked at the rest of us. "I see, I see, another little wizard and witches here to get their wands. And there is no better place to get your wand than Ollivanders. But have in mind that it's not the wizard that chooses his wand, but the wand that chooses its wielder." He walked toward us and from his pocket pulled out a long tape measure with silver markings. "Well, who will go first?" He asked us with twinkling eyes.
Hermione went first. After a few tries, she got her wand. Ten and three-quarter inches, made from vine wood and dragon heartstring as a core. Ollivander then started saying something about the meaning of the wand wood and its core.
After Hermione went Justin and then Sally-Anne. I didn't pay attention to them as I felt with my magic something in the shop reaching for me.
It was finally my turn but the old man didn't say anything to me or measure my wand arm. He just stared at me with a grave expression but his silver eyes were twinkling with interest. I didn't know what his problem was and started back at him with my emotionless eyes. After a while, he averted his eyes and disappeared somewhere in the back of the shop.
He soon returned with a few pure black wand boxes that he placed before me and opened them. "These are wands with Thestral tail hair as the core. This core is very unstable and difficult to use in wand making. Only the best of the Wandmakers could make wands with this core. Everyone in my family tried to create a wand with this core that could rival the legendary Elder Wand. But although a few of these wands were successfully created, none of them has ever chosen a wielder, and they refuse to be used by anyone. A few times it even turned dangerous." He said in a serious tone. "But I have a feeling that one of them will find their rightful wielder."
I looked over the wands. All of them looked simple but the magic power I felt from them was anything but. I reached for the one wand that was calling to me since I entered the shop. It was a simple pure white wand. I picket it up and immediately felt my magic resonate with the wand's magic. I felt its power, its desire for destruction and creation. It wanted to be used by me, it wanted my magic. I gave it... no, her a bit of my magic and everyone in the little wand shop was blinded by a wave of green light.
After the light died out, everyone looked shocked at me after they recovered their sense of sight. Ollivander looked at the wand in my hand and said. "Nine inches, Yew wood, and hard flexibility. Yew wands are among the rarer kinds, and their ideal matches are likewise unusual and occasionally notorious. The wand of yew is reputed to endow its possessor with the power of life and death. These wands are good at dueling and Dark Arts. But the witch or wizard best suited to a yew wand might equally prove a fierce protector of others. What is certain, in my experience, is that the yew wand never chooses either a mediocre or a timid owner." He stopped his explanation and turned his face to McGonagall and in said. "That would be seven Galleons.
I looked at the wand in my hand and thought. 'We have a long journey before us. Be it Dark or Light, we will use anything to get what we want. Are you ready?'
I felt my wand cheering.
And like that, my shopping trip came to its end.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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