A New Generation - Harry Potter

2 - Diagon Alley

A/N: this was originally going to be the first chapter but then I couldn't think of how to start the chapter so take this as chapter 2 heh

Also ignore the sloppy ending; actually, you're gonna have to ignore a lot of slopping endings and beginnings reading this book lol

——

Albus and I were practically jumping up and down of excitement in our seats in Uncle Harry's muggle car on the way to the Leaky Cauldron inn. Dad didn't even try to make us be quiet.

"Calm down, kids," Uncle Harry said, making a turn. "We're here!"

We scrambled out of the car and made our way to the wall that separated the wizarding shopping village and the muggle world. As always when entering Diagon Valley, I stood in awe at the various shops that seem so ancient compared to modern, muggle ones(Mum took me on muggle shopping sprees for muggle clothes sometimes as a nod to her muggle-raised childhood)with their "pop music" in the background and bright, white lights.

The little bell overhead rang as we entered the wand shop. "Ollivander!" Uncle Harry said at the sight of an old man with frizzy white hair who adjusted his spectacles and gave a bright smile. "Harry Potter! And Ron Weasley!" He caught sight of Albus and I. "Are you needing wands for these two young students?"

"We're technically not students yet," I corrected. Ollivander chuckled.

"Just like your mother," he smiled, turning to his drawers of wands. "I believe laurel wood would serve you quite well. Where was it again—apologies, my eyesight is not what it was before—here it is!" He pulled out a wand and handed it to me. "Thirteen and three-quarters of an inch long, laurel wood, with a dragon heartstring core," he remarked as I picked it up. A feeling coursed through me; the feeling of being reunited with an old friend.

"Now that's done, you." He turned to Albus, who was half-shielding himself behind Uncle Harry who gave him a little push, encouraging him to face the ancient wandmaker. "Hmm..."

After another ten or so minutes in the shop, we left and headed to buy our books and robes. We ended up with two owls—mine was a small and cheerful little thing I named Merlin, after Dad's many, erm, creative exclamations—and some extra items; I had to get some coloured ink!

Finally after getting all our school supplies, Dad and Uncle Harry let us run free with 50 galleons to spend on anything. I beelined for the book shop we just left and started looking through the various books.

"Okay, Albus, I want to buy some quidditch books for James, some fairytales for Lily and Hugo, and Mum says arithmetic is fun so I might buy some textbooks too." I listed everything I wanted to buy from the book store. "There's also a bunch of bookmarks that I'd love to get!"

"I don't really get why you always buy people gifts as if it's Christmas but you do you, I guess," Albus said, inspecting a waterproof pen with a bored expression on his face. "As long as you leave 20 galleons for Uncle George's joke shop."

Once I was done with my purchases which left us with 21 galleons and 16 sickles we headed to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes where our dads were conversing with Uncle George.

"LOVE POTIONS! FIREWORKS! PRANKS! WE'RE YOUR LOCAL JOKE SHOP FOR ALL DIFFERENT OCCASIONS!" yelled a poster from behind the window as we neared. Somehow the glass didn't muffle the noise—It's probably enchanted, I thought.

"Hi Uncle George!" Albus said, catching his attention as we entered the room shop. Gadgets that looked on the verge hazardous lined the shelves, labeled with bright stickers.

"Hello there, Albus and Rosie! Are you here for some gadgets to help out out in school?" He gave us a mighty wink. "I know that our Skiving Snackboxes will definitely come in handy; I'll give you a Weasley Discount, Rosie...oh, I suppose Albus can have 50% off too—" Albus and I cut Uncle George short as we rushed into the store to explore everything, excitedly showing each other different sweets we found and started plotting pranks to do on James.

After an hour or so at the joke shop—Dad and Uncle Harry spent forever catching up with Uncle George which was a bit strange considering that Dad worked there—we finally all piled back into Uncle Harry's muggle car and started the trip home. Uncle Harry dropped me, Dad and my school stuff off and our own home and I ran up to my room carrying my school supplies in my arms to organise into my trunk.

"Hey Rosie, you forgot this!" Dad entered my room while I was folding my robes. He handed me a quill.

"Thanks, Dad!" I replied. I furrowed my brows slightly; I've already put all my quills away into my bag and none of them were missing...oh well, the excitement probably just got to my head and I miscounted. I waved to Dad as he left to ask Mum what was for dinner.

I placed my precious wand on my bedside table. We had 7 galleons for it, like Mum and Dad's wands each costed, and was now my most prized possession; I'd have to take care of it very very well as not to damage the core. I'd heard of dragon string wands converting to the dark arts, so I'll also have to control it well...

A soft knock on my door broke my train of thought. "Rosie?"

"Come in, Mum," I called and my mother walked in and sat on my bed next to me, careful not to disturb anything. She was holding a little box.

"As you know, Rosie," she started, "I am a muggle-born, and I have been keeping up with muggle gadgets despite being the Minister of Magic, mainly due to your grandparents." She hesitated and handed me the box. I opened it and gasped.

"This is a very popular muggle gadget called a smartphone," she continued. "It essentially lets you send owls to others who have one very quickly, and can call people with the tap of a button. You can also access the internet if you want some muggle news. It comes with a camera which takes still photos or videos that you can access later. I'll ask Grandad Arthur to tweak it magically soon; I just bought it today and I'm excited for you to have one; they really are useful at times."

I carefully took it out of the case. "This...thank you, Mum." We had muggle newspapers appear in our mailbox once a month so I knew about smartphones and heart of its features before. Mum smiled in reply.

"Now, don't let me interrupt your packing! Are you bringing all those books?" She gestured toward my stack of schoolbooks, plus some extra textbooks for some reading on the train. I nodded. "I can cast an expanding spell to your trunk. Capacious extremis!"

She pointed her wand at my closed trunk. Nothing seemed to change. "Did it work?" I asked after a moment. Mum just lifted the lid. I gasped and leaned over the edge to look in. The trunk seemed to be...well, bottomless! No, wait; there's the end—but it was a lot farther down than usual.

"Is this—is this real?" I asked, more to myself than Mum. I reached my hand into the magically enlargened trunk.

"Yes," Mum replied. "I used this to fit my books when I went to school. Well, enjoy. I'll go finish dinner—I've made something special tonight, but I'm scared your father's burned the chicken..." With that, Mum left the room.

After I put all my schoolbooks into my trunk—ordered by alphabetical order—I went over to my drawer and retrieved my Hogwarts letter which I received last year, the 22nd of December. I read over the words again and again, a smile spreading on my face as I remembered how joyful I'd been when the owl flew through our window.

The smell of roast chicken tickled my nose, and I realised what Mum had meant by she prepared something special. I ran out of the room, leaving the letter on my bedside table.