Fantastic Wizards and Where to Find Them

Chapter 1

The shriek of a whistle sent a large flock of gulls up into the air. A loud buzz of chatter emerged from the navy ship as the small doors were opened and the wooden walkways were slowly slid down onto the dock. Within seconds people clad in all styles and colours of clothing began to flood into the small customs station.

"Excuse me! Oops, so sorry! Do you mind if I just squeeze past-" the melodic voice of a woman called out, trying to be heard above the symphony of voices. The normally irritating clip clop of her heels was swallowed up by the excitement of the crowd. Her breath caught in her throat as she ducked under a low wooden beam and caught a glimpse of the city that she would soon be entering.

"Excuse me ma'am,"

A gruff voice demanded her attention, she snapped her head to the left, tearing her dark eyes away from the small chunk of the buildings she had managed to steal a glance at.

"Yes?" She asked, her voice sounding somewhat annoyed due to the fact that he had interrupted her excitement.  She looked at the man in question and was met with a rather serious looking face, a deep frown marred his cleanly shaven cheeks, and his eyes were hidden under a black, patent leather visor that was attached to his navy hat.

"I need to see your passport," the customs officer said, gesturing to the small, tattered maroon book in her left hand and looking her up and down, noticing her inappropriate clothes. Understanding flashed through her eyes as she hastily gave him the book, before snatching her fingers away so that they wouldn't meet his. "Elizabeth Kowalski, huh funny last name for a Brit," he said, looking up from the passport curiously.

"It's my uncle's name, I chose to take it," Elizabeth responded quickly, before worrying about how he might perceive that "we're not married or anything-" he shoved her passport back into her hands and gestured her away with one swift, dismissive movement. Elizabeth's hand clenched and unclenched around the handle of her brown leather briefcase before she began to walk off, only barely catching the customs officer shouting:

"Next!"

Her left hand shot up in front of her face as she stepped out of the covered station. She held her passport above her squinting eyes as she tried to adjust to the amount of light. Her blurry vision soon came into focus, and her eyes widened as it did. Before her lay a cobbled street, that stretched as far as the eye could see. To her left and right stood brick buildings, towering above her. swarms of people rushed around the streets, all looking down at the path, somehow ignoring the incredible sight around them.

Elizabeth slowly began to walk through the hoards of people, for once not rushing to reach her destination. Her jaw dropped slightly at the sight that so many were missing. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to take in everything at once. Smart black cars ran down the length of the streets, moving around the people perfectly. What had appeared an unorganised mass of people, proved to be small streams of men and women walking to their destinations.

Black street lamps hung over the cobbles, small hanging baskets filled with a multitude of blooming flowers were attached to the black metal of the lamps. Little birds and butterflies flew around the baskets, as well as the small feeders that had been hung outside of the florist's shop to her left. It was a pale pink colour, with a small white and pink  awning hanging in front of the glass windows and doors. Above the awning, a white sign was hung with green cursive reading "Joy's Florist".

Turning around, she noticed she had now walked quite far from the customs office. Quickly snatching the loose piece of paper from her tatty passport, she looked down and glanced at it. Looking back up at the street signs she saw the one that read "BROWNSTONE STREET".