To Be So Lonely

3

She was about to respond but Snape beat her to the punch.

"I've wasted enough of my time as it is," He interrupted rudely obviously referring to the man's speech disability. He raised a hand and perched it in the back of her neck walking her out of the Leaky Cauldron. "Let's go get your school supplies."

"Where are we going sir?" She asked as they approached a brick wall that was near the pub that was littered with trash. "Diagon Alley," he stated as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.

"What's that?" She asked. "Why are we going there?"

"Are you going to be asking questions the entire time?" His voice dripped of irritation.

"Can't help being curious sir," she said a bit more teasingly this time.

Snape grumbled something to himself and pulled out his wand tapping a pattern which made the bricks shift away revealing a bustling street.

Eyes wide, mouth gaping, the eleven year old starred in awe. Snape eyed his student and the edge of his lip turned up.

"We're here," He said in a nasal tone.

Witches and wizards scampered and bustled from one side of the street to the other. Most wearing pointed hats and robes. Children and what Nel assumed to be students also gathering their school supplies were looking from parchments and up and the magical displays on the stores' windows. Others were simply happily chatting with each other, gladly going about their day or enjoying an ice cream by a nearby parlor.

There were sparks everywhere, owls, and clouds of vapor rising from the chimneys of the stores which seemed to have been erects centuries before.

It was incredible.

Everything caught her eye, everything was new, everything was exciting. The stimuli almost made the child feel giddy. At the end of the street there was a massive white marble building. It stood striking and mightier than the others looking official.

"What is that?"

"That's Gringotts," Snape explained. "It's the wizard bank. It's where you would keep your money if you had any."

Ouch.

"Sir," She frowned at his jab. "That was a low blow."

The edge of his lip curled upwards in amusement.

"Ran by goblins, despicable creatures," he ignored her response.

The two past several stores and Snape sighed in annoyance whenever Nel pressed up her nose to basically lick the display glass windows and marble at the items inside like many other children. Flying broom, beautifying potions, owls? This place was better than Wonderland!

"I'm leaving you here to get your robes fitted. In the meantime I'll go get your cauldron, quills and other equipment that your school curriculum requires. When I return we'll go to Flourish and Botts for your text books and then to Ollivanders for your wand and then back to the Leaky Cauldron. Understood?"

She nodded with mock obedience and the slightest of sly smirks made way to her face. Snape looked at her with mistrust and arched an eyebrow.
"Don't test my patience Saintday."

Nel was taken into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, where Snape paid for her uniform and robes using the scholarship money that Dumbledore had given him before stalking off.

The girl would've never admitted it but she was nervous at the trying. She had never owned any new clothes, much less anything that had been made and customed to her perfect size and fit. Madame Malkin was a blonde witch elegantly dressed in mauve who escorted the girl inside of a room and asked her to stand before a mirror. She dropped a black robe on her shoulders and took her measurements. Measuring tapes and pins began dancing around her body magically pinning and measuring her perfect fit. She was too distraught and excited to pay any attention to the two eleven year old boys that seemed to be bickering just a couple of feet away from her.