The following morning, Y/N got up early.
He kept his eyes closed even though he could sense it was daylight.
"It was a dream," he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be back in my cupboard with Harry."
Suddenly, there was a loud tapping sound.
"And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door," he thought, his heart plunging. But, he had not yet opened his eyes. Such a pleasant dream it had been.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Okay," Y/N grumbled, "we're getting up."
When he stood up, Hagrid's bulky coat fell off him. Harry stirred as he accidentally woke him. The storm had passed, Hagrid was dozing off on the collapsed sofa, and an owl was banging its beak against the glass while holding a newspaper in its beak. Y/N scrambled to stand up because he was so ecstatic. He had a feeling of a cheerful balloon swelling inside of him. He quickly approached the window and yanked it open. Hagrid didn't wake up when the owl flew in and dropped the newspaper on top of him. Harry leapt upright when he heard the flapping of its wings. The owl then landed on the ground and started pecking at Hagrid's coat.
"Don't do that."
When Y/N and Harry attempted to move the owl, it snapped its beak furiously at them and continued to tear at the coat.
"Hagrid!" Harry said loudly. "There's an owl-"
"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.
"What?"
"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."
Hagrid's coat appeared to be composed entirely of pockets, filled with items like tea bags, slug pellets, balls of string, and bunches of keys. Finally, they found a number of odd-looking coins.
"Give him five Knuts," Hagrid said sleepily.
"Knuts?"
"The little bronze ones."
Five little copper coins were counted out by Y/N, who then placed them in a small leather pouch attached to the owl's extended leg. Then it took flight through the open window.
Hagrid stretched, sat up, and let out a huge yawn.
"Best be off, lots ter do, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."
The wizard coins were being turned over and examined by Harry and Y/N. Y/N had just had a thought that made him feel as though his internal cheerful balloon had been punctured.
"Um - Hagrid?"
"Mm?" Hagrid said, who was putting his enormous boots on.
"We haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night - he won't pay for us to go and learn magic."
"Don' worry about that," Hagrid said, who stood up and rubbed his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"
"But if their house was destroyed -"
"They didn' keep their gold in the house! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."
"Wizards have banks?"
"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."
The boys let go of the sausages they had in their hands.
"Goblins?"
"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid proudly drew himself up. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you - gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."
Hagrid was followed by Y/N and Harry out onto the rock. Now that the sky was clear, the sea shimmered in the sunlight. After the storm, the boat Uncle Vernon had rented was still there but had a lot of water in the bottom.
"How did you get here?" Harry asked. "There are no other boats," Y/N said.
"Flew," Hagrid said.
"Flew?"
"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."
As they sat down in the boat, Y/N continued to look at Hagrid and tried to picture him flying.
"Seems a shame ter now, though," Hagrid said, giving another of his sideways looks to Harry and Y/N. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"
"Of course, we won't," Y/N said, eager for more magic. They accelerated toward land after Hagrid again drew out the pink umbrella and gave the boat's side two quick taps.
"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.
"Spells - enchantments," Hagrid said while unfolding his newspaper. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high-security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."
While Hagrid read the Daily Prophet, Y/N and Harry sat and contemplated this. Uncle Vernon had taught them that people preferred solitude when reading the newspaper, but it was challenging and they had never had so many questions before.
"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid murmured as he turned the page.
"There's a Ministry Of Magic?"
"'Course," Hagrid said. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minster, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."
"But what does a Ministry Of Magic do?"
"Well, their main job is to keep it from Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."
"Why?"
"Why? Blimey, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're the best left alone."
The boat brushed into the harbour wall at this moment. They clambered onto the stone steps of the street after Hagrid folded his newspaper.
Hagrid was frequently the focus of onlookers as they made their way through the small village to the station. Hagrid was twice as tall as everyone else and kept pointing at seemingly normal objects like parking meters and saying, "See that? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"
"Hagrid," Y/N said, him and Harry running to keep up while panting, "did you say there are bloody dragons at Gringotts?"
"Well, so they say," Hagrid said. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."
"You'd like one?"
"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go."
They had arrived at the station. A train was leaving for London in five minutes. Hagrid gave the notes to Y/N and Harry so they could purchase their tickets because he didn't quite understand "Muggle money," as he dubbed it.
More people than ever on the train were staring. While Hagrid sat knitting what appeared to be a canary-yellow circus tent, not to mention, he took up two seats.
"Still got yer letters?" he asked as he counted stitches.
The boys removed their parchment envelopes from their pockets.
"Good," Hagrid said. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."
Y/N unfolded a second piece of paper he failed to notice the previous night and read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Uniform
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for daywear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags
Set Books
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book Of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History Of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffing
A Beginner's Guide To Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs And Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts And Potions by Arsenious Jigger
Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide To Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
Other Equipment
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
"Well, Asda clearly doesn't sell all of this," Y/N said. "Can we buy all this in London?"
"If yeh know where to go," Hagrid said.
Harry and Y/N had in no way been to London before. Hagrid appeared to know where he was headed, but it was clear that he wasn't used to travelling conventionally. He became trapped in the Underground ticket barrier and yelled angrily that the trains were moving too slowly and the seats were too small.
"I don't know how Muggles manage without magic," he said, as they ascended the malfunctioning escalator that led to a busy street lined with shops.
Harry and Y/N just needed to follow closely after Hagrid because of his size, which allowed him to effortlessly divide the crowd. They passed bookshops, music shops, hamburger bars, and cinemas, but nothing that appeared to offer magic wands. This was just a regular street with regular folks living in it. Could wizard gold truly be hidden miles under them? Did real shops that offered spell books and broomsticks exist? Could all of this not be a gigantic joke the Dursleys concocted? They would have believed that if they hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humour, but even though everything Hagrid had told them up to this point had been absurd, they couldn't help but believe him.
"This is it," Hagrid said, suddenly stopping, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
It was a small, unkempt-looking pub. The boys would have missed it if Hagrid hadn't pointed it out. No one passing by paid it any attention. As if they were unable to see the Leaky Cauldron at all, their eyes darted from the large bookshop on one side to the record shop on the other. In actuality, Y/N experienced a strange sense that it was only visible to him, Harry, and Hagrid. But Hagrid ushered him and Harry inside before he could mention it.
It was quite gloomy and run-down for a famous location. In a corner, a couple of elderly women were sipping sherry from tiny glasses. The old bartender, who was bald and had the appearance of a gummy walnut, was conversing with a small man wearing a top hat. When they entered, the hushed chatter halted. Hagrid was waved at and grinned at by everyone who appeared to know him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," Hagrid said, placing a powerful hand on Harry's and Y/N's shoulders, causing their knees to tremble.
"Good Lord," the bartender said, looking over at the boys, "is this - can this be - ?"
The Leaky Cauldron had all of a sudden become silent.
"Bless my soul," the old barman muttered. "Harry and Y/N Potter... what an honour."
He quickly out from behind the bar, ran towards the boys, and grabbed each of their hands while tears formed in his eyes.
"Welcome back, welcome back."
"It's good to be back?" Y/N said, completely unsure as to what to say.
Y/N and Harry were at a loss for words. Everyone was observing them. Not realising it had burned out, the elderly woman with the pipe continued to puff on it. Hagrid was giddy.
As soon as the loud scraping of chairs stopped, the boys were shaking hands with each person in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Doris Crockford, Potters, can't believe I'm meeting you two at last."
"So proud, I'm just so proud."
"Always wanted to shake at least one of your hands - I'm all of a flutter."'
"Delighted, just can't tell you. Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."
"Hey! We've seen you before!" Y/N exclaimed. Dedalus Diggle was so ecstatic that his top hat had fallen off. "You bowed to us once in a shop."
"They remember!" Dedalus Diggle cried, glancing around at everyone. "Did you hear that? They remember me!"
They repeatedly shook hands - Doris Crockford kept returning for more.
A nervous-looking young man who was very pale moved forward. He had one of his eyes twitching.
"Professor Quirrell!" Hagrid said. "Harry, Y/N, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."
"P-P-Potters," Professor Quirrell stammered, shaking Harry and Y/N's hands one at a time, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you both."
"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"
"D-Defence Against The D-D-Dark Arts," Professor Quirrell muttered like he'd prefer not to think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh P-P-Potters?" he chuckled anxiously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He seemed frightened at the very idea.
But the others wouldn't allow Professor Quirrell to keep the boys to himself. Around ten minutes were needed to escape them all. Eventually, Hagrid was able to be heard over the noise.
"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, lads."
Hagrid took them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard where there was only a dustbin and a few weeds after Doris Crockford gave them one more handshake.
Hagrid beamed at the boys.
"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you were famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."
"Is he always that nervous?"
"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject - now, where's me umbrella?"
Hags? Vampires? The heads of the boys were swimming. As this was going on, Hagrid was counting the bricks in the wall above the dustbin.
"Three up... two across..." he muttered. "Right, stand back."
He used the point of his umbrella to tap the wall three times. The brick he had touched quivered and wriggled. In the centre, a little hole had developed and had grown wider. They soon found themselves in front of an archway big enough for Hagrid, leading to a cobblestone street that twisted and turned out of sight.
"Welcome," Hagrid said, "to Diagon Alley."
He smiled at Y/N and Harry's surprise. They stepped through the archway. When Y/N swiftly turned to check behind him, he noticed that the archway instantly turned back into a solid wall.
Outside of the closest shop, the sun shined brightly on a stack of cauldrons. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible said a sign hung over them.
"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," Hagrid said, "but we gotta get yer money first."
If only Y/N had roughly eight additional eyes. As they proceeded up the street, he tried to look at everything at once, including the shops, the items outside of them, and the people who were shopping. As they passed an apothecary, a chubby woman was shaking her head, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad."
From a dark shop, a faint, hooting sound could be heard with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Many young boys, around Harry and Y/N's age, had their faces jammed up against a window that was filled with broomsticks. "Look," they heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever." The windows were filled with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering stacks of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, and globes of the moon. There were also shops selling robes, telescopes, and other exotic silver gadgets they had never seen before.
"Gringotts," Hagrid said.
They had arrived at a snow-white structure that stood taller than the other tiny establishments. Donning a crimson and gold suit, standing by its polished bronze doors, was -
"Yeah, that's a goblin," Hagrid said, quietly as they approached him up the white stone steps. Harry and the goblin's heights were separated by roughly a head. He had a sharp beard, a swarthy face, and long fingers and feet, Y/N noticed. He bowed as they entered. They were now looking at a second set of doors, which were this time silver and had writing 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.
"Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," Hagrid said.
Through the silver doors, a pair of goblins bowed to them, and they entered a huge marble hall. Behind a long counter, about a hundred more goblins were perched on high stools, scribbling in big ledgers, weighing coins on brass scales, and peering through spectacles at priceless stones. Too many doors to count led off the hall, and yet even more goblins were guiding people through these doors. Harry, Hagrid, and Y/N headed for the counter.
"Morning," Hagrid said to an available goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Y/N and Harry Potter's safe."
"You have their key, sir?"
"Got it here somewhere," Hagrid said, he then began to dump his pockets out onto the table, dropping some stale dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin furrowed his brow. Y/N observed the goblin to their right as they weighed a mass of rubies the size of blazing coals.
"Got it," Hagrid said finally, raising a tiny golden key.
The goblin gave it a close inspection.
"That seems to be in order."
"An" I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid said importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."
The goblin carefully studied the letter.
"Very well," he said, returning it to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"
Griphook was yet another goblin. Hagrid, Y/N, and Harry followed Griphook to one of the doors in the hall after Hagrid had finished stuffing all the dog biscuits back into his pockets.
"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?"
"Can't tell yeh that," Hagrid said mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."
The door was held open for them by Griphook. Y/N was surprised since he had anticipated more marble. They were in a constricting stone corridor that was lit by burning torches. The floor was covered in small railroad tracks and it slanted sharply downward. When Griphook whistled, a little cart sped up the tracks in their direction. With Hagrid having some trouble, they climbed inside and were off.
They initially just sped through a labyrinth of narrow tunnels. Y/N tried to remember the directions they went but it was impossible. Griphook wasn't steering, so it appeared that the rattling cart knew where it was going.
The chilly air rushed through Y/N's eyes, stinging them, but he kept them open wide. They descended still further, past an underground lake where enormous stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor. At one point, Y/N believed he saw a blast of fire at the end of a passage and turned back to see whether it was a dragon, but it was too late.
"I never know," Harry said over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and stalactite?"
"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," Hagrid said. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."
"Stalagmites grow from the ground, stalactites grow from the ceiling," Y/N said, answering Harry's question.
Hagrid did appear rather green, and when the cart finally halted next to a small door in the passageway wall, he had to rest against the wall to keep his legs from shaking.
Griphook opened the door's lock. The boys gasped after a lot of green smoke dissipated when it came out. There were plenty of gold coins within. Columns of silver. And an abundance of little bronze Knuts.
"All yours," Hagrid smiled.
All theirs - it was brilliant. The Dursleys couldn't have been aware of this, or else they would have had it from them in a blink of an eye. How often did they grumble about the expense of keeping Y/N and Harry? And throughout that time, they had a fortune that was hidden beneath London. Hagrid assisted the boys in stuffing some of them into a sack.
"The gold ones are Galleons," he enlightened. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer both of yeh fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to face Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"
"One speed only," Griphook said.
Now they were digging much further and moving quickly. As they sped around sharp turns, the air got cooler. Harry leaned over the brink of a subterranean ravine to attempt to see what was at its black depths, but Hagrid groused and yanked him back by the scruff of his neck.
Vault seven hundred and thirteen didn't have a keyhole.
"Stand back," Griphook said crucially. He gently stroked the door with one of his long fingers, and it instantly vanished.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," Griphook said.
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?"
"About once every ten years," Griphook said, with a nasty smile.
The boys eagerly leaned forward expecting to at least a glimpse of magnificent diamonds within this top-security vault because they were certain that there was something truly spectacular inside. Yet, at first, they believed it to be empty. They then observed a filthy small item wrapped in brown paper lying on the ground. Hagrid took it and stuffed it tightly inside his coat. Although they were curious, they knew better than to inquire about what it was.
"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," Hagrid said.
After another crazy cart ride, they stood outside Gringotts, blinking in the sunshine. The boys had a bag full of money, but they didn't know where to rush first. They were holding more money than they had ever had in their entire lives, more money than even Dudley had ever had, and they didn't even need to know how many Galleons were in a pound or how many pounds were in a Galleon.
"Might as well get yer uniforms," Hagrid said, nodding towards Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. "Listen, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He still seemed a little under the weather, so anxiously, Y/N and Harry went into Madam Malkin's shop without him.
Madam Malkin was a short, cheerful witch wearing only lavender clothing. "Hogwarts, dears?" she said. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."
A second witch buttoned up the pale, pointed-faced boy's long, black robes as he stood on a footstool in the back of the shop. Harry and Y/N were placed on stools to either side of the boy after Madam Malkin requested assistance from a third witch. A long robe was then placed over their heads, and they started to pin them to the appropriate length.
"Hullo," the boy said, "Hogwarts too?"
"Yes," Y/N said.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," the boy said. He spoke with a bored drawl. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."
Harry and Y/N were immediately reminded of Dudley.
"Have you got your own broom?" the boy continued.
"No," Harry said.
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No," Y/N said, wondering what the hell Quidditch is.
"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"
"No," Harry said, feeling stupider as time went on.
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
"Mmm," Y/N said, wishing that him and Harry could say something more interesting.
"I say, look at that man!" the boy said suddenly, giving the front window a nod. Hagrid was standing there, beaming at Harry and Y/N and indicating that he couldn't enter by pointing at three huge ice creams.
"That's Hagrid," Harry said, he and Y/N were happy to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts," Y/N said.
"Oh," the boy said, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"
"He's the gamekeeper," Harry said. Every second, they were growing less and less fond of the boy.
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."
"We think he's incredible," Y/N said coldly.
"Do you?" the boy said, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"
"They're dead," Harry said. They were hesitant to discuss why that was with this boy.
"Oh, sorry," he said, not sounding truly sorry. "What about you?" he asked Y/N.
"They're dead, too, we're brothers," Y/N said. "Oh, okay," the boy said. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"
"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."
"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"
Before either of them could respond, Madam Malkin said, "That's you two done, my dears," and then Harry and Y/N got down from their footstools, not sorry for an excuse to end their conversation with the boy.
"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," the drawling boy said.
The boys were rather quiet as they ate the chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts ice cream Hagrid had bought them.
"What's up?" Hagrid said.
"Nothing," Harry lied. They stopped to get quills and parchment. When they discovered a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote, they felt a little better. When they walked out of the shop, Y/N asked, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"
"Blimey, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"
"Don't make us feel worse," Harry said. They informed Hagrid about the pale boy they met when they were in Madam Malkin's.
"- and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in -"
"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer names if his parents are wizardin' folk - you saw 'em in the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"
"So what is Quidditch?"
"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like football in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules."
"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"
"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"
"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," Harry said sadly.
"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," Hagrid said. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."
"Vol - sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"
"Years an' years ago," Hagrid said.
They purchased their school books from a shop called Flourish And Blotts where the shelves were piled high with books that ranged in size from paving stones wrapped in leather to postal stamps in silk, volumes full of strange symbols, and a few books that contained nothing at all. Even Dudley, a non-reader, would have been crazy to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid nearly had to drag Harry and Y/N away from Curses And Counter-Curses (Bewitch Your Friends And Befuddle Your Enemies With The Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and much, much more) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.
"We were trying to find out how to curse Dudley."
"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," Hagrid said. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."
Hagrid forbade them from purchasing gold cauldrons as well ("It says pewter on yer list"), nonetheless, they also received a folding brass telescope and a beautiful set of scales for weighing the ingredients of potions. Then they went to the apothecary's, which was interesting enough to make up for its foul odour, which was a combination of rotten eggs and cabbage. It reminded them of Mrs. Figg's house. Bundles of feathers, strings of teeth, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling, barrels of a slimy substance stood on the floor and dried roots, and brilliant powders lined the walls. Harry and Y/N investigated tiny, sparkly black beetle eyeballs at five Knuts a cup and silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each while Hagrid asked the man at the counter for a supply of some basic potion components for the boys.
Hagrid rechecked their list outside the apothecary.
"Just yer wands left - oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh both birthday presents."
"You don't have to -"
"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animals. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yeh owls. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer post an' everythin'."
They exited Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been gloomy and filled with rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes, twenty minutes later. Harry now carried a sizable cage with a stunning snowy owl sleeping soundly with her head beneath her wing within the cage. Y/N also carried a large cage, inside his was (description of your owl). They kept stammering their gratitude and sounded exactly like Professor Quirrell.
"Don' mention it," Hagrid said. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wands."
A magic wand was what Y/N had been eagerly anticipating.
The final shop was small and looked run-down. Peeling gold letters above the entrance read: Ollivanders: Makers Of Fine Wands since 382 BC. In the dusty window, a solitary wand was perched on a faded purple pillow.
As they entered the shop, a bell began to jingle somewhere in the back. The room was small and empty but for a lone, rickety chair where Hagrid waited. Thousands of thin boxes neatly stacked to the ceiling gave Y/N the impression that they had entered a highly strict library. He swallowed many new questions that had just entered his head in favour of looking at the boxes instead. The backs of Y/N and Harry's necks prickled for some reason. The very dust and silence in the shop seemed to tingle with some secret magic.
"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. The boys jumped. Hagrid must have jumped as well because there was a loud crunching sound.
An elderly man stood in front of them, his moon-like, wide, pale eyes piercing through the darkness of the shop.
"Hello," Y/N and Harry said awkwardly.
"Ah yes," the man said. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you two soon. Harry and Y/N Potter. You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."
Mr. Ollivander approached Y/N closer. Y/N hoped he would blink sometime soon at least. A little unsettling those gleaming eyes were.
"You have your father's eyes. Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."
Mr. Ollivander had gotten so close to the boys that they were virtually face-to-face. In his hazy eyes, Y/N could see a reflection of himself.
"And that's where..."
With a long, white finger, Mr. Ollivander stroked the lighting scars on Y/N and Harry's foreheads.
"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... Well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."
He shook his head before he finally saw Hagrid, to their relief.
"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"
"It was, sir, yes," Hagrid said.
"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Mr. Ollivander said, abruptly stern.
"Er - yes, they did, yes," Hagrid said, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added.
"But you don't use them?" Mr. Ollivander said.
"Oh, no, sir," Hagrid said. He held his pink umbrella tightly as he spoke, which Y/N saw.
"Hmm," Mr. Ollivander said, providing a keen gaze to Hagrid. "Well, now - we'll start with you, Y/N. Let me see." He took a long measuring tape with silver markings from his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"
"Well, I'm right-handed," Y/N said.
"Hold out your arm. That's it." From shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and around his head, he measured Y/N. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."
Y/N realised all of a sudden that the tape measure was measuring between his nostrils on its own. Mr. Ollivander was removing boxes from the shelf as he flitted about.
"That will do," he said, and the tape measure collapsed to the ground in a heap. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."
Mr. Ollivander pulled the wand out of Y/N's hand almost immediately after he took it and waved it about a little.
"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -"
Y/N tried, but Mr. Ollivander quickly grabbed the wand after he had barely raised it.
"No, no - here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."
Y/N tried. And tried. He didn't know what Mr. Ollivander was anticipating. The stack of used wands was growing on the rickety chair, but Mr. Ollivander seemed to get happy as he retrieved more wands from the shelves.
"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - yes - (description of your wand)."
Y/N grabbed the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. A stream of crimson and gold sparks shot from the end of the wand like a firework as he raised it above his head and brought it swishing down through the dusty air, casting dancing patches of light on the walls. Hagrid and Harry whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Brilliant! I said we'd find the perfect match!" He grabbed Y/N's wand, put it back in its box and wrapped it in brown paper. It cost him seven Galleons.
Y/N stood aside, watching Harry as he was measured too and tried out wands Mr. Ollivander gave him. "Unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."
Sparks erupted from the end of Harry's wand as he swung it like Y/N. Y/N and Hagrid cheered him on as they did for him. "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious..."
He wrapped Harry's wand in the same way as Y/N's while continuing to mumble, "Curious... curious."
"Sorry," Harry said, "but what's curious?"
Harry was fixed in Mr. Ollivander's pallid gaze.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother - why, its brother gave you both those scars."
Harry gulped.
"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, from both of you... After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."
Y/N and Harry shivered. They weren't certain how much they liked Mr. Ollivander. Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop after Harry paid seven Galleons for his wand.
When Y/N, Harry, and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, through the wall, and through the now-empty Leaky Cauldron, the late-afternoon sun hung low in the sky. Harry and Y/N didn't talk much as they walked down the street; they weren't even aware of how many people were staring at them on the Underground because of their large load of oddly shaped packages and the sleeping owls perched on their laps. They went up another escalator, out into Paddington station.
"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," Hagrid said.
He bought the boys hamburgers, and they ate them while sitting on plastic chairs. They kept looking around. Everything seemed so odd, somehow.
"You all right? Yer very quiet," Hagrid said.
"Everybody seems to think we're so special," Y/N said. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but we don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things?" Harry said.
"We're famous for something we can't even remember," Y/N said. "We don't know what happened when Vol - sorry - I mean, the night our parents died," Harry said.
Hagrid leaned over the table. He had a very pleasant smile hidden under his bushy brows and beard.
"Don' you two worry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerselves. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter o' fact."
Hagrid assisted the boys in boarding the train that would return them to the Dursleys before presenting them with envelopes.
"Yer tickets fer Hogwarts," he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer tickets. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owls, they'll know where to find me... See yeh soon."
The train pulled out of the station. The boys got up from their chairs and put their noses against the window to keep an eye on Hagrid until he disappeared, but when they blinked, he was gone.