Chapter Six
Diagon Alley, August 1991
Diagon Alley was one of Sonia’s favourite places in the world. Though any place that brimmed with magic was her favourite place, as long as it was outside the couple dozen acres of the Hester estate.
It was one of her greatest flaws to gain confidence by breaking rules, and Sonia knew it; she shouldn’t read the dark spell books that Hazel kept locked up, she really wasn’t supposed to go on walks by herself – yet Sonia knew her boundaries and bounded across them into the great beyond. And since she’d woken up feeling restless, Sonia had tugged Andrew into the woods for the day under the pretence of looking for potion ingredients, leaving her twin to read on his own in their hide out while she Disapparated to a much more exciting place were magic awaited her.
Sonia did feel bad about leaving Andrew behind, but he refused to leave the grounds; he was such a downer sometimes, and fiercely loyal to their mother, something that frustrated her to no end. Andrew didn’t even know she was gone really, though he most likely suspected what she was up to.
The crowds the sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop as Sonia wove through the crowds, doging dotty old ladies and withes with sticky children carrying large ice cream cones. Passing the cauldron shop, Sonia glanced longingly up at the sign that read Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring – Collapsible, and thinking of her own battered cauldron. Sonia turned her head in every direction as she walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an apothecary’s was shaking her head as they passed, saying, ‘Dragon liver, sixteen
Sickles an ounce, they’re mad ...’ A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy. Several boys of about Sonia’s age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. ‘Look,’ Sonia heard one of them say, ‘the new Nimbus Two Thousand – fastest ever –’ There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments, some of which Sonia recognized from Dumbledore’s office. Windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels’ eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...
Reaching a snowy-white building which towered over the other little shops, Sonia entered the ice cream shop across from it. Standing beside the banks burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a goblin; he was about a head shorter than Sonia. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Sonia noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as people walked inside. Sonia thought of the inscription on the silver doors within, wondering what sorts of beasts were held within Gringotts walls…
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.
It wasn’t long after Sonia finished her ice cream that she spotted an old friend through the crowd leaving Gringotts, and shot up, shouting his name.
“Hagrid!” she called, pushing through the crowds.
The game keepers face lit up at the sight of the curly haired young witch coming towards him, and he leaned down to hug Sonia’s tiny form “Sonia!” he said happily, letting her go “What’re you doing here, where’s yer Mum?”
Sonia grinned wickedly “Home, and if you tell her I was here I’ll tell Grandfather about your umbrella.”
Laughing loudly, Hagrid seemed to remember that he was not alone. “Yer a crafty one Sonia, that I know. Now, I’d like ye to meet Harry.”
Turning to the small boy beside Hagrid, Sonia’s eyes widened slightly; she knew who Harry was, didn’t even have to ask if he was the Harry Potter. Andrew had explained to her the first morning of their twelfth year how the little green eyed boy they remember from so long ago was the boy who lived, that their godparents were the famous and wildly acclaimed James and Lily Potter. Hazel’s photo albums contained hundreds of pictures of a green eyed girl and a sallow faced boy, only laughing when they did. Many of the pages had spaces that clearly had the markings of a photo that had been removed; the twins guessed that they were all the singles of the sallow faced boy, but every time they asked Hazel she would shut them down and ask why they were rooting through her things. The albums had been put away.
Extending her hand, Sonia studied Harry; he looked a lot like her godfather, James, but her godmother’s eyes shone behind round wire glasses held together by duct tape.
“Hello Harry, my name is Sonia.”
Harry shook her hand and smiled nervously “Harry Potter.” He watched her for a reaction, and looked relieved when Sonia didn’t say a word.
“Where ate you two heading?” she asked.
“Well, Harry here needs his school robes, but I was wondering if I could slip off to the Leaky Cauldron. I hate them Gringotts carts.”
Sonia was glad when Harry told him to go on, because Hagrid did look a little ill.
“I’ll go to Madam Malkins’ which Harry, Hagrid.” She offered.
“Thank ye Sonia, and look after him. I’m under Dumbledore’s orders ye see.”
They waved Hagrid away and moved through the crowds towards Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, Harry looking nervous.
“Relax mate,” Sonia said, moving into the shop “Madam is lovely.”
A woman wearing all mauve appeared and smiled at them “Hogwarts dearies?”
Sonia jerked her thumb at Harry “For him please, first year.”
“Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact.” In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length. Sonia disappeared behind the racks, watching to see what Harry would do, and to make sure he didn’t get into any trouble.
‘Hullo,’ said the boy, ‘Hogwarts too?’
‘Yes,’ said Harry.
‘My father’s next door buying my books and mother’s up the street looking at wands,’ said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. ‘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.’
Sonia knew she didn’t like the boy instantly.
‘Have you got your own broom?’ the boy went on.
‘No,’ said Harry.
‘Play Quidditch at all?’
‘No,’ Harry said again, and Sonoa wondered if Harry even knew what Quidditch was.
‘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,’ said Harry, looking a little flustered.
‘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,’ said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.
‘I say, look at that man!’ said the boy suddenly, nodding towards the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice-creams to show he couldn’t come in.
‘That’s Hagrid,’ said Harry. ‘He works at Hogwarts.’
‘Oh,’ said the boy, ‘I’ve heard of him. He’s a sort of servant, isn’t he?’
‘He’s the gamekeeper,’ said Harry. Sonia was liking the boy less and less every second.
‘Yes, exactly. I heard he’s a sort of savage – lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed.’
‘I think he’s brilliant,’ said Harry coldly, and Sonia cheered inwardly.
‘Do you?’ said the boy, with a slight sneer. ‘Why is he with you? Where are your parents?’
‘They’re dead,’ said Harry shortly. Sonia knew that her mother would have nearly died from guilt hearing Harry’s reply, and wondered if he even knew about Hazel at all.
‘Oh, sorry,’ said the other, not sounding sorry at all. ‘But they were our kind, weren’t they?’
Sonia felt her stomach churn with anger, realizing this boy must be some pure blood scoundrel who thought he was better than everyone else.
‘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?’
But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, ‘That’s you done, my dear,’ and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.
‘Well, I’ll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose,’ said the drawling boy.
Sonia sidled up to Harry as they left the shop and paid for his robes.
“That boy is a pompous Merlin’s pants wearer.” She said, to which Harry merely smiled and shrugged.
He was rather quiet as he ate the ice-cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).
‘What’s up?’ said Hagrid.
‘Nothing,’ Harry lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, ‘Hagrid, what’s Quidditch?’
‘Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin’ how little yeh know – not knowin’ about Quidditch!’
‘Don’t make me feel worse,’ said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy 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 name 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 loto’ duffers, but –’
‘I bet I’m in Hufflepuff,’ said Harry gloomily, and Sonia laughed.
‘Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,’ said Hagrid darkly. ‘There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.’
“True.” Sonia agreed.
‘Vol– sorry – You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?’
‘Years an’ years ago,’ said Hagrid.
“He was oddly active.” Sonia said, staring straight ahead. She had stayed silent for most of the conversation, letting Hagrid do his job of integrating Harry into the magic world.
They bought Harry’s school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry 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.
‘I was 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,’ said Hagrid. ‘An’ anyway, yeh couldn’ work any of them curses yet, yeh’ll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level.’
Sonia leaned over to whisper in Harry’s ear “I’ll teach you a good trick that involves zero magic.” She whispered.
“Really?” he asked, eyes widening behind his glasses.
Nodding, Sonia grinned wickedly “Next time we meet.”
“So on the train?”
“I’m not going to Hogwarts.” She told him, looking away towards the stacks of books.
“Why not?”
“I already know it all, it’d be a waste of time, don’t you think?” Harry didn’t look like he thought so, but nodded anyway. They parted ways in front of Flourish and Blotts, and Sonia was sad to see Harry go. It was odd having him around after she’s stared at his parents faces for hours as she grew up, trying to find out more about her own mother.
Wandering back through the streets Sonia spotted the rude boy from Madam Malkins, took out her wand and aimed it right at his arse. Confident that he wouldn’t walk quite right for at least a week, she returned home.
A/N: So I ended up writing a whole new chapter and saving the nearly finished one I had for the NEXT chapter, because it worked out nicely.
Question: What do you think of Sonia specifically, and how she ran into Harry?
Also, I think I'll be doing a short celebratory video for reaching over 400 fans and 3000 votes. So if you have any questions or something you'd like me to mention in it, something you've wondered for a long time about myself or my books, now is the time to ask! I'd love it if you'd leave me something to talk about, and answer my question for this chapter!
Rose<3