Mr and Mrs Elwyn, of number thirteen, Acorn Street, were proud to say that they were perfectly abnormal, thank you very much. In fact, Mr Elwyn mused, the most normal member of their family would probably be Max, the dog. Although even the spoilt canine had adjusted to the nonsensical family that had adopted him, barely reacting to the events of this morning.
Mr Elwyn could only watch in amusement as a crow stood outside his daughter's bedroom door, making a ruckus in an attempt to get his daughter out of bed. Adrianna Elwyn opened her bedroom door only to look down at the crow with a pout.
"Five more minutes?" She asked between yawns. No one even blinked, not even little Max, when the crow was replaced by a tall woman with raven hair.
"No, we need to buy your school supplies today, come eat breakfast and then get ready," Mavis Elwyn, his wife told Anna before heading to the kitchen where a mountain of toast had been prepared.
Anna eyes widened as she realised where they were going today, she looked to her Dad and they both started jumping up and down in excitement.
"We're going to Diagon Alley! We're going to Diagon Alley!" They chanted simultaneously, Anna could feel her Dad's excitement and it only served to fuel her own.
"Will you two get in here and eat breakfast!" Mrs Elwyn called to them and they hurried into the kitchen.
Anna and her Dad were both bouncing up and down in giddy happiness as they waited by the fireplace. She had always wanted to get her wand and she knew that getting her school supplies was one step closer to getting to Hogwarts, an idea that both overjoyed and terrified her. She couldn't wait to be able to the castle and all the wonders it contained but she was also terrified of going to a place where she knew absolutely no one. What if she didn't make any friends?
Anna pushed her worries to the back of her mind as her Mum held out the container of Floo powder to her, she took the glittering powder out of the flower pot and threw it into the fire, watching in amazement as the fire rose and turned an emerald green. She quickly stepped into it.
"Diagon Alley!" She shouted and mentally prepared herself for the spinning sensation, she stumbled a bit as she landed and looked around as she waited for her parents.
The shop she had landed in had an assortment of animals crammed into the space, from cats, toads, rats, snails and many more. She was admiring one of the snails were her Dad came stumbling out of the fire, closely followed by her Mum.
They smiled at the saleswoman before leaving the store. Anna loved Diagon Alley, despite how crowded it could get, crowds could get overwhelming. She could see shops that sold books, potion ingredients, robes, and an assortment of wizarding equipment. It was so wonderfully magical.
She knew that her Dad loved Diagon Alley, as much as he loved the idea of magic, he called it inspiration for his art. He looked around with a wide grin, the smile never left his face as his face as his wife started dragging him towards a store, she seemed to find his awe amusing, just like every other time they visited.
The first store they went into was Flourish and Blotts, to get her school books. She looked around but none of the books seemed to interest her, she saw some amusing ones about jinxing your friends and enemies, but she couldn't imagine wanting to use a tongue-tying curse on anyone.
She stood beside her Mum as they purchased the books on her school list:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
She smiled politely as the salesperson spoke to her Mum and Dad but didn't say anything. They left the store and decided to go to the Apothecary next. The store was full of barrels of frog brains, onion juice and various unpleasant smell substances, along with jars of peacock feathers, pearls, and other things she couldn't identify. She was looking at a jar of Lacewing fly when her Dad nudged her arm, he pointed to a jar of Lionfish spine.
"What are those spines doing just lion around," he said and they both burst out laughing.
Next, they went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, she was just starting to get her robe pinned to the right size when her parent told her that they were going to buy the rest of her school supplies. While she was waiting a brown-haired boy walked in and had his robes pinned next to her.
"You going to Hogwarts?" He asked her.
"Yeah," she answered quietly.
"Cool! Me too, maybe we'll be in the same house. My mum's in Ravenclaw but I wouldn't mind being in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, anything's better than Slytherin," he told her, and Anna frowned, her Mum was in Slytherin, she wouldn't mind being in that house although her Mum had told her that she probably wouldn't be. She didn't tell any of this to the boy, preferring to stay silent.
"My name's Darian, by the way. Darian Sauvage."
"Adrianna Elwyn," she answered quickly.
Darian continued to chat away to her and she was more than happy to listen, the boy was certainly a chatterbox. He rapidly jumped between subjects while posing with his robes on, they had both finished their fittings and had their robes removed when he started talking about quidditch.
"My team is the Montrose Magpies, they're obviously the best. They've won the league cup thirty-two times and the European Cup twice, that's more than any other team. Who do you go for?" He asked her eagerly as they both waited outside Madam Malkin's.
"I don't really support any team, Mum doesn't care for quidditch that much, so I've never seen a game," she answered, and frowned at the astonished look on his face. He looked like he was going to say something to her before she heard someone calling her name, she turned to see her Mum holding a cauldron, a telescope, and her other equipment.
"I got to go, but it was nice meeting you," she said to Darian with a small smile.
"Yeah, maybe we can sit on the train together on our way to Hogwarts?" He grinned at her.
"Sounds good," she replied before making her way over to her Mum. She was glad that she had somehow already made a friend despite not saying that much.
"Ready to get your wand?" Her Mum asked with a smile. Her eyes widened, and she grinned in excitement. There was a spring in her step as they made their way towards the shop called Ollivanders, a bell chimed in the depth of the shop as they entered the tiny room filled with thousands of narrow boxes.
An old man with pale eyes appeared amongst the boxed, "good afternoon."
"Good afternoon," her Mum replied.
"Ah yes, thirteen inches long, brittle with beech wood and a phoenix feather core. Works best for open-minded and tolerant wizard or in this case witch and a true match for a beech wand will be wise beyond their years if paired when the witch is young. From what I've heard of your work as an Auror that all sounds to be accurate," he told Anna's Mum and then turned to look at her, "and who might you be my dear?"
"Adrianna Elwyn," she introduced herself, and Mr Ollivander gave her a smile.
"Well Miss Elwyn, I know just the wand for you, I felt it the moment you entered my shop," he disappeared among the boxes with an excited gleam in his eyes, only to pop back up a second later and hand a wand to her. She waved the wand around it and emitted a stream of red and gold sparks. The two adults in the room smiled at her awed expression.
"Ten and three-quarter inches, quite bendy, vine wood with a core of unicorn hair. Wizards and witches with vine wood wands frequently to astound those who know them best and tend to have personalities with hidden depth. They can be very sensitive when it comes to their possible pair and have been known to emit magic effects when they enter the room. It's how I knew it was the perfect wand for you Miss Elwyn," he informed her.
They said goodbye to Mr Ollivander and made their way through Diagon alley back to the shop they had arrived through.
"Where's Dad?" Anna asked.
"He's waiting for us, said he wanted to look at some of the animals in the store before we left. Probably for one of his painting," her Mum answered. Her Dad was a painter, and a very good one. He had done quite a few paintings of her Mum when she was in her Animagus form, a crow, he said that she looked adorable. He had also painted Max and Emeric, the family's tawny owl.
When they got back to the store, Anna noticed the sign said Magical Menagerie, they found Greg Elwyn closely inspecting a giant jewel incrusted tortoise. He jumped when they snuck up behind him, before making their way towards the fireplace. Anna went through first again, barely even noticing the spinning sensation. She was far too excited. She knew that she would be going to Hogwarts soon and after her day it really begun to sink in. All she knew is that she couldn't wait to get to that castle.