12 Diagon Alley

The next hours passed incredibly fast and the dawn found Fiona preparing furiously, while Minerva helped her with quick movements. After confirming after a while that they were ready, Minerva offered her elbow to Fiona.

"Take it and make sure you don't leave it," she commanded and Fiona did what the professor told her to.

Within a short time, the two of them found themselves in one of the busiest shopping neighborhoods in London, which Fiona had certainly never seen before. This is because she was not very traveled, let alone in a world of magic completely different from her own.

"This is the Diagon Alley," McGonagall explained.

Diagon Alley was a cobblestoned wizarding alley and shopping area located in London, England behind a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Inside the alley was an assortment of restaurants, shops, and other sights. All items on the Hogwarts supply list could be bought at Diagon Alley. The alley was completely hidden from the Muggle world which was right outside of its boundaries. It was very large in area and essentially the centre of wizarding London.

The Leaky Cauldron was present long before Charing Cross Road was even planned in the nineteenth century; its true address was number one, Diagon Alley, and it was believed to have been built some time in the early 1500s, along with the rest of the wizarding street.It was a popular historical theory that the second oldest building in Diagon Alley was Gringotts Wizarding Bank and that the other shops grew up around it.However, there is a possibility that Ollivanders was the oldest building, records dating back to the early fourth century B.C

When the Statute of Secrecy was imposed Diagon Alley was hidden by the use of many powerful spells of concealment. The then Minister for Magic, Ulick Gamp, agreed to give the landlord of the day present at the Leaky Cauldron responsibility for letting people into Diagon Alley from his back yard.

In 1926, one of the shops in Diagon Alley was burgled with the help of a Four-Headed Bird.

The two witches first made a stop at the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, where Fiona encountered goblins for the first time.

In addition to the goblins, they also met the hairy giant who had saved Fiona. He was accompanied by a small boy with dark hair and round glasses.

"This is Rubus Hagrid and the little boy next to him is Harry Potter. The first one is Hogwarts guard and the little boy will be one of your classmates," Minerva explained as one of the goblins led them to the McGonagall treasury.

After they withdrew the amount they wanted. thanked the little goblin who served them and left in order to buy the necessities for the "survival" of Fiona in Hogwarts.

Then they made a stop at Eeylops Owl Emporium. From there they bought a beautiful brown owl, since - as Minerva explained - every Hogwarts resident had to have his own magical pet.

Ollivanders' wand shop was next. From there, the brand new stick of Fiona was procured. It was difficult at first, as she tried a large number of wands, none of which seemed quite right. At last, she was handed a unicorn core and hazel wood wand. Minerva and Fiona paid seven galleons for it and left the shop.

Then they had to buy the necessary books for the courses that the freshmen would attend. So, right after Olivander's shop, they visited Flourish and Blotts.They quickly got their books and without wasting any more time, McGonagall pulled Fiona to the nearest restaurant to rest and eat something fast.

"Two hot butterbeers and a bunch of my favourite pastries," ordered Professor McGonagall politely. It seems that there has been a loyal patron of the store with the result that the waiters and chefs of the store are well aware of her orders.

Then she returned to Fiona and for a while stayed to observe her. "Since classes start tomorrow, I would like to have a chat about the teachers and the classes they teach," she finally said to the beautiful blonde witch sitting next to her. "But you have to promise me that at some point you will tell me a few things too. Who are you really, from what world did you come to us, what happened to you that night?" The wise witch paused and sighed softly. "So little by little, me and everyone else at Hogwarts will start to trust you even more. And so I can say that I am ready to tell you some things about the Ministry of Magic and the War that you asked me about yesterday. I hope you understand," she asked with concern, slightly evident in her voice.

Fiona nodded. "Of course I understand. I promise I will tell you everything about me," Minerva said and relaxed next to her. "After all, you all do everything for me and it would be a shame not to reciprocate even a little. So yes, I will tell you everything."

"Wonderful," replied the woman next to her, while at the same time the waiter came with the butter beer and a large platter containing an equally large variety of pastries.

After the waiter left, Fiona took her huge glass of butter beer and brought it to her nose. Its pleasant and rich scent made her want to try it immediately. And so he did. She drank a generous sip of refreshing butter beer and as soon as she did, she let a sigh of pleasure come out of her lips. A little of the collar that the beer had, remained on Fiona's lips and so with the back of her hand she quickly removed the remaining stain.

"This ... this is wonderful. What's in it?" she asked in surprise and Minerva smiled slightly.

"First of all, you just drank a butter beer. And even your first. Believe me, from now on you will not want to drink a simple Muggle beer again," McGonagall joked. "But what is butter beer? We've all wondered at some point in our lives.

Butterbeer is a popular wizarding beverage often described as tasting "a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch". It is served at numerous locations in the wizarding world and has a very slight alcoholic content. Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry often buy it when visiting Hogsmeade. Remind me to tell you at some point a few words about this place. Maybe at some point the two of us would go and give you a little tour. You know ... before school trips start. Maybe we'll find some time to discuss a few things.

Butterbeer can be served cold in bottles and hot in "foaming tankards". In Hogsmeade, it's sold at the Three Broomsticks Inn and the Hog's Head Inn, although the fact that the latter pub's stock is described as "very dusty" suggests that it is not sold there very often. In Diagon Alley, the drink is known to be sold at the Leaky Cauldron. It is made out of butterscotch, sugar and water.

An extra sweet variant is brewed by Madam Rosmerta. At least some of the ingredients she uses include Sugar Shrub, Mallowsweet, and Moondew. It is unclear if these ingredients are required only for the 'Extra Sweet' version, or if these are standard ingredients in normal butterbeer. Another variant of Butterbeer is named Butterbeer 1707, which is considered very rare and can be ordered for delivery.

Butterbeer may have a very slight alcohol content, which can get house-elves in a drunk-like state, though an antidote to this exists. This is likely due to house-elves having both significantly smaller bodies as well as a slightly different body chemistry than humans, thus increasing their vulnerability to the effects of alcohol in any volume. It seems to have a less pronounced effect on humans than smaller creatures such as house-elves, but humans could still fall "under the influence" of it."

"Sorry to interrupt, but what is a house elf?" Fiona asked, biting a small puff pastry stuffed with minced meat and tomato sauce.

"House elves are loyal magical creatures bound to their owners as servants for life. They serve wizards and witches and are usually found under the employment of old wizarding families taking residence in elaborate establishments, like mansions, and must do everything that their masters command unless they are freed. A house-elf can only be freed when their master presents them with clothes."

"Oh, I see..."

"But enough of this. I think it's time to talk to you tomorrow about your day and how you will spend the rest of your year at Hogwarts,"

Minerva said as she bit a puff pastry stuffed with strawberry jam. Fiona agreed and took out something draft to keep notes of what she would hear. Her life was now changing for the better and she was looking forward to seeing what else her new life would give her.