Chapter-3: Diagon Alley

The sign of the leaky cauldron consisted of a witch stirring a big cauldron that had a hole at the bottom. It was such a weird and interesting sign, yet the muggles dont seem to notice it at all. And this pub was located in one of the busiest and most crowded areas of London, yet everyone seemed to be ignoring the sign as it was not there.

"Shall we go in dear?" Professor Sprout spoke, getting him out of his stupor. He nodded and they entered the bar, and it was just as it was shown in movies. It was an old and dingy place, with many odd characters sitting around the place having a drink, or having breakfast. Another thing that he noticed was the clothes these people were wearing, most of them were wearing bright cloaks around their bodies, which seemed very weird to someone like him.

He turned towards Professor Sprout, who with a swish of her wand had changed her clothes. Now she was wearing a green color robe and had a pointy green hat on her head. She smiled and gestured for him to follow. She nodded at Tom, the barkeep, and then they made their way towards the back of the bar. There was a rubbish bin at the back, behind which was a red color brick wall.

"Dear, please remember this for the future. To get access to the diagon alley, you need to tap your wand in this pattern." She then took out her wand and narrated what she did, "Three bricks from the bin, and two across"

It was then a hole appeared in the brick wall, slowly the hole started getting bigger, and within a few seconds it became an archway. And he was greeted with the infamous Diagon Alley.

"Welcome, to the Diagon Alley. Everything that you might need in your wizarding life, could be found here."

It was a magical place. With his mouth wide apart he and Professor took a stroll all around the alley. There was a hoard of people there, buying weird things that he didnt recognize. There was this shop called Mr. Mulpepper's Apothecary that was selling dragon liver, and it also had many weird-looking roots on display of his shop. There was a place called Obsucurus Books, in its display were several old and large leather-bound books that gave a mystical feeling.

There was a very dense crowd around Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, he saw one child come out of the shop with 6 different flavored ice creams stacked on one another. But that crowd was nothing compared to one that was outside a shop called Quality Quidditch Supplies, it had a shiny flying broom at its display. The sleek design of the broom, and the word Nimbus 2000 engraved in golden letters almost gave him goosebumps. The idea of flying on a broom exhilarated him, he was now definitely looking forward to quidditch.

Just beyond the alley was a big ashen white building, that looked like the epitome of Victorian-era architecture. "This is Gringotts dear," Professor Sprout spoke, "This is a wizarding bank. A vault already has been opened under your name here,"

He nodded and then went inside the building through two huge silver doors. As they entered the place, in the middle of the welcoming area was a huge plank, with silver engraving. And soon realized that it was poem…

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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.

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He looked at Professor, "Professor Sprout, is this a warning for thieves?"

She nodded, "Yes dear, Gringotts is the safest place in the wizarding world if you want to safeguard your valuables. But they didnt reach this height because they were lenient with people who tried to rob them."

He nodded. As they entered, they were greeted with goblins. Just like in the movies, the goblins had a rather short stature, long crooked nose, and long pointy fingers. Like a good guide, Professor Sprout told him about the goblins, and how they are very shrewd and clever folks, and he should stay on their good side.

There was a lot of paperwork that Ronan needed to sign to get access to his vault. When he finally got the key, he asked one of the goblins to convert his 200 pounds into wizarding money as well. Professor Sprout was curious about the money that he got, but she didnt ask him that. After the exchange, he got 10 galleons, for his original 200 pounds. 

And finally, when it was done, they were taken underground accompanied by a goblin. He was very interested and excited about riding the small cart to his vault, but his enthusiasm was cut short as they did not travel very far to get to his vault. Professor Sprout then clarified that the deeper underground is where old families and heavily secured vaults were.

When they opened his vault, they saw that it only had 30 galleons, which the professor told him to take everything. As they exited the Gringotts, Professor filled him in about the denomination that is used in the wizarding world. Gold coins or Galleons are worth 17 sickles, silver coins or Sickles are worth 29 knuts, and Bronze coins or knuts are the lowest denomination in the wizarding world.

As they got out of the Gringotts, Ronan opened the other parchment that he got from the letter which contained his school supply list…

________________________

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 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

>Other Equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set of 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

__________________________________________________________

With the list in their hands, they went Flourish and Blotts, ticking off every book on the list. All the books that he got were second-hand ones, which was very cheap considering the cost of the original books. 

Just like the books the professor suggested that he should buy a second-hand Cauldron, a set of glass phials, a telescope, brass scales, and a uniform. He agreed that he should buy everything second-hand, but he did not agree about the uniform. As he had an extra 10 galleons, he insisted that they should buy a new set of school robes, for which they visited Madame Malkin's Robes for all occasions

After getting every other essential item, now only ones that were left for them to buy were a trunk, and a wand. He gave the professor money to go and buy the trunk for him, while he went to buy a new wand. 

So he went to Ollivanders, the only wand shop in the alley. When he entered the famous Ollivander's shop, he was greeted by an eerie store, there was the smell of freshly cut wood and lilac in the air. As he entered further, an old man who looked like he was in his thirties came from the back.

"Good Afternoon" greeted the old man, "Good afternoon sir, I am here to buy a wand."

"Ah." The man smiled at him, "What is name young man?"

"Its Ronan Johanson,"

"What a polite young man," He then came and stood in front of him, "Well, now – Mr Johanson. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Er – well, I'm right-handed," Ronan replied.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Ronan from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round his head. 

As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr Johanson. 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."

After that, Mr. Ollivander went to the back and one by one started bringing boxes after boxes of wands. Just like in the movies he was told to wave them around, every single wand produced sparks as he waved them. But none of them felt like this was it, this was his wand. After testing more than a dozen wands, even Ollivander looks disheartened with repeated failures.

The old man started muttering, "Curious… Curious…"

"Sorry," he said, "But what's curious?"

Mr Ollivander fixed Ronan with his pale stare. "Mr Johanson, usually most of the wizards can bound with either one of the cores that I have, the only thing that is left to match is the wood used to enclose the core. But in your case, you dont seem to be compatible with any of the cores,"

He was taken aback, "What does that mean?"

"Well, it means that I might need to make a custom wand for you." He hesitated at first, then spoke, "Mr Ollivander I am afraid, I might be able to pay for the custom wand."

Still in thought, Mr. Ollivander then turned around and went to the back of the store. He came back soon with a black velvet-covered box in his hands, "This wand is a special one… I made this over half a decade ago, I wonder whether this might get the job done."

The old man opened the box to reveal a bone-white wand. It is different from every other wand that he has seen. There were delicate patterns done all over the thing, making it look very majestic. "Elder wood, 11 and a half inches. It has a hair from a Zouwu's tail as its core."

He took the wand in his hand, but before he could wave it around, he felt something. It felt like something that was missing from his life suddenly reconnected. It was the most brilliant feeling in the world.

"Wonderful. Congratulations Mr. Johanson, you got yourself a wand."