Chapter 17: Diagon Alley

The lack of a list wasn't really a problem.

Not to mention the fact that Professor McGonagall already knew what young wizards needed for each year of school, and that asking around the stores in Diagon Alley would give her an idea of what to buy.

Professor McGonagall chastised Fish with a gentle smack on the head, then led him into the lobby of the Leaky Cauldron.

Once again, there were familiar but uninteresting compliments, and questions from strange wizards about Fish's identity.

Anyway, Fish didn't even listen to them, he was still hungry.

"Breakfast for me and Fish, Tom," After greeting her acquaintances in the foyer, Professor McGonagall beckoned to Tom, the bar head.

Tom responded, turned and went to the back of the kitchen, and returned shortly with two plates, placing them in front of Professor McGonagall and Fish.

Staring at--(...??_??)

Poking his finger into the baked dough and raw liver on the plate, Fish looked at Professor McGonagall with a sour look.

This is what you call good food?

Minerva is a real liar!

Professor McGonagall felt a little embarrassed by Fish's look, so she cleared her throat and whispered reassuringly, "Eat something to fill your stomach and I'll buy you something delicious when we get to Diagon Alley."

After glaring at Professor McGonagall, Fish decided to trust his again, grabbed the pancake off the plate and bit into it angrily.

Although it didn't look like much, the baked batter tasted pretty good, except that Fish preferred meat to it.

So he set the pancake down half-eaten, picked up his fork and popped a piece of raw liver into his mouth.

The taste was surprisingly good, and it actually still tasted good for meat!

"Meow!", With eyes narrowed in delight, Fish quickly swept the raw liver off his plate, then took the remaining half of the pancake and dipped it into the raw liver broth.

Once they had eaten and drunk enough, Professor McGonagall led Fish across the bar of the Leaky Cauldron to a small courtyard with walls on all sides.

Here there was nothing but a garbage can and some weeds.

"Fish, you must remember the next steps," Professor McGonagall walked over to the single trash can and pulled out her wand.

"Count three up, then two sideways, then tap this brick three times."

She demonstrated to Fish, drawing a circle around a battered-looking brick before tapping it three times with the wand.

The struck brick began to shake and move, and a small hole appeared in the center of the wall and grew larger. Before long, a wide archway appeared before them.

Fish looked along the archway, at the other end of which was a winding, endless street of cobblestones.

"Come on," Professor McGonagall inclined her head to Fish and led the way into the archway, followed quickly by Fish, who kept turning his head and looking around in amazement.

As soon as the two crossed the archway, it turned back into a wall behind them.

As they entered Diagon Alley, the first store was a cauldron store, where Professor McGonagall quickly bought a standard size 2 pewter crucible and then led Fish to the next store.

It didn't take long for the quick Professor McGonagall to buy Fish textbooks, cauldrons, scales, telescopes, and the largest ice cream she could find at the Florean Fortescue Ice Cream Parlor to calm Fish, who kept looking in the direction of the Magical Animal Shop.

"Then all that's left is the uniform and the wand," Professor McGonagall counted on her fingers and pulled Fish toward Madame Malkin's store, Robes For All Occasions.

"Minerva, that store looks interesting, Meow," Forcibly dragged, Fish pointed to the magical joke store not far away, where, through the window, he could see the magical fireworks on display.

Professor McGonagall didn't listen to him, she had enough trouble with Fish when he was a kitten, what if he had access to the wares of the magic joke store? She even avoided taking Fish to Zonko's joke store in Hogsmeade.

The Weasley twins were nothing compared to this little guy.

The idea that Fish would probably meet George and Fred once school started made Professor McGonagall less willing to have him assigned to Gryffindor.

The process of buying his uniform went smoothly, and Fish was so used to wearing human clothes that he endured the tedious process of Mrs. Malkin stroking his body with a tape measure.

Minerva had promised him a large ice cream when he was finished.

After buying his uniform from Mrs. Malkin, Professor McGonagall kept her word and took Fish back to the Florean Fortescue Ice Cream Parlor for another great ice cream before taking him to the last stop on his journey in Diagon Alley.

The store that almost every wizard in England must visit once in their life, Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Located at the far end of Diagon Alley, the store looks small and shabby, with a peeling gold sign above the door that reads, Ollivander: making fine wands since 382 BC.

In the dusty window, a wand stood alone on a faded purple cushion.

Fish followed Professor McGonagall inside the store, which, aside from a bench, consisted of numerous long, narrow boxes stacked to the ceiling.

After glancing around the store, Fish suddenly turned his head to the right and looked toward the back of the store, hidden by the countless boxes.

Suddenly there was the tinkling of a bell.

"Good morning," An old man with white hair and eyebrows, even his eyes were white as silver, came out from the back and approached Fish and Professor McGonagall.

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander," Professor McGonagall smiled and replied with a nod to Garrick Ollivander.

"Oh, it's you, Miss McGonagall, what a delightful meeting...spruce wood, nine and a half inches, hard and perfect for transformations." Mr. Ollivander's voice was soft as he winked at Professor McGonagall, "I take it you are very pleased?"

"Of course, I couldn't be more pleased," said Professor McGonagall.

"That's good, that's good." Mr. Ollivander nodded happily, and then looked at Fish, "So, this is the child you adopted?"

"Yes, I brought him here to choose a wand, after all, there is no better wand store in England," Professor McGonagall said with a nod.

Mr. Ollivander, whose smile was reinforced by Professor McGonagall's praise, pulled a long tape measure with a silver scale from his coat pocket and asked Fish in a soft voice, "And, Mr. Fish McGonagall, what is your usual hand?"

"Meow?"

Fish looked at his hands, cocked his head to one side for a moment and then raised his left hand in the air, "This one!" (●ΦωΦ●).

"You don't need to raise it so high, come, spread your arms," Mr. Ollivander placed the tape measure on Fish's shoulder, and it moved on its own around Fish's body.

First from shoulder to fingertips, then from wrist to elbow, from shoulder to floor, from knee to armpit, even the circumference of his head and even the distance between his nostrils, the tape measure spared nothing.

Fish resisted the instinct to play the tape measure, which ran back and forth across his body.

As much as he wanted to pick up the tape measure and play with it, he wanted a magic wand more....

For it was with this little wooden stick, called a wand, that Minerva had cast all those strange spells she had used to rule over him.

So Fish thought more than once that if one day he had a wand....

Then Minerva would have no control over him!

By this time, Mr. Ollivander had pulled several long boxes from the various shelves and stacked them haphazardly at Fish's feet.

"Very well," Mr. Ollivander pocketed the tape measure, which he had finished measuring and had balled up on the floor, and handed Fish a wand from one of the stacks of boxes.

"Try this, Mr. McGonagall. It's the same wand as Professor McGonagall's, spruce wood and fire dragon heart fiber, and just as hard, but longer than Minerva's, twelve inches. Try waving it."

Fish picked up the wand, which was said to be of the same material as Minerva's, and instead of following Mr. Ollivander's instructions to wield it, he held it in front of his eyes for a moment, and then... took a bite.