Chapter 5

Diary Entry #350

Dear Diary,

It's finally time!! It's now 1991, the year where it all began. I am going to turn 11 in a couple of hours and I am sure McGonagall isn't gonna take too long. By now, I have sent all the drafts to the publishing house and they're gonna release the complete series soon with a book of each series per year. I have also sent them drafts of Magnus Chase, Kane Chronicles, Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo as I have no idea when I'll get the chance to write those and send them off. Now I no longer have money troubles and hopefully it'll be enough to buy the best stuff from Diagon Alley.

...

Diary Entry #351

Dear Diary,

It has been a few days since I turned 11 and there's still no sign of a letter or McGonagall. With every passing day, my hopes are getting smaller and my heart leaps at the shadow of every visitor or stranger that walks by the door of the orphanage. Most of my time is now spent on watching the street from the windows and magic training isn't helping alleviate my mood either not is the constant influx of money in the bank. The reporters have been bugging me but a simple Compelling Charm took care of that so that was no problem. I have found another thing about myself, I have no patience.

...

Diary Entry #352

Dear Diary,

Finally!! The day I have been waiting for so long has arrived. Minerva McGonagall in the flesh, I would have never believed it had I not seen her with my own two eyes. The stern-faced woman with the small round glasses looked to me an embodiment of heaven, a real angel on earth. She had come to inform Mrs. Davies, the orphanage's director, of my acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and had proceeded to transfigure her cup of tea into a pig with a wave of her wand. Mrs. Davies had almost passed out of shock but McGonagall had cast a charm to bring the poor woman to her senses. By now, I had come to meet them and greeted them both politely. Mrs. Davies, after the initial shock, had started spouting my praises and deeds and McGonagall listened silently, with a slight raise of the eyebrow, as she turned to me and asked if I had ever experienced something unusual. I told her I had found some unusual experiences but I had learnt to control it. Her expression of shock as I proceeded to levitate the table, the pig, the cup, trays and coasters separately and gently set it down, was magnificent and my eidectic memory acted as a camera to capture this beautiful moment. McGonagall seemed impressed and told me the same thing she had told Mrs.Davies. She then left after telling me to be prepared to be taken to Diagon Alley for shopping for my school supplies, in a few days time.

That was one memory I would never forget, even without an eidectic memory.

...

Diary Entry # 354

Dear Diary,

Professor McGonagall was true to her words and took me to get my supplies today. She had taken me to the iconic Leaky Cauldron with apparition, a nasty magic that almost made me puke, and proceeded to take me to Diagon Alley after tapping the bricks in a specific order. The sight that greeted me took my breath away. I would have been content admiring the sight for a long time had McGonagall not taken me by the arm and guided me through the dense throngs of people until we came to a rest in front of the impressive building of Gringotts, the goblin-run bank of the Wizarding World. On a whim, I had asked McGonagall to let me do my shopping by myself and to my surprise, she had agreed without making much fuss. After handing me a guide, she told me to meet her at the entrance, near the wall with the special brick enchantment. I readily agreed and proceeded to Gringotts.

I had chosen to open a new vault and had it linked to my muggle bank account. The exchange rate was 1 galleon to 10 pounds and I had them convert the allowed amount into galleons (there was a limit of conversion per year for minors, adults had limits too but they were more lax) which came to be about 10,000 galleons. I had instructed them to keep converting my money every year until I came of age, and also to invest in a few Wizarding companies as well, especially in the company that produced the Firebolt. After purchasing the bottomless bag that was linked to my vault, I proceeded to buy my trunk (which was astonishingly provided by Gringotts too), robes, other assorted stuff (telescope, vials, scales etc.), pet, books and wand in that order.

After coming home, I systematically sorted out my purchases -

Gringotts - Bottomless bag linked to my vault packed with enchantments - anti-theft, return to owner, ability to change forms etc. A trunk that was practically an apartment that could shrink into a chain. It had a bathroom, a library, one bedroom and two training rooms, one for magical practice and the other for physical training.

Eeylops Owl Emporium - Volken, a white owl with black stripes on its head, along with a cage.

Flourish and Blotts - All the required books, and a lot of others too. I was most excited about these.

Madam Malkin's Robes - All the required clothes, along with a few extras like a muggle style three piece suit, sweaters etc. All the clothes had the best enchantments money could buy, ranging from self-cleaning, adjusting to expanded pockets.

Slug and Jiggers Apothecary - Potion materials and a few extra stuff.

Potage's Cauldron Shop - The required cauldrons along with a few extra stuff.

Ollivander's Wand Shop - A 13 inch somewhat flexible wand made of trutinawood with a dragon scale and unicorn hair as the core. (Ollivander's was practically screaming with joy after finding out the majority of the wands were unsuited for me. The one he finally offered was the one I bought, it was a unique wand with two conflicting cores balanced by the trutinawood), and a holster.

All these cost me almost all my gold, I was left with a pittance but I still felt satisfied.

After putting all my belongings in the trunk, I shrunk it and wore it around like a chain. Professor McGonagall had informed me that the term would start at September 1 and gave me the train ticket for the Hogwarts Express, which had the iconic platform number 9 3/4 written on it. That day I slept the most blissful sleep I had ever experienced.

...

Diary Entry #355

Dear Diary,

I am staying at the Leaky Cauldron for the few weeks before the big date. I have already arranged all my Muggle matters and no further contact is ready. I have purchased an apartment near Devon, and it cost me a lot of my savings but I feel it is worth it. The Burrow, The Lovegoods' home and Potter's old home are all close to my new home. The books I have purchased from Flourish and Blotts have been devoured by me using my self-created book reading spell. I have memorized the entire content and now I just need to understand them thoroughly. But I reckon with my current level I'll have no trouble in coming top of the year for the first, second and third year exams. Now I just need to understand the rest of the books thoroughly and Occlumency was at the top of my list. Right now I am just counting down the days till September 1st, and by then I think I'll at least have the power to hide the memories of my previous life and the entirety of my power from any intruding Legilimens.

My journey had just begun.