The Serpentine Way

The Serpentine Ways

Chapter 02: Diagon Alley

It was almost afternoon by the time they reached London. Tired, Tom gazed out of the car window; they were lost in the afternoon traffic. Corporates in their business suits could be seen through the cars windows. There were many sky-scrapers.

Then Dickle said, "Lets get out of here, I think we'll have to walk. I don't think that this traffic's gonna let up!"

So they got out of the smelly car, thankful to stretch their legs. They followed Dickle, who obviously knew the way. They passed many shops (one playing loud music) a stationary store, a huge departmental store, but they didn't seem to be getting to their destination. They could hardly keep up with Dickle; he was going so fast on his long legs. Then suddenly he turned and walked towards a gap between two shops.

"That's The Leaky Cauldron," Dickle said, pointing towards the gap. They looked and a shabby building appeared where the gap had been. Tom's eyes widened.

"Wow!" exclaimed Brett. They followed Dickle towards it and entered after him. They had hoped for a magical and colorful place, but all they saw there, was a grubby, dirty place with dim lighting. But they got more than their share of magic. Plenty of 'people' sitting there looked suspiciously animal-like. Dickle didn't stop there, but greeted the handsome young barman, Tom. Then they continued their way to the back of the inn, at the backyard. Then Dickle, muttering something, took out a long stick and tapped it on two or three bricks. Immediately the brick wall split up, transforming into a wide archway, and a sign said "Diagon Alley".

Dickle then turned around and said, "Boys, this is Diagon Alley, now come on." They followed him through the arch and looked with wonder at all the shops and the weird people. Dickle had to literally drag them out of the interesting ones.

When they asked him whether they would even get inside one of the shops, he said gruffly, "Gringotts first, where are you going to get your money from? From the earth? " He chuckled at his own joke. Rolling their eyes, they went after him, no longer trying to enter any of the shops, but swore that they would visit them later. After walking for a while, they came to a snow-white building which towered over the other little shops. It had a pair of burnished bronze doors, guarded by a goblin. They looked in wonder at him. He was short, looked intelligent (and also a slightly bullish look) and had long fingers. They walked through the bronze doors and came upon another pair of doors, guarded by a pair of goblins. But on these doors there was written a sort of poem:

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.

(Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, Chp 5, Pg 56-UK edition)

"My advice to you, never try to rob Gringotts," said Dickle as they walked through the silver doors. They now came in a huge hall made of marble. There was a long counter behind which a hundred or more goblins were sitting on stools. Some were scribbling in large ledgers as if the world depended on them, some were weighing coins on brass scales and some were examining precious stones and gems through eye-glasses. There were many doors leading off from the hall, goblins showing people in and out through them.

"Good Morning," said Dickle to a free goblin, "we want to take some money out of Mr. Riddle's safe, and here is the key," he added taking out a tiny, golden key out of his pocket.

"And I also want to exchange Muggle money for these two," he said pointing at Philip and Brett, and taking out a wad of notes from his other pocket.

"Very well," said the goblin taking the notes from Dickle and placing them on the counter, "these will be a hundred pounds, right? Good, now you go and get your money from the vault, while I exchange them for you. Bertipps!" he shouted at a goblin who seemed to be dozing off, but got up hastily when addressed.

They followed Bertipps to a set of doors leading off the hall. It was dark in there and after adjusting their eyes to the darkness, they saw tracks. On Bertipps' whistling, a cart came hurrying towards them. They sat in it and the cart hurtled them forward in a furious speed. It was a twenty-minute long ride, (Tom's vault seemed to be right in the heart of the dungeons), and finally they got out, Philip who did not like speed, clutching his stomach. Bertipps stopped infront of a door, and inserted the tiny key in the key hole. It opened with a slight click, and when they looked in, there was a lot of smoke. After the smoke had been cleared, Tom gasped, there were piles of gold, silver and bronze coins.

"All this is yours, Tom, this treasure was left back through generations of your wizarding family, no, not the Riddles, they are Muggles, the Serpdows, one of the most ancient wizarding families. Your mother has left all this for you. Use it well," Dickle said putting some gold, silver and bronze coins in a bag he had brought," look, boys, these gold coins are the Galleons, the silver ones are the Sickles and the bronze ones are the Knuts. Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon, and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle."

***

After Gringotts, they went to the various shops to buy their school things. They were extremely eager to stay in the Apothecary and try some of the things in there. But Dickle would not let them, and briskly led them through one shop after the other. At last the only thing that was left was their wands. They entered a shabby looking wand shop called Ollivanders: Makers of quality Wands since 382 B.C. As they entered the shop, a bell went off somewhere in the inside of the shop, making their hair stand up.

"Good afternoon, young sirs, come to buy your wands?" said a voice right behind them.

They jumped, and whipped around. There was a middle-aged man standing there, but from the way he spoke, he could well have been about a hundred years old. He had large pale silver eyes that were shrewdly watching them, pale skin, clothes which looked out of fashion, even in the wizarding world. They nodded at him.

"Hmm....now, who would like to go first?" he said.

Tom and Philip both looked at each other, then at Brett who looked scared.

"Not me," he said determinedly, so sighing Philip agreed to be first.

"Lets see now, how about unicorn hair, mahogany, eight and a half inches?" he said taking out a thin wand, and giving it to Philip, whose eyes widened as he took it.

"Just give it a swish, will you?" he asked.

Philip, looked unsure, but swished the wand all the same. At once there were red and gold sparks. All of them clapped.

Mr.Ollivander said, "Excellent, at the first try! Now Mr. Lee, if you would like to try."

Brett came forward no longer looking scared, and almost snatched the wand (holly, twelve inches, unicorn hair) Mr.Ollivander had given him. But, he could not get the red and gold sparks.

"Not to worry," Mr.Ollivander said, "the wand always chooses the wizard, not many get it on their first try, here."

He thrust another wand in Brett's hand. It took a long time for Brett to get his wand, a dragon heartstring, fourteen inches, willow. Now Tom realized with a jolt, it was his turn. But it seemed to him that he followed Brett's fate, the number of wands seemed to be growing, but he hadn't got his wand yet.

"Hmmmmmm.....now why not? Interesting combination lets see, here Mr. Riddle, yew, thirteen and a half inches, phoenix tail feather, give it a try," muttered Mr.Ollivander gazing at him mysteriously. Tom took the wand, and immediately warmth spread to his fingertips, and eventually to his whole body. Squaring his shoulders, he gave the wand a swish, and stars appeared from his wand tip. Everyone cheered for him, everyone, except Mr.Ollivander, who gazed at him with his large pale eyes, for unlike Philip's and Brett's, the stars that had come out of his wand were green and silver ones, not red and gold.

"Bravo, Tom, thanks Mr.Ollivander and here is your money, now c'mon boys, back again to the orphanage," said Dickle. Mr.Ollivander kept staring at Tom as he took the money they owed him. They exited the shop, glad to be out in the sunshine.

No one heard Mr.Ollivander mutter, "Got to owl Dumbledore," and no one saw the brown owl on its way to Hogwarts..............

*****

That night Tom sat up late at night. He couldn't go to sleep. He could only see Mr.Ollivander's silver eyes looking mysteriously at him. He thought of Hogwarts and was cheered a bit.

***

The next month was an awful bore for the three wizards in the muggle world. They were waiting anxiously for September first to come. All the other kids at the orphanage were astonished that they (Tom & Philip) had become friends with Brett, who had always been their rival. Finally, on the last day of August, the day before they would be going to Hogwarts, Tom said goodbye to all his friends at the orphanage. Needless to say they were surprised as hell to find out that they (Brett, Tom and Philip) were going to a different school than them. They were annoyed however when they refused to reveal the school's name.

"Is it sooo...bad that you are ashamed to even tell your future school's name? Glad I'm not going!" said Pete hoping to get the school's name out of them, by irritating them. They just shook their heads, looked at each other mysteriously and grinned. If only their friends knew what school they were going to!

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