CHAPTER TWO - Diagon Alley

"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a stop in front of a tiny looking shop, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

The three of them had gone through so much trouble to get to this one tiny pub. While Hagrid had to squeeze past everyone and complained the whole way, Harry's confusion about the entire "you're-a-wizard-situation" was evident on his face throughout the entire trip.

Attuoria had heard Harry asking himself questions, but he never once opened his mouth to physically speak. She was confused about how everyone could speak with their mouth closed, yet she couldn't. She was also surprised at how defensive Harry had gotten when she gave him the answer to one of the questions he had asked himself whilst not opening his mouth.

The three of them entered the pub, which was dark and shabby. The people inside wore particular clothing, with long robes and pointed hats. Most of them were quite old.

Everyone greeted Hagrid warmly, and the bartender offered him a drink.

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping each of his hands on the shoulder of the two kids. Both kids stumbled at contact, but quickly straightened themselves up.

"Good Lord," said the barman, looking over at Harry. "Is this - can this be -?"

The Leaky Cauldron suddenly went silent as everyone stared at Harry.

Immediately, everyone rushed forwards to greet Harry, introducing themselves or praising him.

Attuoria was confused, and so was Harry. She heard his voice again as he shook everyone's hands without speaking: "What? Who are these people? Wait, this man? He bowed to me in a shop. So they all know me? Especially this woman, she keeps coming back to talk to me. What on Earth is happening?"

Attuoria resisted the urge to pat him on the back and say, "Don't worry, I'm just as confused as you."

After many, many, many introductions - including their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, who gave Attuoria a long gaze whilst stuttering his sentences - they finally got out of the pub through a back door.

At this point, Attuoria's head was spinning, and it didn't help that Harry was also constantly asking questions that she could hear: "Vampires? Hags? Quirrell was stuttering. Is he always that nervous? Where are we?"

Finally she couldn't take it anymore. Harry's constant rambling was interrupting her thinking.

"Harry can you please stop talking?" Attuoria said, and Harry whipped his head to face her, a look of shock plastered on his face.

"I wasn't talking." He said.

"Yes you were. You were saying, 'Vampires? Hags? Quirrell was stuttering, is he always that nervous? Oh? Where are we?' I don't know how you do that, but you keep saying stuff without even opening your mouth.You're not the only one who's confused, so I'd rather you just keep it to yourself."

Harry's eyes widened the exact same way as this morning. Attuoria suddenly realised that maybe the problem was her and not him.

"I didn't say any of that. I..." he hesitated. "Those were my thoughts."

"Your thoughts?"

"You know, the things I think about in my head."

"I know what thoughts are. But if those are your thoughts, how come I can hear them?"

"Wait, so you're reading my mind?"

Just then, Hagrid finished tapping the wall with his pink umbrella, revealing an archway, and proudly announced, "Welcome, to Diagon Alley."

Attuoria peered over around Hagrid and saw a long, twisting street, layered with cobblestones and lined with shops and stalls on both sides. She was temporarily mesmerized by the view around her as they stepped through the archway and onto the street. There were cauldron shops - she needed one of those - a woman selling dragon liver, an "Owl Emporium" selling all types of owls, a broomstick shop and so much more.

But her thoughts were once again interrupted by Harry's thoughts, which were literally the exact same as what she was just thinking: "Wow, the archway just turned back into a wall behind us! That shop over there sells cauldrons! I need one of those. I wish I had eight more eyes, there's so much to see! Dragon liver? Dragons exist? You can buy their liver? Woah, a broomstick? Owls? Telescopes? What are those strange-"

"Harry! Stop!" Attuoria exclaimed, and Harry looked at her with a frown.

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying everything you see, because I see the same thing!"

"I told you, I'm not saying anything! You're the one reading my mind, and you're the one getting annoyed. Can you stop?"

The two of them stared at each other, a look of defiance on Harry's face, and a blank expression on Attuoria's face.

Attuoria was confused. Harry said she was getting annoyed. Annoyed? She knew what the word meant, but didn't know how it actually feels to be annoyed. Being annoyed was a human emotion. Was she experiencing a human emotion?

"Gringotts," said Hagrid, as they stopped in front of a large, snowy-white building with two weird creatures guarding it's bronze front doors.

"And yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid, answering Attuoria's thoughts.

So goblins are real, Attuoria thought to herself, I'm not even surprised anymore.

She followed Hagrid and Harry inside, eying all the pointy-faced creatures. They entered a large marble hall filled with goblins sitting behind long counters with brass scales and colorful stones.

The three of them made for a goblin at a counter. Hagrid handed the goblin Harry's vault key, and two letters from Dumbledore. One was about Attuoria's student loan, while the other was about a specific You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen.

The goblin left his counter for a brief moment and returned with a medium sized leather pouch, heavy with coins.

"The loan," he said curtly, dropping the bag onto the table. Hagrid picked it up and was about to hand it to Attuoria, but then shook it up and down slightly.

"Thing's a tad bit heavy. I'll hold onto that for yeh until we leave the bank." He said, stuffing it into yet another pocket of his jacket.

They followed Griphook, one of the goblins, through a doorway and down a steep, narrow stone passage that was lit by flaming torches. At the bottom, Griphook whistled and a cart came hurtling up a track towards them, and they all climbed in.

Immediately, the cart took off, bringing them on a fast and twisty ride through the underground. Attuoria's eyes stung as the cold wind sliced at her face, so she closed them and buried her head in her arms.

She heard Harry and Hagrid yell something to each other but couldn't quite make out the words. Finally, they stopped at Harry's vault, and Griphook unlocked the door.

That's a lot of money, Attuoria thought, peering into the vault at the mountains of coins.

"The gold ones are Galleons, seventeen silver sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough." Hagrid explained to Harry, whilst Attuoria took note of that behind them.

Afterwards, they arrived at the secret vault seven hundred and thirteen. Attuoria watched as Hagrid stuffed a small grubby package into his coat.

Who needs a bag when you have that coat, Attuoria thought to herself, impressed by the amount of items Hagrid stored in his jacket.

Soon after that, they were back outside Gringotts. Attuoria and Harry both had a bag of coins in their arms, and both of them stared at the many shops outside with interest.

Attuoria could still hear Harry's thoughts going: "I don't know where to go first! I have so much money, even more money than Dudley ever had! This is the most money I've ever had in my life!"

She tried really hard to ignore him, or to somehow stop listening to his thoughts, as it was getting extremely bothersome. After all, she couldn't just tell him to stop thinking.

"Might as well get yer uniforms," said Hagrid, nodding towards a shop labelled 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. "Listen, Harry, and er, girl," Hagrid frowned slightly because he wasn't sure what to call Attuoria, but continued, "would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts."

So Harry and Attuoria entered Madam Malkin's shop by themselves. Attuoria could sense (and hear his thoughts) that he was nervous, but she didn't want to say anything to make it worse.

"Hogwarts, my dears?" a small woman wearing a full body of mauve coloured clothing said once the two of them entered. Another slightly younger looking witch trailed behind her. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

Both Harry and Attuoria looked over to a boy at the back of the shop. He had a pale face with pointed features, and was standing on a footstool while another witch pinned up his long black robes.

Madam Malkin led the two of them over so that they were each standing on a stool, with Harry right next to the other boy. As Madam Malkin started pinning up Harry's robe and the other witch worked with Attuoria, the other boy struck up a conversation.

"Hullo," he said, "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," said Harry, while Attuoria just nodded meekly, unsure if the boy was even talking to her.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. His voice was flat and he drawled out his words. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"This guy reminds me of Dudley," Attuoria heard Harry's thoughts say.

"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.

"No," said Harry.

The boy, looking unimpressed, peered over at Attuoria. "Have you?" he asked.

"No." she replied curtly, copying Harry's answer. She was rather surprised at the question. Aren't brooms what humans use for cleaning?

"Oh. You guys play Quidditch at all?"

"No." They both replied at the same time, both confused about what Quidditch even was.

"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"No," Harry answered first. The boy waited for Attuoria's answer, but when she didn't say anything, he leaned forward to look at her. She turned her head and her gaze met with his grey eyes.

Immediately, his voice rang out in her head: "Wow, no Quidditch, no broom, don't know what house they'll be in- if they're pureblood I'd be surprised. And this girl, so quiet. Why is she wearing rubber slippers? God if she's a mudblood..."

She heard everything, yet his mouth didn't move. After her experience with Harry and a brief experience with Hagrid, she now knew that she was reading his thoughts. She also knew that she shouldn't be reading people's thoughts.

"So do you know what house you'll be in?" He repeated, still staring at her.

"No."

"Oh. Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" The boy continued, and Attuoria found it quite obvious that he wasn't interested in getting to know her or Harry, but rather he was trying to show off.

"I sound so boring, I wish I had something interesting to say as well," she heard Harry think to himself as he stared down at his robes.

"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding towards the front window.

It was Hagrid, standing outside and holding three large ice creams in his hand. He managed to hold two of those in one hand, which wasn't surprising considering how large his hands were.

"That's Hagrid," said Harry proudly. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry.

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut in the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly. Then right afterwards, his thoughts went: "This boy is so entitled. Servant? Savage? Drunk? Hagrid is none of that! How dare he make assumptions like that?"

Attuoria couldn't help but agree with Harry's thoughts. Hagrid, although clumsy, has been nothing but caring to both her and Harry throughout the day so far. This boy doesn't know what he's talking about. Attuoria thought to herself.

"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you guys? Where are your parents?"

"They're dead," said Harry shortly.

"Oh, sorry, but they were our kind, weren't they?" his sentence was laced with judgement and apathy. "If he says his parents are muggles I swear to god I'm getting out of here right now," she heard the pale boy think as he spoke to Harry.

"They were a witch and a wizard, if that's what you mean." replied Harry.

"What about you?" The boy turned to speak to Attuoria. "Your parents. Where are they?"

"Uh," she hesitated, "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I've never met them," she quickly made up an excuse, hoping he would just let it go.

"You've never met them? What, they didn't want you?" The boy asked, narrowing his eyes at her instead.

"Hey, don't say that!" Harry immediately said, glaring at the boy.

Before Attuoria could find an answer, the woman fixing the robes for her patted her shoulder and told her that she was done. She handed Attuoria three sets of black robes before stepping back to look at her.

"Here, come with me," she said, guiding her over through a small door at the back of the shop. Attuoria was thankful that she didn't have to answer the boy's questions anymore. It was really starting to remind her that she needed to think of a human identity and backstory for herself as soon as possible.

"I don't want to make assumptions, but are you in need of clothes?" the woman asked kindly once they were away from the main room. It was a narrow hallway with shelves full of robes and fabrics, most likely the storage room.

Attuoria nodded, staring down at her odd black garment and Dudley's rubber slippers. She realised how weird she must've looked walking down the streets like this while everyone else actually had normal human clothes.

"Here, take this. Put them on." She handed Attuoria a simple blue dress with a pair of sandals.

"Really?"

"Of course. I myself didn't grow up with much money, so I do understand the struggle." the woman said with a gentle smile. "Put it on. I'll meet you outside with your robes."

Attuoria nodded and watched as she left. She quickly changed into the dress and put on the sandals, taking off the black garment she was previously wearing. It was oddly light, and the material was so soft and airy it almost felt like there was nothing there. However, she managed to fold it and tied it around her waist. As for the rubber slippers, she had no idea what to do with them and just left them there in the storage room.

She went out and paid for her three robes, thanking the woman again for her kindness. She and Harry left the shop, with Harry's thoughts loudly announcing that he was glad to be away from the boy in the shop.

The three of them ate their ice creams peacefully, although neither of them spoke a word.

So this is ice cream, Attuoria thought to herself as she licked the cold confection. Her tongue stung at first, but then the cream slowly melted in her mouth. The taste of it was strong, and left her wanting more.

Attuoria could hear Harry's thoughts going around and around what the boy had said to him while she was in the back of the shop: "I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families."

That was what the pale boy had said, and Attuoria understood exactly why Harry was unhappy about that.

As they stopped to buy quills and ink, Attuoria decided to talk to Harry. He stood up for her against the boy at the robes shop, and she was grateful for it.

"I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out in the shop." Attuoria said to Harry as he played with a bottle of color-changing ink.

"No problem," he said with a shrug, not looking at her.

Although she had thanked him, which was an act of proper etiquette, she still didn't feel as if she had repaid him well enough. She made a mental note to herself that she needed to stand up for Harry or do something nice for him in the future.

After they left the shop, Harry asked Hagrid the questions that had come up during his conversation with the boy at the robe shop.

Hagrid explained that Quidditch was a wizard sport, where players fly around on brooms and there are four balls. He then explained that there were four school houses, although he didn't mention all the names. However, he did say that all the witches and wizards that went 'bad' were Slytherins, including a specific You-Know-Who, which Attuoria immediately discovered through Harry's thoughts that this was a nickname for someone named Voldemort.

They entered a book shop called Flourish and Blotts, and originally she wasn't going to ask any questions about what the two had just said, but her curiosity took over.

"Who's Volde- I mean, You-Know-Who?"

Hagrid and Harry immediately stopped in their tracks and stared at her, quickly glancing around to make sure other people hadn't heard.

"He's... not important. He's gone, anyway." Hagrid quickly said before dragging them off to buy their books, not answering Attuoria's question at all.

But luckily for her, she got all her answers from both of their thoughts, and discovered that Voldemort was a powerful wizard who committed many crimes, which included the murder of Harry's parents. He had attended Hogwarts many, many years ago, and was 'killed' around eleven years ago when his spell against the baby Harry backfired.

Attuoria suddenly found herself enjoying this ability to read people's minds. She discovered she could read anyone's mind after making eye contact with them, but couldn't yet control when to stop reading them.

However, she did notice she was getting better at it. By avoiding their gaze, she could sometimes cut off the connection. But most of the time, her mind would randomly and unconsciously start to read people's thoughts, which was frustrating for her as it then disrupted her own thoughts.

They went on to then buy a cauldron, a telescope, and some basic potion ingredients. Finally, they had bought everything on the list except for a wand. But Hagrid suggested going to Eeylops Owl Emporium first to get a birthday gift for Harry.

Although she kind of wanted an owl, she knew it was better just to save her money. So while Hagrid bought a snowy owl for Harry, Attuoria just gazed around at the many eyes that were flickering in the darkness of the shop.

Out of nowhere, she heard a heavy, fluttering sound. Within a few seconds, a sudden weight fell on her shoulders. Sharp talons dug into her skin as she collapsed onto the ground, landing on her hands and knees.

The fluttering sound came up again as she felt the weight being lifted off of her, but before she could stand up, the heavy object was placed back on her shoulders and this time she fell forwards completely, lying on the ground face down.

"Oh! Are you okay?" A female voice rang out, approaching Attuoria.

"What's wrong?" An unfamiliar male voice said from deeper within the shop.

"The Philippine Eagle. It landed on her." The female voice replied.

In the dark and with her face pressed onto the floor, Attuoria had no idea what was going on.

"Woah, what is that?" She heard Harry's voice say. "No way that's an owl. It's so tall!"

"You are correct, it's no owl. That's an eagle," the male voice said, his footsteps bringing him closer to Attuoria. "I think he likes you." He said, pushing the bird to the side gently, and it stepped its large talons off of her shoulders.

Attuoria stood up quickly and brushed the dirt off her dress. She looked up and saw the bird they were talking about. It was big.

"We used to sell him for a whopping twenty-five galleons. Very rare bird. But no one wanted him for his size, so he's just been living here for the past few years. We tried selling him for five galleons, then three galleons, but still, no one bought him. Would you like to have him? Free of charge."

Attuoria stared at the man who made her this offer. He was bald and had beady eyes, almost similar to an owl.

This was the second 'free of charge' offer she had gotten today. She stared at the eagle, who stared back at her with its tiny black pupils, it's head tilted slightly.

And then, all of a sudden, she could hear it's thoughts: "She's gonna refuse the offer just like everyone else, and I'll be stuck here forever, living in this crammed owl shop with a bunch of other idiotic owls. I could be living in a forest, but no, I'm here. This life is unbearable."

The bird could understand English. Attuoria's eyes narrowed slightly. The bird was like her.

"Wait, she's actually thinking about it. Please take me. I know I'm big, but I'm independent. I can live outside, on my own. I'm really not as bothersome as people think."

Out of pity for this poor, huge eagle, Attuoria nodded and dug out three galleons. "Here. I'll take him." She said. The bird stared back at her with wide eyes.

"Really?" The owner of the shop looked even more surprised than the eagle.

Attuoria shrugged at him before looking back at the eagle. "Don't touch me, okay?" She said to the bird, ignoring the weird looks from all the people around her. "You're heavy. You either fly, or walk by yourself. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't flatter yourself, I don't want to stand on your shoulder anyways," said the eagle in his thoughts. What a sassy bird.

After spending twenty minutes in Eeylops Emporium, Hagrid, Harry and Attuoria stepped out into daylight. Harry had a cage with his sleeping snowy owl inside, while Attuoria had a Philippine Eagle more than half her height strutting along next to her.

Before she changed her clothes, people stared at her for the weird choice of clothing. But now, people were staring at her for her unusual choice in pets.

Hagrid couldn't take his eyes off of Attuoria's new bird. She could hear him marvelling about the creature in his thoughts, but he didn't say anything to her.

They walked down the street for a while before stopping at the last shop, which was quite narrow and shabby. There were gold letters over the door that read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 832 BC.

It was time for Harry and Attuoria to get a wand.