Chapter 3: Diagon Alley

Minerva McGonagall has met many Muggle-born students during her years as the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. It was her duty to introduce them to the existence of magic.

In most years, there was only one Muggle-born, so she would introduce the child and their parents to magic and then take them shopping for supplies. However, this year was different. There were four new Muggle-born students coming to Hogwarts.

Her meetings with each of them were interesting. The first was the most ordinary of them all. Dean Thomas was categorized as a Muggle-born, but McGonagall had seen quite a few cases like his. Some magical individuals had relationships with Muggles and decided to leave. Since most magical people don't exist in the Muggle world, it becomes impossible for the Muggles to find them.

Next came Justin Finch-Fletchley, who hailed from a wealthy Muggle family. It took her a while to convince his parents to send him to Hogwarts. It was usually a challenge, as parents like Justin's often had their children's lives already planned out.

Then there was Hermione Granger, intelligent, inquisitive, and incredibly stubborn. While most would think she was a perfect fit for Ravenclaw, McGonagall knew she belonged in her own house.

Lastly, she knew that one of the students would be among the most troublesome. Every decade or so, someone like him would come to Hogwarts. They couldn't see magic as something ordinary. People like him would later become Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, or Grindelwald. They didn't view magic as just being there; it was their life, and they dedicated themselves to discovering as much as possible.

The last person she had encountered like that was Lily Evans. That girl had completed everything Hogwarts had to offer by her fourth year, and if Voldemort hadn't intervened, McGonagall was certain Lily would have surpassed Albus.

McGonagall could tell the boy had already been practising magic from the moment he walked into the room. She could sense the fiery mana emanating from him.

But none of that mattered. She had to fulfill her duty, and today she would be leading all those children and their parents into Diagon Alley. Today had been specifically chosen because the shopping district would have the fewest people around, and Muggle parents tended to be too curious for their own good.

...

When Klaus entered the room, his eyes first fell on a girl with ridiculously bushy hair. It wasn't hard to guess who she was, but as he shifted his gaze away from Hermione Granger, he realized he couldn't name another Muggle-born from the book, so he couldn't even try to guess who was who.

While Klaus was looking around the room, his parents entered. His father seemed to recognize someone as he said, "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, it has been a while."

"Mr. Ectorius, pleasure to see you again."

After exchanging their greetings, Mr. Finch-Fletchley introduced the other people in the room, which led to the children introducing themselves to one another. Just as they finished, Professor McGonagall walked into the room.

After her greetings, she began her explanations.

"I am glad to see all of you here. Now, let us start from the beginning. Some of you may know parts of this, but please be patient for those who don't."

First, she explained how the Statute of Secrecy was signed in 1689, and since then, the magical world had started hiding from the Muggle world.

She explained how magical Britain worked, with the Ministry of Magic being responsible for law enforcement and the Wizengamot being responsible for making laws.

She gave a quick explanation of the structure of the Ministry. Just as she was about to move on to the next topic, Klaus's dad raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Ectorius?"

"I just wanted to ask, who are the members of the Wizengamot?"

"Yes. Well, there are heads of the founding houses, Ministry department heads, and heads of the guilds."

Just as McGonagall finished, Hermione eagerly raised her hand. McGonagall gave her a look, and the girl lowered her hand. "Yes, Miss Granger?"

"What are the guilds and founding families?"

"Good question, Miss Granger. I was about to explain the guilds next, but first, the founding families are the families that were there with Merlin when the first Wizards' Council was held." Seeing that the girl was about to ask more, McGonagall cut her off. "You can find out more about them in history books."

Hermione's mother whispered something in the girl's ear, and that got her to settle down.

McGonagall proceeded to explain that there were three guilds. The Alchemists' Guild was where all potion masters, transfiguration masters, and alchemists obtained their mastery. Every potion shop owner in the country was part of the Alchemists' Guild. Next was the Enchanters' Guild, where charm masters, rune masters, and Arithmancy masters obtained their mastery. All individuals who made enchanted items were part of this guild, as well as many curse brokers. Lastly, there was the Adventurers' Guild, where all magizoologists and herbologists obtained their mastery.

Just as McGonagall mentioned this, Dean Thomas raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Thomas?"

"Why is the last one called the Adventurers' Guild and not the Naturalists or something?"

"Good question. It is because the members of this guild are the ones who venture into the wild to collect ingredients that cannot be domesticated. That's why this guild also covers defense mastery, although not as frequently as the Ministry does."

After she finished this explanation, McGonagall went on to explain some important things that most magical people know, such as not signing anything in blood and the importance of blood in general. These were things that anyone who didn't have McGonagall experience in introducing Muggle-born to the magical world every year would miss.

"Now that we are done with this, let's go to Diagon Alley and finish your shopping."

...

When McGonagall led the group behind the inn and opened the passage, they just stood there and stared. In front of them, the shopping street seemed to stretch forever on both sides. They could see buildings in countless different colours, with numerous signs hanging above the street, pointing to each shop.

"Follow me and don't get separated. First, we are visiting Gringotts so you can exchange the currency."

She proceeded to explain the exchange rate as she led them between different shops. It didn't take long before they were standing in front of a giant white building that looked slightly crooked. However, what held the attention of everyone in the group were the green creatures with big sharp teeth and big pointy ears standing guard in front of the bank, wielding weapons.

McGonagall had described non-human magical beings, and they had seen a few gnomes as they were walking towards the bank. But gnomes looked just like short humans, whereas goblins, well, they were ugly and scary, at least by human standards.

So it was a nervous group that walked into the bank.

"We want to do the currency exchange," McGonagall told the goblin teller. He looked at her as if she had insulted his mother but still nodded. "This way, humans." He led them to a room with another goblin inside and, before leaving them there, he said something in a guttural language to it.

"Well, get the money you want to exchange."

First, it was Granger's parents who got a small bag of gold. Then Mr Finch-Fletchley put the suitcase he was carrying on the table, opened it, and gave Mr Ectorius a challenging look. Mr Ectorius returned the look and placed his slightly bigger suitcase on the table. Behind them, their wives exchanged long-suffering looks.

The goblin, though, started cackling. Then he picked up the suitcases, went through a door that seemed to melt out of the wall behind him. He returned a few minutes later with two goblins, each carrying a chest half their size. Since goblins were only about half the height of a human, this wasn't too big, but it was still sizable.

One of the goblins placed the chests on the table and moved away, looking at the humans expectantly.

Mr Finch-Fletchley turned towards McGonagall. "Can you make it smaller?"

McGonagall shook her head. "It is against the law to use a wand inside Gringotts." Mr Finch-Fletchley looked pained at that.

While this was going on, Klaus had his eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating on something. Nobody except his father noticed when he audibly clicked his fingers.

Upon seeing this, Mr Ectorius walked to his chest and effortlessly lifted it as though it weighed as much as a feather. Everyone stared at him, and the goblins' jaws literally dropped. Mr Ectorius simply said goodbye and calmly started walking outside. Mr Finch-Fletchley decided to follow his example and was surprised when his chest didn't weigh much more than a feather. He didn't react much and just followed Mr Ectorius' lead.

As they left, they left behind a bunch of gaping magicals at the bank.

...

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly. First, they went to buy some bags with space extension enchantment so that Mr Ectorius and Mr Finch-Fletchley wouldn't have to carry chests around.

Then they went to the bookstore, where Ectorius decided to get as many history books as they could. History was one of the best ways to get a feel for a culture, after all, and there weren't any introduction books for muggle-borns.

Next, they all bought school robes, and that was where Klaus fell in love with a black wizard's hat with a golden band. He decided that he would be wearing it from then on. His parents decided to indulge him, thinking it was just the novelty of it. Years later, they could only shake their heads at their naivety at the time.

The last place they visited was the wand shop, Ollivanders. Here, McGonagall only allowed one family at a time. Apparently, this was an extremely private matter, so the rest waited their turn in a nearby ice cream parlor.

Klaus was the last one to get his wand. It was a bit anticlimactic—it took only two tries to find the right wand for him. It was made of sycamore wood with a dragon core, measuring 12 1/2 inches, Surprisingly swishy.

It was a beautiful wand, brown towards the point and turning ash-colored around the handle.

After finishing their shopping, McGonagall reminded them not to use magic before coming to school, and the parents exchanged phone numbers.

Hagrid took everyone home, and that was the end of the orientation day.