Chapter 6. Diagon Alley Pt. 1

John P.o.V.

It was time to go to Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall. She arrived at precisely 9 A.M as we had decided.

stepping outside I noticed that there was no taxi nor car to take us to Diagon. McGonagall noticing me looking around said:

"since we are going as a family we will be going by knights bus, if it was just us then we would simply apparate there." as if that cleared any confusion.

"knights bus? a bus driven by knights?" I asked.

"no, its just a magical bus, I'm afraid I don't know why its called the knights bus." excitement swelled inside me

"magical how exactly? can it go through walls? can it teleport? maybe it can fly!" I exclaim, stepping out onto the pavement.

"nothing so fantastical, Mr. Williams. It can stretch and squeeze in order to bypass any traffic but its not a pleasant experience the first time around, so I've gone out of my way to get these" she says handing each of us a small bucket.

"Thanks." I say

she lifts her arm into the arm and a faint jingle sounds in my mind. when with a loud BANG, a bus appears from nowhere.

one horrific bus ride later we were standing outside a pub. 'the leaky cauldron'

"no legs" my dad says, making me smile a bit

"not the nicest looking place is it?" my mum says, making me notice how stingy and dirty it is

"its so that muggles are discouraged from entering, its looks better on the inside."

going in I tried to listen for the music but I noticed that for some reason its really really quiet. still there but all the instruments' have mutes and are playing very quietly

"why is it so quiet in here?" I whisper to myself, worried that there may not be as much music as i thought.

"the wizards around us have cast privacy spells so that they don't disturb anyone or get eavesdropped while they have breakfast." Professor McGonagall says misunderstanding what I was asking, though perhaps it did explain the sudden quietness.

once coming up to the bar McGonagall says to us "This is Tom, the owner of this fine establishment, if you have any basic questions about the wizarding world he'll be here for you to ask"

"Hello, I'm Tom, its nice to see you. McGonagall is right of course, come see me if you have any issues. busy day Professor?" he says with a smile.

"as always this time of year Tom." she says. Turning to us she continues "follow me, the entrance to Diagon Alley is this way."

walking through the side entrance we come into an alleyway "pay attention Mr. Williams this is important." looking up at her she points at the wall "three bricks up and three left if you want to access Diagon alley in your spare time"

after McGonagall taps the brick an entrance way opens up with a loud gong ringing inside my head walking through the entrance I'm suddenly hit by multiple sounds.

Narrator P.o.V.

after John walks through the entranceway multiple pieces of music hit him at once. Jingles of all the spells to catch your eyes and pay attention to a product playing over each other like multiple loud gambling and arcade machines. humming from all the lights lighting up the alley make it seem like John got temporary tinnitus. melodies, mainly consisting of the celeset, of various witches and wizards blare at him in often dissonant chords.

Holding his hands over his ears he shouts, as if talking over a crowded room "is it possible to turn this racket down?!"

"Racket? you must have very sensitive ears" McGonagall says putting a spell around the whole family to mute everyone else, it does little to help him though there is a difference.

walking to the end of the alley they come across a wonky looking bank run by goblins. walking in the Williams family waited in a small queue in order to speak to a species they had thought was fictional.

John had his eye's closed listening to the music. It was nothing like he had heard before, old traditional instruments like lutes and harpsicords were playing as well as other instruments he had never heard before! He was immensely curious as to what they were sounding similar to a glockenspiel yet there was vibrato similar to a string instrument

when the family reached the front of the queue McGonagall says to the head goblin

"Hello sir, we wish to exchange muggle money to Galleons"

"Hello Madam, the conversion rate is 5 British sterling pounds to 1 wizarding galleon is this acceptable?"

"yes sir as with all the other times"

"and how much would you be converting?"

with that McGonagall turns to the father

"£200" the father says

"and £12.50" John chips in with change in his hand that he had saved up. McGonagall sighs, as unknown to John and his family he has just lost half a Knut as a galleon cannot be directly split in half, the goblins have already swindled them.

"certainly here is 40 Galleons for the Sir and 2 Galleons 8 Sickles and 14 Knuts for the master. is there anything else?" he finishes

"that will be all sir" McGonagall says

"what are knuts and sickles?" John asks assuming the galleon to be like the pound or the euro, the Professor proceeds to explain the ratio between the currencies.

"next we are to get your items for school, unfortunately I'm very busy so I will lead you to the clothes shop and while you get your clothes I will separate to get your potions and astronomy equipment, I'll be sure to bring a receipt. Then ill take you to get your wand, is that okay with everyone?"

they all nod affirmatively

"Great, follow me."

and off they went to the clothes shop labeld 'Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions'

"in you go, I'll go get you cauldron, Phials, scale and Telescope. just ask madam Malkin for the Hogwarts standard."

as they walk in a female voice calls out to them

"Hogwarts?"

"yes, the standard please." the mother replies

"go wait in line please its very busy unfortunately"

getting to the waiting room, the family realised that the line was long and they were in for a boring wait.

while waiting john decided to listen to the music as he had no better to do, unsurprisingly the celesta was playing but the main melody was played by a Harp. it fitted the waiting rooms atmosphere a lot surprisingly.