Chapter 2

Eliza woke to the sound of Harry and Hagrid talking quietly a few feet away from her.

"He won't pay for us to learn magic." Said Harry, Eliza opened her eyes and pulled herself up into a sitting position.

"Don't worry 'bout that, yer parents left yer money. Mornin' Eliza." Eliza smiled slightly, her mind reeling with the revelation that her parents had left money for Harry and herself. They were always given the impression that Lily and James Potter had left them nothing.

"You look a lot like yer mother Eliza, similar hair colour, slightly darker mind. Your face, well your face could be an eleven year old Lily..." Hagrid went on for some time as they left the shed on the rock (without bidding the Dursley's goodbye) and got into a small boat. He told them both of Lily and James Potter, two of the nicest and cleverest witch and wizard of their year at Hogwarts. Hagrid told them how much they loved each other, and the twins. It made Eliza feel sad, yet happy, it was a strange emotion.

They travelled into London on the train and then switched to the underground. Eliza wondered where they were going to buy the magical school supplies that were listed on her letter; a wand, robes, cauldrons among others things, some of which she had never heard of.

After getting off at Charing Cross Rd they walked for about ten minutes before Hagrid led them into a dingy looking pub that Eliza hadn't realized was there before he had pointed it out to her, it looked horrible from the outside and Eliza was very glad to have Hagrid with them. A friendly looking barman stopped Hagrid as they walked in and greeted him with a wave.

"The usual, Hagrid?" He asked.

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," He said clapping Harry on the shoulder and nodding his head towards Eliza.

"Merlin's Beard!" Exclaimed Tom, the other residents of the pub noticed Tom's reaction and began to turn and look at the twins, Eliza wished they wouldn't. "Is this- can this be-? Bless my soul, it's the Potter twins!" Tom continued.

He hurried around the bar and welcomed them both, the pub was now silent, save for the sound of scrapping chairs as people hurried to shake their hands and welcome them back. The next few minutes was a blur for Eliza as they tried to make their way across the crowded pub, she hated all the attention and wished she could just disappear.

"Professor Quirrell!" Cried Hagrid as they reached a rather timid looking man at the end of the bar, "Harry, Eliza, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-P-otter twins." Stammered the Professor, shaking Harry's hand, he barely glanced at Eliza and did not shake her hand, she was grateful for this.

"C-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you!" Eliza tuned out of the conversation thinking how brave the man was to talk like that. If he stuttered so much then why bother talking at all? Would she stutter if she started talking in front of people? What would people think of her at Hogwarts? Would they have some magical way of making her talk? Eliza didn't pick up the conversation again until they were in a small courtyard at the back of the pub. She often faded in and out of conversations, it usually resulted in punishment from her Aunt and Uncle but Eliza couldn't seem to help it.

"Three up... two across..." Muttered Hagrid as he tapped the brick wall with a bright pink umbrella, Eliza wondered if all umbrellas were magical or if Hagrid's was a special one. "Right stand back." He then tapped the wall three times and the bricks began to move, it was amazing to watch, it was as if all the bricks were trying to push each other out of the way in order to escape the giant doorway that was now forming. Behind the doorway, Eliza saw the most amazing sight that she had ever seen in her eleven years of life. Well, all the sights she could remember seeing, of course.

"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley!"

It was the most colourful place she had ever seen, it was like she had lived in black and white and could now see in millions of colours. Colours that, it seemed to Eliza, had just been created for this world that she was about to venture into. The shops towered over the cobbled street, some of them so much it was amazing that they were still standing.

There were lots of people in the street, both adults and children, and other creatures that Eliza had never seen before. Everyone seemed to be moving about with a purpose. Most of the adults seemed to be wearing robes, almost like formal dressing gowns, and pointy hats. The children tended to wear normal clothes, although some of the combinations were a bit odd. Eliza looked down at her own outfit, she was wearing a thin pair of jeans that had a hole near her left knee, a pair of black plimsolls that she used for sports at school, and a blue-checked shirt over a pale blue T-shirt. She didn't look out of place although the clothes definitely looked old, Aunt Petunia always bought Eliza's clothes from second hand shops but Eliza didn't mind, Harry got Dudley's hand-me-downs that were huge on him and often had to be held together by rope or string so that they didn't fall down.

As they walked down the street Eliza was still in a daze, there were shops that sold; Owls, cauldrons, broomsticks, disgusting looking ingredients for potions, telescopes. It was so surreal that Eliza wondered if she was dreaming, but then surely her imagination wouldn't have come up with all of this!

First off they went to get some money from Gringotts back, which was run by Goblins; Eliza didn't think she had ever seen that much gold before, even on TV. The vault that their parents had left them was almost overflowing with gold coins. Hagrid explained how the magical currency worked but Eliza forgot it almost instantly, there was so much to think of!

Hagrid pulled out two pouches from his pocket and filled both of them with coins before passing one each for the twins, assuring them that it would be enough money to last the year. They would have to visit the bank again the following year to get more. Eliza looked at the amount of money in the vault and did a vague calculation, she rather enjoyed maths and numbers, it was unlikely that the twins would ever run out of money, even if they never worked when they were older. Although, Eliza reminded herself, she had no idea how much things cost in the magical world. The vault seemed to go on forever, they were surely very rich.

Harry looked at Eliza and smiled.

"The Dursleys definitely didn't know about this." Eliza shook her head as her brother continued. "I think it should be our little secret, they might hate everything magical but I doubt it would spread to a huge pile of gold." Eliza nodded and grinned.

The twins turned around and Hagrid was talking to the Goblin, Griphook, and instructing him to take them to another vault, number seven hundred and thirteen. When they arrived the vault only had a tiny parcel in, about the size of a block of cheese. Harry looked disappointed but when Eliza saw the way Hagrid picked up the parcel she felt sure that size was no guarantee of power.

They then went to a robe shop where they were fitted for their school uniforms; the witch was a kind lady who smiled at Eliza in a familiar way as if she was reminded of a pleasant memory, and then muttered about how small she was. Eliza was small, about two inches smaller than Harry, but she was still only eleven, there was still plenty of time for growth spurts.

They met a boy in the robes shop who made Eliza feel nervous. He had a pointed face and pale blond hair, so blond it was almost white, it clashed with his skin tone but the boy didn't seem to be concerned by it. He had an air of self-importance about him that reminded Eliza of Uncle Vernon.

When the witch finished measuring Eliza she pointed her to a seat and called Harry up, the blonde boy was standing on the next stand to Harry and the witch measured them both at the same time, a measuring tape floated around them and the witch was dashing about to get pins and threads. Eliza watched Harry and the boy strike up a slightly awkward conversation.

The boy was talking about a lot of things that Eliza, and obviously Harry, had never heard of before, he talked of flying broomsticks, something called Quidditch, things called Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and then to top it all off he was rude about Hagrid, which in Eliza's mind took the biscuit. She did not like this boy, and the expression on her brother's face suggested that he was not convinced by the boy either.

When they finished in the robe shop the twins left the boy and walked outside to where Hagrid was waiting for them. He explained the meaning of some of the words as they walked. Apparently Quidditch was a sport, which was played on flying broomsticks and was very popular in the magical world. Slytherin and Hufflepuff, along with Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, were houses at Hogwarts, each house valued different attributes. They would be placed in houses, based on their personalities, on their first night at Hogwarts and they would remain in those houses for the whole seven years at the school.

The next shop they went into was a bookshop, Eliza was amazed by the sheer volume of books and the wide variety of subjects. Eliza knew she was clever, although she had to be careful not to be too clever at the Muggle school as it was dangerous to outshine her cousin. The problem was that to be worse than Dudley you had to be really stupid and most of the teachers knew that Eliza was not stupid. Hogwarts was going to be completely different though, Dudley wasn't there of course, but also Eliza knew absolutely nothing about any of the subjects. She enjoyed reading but usually just story books, she was a big fan of fairy tales and loved drawing pictures. Eliza wondered if there would be any time for drawing at Hogwarts, or if she would spend her entire time trying make a rabbit come out of a hat or something like that.

Hagrid handed in their booklists and the shop assistant disappeared for a few moments and then returned with two piles of the first year textbooks, Eliza looked at the with some trepidation.

After the bookshop they went into the apothecary and bought a bag of disgusting looking ingredients that they would need for Potions. Eliza looked into some of the cauldrons and wondered if Potions would be like Chemistry, or perhaps like cooking a soup. Eliza was very good at cooking but she preferred baking. Aunt Petunia made Eliza bake cakes for the county competitions, her Aunt would obviously claim that she had baked the cakes and decorated them herself. Eliza's cakes usually won but when they didn't the punishment was enough to make Eliza tremble just thinking about it.

Eliza shook away the unpleasant thoughts as they entered the street again. They approached a magical pet shop and Hagrid took them inside looking excited.

"Time for yer birthday presents!" He said, with a smile. Eliza's eyes widened, for one she had completely forgotten it was her birthday at all, and secondly she had never had a birthday present before. The twins hadn't even know when their birthday was until they started school and the teacher had put all the class birthdays on the wall.

"You – don't have to get us a present, Hagrid. It's not a big deal." Said Harry, his eyes looking around the shop with definite interest.

"Come now, it's not every day yer turn eleven! And I've missed nine birthday's! I got yer a book on Dragon's fer yer first birthday Harry, and I got Eliza a Dragon mobile, it had real fire and everything!" He said, wistfully. Eliza smiled, wondering how safe it must have been to have fire near a crib, it must have been safe magical fire.

"If you're sure…"

"Of course, now yer can get an owl, a cat, or a toad? I wouldn't bother with a toad though, boring, and a bit old fashioned now. Owl's are dead useful, carry yer post and everything. Why don't one of yer get an owl and the other a cat, there's no use yer both getting an owl, they can be a bit territorial sometimes."

"Eliza likes cats, she plays with Mrs Figg's cats on the way to school, don't you Eliza?" Harry said, looking around at her. Eliza nodded and Hagrid led her over to a pen with kittens in, they all started purring and meowing for her attention but there was one in the corner that was silent and almost appeared to be smiling at her.

Eliza reached over to it and the tortoise-shelled kitten licked her hand and put its tiny paw on her hand, as if saying hello. Eliza smiled and picked it out.

"She's a cute on there, Eliza, no doubt about that." Hagrid said, smiling. He moved away to help Harry pick out an owl and Eliza picked up a travel basket, feeding bowl, tartan collar, food, and some toys and then waited by the counter.

Harry arrived moments later with a snowy owl, the owl and kitten looked at each other but did not seem at all perturbed by the others presence. Hagrid bought the animals and the twins paid for the relevant accessories and they left the shop with grins on their faces.

Harry was stammering thanks from the both of them and Hagrid looked pleased with himself. Eliza was thrilled, she had never had a pet before, and this wasn't even a pet she had to share with Dudley and Harry!

They then went to buy magic wands at a shop called 'Ollivanders'. It had apparently been selling wands since 382BC, which seemed an extraordinary long time! Hagrid suggested that the twins enter the shop alone and he stayed outside with the owl and kitten. Harry pushed the door and a bell tinkled, indicating their arrival, they looked to be the only customers which was a good thing because the space for them to stand in was very small. It was definitely wise for Hagrid to stay outside.

The walls of the shop, behind the counter, were filled with small boxes, thousands of them, and strange looking instruments littered the counter, it was dusty and dark. Eliza was thankful that Harry was there, she felt quite scared.

"Hello?" Harry called nervously, Eliza stayed behind him and glanced outside to check that Hagrid was still there.

A soft voice wished them good afternoon and then the owner of the voice came into view. He looked very old and wise, like an old Professor. He jumped off a ladder and moved over to them slowly.

"Ah yes, I thought I'd be seeing you two soon. I am Mr Ollivander. You have your mothers' eyes and father's face." He said to Harry, "And you have your fathers, but your mothers face. Twins are fascinating!" He added to Eliza.

"It seems only yesterday that they were in here buying their first wands. You first young lady." He motioned Eliza to step forwards and she did. "Which is your wand arm?" Eliza held up her right arm without giving the question much thought, she held her pen in her right arm, surely a wand would be the same?

Mr Ollivander held up his own wand, which was made of a pale wood and looked rather thin, and measuring tape surrounded Eliza's arm. It measured the width and length of her arm and hand. It then moved on to the length of her legs, the circumference of her head, the distance from her knee to her armpit and finally, and rather bizarrely Eliza though, the distance between her eyes. The tape then flew over to Ollivander and he nodded, as if the tape was whispering the measurements to him. He jotted them down on a notepad and then looked back at Eliza with a critical gaze, and then turned to the wand-filled walls behind him.

He moved along the shelf, they weren't labelled so he must have known his shop very well, and pulled a box off a shelf. He turned around and placed the box lightly on the counter and opened it gently, as if not wanting to scare it. The wand was thicker than his own, and was made of a dark, or perhaps black even, wood. The handle was smooth with the exception of one knot of wood near the end.

He lifted the wand with his hand, which was covered in a velvet cloth, and held it out to Eliza. It didn't look much like the plastic magic wand that she had seen other muggle children playing with. She took it from him carefully, looking at the Mr Ollivander. He smiled encouragingly and she looked down at the wand quickly, she felt something, like a warmth or a strength coming from the long stick of wood in her hand.

"You feel it, don't you?" He questioned, Eliza nodded. There was definitely something she could feel.

"Same unicorn as I got your fathers' core from. At bit shorter, only ten inches, you are much smaller than he was at eleven. It's as pliable as his, still excellent for Transfiguration. I see that being your field Miss Potter, I can tell you are more like your mother in spirit though, don't you think?"

"Eliza doesn't talk." Harry supplied as usual. The man did not look at Eliza in pity, he did not even seem surprised.

"Ah I see, that explains the wand wood, Ebony, stubborn enough to be yourself! No matter, I see it in your eyes Miss Potter, believe in yourself and you will have no need to talk, unless of course you want to." Eliza shook her head and the man moved on to Harry's wand.

Eliza moved backwards into a chair and sat in a daze still holding the black wooden wand firmly. Was the Mr Ollivander right? Would she have no need to talk? Surely she would have to say magical words to make the spells work? How could he tell so much about her just by her wand? Was she just being too stubborn to start talking?

It took almost an hour for Mr Ollivander to find a suitable wand for Harry. When he did he seemed extremely intrigued.

"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry asked, looking between his new phoenix feather wand and the wandmaker.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar." Eliza saw Harry gulp and look back down at his wand, looking mildly uncomfortable.

"Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember … I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter … After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."

Harry looked unsure how to respond so Mr Ollivander smiled and straightened up.

"The wand chooses the wizard, Mr Potter. This wand has chosen you, Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple! Determination and initiative." He said, pointing to Harry before looking over at Eliza, "And a stubborn, non-conformist with a faithful wand! I see an interesting time at Hogwarts for you two!"

With a small smile Ollivander took the wands back off the twins and put them back into their boxes, giving them instruction on how to care and clean them, he then put some wand polish and cloths into a bag and then took seven Galleons each off them before wishing them a good day and disappearing back into the depths of his shop, still muttering about the wands that had chosen the Potter twins.