Arwen Willows

Backstory

I can remember the magical day I received my Hogwarts acceptance letter like it was yesterday. For as long as I can remember, all of my family have gone to Hogwarts to excel in their magical skill. I was doodling in one of my many journals when I heard the mail slip in through the slit in our front door. As soon as I heard that sound, I jumped up and ran over to the door. For the past few weeks, I've been checking the mail as soon as it got here, seeing if the letter had arrived. I crouched down and fumbled through all of the papers. Once I reached the bottom of the pile, my eyes widened as I looked over the cover of the envelope. I smiled; an actual smile, one where all of your front teeth were showing. I had finally received my letter. Let's say, if you were walking by my house or were our neighbors outside on your lawn, you could definitely hear my family and I celebrate for me getting my letter.

That night, I could hardly sleep at all. The only thought going through my brain was going to Diagon Alley and getting my supplies. To be honest, the thing I was most excited about was my pet. I had always been jealous of my older siblings having owls, cats, or toads when they would come home during break. I then thought about all of the shops I would go to. What kind of books would I need to get; I've always seen my siblings with a crap load of books. I wonder if I would need that many books. After I got over my initial excitement about going shopping, my mind started to wander. What house would I be sorted into? I hope that the people are nice. Will I even make any friends? What will people think of me?

With all of these thoughts racing through my head, I started to feel the familiar dreadful feeling building up in my stomach. I took a deep breath before my anxiety got too bad. Why are you scared? I thought, pulling the covers over me more to hide my body from the outside world; even though no one was in the room with me. This is probably going to be the biggest thing I will be able to do, so why am I scared of it? I sighed and tried to focus on falling asleep.

The next morning, all of my worries from the previous night were long forgotten. My mom woke me up at the crack of dawn, as she insisted that I needed around three hours to get ready to go shopping. I love her, but sometimes I question her and her antics. My mom and dad also made me my favorite breakfast; chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles on the top. This was also one of the only days when my siblings were up at the same time, all sitting down at the table with one another. It felt good, for everyone to be there, as a family. I honestly don't even remember what had gotten me so worried in the first place as I was basically jumping with happiness and excitement all morning. 

Finally, it was time to go to Diagon Alley. I could hardly contain my excitement the whole time we drove there in our flying car. Some of my siblings also came; as they needed new supplies for the upcoming year. After about an hour, we arrived at the Leaky Cauldron.

Even though it's just a pub - it still blew my mind. Just stepping foot inside the building already felt magical. As I looked around - I realized that it was definitely more of a run-down place. Not the fanciest, but not the worst out of all of them. Generic, if you will.

My eyes then wandered over to the pub counter. I noticed that the bartender was using some sort of wandless magic to perform tricks while he was making the drink. I then noticed a lady sitting at the counter; watching him with enchanted eyes. Probably trying to impress her, I thought. Turning my attention away from them, I noticed that my family had started walking toward another door on the opposite side of the room. I quickly followed them.

We then walked into a smaller room; this time with a brick wall. It was dirtier and less kept than the pub we were just in. As I was about the speak - the brick wall in front of us started to move. I definitely stopped breathing for a second. Once the wall had stopped moving; I couldn't believe my eyes.

Diagon Alley was my first big experience with magic in the Wizarding world. Sure, I had seen some magic here and there inside my family - but I had never seen anything as magical as Diagon Alley. All of the shops were crammed together - leaving no wall space in between the buildings. Some shops had smoke rising out of the chimneys, some shops had displays in their windows, and some shops you couldn't even see because of the distance they were away from you.

[still need to write more, but I have to go to bed :)]