As the lights came closer, the image of a dark red bus became more apparent. Eventually, the bus slowed to a screeching halt right in front of the bus stop that Michael was waiting at, and the doors swung themselves open. After a moment's hesitation, Michael picked up his bag, and stepped on the bus.

The man behind the drivers seat turned to Michael with a smile. He was a friendly looking man dressed in casual clothes that made him seem like just a regular man driving around instead of a bus driver.

"Welcome, you're free to take any seat you find available. Still got a few more students to pick up, but we'll be at Willow Keep by dawn." The driver spoke with a calm voice, as he gestured to the rest of the bus. As Michael turned to follow the driver's pointing, he saw that the inside of the bus looked more like a full train, much bigger than the outside of the bus would suggest. As he stared ahead, clearly in awe, the man gave a small chuckle. "The best part about this job is seeing the look on the faces of the first years when they get on this bus."

 Michael gave the bus driver one last glance before walking down the aisle. There were several doors along the aisle, which opened to a small room with seating. Michael glanced inside a few of the doors' small windows as he walked, seeing several upcoming students had already found a spot, some chatting with friends while others were fast asleep on their couch.

After a few seconds of walking, Michael found an empty area. He could feel the bus start to move again as he opened the door to walk inside. He tossed his bag in and took a seat on the admittedly good-sized couch.

It didn't take long for Michael to start to relax. He didn't sleep, nor did he have any desire to. Instead, he let his mind start to wander, as his thoughts filled with a variety of questions. Is this all really happening? How am I actually a wizard? Have I always been a wizard? What will this school be like?

He tried to think of what possible answers to any of these questions might be, but his thoughts were eventually interrupted by a small voice coming from the aisle.

"Excuse me, can I sit here?"

This voice immediately snapped Michael out of his thoughts, and his gaze away from the window, as he turned to see a short girl standing at the doorway. She had long, blonde hair and deep, sapphire blue eyes, and was dressed in a brightly colored shirt and thigh-length skirt. She seemed to be a walking contrast to Michael, with his black hair, dark brown eyes, and dull-colored clothing.

"Huh?" Michael said simply, partly because he actually was too distracted to fully hear what she said.

"Everywhere else is either full, or has sleeping people," she said quietly, clearly feeling a little shy about asking to sit with a stranger.

Michael was generally not one to try to be social with people he didn't know, but he thought having at least one friend going into this new school would be a good idea. "Yeah, sure, take a seat," he said, trying not to sound too uninterested as he usually would around a new person.

The girl smiled, and stepped through the door, taking a seat across from Michael. "My name's Amy. Amy Elliot."

"I'm Michael Adler," Michael replied. Amy's friendly attitude seemed to be rubbing off on him, as he was definitely looking forward to already being able to make a new friend. "So, what do you make of all this?"

Amy looked out the window and shrugged. "Seems like it could be fun. My parents helped me get ready, and they said a lot of good things about Hogwarts."

Michael tilted his head, curiously. "Your parents knew about all this?"

Amy nodded, keeping her gaze out the window as she watched the passing street lights. "Yeah, they're both wizards too. They went to Hogwarts when they were young." She turned to face Michael again. "What about your parents? Were they wizards too?"

Michael was silent for a couple seconds before responding. "I'm an orphan, I never knew my parents," he said quietly.

"Oh, I...I'm sorry, I didn't know," Amy replied sheepishly, feeling more awkward than she had before. She looked down at the floor.

"Don't worry about it, it's not like I'm some sad orphan boy, I have good friends and a good caretaker," he reassured with a small chuckle.

Amy looked up again, relieved that she hadn't hurt the feelings of this boy she just met, although she didn't say anything else in response. The silence that followed lasted for a couple minutes, until Michael gave a tired yawn. Amy giggled quietly. "I agree with that," she said before giving a yawn of her own.

"Driver said we wouldn't arrive till dawn, might as well try to get some sleep," Michael muttered, as the realization that he hadn't actually gotten a chance to sleep yet fully came to him.

Amy nodded in agreement as she flopped down on her side, lying down on the seat. "Good night," she said as Michael replied with the same. Against all of his expectations, he managed to fall asleep rather quickly despite his anticipation.

It wasn't until the third time that his name was called that Michael was finally pulled from his sleep. As he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a female face staring back at him.

"There you are, sleepyhead," Amy said playfully as she finally saw his eyes. "Sleep well?"

Michael sat up groggily. He was quiet for a moment as he processed that everything that he experienced wasn't actually the dream that it felt like. "Yeah, actually. Are we there?"

Amy didn't answer, and instead only forced Michael's bag into his hand. and grabbed his other hand to tug him towards the bus exit. He didn't protest, although it did take him a couple seconds to find the energy to control his own body, as he walked himself out of the bus.

As he stepped outside, the sight he was greeted with was enough to fully wake him from his grogginess, his eyes widening immediately. The bus had stopped outside of a gate that opened to a large, open area that had shops lining the outside perimeter. The center of this area had a large, intricately decorated fountain, which was almost obstructed by the numerous people walking around the area. Many of these people seemed to have already purchased a good amount of their supplies, as Michael saw a good amount of them were carrying caged animals or a stack of books, and some people were practicing spells with their newly acquired wands. At the top of the gate was a sign that read "Willow Keep".

After getting a good look around herself, Amy reached into her bag, and pulled out the map of the area. "According to this, the first place we should visit is the Gringotts Bank, which is at the far end of the Keep." She turned to Michael, who was still admiring the scenery. She nudged his shoulder to snap him back to reality. "Come on, I don't wanna go by myself."

"Oh yeah, we got stuff to do, huh?" Michael said, trying to act casual after the way he got distracted. Amy just laughed, as she started walking along towards the far end of Willow Keep.

As they walked, Michael went out of his way to glance at every shop he passed, impressed at the sheer variety present. Only a few names stood out to him, such as Destiny's Gift Wand Shop, Blue Rose Apothecary, and Kindred Spirits Pet Shop. The last shop in particular raised a few questions in Michael's mind, but before he could consider any of them too much, he found that he was already standing in front of the entrance to the bank. The building itself was very large, easily towering over every other building in Willow Keep. It was almost entirely gray in color, and was decorated with a few statues of gargoyles perched on the walls.

"You know, I just realized something," Michael said finally. "I don't have any money, how am I going to be able to buy anything?"

"Don't worry, dad said that first years get a free bank account that already has some money in it. Otherwise, no first year student would be able to buy anything without some special connection."

"Well, that's convenient. Hadn't even thought about my lack of money till now, could have really messed me up," Michael said, jokingly. Amy gave a small laugh, and walked into the bank, with Michael following close behind.

The inside of the bank was similar in design to the outside: a lot of gray and dull colors, and the occasional gargoyle statue. What really made the inside of the bank stand out, however, were the workers. Each one was only human by a very loose definition of the word. Despite being humanoid in appearance, each one was very short and had pale skin with long, pointed ears. As Amy and Michael entered, a good number of these creatures turned their attention towards the two. Each one of them had a blank, almost bored looking expression. Their attentions quickly returned back to their respective desks, as Michael and Amy made their way down to the main desk.

As the two approached, the teller looked up, and flashed a small, toothy grin. "Welcome to Gringotts Wizarding Bank. May I have your names, please?" The teller said with a gravelly voice.

"Amy Elliot."
"Michael Adler."

The two responses came at nearly the same time. The creature gave a small sigh. "Just because goblins have large ears, it doesn't mean we want you to speak over each other. One at a time, please." Michael gave the teller a second glance at the realization that all of these creatures are goblins. The two children repeated their names, this time separately. The goblin teller looked down at the computer in front of him, and typed at his keyboard for a few seconds. He barked an order at a nearby goblin, who quickly retreated behind one of the nearby doors.

Amy and Michael exchanged glances, unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. They waited for a short while as the goblin teller continued clicking away at his keyboard. As Amy was about to speak up, the goblin had returned from behind the door, now holding two small bags. He shoved one of the bags to both of the children as he spoke. "As first years, you get some starting funds. Inside your bag is your bank account number for future transactions, and your boat ticket. The boat departs from the eastern dock tonight at sundown. Have a nice day."

The goblin quickly scuttled off after his rushed speech, leaving Michael and Amy slightly confused. They turned to each other and shrugged.

"We have a lot of other places to go, maybe we should just...get out of here," Amy whispered, picking up on how uncomfortable the situation was. Michael quickly agreed, and they power-walked out of the bank.

Michael was surprised at just how far the complimentary money he had received had gotten him. All of the textbooks and basic supplies he had bought hadn't even taken half of his money. His most expensive purchase had been a raven he had purchased from the Kindred Spirits Pet Shop to fulfill his magical familiar requirement, and even that was only a fraction of his funds. All of his supplies had been organized in a second bag he had purchased, while his raven (which he named Poe, for obvious reasons) was perched on his shoulder. Amy was following behind, with her own bag of supplies and her new cat named Ellie cradled in her arms.