My Jedi Journal
by Tarma Black
Dear Diary -
~Monday~
I feel so weird; I feel like I am sleeping, or something. I keep pinching myself to make sure I'm awake, and it hurts, so I guess that I am awake. My mom is still acting like she is in shock, and I guess I'm not surprised. It turns out that dad is a wizard. And it turns out that he and Alana went to school ages ago, both at Hogwarts, and that he met mom who didn't believe in magic, but he loved her so...anyway, they got married. I'm not sure that that was such a good thing to do, to not tell her, but...oh well, I guess I can't take their stuff on my shoulders...they need to resolve it themselves.
I went shopping with Alana. She came by early Sunday morning, and picked me up. She drives a old midnight blue Motorcycle, an Indian. She was dressed in black leather pants with a cream colored leather jacket and just looked smashing. I had on my grubby blue jeans and pink sweater and felt a total idiot next to her. She didn't even look silly wearing the motorcycle helmet because she had fastened some outrageous purple and black feathers on both sides, like wings (she says it is magic that they don't blow off). Anyway, she brought an extra leather jacket and helmet for me to wear and we said good-bye to my folks and off we went to London!
I'd been to London, of course, but never to the part of town where Alana and I ended up. We went into this really strange sort of tavern called The Leaky Cauldron. That is when things started getting weird. You would not believe the folks who were there. I don't know what they are called, but they are really really strange, and creepy.
Anyway, we don't even stop in this place, and we go through the tavern to the trash cans! Right then and there, I decided I'd been had, and turned around to leave. I was getting mad. This was all a great big joke, and magic wasn't real, and my dad and mom were just having regular 'parent/couple' problems.
Alana didn't seem to care that I was leaving; she just tapped a brick a few times after counting up and over. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blurring and...and...then...a whole street showed up through this archway in the brick wall. I spun around and rubbed my eyes and it was still there. Alana said "Come on, kid" and went through. I followed her and when I looked back, the brick wall was a wall again. Utter Weirdness!
My folks had given Alana some money but she said she had to change it into wizard money. 'Wizard money? What's that?' I wondered to myself. Well, she led the way to this very peculiar building. It was all white, but it was like tilting and it should have fallen over or something but it didn't. We went in through these enormous doors, and I about peed my pants. You know what there was in there? Goblins! REAL goblins! I stuck to Alana like a sticking plaster, you can bet. They looked sinister with those long fingers and long noses and they had funny voices. Alana didn't seem to mind, though. She just went up to a teller like it was perfectly normal to be talking with a goblin, and exchanged the muggle (that is what mom is, I guess - a muggle) money for wizard money. Lots of coins, gold and silver and bronze, filled up a sack that we carried out with us.
I simply couldn't tell you, Dear Diary, of all of the things that I saw there in Diagon Alley. Suffice it to say that I think I could go there 10 or 20 times, and still not see everything there is to see.
We went to Ollivanders, for my wand. Ollivanders is really old, it's been around since 382 bc. Thing is, I wonder if the owner of the shop has been around that long, too? Talk about creepy! He just seemed to appear out of nowhere after we walked in. Alana did all the talking, while some sort of magic measuring tape was measuring me, but she never once mentioned my name. He knew who I was, and who my father was! He told me what kind of wand that my father had -- oak 11 1/2 inches with dragon heartstring. Say what? I asked myself but I didn't have time to say it out loud because he was opening boxes and handing me wands. Some would do nothing, some would whistle a little bit, but nothing happened until I picked up a really pretty one that was shorter than the others. Then the whole room was filled with rainbow light and it smelled of roses in full bloom. Mr. Ollivander was delighted, and said it was 'my' wand. It is 9 inches long and it is of rosewood and it has a phoenix feather core. I paid 6 galleons and 7 sickles for my wand, and I love it to pieces!
This is getting a bit long; I think I will continue my shopping trip tomorrow, Diary. There was SO much to see, and do, and buy.
~Tuesday~
I think I better not sleep with my wand in my hand anymore. I've pretty much cleared the feathers out of my bedroom, but the little globes of light are still floating around. I've no idea of what I did, either, which is too bad, because I think the purple feathers are really pretty.
Okay, back to Diagon Alley. Well, we got my wand, like I said, and then we went to have some ice cream. The owner of the shop, Florean Fortescue, waited on us himself! He is a real Wizard! He made the ice cream floats that we ordered 'float' over to us! I was almost getting used to the place when he did that, and I couldn't catch the float because I got all nervous. Fortunately, Alana got it for me, and handed it to me without even making me feel stupid or anything. She is SO cool.
I had this big long list of things that I needed to purchase - Alana got the books and things for me while I went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. I stood up on this stool while some witch measured me for black robes. I have a pointy black hat, too! Just like a real witch, in the stories or movies. When I told Alana that, though, she about fell over laughing. I guess the muggle world really has no idea of what real witches and warlocks are like - and just make up things with guessing and stuff. There was a great movie, though, with James Stewart and...someone. Oh, maybe Kim Novak?...and she was a witch, but Alana says that not even that movie was accurate. Oh well. Maybe someone should write to the movie producers? Except Alana says there is a whole group of folks, called the Ministry of Magic, and a lot of what they do is hide the existence of magic folks from non-magic folks, so maybe that isn't such a good idea.
They have real cobblestones in Diagon Alley. I was wearing my Doc Martens, and the rocks felt funny to walk on, after walking on concrete or just plain flat surfaces. Everything was just so weird, and strange, that I almost got used to the weirdness. Then I saw some other kids, about my age, and some of them looked just like I felt, like they were in a dream that they hoped they wouldn't wake up from. Somehow, that made it all seem more real, I don't know why. I smiled and waved at them - why not? Some of them smiled back, and others looked at me like I was something out of the trash bin. Alana saw that, and later on she told me about folks who really think highly of their 'pure blood' and that I'm only a half-blood, which is why they were looking at me that way. Well, I'll show them! I'll learn how to turn people into toads, and there will be a LOT of toads hopping around Hogwarts!
The last thing on my list was a pet. We went into The Magical Menagerie, and looked around. I didn't want a toad, or a rat, or any of the animals in there. I know what my list said I could have, but there were so many creatures in there, and I just didn't like any of them, I don't know why. I was asking Alana what I should do when someone, a witch, came into the shop, holding a big basket. She went to the owner and showed him what was in the basket. I could hear little sounds, little 'meep'ings, and went over to look inside.
Kittens! They were so cute, all 8 of them, and most of them had speckled fur. Their tails looked funny, with little tufts on the tips almost. The man asked if they were pure-bred, and the woman said no. I didn't know what they were talking about, and just looked and petted them. One of them, a black one, had spotted fur. It seemed to take a liking to me; in fact, it started clinging to my sleeve and wouldn't let go. Alana seemed puzzled for a moment, and asked the woman, again, if they were pure-bred. The woman said, no, that the mom was pure-breed, but had gotten out. With that, Alana smiled and I was the proud owner of a new black with white spots kitten! I think I'll name her Scalawag. She's been helping me write all of this - batting at my pen, and then messing up the papers when I'm not looking. I think she is really smart!
So, my time was up at Diagon Alley. Alana had promised my folks she'd get me back before dark and I was just as glad, in a way, to leave. It was so wonderful, and weird, but I felt almost like it was Disneyland overload! And I knew that these folks wouldn't take off their costumes at the end of the day. So, we went back through that brick wall, and into The Leaky Cauldron. It was quiet going through this time. I had a nice basket to carry Scalawag in, while riding behind Alana on her motorbike, and we zoomed our way home.
I thanked Alana and asked her in, but she shook her head. "I'll see you later" she said to me, glancing over my shoulder. I turned and looked and there were my folks. They came out to help me carry my packages in, and mom seemed okay. So, anyway, I waved to Alana and went inside. This morning I'd think it was all a dream, except for Scalawag and the little light globes floating around. Speaking of Scalaway, she is telling me she is hungry, so I'll stop here, and go see what there is to feed her.
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