Katherine Greenwood: The Hidden World #3

Instructions

Katherine's POV: The next morning, I woke up with the strangest feeling in my stomach. For the first time since Hagrid had arrived at our house, I knew that what he had been telling me was actually going to happen. Mum and Dad had agreed that I should go to Hogwarts, although I could tell they were still nervous about sending me somewhere none of us had ever heard of before. I was nervous too. Very nervous. Before I left, Mum packed a small bag for me, and Dad handed me an envelope containing the money they had managed to set aside for my school supplies. "Make sure you don't lose this," he told me. I nodded and held it tightly. "I won't." "And if you need anything, ask Hagrid," Mum said. I glanced at the enormous man standing outside our house. "I will." Saying goodbye to my brothers and sisters was harder than I expected. Ava hugged me first, then Cecilia and Lucy, and Walter asked me if I would really learn how to do magic. I hugged each of them before stepping outside. Hagrid was waiting for me, holding his large pink umbrella. "Ready?" he asked. I wasn't. Not really. But I nodded anyway. "I think so." We started walking, and I stayed close to Hagrid. I had so many questions that I hardly knew where to begin. "Where are we going first?" I asked. "Gringotts," he said. "What's that?" "Wizard Bank." I nodded, although I wasn't sure why we needed to go to a bank. "Do they use normal money?" Hagrid shook his head. "Not exactly." I frowned. "Then how am I supposed to buy anything?" "That's what we'll sort out." When we reached the place Hagrid called the Leaky Cauldron, I stopped just inside the doorway. It looked like an ordinary little pub from the outside, but Hagrid seemed to know everyone there. People greeted him as we walked through, and several of them stared at me. I immediately looked down at the floor. I wasn't used to people looking at me, and I didn't know any of these people. Hagrid noticed. "Don't worry about them." "Are they staring because of me?" I asked quietly. "They're just curious." I nodded, although I still felt uncomfortable. Hagrid led me through the pub and into a small courtyard. There was a brick wall in front of us. I stared at it. "Where's the entrance?" I asked. Hagrid smiled. "Right here." He lifted his pink umbrella and tapped the bricks in a particular pattern. I watched in complete disbelief as the wall began to move. The bricks shifted apart, revealing an enormous street on the other side. I just stood there. I couldn't speak. There were shops everywhere, strange signs hanging above doorways, people wearing clothes I had never seen before, and things in the windows that I couldn't explain. "This is..." I started. "Diagon Alley," Hagrid said. I stared at the street. "All of this is real?" "Yep." I slowly stepped forward. I had spent my entire life believing that places like this existed only in stories. Now I was standing in one. "Are all these people witches and wizards?" I asked. "Most of them." I looked around. "And they all know about magic?" "Of course." "And nobody here thinks it's strange?" Hagrid laughed. "Not to them." I couldn't help smiling a little. To me, everything was strange. Our first stop was Gringotts. Hagrid explained that it was the bank used by witches and wizards. I stared up at the goblins working inside. I had never seen anyone like them before, and I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to stare, so I tried very hard not to. Hagrid helped me exchange the money my parents had given me into the strange coins used by witches and wizards. He explained that there were three kinds of coins: Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. Galleons were the largest and most valuable, Sickles were worth less, and Knuts were the smallest. One Galleon was worth seventeen Sickles, and one Sickle was worth twenty-nine Knuts. I carefully put the coins away. "Are they worth the same as our money?" I asked. "Not exactly." "Then how am I supposed to know how much things cost?" "You'll get used to it." I wasn't convinced.