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#Post#: 5--------------------------------------------------
The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: Mirkprince Date: August 13, 2013, 9:53 am
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Disclaimer:
I don’t own any of J.K Rowling’s characters or places! I only
own the characters I created!
Note:
Please feel free to fiercely criticize my writing! It is
extremely helpful to have honest views on it.
Chapter 1: A Strange Birthday Card
One, two, three… he jumped, from 12 meters, landing incredibly,
unbelievably on his feet without even a wince of pain, or the
crack of a breaking bone!
Bradley Murphy was a boy who NEVER refused a dare… why? Simply
because he never seemed to get hurt no matter what it was, he
just had to want to succeed at whatever the dare was badly
enough and he would. He couldn’t explain it, nor could other
kids. All he knew is he was practically king-of-the-school in
elementary school, and he certainly was none to worried about
heading off to high school next summer, he was certain he would
be just as looked up to, and praised there as he was here. He
started to head off home, walking jauntily a mischievous smile
on his dirty face. He was a normal height for his age, with a
broad figure and dark-brunette hair. His eyes were another thing
that set him apart from his fellow 10 year old friends… one
stormy grey eye, one emerald green… he couldn’t explain it, no
one could.
It was his birthday the next day, and he had suspected, ever
since a few days ago that they all wanted him out of the house
to get presents done etc. so he had obliged… after all, who was
he to get in the way when there were presents involved! The day
of June 23rd was his birthday, a day he looked forward too
unreservedly each year. Because it meant the whole family would
be home, the twins, who were 20 and both at university, always
made the time to come home for his birthday. So it was with a
light heart that he entered the house whistling a jaunty tune.
“Oh, it’s you” a voice sneered, “I thought it was a cat being
slowly tortured.”
“Oh your one to talk Sarah! At least I can get noise out of my
mouth unlike YOU!”
His older sister, at the age of 13 she had taken extreme
prejudice to the fact that he was so popular in town and decided
to take it out on him whenever she could.
“How dare you! You little twerp! Why I’ll….”
“You’ll what Sarah?” he jeered “Shout at me some more? Ooooo
maybe you will call all your friends and moan to them about me…
scary!”
“You little…” but she stopped before she could go any further,
their father had just walked in.
“Ahhhh, how are my angels doing today?” He asked in a strong
Irish accent.
“Great Da, how was work?” Sarah said quickly, evidently
attempting to make it look like nothing had just gone on between
her and Brad. “Same as always thanks love. Now where’s Doreen?”
Doreen was their mother, standing at 5’9” she was the beauty of
the neighbourhood, her blue eyes, dark hair, and model shaped
body made her a stunning figure. This, however, made her no less
homely and loving, indeed, Brad often thought (with that
unnatural intelligence, and understanding that only a few
children are ever gifted with) what a perfect life he had, with
a loving family around him, barring Sarah perhaps but he often
told himself, she’ll come round eventually!
He made his way upstairs to his room, it was small, but that’s
the way he liked it, littered with all the things he loved. His
clothes, his swimsuit, his posters of famous athletes, of course
his massive poster of Gareth Bale, Tottenham Hotspurs star
winger the posters were stuck on every available bit of wall
space. He loved it, with the sloping roof, the skylight, and the
window that looked across the meadow at the back of their house.
One of his favourite hobbies was to climb out of this window and
jump into the grass pile below, and then sneak up on his sister
while she sat listening to music, oblivious to the rest of the
world.
It was with great excitement then, that he climbed into bed that
night switching off his light, and stared out of his skylight at
the twinkling stars, as he slowly drifted off to sleep he saw
something very strange, an owl sitting on the sill of the
skylight, staring down at him with large yellow eyes, almost as
if it knew who he was, and all about him. But no! That was
silly, it was just an owl looking through his window, nothing
strange about that, after all there were quite a few owls in the
area around this time of year.
The next morning he woke up and, without a thought about the owl
the night before, he jumped out of bed and headed down stairs
with a broad grin on his face. The smell of cooking waffles met
his nostrils and he sighed with pleasure, he loved waffles.
“Good morning dear! Happy Birthday!” His mother called over the
sound of boiling water. “Thanks Ma!” He replied turning a
shining face up to her.
“Well… sit down and have breakfast first then we can do your
presents!”
“Mam?”
“Yes dear?”
“The twins… aren’t they coming?” His mother looked forlorn at
his words.
“I’m so sorry dear, I meant to tell you, but they can’t make it…
I’m sorry love!”
“Na, mam, don’t worry… it’ll be fine.” Again Doreen had that
strange feeling she got sometimes that it was her son, her newly
11 year old son, who was comforting her, instead of the other
way round.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the post. “Only
three letters today Brad, here, ones for you… it does look
strange.” She gave it to him and he examined it. On the front of
the envelope his address was written in old fashioned emerald
ink:
Mr. Bradley Lewis Murphy
11 Puddlesmere dr.
The small room at the top of the stairs.
Limerick
Munster
The Republic of Ireland
United Kingdom
Europe
The World
The colour of the envelope was that of old parchment. “This is
weird, it doesn’t say who it’s from mam!”
“Well, umm, open it I guess… only way your going to find out!”
“Right!”
He opened it with slightly trembling hands, and half curious,
half apprehensive look on his face. The letter was the same type
of paper as the envelope, and the same slanted hand had written
the words, again in emerald ink.
Dear Mr. Murphy,
Headmistress: Mz. Rosaline Hawthoorn
(Order of Merlin 1st class, Deputy Head Mugwump of the
International Confederation of Wizards, Chairwoman of the
international witches rights committee.)
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into
“Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry”.
You will find the list of all necessary books and equipment
enclosed.
Term starts on September 1. We expect a confirmation Owl no
later then the 31st of June.
Yours sincerely
Mz. Hermione Weasley
Deputy Headmistress
P.S We understand that as your family are muggles (non-magical
people) and you no doubt thought yourself a muggle to this
point, you will probably be suspicious as to the origin, and
real meaning of this letter. Therefore you can expect a visit
from a Hogwarts teacher before the end of the month
Bellow is the list of all the required supplies and books for
your first school year:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WHICHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1.Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2.One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4.One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The standard book of spells (Grade 1) – By Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic – By Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory for the New Age – By Hermione Weasley
A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration – By Emeric Switch
One Thousand and One Magical Herbs and Fungi by Neville
Longbottom
Magical Drafts and Potions for Beginners – By Horace Slughorn
Beautiful beasts or Dangerous Monsters? – By Rubeus Hagrid
(actual writing by Hermione Weasley, orated by Rubeus Hagrid)
The Dark Arts: A Guide to Defence Against the Dark Arts for 1st
years – By Harry Potter
Students are also allowed either an Owl, a Cat, or a Toad.
Parents are reminded that 1st years are not allowed a broom of
their own in Hogwarts.
Other Equipment:
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
1 Sneak-o-scope
All items may be purchased in Diagon Alley.
Brad stopped reading his heart in his mouth, confused, and
dazed.
“What does it mean?”
His mother only shook her head speechless…
“Do you think its for real mam? I mean all the things I can do,
how I never seem to get hurt” he said earnestly, and then as an
afterthought “How I turned Sarah’s hair green that time.” He
added this last part with a grin.
“I don’t know… no, it can’t be, I’m sorry Brad it must be a
prank, maybe from the twins, you know they are always playing
pranks!”
“Mam, who ever heard of these places…? That’s allot to make up
for one prank!”
“Well, listen we will wait to the end of the month and see if
anyone turns up like the letter said… okay? And honey!”
“Yes mam?”
“Until we know let’s not mention this to the others okay?”
“Sure mam!”
Inside her mind she was in turmoil, she knew, for sure that this
was a load of crap that someone had shoved through their door as
a prank… all the same, it was allot to make up for a prank, and
that paper and old fashioned ink cost a fortune. So maybe…? Nah,
she’d just have to wait and see, like Brad, if anyone turned up!
#Post#: 6--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: severus4ever Date: August 14, 2013, 2:48 pm
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I can't believe you wrote that! That is awesomely awesome :P
#Post#: 11--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: Mirkprince Date: August 16, 2013, 1:38 am
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Thanks ;)!
#Post#: 12--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: Mirkprince Date: August 16, 2013, 1:41 am
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Chapter 2 is here! A slightly shorter one...
Chapter 2: Poppers Poppington
The days dragged by for Brad approaching the end of June, he
couldn’t help but hope, no matter how many times he told himself
it was impossible… that maybe? Maybe someone would come.
It was the 28th of July when there was a sharp rap on the door,
Brad, being the only one in the living room went to open it.
Outside stood a man like he had never seen before, he was about
5’7”, bespectacled, he had a sprinkling of prickly grey hairs on
his head, a squashed looking face, and a bit of a belly. However
it wasn’t his build so much as his garb that so entranced Brad,
a turquoise robe with little pictures of what looked like
broomsticks all over it, and a peeked, silver hat which was
grasped in his hands.
“Now, I understand why you look so bewildered, but never fear! I
am the visitor from Hogwarts promised in your letter… you did
get your letter didn’t you?”
“Y-yes, but…” Brad stammered before the jovial little man broke
in.
“Good, good! Then that should tell you just about all you need
to know about school supplies, rules etc. but I realise that up
until this point you thought of yourself as a muggle, and that
all the rest of your family are muggles. So, I have come here to
explain about this a little, if you could just call your parents
then we can get started.”
“Umm, yeah, okay… just hold on a minute.” Brad pulled out his
cell-phone and texted his mother.
“Well, aren’t you going to get her?” The little man inquired
with a slight tone of timidity.
“I just did, I texted her.”
“Texted? I’m afraid I don’t understand my dear boy!”
“Oh? Ummm, okay, you’ve never heard of texting before? Or
cell-phones?”
“I can’t say I have!”
“Wow, okay they must not have phones… were your from.” Brad said
incredulously.
“You will have to explain it to me another time! This charming
woman looks like your mother!” Brad turned around and sure
enough his mother was coming down the stairs.
“Hello, so you are?” She inquired,
“Oh! Terribly sorry, my manners! I am Poppers Poppington,
Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry.”
“P-pleased to meet you” she stammered a slightly perplexed look
on her face,
“I’m Doreen Murphy, Bradley’s mother.”
“Delighted, delighted!” Poppers enthused “Now is the Brad’s
father coming or have you still got to texit him on your
phellsone?” He inquired with obvious pride in his knew knowledge
of the terms.
“I’m sorry…” Doreen began before Bradley cut her off, obviously
foreseeing a confusing exchange.
“My fathers not here at the minute Mr. Poppington, I’m terribly
sorry, he’s in Edinburgh, he gets back tomorrow.”
“O well, can’t be helped. I’ll just have to talk to you two and
you can convey what I say to him tomorrow. Now, I know you will
be rather surprised at my coming, probably put the letter down
to some prank played by a muggle boy!” He chuckled at the
surprised looks on their faces, “Oh, yes I have done this job
quite a few times; I know the ways muggles will find to get
around the facts! Anyway, if you are to decide to come to
Hogwarts, which we implore you to do, a Hogwarts teacher will
arrive on the 15th of August to show you how to get to Diagon
Alley, which is in London by the way, and help you purchase your
stuff. Also, he’ll take you to King’s Cross and show you how to
board platform 9 ¾. Then he’ll bring you back here, now, on the
30th of August we recommend that you stay at the Leaky Cauldron
and then on the 1st of September you can make your way to King’s
Cross and enter platform 9 ¾ the way the teacher will show you
on the 15th, the train leaves at 11:00 AM sharp. So, any
questions?” There was a stunned silence while the clock on the
wall ticked noisily.
“Umm, yes, how much are the fees, and what is the average amount
spent on equipment each year, also, I will have to discuss with
my husband you see, on a matter so… ummm, life changing.”
“I quite understand! On pricing, well I’m not sure what it is in
muggle money we can work that out in a minute, okay, it’s 200
Galleons a year to attend Hogwarts, and you will probably end up
spending about 50 Galleons a year on supplies. So, changing that
into muggle money that would be…” And to their astonishment he
pulled out something that looked like a smooth, short, stout
stick from his pocket and pointed it in the air muttering under
his breath “calculus muggle.” Shining digits appeared in
mid-air, ahh right, that would be…” and he rattled off the
currency exchange to Mrs. Murphy, but Brad wasn’t listening
anymore, he was picturing it in his mind, going to a school to
learn to use magic! It was like a fairytale come true! He’d just
have to convince Da, that might be hard, but he thought he could
bring him round and then… it was almost to good to be true, he
just had to go, he had to! He was jerked back to the present
time by the short man, saying “Right, I really must be off! Got
5 more families to visit before lunch! One in Wales, three in
England, and One in Scotland, deary me, okay I’ll be gone now,
and do, do accept.” With these last imploring words, he turned
around and seemed to take a step into… into nothing, he just
disappeared. Mrs. Murphy screeched in surprise, looking utterly
dumbfounded. She walked back into the living room and sat down,
“Wow, that was… unbelievable.” She stated after a pause of about
3 minutes, “I know right, Mam, I really want to go… please?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple Brad, when your Dad gets back
from Edinburgh with Sarah tomorrow we’ll chat okay?”
“Sure Mam, but you can convince him right? This is amazing, I
mean, I also wasn’t sure till I saw that man disappear like
that, and do those calculations in the air. It was amazing!
“It was, I agree, but you know that some optical illusionists
are very clever these days Brad, maybe it was that?”
“Mam, no-one could do that without magic!”
“I know, I know, I guess I am just trying to find ways around it
now, it just goes against everything I’ve ever thought or
believed.”
“Mam, do you think you can get Da to agree?”
“I don’t know, Brad, but I’ll try, your fathers a reasonable man
I don’t think it should be too hard, though if it’s been a tough
trip for him I might have to give him some time.”
“Oh, yeah and another thing, if we accept how do we contact them
to let them know? In the letter it said something about a return
owl? What does that mean?”
“Don’t you remember? You must have stopped listening when he was
talking about the price, he said it just after, that an owl
would arrive on the 31st and we were to tie our reply to the
owls right leg, and it would turn around and take the reply back
to the school.”
“So they have trained owls to take letters for them? That’s
amazing! Mam, I HAVE to go, I just HAVE to!”
“I’ll do what I can okay Brad? I will do what I can, just trust
me to talk to your father, don’t spring it on him as soon as he
gets home… let me handle it.”
“Okay Mam, thanks.”
#Post#: 25--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: Mirkprince Date: August 21, 2013, 1:31 am
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Short one but necessary!
Chapter 3: Decisions
“Love! I don’t want him going to any freak school! Even if it is
real, which I highly doubt, NO! We aren’t going to let him, I
don’t care what you saw! Optical illusionists dear! They are
extremely skilled at ‘disappearing’.”
“Listen Cliff! I know what I saw, it was amazing Cliff, it was
beyond any doubt! He didn’t do it as a show either, he did it
almost nonchalantly, without thinking!”
“That’s what he must have wanted you to think… Honestly dear I
never thought you would fall for such cheap trickery!” For a
second Doreen’s eyes flashed, she was a brilliant judge of
character, of people, and of how they behave, and she had seen
deep, definite honesty in Poppers Poppington’s face.
“Dear, you know that I am not easy to trick, from much
experience I might add, and I know that he was telling the
truth, every word of it. Now, I don’t care what you say but Brad
has got to go dear, you have to understand! This is his big
chance, he will forever be living with the knowledge of
something that might have been. You can’t put him through that,
Cliff, it would just be cruel.” Her voice was steady, yet it had
a certain commanding quality about it.
“Doreen, I don’t know, it’s too risky. You hear the stories in
the paper about kidnappings, and kids being tricked into doing
things and then snatched. I can’t let that happen to Brad!”
“I told you already! Poppers Poppington is no kidnapper! He
thoroughly believed what he said! Dear let’s at least write back
to Hogwarts, tell them he’s coming, then go with them on the
15th and see if it’s all real okay?” She looked ready to fight
all night if need be and Cliff knew his wife too well, it was
useless, she was as stubborn as she was beautiful, he gave in
with shrug of his head.
“Fine, go, but I’m not coming, it’s on your head now okay? Take
Brad on the 15th, just make sure you bring him back, if it’s all
legit then he can go. But once again I am having no part in it,
if it’s legit, then on the 30th of August YOU are taking him,
not me, I am carrying on work as usual!” He hoped this final
argument would sway his wife, but his hope was in vain.
“Fine” her mouth formed a hard line as she stared him down, “I
will go with him, I will help him every step of the way!”
“Okay, just don’t let me hear any of it, when you go to London
you are going to see your sister, and when you go to take him to
“school” you are going to take him to George’s High, on 3rd st.
okay? That’s what we tell people.”
“I didn’t know there was a George’s High?”
“There isn’t! That’s the point, if all this happens to be true,
we don’t want anyone to know of Brad’s ‘abnormality’ do we?” For
a second Doreen stared at him, almost to shocked to believe it
as her eyes filled with tears she turned around and walked
quickly from the room.
“Brad!” Her choked voice echoed through the house from where she
stood in the living room.
“Yeah! Up in my room!” She turned, and headed towards the
staircase. When she reached Brad’s room she knocked on the door
with rather more force then intended. He opened it quickly and
admitted her, she sat on his bed and was silent for a few
seconds.
“Mam?” His voice quavered slightly as he spoke.
“Brad, listen, you can go I convinced your father.”
“Brilliant Mam, but… what are you upset about.”
“Brad, your Da isn’t happy, he doesn’t like the fact that you
are going to a school he hasn’t heard of, and that you have
hidden… abilities which he doesn’t, I don’t for that matter,
understand. It’s going to be tough Brad, I’m not making any
secret of it. He isn’t going to be quite the same to you for a
while probably, but he’ll come round. He’s a good man Brad,
don’t ever forget that. I love him and I always will and I know
he will come round because he loves you and he always will! Just
know it isn’t going to be easy for a while, that’s the risk your
going to take by going with this. I want to make all this clear
to you before you make a final decision to go. So, what about
it? Are you going through with it?”
Brad thought for a moment, he was sorry about his fathers take
on this but his mother was right, his Da would come round in the
end.
“I’m going Mam, I’m going.” Brad stated this with an air of
finality, and it was like a light had been switched on and he
was happy, and relieved. It was like living a fairytale one
wonderful fairytale. This seemed to have effected his mother
too, because she smiled through her tear stained face and said
with far more energy then before, as if reassured by her own
speech to her son.
“Come on! The owl will be her tomorrow, let’s see a smile! I’m
making waffles, I’ll have them ready when your sister get’s home
from the movies. We can tell her all about it then. Brad smiled,
it was one of his mothers many, wonderful abnormalities that she
loved to have waffles for a mid afternoon snack. Without
thinking, acting almost on impulse he moved forwards and hugged
her, feeling the warmth that one always feels when embraced by a
loving mother. They stood like that for a while, the odd tear
trickling down her face and falling onto Brad’s head.
#Post#: 26--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: voldedobbydore Date: August 21, 2013, 3:11 pm
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Really good! Continue soon, I love it!
#Post#: 41--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: Mirkprince Date: August 22, 2013, 12:04 am
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Right... here's a much longer chapter!
Chapter 4: Diagon Alley
It was the 15th of August and Bradley waited in breathless
anticipation, from the moment he woke up. He knew, he KNEW that
a person from Hogwarts school would be coming, yet there was
still a nagging doubt. One couldn’t help wandering, in such
circumstances, whether it was all just a dream. Yet there was
the letter he kept next to his bed, and the proof that his
mother still believed it all.
He sat on his bed in breathless anticipation, staring up at the
large posters of Gareth Bale, and Irish captain Robbie Keane.
“Brad! Brad! Come he’s here!” He grabbed his wallet and ran down
the staircase.
With his mother in the lounge stood a tall gangly man, young,
with red hair and freckles. When Brad reached the bottom of the
stairs the red-haired man looked up and stuck out a hand, a
friendly smile cracking his freckled face. “Hey there! You must
be Brad, great to meet you! I’m Hugo, my job’s to show new
muggle-born’s round Diagon Alley… you’re my first one” he added
with a wink.
“Good to meet you, umm… Mr. Hugo.”
“Haha!” Hugo barked with obvious mirth, “Never thought I would
be called Mr. Hugo… that’s great that is. Right shall we go?
Mrs. Murphy you’ll be coming along won’t you?”
“Yes, yes I’ll be accompanying you and Brad.”
“Great, now where’s your fire place?”
“Fire place? Well there’s a fire place in mine and Cliff’s room,
but why?”
“Floo powder of course… ahh wait, you don’t know what floo
powder is do ya? I forgot… well, floo powder is a wizarding way
of travelling, there is a powder which is mass produced which
you throw into a fire, step into the fire and state the place
you want to travel too and you will come out in the fire place
at your destination.”
“Okay… so do you have some of this powder?”
“Of course! Every wizard travels with a bag of flu powder.
Especially me because of my job…” and with a smirk he pulled out
a small, leather pouch which was sagging with white powder.
“Right then, let’s head up to your room Mrs. Murphy.”
“Ummm… okay then, follow me.” With that she turned around and
walked up the stairs followed by Brad and Hugo.
They entered the room with a stylish fireplace, obviously just
for show.
“That’s a small fireplace… so you’re going to have to crawl in.”
Hugo said looking slightly confused at the impractical size of
the fireplace. “Okay… but there isn’t any fire, and if there was
wouldn’t we get burnt?” Mrs. Murphy raised the question,
“Oh, no problem on either count!” Hugo replied robustly removing
the same kind of stick that Poppers Poppington had used (Brad
had figured out by now that this, was called a wand) he pointed
it at the fire place and muttered ‘incendio” under his breath,
an orange flame leaped up in the fireplace. “Also, to answer
your second query, all you will feel is a gentle, warm sensation
then you must CLEARLY say “Diagon Alley” and you will come out
in the official Diagon Alley fire place. We’ll go one at a time,
Brad, how about you first? Here’s a pinch of powder now throw it
in, crawl after it and say what I told you and you’ll be fine,
trust me! I’ve done it loads of times.”
“Err, ookkaayy” Brad said uncertainly, “How long will it take?”
“Oh, only about 10 seconds I would imagine, it depends how
crowded the floo network is.” Brad wasn’t even going to bother
asking what the “floo network” was, he was too confused already.
“Right, off you go!” He said enthusiastically.
Brad moved forward slightly unsteadily, then with an unsure
movement he threw the powder into the fire, he started slightly
as the flame turned an emerald green then crawled with a sudden
confidence he certainly didn’t feel into the fire place. He
stopped for a moment, it was true all he felt was a sensation
like that of a warm wind blowing upwards then he said in as
clear a voice as he could muster “Diagon Alley!”
A tightening sensation took hold of him, everything went dark
and he started to spin faster and faster he caught glimpses of
fireplaces as he passed, and then suddenly it all stopped and he
found himself standing in a large fireplace looking out on the
most unbelievable scene he had ever laid his eyes on.
He couldn’t take it in all at once his eyes darted one way then
another. He was looking out on a long cobbled streets lined on
either side with shops of a most unusual nature. The first shop
sign he saw said “Magical Menagerie” then “General Quidditch
Supplies: For all your Quidditch needs” and “Flourish and Blotts
book store” that was as far as he got when he was tapped on the
shoulder, with a start he looked behind him and saw his mother
and Hugo standing in the fireplace. “Well? What are you just
standing there for? Let’s go!” Hugo hurried them out of the
fireplace, it was the most breath taking place that Brad had
ever been, he stood for a minute on the cobbled pavement, he was
finally filled with a sense of finality and belief. Now he knew
it was all true, this couldn’t be fake.
“Right look at your letter and tell me what’s first on your
supplies list?”
“It says to get three sets of plain black work robes. Where do
we get those?”
“Ahhh you’d have to go to Madame Malkins the 2nd’s shop for
those!”
“The second?” Mrs. Murphy inquired,
“Yeah, her mother died about 10 years ago, she took over the
shop she inherited the knack for robe sizes I’ll tell you,
there’s no place better then her shop.”
“Right, but one question… how much will all this cost, in pounds
that is, not in wizarding money?”
“Ahhh, of course you don’t have wizarding money yet do ya? Well
then we’ll have to go to Gringotts first, the wizarding bank,
safest place in the world to keep stuff that you don’t want
other people getting at, only had stuff stolen once, and that
was Harry Potter who did that, we all know he was special don’t
we?!”
“Well we don’t really know who he is, but anyway let’s get to
that later. Shall we go to Gringotts now?” She said hurriedly as
she saw him take a big breath obviously ready to launch into a
detailed description of this famous Harry Potter, whoever he
was. “Right, yeah, umm follow me then.” They followed him down
the street until they stopped in front of what was undoubtedly
the grandest building on the street, tall and imposing it’s
greek styled architecture suggested old age, and the massive
golden letters over the entrance proclaimed the famous title of
the old bank. They walked up the long flight of stairs through
the security at the door where they were prodded with long
golden rods, which Hugo informed them were called “Proberty
Probes” used to uncover spells of concealment. Brad gave a start
when he saw the guards standing by the door, they were small and
had grey leathery skin, long pointed noses, and thin spindly
hands. “Wha-What are those, Mr. Weasley?” He inquired timidly,
“Those? Oh, those are Goblins, they guard the gold in the
Gringotts vaults, they also run the whole bank, they are the
finest bankers in the world.”
“Okay, but were do we go to change money?” Brad’s mother was
starting to sound a little overwhelmed, which was something
because it took a lot to overwhelm her.
“Just over there, at the desk that says Exchange above it.”
“Right, let’s go then shall we?” With that she led the way over
to the desk, behind it sat two goblins, both were crouched over
piles of paperwork, muttering to themselves as their quills
moved like lightning across the pages.
“Hello and what may I do for you?” The Goblin closest to them
rattled off, barely lifting his head from the columns, and
figures he was studying.
“The Mrs. here wants to change some muggle money Gorag.”
“Oh, it’s you Hugo, yes she can change with me, how much do you
want?” Gorag’s head came up from the page as he said this. Brad
stopped listening to the conversation and started to look around
the massive room they were in was different to anything he had
ever seen, hundreds of desks, all alike to the one they stood
at, were placed strategically around the room. All of them with
small goblins sitting, bent-headed working hard at whatever
their separate tasks were, at the other side of the large room
stood large double doors. These did not reflect the shining
glory of the rest of the building, they were dark and
foreboding, goblins stood at either side of the entrance, armed
with proberty probes.
“Alright, thank you, come on Brad let’s go! It appears that we
have allot to do before getting home this evening!” His mothers
voice called him back from his observations and he turned to
follow her and Hugo out the door. “Right, we’ll go to Madame
Malkin’s first then shall we?”
“Whatever you say, Hugo.”
“Brilliant, then follow me!” They followed him up the alley, and
stopped outside a large shop, emblazoned with the words “Madame
Malkin’s the 2nd’s robe shop”. They entered a dark musty room,
filled with materials of every shape, size, and colour.
“Hello there, may I help you?” They were addressed by a harassed
looking young woman, her dark hair was up in a tight bun, and
her tall figure was stooped by the weight of the materials she
carried.
“Ahhh, Madam Malkins, I’ve brought this boy to get his Hogwarts
robes!” Hugo said genially, and then he added in an undertone
“muggle born you see.”
“Yes, thank-you Hugo I gathered that. Now, what size are you,”
she asked, turning on Brad. “Err, I don’t know ma’am sorry” he
said as he looked pleadingly at his mother, “Probably best you
measured him” his mother said, “in-case we use different
measuring methods to your kind.”
“Very well then, come over here dear.” Madam Malkins said kindly
gesturing to a wooden block on the floor, “Now just hold still
for a minute while I measure your height and width.” She started
running her wand up, down and across Brad’s body. “Aha! I have
just the set of robes for your size, I have started doing
packages you see, I get the types of robes Hogwarts students
will require before each year, and I have started making up
packages, it’s far less trouble to just pick up a package you
know!” With that she lifted her wand and said clearly “Accio
robes” there was a whooshing sound and a package wrapped in
brown paper flew out of a back room and hovered in-front of her.
“Perfect, that will be 18 Galleons for the lot! I’m having a 10%
off sale for first years only this week, so you certainly chose
the right time to come!”
“Thank you Mrs. Malkins, very much obliged!”
“No problem, enjoy the rest of your time in Diagon Alley!” She
called after them as they left the shop.
“Right, what’s next on your list Brad?” Hugo asked
enthusiastically, Brad consulted the list “It has a list of
books next”
“We can go to Flourish & Blotts for those, they also do packages
with all the books for each year. Tell you what, we’re right
next to Olivander’s wand shop now, why don’t you go in there and
get your wand, and I’ll go get your books? That way we’ll get it
done quicker!”
“Alright, that sounds fine to me.” Said Mrs. Murphy with a
little more energy then she had felt earlier, the whole
atmosphere was starting to course through her, and she was
starting to feel energised and revived by the jostling crowds of
chattering people, all in strange robes and pointy hats, for
some reason she couldn’t understand it just made her feel happy.
Hugo left them with a warning to wait for him before they go
anywhere else. Brad and his mother turned and entered Olivanders
wand shop, there was a short, stocky, bald headed man sitting
behind the desk his head buried in a book. He looked up as they
came in, “Good day! Good day, what may I do for you?”
“Are you Mr. Olivander? I need to get a wand you see, and I
don’t really know how that works because I’m muggled or whatever
it’s called.” Brad said in one breath, he didn’t know why but
this place made him nervous. “Muggle? Ahh but of course, I must
apologize, you find me most exhausted today. I remember now, I
was told that a muggle-born boy would be coming, and to answer
your other question, no, I am not Mr. Olivander, Mr. Olivander
died 4 years ago, I am his former apprentice the shop’s name was
not changed in honour of him. But anyway enough of that, you are
here for a wand, so let me help you… one of the things that has
always been clear to wand makers is that the wand chooses the
wizard, in other words you’ve got to try out many different
types of wands before you find the right one. Now there are
stacks of wands in the back room, but I think we will start with
this shelf here” and he indicated a low shelf lined with boxes,
each one had a label with a different description on it. He
reached down took a box from the top shelf, opened it, and
handed it to Brad. “Here give that wand swing and let’s see.”
Brad did as commanded swinging his arm in an arc, but nothing
happened. “Hmm, we will have to try a few more then…” after five
more attempts Brad swung his arm once more, and a shower of
sparks came out of the end of the wand, giving him a strange
powerful feeling. “There we go! That’s it, very interesting,
elder wood, 11 ½ inches, hippogriff feather core. The only one
of it’s kind, I made it as a bit of an experiment. Anyway, that
will cost 40 Galleons, I never thought that particular wand
would actually choose someone, it is extremely powerful… use it
well!” With these parting words he accepted the coins from
Brad’s mother and stuck his head once again into the book lying
open on the desk.
Once they were out in the street they stopped, and Brad
consulted his list again.
“It says I need:
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
1 Sneak-o-scope
Where do I get all this stuff?”
“Just wait, I’m sure Hugo will be able to help with that, and
here he comes!” she gestured to where Brad could see a now
familiar shock of read hair bobbing towards them through the
crowd.
“Right you got your wand? Here are your books,” Hugo handed them
a brown package heavy with books.
“Thank you Hugo, we have a few things left to get but I’m afraid
I really don’t understand what most of these things are, where
do we get them?”
“You can get that stuff at Potage’s Cauldron shop, Slug &
Jiggers Apothecary, Scribbulus Writing shop, and Wiseacres
Wizarding Equipment. Hey Brad, how about I go and get those
things with your mother, and you go and browse the other shops,
you’ll find some great things at ‘Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes’
and at ‘Sugarplums Sweet Shop’ Oh! But don’t go down Knockturn
Alley, nasty place that is!.”
“Ummm, yeah that would be fun, mam?” He inquired looking up at
her,
“I think that would be fine, just take some money with you… Hugo
how much would be reasonable, you know I’m not very good with
wizard money?”
“I’d say about 10 galleons would be enough”
“Okay, here Brad, meet us back here in an hour… be careful,
okay?”
“Sure mam, thanks!”
“Your welcome.” With that Brad headed off, peering into the shop
windows at the many strange sights that met his eyes. Soon he
saw the un-missable building of “Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes” he
walked up to the door and entered, it was like entering another
world joke items of every shape and size whizzed around the
room. The shelves were stacked with boxes of merchandise with
labels that read things like “Skiving Snackboxes: NEW EDITION,
with the all new Jelly-Head Jellybabies! Get out of class easily
just pop one of these and your head will start wobbling around
the place like a big jelly!” and “Dunghead Dungbombs! The tried
and tested Weasley dungbomb recipe, it’ll take a month to get
this smell out!” Brad wandered around in raptures, it was unlike
anything he had ever seen. It was crowded as well, chattering
people mostly between his own age and about seventeen filled the
shop all exclaiming over products and teasing each other. It
took Brad, half an hour to decide what he wanted to purchase, he
eventually decided on the highly amusing decomposing-diaries,
“Give it to your mate, watch his surprise as he wakes up the
next morning and all that’s left is a pile of dust!” It cost 7
Galleons, leaving him with 3 which he decided to save for the
sweet shop.
Out in the alley he could hardly believe how much time had
passed as he looked up at the large clock on the entrance to
Gringotts. He only had fifteen minutes left, he looked from side
to side and saw the large lollipop-sign of “Sugarplum’s Sweet
Shop”.
He entered the store and was taken aback by the sweet smell that
struck him as he walked in. It wasn’t that sticky sweet smell
you usually smell in a sweet shop back home, but a wholesome,
fruity kind of smell. Shelves upon shelves of sweets he could
never have imagined met his eyes, there were no Mars Bars, or
snickers here they were all unique and, to Brad, completely
unheard of. Titles such as “Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans”
“Cauldron Cakes” and “Chocolate Frogs” jumped out at him, once
again that overwhelming feeling that he felt in “Weasley’s
Wizarding Wheezes”. His eventual choice was two boxes of
chocolate frogs, and one bag of cauldron cakes. He was dissuaded
from the “Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans” when he was warned
that they were indeed “every flavour”, and the shop keeper could
have sworn he got a tree bark flavoured one once.
He left the shop with his purchases held firmly in his grip, and
headed back towards were his mother stood waiting with Hugo and
armfuls of packages some of which she handed to Brad when he
joined up with them.
“Right, that’s all you got to get then?” Hugo inquired, Brad
checked his list
“Yeah that’s all.”
“Great now if you want to go back to the fireplace you can head
home via floo powder again. Sorry I got to do one more person
today, you were the morning ones ya see?”
“Right, that’s fine by us… thank you Hugo for everything.”
“Your welcome, ahh here we are” he broke off as they reached the
giant fireplace, “O yeah one more thing, on the 1st of
September, go to King’s Cross Station and go to the barrier
in-between platforms 9 and 10 you just walk straight at the
barrier, make sure no-one sees you, and you will walk straight
through it onto platform 9 ¾!”
“Through the barrier? Right that shouldn’t be a problem, thank
you again Hugo.” With that she threw a handful of powder into
the fireplace stepped in saying in a loud, clear voice “11
Puddlesmere drive, Limerick” in a woosh of green flame she
disappeared, then Brad stepped forward and threw his portion in,
stepping backwards into the fire to avoid getting smoke in his
eyes again he spoke “11 Puddlesmere drive, Limmerick” the last
thing he saw was Hugo’s smiling face spinning before his eyes.
#Post#: 60--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: voldedobbydore Date: August 22, 2013, 8:24 pm
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Pretty cool!
#Post#: 65--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: Mirkprince Date: August 23, 2013, 3:23 pm
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Chapter 5 is up:
Chapter 5: The Hogwarts Express
Doreen Murphy rushed her son along the crowded platforms at
King’s Cross station. They had come from the “Leaky
Cauldron Inn” were they stayed the night after arriving
there by floo powder the day before.
Brad pushed his trolley piled high with the trunk he had been
provided by Hogwarts. On top of it was the little kitten his
mother had bought him the day before in the ‘Magical
Menagerie’ in Diagon Alley. It was a beautiful little grey
kitten, Brad who had never liked cat’s much had strangely
fallen in love with this one something about its mismatched
eyes, and soft grey fur caught his eye, and his heart had been
set on the kitten from the moment he first saw it. Now they
moved along platforms 6,7,8 then 9, they looked at the barrier
in between nine and ten, and then looked at each other.
Doreen gave her son a nod of reassurance then together the lent,
trolley and all, against the platform. They fell through the
barrier as if it wasn’t even there, Brad looked around him
at the crowded old-fashioned platform. Sitting on the tracks was
a magnificent, scarlet steam engine with a golden plaque on the
front stating that it was indeed the “Hogwarts
Express”. Brad’s eyes lit up as he saw hundreds of
other students crowding the platform.
“Mam! There’s loads of them, look!”
“Yes, I can see, Brad it is 10:55 you had better get on
the train now look at me.” She took his face in her hands
and said “You are going into a completely new environment,
practically a new world. I just want you to remember, whatever
happens there. I love you with all my heart, and so does Da
it’s just taking him a bit longer to come round to the new
idea okay?” Her voice caught slightly as she said these
last words and tears came to her eyes.
“Yeah mam, I get it… I love you too, loads. I hope
Da comes round, cause I miss him, tell him that for me
won’t you mam?” For the first time Brad felt
something choke him, he was coming to the realisation that it
was a year until he would see his mother, Sarah, or his father
again not to mention the twins.
“I will, now go on or you’ll miss the train, I love
you.”
“I love you to mam… bye” with that he handed
his trunk to a conductor who lifted it onto the train for him,
he looked around, waved once more to his mother and climbed onto
the train.
He entered the train and saw that it was comprised of lots of
compartments down each side of the central passageway. He walked
forward looking from side to side, through the little windows on
each door, searching for a free compartment. Eventually he saw
one with only one person sitting inside; he entered to see a
small framed boy with black hair and freckles. He had a slightly
vacant look and didn’t notice that Brad had entered
straight away.
“Hey, is it okay if I sit here with you?”
“Huh? O yeah, go ahead.”
“So… your first year?” Brad asked eagerly.
“Yep, but I have three older siblings who are all in
Hogwarts already.”
“Really?” Brad asked as he sat down
“That’s amazing, do they like it? What’s it
like? I didn’t know I could use magic until about 2 months
ago! I couldn’t believe it when I found out!”
“Ahh, you’re a muggle born? My siblings love it,
they’re all in Slytherin, I hope I’m not though, I
don’t like Slytherin.”
“What’s that? Slytherin I mean?”
“You don’t know yet? Slytherin is one of the houses
at Hogwarts, there’s they are
renowned for being sly and cunning, then there’s
Hufflepuff, who are known for their loyalty, then there’s
Ravenclaw who are known for their clever minds, then there is
Gryffindor who are known for being noble and brave!”
“So you don’t want to be in Slytherin.. were do you
want to be?”
“I want to be in Gryffindor! It’s the best house,
though all my siblings hate it, they say Slytherin is the best
and Gryffindor is terrible… when I said I wanted to be in
Gryffindor, my older sister Elana turned my chair I was sitting
on into a gigantic snake which chased me round our house and
garden!”
“Wow, so they REALLY don’t like Gryffindor then? O
yeah, I forgot I’m Brad, Brad Murphy who are you?”
“I’m James, my family name is Silver, yeah they
really don’t like Gryffindor.”
“Well, I don’t know where I’ll be then…
how do they decide? Is it just like normal schools?”
“Normal schools? Oh, you mean muggle schools! No I
don’t think so, I don’t know how they do it here,
but my older siblings tell me it’s horribly painful…
I think they are teasing though! They do that allot with
me…” his voice trailed away as he looked out of the
window at the sprinkling of rain that was starting to splatter
on it’s surface. For the first time Brad felt a tightening
in his stomach, his mind started running through the things that
they might do to choose houses, would they make them run
rigorous tests? Test their magical ability? But he was just a
first year, he was muggle-born at that, he didn’t even
know how to use magic yet! The note with his books had warned
that there was extremely harsh punishment for using magic
outside of school before you turned seventeen. His worry must
have showed on his face for James said “You look sick, are
you okay?”
“Yah, just nervous I guess.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, I’m sure my
siblings were just teasing me.”
“But what if I get there and I can’t do magic? What
if they are angry with me for coming at all!”
“You got a Hogwarts letter which means they want you!
Don’t worry about not being able to use magic, I
can’t control magic yet either, and I’m
pureblood!”
“Pureblood?” For some reason the word sent a shiver
down Brad’s spine.
“Yep, my parent’s are wizard, and witch as are my
grandparents and their parents, and their parents as far back as
we can tell. That’s what pureblood means pure magical
blood. The rest of my family seem to think it’s important,
I don’t though, I don’t see how our bloodline has
anything to do with how good we are! I guess I’m just
weird that way… my mother was so upset when I said that
once, she shut me in the closet for two days with nothing but
water!”
“Your family don’t seem very nice… mine are,
though my Da still hasn’t come round to the fact that I
can do magic, he wasn’t too happy about it.”
“Yeah, my older brother, Rufeus, is okay… in
comparison with the others that is. At least he doesn’t
tease me, he just ignores me altogether. He is in his last year
at Hogwarts, and my sisters are twins Elena and Jocelyn, even I
get them mistaken sometimes they are both fifteen, and I’m
eleven.”
“Yeah me too, that’s funny, my older brothers are
twins as well, also identical, my sister is just annoying
really, she’s thirteen.”
“Something of the trolley?” Brad started as a short,
plump young witch stuck her head in at the door of the
compartment and gave them a wink. “15% off for first
years.”
“No thanks, I have some lunch already.” Brad held up
a neatly packed box with bacon sandwiches his mother had made
him.
“I’ll take some chocolate frogs, and some acid pops.
Thank you!”
“Your welcome dear, here you go, that’ll be four
sickles and a knut.” James paid up and stuffed the sweets
into his bag.
“So, which Quidditch team do you support?” James
asked enthusiastically
“Quidditch? What’s Quidditch?”
“Oh, of course I keep forgetting, your muggle born so you
don’t know about Quidditch, it’s far more exciting
then that football thing you muggles watch. It’s played on
broomsticks, with 7 players per side there are 2 beaters who
protect the seeker, and chasers from the bludgers and 3 chasers
who score goals with the quaffle, and a seeker who catches the
snitch, and also a keeper who protects the goals.” Brad
looked twice as confused as before
“I’m afraid I still don’t quite
understand.”
James spent the next two hours explaining the finer points of
Quidditch and informing Brad that he simply HAD to support
Puddlemere United because they were just the best, and oldest
Quidditch team in Britain.
Brad heard a soft mewing above his head and remembered the small
grey kitten which he had brought along. He stood up on the seat
and pulled the basket down from the overhead storage. He opened
the lid to let the scared looking little kitten out of the
basket, it stepped out onto his lap mismatched eyes darted
around the room taking in it’s surroundings. The little
kitten’s grey fur was slowly settling back into the sleek
grey coat it usually had. “I don’t know what to call
her yet… she is so beautiful”
“Haha, I like her, her eyes are like yours! They are
weird, and cool.”
“Thanks… what do you think I should call her?”
“I dunno… you should name her, she’s your
cat!” Brad stared out the window, his mind was going over
all they had discussed when suddenly he burst out
“Seeker!”
“What?”
“Seeker, I’ll call her Seeker! Like in
Quidditch!”
“I like it… Seeker, I think it suits her.”
“Yeah, me too… How long is this trip?”
“Oh, we should be there soon, we should get changed into
our robes.”
“Right, those dress things, it’ll be hard to get
used to for me.”
“Haha, yes you muggle borns aren’t used to robes are
you.”
“Nope.”
#Post#: 66--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Start of it All - A FanFiction
By: voldedobbydore Date: August 23, 2013, 3:36 pm
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All is very good!
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