The Outside Perspective

Its Time to go

By the time Alex had sat down, his mother had already called out to his brothers and upstairs to his sister. Natalie, his sister, was the first to arrive. She looked like she was pretty much ready to go. She had her robes on already. "I thought you'd be getting changed on the train?" Their mother said.
"I was going to but I'd rather be prepared...you know...the seven p's and all that" Natalie said. Alex knew she was referring to a phrase they often used as a family. The seven p's stand for: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pretty Poor Performance. His mother taught him that when he had got his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts.

Darren and Connor came in and sat down with their mother, and they tucked in to what would be their last breakfast of the year at home.

While eating a piece of toast, Alex was reminded of the dream he had had the night before. He sat there staring into space for a while thinking "what if I'm separated from my brother?" "What if everyone makes fun of me and I have no friends?"
Connor nudged him with his elbow and he snapped back to reality
"What?" He asked slightly angered.
"You ok?" Connor said. He looked worried for his brother.
"Yeah course why wouldn't I be?" Alex said.
"Well...I heard you wake up hyperventilating last night so I wanted to make sure you were okay. Was it the dream again?" Connor asked. Alex had forgotten he told Connor about his bad dreams, which made no sense, because they tell each other everything. They're genetically identical so there's little the other doesn't already know.
"Yeah...it's ok now though...we'll stick together there...right?" He asked a little worried in case his brother rejected him.
"Course we will! You're literally the other half of me they'll never separate us!" He said laughing. Alex laughed along a bit but was still worried. "You'll be fine dear... god knows compared to what you've already been through, Hogwarts will be a doddle!" His mother said. He has forgotten anyone else was at the table.

When they finished breakfast they all went up to brush their teeth, there was three floors in their house. First of which had the kitchen, lounge and lower toilet. The second floor had a bathroom and two bedrooms, his mothers and his and Connor's room. The third floor had another bathroom and two more bedrooms belonging to Natalie and Darren. The four of them came back downstairs to find their mother holding a jar of floo powder. "Okay, Darren, you go first, followed by Natalie, then Alex, then Connor, then me" his mother said authoritatively. Even though the family travelled by floo powder all the time, his mother was still nervous for her children.

When Alex reached Diagon Alley he was amazed by what he saw. Wizards everywhere, shops with strange things in them, and at the end of the alley was a huge building he knew was Gringotts Bank. Darren went over to a strange looking shop window and beckoned for Alex and Connor to follow him. When they saw what Darren wanted to show them they couldn't help but laugh a little. The sight that had befallen them was a small group of children freaking out about the Nimbus 2000 and saying that it's impossible for anyone their age to have gotten one already.

Suddenly Alex was knocked to the ground by a boy walking with a ginormous man with a beard and long straggly hair. "Who's that?" He couldn't help but ask Darren.
"That's Hagrid, he's the gamekeeper at the school...but I've no idea who that boy is" he said flippantly. Alex wanted to get a better look at the boy so he started to follow them. Naturally, Connor went too. He managed to get through a group of wizards who he could only assume were drunk on mead and got an unfiltered view of the boy, who looked behind him just before he and Hagrid walked into the bank. The boy had jet black hair which was ruffled slightly, clothes that were much too big for him and circular glasses with sellotape in he middle holding them together. He looked small and thin like he wasn't fed very well. He had one tiny detail about him that made Alex and Connor gasp in amazement. He had a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. The boy with Hagrid was none other than Harry Potter. Probably one of the most famous wizards ever. "Oh my god is it really him" Connor gasped.
"Must be, who else has a scar like that?"

They're interrupted by a fracas coming from a shop named Flourish and Blotts. Alex hears a familiar voice say "shut up! You're nothing to us anymore!" And a less recognisable voice say "you can't escape your past! I'll see you again in future" the voice sounded unpleasant and high class. As if the person it belonged to was very articulate. A skinny white haired boy pushed past them. Alex realises that boy is Draco Malfoy, known as a spoilt brat who's father is rumoured to be a death eater. Malfoy goes into Madam Malkins and they turn around to see who the other person in the fight was. That person turned out to be none other than Alex's best friend, (apart from Connor of course) Cameron Lawler. "Oh...hey guys" he says, clearly still annoyed about the fight.
"What's up Cam?" Connor said.
"Don't worry Con, we'll talk about it on the train" Cameron says a little flustered.
"Don't worry mate, lets go find mum" Alex says. They say goodbye to Cameron and head off to see their mother who is sat on a bench near Ollivanders. She smiles when she sees them and says excitedly "okay, so here's where you two will get your wands...possibly a very big moment...who shall go first?"
"I don't know...flip a coin?" Connor suggests.
Alex nods and their mother brings out a silver sickle and asks them to pick heads or tails. Connor picks heads, Alex picks tails. The coin lands on tails.

Shaking a little, Alex enters the strange wand shop alone. A man is at the front desk reading The Daily Prophet. The man is quite old looking and has grey hair and silver eyes.
"H...hi s...sir I was...won...wondering if I could" Alex stutters but is cut off by the man, who is presumed to be Mr Ollivander himself, saying "yes, yes boy I know why you're here. So...you have a twin brother?" He says with an all knowing tone. "Yeah...how did you know?" Alex is rather confused by the man's immediate knowledge. "I can see into your mind..." he says mystically. Although it sounds like he's putting the voice on. "Really? H...how?" Alex is utterly perplexed. "My dear boy...look behind you. This shop does have windows after all" the old man smirks and Alex suddenly realised and feels stupid "oh...um...okay...well...can I pick my wand now please?" Alex says, wanting to get out quick for fear of making a fool of himself. "Oh...my boy...the wizard does not choose the wand. The wand chooses the wizard! What is your name? Full name, I might add." He looks over his desk at Alex. "My name is Alexander Thomas Pavell." Alex says, cringing a little at his name. He hates his middle name but apparently he was named after his father and grandfather. "Ah...you..." the man says with concern and walks into his stores and picks out a box that could contain Alex's first wand. He takes it out of the box and hands it to Alex. The wand is matte black with carvings in the end which he presumes you hold it. Alex's eyes widen in amazement. "Well...wave it?" Ollivander says. Alex waves the wand and it lights up shooting red sparks from it. "Well that was easy, it seems this wand has chosen you Mr Pavell. And a lovely one at that. It's 13 inches, ash, surprisingly swishy with unicorn hair core. Treat it well. Your wand is the source of most all of your abilities as a wizard. Most wizards would be lost without it." Ollivander says informatively. "Th...thankyou sir" Alex says as he pays for his wand and goes outside to greet his brother and mother.

After another ten minutes Connor comes out with his wand. "11 inches, aspen, dragon heartstring" Connor says with a certain pride that doesn't surprise Alex at all. "Cool...I prefer mine though" he says with a smirk "yes yes okay boys you're both pretty, now we need to get going or we'll miss the train" their mother warns as she shuffles them both towards Darren and Natalie and they head to Kings Cross.

It is at the moment they walk through the gateway to platform 9 3/4 that Alex is filled with fear for reasons he can't explain to himself let alone his mother. "What's wrong honey?" She says with concern for her son. "It's just...I'll miss you..." Alex says, careful not to let Darren hear. "I know but I'll write to you every week if you like?" She says while rubbing Alex's shoulders to comfort him. "Yes please mum" Alex says. When he says that a whistle blows and he has to run to get on the train. "Love you mum!" He shouts from the window. "Love you too sweetie" she says back. And with a tear in his eye, he makes his way through the train to find Connor and Cameron to start the long journey to Hogwarts.