Closed A Helpful Shopping Trip

[Sophie Elliston]

Sophie's years at Hogwarts were almost beginning and the girl knew she had to start buying some school supplies. She hadn't ever bought wizarding school supplies before, and with her eldest cousin having graduated already, she figured it was not a bad idea to have her come along as company. Charlotte was always a good role model in Sophie's eyes. After all, she was Prefect, Head Girl, and Captain of the Quidditch team during her time there and so was definitely someone she should look up to. Additionally, Sophie's parents were muggles and so dragging them around a very foreign place was probably not ideal. The girl sat in her bedroom drawing away in her sketchbook as she waited for Charlotte to arrive. She was in the middle of creating a new character: a tall, slim female with long, silky hair and a cape that changed colours depending on her mood. It was nicer drawing girls than boys as Sophie was a girl herself and knew exactly what they looked like.

As the doorbell rang, Sophie quickly looked up before closing her sketchbook and placing her pencil on top of it on her desk. "Sophie, she's here!" exclaimed her mother. Sophie stood up and made her way out to the living room where Charlotte had already been invited in. She hadn't seen her since Christmas last year and so Sophie gave her a small smile. "Hey." she said, putting her hands inside the pockets of her overalls. Her mother put a beanie on her head and Sophie muttered a thanks, knowing full well that it would be cold outside with the weather becoming cooler and also knowing that Sophie's mother would not want her getting sick. "Sooo... how is this going to work? Isn't currency different in the wizarding world?"

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte was in quite a good mood. The former Slytherin was definitely feeling free after graduating from Hogwarts for over a year now. It was very much different from how it used to be with her new job and new responsibilities that she hadn't had before. Nonetheless, she was enjoying this, and now it was her youngest cousin's turn to experience the wonders of wizarding schooling. With Sophie being a muggle-born, Charlotte knew that it would feel different attending such a school and she wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible. When the opportunity came, Charlotte quickly volunteered to help her shop for school supplies and she couldn't be happier that her offer was accepted. It always felt good to help someone and Charlotte hoped Sophie would be thankful for this.

Charlotte apparated not too far away from her cousin's house in a secluded alleyway in hopes to not catch any curious muggle's attention. When she made it to the front door, she rang the doorbell and it didn't take long for her Aunt Jasmine to open it, greeting her with a warm hug. As Sophie came out from her bedroom, Charlotte beamed, hoping Sophie was ready for the day. "Hello!" she exclaimed excitedly, smiling back at her. She chuckled at Sophie's question, knowing there was probably more than where that came from. "Yes, currency is different. But don't worry about that, there's a bank where you can exchange muggle money. Are you ready to go?" She clapped her hands together, clearly more excited for this adventure than Sophie would ever be.

 

[Sophie Elliston]

Sophie did not always like going shopping. Sometimes she would be forced to go with her mother and her sister, and most of the time it was Sophie standing around whilst they browsed at some clothes. If Sophie was lucky, there would be a games shop nearby that she could browse at instead, but that never usually happened. However, this time would hopefully be a bit better, especially considering there were going to be plenty of witches and wizards like herself, and hopefully they had some sort of game shop that she could look at if she wanted to. It made her wonder what sort of games they had in the wizarding world and if they were anything like the ones in the muggle world. Despite this, Sophie's favourite device was her PC and she was sure that there were no PCs in the wizarding world.

Sophie's mother quickly handed her some money and she shoved it in her pocket before following her cousin outside. "Yeah!" she replied excitedly. "Do you have like a car or something? How is it that you guys... well, we, get around? I was reading a book Uncle Landon gave me and it mentioned something about, like, powder that takes you through fireplaces. We don't have a fireplace, so who's fireplace are we going to?" Sophie was clearly worried about the whole trip. After all, she spoke more when worried and had many different questions to ask Charlotte. However, she felt as if she should stop there in hopes she didn't overload her.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte was happy that Sophie was ready to go, and led the way outside before saying goodbye to Aunt Jasmine. It felt different being the adult now but Charlotte was sure she'd get used to it. After all, she wanted Sophie to know that she'd always be there for her, and if she needed to, she could write to Charlotte from Hogwarts as much as she liked. As the pair walked, Charlotte chuckled again at Sophie's next question. She seemed anxious about the trip ahead. "Don't worry, we won't be doing anything like that, because like you said, you don't have a fireplace." she reassured her. "Just keep following me." Charlotte winked at her before taking her down to the alley from before. Apparating was not always the most comfortable mode of transport, but it was good enough, and Charlotte hoped Sophie was going to be okay with this.

"Okay, so what's going to happen is that you'll keep a firm grip of me and before you know it we will be in Obsidian Harbour." she told her confidently, taking Sophie's hand and placing it on her arm. She counted down from three before apparating them to the wizarding world, leaving the muggle world smoothly. Charlotte had definitely improved her apparating skills over the years and was happy that the pair of them made it to where they needed to be in one piece. "Are you okay?" Charlotte asked once she was sure they had made it.

 

[Sophie Elliston]

Usually Sophie was quite comfortable when it came to travelling in a bus or a car. Motion sickness was never a problem for her, but for some reason, as the girl followed her cousin down the street, she was feeling butterflies in her stomach despite how much Charlotte tried to reassure her that it would be fine. She tried to trust her however, raising an eyebrow as she began following her down an alley. "What? Why are we in an alley?" Sophie asked sceptically. Usually drug dealers or mass murderers spent their time in alleys and Sophie knew Charlotte was neither of them. She kept a firm grip of her like instructed however, trusting that it would be fine.

Before Sophie knew it, her head started to spin and she felt her feet momentarily lift from the ground. It felt as though she was in a whirlpool, and as her feet landed on new ground, Sophie's head was still spinning. She placed her left hand on her head before looking around at her surroundings. People in robes were walking up and down streets and Sophie knew then that they were in the wizarding world. "What was that!?" she exclaimed, turning to her cousin. She definitely did not want to do that again and she was lucky that she was only left with a slightly spinning head.