@Della Barfield

Cassidy pushed open the door to Potage's Cauldron Shop and joined the vast sea of wizards and witches manoeuvring Diagon Alley, marching along with their footsteps echoing through the long cobble path. Her mother followed behind her, wand out as she guided a black cauldron through the mass of people. They made it a few meters before her mum stopped at one of the shops lining the alley, placing the cauldron by the window. Cassidy followed like an obedient sheep.
“I can't carry this through the crowd, people keep bashing into it. I'll apparate home with it and come straight back,” she added quickly as Cassidy's face dropped at the thought of going into a shop alone.

Cassidy had always been quite socially nervous and hesitant, she also hated having to do new things that required social interaction. Plus these people weren't any old people, they were wixes. Despite her mum being a witch she had never really interacted with many other magical people and she didn't know their social norms. Her dad got a tad jealous of wizards and witches, as he was born a squib to the Fraser family, a family hosting Alice Fraser who had become a master of transfiguration and animagi, one of the few registered animagi in the wizarding world. So her mum tried to keep magic in the household limited, out of pity.

“Next on your list is your books, they'll be in Flourish and Blotts, the green-blue shop with two windows on either side of the door,” She pointed vaguely into the crowd as she handed Cassidy the enchanted list, which had given itself a tick by the cauldron's box.
“I'll come to Flourish and Blotts when I'm done.”
And with that, her mum warped away with a little swirl of blue warping the world around her, taking the cauldron as well. Cassidy blinked absently for a second before going to stare into the crowd, wondering whether to just stay there instead. But then mum will come look for me in Flourish and Blotts, I have to be there. With a small sigh escaping through her parted lips, she began to tread into the crowd, squeezing through gaps and weaving past huge birdcages, her misty gaze searching for any green.

It wasn't much wandering until she spotted the shop — a greenish colour with two towering checkered windows and gold lettering reading ʼFlourish and Blottsʼ over it. What a weird name, Flourish and Blotts. It didn't make much sense, but it sounded more like a gardening shop. There were a lot of weird names here, so she guessed she better get used to it. Flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder with her hand, she made a beeline for the bookstore like the street was being attacked by acid rain. Cassidy pushed the green door open with a little golden bell tingling above her and let her eyes wander; large bookshelves from the floor to the roof; stacks and stacks of books towering precariously that hadn't been put away; stairs to a second floor where more books awaited. It was a mini library and cater she was done admiring it it made her sick. How would she find her books? Were they ordered alphabetically?

She hesitantly stepped away from the door, taking in the quiet chatter and the smell of parchment and old leather binding them all. It was a bit fantastical, but so was magic. She slowly manoeuvred the shop with her list between her fingers, heading to the back of the store to begin her search. Her gaze brushed the shelves hesitantly; the leather bound books looked as if they would turn to dust if she touched them. She witched from the list to the shelves, trying to spot anything, but they all looked the same. One stuck out, though. Her Great Aunt Alice Fraser's book on animagi. She had read it before many a times, inspired by her great Auntie's work. She reached out and grabbed it, longing for the familiar touch. Cassidy flicked it open to a random page and stared in inspiration at the video/picture of the osprey perched in front of the camera, displaying her wings proudly.

As she stared in wonder at the pictures in the book, footsteps began to approach the back of the store where only a few people roamed the shelves. She glanced up from the book to see a girl dressed in relatively normal clothes. She looked about her age. Cassidy guessed she might not be accustomed to wizard fashion, like her in her plain jeans and black coat. She gave a courtesy smile and nod of the he to the girl.

@Della Barfield

Cassidy watched the girl give a small cute wave to her in return for her slight smile as she began to approach. She looked the girl up and down; hair almost white hanging to her waist; fair skin almost as pale as her hair; simple muggle clothing, like she wore. She needed nervous and surprised at... Her book? Cassidy flashed a glance at the pages she had opened it on, but saw no fault. Then it hit her that she might not have grew up with magic because muggle didn't have videos in books.

“Uh, hi, are you going to Hogwarts, too?” The who she presumed was a muggle-born asked her in a voice as light as snow, as if she was scared of anybody hearing their conversation.
Cassidy nodded, snapping the book in her hand closed.
“I'm assuming you are as well, then?”
Cassidy had had more conversations in this Alley than in the last month, most of them with Hogwarts students or soon-to-be students. She was glad she would know a few faces in the school. But just how many other faces would there be? Would it be like her primary school, with only about 150 pupils, or the high school she would have went to had she not turned out a witch, with about 1,000? Or more? Her mum had told her Hogwarts was bigger than the Eiffel Tower, so she wouldn't be surprised if she was met with 1,000,000 faces when she arrived, which wasn't ideal. At least she knew a lot about the wizarding world though.

Then she realized she should probably put a name to this name face in front of her.
“I'm Cassidy by the way, and you are?”

@Della Barfield

“I'm Della. And yeah, I'm going to Hogwarts, too. It'll be my first year.”
Cassidy nodded — so Della would be attending Hogwarts as a first year as well. She was quite tall for a first year, but then again she had met a very small first year an hour before. Most the kids in Diagon Alley she had met were first years, maybe there were more first years at the beginning of the school year but some of them left Hogwarts early over the year or maybe all the other years already had their things. She expected other years in Flourish and Blotts, however. Everybody needed new books, surely?

“I'm first year as well,” Cassidy replied to Della, giving a slight grin.
“What book is that?” Della asked.
Cassidy held the cover of the book up for Della to see — it was a brown leather encasing the pages with gold lettering over the front cover along with a simplistic avian drawn in gold ink.
“It's ʼAn Animagi's Tailʼ,” She gestured to the spelling of ʼtaleʼ on the front of the book to let Della know of the small joke. She imagined Alice to be friendly and humorous as she made lots of jokes in her book. She hoped she could meet her sometime.
“Its about animagi and transfiguration, by Alice Fraser.”

“And... I don't mean to sound stupid, but were those pictures moving? Is that normal here? I'm from a... Muggle family. I'm still getting used to that word,” Della added an embarrassed laugh to the end of her sentence.
“They were moving. They're like GIFs, they play for a few seconds before repeating. You'll get used to them eventually,” Cassidy grinned lightly, feeling slightly pitiful for Della. She seemed embarrassed about her roots, while she was sure there were plenty children from Wizarding homes who would love to hear about the Muggle world.
“Tell me about the muggle world, I don't know much,” Cassidy added, hoping to cheer the girl up about having Muggle parents.
She was never a master at encouraging happiness as she tended to make things worse, but maybe Della talking about her Muggle knowledge would help her accept it?

@Della Barfield, @Ashton Green
Speech | Quotes | Thought

Cassidy nodded along to Della as she spoke of the muggle world. She already knew a lot of what she told her, but Cassidy wouldn't let her know that. She was born into a wizarding family, however her squib father and witch mother decided living a half-magical half-muggle life would benefit her as she would have experienced both worlds.

Just as the pastel-haired girl began wrapping up her rather lengthy description a boy she would presume was around the same age of them both dropped one of the hard-covered leather books, creating an echoing boom that ruffled the pages of books nearby. Cassidy quickly whipped around with a blink of surprise, startled by the sudden noise in the rather quiet shop. Her tightened grip on the Transfiguration book she had in her hands loosened as the surprise ebbed from her muscles. It was the boy who had walked into the store with an older man, whom she had turned a blind eye to. The 11-year-old flashed a quick glance at Della beside her, unsure of whether to ignore the boy and his book or say something to him.

“Erm... You okay there?” Cassidy finally said, her voice wavering with uncertainty.