It was a hot summer day. Ellie and Marcus were starting their shopping for their school supplies. They agreed to split up to give Ellie the opportunity to meet new people (something she often struggled with). She was wearing a mint green summer dress that had a subtle floral design.

Given that she loved to read, she wanted her first stop to be Flourish and Blotts. As she approached the storefront, she took a moment to take in the green frame with large windows. The beautiful pyramid display of books on the other side. She had a great assortment of books at home but was eager to expand her magical knowledge.

She walked into the shop and noticed there weren’t too many students inside. Her first thought as she walked in was that she loved the smell of all the books. She began to walk down the aisle to start grabbing the books she needed.

There was a lovely old woman pushing a cart of books. She used magic to stock them onto the shelves. She gave Ellie a warm greeting. “Welcome to Flourish and Blotts. Please feel free to ask me for any help you might need.” The first book she went for was Magical Theory.

Ellie was almost certain she could find all the books herself but wanted to return the kindness. “Thank you, would you be able to point me in the direction of Magical Theory?”

“Absolutely! Down this aisle on your left.” stated the woman eagerly.

Ellie smiled and made her way in the direction that the woman was pointing.

WC - 264

Cece was smiling widely as she walked into Flourish and Blotts. She had already purchased her school books, but she had come back to Diagon Alley again to buy more books. Cece wanted to know more about the wizarding world and magic and she felt like books were a good place to start. Cece didn’t really know what she was looking for, so she just decided to walk around and browse the shelves. She turned down one aisle and saw a girl standing there. A look at the titles of the books on the shelves told Cece that they were in the Magical Theory section. Magical Theory seemed interesting, perhaps the girl had book recommendations? Cece decided that she would ask her, it couldn’t hurt to seek help, right? Cece went up to the girl and said, “Hi! Excuse me, I saw you looking at the books here and I was wondering if you had any good book recommendations on Magical Theory for beginners? Sorry if I’m being rude, you just look like you know what you’re doing and I have absolutely no idea where to start.” Cece looked up at the girl and waited to see how she would respond.

As Ellie walked down the aisle, she started looking up at the shelves. She found Magical Theory in between Magical Me and Nature’s Nobility. Just as she was going to reach for the book she was approached by another girl. She looked like she was the same age as Ellie and had a kind smile.

“Oh..Hello! This is actually my first time here. I’ll be starting my first year and want to get a head start on school supplies.”

Something about this girl was inviting and Ellie didn’t feel her usual nervousness when speaking with strangers. The fact that she was asking for a book recommendation made her happy. It is nice to encounter someone with similar interests. Ellie’s thoughts were getting ahead of themselves, but she had a good feeling that this would be someone she could talk to. She realized she didn’t even introduce herself.

“My name is Ellie by the way…Will you also be attending Hogwarts?”

Given that this was the start of her solo adventure in Diagon Alley, she felt much more at ease that her first two interactions have been pleasant. Maybe it was being surrounded by books that made her feel safe. She eagerly waited for the girl’s reply.

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Cece smiled at Ellie. “I will be attending Hogwarts! I’m a first year, too. Oh, and my name is Cece. Cece Kravitz. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ellie.” Ellie was a first year like her! And she seemed to like to read. These were both very good signs, Ellie was definitely someone Cece could get along with. “This is actually my second time here, I already purchased my school books but after I started to read through Hogwarts, A History I realized there were a lot of other subjects and I knew I just had to check out what books were offered for them. Even if I can’t take those subjects this year, learning about them will still be fun.” Cece blushed as she realized she was starting to ramble. “So, uhm, anyway, do you like to read? I mean, you probably do, you look very excited to be in a bookstore, which I totally get I love bookstores, but, is it one of your favorite things to do?” Cece hurried to ask Ellie a question to force herself not to ramble on and on and on. She snapped herself out of her thoughts to listen to Ellie’s reply.

Ellie was taken back by the enthusiasm of the girl. She clearly was very excited and really loved books. Even though Ellie also had a passion for books, she wasn’t as extroverted as Cece. She realized she probably had a surprised look on her face and didn’t want to scare off a possible new friend.

“Nice to meet you Cece! I do enjoy reading. I’m especially excited to get started on the first year books.”

Ellie was proud she was able to get out the words without fumbling. It was undeniable that Ellie was shy and now a bit nervous. Although when she first entered the shop the books helped her feel at ease, she now was starting to feel very small between the aisles of the tall shelves. She was happy to find someone with similar interests. But also felt a bit conflicted, because she really wanted to continue exploring the shop.

“Sorry I wouldn’t be able to give you any recommendations, but I’d be happy to look around with you while I grab the books I need.”

It was the only idea that Ellie could muster up in a situation where she felt comfortable. She anticipated that talking about the books and possibly about Hogwarts will help calm her nerves. She was also hoping to get to know Cece more.

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Cece smiled at Ellie. “It’s fine, if anything I should be apologizing for assuming things before I met you. And I would love to look around with you!” Cece was so happy to have met someone with a similar passion for reading. “I’ve started to read through all my books and it’s making me realize just how amazing magic is. Like, there’s a solution for practically every problem. And there are so many spells! There’s so much to learn and there’s so many different topics to learn about. I just find it amazing that all of this is possible, that magic really exists. I mean, growing up I was taught that magic wasn’t real but it is and I can do it and I’m so excited!” Cece blushed. Why was she rambling so much? Usually she was pretty shy and contained but something about Ellie just made her feel like Cece could talk to her and that she would listen. “Sorry, I don’t usually ramble this much. Something about you just makes me feel like I can talk to you.” Cece blushed harder, she probably shouldn’t have said that, she didn’t want to make Ellie uncomfortable. “Anyway, we have to get your books right? Let’s go!” Cece said, turning away to hide her bright red face. God, why did she have to act this way? She waited for any sounds to indicate that Ellie had moved or said something.

Ellie started to follow Cece. As she rambled, Ellie began to feel more at ease. She was beginning to think that maybe she was as nervous as she was in social interactions. So far, from what Ellie could tell, they had a lot in common. The love for books, the eagerness to get started on schoolwork and the desire to learn as much as possible.

Ellie was very excited to get started. As they walked down the aisles, making their way down the list of required books, Ellie thought this would be a good opportunity to try and figure out when they could see each other again and how they could keep in contact.

“Will you be attending the Summer Camp?”

Without even giving her a chance to answer, Ellie continued.

“Also, I know it might be silly, since we could use the phone or internet back home to connect, but I think it would be cool to get into the habit of using owls now that we are officially Hogwarts students. Do you think that would be too weird?”

Now Ellie was the one carrying on. She realized she was asking a lot of questions and wasn’t even letting Cece get a word in. She bit her lip to stop herself and looked up at the bookshelf to not give away her anxiousness that started creeping back in.

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Cece smiled widely at Ellie. “I am attending Summer Camp! Well, not right now, me and a couple of people have decided to share a tent but we’re trying to figure out which tent so it’s a little bit chaotic right now but I will have a tent eventually.” Cece blushed as she realized that her first sentence would have been enough of an answer and that Ellie probably didn’t want to hear her entire explanation about her tent status, but there Cece was again, rambling on and on. She snapped herself out of her thoughts to answer Ellie’s second question. “I would love to communicate by owl. Of course, texting is much more convent as the other party receives your message straight away, but I did read that magical devices don’t work in magical places like Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. And I actually find it really cool that owls can be trained to travel such long distances and that they know where to go all by telling them a person’s name or a location, like they must be extremely intelligent animals for that. I mean, I’ve heard of carrier pigeons but those are extinct now and I don’t think that they could carry as large of packages as owls. Perhaps the owls get certain training or maybe they use magic?” Cece blushed even harder than before. That was probably her longest rant yet and she could’ve kept going if she hadn’t forced herself to stop. Why did she keep going on and on and on? She realized she should probably shift the conversation to something else, so she blurted out the first question that came to mind. “So, anything in particular you find really cool about the magical world?” She cringed internally after saying that. Wow, Cece really sucked at subject changes. She glanced at Ellie, actually curious about her reply despite her negative train of thought.

Ellie smiled at Cece. She definitely was feeling more comfortable with Cece’s energy and rambles of conversation. She tried to keep up with what she was saying. Ellie herself often wondered how owls were so efficient at sending the letters, but was most excited that Cece agreed to try it out with her.

“I’m glad you’ll be attending the camp. Maybe we can do some of the activities together!”

Almost forgetting her train of thought, she realized she wasn’t really sure what she looked forward too most with the magical world.

“And that is a great question, I’m mostly excited to learn about defensive spells I think. At home, my mom told us all she could about the magical world, but I’m very excited to see it all in practice. Like even just here simply seeing the little bits of magic being used puts me in awe.”

Ellie took a look around. She was reaching the end of the shopping list, but was really enjoying herself. She was very happy to know she’s made a new friend and was looking forward to getting to know more about her.

“I’m almost done here. What else do you have planned for today?”

She waited for Cece’s reply as she grabbed the last book off of the shelf.

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Cece smiled at Ellie, defensive spells were definitely cool. “Flourish and Blotts was actually my only thing planned for today, but since I still have” she glanced at a clock on the wall “two hours before my parents pick me up, do you want to go to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor?” Cece’s parents had dropped her off outside of the Leaky Cauldron, and had given her some muggle money to transfer to Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts at Gringotts. Then they had left, as Diagon Alley still confused them, they weren’t used to magic but they were slowly adjusting. They had went with her on her first trip to Diagon Alley, and they had spent most of the time gaping at all of the magic being used in plain sight. The worst part was Gringotts, where they learned that Goblins actually existed and ran banks. So Cece understood that it was all a little crazy for them and that they preferred not to dive straight back into all of that craziness. Anyway, Cece had picked out a book on Magical Theory, and after she payed for that she would have enough to buy an ice cream. Cece hoped Ellie would agree to continue talking to her, Ellie was nice and Cece liked her. She looked hopefully at Ellie as she waited for her reply.