Emily Bennett stepped through the entrance to Diagon Alley where she planned on spending the day, doing some shopping. She wished her father could have come with, but he was too busy at home brewing potions and he could not leave them unattended. Emily opened her purse and pulled out two shopping lists. One list was one that she made out for herself. The other one was a list of potion ingredients that her father would need that he was running low on. Her father had given her instructions to send the ingredients on ahead once she purchased them from the Apothecary Shop. She decided to go there first since she knew the ingredients were very important to her father’s work.

She made her way cautiously through the crowded cobbled street of Diagon Alley, making her way to the Apothecary. Once she stepped inside and was greeted by the shop owner, she handed him the list of much needed ingredients. While he gathered them up, she looked around the shop. She liked to come to the Apothecary since it was one of her favorite shops. The shopkeeper was extremely nice and his shop did have a pleasant atmosphere. She wished her father could have come with her, but she knew how important his work was.

While reading some of the bottles on a display table, Emily heard the tiny bell above the door ring, indicating someone had entered the shop. With the shopkeeper busy with her order, Emily was sure his employee would assist whoever needed assistance.

Serena groaned as she listened to her parents go on and on about what sort of clothing she needed.  The list clearly started that students required three plain black work robes, a pointed hat, a pair of gloves and a winter coat.  It was a well thought out list.  Mr and Mrs Towers, however, disagreed.  Yes, that's correct, the disagreed with the Headmaster of a school that had helped hundreds of students get through his school with little difficulty.  They thought they knew better.  What with their zero experience in comparison!  Rolling her eyes, Serena sighed as she wondered why she bothered to come with them.  Though in all honesty, she didn't have a choice.  Her mother was, obviously, going to come along.  There was no way she was going to send her 11 year old by herself, after all.  The young girl was tired of trying to explain to her mother that she did not need 7 robes, 3 pointed hats, 3 pairs of protective gloves or 2 winter coats.  There was a list for a reason.  The additional options were just not necessary.  

Her mother liked her to be "well prepared for anything", however.  The young girl walked around in her muggle outfit.  She wore a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and had some knee high boots on.  It wasn't warm, but it wasn't that cold either.  Besides, they spent little time outdoors as they went from shop to shop and came to Diagon Alley by floo powder.  

Groaning again, she looked over to see her mother had now started arguing with one of the shop attendants.  Apparently there wasn't enough of a suitable range of products.  They weren't in the right colour or size or some other nonsense.  

Sighing, she looked out of the window.  It was there that Serena's eyes fell onto an Apothecary shop.  She had no idea what sort of ingredients were in there but it sparked her curiosity.  "Hey mum, I just remembered that I need to go into that store.  I think we might need some things for class.  I'll be back in a few minutes!" She claimed as she left the store and headed over to the apothecary store.  Leaving her mother to argue, Serena entered the Apothecary store and looked around with wide eyes.  There were so many things there.  She recognised a few things from home, things her mother had but she didn't know much about them as she didn't pay attention to it.

Walking around in a daze, the girl didn't realise that she accidentally bumped into someone else, "Ow!" She exhaled as she hit into another girl, falling backwards and almost crashing into a table of products in vials.  Catching herself, she managed to avoid doing any damage to the store - which was a relief.  She caught her breathe and looked over to the person she had hit.  It was another girl, a young girl who looked like perhaps she was starting at Hogwarts soon too.  At least, she looked like she was no more than eleven or twelve herself.  "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She apologised as soon as she caught her breathe and managed to stand up again.

Emily always liked coming into the Apothecary Shop with her father when he needed to buy some new ingredients.  Some people would think that shops like this one were a bit creepy.  Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and snarled claws hung from the ceiling.  These things did not bother Emily at all as she came here plenty of times with her father.  She knew her Potions classes would be easy.

Emily was about to check out another shelf of ingredients when someone suddenly bumped into her and fell backwards towards a table of glass phials.  She knew if those vials broke, the shopkeeper might be angry with them.  Emily sighed with relief when the other person caught themselves before doing any serious damage.  Emily looked at the person to see who had bumped into her and noticed she was a young girl about her age.

Straightening up and adjusting her purse, Emily checked herself over for any potential injuries or damage that might have occurred. “I’m okay.  No harm done.  How about you?  Anything damaged?” she asked the other girl, who had apologized for bumping into her.  Emily thought that if this girl was also starting at Hogwarts, then maybe these girls could become friends.

Serena straightened out her clothing a little, trying to make it look like she had everything under control just in case the shop keeper was looking.  It would have been really bad if she broke anything. Her mother would have killed her before the shop keeper could even demand for the payment of said items.  Glancing out of the window, she quickly looked to see if she could see her mother.  Her mother was still in the other shop, arguing with the attendant from the looks of things.  So she was safe for now.  Sighing a breathe of relief, she turned back to the young girl and shook her head, "Nothing damaged - luckily.  I'm glad you're okay, sorry about that.  I wasn't paying attention." She replied sincerely.  It was definitely her fault.  She got so busy looking around that she had just missed the person in front of her.

Her eyes gazed around the shelf to see some weird objects around.  It was no wonder she had gotten distracted.  There were several types of insects.  From worms to slugs.  From legs of some creatures to the horns of others.  There were a surprising number of eyes.  It made her feel a bit sick, actually.  Did they take these things out from live insects or from dead ones?!  Serena suddenly realised she was being really rude to the young girl, "Are you a Hogwarts student?" She asked the girl, wondering if she was also here shopping for her supplies.  Perhaps she was a second year or something.

Sophia had to go to Diagon Alley to buy things for her new boarding school - Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her other siblings - Emelia and Ethan - who also attended Hogwarts, had to get some school supplies for their years (3rd and 6th). Sophia had already bought her other things: robes, gloves, books etc and now had to get things for her Potions classes. A large scroll of a list was clutched in her hands, and was opened up for reading. Sophia was examining the Apothecary supplies list. She pushed open the door to the Apothecary Shop with her knee and walked in, immediately bumping into a girl. When she looked up, the girl had dark hair. “Goodness, ma’am! I’m terribly sorry for bumping into you!” Sophia exclaimed in distress. She pulled the scroll shut. The girl was just a fair amount shorter than her (well, since Sophia was a human giant eleven year old). There seemed to be another girl, who was talking to the one Sophia had bumped into. “And that I may have interrupted something...” she continued under her breath. 

Sophia turned off to an aisle full of cauldrons to get her Potions cauldron

Serena had barely got her posture corrected and composed when another person walked into the store.  Apparently she was standing in a terrible location as the third person ended up hitting into her, "Oof-!" She exhaled slightly, more from the pure shock rather than from pain.  Glancing behind her, she spotted a girl much taller than herself.  Which wasn't saying much because she was tiny.  No one in her immediate family was taller than a measly five foot four, so she had little hope of growing much taller than that - even when did hit puberty, which wasn't for a while.  Shaking her head, she smiled at the taller girl, "No no, it's fine.  Apparently this shop is just too small for multiple people!" She joked, as she moved to the side a little, trying to give the others enough space to walk past her freely.

The gaps between the tables and shelves were perhaps too narrow - or perhaps neither of the two people had paid enough attention to their surroundings.  Whatever the case was, it was just kind of funny how everyone seemed to be hitting into each other here and it amused Serena to no end.  Laughing slightly at her own thoughts, she turned back to the first girl and waited an answer.  She wanted to introduce herself, if the girl was from Hogwarts.

[OOC: She didn't hear the bit Sophia said under her breathe but I imagine Sophia can jump into their conversation once Emily has replied saying she's going to Hogwarts.  Also, can you please delete your OOC post above? Thanks!]

As the girl straightened her clothing, Emily was relieved to see that the other girl was not harmed by her near fall.  Emily looked around for the shopkeeper, but couldn’t see him anywhere.  Emily thought that he must still be gathering the ingredients of her list.  She hoped he wouldn’t be much longer because she didn’t want her father to start worrying that something went wrong.  He knew that delays could happen, but he really the worrying type.  Emily turned back to the girl in front of her.  “That’s good to hear.  My name is Emily.  I’m starting my first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Emily said as an introduction.

As they were talking, another girl entered the shop and bumped into the girl Emily was talking to.  She immediately apologized and seemed quite sincere about it.  She seemed a bit embarrassed about having interrupted something.  She said something under her breath before heading off through the shop.  “Perhaps we should move away from the door so no one bumps into us when they enter,” Emily suggested as she moved a bit farther into the shop.

The Apothecary was not that big of a shop, but Emily thought it was big enough.  It just appeared smaller because of all the merchandise inside.  “Are you starting at Hogwarts this year as well?” Emily asked.

Upon hearing that the other girl was attending Hogwarts too, Serena squealed a little from excitement.  She hadn't met anyone else from the school yet so the excitement flooded onto her face, "Ahh! Me too!" Serena exclaimed slightly louder than she had anticipated speaking.  Reducing the volume of her voice, she continued, "Hi, I'm Serena." The girl introduced herself to her fellow schoolmate. 

She laughed slightly at Emily's words, about moving away from the door and nodded, "Definitely, that would be wise, I think." She replied as she followed Emily, stepping away from the door.  "Are you out shopping for the supplies too then?" Serena asked as she rolled open the supply list that she had received and scanned it again, "Anything we need from here for it?" she asked as she looked over the list and pondered if they would need any of these ingredients for potions. Perhaps Hogwarts supplied the ingredients for first years... She wasn't sure, to be honest, so she thought she'd ask. In all honesty, she didn't know what most of the stuff was even used for. Whilst she recognised a few things from her house, a lot of it was new to her.

Serena was so excited to start at Hogwarts. She was even more thrilled that she had the opportunity to meet someone else from the school before she got there. At least she would know a face there now. The young girl hoped she ran into Emily in the school too but she honestly had no idea how big the school was or how many students they took every year. Emily certainly seemed very nice - and incredibly polite! 

Emily smiled when Serena introduced herself and said that she would also be attending Hogwarts this year.  Emily was glad to meet someone who would be attending Hogwarts.  Maybe they would sit with each other on the Hogwarts Express.  That would certainly be nice since they were already getting to know each other.

"I bought most of my school things a few weeks ago when I was here with my dad.  I Just wanted to pick up a few extra things so Dad said it was okay for me to come today," Emily explained when Serena asked about her school things.  "Dad would have come with me, but he's pretty busy with work right now," she added.  Serena asked her about potion ingredients.  Emily had to admit some of the ingredients were pretty gross.  "I'm getting a bunch of ingredients for potions.  Most of them are for my dad.  The shopkeeper is getting them ready for me.  I added my own school ingredients to the list and Daddy will take care of them for me," Emily replied.  "I've been to the school a few times with my dad.  I didn't see much of it, but the castle is huge.  I hope I have the chance to explore it all," she added.

Just then, the shopkeeper appeared at the counter with Emily’s package.  She paid him the money, picked up the package and turned to leave.  “I must send this on home before I do anything else.  My father is expecting these ingredients.  Why don’t you join me and then we can do our shopping together, okay?” Emily asked.

"Ahh, you're so organised!" Serena replied, impressed that Emily had already gotten everything sorted for the new school. She was still figuring out what was on the list - and her mother was still arguing with the store attendant in the clothes store. "Oh? Do we need to bring our own ingredients for school?" Serena asked, hearing Emily say she was getting some of them. Her eyes fell back onto the parchment she had in her hand to try and scan it for any ingredients she might have needed.  However, she didn't see anything on there that she didn't already have - or could get from home!  

Whilst she was looking, the shopkeeper had returned with Emily's items all packaged up. She smiled as she heard Emily's voice, "Ahh, well I need to check with my mother," Serena replied honestly as she indicated with her thumb to the clothes store across the street, "Perhaps we could go for ice cream or something after though?" Serena asked. Her mother was a nightmare to shop with and Serena was kind of bored of it now. She definitely didn't want to follow her mother around, listening to her argue with various other shopkeepers. If she could escape, she would be most grateful. And in all honesty, Emily seemed like a lovely person - and Serena wanted to get to know her a little more. She definitely wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. Knowing some people before she got to Hogwarts would be such a relief for her!