Arthur had already gotten his wand and his books. Next on his list.. A set of copper scales. Only problem was, it seemed like there was a dozen Potions shops around here, and none that conveniently stated whether they had sold any scales inside. It was the last thing he was going to get that day, the rest he could buy at a later date. After he'd saved up a little more, since he was determined not to make his mum pay for all his weird new school supplies.

His bag was getting heavy with all the books he'd bought. The streets were crowded. And honestly, a lot of the wizards he'd spoken to were kind of rude and hard to understand. Maybe he should have asked his mum to come with him after all...

Deciding he would try one more time before giving up, he looked around for someone to ask directions of. Up ahead was a girl that looked around his age. So far he'd had better luck talking to other students, so he ran a couple steps to catch up. Hopefully she either grew up in the magical world, and had a better idea of what he was looking for, or she was a student like him and might have found the place already in her own hunt for school supplies. Worst case, neither one of them knew where it was, but at least then they could look together.

"Hi! Sorry to bother you," he said. "I'm trying to find somewhere that sells copper scales. Have you seen that?"

Verla had been looking at a map she had received from a man in the alley. She had been looking for copper scales. When a boy approached her and asked where they were. She looked at the map "um, this map says it's over there" she said and pointed to the apothecary shop. "I'm Verla by the way, and I have to be honest, I'm quite nervous about this. My parents are both muggles. So I have no clue what I'm doing." Verla giggled nervously as she opened the door to the shop and offered to keep it open for him to go in first. She had a polite smile on her face, showing her innocence.  

She walked in the shop and browsed around and found the scales. There were plenty on the shelf, which she figured since every first year needed it. She felt slightly dumb as she scanned second year books and was prepared to buy those to, to get a head start. But she shook her head and went back to the shelves and picked one of each. 

Verla caught glance of the boy next to her, picking out the books also (if he was) and smiled to him.

"Ah! Thanks!" he said, wondering where she had gotten the map
That would come in handy! He nodded when the girl mentioned that her parents were muggles and that she was feeling nervous. He could definitely understand that. "Me too. My mother's a Muggle," he told her.

"It's pretty crazy right?" he said, looking around the shopping street, which was full of strange animals, crazy contraptions, and oddly dressed people. He had no conception of how many muggle raised wizards and witches there were, so he was always reassured when he met another. If it was a somewhat common thing, then at least it meant lots of other people had managed to do it!

He entered the store the girl had pointed out and picked up the scales he needed. After getting everything that was on his list, her started browsing some of the interesting magical items stocked on the shelves. "Boomslang skin?" he muttered to himself. He continued down the line where vials of green goo were stacked in neat rows. ]Flobberworm Mucus. The label said. "Now that just sounds made up.."

Arriving at a stack of books, he pulled 'Asiatic Anti-Venoms' from the shelf curiously. His bag was already heavy with books, but he wished that he could buy more. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough sickles left to buy anything more than the potions equipment he needed. Sliding the textbook back into its place, he noticed the girl next to him was the same one who'd given him directions before. "Hi again," he said, deciding to strike up a conversation. He looked back at the spines of the books and their many interesting titles. "Have you had a chance to read much yet?" he asked her.

"No, but I plan on reading on my way to Hogwarts. I'm pretty excited. I found out about a mean name some Slytherins call half-bloods. They call them mudbloods, if you didn't know. Such a cruel name don't you agree?" 

Verla's face burned up in anger, she hated that name. Then she smiled suddenly "Oh, I'm Verla, Verla Harness. Do you need any help finding things on your list, maybe we can sit on Hogwarts express together?" Verla asked with her smile still on.

Verla had a beautiful smile. Only an idiot couldn't see that Verla was very pretty. She was asked a few times if she was a Veela, but her answer had always been the same, no.

Verla's hair blew as someone came into the shop and went to look at the ingredients, She looked back at the boy and smiled again as she fixed her hair, then flipped it over her shoulder. Her necklace her mother had given to her dangled around her neck. She'd gotten it the day before she got her letter and instructions as to what to get and where to go in her Hogwarts letter. It was of an angel, and it ticked.