Emma Jones strolled along the cobblestone paths of Diagon Alley with her mother, father, and little brother. The attention was mostly turned on Noah, but Emma didn't mind. She just wanted to get somewhere quiet.
  "We're headed to Madam Malkin next," her mother announced as they approached the shop. "Look at all these interesting robes!"
  "Yeah..." Emma replied, not sharing her mother's enthusiasm. She looked around and saw a bookshop with a sign that said "Flourish and Blotts".  That looks interesting! "Hey Mom, can I go check out that bookstore? I need some books for school." 
  "Don't you already have most of them?"
  "Not all of them." Emma lied. "Can I please go?"
  "Fine. But stay close, okay?"
  "Okay, thanks Mom!" Emma replied cheerfully as she ran towards the bookshop. 

Inside, there were bookshelves that were taller than Emma lining every wall. "Wow." Emma breathed as she looked at the piles of books all around the shop.

  "Welcome to Flourish and Blotts, how may I help you?" asked the shopkeeper.
  "Oh, I'm just looking around," Emma replied, still awestruck by the amount of books in this small store. Emma walked over to a bookshelf near the back of the shop. There were copies of Magical Theory, Hogwarts A History, and Emma's personal favorite, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She smiled as she thought of her copy of the book, with notes and pictures drawn in on every page. There were even more exotic books like Charm Your Own Cheese by Gurda Curd. This book caught Emma's eye, and she flipped through the pages of the cookbook. She found all sorts of recipes, including one for dragon milk cheese.  Emma giggled as she thought of someone trying to milk a dragon. The dragons probably aren't too happy about being milked, she thought, and she soon found herself lost in the wonderful world of books.

The streets of Diagon Alley were as busy as always, with crowds gathered around shop windows, people rushing to-and-fro, the air buzzing with conversations. And everywhere families with new students were buying everything they'd need for their first year at Hogwarts. And among them were Aidan and his mother, the boy pressed close to the woman and clutching at her hand. It wasn't his first time at the Alley, he'd visited before with his mother, and he loved the ice-cream at Florean Fortescue's. But every time they visited the crowds and the noise made him nervous. His mother squeezed his hand as she looked over the list of things he needed. "Just need the potion things and some books. Which do you want to get first?" He glanced up at her, chewing on his lip, and pointed towards Flourish and Blotts. "Should have known. Tell you what-" she glanced at the watch on her wrist "-why don't you go ahead and look around and see if you can find the books you need while I pick up your cauldron and potion phials, then I'll meet you in there, hmm? And then we'll go for some ice-cream afterwards. How's that sound." The idea made his nerves jump even further, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before he was off to Hogwarts, and wouldn't have any choice but to deal with crowds and strangers so, after hesitating, Aidan gave a small nod. As they passed the bookshop he stepped up to the door, pausing before pushing it open and slipping inside.

And once through the door he paused, looking around at the towering shelves. There were so many books, shelved and stacked and piled. After a few minutes he finally started moving again, wandering among the shelves and gazing at the books. He saw Hogwarts: A History, A History of Magic, even The Tales of Beedle the Bard. That one made him smile, remembering the stories he had been read.

Emma began to wander the store, not paying attention to her surroundings as she read Magical Drafts and Potions. "Oof!" Emma ran into a small boy with black hair and glasses, who dropped his books and looked at her in shock. "Oh my gosh! I am so, so, so, so sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" Emma blushed bright red as she tried to explain herself, the boy not saying anything. Emma looked at the pile of books she had accidentally knocked out of the boy's hand. "Here, let me help you pick up these books." Emma bent down and started to put the books into a pile. She noticed that all the books were school books for Hogwarts. "Oh, are you supply shopping too?" Emma inquired. "My parents are here, they're just at Madam Malkin buying my robes and my other school stuff. I figured it'd be more peaceful here, ya know? It's not so loud and scary, and these books are just awesome." Emma grinned as she grabbed Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from the boy's pile. "This book is my favorite. There are all types of cool animals in here. Have you read any of the Hogwarts books yet?"

Alright. That should be everything. Now I just need to find somewhere out of the way to wa- He didn't get to finish the thought, never mind start looking for somewhere to settle down and wait, before he felt someone collide with him. His precarious stack of books slid and tumbled from Aidan's arms, scattering across the floor, while he himself stumbled back a few steps, trying desperately not to trip over his own feet. The eyes behind the boy's glasses were wide, and he stared at the girl for a few seconds as she gathered up his books. When he realized that he was just standing there, watching her, he scrambled to grab a few of the books. "It... It's okay. I-it was my fault." Once he had most of his books back his arms his eyes flicked around while he chewed his bottom lip. At least, until she drew his attention to one of the books. "My... My mam's over at Potage's Cauldron Shop. She let me read through one of her old Charms books over the summer." Shifting the arms in his books he peered at the cover of Fantastic Beasts. "I haven't read it, b-but she always says it's one of her favorites."

"Yeah, Fantastic Beasts is the best." Emma got up off of the cold, wooden floor and rubbed her nose, which was sore after running into the boy. She gasped as she realized she hadn't introduced herself. "Oh my gosh, where are my manners? I'm Emma. I'm a Ravenclaw. I like animals. Uh... I've really got nothing else to say," Emma laughed at her terrible attempt at an introduction. She stared at the black haired boy, trying to think of something to say. "I like your eyes." Emma blurted out without really thinking. "That was a really weird thing to say. I mean - I like the color blue, and your eyes are blue, and I just thought they were a pretty color so..." Emma realized she was rambling... again. I really need to stop doing that! Emma told herself. "I don't even know your name." Emma decided to stop herself there. Try not to embarrass yourself any more than you already have, 'kay, Emma? Geez Louise, I probably scared him off for good. Emma tried to hammer into her brain that she needed to stop talking so much as she awaited the boy's response.

A small smile curled the corners of Aidan's mouth as the girl talked, filling the silence that would have otherwise lay between them. He wasn't great at making conversation most of the time, so he was glad that someone else was talking, even if she started to ramble a bit. Not that he would say that last bit out loud, that would be rude, and there was no way he was going to be rude to someone he just met. The very idea made him want to crawl into a hole. "I, um, don't think it's weird. I like blue as well, th-though my favorite colour is purple." He didn't even realize that he hadn't introduced himself until she mentioned it, he was so used to everyone knowing your name from back home - the result of growing up in a small village. When she said as much he felt his cheeks growing warm. "Oh! S-sorry! I didn't mean- I mean, I forgot- I..." When he started tripping over his words he stopped talking, his blush getting worse, and took a deep breath, the way his mam always told him to. "I'm Aidan." There, that was better. Easy. Not at all difficult, right? Right. Sure. He would keep telling himself that.

"Hi Aidan," Emma giggled. He seemed so nervous, but there was nothing to be nervous about. Sure Emma could be a little much, but she doesn't bite. "It's fine. I forgot to introduce myself too. So now that you've got all your books, we just have to sit and wait for our parents to come back, right? Here, I have the perfect spot." Emma grabbed Aidan by the hand and led him through the store to a little area with two brown, plushy chairs. Emma flopped down in the first chair with a smile on her face. "Come sit!" Emma patted the chair next to her and Aidan sat down. "I just thought this would be a more comfy spot to sit, or read, or have a conversation, or whatever you want to do. Unless you don't want to, that's fine. I honestly don't care, I'm totally fine by myself. Plenty of books to read." Emma gestured to the walls of books all around them. Aidan sat in silence, so Emma decided to ask some ice-breaking questions. "So, what house are you in?"

Aidan focused on not dropping his books again as he was led through the shop, balancing them as they wobbled a bit. When he saw the chairs that Emma had found he had to admit that they looked liked the perfect spot to wait. The chairs looked so comfy, and they were surrounded by books, and Emma seemed pretty nice. And it would be nice to know someone else when classes started. Settling the books beside the other chair he settled into it with a small smile of his own, finding that it was just as comfy as it looked. He wriggled back into the chair as he got comfy, looking over when she asked about his house. "Oh, sorry! Ravenclaw. So... I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other. I... I'm glad that I met one of my housemates before classes started, a-and that you're so nice." He admitted to himself, silently, that that was one of his biggest worries. Though, he supposed that even if most of them were nice, there were bound to be a few that weren't. Hogwarts was a big place, after all, wasn't it? And with a school that big there bound to be a few students that were... Well, the less he thought about that possibility the better.

"Aww, thanks! I'm glad too. Honestly, I was worried I wouldn't find anyone nice to talk to. I guess bumping into you was a good thing!" Emma laughed. The boy seemed much more at ease now, a smile forming on his lips. "I'm sure everyone at school will be nice too, right? Well obviously, there will be Slytherins, but we don't have to hang out with them because they're not in our house. There are probably nice Slytherins, but they all just seem like bad apples to me. Why do they care so much about blood status? Like, I'm wizard born, but I think my dad's cousin's daughter is married to a muggle, and I don't care.  Why hate someone because of their circumstances? They can't choose if they're muggle born or pureblood or a squib. They should judge based on personality, not bloodlines." Emma stopped. "Sorry about the little Slytherin rant. I think we're in a good house, and we'll make good friends pretty easily. I've already made one." Emma smiled at Aidan. "And if we ever get lonely, we always have books. If you find yourself a friend who likes books, you're pretty much set for eternity."

Aidan couldn't argue with her last statement. With someone else who liked books there was always something to talk about, new things to discover. And if you didn't want to talk, they usually understood, and were happy to just sit with you and read. Thinking about that turned his mind to a friend he had back home, who always had some new book to share, and was always super excited about them. Part of him was hoping that Emma might be like that. As for the Slytherin rant... "Oh, um, don't worry about the rant. I... Haven;t heard great things about them. But... They can't all be bad, right? I-I just have trouble believing that the entire house is bad..." His last sentence got quieter with every word, until it just trailed to a stop. They couldn't all be bad, right? Shaking his head as though dislodging something he changed the subject. "S-so, um, what classes are you looking forward to? I'm excited about Charms, and Transfiguration. I'm pretty nervous about f-flying, though..." The way his face paled at the very thought, and the shudder that ran through his body, made it pretty clear that the boy was absolutely terrified of heights.