Andrew scanned his eyes over the Supply List that had been included with his letter from Hogwarts. Among these items was a list of textbooks he was required to obtain for the start of his first year. After wandering the streets of Diagon Alley, with his family in tow, Andrew finally made it to North Side, searching for the name of one storefront in particular – Flourish and Blotts, which Andrew pointed out to his family – and directed them across the street. There, he could purchase the list of schoolbooks he needed, from what he had been told.

Entering the bookshop, crowded with customers, Andrew felt overwhelmed once again. His breath was taken away by the sheer number of books that were piled and stacked high all throughout the store, lining the walls from floor to ceiling. Behind him, Andrew’s family also gasped and stared with amazement, as they were drawn to the various displays of books within the store. Any wizarding folk would be able to tell that Andrew and his family were Muggles, judging from their distinct Muggle clothing and dazzled expressions, clearly strangers to their new surroundings. As much as Andrew wanted to join his family in sightseeing, he had to remind himself not to waste time with being distracted. He needed to buy his books first.

It would take an eternity for him to search through the maze of books on his own, having no clue where to start or which directory signs to follow. If he wanted to find his books as quickly as possible, he was going to need some assistance. Certainly there must be an employee around that could help him, but with the bookshop as crowded as it was, it would be difficult for Andrew to locate one of the few staff members that were likely busy tending to other customers.

Desperately, he decided he would ask anyone. Glancing around, Andrew spotted the unusual purple hair of a girl that looked to be around his age, perhaps a student as well, and quickly made his way toward her.

“Excuse me.” Andrew approached the girl, meekly yet flustered. “Do you know where I can find everything on this list?” He held out his Supply List, pointing to the list of schoolbooks he was supposed to acquire.

Luna touched her locket, which was actually a portkey that could transport her to the Choi Manor. She wasn't going to be back there, the little girl just wanted to make sure that it was still there. Actually, even if she lost the locket, no one could use it, however, it would be a problem to find another way to come back to the manor when her parents and brothers weren't here with her. Actually, her father was here, but because he was not interested in books like her and her Ravenclaw mother. Not to mention, he was pretty sure that his little daughter would spend a lot of times in the Flourish and Blotts, so he decided to leave her with the locket, and he knew that she won't care much about going with him or not, because she would focus on the books there.

Luna knew that she had to buy books for studying, but she couldn't take her eyes off the books here. She decided to read just a little bit before she started buying things that she needed. She was going to take a book, however, her action was interrupted by a brown-hair guy.

Luna didn't feel annoyed or things like that when the guy came to her. She was just a bit surprised when she saw the clothes that he was wearing since she had not seen anyone wore things like that. Actually, there were a lot of other people who wore Muggle's clothes, but her attention was all in the books, not the human.

"You can find these books here..." She pointed at her right, and then continued, "These are here and here and..." Luna stopped. She was not really sure if this guy could remember where she showed him. "Well, I will come with you and help you buy those, I have to buy them too." That was the best result she could find. Since she didn't have to go home right after buying the books and she sure wanted to help him... "Do you mind, going and buy them with me?"

Andrew tried his best to keep cool while his head became dizzy, trying to process the information as the girl began pointing him in different areas as to where he could find all his schoolbooks. It was a start, but Andrew knew he was going to need more than general directions that would help him home in on the exact location of each book. He couldn’t hide the distressed look of confusion on his face, wondering how he would go about in narrowing down his search, and was more than thrilled when the girl said that she would help him – by accompanying him along, he assumed.

“Really?” Andrew was pleasantly surprised that Luna happened to be looking for the same books as him. Even better! So she must be a student after all. His gray-blue eyes lit up with delight, showing that he gratefully accepted Luna’s proposal. “No, not at all, please!” He said eagerly. A huge wave of relief washed over him.

Andrew put a spring into his step, tagging beside Luna as they began their journey through the store. “Are you first year too? Hogwarts?” Andrew asked her.

While conversing with Luna, Andrew held onto his Supply List of books, making sure to keep a mental checklist of each one he found:

• Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
• Book of Spells by Miranda Goshawk
• Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
• The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
• Hogwarts, A History by Garius Tomkink
• A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

Where would they start? Down the list in order? Or random? Andrew looked to Luna for guidance as he followed her closely, trusting that she knew her way around the bookshop.

She took her Supply List out and showed it to Andrew after hearing his question. "As you can see, I am from Hogwarts, and First year just like you." She talked formally, however, Luna didn't want to make the little boy felt uncomfortable, so she gave him a smile while saying those. "Then let's start by this way, we can buy some of them here..." The little girl started walking, but she still waited for Andrew to follow her. There were a lot of books here, it was quite hard to know where the books which they needed were. However, Asteria, Luna's mother, usually brought her to this shop to buy books for them, so Luna could still remember where they were.

"By the way, my name is Luna, Luna Choi. May I ask what your name is?" Realizing that she forgot to introduce herself, her smile became weirdly. The lavender eyes turned to his clothes. "You are a Muggle-Born, aren't you? Or you just wear these clothes because you like them?" She did not want to sound rude, however, Luna was still curious about his clothes. She realized that she had never seen clothes like those before, and that made her felt more curious. Is it actually Muggle's clothes? The little girl wondered and hoped that she wasn't wrong.

Luna… He thought the name fit her. Mysterious and night-sounding, like her unusual purple hair. While Andrew didn’t consider himself to be good with names (he was much better at recalling faces), he would remember Luna’s in the future.

He didn’t think to introduce himself right away on the off-chance that this would be a short, one-time encounter. What the point in exchanging names if they never saw each other again? He half didn’t expect for Luna to ask first, but since she had given her name, Andrew returned the friendly gesture.

“Andrew. Andrew Vance. You can call me Andy, if you want. That’s my nickname.”

For his trip to Diagon Alley, Andrew wore blue jeans, a gray pullover sweater, and a pair of charcoal gray-and-white sneakers. When the subject of clothes came up, Andrew stammered.

“Oh! No—” He wasn’t wearing these clothes for fun. “—I mean—Yes, I’m a Muggle-born. Are you…?” He trailed as he directed the question back at her. He didn’t think that Luna could be a Muggle-born. Her entire demeanor gave off a different air otherwise.

While walking through the aisles, he popped a question:

“Is your hair really that… purple? And your eyes…” Andrew found himself staring at Luna’s unique features for a few seconds, before looking away, hoping he didn’t seem weird for doing so.

How was it possible for human eyes to be purple? Andrew wondered. Were they contact lenses? Did she dye her hair that way? Was it a wig? Or was it… Magic?

Luna was going to call him Vance - calling the others by their last name was what she usually did. But could you call them like that if they even told you their nickname? Some people could, but definitely not Luna. However, calling the others by their nickname when they weren't even close... That isn't a good idea either... Maybe I will just call him Andrew.

No? Yes? Then... what was actually his answer? Luna wanted to laugh miserably, luckily he gave her the answer before she could say anything else. "I... am not a Muggle-born..." She stopped walking and looked at Andrew. This was the first time, someone asked her if she was a Muggle-born. Of course, Luna wasn't angry, she believed that Andrew didn't mean anything bad. The little girl smiled a bit and continued, "I'm a Pure-blood."

"Since I'm a Choi, I have to have purple hair." Luna wondered if he could understand what she meant or not, but just to be sure, she explained. "Everyone in my family has purple hair, unless they weren't from the family Choi. And about my eyes, they are purple too, because my mother has purple eyes." While she was saying those, Luna took two books, both of them had brown cover and the Hogwarts' logo on it and gave one to Andrew. "Here, Hogwarts, a History is the name of this book."

Pure-blood. That made sense. Part of him felt a little tense and out of place now, as if he were suddenly standing in the presence of royalty – which usually meant being careful to mind your manners and act proper and to not falter when speaking. Ignoring the peer-pressure in his mind, Andrew didn’t bother to waste his effort in trying to act all formal and sophisticated, pretending to be something he was not. He trusted his gut instinct and felt confident that his “Muggle” personality would attract the right sort of friends for him. He didn’t need to pressure himself in trying too hard.

He listened as Luna told him about her family’s genetic inheritance of purple hair, and why she had purple eyes. Andrew still couldn’t wrap his mind around how these wizarding genetics worked, but with a sprinkle of magic, he supposed anything was possible.

“Wow. Sounds fancy,” was all he could think of in response, which then led to another question. “Where do you live?” His mind instantly pictured castles and mansions, homes of the rich and royal. “I’m from London. It’s my first time here.”

Along the way, Andrew took the book handed to him from Luna – “Thanks” – and began piling a growing stack in his arms. Eventually, he would start to familiarize himself with the layout of the store. He and Luna made their way to another shelf where they picked up two silver-gray hardback copies of A History of Magic.

“So… Do you come here often?” Andrew did a mental facepalm. It was such a cliché pickup line. Not that he was trying to sound flirty; it was an honest question. “First time for me.” He caught himself, realizing as he rambled, “Well, duh, I mean, I already told you that.”

"I'm from London too, but most of the time I stay at the Choi Manor... But I have been here before." Both of them were from London - that was a nice thing to know. Luna thought for a bit and then said, " Actually, I don't think that being Pure-Blood or not matter, people like you because who you are, not because of your background." The little girl wasn't sure if Andrew cared about it or not, but she still thought that she should say it - it won't harm her after all.

"Yes, I come here a lot of times." Luna looked around if she wasn't wrong, the book with the name Magical Drafts and Potions was somewhere here... "People said that I could be a Ravenclaw like my mother, but I'm not sure." Luna smiled, "Right, it is your first time... There is a lot of books here if you like reading, then you can come here again." After saying it, Luna suddenly remembered that there was a library in Hogwarts too - her brother had already told her about some place in Hogwarts, "Nevermind, there is another good place to read books, and it won't cost you money."

"Which house do you think you will be in? Or which one do you like the most?" Talk about Ravenclaw made her want to ask about it. And... "Did you a green book, you can see a bit of blue on it, and the cover has these words Book of Potions? I think it is somewhere here, but... I forgot where."

“So, does that mean you’re really rich, then? Do you have butlers? Servants? Do you ride everywhere on fancy brooms? Or do you just ‘poof’ yourself anywhere you want to go?” Andrew’s mind bubbled with questions, curious about the differences in Luna’s lifestyle compared with his plain Muggle one.

At least she had an impartial outlook when it came to blood-status. That was good.

“Same,” Andrew agreed with Luna. “I don’t know why some people think it’s such a big deal though,” he rambled. “I mean, we’re all wizards and witches. We all do the same magic. Blood shouldn’t mean anything.”

Andrew wasn’t a huge bookworm, but reading was one of his favorite pastimes. He didn’t have a genre preference, although he did enjoy novels that heavily featured animals in them.

When Luna hinted at another “good place” to read books, Andrew drew a blank. “Really? Where?”

When the subject of Houses came up, Andrew didn’t show as much excitement as the average first year student would be. He had been told basic information about each of the four Houses at Hogwarts, and that he would be sorted into one of them, but none of it had crossed his mind afterwards.

“I don’t know,” Andrew replied. “I haven’t really thought about it.” Now that he was thinking about it, he began to muse on a playful note. “Lions are cool. Snakes are okay.” He hadn’t fully memorized the House names yet. “Ravens are cool too, I guess. Badgers are… meh, they’re alright. Can’t imagine myself being a badger though. Red, blue, and green – I like those. But if I do end up with yellow, then that’s fine. My favorite color’s blue though, so I wouldn’t mind wearing that all the time.” He shrugged passively. “Doesn’t really matter. They're all the same to me.”

After helping Luna search for a few minutes, they found the Magical Drafts and Potions books they were looking for, plucking two of them from a higher shelf, and then moved onto the next.

Out of his list, there was one book that caught Andrew’s interest the most:

“‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.” The image of a flame-spitting dragon sprung into his head, as well as other mythological creatures he had read about. His eyes lit up eagerly. “Sounds like dragons and unicorns. Can we find this one next?” He asked Luna.

Luna listened to Andrew's questions, tried to remember them and slowly answered each of them. "Maybe? But we live in a Manor, after all, I guess your answer is yes. Butlers? Servants? We only have House-Elves, and I'm pretty sure that they are more trustworthy than human. And... If we still had butlers or servants, ..." The little girl sighed, remembered about how would they reacted when they just did a little bit wrong. If her family rented someone, Luna was pretty sure that the House-Elves would think that it was because they hadn't been good enough, they would hurt themselves worse. "Using portkey and teleport is faster than brooms, so we don't usually use our brooms unless it is for playing. Since I am still young, I am only allowed to use portkey like this one." The little girl showed him her silver locket and continued, "Actually, you can use the floo too, but remember to pronounce clearly the place where you want to visit, or it will bring you to another place." She hadn't been in that situation before, but the little girl had heard a lot of it, but warning her companion wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Yeah, you won't be stronger than a Muggle-Born just because you are a Pure-blood. Practicing and learning are more important."

"I heard there is a big library in Hogwarts, and my brother said that there were a lot of books too." Luna's eyes sparkle when she talked about it, even when she tried not to smile.

The little girl silently listened to him and said with an unsure voice, "I think they will sort you considering your personality, not favorite color or animal" She didn't want to pick a fight - of course, but Luna still thought that she should still day what she thought about that too, "I like all of the houses, but my family said I could be a Ravenclaw or Slytherin." Maybe because she wasn't as brave as the Gryffindor, or as loyal as the Hufflepuff...

The little girl mumbled the name for a bit, and then she walked to another bookshelf while still talking with Andrew, "There are a lot of special animals in that book, it's a good one. Luna took it and gave to Andrew, " My little brother loves animals, so I bought this book before." And she didn't regret it, his happy face when she read him the book... She looked at the list again, "Let's turn to The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, shall we?"