"Diagon Alley!" Cass shouted and stepped into the green flames. A whirl of nausea tugged at her mind, but Cass managed to keep steady and not throw up. She tumbled out onto a street of quaint little shops that sold antiques, potions, and odd things in general.

The small pouch of dust had turned out to be Floo Powder, and the instructions had said that the fire would turn green if it worked. It had, so Cass assumed it was safe to follow the rest of the instructions, which had told her to go to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Normally, Cass wouldn't have taken instructions from a piece of paper, but she did think that magic had changed her situation somewhat.

Everything screamed out at her, and she turned in circles, trying to find a place to start with. It almost felt like a dream.

A shop painted in bright, bold colors caught her eye. "Broom shop," she murmured to herself. Getting closer, she realized that the sign taped to the door said, 'No first years are allowed to buy brooms at this time'.

Cass was rather looking forward to own a broom, judging by the moving pictures of kids flying on the latest models and some broom-involved sport.

Stuck to the inside of the window was a particular moving picture of a boy flying on a broom. He swooped and flew with alarming speed, and Cass stepped back as if he was going to fly off the picture.

She wandered down the street aimlessly, about three times, unsure where to go. Rows of shops lined Diagon Alley, and she had a supply list, but she had no money. There was a kind looking lady standing outside her shop, handing out free samples. Cass trudged over to her store, intrigued by what she was selling.

"Free samples!" The woman called. She noticed Cass. "Would you like to try some Bolandi's Exquisite Crystallized Pineapple?"

"Um-- sure. Do you mind telling me where I am? I think I'm a bit lost."

"Of course," the woman smiled kindly as Cass accepted a bit of the candy. "You're at Honeydukes."

"Honeydukes," Cass repeated, as she had decided she like the sample and wanted to come back.

"First year, dear?"

"Yes," Cass nodded. "A very lost first year."

"And your parents aren't with you?"

"No, they aren't. My parents are muggles and they found this all a bit too weird to come with me." I'm not lying, Cass supposed. At least, not technically.

The woman nodded. "You'll want to start with Gringotts bank. You've got a vault, I presume," She said, gesturing at Cass's golden key.

"Yes." Cass nodded, even though she had forgotten about that.

****

Ten minutes later, Cass was standing in front of a goblin. He introduced himself as HitchStone. Cass thought he looked kind of funny, with a wrinkly forehead and pruney skin.

He saw her key. "Ah," he said. "Come to get money for school supplies, I see." He proceeded to a cart like thing, and asked her, "What's your vault number?"

Cass hesitated. "I'm not sure."

"You have a name, don't you?" The goblin eyed her critically, as if she was a little stupid for not knowing about these sort of things.

"Cassandra Raven." She said meekly, feeling embarrassed and hating it.

HitchStone conversed with a few other goblins, and in short time, made his way back to Cass. "There's a shared vault for the Eaton and the Raven Family. You can collect gold from the vault 372."

Cass nodded. "Thank you."

HitchStone led her to the cart, and once she climbed inside, the cart started moving rapidly downhill. Cass was not quite feeling well afterwards. He gestured for Cass to hand him the key. She obliged, and the vault doors swung open. Inside were several heaps of gold, silver, and bronze. "Gold ones are Galleons, Silver ones are Sickles, and bronze ones are Knuts." He said, seeming to understand she had no idea what any of those were.

Cass took her small purse and loaded it with coins of all kinds. Once satisfied she had enough, she turned to HitchStone. "I'm done. Thank you, again."

HitchStone nodded. "Very well." And up the cart went. Cass was about to lean out to one side so she might throw up if needed, when she saw a flash of orange, as if a fire-breathing creature lived there...

She exited the cart in a quite hasty manner. Sending off a final "Thank you," in HitchStone's direction, Cass continued on her way.

She checked the list. "... Robes at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. I should go there first, shouldn't I?"

Despite having no map and walking past it the first few times, Cass finally found the right place. A woman greeted her, immediately measuring her up. "Let's take a look, shall we? Yes, I think that size will do. You're quite short, I'll have to make allowances for that." Madam Malkin said, mumbling to herself.

A girl her age was evidently getting her robes as well. "Hello," She said. "You're a first year as well, right?"

Cass nodded. "Very confused about everything, but yes?"

The girl laughed. "Well, yes, that makes sense. I'm Lilia. Lilia Finchley. You are?"

"Cass," She replied, hoping she didn't say something odd. Her socialization skills were never the best, but Lilia seemed to give off a friendly vibe anyway.

Madam Malkin quickly returned with both girl's robes, and Cass found herself making more small talk with Lilia as they waited in line to pay.

"What house do you want to be in?" Lilia asked as she handed over the money for her robes.

"I'm not sure what you mean by house," Cass replied honestly, hoping to keep up conversation before she could regret anything she said.

Lilia's mouth opened in surprise as the new friends exited the shop. "Well, you need to know. Houses are very important." She shifted her robes to her other arm. "Okay, I'll explain. Hufflepuff is where most kind or creative people go. It's not considered the best house, but it's better than Slytherin."

Cass rubbed her neck. "What's wrong with Slytherin? It sounds pretty cool."

Lilia sighed. "There's nothing wrong with it suppose, but Slytherin's got a lot of prejudice associated with them."

She shook her head. "Ravenclaws are known for being clever. They tend to be bookish or unsocial, but that might just be a stereotype."

Cass nodded, even though she understood very little about Hogwarts and had almost no idea what Lilia was talking about.

"Gryffindors are either brave or reckless, sometimes both. My mother was in Gryffindor, but my father went to Ilvermorny. They have different houses there."

Cass smiled. Lilia was very likeable, and Cass was very excited at the prospect of having an actual friend at school.

Lilia looked around. "So do— Oh, there's my family." She looked at Cass. "I have to go. Hopefully I'll see you at Hogwarts?"

"Hopefully," Cass smiled. Lilia waved goodbye, leaving Cass in Diagon Alley.