by
Catherine King
There’s the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine at platform nine and three quarters. Now about Diagon Alley. A small alley (surprise) where wizards bought school supplies. Its hidden entrance was behind the Leaky Cauldron, a small inn which only wizards could see and enter. If you took one turn at the end of the street, you’d turn up in Knockturn Alley, a horrid place that existed for the Dark Arts. Not your ideal tourist attraction. That is why you’d prefer to explore the shops in Diagon Alley. But, of course there is the wizarding bank. Hey, even wizards need a place to store their money. And that place is Gringotts. Now, of course they need math to divide gold into silver into bronze. Gold coins are called Galleons, silver ones are Sickles, and bronze ones are Knuts. 17 Sickles to a Galleon and 29 Knuts to a Sickle. That’s easy enough. Oh, I forgot to mention. Gringotts is run by goblins.
Now onto other places. There is a small village maybe 2 miles from Hogwarts. The name of the village was Hogsmeade, and one could say it was the happiest place on Earth (no offense, Disneyland). This small town’s candy shop was a little place called Honeydukes. It was wonderful. World’s best chocolate, Droobles Best Blowing Bubble Gum, Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Cockroach Clusters, blood-flavored lollipops, all in one small shop. Ooh, I love it.
Then there is a little pub, the Three Broomsticks. There you can buy butterbeer, a mixture of heated beer and melted butter. Pretty good, actually. Bit better cooled off, but good. Of course, you can buy other things, but that is the main drink. * Gulp *. Got butterbeer?
