Andrew had come a long way. It had been days since he had abandoned his family's empty home, thrown what little he wanted to keep in a makeshift backpack, and had hit the road, walking and hitchhiking. Well, how else was he supposed to get there? He carried his Hogwarts letter in his pack, along with an assortment of momentos. The key to the house, just in case, a lucky penny, a stray bit of string he'd found by his favorite tree. A really cool rock, well--he thought it was cool, anyway. It had little shiny, glittery bits in it. It was all in there with his dad's old wand. Well, after all, he wouldn't need it anymore, now, would he? And he had a really interesting bird feather.
Plus, his favorite hat--a baseball cap from some, supposedly, famous baseball team in New York. Maybe someday he'd get to go to America. Maybe someday he'd see just what baseball was all about and why it caused such a fuss. The hat was the only hat he had, and it reminded him that he wanted to see American and to know what baseball was. Oh, and then he did take a change of clothes and as many sickles as his little hands would hold when he'd gone to Gringotts. He hadn't liked the grizzle-haired goblins that had been rude to him when he'd opened his dad's account and drawn out just a heaping scoopful of sickles in his cupped hands from among the piles and piles of them. The goblins had said he'd wrecked their neat stacking of the coins. Made a mess. Andrew didn't see a mess. It was just coins, after all. How was he to know how many of the golden colored coins to take? He'd never even been to a bank before. But he'd found his dad's banking papers that gave him access to the vaults. Oh, yeah, they were in the bag too.
He didn't know what all that junk was going to cost that Hogwarts said he had to buy or even where to find it. But he found himself wandering down Diagon Alley somehow, mid morning, and his stomach started to grumble and hurt. He didn't know when he ate last. He could always find someplace to sleep, if he slept in an alley with one eye open. But food, now that was a different matter altogether. Sometimes that was scarce. Plus that, he was really getting thirsty too. And to make it all even worse, if that was possible, he had to leave his favorite frog behind. Hogwarts had been specific. A toad. A narly old toad, he could bring. Not a frog. And he had had a really awesome frog too.
He was thinking about the delightful little green frog that he usually carrie din his pocket, when Andrew's nose alerted him to the smell of fresh food cooking somewhere nearby. And the smell was so strong, it made his stomach hurt. He followed it down the alley to a kitchen of a restaurant. Some big guy--not too smart looking either--was busy cooking on a flatop grill. Andrew figured this might be easier than usual. The guy was big, dumb and busy. And Andrew was little, smart, and quick. Just inside and to the left of the kitchen door was the walk in cooler, and he could see the door was open. He could see apples and oranges, all kinds of food--and bottles of water. He had to get inside. After all, this wasn't to sell or give away. And it wasn't for fun. It was necessary. It followed all the rules.
He slipped inside the door silently and crept into the walk in cooler. he picked up a bottle of water and tucked it into his back. he put in an apple and an orange. and what the heck was that thing? A pepper? Nah. He stuffed a long, skinny loaf of crusty bread in the bag, and turned to leave when--Oh, there was a cookie!!
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