She led them into the Diagon Alley. There were a lot of people. The majority wore wizard-style clothing and only a few wore modern human clothes. But still, the feeling was overwhelming, the air around the market was as if it was some kind of a festival.

“It is a bit crowded these days as the next term at Hogwarts will be starting soon. Most are here to buy school supplies. Now, if you will follow me. The magical world uses different currencies, which can be changed for pounds at the Gringotts bank.” She informed them and led the way to the bank. ​​

“Woah, they couldn’t even make one single floor straight,” Magnus exclaimed when he saw the white building. It looked as if a baby was playing with blocks and he stacked floors of the buildings as clumsily as possible.

Magnus then read what was written on the big door of the building. But, he just read the first line and the last line as it sounded too pretentious.

~Enter, stranger, but take heed…beware of finding more than treasure there.~ Magnus read it.

~There are treasures here? Nice.~ He was busy in his thoughts when he noticed two short, grumpy-looking creatures with big ears and long noses. They seemed to have some disdain for him in their eyes as if they were just waiting for him to make a wrong move and they would pounce on him.

Soon, they were led inside by McGonagall. The marble floor and the long lines of counters on both sides looked beautiful as well as domineering.

~Haha, they are short so they made themselves high platforms? They seem to have an inferiority complex.~ He guessed.

“Who are they? They look so short and scrawny, just like my general in command.” Adam asked McGonagall.

McGonagall whispered to him, “Please don’t say that. They are goblins, a very spiteful species. Don’t disrespect them or they might make you more scrawny than themselves.”

Adam was taken aback, “Oh, It was not kind of me. I will keep my mouth shut.”

~Wait… did he just smirk at me?~ Adam wondered when he noticed a Goblin on the side.

But nothing eventful happened and they were led to a normal bank teller. The tuition fee was taken care of by the Ministry for Magic so they didn’t have to worry about it. All that they needed to spend money on was supplies. So, they exchanged about a thousand pounds. In return, they got 2525 Galleons, 1 Sickle and 20 Knuts. It was actually a lot of money, a lot more than they could carry in pockets.

They also had no understanding of how much the money was really worth it. Was it really as much worth as it was shiny or was it just for the show? Magnus meanwhile had his eyes glowing while looking at the stack of shiny gold coins. Deep down, in his heart, he felt the need to hug this. But he controlled the urge.

“Do you want a magical pouch to store all this?” the bank teller asked.

“Sure,” Adam immediately agreed.

“2 Gold galleons.” The teller took two coins and then poured the rest into a leather pouch. All the money magically disappeared in it.

Meanwhile, something else was going on in McGonagall’s head. ~I wish I could see him taking the inheritance test. Can’t imagine the look on these goblin’s faces, after all, it was King Arthur who gave them the land to establish this bank here.~

After the currency exchange, they came out to the market. Magnus held the money pouch as it was all his. The 1000 pounds were from his own account.

“Those goblins robbed you, Mr Grant. That bag only costs 50 sickles.” McGonagall revealed.

“WHAT? Those bastards, that’s why they were looking at us with a smirk. I will go and get it back.” Adam got furious.

But he was respectfully stopped by McGonagall, “Don’t. They will throw you out… violently. The common rule is to never do business with goblins unless it is something they want desperately, but chances are, you’d still end up with the shorter end of the stick. However, due to their skills with money and finances, they control the wizarding economy to a large extent and run Gringotts Wizarding Bank and can be trusted in that manner.”

Adam sighed, “This magical side of the world seems to be less and less friendly the more time we spend here.”

McGonagall’s heart nearly panicked. She had forgotten that this was a visit and Magnus’s parents had not yet allowed him to go to Hogwarts.

“Oh, this is the wand shop, Mr. Grant will need a wand for the school. Let’s get it first.” She immediately changed the topic.

So, they entered Ollivanders. At its entrance, it said since 382 BC. Magnus didn’t believe it though as he had seen such words on many shops. There was a shop that sold undergarments and on its door was ‘since 1480’. The craziest part was that the owner of the shop was an Indian immigrant and Magnus was pretty sure no immigrant owned a garment shop in London back then, especially if he belonged to a non-Christian religion. The church was a bit too strict in those days.

“Oh, welcome to the Ollivanders, the best wandmaker in Diagon Alley. Ah, hello Deputy Headmistress.” An old man with untidy hair came forward.

“Yes, would you please show Mr Grant here a wand?” She requested.

“Of course, of course, that’s what I do. Come here, Mr Grant.” He nudged towards him.

Magnus went forward to see what happens. The man first measured Magnus’s arm length. He was 4 feet 9 inches tall. Slightly taller than average 11-year-olds.

“Hmm, you need a big one. 14 inches or maybe slightly more, peculiar, not many can handle them. But, we won’t know unless we try, just wait a moment.” Ollivander acted like a maniac and went to the side of his wand storage.

But at the same time, he was giving a crash course on wands. “A wand is the object through which a witch or wizard channels his or her magic. It is made from wood and has a magical substance at its core. But, it’s the wand that chooses the wizard, so let’s see what fits you.”

*BAM*

Soon, he brought a bunch of long boxes. He picked one of them and handed it to Magnus. “15 inches, Ebony wood and Unicorn hair as the core. Try it, flick it.”

Magnus held it tightly. It was jet-black in colour and looked very cool. “Here goes nothing.”

*FLICK*

*BOOOOM*

The damn wand’s tip exploded in front of Ollivander’s face, putting ash over him.

“NO NO… this is not it,” Ollivander muttered.

“Glad you noticed,” Adam remarked from a distance.

Then, without even cleaning his face, he gave Magnus another wand. “Try this one, “14 inches, Applewood and a Troll Whisker as the core. They are powerful and best suited to an owner of high aims and ideals.”

Magnus took a long breath and flicked the wand.

*WOOSH*

A sudden whirlpool of air came out of it, wreaking havoc in the shop and it was also targeted at Ollivander. He nearly went bald because of it.

“Certainly not. Okay, try this one.” He picked another one.

“15 inches, Yew wood, with Dragon heartstring as the core. Yew wands are among the rarer kinds, and their ideal matches are likewise unusual and occasionally notorious.” Ollivander gave a description. He had hopes in his eyes and also… pain?

Magnus didn’t even think this time and waved it.

*SWOOSH*

A white light came from it, but it was so much that nobody could see anything. Also, it got too hot in the shop. Slowly, the light subsided without any big damage and they looked like they had taken a sauna bath.

“Hmm, matching but not enough. At max 40 per cent. It’s not a good number, Mr Grant. We need to look for more wands.” Ollivander commented.

Next, Ollivander showed Magnus all the wands in his shops, no matter the size, all except one. Each time it ended in Ollivander getting tormented.

“I’m starting to believe you came here just to torment me. Are you sure you don’t already have a wand?” Ollivander was panting by now.

“I can vouch for him, Ollivander. This is his first time in Diagon Alley.” McGonagall vouched.

*Sigh*

Ollivander went back to his fully empty storage compartments, except for one that had one last remaining wand. “This wand has Holly wood. It has a Phoenix feather as the core. Interestingly, the Phoenix that gave this wand a feather also gave one more feather, to this wand’s brother wand. Another Hogwarts student, his name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. He owns it.”

McGonagall stiffened hearing that.

Magnus held it carefully after how much emphasis the old man had put on it.

He firmly held it in his hand and gave it a flick.

*WOOSH*

It slipped out of his hand and fitted itself directly into the mouth of Ollivander. If it had slid in any more, then the poor old man would have lost his dear life.

Ollivander fell on the floor with his head supported by his arms, “WHY? None of them suited you.”

Ollivander seemed crestfallen and Magnus looked at McGonagall with a “What now?” expression.

Even she was confused as she looked at Ollivander in pity. They had spent 3 hours here and nothing had worked.

[You can see Gringotts and Ollivanders on my Discord – https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

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You can read 20 advance chapters on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.

Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely*

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