The summer vacation passed quickly.
July's sunlight filtered through the branches of the Whomping Willow, casting dappled shadows on the grass.
Adrian was training Harry as usual.
Today's special training was Transfiguration. Adrian had lent Harry his old "Intermediate Transfiguration" textbook, which was used by third to fifth-year students at Hogwarts.
For Harry at his current level, the first and second-year textbooks could no longer keep up with his progress.
In "Intermediate Transfiguration," Harry needed to learn how to perform cross-species transfigurations.
For instance, right now, Harry was staring dumbfounded at a chicken before him—he needed to transform it into a pigeon.
Although chickens and pigeons looked somewhat similar, it was still a significant challenge for Harry.
"Come on, Harry," Adrian said from the side. "Mind your determination and wand movement. As Professor McGonagall once said, wave it elegantly, not like a baboon. Oh, and this chicken might be my dinner tonight, so please be gentle."
Harry took a deep breath, preparing to recite the spell.
Just then, the cry of an owl came from above. Adrian looked up to see an owl slowly descending before him.
Generally, wizards had fixed owls, so Adrian could identify the sender by the type of owl.
But this owl, he had never seen before.
Adrian frowned slightly and took a letter from the owl's beak.
"Who's it from?" Harry curiously peered over.
At this moment, the chicken before him had transformed into a strange half-chicken, half-pigeon creature, flapping its wings and flying up to the shelf.
Adrian waved his hand, turning the poor chicken back to normal, then opened the envelope.
The letter was very brief, containing only two sentences.
[
Mr. Westeros:
Your custom wand has been completed.
I look forward to your visit.
Garrick Ollivander
]
Ollivander's Wand Shop?
Additionally, there was a small note at the bottom of the letter: The wand exhibited some unusual properties during its creation.
So, the Devil's Snare wand was finished.
Adrian nodded and looked toward the Devil's Snare.
The Devil's Snare was coiled beneath the Whomping Willow, with one of its tendrils playing wizard chess against another tendril.
Heaven knows how it managed to do that...
"Harry, I need to go to Diagon Alley," Adrian said. "Would you like to come along?"
"Of course!" Harry excitedly ran to Adrian and said, "I want to buy a new Quidditch Maintenance Kit. Ron said I could get one at Quality Quidditch Supplies."
Seeing Harry's sparkling eyes, Adrian couldn't help but smile.
"Alright, as you wish," Adrian extended his hand and said, "Hold my hand tightly. We'll use a faster method to get there."
Harry did as Adrian instructed.
"Also," Adrian reminded him, "if you don't want your head separated from your feet, or your body split in half, don't let go of my hand under any circumstances."
Harry nodded. He naturally knew that Adrian was going to use Apparition—he still remembered that feeling of being stuffed into a narrow rubber tube.
"Ugh—"
When the two finally appeared in an alley in Diagon Alley, Harry immediately fell to his knees and started retching.
Despite being prepared, Adrian's Apparition still made him feel unwell.
Adrian felt that the after-effects of his Apparition were much stronger than Dumbledore's.
"You need to get used to this feeling," Adrian patted Harry's back and said, "It will help you learn Apparition in the future."
After they had composed themselves, they left the alley, and the scene suddenly opened up.
The hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley immediately came into view.
Harry looked excitedly at the shops on both sides. Although it wasn't his first visit, everything here still felt new and fascinating to him.
"I need to go to the southern part of Diagon Alley," Adrian told Harry. "Quality Quidditch Supplies is on the north side of Diagon Alley. Let's split up. Meet at Flourish and Blotts finally—that's where you buy your textbooks."
"Okay."
"Also," Adrian continued to caution, "don't go into any deserted or sunless alleys."
After parting with Harry, Adrian made his way to Ollivanders Wand Shop in the southern part of Diagon Alley.
When Adrian pushed open the door, he found old Ollivander sitting at his workbench, carefully polishing a wand with a piece of chamois leather.
"Welcome—"
Ollivander looked up toward the door, and upon seeing it was Adrian, he immediately stood up from his chair. "Good morning, Mr. Ollivander. I received your letter."
"Good morning!" Ollivander seemed quite energetic and said, "You're here for the wand, aren't you, Mr. Westeros? I have it ready. Where's your... plant friend?"
Adrian waved his hand, and the tendrils of the Devil's Snare shot out from his sleeve, twisting excitedly in the air.
It seemed eager to get its own wand.
Seeing this, Ollivander quickly walked to a nearby shelf and took out three long boxes from a drawer, stacking them together on the table.
"I made three wands from those tendrils."
As he spoke, he carefully opened the topmost box.
Inside lay a wand emanating a faint green glow. The shaft had spiral patterns, as if made from living, intertwined vines.
Ollivander took out the wand and proudly said, "Thirteen and three-quarters inches, made from those tendrils. And it has no core."
"No core?" Adrian raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but ask, "Then how does it...?"
Ollivander's eyes sparkled with excitement. "It's amazing! Those tendrils are perfect magic conductors on their own and can even temporarily store magical power—no additional core needed. Plus, I borrowed some goblin craftsmanship to make this wand more durable..."
The Devil's Snare excitedly waved its tendrils and wrapped around the wand.
It gently waved the wand, and a streak of emerald green light drew a beautiful arc in the air. Several small flowers bloomed on the wand.
"Perfect!"
Ollivander applauded.
"Looks like he's very satisfied," Adrian smiled and then looked at the remaining two boxes. "What about these?"
"All made from the same material and craftsmanship."
Ollivander opened the remaining two boxes, which contained wands of similar style, only with slightly different spiral patterns.
"Try them all and see which one suits you best," he said to the Devil's Snare.
Three of the Devil's Snare's tendrils, like dexterous fingers, wrapped around the three wands, holding them side by side and waving them back and forth.
"What does that mean?" Ollivander, seeing the Devil's Snare's actions, looked at Adrian in confusion. "Which one does it like?"
"Actually," Adrian shrugged, "the Devil's Snare means it wants all of them."
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