The fireplace in the Norton family was not connected to the Floo network, and Edward was a little... unsure about the appearance of his followers.
"I took a make-up exam at that time, and the examiner added a task for me, asking me to Apparate with a chipmunk - fortunately, the examiner did not find that the chipmunk lost its tail after Apparate, otherwise I might have to take the exam again." Edward spread his hands.
"Then I'd better take a car. At least I won't lose my tail if I get into a car accident..." Coin felt a chill inexplicably, and immediately gave up the idea of going to Diagon Alley through magic.
Edward touched Coin's head with satisfaction. Coin was more obedient today than before.
"Since you are going to contact the magical world, your mother and I will go to the Ministry of Magic next month to handle the Floo network procedures, so that it will be convenient for us to travel around in the future."
In the past, when he wanted to touch Coin's hair, Coin would always avoid him, but this never happened when Rose attacked Coin.
Perhaps Cohen's little head was imagining what the magic world would look like.
"On the surface, he doesn't look excited at all, but in fact, he's already anxious to see the world in those fairy tales right away, right?"
Edward thought happily as he threw Cohen, who had been taking deep breaths before getting in the car, into the back seat.
Cohen's repeated deep breaths were just self-restraint - starting the social mode meant entering the crowd - and when there were more souls around... Cohen would feel hungry because of the sweet smell of those souls.
In order to avoid being caught by the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic and sent to Azkaban to be with other pure-blooded Dementors for eating soul desserts, Cohen had to restrain this feeling.
Sweet candies tasted very similar to souls, a perfect meal replacement, and Cohen always brought a bag of them when he went out.
On the way, Cohen finally realized that as an eleven-year-old who knew little about the magic world, he needed to show his curiosity a little, otherwise it would be a bit too abnormal.
"Does the magic world have that kind of... family?" Cohen pretended that he didn't understand at all.
"Of course there are. Where there are people, there must be noble families."
Edward bypassed a slow-moving car in front of him and ran a red light.
However, the traffic police on the roadside did not seem to notice Edward's behavior at all, which made Cohen suspect that Edward had also magically transformed his car like Arthur Weasley - no wonder Edward's driving skills have not received a ticket for so many years.
Edward briefly introduced some of the more famous families in the wizarding community. There are so many families that Cohen can only remember the names that are often mentioned in the original Harry Potter.
"Do you and your mother have a family? The kind of wizards?" This time Cohen was not pretending to ask a question, but Cohen was really curious.
"We? We all come from wizard families. My parents - that is, your grandparents - are wizards. It seems that there is no wizard bloodline above them." Edward replied, "But your mother is a little different from me. She used to be a member of the Burke family. According to the 'pure blood theory' of some wizards, she is considered a noble."
"Before?" Cohen knew about the "Burke" family. Although it was one of the "Sacred Twenty-Eight Families", it seemed to have declined.
The only place where the surname Burke can be seen now is the Borgin and Burke shop in Knockturn Alley, but the only store owner you can see is Mr. Borgin, and there is no "Mr. Burke" who has ever appeared.
"She was expelled from the family because of her relationship with me."
Edward sighed, "But according to her, she would not have stayed there even if she had not been expelled."
"That family is engaged in some dark magic activities, especially when the You-Know-Who was in power. They even threatened to throw her, a 'scum who has not grown up', into the pile of Inferi - no wonder your mother was sorted into Gryffindor. Her courage is something that I, a Hufflepuff, will never be able to achieve in my lifetime."
"Although you are a little lazy, playful, and even forgot me in the zoo for three hours last time." Cohen patted Edward's shoulder in the back seat, "but you are a good father. I unilaterally recognize you - thank you."
No matter how many small flaws Edward has, he really loves his family and Cohen, the dark magic experiment.
People should enjoy and cherish the beauty that already exists, instead of limiting their eyes to some shortcomings.
Edward was obviously moved by Cohen's sudden gratitude. Cohen could see Edward's unshaven face trembling slightly in the rearview mirror.
"We've arrived at the Leaky Cauldron."
The car stopped between a bookstore and a record store. Cohen could see a low, shabby pub with a paint-chipped sign between the two bright and colorful shops.
[The Leaky Cauldron]
"This is a very famous place in the wizarding world, and it's also the entrance to Diagon Alley."
Edward quietly wiped his eyes after getting off the car, and did not forget to introduce it to Cohen.
"I was a well-known celebrity in Diagon Alley back then."
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, the noise in the Leaky Cauldron and the mixed aroma of various foods and drinks suddenly rushed towards Cohen.
Several old ladies were sitting in the corner of the room drinking sherry.
[Soul Strength: 27]
With very high soul strength, these old ladies didn't look like they were easy to mess with.
But Cohen didn't understand why the old lady among them could drink and smoke at the same time. Did she have two esophaguses?
Behind the bar, Tom, a middle-aged man with almost no hair and a shriveled walnut-like appearance, was wiping cups while chatting with the guests beside him.
[Soul Strength: 19]
Boss Tom seemed to need more practice. His soul strength was not as high as Rose, who had always lived in Muggle society.
The arrival of Edward and Cohen attracted a few eyes, but none of them recognized Edward, thinking that he was just an ordinary wizard passing by.
This made Edward a little embarrassed at first.
"Ha, it seems that it is easy to become a stranger after not coming back for ten years..." Edward pushed Cohen to the other end of the bar, "Let's go buy the things you need for school first."
Passing through the noisy long table, Cohen was brought to a brick wall in the backyard of the bar.
However, Cohen had almost figured out the problem that had been confusing him through his observation just now. The soul strength of an adult wizard is about between fifteen and forty, and there is no exception for wizards in the entire Leaky Cauldron.
Edward's soul strength of 10 points was a little abnormally low. There might be some special reasons behind it, but if Edward and Rose were unwilling to reveal it, Cohen would not break the casserole to get to the bottom of it.
Let everything develop normally first. It will take some time for me to grow before I can gain a firm foothold in this magical world.
Fortunately, Dumbledore tacitly allowed Cohen, a dark magic experiment, to continue to exist, otherwise Cohen might have to worry about his identity.
"... Count two bricks horizontally, and then count three bricks upwards..." Edward muttered to the note given by Rose, and knocked on another brick three times with his wand.
Cohen's mouth twitched twice. Who designed this stone door in Diagon Alley? It actually requires a gesture code to open it -
could there be Muggles entering the Leaky Cauldron? Is it necessary to set up such a secondary security door?
"Because there are always drunk people in the Leaky Cauldron who come to Diagon Alley to cause trouble." Edward put the small note back into his pocket. "Fortunately, Rose still remembered it, otherwise I would have almost forgotten how to get in after not being here for ten years."
The brick he knocked on shook and began to move. A small hole appeared in the middle, and the hole became larger and larger.
In a few seconds, a wide archway appeared in front of Cohen, leading to a winding, endless cobblestone street.
"Oh, oh, oh~"
Although Cohen had imagined walking on such a street when he read novels and watched movies in his previous life, he couldn't help but exclaim when he really entered Diagon Alley.
The morning sun was projected on any surface that could reflect dazzling light, crucibles, gold-plated shop signs, lenses, various metal instruments... There were a lot of people, the hawking of shops and the laughter of wizards everywhere, and the whole world seemed to be placed on this street.
The bustling crowd came and went, and the street was full of sweet souls. Cohen couldn't help but peel a toffee and put it in his mouth to avoid a few little wizards passing by and taking a sip.
Led by Edward, Cohen passed through Prince's Potion Shop, Broomstick Shop, and Eeylops Owl Shop
. "Do you want an owl?" Edward stopped in front of Eeylops Owl Shop.
"Is it a fairy?"
Cohen was not sure about raising animals.
"I mean, can it just eat and not poop? Or it can also not eat or poop."
"What are you thinking about..." Edward found it difficult to understand Cohen's thoughts that jumped from time to time. "Of course it will eat and poop, but you don't have to think that raising an owl is so troublesome."
"Hogwarts has an owl shed. You just need to feed it some snacks from time to time to enhance your relationship."
"It depends on what kind of animal you like. If you like cats, dogs, salamanders, etc., we can go to the Magical Animal Store next door to pick out other pets." Edward felt that Cohen didn't seem to be interested in raising an owl, so he quickly changed his words.
"With an owl, you don't have to go to the post office to send me letters... Let's use an owl. Compared with other animals, it seems easier to raise."
Cohen thought about his experience in pet breeding and still felt that the probability of raising an owl in Hogwarts was relatively high - after all, Hogwarts has an owl shed, but no cat shed or dog shed.
Speaking of which, the souls of animals are actually useless to Cohen. Although he can absorb them, they are tasteless.
Cohen once tried to absorb the soul of a little gray mouse that appeared in his bedroom, but he gave up after just a small taste - it was no different from drinking boiled water, and it did not help improve the integrity of the soul.
Owls should be similar, and cannot be used as soul repairers.
"Go buy a wand first, and then we'll come back here to pick one you like." Edward ruffled Cohen's hair. "If you see anything you like on the street, just tell me. Your mother left us a shopping budget of 77 Galleons plus a bag of Sickles--"
"Maybe I'll buy a few more books. It's always good to learn more knowledge."
Cohen thought about it and felt that he needed to compare the magic books that were easily available in the bookstore with the books he could buy in the Goodwill Store to see if there were any overlaps. This way, he could save a little bit of goodwill points-after all, in addition to books, the store also has some rare magical creatures and magic props.
Ollivander's, which sells wands, is a small and shabby "small storefront". It was not until Cohen walked in that the narrow and deep structure inside made people wash away the stereotype of "this store is very small".
Thousands of boxes that are almost stacked to the ceiling are arranged on both sides of the wall. The long room structure is matched with the silence that even the sound of breathing will echo in the aisle, as if someone has walked into a strictly managed library.
"It's bigger inside than outside..." Cohen raised his eyebrows.
I thought of a blue telephone booth.
"The Application of the Traceless Extension Charm in Architecture" is a very good professional book. A soft voice said, "For a child who likes to study, this book may be very suitable for you."
An old man slid down from the roof on a lift that could move left and right. Cohen noticed that even the ceiling above his head was filled with wand boxes - even an arch made of boxes.
"Good morning." Ollivander's eyes were very light in color, which was very different from Cohen's dark pupils.
"Good morning, Mr. Ollivander." Edward greeted politely, "This is my son, Cohen, Cohen Norton."
"Edward! See you again. The last time I saw you was thirty years ago... Alder wood, unicorn hair, thirteen and a half inches, moderate flexibility, are you still using it?"
"Ah, yes, yes." Edward showed his wand, indicating that he had been carefully maintaining it - but Cohen saw Edward secretly cast a silent cleaning spell on the wand behind his back.
"Hmm..." Ollivander obviously saw through Edward's trick, but he didn't point it out. Instead, he turned his eyes to Cohen, "Come on, Mr. Norton, let me see... which arm do you use to use the wand?"
"The right hand."
Cohen smelled a sweet smell in the air, the smell of souls, but it didn't come from Ollivander in front of him alone.
The smell became stronger and stronger, and a large number of souls were approaching where Cohen was.
Cohen instantly understood the reason.
It was the wands. The wands were selecting the wizards who entered the store. This should be some kind of tradition-but Cohen didn't seem to be a good target.
My God, do wands really have souls?
Cohen swallowed his saliva, as if someone had stuffed a delicious cake under his nose...
But doing so would definitely scare the wands to death-because Cohen clearly felt that the souls of those wands all shrank back after just approaching him.
I haven't done anything bad yet.jpg
Besides, some of these wands overreacted. Cohen found that they didn't have the label of "soul strength", and even if they smelled good, he didn't seem to be able to eat them at the moment.
After Ollivander skillfully introduced to Cohen the composition of wands and the axiom that "the wand chooses the wizard", he began to shuttle between the shelves, busy selecting some long boxes to move down.
"Try this one first, Mr. Norton."
Ollivander selected a box and was about to open it.
"Made of beech wood and dragon heart nerve, nine inches, very flexible--"
"Crack!!!"
Before the wand could be pulled out of the box, it made a crackling sound and a dazzling red glare, and then snapped the box shut by itself.
"I didn't do anything."
Cohen saw that Ollivander and Edward were looking at him with strange eyes, and immediately raised his hands to clarify.
"Strange... Strange..." Ollivander muttered, "Not this one, maybe this one?"
The next frightened victim was a seven-inch maple wand with phoenix feathers.
"Rip!"
The reaction of this one was even more violent. It pierced the paper shell at the seal of the box like an arrow the moment the box was opened, and quickly stabbed towards the back of the store.
Until it nailed itself to the deepest wall.
"No, it's not this one either..."
Cohen suspected that Ollivander had no effective way to identify the connection between wands and wizards. Perhaps every little wizard would try almost all the wands in the store like Harry or himself before finding the one that truly belonged to him.
After an unknown amount of time, Cohen and Edward were already sitting in the store, drowsy.
Yes, Mr. Ollivander only needs to run around to change wands, but Coin and Edward have to consider more, such as when to have lunch, when Coin will pick up the owl, and when Edward can rush to the DND (Dungeons & Dragons) board game gathering of the Hellfire Club...
finally.
"Huh..."
Ollivander breathed a sigh of relief after opening the last wand box and not hearing the wand make an indescribable scream and run away.
"Elderwood, unicorn hair, twelve inches long - let me rest for a while - a weird combination..."
Coin stood up curiously and looked at the wand that seemed not to be afraid of him.
Weird... Is it because the elderwood representing death and the unicorn representing kindness and purity are matched together?
No, is there something wrong with letting a Dementor make a wand with unicorn hair? !
A/N- LIKE it? ADD in LIBRARY :)