Molly and an eager Ginny lead along Charing Cross Road Amanda and Michelle toward the Leaky Cauldron. They arrive at a broken-down shop front between a record store and a book store. "This is it." Amanda tell a skeptical Michelle. "Watch carefully."

"Declaro" Molly says and a shocked young immortal watches the transformation of the shop into the Leaky Cauldron.

As they walk in, the eyes of the pub's patrons turn to the group in general, but Amanda in particular. "Look casual." Amanda whispers to Michelle much to Ginny's amusement. Michelle is both fascinated and frightened. They follow Molly to the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Entering the Alley, Michelle's eyes open wide as she scans the place. Amanda is looking as well, but for the best sources to acquire goods.

Amanda spots the apothecary as a good starting target and moves toward it. The others follow. Upon entering the store, Amanda goes to a shelf out of the proprietor's sight and picks up a silver letter opener. "Relashio" Molly whispers and Amanda drops her quarry back onto the shelf. And thus, began Amanda's most frustrating day.

"Ginny, dear, why don't you take Michelle to where she needs to go." Ginny looks wide eyed at her mother.

"Mummy, I'm scared."

"Stay with Michelle. Don't talk to anyone. The place is across the street from the place with the giant spiders…" Ginny looks panicked. "Don't go as far as the shrunken heads…"

Michelle is listening in with a growing panic of her own. "Umm These aren't real giant spiders and shrunken heads…are they…? Please, say no."

"Well, they don't have the really large giant spiders. They have the ones that are the size of dogs."

"Chihuahuas? Min-Pins?"

"Saint Bernards… Great Danes…" Molly says and Michelle gulps. Amanda picks up a trinket and Molly whispers "Relashio" causing Amanda to drop it. "We'll meet at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor." She hands Ginny a few coins. Ginny perks up.

"Real shrunken heads?" Michelle asks.

"Of course." Molly says and Michelle swallows.

"You' two better go." But Molly pulls Ginny aside and quietly adds "Your father will want a full report."

The two girls nervously make their way to the entrance of Knockturn Alley. They stand across the street from Gringotts Wizarding Bank at the entrance to the connected alley watching some rather unsavory people going in and out of the shops. "There it is." Ginny says and points. Michelle notices that all, including some very shady characters, avoid the entrance to a building seemingly kept standing by the adjoining structures.

"I've got to go. You don't. If you want to, you can wait here…" Michelle says to Ginny. Ginny shaker her head.

The two move quickly to the door of the mysterious building. "Now what?" Ginny nervously asks.

Michelle shrugs and says "Maybe I should knock." But, before she does, she senses the presence of another immortal. Michelle gasps a bit in fear. She and Ginny jump when they hear latches being undone from the other side of the door.

The door creaks open barely wide enough for a young man's face to peer out. "Michelle Webster?" Michelle nods. "I've been expecting you." The door opens slightly wider. Michelle notices the people on Knockturn Alley staring, some are angry, some are fearful. "Come in."

Michelle cautiously steps through, the man starts to close the door on an unnoticed Ginny. The man is startled to have the door hit something. He reopens the door enough to allow Ginny to step back. "Her kind isn't allowed…" He snarls.

Michelle pushes the door further open. "This one is." She hisses.

The man looks skeptically at the diminutive pre-witch, but allows her entrance. The building's interior smells of rot and charcoal smoke. The wood is nearly black with age. Nothing is plumb or level as it has settled over centuries. But in contrast to the dark interior, made more so by the closing and re-latching of the door, are swords bright and gleaming with polished steel hung on a nearby wall.

Michelle's eyes search for the sword Amanda described.

Ginny is struggling to take it all in. She is the first of the wizarding world to be allowed entry. She suspects, correctly, that she has been allowed in because she is not perceived to be a threat and that the man decided he didn't want to leave her unprotected in the frightening alley.

The man sees Michelle eyeing the sword that fits Amanda's description. "That sword belonged to Rebecca Horne, your teacher's teacher. An excellent blade to be sure. Did Amanda tell you to select that one?" Michelle nods. "As good as it is, there is another here better."

"I don't know. Amanda said she would pay for that one and I don't have much money."

"How much do you have?" Michelle holds up what she has, which would buy a modest meal for two. The man starts laughing. "That wouldn't buy the raw materials for the least sword here." Michelle looks sheepish and close to tears.

"Wait here." The man says. The girls are relieved because neither wants to move any further from the door. Right now, the alley seems more friendly than this dark building.

The man returns with a sword wrapped in cloth and tied with cord and sets it upon the counter. With a twinkle in his eye, he slowly unwraps the sword. It almost seems to Michelle that can see beyond its surface and into the polished metal. She stares at it a moment before realizing that there is subtle lettering embedded into the metal of the blade. It says '+ULFBER+T' which Michelle doesn't even know how to pronounce let alone its significance. The grip, guard, and pommel are not ornately decorated and feminine as Rebecca's sword but are simple and functional.

"Swords, like cars and bikes, are a mixture of 'show and go.' This sword may not have as much show as Rebecca's. It is all weapon. Nothing has been compromised. It has but one purpose… to kill. Another immortal, seeing this, will have second thoughts. It is designed to be light and fast, but hit hard. The grip has been sized so you can use one or both hands as the need calls for, and it is sharkskin for a good grip at all times. It has been reduced in width from the original Ulfbert dimensions since it won't need to splinter a shield. It is constructed of crucible steel of the highest quality. It has no peer. Its only rival could be the katana that was made for Ramirez, now carried by MacLeod. It would be worth well into seven figures. It has taken months to create."

"I… I can't afford this. I could never afford this."

He wraps it back into its cloth and ties it with cord. To Michelle's disappointment. But then to her shock, he grips it in the middle and holds it out horizontally to her. Michelle allows him to place it in her hands. "You don't need to. It was commissioned for specifically for you. That is why it was not on display."

Michelle gasps. "Commissioned? By who?"

"Whom…"

"By whom?" He corrects.

"By people who could afford it and had reason to help you."

"I can take this…?"

"It is yours…with one proviso…that it is your only blade."

Michelle is faced with a decision. "Amanda wants me to get Rebecca's sword." She begs. The man shakes his head. "Who commissioned the other sword?"

"You'll be told when, and if, the right time comes."

"I wish Amanda was here."

"The decision would still be yours." He says with a shrug. To him the answer is obvious. He made Rebecca's sword and it is good, but the Ulfbert is an order of magnitude beyond it in the only category that counts when the stakes are life or death.

Ginny looks up at Michelle with large eyes. "The wand chooses the wizard…" She says.

"What?" Michelle asks.

"They say the wand chooses the wizard."

"It isn't that way with swords." The man says.

"Maybe it is. This time." Michelle says.

The man nods, takes Rebecca's sword down and motions the girls to follow. Michelle carries the bundle, reluctantly following with Ginny in tow. They emerge into the bright sunlight of a courtyard. A rolled mat of reeds stands on a stool, the ground around it is littered with short pieces of reed.

He points to it with Rebecca's sword. "Give it a go." When Michelle looks confused, he takes a step and swings the sword slicing downward neatly through the mat. Michelle and Ginny watch the mat rock back and forth proving it is balanced on its end rather than being attached. They stare as the realization sets in that the sword passed through with little resistance. He offers the sword to Michelle.

Nervously, Michelle surrenders the bundle to Ginny and takes the ornate sword. It feels good in her hand except for its length. "Move it around… sense its rhythm." Seeing Michelle's awkwardness, he asks. "Have you practiced… at all?" Michelle blushes and shakes her head. "Pearls before swine." He mutters to himself.

He moves behind Michelle and adjusts her grip. "When you strike, strike with the it in the plane of the intended cut." Michelle takes a swing but turns the blade during the swing and only knocks the roll over. He shakes his head sadly.

"We've established that you have no skill. So, your comparing that way is not going to be helpful."

Back at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall meets with Professor Pomona Sprout in Pomona's office. "It seems that Cassandra has cast her web over young Mr. Longbottom."

Pomona is aghast. "She didn't…"

"Introduce him to her carnal delights?" Pomona nods. "No." Pomona breaths a sigh of relief. But Minerva sternly continues "But, let us say, she gave him glimpse the promised land."

Pomona cringes. "He may be clumsy, but he does have a way with plants. Someday he will return to her wood." Minerva glares at her friend. "Harry returned unscathed I hope."

"Not exactly." Pomona cringes again.

"Relashio" Molly whispers causing a frustrated Amanda to drop another trinket.

"Are you doing that?" Amanda asks.

"Yes"

"Why?"

"I'll not have you stealing."

"I'm not stealing from you."

"Still."

Amanda walks out of the shop with Molly in pursuit.

Amanda attracts looks of disapproval from witches, disapproval tinged with lust from wizards and giggles from a few youngsters before they are dragged away by their elders. A few who know the Weasleys are shocked to see this oddly dressed muggle in the company of the traditional, if not stern, Molly. But as aghast or amused as they may be, all of the adults avoid eye contact with Amanda.

Amanda looks anxiously down Diagon Alley. There is no sign of Michelle or Ginny. But the sketchy looking witches and wizards are agitated and eyeing the door where they cannot enter. Molly comes up behind her. Amanda jumps a bit as Molly puts her hand on her shoulder. "I should have gone with her Molly…"

Ceirdwyn and Alex Raven hunt the area around the Burrow looking for spies, both Watcher and Auror.