Yo! Back with another chapter! Thanks for the likes and the follows. Make sure to review if you like the story so far. Alright Let's get on with the chapter.


"Are we going to apparate there?" I asked Phantom. We were both walking along the coastline close to the Keep, the ocean breeze cooling us after another round of dueling practice.

"Yes we will. But I want you to see the Leaky Cauldron as well, so we won't be apparating inside the Alley directly. The barmen there Tom, very kind soul, will show you the way to get there so that from now on, you will know the way inside." His walking came to a stop and I realized we had arrived back at the Keep.

"Go and have a shower and change into some decent clothes. After all first impressions matter do they not? I will then apparate us to a quite little spot that I know. Then we will buy you your books and open up an account for you in Gringotts." He walked inside towards the dining hall and left me to my own thoughts. I did as he told and walked back into my room taking my clothes off and entering the shower. Hot water pouring on me I stayed there for about five minutes washing my long hair. After that I opened the wardrobe and put on some clothes. Black trousers, a black vest and one of the expensive robes that phantom had bought me. All in all, I looked quite nice. Grabbing my bag that was next to my table I walked outside and saw Phantom waving his wand around himself.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He turned his attention to me. "Ah there you are! Sorry I was just finishing up my glamour charm." As he said that, his face changed and his blonde hair turned into a dark black. His clean shaven face grew a bushy black beard, and his usual blue eyes turned into a pair of light brown ones.

"Why the glamour?" I asked. He looked at me as if what I said was the most ridiculous thing in the world and replied, "To hide my identity of course! Why else?" he chuckled.

I face palmed myself. "Obviously I know that!, I am asking why you want to hide your face?"

"Well, that would because I don't want anyone else to realize that I am still alive."

"..."

"Heh, I use a different name for a reason. In Britain, official records state that the man known as Maxwell Lawson is dead."

Right, I mean from the fake name he used I guess I should have known that he had something to hide but damn, I didn't expect that.

"So your real name is Maxwell? Huh, I thought you'd to be a Henry." I added.

"It doesn't matter what my old name is, for all intents and purposes Maxwell Lawson died in 1982. Phantom is my one true name." he said grimly. "I wont be talking about that anymore so lets just get going shall we?"

I didn't want to say this but doesn't that sound a bit like Voldemort? Letting go of the name you were born with to hide behind an alias. Well it wasn't my place to judge him. We all have secrets and the past is just that. The past.

"Alright man I'm not judging you or anything lets just get going to London yeah?" I said preparing myself for the apparition.

Phantom looked glad that I didn't try to get any more out of him. "Alright Jaden take a deep breath and count to five for me. Don't worry you have already done this once. The second time will be easier."

Alright then here goes nothing.

I started counting, "One, two, three, fo-" I hadn't even got to four properly and Phantom grabbed me by the hand and I felt the same horrible feeling of my feet leaving the ground and my body being pushed through a very tight cylinder. My vision a blur I tried to remain conscious through this horrible ordeal and just as it started it ended once more. We landed in a bathroom of some kind and while Phantom easily landed on his feet, I fell on the cold bathroom floor at an awkward angle. Just like last time.

"Well... wasn't that just lovely?" Phantom smirked. I got up and looked at him slightly annoyed. "Yeah sure was." I nodded. "Just as a thought, next time how about we leave when I actually get to five?" He shook his head. "Where's the fun in that?"

Prick.

We walked outside the bathroom, through a corridor which led us to a bookshop. Leaving through the door while trying to not to look as suspicious as possible to the cashier I finally breathe in the London air. The city itself is bustling with noise and lights. And right next to the bookshop that we just came from was the famous Pub, Leaky cauldron.

Phantom nudges me to follow him, as we make our way inside.

As I push open the heavy wooden door, a cozy warmth envelops me, contrasting with the chilly, bustling London streets that were now behind us. The air is filled with a mix of enchanting aromas— wafts of fire whiskey, sizzling sausages, and the rich scent of various magical potions. The flickering candlelight casts a soft, golden glow upon the old, weathered walls adorned with faded tapestries depicting mystical creatures and scenes from various events from wizarding history.

The pub is alive with a vibrant energy, as wizards and witches gather around worn wooden tables. The barmen, Tom seemed like he was in a hearty conversation with an old witch whose hand was holding a glass that she was waving around spilling the contents of it which was probably alcohol. The wooden floor creaks softly underneath as I step further into the establishment, the warmth seeping into my bones.

"I like this place." I say happily, as I am taking everything in. After we finally found a table which was slightly wet on top with what smelled like alcohol, Phantom told me that he would be ordering us some drinks and went to talk with Tom. I sat down and looked around staring at the various patrons who were enjoying their conversations.. I was in awe. Even thought I fully knew magic was real, seeing an actual magical establishment was something else entirely.

Phantom came back with a smile on his face his hands carrying two butterbeers he grabbed from Tom. He placed them on the table and sat in front of me on the wooden chair.

I grabbed the glass and took a sip letting the refreshing drink flow down my throat. Ah butterbeer, the warm and creamy flavor mixed with fizz is just the perfect drink for warming your insides up and relaxing.

However that's not why we were here. After finishing our drinks Phantom leaned in closer and and started speaking with a low tone. "Alright, now that we got our drinks its time for you to ask Tom how to get to Diagon alley. I think it will be good for you to talk to him alone without my help. If he asks I'm just a family friend, alright?"

Alright, although it slightly stressed me out to talk to witches and wizards I need to be able to navigate this world on my own so lets do this.

"Alright man I'll do that then." I nodded standing up.

"I'll be right behind you." Phantom assured me.

I walked towards the counter and approached the barmen Tom. He saw me walking closer and smiled brightly.

"Good afternoon, my name is Tom and welcome to the Leaky Cauldron how can I help you?"

"Hey Tom, I'm Jaden. Could you show me the way to Diagon Alley?"

"Of course my young friend, follow me to the back and I'll show you the entrance to the Alley.

I followed Tom, passing by various witches and wizards deep in conversation and arrived at the back of the pub. When we stopped walking we had arrived in front of a brick wall. Tom took out his wand from his pocket and tapped a certain brick three times, the one that was three up and two across.

The brick Tom touched quivered -it wiggled -in the middle a small hole appeared -it grew wider and wider -a second later we were facing an archway that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome to Diagon alley!" Tom said excitedly.

I grinned in amazement. Stepping through the archway I look over my shoulder to realize that not only has the archway already closed but Phantom was right there behind me as well.

"What do you think?" Phantom asks me curiously.

"I think I am glad that I am a wizard." I replied.

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring – Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them. "Gotta get me one of those." I said to myself. Potions was one of those subjects that really interested me. Partly because its sort of like cooking is it not?

I turned my head in every direction as I walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. I am pretty sure I saw a couple of hags talking to each other and no one seemed to mind.

A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon….

Anything a young wizard or witch might want or need, are within range. No wonder Phantom was gushing about this place. Such a magical experience walking here. No pun intended.

"Gringotts." said Phantom.

We had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold was-

"Yeah that's a goblin." Phantom said quietly as we walked up to white stone steps close to him.

The goblin was about two heads shorter than me. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, I noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as we walked inside. Now we were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

"That poem is to deter thiefs and the like away from the bank but I don't think they need it. You would have to be completely mad to try and rob Gringotts. Well, or extremely powerful." he said with a wicked smile.

A pair of goblins bowed us through the silver doors and we were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Me and Phantom made for the counter.

"Morning." I said to a free goblin. "I would like to open an account with the bank."

The goblin eyed me for a second and looked over at Phantom. Then he looked back at me again. The goblin sighed.

"Name and surname?"

"Jaden Parker." I answered.

"Heritage?" he asked.

"Uhhhh... what do you mean by that?" I looked over at Phantom. "A little help?"

"He's asking if your parents were magical." Phantom answered. "To answer your question sir, my friend here is muggle-born."

The goblin looked very bored. He wrote some stuff on a paper and handed it to another goblin that was sitting next to him, whispering some stuff in his ear.

"Have you ever used a different branch of Gringotts Wizarding Bank?" The goblin asked once more.

"No, sir not that I know of." I replied.

He grabbed a needle from a drawer under the desk and gave it out to me. "Draw blood." he said.

"What do you need the blood for, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I do mind it wizard, but since I have nothing better to do I will explain it to you." he said his voice dripping with sarcasm.

What an asshole. This is your job you motherfucker!

"The blood is for identification purposes. In our world it is impossible to conjure or rather replicate real blood, so that's what we use to key the vault to you." he said knowingly.

I remembered Phantom saying to me that blood was the strongest magical medium. That's why its use in Magical rituals and such. I guess it's used in banking as well.

I tapped my finger on the needle and drew a tiny amount of blood. The goblin then grabbed my finger and pressed it onto a sheet of yellowed parchment.

We waited for about fifteen minutes while watching different wizards and witches come and do their business. After that the goblin that was helping us snapped his fingers to draw my attention.

"Your account has been opened with us Mr. Parker." he said grabbing a key that materialized from the sheet of parchment that had my blood on it.

"From now on you can use your account to deposit or withdraw gold. You are also able to invest in different business if you wish to do so. You will need the key to withdraw money from the account. But to deposit you just have to bring the gold over to us here and we will do the rest for you. If you have muggle money to exchange for Wizarding gold, we will be able to do that fairly easily with better rates than any other establishment." he finished talking and handed me the small black key. "Try not to lose this as we will have to charge you for a new one." he said with a grin.

Goblins were truly greedy bastards.

"We wish deposit some gold to my friends account sir," Phantom interrupted.

I looked over at him. "You sure about that man?" I questioned.

"Absolutely, you need the gold and I have way too much anyway." he nodded.

"And who might you be?" The goblin asked Phantom with wide-eyes. " Do you have an account with us? If so we can just deposit from yours to his with a couple of papers signed." he said.

"Who I am doesn't matter as I don't have an account with you guys anyway, and I have the gold with me right here." he grabbed a tiny bag from inside his robe. "This one has an expansion charm cast on it and has about 500 galleons inside. We would like to deposit this amount."

500... Holy shit that meant 50,000 pounds! I knew Phantom was rich but fucking hell just dropping 50 grand like that. That was insane.

The goblin took the bag from Phantom and placed it on the counter. He waved his hand over the bag a couple times and then put the bag under the counter waiting a couple seconds and then gave the now empty bag to me.

"The gold has been deposited. Do you need anything else from me today?"

Phantom spoke up." No that will be all for me and my friend. Thank you for your help sir." he motioned back the way we came in and and I followed after him.

We walked outside and Phantom handed me another bag with another 500 galleons inside it from his robes. "I have some other business to attend in Knockturn Alley. You have your list anyways, so just get the stuff you need and explore the Alley a bit. When you are done with your shopping just stop by Fortescue's and I will meet with you there. Sound good?"

I nodded and Phantom disapparated somewhere with a snap and a blur.

Right, on my own then. My hand reaching into my pocket I took out the list of books and equipment I needed to get.

"A wand..." That's what I wanted to get first. I knew the shop I needed to get to was Ollivanders, so I walked down the curling road passing by other shops and weaving my around people, I finally arrived at where I wanted to be.

Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 381 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as I stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair. I felt strangely as though I had entered a very strict library. I looked over at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of my neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. An old man was standing before me, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop. "Hi." I said awkwardly, trying to keep eye contact with the man. It seemed as thought his eyes were peering into my soul and the soft voice he had did not comfort me at all. This was a strange man.

Ollivander moved closer to me. I wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were really creepy.

"Ahh.. I don't know who you are young man, It seems as though you are older than eleven, and yet you haven't come to this store to buy a wand at all. Why is that?" he questioned me with that same soft tone.

Thanks to Phantoms Occlumency training I was a much better liar than before. Would I be able to fool this man? Remains to be seen.

"I enjoyed a private education across the continent. You could say I was home-schooled. But I decided to pursue a higher education so I am enrolling in Hogwarts this term sir." I answered as natural as I can.

He looked puzzled for a second, his silver eyes blinking. "Hmm and do you currently have a wand Mr...?".

"Parker, sir. Jaden Parker. I have a wand, but I do believe its not the perfect match for me. So I came here looking for a better one."

"You have come to the right place then. Hmm would I be correct to assume you are muggle-born then? Or at the very least half-blood? That name and surname are both not very common names in Magical Britain Mr. Parker." he asked his eyes still not leaving me.

"You would be correct yes. Both parents are muggle born. I had a family friend who knew a lot about magic. He was the one that taught me everything I know.

"Ah that's good then so you know how our society works, excellent. Then let's try to find your perfect wand shall we? Which arm is your wand arm?" he said, pulling out a large tape measure from his pockets.

"That would be my right hand."

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured me from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round my head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful substance, Mr. Parker. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." he said, eyeing the handle of my ebony that was sticking out of my robe.

I realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between my nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.

"Alright that will do." he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"Right then Mr. Parker try this one." he said handing me a wand. "Hawthorn and unicorn hair, 14 inches give it a wave." he said excitedly.

I took the wand and before I could even give it a wave Ollivander snatched it away from my hand. "No no no no, definitely not." He grabbed another box from the shelf.

"Here let's see if this one works eh? Ash and dragon heart-string 10 inches nice and supple, give this one a try."

I took the wand and gave it a wave. Instead of the warmth I was expecting the wand just undid my manbun by flinging the clasp from my hair towards the ceiling.

"Fu- I mean frick!" I yelled, trying to catch the clasp as my hair fell on my face.

"Not to worry Mr. Parker, not to worry," Ollivander said summoning my clasp form the hair and giving it back to me. I tied my hair up again slightly annoyed.

I tried for the next twenty minutes boxes of wands piling up over the counter. And just as I was about to give up hope-

"Bit of a tricky customer but I'm sure we'll get there in the end." said Ollivander. It seemed like he was getting more and more excited the more I failed to find my match.

"Hmm I wonder, yes- why not, try this one, Yew and dragon heartstring, 11 inches, unyielding." I took the wand away from him and a surge of excitement and wonder coursed through my veins. The smooth, rigid wood felt warm against my skin, as if the wand itself was eager to bond with its new master. As I swirled it gently, I could almost feel the magic pulsating within, resonating with my own innate abilities. A sense of connection, of unity, enveloped me, and I knew that this was no ordinary wand – it was my perfect match. Golden sparks flew from the end of my white wand and lit up the entire shop. The wand was ready to serve its new master.

"Bravo! Bravo! Simply wonderful!" Ollivander shouted. He seemed almost as excited as me at the prospect of this match.

After that whole ordeal I paid Ollivander the seven galleons I owed him. Still looking at my wand in hand I started walking towards the door to get my books and other items that I needed.

"Thanks for your help sir." I said as I opened the door to leave.

"Its my pleasure Mr. Parker. Now that you have your own wand try not to show the other one around too much. If other people realize that your old wand is the wand of a dead Death Eater, people might start asking questions."

I froze in spot and looked at him with wide eyes. He was smiling. "Not to worry your secret is safe with me. Now go and enjoy the rest of your day."

I walked out of the store, relieved, and sat on a nearby bench. That guy was seriously creepy.


Finally done. This took a while, sorry about that I was just a bit busy these past couple of days. Jaden has his wand now. He will get his other stuff next chapter and perhaps even encounter some people we know? If you like the story make sure to leave a like. And if you have any ideas to improve it make sure to review! See ya next time :)