Diagon Alley!

{4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey}

{10:29 A.M, 1 August 1991}

Albus's eyes widened as a dazed look appeared on Alex's face, he was about to cancel the spell but Alex quickly snapped out of the daze and he stared at his chest in wonder. Mana rushed into his body and for a moment Alex could feel it run across a circuit inside him.

The magic felt foreign and at that moment Alex realized that his body was very different from his past life. It was a fleeting feeling and it vanished before he could grasp anything, but for a moment when Dumbledore's magic invaded his body, he could feel his body light up like a Christmas tree.

'Was that all mana?' Alex thought as he brought up his hands, everything seemed normal now but for a second he was sure there was a soft strength flowing through his fists.

"That was mana right?" Alex asked, his question caught Dumbledore off guard, he could see the curiosity shining in those green orbs.

"Yes my boy, what you felt was mana..." Dumbledore went into his grandfather mode but he stopped when he saw the vigilance in Alex's eyes. While he was worried about the trust issues that Alex must have, Alex was having entirely different thoughts.

'Is he the good Dumbledore, or the greater good one...' Alex thought while the story that James spun made sense, the timeline was definitely messed up considering both James and Lily were alive.

"Albus?" Lily asked some hope leaked into her voice as she peered at Dumbledore for an answer.

"He's okay, his core has healed, I couldn't find any marks of the previous accident," Dumbledore spoke. James took a sigh of relief and Lily finally rushed at Alex. Dumbledore wanted to stop her but when he saw that Alex allowed her to hug him he sighed in relief as well.

The guilt in his chest was still there, he kept thinking back to that night. Had he made a mistake? Did the pressure of making sure Harry was okay and the dark magic he could feel lingering in Harry's mark unsettle him enough to miss something?

The questions remained unanswered as Alex felt a little uncomfortable, but considering the redhead was crying against him he endured for a little while. While he was uncomfortable a strange sense of calm allowed him to observe his surroundings. His eyes collided with James. Hazel met Green, and for a second the stark contrast physically struck James.

While Lily and Rose's eyes were always tender and soft, Alex's eyes were sharp and calculating. He felt a little exposed as he saw Alex's eyes scanning him from top to bottom, the disregard and disinterest that Alex's gaze held was painful, but he had to endure.

"I'm so sorry baby, we should have..." Lily kept muttering against him as she cried. Alex wasn't a hugging person but he understood the significance Lily Potter held in the Wizarding World. And while he couldn't feel the same maternal love she felt, he could at least understand the emotions she was projecting.

The one disadvantage that Alex was facing was that he had no memories of 'Alex Potter'. While every Self Insert fiction he had read allowed the transmigrator to inherit some memories, to be flying blind was uncomfortable.

The only reason he hadn't made a massive blunder like asking some stupid questions was because he had all the memories of his past life. Alex wasn't the most interesting person if anything else he would be classified as a boring nerd. 

He graduated from London University with an undergraduate degree in computer science in his previous life. He had a job that was too stressful to talk about, and enough money in the bank to not worry about his future. The only memory he didn't have was how he died.

'The last thing I remember was going to sleep...' Alex thought and he sighed, his sigh broke Lily from the pattern of muttering apologies as she realized that she was smothering Alex. With a sheepish look, she wiped her tears as her eyes roamed across Alex's face.

The last time she remembered seeing him he was covered in small pimples and warts because of the mana overexposure according to Dumbledore. Seeing him remain unaffected by Dumbledore's spell was a dream come true.

'From what I heard, Petunia and Vernon told Alex that his parents were dead. So I have some advantages and I could get away with some things because of that...' Alex thought as he took a step back and looked towards Lily.

"I'm gonna need answers to some questions, but this is likely not a safe place to communicate," Alex spoke. His questioning look was answered as James spoke, "Do you like ice cream?"

Alex shrugged as James supported Lily by squeezing her shoulders, the couple shared a look before Lily stood straight, she wiped her tears and with a wave of her wand all signs of her crying except her red eyes vanished.

Alex was fascinated with the casual display of magic, one of the reasons that he was more inclined to go with the Potters was simply because he could abuse the existence of his parents to practice magic. Plus he was sure that the inactive title had something to do with James.

'If it's a bonus then I want it.' Alex thought as everyone walked out of the room, in the hallway stood a handsome man, he had long hair and a pair of steel-grey eyes that were scanning Alex's figure.

...

[Sirius Black Lv - 55]

[Minerva McGonagall Lv - 67]

...

Beside Sirius, Petunia and Vernon were bound with a rope with their mouth silenced. Petunia looked at him with a resigned expression, her eyes were infinitely more colder than just minutes ago when she and Vernon came into his room with Sir Alex.

'Speaking of which where did he go? Don't tell me Sirius oblivated the man? What if he lost some of his tactics because of this?' Alex thought. He didn't have the freedom to chuckle but the sight of Vernon turning himself purple with the amount of silent shouting he was doing was hilarious. 

He didn't really feel anything for the two bound prisoners of fate as well, he walked down the stairs, his eyes roamed across the small house. The few trophies with his name clearly were an indication that the two of them, while obnoxious, weren't really as abusive in the original timeline.

'There is a story there too if they have their canon personalities.' Alex thought as their group walked out into the backyard.

James was committing every action of Alex into his mind, the way his eyes roamed across the house where he had grown up while having no emotion on his face did not sit well with him. 

'The Dursley's shouldn't have treated him badly, so why doesn't he have any nostalgia for the place? Does he want to come back here?' James thought but he kept his observations to themselves.

"Grab hold of my hand and keep a tight grip," James spoke to Alex who nodded as he gripped his hand. He could see a hint of excitement finally spark in his eyes as James sighed.

'Curiosity for magic, I could work with that...' James thought as he focused on apparating.

If anyone cared enough to listen to Alex's opinion he would tell everyone to not take that hand. Apparating was not a present sensation, while he knew, theoretically that apparting would feel like you were squeezed through a tube. Feeling himself going through a pin-sized hole was an entirely different thing altogether.

Our bodies are made of mass, we have a predefined shape that only the most severe trauma could mess up. So to feel your whole body and organ shift was a nauseating experience. Plus the pressure of your whole body squeezed inwards made his eardrums pause.

His complaints were swept away as James stepped aside to give Alex his first view of the famous shopping strips. If there was one word in which anyone would ask him to summarize what he was seeing then that word would be... chaotic

He couldn't think of anything else, there was so much happening in the small scene that he could see from the corner. A few owls were flying overhead, a couple of cauldrons were bashing against each other, and a witch was riding a broom on the other corner.

The entrance was close to three shops. The Eeylops Owl Emporium being one of them, with curiosity his eyes scanned the owls present to see if Hedwig was still here.

It didn't take him very long to locate a silver feathered owl that was preening herself behind the glass window. Alex wanted to walk over to her but James caught his attention as he spoke, "Leave the Apparating zone, Alex, you don't want to splinch yourself..."

Alex looked down at the square that was clearly marked as he took a couple of steps to walk out, he looked around one more time as James spoke, "Welcome Alex, To the Diagon Alley..."

...

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AN - The story will be a little slower-paced with Alex exploring mana and what magic is capable of.