Diagon Alley and Wand

She started to leave so I quickly informed the matron and followed her outside. Ducking in an abandoned alley, she gestured me to take her hand. When I did so, without any warning she apparated, taking me along with her.

I felt an unpleasant feeling of getting stretched and squished and then the scenery changed. We were now standing outside a dingy old bar, which I presumed was the Leaky Cauldron. She walked inside and I followed her. We then proceeded towards the back of the bar to a small room. Inside the room, she tapped the brick wall with her wand a few times and the wall shifted to form an arched opening. I quickly memorised the sequence of the bricks and looked towards the opening.

What greeted me now was a scenery of a crowded market filled with weird stalls and shops.

"This is Diagon ally, where all wizarding supplies can be bought from." she said and proceeded to take me with her through the crowded street. We stopped in front of a snow-white building which was the tallest building in the Alley. Standing in front of the building on both sides of the gate were two Gobilns holding spears taller than them. From what I have read all they care about is making money and do not meddle in the affairs of wizards. They will not care if I am ripped off by others. Even if you give respect to them they will not care and not respect you back. They only respect the strong and the ones who can help them get a lot of profit. They are a warrior race which controls the banking of the whole world. It was not a good combination.

McGonagall stood in front of the building and said, "This is the only wizarding bank in the whole world and it is run by the goblins. We will first go inside and collect the money required for your shopping."

We went inside and walked towards a goblin teller.

She said to the teller, "Mr.Falken here needs the key to his vault."

The teller looked at me and replied, "Put a drop of your blood on this parchment to confirm your identity." He gestured towards a parchment and a knife.

I hesitated and took the knife and made a wound at the tip of my finger and let a drop of blood fall on the parchment. When I removed the knife the wound healed magically. The parchment glowed but it was snatched from my hands before I could see what was written on the parchment by the teller.

He looked at the parchment and replied, "Your identity is confirmed. Here is the key to your vault. Vault number 704."

After that he pushed a small golden key into my hand. I don't know where the key came from.

After that we were guided by a goblin towards a cart like the ones in mines. After we were seated we went at a high speed towards my vault number 704. It felt like a roller coaster ride but was slower. I did not understand why some wizards hated this ride. I liked it very much.

From what I read about the bank, the lower the number, the better the security measures and protection. So my trust vault had not so good security measures. The speed of the cart was not as high as I expected it to be. It was high but not high as the roller coasters I have ridden in my past life.

When we reached the vault, the goblin asked for my key and after I passed it to him, he opened the vault. The inside of the vault was lit in golden light by the small mountains of galleons present in it. There were some Sickles and Knuts inside there too.

The professor looked at me and explained, "The gold coin is called a Galleon, the silver coin a sickle and the bronze coin a Knut. A Galleon is worth 17 Sickles. A Sickle is worth 29 Knuts. While a Galleon is worth 5 pounds. You can do the calculations."

I listened to the explanation and internally laughed. I am sure someone made these numbers as denominations as a prank but people took it seriously. Now I am sure they are having a tough time calculating prices for different things.

I asked how much money was required for the shopping and she informed me normally only 70 Galleons in required but if I needed good quality goods then take extra.

When I asked how will I carry these large number of coins, the goblin beside me showed me a bottomless pouch and sold it to me for 2 Galleons. I scooped up around 150 Galleons and stored it inside the pouch.

When we exited the bank she said, "Let's go and buy your wand first. We will buy other things on the list after that."

We moved towards a small building in the Alley. She told me to enter alone and buy my first wand on my own. Said that it was a tradition to do so.

I entered the shop while activating my mage sight. I knew from the stories that Ollivander liked to come up suddenly and scare the children who came to buy their wands. I did not want him to sneak up on me for his own good. If I was suddenly jumped. My reflexes would cause me to give him a round house kick on his face and I did not want that to happen. With my mage sight I could avoid this as I will already know his position.

So as I entered the shop I saw him hiding near the door and I could tell that he was disillusioned. I walked to the counter and acted like looking for him. I sensed an intrusion in my mind and he went through it to find my name. He could only go through my made up memories. I did not show any outward reaction but I was very angry due to his blatant attempt to read my mind.

He came up from behind me and I and said, "Welcome Mr. Falken to my shop." He was surprised when I showed no reaction to his sudden appearance. I looked at him and calmly nodded. He then went on to tell me about my parent's wands. I was prepared to wait for a long time, trying on many different wands before finding a match. But I unexpectedly got a match on my second try. When I touched the wand I felt as if the wand connected to my core and I felt my magic flowing to my fingertips fluidly. I concentrated and controlled the output to an average value as I did not want him to know about my strength. If I showed an unnatural reaction, then he could report it to Dumbledore. Sparks came out of the wand but it was not eye catching due me restricting my magic. I felt it was not perfect match but it was still good enough. I needed a wand crafter for a perfect match but it was not important for now. I can buy another one after my maturity.

"12.5 inches' ebony wand with a dragon heartstring of a Hungarian Horntail as a core. A powerful wand best for transfiguration. That will be 7 Galleons, Mr. Falken." Ollivander said.

I also bought a dragon hide wand holster which can be made invisible and a wand maintenance kit before leaving the shop. I am not going to put my wand in my pockets as it is too inconvenient. Keeping a 13-inch-long wand inside your pockets? You will not be able to even walk properly.