Time flew by. More than ten days had passed since Lyla and Luna's conversation.
Now, the start of term was approaching, which meant Lyla's summer holiday was about to end.
During this time, she prepared the Magic Array tools she would use in class, carefully studied the Hogwarts map, and decorated the replica grassy grounds of Nurmengard inside her Spatial Storage Book with Luna Lovegood. She also checked her Hogwarts Express ticket more than a dozen times.
Now, only one thing remained before the start of term.
Early in the morning, Lyla, wrapped in a cloak and wearing a mask, walked out of the pub. She was going to Knockturn Alley today... to buy the materials needed to brew the Wolfsbane Potion.
She had searched Diagon Alley for a long time yesterday but couldn't find any vendors selling Mandrakes. She had put in a lot of effort, walking many circles around Diagon Alley while holding up a written sign asking to buy them.
The result was that she got nothing but a lot of strange looks.
So today, she could only try Knockturn Alley. Hogwarts was starting tomorrow.
If she still couldn't buy Mandrakes today, she would have no choice but to seek help from... Professor Snape.
Just thinking about it made Lyla tremble with fear. 'If it really came to that, I would probably just faint, right?'
However, perhaps because the term was about to start, Diagon Alley was packed today. Even though the sun had only just begun to cast its light on the streets, many young wizards were already here with their parents.
Lyla blended in, looking just like another Hogwarts student.
'Hmm...' Lyla carefully avoided the throngs of wizards, and also bypassed the entrance of Flourish and Blotts, which was sure to be extremely crowded. She had heard yesterday that Gilderoy Lockhart would be releasing a new book today.
'He writes so fast... It hasn't been long since his last book was released... He's much more impressive than I am.'
Lyla's Magic Array Studies notebook only had tens of thousands of words written in it so far.
'When will I be able to become someone like Mr. Lockhart...' Of course, Lyla didn't actually want to be as famous as him.
'Being recognized everywhere I go would be too terrifying, wouldn't it?'
Her current inconspicuous state was actually quite good.
"Miss Lola Hamier?"
"Eeek!"
Lyla's body trembled violently. She carefully turned her head to look at the person who greeted her, then paused.
"You... do we... do we know each other?"
"You truly are a busy person with a short memory." It was an old man holding a wand. He sat on the steps of a shop entrance and looked at Lyla. "It was you who made me lose a lot of money a month ago during that raid."
"A month ago?" Lyla pursed her lips and subconsciously looked up.
Then she saw the name of the shop.
Borgin and Burkes.
...
"Cough cough cough... cough cough cough!"
The boy with glasses coughed out soot as he slowly got up, looking around with a bit of surprise.
His name was Harry Potter, a famous figure in the wizarding world, also known as the Boy Who Lived. Of course, for the Boy Who Lived to appear in such a strange place was indeed a bit unusual.
'Where is this?'
Harry frowned slightly, cautiously looking around.
'Is this a shop?'
It looked quite old and dark. He clearly said "Diagon Alley" when he stepped into the Floo Network... 'Or did I say it wrong?'
But now didn't seem to be the time to think about that. The first thing he should do was find out where he was.
Harry could only tell that this was a shop, and one that hadn't been open for business in a long time. Not only was it covered in dust, but there weren't many goods either.
Harry reached out and touched the counter. Seeing his dust-covered fingers, he quickly shook them off.
"Is anyone here?" He thought for a moment, then called out nervously, "Is anyone here?"
Silence was his only answer.
Harry swallowed, carefully drawing his wand. "Lumos."
Although he wasn't very good at using spells, a faint point of light slowly appeared at the tip of his wand.
With the light, Harry could explore the place better... at least he could figure out where he was. But after only a few steps, Harry saw a seal on a jar.
Ministry of Magic contraband, do not touch.
'Ministry of Magic?'
Harry seemed to have some memory of it. He remembered Ron's dad apparently worked for the Ministry of Magic, so was this place related to them?
Harry looked at the jar, a bit confused. He was actually quite curious what this thing could do... 'Would there be endless Fizzing Whizbees inside?'
Of course, guesses were guesses, but Harry still knew not to casually mess with such things, especially when there was an official seal on it.
But he still reached out and lightly poked the jar. Only after confirming that nothing happened did he slightly curl his lips.
'If Hermione were here, she would definitely swat my hand.'
Thinking this, Harry walked to the shop's door.
As he expected, the dirty glass door also had a glowing magical seal on it. Even with a firm push, he couldn't open it.
'Perhaps some kind of magic?'
Thinking this, Harry wiped the grimy glass to peer outside. Then, he saw two people standing outside the dim window.
One of them, a short person, wore a hood and a pale mask, looking like a student. The other seemed very old. He stood with his back to Harry, his body hunched.
'They might be able to help me...' Harry subconsciously wanted to tap on the window to get their attention.
But the next second, he saw a red spell shoot out from the old man's wand.
Bang!
Before Harry could react, the spell was cleanly repelled by the mysterious person in the hood, who had drawn their wand at some unseen point.
'They... they're fighting? And... so fast!'
This was Harry's first time seeing a real fight between wizards... or rather, seeing one outside of school.
He hid behind the glass, curiously watching the two people facing off.
Vaguely, he also heard the old man seemed to be shouting something, while the person in the hood just looked at the old man. Perhaps the hooded person also spoke... but because of the mask, Harry couldn't be sure.
"Enough! I have nothing left..."
The old man's voice seemed to grow much louder and more desperate. He raised his wand menacingly and shouted, "Die, you!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
A sickly green light flashed. Harry covered his head and fell to the ground, feeling a sudden, blindingly sharp pain in his forehead. Immediately after, he seemed to hear a woman's scream.
After a few seconds, or perhaps more than ten seconds, he recovered, struggling to get up by leaning against the wall.
'What was that spell just now?'
Although Harry wasn't sure, he could feel that it was definitely not a normal spell. 'It must have been Dark Arts, right?'
He also wondered if the other person was alright. Thinking this, Harry quickly looked out the window.
Only one person was standing outside the window, but it wasn't the old man. It was the mysterious person. The old man was already lying on the ground, motionless.
'How did they dodge that spell... And... did they kill someone?'
The cloaked figure appeared particularly eerie and terrifying. They looked around, seemingly searching for other people.
Harry subconsciously shrunk back, wanting to hide, but the next second he felt a profound chill.
That pale mask was silently facing him.
"..."
The masked mysterious person did not wave their wand. They just took a light step and walked over. Harry quickly tried to escape, but felt an inexplicable coldness spreading from his feet to his head.
He didn't know why... he couldn't move a single muscle.
He could only watch in sheer terror as the pale mask came closer and closer.
Finally, the mask slowly pressed against the glass. Through the gap, Harry could vaguely see a pair of bright blue eyes.
"..."
Under Harry's petrified gaze, the mysterious person slightly raised their right hand, then placed an index finger on the lower edge of the mask.
It was a gesture for silence.
Immediately after, they turned and left into the mist.
Harry stood rooted to the spot, not knowing how much time had passed.
Click.
The shop door suddenly made a soft sound and opened with a gust of wind. It seemed someone had finally lifted the shop's lockdown spell.
Gulp.
Harry swallowed hard, then carefully took steps forward and ran away.
He was no longer curious where this was; he just wanted to leave here as quickly as possible.