Potion Spirit (Red)!

A month later.

A rare visitor arrived in Knockturn Alley—the Leaky Cauldron's owner, Tom.

Everyone knew.

Knockturn Alley was one of the darkest and most dangerous places in the wizarding world.

The wizards there were usually outlaws or other outsiders.

They were highly wary of any strangers.

The moment Tom appeared at the end of the alley.

The usually noisy Knockturn Alley fell silent.

Everyone's eyes turned toward Tom.

Some wizards stopped their dealings.

Others quietly reached for their wands.

A tense, eerie atmosphere filled the air.

Before long.

Whispers spread through the crowd.

"Isn't that Tom from the Leaky Cauldron?"

"What's he doing here?"

"He seems a little off today."

"Does he have some kind of plan?"

A wizard with a scarred face and a fierce gaze stepped forward.

He sneered.

"Hey, Tom, what are you doing here? Looking for some fun?"

Tom completely ignored his provocation.

His hand gripped his wand tightly.

His face seemed to say, "Don't bother me."

He knew that in a place like this.

Any unnecessary conflict could cause trouble.

Although he wasn't afraid of these outlaws.

He didn't want to invite trouble for no reason, either.

Of course.

No one wanted to provoke him.

After all.

Tom was the owner of the Leaky Cauldron.

He had considerable influence in Diagon Alley.

It was best not to mess with him.

They should first figure out what he was here for.

Quite a few cloaked wizards began quietly tailing Tom.

They tried to uncover his true intentions.

They watched him from the shadows.

Waiting to see what Tom would do next.

Tom strolled slowly through Knockturn Alley.

His eyes darted from place to place.

He passed a little shop that sold dark objects.

The shopkeeper was an old wizard with a deeply wrinkled face.

He watched Tom with suspicion.

For some reason.

Tom wore a smug expression.

But he didn't stop.

He kept walking.

Next.

He passed a shop that specialized in selling banned books and illegal Potions.

The shop door stood half open.

A pungent smell wafted from inside.

Tom glanced into the shop.

He committed its location to memory.

He thought it might come in handy someday.

Suddenly.

Several dark wizards emerged from a side alley.

They blocked Tom's path.

Their faces wore malicious smiles.

One of them spoke.

"Tom, what exactly are you doing here?"

Tom looked at them coldly.

His voice was icy.

"I'm just taking a stroll. I'm not here for anything else."

The dark wizards clearly didn't believe him.

But they didn't dare act rashly, either.

After all.

Tom held a position of no small importance in Diagon Alley.

They exchanged glances.

In the end, they decided to step aside and let Tom pass.

Tom continued on his way.

He walked through narrow alleys.

He skirted several rundown houses.

He didn't seem to have any particular destination.

He was just wandering around the area.

A few minutes later.

He found a hidden exit.

He quickly left Knockturn Alley.

The outlaws were left completely baffled by Tom's strange behavior.

They gathered together.

They quietly discussed why Tom had come.

"Woohoo!"

In his room at the Leaky Cauldron.

Tom—no, Devero—threw his arms up and cheered.

That's right.

The Leaky Cauldron's owner, Tom, who had just appeared in Knockturn Alley.

Was actually Devero, transformed after taking Polyjuice Potion!

It had taken him a whole month of hard work to brew that Polyjuice Potion!

Now he had finally made up the remaining 2% of his exploration progress in Diagon Alley.

He'd even gone a little beyond that.

His progress had now reached 70%.

When he passed the first shop in Knockturn Alley.

The system had notified him that he'd completed it.

He'd been a little greedy.

He wanted to see if he could push his exploration progress even higher.

So he decided to fill up the meter while he was at it.

He hadn't expected two people to actually stop him along the way.

After finally bluffing them into backing down.

He'd fled in a panic.

He'd better not go so overboard again.

Still, the good thing was that he'd chosen the morning.

He'd thought the dark wizards probably wouldn't get up early.

He hadn't expected there to be so many people around.

Devero suspected they hadn't gotten up early.

They simply never slept!

But at least he'd managed to fill up his exploration progress.

Devero waved a hand and opened his status panel.

[Name: Devero Alexander]

[Age: 11]

[Identity: Incoming Hogwarts Student, Potions Apprentice]

[Spell Library: Levitation Charm (Proficient / Silent + Spoken), Summoning Charm (Skilled / Spoken), Alohomora (Skilled / Spoken), Apparition (Beginner / Spoken), ..., Full Body-Bind Curse (Skilled / Spoken), Stunning Spell (Skilled / Spoken), Disarming Charm (Skilled / Spoken)]

[Traits: Transmigrator (Unique), Magical Prodigy (Unique), Potion Prodigy (Gold), Magic Cooking Expert (Purple)...]

[Entry Library: Unique (2), Gold (2), Purple (2), Blue (55), Green (451), White (8232)]

[Pet: Eld (Magic Pouch Toad)]

[Items: Spell Proficiency Card x1, Trait Upgrade Card x1, Wand (Rosewood)]

[Magical Realm Exploration Count: 1]

[Secret Realm: Diagon Alley: Exploration Progress 70.1%]

After a month of studying.

Devero had mastered several jinxes as well as the Disarming Charm.

He could at least defend himself a little against dark wizards now.

Apparition, on the other hand, was a little too risky.

He didn't dare practice it much. If he got Splinched along the way, he'd be done for.

Oh, right.

There was also the matter of the Trace.

He'd actually thought of this as soon as he got his wand for the first time.

After all, he'd read the original story.

He didn't want to be expelled before he even started school.

It would be a real joke if his first day of school ended with him being sent home.

Don't forget, Devero had the Born Wandmaker trait.

He'd spent just a few days.

Reading a handful of books on wandmaking.

And had easily found a way to block the Trace's signal without alerting the Ministry of Magic.

Of course, he hadn't simply taken the wand apart.

That would definitely have alerted the Ministry of Magic.

Instead, he'd used a special structure.

To seal off the Trace's information.

When he was somewhere outside Hogwarts.

He would turn it on.

And when he was at Hogwarts.

He would turn it on.

That way, nobody would notice anything.

Of course, an ordinary eleven-year-old wizard couldn't possibly pull off something like this.

But the Gold trait was simply too powerful.

And the wand he had was very cooperative.

He hadn't gotten any sons out of him.

This time, he had transformed into Tom and entered Knockturn Alley.

The Potion Prodigy (Gold) trait had played a major role.

Truthfully, there was no way he could have figured out the recipe and ingredients for Polyjuice Potion on his own.

But he had read the original story, after all.

He drew on the few details mentioned in it,

as well as the Potions knowledge he had accumulated so far.

Then, using some non-illegal herbs he had bought at the apothecary,

Devero had whipped up a simplified version of Polyjuice Potion.

Its effects didn't last long, and it might not have been a perfect match.

For instance, the Tom he had just become was noticeably shorter than he had been before.

At least ten centimeters shorter.

His eye color hadn't changed, either.

And it had taken less time to brew.

But it seemed the people in Knockturn Alley hadn't spotted anything amiss.

In any case, the experiment had been a complete success.

He hadn't experienced any side effects so far, either.

"Right, now to upgrade this trait!"

Excited, Devero used the Trait Upgrade Card at once.

He chose Potion Prodigy.

After all, he was Snape's Potions apprentice now.

Improving his abilities in this area

would help him whether he continued working with Snape or set out on his own.

[Ping!]

[Trait Upgrade Card used successfully!]

Devero suddenly felt a strange sensation spread through his body.

It was much like when he had first acquired the Potion Prodigy trait,

but this time it was far more intense!

Suddenly, he felt as though his body had changed again.

It was almost as if the Polyjuice Potion had taken effect once more.

Devero turned to look at himself in the mirror.

He could clearly see that he had grown taller!

"Huh? Did it restore the potion's effects to their peak?"

Devero brought up his new trait.

[Potion Spirit (Red): You have a talent for brewing any potion. With just one glance at any potion, you can identify its ingredients and brewing process. Any potion you drink will have its effects doubled.]