The Savior's Visit to the Wand Shop

Hagrid looked at the three children again, his expression more serious than ever. "So, Harry, Ron, Hermione, do you understand now? That red-eyed boy, whatever his name is, has the entire Uchiha Clan behind him. This isn't something you can measure by calling him a 'school rival.' It's..."

Hagrid racked his brains for a suitable comparison. "It's like being in a forest and seeing a beast you've never encountered before from far away. You don't know exactly how dangerous it is, but your instincts tell you never to go near it."

"But why would Headmaster Dumbledore allow someone so... dangerous to come to Hogwarts?"

Hermione could not help asking. This was what puzzled her most.

Hagrid shrugged his broad shoulders, making him look like a moving hill. "Headmaster Dumbledore always has his reasons. Maybe it's for balance, maybe it's for observation, maybe... the Uchiha Clan paid a high enough price or made certain promises. It's not something we should worry about."

"Remember, you're going to Hogwarts to learn magic and grow up safely and happily, not to get mixed up in trouble that even adult wizards find difficult. If you see anyone with those scarlet eyes, especially someone who looks about your age, take the long way around. Understand?"

Under Hagrid's almost pleading gaze, Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded heavily.

The Uchiha Clan Hagrid had described hung over them like a vast, indistinct shadow.

Harry felt complicated emotions churning in his chest.

The title of Savior seemed utterly weightless before true danger and mystery.

The indifferent look in that red-eyed boy's gaze had pierced his heart like a thorn.

For a while, the atmosphere froze. Even the delicious cold drinks seemed to lose their appeal.

Seeing that the children had been frightened, Hagrid tried hard to lighten the mood. He stood up. "Er... I'll go order some more food. Want anything else? This place has some great chocolate-crusted Niffler cones..." He tried to make his voice sound casual, but with limited success.

With heavy steps, Hagrid headed for the counter, seemingly intending to take the opportunity to chat with the familiar owner, Madam Flora, and distract himself.

The three children left behind looked at one another.

"Wow," Ron broke the silence first, poking at his partially melted ice cream with his spoon. "That was way more exciting than listening to Charlie's stories about Romanian dragons."

"This isn't exciting, Ron. It's dangerous," Hermione said disapprovingly, though her eyes were equally full of curiosity and gravity.

"The Flamel Family... alchemy... revenge... Uchiha... I have to look it up. Hogwarts' library might have earlier historical records about the Flamel Family."

Harry was more concerned with practical questions. "Hagrid said even the Ministry of Magic is cautious around them... so what would they do in the wizarding world? That boy... he looked about our age. Since we ran into him today... he was probably going to Hogwarts too, right?"

The thought made him feel inexplicably uneasy. If Hogwarts had a classmate who seemed to radiate danger and secrets...

Ron shrugged. "Who knows? Logically, if a newly risen family has children of school age, they'll definitely receive Hogwarts acceptance letters, just like You-Know-Who did..." He abruptly stopped, realizing he had mentioned an ominous name, then quickly lowered his head and shoved ice cream into his mouth.

Hermione shot him a glare, then said to Harry, "Whether he goes or not, Hagrid is right. We should keep our distance. A family that can make even Hagrid this nervous... definitely isn't simple."

Harry nodded and looked out the window. In bustling Diagon Alley, wizards hurried back and forth, shopping, talking, and laughing.

Yet beneath it all, there seemed to be undercurrents he had never known about.

The Uchiha Clan, the red-eyed boy, revenge and flames...

The words circled through his mind, casting a faint shadow full of the unknown over his beautiful image of the wizarding world.

Hagrid returned with fresh desserts, trying to liven things up with a few funny stories about Blast-Ended Skrewts.

The children laughed along, but their earlier easy mood was gone for good.

Even the chill of the ice cream shop seemed unable to dispel the invisible cold brought by the Uchiha Clan.

Inside Ollivander's wand shop, time seemed to flow more slowly than it did outside. Wand boxes stacked to the ceiling gave off a mingled scent of aged wood, unicorn hair, and phoenix tail feathers. Even the motes drifting through the dim light seemed to carry the texture of magic settled over the years.

An ancient brass scale swayed gently in the corner of the counter, giving off an almost inaudible, hypnotic creak.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived a little earlier than planned.

Hagrid's enormous figure nearly blocked the entrance to the little shop as he loudly and enthusiastically chatted with Mr. Ollivander, who had appeared from behind the shelves.

"—So, Ironbelly, hey, that fellow's scales were as hard as the doors to a Gringotts vault! If Headmaster Dumbledore hadn't warned me over and over, I'd definitely have cleared them out a nice patch in the Forbidden Forest!"

"When those wings spread out, they were this wide—about as wide as the front of the Four Broomsticks! One flap, and it blotted out the sky!" Hagrid gestured wildly, shaking dust from a stack of yew wand boxes nearby.

His voice boomed, as though being loud enough could drown out the uneasy memory of Uchiha's red eyes lingering in his heart.

Mr. Ollivander himself resembled an old wand: thin, pale, and weathered. His large eyes, so light they were almost silver-white, looked especially intent in the dimness, like two fathomless pools of moonlight.

He smiled and replied in a soft, dreamlike tone, as though afraid of disturbing the sleeping spirits within the wands. "Ah, dragons... powerful and beautiful magical creatures. Their nerves and heartstrings are exceptionally sensitive and powerful wand-core materials, but they are also very, very selective about their owners..."

Then his gaze swept over the three children behind Hagrid like two searchlights, carrying a penetrating power that seemed to see through everything. "So, today is for these young ladies and gentlemen..."

"Harry Potter! Of course, and the youngest son of the Weasley Family, Ron, as well as this..." Hagrid introduced them grandly, deliberately filling his voice with cheer.

"I'm Hermione Granger," Hermione added, nervous but polite, unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes between her fingers.

Ollivander's reputation and the ancient, mysterious atmosphere of the shop left her both excited and awed.

"Oh, yes, yes..." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. His large eyes stared at the scar on Harry's forehead, then shifted to his emerald-green eyes. "Mr. Potter... it feels like yesterday. Your parents came here to buy their first wands..."

"Your father, James, holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches, supple, absolutely beautiful... especially suited for the Patronus Charm, full of vitality and protective instinct..." He paused, his voice calm. "And your mother, Lily... yew, thirteen and a half inches, powerful, elegant, with a kind of stubborn gentleness..."

He shook his head, casting off the sad memories, and resumed that inscrutable expression. "Then let us begin. Who will go first?"

While Mr. Ollivander turned to fetch a measuring tape, Hagrid followed beside him, chattering away.

"Harry's definitely suited to some incredible combination, maybe dragon heartstring or something," Hagrid said, and the three children relaxed a little, curiously looking around this magical place.

The heavy discussion about the Uchiha Clan at the ice cream shop seemed, for the moment, to have been diluted by the mystery filling the room and the excitement of soon having wands of their own.