Snape POV
It seems my luck was not entirely abysmal today; on the first draw I received a package. It may contain a character's card and that character's possessions weapons, trinkets, whatever comes attached to a template.
Package: Fern (Frieren).
Fern. Frieren's apprentice. Hmph. I would have preferred someone seasoned, someone who'd bled on a battlefield, but I suppose she'll do. Trained under one of the best, after all. I slotted her into Assimilation and pulled the only other thing that came with her a staff. Simple enough.
I'd like to test it straight away, but I've work to see to. There were matters to attend to before I could indulge in experiments.
I tucked the staff into my expanded pouch and Apparated.
A blink of darkness, then I was standing in a deserted alley. Stepping out, I caught sight of the Leaky Cauldron across the road.
Crossed over, slipped inside. To Muggles it's invisible, to wizards it's a gathering hole. To me… an irritation. The smell hit at once sour ale, unwashed robes, stale smoke, and Merlin knows what else. I half fancied casting a Killing Curse just to improve the atmosphere.
My cloak earned me a few raised brows, but nothing more. Best to avoid notice. I passed through, ignored the stares, and made for the back wall.
Tap, tap, tap the bricks shifted, creaking open like they'd been waiting centuries to move. And there it was Diagon Alley. Loud, crowded, the same marketplace of noise and greed.
But I wasn't here to shop. Not here, at least.
I slipped an invisibility charm over myself and turned my steps, not toward the gaudy shops of Diagon, but toward its shadow Knockturn Alley. A place despised, feared, whispered about in polite company. And not without reason. The wares here are foul, the trades fouler.
Yet Knockturn is more than just a nest of Dark objects. It is the gutter of wizarding Britain. A slum.
Not everyone can master their wandwork. Not everyone is born with talent. Not everyone is rich. Not everyone has family to fall back on. Knockturn Alley collects those people, chews them, and spits them out again.
Its necessity is plain enough, for all that the Ministry postures if it weren't, the Alley would have been shuttered long ago. Everyone knows what it is, and yet it endures.
Plenty have prospered here, made names of a sort. One such is the shop just ahead Borgin and Burkes. Infamous, really, and with reason. Dark artefacts, cursed trinkets, blood soaked heirlooms they all pass through its hands.
It would not be wrong to call it the crown jewel of Knockturn. Even Tom once worked there. A convenient place to learn the worth of power, and how cheaply some are willing to sell it.
I moved carefully, slipping a wand into my hand. Not mine. A trophy, taken last year from some fool who thought the Killing Curse would serve him better than brains. With a flick, the shop door yielded, sparing me the distaste of touching it directly.
As expected, Borgin loitered at the counter, all smiles and oily civility. I ignored his empty greeting. My eyes were already sweeping the shelves, searching, until they found it, a black cabinet.
"How much for it?" I asked, voice altered with a small charm.
Borgin followed my gaze, his own expression tightening. "Well, I fear I must disappoint you, sir. There is only the one. Its twin, I've no knowledge of its whereabouts."
Doesn't matter, even one will do. Saying that, I turned to him. "Also, I'll need some other items too."
I left the shop after the purchase. It really cost me a fortune.
It seems I'll have to focus on earning more money soon. Although I'm wealthy thanks to my potions, my lack of interest in others over the past few years has left me earning far less than I could have.
Now I know the world is far more complex. There are many worlds, many far more dangerous than my own, and far too much to explore. With the gacha everything is possible, perhaps I may even find a way to leave this world permanently.
My first love's death was not the end of everything.
Especially when it was one sided.
Sigh
I have acquired a Vanishing Cabinet, the second I remember is at Hogwarts. I will test them, then use the connection to travel outside Hogwarts without alerting anyone.
I need to know what else exists in this world and what mash ups are present. Yes my world is a crossover. How do I know? Because I asked for it on the form; I thought plain Hogwarts would be too weak for the GACHA and therefore not entertaining.
Merde.
And it's all random.
So who knows how many worlds there are, and of what level.
I have my doubts that I already know one. There was mention in the scraps that seeped through of another breed of humans. They practise magic, but not as wizards do. Where a wizard relies on imagination and ritual, these people work by principle, if I do X, Y will follow, much like Muggles' science.
I remember something like that from a fiction I once skimmed a rather famous fan service anime. Its danger rating was absurdly high; expanded properly, it could match something from the comics.
Let's hope I can enjoy my rest of the lifes.
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