It was still early morning, and Diagon Alley did not display the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds seen in the movies; instead, it revealed a lingering chill as the night faded away.
The wizard shopkeepers were mostly still at their entrances, organizing the decorations on their doors and preparing to welcome a brand-new day.
"I should have purchased the required books and tools for you as requested," Rand said with a hint of guilt.
"Once Miss has mastered the necessary knowledge from your teacher, I will immediately come back here to buy you the best ones!"
Kate herself didn't mind the fact that she couldn't enter Hogwarts for the time being.
Right now, she felt just like a country bumpkin entering Disneyland; while reservedly tugging at her butler's hem, she looked curiously at everything passing by.
Cauldron shops, apothecaries, pet shops, and broomstick shops.
Every fictional scene that had appeared in the movies of her past life was now realistically displayed before her eyes, and her mood was inevitably somewhat excited.
Casting her gaze toward the largest bronze door on the side of the road, she asked curiously, "Are we not going to Gringotts to withdraw money?"
"No need. The money we have on us is more than enough to buy a wand and a cauldron."
Rand smiled affectionately and led her to continue forward.
Looking thoughtfully at Gringotts as they passed it, Kate tilted her small head.
In the past, she had read many authors describing how transmigrators used Gringotts to manipulate the financial markets of the magical world or even the entire world.
At first, Kate had a fleeting moment of such ambition, but recalling the knowledge she had learned in her past life...
Forget it, forget it. She only knew the date of the Soviet Union's dissolution from high school textbooks; everything else was a complete blank.
Even though she had seen the operations of transmigrator predecessors in countless fanfictions, those were all just armchair strategies.
She considered herself inferior to those impressive protagonists. If she really tried to imitate them like a copycat, who knows how much trouble she would cause.
For the sake of this world's financial health, it was better not to add to the chaos.
The old man and the young girl walked all the way to the last shop at the end of the street.
Just like in the movies, this shop was small and shabby.
The gold lettering on the sign was peeling, reading: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.
In the dust-covered window, a single wand lay lonely on a faded purple cushion.
"Miss, you go in by yourself." Rand stopped at the entrance and pushed the door open for her.
The bell on the door made a crisp sound.
Kate, adhering to her usual persona, nodded reservedly and walked in, appearing slightly constrained.
The shop interior was very small. Aside from a single long bench, there were thousands of narrow boxes stacked up to the ceiling.
She waited where she stood for a while, but she didn't see the wandmaker, Ollivander, appear.
Could it be that they came too early and the old gentleman was still sleeping?
Bored with waiting, she curiously walked over to the side where the long boxes were piled like mountains and seas, leaning in slightly to carefully examine the patterns on them.
"If you get too close, the wands will be woken up." An abrupt, soft voice came from behind her.
Startled, Kate instinctively turned around and saw a messy-haired white-haired old man appear behind her.
"Good morning, Miss Shafiq." Ollivander obviously knew her, his pale pupils blinking.
Kate nodded unhurriedly. "Good morning, Mr. Ollivander."
A strange light appeared in the old man's silvery-white pupils. "You look very much like your mother. Oh, I don't mean your appearance."
As he spoke, he pulled a long tape measure with silver markings from his pocket. "May I ask which hand is your dominant hand?"
"Right hand." Kate obediently held her hand out flat, looking curiously at the old man measuring her. "Do you have an impression of my parents?"
Ollivander nodded as he measured.
"Your father, Elphias Shafiq, used a wand of Ash, Unicorn hair, eleven inches... Hmm, he was a standard pure-blood wizard."
"Your mother was different. She preferred a wand of Aspen and Dragon Heartstring."
He raised his head and looked directly into Kate's eyes. "Your appearance is very like your father's, but inside, you seem more similar to your mother."
If it were an ordinary young wizard hearing that they were like their parents, they would mostly be happy.
But for Kate, who had transmigrated at the age of one or two and had almost no deep impression of her parents, it was different.
Calmly retracting her hand, she smiled. "Thank you for telling me about my parents, but I think I am still more like myself."
"Oh, of course."
Ollivander glanced at her eyes with slight surprise, then turned and climbed up the ladder to pull out a long box.
"I am very glad you have such awareness. If that is the case, then this wand should like you very much."
He took out a white wand and handed it over.
The moment Kate took the wand, she felt something in the blood vessels throughout her body flow joyfully.
And the wand in her hand responded accordingly, igniting a small firework in the room.
"A wonderful combination. Twelve inches, Chestnut and Dragon Heartstring." Ollivander rubbed the back of his hand happily.
Kate looked at the wand in her hand, perplexed.
Magic. Aside from the rather unpleasant memories created when she was infused with fifty years of mana, this was the first time she felt its real existence.
"Miss Shafiq, just like you, the nature of Chestnut is like a blank sheet of paper, with almost no inclination."
"Depending on the wand core, the characteristics of a Chestnut wand also differ; depending on the owner's personality, the wand's color differs as well."
"And Dragon Heartstring can produce the most powerful wands, capable of casting the most flamboyant magic, and the speed of learning magic is also faster than other types."
"However, although a Dragon Heartstring wand itself does not incline towards dark magic, it is the type of wand most easily turned to dark magic."
Ollivander paused, his silvery-white eyes looking deeply at Kate.
"Miss Shafiq, you are currently a young wizard who has not yet learned, just like your wand—a blank sheet of paper."
" whatever appearance you grow into in the future, your wand will become that appearance as well."
Kate gently held the wand, feeling a strange power flowing between it and herself.
[Host has obtained an exclusive wand, binding in progress...]
[Binding successful!]
[Based on the characteristics of the Chestnut wand, the Host can upgrade it by using the wand to practice magic or duel with others.]
[Current Wand Output Power: 1]
[Current Wand Additional Attribute 1: Sustainable Growth]
This output power... what did that mean?
Associating it with some scenes from movies in her past life, Kate felt like she understood something.
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