Wade ultimately refrained from monopolising too much of Tom's time.
He let Tom go off shopping on his own and arranged to meet at the entrance to Diagon Alley at two o'clock in the afternoon.
As for why he had invited Tom along, it was so that Tom could become familiar with these pure-blood families.
Wade hoped that Tom would be able to help him in the future and act as his representative when dealing with such people.
Tom had a point earlier. What kind of Dark Lord spent his time figuring out how to make money personally?
By the same logic, what kind of Dark Lord personally handled all the negotiations and social manoeuvring with these people?
After finishing his ice cream, Tom left. Hagrid, meanwhile, continued staring foolishly at Alduin.
As for the conversation Wade and Tom had just had, and the strange silence that followed the Whispering Charm, Hagrid hadn't noticed a thing.
"Hagrid, you seem to like magical creatures a lot?" Wade asked.
"Yeah! I love them... Growing up, nobody wanted to play with me, so I had to go into the forest and play with the magical creatures instead. Dad used to oppose it, but after he once saw me getting along peacefully with a Tebo, he stopped interfering..." The moment magical creatures came up, Hagrid became positively talkative.
Wade had serious doubts about the accuracy of Hagrid's definition of "getting along peacefully."
As far as he knew, the Tebo was a XXXX-class dangerous creature. It was bad-tempered, extremely tough, and even capable of turning invisible.
If Wade remembered correctly, sometime in the future, a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor whose name he couldn't quite recall would end up being gored to death by a Tebo in the Forbidden Forest after completing his one-year tenure...
And yet Hagrid claimed he had "gotten along peacefully" with one.
Thinking of Hagrid's usual straightforwardness and rough approach to things, Wade could almost picture the scene.
Hagrid's father witnessing his son physically subduing a Tebo with his bare hands while smiling cheerfully and claiming they were getting along perfectly.
There was no doubt about it. Half-giants might not have the hide of a Tebo, but their strength was absolutely terrifying, even before reaching adulthood.
"So, Hagrid, since you know so much about magical creatures, do you happen to know where one could buy a carriage?" Wade asked casually.
Visiting pure-blood families like the Malfoys required a certain amount of style.
Neither he nor Tom could legally Apparate in public without licences, and they certainly couldn't walk all the way to the Malfoy estate.
Besides, Andrews' carriage wasn't exactly presentable. It would require considerable modifications before it could be used for such occasions.
And with Andrews and the others currently looking for a place to settle, the carriage was needed anyway.
So Wade intended to buy a new carriage, preferably a luxurious one. Though an ordinary one would do as well. He could always modify it himself.
Of course, if buying one wasn't possible, renting one temporarily would be fine.
After all, clothes make the man, and tack makes the horse.
Whenever dealing with pure-blood families, appearances mattered.
"Buying a carriage? There's a shop at the far end of Diagon Alley that sells them," Hagrid said, raising his head with a simple smile. "But we probably won't be able to buy one, especially if it comes with Thestrals or Abraxan horses. There are loads and loads of documents needed, and all of them have to be approved by the Ministry. The seller won't hand over the carriage until they see the permits. Kids like us won't get those signatures from the Ministry. Though if you're only buying the carriage itself and not the magical creatures to pull it, the paperwork's much simpler."
Wade nodded.
That made perfect sense. It was much like how minors couldn't buy cars.
Under normal circumstances, legally obtaining a carriage by himself would be difficult. At the very least, he'd have to wait until he came of age.
Alternatively, he could simply have an adult wizard with the proper documents purchase one on his behalf.
But that was the conventional approach, and Wade had never been particularly fond of doing things conventionally.
Besides, after chatting with Hagrid for a while, he had learned quite a bit about the regulations concerning carriages and magical creatures.
In truth, the Ministry's rules regarding carriage purchases were far from perfect.
Unlike buying a car, where each vehicle had a registration number, purchasing a carriage in the wizarding world only required showing the proper documents to the dealer.
No one cared who actually made the purchase, and once sold, the carriage itself wasn't registered with the Ministry.
After all, for wizards, a carriage was much like a house. Once one understood the principles involved, it could be built with magic.
The reason permits were required at all was because the creatures pulling the carriages were magical creatures, and the regulations existed mainly to protect them.
And in this era, the Ministry's protection of magical creatures was far from comprehensive.
It struggled even to curb smuggling and poaching, let alone effectively manage creatures used to pull carriages.
At most, the Ministry could limit the use of Extension Charms and other relatively insignificant measures to suppress such activities.
But aside from catching offenders in the act, the Ministry had few effective means of uncovering these crimes.
Otherwise, Newt wouldn't have been able to wander around so openly with a suitcase full of magical creatures.
In the end, it all came down to the convenience of magic.
Everything had its advantages and disadvantages.
After chatting with Hagrid for a while longer, Wade bid him farewell.
As he left, Hagrid kept looking wistfully at the "Hungarian Horntail" resting on Wade's shoulder.
Apparently, the big fellow's fondness for dragons had already taken root during his childhood.
After parting ways with Hagrid, Wade merged into the crowds of Diagon Alley before slipping into a secluded corner.
A moment later, the person who emerged was an utterly ordinary-looking man.
After quietly putting on a mask, he headed straight into Knockturn Alley.
If something could be found in Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley would have it as well.
And if Diagon Alley didn't have it...
Knockturn Alley would never disappoint.
After wandering around for a while, Wade came upon a particularly filthy shop.
It had no signboard. Instead, a dried troll's head hung above the entrance.
Its shrivelled face was twisted into a hideous expression.
That indicated the shop dealt in poached materials and many live magical creatures.
That was the style of most establishments in Knockturn Alley. Shops like Borgin and Burkes were actually the exception.
"What're you buying?" asked an ugly old witch, seated in a rocking chair by the entrance and puffing on a pipe.
Wade suspected she might have some hag blood in her. Otherwise, why did she look so much like an old crone?
"Do you have any Abraxans?" Wade asked.
"Sure do. Five hundred Galleons apiece," the old witch answered casually.
"Too expensive," Wade said calmly. "Wild Abraxans aren't worth that much."
Magical creatures captured by poachers were all wild and notoriously difficult to tame.
Under normal circumstances, Dark wizards who came here to buy magical creatures only intended to slaughter them for materials.
Only already-tamed creatures could command high prices. But in a place like Knockturn Alley, it was difficult to find truly domesticated magical creatures. More often than not, they sold untamed animals to you at the price of trained ones.
The old witch now realised she was dealing with someone knowledgeable. She raised her head to look Wade over and casually said, "Those ones are trained. Untamed Abraxans are three hundred Galleons each."
"Take me to see them first," Wade said.
The old witch struggled to her feet.
"Hmph. You'd better buy them in the end! Otherwise..."
Before she could finish her threat, she suddenly stopped and her expression became vacant...
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