Inside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, the Nicholas family's grand magical shopping trip temporarily collapsed into dessert.
"All right, hurry up," Stoke said, glancing at the list in his hand. "We only have one thing left to buy—your wand. Professor McGonagall may already be waiting for us at Ollivanders."
He spoke as though he were the responsible adult urging everyone onward, but the effect was slightly ruined by the fact that he had just taken the final bite of his Exploding Strawberry ice cream with obvious satisfaction.
Leo stared at him.
Then he looked at Rose, who was nearly finished with her own cone.
Both parents looked back at the half-eaten ice cream in his hand.
Leo immediately understood.
"No."
He dropped a few Sickles on the table, held his ice cream protectively, and walked out first.
Behind him, Stoke and Rose exchanged a look before bursting into laughter.
This, apparently, was one of the joys of having children.
Leo heard them laughing and couldn't help smiling as he continued down the street. He ate while walking, his eyes drifting over the magical stalls and strange shopfronts around him.
In truth, although he had lived two lives and his combined mental age was probably close to his parents', he had not experienced much ordinary family warmth before. In his previous life, he had been raised by his grandfather and spent most of his time practising family sleight-of-hand techniques and stage magic.
His parents had rarely been around.
But in this life, he had a father who adored him and a mother who nearly smothered him with affection.
It wasn't bad.
Actually, it felt rather good.
Of course, he was currently only eleven years old and barely one metre fifty. His short legs couldn't compete with two adults for long, so his parents soon caught up.
Before Leo could complain, Rose scooped him up and kissed his cheek.
"Mum!"
"What?" she asked innocently. "You're still small enough to carry. That means I'm allowed."
Stoke walked beside them pushing the luggage, smiling brightly at the sight of his wife and son bickering. The family continued through Diagon Alley in high spirits until they reached a small, shabby-looking shop on the south side of the street.
Above the door hung a peeling gold sign.
Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C.
In the dusty window, a single wand rested on a faded purple cushion.
Before they entered, a familiar emerald-robed figure came striding toward them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas, my apologies," Professor McGonagall said briskly. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting."
"Not at all," Stoke replied. "We only just arrived."
"Excellent timing, then." McGonagall's expression softened slightly as she looked at Leo. "Let's choose a wand for Mr. Nicholas."
They stepped inside together.
The shop was much smaller than Leo expected. There was only a narrow counter, a long bench in one corner, and countless thin boxes piled from floor to ceiling. The walls looked less like shelves and more like fortresses built entirely from wands.
A faint smell of wood, dust, and something ancient lingered in the air.
Then a voice emerged from between the shelves.
"Nine and a half inches. Fir. Dragon heartstring. Rigid."
An elderly man with pale hair, bright silvery eyes, and a khaki suit stepped out of the narrow aisle holding a measuring tape.
"Minerva McGonagall," he said with a small smile. "It has been some time. And this must be the new Hogwarts student."
"Yes, Mr. Ollivander," McGonagall replied.
Leo stepped forward and examined the famous wandmaker in front of him.
Garrick Ollivander.
The man looked harmless at first glance, but Leo knew better than to underestimate him. A person capable of crafting wands for generations of British witches and wizards could not possibly be ordinary. Without deep magical knowledge and terrifying experience, nobody could create tools that responded directly to a wizard's soul and magic.
Ollivander leaned closer, his silver eyes studying Leo with unnerving focus.
"Black hair. Bright green eyes. Slender arms. Interesting."
He raised the measuring tape.
"Now, young man, which is your wand hand?"
Leo could actually use both hands quite well thanks to the training from his previous life, but after a moment of thought, he extended his right hand.
"My right."
The measuring tape sprang to life at once.
It measured his palm, arm, shoulder width, height, and even parts of his leg that Leo was fairly sure had nothing to do with wand use. Ollivander seemed completely absorbed in the process, muttering occasionally under his breath.
At last, he waved his own wand.
A box flew from the wall.
Ollivander opened it and drew out a dark brown wand.
"Acacia. White River Monster spine. Fourteen and a quarter inches. Powerful and elegant."
Leo accepted the wand and gave it a light wave.
Nothing happened.
Not even a breeze.
"No," Ollivander said immediately, taking it back. "Not for you."
Another box opened.
"Hazel. Werewolf hair. Ten inches. Very sensitive."
Leo waved this one.
A blood-red flash burst from the tip.
For one strange second, everyone's vision blurred crimson before returning to normal.
Ollivander snatched the wand away.
"No, no. It resists you."
After that, the real trial began.
"Holly... no."
"Ebony and dragon heartstring... no."
"Blackthorn... no, not that either."
"Jujube... curious, but no."
Wand after wand passed through Leo's hands. Some sparked weakly. Some did nothing. One made a shelf rattle so violently that Rose grabbed Stoke's sleeve in alarm.
Time dragged on.
Leo's excitement gradually faded into boredom.
"Haa..."
He covered his mouth and yawned.
At that exact moment, a box shot out from a dark corner of the aisle and landed in Ollivander's hands.
The wandmaker froze.
"Oh?"
He opened the box with unusual care.
Inside lay a wand unlike any of the others.
Ollivander lifted it slowly.
"Willow," he murmured. "The core is the tailbone of a Fire Anaconda, acquired years ago from a magical craftsman of Eastern Europe. Ten and a half inches. Mysterious. Powerful."
Leo reached out.
The instant his fingers closed around the wand, a strange clarity spread through his mind.
The wand was black, but a pale, jade-like bone seemed to run within it, encased by the dark wood like a rib structure. From a distance, it resembled a black dragon coiled around a white pillar. In shape, it also reminded Leo of an old judge's brush from his previous life.
It felt steady.
Cold.
Sharp.
For some reason, Leo had the absurd feeling that if anyone ever got too close, this wand would be equally useful for poking them in the ribs.
Close range and long range.
Perfect.
Ollivander's silver eyes shone with fascination.
"I think this is the wonder of nature," he said softly. "Yes. This suits you very well. I believe you may become a wise and powerful wizard one day."
Leo looked down at the wand in his hand.
He had liked it the moment he saw it.
No, more than liked it.
It felt like his.
"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander," Leo said seriously. "I'll use it well."
In his heart, he had already given it a name.
Judgment.
Because it resembled a judge's brush.
Because it felt like something that recorded, decided, and punished.
Ollivander's expression shifted into a very businesslike smile.
"That will be ten Galleons."
At the counter, Professor McGonagall explained that such a low price was only possible because Hogwarts covered part of the cost for new students' first wands. Otherwise, rare wand materials could easily cost far more.
After paying, the group left Ollivanders.
The moment they stepped back into Diagon Alley, Leo's stomach let out a loud rumble.
Stoke and Rose both looked down at him.
Then they burst into laughter.
"It seems our magical journey ends here today," Stoke said.
Rose immediately declared that they were going to have a proper meal and invited Professor McGonagall to join them. Unfortunately, McGonagall politely declined, saying she had other matters to attend to.
After saying goodbye to her, the Nicholas family passed back through the Leaky Cauldron and returned to the ordinary side of London.
They found a restaurant in the city and ate a hearty meal before finally driving home.
Although Stoke and Rose couldn't use magic themselves, they had bought several magical tools out of sheer curiosity. Even if they couldn't cast spells, watching their son use them was more than entertaining enough.
The trip home took more than two hours.
It should have been only one hour, but a traffic accident on the road caused a long delay. By the time they returned to Nicholas Manor, everyone was tired but still excited.
That evening, the living room became the site of another family experiment.
The old Nicholas couple, Stoke, Rose, and Leo all gathered around the coffee table.
On the table sat four small crystal vials.
Each vial contained a magical beauty potion that Rose had purchased from Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions in Diagon Alley.
To the adults, these were irresistible treasures.
After all, who didn't want to become younger, more attractive, and better looking? Age and gender didn't matter when vanity was involved.
As for Leo, he was mainly curious.
In his previous life, preserving youth required an absurd amount of money, effort, and medical intervention. Yet here, a small bottle of magical potion claimed to produce visible results almost immediately.
Even if he would eventually study this knowledge properly at Hogwarts, seeing the effect in advance was worthwhile.
The first person to drink was Stoke.
After all, two nights earlier, following Snape's departure, the old patriarch had formally passed the title of family head to him. That meant Stoke was now officially responsible for testing suspicious magical cosmetics first.
Under everyone's eager gaze, Stoke picked up one of the crystal vials, tilted his head back, and drank the potion.
The effect came quickly.
Within minutes, his complexion improved. His skin became clearer, his face looked more energetic, and even the slight thinning around his hairline seemed to darken and fill in.
Stoke touched his face in disbelief.
"How is it? Does it work?"
Rose stared at him for one second.
Then she grabbed her own potion and drank it immediately.
Grandpa and Grandma Nicholas followed almost at the same time, each taking a vial before anyone could change their minds.
Leo watched the changes with great interest.
Rose's already youthful face became fairer and more delicate, and the faint stress lines from years of legal work vanished almost completely. His grandparents changed the most dramatically. Their white hair and beards turned much darker, and their faces appeared noticeably fresher and younger.
Of course, this was not true rejuvenation.
The potion only restored appearance and improved skin, hair, and complexion. It did not truly reverse aging or extend life.
For that, ordinary beauty potions would never be enough.
Those effects would require far stronger magic, or perhaps certain legendary magical items.