Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 166: A peculiar duo of craftsmen
Lily followed behind Harry as they passed by many shady-looking shops, most of them closed. She only spotted a few people peeking through their windows as they walked by.
"This place will get very lively at night, but for now, it's mostly closed. Unless they see us as easy targets, they won't come out," said Harry.
"Easy targets?" Lily inquired.
"Ah… here it is." Harry took a turn to the right and into an even narrower passage.
Lily's shoulders were almost touching the walls as she passed, and someone bigger than her would have to walk sideways to get through. 'Why would anyone have a business here?...' she wondered.
After getting past the narrow passage, the area opened up a lot.
"What in Merlin's name?" She was not expecting to see this.
In the middle of a maze of stone brick buildings was a circular garden with a wooden fence and a fountain.
At the center of the garden were two stone houses built against each other. It looked like if you were to remove one, the other one would crumble.
"The one on the right is the shop; come on." Harry stepped forward and opened the wooden gate.
Lily took a closer look and noticed the wood had started to rot, and the garden was filled with growth, while the fountain looked like it hadn't seen water in centuries.
"This looks abandoned…" she commented.
"I doubt they care at this point," Harry told her.
Lily looked at the two houses; they were very similar, but the one on the left was in much worse shape and could collapse at any moment. She was surprised for this place to even exist here.
For what she had heard...this alley was even more dangerous than Knockturn Alley, and yet… this little house was allowed to take up all this space when everyone else had small shops and houses, crammed against each other.
She then stopped when she heard something crack beneath her feet. At first, she thought it was just a branch, but then she noticed its peculiar shape.
"Wait… isn't this?..."
"Oh… that's a broken wand," Harry said casually. "I'm sure there are plenty around this garden."
"You mean...?" Lily looked around the place, but it was hard to distinguish anything with so many overgrown plants.
"This is the best location in the alley, no… the best in the city and many miles around it. I'm sure that many had wanted to take this spot for themselves," Harry told his surprised mother.
"You are saying the shop owners killed them?"
"Of course. How else are they going to keep this location for so long?" Harry pointed at a stone plaque on top of the door before knocking.
Lily looked up at the plaque. It had the letters DCLXV carved on the stone.
"Six hundred and sixty-five?... is that the year this was built?" Many shops in Diagon Alley also had plaques with the year they started their business.
"But you said before this alley didn't exist until the twelfth century," Lily recalled.
The door opened by itself.
"Let's go." Harry stepped inside, and Lily followed behind him.
She was pleasantly surprised to find that the interior was well-kept and clean. It also looked much bigger inside compared to the small stone house she had seen.
"Bienvenidos!"
"¿En qué podemos servirles?"
Two elderly men wearing simple brown robes stood a few steps away from them.
"I need a staff. A good one," said Harry.
"Oh… British. I see."
"A staff, he says…."
The two of them looked at each other.
"Hello!" Lily greeted the men. "Wait… a staff? What do you need that for? You have a perfectly good wand already." Lily was confused.
She, of course, knew about staves and other kinds of foci, but Britain only allowed wands to be used, so you would not see them there.
"Oh, what a wonderful young witch."
"Beautiful! Absolutely delightful."
The two old men stared at Lily.
"Um… thanks?" Lily didn't know how to react to that.
"Would you stop staring at my mother so much?" Harry was getting annoyed.
"Forgive us."
"It's been so long since we have seen a young beautiful damsel like her."
"See, Harry? Your mother is still young and beautiful, even after three children." Lily had a smug smile on her face now.
"Let's get to business…" Harry sighed. "I need something that would allow me to channel a large amount of magic without disintegrating," Harry said.
"How large are we talking about?"
"Yes, it would help to know."
"About five Grand Sorceries." Harry answer.
The two old men went pale. "Five?!"
"Nonsense! He is speaking nonsense."
"Grand Sorceries?" Lily asked. She knew sorceries, but nothing that could be called grand.
"Big spells, usually cast by groups of wizards or witches working together," Harry answered.
"And five?...." Lily said.
Harry had estimated that the unnamed magic he used against the colossal basilisk was around that level. If he could acquire a magical foci that would not break after activating his jewel array, he would be gaining an important weapon.
He didn't know if that was possible. The staff he wielded in the past was incredibly good, but even those would break.
He never had another chance to ask this duo for another one before this country was destroyed.
"So you can't do it?...." He asked.
"Did we say that?"
"Nothing is impossible for us!" They huffed.
"But not of wood, that's for sure."
"Yes, it would need to be made of that particular metal… do we have any left?"
"I think so... we made one kind of similar three centuries ago, remember?"
"The one for the Syrian prince with the harem of virgin witches?"
"That one!... what happened to him?"
"I think he blew himself up…"
"And his harem?"
"Them too…"
"What a shame."
"A shame indeed."
"Can we focus?" Harry interrupted their rambling.
"Did they say three centuries ago?" Lily was barely following what they were saying, but she understood that.
"It can be done!"
"It will be expensive though."
"That's fine by me… what do you want?" Harry asked, already knowing that these two were not going to ask for money.
But he had a bad feeling when they glanced at his mother.
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