The Red haired woman pt.1

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Perseus asked looking around at the famous place, Bailey was talking about. Perseus was still feeling a bit nauseous from the apparition they just took.

The place, Leaky Cauldron, was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A group of men was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter reminded Perseus how the wizarding world here differs from the one in America except for the drunk people, of course.

"Yes, this is indeed the place, Master." Bailey said, "Please follow me."

Saying that Bailey led Perseus through the crowd of drunk old people, to out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeks.

"After this..." Bailey looked confused and stuck as she stared at the wall, "Should we just apparate through, master?"

"Apparate?" Perseus asked just getting busy thinking about it, "Is there any other way, we can get there?"

"We can go through the passage from within the wall, but Bailey forgot the sequence to activate the magic," Bailey said with her head bent down.

"I think we should go ask someone from the inside to help us open the door," Perseus said as he was about to turn back when he saw someone else come in.

It was a haughty-looking woman with wavy red hair and blue eyes. Dressed for practicality yet with a wizarding flair, she wore a long-sleeved brown shirt and matching trousers, and a blood-red waistcoat that was shorter at the back than on the front. She wore a black robe, on which an ornamental eye of Horus was pinned, boots and white gloves, as well as two light brown belts across her waist, which held a leather holster to hold her wand.

The dress the woman wore reminded Perseus of his sister as he kept looking at her sure that he had seen her before. Noticing his gaze, the woman looked at him as well. She looked at him from top to bottom interested in what a kid was doing here. From the outside, he was wearing a muggle clothing making him look like a muggle-born but at the same time he had an elf with him and most importantly he was alone.

"Hogwarts?" The woman asked, "I thought the school season hadn't started yet."

"It hasn't." Perseus replied calmly forgetting for a second he was a kid, "But I thought I should do a bit of early shopping."

"I see, so where are your parents, kid?" The woman asked.

"Perseus Walker, and as for my parents they are out busy," Perseus said as he realized how the current situation looked like from an outside perspective, but looking at the women he didn't feel like she wanted to harm him anyway "Can you help me get inside? My elf has forgotten how to open the passage."

"I see. Perseus Walker, no wonder I thought I recognized you before." The woman said, "I didn't know the heir of the famous Walker family, would be a wizard."

"I could say the same thing about you." Perseus said, "I think I have seen you before."

"Oh have you now?" The woman smiled, "Even better then, I guess I should leave you to find who I am before I introduce myself."

The woman then walked in front making sure Perseus could see her, she tapped at certain bricks in a sequence and three times at a particular brick. The brick she had touched quivered -- it wriggled -- in the middle, a small hole appeared -- it grew wider and wider -- a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for a giant to enter, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome," said the woman, "to Diagon Alley, Perseus Walker."

Perseus was amazed as he looked around but not quite so, after all, he had seen stuff like these before.

"I see, hard to earn your appreciation, isn't it?"

Perseus just shrugged as they began walking down the archway.

"So what are you, a pure-blood, muggle-born?"

"A half, I guess," Perseus said.

"No wonder." The woman said looking at Bailey, "Well, it was nice meeting you kid but my destination has arrived."

She said pointing at an old potion store at the corner of the street, "Good potions there if you need any."

"I see, Thanks." Perseus thanked the woman, "By the way who are you?"

"Nice try, but as I said you should figure it out on your own." The woman said, "And if you do, don't be afraid to say hello."

Saying that the woman went away leaving the two behind as Bailey and Perseus carried on their journey through the series of shops that had several different advertisements written in them. The street was busy but moreover what was more interesting was that the items in the shops.

There were potion shops, that sold beautification potions. Then there were shops that sold knives and weird-looking shoes said to have a bouncy effect. Glasses that worked like binoculars.

It had been a long while since Perseus had visited such places, so he was amused and most importantly he felt like home.

"We are here," Bailey said pointing at the narrow and shabby shop in front of them. Peeling gold letters over the door read, Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Bailey sat on to wait. Perseus looked around the place being reminded of the old times, as he curiously looked at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. Walking over to the front desk, Perseus knocked on the table a couple of times, as he saw a man's silhouette.

"Ah! I thought I heard someone." An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop, he carefully looked at Perseus for a while as he said, "I am sorry but we don't sell wands till the school season has started."

"Don't worry I am eleven so I should be legally allowed by a wand, shouldn't I?"

"Oh, of course." The man who Perseus presumed to be one of the Ollivanders nodded, "Then would you like to try some of our wands then?"

"No." Perseus shook his head as he looked over at the confused Ollivander, "I came here because I have heard for years that the Ollivanders are the best wand-makers in Europe."

"Of course, my family has been running this shop for ages, after all." Ollivander said, "But since you don't want to buy a wand, is there something else I can help you with."

"Yes," Perseus said as he took a parchment from his jeans pocket and handed it to Ollivander, "I want my wand made with a ceremony."

Ollivanders eyes shined brightly as he opened the parchment and read through the material and process of making this wand. It was something new and something he had never heard before. Being a wand-maker for centuries, he was fascinated by something he had never seen before. But he realized that the information was incomplete or rather the boy in front of him wanted to have a deal.

"This..."

"I know it's incomplete." Perseus said as he evaluated Ollivander to be the best choice for his wand to be built, the glitter in the old man's eyes was enough for Perseus to know that the person had passion for what he was doing, "But don't worry, I have the full instructions with me."

"It's all in here," Perseus said tapping into his head, "From the information, I have given you I am sure you're aware that this is something special. So I have a deal for you. Make me the wand the way I want it to and I'll give you my family's secret wand-making technique."

"I am sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"Percy Peverell." Perseus gave a pseudo name, which was technically correct so it didn't matter.

Hearing the name Peverell, Ollivanders eyes opened wider than it previously was as he stared at Perseus for a while until he figured that Perseus didn't seem to be lying.

"But this is too precious."

"My wand is precious to me." Perseus said, "And besides the art in my family is long dead, so having it around again wouldn't be too bad either."

"But I can't... this is still too precious," Ollivander said again.

"Fine, as you can see the material for the wand are quite expensive and rare, so how about you do this for free." Perseus said, "And if you're still going to refuse, then I might have to find myself another wandmaker."

Ollivander stood straight, as he shook his head, "I agree to make the wand and do the ceremony but are you sure this is alright."

"This is what my sister used to have her wand made, so I am sure it will work for me as well." Perseus said, "Don't worry, remembering things is one thing I am good at."

Ollivanders nodded as he carefully looked over at the parchment again, "But this is really something else. Most wands I built are based on the principle that the wand chooses the wizard but..."

"This is the exact opposite?" Perseus said, "How could it not be, after all, do you think the Elder wand was made to exist so it could choose its owner. Of course not, if that was the case then never in a million years will someone be able to find the true successor for the Elder wand."

Ollivander nodded as Perseus continued.

"The principle of the Peverell family is that the wands are made for the wizard, not the other way around. Though the wands tend to act differently after the owners have passed away. Some explode, some fade away and some like the Elder wand stick around."

"I see." Ollivanders nodded, "This is truly something else."

"So old man, do you think you can make me this wand."

"I think so." Ollivanders nodded, "But it will take some time for me to gather the ingredients, after all, they all are rare and then there is this particular problem."

"What is it?"

"Most wands don't use runes to support themselves so I have never learned much so we would need to find a person efficient in rune making to complete the wand as well."

Perseus nodded as he remembered at the time when his sister's wand was being built, his father was the one who had finished the wand by planting a rune. After all, most wandmakers were weak in rune magic and overall Alchemy.

"Fine, you can gather the ingredient and I'll look for a good Alchemist or someone proficient in Runes."

(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ