Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 437 Sirius Black in the Break the Dead Bar
In the following days, fewer foreigners came to the wand shop, and Siron was finally no longer required to stay behind the counter.

Garrick gave him a new workspace, where Siron now spends more time making wands.

If possible, he hopes to complete all current orders before the start of the school term.

Because when school starts again he will be in fifth grade, and will soon face his first important exam—OWL (Ordinary Wizard Level Exam). With that comes an even heavier academic workload.

Although Siron didn't care about this—he could take over Ollivander's Wand Shop smoothly after graduation even without a certificate—the professors wouldn't give him a chance to slack off.

The results of the OWL exams determine Hogwarts' ranking among international magic schools. As one of the oldest magic schools in the world, with a history spanning over a thousand years, a low ranking would be quite unsightly.

Therefore, professors still attach great importance to students' grades, which is the main reason why most students feel increased pressure when they enter the fifth grade.

Even the daily class time has been moved up by an hour. Before, they would have class at nine in the morning and could sleep until eight-thirty to have breakfast in the auditorium.

But when they got to fifth grade, they had to start class at eight o'clock. Fred and George even reminded Sillen that many students who had just entered fifth grade would be late because they couldn't get up in the morning. The first two times they would be penalized with points, but the third time they would be put in detention.

As for why Fred and George knew so much... Siren didn't ask, and they didn't say.

In short, he will definitely be very busy after school starts.

In addition, there's Voldemort. Whether he's after Harry's blood or for some other reason, he probably won't do nothing after he comes back online.

It's all troublesome... I wonder if Dumbledore is truly prepared.

Xilun shook his head, took a sip of water, and then opened the notebook in front of him again.

One advantage of having multiple orders is that you don't need to spend extra time searching for a staff that matches your hair. Just run the staff over each different strand of hair, and you'll always find the right one.

This is much faster than making just one.

……

On Friday morning, as usual, Xilun went downstairs to open the shop, planning to first go to the Leaky Cauldron for a butterbeer to perk himself up and have breakfast.

Although Garrick did make breakfast, and it was authentic British-style bean bread, Celan really didn't like it; he preferred to eat the garlicky Leak Cauldron.

He has been doing this all these past few days of holiday.

However, at the Leaky Cauldron bar, he ran into an acquaintance.

"Sirius?"

Sirius Black, sitting at the counter drinking whiskey, looked on in surprise and quickly went over to him.

"Have you finished your own business?"

"Ah, busy, all done." Sirius looked up, and for a moment, a hint of panic flashed across his face.

"Harry, how's Harry doing lately?" he asked, changing the subject.

But before Siren could speak, he answered his own question, saying, "He must have been very disappointed that I didn't pick him up at King's Cross Station that day."

Sirius sighed, tilted his head back, and drank half of the whiskey in his glass.

“It was alright. He was indeed very disappointed at the time,” Xilun said. “But he came to his senses later and realized that you must have important things to do, so he wasn’t so disappointed anymore.”

Sirius didn't say anything, he just tilted his head back and drank the rest of the whiskey.

“I didn’t actually have anything important to say, but Dumbledore said…” he suddenly said, though his voice was very soft. And given the constant commotion in the Leaky Cauldron, Sirius didn’t hear the last part. “Professor Dumbledore, what did he say?”

"No, it's nothing." Sirius quickly shook his head.

"Actually, I came here to see you," he said, changing the subject again.

"Find me?"

“That’s right, I found out you were coming to the Leaky Cauldron for breakfast this morning, so I came here early to wait for you,” Sirius said.

Xilun narrowed his eyes. Had his whereabouts become so easy to find out?
But thinking about it, it makes sense. With the Triwizard Tournament and the long lines outside Ollivanders wand shop a few days ago, he's become a celebrity in Diagon Alley.

But it's not a good thing that your whereabouts can be found out so easily.

Looks like I'll have to find a different place to have breakfast next time... He remembered there was a fried chicken shop on Charing Cross Road outside Diagon Alley, but Muggle shops definitely don't accept Sickles and Nate, so he'd have to exchange some pounds beforehand.

“If you have time, I would like to invite you to my home.” Sirius, unaware of what Sirius was thinking, continued when Sirius remained silent, “I’ve wanted to invite you for a while, but before, in order to cooperate with… or rather, to thank Dumbledore for running around for me, I promised him something a few days ago and only got back yesterday.”

"Because of those escaped Death Eaters?" Siron asked curiously.

“That’s right.” Sirius didn’t hide anything. “Alastor and I have been looking for them.”

"And then, was it found?"

“No.” Sirius shook his head. “They’re cunning; they always manage to leave before us. Alastor thinks the two of us are too few and we need support from the Ministry of Magic.”

"We came back this time because of this, but I'm not familiar with the Ministry of Magic, so Alastor went there by himself. I happened to have nothing to do, so I thought I'd invite you to my home."

“There’s no rush to be a guest,” Celen said, his expression gradually becoming strange as he thoughtfully added, “Are you sure Professor Moody will be alright on his own?”

As a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, Alastor Moody's direct involvement in dangerous operations like capturing Death Eaters made Siren feel uneasy.

“Don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking. Alastor is an old hand. He couldn’t even handle Mystic when he was alive, let alone that elusive curse,” Sirius said, seemingly very confident in Moody.

"In fact, we encountered many dangers along the way, all of which Alastor resolved thanks to his extensive experience."

"Besides, we've only come to the Ministry of Magic seeking support; what danger could we possibly face?"

Xilun thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case.

"What about you? If you have time, how about we set off now?" Sirius invited again.

Xilun thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

He's been making wands quite fast lately, already completing a third of them. At this rate, he should be able to finish them before school starts, so taking a short break won't hurt.

"Should we go back and tell your grandfather?" Sirius asked.

“No need,” Siron said, then asked Old Tom for a piece of parchment, folded it into a paper airplane, and threw it out.

The next second, the paper airplane wobbled and flew towards Ollivander's wand shop.

……

(End of this chapter)