HP: Wormwood and Lightning Wood

With a screeching sound, the Knight Bus came to an abrupt stop.

West stood up abruptly, his fingertips gripping the railing pale. Harry, his eyes unfocused, slumped in the armchair.

Good heavens, if they had braked any later, their breakfast would have been served on the bus carpet. They swore they would never ride that magical bus again, unless they wanted to throw up!

The scenery outside the car window continued to twist and turn strangely due to inertia.

Snape, his robes billowing, stepped out of the carriage first. Harry quickly helped the exhausted West, and they almost staggered down the steps.

West leaned against Harry, taking in his surroundings.

They were standing on a bustling but ordinary street, with people coming and going around them, and occasionally a questioning look would fall on Snape, who was wearing a strangely styled black robe.

Snape's face darkened. He glared at the Potter brothers, lowered his voice, and said threateningly, "Keep up with me, Potters, gentlemen."

West and Harry followed closely behind Snape.

West guessed that Snape had brought them to buy books and equipment for Hogwarts, but where should they buy them? Everything here looked ordinary, no different from the streets they usually saw.

"Perhaps we'll enter a passage leading underground and reach the magical world," Harry muttered.

Snape stopped in front of a dirty, run-down little bar.

The entrance to this bar looked dark and deep, which was a bit creepy.

Snape took a few steps, then turned to look at the two brothers who were standing there hesitating. "If you're planning to use this idiot as an exhibit for Muggles," his voice dripped with venom from the Potter brothers' heads, "I suggest you head straight to St. Mungo's emergency room."

The two boys didn't understand what Muggles or St. Mungo were, but they understood the impatience in Snape's words. They pushed each other, then forced themselves to go inside.

It was so dark here. They followed Snape closely, past the bar, past a few men drinking from bottles and smoking long pipes, until they reached a small courtyard.

Snape tapped one of the bricks three times with his wand, and the bricks began to move, revealing a large hole and a street through which they could pass.

West heard Harry gasp in surprise.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley, Mr. Potters."

Harry's round eyes scanned the various novel and unfamiliar shops around him.

West seemed to realize something, and gave an embarrassed smile. "But Professor, should we buy it now? You probably know that Harry and I don't have any money."

He looked up at Snape, and two tiny Snape's reflections appeared in his emerald green eyes.

He did it on purpose. He's playing the victim. He and Harry really don't have any money. He wonders if the school has any subsidies or anything that could help them. West thought.

Harry knew West's usual tricks—he had the same look on his face when he told their teacher, the Dursleys, that they should live in the cupboard.

Harry, as West's closest brother, had learned most of West's trick. He obediently hid behind West, not intending to interfere with his brother's impromptu performance.

Snape turned his head away, avoiding West's watery eyes, and whispered, "You two foolish trolls, do you think your mother left you nothing?"

They came to a tall, snow-white building, and beside the bronze doors stood a "goblin." West and Harry couldn't resist observing this creature they had never seen before: it was a head shorter than them, with a dark face, pointed ears, and unusually long arms and legs.

As they entered, the fairy bowed to them and led them into the marble hall.

Snape said to a goblin sitting idly at the counter, "Excuse me, Mr. West Potter and Mr. Harry Potter would like to withdraw some money." He then took out a golden key and a letter and placed them on the counter.

"By the way, I've come to retrieve something that Headmaster Dumbledore kept in the vault at 713."

After the fairies carefully inspected the items, they asked a fairy named Pull Ring to lead them to the underground vault.

They rode in a small cart, winding through a maze-like underground passage for a long time—at one point West even saw a locked fire dragon—before finally arriving at a small door.

Pulling the ring opens the door, revealing piles of gold, silver, and copper coins inside.

West and Harry gasped, their emerald eyes widening in shock.

Is all of this theirs? It's unbelievable.

Under Snape's direction, the two quickly gathered two bags of money, enough for them to use for a year.

"You wait here," Snape instructed, then he and Pull-Hook got back onto the cart and went down into the deeper part of the ditch.

When they returned, West and Harry wanted to see what Snape had taken, but they saw nothing.

The three of them left Gringotts.

West pulled out the letter to check what he needed to buy. "First, we need to buy three sets of work robes."

Snape pointed his wand at Madam Malkin's Robes Shop. "If you two trolls could read labels, you'd better deal with those ridiculous robes yourselves."

He glared at Harry and said to West, "Don't keep me waiting. You don't want to know what happens next, do you?"

Harry watched Snape's departing figure, completely bewildered. "Why do I get the feeling he hates me more than you do, West?"

West chuckled and pulled Harry into the shop.

The short, plump Mrs. Malkin warmly welcomed them, had them stand on two footstools, and two witches came up to drape robes over them and fasten them with pins to fit their height.

A thin, pale, blond boy stood on a footstool on the other side. He was the first to greet them, "Hey, are you also new students at Hogwarts?"

He glanced at West's red curls and freckles, frowned, and said, "You're not from the Weasley family, are you?"

The boy's arrogant and smug demeanor reminded them of Dudley. The only difference was that the boy was much prettier than Dudley.

West raised an eyebrow and replied dismissively, "Yes, we're going to Hogwarts."

"I'm Harry Potter, and this is my brother, West Potter. He's not some Weasley!" Harry was very unhappy that West was mistaken for someone else and even had a different surname, so he quickly introduced himself.

"What! Harry Potter and West Potter!" The boy's grey-blue eyes suddenly lit up, and his pale face flushed red.

He jumped off the footstool, stretched out his hand, and said, "I am Draco Malfoy."

"Hello."

"Hello, Draco."

West and Harry each shook Draco's hand.

Draco noticed their calm expressions, showing no surprise at his surname. "You don't know Malfoy?"

"I'm sorry, Draco, should we know?" Harry asked, puzzled, uttering the coldest words in a gentle tone.

West was trying so hard to suppress his laughter that his stomach hurt.

"You!" Malfoy was indeed a little angry, a faint blush rising to his pale face. "No matter what, remember this: if you want to make friends, Malfoy is absolutely your best choice."

"Oh, well, Draco." Harry nodded seriously. "You're our first friend in the wizarding world."

Draco nodded with satisfaction upon hearing the answer he wanted.

"What are you three stupid trolls doing?" Snape's deep voice sounded behind the three.

Harry and West stood firmly, already used to Snape's elusive nature, and calmly turned around. "Professor, we're ready."

"Ah!" Draco was startled. He thought he was hallucinating. Otherwise, how could he hear the voice of the Potions professor who had tutored him during the holidays?

"Draco? Where are your parents?" Draco turned stiffly, and Snape was staring at him menacingly.

"Teacher! My dad is buying me books, and my mom went to the street to look for a magic wand..." He was startled, like a wilted little blade of grass.

"Go find your parents, hurry up."

"Yes, Professor!" Draco replied, mouthing the words to the Potter brothers, "See you next time."

Draco made a run for it as soon as he finished speaking.

Then, accompanied by Snape, the two (reluctantly) bought other necessities. West bought a black cat with blue eyes, while Harry bought a beautiful snow owl.

Finally, only the magic wand remained—this was the part they were most curious about.

Snape led the Potter brothers to a small, run-down shop.

As they entered the store, an old man stood behind the counter and gently greeted them, "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, sir," West and Harry replied.

"The Potter brothers, you've finally arrived. You look just like your father, and even more like your mother... You both have eyes just like your mother's." Mr. Ollivander rambled on, even reaching out to lift Harry's bangs and stroke the lightning bolt-shaped scar.

Harry was startled but managed not to dodge.

Guilt flashed in Ollivander's eyes, and he opened his mouth as if to say something.

"Enough. I didn't bring them here to catch up with you." Snape's gloomy face and icy tone made the air suddenly freeze.

West spoke up at the opportune moment, "Mr. Ollivander, would you please choose a wand for us?"

Ollivander quickly lowered his hand. "Alright, alright, let's see what kind of wand suits you best..."

Ultimately, Harry received a wand made of holly and phoenix feathers, while West received a wand made of lightning-struck wood and Thestral tail hair.

Ollivander exclaimed, "This is absolutely incredible..."

He first looked at Harry, "This wand, its brother's owner, left you with this scar... Is this fate?" His silver eyes turned to Snape in the shadows.

He stared blankly for a moment before looking at West. "This wand was made by my great-grandfather and has been in the shop for hundreds of years. You are the first person chosen."

"I believe you will achieve great things..."