The Rise of Harry Potter

Although, Adrian could use another trunk, the one he had owned was, according to his understanding, buried under ash and remnants of a collapsed building.

"Mice!" Lutain hissed, writhing excitedly towards the depths of Knockturn alley, undoubtedly ravenous for anything he could get.

Adrian sighed, glancing once more down the busy streets of Diagon before smoothly turning and walking into the much darker alleyways of Knockturn.

Lutain slithered out, finding his place of comfort around Adrian's neck. His presence proved intimidating and almost immediately several old hags with greedy looks backed away frightened. Lutain's sharp fangs and loud hiss deterred most creatures.

Adrian absentmindedly ducked under one side stall advertising loudly about what looked like engraved skulls- a few even looked human.

"I want to check the bookstore," Adrian hissed lowly, the action didn't seem that strange with the collection of vampires in the area. "Would you like to get the mice first?"

"After," Lutain decided, flicking his tongue curiously. "Mice make me slow."

It was true, Lutain tended to lapse into a near comatose though happy state of mind after a large meal.

Adrian turned the corner, walking past a loud pub called the White Wyvern and then past an archaic barber shop. A tall imposing store with cobweb-filled windows rested on the corner, large enough to stand out in the tightly packed Alley.

Cobb and Webb's was a large ambiguous store, selling books as well as other fascinating objects. Its book selection was vast and impressive, drawing Adrian's attention as it had on his first introduction to Knockturn Alley and multiple times after.

The storekeeper was an old man with pupiless white eyes, though that didn't inhibit his ability to see. He had a large smile, mouth extending a centimeter past the limits of a normal grin. Adrian did not know what sort of creature he was, nor did he particularly care.

Adrian was not alone in the store. He walked straight towards the bookshelves and past an uncomfortable older boy a few years Adrian's senior. The boy jumped, looking around paranoid before quickly returning to the book he had plucked from the shelf. Adrian could only assume that it was something most others would call illegal.

Adrian walked past, his shoes still gave the small clicking noise despite having been bought several years past. The sound was loud and quickly drew the older boy's paranoid eyes once again.

The bookshelf Adrian had visited before left him with a thick tome, a list of various spells although all were fairly neutral and unspecialized. Bellatrix had gotten him more books since then, casually filled with darker hexes and curses then anything Adrian would buy on his own.

He smiled at the shelf, recognizing the small cracks in the wood and the distinct prock marks he remembered. The shelf wasn't restocked, most of the books weren't purchased from a publisher to begin with. Most likely they were donated or sold from pure blood families, Adrian suspected there wasn't a single duplicate in the store.

"Master!" Lutain suddenly urged, poking up and out of his sleeve. His tongue flickered wildly, tasting the air hungrily. "I smell a rat."

Without any further cue Adrian lowered his arm and enabled Lutain to drop freely to the ground in pursuit of the vermin.

Adrian had been flipping through the pages of an interesting book on mind magics, when he heard a loud shout. Undoubtedly Lutain had scared the teenager who had been browsing a few rows over.

Adrian sighed, snapping his book shut in annoyance while he stomped towards the ruckus. Lutain was indeed scaring the teenager from earlier, putting on a dramatic show of hisses and tight coils.

The sadist was even laughing at how terrified the boy was, though only Adrian could understand it.

"Lutain," Adrian bit out, looking thoroughly frustrated as the teenager's head snapped in his direction. "Stop it. Find the rat or come here."

Lutain understood the gist of it, thankfully due to Adrian's tedious English lessons. Lutain returned to a low coil before he slithered out of sight. The teenager glared pointedly at Adrian, assuming that it was his fault the entire encounter happened.

"Lutain does what he wants," Adrian explained bluntly, the older boy sniffing annoyed.

"Well bloody banish the thing," he grumbled, trying to retain his composure, "Merlin knows how you conjured that with the trace- what are you, twelve?"

"Lutain is my familiar." Adrian's expression became slightly more standoffish. He didn't see a reason to correct this boy on his age.

"Oh? A familiar, eh?" The teenager said, perking up. He looked considering, before giving a rather wolfish grin. "You smuggle that into Hogwarts then?"

Adrian only blinked slowly.

"Tell you what," the teenager lowered to the floor, suddenly looking much more casual and comfortable given the situation. "That snake of yours could be useful. You too if you're venturing around here, given how young you are."

"It's not dangerous if you know what to do," Adrian cautioned, causing the boy to chuckle.

"True, the names Calum MacTuer. It could be useful to have someone helping with the goods, a uh, an incentive," said the teenager. The boy winked conspiratorially.

"You sell things at Hogwarts?" Adrian guessed. He was interested.

"Got it in one, mate, although some buyers don't want to cough up the coin."

"You want Lutain to make sure they pay," Adrian mused, his mind starting to understand the situation he was in. The fence of Hogwarts? It was terribly convenient to have contacts for stolen objects or potion ingredients.

"Hadrianus Selwyn," Adrian introduced. "Incoming first year."

"First year? Merlin that works out great," Calum's eyes were practically glowing with enthusiasm, though he was uncertain about something. "Hey, you related to those eh, that Selwyn family?"

"No," Adrian said simply. "It's a common surname."

Calum relaxed instantly, "good to know. Information is worth coin and coin makes you useful if you spend it right."

'You're rather dull, aren't you?' Adrian thought to himself, he'd give this Calum a few years after graduating before being arrested by the Aurors.

"Here." Calum struggled with his bag, Adrian was suddenly suspicious he was planning on stealing all the books anyways, and passed over a decently slim book. "That's all spells for business and trades. Good stuff there, mate."

Calum winked again. Did the teenager genuinely believe he ran some sort of...Hogwarts black market?

"I'll be in touch," Calum gave an intrusive pat on Adrian's shoulder, before rising and waltzing out of the library section, suddenly much more paranoid while walking towards the front of the store.

"The rat was the human," Lutain hissed, peering out from under the shelf.

"Calum was the rat?" Adrian blinked, glancing at his friend surprised. "Like Pettigrew?"

Lutain gave a low hiss of agreement, sliding under the shelves stealthily.

Calum was an Animagus. Wasn't that interesting…? Adrian doubted anyone knew that about the boy, given his profession. Being an Animagus did seem to be a useful ability...

"Lutain," Adrian hissed under his breath. "Come on."

Adrian turned and quickly walked around the around the rows of shelves, glancing down the aisles to try and find the tomes on wandless magic. He found them mixed with books on toxicology and natural poisons. Say what you would about Flourish and Blotts, they knew how to organise; while the selection in here was fantastic for the more… esoteric subjects, the organisation left a lot to be desired.

There were three books on the Animagus transformation. Adrian knew he didn't have enough gold on him at the time to actually purchase all of them, as well as what he'd come for and the book Calum gave him. He pulled out the cheapest of the three, before returning to the section he'd come from. He pulled a single, slim volume from the shelf. The name of which had been ingrained into his mind with airy high pitch sounds which left him shaking.

Occlumency.

"Let's get started."

....

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