Before Edward could rest after delivering the letter, he set off on another journey to a foreign country.
Watching Edward fly away with the letter tied to his leg, Ethan sighed, "Hope Camille talks about so serious matters in the next letter."
The reason he had given his address to Camille back then was also out of curiosity about Beauxbatons.
As one of the three major European magic schools, it must have its own strengths.
Just as Durmstrang had its own unique insights into war magic and dark magic, Beauxbatons' education in alchemy was the strongest among the three schools. After all, Nicolas Flal graduated from Beauxbatons and once taught there as a professor.
With the Beauxbatons textbooks he had bought from France lying open on the desk, Ethan read them with so difficulty.
This set of books was written in French. Ethan could barely read them, having to look up so words in the dictionary.
He had already read part of it while in France and felt that compared to Hogwarts' first-year curriculum, there was a high degree of similarity.
For example, the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them used in Care of Magical Creatures class was completely identical, just one in English and one in French.
As for textbooks used in other courses, the differences in content weren't very big either.
For Charms class, Hogwarts used The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, written specifically for the school by Miranda Goshawk, while Beauxbatons used textbooks compiled based on her early work Book of Spells.
Although the Trace was no longer tracking him, it still wasn't a good idea to cast magic at ho, so he could only study hard.
Early the next morning, Ethan knocked on the door of Cyril's villa.
"Finished breakfast?" asked Cyril, who opened the door himself like an ordinary old man.
"Mm." Ethan nodded and followed Cyril into the villa.
"Grandpa, are you done with your matters? I plan to go to Diagon Alley today to buy books needed for the new sester."
"Done. Yesterday exhausted my old bones." Cyril's tone was relaxed.
"That's great. Co with us in a while."
"Certainly, no problem. Bring the vault key; I'll take you to see the Shafiq family vault."
The three got into the car and drove toward the Leaky Cauldron, the entrance to Diagon Alley.
This was Ethan's third ti at the Leaky Cauldron. He casually pushed open the door and nodded to the bald barman behind the counter.
Scanning the bar out of habit, he suddenly froze. He saw the old hag from his first visit again.
The old hag was still the sa: yellowed teeth, hands like chicken claws. Hearing the door open, she looked up at the newcor. When she saw it was Ethan, her eyes lit up, and her gaze followed him as he walked.
"What's wrong?" Cyril sensed his hesitation.
Ethan whispered to Cyril, "That old hag over there has been staring at like that ever since I first ca here. Ran into her again today. A bit unlucky."
"Oh?" Cyril walked straight toward the old hag Ethan ntioned.
Thump, thump, he knocked on the table. "Don't stare at him with those disgusting eyes."
The unknown old witch lowered her head.
Seeing her reaction, Cyril couldn't say anything more threatening in that setting. He beckoned Ethan and Sofia to the backyard of the bar, tapped the bricks on the wall, and opened the passage to Diagon Alley.
"Will she really submit?" Although Sofia didn't know exactly what had happened, she felt things wouldn't end that simply.
"Hard to say. Best if she submits. If she really wants to trouble Ethan, I'll handle it too. Don't worry." Red light flashed in Cyril's eyes.
They first went to Flourish and Blotts to buy a complete set of Lockhart's bestsellers and a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2.
"By the way, Hermione told yesterday that our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is him." Ethan pointed to Lockhart's brightly smiling photo on the cover.
Cyril nodded thoughtfully. "Is that so? Then be careful of him; don't believe what he says. However, it's said that Defense Against the Dark Arts professors at Hogwarts generally don't fare well. Most don't last a full year before leaving for various reasons."
He didn't know if Dumbledore had arranged this deliberately, since the wizards whose achievents might have been stolen were also acquaintances of Dumbledore.
Afterward, the three arrived at Gringotts.
"To the Shafiq family vault," Cyril said, asking Ethan to take out the key and give it to the goblin in front for inspection.
The old goblin, wearing glasses, carefully examined the key Ethan handed over, glancing at his appearance from ti to ti.
"It is indeed the Shafiq family key." The old goblin handed the key back.
The old goblin said to a younger, balding goblin, "Griphook, bring the Clankers. I need to use them."
Griphook left quickly and returned shortly with a small leather bag that seed full of tal, clinking.
He jumped down from the high stool and disappeared behind the counter.
A mont later, he appeared at the end of the counter, running toward them.
"Please follow ." With a clinking sound, the old goblin bowed and led them toward a door in the hall.
Passing through the door, they entered a rough stone corridor, illuminated by burning torches.
The heavy door swung shut. The old goblin let out a whistle, and a small cart ca rattling along the tracks out of the darkness.
The goblin nad Cote invited the three of them to climb into the cart and sped deeper underground.
After a year of magical study, Ethan was no longer the person he had been before. To prepare for this situation, he had brewed a small bottle of Anti-Nausea Potion back at school and given Sofia a sip before they got into the cart.
The potion worked. Even though they reached depths they had never been before, Sofia didn't get sick, aside from looking a bit pale.
The small cart screeched to a halt after rounding a corner.
Before their eyes lood a giant grey-white dragon.
Ethan recognized it as a Ukrainian Ironbelly. He had glimpsed it from the cart in the passageway during his previous visits to Gringotts.
But standing right in front of it, you truly realized how massive this dragon was.
The dragon had heavy shackles on both hind legs, and due to long confinent underground, its scales, which should have been a bright gray, had turned pale and loose. Its eyes had beco a murky pink, no longer bright, but it was still extrely dangerous.
The dragon swung its head toward them and let out a roar.
Before it could breathe fire, Cote pulled tal instrunts out of his bag and shook them, producing a loud, crisp clanking sound.
"Everyone take one and shake it. We trained it from a young age; now as soon as it hears this sound, it associates it with pain and retreats." Cote handed the bag to the three of them while shaking his own, letting them each take one.
The four of them shook the Clankers. The noise echoed in the empty stone walls, superimposed and amplified many tis.
They advanced, and the giant dragon retreated.
Getting closer, Ethan saw the Ukrainian Ironbelly trembling. Obviously, the goblins' training from a young age had worked.
There were terrible scars on the dragon's face, presumably caused by goblins slashing it with unknown sharp weapons while shaking Clankers when it was young.
*Pavlov's dog*, Ethan thought silently.
There were only four or five vaults located in the deepest part of Gringotts guarded by the dragon itself. Cote led them toward one of them.
He asked Ethan for the key, inserted it into the keyhole, then pressed his hand on the vault door. About three seconds later, the door disappeared, revealing an opening.
By the dim light from the torches on the stone wall outside, Ethan saw countless Galleons and various gold and silver treasures in the vault.
Cote urged, "Go inside first; the door will reappear shortly."
The four walked into the vault, and sure enough, with a dull tallic thud, the door reappeared.
"Lumos." Cyril and Ethan's wands emitted light, illuminating the pitch-black vault.
Cyril found several torches on the vault walls and lit them. "This is the accumulation of the Shafiq family for a thousand years."
Galleons and Sickles were piled like mountains in the vault. Shelf after shelf was filled with gold and silver utensils, stacked from floor to ceiling. Chests of gold and jewelry were piled in the corners.
Sofia was admiring the ordinary jewels. Cyril glanced at them, confird they had no magic, and let her touch them freely.
"Look here, Ethan." Cyril walked to an inconspicuous wooden shelf.
"Those gold, silver, and jewels are nothing. These are the real treasures in the wizarding world." He opened a chest on top, but couldn't see what was inside.
Ethan leaned in and whispered, "Undetectable Extension Charm chest?"
"Mm, used to store so magical animal hides and other items not suitable for storage in the family ho." Cyril cast Muffliato.
Ethan understood. Cyril had said before that the things in Shafiq Manor were basically presentable; even if exposed, it wouldn't matter. Presumably, it was because the unpresentable things were hidden underground in Gringotts.
After all, even if soone really found sothing at Gringotts, one could explain it away by saying soone wanted to fra them and deliberately bribed a goblin to put it there.
Cote looked greedily at everything in the vault but didn't dare make a move.
Ethan didn't go to his own vault. He took so Galleons and Sickles from here for his expenses this school year, and also selected so gold and silver utensils from the pile of antiques, intending to put them at ho as decorations.
Seeing Sofia glance from ti to ti at a ruby ring and a sapphire necklace, Ethan knew she liked them but was too embarrassed to take them, since they were Shafiq property after all.
Without a word, Ethan took the ring and necklace and handed them to Sofia.
Sofia glanced at Cyril and, seeing that he didn't object, happily put the ring on her finger and removed her pearl necklace, replacing it with the sapphire one.
"Does it look good?" Sofia asked Ethan.
"Of course it looks good. Mom looks good in everything." Ethan was sweet as honey.
"Alright, let's go." There wasn't anything particularly necessary to take from the vault.
Cote opened the door from the inside using the key and his authority. The group passed the dragon again, shaking the Clankers.
"Safe travels, valued guests." The cart went up to the surface. Cote saw the three to the Gringotts entrance and bowed in farewell.
After coming out of Gringotts, they first bought new robes and beauty potions for Sofia, then purchased enough stationery and dicinal ingredients.
Finally, Ethan bought so owl treats for Edward at the owl shop, and the three left Diagon Alley.
Passing through the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron again, they entered the main hall.
The old hag they had seen earlier was gone. Cyril walked to the counter and asked Tom the boss, who was wiping glasses, "What is the background of that old hag I warned you about before we went to Diagon Alley?"
"We cannot reveal custor information; it's our professional ethics." Tom, nearly bald, grinned toothlessly.
Cyril thought for a mont. "Let rephrase the question. Is that old hag a dark wizard?"
Tom whispered, "I don't know. I only know Lacroix often frequents Knockturn Alley."
"I understand. Thank you very much." Cyril nodded, took a Galleon from his pocket, placed it on the counter, and prepared to leave.
"Wait." Tom stopped him.
"Not enough?" Cyril reached into his pocket.
"No, take it back. I'm not soone who sells custor information." Tom pushed the Galleon forward.
Cyril smiled. "Understood. I am Cyril Shafiq. From now on, we are friends."
"Tom Abbott." Seeing Cyril take the money back, the landlord gave his full na as well.
"Abbott? Any relation to Hannah Abbott?" Ethan rembered the first girl whose na was called during Sorting.
"Yes, that's my granddaughter." At the ntion of Hannah, Tom's smile grew even wider, his toothless mouth stretching into a grin.
The Abbott family was one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. He hadn't expected the reputedly oldest Leaky Cauldron to be their family property.
"Then we'll head off." Cyril chatted with Tom for a while, drank two butterbeers, and said goodbye to the landlord.
When he got ho, Ethan spotted a grey owl that looked like a broken feather duster lying on the ground in the yard.
"Errol?" Ethan had seen this old owl, which had served for who knows how many years, at Ron's house.
He brought the owl back to his bedroom, set it on the desk, and tried to feed it so newly purchased owl treats, but it didn't have the strength to stand up at all.
Ethan removed the letter from its leg. It was from Ron. The letter expressed regret that he couldn't accept the invitation and said he would invite Ethan to the Burrow next sumr vacation.
Ethan wrote a reply, tied it to the leg of Edward, who had just returned from France not long ago, and had him grab Errol and head to the Burrow.
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Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 258
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 180
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 260
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 107
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