A Magical Adventure (HP/GOT/MCU)

31st July 1992

Carter Residence

We were having breakfast when I decided to get the ball rolling.

"Harry," I started, as he looked up from his plate. "I was thinking of going to Diagon Alley to buy a few things. Do you want to come with? I know we haven't gotten our booklists yet, but maybe you could pick up a new trunk?" I said, trying not to show any ulterior motive.

"Sure," he replied, nodding thoughtfully. "I need to make a trip to Gringotts anyway."

"Great. You know what, why don't I see if Neville can join us too? I bet he will be glad to see us." I suggested innocently.

"Sounds good," he said with a light smile.

"Do you want me to come with you?" mom asked half-heartedly.

"That's okay, mom. We won't be gone long." I said, following the script.

"You boys take care, then," dad said with an amused look.

At around 11, Neville covered in soot nearly fell out of the fireplace in the living room, catching the wall at the last moment to steady himself. I stepped forward to greet him, surprised at his appearance. Since the last time I saw him, he had grown nearly an inch, his hair had lightened and he had lost some of the baby fat.

"Hello Neville. Good to see you, mate," I said, shaking his hand.

"Hi Ben. Hi Harry. It's great to see you both. I missed you guys." he said, greeting us. He then tried to get some of the grime off his shirt.

"Hold on," I said, casting a quick wandless 'Scourgify'. "There, all better."

"Whoa! We're not supposed to do magic during the holidays, are we?" asked a surprised Harry.

"We are not supposed to use our wands during the holidays," I corrected him. "The Trace can't detect wandless magic."

"That's so cool," said Neville.

"You've got to teach us that," pleaded Harry.

"Sure, I was planning on teaching both of you and Hermione some stuff anyway," I replied with a shrug. "We can do that once we're back in school. For now, let's get going. Diagon Alley awaits."

"I've got to say, I'm not looking forward to another floo ride," whined Neville.

"Then you'll be glad to know that we are not using the Floo. For when you travel with me, gentlemen, you travel in style." I gave them a self-satisfied look, as I snapped my fingers and the Portal Ring on my left hand went to work, opening a portal near the back door of the Leaky Cauldron, just in front of the entrance to the Alley.

"Wow," echoed both of them as we went through the portal. Tapping the correct brick with my wand, the wall turned into an archway that led to a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

Our first stop of the day was Gringotts, the Wizarding Bank. As we climbed the white stone steps, I glanced at the goblins standing guard outside the doors. Goblin Bankers! Who would've thought? Quite the departure from the fantasy stereotype of stupid, smelly creatures that were typically used as cannon fodder.

That only made them more dangerous, though. A savage goblin would just kill you. A banker goblin would take everything you own and make you kill yourself. I don't know why there were so many fanfictions praising goblins as noble warriors more honourable than wizards. You just need to look at the facts to see the truth.

Griphook was the only goblin that was prominently featured in the books and the movies. Harry and his friends saved him from being regularly tortured by the Death Eaters, and how did the little twerp repay them? By betraying them and leaving them to die, while he tried to escape with his precious (Gryffindor's sword). What a dick! And let's not even talk about how they treated the dragons they kept for security purposes.

So I won't antagonise them, but don't expect me to bend over backwards to be buddy buddy with them. Anyway, we made our way up to the counter.

"Good morning. I would like to make a withdrawal from my vault." Harry said to a free goblin.

"You have your key, sir?" asked the goblin, looking up from the parchment he was writing on.

"I do," replied Harry, producing a small golden key out of his pocket.

"Very well," declared the teller after examining the key. "Slipshard will take you down to your vault." He waved another goblin over.

"Alright guys, I'll be back in a minute." Harry said, moving to follow Slipshard towards one of the doors leading off the hall.

"That's okay, Harry. Take your time." I said giving him a guileless smile.

As soon as he went through the door, I turned to Neville.

"Right then, Neville, I'm off. You'll be okay here, right?

"Don't worry about me, you go get Hermione. I'll be fine."

"Alright, I'll be back in a jiffy." I assured him, before power-walking out of the bank. Once outside, I made sure no one was paying attention to me, before using 'Scrying' to locate the co-ordinates of the diary I had given Hermione. Scrying worked as an upgraded version of Clairvoyance, it allowed me to see the place in real-time instead of showing me directions to it.

I quickly opened a portal and went through to arrive in front of an ivy-covered arch that bordered the gate. I went inside, stepping on the gravel path that neatly divided the front lawn in two. I had barely knocked on the door when Hermione flung it open.

"Ben," she cried out as she rushed forward and gave me a hug. "It's so good to see you."

I couldn't help the small laugh that escaped me. "It's great to see you too, Hermione. And you as well, Mr and Mrs Granger." I said to Hermione's parents who had followed her to the door.

"Hello, Ben," said Mr Granger, coming forward to shake my hand with a genial smile. "Hope you had a good holiday so far."

"Oh yes, indeed. It's been very productive, sir." I replied. "Now we should get going. I left the birthday boy at the bank and I need to return swiftly."

"Of course. But how are we going to Richmond anyway? Hermione just said we wouldn't need to drive up there." Mrs Granger inquired.

I cast a quick glance at Hermione and she returned a mischievous smirk. She probably wanted to 'shock and awe' her parents....understandable considering we're not allowed to do magic while at home.

"Why, with magic, of course," I snapped my fingers, and a portal materialised connecting the Granger's front porch to our garden.

"Oh, you've got to teach me how to do that," Hermione said, looking at the shimmering blue portal with stars in her eyes.

"Wait, seriously?! You can open portals?" Mr Granger asked, looking shocked. "And aren't you not allowed to do magic outside school?"

"Well, technically we're not supposed to use our wands outside school," I said, walking through the portal. "Hermione can explain the details later. For now, welcome to our humble abode." I opened the back door and the Grangers entered our house.

Hearing the voices, mom came out to greet the guests. "Daniel, Emma, it's so good to see you again. Please come in."

I left the Grangers with mum and portaled back to the bank. Thankfully, Neville was sitting on a bench with no Harry in sight. I quickly went and joined him. A few minutes later, Harry came back to the Hall following Slipshard.

"All done," Harry informed us, coming over. "Where should we go first, then?"

"Well, I want to buy a tent and since you need a new trunk, I suppose we can go to Wizeacre's Shop first, and then make a quick stop at Ollivander's." I said.

"Why Ollivander's?" asked Harry.

"You'll see," I replied cryptically.

Wizeacre's Wizarding Equipment was marked Shop No. 45 in Diagon Alley, situated between Eeylops Owl Emporium and the Apothecary. Making our way across the storefront, we noticed piles of trunks and telescopes and a couple of tents displayed as the wares for sale through the window. A bell rang as we entered the premises. Inside were stacks of trunks, tents of all shapes and sizes, telescopes of brass, silver and even gold, and hanging from the ceiling, bags in all sizes and styles.

"Can I help you, young sirs?" A kindly face popped up from behind the back counter. He had his sleeves rolled up and a grey apron over his clothes.

"I certainly hope so," I started. "I am looking for a nice tent, and my friend here would like to purchase a new trunk." I said indicating Harry.

"Splendid," the man smiled. "Higgins!" he called out, and a young man in his twenties entered through the back door. "My assistant can introduce your friend to our trunk catalogue. In the meantime, allow me to show you the tents we have to offer. Is there any particular style you're after?"

"Could you tell me more about the multi-room ones?" I said, walking with the proprietor to towards the far side of the shop. Harry and Neville moved towards the stacks of trunks with Higgins.

"Certainly. We have tents with three, five, seven and nine rooms. These standard ones all come in different combinations. The rooms can be configured from small to large, anything from bedrooms to bathrooms to even a fully kitted out kitchen, all depending on your needs. Of course, if we don't have one in stock, we can easily make a custom designed one for you."

"Hmm," I turned to scrutinize the colourful tents scattered around us. "Let's see. Two - no, three bedrooms with adjacent washrooms, one large bathroom, one living room, one kitchen and....oh! one Potions lab," I counted with my fingers. "Think you can manage that?"

"3 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen, 1 Potions lab....Yes, I believe we've got two or three like that...." He disappeared inside the small city of tents and soon emerged with two tents, both of the same size, one silver grey and the other bright yellow.

After checking both the tents, I chose the yellow one, with orange and yellow interiors, as I wanted to see vibrant colours while in the great outdoors.

"Wonderful choice, sir. It's extra features include a feather-light charm and a shrinking charm, both activated by pressing the runes on the top," the shopkeeper explained.

"It looks perfect," I said, turning towards the man. "How much?"

"160 galleons."

I happily paid the man, and moved to join my friends who were just about wrapping up their own purchase. Just as I did last year, Harry also bought a three compartment (wardrobe, storage, library) trunk made of intricately carved brown wood with golden clasps. Our task accomplished, we exited the shop and made our way to Ollivander's.

I felt a sense of deja vu as we entered the wand shop. Everything was so eerily similar to my last visit, including the conspicuous lack of the shopkeeper. I was prepared however; so when Ollivander sneaked up on us with a soft "good afternoon", both Harry and Neville let out gasps, but not me. I shot Mr Ollivander a smug look, which he returned with an aggrieved expression, looking upset that I hadn't fallen for his obvious prank.

"Mr Carter, Mr Potter, it's nice to see you again." Mr Ollivander began.

"Hello," said Harry.

"Nice to see you too, Mr Ollivander." I said. "This is our friend, Neville Longbottom." I introduced him.

"Ah, yes. I was expecting to see you last year, Mr Longbottom. Unfortunately, you never showed." He addressed Neville.

"Er, yes....well, I already have a wand, sir," Neville nervously produced his wand.

"No, he doesn't," I decided to rip the band-aid off. "He's been using his father's wand." Neville shot me a betrayed look.

"Oh dear!" exclaimed the wand maker. "And I suppose like most people who use a wand not suited to them, your spellwork has been lackluster at best?"

Neville looked confused at these words. "There's nothing wrong with the wand, sir. It's me. I'm just bad at magic." He finished with a downcast expression.

"There's nothing wrong with the wand, lad. I know that because I made it." Mr Ollivander said with a stern face, which softened with his next words. "At the same time, there's nothing wrong with you. Your parents were two of the most powerful Magicals of their generation, and I reckon so will you be."

"The problem is that you've been trying to use a wand that picked your father," Mr Ollivander said, coming over to stand in front of Neville. "It is the wand that chooses the wizard, Mr Longbottom, not the other way around. Moreover, wands made of phoenix feather, as is your father's, are famously loyal. They hardly ever work for someone else, especially when their chosen wizard is still alive. So you might as well have tried shoving your magic through a brick. Honestly, it's a miracle you could perform any spells at all."

Neville stood there, looking dazed. I held his shoulder and he turned to look at me.

"Remember when I told you I'd help you in the summer? This is how. You are not your father, Neville. You have just as much of your mother as you have your father in you. You are your own person, and there is a wand in this shop that has been waiting for you, so you can finally be who you were always meant to be."

"Besides, if you keep using your dad's wand, what are you going to do when he needs it back?" I gave him a mischievous smile.

Neville's head jerked to my face and he looked at me intensely.

"What are you....What do you mean?!"

"I mean, not now. I know a couple of spells that will fix your parents, but they're a bit energy-intensive. Maybe in a year, two at most. Hell, you might even be able to do it yourself. That is, if you don't have a wand that keeps dragging you down."

I stood there with a smirk, and then almost got the wind knocked out of me as Neville locked me in a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you...." He kept saying over and over again, while looking like he was laughing and crying at the same time.

With that little bit of drama over, Mr Ollivander did his whole routine with exploding glassware and ejecting drawers, before Neville became the proud owner of a 12 1/2 inches cherry wand with unicorn hair core. I insisted on paying for the wand, letting Neville know it was his birthday present.

I noticed a frown on Harry's face. After all, I just gave Neville his birthday gift, while no one in my family had wished Harry so much as a 'happy birthday' all day, including Neville and Hermione. He must be thinking that we've all forgotten about the day or maybe we just didn't care. Boy, he was in for a surprise!