Early in the morning of the third day, just as the sky had fully brightened, a figure in a black robe stood in front of Number 7 Privet Drive.
Professor Snape appeared on time at the door.
His face was blank, and his eyes were empty, pushing down all the messy thoughts in his mind.
He knew that the boy lived around here, and he also knew that today was the day Hagrid was taking him to Diagon Alley.
The door opened very quickly.
The morning light squeezed through the crack of the door, shining into a small patch of the dim hallway.
It was dull and quiet inside, as if the entire house had not fully woken up yet.
Flins stood behind the door.
Seeing Snape’s gaze sweep inside, he offered politely, “Would you like to come in and have a seat, Professor?”
“No need, Mr.
Flins,” Snape said in a flat voice.
“There is quite a lot to buy today, and the schedule is very tight.”
He paused, then added, “Your parents left you an inheritance.
The person who looked after you before should have explained some basic things to you.
Next, I will take you to the matching shops to buy all the required items.”
“The first stop is Gringotts, to get some money.
Based on my understanding of the Hogwarts supply list, if you spend carefully, about thirty Galleons is enough to gather all the basic things.
If you want to buy better versions of everything…”
He glanced at the silver-patterned black robe Flins was wearing, his tone neither warm nor cold, “It will probably double.
You can decide for yourself.”
With that, he turned to leave, sweeping his robe, and held out his hand without looking back: “Hold on tight.”
Flins hesitated for half a second, then placed his hand in his.
“Apparition!”
A strong squeezing feeling suddenly wrapped around him, as if his whole body was stuffed into a narrow pipe, twisting all his internal organs together.
But it lasted only for an instant—
The next moment, his feet stepped firmly on the ground.
Flins blinked, his face not red and his breath not hurried, acting just like normal.
Snape glanced at him, feeling slightly surprised in his mind.
Usually, brats Apparating for the first time would either throw up or faint.
This little troll seemed to have experienced similar magical travel long before.
Flins did not notice Snape’s look.
His gaze was already firmly caught by the sight in front of him—
A tall, snow-white building stood before him.
It was completely bright white, clean to the point of hurting the eyes, and standing together with those short, dusty little shops around it, it stood out in a way that looked out of place.
Beside the shining bronze doors stood a figure in a scarlet and gold uniform.
A dark face, a pointed beard—not very common, and not looking very suitable to be seen outside.
Flins stared at it for quite a while without blinking, his bright yellow pupils reflecting the shape of that short figure.
“Professor,” he finally spoke, “May I ask what that is?”
“A goblin,” Snape said briefly.
The smile that Flins had kept on his face the whole way suddenly flattened the moment he heard those two words.
That goblin was looking this way, its eyes landing on him, looking him up and down like goods—from head to toe, greedy and judging.
Flins met its eyes for half a second, then calmly looked away.
For the first time, he felt that this new world might not be as fun as the Traveler said.
He did not ask any more questions and obediently followed Snape into the doors of Gringotts.
When taking money from the vault, Flins took out a key that Lumine had given him.
Snape glanced at the serial number, and his gaze stopped for a second—the number was unusually small.
This “orphan” had an account richer than quite a few pure-blood families.
After that, Flins kept a polite silence the whole way—even when sitting inside that clattering, reckless little cart, he only gripped the handrail tightly without making a sound.
The Gringotts goblin turned the key, and the lock clicked open.
Thick green smoke immediately poured out from the crack of the door, carrying the smell of old rusted metal and the damp earthy smell unique to deep underground.
Snape did not follow him inside.
He seemed to have a strange trust in Flins, even though Flins looked like just an eleven-year-old child on the outside.
There were many things in the vault: piles of gold coins, silver bars, and heaps of bronze Knuts like small hills.
Besides those, Flins also seemed to see some things that only existed in Teyvat.
Those items lay there quietly, completely separate from the surrounding gold coins and silver bars—carrying the unique feel of Teyvat.
Flins took out the Two-way Mirror from his pocket and tapped it twice lightly.
The mirror quickly rippled, and Lumine’s face floated up.
She first scanned Flins’s surroundings, raised an eyebrow, and said in a tone that sounded like she expected it:
“At Gringotts?”
“Yes,” Flins replied.
“I saved those up while doing quests around here before.
It’s plenty for you to live comfortably in this world.”
Lumine lifted her chin, her tone crisp and confident.
Flins was in no hurry to reply.
Instead, he bent down and picked up a pale, grayish-blue crystal from the pile of mixed items.
The texture was almost identical to a Condensation of Moon Tears.
Touching it with his fingertips, he could faintly feel extremely weak power moving inside, like a small bundle of frozen moonlight.
“Young lady,”
Holding up the crystal, he asked with a bit of curiosity in his voice, “These…
are things from Teyvat, right?”
Lumine leaned close to look through the mirror, her eyes suddenly going wide: “Wait, wait, wait—I didn’t put that in there!”
She paused, her brow furrowing a little, and her tone grew more careful:
“Looks like…
it’s the doing of the Traveler on your side.
I don’t know much about Teyvat’s power system, so you’ll have to figure it out yourself.”
With that, she took half a step back, her expression showing that she wanted to stay away from it.
Flins could tell that she was always on guard against things from Teyvat—
If it were not for this experiment going wrong, she probably would not have wanted to have anything to do with the other version of herself at all.
The mirror flickered, and Lumine’s face disappeared.
Flins put the Two-way Mirror away, looked down at the pale crystal in his palm, and tried to feel the Kuuvahki energy left inside.
The next second, a soft purple light suddenly lit up in the dim vault—a purple gem floated up out of thin air in his palm.
It was clear and of very fine quality.
The familiar power flowed through his body once again.
Flins narrowed his eyes without realizing it, and a genuine, less formal smile finally appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He placed that purple “Wheel of the Moon” into his lamp pendant, and the pendant rested against his chest.
Then, he casually grabbed some regular coins from the piles in the vault, stuffed them into his pockets, and turned to walk toward the door.
The goblin waiting at the door glanced at him, its pointed face showing no expression, and simply turned around to lead the way.
Flins followed it, walking through the long, narrow passageway, and returned to the bright main hall of Gringotts.
Snape was still standing there.
Seeing him come out, Snape merely lifted his chin to show it was time to go.
Flins nodded and followed behind him.