“Felix!”
The voice reached him from somewhere beyond the dueling hall doors, but Felix kept moving.
He had his training wand in hand and his eyes fixed on the faint silver outline of the dueling circle beneath his feet, and he was not about to stop halfway through a sequence just because someone had called his name.
Left foot back.
Weight on the rear heel.
Right foot forward, angled slightly out.
Shift.
He moved through the pattern his father had drilled into him over the past three weeks — step, pivot, step, settle — and only when he reached the end of the sequence did he lower the wand and look toward the door.
“Felix!” Starla called again, closer this time.
“Almost done!”
The dueling hall doors opened a moment later, revealing Starla standing in the doorway with her arms folded.
Her eyes traveled from Felix to the training wand in his hand, then to the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead and the scuff marks his shoes had left on the polished stone floor.
The faint smile on her face suggested she already knew exactly what had happened.
“You’ve been at this for hours.”
Felix looked down at the wand, as though it might somehow defend him.
“I was working on the third sequence. Father said I was still dropping my shoulder on the pivot, so I wanted to fix it before he noticed again.”
“And did you?”
“I think so.”
Starla walked into the hall and stopped just outside the dueling circle, looking him over with the calm, assessing expression she got whenever she was deciding whether to be proud or concerned.
She settled on both.
“You have ten minutes to get cleaned up,” she said.
“We’re going to Diagon Alley.”
That immediately caught his attention.
“Today?”
“Today.”
Felix looked at the training wand once more before placing it carefully back on the rack against the wall.
“I’ll be ready in five.”
“You have ten.”
“Generous.”
Starla gave him an amused look before leaving, and Felix wasted no time.
He made his way back through the corridors at a jog, changed into clean clothes, secured the custom wand holder around his waist, and slipped the silver Falker signet ring onto his finger.
Before he left, he made sure the notebooks he had been studying were stacked neatly on his desk.
Three weeks of footwork drills had left him with sore calves and a deeper understanding of his own balance than he had ever had before, and he suspected it would matter more at Ollivanders than anything else he had learned.
By the time Felix reached the entrance hall, Soren and Starla were already waiting.
Soren looked as composed as ever, while Starla carried a small bag containing the money and documents they would need for the trip.
Felix joined them, and together they left the manor.
The journey toward London was relatively uneventful, although Felix found himself becoming increasingly impatient as they approached their destination.
He knew exactly where they were going.
He had imagined this moment countless times during his previous life, but knowing a place from stories was very different from actually standing in front of it.
Eventually, they stopped outside an old-looking pub.
Felix looked up at the sign.
The Leaky Cauldron.
The building looked almost absurdly ordinary compared with Falker Manor.
To a Muggle passing by, it would have appeared to be nothing more than an old pub squeezed between the surrounding buildings.
Felix knew better.
They entered and made their way through the pub toward the small courtyard at the back.
Felix’s excitement grew as soon as he saw the brick wall separating them from the hidden wizarding world.
The wall itself looked completely unremarkable.
Felix studied it for a moment before looking at his parents.
“So that’s the entrance?”
Soren nodded.
“That’s the entrance.”
Felix stepped closer, examining the bricks with open curiosity.
“Which ones open it?”
Soren indicated the appropriate section of the wall, and Felix followed his gesture before looking over the surrounding area.
His gaze eventually settled on the dustbin sitting nearby.
A mischievous thought entered his mind.
He turned back toward his parents with an expression of innocent curiosity that neither of them trusted for a second.
“What do you suppose would happen if someone tampered with that?”
Starla immediately closed her eyes.
Soren slowly looked from Felix to the dustbin and then back to his son.
“Felix, you’ve been in London for approximately five minutes.”
“I was only asking.”
“You were not only asking.”
Felix’s smile widened, and Starla gave him a look that reminded him remarkably of the expression she wore whenever she caught him practicing footwork drills after midnight.
“Please don’t make trouble at Hogwarts,” she said.
Felix looked genuinely offended by the suggestion.
“Why would I make trouble?”
Soren and Starla exchanged a glance.
Neither of them answered.
Felix finally stepped away from the dustbin and raised his hands in surrender.
“Fine. I won’t touch it.”
“Thank you,” Starla replied.
Felix paused for a moment before adding, “For now.”
Soren let out a quiet groan, while Starla covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
Felix’s expression remained perfectly innocent, but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes.
He had not even reached Hogwarts yet, and apparently his parents were already worried about the sort of influence he might encounter there.
What they did not know was that Felix suspected he might be an influence himself.
For the moment, however, Soren stepped toward the wall and tapped the correct bricks in sequence.
Magic immediately moved through the structure, and the bricks shifted with a series of soft clicks, rearranging themselves until an opening appeared where the solid wall had stood moments before.
Felix’s expression changed as he looked through it.
Diagon Alley stretched beyond the passage.
The narrow street was filled with witches and wizards moving between shops, carrying parcels and bags while brightly colored signs hung above the storefronts on either side.
Magical displays moved behind shop windows, owls called from somewhere farther down the street, and the entire alley seemed to possess an energy Felix had never encountered anywhere outside the wizarding world.
He stepped through the opening.
For several moments, Felix simply stood there and looked around.
This was it.
Not a description from a book.
Not a scene from a film.
Not a place he had imagined while growing up.
Diagon Alley was real.
He slowly turned his head, taking in the crowded street and the strange mixture of old architecture and unmistakable magic.
Somewhere among these shops was a wand waiting for him.
His textbooks were waiting somewhere nearby, along with his robes, potion equipment, cauldron, telescope, and everything else he would need for his first year at Hogwarts.
He had spent three weeks drilling footwork in his father’s dueling hall.
Now his real preparation for Hogwarts was beginning.
“Come on,” Starla said beside him.
“We’ve got a lot to buy.”
Felix finally tore his attention away from the street and followed his parents into Diagon Alley.
As they walked, his eyes moved from one shopfront to another, trying to take in everything at once.
He knew many of the places he would eventually visit, but seeing them with his own eyes was different from knowing about them.
Then, just ahead, he spotted the sign he had been waiting for.
Ollivanders.
Felix slowed slightly.
His first wand was waiting inside.
He looked toward his parents, then back toward the shop.
After three weeks of footwork drills and ancient dueling notes, the next step was finally about to begin.