[Chapter Size: 2500 Words.]
Third Person POV
Diagon Alley.
...
...
Severus continued walking deeper into Diagon Alley, while the place soon showed itself to be quite busy, with several shops and snack bars full of customers. Despite that, it was not the same chaos as the beginning of the school year, which would still take a little while.
It had been two weeks since Hogwarts had ended, and there would still be a little more than two months until the return and the beginning of the new students' classes. Diagon Alley was not yet at its peak.
Severus only stopped to check each of the shops. This was the rather calm side of Diagon Alley, different from Knockturn Alley, where more illegal businesses and darker stores were located.
In any case, he continued passing through the people, some Hogwarts students who were enjoying their vacation by visiting the place. After all, there were many snack bars and some amusements, such as the broom shop, where they could test the brooms, among other things.
He first stopped at the magical artifacts shop. Severus looked through the display window. There were no potions or wands there, but there were certainly some interesting things.
Automatically, he entered, observing the scenery of the shop. Shelves and cabinets were full of items. He saw the attendant dealing with two couples interested in some things near the counter and only gave a quick look at Snape, who had just entered. Then he went back to talking with the customers after seeing the boy come in.
Severus observed the artifacts one by one: compasses, telescopes, medallions, rings that were said to be protective items, magical items, cameras that took moving pictures like magical portraits, among other things. But Severus was not interested in these trinkets. He was looking for items with runes, he wanted to check something.
He found something that pleased him when he approached and touched a medallion. He observed the runes engraved on it in the form of runic drawings that were studied at Hogwarts.
For Severus, that created a small shock of reality between the two worlds.
The runes that Severus was seeing did not resemble at all the runes he used in the other world as Jon.
'Interesting...', he thought.
If he could create a new runic language here, it would be even better. Because it would be unique. Especially since he was already a specialist in creating things through runes, even magical metals. And this world could also bring new ideas, new concepts of using magic.
He was too excited.
"Can I help you, boy?" A voice appeared beside him. Severus looked at a middle-aged man with glasses, who adjusted them before looking more closely at him.
The gaze fell on Severus's clothes and he soon seemed a little disappointed, even snobbish, when it became clear that Severus wore second-hand clothes and did not seem to be a customer who would take anything from the shop.
"I'm just looking, sir." The man made a disdainful expression.
Severus simply stared at him. Then he placed the medallion back on the shelf and turned his attention to the man.
"Don't worry, I was already on my way out." Severus mocked lightly.
The man merely snorted. There was no point arguing.
With that, Severus continued on his way out. There was nothing more for him to see there. The runes he wanted to observe in order to understand the difference had already been seen.
He stepped outside again onto the street, passing by a group of girls who stared at him before starting to whisper among themselves, pointing at him, smiling and laughing.
And not in a bad way.
"Look at his eyes..." They spoke among themselves.
"See? It's not that difficult. You just have to take care of your appearance, you fool," he said to himself.
Severus simply moved forward. Not that he was seeking female attention, but it was certainly a noticeable change in his appearance.
He headed toward a shop of older books. They were not new books that would be used for studying at Hogwarts, but he was interested because they were cheaper. Severus even planned to pick up some new books for the sixth year there, since there were also second-hand books.
He planned to buy the books using the money he would manage to earn later and would use some galleons he had to get something that interested him to study.
Severus entered the shop. There was a woman free who approached him.
"Hello, sir. How may I help you, Mr...?" she asked.
Severus quickly observed the place before answering. "Severus Snape," he said.
The woman smiled. "What beautiful eyes you have for such a young man. Almost shining... I've never seen a green like that," she complimented with a small laugh. "And what could I do for you, Mr. Snape?"
"I would like some book about ancient runes and the application of runes. I also wanted some book about magical fluctuations and magical detection..." he requested.
"Ah, of course. Well... I'll ask Fred to help me. It seems to be a somewhat complex request." She turned toward the counter.
"Fred! Could you come here?" An elderly man approached, and she explained the books Severus wanted.
"We have something for this young man. Please, follow me." He walked through the aisle of the shop.
"You can get the rune books for him, Bina," he said to the other woman who had attended Snape.
The chubby woman nodded, leaving them before giving Severus a wink and walking away.
"Magical fluctuations and magical detection are somewhat complex subjects, but if a customer wants them... well, I see no reason not to sell them to you." With those words, the man took out his wand and made a book come out from one of the tall shelves, flying into his hand. He then handed the book to Severus.
Severus looked at the book and nodded with satisfaction. Soon after, the man handed him another book, while Bina returned with two books: one about magical runes and another about the application of runes.
"That will be five galleons," the man said.
Severus almost wanted to cry. That was basically a good portion of his savings, but he needed those books. If he wanted to start surviving in that world, he would have to invest in something.
After he took the books, he placed them in his arms and moved on.
As he walked down the street, he could not help but notice, in one of the ice cream shops, some acquaintances from Hogwarts. Some he remembered very well. After all, he could see the four Marauders eating while talking and laughing.
Severus only gave them a quick glance and soon looked away, continuing forward.
The next shop he entered was another magical artifacts store, but this one specialized in storage. He saw suitcases, bags, and backpacks, all with expansion and space-enlargement charms applied inside them.
But all of them were very expensive. 200, 400, 2,000, 10,000 galleons were the prices of those bags.
"This is... complicated," he murmured, knowing that, within his current reality, he could not afford them.
Even the customers noticed this, since no one approached to serve him.
He did not know exactly why, but he went to the broom shop. The old Severus Snape secretly harbored envy toward James Potter, wanting to learn how to fly and become some kind of Quidditch hero.
'So you hide this in your heart, my self from this world...' Severus could not help but murmur, not believing that he lived that way.
But he became curious whether flying on a broom would be less exciting than flying on a dragon... With the experiences he had lived, he could not understand why this Severus had been terrible on a broom.
Anyway, he observed the brooms. There was a testing area, but Severus did not want to try. There was a certain excitement in him when he saw those brooms, but not like any other child would feel.
Severus had a desire to fly, but it would not be on brooms. He told himself he would learn the spells.
Soon he left the broom shop.
By chance, Potter and the others were entering at that moment. They even looked at him, but did not care, because they could not recognize him without his crooked nose and different eyes... but the hair should have drawn attention, and they watched him leaving before returning to shout about the newest broom models.
There were still a few more shops Severus wanted to visit.
At that moment, he went to the magical animals shop, something that truly interested him. He saw all kinds of owls, rats, snakes, magical animals, and even house-elves.
The moment he entered, the animals themselves seemed to stop moving around and began observing him with curiosity.
"Strange... I didn't even do anything," Severus murmured as he noticed the gaze of all the animals turned toward him.
But it seemed that no one had noticed.
Severus approached each of the cages, since he was completely ignored by the sellers. All the animals were quite docile with him, almost asking to be taken with their gazes.
But unfortunately, he had no way of buying any.
'Curious...' he thought. Even the magical animals stared at him.
Severus was about to leave, but suddenly he saw a notice that caught his attention.
'Assistant needed to care for and study dragons, at the Welsh Dragon Reserve. Present yourself to Lady Mianna...' There was a small text below.
'Note: extremely difficult job. You may end up being eaten or burned by a dragon.'
Upon seeing that, Severus could not help but show a smile. "Interesting..."
He tore the paper off the wall and kept it. Perhaps he had found a job for himself. Or so he hoped.
The next shop he decided to visit was the herbology store. There were at least five of them on that street. Severus entered the largest one, where all kinds of herbs and magical plants were spread throughout the shop.
"The air here is great..." He even seemed to feel good in that place, sensing the magical fluctuations of plant life.
"I didn't feel this in my past life..." he thought.
Despite having the king's extensive gardens for his experiments and for harvesting rare herbs, he had never felt such affinity with plants as he was feeling now.
'Maybe I should create my light crystals and sell them in the future. That would also bring in good money, and no one can create them besides me...', Severus deduced. After all, much of the magical world still lived with lanterns and candles.
Magical crystals would certainly give a more beautiful and even more magical look than traditional lights.
He approached a young adult, no more than 20 years old, who was tending to some plants while observing them attentively.
"Hello, my name is Severus Snape. I would like to know if you sell seeds, sir." Severus introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Michael Prewett...", said the young man. The boy was red-haired, with freckles. "And yes, we sell seeds. In fact, from every plant you are seeing right now."
He spoke while Severus nodded. "Can you tell me which are the most expensive plants you have?" Severus asked.
The boy seemed a little surprised by the question, but nodded. He began to show some herbs that were worth hundreds of galleons. Severus even asked about seeds, but many ended up being unfeasible for him at that moment. Even the cultivation was expensive.
But there were some plants that were extremely difficult to grow if they were not in a perfect environment. Because of that, their seeds were a little cheaper, because they produced many of them when the plant was established and then dissolved for use in potions, but still only 1% of the seeds could produce a complete plant.
Severus ended up asking for some of them, along with other seeds that could bring him quite a lot of money if he managed to sell the plant perfectly grown.
This would also give Severus a chance to begin making modifications to the molecular and genetic structure of the plants themselves. He could do what he did in the other world: change the plants themselves to remove negative side effects that could appear in important ingredients and even increase the effect.
It would be revolutionary.
He could easily change the magical world, but he would also have to be careful. He could not go around announcing that he was modifying plants, especially during a time of war with the purists. Even in times of peace he would have to avoid that.
Severus talked a little more with Prewett, and the boy was certainly impressed when he asked him how he would take care of those plants. Severus was extremely knowledgeable on the subject.
"I bet you're from Hufflepuff. Your favorite subject must be Herbology with Professor Pomona Sprout!" said the young adult, more relaxed now that he had discovered Severus's skills with plants.
"Actually, I'm from Slytherin. I'm good at making potions, but I also know how to take care of plants." Severus said with a friendly smile.
However, he saw the look of astonishment in the young man's face and even a certain caution appear in his expression. 'That one must have some history with the Death Eaters...', Severus thought immediately.
But he soon shook his hand and they parted ways. The boy became more distant after Severus revealed he was from Slytherin, so there was no longer any reason to stay there.
Another thing Severus needed to do was make a potion to modify his body and improve it, just as he had done with himself and his family in the other world. It was no wonder they had lasted for centuries, when the average mortality was forty years in Westeros, at the beginning of Arctic's reign.
After Arctica had dominated everything, the average rose to seventy years, because access to healthier food and the end of wars had made the population age better.
Even so, he and his family lasted between one hundred and twenty to two hundred years, if he counted his wives and children who had taken his potions. His grandchildren also lived around that long. After all, they died when he was two hundred to two hundred and thirty years old. His great-grandchildren came to die when he himself was already close to the end.
In any case, he left the plant shop with the bags of seeds in his hands and headed to the next one.
There was a potion shop, but he was not interested in it and continued forward to one where he wanted to check something.
Ollivanders.