After thanking Mr. Ollivander, Devereux left the wand shop. He hurried toward the left side of the entrance, moving at a brisk pace. Along the way, several passersby who had witnessed the magic he performed inside the shop cast curious glances in his direction. Some even tried to step forward and shake his hand, hoping to make the acquaintance of this young wizard.
However, Devereux merely smiled and politely declined their kind intentions. Right now, his top priority was to find Professor Snape. Devereux certainly did not want the professor to actually leave him behind. With this thought in mind, he quickened his pace, silently praying that Professor Snape had not yet walked too far away.
At the same time, Devereux figured he could take advantage of this opportunity to raise his exploration progress in Diagon Alley. After all, with Snape watching him before, he hadn't dared to wander into many of the shops. Raising his exploration progress—now was the perfect chance!
After darting into several shops in succession and coming back out, Devereux checked the exploration progress on his system.
[Wizard Secret Realm — Diagon Alley Exploration Progress: 39.8%]
The corners of Devereux's mouth curved upward. Good progress.
"What do you think you are doing? Running around like a three-year-old?"
Just as Devereux was searching for people while exploring Diagon Alley, Professor Snape's annoying yet somewhat familiar deep voice rang in his ear. At that moment, Snape was carrying a cylindrical object covered in black cloth, along with the trunk he had previously made Devereux hold.
"Sorry, sir, I couldn't find you just now," Devereux replied, panting slightly. His physical stamina really wasn't very good at the moment; just running through a few shops had left him short of breath.
Snape let out a cold snort and handed the trunk to Devereux without another word. Fortunately, the Levitation Charm was still in effect, otherwise Devereux would surely have been pulled down by the heavy trunk.
"I heard you used magic in the wand shop?" Snape narrowed his dark eyes slightly, his gaze fixed sharply on Devereux.
Devereux gave an awkward smile, trying to mask his nervousness. "Oh, well, I just repeated what another wizard said earlier and didn't expect it to actually work, haha..."
Of course, Devereux's clumsy acting certainly wouldn't fool Snape. But he couldn't exactly blurt out that he was a magic prodigy who could master any spell just by watching someone else use it—that would be too absurd. Who would believe it?
Still, Snape merely gave Devereux a deep look and let the matter drop. He handed the black-cloth-covered cylinder in his hand to Devereux.
"Left for you by your parents."
"Ah?" Devereux took it in a daze. This was actually left for him by his parents? He had been in this world for a full year, yet Snape had never once mentioned his parents. He never expected to receive something left behind by them at a time like this.
Devereux couldn't wait to remove the black cloth, only for the result to leave him dumbfounded. It was actually a toad?!
Uh... It seemed the aesthetic sense of his parents in this world really wasn't very good... leaving their own son a toad as a pet. The expression on Devereux's face instantly became a little difficult to maintain.
"This is no ordinary toad. Strictly speaking, it is a magical creature," Snape said with a hint of disgust. "The scientific name is a Pouch Toad. Their stomach is equivalent to a space cast with an Undetectable Extension Charm."
Snape continued his explanation, "It can hold quite a few things—of course, assuming you don't mind the filth. This space will grow larger as it ages. This toad is about forty years old, and the space inside its stomach is roughly forty square meters."
Snape briefly introduced the creature's characteristics. Upon hearing that this was actually a magical creature capable of storage, Devereux instantly swept away his earlier disdain, his eyes sparkling with curiosity and excitement. He immediately took the Pouch Toad out of its cage and examined it closely.
The Pouch Toad was slightly larger than an ordinary toad, about the size of four of Devereux's palms put together. It felt a bit heavy when lifted. Its body was round and plump, giving off a steady, solid feel. Its skin was a deep green mottled with brownish spots, covered by a layer of tiny wart-like bumps that gave it an ancient and rough texture. Looking at it, the toad didn't seem very fond of moving; even when Devereux gently shook it, it showed almost no reaction at all.
Seeing Devereux take the toad out, Snape unassumingly took a step to the side.
"Professor Snape, if I want it to hold things, what should I do?" Devereux fondled the creature, unable to put it down, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't figure out how to make it swallow things into its belly. He turned to ask Snape, only to suddenly find that Snape had already retreated ten paces away.
Hearing the question, a trace of struggle crossed Snape's face. He let out an imperceptible sigh, walked over with a grim look on his face, and tapped one of the bumps on the toad's back lightly with his wand. Immediately, the toad's mouth opened wide—big enough to fit Devereux's entire head inside.
"That's how it's done. Closing it works the same way." With that, Snape retreated another few steps.
"Thank you, Professor Snape!"
Saying this, Devereux shoved all the items he had bought earlier—including books, his school uniform, and the cauldron—brainlessly into the toad's belly. When the items grew too large for the mouth, Devereux was astonished to find that the toad's mouth could stretch to an incredible degree; he suspected that stuffing a piano in right now would probably be no problem at all.
If Snape hadn't stopped him, he almost would have shoved the entire trunk inside. When Snape stopped him, the look on his face was as if Devereux were asking him to eat the toad.
And thus, Devereux acquired the first pet of his life: a Pouch Toad. He named it Eld! After all, at forty years old, it could be considered one of the longest-lived among toads!
Just like that, all the necessary items had been purchased. Next was returning to Snape's residence. But for some reason, this time Snape opened a room for Devereux at The Leaky Cauldron, telling him to continue staying there before Apparition-ing away.
[Ding!]
[New spell added to inventory!]
Oh yeah! Apparition was in the inventory now, too! Even though he couldn't use it yet, getting a head start on learning it was pretty great.
Devereux didn't understand why Snape didn't take him home together. He guessed that Snape might really hate toads. But then again, Snape definitely dealt with toad ingredients when brewing potions in his daily life. Perhaps Snape was only willing to get close to dead toads? Or did he have something else to do?
A week ago, he had left Devereux at The Leaky Cauldron, seemingly because there was something he couldn't take Devereux along to do. But regardless, Devereux was still glad that Snape let him stay at The Leaky Cauldron. Moreover, now that he had his own wand, it meant he could explore Diagon Alley on his own!
Currently, his exploration progress for Diagon Alley was at 40%. Devereux was determined to push that number past 60%!