SWNOVELXO Chapter 8: Potions Spirit (Red)
One Month Later.
A rare visitor appeared in Knockturn Alley: Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron.
Everyone knew that Knockturn Alley was one of the darkest and most dangerous places in the wizarding world.
The witches and wizards who frequented the alley were typically criminals or outcasts,
people who operated on the fringes of magical society.
They were always highly vigilant of strangers.
The moment Tom appeared at the far end of the alley,
the noisy street fell silent.
Every gaze turned toward him.
Some wizards paused in the middle of their shady dealings,
while others subtly reached for their wands.
The air grew tense and heavy with suspicion.
Whispers soon rippled through the crowd.
"Isn't that Tom from the Leaky Cauldron?"
"What's he doing here?"
"Something feels off about him today."
"Do you think he's here for a reason?"
A scar-faced wizard with a menacing glare stepped forward, sneering.
"Hey, Tom, what brings you to Knockturn Alley? Looking for a bit of fun?"
Tom ignored the provocation entirely.
He clutched his wand tightly, his face set with an expression that practically screamed, "Don't mess with me."
He understood that in a place like this,
any unnecessary conflict could spiral out of control.
While he wasn't afraid of these lawless wizards,
he had no interest in starting trouble.
Of course, no one wanted to provoke him either.
After all, Tom was the owner of the Leaky Cauldron,
a man with significant influence in Diagon Alley.
If they could avoid it,
most people preferred not to cross him.
For now, the main question was: what was his purpose here?
Several cloaked wizards began to follow Tom discreetly,
trying to figure out what he was up to.
They watched from the shadows,
waiting to see what his next move would be.
Tom wandered slowly through the alley,
his sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.
He passed a small shop selling dark artifacts.
The shopkeeper, an old wizard with a deeply wrinkled face,
stared at him suspiciously.
For some reason,
Tom allowed himself a faintly smug smile,
but he didn't stop.
He kept moving.
Next, he walked past a store that specialized in banned books and illegal potions.
The door was half open,
and a strong, acrid smell wafted out from within.
Tom cast a brief glance inside,
memorizing the shop's location.
He thought it might come in handy someday.
Suddenly, a group of dark wizards emerged from a narrow alley,
blocking Tom's path.
They wore unfriendly smiles,
and one of them stepped forward to speak.
"Tom, what exactly is your purpose here?"
Tom's eyes turned cold,
and he replied in a chilling voice,
"I'm just taking a stroll. Nothing more."
The dark wizards clearly didn't believe him,
but they also weren't eager to make the first move.
After all,
Tom's reputation in Diagon Alley carried weight.
They exchanged glances, silently deliberating.
Eventually, they decided to step aside,
allowing Tom to pass.
Tom continued forward,
winding through the narrow alleys and bypassing several dilapidated buildings.
He didn't appear to have any specific destination in mind,
merely wandering through the labyrinthine streets.
A few minutes later,
he found a hidden exit and quickly left Knockturn Alley.
The criminals were left scratching their heads,
puzzled by Tom's strange behavior.
They gathered together, whispering among themselves,
speculating about the true reason behind his visit.
"Woohoo~!"
In a private room at the Leaky Cauldron,
Tom—or rather, Devero—raised his arms in victory.
That's right.
The Tom who had just walked through Knockturn Alley
was actually Devero, disguised using Polyjuice Potion!
It had taken him a full month to brew the potion painstakingly.
But now, he had finally completed the remaining 2% exploration progress for Diagon Alley—
and even earned some extra.
His exploration progress now stood at 70%.
When he passed the very first shop in Knockturn Alley,
the system had already notified him that his goal was achieved.
But Devero had gotten greedy.
He wondered if he could push his exploration progress even higher.
So he decided to fully explore the area while he was there.
What he didn't expect, however,
was to actually run into trouble halfway through—
two dark wizards had blocked his way.
It wasn't easy to bluff his way out and escape unscathed.
Panicking, he had taken the quickest route out of the alley.
"Note to self: don't get so reckless next time," Devero muttered.
He figured that next time, he'd visit Knockturn Alley early in the morning.
Surely dark wizards wouldn't be early risers, right?
But after today's experience,
he suspected they didn't wake up early because they were night owls—
they just didn't sleep at all!
Still, at least he had reached his goal.
The exploration progress was complete.
With a wave of his hand,
Devero pulled up his status panel:
[Name: Devero Alexander]
[Age: 11]
[Status: Incoming Hogwarts Student, Potions Apprentice]
[Spell Library: Levitation Charm (Mastery/Silent & Verbal), Summoning Charm (Proficient/Verbal), Unlocking Charm (Proficient/Verbal), Apparition (Beginner/Verbal)... Full Body-Bind Curse (Proficient/Verbal), Stunning Spell (Proficient/Verbal), Disarming Charm (Proficient/Verbal)]
[Traits: Transmigrator (Unique), Magical Prodigy (Unique), Potions Genius (Gold), Magical Cook (Purple)...]
[Trait Inventory: Unique (2), Gold (2), Purple (2), Blue (55), Green (451), White (8232)]
[Pet: Al (Storage Toad)]
[Items: Spell Proficiency Card x1, Trait Upgrade Card x1, Wand (Purple Sandalwood)]
[Magical Realms Explored: 1]
[Secret Realm—Diagon Alley: Exploration Progress 70.1%]
Over the past month,
Devero had learned several dark spells and the Disarming Charm.
He now had some ability to defend himself against dark wizards.
As for Apparition,
he didn't dare practice it too much—
the risk of Splinching himself was far too high.
Oh, and then there was the Trace.
Devero had been mindful of that from the moment he first got his wand.
As someone familiar with the original story,
he knew he didn't want to get expelled before even starting school.
Using his Innate Wandmaker gold-tier trait,
he had spent a few days studying wand-making books.
With minimal effort,
he devised a method to block the Trace without alerting the Ministry of Magic.
Instead of removing the Trace directly,
which would surely trigger alarms,
he created a special structure that sealed its signals.
He could turn it on or off at will.
This way, the Trace remained undetectable outside Hogwarts,
but functioned as normal while he was on school grounds.
Of course,
an ordinary eleven-year-old wizard could never have pulled this off.
But with his gold-tier trait and his perfectly cooperative wand,
the task had been almost too easy.
As for today's excursion into Knockturn Alley,
it had been his Potions Genius (Gold) trait that played the key role.
Technically,
Devero shouldn't have been able to obtain the Polyjuice Potion recipe or ingredients.
But having read the original story,
he pieced together the details from memory,
combined with his extensive knowledge of potions.
With some legal herbs he purchased from an apothecary,
he improvised a simplified version of the potion.
The resulting brew had a shorter duration and wasn't perfect—
for instance, the Tom he transformed into was noticeably shorter,
at least ten centimeters shorter than the real Tom.
His eye color hadn't changed either.
But fortunately, the denizens of Knockturn Alley didn't seem to notice any flaws.
The experiment was a success,
and so far, there were no side effects.
"Alright, let's upgrade this trait now!"
Devero's eyes sparkled with excitement as he activated his Trait Upgrade Card.
He chose Potions Genius,
reasoning that improving his potion-making abilities would benefit him greatly—
whether under Snape's guidance or on his own.
[Ding!]
[Trait Upgrade Successful!]
A strange, intense sensation coursed through Devero's body.
It felt similar to when he first gained the Potions Genius trait,
but this time, it was far more powerful.
Suddenly, he felt as though his body had changed,
almost as if the Polyjuice Potion was kicking in again.
He turned to look in the mirror and immediately noticed—
he'd grown taller!
"Huh? Did it optimize my body to restore the potion's full effect?"
Pulling up his updated traits panel,
Devero saw the result of the upgrade:
[Potions Spirit (Red): You possess the innate talent to brew any potion. With a single glance, you can identify its composition and crafting process. Any potion you consume will have doubled effectiveness.]