Foreword

Sorry for the long wait guys, but the exams had to come first, will try to update more frequently. The June rush was insane. But I am back, and here to stay, don't worry, I won't drop the story.

Chapter 3 – An unexpected journey

"Cole."

Cole looked around, a black sinister void surrounded him,"Mother, where are you?" The void shifted, as if the darkness itself bled, and from the weeping wound came – a thing.

Serpentine but not, real but too strange to exist, even by eldritch standards, it slithered out of the darkness, it's cyan eyes burning with dispassionate hate. Cole looked into those hateful eyes and saw the end, of what? Who knew, but he knew it to be…

Cole was no fool, only one thing matches it's form, or rather lack thereof, as the serpent shifted and warped, as if sculpting it's form, at one moment a smooth charcoal leather skin, another a spiny carapace, then an impossible array of shapes blended together. Protean, and not a species he recognized.

Reaching out for his power he felt none, he could only stand and bare witness to the slithering, now scaled serpent, slowly, deliberately, nearing him, hateful eyes shining wickedly in the void.

"Cole!"

Cole heard, but could not act, the serpent was in front of him, it reared back and struck…

Cole flailed, a cold enveloped his body, chilling him to the bone, he tried again to reach for his magic, by some miracle he could just feel a thread of arcane power, he reached out and cast wildly.

Severus was sorely regretting casting aguamenti, doubly for making the water freezing cold. After a brief and embarrassing roll around on the floor his robes were extinguished and mended.

Complete idiot, scaring a wizard, a trigger happy, lost wizard!

Severus had come to take the boy on his promised tour, already regretting letting this 'child' stay at Hogwarts.

The tour began from the infirmary as Snape called it he led Cole down a great hall into a massive keep filled with—moving!—staircases, each leading to two or three different corridors. The professor leading, took them down a flight, seemingly not fazed by the sudden movement of the stairs underneath them. Bloody mad wizards not memorizing flight like normal civilized folk!

Walking down to what seemed to be the entrance hall to the keep Cole saw two massive wooden doors, one leading outwards, to what seemed to be the outside world, and one which he discovered led to a grand hall, a massive room filled with long tables and benches. Snape informed him of the hall's purpose and led him out the other great door.

Cole thought the professor's explanation was incredibly unsatisfying, splitting the general student body into four core values. What if one student possessed both or none of the values? The process had to involve more magic. Cole was shocked by the vast amount of gold needed to create a castle like this. It had to have costed it's weight in copper. Did these wizards raid dragon lairs as a hobby?

Severus took Cole through the rest if the castle thankfully it was only colossal in size, he was becoming dizzy with the insane amount of materials it would require to build this place.

When they came to the black lake the professor pointed out that he's not to swim in it. Yay lake monsters!

Then again the professor pointed to the forbidden forest and repeated the warning. Yay normal monsters!

Walking back to the castle Cole recoiled. It was definitely larger on the inside, scratch copper, this place was pure platinum. Why did these wizards not just build this place in a demiplane? It would be much less resource intensive and would deliver the same results. Even his old master's modest demiplane made this castle look like a shed.

"Boy, stop gawking at the castle and pay attention." Severus said in a tone to mock a vipers venom.

"If you wish to reach Diagon Alley in one piece you will stand still."

Cole was suddenly grasped by the professor. Anticipating a teleportation, Cole was not ready for the sickening feeling of this plane's strange transportation magic. It felt as if he was being hurled by a storm giant to his destination while being polymorphed constantly.

Thankfully the journey was a short one, and Cole quickly regained a measure of control over his stomach. The professor, obviously annoyed by Cole's reaction sneered at him.

To Cole's eyes they appeared to be at a tavern, a homesick pang for years spent with his father in similar establishments rung through him.

The sign, a rough thing of wood and rusting metal, read, The Leaky Cauldron.

Heading through the door Cole saw what he expected, patrons drinking, a rowdy game of some sort striking of in a corner, raucous laughter an a general warm accepting feeling. Unfortunately it seemed that they were not to stay in this familiar slice of home as Severus rushed Cole out of the back door.

The door, unconventionally, led towards a clay brick wall. Cole readied a question for the professor, but was interrupted as the professor taped a few bricks. Ah of course a hidden wall, seems my stay in this plane has made me rust.

The wall slid apart, and what lay ahead...

Diagon Alley.

A bustling main street opened before Cole, littered with haphazardly built shops, flooded with the local spellcasters. Cole considered the possibility that these spellcasters are more adept at creating pocket planes than his associates in the arcane arts.

"Professor, what was it we needed?" Cole asked feigning a forgetful mind.

"Books, supplies, robes, a familiar and a wand, all of which you can find an purchase on your own, after you exchange your gemstones at Gringotts." The professor pointed down the Alley as he listed the items and started to walk over to the most evil looking Alchemy store Cole had ever seen. Arse, leaving me to do all the work while he drools over a fancy studded flask.

The trip over to Gringotts was an uneventful one, consisting mostly of a long walk and memorization of the Alley and it's establishments. Soon Cole stood in front of the building that the professor had pointed out. It seemed an awfully proportioned and over designed mess, with slanted walls and a gothic appearance that could give a vampire cult a run for their coin.

What Cole did not expect, entering the bank, was a horde of goblinoid like creatures stuffed into fine garments. I hate this already, now I need to suppress an urge to murder as well as keep a level head in a totally strange and different plane to my own.

Cole came to what seemed to be a front desk of sorts. An ugly goblin with a nicked ear and fine golden spectacles loomed over the massive hardwood desk, peering at him with a suspicious glance. I hate goblins.

"Current account or new patron." The goblin clerk said imperiously.

"New account." Cole responded, clean and cordial, no needless time wasting banter, he could appreciate these semi-intelligent pests more than their cousins back home.

"And how would the good sire finance this account, the sir seems to be of adolescent age and not in keep with employ."

"A deposit of family heirlooms."

"Very well sir shall follow the attendant to sir's left"

Cole followed as instructed, keeping an eye out for any danger, the bank was run by goblins, and a goblins greed is only dwarfed by it's lack of intelligence. They entered a large room, cracking plaster and a vaulted ceiling showing the age of the establishment. The local spellcasters would never keep them around if they were unfair in their business.

"Present wares for deposit or exchange" The attendant said in a rasping, but still somewhat noble voice.

"Exchange," Cole carefully doffed his belt and upturned it, "gems, coinage and assorted valuables."

With each word spoken a spew of valuables ejected themselves from the bag, at the end the table itself was flooded.

Cole walked out of Gringotts with a sly smile on his face, in this plane he seemed to be as rich as an old money family, or so the goblin attendant explained while shoveling coin into his belt. If he were to stay here for a few years he could obtain a horde of gemstones from elemental earth to exchange for proportionately higher profit than in his home plane. But that aside he walked towards his first target Ollivanders, his pockets, or rather his belt of holding filled with the local coin.

Afterword

Thank you all for reading, I am truly sorry about the insane delay. Factors out of my control made writing hard with the exams as explained above. I will truly update more frequently. I would very much appreciate a review, specifically commenting about my use of language and style as I am not a native English speaker, and do not get much chance to practice, thus a critique of my use would be invaluable to me.

Just a few point:

(1) I reread the features of the counterspell exploits, yea their not that good. I will probably choose something else entirely.

(2) More combat in the next chapters, I am sorry about the lack, but I feel a proper setup is important for the plot.