"I'll take them," I told the shopkeeper, dropping a rather generous bag of coins onto the counter. It was enough to pay for my wands... and also for Hannah and Neville's.
I didn't wait for Tiago or Professor Kettleburn to react. I walked out of the shop, pulling Hannah along with me, who in turn was dragging Neville. It wasn't hard to make our way through the crowd—the people parted like we were covered in radioactive spikes. The two adults followed close behind, both wearing complicated expressions.
We had only made it a few meters past the shop when Tiago began scolding me, his tone so sharp it was almost an order to return the wands. As a Ministry employee, he had access to sensitive information... and it was clear he knew more about those wands than he let on. He wasn't a bad person; beyond his duty to protect us, he genuinely seemed concerned.
Before he could go on, I decided to show him just how hard it would be to get rid of them. Calmly, I handed him the wands. He looked at me with frustration, but also a hint of relief, and took them like they might bite him. Then he rushed back into the shop to return them as quickly as possible, like he was afraid of getting cursed.
I simply waited.
It didn't take him long to return, looking completely baffled. He tried to explain that the wands had vanished from his hands just before he could give them to the shopkeeper. He was about to say he needed to report it to the Ministry when I started checking my pockets. I felt something hard—two hard things. Slowly, I pulled them out.
The wands were back with me.
Tiago's expression changed instantly, as if all the blood in his face had been stirred into a storm.
"I don't think anyone can take them from me… or return them," I said quietly, gazing down at the wands. "They've chosen to stay with me."
"But… but…" Tiago stammered, unable to form a coherent response. With his knowledge of magical objects, he knew such a bond wasn't impossible, but it was the first time he'd seen wands return to a wizard rather than seek out a new owner.
"They plan to accompany me… or so they told me," I added, tucking them away while looking at our guide, visibly shaken.
Not wanting to prolong the matter, I urged the group to keep moving. But no matter how much one tries to leave trouble behind, sometimes trouble finds you.
A group of people approached us. Tiago reacted instantly, drawing his wand and flashing the emblem of the Ministry of Magic on his shoulder. The day had clearly reached its limit of surprises, and he looked more than ready for things to get worse.
"Kid, we want the wands. We'll pay you double what you spent," said a tall man, staring straight at me, deliberately ignoring Tiago.
The group was diverse, but unlike the civilians crowding the shop earlier, these people looked… prepared. Not exactly intimidating, but dangerously competent. The man's tone was persuasive, not threatening. At least, not yet.
"The Ministry wouldn't punish me for self-defense, right?" I asked Tiago, as the wands slid back between my fingers.
"Kid, those wands will bring you trouble. You're better off handing them over… it'll save you a lot of pain," the man insisted, still calm. But his companions were far less patient—each had already drawn their wand, ready to take by force what they couldn't get peacefully.
"I don't know you, but you seem strangely familiar," I said, following a gut feeling.
And then, with a swift motion of my wands, I deflected a silent curse that had just been cast at me.
The situation escalated with alarming speed. That first curse was only the beginning. In mere seconds, we were caught in a storm of spells.
Tiago, seeing the curse I'd intercepted, immediately raised his wand skyward and fired off flares—signals for help—before turning to defend us as best he could, waiting for reinforcements.
But to his surprise, his efforts turned out to be almost unnecessary. We didn't need him. Not even Professor Kettleburn—who, although an excellent magical beast handler, wasn't exactly renowned for dueling—could do much more than watch. He already had his wand out, but quickly found himself overshadowed by me.
My hands moved like octopus tentacles—fast and precise—as I used the wands to deflect minor spells with ease. For the more dangerous or lethal ones, I conjured advanced protections: magical shields, transfigured barriers from surrounding objects, or physical structures raised from the ground by spellwork.
Of course, I fought back—but with restraint. I used only spells a student might reasonably know. It would've been easy to tap into my full range of abilities, but we had just arrived in this new country. I didn't want to ruin the experience for Hannah, or draw negative attention from the Ministry. So I held the line… so firmly that even when a killing curse was cast at us, my expression didn't change.
Both the attackers and our companions were stunned. They couldn't understand how no spell was getting through—or rather, how none of them were reaching Hannah and Neville, who stood directly behind me. That was the important part. They couldn't believe it. It was a display no child should have been capable of, whether by skill, knowledge, or magical power. Naturally, they attributed it to the wands—epic artifacts granting me impossible abilities.
The bystanders and shop patrons—who had fled at the outbreak of combat—were equally astonished. Many had run or hidden, but some of the braver ones still watched from doors and windows, captivated by the spectacle.
I wouldn't need to hold out for much longer. In the distance, down the street, I saw reinforcements arriving. Judging by their uniforms, they weren't allies of the attackers, but enforcers of the law.
With that in mind, I allowed myself to be a little more aggressive. I took advantage of the momentum of the wands and channeled a shockwave through them—both physical and mental—aimed at the core of the enemy group. The wands, impatient, responded with more force than I had intended. Ever since the fight began, they had been whispering things to me: to rip out their guts, to turn their skin inside out. They didn't like being used only for casting Expelliarmus, Stupefy, or Petrificus Totalus. They wanted more. They wanted war.
And to my surprise, I wasn't the only one to step forward.
Hannah also joined the battle in those final moments. She had been paralyzed after seeing the Killing Curse aimed at us, frozen with fear. But seeing that I was protecting her with an impenetrable defense, her courage returned. With trembling hands, she took her wand and began casting spells from behind me, just as I had taught her. Her face showed a mix of fear, focus, and determination. She didn't accomplish much, but she stood up to fight. She dared to face a terrifying group, despite her age and fear. That alone said a lot.
The Sentinels arrived and quickly identified who the aggressors were. It was obvious: three kids, a disabled man, and Tiago—known by everyone—weren't exactly a suspicious group.
The Brazilian "Aurors" had seen the distress signal sent by Tiago and had come as quickly as they could… on foot. They had tried to Apparate, but something—or someone—within the enemy group had disrupted the area, preventing magical transportation nearby. These weren't common criminals.
When the reinforcements finally arrived, I could stop. I ceased casting spells, to the irritation of my wands, which were still whispering with a hunger for more violence, as if they hadn't had enough blood. I ignored their desires. I simply stepped back, pushing Hannah behind me, preventing her from continuing to cast spells uncontrollably. She was trembling so much that, when I placed my hand on her shoulder, she reacted by casting a spell out of pure reflex.
I also took Neville by the arm and pulled us back alongside Professor Katleburn, seeking some shelter.
The enemy group, realizing they wouldn't get what they wanted, quickly regrouped and activated an emergency Portkey. They vanished… but not before leaving a "gift": an explosive artifact that wiped out everything around it.
I sensed its energy just in time. It was pure instinct—I raised a barrier, both magical and using my blood magic. It was the right decision. I watched as even some Sentinels who raised conventional shields were burned to ashes by the blast. The bodies of the unconscious enemies were reduced to cinders. And maybe that was the goal all along: eliminate any potential leaks of information.
The devastation was brutal, but the silence that followed was worse. A thick, uncomfortable silence, filled with everything left unsaid.
...
Later, we were sitting in one of the Sentinels' stations, waiting while Professor Katleburn and Tiago gave their statements. We were also asked questions, but they didn't interrogate us separately or in private rooms. We were children, foreign visitors, and there were political and diplomatic implications involved.
I sat next to Hannah, still comforting her. She hadn't fully recovered. It had been her first real battle. People trying to kill us, to hurt us. Even though I never let the danger reach her, the emotional impact was a whole different matter. She was still trembling, though less. She was trapped in her thoughts… but stable.
Neville wasn't doing much better, though for a different reason. Guilt was eating him alive. He hadn't done anything—not because he couldn't, but because he was too afraid. He hadn't been able to raise his wand.
After a while, higher-ranking Ministry officials arrived… and, curiously, nothing too dramatic happened. They tried to take the wands from me for analysis—allegedly for security reasons—but they returned to me before they could be taken away. Again. That little display caused astonishment, confusion, and arguments among those present. In the end, they decided to let me keep them.
We were authorized to continue our journey, though with a couple of additional escorts. A Ministry official praised my abilities and wished me a bright future. But unlike on previous occasions, no one suggested I stay in Brazil or join their ranks.
The truth—and Tiago whispered this later—is that the Ministry didn't know what to do with me or with the wands. Their hope was that I'd survive long enough to return to Hogwarts. If that happened, then I'd take the wands with me… and with that, the problem would leave the country. Even if I died, the wands would end up in British hands and in their wand shops. A neat way to get rid of the issue.
Professor Katleburn was relieved. Even though all of this had been far too much for a simple exchange program, he didn't seem regretful. He and Tiago talked a lot about me once we left the station. To our guide, I was baffling. Even if he attributed my achievements to the wands, he couldn't understand how I had reacted with such calm, or how I had handled the whole situation so coldly.
"Well… I haven't officially been his teacher yet," Silvanus replied, with a mix of pride and awe. "But he's always been a boy capable of extraordinary things."
"Still… lucky this happened here and not at the Wizard's Fair," Tiago commented.
The Wizard's Fair was another major gathering of witches and wizards, like the Archway Passage where we were, but far less organized. Some even called it chaotic or poor, though it was considerably larger. It didn't have fixed shops, but rather hundreds of stalls of all sizes, many of which changed places every day. It was a more popular spot among casual wizards, and a place where many newly graduated students sold their products when they had no other options. It was also much closer to Castelobruxo than to São Paulo.
It had its charm… but its lack of structure made it more dangerous. An attack like today's there wouldn't have received an immediate response. The Sentinels would have taken longer—if they even arrived.