Dazai shot up and opened the door. On the other side, Severus ' dull, greasy expression was the perfect counterpart to Dazai 's vigor.

The professor 's eyes wandered around the front room momentarily. '...I don 't see

your

guardian anywhere. '

'It 's just me today, actually. '

Snape raised a brow, but otherwise didn 't look bothered by the announcement. More than that, he just looked annoyed to have to even be there. Well... Dazai could work with that. After all, Mori had basically told him he could do whatever he wanted.

Really, Dazai had spent a good amount of time considering and re-considering just who this Snape fellow was in preparation for today 's trip. Unlike last time, he didn 't plan on being the only person present not knowing all the players in the game. He knew Snape was tricky 'there was definitely something below the surface level going on his him, but it didn 't seem to be a threat at the moment. Dazai took momentary reprieve in the fact that he could probably overpower Snape if he really needed to. That Dumbledore guy... Dazai wasn 't sure about him.

He was bringing a knife just in case.

'Come on, then. ' Severus growled. 'I 'd like to finish up with you as early as possible. '

'Hm? Don 't you like me? ' Dazai grinned harmlessly.

In return, Snape sent him a seething glare. He grabbed the collar of Dazai 's button-up and practically shoved him out the door. Dazai frowned at the rough treatment, but it was hardly something he wasn 't used to.

'You 're a teacher, aren 't you? Shouldn 't you be more kind to your students? '

Snape began speed-walking down the street. Dazai skipped after him without complaint.

'

Future

student. '

Ah. What a reassuring correction. '...then does that make Snape my

future

professor? ' Dazai asked, a dangerous gleam in his eye.

However, Severus immediately halted in his tracks. He spun on his heels and bent down to glare directly into Dazai 's eyes. 'That is no excuse not to respect your betters, boy! '

Dazai tried to restrain himself from rolling his eyes (or flinching, he wasn 't sure which urge was the

strongest).

It seemed the rough disposition and disrespectful demeanor only applied to Snape himself. People 'adults especially 'were so hard to understand! Well... not really. But he sure did find their temperamental hypocrisy annoying. 'Yes sir. '

Snape blinked. Dazai didn 't think he expected such a half-hearted acquiescence to the verbal assault. The man cleared his throat and straightened back up. 'Good. '

After only a moment of silence, Dazai 's upset over his lack of knowledge on the subject of magic got the best of him. 'So, where are we going, anyway? '

'

Diagon

Alley. ' He snapped. 'Can 't you go even one minute without blathering on? '

'Nope! ' Dazai said, popping the 'p ' noisily. 'How are we getting there? You can probably teleport, right? ' When Severus only continued walking faster, the young mafioso chirped, 'Or fly on a broom? Unless you plan to walk across an ocean, that is. That 's too exhausting, I think I 'll just drown. '

'

Drowning, '

the professor spat, 'is hardly an acceptable response to slight hardship, boy. '

'Walking across an ocean is only

slightly

difficult for you?! '

'And we will be taking a bus. No more questions. '

Ah.

So

they 're taking a

bus

across the ocean. Somehow, that didn 't really clear things up. Regardless of the specifics, Dazai could reason they 'd be taking some sort of magical transportation system in the form of public transit. It was almost exciting! Finally, he 'd be getting some of his curiosity sated. Ugh 'Dazai hates being out of the loop.

He wondered what this '

Diagon

al ' place was like. When Dazai had tried to research the magical world, he 'd mostly come up blank. A few articles here, a book or two there... everything he 'd managed to scrounge up was vague and predictable. It felt like reading information that had been so unimportant, it had managed to slip through the highly discriminative hands of the magical bureaucracy without much concern.

Dazai felt a small trill of excitement.

Suddenly, Severus came to a halt. When Dazai nearly stumbled into him, the dark-haired man smirked. He reached into his pocket, withdrew a wand, and stuck it out as though hailing a cab. Dazai blinked.

'Normally, ' the professor said at the bemused expression, 'the Knight Bus doesn 't leave Britain. Hogwarts has made a special request for you, so I expect you to behave. '

Before he can reply, something catches Dazai 's attention. Without realizing, his mouth gapes open slightly. A large, triple-decker bus came bouncing down the street at break-neck speeds. Just when he thought it would go shooting past them, the Knight Bus came to an abrupt stop directly in front of Snape 's wand.

The doors opened slowly 'mechanically. Snape retracted his wand and stepped onto the bus. 'Are you planning to gawk all day, boy? '

With a grin, Dazai shook his head and skipped in beside his guide. 'Nope! It 's just, ' he hummed, looking all around the bus curiously as he followed Snape towards the back, 'making a bus taller and faster seems like an odd thing to magic. Haven 't you guys figured out teleportation yet? '

Severus took a seat near the back of the bus and shot Dazai a glare. He waited until the boy had taken the seat beside him to reply. 'As a

courtesy

to you, ' he spat, 'we are taking the bus. For someone so unfamiliar with magic as yourself, boy, apparition would be incredibly uncomfortable. '

Apparition, huh? Still, Dazai smiled pleasantly on cue. 'Ah, thanks, then. ' Anything he wanted to say next was stolen from his throat when the Knight Bus started to move.

Now, at most, Dazai has ridden in the back of Mafia cars. They 're black and long and very,

very

controlled. Even driving over bodies, you can hardly feel the bumps. In contrast, the Knight Bus, immediately upon starting, drove like... well, Dazai wasn 't sure what to compare it to. All he knew was that his fingers were dyed white with how tight he grabbed the seat to stop from falling and how heavy his headache was building. The bus peeled down the street faster than Dazai thought was reasonable, and with each blink he took it shot from one road to the next.

Snape raised a brow at his charge 's tense frame. Dazai pretended he didn 't notice the way the man 's lips twitched upwards.

----

'This is a pub. '

Snape barely glanced down at him, already abandoning the bus in favor of heading toward the doors.

'I mean, I wouldn 't mind a drink, but isn 't that irresponsible of you? '

'Shut up. '

Dazai 's mouth clamped shut with a snap. He peeked up at Snape through long, cinnamon bangs.

The professor sighed, sounding as though dealing with Dazai were a form of advanced torture (much to Dazai 's amusement). 'The

Leaky Cauldron

the entrance to

Diagon

Alley, where you will be buying your supplies for this year. ' He relented.

Dazai made an appreciative noise. When Snape opened the pub 's door, he followed in obediently.

The place wasn 't especially busy, although even a few people Dazai was unfamiliar with was enough to put him on edge. The shabby atmosphere didn 't do much to help with that feeling, but Snape didn 't seem worried so much as annoyed. Severus made a gesture in greeting to some of the staff.

No, the Leaky Cauldron wasn 't very busy. This was probably the only reason Dazai noticed the person loitering in the back corner. The man wore a turban and had a stuttering frame like he wasn 't sure he had a right to be there. Dazai 's nose scrunched up 'this stranger gave him a bad feeling. A feeling like you were looking at someone with no moral standards. But then again, Dazai was pretty sure he gave off the same 'I 'm a threat, stay away from me ' aura as this fellow.

Maybe he was the wizard version of mafia.

The man looked up with wide, startled eyes; he seemed to recognize the feeling of a fellow monster 's eyes on him. Dazai gave him a thumbs up. Solidarity.

'What on

Earth

are you doing? '

Dazai turned to see Snape 's glower. 'Looking around. '

Snape 's brow pinched. He looked from Dazai to the stranger, then back again, and offered a look like barely concealed suspicion.

Oops,

Dazai thinks,

is this guy actually bad news?

Not like it really matters one way or the other.

'So, where 's this Diagonally place, Sir? '

'

Diagon

Alley. '

He corrected, tense.

'

Diagon

... No. I 'm sorry, that 's a terrible name. '

'Stop talking. '

'Yes sir. '

Snape shot him a glare. After making sure Dazai was going to stay at his side (quietly!), the professor walked to face a brick wall. He pulled out a wand.

'Wow. A brick wall ' '

'What did I say. '

Using the wand, Snape tapped along the bricks. Dazai stared in rapt attention as the bricks begin to slide and rearrange themselves until something resembling a doorway was left in place of the wall. At once, the bricks stopped moving. Bouncing on his heels, Dazai peeked out from under Snape 's arm.

On the other end of the wall was a bustling street that Dazai was fairly sure didn 't make sense with the layout of the city they were just in. The sheer number of people he could see just by standing in the Leaky Cauldron made Dazai feel a little dizzy, but Snape was quick to urge him into

Diagon

Alley regardless. Behind them, the wall closed back up.

Snape set off at a quick pace.

Dazai immediately made to follow, but he stumbled a bit trying to keep pace; he was two steps for every one of Snape 's. It was too crowded! There was no way he could keep track of every single person around 'the air breathed with constant threat. Or, no... Well, Dazai

was

on edge from all the people around, but there was something else in the air, too. Like a quiet buzz in the back of his skull, the air seemed alive! It made his brain itch as if No Longer Human was in effect. Dazai glanced up at Snape, but the man didn 't seem to notice how the air was practically alive with energy.

Huh.

Questions for another time. For now, Dazai just wanted to get somewhere quiet. He skipped ahead a few steps to half-run side-by-side with Snape. The man barely sent him a passive glance at the change in pace.

It was barely another minute before their destination became apparent.

The huge, white building before Dazai would have the honor of being the grandest thing he 'd ever seen, had the mafia 's skyrise not been so oppressively towering. Still, he supposed by magical standards, the place was rather interesting. Dazai spared a glance to Snape. 'What is that place? It 's where we 're going, right? '

Severus glared down at him, as though curiosity was something to be deterred. With a pleasant smile, Dazai tried and failed to see the problem with gathering information (unless secrets were being kept, that was). Regardless of his clear displeasure, the professor grunted, '

Gringott 's

bank. You brought money, didn 't you, boy? '

'Yes, sir. '

'Good. ' He barked. 'Exchange it with the goblins while I ' '

'Goblins are real?! '

Grabbing the boy 's arm, Snape growled lowly and forced Dazai toward the bank. He didn 't seem to notice how Dazai stiffened under the grip. 'Yes. And you 'll do well not to spout such nonsense in their faces. Now ' ' He pushed his charge through an ajar door. ' 'behave. '

Dazai 's eyes widened minutely. For all intents and purposes, it was just a regular bank, if a bit ornate. Except behind the desks and scattered about working studiously were what Dazai could only assume were the goblins Snape had mentioned. He 'd never seen a magical creature before! Granted, the concept of abilities had somewhat desensitized him to such absurdities. Still, goblins! What others sort of creatures existed?

He wanted to meet an omen of death!

Rocking back on his heels, Dazai rummaged around his coat pocket before pulling out three pristine hundred-dollar bills. Not a wrinkle in sight, Dazai noted with pleasure. Someone cleared their throat and he tried not to startle at the closeness.

Snape glared down at 'him, 'lip curled. 'We haven 't got all day, boy. '

Shuffling a foot away from the professor, Dazai made a small sound of agreement. When he started towards one of the bank tellers, Snape trailed a step after him. He stopped about a foot away from a particularly mean-looking teller.

At the dull look the goblin gave him, Dazai merely grinned. He set the bills down on the counter with a certain flair usually reserved for more interesting tasks. 'You can exchange this for me, can 't you? ' He asked.

The teller pulled a face, nose scrunching up like he was looking at something unpleasant. He didn 't reach for the money.

Dazai glanced up to Snape with a look that silently conveyed,

am I supposed to do something else?

When it became apparent the goblin was content to simply glare down at Dazai, Snape cleared his throat.

The professor placed his hand on the money and slid it further across the desk, wearing a look like he was at the end of his rope.

To Dazai 's surprise, the goblin immediately nodded and set to work. The work was quick and efficient 'a small pouch of coins was placed in front of Snape was a click barely a moment after. When Dazai reached out to take them, the goblin 's hands quickly pulled back and hid themselves away behind the counter.

Magical creatures are strange,

Dazai thought. He peeked inside the bag, frowning down at the collection of coins he couldn 't recognize. The coins jangled noisily in the pouch when he shut it. Dazai blinked up at Snape, commenting idly. 'I don 't think they like me. '

Snape glared down at him, but there was something contemplative in that gaze. Without a word, he walked towards the exit.

'Ah, ' Dazai followed, feeling a tickle of amusement underneath the buzz of magic at the base of his skull, 'What 's that look for, sir? '

Snape 's nose scrunched up. 'I

was

going to run an errand, but because you seem to be unable to accomplish even a basic task such as this, I 'm forced to do it later. '

'Aw. ' Dazai whined.

It 's not really my fault, though. '

You have a secret mission? '

'Enough. ' The professor spat, hurrying out of the bank. 'I 'd rather not have to spend all day babysitting you. '

Dazai raised a brow, but hurried after him. 'Are they always like that, the goblins? Ignoring people. '

'No. '

...But the goblins refused to help him. How interesting! Dazai 's brows pulled together in thought.

'Perhaps they could sense how obnoxious you are and wanted nothing to do with it. '

'Is that a joke? ' He teased. 'I thought you were a stick-in-the-mud, but I guess even that type of person can joke every once and awhile. Sir. '

'Enough. ' Snape barked. 'And hurry up 'we need to get your supplies quickly. '

Dazai nodded, serious. '

So

you can accomplish your secret mission! '

'So 'I can get back to work without you tagging along like a leech. '