Near the end of July 1991, Ethan received three letters, something very rare as barely anyone knew of their address. It didn’t seem to be much of a problem to the three wizarding schools though as they all sent their letter on the same day.

One was a letter from Hogwarts, another was from Ilvermorny and the last one from Durmstrang, as Newt had predicted a few years ago. The three letters said almost the same thing, the main difference being in the supplies needed for school as every school didn’t need the same books.

In his past life, Ethan almost knew by heart the letter of acceptance from Hogwarts from how many times he read it in either the books themselves, or fanfictions. However, after nearly 11 years into this world, it was nice to read it again. Besides, having his invitation to the magical school he had longed for so long was something else than reading about it in the past.

Since every student received their letters on the same day, Ethan and his parents decided to wait for a week before going to Diagon Alley, as every family would go there as soon as possible, so waiting for a week should allow them to cross less people.

Unfortunately, Diagon Alley was a busy place all year round, and so even though there were less people than there would have been a week prior, there were still a lot of people.

Thankfully, the family was able to quickly finish their shopping without raising a fuss, or so they thought. The next day, as Henry brought back the Daily Prophet in the morning, he did so with a grave face, and both Ethan and Helene immediately saw why.

On the front page were two pictures stuck together. On the left, was Ethan, looking into the distance, his face serious and somewhat mysterious. His light blond hair had grown slightly longer, and was straightened to the right, Italian style.

His face had matured a lot compared to when he was 4, the wild look to it had grown and made him look quite handsome, but also a bit dangerous, as if he was thinking about mischief.

And on the right, was an old photograph of none other than dear old grandpa, Gellert Grindelwald himself. The resemblance was actually striking, their hair looked very similar, both in colour and style, and they had the same look. It wasn’t one of pure malice, again, but rather one of a mysterious charm that would bring people to them.

The only difference between the two would be age, as Ethan was only 11, while Gellert was in his forties, but if a random person was shown the two pictures, and was told the one of the left was a younger version of the one on the right, about anyone would believe them.

Funnily enough, Ethan remembered Grindelwald looked vastly different when he was young than when he appeared in the later Fantastic Beasts. In the movies at least, although that was mainly due to the difference in actors.

Above the two pictures, big black letters danced threateningly.

‘THIRD DARK LORD OF THE CENTURY?’

Helene, upon seeing the headline, growled, "I’m going to sue the shit out of them!"

Henry, still frowning, wasn’t much more accommodating of the breach of privacy, "I would have hexed their ass if I saw them!"

Meanwhile, Ethan only laughed at the title, "It’s going to be a fun year at school!"

This had happened two weeks ago, and every edition of the Daily Prophet since then had been about either him or Harry Potter, often both of them, comparing the boy of light and the one of darkness.

Not one picture of Ethan was used twice, meaning they had taken quite a few of them of him back in Diagon Alley, which was quite surprising since they hadn’t stayed for long as they had skipped the shop in which they would have to wait the most, Ollivanders.

This was because Ethan, unlike nearly every other student in Hogwarts, wasn’t going to buy his wand from Ollivanders, but from the Japanese Wandmaker, Ishida Yuji.

This wasn’t because Ethan thought less of Ollivander, the old man was a well recognized genius in wand-making and anyone dismissing him as anything lesser than that would be a fool, but because Ethan wanted his wand to be specially made for him, and use materials Ollivanders did not deal with.

It was said that the wand chose the wizard, and while true, the affinity a child would have to a wand could be somewhat predicted. For example, Harry Potter would get the twin wand of Voldemort’s own wand, because of his scar.

As for Ethan, he wanted the core of his wand to be made with the tail hair of Miyuki’s mother. She had a major impact in his life, and he shared a deep connection with both her and Miyuki.

This was a decision Ethan had made with Miyuki, so the wand would become a memento of Miyuki’s mother, and their reunion.

As for the hair, it had been given to them by the Buddhist Temple, after they asked them. Of course, it had cost a pretty penny, but it was worth it.

And today, the 15^th of August 1991, was a special day. Not only would Ethan fetch his wand today, but it was also his 11^th birthday!

When he woke up, Ethan did not feel any difference, his chaotic magic was still roaming unchecked in his body, volatile as ever.

However, at 11:43 am, Ethan felt something incredible.

Normally, children wouldn’t feel anything of their magical transformation, as they didn’t have the ability to feel their magic at all times.

Ethan, however, had for a few years now managed to feel all of his magic at all times in his body, meaning he felt it go through an unusual pattern.

The thing was, before, his magic did not follow any pattern, but in that moment, Ethan could feel all of his magic heading in the same direction, forming a vortex within his body that sucked all of his magic, and some more from the surroundings.

Before long, a magical core was formed in Ethan’s body, made up of all his magic.

Thanks to the countless hours Ethan spent meditating, as well as his constant use of magic, Ethan had more magic than peers of his age, and all of that magic was gathered in one core.

As Ethan’s magical core gradually formed though, Ethan noticed it was not growing in a perfect sphere, as he had always imagined it, and so a childish part of him willed for it to change shape, and to his surprise, it actually worked.

Ethan did not know whether the shape of the core changed anything to magic, but for him, who felt his magic at all times, an uneven sphere would be very disturbing, so he shaped it into a more even shape.

After a couple of minutes, Ethan’s magical core was finally created. Opening his eyes, Ethan raised his hand, and all the furniture in the room started floating.

With a grin, Ethan put them back down. While he may have mastered his volatile magic, the feeling of having an actual core was completely different. Now, all that was left was to get his wand, and he would be ready for Hogwarts.

And thankfully, Ethan wouldn’t have to go back to Japan as his parents had already fetched the wand a month ago.

Later in the afternoon, after Ethan ate cake with his parents, they gave him a wooden box, with many runes carved in the wood. Looking them over, Ethan saw a few preservation runes, as well as other runes, some he could identify the function of, and others a bit too advanced even for him. That had to be his mother’s handiwork.

Taking a deep breath, Ethan opened the box, revealing his wand.

The wand was 12 inches, and almost white in colour. On the side, Helene informed, "It is made of Maple wood, and for the core… you should know."

Ethan nodded slightly, and feeling trepidation and some nervousness, he grabbed the wand.

Instantly, Ethan felt a connection create itself between his magical core and the wand in his hand. With a flick of his hand, a small tree started growing from the wooden table. His parents were quite astonished by the feat of transfiguration.

Ethan quickly stopped though, resetting the table to its original state. He fiddled with the wand for a while, before putting it in the wand holster that came with it.

Honestly, Ethan had been a bit worried about his wand, he feared it would have some kind of negative impact on him, but thankfully, it didn’t.

Also, Ethan feared it could be a bit useless, as his mastery of magic was already impressive enough.

Even before he was 11, when his magic was still volatile, Ethan didn’t just manage to sense all of it at all times, he was also capable of manipulating it in its entirety to perform several spells.

So after his core manifested itself, his control was only further elevated, making it extremely easy for Ethan to control his magic.

Hence, in a way, the wand’s ability to better his control over his magic was indeed useless. However, that wasn’t the only ability of a wand. Ethan could feel his magic flow faster while he held the wand, and it could even amplify his spells to a certain extent.

So overall, he was relieved the wand didn’t turn out to be useless, or harmful.