The aurors kindly explained how this was going to go. As it turned out despite seemingly being tricked into it, I still had to deal with the repercussions of entering a foreign ministries area of influence illegally. That is to say I was brought back to the ministry, made to pay a rather hefty fine and then promptly given a "visitor" pass once I did. Honestly besides the three hundred galleon fine the process of getting off the hook was quite reasonable. To be fair though I was carefully searched for contraband and upon being found to not have any the french ministry deemed me harmless so that likely had something to do with it.-
Ironically just going along with the Aurors made getting to Paris easy since the ministry was located there. Apparition sucked by the way. When it's described as something hooking your belly button and dragging you through a straw that is NOT a joke. The sheer dissonance of the sensation was almost enough to make me ill. The amused expressions of the Aurors at my grimace when we arrived didn't help at all.-
Something I found hilarious though was that the french ministry mistook my shrunken spear for my wand and as a result didn't realize my actual wand was not on me. Still I was "released into the wild" in the french equivalent of Diagon alley, Place Cachee. Even after losing a hefty chunk of money effectively bailing myself out of jail I still had plenty on hand and eagerly got to exploring the area. Much like Diagon alley it was more than just shops as there were houses too though the place was narrower than Diagon alley by quite a bit.-
To no surprise most of the signs I saw were in french and honestly ridiculously to the point. For example one of the alchemy shops was flat out named Alchimie. Naturally I stopped in to see if anything interesting was there. How could I not when France was Nicolas Flammel's hometown and the most advanced alchemical country in the world since he patroned Beauxbatons? I certainly wasn't disappointed either. The shop had various wonders of alchemy that the shops in Diagon alley sorely missed. Elixirs that did all sorts of interesting things, devices that were enchanted for awe and use both, even a few small things in display cases supposedly made my Flammel himself.-
"Always pleased to see a young person with a healthy interest in the art." the old thin man behind the counter said in french with a smile.
"To learn the secrets of life and the world all while turning a profit, what's not to love?" I said with a grin.
"Ho ho! Greedy little fellow I see. It's a good thing to know who you are and embrace it, rare too." he said with a smile.
I shrugged "I see no point in hiding away who I am. I'm not evil and not righteous either so it's not a problem. Perhaps that might change one day but not today. Now then, that giants might elixir over there. What's it do exactly?" I asked pointing at the bright red vial that's contents bubbled despite the vial being sealed tight.
The old man put on a pair of thin spectacles with golden rims and peered at the vial in question.
"Ah yes, I believe I remember that one. It's a strengthening agent, made using an alchemical ritual to transfer the essence of a giants strength and durability to whoever drank it. Tricky bit of work. No one wanted it though, wizards rarely ever think to improve their physiques like that after all." he said casually.
"This improvement is permanent I take it?" I asked and he nodded.
"Yes, intrinsically links the magic to the drinkers. Technically removable but not worth the cost involved most would say." he said seriously.
"What cost is that?" I asked curiously.
"Soul damage." he said gravely making me suck in a hiss of air.
"I'll take it all the same." I said once I regained my calm.
"Can you afford it? It's ten thousand galleons after all." he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't have that much on me, do you know where the branch of Gringotts for this area is?" I asked helplessly.
"You aren't a from here? You speak just like a french native." he said surprised.
"I have a bit of a gift for languages is all. Now then the bank?" I asked again.
"Down that way, there should be Goblins out front." he said with a strange twinkle in his eye that reminded me an uncomfortable amount of Dumbledore.
I hurriedly left the shop and followed the direction I was given and easily found the branch I was looking for.
It wasn't some grand marble building like I was expecting but rather almost could be mistaken for another shop. When I walked in however I understood that this look was deceptive. The inside was a grand marbled hall almost identical to the one back home. It made it easy to figure out what to do and I walked towards a podium with a short line and waited for my turn. There were three people in front of me and because of the way Gringotts worked each of us were ten meters away from whoever was speaking to the goblin at the podium. -
The person in front of me took quite a while so I ended up with people behind me. A small family in fact, one that was hard to ignore. Not because they were standing out in terms of outfits or anything but because two of them were "Half veela". I recognized them because the amount of people who fit that description were VERY small and these ones were in the books and movies. The Delacour girls might not have been using that magic allure of theirs actively but it was rather annoying to have to constantly bat aside with tightly controlled conqueror's haki.