Chapter 4 Diagon Alley
"Albert, are you sure we didn't go to the wrong place?" Herb was comparing the map in his hand, but he couldn't find the bar that Professor McGonagall mentioned.
“We need to find a bookstore first. Next door is a record store.” Albert raised his finger and pointed to the large bookstore in front of him. Next door was a record store.
“Is this it? But I...”
“…Can’t you see where the bar is?” Albert finished the sentence for him,
If he hadn't been observing carefully, he wouldn't have paid attention to the small bar next to the big bookstore.
People passing by in a hurry didn’t even look at it, including, of course, his father Herb.
“I’ve seen the bar, do you remember what Ms. McGonagall said?”
‘Muggles can’t find a pub?’ muttered Herb: ‘I hate the word Muggle.’
Herb held his son’s hand and was pulled forward by Albert. A few seconds later, he saw the legendary Leaky Cauldron pub.
It was a dingy little bar.
“I hate it here, it’s too dirty.”
“Me too, let’s go in!”
Suppressing the disgusted expressions on their faces, the father and son pushed open the door and walked into the bar one after another.
Dirty, messy, dark.
This is the two people's evaluation of this bar. There were some men and women who didn't look normal, mostly old people, sitting inside. They also wore ridiculous top hats on their heads, which looked very funny.
If this group of people were walking on the street, they would definitely attract the attention of countless people, but now they look even more alien here, as dazzling as a ray of fire in the darkness.
Herb immediately calmed down, walked towards the counter, looked at the bald old man and asked tentatively: "Mr. Tom?"
"A young wizard from a Muggle family?" Tom looked at Albert, then raised his head and smiled at Herb, "You want to know how to get to Diagon Alley?"
"Yes, Mr. Tom, Professor McGonagall said you can take us to Diagon Alley." Albert also looked at the old man in front of him, forcing a polite smile on his face.
"Of course, please come with me." Tom walked out from behind the bar and called for the two of them to follow.
The three of them came to the backyard of the bar, where there was only a brick wall, a trash can and a few empty wine barrels.
"This trash can will always be here. You need to count three bricks on top, and then count two bricks on the side. This is the brick." Tom pointed to the place where he had just knocked with his hand, and then pulled out He tapped the wand on the brick three times, then turned to Albert and said, "When you have your own wand, you can open the entrance to Diagon Alley by yourself. Remember, you have to tap the wand three times."
The brick that Old Tom had knocked began to shake. The brick wall moved very strangely. A small hole appeared in the middle. The hole became bigger and bigger. In just a few seconds, a line was formed in front of the three of them, which was enough to make people laugh. The archway they passed through.
A cobblestone-paved street stretches from the feet to the front, with shops on both sides. There are many wizards and hawking stalls on the street.
“Welcome to Diagon Alley.” Tom smiled at the two of them.
“Mr. Tom, how shall we go back later?” Herb asked.
"When you finish shopping, you can open the door just as I did." Tom answered Herb's question patiently, and did not forget to remind: "By the way, you'd better go to Gringotts to find the goblin first. Exchange for Galleons. Muggle coins cannot be used here. Walk forward from here and the white building is Gringotts Wizarding Bank."
“Thank you for your advice, Mr. Tom.”
After Tom leaves, the entrance disappears and turns back into a wall.
“Let’s go and change money.” Herb took a deep breath.
"It feels very different here." Albert looked at the surrounding shops and said to Herb with a smile: "It feels like the times have gone back a century."
"To be honest, I have some doubts about the correctness of letting you go to Hogwarts. Maybe Daisy's persistence is the right thing." Herb sighed softly. Although the wizarding world is magical, it always gives him a feeling that he can't follow it. The illusion of the times.
“Dad, I don’t necessarily want to live in the magical world.” Albert couldn’t help rolling his eyes and reminded, “I went to Hogwarts to study mainly to master this magical power.”
"Oh, you're right." Herb's mood improved a little, and the two of them walked through the crowd and headed to Gringotts.
As Tom said, this is a white building, and there is a short figure standing next to the bronze door, that is...the goblin.
"They are really special." Herb's facial expression was a little stiff. This was the first time he had seen other humanoid creatures other than humans.
Albert didn’t care. He looked at the appearance of the goblin. He was short, with a pointed beard, slender hands and toes, and a dark face. He was a creature with no beauty at all.
As they entered, Albert noticed the goblin bowing to them.
There is a second door at the back, which is silver and has engravings on the two doors. After Herb came closer, he took a closer look and said aloud: "Come in, stranger, but be careful what greed will bring." The end result is that if you blindly ask for something and get something for nothing, you will definitely receive the most severe punishment..."
“I really don’t understand how hard wizards have to work to rob banks before they need to carve warning signs on the door?” Herb couldn’t help but muttered after reading it.
Albert wanted to laugh a little after hearing this, and quickly cleared his throat and asked. "How much are you prepared to exchange for?"
"This?" Herb thought for a moment and whispered, "One thousand pounds. If it's not enough, I'll change it."
One thousand pounds is equivalent to a month's salary for most people.
Albert estimated that it was about two hundred galleons. He nodded and said, "I think it should be enough."
After entering, the two goblins bowed to the two of them and led them into a tall marble hall. Herb said he needed to change some galleons.
The goblin led them to the counter on the right and handed a piece of parchment to Herb. On the parchment was the exchange rate between pounds and galleons and the concept of money in the magical world.
1 galleons is equal to 4.95 British pounds.
One Galleons was equal to 17 Sickles, and 1 Sickle was equal to 29 Nats.
Herb handed the parchment to his son and asked, "How many pounds are needed for 200 galleons?"
“990 pounds.”
"Please help me exchange 200 Galleons." Herb took out 990 pounds from his wallet and asked the goblin to exchange it for Galleons.
“Okay, wait a moment.” The goblin took the pounds and began to count them.
“Excuse me, Mr. Goblin, can any number of pounds be exchanged for galleons here?” Albert curiously asked about the doubts he had in his previous life.
"Theoretically, this is true, but we won't accept too much Muggle currency." The goblin rang the bell and called another goblin to give instructions. The goblin took a bag of gold coins and handed it to Herb. Then he led them aside to verify the number of galleons.
“I didn’t expect it to be a gold coin.” Herb fiddled with the Galleons on his fingertips and couldn’t help but sigh.
After counting the Galleons and confirming that they were correct, the two of them took the Galleons and left Gringotts.
Walking on the sunny street, the gold coins in the two people's pockets collided and made a pleasant jingle, as if urging them to spend the gold coins quickly.
(End of this chapter)