First Glimpse of the Wizarding World: Diagon Alley

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."

The little girl held out her hand to Loren.

"Hello, I'm Loren Morgan."

Loren shook her hand twice. He felt this kind of social etiquette was a little too formal for two children.

"Are you a chosen First Year too?"

The girl was now curious about everything related to wizards. She had been so excited last night that she had nearly been unable to sleep.

Loren's thoughts were still wandering when the little girl tried to ask something else.

"You can chat later. Right now, we're going to The Leaky Cauldron."

Professor McGonagall interrupted them. She took both children by the hand with her left hand and waved her wand with her right.

"Apparition!"

Pop!

Loren found the second time much easier than the first. The time he spent being squeezed through that tube was much shorter. Perhaps he had adapted, or perhaps the distance this time was closer.

Meanwhile, tears immediately welled up in the lively little girl's eyes.

But before Professor McGonagall could comfort her, a choked voice spoke first.

"Was that magic just now?"

"Was the spell Apparition?"

"Can we learn it later too?"

After firing off three questions in a row, the little girl took a deep sniff and recovered. Her bright eyes stared straight at Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall and Loren were both struck speechless.

Loren wondered whether he should join in and show the appropriate curiosity about the wizarding world.

Professor McGonagall paused briefly before speaking. "You'll learn about that after you enroll. For now, I'll show you how to get from the Muggle world to Diagon Alley. In the following school years, you'll have to do it yourselves."

Only then did Loren and Hermione look up and examine their surroundings. Before them stood a somewhat dirty, shabby old pub, its outer walls covered in black stains.

Passersby seemed unable to see the pub at all.

Professor McGonagall led them through the pub, which was even darker and dirtier inside. The people there dressed very strangely as well. Some wore tall top hats, while others had clothes with hems dragging along the floor.

They stared at Hermione's jeans and plaid coat, as though such clothing was especially captivating. Loren wore clothes made by a tailor in his town, an outfit that looked somewhat old-fashioned on the streets outside, but the people in the pub seemed to find it perfectly normal.

Being openly scrutinized by rude gazes made Hermione look uncomfortable. Her brows knitted tightly, but she said nothing.

As they passed the bar, the pub owner waved to greet Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and did not say much. She led them to a small courtyard enclosed by walls on all sides, where there was nothing but rubbish bins and weeds.

"Count three bricks up from the rubbish bin, then two across, and tap the wall lightly three times with your wand, then..." Professor McGonagall explained as she demonstrated.

The brick trembled, and a small hole appeared in it. Eventually, the opening turned into an archway leading to another magical world.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley."

There was a faint trace of pride in Professor McGonagall's voice. Even though she had to repeat this routine many times every year, she was never impatient. Pulling back the curtain on the wizarding world for a young wizard was a pleasurable task.

They walked through the archway, and a rumbling sound came from behind them.

Hermione and Loren turned back to see that the archway had turned into an ordinary wall again.

Along the way, they saw all kinds of strange shops—shops selling Owls, Crucibles, and oddly shaped brooms—but they did not stop.

"Professor McGonagall, why do wizards use Owls to deliver letters?"

"Professor McGonagall, why are Crucibles made from different materials and in different sizes?"

"Professor McGonagall, why can flying brooms fly? Do they have engines? What powers them?"

Hermione was a little nervous, and she kept asking questions.

Children were always somewhat afraid when they arrived somewhere unfamiliar. Her curiosity was at work, but the questions also helped ease the emotions in her heart.

At first, Professor McGonagall answered her questions, but Hermione's questions came one after another, always followed by another why.

In the end, Professor McGonagall said, "Some questions will be answered after you enroll. Others, you'll have to find the answers to yourself."

Only then did Hermione stop. She turned her gaze toward the little companion beside her.

Loren was enthusiastically taking in the shops and pedestrians along the street, connecting what he saw with memories from his previous life.

"Loren, why aren't you asking anything? Aren't you curious at all?" Hermione asked Loren.

Loren looked at the little girl before him. Her eyes really were bright. "Hermione, did you know? I live on a ranch and have two talking kittens. One is very cute, and the other isn't very good-looking."

"Oh, are they wizard pets too? I thought you were from a Muggle family like me." Hermione quickly added another question. Professor McGonagall had already told her that Muggle was the term wizards used for ordinary people.

Professor McGonagall also noticed what Loren had said. Talking cats? She had never kept any. Why had she not seen them when she visited Loren's home before?

"The not-so-good-looking one always asked why, so it was given away," Loren said solemnly, holding back a laugh.

The moment Professor McGonagall saw Loren's expression, she realized he was talking nonsense.

"Huh? Why? Because it wasn't cute? Do you have any other cats you can give me? Even if they aren't that cute." Hermione was still immersed in the thought of adorable talking kittens, then added, "Even if they can't talk."

Loren was almost unable to hold it in. "Because cute kittens don't keep asking why!" With that, Loren burst out laughing.

Professor McGonagall wore an amused expression as well.

Hermione blinked a few times and froze for a moment before finally catching on. "That's awful! You tricked me!" As she spoke, she gritted her teeth and slapped Loren lightly on the shoulder, though she did not use much force.

"It was just a joke!" Loren apologized through his laughter.

As they passed Flourish and Blotts, excitement shone visibly in Hermione's eyes. She could hardly wait to rush inside and search the books for answers to every question she had, but Professor McGonagall did not stop.

"Wizarding currency differs from currency in the Muggle world. We need to go to Gringotts first and exchange some wizarding money," Professor McGonagall explained.

Talking about the shops around them, the group finally arrived at their destination.

It was a snow-white building, taller than the other shops around it, with gleaming Bronze Doors.

Goblin attendants in scarlet-and-gold uniforms stood before the doors. They were less than half the height of an ordinary adult, a head shorter than Loren, but their arms and legs were both long.

When they entered, the Goblin attendants bowed to them. Beyond them was a second, silver door, engraved with the words: Enter, stranger, but take heed of what awaits the sin of greed. Those who take but do not earn shall pay most dearly. So if you seek beneath our floors a treasure that was never yours, thief, you have been warned: beware, for you may find not treasure, but retribution.

Inside was a marble hall. Along a row of long counters, hundreds of Goblin employees sat on high stools handling all kinds of business. Some weighed coins with copper scales, while others inspected gemstones...

Countless doors led to different places throughout the hall, and Goblins led people back and forth through them.

With Professor McGonagall's help, Loren and Hermione exchanged Pound Sterling for wizarding currency. Through the Goblins' explanations and Professor McGonagall's additions, the two learned some basic information.

Muggle currency could be exchanged for wizarding money, mainly Galleons. This service was exclusively for Hogwarts students from Muggle families.

Every transaction was specially recorded, and exchanges exceeding a certain amount would be questioned. But exchanging Galleons for Muggle currency had almost no restrictions, in consideration of wizards who lived in the Muggle world and had such needs.

Of course, wizards surely had ways to obtain Muggle currency without exchanging for it, but those methods would most likely violate the Statute of Secrecy.

Loren also discovered that the wizarding currency system was extremely crude. Even though exchanging Muggle currency for Galleons required special calculations and records, gold could still be exchanged without limit.

On that point alone, Loren had a way to utterly wreck the wizarding economy and make them pay five hundred thousand Marks for a loaf of bread. Ah, no, Galleons.

But that crude system also meant it could be shameless. The Goblins of Gringotts had the final say in every interpretation.

The currency had no financial attributes at all. How much was minted and how much was issued were entirely up to the Goblins. If Loren used financial methods to attack them, the result would merely be the Goblins issuing a shameless statement and rewriting the rules.

Using prices to cause a shock would not yield much either, since the market was too small. Unless he could make wizards sign some kind of labor contract, but that was unrealistic, because he would be strung up and fed to the giant squid.

And Loren found the strange exchange rates of 1 Galleon to 17 Sickles and 1 Sickle to 29 Knuts deeply distressing.

Decimal is number one! C—ah, no, Java is number one...