Return to Diagon Alley

"Nal, wake up!"

The muffled shouting in his ear jolted Nelson awake. From the moment they had sat down, the magical bus had plunged into a wild, swerving dash. Nelson had rested his forehead against the window, sipping hot cocoa that somehow had not spilled despite the breakneck ride, watching the scenery rush backward on both sides—neighborhoods spinning past like a carousel, brightly lit windows flashing by, mailboxes and streetlamps dodging out of the bus's way, and hurried pedestrians who ignored the rampaging behemoth as though it did not exist. This lurching ride was not only endlessly irritating, but enough to make sensitive people dizzy and drowsy.

Nelson opened his eyes, rubbed at them, and turned to see Tom sitting ramrod-straight beside him, holding two cups.

"Thanks..." He sat up weakly, then leaned back against the seat and looked out the window. Dawn had begun to break. "Where are we?"

"I don't know either. We're going too fast to see clearly, but the conductor said we're almost there." Tom raised the cup in his left hand. "Your cocoa. You looked thirsty. Want a sip? It's still hot."

"Ah, all right." Only then did Nelson realize how parched he was. He reached for the cup and brought it to his lips. Tom must have been holding it up for quite a while while he slept. "Sorry, I fell asleep without realizing it. Thanks for holding my cup."

"Not for long." Tom picked up his own cup and clinked it against Nelson's. "See? It's still hot."

Nelson took large gulps of cocoa. He suspected the reason his throat was so dry was that he had drunk such a sugary beverage before going to sleep. It felt rather like drinking poison to quench thirst. Staring at the empty bottom of his cup, he rested his head against the window again.

Christmas had passed. Highly developed capitalism had already dragged London into its fast-paced anxiety. The day after the public holiday, most factories had resumed work. It was seven in the morning, and the sun had yet to fully rise, but judging by the sky and the chimneys in the distance belching thick smoke, quite a few factories had been operating for some time.

"Looks like another foggy day." He looked toward the whitening sky. Even the rising sun struggled to pierce the gloom hanging over the city. Morning, noon, or night, this place always looked like dusk. He could not tell whether the haze lingering in the streets was fog or smog settling in people's hearts.

"When isn't it?" Tom wholeheartedly agreed.

Sitting on the upper deck of the Knight Bus, Nelson could look down at the pedestrians below. Every one of them was wrapped tightly in worn gray cotton coats, wearing hats and scarves and carrying umbrellas under their arms. Was it truly so bleak? Not really. Those who wrote wonderful chapters were still asleep at this hour, or perhaps drinking cocoa in a restaurant.

"Gentlemen, would you like some water?" The young conductor suddenly appeared before them as though by Apparition. He stood beside them, balancing two glasses of water on the tip of his Wand. "Water is complimentary, but for one Sickle, you can get a fully automatic toothbrush and a towel, then wash up at the back of the bus. We'll reach Diagon Alley in about ten minutes. Finish this water and wash your faces, then you can get ready to disembark."

"All right." Nelson looked at Tom, shrugged, and handed over the empty cups and two Silver Coins.

"This money is really easy to make." Tom stamped his feet on the ground after getting off the bus. Both of them looked refreshed.

"Not bad, considering it's a service industry." Nelson looked around. To avoid Muggles, the Knight Bus could not stop in front of the Leaky Cauldron during the day, so it had taken a long detour and stopped at the actual entrance to Diagon Alley. "I once specifically walked around the block where the Leaky Cauldron is located. There's absolutely no way an alley this big could fit there, let alone Knockturn Alley beside it. I suspect that when we pass through that wall in the Leaky Cauldron, we might go through something like touching a Portkey or passing through the Floo Network."

"Maybe, but what does that have to do with us?"

"That's true."

Unlike the sameness, solemnity, and tension of London's streets, Diagon Alley teemed with all sorts of strange Wizards and colorful shops. The one thing they had in common was that they were all interesting. Even things that were ordinarily dull became interesting in such an amusing setting. The sky overhead was clear and blue, making it obvious that this place was far from London. The residential area across from the alley entrance was full of Wizards in robes, apparently a Wizarding community. A few old men were jogging along the street in tracksuits and stockings that seemed to have been handed down from the age of Napoleon. As they passed the two boys, they deliberately turned their heads and barked at them.

"Hey! You boys! What are you standing around for? Get moving, or you'll regret it when you're my age!"

"What were they?" Tom asked blankly after the old men had run past. "What were they wearing? What were they doing?"

"..." Nelson tried desperately not to think about what he had just seen. "Let's just go."

Diagon Alley had become lively early in the morning. Vendors carrying wooden boxes hawked their wares in the streets, strange cloaked figures darted about among the pedestrians, and an old witch with a stall nearby was even trying to sell the two of them her amulets.

"Young gentlemen, want to take a look at this amulet made by Merlin himself? It can effectively drive off Werewolves and Vampires. I won't ask for much, just eighty thousand!"

"Sell it to Bella Swan instead!" Nelson shouted at her, then turned to ask Tom quietly, "Can't she tell that the vendor next to her is a Vampire?"

The old witch rose and chased after them, demanding to know who Bella Swan was, but the two had already vanished into the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

"Uh... honestly, I didn't notice either."

"Oh, you may not have seen it." Seeing Tom's slight embarrassment, Nelson explained, "The differences between Vampires and Wizards are subtle, but if you look closely, you can still spot a few—"

"All right, all right." Tom hurriedly changed the subject, pointing at a tall woman across the street carrying a Birdcage. "Doesn't that woman look like Mrs. Cole?"

"Oh... God, she really does." Nelson studied her for a moment, then noticed that they had reached the entrance of a pet shop. "Let's take a look. We can buy you a toad or something."

Tom did not look like he wanted to enter the pet shop. "I don't—"

"Hey! You two! Talking about someone's appearance behind her back is not a good habit." An unmistakably displeased female voice sounded behind them. Nelson turned and saw the tall woman with the Birdcage standing there. She wore a purple top hat, her black hair tightly tied into a ponytail. Beneath sharply slanting eyebrows, her black eyes were imperious. Her features were exceptionally defined, especially her high cheekbones and nose bridge. Features like those could easily make someone look harsh, but on her face they only made her seem decisive—and she truly was decisive, as evidenced by the way she had crossed the street to confront them. Nelson even suspected she would pull out her Wand and give him and Tom a piece of her mind the next second. "By the way, who is Mrs. Cole?"

"Sorry, ma'am!" Nelson saw that a corner of the black cloth covering the Birdcage had been lifted by the wind, revealing a vulture inside. People who kept birds like that were generally not to be trifled with, and his survival instincts immediately kicked in. "Mrs. Cole is a famous beauty where we're from, isn't she, Tom?"

"I suppose so." Tom looked unconcerned. He even seemed eager at the sight of the newcomer, as though ready to pull out his Wand and have a fight.

"All right." She nodded and studied them. "You're Hogwarts students, aren't you?"

Nelson was about to answer when delight, as though she had found treasure, suddenly burst into her eyes. She examined Nelson again with a critical gaze. "You're that one! That... Nal Williams, right?"

"My name is Nelson Williams. Are you one of our upperclassmen?" He did not remember knowing anyone like her.

"Close enough. My name is Augusta. I know you. You're Minerva's little friend, aren't you?" She continued speaking to herself. "That makes sense. I've always said she shouldn't date a Muggle."

"Uh, allow me to interrupt." Tom had no idea what she was talking about, so he cut in. "Do you mean Minerva McGonagall from Gryffindor?"

"Yes. I often see the two of them together."

"We're only studying Transfiguration," Nelson explained.

"What's the difference?" Augusta seemed to have a problem with her reasoning.

"With all due respect, if Nelson Williams and Minerva McGonagall ever got together, then even if Nal suddenly married Professor Armando Dippet tomorrow, I wouldn't find it strange." Tom seemed amused by his own thought and could not help laughing.

"Sorry, upperclassman, but we have something to do, so we'll be going." Unable to bear the two of them making up stories about him, Nelson dragged Tom away. "We'll ask for your guidance when school starts!"

"All right. I'm going to find Minerva too. Goodbye." Augusta shrugged and merged into the crowd as well.

"What time is that person arriving?" Tom and Nal had already wandered through half the street and were now eating at Fortescue's ice cream parlor, their feet surrounded by purchases that could not be mailed. Fortescue had introduced seasonal hot drinks, so the place was still packed. "I really don't understand. Is it so hard to take a train to London, find a hotel to sleep in for the night, then take another train to Hogwarts? And he even knows where Diagon Alley is. Does he really need someone to pick him up?"

"There really isn't any need. Is that what Albus told you? He always likes to nitpick and describe other people as intellectually impaired." A man in a khaki overcoat sat down heavily beside them, his leather boots covered in mud. Nelson looked up and saw his travel-worn, exhausted face, the untrimmed stubble, and the messy chestnut hair atop his head. "You're Nelson, right? Did you bring it?"