Leaky Cauldron

Annie was now standing on some street in London, England. After watching the passersby in their outdated clothes, hairstyles, and accessories, as well as the old-model cars roaring and spewing black smoke as they raced down the road, she knew that after stepping through that misty portal, she hadn't returned to Valoran as she'd hoped. Instead, she'd ended up in yet another unfamiliar place. Still, at least she could be sure of one thing: she was still on Earth, since she could make out the English letters on the storefronts and signboards.

At first, when Annie had spotted all those signs on the street, she'd naively thought she'd just been teleported from New York, USA, to London, England.

But how could she have known that when she irritably pulled out the high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent communicator from her little backpack and tried to secretly contact Uncle Coulson and Aunt Melinda, she'd be shocked to see the screen displaying: No Signal?

Blinking, staring at that glaring "No Signal" prompt, Annie was baffled. This had never happened before! Hadn't Uncle Coulson said that this S.H.I.E.L.D. special-issue communicator used military satellite signals? He'd even guaranteed that no matter where Annie went, she'd always have a signal and be trackable by S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites.

But look now! She was standing right out in the open on an empty street—where was the promised signal? How could there be no signal? They were all liars! Or were S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites fake? Or had one gotten bored and run off to the other side of the Earth, blocked by the planet?

Annie frowned and thought hard for a while, then stubbornly found a public phone booth and dialed all the numbers she remembered. But to her surprise, the antique receiver's automated voice told her that every number she'd dialed was invalid? How was that possible?

It wasn't until, by chance, the puzzled Annie spotted an old discarded newspaper in a metal trash can next to the phone booth that she finally snapped back to reality. The date on the paper read: August 1, 1992...

So Annie realized: after crossing through that unreliable misty portal, she'd arrived here—a different Earth, and very likely one on a different timeline?

Annie wasn't entirely unfamiliar with terms like timelines, spacetime, and alternate dimensions. Back on the Valoran Continent, various magic books described such information in fair detail. There were even specialized mages who studied these strange classification spells, and it was said there was an old man named Zilean who was the best at studying time—so good that he'd actually gotten himself lost in the timeline, gaining immortality in the process, making countless people green with envy!

Though Annie had never been particularly interested in these things before, she had read quite a few similar books. So now, accepting that she'd ended up on a different Earth in a different timeline came relatively easily to her; she wasn't overly shocked.

All Annie knew now was that the timeline she was in seemed to be Earth's 1992, her current location was probably some street in London, England, and—most importantly—this timeline didn't seem to have any S.H.I.E.L.D.!

"Ugh... how annoying, Tibbers... looks like we've ended up in another strange place." Annie sighed in frustration. It seemed finding her way home wouldn't be easy—a long and arduous road ahead... but she definitely wasn't giving up!

Still, luckily Annie had been foresighted. Back then, just as she was about to fully enter the portal, she'd instinctively swiped the Space Stone as fast as she could! Thinking back now, she felt that decision had been absolutely brilliant and decisive! Annie figured she could give herself full marks, plus a hundred extra praise points!

Since she still had the Space Stone, her chances of getting home were still pretty good! At worst, she'd just have to try a few more times—open the door a few more times, and eventually she'd get lucky! To Annie, that was no big deal.

But what really pissed Annie off right now was: that so-called Infinity Stone with infinite energy was now out of power? Where was the promised infinite energy? Sure enough, Annie felt that the world was full of liars! Based on her knowledge of magical energy conservation and equivalent exchange, infinite energy simply shouldn't exist!

Even her little bear Tibbers had just said that the Infinity Stone might have lost its ability to draw energy directly from the world because it was in a different world with different rules! That's why it had lost its infinite energy. But it could still slowly absorb ambient energy from the space around it, and once it charged up enough, it could be used again! Of course, that might take a little time... okay, actually, quite a long time.

After realizing the Infinity Stone no longer had infinite energy and that she couldn't go home for now, Annie started wandering aimlessly around this novel London city center. After all, it wasn't her first time in a strange place—she'd just hang out here for a while!

Annie figured she was used to it by now! She'd play for a bit first! As long as she found a satisfactory place to stay before dark, after she got tired of playing. Her space pouch was full of money anyway, and she wasn't afraid of anyone trying to rob her! Annie was already holding a belly full of anger right now! If anyone was bold enough to mess with her, they'd better be ready to try!

Annie wandered around randomly. At first, she thought this world was just an ordinary Earth without S.H.I.E.L.D. But when she turned onto a slightly secluded old street, she made a new discovery: a somewhat old, small house stood by the roadside, looking completely out of place among the surrounding buildings?

If it were just the odd style, that would be one thing. But what caught Annie's attention was that this building actually had faint magical fluctuations? And even more surprising: besides her, none of the other pedestrians or tourists passing by seemed to notice this old house at all. To them, it was as if the building didn't exist!

Even if someone's path brought them too close to it, they'd unconsciously take a small detour around it before continuing on the other side? Curious, Annie tried using a tracing spell to analyze it briefly and found that the fluctuation resembled a mix of repelling and concealment magic. Though the application was relatively simple, it was surprisingly effective! And it achieved near-perfect results with minimal magical energy!

After observing a bit more, Annie noticed that this magic seemed to only affect ordinary people without any magical power? Did this timeline's Earth also have mages? And they were deliberately hiding from ordinary people? They'd even concealed their magical world within the mundane city?

Having spotted this, Annie closed her eyes and used her vast magical perception to quickly scan all of London. Sure enough, she found many similar locations. This was really interesting!

Annie suddenly felt that maybe waiting for the Space Stone to recover in this world wouldn't be so boring? Because here, beneath the surface of the ordinary world, there was actually a medium-sized magical world hidden? This was way more fun than when she'd fought aliens with S.H.I.E.L.D.!

"Huh? Leaky Cauldron? Or... the Leaky Cauldron? It looks so dirty!" Annie tilted her head, looking at the shabby sign hanging above the building's door. The words were obscure and hard for her to pronounce. But since she'd found something interesting, she definitely had to go in and check it out.

Having made up her mind, Annie walked up to the door of the building that ordinary people couldn't see. The repelling magic had no effect on her, of course!

Standing in front of the wooden door, staring at this thing that didn't look very sturdy, Annie thought it over, then lifted her leg and kicked it open. Who made the door knocker so high? She couldn't reach it! And the door looked dirty and smelly, with some disgusting sticky stuff of unknown origin on it—no way she was pushing it with her hand!

"Oh, Merlin's Beard! I've said it countless times before—don't kick my door! Don't kick my door! If you break it, you broke paupers can't afford to pay for it! That's an antique! Uh..." The Leaky Cauldron's owner, Tom, was about to lose his temper at someone kicking the door again, but he was surprised to see a clean, neatly dressed, cute little blonde girl walk in? That made him stop the nasty cursing he'd been about to let out.

This caught him a bit off guard. Usually, most wizards came to the Leaky Cauldron through the fireplace—convenient and fast! Very few people bothered to come in through the front door, since going around to the street was such a hassle! Maybe only Muggle-born wizards who hadn't connected their fireplaces did that?

Frowning in confusion, Tom looked at the little girl walking in, then behind her—no family accompanying her? That puzzled him even more. Since when did kids get to wander into a bar for fun?

And more importantly: look at her! No parent with her? Sneaking off to play here alone? Melinda! This wasn't exactly a place for saints and angels! Was it really okay to let such a young girl wander into a place like this? Didn't her parents worry some dark wizard might kidnap her?

"Wow! So many mages... apprentices~!" After entering, Annie casually swept her gaze across the slightly shabby bar. Besides being a bit dim, there were quite a few mages drinking and chatting. Though many of them didn't have very strong magical fluctuations—some were only at the apprentice level back in Valoran—they still counted as mages!

But they looked so dirty too. Ugh, disgusting! When Annie's gaze passed over a male wizard with messy hair, the guy actually smiled at her, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth covered in grime. It grossed Annie out so much she almost couldn't resist burning him on the spot!

Frowning, Annie warily eyed the people in the dark corners. Were those the dark wizards her mom had told her about? They looked so disgusting! How long had it been since they'd bathed? What was that weird smell... she really wanted to burn them all right now!

"Hello, esteemed young guest! Would you like something?" Tom bowed slightly, leaned half his body out from behind the counter, and smiled obsequiously at Annie as she walked in. A customer was a customer—since the little girl was already here, he might as well make a sale first.

Looking at this clean, neatly dressed little girl, the shrewd old Tom could tell at a glance that she wasn't an ordinary person!

Just look at the fabric and craftsmanship of her clothes, and those delicate little leather shoes on her feet—could an ordinary wizarding family afford those? How many Galleons did that outfit cost?

Having worked in the bar for years, old Tom knew how to talk to people. If a grimy old wizard had walked in, he'd just say: "What'll you have?" and then hold out his hand for payment. No money? Get lost! Want to go to Diagon Alley? Go around the counter to the right and stop bothering him!

"Just bring me something good to eat!" Planning to observe the situation for now, Annie tossed a Valoran gold coin onto the counter and walked over to an empty table. She was feeling a bit hungry, so eating something seemed like a good idea—though she had no idea if it would taste good!

Old Tom saw a flash of gold flying toward him, his eyes lighting up. He quickly reached out with both hands and caught the coin the little girl had thrown!

After catching it, he took a closer look: it was a gold coin! Not a Galleon, and he couldn't read the writing on it, but the coin was heavy! It might be worth two or three Galleons? If it was an ancient gold coin, even more! Looked like he was going to make a big profit today.

After pocketing the coin, Tom was about to put a glass of Butterbeer on a tray, but he paused and pulled it back. He'd gotten too excited—trying to give a little girl alcohol?

So he put down the beer, swapped it for a glass of juice and milk, added a big slice of cream cake, then took out a large plate with a glass lid, carefully dropped a few Chocolate Frogs inside, and finally respectfully carried it all to Annie's table.

"Here you go, please enjoy, esteemed guest!" While speaking, he used his dirty rag to wipe the table a couple of times for Annie before bowing and retreating back behind his counter.

"Huh? So fun! They're moving frogs?! And they look like they're made of chocolate? Moving Chocolate Frogs!"

Annie's eyes went wide as she leaned in close to the glass lid, watching the brown frogs hopping around inside. Not only did they croak, but they seemed to breathe through their cheeks? Their skin looked lifelike, with distinct patterns? Huh? And each one was different? Wow! They even jumped up and hit the lid trying to escape? Such amazing stuff! Such a novel use of magic! What a clever transfiguration concept!

With just one look, Annie understood the essence of the Chocolate Frogs. She now felt that the magical world here was really interesting!

It seemed like so much fun! Even their food was made this creatively? And she'd just noticed that the portraits on the walls were moving too—magic seemed to be widely used in everyday life here.

After observing, Annie got ready to eat. She opened the glass lid on the plate, quickly reached in and grabbed a struggling Chocolate Frog, brought it up to her eyes, and considered how to eat it. Should she just bite its head off? Watching the frog squirm and squeak in her hand, Annie hesitated for a moment, unsure how to take a bite. It felt like eating a live frog. Should she... roast it a little first?

Just then, the remaining frogs in the plate seized their chance. They shot out through the gap Annie had opened in the glass lid, scattered, and before Annie could react, they'd hopped off the table and leaped high into the air, about to hit the ground...

"Hmph!" Annie had long noticed the frogs' little tricks. Trying to escape? Not a chance! She wasn't done playing yet—how could she let them just run off like that? Besides, if they jumped to the ground, they'd get all dirty. Did she still want to eat them or not?

After Annie let out that cold snort, every frog that had tried to flee was instantly frozen midair. It was as if an invisible hand had grabbed them and held them fast. In that moment, Annie's magic locked their limbs in place, unable to move a muscle. All they could do was croak in panic before slowly drifting back to the plate on her table.

The surrounding wizards who had been watching Annie, expecting to see her flustered when the frogs escaped, were now struck speechless one by one... If they hadn't seen it wrong, that was Wandless Magic, wasn't it? And it looked like a Silent Wandless Instant Multiple Levitation Charm?! That single "hmph" didn't even count as an incantation, did it?

Merlin's Beard! Where did this little girl come from? Such a freak of nature? Could she be some centuries-old monster disguised with Polyjuice Potion?

Seeing the skill Annie had casually revealed, the other dark wizards who had been eyeing the little girl's lavish spending, scheming with ill intent and looking for a chance to strike, immediately abandoned their unrealistic plans! As they secretly breathed a sigh of relief, they didn't even have the courage to take another glance at the little girl! Still thinking about robbing her? Their legs were still trembling a little! Good thing they hadn't made a move—otherwise, who would be robbing whom was anyone's guess...