Platinum Blonde Hair. Heterochromia. Prophet

Along the streets of Barnet District in North London, there were few pedestrians, yet those passing by couldn't help but cast glances at a young boy's stall by the roadside.

The boy appeared to be eleven or twelve years old, sporting platinum-blonde hair and dressed quite impeccably.

He looked just like a young gentleman.

It wasn't his neat appearance or gentlemanly air that drew the onlookers' attention, but rather the stall set up in front of him.

Article 20 of the UK's Children and Young Persons Act stipulates that, in principle, children are prohibited from engaging in street trading.

The 1963 Children and Young Persons Act raised the minimum age for independent street trading from 16 to 17.

Meanwhile, the Employment Act specifically states that adolescents aged 14-16 may only engage in very limited auxiliary trading at restricted times and locations, provided they are accompanied by a parent and hold a special permit issued by the local government.

This clause implies that selling lemonade at one's own doorstep is fine, but setting up a stall on the street for business is absolutely forbidden.

Though the law says so, Great Britain has its own unique national conditions.

In other districts, one might occasionally see children setting up stalls to make a living, but what kind of place is this?

This is Barnet District, a proper, affluent neighborhood.

The wealthy gentlemen living in Barnet District are kind-hearted and cannot bear the sight of the poor or homeless in their streets.

Therefore, when such situations arise, the stall-holding youth is usually driven away, or at worst, arrested on the spot.

Since they hadn't seen it before, people naturally found it curious, and those passing by couldn't help but take a few extra looks.

Just as they were watching, the patrol officers from Scotland Yard arrived.

"What are you doing here?" The officer approached the boy, and perhaps seeing his decent attire, his tone was not overly harsh.

"Street performance, sir." To the officer's surprise, the boy showed no signs of nervousness or fear, instead generously handing them a permit.

"This is a performance permit approved by the Barnet District Council, specifically authorizing me to conduct a 'Divination and Prophecy Experience' street performance on the streets of Barnet District.

Would the two officers like to give it a try?"

The two officers, having verified the boy's performance permit, did not patronize his business.

For no other reason than that their pockets were empty.

In London, the price for a common street divination is around £10.

At popular tourist spots, the price might go up by £5.

But on the boy's stall, the price was clearly marked: Divination and Prophecy Experience: £30 per person/session.

The monthly pre-tax salary of these patrol officers was only a little over £1,000.

Under these circumstances, asking them to shell out £30 each to "humor" a rich kid playing at life...

They'd better pass.

After the two officers left, the boy sat back down on his small chair behind the stall, waiting for a fated person to arrive.

Soon, his fated person appeared.

"May I know your name, little prophet?" The person who approached was a young lady in a dark blue coat, holding the hand of a girl with thick, bushy brown hair and an astonishing amount of volume.

It is worth mentioning that the girl had a pair of exceptionally large front teeth and a pair of brown eyes.

Isaac Waldore, the boy, let his gaze linger on the top of the girl's head for a moment, hiding the slight envy in his eyes before speaking solemnly to the young lady.

"Of course, madam. Isaac Waldore pays his respects to you. Perhaps you would like to have a pleasant prophecy?"

Only then did Mrs. Granger, who had brought her daughter, notice that besides his platinum-blonde hair, this boy named Isaac also possessed rare heterochromatic eyes.

This anomaly made Mrs. Granger subconsciously tighten her grip.

Hermione Granger felt the pressure from her mother's hand but said nothing, merely biting her lip nervously.

"So... is it really possible to prophesy? I mean, predicting the future and such, for just £30?"

Mrs. Granger's words sounded somewhat incoherent, and even Hermione could sense her mother's loss of composure.

Hermione understood her mother very well.

When something as bizarre as receiving an admission letter from a magic school happens to oneself, one is bound to be excited and anxious when opening the door to a new world.

As the person involved, Hermione actually appeared calmer.

She took over from her mother and asked Isaac, who kept a smile on his face: "My mother means, can you really predict the future for just £30?

Does it not require a greater price?"

In the simple understanding of Mrs. Granger and Hermione, cheap goods are never good.

To the two patrol officers from before, £30 was an expense that required careful calculation.

For the Granger family, who jointly operated a private dental clinic, £30 was nothing.

After listening to the mother and daughter, Isaac expressed his understanding: "It is not required. What I reveal to you both is merely one possibility, not an unchangeable future."

"Any factor can cause the future to change; for instance, the two of you stopping at my stall right now might just change the future.

I can only choose to reveal a future with a higher probability for you."

Eleven-year-old Hermione was left somewhat bewildered by Isaac's words, but Mrs. Granger understood perfectly.

Wasn't this just a textbook "disclaimer"?

I don't guarantee that what I say is absolutely correct; if I am wrong, then the future must have been altered by some factor.

Mrs. Granger had briefly thought she'd encountered a real little wizard or prophet, but clearly, she had been overthinking it.

Although this boy named Isaac wasn't the "real deal," Mrs. Granger had no intention of exposing him.

The patrol officer hadn't chased the boy away earlier, which proved that his social standing belonged here.

People who could afford to live in the Barnet District wouldn't care about 30 pounds.

If listening to a young gentleman like this spout pleasantries cost 30 pounds, so what?

She would just consider it a tip for the boy.

Mrs. Granger immediately intended to ask Isaac to "divine" her daughter's future.

Before she could even speak, Isaac had already begun: "In the future, your daughter will likely achieve remarkable success in a niche field.

As for the near future... I think you perhaps ought to be a bit more patient.

After all, haven't you already responded?"

When Hermione heard Isaac's first sentence, she pursed her lips. Then, she suddenly whipped her head around to look at Mrs. Granger.

Upon hearing the final remark, Mrs. Granger's eyes widened slightly. Were these words of Isaac's unintentional, or had he truly seen something?

Not long ago, her daughter had received a letter delivered by an owl—an acceptance letter to a school of magic.

At first, the Grangers had only assumed it was some sort of prank, but after trying various ways to verify it, they discovered that this thing didn't seem like a prank at all.

They had written a reply according to the instructions in the letter, and they were currently in a state of nervous apprehension!