Diagon Alley

"How do we get to Diagon Alley?" Ye Ting asked curiously.

"Apparition. It's a very convenient spell, but not a very pleasant one." Dumbledore took out his wand. "Hold tight to me, child, and try not to throw up."

Ye Ting's vision blurred, then the world spun around him. Yet amid the chaos, he saw clear spatial patterns—a narrow passage through space, barely wide enough to squeeze two people through.

He felt himself sucked into a narrow rubber tube, then spat back out, as the space he had occupied exchanged places with another.

In the blink of an eye, they appeared in a small alleyway. Perhaps it was due to his talent, but Ye Ting himself felt nothing unusual. Himari, however, cried "Meow, meow!" wildly from inside his backpack, clearly quite uncomfortable.

"How do you feel?" Dumbledore watched Ye Ting with concern. "Wizards experiencing Apparition for the first time usually have some adverse reactions."

"I feel great." Ye Ting soothingly stroked the kitten's head, finally managing to calm her down. "I feel like I could do it a few more times."

"Oh, you truly are born to be a wizard. Wool's Orphanage always produces a few geniuses." Dumbledore sighed. Of course, he only muttered the latter half to himself, and no one else heard it.

The two walked forward through the alley, eventually stopping before an inconspicuous little pub.

"The Leaky Cauldron," Dumbledore introduced. "It's a very famous place. The Leaky Cauldron has been enchanted, ensuring that ordinary Muggles cannot find it unless someone leads them here!"

It was a tiny, dirty pub. The hurried passersby did not spare the little establishment a glance; their gazes slid from the large bookstore on one side of the street to the record shop on the other, as though they could not see it at all.

Though it was a famous place in the wizarding world, the inside was truly dim and shabby. Nine elderly women sat in a corner, drinking small glasses of sherry, one of them smoking a long pipe. A young man in a tall hat was chatting with the old bartender. The bartender's head was bald, like a swollen walnut. When the two entered, the hum of conversation immediately stopped. Everyone nodded and smiled at Dumbledore in greeting, and he politely returned each greeting.

The pub owner picked up a cup and said, "Professor Dumbledore, are you personally here to pick up a new student?"

"Yes, a new student from a Muggle orphanage," Dumbledore replied.

"How is little Harry? He'll be attending Hogwarts this year too!" Tom spoke as though mentioning something delightful, and the others nearby all pricked up their ears.

"Hagrid will be responsible for taking Harry there!" Dumbledore explained. Then he led Ye Ting into the backyard, where there was nothing but a wall of piled-up bricks.

"The entrance to Diagon Alley is here. You must remember how to enter Diagon Alley." Dumbledore lightly tapped a particular spot on the brick wall three times with his wand, then reminded him, "All right, step back, Mr. Ye Ting."

The brick he had tapped trembled and began to move. A small hole appeared in the middle, growing larger and larger until, before long, a broad archway wide enough for two people to walk through side by side stood before them, leading to a winding cobblestone street whose end could not be seen.

Turning around, Dumbledore spread his arms and said to Ye Ting, "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

Following Dumbledore, Ye Ting stepped into the magical world for the first time.

He understood that his life would henceforth bid farewell to the ordinary. The fame and fortune pursued by ordinary people would no longer be his goal, and his future would be accompanied by legends.

It would all begin in the little alley before him.

The alley was filled with all manner of strange shops, as well as vendors standing by the roadside and people buying things. Most of them knew Dumbledore and nodded to greet him.

The old man led Ye Ting through the alley, nodding to others as he introduced what each shop sold and what Ye Ting needed to buy there.

At last, they arrived before a snow-white building, which stood far taller than the surrounding little shops.

"This is Gringotts," Dumbledore introduced. "Gringotts is the bank of the wizarding world. You need to exchange Muggle currency here for wizarding Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts."

Beside Gringotts' gleaming bronze doors stood a goblin dressed in a dark red and golden-yellow uniform. He was about a head shorter than Ye Ting, with a dark, clever face, a pointed beard, and exceptionally long fingers and feet.

As they entered, the goblin bowed to them. Then a second set of doors appeared before them, silver in color, with the following words engraved upon both doors:

Enter, stranger, but beware What awaits the sin of greed, For those who take but do not earn Will pay the price indeed. So if you seek beneath our floors A treasure never yours, Thief, you have been warned: beware Lest you find not gold, but doom.