First Steps into Diagon Alley

"Are you all right?"

McGonagall asked with some concern.

Jerry smiled and waved his hand.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy. Where are we?"

He knew that what McGonagall had just used was probably the advanced magic only adult Wizards could learn: Apparition, and its branch, Side-Along Apparition.

Put simply, Apparition was Teleportation. As long as one had been somewhere before, they could teleport there by recalling it in their mind. It was one of the ways Wizards traveled.

However, learning Apparition was no easy task. Many adult Wizards could not perform it perfectly, and one wrong move could get them sliced into pieces by the power of space.

The distance of Apparition also depended on the Wizard's magical power and proficiency with the spell. Some Wizards could only Apparate a few hundred or thousand meters, while others could Apparate directly from one city to another.

McGonagall clearly belonged to the latter group. However, while Apparating just now, she had also used Side-Along Apparition. Not only could she teleport herself, but she could bring someone along.

Jerry had thought McGonagall would take him straight to Diagon Alley, but it appeared they had arrived on a Muggle street instead.

"London Charing Cross Road. This is one of the entrances from the Muggle streets into Diagon Alley. You must remember this street's name and location, because the next time you come to Diagon Alley, you'll need to make your own way here!"

It turned out that, in McGonagall's eyes, Jerry was a child who knew nothing about the Wizarding World. Naturally, she had to let him experience the entire normal process of entering Diagon Alley, so that he could come here independently in the future.

"Look at that pub over there. That's the entrance to Diagon Alley!"

Following the direction of McGonagall's finger, Jerry's gaze passed a luxurious cinema and a wildly popular burger shop before finally settling on the space between a large bookstore and a record shop across from it.

It was a filthy, cramped little pub, with nothing but an old wooden door and a cracked sign hanging above it. Several words were scrawled crookedly across the sign—Leaky Cauldron!

Though the little pub stood between a clean, tidy bookstore and a record shop, making it look extremely out of place, every passerby ignored it completely, as if they could not see it at all.

Jerry knew that ordinary Muggles really could not see the pub, because Wizards had cast a Muggle Repelling Charm on it—a spell that prevented Muggles without Wizard Bloodlines from noticing or approaching it.

"Ding!"

As the bell chimed when the wooden door was pushed open, Jerry was pulled into the Leaky Cauldron by McGonagall.

The entire pub was rather dim inside, and there were not many customers. With a quick glance, Jerry saw only seven or eight Wizards in Wizard Robes drinking and chatting.

When the bell rang, all the Wizards in the pub turned to look.

When they saw that it was McGonagall, they all nodded politely.

As Hogwarts' Deputy Headmistress and the Head of Gryffindor House, McGonagall was quite famous throughout the Wizarding World. In fact, many of the Wizards there could be considered her students.

Jerry remembered that when he had watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in his previous life, McGonagall had already been a Hogwarts professor in Newt's memories.

That meant McGonagall had taught at Hogwarts for at least fifty years or so. The number of students she had taught was simply countless.

"Oh, Professor McGonagall. Would you like something to drink?"

At that moment, an old Wizard behind the counter, nearly bald and with a face like a shriveled walnut, greeted McGonagall with a smile.

"No, thank you, Tom. I'm taking a new student to Diagon Alley!"

McGonagall waved a hand in refusal.

Ever since her husband Elphinstone had died unexpectedly from a venomous tentacula bite, she had hardly left Hogwarts except for her annual home visits before the school year began. She certainly did not linger outside.

That guy must be pretty old too!

As Jerry followed McGonagall through the pub toward the back courtyard, he glanced at Tom, the pub owner, and thought to himself.

He remembered that in the films, Tom had already been the owner of the Leaky Cauldron when Voldemort first enrolled, and they even shared the same name: Tom.

In the Leaky Cauldron's back courtyard, beneath the brick wall beside the rubbish bins.

McGonagall tapped the wall three times with her wand and explained to Jerry.

"Look, like this. Count three bricks up from the rubbish bin, then two across to the left, and tap it three times with your wand. Then the entrance to Diagon Alley will appear!"

As McGonagall withdrew her wand, the brick she had tapped suddenly began to tremble. The entire wall moved with it, as if some mechanism had been triggered, and rapidly began to rearrange itself.

Soon, a small hole appeared in the middle of the brick wall, and then the opening grew larger and larger.

Before long, a broad archway wide enough for four or five people to pass through at once appeared before them. It led to a winding cobblestone street whose end could not be seen.

This was Diagon Alley—London's Wizarding shopping paradise!

Following McGonagall through the archway and into Diagon Alley, Jerry could not help feeling a little excited.

The scenes from the films had become reality. Even though he had been mentally prepared, the magical sight before him still made his eyes widen.

Unlike the ordinary people outside, dressed in stylish summer clothes and carrying handbags, nearly everyone on this street was a Wizard wearing Wizard Robes in all kinds of colors and holding a wand.

There were also all sorts of Wizard pets, along with the occasional House-elf and goblin.

"Copper, brass, pewter, and silver Cauldrons! Every model available! Self-stirring, collapsible, retractable! Come in and take a look!"

"Tawny Owls, Long-eared Owls, Barn Owls, Brown Owls, Snowy Owls! Every kind of owl you could want!"

"The latest Nimbus 2000, the fastest flying broom! You deserve one!"

"Dragon livers, bat spleens, eel eyes, spellbooks, quills, parchment, potion bottles, lunar globes! Low prices!"

The shops lining both sides of the street were covered with all kinds of advertising Little Cards, and packed with excited Little Wizards.

"Did you bring your letter?"

When they arrived in front of a shop called Potage's Cauldron Shop, McGonagall lowered her head and asked Jerry, whose eyes were already dazzled by everything around him.

"I have it with me!"

Jerry took out the parchment envelope he had received yesterday from his pocket and waved it at McGonagall.

McGonagall nodded.

"Good. There's a list of required supplies inside. Take it out, and I'll bring you to buy them one by one!"

Hearing that, Jerry removed the second sheet of parchment from the envelope and unfolded it.

Hogwarts Magic School Required Supplies:

1. Uniform:

2. Textbooks:

3. Other Equipment:

4. Pet Instructions:

Parents are especially reminded that first-year students are not permitted to bring their own flying brooms.