Welcome to Diagon Alley

After Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left, Mr. and Mrs. Ellison stood in a daze for a long time.

Yet they no longer opposed Su Er going to Hogwarts to study.

Angel played like crazy that whole day.

Mrs. Ellison returned to her childhood, fulfilling a dream by riding the Unicorn, though her body was somewhat too large compared to the Unicorn Dumbledore had specially conjured for Angel to play with.

After Dumbledore's magic lasted through the entire night, it returned to its original state the next morning.

Naturally, Angel cried bitterly, hugging that chair that had turned back to its original state for dear life and refusing to let anyone touch it, including her favorite older brother Su Er.

Besides that, she pestered Su Er every day, asking when that white-bearded old grandfather was coming back.

"Brother, I want to ride the Unicorn again." Angel started up again.

"Oh dear, my head hurts so much." Su Er raised a hand to cover his forehead, his face showing an expression of agony.

The silly Angel believed him, and she began to panic and shout, calling for Mommy.

When Mrs. Ellison came over, she was also startled, suddenly seeing Su Er wink at her.

She understood, so after pretending to ask Su Er how he was a few times, she squatted down to look at Angel, wearing a sorrowful expression on her face that looked fake no matter how one saw it.

Yet the pure and innocent Angel could not tell the difference.

"Brother has contracted a disease," Mrs. Ellison said in a heavy tone.

"What should we do? Let's take Brother to Grandpa Doctor right away," Angel panicked terribly.

"However, this kind of disease is quite easy to cure," Mrs. Ellison changed the subject, "As long as you don't mention riding the Unicorn anymore, your brother's disease will be healed."

How could Angel not understand what was happening? She was already five years old, after all.

"Hmph, Brother and Mommy are both big meanies, bullying Angel together." Angel puffed out her cheeks and turned away.

For the next few days, sure enough, she no longer brought up the matter of the Unicorn.

Neither did she speak a single word to Su Er, even when Su Er held her favorite snacks in his hands; eating was eating, but she simply refused to speak.

After learning the ins and outs of the matter, Mr. Ellison smiled and wisely offered no opinions. Matters between children should be resolved by the children themselves, as adult intervention would only make things more complicated between them.

This morning, Mr. Ellison did not go to the company to work. He purposely cleared his schedule for the day, preparing to follow Su Er to Diagon Alley.

He was also filled with curiosity about the magical world.

The Granger family was the same.

Before setting off, Su Er quietly came to Angel's side.

"Oh my, I'm off to buy things in the magical world," Su Er said loudly on purpose, "I wonder if a certain little one wants to go along?"

Angel was fiddling with a toy in her hands, looked up to give Su Er a sideways glance, and turned her back to him.

"There will be Unicorns for sale there, you know."

Hearing the word Unicorn, Angel's ears perked up, but she still didn't speak.

"If Angel doesn't say she wants to go together, Brother won't know whether to take her along or not." Su Er heaved a heavy sigh.

On purpose, he stomped his feet in place a few times, pretending to leave.

Sure enough, Angel turned around in a hurry, only to see Su Er standing safe and sound right where he was, looking at her with a smile.

"Hmph, bad brother!" She stepped forward angrily and swatted Su Er a few times.

"Ow, ouch, are you trying to beat Brother to death?" Su Er squatted down pitifully, acting as though it truly hurt.

"Pfft." Angel couldn't hold it in, and finally burst out laughing.

Su Er breathed a sigh of relief, stepped forward to hug Angel, and comforted her with a few words. Then he took Angel's hand and walked toward the door, where Mr. and Mrs. Ellison had already started the car and were waiting with the Granger family.

He mustn't make this little girl angry again next time.

"Hehe." Hermione had watched the whole scene from the doorway, including Su Er's melodramatic performance.

"You deserved it," she said.

She and Angel had been getting along wonderfully these past few days. Su Er had wanted pitifully to join in, but Angel simply refused to give him a chance, which had amused Hermione for days.

Su Er shot Hermione a sideways glance and stayed silent.

You'll get yours later, just wait!

The car smoothly entered the city, driving down the main urban thoroughfare before finally stopping on a street.

"Are you sure it's here?" Mr. Ellison looked around a few times. No matter how he looked, there was no storefront called the Leaky Cauldron.

He could not believe that an entrance to the magical world would exist on such a bustling street.

"It's here, Dad." Su Er glanced at the address on the letter, "It says we need to go a bit further ahead, and as long as we hold the letter we'll be able to see it."

The group passed a bookstore, a record shop, a hamburger joint, a cinema, and finally came to a halt beside a somewhat larger bookstore than the ones they had just passed. On its other side was another record shop.

"Right here." Su Er had already spotted a shabby, narrow pub with only a door and its sign exposed to the outside.

It read---the Leaky Cauldron.

"Where?" Mr. and Mrs. Ellison looked left and right, still unable to find it, and the Granger family was the same.

"I see it!" Angel held Hermione's hand with one hand and pointed between the bookstore and the record shop with the other.

Yet the four adults only saw a dark red wall.

"I forgot." Su Er said with a grin, raising his hand to grab Mr. Ellison's arm.

Hermione followed suit.

Now, everyone saw it.

"This..." Mr. Ellison looked at the shabby, grime-blackened pub facade and stopped himself, "Ha-ha, this really is unassuming."

Su Er raised his eyebrows and chuckled along.

Angel did not care whether it was dirty or not, pulling Hermione as she wanted to head straight inside.

Potty said so, there are Unicorn for sale in there!

The group quickly swarmed inside, and the surrounding pedestrians hurried past as if they could neither see nor notice them.

No one would ever imagine that the space inside was actually so vast, though it truly was somewhat dirty and somewhat dark.

Su Er curiously looked at everything around him.

A dozen or so tables, which could be told from the stains on top to be of ancient origin, were scattered unevenly across the wooden floor. An elderly, senile woman was puffing on a long smoking pipe, and a few people wearing pointed hats and cloaks were huddled together whispering.

"New students, are you? Coming to Diagon Alley to buy things you need for school?"

An old man with hair almost completely bald and looking like a shrivelled walnut suddenly appeared in front of Su Er, asking with a smile.

He had a dirty rag whose original color was indistinguishable resting on his shoulder, and he held a tray in his hand.

"Yes, old sir." Su Er nodded politely.

"Ooh-ho-ho, what a polite child. I'm the owner here; you can call me Tom, everyone here calls me that." Tom let out a harsh, strange laugh.

He didn't sound like a good person; even Mr. Ellison frowned.

"Come on, little wizard, follow me. Guests coming to Diagon Alley for the first time need me to show you the way."

"Are you sure he's actually reliable? This person is so weird." Hermione pressed her lips together and patted Su Er.

"It's fine." Su Er said, "This should be standard practice."

Old Tom led the seven of them through the bar counter and into a small walled courtyard at the back of the house.

The seven people crammed this small space to the brim, and a half-covered trash can stood quietly beneath the wall facing everyone.

"Remember it, little wizards, next time you'll have to come yourselves." He said, "See the trash can? Three bricks up-and two blocks in."

Old Tom pointed it out to everyone and then continued,

"Muggle currency isn't used here." He said.

"What is a Muggle?" Hermione asked.

Old Tom glanced sideways at the four adults who were observing their surroundings, "Muggles are what we call people who can't do magic. Oh, of course, no discrimination meant at all, it's a term handed down from a long time ago."

Hermione nodded silently without a word.

"Step back a bit, gentlemen and ladies." The group squeezed back.

"We only use one kind of wizard currency here." Old Tom pulled out a stick and began tapping a brick on the wall, "Walk straight from here to the end, and you'll see a white building. That's Gringotts, what you Muggles call a bank. You have to go there first to exchange for wizard currency before you go shopping."

The brick Tom tapped shook and began to move. A small hole appeared in the middle, and the opening grew larger and larger. Before long, a wide archway big enough for seven people to pass through appeared before them, leading to a winding, cobblestone-paved street with no end in sight.

Old Tom twirled his wand in a flourish, put the stick away out of sight, and said with a smile:

"Have a happy shopping trip, wizards."

"Welcome to Diagon Alley."