Standing on the street in Diagon Alley, Harry looked deeply conflicted.
Before him lay an inconspicuous narrow alley, dark and deep.
The alley was so unremarkable amid bustling Diagon Alley that the vast majority of passing wizards never even noticed it existed.
Naturally, they would not know that this narrow alley led to Knockturn Alley, the United Kingdom's most notorious gathering place for wizards who operated in grey areas and the criminal underworld.
Harry had stumbled into this place once the previous August. Otherwise, he would never have known about it either.
Fortunately, his memory was good enough that he still remembered the little alley more than half a year later.
After hesitating for quite a while, Harry finally gritted his teeth, threw on a black cloak, and put on a mask that covered most of his face before stepping into the narrow alley.
The truth was, he did not want to come here. Not at all. But he really had no choice.
He was researching and attempting to learn the Animagus transformation.
Harry had had the Marauders' notebook for several months now. Although he could not claim mastery of several of the spells in it, he had at least learned their basics.
Yet he had still made no headway with the two most sophisticated and central spells: Lightning Storm and the Animagus transformation.
Harry now felt he could just about form a thundercloud with Lightning Storm, but according to the notebook, forming a thundercloud was only the beginning.
Controlling the lightning afterward was the truly difficult part.
Harry felt that forming a thundercloud was already close to his limit. Trying to control the lightning as well was rather too difficult; at least, he could not manage it at his current stage.
By comparison, the Animagus transformation actually seemed somewhat