The next morning, the London sky was still gray, as if it had been covered with a veil.
Lin Ze and Mia walk south along Whitehall.
There were not many pedestrians on the road, most of them were civil servants carrying briefcases and walking in a hurry, and occasionally there were a few tourists looking around with their cameras.
St James's Palace is one of the most expensive addresses of London.
Most of the buildings facing the street maintain their original appearance in the 19th century. The brick walls are cleanly painted, neatly trimmed potted plants are placed on the windowsills, and a black car is parked at the door. The driver is smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper.
"Don't tell me, it's quite clean." Lin Ze muttered.
Mia didn't answer. Today she changed into Muggle's professional attire, a light gray suit skirt, and her hair was tied up. She looked like a white-collar worker working in a nearby office building.
Lin Ze put on an old jacket, jeans, and sneakers.
19 King Street is sandwiched between an old tailor shop and a private bank.
The door is not wide, a dark red wooden door, and there is a small bronze plate hanging on the door frame, which reads "Hargreaves Private Library, membership only" in cursive letters.
The corners of the bronze medal are polished and shiny, and the paint on the wooden door is also well maintained.
"Private library?" Lin Ze stood across the street, looking at the door.
"This location and this kind of facade are inaccessible unless you are a member."
Mia lowered his head and glanced at the copy of the title deed that Ministry of Magic Muggle Liaison Office helped transfer:
"The current property rights of this building are registered under the name of a company called 'Regent Holdings', and the company's registered address is Cayman Islands. Muggle government tax records show that it has been filing taxes normally for more than thirty years."
"In thirty years, no one in the Muggle world feels anything is wrong?"
"Muggle The government doesn't check these." Mia put the land deed away.
"As long as taxes are paid on time, no one cares whether a house is a library or a haunted house."
Lin Ze nodded.
The operating logic of Ministry of Magic's "International Statute of Secrecy" is similar to this.
As long as you don't set fire to the street, who cares what you keep in your home?
The two of them walked back and forth along the street.
The door of the library was always closed. Occasionally, people passed by, but no one took a second look.
Lin Ze stood on the street corner for about twenty minutes, counting people entering and leaving the library.
None.
There were quite a few pedestrians on the street, but every pair of eyes that glanced at the dark red wooden door seemed to be pushed by some invisible force. Their eyes naturally turned around and looked at the window of the tailor shop next door or the bronze plate of the bank.
"Muggle-Repelling Charm?" Lin Ze lowered his voice and asked Mia.
"It's not like that." Mia shook his head slightly.
"The real Muggle-Repelling Charm would have them walk to the door and then turn around and walk back. But these people just don't look at the door and their steps are completely normal."
"Go in and have a look?" Lin Ze asked.
Mia glanced at the membership sign, then nodded.
Lin Ze When he pushed open the dark red wooden door, the door shaft turned smoothly and silently.
Behind the door is a small front room. The floor is covered with dark gray carpet, which absorbs all footsteps when you step on it. The walls are covered with dark pattern wallpaper, and several elegantly framed landscape paintings hang on both sides. The corners of the picture frames are inlaid with copper edges and are polished. There is a subtle fragrance in the air, like a mixture of old book pages and leather bindings, calm and restrained.
Behind the front desk sat a man in his forties, wearing a dark gray suit vest, a white shirt, and silver cufflinks on his cuffs. He wore thin-rimmed glasses, his hair was neatly combed, and he was writing something in a leather-bound register.
Hearing the knock on the door, he raised his head, looked at the two of them, and showed a decent smile.
"Good afternoon, you two."
His voice was neither soft nor heavy, neither fast nor slow, with a sense of quiet propriety developed in a specific environment.
"Do you have a reservation?"
Lin Ze glanced at the other person. This person had no magic power fluctuations and was a genuine Muggle, but he stood straight and straight, with his hands resting naturally on the table. The calluses on his knuckles were not like a clerk who held a pen all day long.
"No reservation." Lin Ze said.
"We actually live in an office building across the street. We just moved here not long ago." He pointed casually across the street, "My colleague said there is a private library here with a good environment. I want to come in and see how to become a member."
"Sorry, our hotel implements a strict membership recommendation system, which requires recommendation letters from existing members and..." The man at the front desk said halfway, his eyes looked over Lin Ze's shoulders and fell on Mia.
Mia stood half a step behind Lin Ze, holding a simple leather briefcase in his hand with a calm posture.
The receptionist's eyes stopped on her for a moment, and then looked away.
"Let's do this." The receptionist took out a business card from under the countertop and pushed it onto the table.
"This is the contact information of our curator. You two can make an appointment with the curator's office to see if you meet the membership requirements."
Lin Ze picked up the business card. The business card was made of thick off-white cardboard, with only a name and a phone number printed on it. There was no position, no address, and no extra design.
"E. Hargreaves"
E. Hargreaves.
It's the same as the last name on the bronze plaque outside the door.
"Please ask, is Mr. Hargreaves the librarian or the owner of the library?"
"It's the curator." The receptionist said with a smile, "The collection of books in the library mainly comes from his family's past collections. There are a lot of them. Some of them have been officially handed over to British Library for digital archiving."
"Sounds like a pretty big deal."
"Barely." The smile at the receptionist didn't move at all.
Lin Ze put the business card away, said thank you, and walked out the door with Mia.
The wooden door closed behind him, and the sounds from the street came back, including the sound of car engines, the sound of electric drills under construction in the distance, and seagulls flying over from the direction of River Thames and screaming at the top of their lungs.
"What do you think?" Mia asked.
"The receptionist has been trained and has calluses on his hands. He may be from a security company or a veteran."
"But it is indeed Muggle."
"Yes." Lin Ze turned the business card over between his fingers.
"Do you think the Muggle government is protecting this place?"
"It's hard to say." Lin Ze shook his head.
"It may also be some kind of agreement that we don't know about. Although the relationship between the Hogwarts and Muggle governments is not that complicated, it's hard to say for an old organization like this that both parties have intervened."
Mia didn't ask any more questions, he just took out the silver magic camera from his briefcase and took a picture of 19 King Street's front door.
"When will you contact this Hargreaves?" she asked.
"No rush." Lin Ze said.
"First find someone to look up this name, E.Hargreaves, and see what can be found in the public records over there Muggle."
"I'm going to find someone from Muggle Liaison Office for help." Mia put the camera away.
The two separated at the King Street intersection.
Lin Ze did not return directly to Ministry of Magic, but turned into a nearby narrow alley and took out the silver badge.