Lao Gan Ma and Happy Water

Hagrid wanted to buy repair tools for the wand in his battered umbrella, of course.

But Ollivander didn't know that.

He turned his head and asked in puzzlement, "Hagrid, wasn't your wand destroyed?"

Hagrid scratched his chin and lied, "This isn't for me. Little Harry's coming to Hogwarts next year, and I'm getting him a gift in advance!"

"That boy is coming?" Sure enough, the mention of Harry Potter diverted Ollivander's attention.

"Time flies. To think You-Know-Who fell ten years ago, just like that."

"Yes, yes, time really does fly."

Hagrid took the wand care tools from Cedric and asked softly, "Cedric, could you go with this boy to buy the rest of his things?

It's already evening, and Roy and I have some things to do. If we don't go now, there won't be time today."

Just a few minutes earlier, Hagrid had seen Tom's signal. He was going to the Leaky Cauldron to find the Greek now.

Roy also wanted to see what a three-headed dog looked like, and while he was at it, sample some Wizarding World drinks with Hagrid.

Cedric glanced at Ollivander, unsure what to do.

The old man was in a very good mood after selling a wand and two sets of care tools.

He said gently, "Of course, my boy. You've been busy all day, and I'm closing up now anyway. Go on, have fun."

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander!" Cedric took off his work clothes, revealing the casual clothes underneath.

In the end, Roy paid Ollivander thirteen Galleons for the wand and care tools, and Ollivander bowed as he saw them out of the shop.

The four parted at a street corner, leaving William and Cedric on their own.

In that short time, the two had already become good friends.

"Hey, William, when we're at Hogwarts, you can ask me to take care of your wand. I'm a professional," Cedric said.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier? Didn't I buy these care tools for nothing?" William rolled his eyes.

Cedric blinked and smiled. "Not for nothing! I get a commission. For every set I sell, I get ten Sickles."

"..."

William now seriously suspected Hogwarts was getting kickbacks from Diagon Alley too!

"All right." Cedric slung an arm around William's shoulders with practiced ease and smiled. "Come on, I'll buy you an ice cream, and then we'll go to Flourish and Blotts to buy textbooks."

Cedric bought two servings of ice cream with chopped nuts. The chocolate was shaped like Dumbledore, and William wondered whether the old man had been paid for the use of his likeness.

The two sat on chairs outside the shop, watching people come and go and enjoying the breeze.

Bobocha sat beside William, eating canned cat food.

"Do you like wands that much?"

"Of course." Even as he ate, Cedric kept leafing through a worn notebook full of things Ollivander had written down.

"After I graduate, I'm going to leave the United Kingdom and take a look at Gregorovitch's work."

An indefinable light shone in Cedric's black eyes.

"If I can manage it, I'll travel around the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea too. That's where wands originated, and Mr. Ollivander's family migrated from there.

Once I've mastered the craft, I'll come back to Diagon Alley and open a wand shop. Mr. Ollivander should be about ready to retire by then, so there won't be anyone competing with me for business."

William looked at Cedric and said seriously, "If you want to open a wand shop, I'll definitely invest, and I'll send my children to buy their wands from your shop too!"

"It's a deal!"

William and Cedric shook hands.

Soon, William's attention was drawn to a bottle of Coca-Cola.

A man riding a broom was printed on the bottle. If the whole picture hadn't been moving, he would almost have thought he was in a Golden Arches restaurant, whose name was about as classy as Shaxian Snacks.

William was astonished. "There's Coca-Cola in the Wizarding World too?"

Cedric scooped up some chocolate cream and bit the head off "Dumbledore" in one bite.

He said, puzzled, "Of course there is. This drink has been around for hundreds of years. Later, wizards brought it into the Muggle World.

You don't really think Muggles could invent a drink this good, do you?"

"Then you must know the recipe?" William asked excitedly.

The Coca-Cola Company's most closely guarded recipe was something he had always been curious about.

"Of course... not!" Cedric shrugged. "There's some kind of Potions ingredient in it. Only the Candler Family knows what it is. They're a famous Potions family."

Disappointed, William took a sip and found that it tasted no different from the cola sold outside.

Cedric said mysteriously, "Let me tell you, The Quibbler says there's Elixir to Induce Euphoria in the Coca-Cola recipe. I don't know if it's true."

William said seriously, "It definitely is! In the distant East, this drink is known as happy water."

"Oh!" Cedric drew out the word and nodded, though it was hard to tell whether he understood what William meant.

"What's The Quibbler?" William asked curiously. "It sounds very authoritative."

Cedric explained, "It's a Wizarding World magazine that specializes in publishing secrets, like the mystery of the pyramids on Mars, prehistoric magical civilizations, and wizards coughing up blood..."

"My favorite is the most recent issue! It described a wizard who went to sleep at home one night and woke up at the Magical Congress of the United States of America, all the way across the world.

He hadn't even passed his Apparition lessons, and he didn't have a Portkey either..."

William scratched his head. Wasn't this the Wizarding World version of freaking Approaching Science?

No, no, it should be renamed Approaching Magic!

Cedric was still chattering away. "It's so scary. Lately, before I go to sleep, I've been tying myself to my bed with a rope."

"But my dad doesn't like the magazine very much. He calls its editor crazy Lovegood, though I don't really agree..."

William suddenly realized that, though Cedric seemed thoroughly modest, he had a talkative side.

After listening for a long time, William had no choice but to steer the conversation toward a subject where he could set the pace.

He said regretfully, "The Wizarding World has happy water for couch potatoes. If only it had Lao Gan Ma and Weilong spicy strips too."

"Lao Gan Ma? Weilong?" Cedric asked curiously. "What are those?"

William thought for a moment and came up with a fitting description. "Lao Gan Ma is a condiment you spread on bread. You can think of it as butter or cheese!

"As for Weilong... they're a kind of hot and spicy fries."

"They're easy to eat too. Just put the spicy strips between slices of bread, spread on a thick layer of Lao Gan Ma, and take a swig of happy water... you'll be happier than an immortal!"

"An immortal?"

"Oh, that's an Eastern Merlin."

As William described them in detail, Cedric let his imagination run wild.

He said excitedly, "If there's really something that delicious, I'll have my dad get us some."

William asked in surprise, "Wouldn't that sort of thing be hard to get?"

Cedric glanced around and lowered his voice. "My dad works for the Ministry of Magic's Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. His position always lets him get hold of things that are hard to come by.

"This summer, he got several tickets to the Quidditch World Cup.

"If you hadn't come so late, you could have caught the match. It's only held once every four years."

As Cedric saw it, compared with Quidditch tickets, Lao Gan Ma and Weilong were just some butter and fries.

They weren't even forbidden goods, so couldn't he get them in no time?

(P.S. The companies behind Lao Gan Ma and Weilong hadn't been founded at this point in time.

But happy water was already invented in the Wizarding World, so what's a little Lao Gan Ma and Weilong?

It's normal for Muggles not to know about these things. I've stewed an owl before, so how could I lie to you?

That's all for now, an Auror's come to check my water meter.)