Study Days at Hogwarts

  Chapter 4 Diagon Alley

   "Albert, are you sure we didn't go to the wrong place?" Herb was comparing the map in his hand, but he couldn't find the bar that Professor McGonagall was talking about.

   "We need to find a bookstore first. Next door to the bookstore is a record store." Albert pointed to the big bookstore in front of him, and next door was a record store.

   "This is it? But I..."

   "...can't see where the bar is?" Albert finished speaking for him,

  If he hadn't observed it specially, he wouldn't have paid attention to the small bar next to the big bookstore.

   People rushing by didn't even look at it, including, of course, his father, Herb.

   "I've seen the bar, remember what Ms. McGonagall said?"

   "Muggles can't find a pub?" Herb muttered, "I hate the word Muggle."

  Herb held his son's hand and was pulled forward by Albert. A few seconds later, he saw the legendary Leaky Cauldron,

   It was a dirty little bar.

   "I hate it here, it's so dirty."

   "Me too, go in!"

  Restraining the disgusted expressions on their faces, the father and son pushed the door one after the other and walked into the bar.

   Dirty, messy, black.

  This is the evaluation of the two people on this bar. There are some abnormal-looking men and women sitting in it. Most of them are old people. They also wear ridiculous top hats on their heads, which looks very funny.

  If this group of people walked outside the street, they would definitely attract the attention of countless people, but now they are even more different here, as if they are dazzling like a ray of fire in the dark.

   Herb immediately calmed down, walked towards the counter, looked at the bald old man and asked tentatively, "Mr. Tom?"

   "A little wizard from a Muggle family?" Tom looked at Albert, then raised his head and smiled at Herb, "Do you want to ask how to get to Diagon Alley?"

   "Yes, Mr. Tom, Professor McGonagall said that you can take us to Diagon Alley." Albert also looked at the old man in front of him, forcing a polite smile on his face.

   "Of course, please come with me." Tom came out from behind the bar and beckoned the two to follow.

  The three came to the backyard of the bar, where there was only a brick wall, a garbage can and a few empty barrels.

"This dustbin will always be here. You need to count three bricks from the top, and then count two bricks inward. This is this brick." Tom pointed to the place he had just knocked with his hand, and then pulled out the brick. The wand knocked on the brick three times, then turned to Albert and said, "When you have your own wand, you can open the entrance to Diagon Alley by yourself. Remember, you need to knock three times with your wand."

The brick that Old Tom knocked on began to shake, and the brick wall moved very strangely. There was a small hole in the middle, and the hole became bigger and bigger. It only took a few seconds to form a line in front of the three of them that was enough to The archway they passed.

  A cobblestone-paved street stretches forward from the foot, with shops on both sides. There are many wizards and vendors on the street.

   "Welcome to Diagon Alley." Tom smiled at the two.

   "Mr. Tom, how should we go back later?" Herb asked.

"After you finish shopping, you can open the door according to what I just did." Tom answered Herb's question patiently, and did not forget to remind: "By the way, you'd better go to Gringotts to find the goblin first." Exchange Galleons. Muggle coins cannot be used here, and from here, the white building is the Gringotts Wizarding Bank."

   "Thank you for your advice, Mr. Tom."

   "Have a nice day." Tom smiled and waved to the two, then turned and returned to the bar. He liked the job.

  After Tom leaves, the entrance disappears and turns back into a wall.

   "Let's go, go change the money." Herb took a deep breath.

   "It feels very different here." Albert looked at the surrounding shops, smiled and said to Herb: "It gives me the feeling that the times have gone back a century."

"To be honest, I doubt the correctness of letting you go to Hogwarts. Maybe Daisy's insistence is right." Herb sighed softly. The illusion of the past.

   "Dad, I don't necessarily have to live in the wizarding world." Albert couldn't help but rolled his eyes and reminded, "I went to Hogwarts to study mainly to master this magical power."

   "Oh, you're right." Herb felt better now, and the two walked through the crowd to Gringotts.

  As Tom said, this is a white building, and there is a small figure standing beside the bronze gate, that is... a goblin.

   "They're really special." Herb's facial expression was a little stiff, and this was the first time he had seen other humanoid creatures other than humans.

  Albert didn't care, he looked at the goblin's appearance, short, with a pointed beard, slender hands and toes, and a dark face, a creature without beauty at all.

   As they entered, Albert noticed the goblin bowing to them.

There is a second door at the back, which is silver, and there are engravings on the two doors. After Herb approached, he looked carefully and read aloud: "Please come in, stranger, but beware of what insatiableness is." In the end, if you blindly ask for something and get something for nothing, you will definitely receive the most severe punishment..."

   "I really don't understand how hard wizards need to rob banks before they need to carve warning signs on the doors?" Herb couldn't help muttering after reading.

   Albert wanted to laugh when he heard it, and quickly cleared his throat and asked. "How much are you going to change?"

   "This?" Herb thought for a while, then whispered, "One thousand pounds, if it's not enough, I'll change it."

  One thousand pounds is equivalent to a month's salary for most people.

   Albert estimated that it was about two hundred Galleons. He nodded and said, "I think it should be enough."

   Once inside, two goblins bowed to the two and ushered them into a tall marble hall. Herb said that he needed to change some Galleons.

  The goblin led them to the counter on the right again, and handed Herb a piece of parchment. On the parchment was the exchange rate between the pound and Galleons and the concept of money in the magic world.

  1 Galleon equals £4.95.

  1 Galleon is equal to 17 Sickles, and 1 Sickle is equal to 29 Nats.

  Herb handed the parchment to his son and asked, "How much is 200 Galleons?"

   "£990."

   "Please exchange 200 Galleons for me." Herb took out 990 pounds from his wallet and asked the goblin to exchange them for Galleons.

   "Okay, wait a minute." The goblin took over the pound and began to count.

   "Excuse me, Mr. Goblin, can I exchange any amount of British pounds into Galleons here?" Albert asked curiously about his doubts in his previous life.

"In theory, that's true, but we won't accept too much Muggle currency." The goblin rang the bell, summoned another goblin, and gave Herb a bag of gold coins. Then lead them to the side to check the number of Garen.

   "I didn't expect it to be a gold coin." Hebo couldn't help but sighed while fiddling with Garen on his fingertips.

   After counting Garen and confirming that they were correct, the two left Gringotts with Garen.

  Walking on the sunny street, the gold coins in the two pockets collided and made a pleasant jingle, as if urging them to spend the gold coins quickly.

  (end of this chapter)