The Prince's Tale

【3】Gossip news in Diagon Alley

[All shops operating in Diagon Alley must obtain a shop operating license issued by the Ministry of Magic.Employees working in Diagon Alley must register as employees, and residents of Diagon Alley must register as permanent residents.The Diagon Alley Trading Committee, elected by Diagon Alley employees and residents, will manage the daily affairs of Diagon Alley. ——"Article 1891 of Diagon Alley Management Measures issued by the Ministry of Magic in [-]"]

The last week of August was not as difficult as I expected.When school started on September [-]st, Diagon Alley suddenly became deserted, but I suddenly missed the excitement here during the summer vacation.

In fact, many times, many things have nothing to do with likes, good or bad, but whether they are suitable or used to them.

Humans are social animals, they can't stand loneliness and want to hug each other for warmth.The lively summer vacation is over, but Diagon Alley will definitely not remain deserted and silent.

Maybe you have heard such a saying, which is called "the fire of gossip can start a prairie fire".

So in September, an annual drama kicked off, which was as exciting as the Hogwarts Quidditch final, and as important as the Hogwarts House Cup matchup.For me, there is always a difference between this year and last year.At this time last year, I had not been in Diagon Alley for a long time, and I didn’t know many people; but now, more than a year has passed, and everyone thinks that they know about me.As a result, Ms. Jane from the Brown Pharmacy at No. 930 Diagon Alley was finally listed on the market for marriage and dating, which is popular among the general public in Diagon Alley.

Thinking about it now, the beginning of this matter is a bit funny.

On September [-]th, just after eight o'clock, someone knocked on the door of the pharmacy.I reluctantly walked down from the warm attic in my dressing gown, and saw three well-dressed wizards standing outside the door.

I woke up when I saw the other badge on their chests—it was from the Diagon Alley Trading Council.

Yes, there is indeed a Diagon Alley Trading Committee.From neighborhood disputes, to daily patrols, to the entry and exit of goods, this committee is involved.Diagon Alley has been able to be orderly and prosperous for several years, and there is no lack of their credit.

I opened the store door, and the wind chimes jingled, and a gust of cold wind poured in.I couldn't help but sneezed.

"Excuse me, is your Excellency Miss Jane Mayer?" asked the oldest wizard looking at her.

"Yes." I nodded.

"We are in the process of registering the permanent residents of Diagon Alley. I hope you will cooperate with our investigation." The wizard said seriously.

I nodded in a daze, turned my body sideways, and told them to come into the store quickly, lest I have to stand at the door and suffer from the cold.

"Name?" A curly-haired middle-aged witch pushed her glasses and asked.

I was so frozen that I didn't react for a while. "Name?" she asked again, raising her voice.

"Jane Mel." I rubbed my hands and replied.

"age?"

"19 is old."

"Education?"

"The first pharmacist qualification exam."

"Family status?"

I was slightly stunned and looked at them blankly, the atmosphere was a little awkward for a moment.After a second, I finally realized what they were asking, so I said with a frozen face: "Unmarried, unmarried—no children." I told the whole truth very honestly, and I didn't want the young The witch actually laughed.

The middle-aged witch asked about five or six more questions.After I answered these questions half-truths, she handed me a completed form for me to sign.

After a quick glance, I picked up my quill and signed it.After seeing off the three of them, I sneezed several times.I walked up to the attic feeling dizzy, feeling terribly cold.I thought that the quilt still had some residual heat, and it might be warmer to get in again, so I collapsed on the bed again in a daze.

I was lying on the bed, my head was very uncomfortable, and my consciousness was sometimes clear and sometimes blurred.Sometimes I feel like someone is feeding me medicine, and other times I feel like I'm still stuck between those tangled pasts.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already evening.I saw a fire on the stove, and potions boiling in the cauldron.And the person standing behind the crucible is that Tiffany who has been troubling me for a year.

It seems that Tiffany is not cruel enough to let me fend for myself.My dislike for her in my heart subconsciously eased a bit.Seeing that I woke up, she didn't show any special emotion on her face, and lowered her head to dispense the medicine again.

Just when I no longer expected her to speak to me, she suddenly said, "The pharmacy has been closed for three days."

I didn't have much interest in talking, I just responded lightly, but suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Huh? Didn't I still—"

"That was the day before yesterday." Tiffany said, and I finally understood.It turned out that I had been lying in bed for three days.

"But if I'm not here, will the pharmacy close?" I said angrily, "You're a pharmacist anyway!"

"That's right," Tiffany actually nodded, "Without you, the pharmacy would be closed."

"But old Mr. Brown—"

"He won't know," said Tiffany unexpectedly, "so get well soon."

It took two seconds before I could detect a slight difference in what she said.Merlin's briefs... I can actually hear Tiffany Hale say a word of concern for me in my lifetime!

Humans are really strange animals.We face the giving from family and friends with an indifferent face, thinking that it should be taken for granted, but when we turn around, we shed tears of excitement at the stranger who gave you a small piece of bread. At the age of 19, I still don't understand this truth. I just squandered the most precious feelings and pursued what I thought was important regardless of my own life.

At this moment, Tiffany's cold voice interrupted the bursts of excitement and joy in my heart.

"By the way, there's something I think you need to know." Tiffany suddenly turned to look at me when she reached the stairs, "Now everyone in Diagon Alley knows that there is an unmarried and childless Miss Jane Mayer in Brown's Drugstore." .”

Tiffany should have realized the true meaning of not surprising and endlessly dying.When I heard her words, my eyes went dark, and I fell headlong on the bed again, and it took a long time to recover.

The next day, I stalked Anna in the silverware shop next door like a thief.The round-faced girl saw me and said, "Morning, Jane! Are you feeling better now? You were ill a few days ago, and there is something you probably don't know. Now Diagon Alley—"

"I know," I said angrily, "there's an unmarried and childless Miss Jane Mayer in Brown's Drugstore. But the question is, how does everyone know?" I asked eagerly, impatient to find the culprit culprit.

Anna looked at me in surprise. "Don't you know that a member of the trade committee opened a marriage agency?" She suddenly became serious, "You didn't read the terms carefully when you signed it, did you?" She gave a hopeless look look at me.

I stared blankly at her and sighed, racking my brains to think about what happened that morning, but I couldn't even remember a word.

The round-faced girl reprimanded me, and I humbly learned from the sidelines, but I was very guilty and did not dare to accept her suggestion to go to the committee members to discuss it.

"You! You are usually confused, but you hide like an ostrich when something happens!" Anna pointed out bluntly.

For a moment—just a moment—I felt a little sullen.But then, my reason told me that she was right.Whether it was me before or now, I am an ostrich that hides in embarrassment whenever something happens.

"You're right, I'm an ostrich," I said, "Now, I'm going to go back and be my ostrich." I didn't want to hurt Anna's kindness, so I smiled back at her, just that smile Slightly bitter.

I have lived for 19 years, and I have no other skills, but I still have the ability to be an ostrich.I never care what those rumors say, and I will never let those rumors hurt me.You can call it maverick, or you can call it self-deception.But no matter how ugly what you say, I don't care.

In December, I tore out the registration form for the second pharmacist licensing exam from the monthly journal of the Society of Extraordinary Pharmacists.I chose my favorite quill and filled out the form.On the morning of the ninth I went to the post office, paid four nats, and posted the entry.

This day was chosen for a reason.It was my 20th birthday.I have always believed in good luck on my birthday, even though it has never been fulfilled in the past 20 years.

But in the registration form I sent out, my birthday was filled in on January [-]st.Here, I can honestly tell you that except for the address, information about taking the first pharmacist exam, and the name "Jane", the rest of the registration form is a fabricated lie.

Dear readers, I can also tell you that before June [-], [-], there was no girl named Jane Mayer born on January [-], [-] in this world.

I watched the post office clerk pick up the letter, and silently prayed for my second pharmacist qualification exam.When I was thinking of Merlin silently in my heart for the tenth time, there was a loud explosion outside.

My mind went blank at this point.I stared blankly at the ground trembling, the glass of the window was falling like paint, the streets were full of smoke, and there were witches and wizards running and screaming everywhere.

I stayed where I was, not quite sure what was going on, until someone grabbed my arm.

"What are you doing in a daze, run away!" he roared.I came back to my senses suddenly, and followed the man stumbled out of the post office.

Things weren't too good on the street.Shuttle's spells are everywhere, and any one can cause a fatal wound.As dull as I was, I finally realized what had happened.It seemed that the group of Death Eaters who yelled about the supremacy of pure blood every day finally wanted to make some noise.

It's hard to imagine that I could calm down in this situation.

"Follow me." I bent down and took out my wand, relying on my familiarity with Diagon Alley, I quickly sifted out a route out of Diagon Alley.Those who followed me made no objections.

Perhaps it was really the good luck of the birthday, and we have been safe and sound along the way.Half an hour later we slipped to the back door of a Muggle supermarket.The alert is lifted.

I leaned on the wall with my hands, panting heavily.The people who escaped with me are in better condition than me.When I caught my breath, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn't know what that person looked like.

We looked at each other's faces almost at the same time, and reached out to the wand in the pocket at the same time in the next second.Looking at the tense atmosphere between the two of us, I couldn't help laughing, and even coughed while laughing.

I never expected that the one who escaped with me turned out to be Edward Jones, who was two grades older than me.It's just that he was in the bright Gryffindor, and I was in Slytherin, which was criticized by them.

"It shouldn't be a coincidence to meet you in this situation." He looked at me vigilantly, with a serious expression.

I knew what he meant, but I nodded with a smile, and watched him amused as he tightened his grip on his wand.I'm rather worried that he broke his wand.

"I heard you passed the Auror interview after graduation," I said in a very relaxed tone, "so you want to bring me back to the Ministry?"

"If necessary." He didn't deny it.I admit, I was more or less disappointed when I heard him say that.

"But I'm afraid it's useless if you catch me," I said frankly, "because I don't know anything."

Edward looked at me suspiciously. "Aren't you working for the mysterious man?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Not all Slytherins are Death Eaters, and not all pure-bloods believe in their pure-blood theory," I said with a smile, "I went to the post office today to deliver the second pharmacist qualification exam Registration form, not for some surprise attack. Also, my current name is Jane Mayer, and I am an apprentice at Brown's Pharmacy."

He opened his mouth slightly, and didn't utter a word for a long time.I stretched out my hand and shook it in front of his eyes before he came back to his senses.

"How? Do you think it's amazing that I have such an advanced idea?" I asked triumphantly.

"I was just thinking..." The corners of his mouth twitched a few times, "So that famous Jane Mel is you."

I really appreciate him using words like "big name" to describe me.

Life is a wonderful adventure.If you'd told me years ago that I'd be friends with Edward Jones of Gryffindor, I'd just think you'd been kicked in the head by a Thestral and didn't realize it.

But in this cold and noisy December, I was able to sit with him in a Muggle restaurant and eat and chat calmly, as if we were old friends whom we hadn't seen for many years.

There are decorative candles on the dining table.The candlelight swayed and jumped, erratically, reflecting Edward Jones's face brightly or darkly.I have to admit, he still looks a bit handsome.

I learned some of his recent situation through his intentional or unintentional disclosure.He also now works in Diagon Alley, under cover as a clerk at the Quidditch boutique.Sure enough, this guy even has something to do with Quidditch when he chooses a cover identity.And I almost choked on grapefruit tea when he said his name was now "Eddie White."

It seems that changing one's name and surname is a very fashionable thing nowadays.

"Now it's your turn." Edward's brown eyes fixed on me. "According to the information we have, you should be recuperating in bed now."

My heart was beating wildly.The only thing that can make me so nervous now is what happened last year.

"A lot of people are involved in this matter," I lowered my head and fiddled with the ice cubes in the glass. "I can't give you a definite answer. But what I can tell you is that I am really preparing for the pharmacist exam instead of doing it for me. Mysterious people do things, believe it or not."

That is, from that day on, Edward had his eye on me.I know I have little credibility with him as a person.When he was still at Hogwarts, he was the Head Boy of Gryffindor's seventh year, and I was the prefect of Slytherin's fifth year.Somehow I was paired with him on the night patrol.I played tricks on him a few times at the time, tossing him badly and picking myself clean.I daresay he's been impressed and bitter about me ever since.

I don't really mind that he comes to the pharmacy to stare at me every day when he has nothing to do, but when the clerks in the surrounding shops think he is courting me, I don't feel so comfortable.

You must have heard such a saying, which is called "the fire of gossip can start a prairie fire".

I spent my whole winter in this sentence, and my patience finally reached its limit one day in February.

On Valentine's Day, February [-]th, Edward swaggered to the drugstore with a large bouquet of roses.It would be a lie to say there was no excitement the moment I took the rose.Humans have always been emotional and rational.

My sensibility prompted me to accept the bouquet of roses, and even indulged me for a little while in the sweet atmosphere.And my rationality prompted me to ask such a sentence——

"You're sending me flowers because you're looking at me legitimately, aren't you?"

He nodded appreciatively, and the unknown fire in my heart grew higher and higher.

"Then let me teach you a justifiable reason for changing your name, okay?" My tone was very gentle, and Edward looked flattered, as if he attributed it to the bouquet of roses—and it was true, "Your prospective girlfriend is angry, and you are now You have to find ways to please her." My voice got louder and louder, and I almost finished the sentence in a growl.

In the next second, Edward and his large bouquet of roses were thrown out of the door by me in full view of everyone.I stood in the store, holding my wand angrily, and changed the house number to "Closed" in a fit of anger.

At that moment, an indescribable feeling of exhaustion suddenly came to my heart.I didn't know why I was so angry, or that I was expecting him to say something else.Could it be that Edward Jones told me he liked me?

I think I must be crazy to have this idea.