The Admiral of Hogwarts

Darkness, filth. That was Hugo's first impression upon entering the Leaky Cauldron. As the facade of the wizarding world, Hugo had thought the Leaky Cauldron described in the novels was merely an exaggeration. But now, walking into this famous pub, he realized that the novel, perhaps due to being children's literature, had greatly understated how terrible the place was.

Whether it was the tables, stools, bar, or floor in the room, everything was covered in a layer of dirty grime. Although it wasn't very thick, it was visible even in the dim light of the room.

"It feels like these places haven't been cleaned for hundreds of years," Mr. Granger said to Hugo, lowering his head. "I feel like I have to peel my shoes off the floor with every step. I don't know how these wizards can tolerate this environment."

By this time, Hugo had adapted to the dim light. He saw several witches wearing pointed hats sitting at a table illuminated by sunlight streaming through the window, drinking some kind of alcoholic beverage, surrounded by large and small packages. They seemed to have just finished shopping and were enjoying a drink. In another dark corner, two hooded figures seemed to be whispering something suspiciously.

The only saving grace was that both the clothes of the bar owner and the glass he was wiping looked very clean. The bottles in the cabinet behind him were also polished, which finally made the bar seem somewhat worthy of its name.

After seeing Hugo and his family of four enter, the customers in the bar merely glanced at them before continuing their own affairs. Only the owner looked up, sized them up for a moment, then put down his glass and looked at Hugo and Hermione, saying, "Are you both first-year students at Hogwarts this year?"

"Yes, my sister and I are," Hugo said, stepping forward. "According to Professor McGonagall's instructions the day before yesterday, we and our parents came here to buy some things needed for school."

Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, merely glanced at Hugo's parents before continuing to focus on Hugo and Hermione. "So, you want to go to Diagon Alley, right? Please follow me."

"Thank you, sir." As a dentist who had to deal with people all day, Mr. Granger could naturally tell that the bar owner was somewhat ignoring him and his wife. However, out of politeness, he still thanked the owner for putting aside his business to lead the children.

Following the owner Tom, the Granger family of four passed through the bar and came to a small courtyard behind the bar, surrounded by walls on all sides. Besides a trash can and some weeds, there was nothing else here.

Tom then walked to the wall and pulled out his wand, counting the bricks on the wall as he said, "Remember, three bricks up from the trash can, and then two bricks across."

After speaking, he lightly tapped the brick he had just pointed out three times with his wand. Then, amidst the dull sound of the bricks moving, he turned back to look at Hugo and Hermione. "Then use your wands to tap this brick three times, and then you can open the passage to Diagon Alley. After you have your own wands, you will need to do these things yourselves, so don't forget. Finally, I wish you all the best in Diagon Alley."

"Thank you," Hugo said politely, then watched as the magical street gradually appeared in his sight. Just then, he suddenly thought of something he hadn't understood when he read the novel before. "Then how do we get back later?!"

"Just tap the same brick three times with your wand," Tom said, turning around as he returned to his bar. "So, the first thing you should do when you enter Diagon Alley is to buy your own wands. By the way, you should know that your Muggle money won't work here, right?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall mentioned it when she came. She told us to go to Gringotts as soon as possible to exchange the money we have for the metal coins used in the wizarding world."

"That's good. Professor McGonagall has always been so meticulous," Tom said as he walked towards the bar, "unlike Professor Trelawney, who teaches Divination, who is always forgetful and leaves out some things."

After crossing the doorway, a magical street appeared before the family of four: a cobblestone road stretched forward, and on both sides of the street were all kinds of magical shops. Some of the shops selling food had even set up parasols directly on the side of the street, and many wizards sat under those parasols, eating and chatting.

"What a street with a long history." Looking at the magical scenery in front of him, Mr. Granger held back for a long time, and only managed to say this sentence after the passage behind him turned back into a wall.

After all, if you excluded the magical elements of this street, such as the blue rabbit fireworks that could explode in the air during the day and jump around, the overall feeling was ancient and old. After all, with magical maintenance, those buildings with hundreds or thousands of years of history could easily be preserved to this day.

Fortunately, even in England, there were quaint tourist towns similar to Wuzhen, which Hugo had visited in his previous life, so after the initial shock, the family quickly calmed down and began to look at the shops on the street.

The closest shop to the passage was a shop selling various cauldrons. The dazzling sunlight shone on a stack of pots outside the shop. A sign hung above the pots, which read: Copper - Brass - Tin - Silver Cauldrons, complete models, automatic stirring - foldable.

"I remember that your list requires you to buy a cauldron," Mrs. Granger said, taking out a piece of parchment from her handbag and looking at it, then putting the parchment back into her handbag. "But before buying everything, I think we should go to the bank to exchange the wizarding money first."

On the way, the Grangers felt that their impression of the magical world had improved a lot. After all, in this era, televisions were all bulky things with huge picture tubes in the back, so posters that were as thin as a piece of paper and could display moving images on the wall seemed very interesting to the two parents.

Soon, they passed through the crowd of wizards and various strange shops on the street and came to a snow-white building that towered above the surrounding shops. Beside the shiny bronze door stood a small figure wearing a scarlet and gold-trimmed uniform.

"They should be the legendary goblins." Ignoring the gatekeeper's indifference, the Granger family passed through the bronze door. Along the way, Hugo kept thinking about a question, which was why the translator translated the word 'goblin' into '妖精' (yāojīng, meaning 'goblin' or 'elf' in Chinese) when he read the translated version of the novel. Clearly, the appearance of the two creatures was worlds apart.

After entering, a young-looking goblin came over, bowed to them, and led them into a tall marble hall.

In the hall, about a hundred goblins sat on high stools behind a row of long counters, some weighing coins with copper scales, some examining gems with eyepieces, while hastily registering in large ledgers. There were countless doors in the hall, leading to different places, and many goblins guided people in and out of these doors.