The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

The first weekend in July was a clear day, with the sun shining brightly on the yellow lilies, red lilacs, and blue delphiniums. Kevin slung his best dinosaur bag across his body, grabbed Mr. Jones's hand, and walked with Anthony past record stores, second-hand bookstores and cafes, and came to the small fork leading to the Leaky Cauldron.

Mr. Jones walked straight towards the bookstore next to him, seemingly attracted by the poster on the glass window.

Dad, this way. Kevin tugged on his sleeve desperately, Dad!

Twenty-Three Spanish Dishes You Should Master... That's really interesting. Maybe I should learn it... Mr. Jones said to himself.

dad!

What's wrong, Kevin? How about eating cuttlefish rice tonight?

Pedestrians passed by them without looking at the Joneses for a second longer. In a city like London, every second a child pesters his parents for a toy car or a video game console.

Mr. Jones! Anthony said, dragging him into the Leaky Cauldron.

After falling into the store door, Mr. Jones shook his head and turned to look at the bustling world outside the door in surprise: Wait, just now, wow... I mean, wow...

Anthony let go: I'm sorry.

Henry, do you also need to show the new students? Tom, the boss, put down a cup, raised his head and greeted. In the narrow and dark dilapidated bar, the wizards and witches stopped talking and looked at the three people who were all dressed up out of place. The man smoking a long pipe in the corner clicked twice and hummed, Muggles.

Almost, we're going to Diagon Alley anyway. Anthony said, feeling Kevin move closer to him, and smiled down at him.

Of course, you know the way, said Tom, looking away and nodding at Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones adjusted his tie, coughed, and nodded.

…

Do you remember the location of the wall tiles that opened the door? Anthony asked Kevin.

Remember! Kevin said happily. His father was looking carefully around the desolate little backyard, not missing the gaps between each trash can, as if he wanted to find a secret passage through it.

Anthony smiled and said: Then give it a try. Do you have a wand?

Bring it, let me look for it. Kevin said, unzipping his small dinosaur satchel. He took out a black wand from the back of the Stegosaurus that was cut open by the zipper, walked to the wall, counted for a while, and tapped it three times with the wand.

no response.

Anthony squatted down in surprise and counted with him again. It was still the same wall brick.

Mr. Jones said uneasily: Is it because I'm here? Muggles? Does it not allow Muggles in?

I've never heard of such a rule. Anthony said firmly, but Kevin had already knocked three more times.

The wall tiles remained unresponsive, like he was really just knocking on a wall.

Kevin? Anthony noticed the clue this time, I think you held the wand backwards.

Kevin looked down and said, Oh, right. He smiled sheepishly at Anthony and Mr. Jones, turned the wand, and tapped three times again solemnly.

The bricks shook and Diagon Alley opened to them. Holding Mr. Jones tightly, Kevin took a big step onto the winding cobbled streets of Diagon Alley.

Dad, welcome to the magical world. Kevin raised his head and said.

They passed by a crucible shop filled with crucibles made of various materials (Collapsible! How can the pot be foldable? By the way, yours was used to make soup before. Do you need to buy another one?), which specializes in selling owls. Eela Owl Shop (Look at those big birds!), a store selling a variety of high-end quills and magic quills (How smart to open a quill shop next to an owl.) and displays in the windows A potion shop with frog brains and pufferfish eyes (Oh...).

Kevin pulled Mr. Jones away from a small stall selling roasted chestnuts: If you want to buy something, you need to at least change wizard coins!

Oh, yes, Gringotts, Mr. Jones said, smiling at the vendor.

A skinny old witch with sharp and long fingernails stooped past them quickly. She stared at Mr. Jones's suit pants and leather shoes from under her hood, and kept muttering something.

Neither Mr. Jones nor Kevin seemed to understand what she was saying, but Anthony heard several vague keywords, similar to mudblood, dirty, sullied and swear, along with some words that he had never heard before. curse sentence.

Hey, ma'am. Anthony grabbed her as she passed and whispered, That's not very friendly.

The witch stopped and turned her head, looking back and forth between Anthony's wand and his plaid shirt, and said hoarsely: Don't mind your own business.

Anthony said: Just a reminder, there are children here. He let go of the witch's bony wrist and saw something yellow flashing under her sleeve.

Undead magic suddenly surged. Anthony closed his eyes slightly and knew what it was - a bracelet made of human bones.

Get her, Professor Anthony! someone shouted. Anthony opened his eyes and saw the witch's expression change, and she spun around in preparation for Apparition.

And because he really didn't know how to catch the spinning black robe, Anthony chose to stretch his foot over, tripping the witch.

Oscar Weaver rushed over panting, followed closely by another person dressed as an Auror.

They pinned the witch to the ground and found her own wand, two other wands from who knows where, a human hand with a candle on the tip, some unknown potion in a glass bottle, and a small bag of jewelry. jewelry and a pigeon pie. Her nails scratched on the cobblestones like a cat scratching glass, and a stream of obscenities came out of her mouth.

Ugh, pigeon pie with mayonnaise, bad taste, Oscar's fellow Auror commented after taking a sniff of the pie.

Thank you, Professor Anthony. Oscar said, That is really... a very useful method.

Don't worry about it. There seems to be something on her wrist. Anthony reminded, What happened to her?

Oscar frowned and whispered: The dark wizard is not mentally normal. He looked around, I can't tell you specifically, Professor Anthony, but there is a high probability that human lives will be involved.

Anthony looked at the witch, her hood had been taken off, her black eyes were staring at him, every wrinkle on her old face was full of madness and resentment, she spat in the direction of him and Oscar, and fell. In front of their feet.

Oscar shrugged indifferently, and Anthony looked away: Well I guess I'm lucky. I mean, she didn't immediately pull out her wand and try to blow up the street or something.

Oh, no, it's not the Unforgivable Curse. Oscar said, taking a large bag of searched items from his colleague, She is good at making dark magic items...or selling them, whatever. In short, that's probably it. Thank you again. See you next time for help.”

His colleagues had already escorted the old woman away, so Oscar shook hands with Anthony again and also apparated.

Only then did Mr. Jones slowly say: Magical world, huh?

…

Gringotts also seemed to make Mr. Jones feel a little embarrassed and suspicious, but he just stood upright in the center of Gringotts without saying a word, holding Kevin firmly beside him. Anthony is the one responsible for standing in front of the leprechaun.

The goblin behaved a little more respectfully than the last time Antony came to exchange coins. But this is probably not because their goblin manager has cultivated employees' service awareness, but because when Anthony said there is no vault, Mr. Jones pulled Kevin over and said to Anthony without hesitation: Give it to Kevin Open a treasury and deposit twenty galleons first.

You may not have that many pounds in cash with you, Anthony reminded him tactfully.

Mr. Jones nodded and opened his briefcase: But I brought gold. He smiled at Anthony, Our family has read History of Magic.

The goblin behind the counter said, Of course, wise decision, sir.

Another fifty pounds in wizard's money, said Mr. Jones.

The goblin's face darkened, and he said a little offended: I would rather you call it 'magic coins'. We goblins cast them, not wizards. However, he still exchanged the coins for them.

After walking out of Gringotts, Anthony said to Mr. Jones: There is no need for you to save so many galleons in Gringotts. I have never heard that they have interest.

Mr. Jones held Kevin's hand, and the latter was stuffing silver coins one by one into the Stegosaurus satchel: Yes, but at the same time, there seems to be no inflation in the wizarding world.

That's true, Anthony admitted.

…

After coming out of Gringotts, Anthony took the Joneses and his son to Flourish and Blotts Bookstore.

The person behind the counter was not the clerk he knew well, but he was still a familiar face. This time last year, she was still an intern and was often instructed by others to find books for Anthony. Now she is a regular employee.

She heard the wind chime ringing at the door, looked up at them, raised an eyebrow at Anthony's Muggle attire, and simply nodded as a greeting.

Do you need my help? she asked lazily, lying on the counter playing wizard chess with herself.

Anthony realized that Mr. Jones was holding his breath. He looked back suspiciously and found that he was staring unblinkingly at the moving chess pieces. A soldier was being transformed into a knight, muttering as she put on another set of armor. The other black chess pieces were all accusing her of a bad move.

The clerk slammed the table and sat up: Shut up! Because I just don't like letting black win! Hurry up and get on the horse!

No, just looking around. Anthony replied, leading the two people behind him into the store, introducing the rules of placing books along the way.

I see that you have bought History of Magic. As the name says, it is the textbook for Hogwarts' History of Magic, and it has not been changed for many years. Standard Spells is usually used by first graders. It's first grade and hasn't been replaced for a long time, but we don't have to rush to buy it. We can go to the second-hand bookshelf later and have a look. This is a warehouse. Sometimes I come to look through their backlog of dusty books, but that's because I’m already a regular customer…oh.”

Anthony pushed open the ajar warehouse door to let the Joneses take a look, but the warehouse was different from what he had seen when he came here a few weeks ago. An open space has been cleared between the boxes of books. The place where old books and waste paper were originally placed is now occupied by dozens of photos, large and small. Some are already installed in photo frames, and some are just hanging there.

In the photo, a handsome man winked his blue eyes affectionately at Anthony, Kevin and Mr. Jones who opened the door, showing his gleaming white teeth. There was a lilac hat on his wavy blond hair.

Oops, Kevin whispered, Who is he?

Gilderoy Lockhart, a best-selling author. Anthony said, trying to find a reasonable guess. Maybe Flourish and Blotts planned to give awards to the top 100 best-selling books or something, so they printed so many photos. .”

What did he write? Mr. Jones asked curiously, The wizard's version of A Brief History of Time? (Note 1)

There is a whole series of books about how he traveled around the world and dealt with all kinds of magical creatures in the world. But I think the best-selling one is Teaching You to Get Rid of Household Pests. I have a friend who owns it. A loyal fan, I’ve almost memorized that book.”

Household pests, Mr. Jones repeated. Interesting.

They carefully closed the warehouse door. Being stared at by dozens of identical faces is not a pleasant experience, no matter how good-looking that face is.

…

When they walked out of Flourishes and Blotts, both Anthony and the Joneses had some coins missing and more books in their bags.

Anthony saw several serious dark arts books in the second-hand section and had no idea why they were there. Kevin bought a complete set of books introducing fire dragons in the Fantastic Beasts area - Anthony reminded himself to ask Hagrid if he would like to resell a small part of it that was not burned by Noble - and Mr. Jones bought With the Mother Vacationing with Yaksha.

The sunshine outside was so pleasant that Anthony couldn't help but suggest going to Fusco for ice cream, which instantly got two votes in favor. While he was introducing the flavors that you should never try, he looked directly at a few passers-by who were looking at their Muggle clothes.

Most people turned away or lowered their heads, but some vendors would come up and ask these new Muggles if they needed the protection of amulets or a beautiful magic teapot that will take the initiative to pour tea for you when it's ready. Tea.

Mr. Jones is attracted to a singing pepper grinder.

How interesting! he said, watching in fascination as the grinding jar spun and dropped black pepper powder.

The hawker who covered himself tightly said in a low voice: Good vision, sir, this is one of the best things here. The higher it sings, the finer it is ground. And here, see this small mouth Is it there? If you throw in other accessories...such as dried lemons, etc., it can also sing multiple voices...

That's amazing! said Mr. Jones, looking already impressed.

At this time, a voice behind them said helplessly: Mundungus——

Arthur? Anthony guessed, turning around and looking at the man in front of him with red hair and a face that was somewhat similar to several Weasleys.

You are... Arthur Weasley hesitated, looking at Anthony's perfect Muggle attire, Henry! You must be Henry!

He rushed up in a few steps, shook Anthony's hand enthusiastically, and at the same time grabbed the hawker's front with his other hand in a targeted manner.

We'll talk later, Henry, Mr. Weasley said, addressing the vendor, Hand it over.

Arthur, for the sake of our old friendship, said the hawker known as Mundungus.

No, Mundungus, you know what the ministry has been doing recently. You just happened to be hit by me today. Arthur said, watching Mundungus painfully take out the things in his clothes one by one, Each item he took out was like a piece of flesh being cut out of him.

Arthur and Anthony explained: As you know, we prohibit casting spells on things made by Muggles, and we prohibit selling these magical items to Muggles. He looked at Mundungus and frowned, I I know you still have it.”

Mundungus produced several more snuff-boxes, and as soon as Arthur touched them they bit him violently.

Oh! cried Arthur Weasley, pulling them off. The strange powder in the snuff box was scattered on the floor, and Mr. Weasley and Anthony pulled out their wands to clean them up.

And Mundungus has taken this opportunity to apparate.

I really like that pepper grinder, said Mr. Jones regretfully.

Note 1: In case anyone is curious, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time broke a UK publication record on July 2, 1992, after having been on the non-fiction bestseller list for three and a half years. , sold over three million copies in 22 languages. (