Chapter 5: The Leaky Cauldron

Afterwards, John's family discusses that when his parents are just resting from work, they will go to Diagon Alley together to purchase the required items.

According to the content in the letter, there is a unique currency in the wizarding world: Gold Galleons, Silver Sickles, and Bronze Knuts.

To put it simply, it's gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins.

Because their appearance is in the form of coins.

And 1 Gold Galleon is approximately equal to 5 pounds in Muggle society, and the purchasing power is still strong.

Like a family with a solid background like his, they can prepare enough pounds themselves, go to Gringotts, the wizarding bank in Diagon Alley, and exchange pounds for the corresponding amount of Gold Galleons, so as to purchase required items in Diagon Alley.

If it's a little wizard from an ordinary family, they can apply for a student loan with the admission letter at Gringotts.

Of course, this is not needed for John.

And these past few days, John has also been reading that Hogwarts history book, learning quite a few things about Hogwarts.

Hogwarts is located in some highlands in Scotland. Muggles cannot enter through normal means, and cannot even discover it.

This school was jointly established by four founders in the 10th century, and thus four different colleges were divided, corresponding to the four animals on the school crest.

The lion, Gryffindor, symbolizing courage and strength.

The badger, Hufflepuff, symbolizing loyalty and resilience.

The eagle, Ravenclaw, symbolizing wisdom and foresight.

The snake, Slytherin, symbolizing shrewdness and ambition.

The first thing every new student does when arriving at Hogwarts is to be assigned to the corresponding college.

It's so hard to guess. Like me, who is full of courage and wisdom, and shrewd and loyal, which college will I be assigned to?

The book also describes quite a bit of content about Hogwarts Castle.

To be honest, he actually doesn't understand a large part of it, because the words used are things he doesn't recognize, probably some wizarding jargon, or spell names, etc.

He is more interested in the architectural structure called the rotating staircase, which says the stairs are always changing, possessing 142 change patterns, making him feel very interesting.

Afterwards, John is immersed in the fun of reading this book every day.

Until August 15th.

Today is the day when his parents don't have to work and go to Diagon Alley with John.

Due to many unknown factors and worrying that time wouldn't be enough, their family went out very early.

Charing Cross Road is located in the center of London. Every day, people come and go here. The Leaky Cauldron opened in such a place and was never discovered, proving that the wizard's Muggle-repelling magic is still very powerful.

After arriving at the place, John's family walked for a while. Mr. and Mrs. Merick kept looking around, but couldn't find the Leaky Cauldron no matter what.

And John noticed a storefront across the street that had a sign hanging, but the sign had no words on it.

As John approached slowly, a magical scene appeared. The blank sign automatically revealed a pattern of a cauldron, and what appeared inside the cauldron were the words "Leaky Cauldron."

"Found it, that is the Leaky Cauldron."

John points to the Leaky Cauldron across the street and says to his parents.

However, when Mr. and Mrs. Merick look in the direction John is pointing, they only see a bookstore and a record store, and no Leaky Cauldron.

Seeing that his parents still can't see the Leaky Cauldron, John directly takes his parents to the front of the pub and pushes the door open. Only then do they have an illusion that they seemed to have been distracted and never noticed the pub.

They don't feel that this pub appeared abruptly at all; it feels so magical.

The light in the Leaky Cauldron is slightly dim, but borrowing the sunlight shining from the rising sun, John still sees the interior of the pub clearly.

There is only one bar in the pub, and a small blackboard hangs next to the bar, writing the prices of drinks. The center of the pub is some wooden tables and chairs full of the sense of the era, and the gray-white walls all around are hung with all kinds of paintings he has never seen before.

The innermost part of the pub is a huge fireplace, big enough to fit three or four people at the same time.

Next to the fireplace is a wooden ladder leading to the second floor.

At this time, quite a few people have entered the pub. Some are dressed no differently from ordinary Muggles, while others are wearing some large robes similar to Professor Snape, or wearing a pointed wizard hat.

Just as John's family is looking around, a hunched, bald man walks toward them.

"Oh, welcome. You must be a new student at Hogwarts this year, right? My name is Tom, and I am the owner of the Leaky Cauldron."

The owner, Tom, comes to John's front, reveals a smile, and greets them hospitably.

"Hello, owner. Yes, I am a new student at Hogwarts this year. My name is John Merick. The Hogwarts professor said that if you want to go to Diagon Alley, just come to the Leaky Cauldron and find you."

Originally, John wanted to go to the bar to ask who the owner was. He didn't expect the owner of the Leaky Cauldron to discover them first and take the initiative to come over to talk.

"Oh, of course. School is about to start during this period, and many little wizards from Muggle families like you come to the Leaky Cauldron."

Owner Tom sees the purpose of these three new faces at a glance, so he takes the initiative to come up to talk.

"You follow me. The entrance to Diagon Alley is in the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron."

Owner Tom turns to the side and reaches out to the backyard, signaling for several people to walk this way, and then walks in front to lead the way.

When walking through the interior of the pub, John suddenly notices a wanted poster posted on the load-bearing pillar of the pub.

Because the portrait of the character in the wanted poster actually moves, just like a GIF, so he was curious and looked at it a few more times.

As a result, the more he looked, the more familiar it became. Isn't this the escaped criminal he saw on TV a while ago? Sirius Black.

How is this person also wanted in the wizarding world?

Owner Tom, who was walking in front, also notices John behind him stopping. He turns his head and sees John looking at that wanted poster with a look of surprise.

"Sirius Black, hehe, I advise you not to be too curious about him. He hates Muggles the most. Back then, he blew up a street and killed 13 Muggles, only then was he caught by the Ministry of Magic."

"He is still the only criminal in history to escape from Azkaban. In order to catch him, the Ministry of Magic even sent his wanted poster to Muggle society. You should have seen it in the newspaper, or on TV, right?"

Tom sees John is so curious about the person on this wanted poster, so he introduces it to John in a gloomy and terrifying tone, coupled with his eerie smile, making people feel tight in their hearts.

Azkaban, he saw it in a book before. That is a prison specially used to hold wizard prisoners. It says that if you violate the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, you might be locked in.

He thought it was a small prison before. Now it seems the reputation is not small.

"However, you don't need to worry too much. Hogwarts is the safest place in all of England. Going there to study, there won't be any danger."

Seeing Mr. and Mrs. Merick looking worried and scared, old Tom chuckles and continues.

Hearing this, Mr. and Mrs. Merick feel much more at ease.

"Come on, the entrance to Diagon Alley is here."

After clearing up the doubts of several people, owner Tom takes them to the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron. This is a small patio, in front of which is a red brick wall, and a trash bin is placed in the lower left corner of the wall.

Old Tom walks to the side of the trash bin and takes out a wand from his bosom.

"Watch closely, little wizard. Count three bricks up from the trash bin." The owner points to the red bricks with his wand, moving up one by one, moving up three times.

"Then count two bricks horizontally, and tap three times with the wand."

Because the bricks above the trash bin are already on the far left of the wall, counting two horizontally is actually counting two to the right.

After the owner taps three times on that brick with his wand, a magical scene appears.

The red brick wall in front of them suddenly starts to shake, and then the brick body starts to rotate and shrink, slowly splitting into a small archway for people to pass through.

A bustling street appears in front of John's family.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." ===== CHAPTER 6 =====