Chapter 15: Diagon Alley

Wade and Tom silently walked along the muddy streets of London.

Tom, still shaken, adjusted his newsboy cap, surprised that the large hat hadn't been left behind in the sewer.

Wade, on the other hand, tightened the strap of the bag where he had hidden the money, silently thankful that the gold hadn't been lost.

"The snake... said it used to be a human woman, drawn to me by my Parseltongue heritage... but how is that possible?" Tom broke the silence after a moment, still recovering.

"Tom, you have to admit, there are many magical things in this world... just because we don't know about them doesn't mean they don't exist," Wade said calmly.

In fact, Wade knew the story of Nagini very well, but he couldn't explain it to Tom, as he couldn't explain why he knew these things.

Nagini had once been a kind and gentle woman, but unfortunately, she was a blood-cursed beast.

Due to a blood curse inherited through her matrilineal family line, she was born with the curse, able to shift between human and serpent forms.

However, as she grew older, the curse would eventually strip her of her humanity, erasing all memories of being human, and she would ultimately become a beast...

Of course, the Nagini now wasn't the ferocious giant snake turned Horcrux by Voldemort decades later.

Wade speculated that Nagini was likely on the verge of completely becoming a beast, only occasionally regaining her consciousness.

And just now, it was Nagini's true consciousness that had awakened in time during a critical moment.

Tom remained silent for a while before saying, "I have a feeling I will meet her again in the future."

Wade looked at Tom, surprised to see a fleeting look of pity in his eyes.

"Maybe... but we need to get stronger, or next time, you might end up getting swallowed by her," Wade said as he jumped onto a tram that had just stopped. Tom hurriedly followed him.

Since they didn't have to walk, they arrived at their destination quickly.

Wade noticed that the pedestrians ahead of them were taking a strange detour.

Beside that detour hung a tattered sign—The Leaky Cauldron.

Wade and Tom exchanged a glance before quickly walking over.

Tom nervously patted the dust off his clothes. After their ordeal in the sewers, both of them looked a little disheveled.

The most important thing was that there was a faint, almost imperceptible odor on them...

Just as Tom began to frown, planning to find somewhere to change clothes, he suddenly felt a cool sensation sweep over him, as if a light breeze had gently brushed past.

Then, he was surprised to find that the dust and odor on him had completely vanished!

Tom immediately turned to look at Wade.

At this moment, Wade was looking at his own clothes, silently muttering a spell in his mind: "Scourgify!"

In the next second, Wade's entire body was spotless as well.

"Wade, I've actually been meaning to ask you for a while... Did you always know that you were a...?" Tom glanced around, making sure no one was paying attention, before continuing in a lowered voice, "Did you always know you were a wizard and that you had somehow learned the method of using magic?"

"No, I figured it out through experimentation... Haven't you realized by now that the power of magic is purely a matter of the mind?"

Tom's suspicion didn't surprise Wade, but of course, he wouldn't admit it.

In fact, even without getting the spellbook, he could still figure out many magical effects through experimentation...

"Magic is a matter of the mind..." Tom repeated the phrase, deep in thought.

"Alright, we should go in now. A new world is beckoning us," Wade patted Tom's shoulder and led the way into the Leaky Cauldron.

The interior of the Leaky Cauldron was exactly as Wade expected — dirty and cramped.

However, despite the unkempt surroundings, the bar was still bustling with activity, though the patrons seemed to have quite varied backgrounds...

Wade approached the bar, where a balding middle-aged man was polishing a glass.

"Hello, where do we enter Diagon Alley?" Wade asked.

The middle-aged man put down the glass and looked up at Wade and Tom.

"Oh... you must be the new Hogwarts students this year, right? Never been to Diagon Alley? Alright, follow me."

Tom and Wade exchanged a glance and followed him.

Along the way, several people greeted the man.

"Tom, is there any food left? Get me a piece of flatbread! I'm so hungry I could eat a whole cow! Oh, and get me a glass of sherry too!"

"Please wait, Chom, I still need to take these two freshmen to Diagon Alley."

"Oh? Are they Muggle-born little wizards?"

"Yes, yes..."

As they spoke, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, also named Tom, led Wade and the other Tom to a small courtyard behind the bar.

Tom, trying to hide his discomfort, asked the owner, also named Tom, "What does Muggle-born mean?"

"Hmm? It seems the professor who explained things to you didn't clarify it properly. A Muggle is a term used for people who don't understand magic. A Muggle-born is a wizard born into a Muggle family. Hmm... aren't you two Muggle-born? If you were from a wizarding family, you wouldn't have never been to Diagon Alley," the owner Tom said, eyeing the two boys with suspicion.

"No, we are indeed Muggle-born. We were just curious about what the term 'Muggle' means," Wade explained.

"Oh, I see..." Owner Tom didn't pay it much thought, then turned and took out his wand, pointing it at the wall where a trash can was. "From this trash can, count three blocks up, then count two blocks horizontally, and then knock..."

Clink!

The next moment, the brick wall quickly moved, and the bricks jumped to the side, revealing an entrance in front of the three.

Wade was the first to step into the entrance, and a cobblestone-paved street appeared before his eyes.

What immediately caught his eye were the various strangely-shaped shops on either side of the street and the bustling crowd in the streets.

Diagon Alley was lively and vibrant.

"Alright, now you know how to enter and exit Diagon Alley, I should head back."

"Oh, and don't stray off the main street. Otherwise, if you accidentally walk into Knockturn Alley, it could be dangerous," warned Owner Tom before he left.

As the entrance behind them returned to a wall, Tom suddenly said, "I don't think I'm Muggle-born. I think my father must have been a wizard, and my mother wasn't. Otherwise, she wouldn't have so easily died in front of the orphanage."

Yeah.. about that..

"Well, no matter what, we're both from the orphanage now... so we can be considered Muggle-born," Wade replied.

"Alright... but sooner or later, I'll find out about my father!"

Tom took out the shopping list and didn't mention his father again. "So, what should we buy first?"

"Of course, the first thing we need to buy is a wand. But... we need to exchange some money first," Wade said, patting his backpack.

...

Several kilometers away from the Leaky Cauldron, in front of a small detached house, a crowd of police officers had gathered.

The two-story house had already started to lean and seemed like it could collapse at any moment.

"Chief, we found those kidnapped human traffickers, but..." 

"But what?" The police chief, who had a pair of mustaches, asked.

"Well... the floor of the house collapsed for some reason, and several of the traffickers fell down and got injured. Also... they seem to have gone mad with fear!"

"That's really strange..."

Among the crowd, a tall and thin man suddenly stepped forward. The nearby police officers acted as though they didn't see him, allowing him to walk into the unstable building.

"Hmm.."

Dumbledore furrowed his brows as he observed the grim scene inside the building. His brow tightened.

He closed his eyes and carefully felt the surroundings because he realized the magical traces in the area felt strangely familiar...

Suddenly, Dumbledore opened his eyes, a look of confusion on his face. "It's them? How could it be them?"

A trace of worry flashed across Dumbledore's face, and then he jumped down into the sewer through the large hole.

Ignoring the stench of the sewer, Dumbledore carefully investigated the area. Suddenly, he bent down and rummaged through a corner of the sewer.

When he stood up, he had a dark green scale in his hand...

"This is... Nagini?! Has she truly fallen completely? Wait! If they encountered Nagini..."

Dumbledore's expression grew more worried as he put the scale into his pocket.

Snap!

Dumbledore's figure vanished into the sewer.