95

"And I you," I nodded to her.

    Poppy just smiled at my greeting. Positivity and joy, that's what can be said about her at the moment. Only behind all this was hidden malice. Why did it happen?

    - Well, are you ready? — after a couple of seconds she asked me, having first looked at my figure with an attentive glance. Well, yes, I don't look very good - shabby, torn clothes in some places. Well, at least it's not dirty, the spell helped in this matter, but it doesn't improve the situation much.

    - Ready for what? — I didn't understand her question.

    — To visit Diagon Alley, of course. You still need to do some shopping for the new course, and we don't have much time, you'll have a train tomorrow morning. So let's hurry up," she said, making a half turn. "Croco, Flitwick," the teacher nodded, stopping for a moment in the doorway. "I'm glad everything is okay with you," Croco nodded restrainedly at her words, while continuing to drink his tea, and the half-goblin did not answer at all, continuing to sit with his eyes closed.

    Getting up from my seat, I followed the honey witch who had already left the room.

    "See you soon, Professor, Croco," I nodded, stopping at the door and turning to face them. — The expedition was a success. I'll be glad to join you again next time," at the end he smiled at them from the corner of his lips.

    Without listening to their answer, I left the room where the teacher was already standing waiting for me.

    - Did Po say goodbye? - nod. - Then let's go.

    After wandering through familiar corridors for several minutes, we finally arrived at the apparition plaza. Besides us, there were about a dozen more intelligent ones here. They disappeared and reappeared, not staying here for long. Everyone has their own, no doubt important, things to do.

    "Grab it," Poppy extended her hand to me after we moved a little away from the others. Squeezing her hand, he looked at her expectantly. "Tuck your legs," she grinned.

    Cotton and we disappeared from this square, only to appear a moment later in a London alley. Stone walls, garbage containers, and bags filled with who knows what. A familiar lane. I remember this is where the half-goblin apparated in our first meeting, only then it was cleaner here. Hmm, people have always been able to do shit, especially where they live.

    "Teacher," I called her before we left this hospitable place.

    - M?

    — Should I take on "my" appearance? Or continue to be in this? - and that's true. Even after returning to Greenland, I adopted the appearance of Hans Weber. Still, it was under this guise that they saw me in the Guild.

    - Better yours. After all, it is Calder Wilson who is my student, and not Hans Weber," she answered without even thinking. "And do something with your clothes, otherwise awkward questions may arise."

    Nodding to her, he closed his eyes for a moment. A moment of concentration and in Hans's place was Calder, about thirteen years old. With a wave of my wand, my tattered lunch turns into comfortable jeans and a baggy T-shirt. Great, the appearance of the native of the ordinary world is ready.

    Slowly emerging from the dead end, we moved towards the Leaky Cauldron. The weather was "beautiful": a fairly strong wind was blowing, driving debris from side to side, leaden, hanging menacingly over our heads, clouded the sky, hiding the sun behind it. Only rain was not enough for complete happiness.

    Oh, here comes the rain. Here the picture is finished: "An ordinary morning in London."

    — How do you like your first expedition? — after a couple of minutes of walking in the rain, the witch asked, as if by chance. As soon as it started to rain, the teacher used the "umbrella" spell, saving herself and me from the fate of being soaked to the skin. — Were you able to learn something new for yourself? Are you happy with her? How was it?

    She fell silent waiting for my answer, but I was in no hurry to give it. How to talk to her? With all these adventures: chases, battles, training, dreams of chases, torture, chases again, I completely lost my mind on one important topic. Further communication with the teacher, if she can still be called such. Should I behave as before or not? A lot, if not everything, depends on my choice at the moment.

    "Just don't act like a girl who knows nothing," I asked her, raising my hands in front of me in protest, finally choosing a strategy for communicating with her. "I'm sure you know, if not everything, then a lot."

    - Yes? - she was ostentatiously surprised. - Why did you decide this?

    — Your reaction to our appearance. Not a single question directed at the professor or Croco. Status of "team founder". The betrayal of one of the members of this detachment, who later died at the hands of the same member," I began to list the "important" theses. - And finally, the mischievous sparkle in your eyes that are currently looking at me - well, I'll probably keep silent about her emotions. Still, nothing can drown out her excitement, she is painfully happy and playful now.

    "Even if the facts you cited are far-fetched, you turned out to be right," the witch finally deigned to answer me, turning away from me again. — In general terms, I know what happened to you, and also about your contribution during the expedition. "You've done well," she said softly.

    - My contribution? If he was there, it wasn't that great, - oh how she flared up emotionally. It's worth waiting for the next "hairpin" addressed to me.

    "Well, there's no need to be modest, it doesn't suit you," Poppy waved her hand at my words. "It's not every day you get a chance to save a princess," it began. Well, here she's probably talking about Sol. "And also defeat the Dark Lord," she finished with a smile.

    — The Dark Lord? — raised an eyebrow in a questioning gesture. "And aren't you ashamed to call your "party" comrade that way? After all, you didn't know him for a long time.

    "And weren't you ashamed to kill your "party" comrade? — she answered the question with a question. There was so much malice and poison in her voice that it seemed possible to drown London in it.

    "At that time, Ed no longer existed. In his place was a monster, a living dead, driven by hunger, as well as his own madness," I answered her without embellishment. "There was no way to save him." I granted him liberation through final death, and even then not completely. And the professor taught me how to kill the dead very well," I grinned slightly at the end. - There were no problems with this.

    Somehow the conversation got stuck. The teacher was thinking about her own things, but I didn't want to continue this conversation. It's better to remain silent.

    And I won't tell her anything about torture. I don't even want to imagine her reaction to them, because I didn't break, although according to the vampire I should have. Plus, I took quite a few positives out of this situation. Psi, invisibility, control, ice magic, and an inconspicuous silver dagger lying in my bag.

    Regarding the mysterious owner of the vampire... Perhaps it's still worth telling, but a little later. It's not right to talk about this in the middle of the street.

    The Leaky Cauldron hasn't changed one bit. All the same Middle Ages, all the same tables, candles, and also the bartender Tom. Nodding to him in greeting, we headed towards the passage to the magical street.

    ****

    As soon as we took a step, at the same moment the brick arch closed behind our backs. However, if necessary, she can "open up" at any time.

   Looking around at the familiar streets and shops, I took a deep breath and again felt the "smell and taste" of the mana of Foggy Albion. In some ways it was still different from the mana of Greenland. And here it's not just a matter of density, but something else. Something I can't understand.

    "Here, this is yours," the witch said, turning to face me, holding out a letter with the wax seal of Hogwarts. — As you already know, it contains a list of all the things you need for next year. I don't think I need to explain anything more to you.

    Taking the letter in my hands, I pored over it for a few seconds until I turned my questioning gaze to Poppy.

    - What? — "unable to bear" my gaze, she asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

    - What will you be doing all this time? - no, but what's wrong with that? What if he answers? Although I highly doubt it. I'm more likely to run into another hairpin in my direction.

    — Is someone interested in my personal life? — this witch grinned, tilting her head slightly to the side. - Or maybe our independent and adult Calder is afraid to go shopping alone? — the honey witch grinned nastily. "Will you take me shopping by the hand?" If you really ask, I can do it...

    "I left," I said, not listening to this nonsense. It's useless to talk to her about anything now; you still won't convince her. And I don't want to get involved in all this, I'll be healthier. At least mentally.

    "We'll meet in two hours at the Leaky Cauldron!" - she said after me a little louder than she should have.

    Taking a tired breath, I headed towards the first bench. These two hours promise to be long and intense.

    *****

    I really don't like shopping, especially clothing stores. All these fitting rooms, varieties of choice, etc., are so annoying that there is simply not enough energy for everything else.

    As I expected, these two hours were more than eventful. It turns out, oh Merlin, what a surprise, I'm not the only one shopping on the last day. Many, many young magicians shop on the last day. Some people, like me, decided to buy everything on the last day, while others simply buy something undoubtedly important.

    Queues, queues, queues... There were these damned queues everywhere, it was impossible to even breathe. But the worst thing, in my humble opinion, is the rush of the female population in the bookstore.

    The concentration of females per square meter was simply off the charts. It seemed they were everywhere: in the shop, between the shelves, on the street, in the alley! All because of the books of a certain Gilderoy. Damn this "hero and conqueror" of women's hearts.

    What's strange is that I've already seen the book "I Am a Wizard" by this unfortunate writer, because it was the book that caught my eye during my first visit to a charms lesson. Hmm, why? Maybe Lockhart sent the first copies to the most famous wizard? And that is quite possible. After all, the half goblin is very famous in the construction arena. And besides, Flitwick is a professor who is tired of Gilderoy.

    Somehow, but I still managed to buy books in this bedlam. And don't ask me how I did it. This secret will be shrouded in darkness.

    It's good that there wasn't such an influx of visitors in other stores.

    So, the last thing left is a visit to the robes store. Perhaps we should finish this quickly and return to the Leaky Cauldron. It's just approaching lunch time. Maybe I can send a letter to my parents.

    *****

    As soon as I pushed the wooden door, the bell rang, notifying the owner of the shop about a new visitor.

    Entering the shop, he began to wait for the local owner, or her assistant. To my surprise, there was almost no one in the shop itself. But there are quite a few women on Diagon Alley. Maybe this is another stereotype that women love to buy new clothes? Or are women magicians different from ordinary women?

    - Good afternoon. How can I help? — a middle-aged woman approached me and greeted me.

    "Good afternoon," he greeted back. - Yes it would be nice. Here," he handed her a list of things, which indicated exactly what clothes I needed to buy.

    "Thank you," she said, taking a piece of parchment in her hands. "Yeah, standard set for a sophomore," the woman said after a couple of seconds of reading. "Here," she handed the letter back to me. "Now stand here, I need to measure you."

    Obediently taking the offered place, I spread my arms to the sides to make it more comfortable. After all, I did the same thing last year.

    As this woman waved her wand, measuring tapes, rulers and some strings flew towards me. Within a minute I was measured everywhere possible. After the allotted time, all this "this" army flew back, and the quick-writing pen recorded the results of the measurement.

    Having grabbed what was written, the owner of the shop delved into reading, while telling me the following:

    "Everything will be ready within ten minutes." While you can turn gray over there," she waved her hand towards the small sofas next to the wall. - Next to this sweet lady.

    Looking at the designated person, I could only see blond hair, almost white. At the moment, this young lady was looking somewhere outside the shop, so I didn't have the opportunity to take a good look at her.

    Shrugging his shoulders, he walked towards the sofas. There is nothing to do anyway, you can wait.

    As soon as I sat down, this young lady instantly turned in my direction. Regular facial features, a slightly pointed nose, small, cute lips, incredibly pale skin that almost blends with the hair color (but it's worth noting that the skin didn't look sick, no. No "blue" or "green" "shine") and also incredibly more , light silver eyes slightly bulging, which seemed to be burning from the inside. I think I know who this young lady is.

    "You're strange," she said very quietly but clearly in her beautiful voice. - They are afraid of you, but at the same time you are good. How can this be? — she said, bowing her head questioningly.

    That's what Luna Lovegood is like. Interesting, very interesting.