Chapter 4: Diagon Alley

"Albert, are you sure we didn't go to the wrong place?" Herbert was looking at the map in his hand, but couldn't find the pub that Professor McGonagall said.

"We need to find the bookshop first. The next door to the bookshop is a record store." Albert pointed his finger to the big bookshop in front of him, and next to it was a record store.

"Is it here? But I..."

"...Can't see where the pub is?" Albert finished speaking for him.

If it hadn't been for special observation, he wouldn't pay attention to the small pub next to the big bookstore at all.

People passing by in a hurry did not even look at it, of course, including his father Herbert.

"I can see the pub, do you remember what Ms. McGonagall said?"

"Muggle can't see the pub?" Herbert muttered, "I hate the word Muggle."

Herbert took his son's hand and was guided forward by him. A few seconds later, he saw the legendary Leaky Cauldron Pub.

It was a dirty small pub.

"I hate it, it's so dirty."

"Me too, let's go in."

Concealing the disgusted expressions on their faces, the father and son pushed through the door one after the other and walked into the pub.

Dirty, messy, and dark.

This is their evaluation of this pub. There are some men and women who don't look normal. Most of them are elderly people. They also wear ridiculous hats on their heads, which look very funny.

If this group of people walks outside the street, they can definitely attract the attention of countless people, but now Albert and Herbert are the weirder ones here, as dazzling as a ray of fire in the dark.

Herbert immediately calmed down, walked towards the counter, looked at the bald old man, and asked tentatively: "Mr. Tom?"

"Little wizard from a Muggle family?" Tom looked at Albert, then looked up and smiled at Herbert. "You want to ask how to get to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, Mr. Tom, Professor McGonagall said you can take us to Diagon Alley." Albert also looked at the old man in front of him, barely squeezing a polite smile on his face.

"Of course, please come with me." Tom walked out from behind the bar, beckoning the two to follow.

The three came to the backyard of the bar, where there was only a brick wall, a trash can, and a few empty wine barrels.

"This trash can will always be here. From it, you need to count three pieces up, and then two pieces across. This is the brick." Tom pointed his finger at the brick, pulled out his wand, and tapped on the brick three times. Then he turned to Albert and said, "When you have your own wand, you can open the entrance to Diagon Alley by yourself. Remember, you need to tap it three times with your wand."

The brick that has been tapped by Old Tom began to shake, and the brick wall moved strangely. A small hole appeared in the middle. The opening of the hole became bigger and bigger. It only took a few seconds to form an arch in front of the three of them. They pass through the archway.

A cobblestone street stretches from underfoot to the front, with shops on both sides, and there are many wizards and stores on the street.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Tom smiled at the two.

"Mr. Tom, how shall we go back later?" Herbert asked.

"After you finish shopping, you can open the door as I did just now." Tom answered Herbert's question patiently, not forgetting to remind: "By the way, you'd better go to Gringotts to find the goblins first. Exchange for some wizarding money first because muggle money cannot be used here. If you go from here, the white building is the Gringotts Wizarding Bank."

"Thank you for your suggestion, Mr. Tom."

"It's a pleasure to help you." Tom smiled and waved to the two of them, then turned back to the bar, he liked the job.

After Tom left, the entrance disappeared and turned back into a wall.

"Let's go and change money." Herbert took a deep breath.

"It feels very different here." Albert looked at the surrounding shops and said to Herb with a smile: "It gives me the feeling that we have gone back through time for a century."

"To be honest, I doubt it's good of letting you go to Hogwarts. Maybe Daisy's persistence is right." Herbert sighed lightly. Although the wizarding world is really magical, it always gives him a weird feeling. The illusion of the last era.

"Dad, I don't necessarily have to live in the wizarding world." Albert couldn't help but roll his eyes and reminded, "I went to Hogwarts to study mainly to master this magical power."

"Oh, you are right." Herbert's mood improved a bit, and the two of them passed through the crowd and headed to Gringotts.

As Tom said, this is a white building, and there is a small figure standing beside the bronze gate, that is... a goblin.

"They are so ... special." Herbert's facial expression was a bit stiff, and this was the first time he had seen other humanoid being other than humans.

Albert didn't care, he looked at the appearance of the goblin, short, sharp ears, slender hands and legs, and a pale face, a creature with no sense of beauty at all.

When they entered the door, Albert noticed the goblin bowing to them.

There is another set of doors in the back, with something engraved on the silver doors. After Herbert came closer, he took a closer look and read:

"Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there."

"I really don't understand, how bad are the past bank robberies here that they need to engrave a warning sign on the door?" Herbert couldn't help muttering after reading it.

Albert wanted to laugh a little when he heard it, and quickly cleared his throat and asked. "How much money are you going to exchange?"

"This?" Herbert thought for a while, whispered, "One thousand pounds, if it's not enough, you can exchange it again."

One thousand pounds is equivalent to one month's salary for most people.

Albert estimated that it was about two hundred gallons. He nodded and said, "I think it should be enough."

After entering, two fairies bowed to the two and led them into a tall marble hall. Herbert said that he needed to change some Gallons.

The goblin led them to the counter on the right and handed a piece of parchment to Herbert. The parchment was about the exchange rate between the British pound and Galleon and the concept of currency in the wizarding world.

One Galleon is equal to 4.95 British Pounds.

1 Galleon is equal to 17 Sickles, and 1 Sickle is equal to 29 Knuts .

Herbert handed the parchment to his son and asked, "How many Pounds is needed to exchange 200 gallons?"

"£990."

"Please exchange 200 gallons for me." Herbert took out 990 Pounds from his wallet and let the goblin exchange it for Gallons.

"Okay, please wait a minute." The goblin took over the pounds and started counting.

"Excuse me, Mr. Goblin, can you exchange a large amount of Pounds for Galleons here?" Albert asked curiously about the doubts of his previous life.

"That's true in theory, but we won't collect too much Muggle currency." The goblin rang the bell and called another goblin to give instructions. The goblin took a bag of gold coins and handed it to Herb. Then led them aside to verify the number of Galleons.

"I didn't expect it to be a gold coin." Herbert fiddling with Galleon at his hand, couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

After counting the amount of Galleons and confirming that they were correct, the two took the Galleons and left Gringotts.

Walking on a sunny street, the gold coins in their pockets collided and made a pleasant jingle, as if urging them to spend the gold coins quickly.