0142 Tracking

As he passed by the bar, the bartender who was wiping a glass with a rag enthusiastically asked Harry what he wanted for breakfast, but Harry had no time to answer this question. He swept past Tom like a gust of wind, stepped out of the back door of the pub, and only had time to pull up his shoe heels when he knocked on the bricks in front of the trash can. 

He stepped into the widest commercial street in Diagon Alley, and the suddenly bright light made Harry look dazed for a moment. He glanced at a row of shops across the street and found that many shops had not opened yet. 

The colorful signs and windows were still dim, waiting for the magic to light up. The street was lined with all kinds of shops that sold everything a wizard could need, from brooms and wands to books and potions. Harry had visited some of them before, but there were still many that he had not explored yet. There were few pedestrians on the cobblestone-paved street, which looked very empty. Harry breathed a few breaths of fresh air in the morning, trying to suppress his nervousness about following Professor Watson. 

He looked around and easily found Professor Watson, who was walking towards the tallest building in Diagon Alley - Gringotts Bank, with his talent as the youngest seeker in a century. Gringotts Bank was a magnificent white marble structure that towered over the other buildings. It had a large bronze door that was guarded by a pair of fierce-looking goblins in red uniforms. Harry had been inside once, when he had withdrawn some money from his vault. He remembered the thrill of riding the underground cart that zoomed through the maze of tunnels and chambers. 

Harry pursed his lips and locked his eyes on the thin figure with a hint of hesitation. To be honest, until now, he didn't know why he decided to follow Professor Watson. Maybe, it was just out of sheer curiosity! 

The wizards passing by looked at him with strange eyes, and Harry came back to his senses, realizing that he had forgotten to take the invisibility cloak he inherited from his father, which was a good helper for tracking and sneaking. 

'Professor Watson can see through the disguise of the invisibility cloak–'

The invisibility cloak was very useful, but it was not absolute. Last semester, Ginny was attacked, and Lucius Malfoy broke into Hogwarts to cause trouble that night. In Hagrid's hut, Professor Watson and Professor Dumbledore both saw through the invisibility cloak. 

After hesitating for a few seconds, Harry gave up the idea of going upstairs to get the invisibility cloak, and followed him quietly at a distance of less than two hundred feet. 

In the past, when he came out for a night tour with Ron at Hogwarts, with the help of the invisibility cloak, they were always invincible. Whether it was the castle administrator Filch or his cat Mrs. Norris, or the senior prefects or even the professors, no one could find them. And this also made Harry never realize that his real tracking level was actually terrible. 

Even though he tried his best to pretend to be nonchalant, but occasionally passing by pedestrians still looked at him with a weird expression on their faces, as if they could see what he was doing at a glance. 

Harry's face was red, partly because he was doing something taboo and exciting right now, and partly because of the teasing eyes of the passers-by. 

He hurriedly followed, keeping the distance between himself and Professor Watson within a relatively constant range. And when he passed by the towering white building of Gringotts Bank, Professor Watson suddenly flashed into an inconspicuous alley. 

At first, Harry didn't realize anything different about this alley. In order not to lose him, he just sped up and followed him. But when he stood at the entrance of the winding alley that couldn't see the end, Harry suddenly came to his senses and was shocked out of a cold sweat. 

These days, Professor Watson had taken him to explore most of the alleys in Diagon Alley, but there was only one that they had never entered. Knockturn Alley - Harry had accidentally entered it once last summer vacation, and To be honest, it scared him to death. 

Even though Harry's 'social experience' was not rich enough, he could tell at a glance that most of the wizards who entered and exited here and did business in the alley were not good guys. 

They wore dark cloaks and masks that hid their faces. They whispered and haggled in low voices over sinister-looking objects that Harry did not want to know what they were. The shops in the alley were shabby and gloomy, selling things like skulls, bones, cursed artifacts, and weird potions. The air was filled with a foul smell and a sense of danger. 

'Why did Professor Watson venture into Knockturn Alley?'

Standing at the entrance of the alley, Harry wondered and hesitated. After a while, he got a relatively reasonable answer. That is, Professor Watson found a criminal who was active here and came to arrest him. 

"This is serious business, I shouldn't bother him -" 

Staring at the gloomy alley, Harry muttered uneasily in his heart. Then he stepped into it. 

After a year's time, Harry had to admit that he really didn't like this place. 

The cracks in the floor tiles were filled with foul-smelling sludge, and the walls on both sides of the narrow alley were covered with mold and dark red brown spots. As he moved forward, the temperature in the air dropped rapidly, as if even the sky became gloomy. 

The only light came from the dim lanterns that hung from the eaves of the shops, casting eerie shadows on the ground. Harry felt a chill run down his spine as he heard faint noises of hissing, creaking, and moaning from the dark corners of the alley. 

He suppressed his palpitations and continued to move forward. After a bend, there was a long straight road. In the faint fog, a row of gloomy shops appeared in Harry's sight. Harry remembered some of these shops. 

Last time, he accidentally passed through one of them called Borgin & Burkes through Floo Network. He also happened to meet Malfoy father and son who came here to deal with dark magic items. Borgin & Burkes was a large and dusty shop that probably sold all kinds of those sinister and dangerous objects he saw, such as cursed masks, human bones, shrunken heads, and dark detectors. 

Should he continue or turn back? 

Harry stared blankly at the alley with a weird atmosphere. His feet stopped moving and he struggled inwardly. 

He wanted to know what Professor Watson was doing here, but he also felt scared and guilty for following him without permission. He wondered if he should turn back and pretend that nothing had happened, or if he should continue and face these troublesome things. 

A breeze brushed his face. Harry shuddered suddenly. His nose twitched and he covered his mouth. He sneezed softly. 

"You should have put on socks before you came out, Potter." 

Suddenly, a low voice with a hint of amusement came out from behind Harry without warning. This sudden voice scared Harry so much that his heart thumped wildly. He got goose bumps all over his body. He jumped up and wanted to run forward. But a hand grabbed his collar. This hand was very strong. Harry struggled for a few times but couldn't get away. 

"Don't be nervous, Potter. It's me." 

The voice with a smile sounded again. And this time, Harry finally heard that this seemed to be Professor Watson's voice. 

"Oh, Professor Watson!" 

Harry turned pale, covered his heart that was still beating rapidly and looked at that young and handsome face with a teasing smile. He gasped for breath. After a few seconds, he calmed down a bit. His face was embarrassed and ashamed. 

"Sorry, professor. I-I didn't mean to." 

"Ah, ah, I understand. It's normal for young wizards like you to have a strong curiosity -" Bryan smiled and said, "Especially, you are from Gryffindor." 

Professor Watson said so, but Harry didn't feel any better. Instead, he felt more ashamed. He lowered his head and his ears turned red, and he kept mumbling apologies. Bryan comforted him a few more times. The little wizard who knew he was wrong finally dared to raise his head. 

"When did you find me, Professor Watson?" 

And when he calmed down, Harry immediately asked the question he most wanted to know. He knew his tracking skills might not be outstanding, but all the way, Professor Watson didn't even look back. How did he find him? 

"Oh, this -" 

Bryan responded to Harry's green eyes full of curiosity. He smiled and said, "Probably from the moment you left the room and rushed out of the pub, I knew it." 

Harry was surprised and widened his eyes. He hoped to get an explanation that he could understand. 

"-- Hey, you don't think I really left you alone in the room without any precautions, do you?" Bryan said with a smile, "In addition to setting up some defensive spells in the room, I also put a locator mark on you. This mark allows me to sense your position at any time. Don't mind, Potter." 

Bryan looked at Harry who was touching himself to see if there was anything extra on him and laughed. 

"I thought that if someone really broke through my defensive spells and kidnapped you, at least I could figure out where you were."

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