Chereads / Harry Potter and the Tragic Path / Chapter 65 - Diagon Alley

Chapter 65 - Diagon Alley

Harry apparates in the middle of the countryside far from central London then makes his way in via taxi. Despite how confident he was with his own and Kali's current strength, he felt it better to avoid a direct confrontation at the moment.

"So, according to Grindelwald we simply enter this 'Leaky Cauldron', go out back, and touch a combination of bricks..."

"Did you remember to pack the coordinates we wrote down?" Kali telepathically asks from his shoulder.

Harry nods, "I do... X10 Y23, X13 Y13, X20 Y17, and... X21 Y21..."

"Hmph, these wizards and their tendency to make everything more complicated than needed." Kali sniffs.

"So, kid, you headed to see your family in the city or something?" the taxi driver idly asks as he focuses on Harry through the rear mirror.

"Yes, but they also told me not to talk to strangers, so please be quiet and drive." he states dismissively.

"Er, alright then?"

With that the journey proceeded silently for an hour, Harry idly talking with Kali through their bond, discussing various plans should the worst come. Finally though, they arrive at the end of the street where the Leaky Cauldron was apparently located.

"Right, that's the stop-" the driver starts when Kali waves her wing at him, "You drove an elderly black couple to see their granddaughter but can't seem to recall their names or faces... Master, slip him some money."

He nods, dropping thirty pounds in the man's lap before leaving. The last thing they needed was a trail of evidence following them...

They enter the pub and are immediately hit with warmth, though, not the pleasant sort, the king you'd experience around a pile of compost. The people inside wore a variety of clothes, most being dirty robes which only added to the 'old' smell.

The food being served wasn't helping the situation, the stuff looking like the slop they served during the rationing days of the Second World War.

Despite all of this, Harry stops in the doorway as he sees people visibly and casually performing magic, some to feed themselves, some levitating newspapers so they wouldn't have to hold them up, and others simply automating the process of cleaning glasses and cutlery...

"You would think with magic they would keep this place clean... If these people didn't have magic they'd have been killed by the mould years ago..." Kali disdainfully remarks.

Harry agreed, this was not a good first impression of the wizarding community... He thought the state of Nurmengard Castle was due to its status as a prison but, that place looked like a resort compared to this.

"They're lighting this place with candles! Did we get transported back in time!?" Harry all but yells over their bond.

"Let's just go, Master, this tobacco smoke is irritating me..."

Harry spots the back exit and makes a break for it, only to have his arm caught by an elderly man with a pock-marked face and half-rotten teeth. "Hello young man, sorry for mishandling you but I'd like to ask how much it would cost to purchase your pet there, I've never seen a bat quite like that one." he nods at Kali.

Harry grits his teeth at this, this scum wanted to buy Kali!?

"Master, wait!"

"Oi! Leave the boy alone and go back to drinking! Bloody con artist!" the bartender shouts over, interrupting the death Harry was about to hand the man.

"Eh, Tom you know me! I wouldn't fool the child! I was going to give a good offer, I swear!"

"Bugger off! Or do I need to pull up your tab early!?"

"Hmph, fine!" the almost-dead man storms off, leaving Harry standing there with more than one pair of eyes on him.

"You alright there son? Are you waiting for your parents or-" Tom, the bartender asks wishing to be helpful.

Harry cuts him off with a shake of his head, "No, my parents are already in the alley, I'm just meeting them now." he says before swiftly leaving, and finding themselves stood before a blank brick wall.

"Master, keep your temper in check or we'll be chased out of here in no time at all!" Kali cautions, knowing how close they'd come to that.

"Sorry... I just hated the thought of that man touching you..." he grumbles, actually bringing a smile to Kali's fanged face... Which looked peculiar as a bat...

Harry pulls out the coordinates and goes ahead in tapping them in sequence, eventually causing a magical response which has the whole brick wall fold in itself and reveals a long but somewhat narrow filled to the brim with witches and wizards.

"A portal... How quaint." Kali comments through their bond.

"Useful though, maybe we should look into creating our own?"

"I've already had an idea about that, except our portals would only be accessible to us. We can speak of this later though, let's explore this place and gather what we can."

Harry shuffles through the alley, occasionally stopping at points of interest and look at supplies he required for Hogwarts, they still hadn't found this 'Gringotts Bank' yet, but Harry was more distracted by other things currently...

"A. Broom shop..." he can't help but say as he lays eyes on it.

A larger than average store with a large group of boys and girls of all ages looking up in awe at a window which showed the 'newest broom'...

"Man, I wish I could get one of those... My parents only let me a Cleansweep, they slowed its enchantments too!" one boy complains to his friends.

"Unlucky. I think I'm getting one on my birthday, I'll let you have a go when we play, cool?"

"Wicked."

...

"Literal, flying broomsticks..." he mutters to himself, wondering if things would be better off if he burned the alley to the ground. It was making him feel like an idiot just for having magical like the rest of these fools.

"Come on Master, let's check the bookstore... They'll probably have something interesting there..." Kali offers, pulling Harry from his thoughts of fire.

He nods, "Yeah, they will... Definitely..." he says, more desperate than hopeful.