"Three up—two down—" Jon whispered, tapping the brick three times with his fingers.
There was no gate to Diagon Alley as he had expected; the walls did not react at all.
"What's going on?" Jon couldn't help but frowned. Remember Hagrid in the original book opened the door to Diagon Alley in this way?
"Let me try!" Eric came over and knocked on the brick three times using the same method.
Still no response.
Jon suddenly remembered that Hagrid in the original book used his umbrella (wand) to knock over the wall...but he hasn't bought a wand yet!
Just as he was about to turn around to call back Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, and ask him for help.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of leather boots hitting the floor… Then, a middle-aged man in a suit, wearing glasses and holding a briefcase, strode over, humming the tune of a song.
"Dr. Granger?" Eric beside him shouted in surprise.
...
...
"Oh, God, Mr. Hart!" The middle-aged man adjusted his glasses with an expression of disbelief: "You are also here."
"I'm surprised too!"
The two grown men immediately started to greet each other.
After a few pleasantries, the middle-aged man seemed to remember something and took out a small wooden stick from his briefcase.
He tapped the wall twice with a small wooden stick... The brick he tapped began to shake and move, and a small hole appeared in the middle. The hole became bigger and bigger, and soon a wide archway appeared in front of them, leading to a winding cobblestone street with no end in sight.
"This is Diagon Alley, it seems." Eric smiled and said, "Dr. Granger, I didn't expect you to be a wizard."
Eric began to introduce the middle-aged man to Jon.
Wendell Granger was a well-known dentist in London. Eric had seen several patients there and had also helped him resolve a patient dispute. The two were old friends and had a good relationship.
"Me, a wizard?" Mr. Granger was stunned at first, then shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm not a wizard, my daughter is a wizard, and I just took her wand! You should do the same, Mr. Hart!"
"That's right!" Eric nodded with a smile: "This is my son Jon. He is also admitted to a magic school called 'Hogwarts' ."
"Hello, Mr. Hart!" Granger bent down and shook hands with Jon, then said to Eric, "My daughter is also a student of Hogwarts. She was admitted last year... I sent her here today. She needs to buy a new robe and some books here, so she asked me to have a drink at the Leaky Cauldron and then pick her up at Madam Malkin's robe shop at three o'clock."
Granger looked at her watch as she spoke: "I think I still have half an hour, so I can take you around Diagon Alley first."
Then, the three of them walked out of the Leaky Cauldron to the Diagon Alley.
Two adult men in suits and a child in sportswear, moving among a group of wizards in black robes, were indeed quite obvious and attracted attention many times.
Mr. Granger seemed to be accustomed to such looks. "I think wizards rarely come into contact with us, so it would be strange to see us. They usually call us 'Muggles', and I don't think this is a polite name..."
"Mr. Hart, I suggest you go to Gringotts first, the wizarding bank; there, you can exchange pounds for 100 Galleons, the wizarding currency!" Granger, who was an "experienced person", began to introduce the matter to the father and son.
"100 Galleons?" Jon suddenly noticed something.
"That's right. The exchange rate is 5:1 for British Pounds, but the upper limit is 100 Galleons." Mr. Granger continued to introduce: "We are here, Gringotts is in front!"
Led by Mr. Granger, they came to a snow-white building that towered above the surrounding shops. Next to the shining bronze door stood a goblin in a scarlet and gold uniform.
The goblin was a head shorter than Jon, and was wearing a strange dress with pointed fingers exposed.
"Welcome, Mr. Sampark, are you going to your vault to withdraw money? Please come in quickly..." The goblin's voice was quite sharp, and he was greeting a wizard in front of Jon and the others.
"Oh, two Muggles..." When the goblin's gaze shifted to Jon and his group, there was a hint of disgust on his face.
"This is Mr. Jon Hart, a freshman at Hogwarts. He needs to exchange Muggle currency for some wizard currency!" Mr. Granger said softly, as if he didn't see the goblin's expression.
"Go find Borg, he's in charge of this!" The goblin said coldly, "Go in and find the sixth counter on the left."
"Let's go!" Mr. Granger smiled helplessly at the father and son. "Just as I mentioned earlier, we are not very welcome here."
The sixth counter from the left has a young-looking goblin standing there.
"Hello..." Eric cleared his throat.
"You're here to exchange currency, right?" The young goblin Borg didn't even raise his head. "Just tell me your name..."
"Jon Hart!"
"It seems to be on the list..." The fairy stretched out his finger and tapped the account book in front of him: "Okay, no problem..."
Then, it stretched out two fingers and handed over a purse, as if it was afraid of getting itself dirty.
Eric took the purse with a somewhat unhappy look on his face, and then took out a 500-pound note from his pocket.
The goblin took the bill, without even looking at it, and threw it into his locker.
"Can it only be exchanged for 100 Galleons?" Jon glanced at the goblin and asked again.
"Yes, Mr. Hart!" The goblin raised his head and faced Jon. His attitude seemed to be much better. "In fact, this fund is sponsored by Hogwarts. From the first to the seventh grade, you can exchange the same amount every year at this time!"
After saying that, it showed an ugly smile on its face: "You don't think those stupid Muggle currencies will be of any use to us, do you?"
What the goblin said was right. It was very easy for an adult wizard to obtain a large amount of Muggle currency, whether by illegal or legal means... If Galleons and pounds could really be exchanged at will, it might even cause very serious consequences.
…
The three men walked out of Gringotts.
Mr. Granger checked his watch. "I think it's almost half past three... Mr. Hart, would you like to come with me to Madam Malkin's robe shop? Perhaps my daughter and your son can get acquainted in advance."
"Surely, Mr. Granger!" Jon suddenly stood up and said innocently, "But it seems a little late now. I want my father to buy robes and textbooks, and I need to buy a wand first... I just heard a wizard say that it takes a long time to buy a suitable wand..."
As he spoke, Jon smiled a little embarrassedly: "I think it won't be long before I can meet Miss Granger at school; it's a little late today, I'm really sorry."
"That's all right." Mr. Granger nodded magnanimously. "Then go buy a wand. That will indeed take quite a while... The wand shop, I remember, is over there..."