"Albert, are you sure we are in the right place?" Herber was checking the map in his hand, but couldn't find the bar that Professor McGonagall mentioned.
"We have to find a bookstore first. Next to the bookstore is a record store." Albert raised his hand and pointed to the big bookstore in front, and next to it was a record store.
"Is this the place? But I..."
"... Can't see where the bar is?" Albert finished the sentence for him.
If he hadn't paid special attention, he would never have noticed the small bar next to the big bookstore.
People hurrying by didn't even glance at it, including, of course, his father Herb.
"I've seen the bar. Remember what Ms. McGonagall said?"
"Muggles can't find the pub?" Herb muttered. "I hate the word Muggle."
Herb held his son's hand and was pulled forward by Albert. A few seconds later, he saw the legendary Leaky Cauldron.
It was a dirty little bar.
"I hate it here, it's so dirty."
"Me too, come in!"
Suppressing the disgust on their faces, the father and son pushed the door open and walked into the bar one after the other.
Dirty, messy and dark.
This was the two people's evaluation of the bar. There were some abnormal-looking men and women sitting inside, mostly elderly people. They also wore ridiculous top hats on their heads, which made them look very funny.
If this group of people were walking on the street, they would definitely attract countless people's attention. But now, they seem more out of place here, as dazzling as a ray of fire in the darkness.
Herb immediately calmed down, walked towards the counter, looked at the bald old man and asked tentatively: "Mr. Tom?"
"A little wizard from a Muggle family?" Tom looked at Albert, then looked up and smiled at Herb. "Do you want to know 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 and forced a polite smile on his face.
"Of course, please follow me." Tom came out from behind the bar and asked the two to follow.
The three of them came to the backyard of the bar, where there was only a brick wall, a trash can and a few empty barrels.
"This trash can will always be here. You need to count three bricks from the top and then two bricks from the side. That's the brick." Tom pointed to the place where he had just knocked with his hand, then pulled out his wand and knocked on the brick three times. He turned to Albert and said, "When you have your own wand, you can open the entrance to Diagon Alley by yourself. Remember, knock three times with your wand."
The brick that Old Tom had knocked on began to shake, and the brick wall moved in a very strange way. A small hole appeared in the middle, and the hole became bigger and bigger. In just a few seconds, an archway large enough for the three people to pass through was formed in front of them.
A cobblestone street stretched forward from under my feet, with shops on both sides. There were many wizards coming and going and hawking wares on the street.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Tom smiled at the two of them.
"Mr. Tom, how are we going to get back later?" Herb asked.
"After you finish shopping, you can open the door according to what I just did." Tom answered Herb's question patiently, and reminded him: "By the way, you'd better go to Gringotts to exchange Galleons with the goblins first. Muggle coins cannot be used here. Go forward from here, and the white building is Gringotts Wizarding Bank."
"Thank you for your advice, Mr. Tom."
"Have a nice day." Tom smiled and waved at the two of them, then turned and went back to the bar. He liked this job.
After Tom leaves, the entrance disappears and turns back into a wall.
"Let's go and change the money." Herb took a deep breath.
"It feels very different here." Albert looked around the shops and said to Herb with a smile, "It feels like we have gone back a century."
"To be honest, I have some doubts about the correctness of letting you go to Hogwarts. Maybe Daisy's insistence is right." Herb sighed lightly. Although the wizarding world is magical, it always gives him the illusion that he can't keep up with the times.
"Dad, I don't necessarily have to live in the wizarding world." Albert couldn't help rolling his eyes and reminded him, "I went to Hogwarts to study mainly to master this magical power."
"Oh, you're right." Herber's mood improved a little, and the two of them walked through the crowd and headed for Gringotts.
As Tom said, it was a white building with a short figure standing next to the bronze door. That was... the goblin.
"They are so special." Herb's facial expression was a little stiff. This was the first time he saw humanoid creatures other than humans.
Albert didn't care, as he took in the appearance of the goblin, a short man with a pointed beard, long fingers and slender hands, and a dark face, a creature without any sense of beauty.
As they entered, Albert noticed that the goblin bowed to them.
There was a second door at the back, which was silver, and there were words on both doors. When Herb approached, he looked carefully and said aloud: "Come in, stranger, but you must be careful of the consequences of greed. If you just ask for something without working for it, you will be punished most severely..."
"I really don't understand. How diligent do wizards have to be in robbing banks to have to carve warning signs on the doors?" Herb couldn't help but mutter after reading it.
Albert wanted to laugh after hearing this, and quickly cleared his throat and asked, "How much money do you plan to exchange?"
"This?" Herb thought for a moment and whispered, "One thousand pounds. If it's not enough, come and change it."
One thousand pounds is equivalent to most people's monthly salary.
Albert estimated that it was about 200 Galleons. He nodded and said, "I think it should be enough."
After entering, two goblins bowed to them and led them into a tall marble hall. Herb said he needed to exchange some Galleons.
The goblin led them to the counter on the right and handed a piece of parchment to Herb. On the parchment was information about the exchange rate between pounds and Galleons and the concept of money in the wizarding world.
1 Galleon is equal to 4.95 pounds.
1 Galleon is equal to 17 Sickles, and 1 Sickle is equal to 29 Knuts.
Herb handed the parchment to his son and asked, "How many pounds are needed for 200 Galleons?"
"990 pounds."
"Please help me exchange 200 Galleons." Herb took out 990 pounds from his wallet and asked the goblin to exchange them for Galleons.
"Okay, wait a moment." The goblin took the pounds and began to count them.
"Excuse me, Mr. Goblin, can any amount of pounds be exchanged for Galleons here?" Albert asked curiously about his doubts in his previous life.
"That's true in theory, but we won't accept too much Muggle currency." The goblin rang the bell, called another goblin and gave him an order. The goblin took out 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 gold coins." Herber couldn't help but sigh as he fiddled with the Galleons on his fingertips.
After counting the Garlons and confirming that they were correct, the two took Garlon away from Gringotts.
Walking on the sunny street, the gold coins in their pockets made a pleasant jingling sound, as if urging them to spend the gold coins quickly.