Chapter 16: Chapter 14
Here's the bonus chap...
.....
"Are you ready?" Eileen asked.
I gave a nod as my answer.
"Hmm..hold my hand now, we are going to apparate." she gave me a hand which I grabbed.
Eileen nodded and with a loud crack, we apparated. Apparating was a weird experience and the next moment we were in the streets.
Apparition felt like being folded and thrown around like a ragdoll. I felt nauseous but fortunately didn't throw up.
"Oh you did well on your first try Severus, most people puke on their first attempts," Eileen said.
"I can see why…" I retorted trying to fight nausea. I recalled a life hack I had seen long ago. I don't know how I even remembered it but it helped. I pressed my thumb right in the middle of my palm.
It seemed to have done the trick as my nausea reduced significantly.
"Are you alright? Want to take a rest somewhere?" Eileen asked, seeing me hunched over.
"That's not necessary, just feeling a bit nauseous. I feel better now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes.."
Eileen nodded and proceeded to walk as I followed her. We received a few stares for our attire but Eileen didn't pay it any heed.
I didn't care either although inwardly I felt weird wearing the robes. I had just about gotten used to 70s fashion and now I was wearing something older.
Soon we reached a street called Charring Cross and right in between a tiny bookshop and what seemed to be a record shop was a dingy inn with the sign 'Leaky Cauldron' that seemed out of place.
When I said out of place, it really felt out of place like a hut in between two skyscrapers.The building if you call it that as it looked more like a shack seemed ancient. The people around didn't notice it at all seemingly walking past it as though it didn't exist.
"This is the leaky cauldron huh?"
"Yes...it's been here before the street was even planned," Eileen answered.
"So do they use muggle repelling charm to keep these people away?" I asked pointing at the oblivious people.
"Yes ever since it was invented, the Ministry regularly strengthens it. They also have wards around it that power the spell. I did read that they used to use a fidelius before but it was too hard and expensive to maintain...Though they did put it under a fidelius again during the war with Grindelwald. Only those that could be trusted were allowed to know the key."
"Well then, now that we are here, shall we go in?" Eileen asked.
I agreed and we went inside. Once inside, I was met with a bizarre sight. It felt like I had walked into a time capsule.
The pub was filled with people wearing clothes from the medieval ages- robes, pointy hats and all the generic witch or wizard attire.
The movie had portrayed this but it couldn't have shown the awful smell and dirty filth everywhere. I couldn't fathom how they managed to keep it that way with magic being a thing.
People were noisy and it was loud like most pubs were. They were spilling their drinks, gossiping and animals were running around. The empty chairs were arranging themselves.
The tables cleaned themselves albeit inefficiently as they just made the floor dirtier instead.
Some people who were wearing muggle attire may be trying to blend in but they were the ones who stood out the most because they were wearing clothes that went out of fashion years ago.
It was a weird experience and I felt like I had walked into a time capsule of sorts.
Ignoring the strong alcoholic smell, I followed Eileen who had walked up to the innkeeper, a man named Tom who nodded at her and led us to the backyard.
"Severus, look at what I do care. It will be helpful for you if you ever come here on your own." Eileen pulled her wand out of her holster and began tapping the bricked wall in a pattern.
I did as she suggested and memorized it. I did have plans to come here after all.
After she finished tapping the walls, they parted one by one to reveal a narrow pathway.
Eileen beckoned me to follow and I trotted along beside her.
"Is this the only entrance to the alley?" I asked. I knew that one could use floo powder like Harry did but I was curious to know if there were more.
"Well, there are a few more ways to enter the alley. First is the one we just came in through. Second would be the floo powder by which we can appear directly inside but you need to get your house registered before you can floo in and the house must not be from some other country."
"Besides the floo doesn't work for long distances so you can't be too far. Portkeys are the best for long-distance travels."
"I see, what about apparition?"
"Ah yes...I almost forgot you can apparate but not around Gringotts where they have set up a ward. I was not sure if they expanded it over the years so I apparated outside."
"The last one would be apparating to Knockturn alley but it's not a good place to apparate too. The people found there are shady and might jump you if suddenly apparated there."
Hmm...Knockturn alley sounded like a grey black market of sorts. I might need to procure some hard to get things from there in the future so I put it on my places to visit.
Of course, I wouldn't step into it until I was sure I would not be completely defenceless. Only after I was confident in dealing with the threats there would I go in there.
We soon reached the end of the path and we entered an open space. The cobblestoned path extended into forks and diagon alley was before my eyes.
The name was a desperate attempt at a joke that I didn't want to comment on. The place looked like a worse version of Hogsmeade. The shops were much older and when they wanted to expand it, they just built stuff on top without a care.
Truly an architect's nightmare. The building's were probably only standing and had not collapsed because of magic. No wonder the weasleys had such a house, if this was the norm then I wouldn't be surprised to see other buildings which followed minecraft logic.
It almost looked like an npc town with all the weirdly dressed people walking about.
The street was filled with people to the brim. It was Hogwarts season and I guessed everyone was here for the same purpose as me, to shop for supplies.
There were a few signs indicating where the shops were.
"So which place are we hitting first then?" I asked.
"Gringotts. Its time to get the vault back from those goblins." Eileen answered, annoyance in her voice.
"Alright." I was a bit excited and nervous about visiting Gringotts. I was eager to see what an actual goblin looked like but was also nervous as I wasn't sure if I would pass the inheritance test.
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