Chapter 700: Mr. and Mrs. Granger at the Leaky Cauldron

Chapter 700: Mr. and Mrs. Granger at the Leaky Cauldron

Chapter 700 Mr. and Mrs. Granger at the Leaky Cauldron

 After breakfast, the Weasley children headed to Diagon Alley.

As one of the busiest places in the British wizarding world, the Ministry of Magic has arranged the strictest security here. In the Leaky Cauldron at the entrance, there are at least three Aurors checking the wizards coming and going.

Every person who wants to pass through the backyard must also undergo a test of the Appearance Potion to ensure that the other person is not a Death Eater using Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself.

Although some people are quite critical of this behavior, most are still happy because the stricter the inspection, the safer they are here.

 Some wizards even booked long-term guest rooms in the Leaky Cauldron, where their whole family lived.

The guest rooms are always full, and Old Tom's business has never been so good. He is always grinning happily and telling everyone he meets that the Ministry of Magic finally has a serious and responsible Assistant Minister.

Yes, it was also Kyle's idea to tightly protect the entrance to Diagon Alley, and it was written in that booklet.

　　When Weasley and his party arrived here, Qiu and Hermione had already arrived early.

 “I just need a room…”

Hermione was talking to the bar owner, "Big or small doesn't matter, and I can pay in advance."

"I'm sorry, Miss Wizard." Old Tom said without raising his head: "I have made it very clear that there is no room available now. If you can wait, there may be a room available in September. "

"But I'm going to Hogwarts in September, and there's no way I can book a room!" Hermione said.

"Then there's nothing I can do." Tom raised his head, "Maybe you can ask to see if anyone is willing to vacate a room for you."

 “Hey, what are you doing?” Fred walked over and asked.

"Hermione wanted to rent a guest room here." Autumn explained: "But we seem to be late."

 “You want to live here?” George asked in surprise.

"I just had this idea." Hermione sighed, "I think you must have read the booklet on how to protect yourself."

 “Ah, that’s right.”

 “That’s why,” said Hermione. "My parents are both Muggles, and now there are Dementors everywhere. It's too dangerous. Just two days ago, a person was attacked at my father's place of work.

“Although the TV reports said that he was suddenly frightened and became crazy, I know very well that it was the dementors.”

"So you want to find them a safer place?" Fred asked.

"That's right," Hermione sighed, "I had a hard time convincing my dad to close his dental practice temporarily, but the Leaky Cauldron was full."

 “Hmm…” George thought for a while.

If Hermione lives there, it's easy, whether it's No. 12 Grimmauld Place or the second floor of their shop.

 But the Grangers are a bit inappropriate.

Just when they were worried, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind them.

 “What are you doing here?”

"Long time no see, Cho, Hermione..."

George looked back and saw that it was indeed Kyle and Cedric.

 “Isn’t it working time now?” he asked, “Why aren’t you in the ministry?”

“Who says you have to be in the office to work.” Kyle glanced at him, “We have something to do and need to go out. What about you, what are you doing here?”

"Oh, it's Hermione." Fred said, "He wants to rent a guest room for his parents here, but there are no vacant rooms... You are here just in time. Think of any other options."

"Mainly because of the dementors." Hermione explained quickly: "The fog has become thicker and thicker in recent days. I'm worried that the dementors will appear in the neighborhood where we live. But they definitely don't dare to come to Diagon Alley, right? no?"

“That’s not necessarily true, but it’s definitely safer here.” Kyle glanced at Tom and prepared to ask again. They were old acquaintances.

Although the friendship brought about by moving the trash can is not particularly strong, it is definitely better than Hermione.

 But before he could speak, Old Tom said directly: "There is also a guest room on the third floor, a double deluxe room, which only costs one galleon and ten sickles per night."

"Wait a minute..." Hermione ran over quickly, "Didn't you just say there was no room?"

“It’s true that it’s gone.” Old Tom grinned and said, “I left it specially for emergencies. But since you and little Kyle are friends, I can give it to you.

 “How is it, do you need it?”

 Hermione frowned.

 One galleon and ten sickles...To be honest, this price is a bit expensive for her. All her money combined can't live for a month, and she has to set aside part of it to buy textbooks and potion materials.

 Sixth grade students need to change a lot of textbooks.

 But the next second, Hermione gritted her teeth and said: "I want it..."

 Then she looked at Kyle again and said a little embarrassedly: "Can you lend me some money?"

 “Of course, no problem, borrow as much as you want.” Kyle said casually.

Hermione did a simple calculation and said, "Fifty Galleons."

"Okay." Kyle nodded, took out fifty galleons and handed them to Hermione.

 “Thank you,” said Hermione, “I will return it to you as soon as possible.”

"Don't worry about this." Kyle waved his hand, then he glanced around and lowered his voice: "But there is one thing I must say. The next thing the Ministry of Magic needs to do is to clean up the Dementors with all its strength, so I suggest Don’t rent it for too long at a time.”

 “Really?” Hermione’s eyes lit up.

If the dementor problem could be solved, she wouldn't need her parents living here.

"I have no reason to lie to you." Kyle shrugged, "But it certainly won't be that soon. I suggest you rent it for a month first, and wait until then to see the situation before deciding whether to continue."

"Okay." Hermione said without thinking, then she came to the bar and checked in with Tom.

"Come with me." Tom pushed open a door next to the bar and led Hermione up the stairs at the back.

 In the far corner, two people looked at each other, seemingly hesitating whether to follow or not.

 They are Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who came with Hermione.

Although this was not the first time they came to Diagon Alley, Hermione had been with them before. Now that Hermione had left, they were inevitably a little cautious in this environment full of wizards.

They had heard from Hermione before that some wizards looked down on people like them who couldn't do magic.

 After hesitating for a while, the two finally decided to go up with Hermione.

Mr. Granger was about to pick up the heavy-looking box on the ground. As soon as he bent down, he found that the box was floating on its own.

 Magic!

Mr. Granger quickly guessed the reason. He thought it was Hermione who had returned, but when he looked up, he saw a boy standing in front of him... who seemed to be his daughter's classmate.

Mr. Granger remembered that his name seemed to be Kyle, and he had seen him in Diagon Alley before, although not as often as the two people named Harry and Ron, but not less.

Moreover, the other person seems to be the student with the best academic performance at Hogwarts. During the holidays in the past few years, Hermione mentioned it several times at home, and said that she would definitely surpass him in academic performance.

But it seems that she has not said this kind of thing in the past two years.

And Mr. Granger could also see that it seemed that it was because of Kyle that the bar owner changed his previous attitude and gave them a room.

 Although he is not a wizard, in some things, there is actually no difference between wizards and Muggles.

"Thank you kid, are you Kyle..." Mr. Granger took the initiative to greet him: "Hermione's classmate?"

"So be it." Kyle nodded, "But I'm one school year older than her, so I'll send you up. The stairs here will bite, and it will be very troublesome if you are not familiar with them."

 Stairs...bite?

Mr. Granger thought he heard wrongly. He really couldn't imagine how the stairs could bite people, but thinking that this was a wizard's bar, everything seemed to make sense again. “Thank you.” He thanked him again.

"You're welcome." Kyle walked in front with his luggage, and the Grangers followed cautiously.

The Leaky Cauldron uses old wooden steps, which are the same as the floor. The dust on them is almost caked with pulp. It is so gray that the original color cannot be seen at all, and it creaks even more when you step on them.

By the time they reached the second floor, Mr. Granger finally understood what "stairs bite" meant.

He saw with his own eyes that a crack suddenly opened in the middle of the steps in front of him, and in the blink of an eye it turned into a big mouth full of fangs, roaring at them.

But Kyle had no intention of stopping at all, and stepped on the mouth again.

"That's it..." Kyle took two more steps forward and turned back and said, "Just think of it as a dog raised by a wizard. The solution is also very simple. Don't take a detour. Just step on it and you'll be fine. "

The Grangers stopped where they were, looking at the big mouth that had re-emerged and dared not move forward.

Even though Kyle said this, they were still a little scared when they saw the mouth full of fangs. If they were bitten, it would not be as simple as breaking the skin.

Had they known that the wizard bar was so dangerous, they might as well have stayed at home. That ghost monster might not be able to find them.

 But now that we have come and the room has been opened, we can’t go back.

Mr. Granger took a deep breath, bravely raised his leg, and stepped on it with gritted teeth.

 There was no severe pain like being bitten as expected. It felt like stepping on a soft cushion, so I walked over easily.

With his encouragement, Mrs. Granger overcame her fear and walked over.

"Magic is really amazing." Mrs. Granger couldn't help but said: "It's just a little too dangerous. The soul monster made Hermione uneasy for several days. We even thought about letting her drop out of school."

"Hermione will certainly not agree," said Mr. Granger.

 “A soul monster?” Kyle thought for a while, “It’s a dementor, right…”

"Ah, yes, that's the name." Mr. Granger said, "Hermione said that the black fog in the sky was caused by them, and the day before yesterday, a man fainted inexplicably at my place of work, and Hermione also said that it was them. This monster did it.

“A lot of police came at that time and even the roads were blocked. Because of this, many customers who were going to see their teeth canceled their appointments.”

The few of them were talking like this while walking upstairs. When they reached the third floor, they happened to meet Hermione running over.

"Dad, why are you up here?" She looked at Mr. Granger in surprise. "The room has been opened and I'm about to pick you up."

"Ah, no need," said Mr. Granger, "Kyle brought us here."

He looked around and couldn't help but said: "Is this where the wizard lives? I have to say, it's really eye-opening."

In this short journey, Mr. Granger saw stairs that bite people, portraits that chat with people, and decorative armor that lubricates himself.

All this overturned his inherent understanding of the past few decades. For the first time, he felt that it was not a bad thing to live here for a while.

"Thank you, Kyle." Hermione said quickly: "I originally wanted to wait until everything was settled before picking them up."

"It's just a small favor, you're welcome." Kyle waved his hand and said, "How does the room feel?"

"It's great," Hermione said. "It's almost like a dormitory. It's not particularly big, but they'll have no problem living here."

"That's good." Kyle said, "By the way, I just have something to ask you."

"What?"

“I just heard from Mr. Granger that there were dementors near your house?”

"It should be right." Hermione said, "Not far from where my father works, someone was attacked by dementors. To be honest, if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have thought of bringing them to the Leaky Cauldron. bar."

 “What about the specific location?” Kyle asked.

"Hertfordshire..." After Hermione gave a list of addresses, she took Mr. and Mrs. Granger to see the room.

The room was much more normal. Mr. Granger looked curiously at a faded cabinet by the door.

 “I’d say it’s at least two hundred years old.”

“Perhaps longer,” Hermione said. “The Leaky Cauldron was founded in the sixteenth century, and wizards rarely change the furniture.”

"Then it must be very expensive here." Mr. Granger frowned and said, "Do you have enough wizard coins? Do they charge pounds?"

"Definitely not, but I have enough money." Hermione took out a bag and shook it, and there was a jingling sound inside. "Look, I still have so much left."

Mr. Granger felt relieved then, and then he noticed a pile of newspapers on the table... The people on it were all moving, as if they were watching TV.

"Oh, that's the Daily Prophet," Hermione explained: "The wizard's newspaper. The photos on it are made of developing potion, so they can move."

"You've never told us before that wizards have newspapers." Mr. Granger said complaining.

 Hermione said nothing.

 I didn’t tell my parents about the Daily Prophet because I didn’t want them to worry.

 But now living in Diagon Alley, these are definitely unavoidable.

Mr. Granger picked up a newspaper and looked at the contents curiously. Then he was suddenly stunned.

“Hermione, is this man Kyle’s father? His name is actually the same.”

"What?" Hermione looked over, "No, this is Kyle."

“That’s not right.” Mr. Granger looked at the contents of the newspaper with confusion. “It says that he is the Senior Assistant to the Minister of Magic...Shouldn’t Kyle be a student?”

"Oh, he was specially hired as the youngest assistant to the minister." Hermione explained the matter simply.

 After listening to this, Mr. Granger didn't know what to say.

According to his understanding, the Minister of Magic should be equivalent to the Prime Minister of wizards...

 Seventeen-year-old assistant to the Prime Minister?

Even though Mr. Granger had seen a lot of the world, he was still shocked and speechless by this discovery.

 No wonder the bar owner’s attitude changed so much.

 Then, knowing very little about the magical world, he read the newspaper seriously as if he had discovered a new world.

 Hermione accompanied Mrs. Granger to briefly pack her luggage, then looked up at the time.

 “Mom, I have something to do later and I have to go.”

 “If anything happens, go quickly.” Mrs. Granger said.

Hermione walked to the door, then turned back again and said: "You can go to the bar downstairs to eat, or you can ask them to bring it up.

“If you feel bored, you can also go to Diagon Alley below.”

"Can you?" Mr. Granger raised his head, "We don't know magic."

"It doesn't matter..." Hermione said, "Many parents of students will come here. This is not uncommon. You only need to follow a wizard to get in."

"Oh, by the way, there's this..." Hermione took out a few more Galleons and put them on the table, "If there's anything you like, you can buy some too."

"No, you can keep it. If necessary, we can go to the wizard bank to exchange it." Mr. Granger patted his pocket.

He brought a lot of pounds with him when he came out this time.

"You guys can use it first. I'll change it when I have time." Hermione looked at the time again and ran out of the room quickly.

 (End of this chapter)