Chapter 5 The Leaky Cauldron

After coming out of Ollivander's Wand Shop, Chris jumped onto Lu Yunkai's shoulders again and took him to the entrance of Diagon Alley.

After passing through a stone archway, the man and the cat entered a dim place.

What hit them was the smell of cigarettes mixed with alcohol.

Lu Yunkai was choked and started coughing.

Although he was a person who never put down his cigarettes and drank alcohol in his previous life, and had no problems from liver to lungs, he was not old enough to touch these things now.

This is the Leaky Cauldron, where Chris arranged for him to live before Hogwarts started.

Enduring the discomfort in his throat, Lu Yunkai walked straight to the bar.

A hunchbacked, bald bartender was wiping beer glasses while chatting with the guests gathered at the bar.

"I heard that Harry Potter is back!"

"Yeah! I just saw him and shook his hand!"

"Really? What a pity! I should have come earlier..."

The few people were chatting enthusiastically, and the others in the bar were also whispering about what seemed to be the same topic.

"Excuse me, I want to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for a few days, where should I register?"

Lu Yunkai interrupted a little embarrassedly.

These people couldn't stop chatting, and Lu Yunkai was a little impatient because of the smoke.

"Children can't live here." The bald bartender looked at Lu Yunkai, "You should go home."

"Meow!!" Chris jumped from Lu Yunkai's shoulder to the bar and called to the bartender.

"...Chris??" The bartender only then noticed Chris's existence.

"Meow! It's amazing that you still remember me." Chris called again.

"Come with me."

The bartender immediately took out a bunch of keys from under the bar and took Lu Yunkai upstairs.

Compared to the smoke and alcohol downstairs, the guest room area upstairs was much cleaner and tidier.

The bartender opened a guest room and led Lu Yunkai in.

"How long will you stay here?" the bartender asked Lu Yunkai.

"Until Hogwarts starts on September 1st."

"Fifteen gold Galleons."

"Meow! When did you raise the price? It used to be only one gold Galleon every half a month!" Chris called out to the bartender again.

"...It said it used to be only one Galleon every half a month." Lu Yunkai relayed.

"How many years ago was that price? At that time, one Galleon could buy ten sets of robes!... Forget it, I won't charge you." The bartender seemed a little afraid of Chris. After saying something casually, he turned around and left the room.

"Who was the bartender of this bar just now?" Lu Yunkai asked Chris. "Why is he so afraid of you?"

"His name is Tom, not the bartender, but the boss. Otherwise, can he just say he doesn't want to charge? But he was indeed the bartender here before, when Jesse was the boss." Chris said with a disdainful tone.

"Your previous owner was the boss here? Okay." Lu Yunkai laughed.

It turned out that he brought his former boss's pet with him, no wonder it was free!

And he finally understood why it seemed that almost most of the shops from Knockturn Alley to Diagon Alley knew it.

"Meow, it's getting late, you should rest." Chris glanced at the sky outside, which had already darkened, and continued, "I'm going out to meet some old friends."

After saying that, without waiting for Lu Yunkai to answer, he broke the window and slipped out.

"Can't you just go through the door?" Lu Yunkai complained a little speechlessly behind Chris.

When he came to the window and wanted to close it, he saw a young man sitting on the windowsill of the next room, who seemed to be looking at the moon.

He had seen that man in the wand shop today.

"Hi! Hello!" Lu Yunkai smiled and greeted Harry.

"Ah? Oh! You are the one in the wand shop today..."

"My name is Lu Yunkai."

"My name is Harry, Harry Potter."

"You also live in the Leaky Cauldron? Where is the big guy with you today?"

"Hagrid? He came here mainly to give me the admission letter to Hogwarts today, and he left first because of something important. He originally said to send me back to my uncle's house, but I didn't want to go, so I stayed here."

"Oh? You are also a freshman at Hogwarts? Me too!"

"Ah! What a coincidence!" Harry finally had a little smile on his face, but it disappeared quickly, "You don't know who I am, right?"

"I don't know. I'm a Muggle." Lu Yunkai learned a word on the spot, "But I seem to have heard people in the bar mention your name."

"Maybe it's because Voldemort wanted to kill me but failed."

"Voldemort? Who is that?"

"An evil wizard, a big bad guy, who did a lot of bad things and killed my parents."

"...Is it the mysterious man whose name those wizards dare not mention?"

"It should be."

"Oh! No wonder!" Lu Yunkai suddenly realized, "So the wizard who had the same wand core as yours that Ollivander mentioned in the wand shop just now was also him?"

"Maybe." Harry obviously didn't want to talk more about Voldemort, "By the way, why do you live alone in Diagon Alley? Where are your parents?"

"I'm an orphan, my adoptive father has passed away, and my adoptive father's younger brother is now my guardian... Well, that's a jerk, let's not mention him."

"Oh?" Harry raised his eyebrows, "I also live with my mother's sister, and they are not good to me. They always make me live in the cupboard under the stairs..."

"That's not bad. My adoptive father's brother made me live in the utility room behind the kitchen, without even a bed."

"It's my birthday today, and none of them remembered it."

"Happy birthday! I don't even know when my birthday is."

"But I found out this morning that my parents were killed by Voldemort. My aunt told me that they died in a car accident."

"I don't know anything about my biological parents, but my adoptive father died in a car accident... But I only heard about it, and I didn't go to his funeral."

" "Okay." Harry sighed, "I thought I was very pitiful, but I didn't expect you to be more pitiful than me."

"After all, we are going to Hogwarts now. When we learn magic, no one can bully us, right?" Lu Yunkai smiled and shook his head, "This is also a good luck."

"Yeah." Harry also laughed, "I'm really glad to meet you."

"Because I am more miserable than you?"

"I don't mean that! Don't get me wrong! !" Harry waved his hands quickly, "I have never had a friend since I was a child. You are my first friend."

"In fact, you are also my first friend."

"This... is really a coincidence!"

The two teenagers, who were only eleven years old, looked at each other and laughed together.

...

For the next period of time, Chris went back to her room to sleep every night, and slipped away to an unknown place at dawn.

Lu Yunkai naturally trusted Chris, so he didn't ask her what she was busy with all day.

If it hadn't pointed out a clear way, Lu Yunkai would probably be peeling potatoes in the beer hall now!

And he also had his own things to do: he wandered around Diagon Alley with Harry every day, watching the fun, chatting, and learning how to live an eleven-year-old boy's feeling with a forty-year-old soul.

In this way, Lu Yunkai spent the most comfortable month since he came to this world in the Leaky Cauldron.

In a blink of an eye, it was the last day of August.

"Glad to help you, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you, Mr. Rice."

Harry shook hands with the middle-aged wizard who sent them to King's Cross Station, and then watched him leave.

Lu Yunkai next to him also had a grateful smile on his face.

This middle-aged wizard was someone Lu Yunkai met in the Leaky Cauldron some time ago. At that time, Lu Yunkai wanted to go to Diagon Alley to buy something, but was stopped by the "access control" leading from the Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley.

It was a stone wall that needed to be knocked in a fixed order to become a stone arch.

The passing middle-aged wizard taught Lu Yunkai how to open the stone door. As a thank you, Lu Yunkai introduced him to Harry Potter at his request...

He was a "crazy fan" of Harry.

He was very grateful to Harry for getting rid of Voldemort and avenging his sister who was killed by Voldemort.

Naturally, he was very happy to help with such a small matter as sending the two to the station mentioned in the admission notice to take the train to Hogwarts.

After saying goodbye to the middle-aged wizard, the two teenagers were still a little confused standing on the overpass of King's Cross Station where there were many people.

"What does this platform nine and three quarters mean?" Looking at the train ticket in his hand, Harry was a little confused.

"I don't know either. Ah! Look over there!!" Lu Yunkai patted Harry's shoulder and pointed not far away.

A middle-aged woman, with several boys and girls of different ages, was hurrying on the road.

On the luggage cart they were pushing, the two saw an owl cage...

Appearing here at this time, and bringing an owl, an animal that would never appear in the city, the identities of these people are obvious!

"Let's go, these people should be able to take us to the platform." Lu Yunkai immediately followed with the luggage cart.

"Okay!" Harry also hurriedly followed.

...

One explanation. Harry's birthday is July 31st. Hagrid took him away from the Dursleys to go to Diagon Alley to buy things on Harry's birthday, so it is impossible to go directly to the station like in the movie. Hagrid forcibly took people away and gave his son a pig's tail. I always find it incredible that Harry's uncle could beg (not forced, otherwise he would not be bullied by his uncle in the later parts) to send him to the station. So the adapted plot has Harry live in a bar, which can also promote the plot. The original textual research party should retreat.