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Chapter 700: The Grangers at the Cauldron Pub
Chapter 700: The Grangers at the Cauldron Pub
After breakfast, the Weasley children made their way to Diagon Alley, one of the busiest places in the British magical community. The Ministry of Magic had arranged the tightest security here, with at least three Aurors checking the comings and goings of witches and wizards at the Cauldron Pub entrance.
Anyone wishing to pass through the backyard had to undergo a Polyjuice Potion test to ensure they weren't Death Eaters in disguise.
While some people had complaints about this, most were quite happy, as the stricter the checks, the safer they felt.
Some witches and wizards even booked long-term rooms at the Cauldron Pub, staying there with their entire families.
The rooms were always full, and Old Tom's business had never been better. He couldn't help but grin, telling everyone that the Ministry finally had a serious and responsible Senior Minister's Assistant.
Indeed, the idea of tightly securing the entrance to Diagon Alley was Kyle's suggestion, written in that little booklet.
When the Weasleys arrived, Qiu and Hermione had already gotten there early.
"I just need a room..."
Hermione was speaking to the pub owner, "Size doesn't matter, and I can pay in advance."
"I'm sorry, Miss Witch," Old Tom said without looking up, "I've made it clear that there are no rooms available now. If you can wait, there might be vacancies in September."
"But I'll be going to Hogwarts in September, so I can't book a room!" Hermione said.
"Then there's nothing I can do," Tom said, raising his head. "Maybe you can ask around to see if anyone is willing to give up a room for you."
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Fred asked as he walked over.
"Hermione wants to rent a room here," Qiu explained, "but it seems we're too late."
"You want to stay here?" George asked in surprise.
"Just an idea," Hermione sighed, "I'm sure you've read that booklet on self-protection too."
"Yes, that's right."
"That's the reason," Hermione said. "My parents are Muggles, and with Dementors everywhere, it's too dangerous. Just the other day, someone at my father's workplace was attacked.
"Although the news reported that he was suddenly startled and became crazy, I know it was the work of a Dementor."
"So, you want to find them a safer place?" Fred asked.
"Exactly." Hermione sighed, "I finally convinced my father to temporarily close his dental clinic, but I didn't expect the Cauldron Pub to be fully booked."
"Hmm..." George pondered for a moment.
It would be simple for Hermione to stay, either at Number 12 Grimmauld Place or the second floor of their shop.
But the Grangers were a different story.
Just as they were pondering, a familiar voice suddenly called out from behind them.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Long time no see, Qiu, Hermione..."
George turned around, and sure enough, it was Kyle and Cedric.
"Isn't it working hours now?" he asked, "Why aren't you at the Ministry?"
"Who says work has to be done in the office?" Kyle glanced at him, "We have something to take care of outside. What about you guys, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, it's Hermione," Fred said, "She wants to rent a room here for her parents, but there are no vacancies... Good thing you're here, think of another way."
"Mainly because of the Dementors," Hermione explained, "The fog has been getting thicker these days, and I'm worried they might appear in our neighborhood. But they wouldn't dare come to Diagon Alley, right?"
"Not necessarily, but it's definitely safer here," Kyle said, glancing at Tom, preparing to ask again. They were old acquaintances, after all.
The friendship brought about by the trash can might not be particularly strong, but it was certainly better than Hermione's.
But before he hadn't opened his mouth yet, Old Tom spoke up, "There's still a double luxury room on the third floor, only one Galleon and ten Sickles per night."
"Wait..." Hermione hurried over, "Didn't you just say there were no rooms available?"
"There really aren't any," Old Tom smiled, showing his teeth, "That's one I intentionally kept for emergencies. But since you and little Kyle are friends, I can let you have it.
"How about it, do you want it?"
Hermione furrowed her brows.
One Galleon and ten Sickles... To be honest, this price was a bit high for her. Her entire savings wouldn't last a month, and she still needed to set aside some for buying textbooks and potion ingredients.
There were quite a few textbooks to replace for the sixth year.
But the next moment, Hermione clenched her teeth and said, "I'll take it..."
She then looked at Kyle, a little embarrassed, "Can I borrow some money from you?"
"Of course, borrow as much as you need," Kyle said casually.
Hermione quickly calculated, "Fifty Galleons, then."
"Sure," Kyle nodded and handed over fifty Galleons to Hermione.
"Thank you," Hermione said, "I'll pay you back as soon as I can."
"No rush," Kyle waved his hand, then he looked around and lowered his voice, "But there's something I must tell you. The Ministry's next move is to thoroughly clear out the Dementors, so I suggest you don't rent for too long.
"Really?" Hermione's eyes lit up.
If the Dementor issue could be resolved, she wouldn't need her parents to stay here.
"I have no reason to deceive you." Kyle shrugged, "But it definitely won't be that fast. I suggest you can rent for a month first, and when the time comes, look at the situation, and then decide whether to continue or not."
"Okay." Hermione replied without hesitation, then she came to the bar counter and handled the check-in procedures with Tom.
"Follow me." Tom pushed open a door next to the bar counter and led Hermione up the stairs behind.
In the distant corner, two people looked at each other, as if hesitating whether to follow.
They were the Granger couple, who came with Hermione.
Although it was not the first time coming to Diagon Alley, but before Hermione accompanied, now Hermione left, they are a little nervous in this all-wizard environment.
They had heard from Hermione before that some wizards looked down on them because they couldn't do magic.
After hesitating for a while, the two finally decided to follow Hermione upstairs.
Mr. Granger was about to pick up the heavy-looking big box on the ground, he just bent down, and found that the box suddenly floated up by itself.
Magic!
Mr. Granger quickly guessed the reason, he thought Hermione was back, but when he looked up, he saw a boy standing in front of him... It seemed to be Hermione's classmate.
Mr. Granger remembered that he seemed to be called Kyle, and he had seen him in Diagon Alley before, although not as many times as the two called Harry and Ron, but it was not small.
Moreover, the other party seemed to be the best student in Hogwarts, a few years ago during the holidays, Hermione mentioned at home several times, and also indicated that she must be able to surpass him in grades.
But in the past two years, she seemed to have stopped saying such words.
Moreover, Mr. Granger also saw that it was because of Kyle, the bar owner just changed his previous attitude and gave them a room.
Although he is not a wizard, but in some things, wizards and Muggles are actually not much different.
"Thank you, kid, you're Kyle, right... " Mr. Granger took the initiative to greet him: "Hermione's classmate?"
"I guess." Kyle nodded: "But I'm a year older than her, I'll take you up, this staircase will bite people, if you're not familiar with it, it'll be very troublesome."
Stairs... bite people? Mr. Granger thought he had misheard, he couldn't imagine how the stairs would bite people, but thinking about it here is a wizard bar, everything seems reasonable again.
"Thank you." He thanked again.
"You're welcome." Kyle led the way with the luggage, and the Granger couple followed carefully.
The Cauldron Pub uses the kind of old wooden stairs, and the floor is the same, the dust on it is almost lacquered, gray and hazy, completely unable to see the original color, stepping on it is creaking.
When they came to the second floor, Mr. Granger finally understood what "the stairs will bite people" means.
He saw with his own eyes that the step in front of him suddenly split open from the middle, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a big mouth full of fangs, roaring at them constantly.
But Kyle didn't mean to stop, and he stepped on that mouth again.
"This is it..." Kyle walked forward two steps and turned back to say, "You can treat it like a wizard's dog, the solution is also very simple, just don't go around, just step on it and there's no problem."
The Granger couple stopped in their tracks, looking at the big mouth that had crawled out, they dared not walk forward.
Although Kyle said so, but seeing that big mouth full of fangs, they were still a little afraid in their hearts, if they were bitten, it's not as simple as breaking some skin.
Knowing that wizard bars are so dangerous, they might as well stay at home, that Dementor, may not be able to find them.
But since they came, the room was also opened, they couldn't go back.
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Mr. Granger took a deep breath, plucked up the courage to lift his leg, and stepped on it with a bite.
There was no imagined biting pain, it felt like stepping on a soft cushion, it was very easy to walk past.
Afterwards, under his encouragement, Mrs. Granger also overcame her fear and walked past.
"Magic is really amazing." Mrs. Granger couldn't help but say, "It's just a bit too dangerous, that Dementor, made Hermione feel uneasy for several days, we even thought about whether to let her drop out."
"Hermione definitely wouldn't agree." Mr. Granger said.
"Dementor?" Kyle thought for a moment, "Is it a Dementor..."
"Ah, that's right, it's this name." Mr. Granger said, "Hermione said the black fog in the sky was caused by them, and the other day, a person fainted for no reason at my workplace, Hermione also said it was this monster's doing.
"At that time, many police came, and the road was blocked, because of this, many customers who were going to see teeth canceled their appointments."
The few people talked as they walked upstairs, and when they came to the third floor, they just met Hermione who was running over.
“Mom, how did you get up here?” Hermione looked at Mr. Granger in surprise. “I was just about to come and get you.”
“Oh, no need.” Mr. Granger said, “Kyle brought us up.”
He looked around, and couldn't help but say, “Is this where wizards live? I have to say, it's an eye-opener.”
In this short distance, Mr. Granger had seen biting stairs, talking portraits, and self-lubricating decorative armor.
All of this subverted his decades-old cognitive understanding, and for the first time, he felt that living here for a while wasn't such a bad thing.
“Thank you, Kyle.” Hermione hurriedly said, “I was originally going to wait until everything was ready before bringing them up.”
“It's just a small favor, no need to be so polite.” Kyle waved his hand, “How does the room feel?”
“Great.” Hermione said, “It's like a dorm, although 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 Mr. Granger say that there was a Dementor near your house?”
“That's right.” Hermione said, “Not far from where my dad works, someone was attacked by a Dementor. To be honest, if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have thought of bringing them to the Cauldron Pub.”
“What's the exact location?” Kyle asked.
“Hertfordshire...” Hermione said a string of addresses, and then took the Granger couple to see the room.
Mr. Granger curiously examined an old cabinet by the door.
“I dare say it's at least two hundred years old.”
“Maybe even older.” Hermione said, “The Cauldron Pub was established in the 16th century, and usually, wizards rarely change their furniture.”
“Then it must be expensive.” Mr. Granger frowned, “Do you have enough wizard money? Do they accept pounds?”
“Definitely not, but I have more than enough.” Hermione took out a bag and shook it, and the sound of jingling coins came from inside. “Look, I still have this much left.”
Only then did Mr. Granger feel relieved, and then he noticed a stack of newspapers on the table... The people in them were all moving, just like watching TV.
“Oh, that's the Daily Prophet.” Hermione explained, “It's the wizard's newspaper, and the photos inside use Revealing Potion, so they move.”
“You never told us about the wizard's newspaper before.” Mr. Granger's tone was a bit resentful.
Hermione didn't speak.
Not telling her parents about the Daily Prophet was also to avoid worrying them.
But now, living in Diagon Alley, these things were unavoidable.
Mr. Granger picked up a newspaper and curiously looked at its contents, and then he suddenly froze.
“Hermione, is this Kyle's father? He has the same name.”
“What?” Hermione looked over, “No, this is Kyle.”
“Really?” Mr. Granger looked at the newspaper's content in doubt, “It says here that he's a Senior Minister's Assistant... Shouldn't Kyle be a student?”
“Oh, he was exceptionally appointed, the youngest Minister's Assistant.” Hermione briefly explained the situation.
And after hearing this, Mr. Granger didn't know what to say.
According to his understanding, the Minister of Magic was like the wizard's prime minister...
A seventeen-year-old Minister's Assistant?
Despite Mr. Granger's extensive experience, he was still shocked by this discovery and couldn't speak.
No wonder the pub owner's attitude had changed so much.
Then, knowing very little about the magical world, he felt like he had discovered a new continent and seriously looked through the newspaper.
Hermione accompanied Mrs. Granger in tidying up their luggage, and then she looked at the time.
“Mom, I have something to do, so I have to leave.”
“If you have something to do, then go ahead.” Mrs. Granger said.
Hermione went to the door and turned back to instruct, “You can go downstairs to the pub for dinner, or you can have it sent up.”
“If you get bored, you can also go to Diagon Alley below.”
“Can we?” Mr. Granger looked up, “We don't have magic.”
“It's fine...” Hermione said, “Many student parents come here, it's not uncommon, as long as you follow a wizard, you can get in.”
“Oh, and this...” Hermione took out a few Galleons and placed them on the table, “If you like something, you can buy it.”
“No need, you keep it. If we need it, we can go to the wizard bank to exchange it.” Mr. Granger patted his pocket.
This time, he specifically brought a lot of pounds.
“You use it first, and when you have time, I'll go and exchange it.” Hermione looked at the time again and quickly ran out of the room.
(End of Chapter)
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