Magical Studies at Hogwarts

Two days later, at nine o'clock in the morning, Professor McGonagall arrived at St. Mary's Welfare Home on time. Ike and Julianne got up early and waited for Professor McGonagall's arrival.

After greeting each other, Professor McGonagall stretched out her hand and said somewhat seriously: "Mr. Strider, please hold my hand. The journey ahead will not be so pleasant, and you will feel a little uncomfortable, but this is nothing."

Serious problem."

"Remember! Don't let go of my hand, or something terrible will happen."

"Okay, Professor McGonagall." Ike knew very well how Professor McGonagall would take him to Diagon Alley, and he knew the dangers of Apparition very well.

Professor McGonagall nodded after hearing this. "Goodbye, Ms. Julianne, I will bring Mr. Strider back before lunch."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "pop" sound, and both of them disappeared into the room.

When he reappeared, he was already in front of a bar that looked very shabby and small.

Ike didn't go to see the famous Broken Ax Bar. Even though he was mentally prepared, he still didn't expect that the Apparition would be so uncomfortable.

It was as if a strong adult had been forced into a small suitcase and then shaken around wildly. Ike kept taking deep breaths, and it took him a while to suppress the food debris that was clogging his throat.

"It always happens the first time, and it gets much better after that." Professor McGonagall patted Ike on the back, and waited until Ike recovered before leading him to open the door of the bar.

As expected, the environment inside the Broken Ax Bar is not very good. Some wizards and witches are sitting or standing, holding a glass of unknown liquid in their hands, maybe mead, maybe butterbeer, or maybe

It's firewhiskey.

Wearing wizard robes, some were talking to each other, while others were hiding in the corners, hiding themselves in the shadows.

Old Tom stood behind the bar, wiping the table with a dirty-looking rag. When he saw Professor McGonagall and Ike coming in, he greeted them warmly.

"Professor McGonagall, why did you bring the new students here so early this year?"

"Yes, freshman." Professor McGonagall nodded slightly as a greeting. Old Tom naturally knew Professor McGonagall's character and immediately said, "Then I won't delay you. Goodbye, Professor McGonagall."

"goodbye."

He led Ike around the bar and came to a small patio. On the surface, there was nothing except some weeds and a trash can, but Ike knew very well that this was the most prosperous place in the British wizarding world - Diagon Alley.

.

Professor McGonagall took out her wand and lit it on the wall while saying, "Mr. Strider, you have to remember to count three pieces on top of the trash can and two pieces across the trash can. When you have the wand,

Knock three times, like this..."

A small opening appeared at the location pointed by Professor McGonagall, and the entire brick began to shake and slowly roll to both sides. An archway appeared in front of Ike.

"You can't go wrong with this order. Although some naughty students will move the trash can, there is magic here. Just wait for five minutes and the trash can will return to where it should be."

"Of course, it would be better if you could remember the location of this brick accurately. Now, let's go to Gringotts first and collect your scholarship."

Professor McGonagall led Ike through the archway, suddenly turned around and smiled.

"I almost forgot, Mr. Strider..."

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!"

Ike showed an excited look at the right time, and Professor McGonagall nodded with satisfaction, and then led Ike straight to the conspicuous white building in Diagon Alley.

After passing through the dense crowd in Diagon Alley, Ike finally stood in front of this famous bank. He saw a shining bronze door open, and at the door stood a goblin wearing a scarlet uniform with gold trim, approaching everyone who walked in.

Wizards entering Gringotts bowed and saluted.

Passing through the bronze door is a silver door. There is a text engraved on the door, full of warnings and threats.

Ike refused to comment and followed Professor McGonagall through the silver door.

What came into view was a spacious marble foyer, with hundreds of goblins sitting behind a tall long counter, weighing money with a scale, testing gems with eyepieces, and calculating accounts with quill pens.

Professor McGonagall walked straight to the end and handed over Ike's admission notice.

"Mr. Stride's bursary."

The goblin took the notice, checked it on the record, and then handed back a money bag.

"Twenty gold galleons, please keep them."

Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, handed the money bag to Ike, and led Ike away.

"Hogwarts will provide a bursary. It's not much, but it's enough for you to buy all the things you need to go to school. You can lead this money at Gringotts before the start of each year, and you need to come and collect it next year.

, Mr. Stride."

"Of course, if you have Muggle currency, you can go to Gringotts to exchange for gold galleons. Gringotts has no exchange restrictions in this regard."

"Now, let's go buy a wand."

All the way to the depths of Diagon Alley, I saw a shabby little shop. The signboard said "Ollivander's Wand Shop", and there was another line of small characters that read "Making wands since 382 BC". The window said "Ollivander's Wand Shop".

There was a worn wand in front of him, lying on a faded purple cushion.

When you push the door open and go in, you'll see that the store is filled with long boxes reaching up to the ceiling, making the store seem even more crowded.

"Welcome, Professor McGonagall, are these the new students this year? It's much earlier than in previous years." An old man with white hair appeared in front of Ike on a ladder.

"Buy a wand for Mr. Ike Strider, Mr. Ollivander." Professor McGonagall was as serious as ever and nodded to Ollivander as a greeting.

Ollivander obviously also knew Professor McGonagall's character. He nodded slightly and then asked: "So Mr. Strider, what is your dominant hand..."

"Right hand."

Ike replied.

"Right hand, of course, most of them are right hands." Ollivander took out a tape measure and motioned for Ike to stretch out his right arm. The tape measure then automatically measured Ike's arm length, forearm length, height, and even head circumference.

.

"Every Ollivander wand contains super powerful magical substances, which is its essence. We are used to using unicorn hair, phoenix tail feathers and dragon heartstrings."

"Every Ollivander's wand is unique because no two unicorns, phoenixes and dragons are exactly the same."

"We firmly believe that the wand chooses the wizard, just as we firmly believe that here you will find a wand that is just for you."

Ollivander put away the measuring tape, turned around and took down a box from the shelf and handed it to Ike: "Try this, grape vine wood, dragon heart string, eleven inches."

Ike took the wand in his hand, but there was no reaction. Ollivander motioned to Ike to wave the wand, and it was still the same.

"It doesn't look like this one." Ollivander took back the wand, climbed up the ladder, and took one off the shelf.

"Cedar, dragon's heartstrings, eleven and seventy-five inches. Try again, kid."

After taking the wand, a silver-white ball of light suddenly shot out from the tip of the wand, directly blowing down the mountain of wands piled high on one side.

"Restored as before." Ollivander took back the wand and waved it, and the collapsed wand mountain returned to its original state.

"In fact, almost every little wizard does this when they buy a wand for the first time. We always have to go through some twists and turns before we know which wand is really suitable."

Ollivander babbled: "But I think I already have the answer."

"Try this one, cedar wood, unicorn hair, twelve and seventy-five inches." Ollivander said as he handed it to Ike, "I think it's the one, I'm sure."

A wand master is a wand master after all. As soon as Ike took the wand in his hand, Ike felt as if it was originally a part of his body. A soft silvery light emerged from the tip of the wand and spread out slowly like ripples.

"This is it, this is it!" Ollivander looked very happy and clapped his hands and said, "My father Gervais Ollivander once often said that the owner of a cedar wand will never be deceived.

I deeply agree with this.”

"A cedar wand always matches a discerning owner."

"And unicorn fur can often cast the most stable magic, and they are the most loyal."

"What a neat combination! Boy, I think you'll make an excellent wizard!"

Ike looked at the smooth white wand in his hand and was very satisfied. At least it was a top-notch looking wand.

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander."

"It doesn't have to be like this." Ollivander's smile was bright.

"Shenghui, six galleons."