Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 536 New Diagon Alley
The magic carriage flew very fast, and in less than half an hour, Harry and his group came to a smooth stop in front of the Leaky Cauldron.

That's where they met Hagrid—

Hagrid looked very happy, his face was flushed, and he was carrying an oversized suitcase.

Hagrid seemed to cherish his suitcase, and even when hugging Harry, he didn't want to let go, holding the suitcase tightly as he hugged Harry.

"Long time no see, Harry," Hagrid said cheerfully. "How was your summer vacation?"

"Oh...it's alright." Seemingly infected by Hagrid's enthusiastic atmosphere, Harry also felt much better and asked with some curiosity:

"Hagrid, what's in this box?"

“Oh, this…” Hagrid’s eyes darted away at first, just like when he had lied earlier, but soon, as if he remembered something, he said frankly, “This is the Seamless Extension Suitcase, which Mr. Newtscamander discarded. He gave it to me when he came to Hogwarts the semester before last.”

“Then what’s inside you…” Harry asked, as if he had a premonition.

"It's a dragon!" Hagrid exclaimed excitedly. "A juvenile Swiss Short-nosed Dragon!"

“A dragon?” Ron almost screamed. “But doesn’t the Ministry of Magic forbid keeping dragons as pets?”

“But this is the era of the Magical Federation!” Hagrid exclaimed excitedly. “Thanks to Tiera and his Magical Creatures Welfare Act, as long as we provide the Magical Creatures Breeding and Propagation Committee with proof that we are capable of raising them, and as long as we pass the Magical Creatures Breeding and Propagation Committee’s Magical Creatures Breeding and Propagation Guidelines Exam, we can legally raise these magical creatures!”

“Oh, I see…” Harry nodded, indicating that he understood. “Well, Hagrid… we won’t bother you any longer… I still have some things to buy… let’s talk more after we’re done!”

"Okay, okay, go ahead." Hagrid happily turned to the side and patted Harry on the shoulder with his large hand.

"Okay, okay, see you later." With that, Harry, Ron, and Ginny squeezed past Hagrid and headed toward the wall behind the Leaky Cauldron.

Mrs. and Mr. Weasley followed closely behind them.

By tapping a few bricks next to the trash can, Harry and his group entered Diagon Alley without any trouble. However, to their surprise, Diagon Alley was almost identical to what Harry remembered—

Of course, that's not entirely accurate; there are many differences. For example, Gringotts at the end of the street seemed to be under renovation. A huge black curtain and countless slender scaffoldings covered Gringotts' massive dome, and several people who looked like werewolf wizards were decorating the huge roof.

Aside from this most obvious point, Diagon Alley has many strange and unusual shops—

Calling them shops isn't accurate, because many people don't rent any shops; instead, they push small, obviously homemade carts along the street, hawking all sorts of goods.

This included, but was not limited to, potion ingredients, finished potions, magical items, and magical books. There were even many people who looked like recent graduates selling their study notes from their student days on the street, leaving the Muggle parents and Muggle-born young wizards who were new to the magical world completely bewildered.

Besides that, the biggest change is that there are significantly fewer people in Diagon Alley.

Yes, Diagon Alley has become more prosperous, but there are far fewer people.

To Harry's naked eye, the winding streets of Diagon Alley were filled not only with human wizards, but also centaurs with hooves, half-giants over three meters tall like Hagrid, short house-elves, and vampires with pointed ears walking in the sunlight. "Hello, Harry Potter." At that moment, a high-pitched voice suddenly rang out beside Harry, startling him.

"Do, Dobby?" Harry looked in the direction of the voice and saw a house-elf with big eyes and big ears.

Unlike the other house-elves on the street who only had clean pillowcases hanging from their heads, Dobby was dressed in a neat wizard's robe and wore a wizard's hat that was a bit too small even for a house-elf.

“Yes, sir, it’s Dobby. Harry Potter remembers Dobby, and Dobby is very happy!” Dobby said excitedly.

"Dobby, what... what's going on here?" Harry pointed to Diagon Alley, puzzled. Harry felt that everything seemed normal, but beneath that normalcy was a sense of unreality and disharmony.

For example, even though it's daytime, those people with sharp teeth and pointed ears, who are clearly vampires, walk around in the bright sunlight without any regard for safety or protection.

Furthermore, all the young wizards who appeared to be new Hogwarts students held a white, bone-like wand, which looked almost identical except for its length.

"Isn't it wartime now?" Harry asked, puzzled. Since his birthday party, Harry had been receiving news about the war almost every day.

Today, the French Ministry of Magic has arrived at the gathering place on the Strait of Dover.

The Aurors sent by the Magical Association of America will arrive at the gathering place tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow, a mediator from the International Magical Federation will travel to England to mediate, but Tyella will refuse.

The Allied Magic Forces are ready for war.

The day after tomorrow...

It was precisely because of these ever-approaching news reports about the war that Mrs. Weasley was so anxious that she wouldn't let Harry and the others go to Diagon Alley alone, and she herself hadn't left the house since Harry's birthday party.

“Harry Potter doesn’t need to worry about war,” Dobby said casually. “Mr. Tyella said that those foreign powers that start wars are just paper tigers. We don’t need them at all. They’re not worth our time and effort.”

Harry's mouth dropped open in disbelief, and he was momentarily stunned, as if he couldn't understand why Dobby had made such a serious matter sound so trivial.

"Mr. Harry Potter hasn't been to New Diagon Alley yet, has he?" Dobby asked.

"New, new Diagon Alley?" Harry seemed a little confused by the name.

“Of course, for the convenience of using the Floo Network, this place is still called Diagon Alley,” Dobby explained. “But because it has been revitalized after Mr. Tierra’s renovations, we usually call it New Diagon Alley.”

“Please let Dobby show you around,” Dobby said. “Normally, only Muggle wizards and their parents who are visiting the Wizarding World for the first time can receive Diagon Alley guide services, but Dobby sees that Harry Potter seems confused, and Dobby wants to help Harry Potter adapt to the new Diagon Alley as soon as possible, so Dobby would like to explain things to Harry Potter.”

(End of this chapter)