Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 158 What's so interesting about this run-down Diagon Alley?
Once the Hogwarts letters were delivered by the diligent owls, Diagon Alley suddenly became lively.

Since morning, Xilun had been hearing shouts and cries of alarm coming from outside.

The sounds were all quite crisp, but not pleasant to the ear at all; in fact, they were rather noisy.

Ollivanders Wand Shop finally welcomed its first customers. Garrick stood behind the counter, squinting as he intently observed the nervous little wizard in front of him, who was constantly fidgeting with his robes.

“Don’t be nervous, kid. I’ve seen a lot of picky customers, but they all left satisfied in the end. I believe you will too.” Garrick patiently soothed the new student’s nervousness.

“Here, try this one, hawthorn wood, unicorn tail hair, twelve and a half inches long, extremely resilient.”

Garrick enjoys the process of choosing wands for new students and is therefore very patient. Even though this new student has been delayed for a long time, there is not a trace of impatience in his tone.

Siren sat beside him, watching with interest as the freshman picked up his wand and set off a firework in the shop.

"Oh, no, this won't do..." Before things got any worse, Garrick quickly snatched the wand back.

"Another picky customer, but that's alright, I think we can always find something that suits you best here... Let me think..."

The freshman became even more nervous.

"Hello, Siron."

Just then, Xilun suddenly heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw a familiar person standing in the shop looking at him.

“Harry?” Hillen blurted out, “What are you doing here… Are you here to buy new books?”

“You could say that.” Harry nodded, then shook his head. “Actually, I’m staying at the Leaky Cauldron right now because of some things, and I just happened to remember that you live in Diagon Alley, so I thought I’d come and visit.”

“Living at the Leaky Cauldron…” Siren’s eyes flickered.

He remembered that Harry seemed to have gotten so angry that his magic went out of control and he blew up an annoying relative into a balloon... was it his aunt or his great-aunt again?

Forget it, it doesn't matter.

Then Harry ran away from home and went to Diagon Alley.

“If you ask me, you should have done this a long time ago.” Siren stepped out from behind the counter. “I’ve heard Ron mention your aunt and uncle; they seem to be two people who extremely hate magic.”

“That’s right, they can’t accept anything related to magic.” Harry lowered his head and sighed helplessly. “The other day Ron called me and they threw a huge tantrum and locked up all my spellbooks. I can’t even do my homework.”

“So you should have come to Diagon Alley a long time ago.” Celen looked at him. “Although the rooms at the Leaky Cauldron are a bit pricey, you should be able to afford six scoops a day.”

"Moreover, the room stay includes three meals a day for free. It costs nearly 22 Galleons over two months, which is actually quite a good deal."

“Yeah, I’m also regretting not moving to Diagon Alley sooner,” Harry said.

He still has a large sum of gold in Gringotts vault, enough to live in the Leaky Cauldron for hundreds of years.

“But Siren.” At this moment, Harry suddenly noticed Siren’s index finger, paused for a moment, and said, “Your ring looks really… special.”

He originally wanted to say that it looked really exaggerated, but he changed his words at the last minute.

But that ring really does look like a snake, especially the face of the ring, which looks like a vertical pupil. It's kind of scary.

Harry glanced at it again instinctively, and a sudden chill made him shiver.

It's actually a bit scary...

Moreover, it felt like something only Slytherins would wear… Harry couldn’t help but have this thought.

But he quickly shook his head. It was probably just a coincidence; how could Siren possibly be a Slytherin?

Harry shook his head and asked, "And don't your fingers feel uncomfortable wearing such a big ring?"

"It's alright," Xilun said.

The snake eyes were indeed quite large, unusually noticeable on his fingers, but Siren didn't really notice anything. Whether using his wand, picking up things, or eating, everything was the same as before, as if he had nothing on his fingers at all.

"Why haven't I seen you wear it before?"

"I just got it too... Okay, let's go outside."

Meanwhile, Garrick was still searching for a suitable wand for the new student. In order not to disturb them, and also to distract Harry from the ring, Shillen went outside with him into the street.

This is probably the busiest time in Diagon Alley, with many wizards coming and going on the streets, and you can occasionally see Hogwarts professors.

When freshmen from Muggle families first come to Diagon Alley, they are usually accompanied by a professor. For example, the one in the wand shop was accompanied by Professor Sinesta.

However, he spent too much time choosing a wand, so Professor Sinister went to buy him something else.

Harry seemed quite excited. As soon as the two reached the main road, he eagerly said, "I'm planning to take advantage of the time before school starts to explore Diagon Alley. Siron, you've lived here longer, do you know which places are the most interesting?"

“What’s there to see in this run-down Diagon Alley?” Siron said instinctively.

"what?"

“Oh, I mean, Diagon Alley is just a shopping street, nothing particularly interesting,” Celen explained.

"But if you really want to explore the area, I suggest you buy a Florin ice cream first. It's the most popular thing in Diagon Alley. You can eat it while you slowly decide where to go."

“If you don’t need Galleons, then Diagon Alley is indeed an interesting place.”

“I have Galleons. I just got them from Gringotts half an hour ago.” Harry shook his pocket, which jingled as it was filled with Galleons.

Just then, the two arrived at Florin's Ice Cream Shop, and Harry took the initiative to buy two large ice creams, topped with nut crumbs and chocolate.

"Sirlen, what do you usually do?" He handed one of the wands to Sirlen and asked, "Do you just make wands in the shop all the time?"

“Most of the time, yes,” Celen said. “But sometimes I’ll take a break and relax.”

"Where are you going?" Harry asked Siron curiously.

He had been to Diagon Alley many times before, but each time he would arrive in the morning and rush back in the afternoon, never having properly explored this most famous street in the wizarding world.

It is said that there are more than a hundred shops here, but he has only actually visited Flourish and Blotts and Madam Malkin's Robes Shop, which are all related to Hogwarts.

He was eager to find out what Siren, a long-time resident of Diagon Alley, usually did, since he had a rare opportunity to do this.

Although he doesn't know Diagon Alley, he can learn from others. Following Siren should be fine, right?

And Xilun also saw through his thoughts.

Although he himself found Diagon Alley shabby and boring, with absolutely nothing to see, Harry clearly had his own ideas. Siren thought about it, and since he had nothing else to do at the moment, he simply agreed to Harry's request.

“Alright, I’ll show you what I usually do,” he said, turning and walking towards the entrance.

(End of this chapter)