Harry Potter: I started checking in from Diagon Alley

Further up the hierarchy, poison curses and spells fall under the category of more harmful forms of black magic.

Of course, in real life, the classification of spells is generally not so clear-cut.

It is quite common for a spell to belong to two categories at the same time.

Eric finally focused on his skills section.

He achieved the highest rating in Muggle research on this skill.

Perhaps because of his two lifetimes, when it comes to understanding Muggles, it's truly impossible for anyone in the wizarding world to be better than him.

As for the basic history of magic, it was probably because Eric was familiar with the plot.

He knew a little about some famous historical events in the wizarding world, at least much better than Harry Potter, who knew nothing about magic.

……

Seeing Eric standing there motionless, old Tom felt a little uneasy and asked, "What's wrong, Mr. Clapton?"

Eric quickly realized what was happening, put away his personal panel, and said, "It's okay, let's go shopping."

After saying that, Eric took out his college admission notice and walked towards the nearest shop.

Along with the admission notice, each student also received a list of items.

This list details in great detail the items you need to prepare when you enroll.

This includes items such as wands, school robes, and textbooks, all of which need to be purchased separately.

As Eric walked around, he noticed that Diagon Alley was a little different from the scenes he had seen in the Harry Potter movies.

To be precise, the real Diagon Alley seems to be much larger, stretching as far as the eye can see.

Eric recalls that in the original story, Diagon Alley was just a small commercial street.

In the original story, there weren't many wizards in the whole of Britain, and correspondingly, Diagon Alley, as the only commercial street in the country, was naturally not very big.

But it doesn't look like that now.

What Eric sees now is far more than just one street in size.

Together with several surrounding streets, this area forms a bustling community resembling a commercial center.

Eric asked curiously, "About how many wizards are there in London?"

Old Tom was taken aback; clearly, he wasn't prepared for Eric to ask such a question.

After thinking for a moment, he replied, "No one knows the exact number, not even the Ministry of Magic, but as far as I know, Hogwarts accepts at least 150 students every year."

Old Tom knew this number inside and out, because every year, almost every freshman would go through his Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley to buy things.

Even if the parents are wizards, they will inevitably bring their children to the Leaky Cauldron afterward to familiarize themselves with the place.

The Leaky Cauldron is not only a hub for communication with the outside world, but also the location of the Floo Network in Diagon Alley. Every wizard who travels to Diagon Alley via the Floo Network will land at the Leaky Cauldron.

Eric nodded. Sure enough, the number of wizards in the real world differed from the number he knew.

Hogwarts is a seven-year school that accepts about 150 students a year, so it has more than 1000 students.

Eric, combining the proportion of secondary school students in the population with the birth rate of wizards, roughly estimated that there were about 50,000 to 70,000 wizards in the whole of Britain.

No wonder Diagon Alley was much larger than he had imagined.

With Old Tom around, Eric didn't need to worry about any trivial matters, and Old Tom was in charge of paying for everything anyway, since everything would be recorded in the end.

Old Tom, along with Eric, bought everything on the list: the crucible, the dragon-skin gloves, the school robe, and so on.

Eric followed old Tom to Flourish and Blotts, the most popular bookstore in Diagon Alley, where he had to buy all his textbooks.

You can see from the outside window that the bookstore shelves are full of books, and walking inside the bookstore feels like being surrounded by books.

However, their timing was unfortunate, as the bookstore was in complete chaos.

The bookstore owner and several employees were standing at the entrance, waving feather dusters or other stick-like objects around.

Their targets were books that could move on their own.

Before them, many books covered in hair flew in the air. Unlike ordinary books, these books had two rows of sharp teeth on their surfaces.

At this moment, they are tearing at each other, some biting each other together, while others are fiercely attacking the covers and shells of other books.

Suddenly, scraps of paper flew everywhere, scattered here and there, making the entrance to Flourish and Blotts Bookstore look like it was snowing.

These books flew around everywhere, showing an unusual tenacity in tearing them apart; even the owner and employees' constant beating with sticks couldn't stop them.

Old Tom and Eric saw the lively scene from afar. As they approached, Old Tom asked, "Merkel! What's going on?"

Bookstore owner Merkel responded angrily, "Don't even mention it! It's all because of these textbooks that some idiot professor ordered; they've almost ruined all the other books in my store."

Just as he was speaking, another book was torn in half.

With a tearing sound, Merkel's face turned ashen; her heart felt as if it were bleeding.

Chapter 4: Just gently stroke its back...

This scene seemed strangely familiar to Eric; he certainly knew what was going on.

It's 1993 now, and if he remembers correctly, Hagrid is the Hogwarts Professor of Protecting Magical Creatures this year. These biting books are the textbooks that Hagrid requested to order.

Objectively speaking, Hagrid is rather careless, a trait that is also reflected in his teaching style.

As a professor, his reason for ordering these books was simply that he thought it would be "very interesting."

The user experience of students was not considered at all.

Apart from Eric and old Tom, the area in front of Flourish and Blotts was crowded with people, almost all of them wizards and students who came to buy books.

The bookstore was in chaos. Wizards who were passing by formed a semi-circle and came over to watch this scene that was rarely seen in years.

"Is this 'The Book of Monsters'?" Eric asked casually as he stepped forward.

Upon hearing his words, Merkel, while busily shoving the conflicting books aside, angrily exclaimed, "That's right! That's the name!"

Snapped!

Without turning her head, Merkel forcefully swung the wooden stick in her hand, scattering the two monster books that were tearing each other apart. One of the books had firmly gripped the other's pages, but was forced to separate by the stick. With a forceful tug, she tore the other book in half, leaving it scattered on the ground, its pages lying motionless.

"Oh no! Another one ruined!"

Upon seeing this, Merkel covered her head in despair.

These books didn't come cheap.

Before today, he had no idea that such a thing would happen.

These monster books haven't even gone on sale yet, and a lot of them have already been absorbed internally.

He owns a bookstore, not a charity.

If he continues to let these monster books continue like this, he will lose almost a month's worth of profits.

A shop assistant took out his wand, trying to use magic to quiet the books, but unexpectedly, as soon as he raised the wand, a monster book jumped out from the side and bit him hard. He screamed and the wand flew away to who knows where.

Amidst the noise and angry shouts, Flourish and Blotts Bookstore appeared even more chaotic.

Eric found it amusing; this was a book with magical powers, and even in the magical world, compared to other books, "The Book of Monsters" seemed far too outrageous.

There is no special magic to quiet these books; the only way is, as Hagrid demonstrated in the original work, to gently stroke their backs, which can temporarily calm them down.

[Ding, a limited-time task has been issued.]

Within fifteen minutes, personally help the owner of Flourish and Blotts resolve the chaos caused by "The Yokai Book of Yokai".

[Task Reward: Freely choose one spell and raise its proficiency to intermediate level.]

The system's voice suddenly rang in Eric's mind.

Oh?

Surprisingly, a mission appeared at this time.

Even though the system hadn't made a request, Eric was prepared to step forward and help the bookstore owner resolve this problem.

After all, he hadn't forgotten his purpose. He wasn't here to watch the book war, but to prepare the textbooks he needed for the start of the school year.

But now that the system has issued this task, it coincides perfectly with Eric's idea.

This not only solves the textbook problem, but also earns you system rewards.

“Well… Mr. Clapton, how about we go to Ollivander's to buy a wand first? It seems this situation won't be resolved anytime soon,” Old Tom said, looking at Eric.

Eric shook his head and said, "No, don't worry, I think I have a way to calm them down."

After saying that, Eric ignored old Tom and walked out of the crowd to the scattered pages of the book.

The shop assistants and the owner were too busy to notice anything, and apart from old Tom and a few wizards around them, no one noticed Eric's actions.

"What?" In a daze, old Tom thought he had misheard and looked at Eric with a look of astonishment.

By the time he realized what was happening, Eric had already passed him. Old Tom hurriedly reached out to stop Eric, but it was too late.

Old Tom watched helplessly as Eric walked into the middle of the crazed monster books. One of the monster books sensed Eric's presence, opened its huge mouth, and lunged to bite at Eric's face.

This monster book was covered in wounds, with a corner of its cover torn off. Its jagged teeth gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and there were still some scraps of parchment on it. Clearly, it was one of the victors in this chaotic battle...

Now, it charged straight at Eric.

Old Tom was frantic and shouted, "Come back! Eric!"

Although he was startled by Eric's materialized magic in the tavern, Old Tom quickly figured out Eric's basic situation after a short conversation.

Eric doesn't have his own wand yet, nor does he know any magic at all; in other words, he is indeed a complete newcomer.

Old Tom couldn't understand where Eric got his confidence from, which prompted him to walk up to these unruly books.

Didn't he see that several adult wizards were helpless in the face of this?

Who gave him the courage? The eccentric sisters?

The instant the monster book hurtled towards Eric, old Tom seemed to see himself having to accompany Eric to St. Mungo's Hospital a few hours later.

"Arrogant brat!" Old Tom thought angrily.

But what happened the next second made him unwilling to believe his eyes.

Faced with the menacing book flying towards him, Eric remained calm. He sidestepped and narrowly dodged the monster book's attack just as it was about to bite him. Just centimeters away from him, the monster book suddenly snapped its jaws shut, its upper and lower teeth clashing together with a metallic clanging sound.