Hogwarts: Me? Fight Voldemort?

Jimmy covered his mouth tightly, afraid to breathe deeply.

The raccoon, who was almost hit, still looked dazed. He grabbed the can and poured some beans into his mouth, like an audience member eating popcorn at a stage play.

"I'll catch you again, I'll definitely catch you, you heart-stealing cat!!!"

Jimmy heard the harsh words Aunt Benelli had uttered, and the sound of her footsteps faded into the distance, but he still didn't dare to go out.

In the afternoon, a more mature female voice called his full name from outside the bridge arch, "Mr. Jimmy Blaine? Mr. Jimmy Blaine? Are you here?"

Chapter 4 Shocks McGonagall

Jimmy, who was sleeping in the bridge arch, woke up immediately when he heard someone call his name.

I listened carefully to distinguish the voice and realized it wasn't Aunt Benelli's voice.

At this moment, the only person calling his name, if not Benelli, could be a professor from Hogwarts!

"I'm here!"

Jimmy emerged from the archway and looked around. Turning back, he saw a middle-aged witch in a black robe standing at the highest point of the stone archway.

Perhaps it was because she was wearing a large, towering pointed wizard's hat, but she looked very tall. She wore oval glasses and looked at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

"Why are you down there, Mr. Blaine?"

The witch's expression was only slightly serious, but Jimmy felt like he'd been caught daydreaming by his homeroom teacher. He quickly climbed up the small slope and said, "I'm sleeping down there, ma'am."

"Sleeping?" The witch took out her wand and waved it, cleaning the mud off Jimmy's clothes. Her serious face relaxed a little. "Well, strange hobby... I am Minerva McGonagall, the Vice-Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You can call me Professor McGonagall."

"Ah? Hello, Professor McGonagall!" Jimmy's clothes were now spotless, and even though he had seen the magical artifacts in the Harry Potter movies in his past life, he still curiously rubbed and examined the stained areas. "Amazing! How many washing machines can a wizard do!"

He had just taken refuge in the bridge archway and was also studying the golden book deep within his soul.

The Golden Book allows him to exchange currency for ranks, which represent knowledge and power, not just sheer strength.

The difference between deduction and sudden enlightenment is like the difference between improving a spell and creating a spell out of thin air.

These features all require Jimmy to pay Galleons to obtain, and he lacks nothing except money!

The golden house in that golden book is now something he can only look on with envy, causing his mind to be filled with thoughts of how to make money.

Professor McGonagall was clearly quite patient, perhaps she would be even more lenient outside of school. "You will learn more magic after you enroll, so could you show me the way, Mr. Blaine? I need to speak with your parents; there are some things about Hogwarts that your guardian needs to know."

Jimmy snapped out of his daze and gave Professor McGonagall a helpless and pitiful look. "I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall, I don't think I have a guardian."

He secretly sized up Professor McGonagall, and only then, amidst the magical wonder and his instinctive fear of his homeroom teacher, did he realize a strange thing: the Professor McGonagall in front of him was much younger than the Professor McGonagall in the movie he remembered.

She had few wrinkles on her face, and her hair was tied up at the back of her head, making her look like a beautiful woman when she was young.

Professor McGonagall naturally looked confused, clearly unaware of Jimmy's situation beforehand. "No guardian? Where do you live?"

“Here,” Jimmy pointed under the bridge and said with a smile, “it’s in the hole under this bridge. It’s a nice place. I’ve made it very habitable.”

Professor McGonagall lay on the bridge and only saw a fat raccoon crawling out. After looking away, she stared at Jimmy's obviously well-tailored new clothes with a suspicious look in her eyes.

At that moment, a bold idea flashed through Jimmy's mind: if he played the victim in front of Professor McGonagall, could he get more student loans?

To become a millionaire in the wizarding world, the first step is always crucial!

"Oh, I got this outfit by selling myself."

Jimmy's slight gesture shocked Professor McGonagall. "Selling herself?!"

“I sold myself for a day and got some clothes, a can of milk and two oranges,” Jimmy recounted his tragic past. “Before that, I was scavenging for food around here.”

"Scavenging for food?!" Professor McGonagall was shocked again. She lifted her robes and emerged from under the sloping stone bridge. A soft white light shone from the tip of her wand, illuminating the living space behind the tire, covered with bedding. "Merlin's beard!"

Jimmy followed at a leisurely pace. He had indeed lived in this underpass for more than two years during his homeless life, and he never told lies that were easily exposed.

Professor McGonagall turned around and looked at Jimmy as if he were a pitiful, homeless little vagrant. "Child, have you always lived here alone? Where are your parents?"

"Parents? I don't know who they are. I woke up in the park two years ago. After that, Rocket was with me, and that's this fat raccoon."

Jimmy grabbed the plump raccoon at his feet and held it to prevent it from running away.

If you appear sad in what others perceive as a hopeless predicament, they may only feel sorry for you for a short while. But if you show optimism and cheerfulness in an extremely hopeless situation, others' feelings of pity will be amplified many times over!

"..." Professor McGonagall raised her hand to her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears, and looked at Jimmy with a complicated expression. "Poor child."

Jimmy acted like an innocent child, asking expectantly, "Professor McGonagall, how do I buy the supplies I need for Hogwarts? I have some money saved up, but I don't know if it will be enough."

He remembered something, crawled into the bridge arch, and rummaged through the deepest part of the quilt, pulling out some crumpled banknotes and loose coins from among the yellowed cotton, which he showed to Professor McGonagall.

The money he earned came from selling secondhand items he found while scavenging, as well as from begging on the streets and collecting bottles.

When Professor McGonagall saw the crumpled banknotes and worn-out coins held in those thin hands, tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

She couldn't imagine how a young wizard could live alone for two years without any source of income, even though the house-grown trolls lived in a more spacious and comfortable place than the underpass Jimmy lived in.

The troll eats at least edible things every day, while Jimmy is very likely to go hungry often, which is why he looks so thin and small now.

Professor McGonagall knelt down and hugged Jimmy, trying to ease some of his pain. Her voice choked with emotion as she said, "Hogwarts doesn't need your money, child. The Ministry of Magic has grants to help students who can't afford supplies. You can get 60 Galleons..."

"What is Galon?" Jimmy also hugged Professor McGonagall.

"Galons are the wizarding currency. One Gallon equals 17 Sickles, and one Sickle equals 29 Nats. You'll understand later. Now, let me take you to Diagon Alley to buy the things you need for school."

Professor McGonagall had calmed down from her overwhelming grief. She stood up, wiped away the tears that remained in the corners of her eyes, and took Jimmy's hand.

This was the most pitiful little wizard she had ever seen, but also the most optimistic.

"What is Diagon Alley, and how do we get there?"

Jimmy took the opportunity to ask some common-sense questions. Although he was a time traveler, no one would bother to remember the details of the movies they had watched, let alone deliberately memorize the settings in novels.

Moreover, English reading and writing are skills that one acquires only once in a lifetime. Expecting someone to associate certain proper nouns and terms with a relatively unfamiliar word in a language system that adds hundreds of thousands of words every year is asking too much.

Chapter 5 Praising the Kind Professor

The feeling of phantoms is like being stuffed into a rubber tube, like the suffocating feeling of being pinned down by several elementary school classmates in childhood, or like being spun around inside a high-speed washing machine.

The raccoon Rocket, which he was holding, rubbed its butt against his face. When the normal environment reappeared in his sight, Jimmy felt as if he had been reborn.

Professor McGonagall had already prepared paper bags in advance, in case Jimmy wanted to throw up...

"vomit!"

Jimmy threw up all the leftover oranges from his breakfast and lunch, not expecting that the real Phantom experience would be even worse than his first long-distance bus ride.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand at Jimmy, comforting him, "It's always like this the first time. Are you feeling better?"

"Thank you, Professor, I feel much better." The power of magic dispelled Jimmy's dizziness, allowing him to rediscover the changing scenery around him.

They found themselves on a sidewalk, facing a strange black storefront situated between a large bookstore and a record store, unnoticed by passersby.

Jimmy suspects that the exterior walls were painted black to cover up dirt, so that they wouldn't have to be cleaned so often.

Professor McGonagall led the way to the black house and explained, “This is Charing Cross Road, the Leaky Cauldron at 1 Diagon Alley, which is also the entrance to Diagon Alley in Wizarding Street. It’s enchanted so Muggles can’t see it… Muggle is what wizards call people without magic, and it’s not meant to be discriminatory.”

After learning about Jimmy's tragic past, Professor McGonagall became exceptionally gentle and kind. She wanted to do her best to help poor Jimmy, at least without affecting his mental health.

She knows all too well what kind of people with mental health issues will grow up to be.

Here we name the mysterious person.

As they spoke, they pushed open the door and entered the Leaky Cauldron bar. Jimmy looked at the quaint, unassuming exterior and said, "Why is this place so dirty? Does it not know how to run a business? Can I apply for the operations planning job here?"

It is an intolerable waste that the shops in such a prime location in Diagon Alley are so dirty and dilapidated!

He didn’t believe that wizards didn’t like clean and bright spaces, even with some neon lights, it would be better than this dirty place, right?

If he were to run it, he could increase the bar's revenue by at least 20% before the start of the school year.

“Operations? Planning?” Professor McGonagall immediately made the connection and comforted her, “Work is for adults. Child, you should study. I will ask the headmaster to let you stay at Hogwarts during the holidays. The cave under the bridge is not suitable for living.”

Okay then!

Jimmy didn't insist on a job; staying at Hogwarts was a good idea, after all, he had many other ideas.

The bar was dimly lit, and the male and female wizards, whose appearances were unclear, sat at different tables chatting quietly.

When people came in, some greeted Professor McGonagall in a friendly manner, while others shrank back.

Professor McGonagall would also respond to those who were enthusiastic.

The oddly-looking owner behind the bar also nodded to Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall appears at the Leaky Cauldron multiple times during each freshman orientation, and it would be too tiring to greet her every time.

Jimmy looked around curiously, like a child. He was too tired to hold the fat raccoon for a while, so he simply put it on the floor.

Rocket is a clever raccoon who is very human-like and helps with housework and begging on the street.

Jimmy didn't have to worry about it getting lost, and Rocket didn't disappoint him either, wiggling its big butt and following behind them.

After passing the bar, the two people and the raccoon arrived at a courtyard surrounded by walls on three sides.

There was a trash can standing against the wall directly opposite the door in the courtyard. Professor McGonagall took out her wand and taught Jimmy how to enter Diagon Alley: "Count three blocks up from the trash can, then two blocks down the side, and tap the bricks three times with your wand."

Da da da!

The wall bricks folded and unfolded like parts of a Transformer, first revealing a few swaying figures in Jimmy's field of vision, then the shops that were not neatly arranged along the street on both sides, and finally the winding stone road that stretched all the way to the end of his vision.

Wizards dressed in various styles of robes walked among the shops on both sides of the street, and the lively chatter penetrated the air, making Jimmy feel surprised and amused.

To the left of the entrance is Partridge Cauldron Shop, and to the right is Filu-Boom! Filu Powder, the only one of its kind in the UK... The enigmatic shop name is full of wizarding flair.

Professor McGonagall led Jimmy through the novel and interesting shops until they arrived at a crooked white building at the end of the road.

"This is Gringotts, one of the safest places in the wizarding world. You can safely store your money here."

Professor McGonagall kept introducing various things along the way, trying to help Jimmy learn more about the wizarding world and integrate into it as much as possible so that he could forget his misfortunes in the Muggle world.

The English pronunciation of "fairy" is "goblin," and they look just as ugly as goblins, with a pair of black eyes on their yellowish, wrinkled heads, open lips revealing shark teeth, pointed ears, and yet they wear impeccably tailored suits.

Gringotts has two doors. The second door has a warning written on it: the goblin is all bark and no bite. It's a long, poetic message that Jimmy didn't bother to read.

The fairies inside were all working at the high counters, inspecting gems and weighing coins. They seemed very busy, but in reality, they were all slacking off because there weren't many customers.

Professor McGonagall went straight to the deepest counter and said to the old goblin behind it, "One scholarship, and please also get me 40 Galleons, thank you."

The old goblin looked as if he had been robbed. He muttered something to himself and summoned a goblin servant. After whispering something to him, the servant turned and disappeared. When he returned, he was carrying two small bags.

This is just an ordinary bag. To get the fairies to give you a bag with the Unmarked Expansion Charm, you need to deposit at least 1000 Galleons.