The days at Hogwarts

Her brown eyes were round and bright, and she saw Professor McGonagall grinning happily, revealing her slightly large front teeth, which was very cute.

Loren was a little surprised to see the familiar face. Meeting Hermione on the first day?!

While Loren was daydreaming, Professor McGonagall had already finished negotiating with the Grangers and walked out with the little girl.

Chapter 8: Getting to Know the Scenery of Diagon Alley in the Magic World

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."

The little girl reached out to Loren.

"Hi, I'm Loren Morgan."

Loren shook the hand twice. He felt that this kind of social etiquette was a bit hypocritical for two children to follow.

"Are you also a selected freshman?"

The girl is now curious about everything related to wizards. She was so excited that she almost couldn't sleep last night.

Loren's thoughts were still wandering, and the little girl wanted to ask something else.

"We'll talk later. Now we need to go to the Leaky Cauldron."

Professor McGonagall interrupted them, holding both of them by her left hand and waving her wand with her right hand.

"Apparate!"

Snapped!

Loren felt that the second time was much easier than the first time, and the time he was squeezed in the tube was much shorter. It might be because he got used to it, or it might be because the distance was closer this time.

On the other side, the lively little girl burst into tears.

But before Professor McGonagall could comfort her, a sobbing voice was heard first.

"Was that also a kind of magic just now?"

"Is the spell Apparition?"

“Can we learn it later?”

After asking three questions in a row, the little girl took a deep breath, calmed down, and looked straight at Professor McGonagall with bright eyes.

Professor McGonagall and Loren beside them were suddenly silent.

Loren asked if he wanted to join the queue at this time, showing due curiosity about the magical world.

Professor McGonagall was stunned for a moment, then she said, "You will know this after you enter school. Now I will show you how to get to Diagon Alley from the Muggle world, and you will have to come on your own in the rest of the school year."

Loren and Hermione then looked up and saw their surroundings. In front of them was a dirty, shabby little bar with black stains all over the outer walls.

Passersby seemed to be unable to see the bar.

Professor McGonagall led them through the bar, which was even darker and dingier. The people inside were dressed very strangely, some wearing top hats, and some with their clothes trailing on the ground.

They looked at Hermione's jeans and plaid jacket, which seemed very attractive. Loren was wearing clothes made by a tailor in a small town, and although he looked a little old-fashioned on the street outside, the people in the bar seemed to think it was normal.

Being looked at with offensive eyes, Hermione looked uncomfortable and frowned tightly, but she didn't say anything.

As they passed the bar, the bar owner waved and greeted Professor McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and didn't say much. She took them to a small patio surrounded by walls on all sides. There was nothing here except trash cans and weeds.

"Just count three tiles up from the wall above the dustbin - then count two tiles sideways, and tap the wall three times with your wand, and then..." Professor McGonagall said as she demonstrated.

The brick began to shake and a small hole appeared in it, and finally the hole turned into an archway leading to another magical world.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley."

Professor McGonagall's tone was full of pride. Even though she had to repeat this behavior many times every year, she never got impatient. It was a pleasant job to unveil the curtain of the magical world to a little wizard.

As I walked along the archway, I heard a rumbling sound behind me.

Hermione and Loren looked back and saw that the archway had turned into a normal wall again.

Along the way, I saw all kinds of strange shops, selling owls, crucibles, and strangely shaped brooms, but I didn't stop at any of them.

"Professor McGonagall, why do wizards use owls to send messages?"

"Professor McGonagall, why do crucibles have to be made of different materials and models?"

"Professor McGonagall, why can a broomstick fly? Does it have an engine? What powers it?"

Hermione was a little nervous and she kept asking questions.

Children are always a little afraid when they go to unfamiliar places. Curiosity plays a role but it is also a way to relieve their emotions.

Professor McGonagall would answer at first, but Hermione's questions came one after another, and she kept adding why.

Finally, Professor McGonagall said: "Some questions will be answered after you enter school, and some questions you have to find the answers yourself."

Hermione then stopped and turned her attention to the little friend next to her.

Loren was looking at the shops and pedestrians on the street with great interest, connecting what he saw with his memories of his previous life.

"Loren, why don't you ask anything? Aren't you curious at all?" Hermione asked Loren.

Loren looked at the little girl in front of him, her eyes were really bright: "Hermione, do you know? I live on a ranch and have two talking kittens. One is very cute and the other is not so good-looking."

"Oh, is that also a wizard's pet? I thought you were from a Muggle family like me." Hermione quickly added to the question. She had learned from Professor McGonagall that Muggle was the name given by wizards to ordinary people.

Professor McGonagall also noticed what Loren said. A talking cat? She had never had one. Why didn't she see one when she went to Loren's house before?

"The one that wasn't so good-looking was always asking why, and then it was given away?" Loren said seriously, trying not to laugh.

Professor McGonagall realized as soon as she saw Loren's expression that he was talking nonsense.

"Ah? Why? Because it's not cute? Do you have any other cats that you can give to me? Even if they're not as cute." Hermione was still immersed in the cute talking kitten, and then added: "Even if it can't talk."

Loren could hardly hold back any longer: "Because cute cats don't always ask why!" After saying this, Loren laughed out loud.

Professor McGonagall also looked amused.

Hermione blinked, was stunned for a moment, and finally reacted: "Bad! You are teasing me!" Then she patted Loren's shoulder with gritted teeth, but not very hard.

"It was just a joke!" Loren apologized while laughing.

When passing by Flourish and Blotts, Hermione's eyes were filled with visible excitement. She wanted to go in immediately and look for answers to all her questions in the books, but Professor McGonagall did not stop.

"The currency used by wizards is different from that of the Muggle world. We need to go to Gringotts first to exchange for some wizard currency." Professor McGonagall explained.

After talking about the surrounding shops, they finally arrived at their destination.

This is a snow-white building, taller than the other shops around it, with a shining bronze door.

Standing in front of the door were goblin waiters in scarlet and gold-studded uniforms. They were less than half the height of a normal adult, a head shorter than Loren, but had very long arms and legs.

As they entered, the goblin attendant bowed to them. Then a second silver door appeared, with the inscription: Enter, stranger, but beware of the consequences of greed, for want of gain without work will be punished most severely, so if you seek to take from our vault a share of wealth that was never yours, thief, you have been warned, beware of the consequences of bringing evil instead of treasure.

Inside was a marble hall. On a long row of counters, hundreds of goblin employees sat on high stools and performed various tasks. Some were weighing coins with copper scales, while others were checking gemstones...

There were countless doors in the hall, leading to different places, and the goblin led people back and forth through these doors.

With the help of Professor McGonagall, Loren and Hermione exchanged pounds for the currency of the wizarding world. Through the goblin's introduction and Professor McGonagall's supplement, the two learned some basic information.

Muggle currency is exchanged for wizard currency, primarily Galleons, which is exclusive to students from Muggle families at Hogwarts.

Each transaction will be specially registered, and those exceeding a certain amount will be questioned. However, there is almost no limit on exchanging gold galleons for Muggle currency, considering that some wizards live in the Muggle world and have such a demand.

Of course, there are certainly ways for wizards to obtain Muggle currency without exchanging it, but most of these would violate the Statute of Secrecy.

In addition, Loren discovered that the wizarding currency system was very crude. Even though the exchange of Muggle currency for gold Galleons would be specially calculated and registered, it could still be exchanged without restrictions if gold was used.

Based on this alone, Loren has a way to destroy the wizards' economy and make them spend 50 marks, no, galleons, for a piece of bread.

But the crude system also means roguery, and the goblins of Gringotts have the ultimate right of interpretation.

The currency has no financial attributes, and the goblins have the final say on how much to produce and issue. If Loren attacks them with financial means, the result will be nothing more than the goblins making rogue statements and re-making the rules.

Using price as a means of impact will not yield much, because the market is too small. Unless you can get wizards to sign some kind of labor contract, but this is unrealistic, because you will be left hanging.

In addition, Loren expressed that he was very uncomfortable with the strange exchange rates of 1 Galleon for 17 Sickles and 1 Sickle for 29 Knuts.

The decimal system is the best in the world! c, ah no, Java is the first...

Chapter 9 Complete the Diagon Alley Tour mission and get novice equipment:

Magic Wand x1

The two of them took out the British pounds prepared by their parents and exchanged them for wizard currency. The amount was enough for the first grade, which Professor McGonagall said was gold galleons. They wrapped it in two small cloth bags and carried it in the hands of Loren and Hermione respectively.

Loren was dizzy after calculating the detailed exchange rate between the two. He wanted to smash the fairy's head with an abacus when he saw the excellent system of odd and prime numbers mentioned by the fairy.

The two of them followed Professor McGonagall to Madam Malkin's robe shop to buy robes, walked a little further and bought some stationery, and finally arrived at Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore that Hermione had been longing for.

Professor McGonagall went to pack two sets of first-year books, and Loren and Hermione looked around.

The books here are not in regular shape, some are as big as paving stones, and some are as small as stamps. Loren can hardly imagine how they are printed in batches. Some books are even marked with danger warnings.

Loren flipped through the books and selected some, including the sequel to The Standard Spells, Curses and Countercurses, Wandering with Werewolves, and Alchemy: From Beginner to Mastery, but he stopped choosing any more because he was not sure if he could finish reading them all.

Hermione selected a large number of books that could help her understand the wizarding world and Hogwarts, such as "Important Magical Events of the 20th Century", "History of Modern Magic", "The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts", "Hogwarts: A History of the School", etc.

Loren felt that just reading the title of this kind of book would make his hair fall out, and looking at Hermione's thick curly hair, he didn't dare to speak too loudly.

Hermione noticed that there was something wrong with Loren's eyes. She looked at the book Loren chose, frowned, and advised, "We should first understand the magical world so that we can better adapt and integrate. I think these books are very good preschool readings, especially for Muggle families like ours."

Seeing that Loren was unmoved, he added: "The book you chose doesn't seem to be suitable for new students. We should learn more before studying in depth..."

Loren had no time to reply. Seeing Hermione chattering on and on gave him a headache, but Hermione was indeed concerned.

Loren decided to be more diplomatic: "Let's choose different books, and you can lend them to me after you finish reading them. This way we can save some money to buy more books."

Hermione was convinced: "Then let's communicate by writing letters."

"Ok!"

The atmosphere became harmonious, and the two were eager to try the books marked as dangerous, but after seeing a customer being chased and bitten by a book, they both backed off.

Buy a cauldron and walk down the street.

When passing by the pharmacy, I saw the expensive materials inside, including a horn made from a bison horn that cost 21 galleons and a serving of eight-eyed giant spider venom that cost 100 galleons.

Loren felt that as long as he established a good relationship with Hagrid at Hogwarts, he would never be short of money.

Walking further, we finally arrived at Ollivander's Wand Shop, the equipment store in the wizarding world's novice village.

This is a small, shabby shop with a peeling gold sign on the door. Inside is a small shop with benches and thousands of paper boxes almost reaching the ceiling.

Ollivander was an old man with silver eyes, like the moon. Loren saw him slowly approaching, greeted Professor McGonagall, and then looked at himself and Hermione.

The old man walked around Loren and Hermione several times, finally setting his sights on Hermione.

"Oh, such distinct characteristics, almost overflowing."

"Extraordinary foresight, sensitivity, entanglement and a little bit of madness."

"Stand up here, little girl, your wand can't wait."

There was a hint of fear in Hermione's eyes, but she still did as Ollivander said and took a step towards the piled up cardboard boxes.

As she approached, a small box began to tremble. Ollivander held out his hand, and the box flew straight into his hand.

Ollivander opened the box and took out a wand: "Oh, ten and three-quarters inches, vine wood with dragon nerves."

"The dragon's nerves will allow you to learn magic faster. The Celts used vine wood to represent the tenth tree month. The owner of a wand made of this material always has lofty goals and will also achieve extraordinary results, but the process will be a bit bumpy. When you first came in, this wand already had a strong reaction, so we can skip some steps."

Hermione took the wand, and the tip of the wand suddenly emitted a warm and soft light, and the little witch also smiled brightly.

"I knew it was like that. Remember, it is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the wizard who chooses the wand." Ollivander also looked satisfied.

It was Loren's turn. Ollivander pulled out a long tape measure with silver markings from his pocket, asked Loren about his dominant hand, and began measuring.

From shoulders to fingertips, from wrists to elbows, shoulders to the floor, knees to armpits, and even the circumference of the head.

"Olivander has been making wands since 382 BC. After generations of hard work, we have finally identified three super-powerful magical substances: unicorn hair, phoenix tail feathers, and dragon nerves. They have stable and unique properties, and are fundamentally different from those wild wands out there."

Ollivander loosened his hands, but the tape measure was still measuring Loren. After Ollivander brought over a bunch of long paper boxes, the tape measure automatically fell to the ground and rolled up.

Hermione looked at the measuring tape with sparkling eyes.

"Try this one, maple wood, unicorn hair, seven inches long." Ollivander handed over a wand.

Loren took the wand, but just before he raised it and waved it, Ollivander snatched it back.