snake catcher

In the blue sky, there are a few big white clouds floating. In late July, the weather in London is not too hot.But Professor McGonagall, who was standing under the towering white steps of Gringotts, was sweating a little.

She has taught at Hogwarts for more than 30 years, guiding students from Muggle families into the wizarding world, and coming to Diagon Alley to prepare for the start of school, and it has been almost 20 years.

She dared to swear to Merlin that this was the weirdest father and daughter couple she had ever seen. The old man in front of her was full of silver hair, wearing a standard dark gray Muggle aristocratic three-piece dress, wearing a top hat of the same color, Holding a black lacquer tipped with silver and intricately engraved civilization staff.Even if she doesn't know much about the Muggle world, she knows that this outfit was worn many years ago. In a word, it is outdated.Muggles don't dress like that at all these days.Then look at the little girl he was holding. Her long, disheveled black hair was tied back into a small bun, her pale face was covered by thick black-framed round-rimmed glasses, and she was wearing a navy blue lace tutu skirt. It makes the thin and small girl even more stunted. The 11-year-old girl looks like an 8 or 9-year-old, like a stubborn little old lady.

What made Professor McGonagall even more troublesome was the performance of the father and daughter along the way.The father is full of curiosity about the magical world and keeps asking questions, but the daughter is always there, looking around, absent-minded.

Looking at the brass gate of Gringotts, Professor McGonagall stopped his thoughts and cleared his throat, "This is Gringotts—the wizard's bank, where Muggle money can be exchanged for gold coins in the wizarding world."

Maybelle, who was dressed like dried plum vegetables, was also full of black lines. After the excitement of receiving the Hogwarts admission letter passed, Maybelle considered the high danger of the wizarding world. He was a terrorist In a backward place where rampage is rampant, and where personal safety is extremely difficult to guarantee, she has read the Harry Potter books, but she has only read them. Many plots have been blurred. The most important thing is, Now where the main line of the story has progressed, she has no idea at all.For his own safety, Maybelle decided to keep a low profile until he figured out the situation.

But it was different for her father, who had been looking forward to enrolling for a long time. He wanted to let the whole world know that there was a magician in his family, but because of the law of secrecy and no one would believe him even if he told, give up.

However, none of this prevents our Earl Dalton from expressing his pride and pride, that, that, as can be seen from this formal dress that can no longer be formal.

In view of the different ideas of the father and daughter, one low-key and the other high-key, the issue of what to wear to Diagon Alley has risen to the level of an international war, just like Bush Jr. and Saddam Hussein, it depends on who will die.

Facts have proved that genetics account for the vast majority of personality, and the stubborn father and father refused to accept the other, so today's situation has emerged, one is like a standardized red Fuji, and the other is like a farmer's dried vegetable head.The feeling of the two together is extremely eye-catching.

Maybelle, who was a little helpless in the current situation, decided to use the greatest idiom invented by the Chinese—to hide her ears and steal her bells. She tried her best to ignore the surprised eyes of passers-by wizards, raised her thin face, and looked innocently at Professor McGonagall "Professor , let's go in quickly, I really can't wait to see how this place is different from ordinary people's banks!"

Needless to say, Maybelle's proposal was in the arms of Professor McGonagall, and she could tell from the speed at which she walked like her robe was burned by flames. She didn't want to stay here for a moment and enjoy the strange eyes of passers-by.

The coin exchange work went smoothly. Except for Earl Dalton's surprise at the fact that Gringotts can also swipe cards, other things are not new to Maybelle, who is already considered a half-prophet.

Earl Dalton maintains a strong thirst for knowledge about everything here.Seeing her father in such a good mood, Maybelle decided to ignore the protruding veins on Professor McGonagall's temples.

After completing the formalities, Earl Dalton was very satisfied holding the key to the vault opened in the name of Maybelle, "Little Mel, this is your first fund in the wizarding world, it is very commemorative, let's go and see it together Bar!"

Maybelle looked at the flattering father with a smile, knowing that this meant the end of the Cold War, and was about to nod in agreement.

A cramping pain came from the abdomen, and Mel was a little embarrassed, and worried that his father would worry.She pretended to be nothing, and found a far-fetched reason to let Professor McGonagall go to the vault with her father.Until the figure of his father turned around the side door of the hall and disappeared, Mel turned his head and grabbed the hem of the robe of the nearest person without raising his face. "Where is the bathroom?"

The stopped passer-by paused, looked down and saw a little girl lying beside his robe like a blue cat, took half a step back, squatted down and looked at the sweaty girl, "What's wrong?"

"Stomach pain...diarrhea" Maybelle looked at the young man in front of her, the pain and embarrassment on her face wrinkled her little face into a bun.

The young man smiled slightly, "Gringotts' girls' bathroom is on the right. It's not easy to find. May I take you there?" Looking at Maybelle, he nodded slightly, apologized, and hugged Maybelle straight away. Run to the girls bathroom.As soon as Mel hit the ground, she slid into the bathroom like a rabbit.

Mel hated her problem a little bit. This occasional diarrhea is not a serious problem. The family doctor said it was the cause of a bad stomach, but they couldn't prescribe the right medicine.Leave Mel helpless!It wasn't the first time this happened today, but Mel still couldn't help but swear.

For a while, when the stomach isn't churning, tidy up Mabel.As soon as he walked out of the bathroom, he saw the young man waiting at the door.Maybelle Dalton blushed.Why is this person still around? How much she wanted to dismiss such an embarrassing thing as soon as possible, but this person just reminded her so ignorantly.

Maybelle walked over quickly, blushing and said, "Thank you!" She didn't dare to look at him, and her ears were all red.

"You're welcome, I don't worry if you're fine, shall I take you back to the lobby?" You don't need to look at Maybelle to know that this young man must be holding back a smile, the smile in that voice is so obvious.Maybelle was ashamed and angry, but she had no choice but to squeeze out the word "um" from between her teeth.He followed the young man back to the hall.Looking up at the back of the redhead's head in front of him, he grimaced violently.

Back in the hall, his father and the others hadn't come back yet, so Maybelle looked at this kind-hearted young man. He had short fiery red hair and handsome features. He was very thin and tall. Look up to see his face.However, he was obviously younger than she thought when he first came out, only 18 or 9 years old.

At this time, Maybelle's red face had returned to normal, and she was not so embarrassed anymore. She opened her big round eyes and looked up at him, "Sir! My name is Maybelle, Maybelle-Dalton. Thank you Help me!" "Bill Weasley, just call me Bill. It's okay, what about your family, why aren't you with them?"

"Oh, Bill, it's great to see you," Maybelle was about to answer, when she saw Professor McGonagall's gloomy face who came back with his father, a rare joy appeared.

"Nice to meet you, Professor!" Bill greeted Professor McGonagall brightly.

"This is Maybelle Dalton, who entered this year. It seems that you already know her. This is her father, Mr. Brooke Dalton!" Looking at Bill Weasley who was greeting his father, he came back to his senses. Mel got a little excited, this is Ron's brother.It is so easy to have such an accurate reference coordinate, and we must not let it go.

"Ah, it turns out that there are also human jobs in Gringotts. I thought they were all fairies."

"Yes, Mr. Dalton, Gringotts is a bank for wizards, so there are many wizards in Gringotts, and the Ministry of Magic is also one of the shareholders of Gringotts"

"Are you going to be transferred to work in Egypt?"

"Yes, I just finished my internship and was assigned to Egypt as a cracker"

"What kind of job is that?"

"The cracker's job is to..."

Looking at her father's transformation into a hundred thousand whys, Maybelle secretly glanced at Professor McGonagall, who was unable to intervene and had a livid face.Mel decides to rescue Bill, who's stuck in a sea of ​​trouble.

"Dad!"

"What's the matter, my little Mel." Mr. Dalton rubbed Mel's head lovingly, and looked at Mel intently.

"We're going to go shopping. I haven't bought my school uniform, wand, pewter pot, toad..." Maybelle pouted and waved the list on her hand.

"Okay, let's go now." Mr. Dalton patted Maybelle on the shoulder to reassure her.

Professor McGonagall looked better when he heard this, and turned to Bill and asked, "Bill, are you not working today?"

"Yes, Professor!" Bill's bright eyes were full of smiles, and he waved the parchment letter he had been holding in his hand. "Today I will get the letter of introduction, and I will leave for Egypt next Wednesday."

"Then let me ask you one thing!"

"Okay, professor, please give me instructions!"

"I suddenly remembered something. I have to go back to school to deal with it immediately. Can you please take the Dalton family and finish the rest?"

"Of course, Professor, I'd love to!"

"En!" Professor McGonagall nodded, and then turned to his father with a serious face, "I'm sorry! Mr. Dalton, I can't accompany you on the next trip. This is Miss Dalton's ticket." Although, Professor McGonagall Her expression was still serious and tense as usual, but Maybelle clearly saw Professor McGonagall blushing.

"Oh, thank you. It's a great honor to be accompanied by you on today's journey, Professor McGonagall," Mr. Dalton took the ticket, took off his hat and bowed.

If his father didn't involve her and magic, Mel thought helplessly, he must be the most elegant gentleman in the British Empire, but when it comes to matters related to her, Mr. Dalton's doting makes people feel nauseous, and when it comes to the magic world , His fanaticism is a headache, look at poor Professor McGonagall, such a stubborn old lady scared him away.

"Well, see you at Hogwarts, Miss Dalton!"

"Professor, see you at Hogwarts!"

Professor McGonagall nodded slightly, turned and left.

"Okay, next, I, Bill Weasley, will lead everyone on a tour of Diagon Alley!" Bill imitated his father and bowed, with mischievous gleams in his bright eyes.

Looking at the shopping list, Bill led the way, and they went to the Mojin Robe Shop, Madam Mabel looked at Maybelle's thin body, "Honey, are you sure you are 11 years old?"

Maybelle laughed for a while, "Of course, Mrs. Malkin, I was born on October 1977, 10, and I will be 30 years old in three months."

"Honey, you can't see that." Mrs. Malkin looked at the long length of the robe. "Okay, we have to cut off the sleeves and the hem of the robe. Honey, you bought your wand and everything." Is it? No! Then you go to buy other things first, and come to get the robe last, right?"

"Okay, Mrs. Malkin!" Mel jumped off the low stool, dragged his father who was discussing with Bill whether to add a seat to the broom, and walked out of the clothing store.

Tell them the situation and ask "Father, Bill, where are we going next?"

"Of course, I'm going to buy a wand." Bill looked at the curious eyes of the father and daughter who were equally eager. All right is Ollivander's wand, follow me here."

"Then let's go!" Maybelle's curiosity was aroused, but the protagonist must be different when traveling, and her wand might be a super wand that can kill all directions, comparable to, or even surpassed the Elder Wand.

but……

Maybelle looked at the 14.7-inch-long wand in front of her eyes, made of sandalwood, with the nerves of a fire dragon. When she first got it, sparks shot wildly, burning several holes in her dark blue lady dress.

So Mr. Ollivander decided that the black wood, which was still in the dark and no one picked it up on the street, was Mel's wand.

Why?Mel thought sadly, even if it wasn't like Harry Potter had searched through the entire magic shop before finding that peculiar wand, at least he had to pick thirty or forty of them, right? Why did he find his own wand after only the fourth one? Woolen cloth?How, why is it so ordinary?

"Mr. Ollivander, is there any story behind this wand?"

Looking at Mel's starry eyes, Ollivander excitedly scratched his gray hair, "Of course, each wand is unique. You see, the body of this wand is made of sandalwood. It is very difficult to find such a straight branch for a rare sandalwood tree. And this one is from a hundred-year-old sandalwood tree. Besides, the nerve of the fire dragon at the core of the wand is the nerve of an adult Chinese fireball dragon. It was brought to me by my Chinese friend..."

Very well, after listening to Ollivander's nagging, Mel concluded the extraordinary features of her wand, that is, her wand is half imported, the incense sandalwood is from Vietnam, and the fire dragon nerve is From China.After being imported, it is assembled and sold in Ollivander in the UK. The whole world is a commodity, which is in line with the trend of economic globalization.

He hid his frustration, bid farewell to Mr. Ollivander, and dragged his father, who had been discussing the principle of magic wand with Bill, to the street.

"Dad, I'm hungry, let's go eat?" Mel hugged his father's arm, turned to Bill who was opposite his father, "Bill, shall we go to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Well, that's indeed a good choice." Bill agreed with both hands. There are all kinds of wizards there, which should attract Mr. Dalton for a while.

In fact, Bill now has a deep understanding of why Professor McGonagall ran away.Mr. Dalton's fascination with the wizarding world almost rivals that of his father, Mr. Weasley.If they get to know each other, they should be good friends.But luckily, his father was working at the Ministry of Magic now, and the two of them couldn't run into each other, otherwise today would be a good day.

Sure enough, as Bill expected, after sitting down, the well-dressed Mr. Dalton didn't mind this dirty, messy, dark, shabby little bar at all, and was quickly attracted by all kinds of wizards around him.

While eating the food that Old Tom sent, Mel seized the time to ask Bill what she was desperate to know.

During the conversation with Bill, she learned that Bill has four younger brothers and one younger sister. Charlie is in the seventh grade this year, and Patsy is in the third grade. The famous twin brothers are the same age as her and will go to Hogwarts this year. , his youngest brother Ron is only 7 years old this year, and it will take two years to come to Hogwarts to go to school and so on.

That said, Mel frowned thoughtfully, she still had two years before seeing Harry, two years before the plot began, and Hogwarts was safe for those two years.

Well, let Hogwarts see the power of time-traveling women, shall we?

After making up his mind, Mel felt relaxed physically and mentally, and discussed the magical world with his father and Bill briskly.

After lunch, Bill took them to Lihen Bookstore to buy magic books, to Grass Fairy Pharmacy to buy medicines needed for potion class, to buy magic balances, crucibles, etc., to Ira Owl Store to buy two The one that is black and shiny is Mel's. Originally, she wanted to buy a pure white owl like Hedwig. However, thinking that being a time-traveling girl requires individuality, she went the other way and bought a black one. , named "Poseidon"; the other was Mr. Dalton's, who preferred a perfectly normal-looking owl.The reason is that an ordinary owl that can deliver a message is remarkable in itself.

Bill even helped Mr. Dalton subscribe to the "Daily Prophet", saying that through this newspaper, he would be able to fully understand the wizarding world.Mr. Dalton gladly accepted the suggestion.

But Mel could clearly see Bill secretly heaving a sigh of relief behind his father.

When everything was done, it was four o'clock in the afternoon, and Mr. Dalton invited Bill to have afternoon tea with his father and daughter.

Bill looked puzzled and said he had to go home and get ready for his job in Egypt.After sending the father and daughter away from Diagon Alley, and after explaining in detail how to get on the train to Hogwarts, and Bill promised to be Maybelle's pen pal and guide her in her studies in the wizarding world, Mr. Dalton's face turned pale. Sorry to say goodbye to Bill.

What a wonderful start!Looking at Bill's footsteps that seemed to be running away, Mel thought wickedly.