Chapter 791: Chapter 699: The Grangers at the Leaky Cauldron (Part 2)
"Alright," Hermione said without hesitation, then she went to the bar and checked in with Tom.
"Follow me," Tom said as he pushed open a door next to the bar and led Hermione up the stairs behind it.
In the distant corner, two people exchanged a glance, seemingly hesitating about whether to follow along.
They were the Grangers, who had come along with Hermione.
Although it wasn’t their first time in Diagon Alley, they had always had Hermione with them before. Now that Hermione was gone, they couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy in this all-wizard environment.
They had heard from Hermione before that some wizards looked down on people like them, who couldn’t use magic.
After hesitating for a moment, they finally decided to follow Hermione upstairs.
Mr. Granger prepared to pick up the large, heavy-looking trunk on the floor, but as he bent down, he found that the trunk was floating by itself.
Magic!
Mr. Granger quickly guessed the reason. He thought Hermione had returned, but when he looked up, he saw a boy standing in front of him—it seemed to be one of his daughter’s classmates.
Mr. Granger remembered he was probably called Kael, who he had seen in Diagon Alley before, though not as frequently as the two named Harry and Ron, but still quite a few times.
Moreover, it seemed he was also the best student at Hogwarts. During the holidays a few years ago, Hermione had mentioned him several times at home and expressed her determination to surpass him academically.
However, she hadn’t said such things in the past couple of years.
And Mr. Granger could tell that it seemed to be because of Kael that the pub owner had changed his attitude and given them a room.
Even though he wasn’t a wizard, in some respects, wizards and Muggles weren’t all that different.
"Thank you, kid. You’re Kael, right?" Mr. Granger greeted proactively, "Hermione’s classmate?"
"Sort of," Kael nodded, "but I’m a year ahead of her. I’ll take you upstairs. The stairs here can bite, and if you’re not familiar with them, it can be quite troublesome."
Stairs... that bite?
Mr. Granger thought he must have misheard. He couldn’t imagine how stairs could bite, but thinking that this was a wizard bar, it all seemed reasonable.
"Thank you," he thanked him again.
"You’re welcome." Kael led the way with the luggage, while the Grangers cautiously followed.
The Leaky Cauldron had those old wooden stairs, just like the floor, so dusty that they seemed to have developed a patina, gray and murky, unrecognizable in color, and creaking underfoot.
When they reached the second floor, Mr. Granger finally understood what "stairs can bite" meant.
He saw with his own eyes a crack suddenly appear in the middle of the stair in front of him, and it instantly turned into a large mouth full of fangs, roaring at them incessantly.
But Kael didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping; he simply stepped on the mouth to close it again.
"That’s it..." Kael took a few more steps forward and turned back to say, "You just need to treat it like a wizard’s pet dog. The solution is simple, don’t avoid it, just step on it directly and it’s fine."
The Grangers stood still, staring at the large mouth that reemerged, hesitant to go forward.
Though Kael said so, seeing that mouth full of fangs made them a bit scared. If it happened to bite them, it wouldn’t just be a simple scratch.
If they had known how dangerous a wizard bar could be, they might have preferred to stay at home. It wasn’t certain that the Dementor or whatever it was would find them.
But since they were already here and the room was booked, they couldn’t just go back.
Mr. Granger took a deep breath, mustered his courage, lifted his leg, and stepped forward.
There wasn’t the imagined biting pain, it felt more like stepping on a soft cushion, and he easily made it across.
With his encouragement, Mrs. Granger also overcame her fear and followed through.
"Magic is truly amazing," Mrs. Granger couldn’t help but say, "just a bit too dangerous. That Dementor had Hermione anxious for days. We even considered whether to have her withdraw from school."
"Hermione surely wouldn’t agree," Mr. Granger said.
"Dementor?" Kael thought for a moment, "You mean Dementor..."
"Ah, yes, that’s the name," Mr. Granger said. "Hermione said the black mist in the sky was caused by them, and the day before yesterday, someone at my workplace suddenly fainted, and Hermione also said it was those creatures that did it."
"A lot of police came at the time, and they even sealed off the roads. Because of this, many patients who were planning to visit for dental appointments canceled their bookings."
The group talked as they continued upstairs, and when they reached the third floor, they happened to meet Hermione, who was coming over.
"Dad, how did you come up here?" she looked at Mr. Granger in surprise. "The room is already set; I was just about to go and get you."
"Oh, there’s no need," Mr. Granger said. "Kael brought us here."
He glanced around and couldn’t help but say, "Is this where the wizards live? I must say, it’s truly an eye-opener."
In this short journey, Mr. Granger witnessed stairs that bite, paintings that can converse with people, and decorative armor that applies oil on itself.
All of this overturned his decades of preconceived notions, and for the first time, he felt that staying here for a while might not be such a bad thing.
