Chapter 85
Time quickly arrived at August 11, just 7 days away from the 422nd Quidditch World Cup.
Soren took out a scrying mirror from the space of his suitcase. The scrying mirror is a magical mirror that releases illusion spells and involves some advanced spatial magic, allowing one to transcend spatial limitations and glimpse distant scenes.
Because the scrying mirror is a tool for surveillance with potential for abuse, it is strictly regulated by the Ministry of Magic. This scrying mirror was purchased by Soren last month at the Borgin and Burkes shop, along with a vanishing cabinet, costing him a full hundred Galleons. he'd bought the scrying mirror for a serious purpose. He had Dobby run errands for him, setting the scrying mirror to view Little Hangleton, the Riddle House.
This old mansion is still referred to as the "Riddle House" by the townspeople of Little Hangleton, even though the Riddle family has not lived there for many years. The house is situated on a hillside, offering a view of the entire town. Several windows of the house are boarded up, the roof tiles are incomplete, and ivy clings to the entire structure. The Riddle House was once a beautiful mansion, the most spacious and grand building within several miles, but now it has become damp and desolate, uninhabited for years.
The current owner of the mansion is a wealthy man who bought the building for tax purposes and has not bothered to maintain it, aside from continuing to employ the original gardener of the Riddle House.
In the courtyard of the dilapidated mansion stands a small wooden shed. Inside lives the gardener of the Riddle House—Frank Bryce.
From the image in the scrying mirror, Soren could clearly see Bryce, who has a limp, slowly working in the flowerbed, despite the weeds creeping around him, which he cannot stop. He also saw a few mischievous boys riding their bikes over the neatly maintained lawn that Bryce had worked hard to level. They threw stones at the windows of the Riddle House, and old Bryce hobbled across the garden, waving his cane and shouting at them in a hoarse voice.
If Soren remembers correctly, in a few days, specifically on August 16, this coming Saturday, old Bryce's days of suffering will come to an end.
Today, Soren is going to Diagon Alley, where he has arranged to meet the girls.
He had already informed his parents that he would be spending the rest of his summer vacation at a friend's house and would then go directly with them to Devon to watch the Quidditch World Cup.
Upon learning that this so-called friend is the daughter of the Greengrass family, his parents were quite pleased.
Lucius told Soren that he had booked a spot in the highest-class section of the stadium, and that Narcissa and Draco would also be present, so the family might even run into each other at the venue.
Soren had known about this for a long time. A month ago, Lucius had donated a considerable sum of Galleons to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, adding a nice achievement to the administration of the Fudge government, which specifically reserved seats for the Malfoy family in the highest box at the stadium.
It is worth noting that the top box has only 20 seats; those who can sit there are either rich or influential, a symbol of top status.
Then, Lucius solemnly reminded Soren to be careful and pay attention to safety.
Soren understood Lucius's hint—he knew that many dormant pure-blood families would not remain silent during this Quidditch World Cup and were planning to cause trouble under the banner of Death Eaters. He had noticed a month ago that his father was closely associating with several pure-blood families, seemingly conspiring about something.
After stepping out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron, Soren cast a tidying charm on himself, slightly fixed his hairstyle, and said goodbye to the pub owner, old Tom, before leaving.
Diagon Alley is the largest commercial area in the British wizarding world, with the entrance located at the Leaky Cauldron on Charing Cross Road in London. The entire commercial area is divided into three parts.
The first part is the "North Side," starting from the Leaky Cauldron at number 1, extending south until reaching Gringotts Bank. Diagonally opposite Gringotts is a side alley that leads to a place called "Knockturn Alley," which is the second part of the commercial area. If one chooses not to turn and continues straight, they will arrive at the third part of the commercial area, the "South Side."
Diagon Alley is indeed one of the most prosperous wizarding commercial streets in all of Europe. Even though Soren has been reborn in this world for 14 years, he has never fully explored the entire street.
Without including Knockturn Alley, there are nearly three hundred shops combined in the northern and southern districts of Diagon Alley. Of course, Soren has never counted the total number of shops; he's not that bored. He only knows that Madam Puddifoot's Beauty Potion Shop is number 275, and it is far from the last shop in Diagon Alley.
As far as Soren knows, the only place in Europe that can rival Diagon Alley in terms of liveliness is Montmartre's Secret Witch Path in Paris, France.
The northern district of Diagon Alley mainly caters to children and students, with shops like pet stores, joke shops, bookstores, stationery shops, and so on. This is why the protagonists in the original work generally wandered in the northern district, leading readers from the previous life to easily form the impression that there are only about a dozen shops in Diagon Alley.
The commercial activities in the southern district are much more exciting, targeting middle-class and upper-class adult consumers. Harry, Ron, and their group of poor boys may never have set foot here before the end of the original story.
Soren arrived at the intersection in front of Gringotts and saw Daphne, Astoria, and Meredith waiting there.
The girls had obviously dressed up carefully; Daphne looked mature and stunning, Astoria was pure and lovely, and Meredith was noble and elegant. When they saw Soren, they all showed joyful smiles and walked towards him.
Having rarely come to Diagon Alley, the group wasn't in a hurry to go to Grimmauld Place but instead followed Soren to the southern district of Diagon Alley.
Passing a "Shrinking House," they couldn't resist Astoria's strong request and went inside.
At the entrance of the Magical Shrinking House, a spell was cast that shrank anyone who entered to the size of a mouse, giving a sense of déjà vu reminiscent of the Muggle classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
They passed through a mouse hole in the room, arriving in a flowerbed, crossing a small waterway on a leaf, climbing up a dandelion flower along a branch, and then floating over a large grassy area on a dandelion in the wind. Finally, they reached an inconspicuous tree hole, and as they passed through it, they returned to their original size and happily left the shrinking house.
The next stop was the Illusion House, which is essentially a form of entertainment that copied the Muggle cinema concept. Illusion magic, as the name suggests, utilizes crystal balls or skulls to display images from the caster's mind. This magic was originally intended to allow fortune-tellers who glimpsed the future to share their divination results with clients through the images in their minds.
Later, some clever wizards who understood the Muggle world found business opportunities in this. They hired screenwriters to turn stories into dynamic visuals using illusion magic, which quickly became popular, with hits like "Wizards vs. Aliens" and "How to Train Your Dragon" emerging one after another.
Soren approached the ticket counter, where a sweet-looking, smiling young lady sat. When she saw Soren pull out the limited edition Gringotts VIP card from his pocket, her smile became even more charming.
This black-gold VIP card made of pure black gold is limited to only few in the whole of Britain, and as far as Soren knows, he is the only underage cardholder in the country. Using this card at high-end restaurants or entertainment venues not only grants an 20% discount but also allows for a free upgrade to VIP seating, which is wider, softer, and more comfortable, along with table service for ordering food and drinks.
Soren bought four tickets; today, they were going to watch the newly released romantic movie "Time Traveler's Love."
The story revolves around a man named Tim who uncovers the secret of time magic. At 21 years old, Tim discovers how to time travel and can go back to the past. He tries it out and returns to the summer, where he attempts to change his relationship with his crush, only to find that no matter how he travels through time, he cannot make someone who doesn't love him fall in love with him. Later, he meets another girl and falls in love, but this triggers a series of butterfly effects, causing a series of disasters in the future world. In the end, he exhausts all his magical power to erase the traces of time travel, but loses that relationship in the process. The girl he loved never knew him and eventually married someone else...
As the film ended and the sad melody of the ending song played, it woke the sleeping Soren. He opened his eyes to see the three girls with red, swollen eyes, having used up an entire large pack of "tissues." Astoria was even crying uncontrollably, softly sobbing intermittently.
Soren felt a bit awkward, using a spell to help the girls clean their faces, then handing each of them a piece of happy candy, just as the advertisement said, to keep them cheerful every day! Honestly, didn't I say it was better to watch "some action"? Girls just love to seek out trouble...
After having lunch at a high-end restaurant, Soren took out his specially-made watch and checked the time.
There were still many unexplored places in Diagonal South District, such as the "Flying House" that simulates a zero-gravity environment in space, the "Magical Plant Aromatherapy SPA" suitable for women, and the "Dream Massage Parlor" suitable for men... Soren still had one more place to go, but all these locations would have to wait for next time.
It's not that there is no entertainment in the wizarding world, nor is it that I don't have money, but simply that there's not enough time! Soren couldn't help but sigh.
Who says the wizarding world lacks entertainment? If someone says that, Soren would tell them that their imagination must be limited by poverty!
Soren led the three girls to the last destination of the day.
This was an inconspicuous little shop, surprisingly without a sign, just a pair of crossed silver spears painted beside the door.
At the entrance stood a young witch in a leopard-print tight combat suit with an impressive figure. Upon seeing them enter, she tightened her grip on her wand, her eyes filled with vigilance as she looked at Soren.
Soren quickly took out the identity badge given to him by the Medieval Wizarding Association and handed it over. The witch still did not lower her guard, keeping her wand tightly in hand while examining the badge. After checking it several times and confirming there were no issues, she finally returned the badge to Soren, a smile appearing on her face as she said, "You are the famous Malfoy who has been in the spotlight in recent years? It's truly a pleasure to meet you; you really are quite young!"
"Thank you for the compliment, miss. I'm just a bit lucky, having received a lot of support from important figures along the way. I'm here today to bring my friends to try the challenge of the Silver Spear test to enhance our practical abilities," Soren explained his intentions.
The witch scrutinized the four of them and said, "Oh, alright, please follow me."
The witch led the four through the reception room to the inner hall. At the deepest part of the inner hall, there were five doors; the doors on the far left and right were open, while the three middle doors were closed.
These three wooden doors were very old, showing signs of wear, exuding an ancient atmosphere.
The witch explained, "The three middle doors can only be opened with a hand command from one of the four Grand Wizards of the Silver Spear, representing hell-level difficulty. The left door represents easy, while the right door represents medium. Which one would you like to challenge?"
"Let's go for medium; can all four of us go in together?" If they couldn't go in together, Soren didn't intend to let Astoria take that risk.
"Yes, you can." She then took out a key and opened the right wooden door, gesturing for them to enter.
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