Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Charing Cross Road, Westminster District, London, around 8pm, there are not many pedestrians wandering around this road known for its many bookstores.

Between a second-hand bookstore called "Emergency Shop" and a record store whose signboard has mostly fallen off, there is a small and shabby tavern. It is filled with the sound of people drinking and drinking, and it is still overcrowded.

"Drink it!"

"Drink it!"

"Drink it!"

Accompanied by the commotion of people raising rice, the man sitting in front of the bar held an oak cup that had been rubbed with pulp by his predecessors, raising his head and pouring wine into his mouth desperately.

After holding on for more than 20 seconds and downing about half a pint of liquid, the man finally couldn't hold on any longer, tilted his head and vomited out the contents of his stomach with a "yue" sound.

"Alas--"

"Woo——"

"Uu——"

His move was met with boos.

Only the tavern owner was very happy. He stood behind the bar and wiped the glass with a rag while announcing loudly: "The 123rd Tasting Challenge Competition of the Leaky Cauldron is over. The last challenger also failed. No one can drink it in one breath." Next bottle of Gamp’s vintage social wine!”

After saying that, he tapped the bar with his fingers again.

The challenger, who felt relieved after vomiting it out, had no choice but to rummage through his wallet unwillingly, leaving two Galleons behind, and then ran out in dejection amidst the ridicule of others.

Old Tom, the owner of the tavern, picked up the gold galleons with a smile, weighed the weight, blew it to his ear and listened, and then safely threw them into the cash box under the bar.

"another beautiful day!"

Old Tom was in a very beautiful mood at this time.

Not counting normal business income, he earned more than a hundred galleons today just from holding the tasting challenge - which is almost as much as an Auror earns in a month - how could he not make Old Tom heartbroken? Happy?

Old Tom's full name is Thomson Linford Abbott. People who know him well call him Old Tom, and the tavern he runs is the famous Leaky Cauldron Tavern.

As for the Gamp social wine he used for today's competition, it was made by the first Minister of the British Ministry of Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (including the Office for the Prohibition of the Abuse of Magic, the Auror Command, the Wizengamot Management Agency and other subordinate agencies) A special flavored drink brewed by Ulric Gamp, the founder of the Ministry of Magic (the largest and most staffed department in the Ministry of Magic).

The biggest characteristic of this kind of wine is that it is difficult to drink.

Ulric Gamp even left a special fund. Anyone who challenges and succeeds in drinking a bottle of Gamp's old social wine in one sitting can receive 100 gold galleons from Gringotts.

However, no one has succeeded in this challenge so far. On the contrary, his descendants, such as Old Tom who runs the Leaky Cauldron, can earn a very stable income every year by relying on this traditional challenge.

Isn’t it just eating the food of ancestors?

Not mixed with cold.

Don't you see, the extremely rich Malfoy has been living on the money he brought Emperor William into the country for hundreds of years?

However, in the wizarding circle, the most popular topic about wealth and inheritance is no longer "old money" like Malfoy or Black.

Almost all British wizards learned from an article published in the Daily Prophet last year that an extremely mysterious and lucky little wizard inherited an astonishing amount of inheritance!

It was said that the money came from the American branch of Gringotts, and those greedy goblins almost got into a fight over this matter.

Of course, they did not dare to deny the validity of this inheritance, because that would be provoking the authority of the Ministry of Magic.

The goblins were simply arguing over one issue: Should the money have to be transferred from Gringotts Americas to the London headquarters?

Regarding this issue, there were three rounds of closed-door talks between the two groups of goblins within Gringotts. After every conversation, a few goblin bankers always had to be carried on stretchers and sent to the hospital, while most of the others had bruises and swollen faces and disheveled clothes.

After that, the British Ministry of Magic came forward, and the Wizengamot sages also expressed dissatisfaction. The combination of the two subdued those goblins who were blinded by money.

Finally, the Ministry of Magic selected some capable personnel composed of Aurors and strikers, and cooperated with the MACUSA team of righteous masters, and then the money was safely escorted to London and deposited in the deepest part of Gringotts. In the vault.

Although the report has been published for more than a year, the popularity of this topic has not diminished. People still talk about the amount of money and the lucky little wizard who received the inheritance.

This is actually quite normal.

After all, there are less than 20,000 wizards in the UK who can survive - with such a large circle, there are naturally fewer news worthy of topicality.

Didn’t you see that in order to survive, the Daily Prophet can only publish some alarmist stories or fabricated fake news? It finally published real news, and it happened to be something related to Galleons that almost everyone was concerned about. It would be strange if this still failed to arouse widespread discussion and sustained attention.

However, while most people were attracted by this "inheritance incident", few people noticed that the "Daily Prophet" in the same period actually reported a vicious case also involving goblins.

"This is called diverting public opinion. Pure-blood families, the Ministry of Magic, and many, many so-called big shots know this well..."

In a guest room on the second floor of the Leaky Cauldron, while sipping Osoro sherry with half a tablespoon of icing sugar, Horace Slughorn was sitting on the sofa while explaining endlessly to Bourne. .

"...But in fact, these little tricks are indeed useful if they are useful, but they are useless if they are not. Because the power of wizards can only be obtained by relying on the wands and spells in our hands. Those who rely on public opinion to control the situation People are actually just covering up their own powerlessness.

Of course, I'm not saying that the influence on public opinion and the control of connections are completely meaningless. However, little Bourne, you can slowly experience these things in the next seven years at Hogwarts. The key is to focus on learning. "

In stark contrast to the tavern below, the Leaky Cauldron's upstairs rooms are surprisingly clean and comfortable, allowing wizards, witches, or wizards and witches to spend the night.

A beautiful wooden staircase leads to the guest rooms upstairs, each with a brass number on the door.

The number on the outside of the room booked by Horace and Bourne is 11. The two beds in this room look very comfortable, and several pieces of oak furniture are also shiny, indicating that they have been varnished and often used. Be wiped.

As it was September, the fireplace in the room was not yet in use, but in winter it would have a crackling, cheerful fire.

After taking Bourne to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies during the day, Horace decided to take his grandson to stay one night at the Leaky Cauldron and go directly to King's Cross Station the next day.

Compared to young wizards from Muggle families or even some pure-blood families, Bourne's pressure to purchase school supplies is undoubtedly much less.