Wang Yong sat at the dining table, quietly waiting for Susan to finish her breakfast so they could head out together.
Since they didn't live in a wizarding community or some remote countryside, both were fairly familiar with London's public transport. They took the Underground to the Leaky Cauldron, just off Charing Cross Road.
It was a dingy, narrow little pub that no passing Muggle would ever notice. Their eyes would only catch the large bookstore on one side or the record shop on the other.
It seemed to be Susan's first time here without an elder accompanying her. She clung tightly to Wang Yong's hand, unable to hide her nervousness.
Inside, a few old women were gathered in a corner, sipping sherry from tiny glasses. One of them was puffing on a long-stemmed pipe. A few rustic-looking wizards were chatting with the pub owner—a bald, shriveled man who resembled a dried walnut more than anything else.
This was Wang Yong's first visit to the place. He looked around with great curiosity, nodding slightly, as if filing away his thoughts.
Susan leaned in and whispered in his ear, "What exactly are you looking at?"
Wang Yong shook his head. They passed through the bar and came to a small enclosed courtyard with walls on all sides. Aside from a rubbish bin and some weeds, there was nothing here.
"I think we forgot something…" Wang Yong said awkwardly.
"Our wands," Susan replied with a resigned tilt of her head.
"Right… miscalculated," Wang Yong thought. After all, this wasn't a world he'd grown up in. He had only read about it. Some customs and details had slipped his mind—embarrassingly so.
Just then, a tall man entered the courtyard. He was bald, wore deep green robes, and had vivid red hair. His eyes lit up with delight as he saw them.
"Well, if it isn't little Bones and little Wang. Sneaking into Diagon Alley for fun?"
"Uncle Weasley! Auntie Bones told us to come. Yong said he wanted to buy some books."
"Ah, that so? Makes sense—school's just around the corner for you two." As he spoke, he began counting bricks on the wall above the trash bin.
"Three up… and two across…" he muttered to himself.
"Alright, step back—Yong, Susan." He tapped the wall gently three times with his wand.
The brick he touched began to quiver, then shift. A small opening appeared, quickly widening into a grand archway that led to a winding, cobbled street with no end in sight.
Behind them, the archway narrowed and swiftly closed up, becoming a solid wall once more.
Sunlight gleamed off a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Above them hung a sign listing the types—brass, copper, pewter, silver—self-stirring, collapsible, all sizes available.
As they walked, Mr. Weasley chatted amiably with Wang Yong and Susan.
He was a colleague of both Wang Yong's parents and Susan's aunt.
"Come by the house later, yeah? Ron's brothers are all away, and he's been making trouble at home all day."
"Sure," Wang Yong nodded. Susan nodded too. She didn't have many peers around her age, so the idea of a new friend intrigued her.
"Meet me back at the Leaky Cauldron later, alright?"
The two nodded again.
By now, Wang Yong had no interest in continuing the conversation. His attention was completely absorbed by the street around him—every shop, every item on display, every shopper passing by. He wanted to take it all in, to engrave it in his memory.
A stout woman stood outside the apothecary. As they passed, she shook her head and muttered, "Seventeen Sickles an ounce for dragon liver? They've gone mad."
A low, melodic hooting drifted out from a dimly lit shop. The sign above read: Eeylops Owl Emporium—Screech Owls, Barn Owls, Tawny Owls, Brown Owls, Snowy Owls.
A group of boys around Wang Yong's age had their noses pressed to a shop window. Inside were sleek flying brooms.
"Look!" one of them exclaimed. "That's the brand-new Nimbus 2000—fastest one yet!"
Some shops sold robes. Others had telescopes or strange silver instruments Wang Yong couldn't even name.
In one window sat heaps of bat spleens and eel eyes, piles of spellbooks, quills, rolls of parchment, vials, lunar charts...
Wang Yong was overwhelmed. His worldview was being shattered—and rebuilt—before his very eyes.
He took a deep breath, inhaling the very air of Diagon Alley. Bathed in sunlight, at this precise moment, he knew without a doubt:
He had truly entered the wizarding world.
This was real.
Tears welled up in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Susan poked him, looking at his face with curiosity. "Didn't you say you were here for books? Why are you crying?"
"It's nothing." Wang Yong quickly wiped away his tears. "I just realized… I forgot to bring any money."
A clumsy excuse—but it was enough to get by. People from the wizarding world could never understand what he was feeling right now.
It was like spending your whole life as a Muggle, and then suddenly discovering you're a wizard, with a place in this world of magic. The emotion was indescribable, unimaginable.
They arrived at a tall, snow-white building that towered over the surrounding shops—Gringotts, the most renowned bank in the wizarding world.
Beside its gleaming bronze doors stood a goblin dressed in crimson and gold-trimmed livery. He was a full head shorter than Wang Yong, with a clever, dark face, a pointed beard, and unusually long fingers and toes.
It was Wang Yong's first time seeing a non-human creature. He stared for a long moment without even realizing it.
It wasn't until Susan gave him a little pinch that he snapped back to reality.
The goblin showed no reaction. After all, even in the magical world, goblins were a rare sight to most children.
As they approached, the goblin bowed. Beyond the first set of doors was a second—this one made of silver. Etched across its surface were the following words:
Enter, stranger, but take heed,
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must face a fate they'll sorely learn.
If you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware—
Of finding more than treasure there.
A faint smile tugged at Wang Yong's lips. If things had gone differently in the real world, he might have ended up working in a bank too. In a way, they were still colleagues—just in different universes.
Two goblins bowed and guided them into a towering marble hall. Rows of goblins sat perched on high stools behind a long counter. Some were weighing coins with brass scales. Others inspected gemstones through monocles, scrawling entries into massive ledgers.
There were countless doors leading off in all directions. Goblins bowed and led people in and out of them constantly.