Hearing Charles’s words, Professor McGonagall’s steps toward the Leaky Cauldron suddenly stopped.
Her usually stern expression became dazed and doubtful.
For a moment, she wondered if she had heard him incorrectly.
Apparition?
Fun?
He enjoys being flushed around like a toilet?
Did Muggle children nowadays actually enjoy doing this sort of thing?
Although she had no idea what the roller coasters and Ferris wheels Charles had mentioned actually were, Professor McGonagall had already decided that if she ever entered the Muggle world in the future, she would stay far away from those two things.
Then Professor McGonagall found herself in a dilemma.
It was already getting late.
She still had two more households to visit…
But when she saw the longing expression on Charles’s face, her heart softened.
According to the information she had received, this child was an orphan.
He had never received the love of parents from a young age.
He had even relied on entering competitions and using the prize money to support himself and afford his meals.
How pitiful.
And then there was his recent eleventh birthday, which he had spent under such horrific circumstances.
The thought made Professor McGonagall feel even more sorry for him.
So after a moment, Professor McGonagall nodded.
“All right.”
“Then we’ll Apparate one more time.”
She grabbed Charles’s hand again, and the two of them Apparated back to the entrance of St.
Mungo’s Hospital.
During this Apparition, Charles deliberately concentrated and carefully observed the distorted space and the rapidly receding scenery.
It felt almost as though he were staring at an oil painting whose lines had been twisted into an indescribable mess.
The dizziness this time was even more intense than during his first Apparition.
The moment they landed, Charles couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“Bleeeurgh!”
He immediately bent over and vomited violently to the side.
Yet even while throwing up, the voice of Deep Blue continued ringing inside his mind.
It informed him that he had obtained even more reference material from the experience.
The Deduction Point cost for the first deduction of Apparition had been reduced by another ten thousand points!
Originally, the first deduction had required fifty thousand points.
Now it only required thirty-five thousand!
After rounding things off, it was practically equivalent to saving Charles the same number of Deduction Points as an entire bottle of Ascension Potion!
Considering how disgusting the Ascension Potion had been to drink, the sensation of being tossed around inside a magical toilet like Apparition was practically heaven by comparison.
A massive profit!
After finally finishing his vomiting, Charles raised his head and looked at Professor McGonagall.
“Professor…”
“Let’s do it again.”
“It’s fun.”
“It’s really, really fun!” This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Professor McGonagall was completely dumbfounded.
She suddenly felt that she no longer understood young wizards.
Wasn’t this just deliberately torturing yourself for no reason?
But under Charles’s earnest pleading, Professor McGonagall reluctantly agreed to Apparate back and forth with him several more times.
Inside Charles’s mind, Deep Blue’s notifications continued ringing.
Unfortunately, even though Charles concentrated completely on observing the distorted space every single time, the reduction in the required Deduction Points gradually became smaller.
Until finally, Deep Blue simply informed him that the phenomenon no longer provided any useful reference material and the cost could not be reduced any further.
By then, the cost of the first deduction of Apparition had fallen all the way to twenty thousand Deduction Points!
Only then did Charles finally support himself on his trembling legs and declare that he had genuinely had enough fun.
Professor McGonagall finally let out a long sigh of relief.
To be honest, even as an adult witch, she was feeling quite nauseous after so many consecutive Apparitions.
She had even been afraid that she might vomit right in front of Charles and completely destroy her dignity.
Thankfully, Charles had finally had enough.
After calming down the nausea, Professor McGonagall was finally able to lead Charles into the famous Leaky Cauldron.
The Leaky Cauldron was already packed with wizards.
Many people were discussing the news of the vicious Dark Wizard Dark being killed.
Some were already calling Charles “another Boy Who Lived.”
And whenever that subject came up, even more people excitedly shifted to another topic.
They wondered when the original Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, would pass through the Leaky Cauldron and enter the magical world.
Charles paid absolutely no attention to any of these conversations.
All of his attention was focused on the food he saw while walking through the Leaky Cauldron.
Unfortunately, almost everything visible to the naked eye was ordinary food.
Even though some of the dishes looked different, their ingredients were all things that could also be found in the Muggle world.
Eating this kind of food eight times a day would probably only provide a few scattered Deduction Points.
It was nowhere near as valuable as the restorative meals at St.
Mungo’s that contained magical herbs.
Looks like until I find a more suitable source of magical food, I’ll have to treat St.
Mungo’s as my personal cafeteria.
With that thought in mind, Charles followed Professor McGonagall through the Leaky Cauldron and arrived at the famous wall from the original story.
Professor McGonagall drew her wand and demonstrated how to identify the correct brick by using the position of the trash bins beside the wall as a reference.
That brick would then be tapped to open the entrance to Diagon Alley.
Charles, however, asked Professor McGonagall another question that completely caught her off guard.
“Professor, why do we have to enter Diagon Alley in such a complicated way?”
“And this method doesn’t seem very reliable.”
“What if someone plays a prank and places a whole bunch of identical trash bins along the wall?”
“Or what if someone tampers with the wall itself?”
“They could paint over the entire wall or use some other spell to alter it.”
“Wouldn’t that mean the door couldn’t be opened anymore?”
Hearing Charles’s questions, Professor McGonagall’s expression suddenly became extremely complicated.
She even looked as though she were grinding her teeth.
It seemed Charles’s questions had reminded her of some particularly infuriating memories.
She looked at Charles hesitantly.
“Charles…”
“Why are you asking this?”
“You aren’t the sort of child who enjoys playing pranks, are you?”
Charles immediately shook his head.
“I swear, I have absolutely no interest in pranks.”
“My only real hobby is probably eating.”
Only then did Professor McGonagall relax slightly.
However, she still warned Charles,
“Once you enter Hogwarts, you should be careful around the Weasley twins.”
“They actually did exactly the sort of thing you just described.”
“It nearly drove Mrs. Weasley mad.”
“It took Mr. and Mrs. Weasley three entire days to restore this wall!”
After giving him the warning, Professor McGonagall once again looked rather confident.
“However, after that prank, the Ministry of Magic brought in specialists to cast all kinds of enchantments on this wall.”
“They did so to ensure that the traditional entrance to Diagon Alley could never be disrupted by any means.”
Hearing this, Charles’s eyes immediately lit up.
“So you mean…”
“Every brick in this wall contains magic?”
“They’re all magical objects?”
“And the magic attached to them is extremely advanced?”
Professor McGonagall nodded proudly.
“I personally participated in this project.”
“There were also many other powerful wizards involved.”
“We all used our very best magic.”
“Furthermore, Ministry officials come here periodically to maintain the wall and replenish the magical enchantments.”
“So you can rest assured.”
“This wall will never experience any problems!”
Charles also revealed a relieved smile.
“I see.”
“These bricks are placed here.”
“No one can take them away.”
“No one can move them.”
“And the Ministry of Magic comes here regularly to maintain them.”
“Then I really can rest easy.”
(End of Chapter)