Over the past few days, the number of Muggles around the Leaky Cauldron had noticeably increased.
At first, there were only one or two of them, standing on street corners and looking around as if searching for something.
Then there were three or five, clutching a crumpled map as they wandered back and forth through the alley.
After a few more days, their numbers had grown to more than a dozen.
Some wore trench coats, some carried backpacks, and some held a book in their hands, muttering under their breath.
“Big bookshop… record shop… between them…”
“There aren’t many places in London like that…”
“Maybe this is the model for the place in the novel?”
A young man in a flat cap stood between the large bookshop and the record shop, raising his head to study both storefronts.
His gaze shifted from the bookshop to the record shop.
To him, the two shops seemed to stand right next to each other.
In his hand was a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
He had turned to a certain page and was comparing the scene before him with the description in the book.
“It really does feel a lot like what the book describes.”
He took out a camera and snapped several photos, but all he captured were the bookshop and the record shop.
“As expected, it’s fiction after all.
I actually let myself imagine there might really be a wizarding world in real life.”
He sighed in disappointment.
Still, that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for finding things connected to the wizarding world.
He wanted to find similar places and visit them.
Because it was just too cool!
Similar scenes kept playing out over the next few days.
More and more Muggles gathered around the Leaky Cauldron.
Although all they could see were the bookshop and the record shop, they still excitedly took photos in front of both storefronts, claiming they had found the place most similar to the one in the novel.
Unexpectedly, the bookshop and record shop also received a huge wave of customers, and their sales shot up sharply.
Thanks to this sudden stroke of good fortune, the two shop owners spent their days beaming from ear to ear.
“What?
You’re asking whether I’ve seen any strange people?”
“Can’t say I remember…”
“Hiss… now that you mention it, I do sometimes see people in robes.”
That was how the two shop owners answered their customers’ questions.
After all, their businesses had only been average before.
Who had the time to pay attention to whether strange people passed outside?
Because of that, their memories of whether oddly dressed people had ever walked past their doors weren’t particularly clear.
Tom stood behind a second-floor window of the Leaky Cauldron, looking down at the crowd of Muggles below with an extremely complicated expression.
“What the hell are these Muggles thinking?” he muttered.
“Do they think this place is a tourist attraction?”
Beside him, Edmund shrugged.
“Looks like that book’s influence is even greater than we imagined.”
“These Muggles probably got so absorbed in it that they wanted to see the scenes from the book with their own eyes.”
“How are we supposed to do business with them crowding around like this?”
“Nothing we can do,” Edmund said.
“Unless you use magic to drive them away, but that’d violate the Statute of Secrecy.”
Tom took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
“You’re right,” he said.
“We can’t act.”
“But things can’t go on like this either.”
“I know,” Edmund said.
“That’s why we have to figure out where that book came from as soon as possible.”
“Let the Ministry worry about that.”
At the same time, strange rumors began appearing in the wizarding world.
The first to spread them were the wizards who had been to the Muggle world.
While drinking at the Leaky Cauldron, they casually mentioned the contents of the book.
“Did you know?
That book says Harry Potter lived in the cupboard under the stairs at his aunt and uncle’s house when he was little.”
“The cupboard under the stairs?” The wizard beside him widened his eyes.
“Isn’t he the hero who defeated You-Know-Who?
How could he have lived in a place like that?”
“That’s what the book says.” The wizard shrugged.
“It also says his aunt and uncle treated him terribly.
Made him do chores and didn’t even let him eat his fill.”
“Merlin’s beard…” another wizard said, covering his mouth.
“That’s far too miserable.”
“You’re telling me.”
The news quickly spread through the entire Leaky Cauldron.
Then it traveled from the Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley, and from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade Village.
Within a few days, the whole wizarding world knew about it.
“Have you heard?
Harry Potter had a terrible childhood.”
“I heard!
Apparently, he lived in a cupboard under the stairs, had to work every day, and didn’t even get birthday presents.”
“My goodness… I always thought he was living well at his aunt and uncle’s house.”
“So did I.
Now it seems we may all have been wrong.”
Similar conversations played out in every corner of the wizarding world.
Soon after, new rumors appeared.
“Did you know?
That book also mentions the Malfoy family.”
“The Malfoy family?
“The Malfoy boy, Draco Malfoy, is apparently terribly arrogant at school and looks down on classmates from less privileged backgrounds.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely true.
A friend of a friend read that book in the Muggle world and told me personally.”
“Tsk, tsk… the Malfoy family’s reputation won’t sound very pleasant after this.”
At the same time, rumors about Snape also began to spread.
“Have you heard?
That Professor Snape seems to be rather dissatisfied with Harry Potter.”
“Snape?
The Potions master at Hogwarts?”
“Yes, him.
The last chapter of the first half of the book mentions him making things difficult for Harry Potter in class.”
“Why?”
“Ahem, well, I heard…”
There were also rumors about Hagrid.
“Did you know?
That gamekeeper Hagrid seems to be hiding something important.”
“Something important?
What is it?”
“No idea.
The book doesn’t explain it clearly, but it seems to have something to do with the break-in at Gringotts.”
“Was it the thing stolen in the break-in?”
“That’s right.
But he took it out beforehand.
The book describes it as a small package.”
“Tsk, tsk… Gringotts was broken into right after he took it out.
Seems Hogwarts isn’t that peaceful either.”
These rumors spread through the wizarding world like wildfire.
No one knew where they had started, and no one knew whether they were true.
As the rumors spread, the number of owls flying into Hogwarts also began to increase sharply.
Ordinarily, only a few dozen owls flew into Hogwarts each day.
But in recent days, that number had multiplied dozens of times over.
Every day, hundreds, sometimes thousands—of owls flew into the castle.
Some carried letters, some carried packages, and some carried newspapers.
They crowded densely inside the Owlery, hooting nonstop and giving the caretaker an unbearable headache.
“What on earth is going on?” the caretaker muttered, staring blankly at the room packed with owls.
“Why have so many owls suddenly arrived?”
The entire Hogwarts castle was enveloped in a tense atmosphere.
And at that very moment, The Daily Prophet published an article.
~
Push the book forward by Adding to library and sending powerstones~!