Chapter 9
The Leaky Cauldron is the junction of Diagon Alley and the Muggle Charing Cross Road, and is the gateway from the Muggle world into Diagon Alley.
The distance between the inside and outside of the wall, separated by a door, separated the late seventeenth century from the late twentieth century, and also separated the worldviews of two kinds of people under the same sky, just after the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was officially implemented in 1692.
The bar owner was just like the pub that had walked out of history, a thin, shriveled, toothless, hunchbacked old man named Tom, whom I met yesterday.
Sainz found that since entering the magical world, he often encountered old people or objects.
From a certain perspective, this is a good thing. At least it shows that in the magical world, both people and objects have relatively long lifespans.
"Hello, Mr. Autumn."
"Hello, Tom. Business is good today."
"Yes," Tom smiled with his few remaining sparse yellow teeth, "Hogwarts has started sending out acceptance letters, and there are many wizarding families coming to shop recently."
Indeed, the front room of the bar was dim and simple, and the few old tables in the shadows in the corners were surrounded by people. From time to time, wizards would appear from the backyard or the front door, passing through the bar counter to do business.
"Tom, please give me a guest room. I'll stay here until school starts. Please have my meals delivered to my room."
Sainz's oriental face was obviously not very common, and in just a short while, he had attracted a lot of attention.
"By the way, the room needs to be quiet. I need to read quietly. You know, I come from a Muggle family and don't know much about the magical world."
"No problem, room number 12 will perfectly meet your requirements. Please follow me." Tom's voice was filled with excitement. It was not common to see such big customers staying in the hotel for more than a month at a time.
Sainz followed the old hunchback up to the second floor through a beautiful wooden staircase. In sharp contrast to the bar downstairs were the guest rooms upstairs. They were unexpectedly clean and comfortable, with brass numbers on the doors of each room.
Room No. 12 was almost at the end of the corridor. After entering the room, Sainz found that the facilities in the room were quite complete. The fireplace, bathroom, and several pieces of oak furniture were all shiny, and the traditional European four-poster bed looked very comfortable.
"Very good, I am satisfied, thank you Tom, please give me a lunch, an eight-inch shrimp pizza, if you have it."
"I'll be right there, Mr. Autumn." Old Tom nodded to show that he understood, and staggered away.
After lunch, after checking the door and windows, Sainz finally relaxed, opened Speed's cage, fed him the rat jerky he had promised, and let him occupy the commanding height of the room, the horizontal rod above the curtains.
"There are a lot of things to read before school starts. If you want to understand a group of people, you must understand their history. Pick out "History of Magic" first. If you want to understand a skill, you must understand its principles. Pick out "Magic Theory".
Hey, why am I being silly here? This is just a first-grade textbook. Just read it according to the first-grade compulsory courses."
...
After half a month of crazy seclusion, Sainz went through all the required courses for the first grade, including Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and History of Magic.
Of course, there was also astronomy taught by Professor Sinistra, who took him to Diagon Alley, but astronomy was a purely practical class and there were no textbooks.
There is a book that seems very out of place in the first-grade reading list, and that is "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". This book is actually a textbook for the Care of Magical Creatures class, and the Care of Magical Creatures class is an elective course that only starts in the third grade.
If there are careful little wizards, they will definitely understand the meaning of it. Its real name should be "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", which introduces many dangerous creatures. Sainz guessed that Hogwarts was implicitly persuading the little wizards to pay attention to the danger of monsters and regard it as knowledge that must be mastered.
Practically speaking, the first-year textbooks are indeed very entry-level content. They are basically all about theory, including the intonation and pronunciation when chanting spells, and an introduction to the posture and strength of waving a magic wand. There is relatively little content related to actual operations. Taking the spell class as an example, there are not many spells that can truly be called magic.
At this time, "Basic Spells for Dealing with Hyperactive and Irritable Animals" and "Simple Spells to Fooling Muggles" selected by Sainz himself became a good supplement. Of course, "Simple Spells to Fooling Muggles" is really fooling people, and they are all simple spells such as ignition, fluorescence, and mark appearance.
Most of the so-called spells had been easily performed when Saiens didn't even know about the existence of the magic world. Yes, wizards call the method of casting spells without the help of wands or chanting spells silent and wandless casting.
That is an advanced spellcasting technique.
Sainz is not disrespecting anyone, nor is he bragging.
The existence of magic wands is necessary and brilliant. If you have read "A History of Magic", you will know that other creatures, such as goblins, house-elves, centaurs, etc., have the ability to cast spells, and in some aspects are more convenient and powerful than wizards. However, the reason why wizards are still the mainstream of the magic world is that the role of magic wands is unquestionable.
One of the important causes of the second goblin rebellion in the 18th century was that the goblins wanted to obtain the technology to make and use magic wands.
Speaking of wands, after settling down in the Leaky Cauldron, he took out all of his wands and kept them close to his person.
He holds one in his hand and one on each limb to ensure that he can always pull out a magic wand in his hand no matter what posture he is in.
After learning Transfiguration, he specially found steel and made a wand shell to ensure that whether he fell or crawled, the possibility of damage to the wand would be reduced as much as possible.
In order to carry the extra wand in a less conspicuous way, he put on high riding boots and a long shirt with wide sleeves.
"The ebony and grapevine wood were tied to the inside of the left and right forearms respectively, and the hornbeam and walnut wood were inserted into the outside of the left and right boots respectively. It is completely invisible from the outside.
He twisted and turned, jumped high and low, rolled and dodged without any loss of flexibility. Every time he drew the magic wand, it was swift and smooth, and he moved objects with his mind, which basically eliminated the embarrassment of being forced to use his bare hands.
Moving objects with the mind is equivalent to a combination of the levitation spell and the movement spell, which is very convenient.
Sainz had always believed that his superpowers were similar to the Force. One important point was that it had both telekinetic performance and simulation diversity that was not available in the primary applications of telekinesis.
Although telekinesis is good, it also has its shortcomings. Now Sainz knows that his superpower is actually magic. The shortcoming of telekinesis is that it is a rough application of magic and is not as refined as spells.
To make an inappropriate analogy, the same amount of magic power, if used directly and roughly, may only be able to suspend one kilogram of objects. However, if used in the form of a levitation spell, the mass of the floating objects can be increased by dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times.
A spell is like a delicate and precise machine that can save you effort and help you complete more delicate tasks.
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