Chapter 17: 28th July 1991, Sunday: Part 5

They all followed Remus through a rickety wooden door at the back of the pub, which led to a small flagged garden. Describing it as a 'pub garden' might have been overstating what was in reality a tiny outdoor space with high brick walls on all sides. There was absolutely nothing of significance besides a single large wooden barrel and a load of empty bottles scattered around it. Various long winters had caused the decrepit brick walls to disintegrate over time, it looked like they could come crashing down at any moment. The Linwoods, besides George, all looked a little confused why Remus would direct them to this seemingly dead end.

Remus looked back at them with a smile before saying condescendingly, "what were you expecting? A big sign saying 'Welcome to Diagon Alley, here's where you can buy all of your wizarding paraphernalia'."

Ellie had an epiphany, "so it's a secret entrance!"

"Top marks, Ellie. You are indeed correct. Couldn't be having any muggles accidentally walking into Diagon Alley now, could we?", Remus responded with a renewed vigour.

"So how do we get in? Is there some sort of hidden button or lever", Dominic said while touching the nearest wall.

"Close, but not quite. Allow me to demonstrate."

Remus turned towards the far brick wall and swiftly pulled out his wand from his sleeve in one fluid flick of the wrist. He walked up to a portion of the wall, which appeared to have lost a few bricks, and tapped his wand five times clockwise around the indentation. George knew this secret entrance was in essence a magical combination lock and he made sure to engrave it into his memory. 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst' was another one of his life lessons. It was worth remembering the exact bricks to tap just in case he had to come back alone in the future and the Floo Network was off the table.

After the last tap, the entire wall appeared to come alive. The sound of bricks sliding over the top of one another could be heard as they began to reorientate themselves. Starting from the area that Remus had tapped, the brick wall separated revealing the street behind. This process continued until it created a huge archway, leaving no trace of the wall ever being there in the first place. The amazing display of hundreds of bewitched bricks moving like a real-life version of Tetris understandably left the family in awe, even George was impressed to see it first-hand. It was one thing to see it in a faded memory, another to witness it in person.

Remus took this opportunity to say with an exaggeratedly wide arm gesture, "welcome... to Diagon Alley!"

The self-constructing doorway was nothing in comparison to laying their eyes on the bonkers street ahead of them. Bustling with the frantic shopping of wizard families preparing for the next term, Diagon Alley was an incredible sight to behold. It was truly a unique location that could only be derived from hundreds of years of wizards and witches slowly moulding it for their commercial needs. The streets were relatively narrow and the buildings equally small but yet Diagon Alley produced such a presence that it was overwhelming to any first-time visitor, even Ellie had stopped pulling on Amanda's arm to take it all in.

George could hardly put what he was seeing into words. It was as if Dr Seuss was a Victorian-era architect, no building conformed to any particular shape or orientation. Each shop flaunted its wears in the large open windows or stalls located just outside the entrance, these ranged from exotic pets, brooms, books, cauldrons and sweet treats wrapped in colourful packaging. The streets were packed with many individuals similar to those inside of the pub but instead more diverse in age, there were plenty of students like George buying their equipment. In summary, this place was the textbook definition of organised chaos.

George managed to regain his composure within a few seconds but the same could not be said for the rest of his family, Ellie's eyes were wide open and her mouth was agape whereas Dominic and Amanda seem to have frozen in time with only their eyes darting around. Having noticed their astonished reaction, Remus gave the family a minute just to absorb the sites. Even he could acknowledge the significance of witnessing such an unusual and magical place for the first time.

Then something odd started to tickle the back of George's brain, a desire or urge that wasn't his own was trying to worm its way into his mind. It was far too weak to have any effect on him but an attack no matter how measly was still an attack, putting him automatically on guard. He tried to trace the source only to find every single building giving off the same intrusive mental persuasion. He came up with a theory for this odd phenomenon and it was proven true once he looked at his family. Even without any motivation from Remus, Dominic and Amanda seemed to be moving without them even realising it as if they were hypnotised. George then knew for certain what was going on, Diagon Alley itself could magically lure people in.

Like a capitalist venus flytrap, the street had a passive ability to subtly influence mentally vulnerable pedestrians. These victims would then become curious and make unnecessary purchases without even realising they're being manipulated. It seemed like a ludicrous idea until George let down his mental guards and felt tempted to carelessly wander around without any motivation. Was this magic deliberately engineered by all the shop owners, or was this the side effect of a thousand years of wizard bartering and consumerism? Either way, George didn't like it, not one bit. He'd had his patron mess around in his head for long enough to know that mental manipulation of any degree was wrong.

He loathed magic that could control another against their will, it was the lowest of the low. To end his life with the Killing Curse is fine, to torture him with the Cruciatus Curse is tolerable, but to use the Imperius Curse on him... Now that was unforgivable. George had to recompose himself before his emotions got the better of him, now wasn't the time for outrage. The mission came first. Still, his plans didn't stop him from severing the magic affecting his family. All it should take is a little bump or bang to break a connection this frail. Fortunately, George didn't have to be the one to awaken his family from their stupor as Remus had already taken the initiative to stand in their way.

"I'm glad to see you're all motivated to have a good look around, but before you all get carried away... there is a small issue of money."

Dominic blinked his eyes a couple of times before asking, "is this about that wizard currency?"

Remus nodded, "exactly. For you to convert your 'muggle money' into galleons, sickles and knuts, we all need to go to Gringotts bank right over there."

He gestured towards the large white building a few hundred yards away at the end of the cobbled road.

"Surely some of these shops accept pound sterling. We are still in Great Britain after all, it's not like we've walked across a border", Amanda pointed out.

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"In some ways, you have", Remus pointed at some of the wizards walking by, "they, along with most of the wizard population, have probably never interacted with the muggle world. Just like how you hadn't interacted with theirs until today."

He explained, "due to the secrecy act three hundred years ago, the magic community had slowly become more isolated over the years. This forced us to become more self-sufficient in our economy and politics. Now, places like Diagon Alley are so far removed that they operate completely independent of the outside world."

Dominic straightened his coat, "right then, I guess there is no avoiding it. Will I have to talk to one of those...?"

"Goblins, and yes you will. Regrettably, it's a necessary process", Remus answered dejectedly.

George had noticed his step-sister's disappointment in her grumpy face, no doubt due to all of her dreams of entering all the interesting shops being put on hold. She wasn't a fan of anything that didn't involve the colour pink or glitter, so banks weren't exactly her cup of tea. That was until she overheard the key aspect of Gringotts that differentiated it from any other bank in the world.

"Wait, did you just say Goblins? Like real Goblins?", his step-sister excitedly demanded.

Ellie would have already known this distinct fact if she had been paying attention in the car, but George was highly sceptical that she would have been thinking about anything other than her own upcoming questions at that time.

Remus saw her anticipation and kneeled beside her, "would you like to see one, a goblin that is?"

Ellie answered the question with a very shy nod whilst keeping her eyes towards the ground, she must have been feeling quite embarrassed by having her thoughts exposed.

"Well, what if I told you that goblins run that bank? I bet there are loads of those little creatures in there counting coins and valuing jewels right as we speak. Would you like to see them?", Remus asked rhetorically.

This time, Ellie's eyes immediately left the ground as she looked straight at Remus. Her frantic nodding was much more motivated once she learned of the bank's occupants. This response from Ellie was an eye-opener for George, now he knew of three ways to tempt his step-sister. Mythical creatures could now be added to the pile along with pancakes and sweets. Perhaps he could use this knowledge to weasel his way out of playtime with Her Majesty in the future. All he had to do is offer her something suitably magical enough to win her over, maybe a visit to the pet store wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Now that Remus had convinced the entire family to follow behind him, they all headed through the dense crowds to reach Gringotts Wizarding bank. With Remus's excellent guiding skills, the Linwoods arrived outside of the easily largest building in Diagon Alley. The bank's entrance was one of the most wonky-looking buildings George had ever laid his eyes on. It was a miracle only magic could provide that would keep this leaning stack of marble from falling over. Everything about the building's exterior screamed abundance and wealth. The doorway was large enough to accommodate a troll which was ironic considering the size of the majority of the staff.

Just before they started to ascend the shiny white marble steps up to the bank's entrance, Remus turned around with a serious look on his face. This had to be the first time he had shown any remotely negative emotion since introducing himself to the Linwoods. Judging by what George already knew about Gringotts and the staff within, he wouldn't be surprised if Remus gave them a few words of warning before they entered.

Remus cleared his throat before saying, "even though you might find these things I'm about to say obvious, I want to make sure we're all on the same page before we speak with the staff.

The goblins inside can be rather stubborn and arrogant, and they certainly do not like being belittled. Due to this reason, I insist that you keep your talking to a minimum and allow me to arrange preparations for your exchange of currency.

And Ellie, I must ask that you refrain from pointing and talking about the goblins behind their back. They see and hear all and will not hesitate to remove you from the building if they think you're being disrespectful.

I'm not going to lie to you, they generally don't have a good opinion of muggles, so let's be on our best behaviours and not give a bad first impression".

Remus waited for acknowledgement from everyone, which came in the form of a nod from Amanda and Dominic, and a "yes sir" from Ellie and George before he let them enter.

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