Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.
"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.
Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.
"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."
It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.
For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"
"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.
"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this -- can this be --?"
The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.
"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."
He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.
"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."
Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.
Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.
"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."
"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."
"Always wanted to shake your hand -- I'm all of a flutter."
"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."
"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."
"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!"
哈利以前從未去過倫敦,而哈格力雖然看上去好像知道要去哪,但很明顯他很不習慣通過這種極普通的方式去那里。他在地鐵的檢票處被卡住了,還大聲地抱怨座位太小、火車太慢。
"我真不明白沒有魔法這些馬格人如何生活。"他說,此刻他們正在很吃力的爬一座壞了的升降梯,這座升降梯一直通向擁有許多店鋪的十分喧鬧繁華的街。
哈格力的身材如此巨大以致于很容易擠開擁擠的人群,而哈利所要做的就是跟在哈格力的身后,他們路過書店、音樂店、漢堡包店和電影院,但似乎沒有一個地方看上去可以賣一根魔法手杖給哈利,這僅僅是一條擠滿了普通人的十分平常的街而已。那成堆的魔法金幣真的可能會理在這地底下嗎?真的有店賣咒語書和魔法掃帚嗎?這不會是杜斯利所想出的一個大笑話吧?如果不是哈利知道杜斯利缺乏幽默感的話,他也許真的會這么想,但是,盡管哈格力告訴他的一切是如此的令人難以置信,哈利還是不由自主的相信他。
"這就是了。"哈格力說著,直向一個小站走過去,'易漏的大鍋'。一個非常有名的地方。
其實它是個很小而又骯臟的酒吧。如果不是哈格力指出來,哈利壓根兒沒注意到它,行色匆匆的人們一眼也沒瞧這家小店,他們的目光從街一邊的大書店滑到另一邊的唱片店,都好像根本看不見"易漏的大鍋"似的,事實上,哈利很奇怪地感覺到只有他和哈格力能看見它,但在他提起這之前,哈格力已經拉著他進去了。
作為一個很有名的地方,里面實在很昏暗又破舊。九個老年婦女坐在角落里,喝著小杯的雪莉酒。其中的一個正在吸長管煙,一個帶著高高帽子的年青男子正在同老酒保聊天。老酒保的頭頂光禿禿的,好像一顆腫脹的核桃。當他們倆走進去的時候,閑談的嗡嗡聲立刻停止了,好像每個人都認出哈格力。他們沖著他揮手微笑,那老酒保伸手拿出個玻璃杯,說道:"跟以往一樣嗎,哈格力?""不行,湯姆,我有正事要做。"哈格力說著就用他的大手拍了拍哈利的肩,使他的膝蓋都彎曲了。
"上帝??!"酒保盯著哈利,"這是——,難道說是——?"整個"易漏的大鍋"突然一下子靜了下來。
"上帝保佑,"老酒保小聲地說,"哈利·波特!真是太高興了!"他匆匆地從吧臺后走出來,沖向哈利,緊緊抓住他的手,眼里滿含著淚水。
"歡迎回來,哈利·波特,歡迎回來!"
哈利不知道說什么才好,每個人都在看著他,那個拿著煙斗的老婦人還在不斷地吸煙卻沒有意識到火已經滅了。哈格力一直站在一旁微笑著。
一陣椅子劃過地板的聲音之后,哈利發(fā)現(xiàn)自己正在和"易漏的大鍋"里的每一個人握手。
"波特先生,我叫羅里斯??藙诟L?,不敢相信最終會在這兒遇見您。""太榮幸了,波特先生,見到你我真是感到無比自豪。""一直想和您握手——我都有點手足無措了。""波特先生,見到您我真是有說不出的高興,我的名字叫迪達拉斯。迪格爾。""我以前見過你!"當?shù)线_拉斯。迪格爾的高帽子由于激動興奮而掉下來的時候,哈利說道,"你曾經在一家店里向我鞠過躬。""他還記得。"迪達拉斯。迪格爾沖著每個人大叫:"你們聽見了嗎?他還記得我!"