Early in the morning, Vid and the others had all prepared for the outing—cloaks, scarves, hats, gloves, and anti-slip dragon skin boots.
"Honestly, I feel like a bear right now."
Michael pretended to walk clumsily, even making a "howl" sound.
Harry laughed heartily, "Haha... I think you look more like a penguin!"
"Did you know it's the male penguin that incubates the eggs?" Michael shrieked, "Try my egg-incubating power, baby Harry!"
He rolled like a ball and crashed onto Harry, pinning him to the ground and unable to get up, patting the floor and calling for help.
Lupin pushed the door open and came in, "Let's go, the car I called is here."
"Coming right away!"
Vid waved his magic wand, lifting the two flailing individuals from the floor, and then pocketed the wand.
The two pushed and shoved each other as they squeezed through the narrow doorway, as childish as two kindergarten kids.
Vid stepped out the door, glanced at the dark, gloomy sky outside, heavy with clouds as if it was about to snow.
Ever since Dementors drifted across the UK skies all day, it was hard to see a sunny, fine day.
"The weather isn't too good today," Vid frowned and said, "Actually, we should wait a couple more days before going to Diagon Alley... It's the release day for the communication headsets, that place will definitely be packed."
"But you're not an ordinary tourist, Vid," Michael said with a smile, "You have to go, you have a public speech to give, remember?"
Vid couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
—That's precisely why he didn't want to go.
Vid recalled Professor Morry's persuasive words in the letter—
[Dear Vid, your name is no longer a secret among certain groups, and I've received messages more than once about people intending to kidnap you to gain the wealth and technology you possess, or wanting to use Veritaserum or Love Potion...]
[Continuing to hide doesn't help anymore; on the contrary, the identity of "genius alchemy prodigy" would be more beneficial for your safety...]
Thus, this time, Machioni made a great show of printing Vid's name on the newspaper, even spending money to buy a full page to introduce Vid's alchemy works of recent years, piling lavish praises on him for free.
It's too ostentatious... Just the thought of being ogled like Harry made Vid feel uncomfortable all over.
But he knew it was a process he had to go through, and could only force himself to face it.
"Is the speech ready?"
As they got in the car, Lupin leaned over and asked.
"Of course," Vid replied, "The tech nerd persona is pretty misleading, right?"
Lupin didn't quite understand, but he knew Vid had his plans, so he sat in the passenger seat at ease.
It was a regular Muggle taxi, and the driver was just an ordinary person, so after getting in the car, they stopped talking about anything magic-related and instead discussed the things they wanted to buy.
"I want to get Hermione a book... or a quill, Ron a box of toffees, and for Neville... how about a packet of rare seeds?" Harry calculatedly asked.
"Not bad!" Michael held a notebook, writing down the names of people he wanted to gift, filling several pages: "We can buy different seeds, and also give them to Theo... For Leian, I'm planning to give him a moon model, don't give the same thing as me."
"We won't," Vid said, "When we're back, I plan to check out Harrods, they have some good astronomical models... and then visit a nearby bookstore to pick up a few books."
"I'll go too! I want to see what interesting things are sold at that department store... maybe even buy some newly released games! What do you say, Harry?" Michael said with great interest.
"Of course... uh..."
Harry touched his pockets, recalling that he only had Magic World currency.
"But before that, I might have to visit Ancient Spirit... I mean, the bank."
"Don't forget to buy a gift for your aunt and uncle as well, Harry," Lupin suddenly said.
"What?" Harry immediately looked reluctant, "To them, the best gift would be seeing me have bad luck."
Lupin sighed, "Although I don't like that family, they raised you, Harry, it's only right to exchange gifts."
"Alright..."
Harry grumbled, then said to his friends beside him, "I'll buy a box of toothpicks—they sent me a single toothpick last year, I'm not that petty... I'll send a whole box!"
"What did you say? A single toothpick?!" Michael was shocked, "Can that even be a Christmas gift?"
"Who says otherwise?" Harry said self-deprecatingly.
...
The car soon reached Charing Cross Road, and they got off together. After the car drove away, they walked on the snow-covered road towards the Leaky Cauldron.
The dark and dirty little pub was actually packed with people, filled with the noisy chatter, and the pub's owner, Tom, was so busy that he didn't even notice these few strangers passing through his bar.
Arriving at the small courtyard behind the pub, Lupin tapped his magic wand on the bricks, and the archway leading to Diagon Alley immediately appeared.
Crossing the archway, Vid immediately saw Machioni. He was the one dressed like a bear, pacing back and forth in front of the archway.
Hearing noises, Machioni immediately turned his head, initially seeming to see a few Muggle kids, he disappointedly shifted his gaze.
Then he saw Lupin, hesitated for a moment, turned his head sharply, and finally recognized Vid's eyes from the narrow gap between his scarf and hat.