My name is Sasuke, from being the richest man in Naruto to dominating the world

Chapter 575: Buying a pet, buying a book, and seeing a Horcrux for the first time

The Leaky Cauldron is the first stop for countless wizards and witches from native Muggle families when they come into contact with the magical world. It is also one of the most important communication channels between the wizarding world and the Muggle world.

The bar looked dingy and run-down from the outside, and certainly looked much the same inside.

It has a long history. It was established around the beginning of the 16th century. It has gone through hundreds of years of ups and downs. It is not easy for it to survive to this day.

The address of the bar is 1 Diagon Alley. On the left and right sides are a Muggle bookstore and a record store. Diagon Alley is just behind the bar.

Because the bar itself was cast with a very powerful Muggle-repelling spell, ordinary people who couldn't do magic or had no magical powers couldn't see the bar. Of course, these spells couldn't stop Zhou Ming and Cynthia. Even if they didn't ignore it, they could still discover the existence of the bar.

“This place is disgusting…”

A trace of disgust flashed across Cynthia’s face.

"Let's just pass by and bear with it for a while."

Zhou Ming advised, then pushed the door open with Cynthia.

What hits you in the face is a damp, corrupt smell, which matches the environment here very well.

Zhou Ming took Cynthia across the bar hall and went straight to the bar counter under the gaze of several mysterious-looking guys wearing wizard robes.

"So it's you guys. Is it time to buy books again?"

Bar owner Tom looked at Zhou Ming and Cynthia and quickly remembered their identities.

"Yes, we are going to Diagon Alley to buy this year's textbooks. Is there no one back there now?"

"No one's here. You can go straight over."

"Thanks."

Zhou Ming nodded and took Cynthia to the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron. A brick wall blocked their way.

"You coming or me?"

Zhou Ming asked, but while asking the question, he had already drawn his wand. There was no other way. This was his first experience in the Harry Potter world. Before, he could only watch other people knocking bricks to open doors in books, but now it was finally his turn. Zhou Ming was somewhat excited.

"You do it."

Cynthia didn't have the same sentimental blessing as Zhou Ming, so she didn't care who opened the door.

Zhou Ming smiled and counted upwards from the bricks on the trash can, first three rows, then two bricks horizontally, and finally tapped the brick wall lightly three times with his wand.

The next second, the brick wall began to shake, and the bricks rotated and moved to both sides. A hole appeared in front of the two people. Behind the hole was the most prosperous commercial street in the wizarding world - Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley is not very large, with only one main street and various shops on both sides of the road, selling wands, wizard robes, small pets, various magic supplies and props, and of course, the protagonist of today, a bookstore selling books.

However, before buying the books, Zhou Ming and Cynthia had to exchange them for gold Galleons first.

Galleons are the exclusive currency of the wizarding world. They are a type of gold coin that has been imbued with special magic. The exchange rate with the British pound is approximately 1:5, which means that one Galleon is approximately equal to five pounds, so the purchasing power of Galleons seems to be quite good.

Zhou Ming and Cynthia's family conditions are still very good in the Muggle world. Cynthia's parents are archaeologists, and the bonuses and allowances they can get every year, plus normal salary income, make them a middle-class family. Zhou Ming's family is even more powerful. His "parents" were in the pharmaceutical business before they immigrated to Daiying, and they did the same after they came to Daiying.

He has patents for multiple special drugs, and he can make a lot of money just by collecting patent fees every year without doing anything.

Unfortunately, there is no currency exchange mechanism between the wizarding world and the Muggle world. Young wizards from Muggle families go to Gringotts to exchange money only because they have this demand, and Gringotts must meet it. But it is impossible to expect endless exchange, as neither Gringotts nor the Ministry of Magic allows it.

Otherwise, with the different productivity, population size and total assets between the two worlds, as long as the wizarding world dares to allow currency swaps, the powerful capital of the Muggle world will be able to overwhelm the wizarding world's financial system in minutes.

Zhou Ming and Cynthia exchanged 100 Galleons each at Gringotts, which made the goblins look at them somewhat unfriendly. However, Zhou Ming didn't care about that. He only needed to make an excuse that he needed Galleons to buy potion materials and experimental equipment, and the goblins would have to pinch their noses to exchange more money for him.

After all, even a fool knows that it is normal for those who do potion research to spend lavishly. Local wizards with some assets naturally don't care, but wizards from Muggle families must exchange a large number of Galleons to purchase materials if they want to conduct research. As long as Zhou Ming does not have the ability to obtain Galleons himself, Gringotts will have to give him some leeway to a certain extent.

“Would you like to buy a pet?”

After coming out of Gringotts, Zhou Ming did not go to Flourish and Blotts immediately, but looked at a pet shop not far away.

Normally, new students at Hogwarts will receive a shopping list before they enter school, which specifies the types of pets they can bring. But please note that the school has never required students to bring pets, and it is also okay not to bring them. It’s just that most pets are not very expensive, and bringing them to school can also be a companion for students when they are lonely. Therefore, as long as the family conditions are not particularly poor, they will generally buy a decent pet for their children.

Even people like Ron, who come from a poor family, would choose the old pet passed down by his brother.

Only some people who are eccentric and really don't like pets can choose not to bring them.

In the background settings of Zhou Ming and Cynthia, neither of them chose a pet in the first grade.

"Pets, that's not impossible."

Artemis was slightly moved.

"Then go and have a look."

Zhou Ming immediately took Artemis to the nearest pet shop.

With the clerk's warm greeting and introduction, the two quickly chose their pets.

Cynthia's choice was quite conventional, she chose an Egyptian cat. This cat is smart, friendly, lively, playful, sensitive, can adapt to home life, has no requirements for living space, and can move around even in a small space.

More importantly, in Egyptian mythology, the Egyptian cat is the incarnation of the moon goddess Bastet, so this kind of cat also has a certain relationship with the moon. It can be said that Cynthia’s choice of the Egyptian cat is completely correct.

When it was Zhou Ming's turn, he was a little troubled. He liked cats very much, but he didn't plan to keep one here.

Apart from cats, he didn't like the other pets recommended by the school. The main function of an owl was to deliver mail, but he had no need for that. As for toads... to be honest, he really didn't like them, and he didn't intend to imitate the Toad Sage.

However, in addition to the several pets recommended on the first-year list, Hogwarts actually accepts other more exotic pets.

For example, there is Ginny's dwarf Pooh, Hagrid's spider, and so on. So the names on the list are not mandatory, but just simple examples. To put it bluntly, the school hopes that students can bring some common, non-aggressive pets to relieve their loneliness and not cause trouble to the school.

Zhou Ming chose for a long time and finally chose a raven for himself.

Ravens are also one of the pets allowed in Hogwarts. They are similar to owls, but they are not good at long-distance express delivery of packages. Instead, they are better at delivering letters because ravens fly much faster than owls and it is more convenient to deliver letters.

The main reason why Zhou Ming chose the raven is that it is smart enough. This bird can be called one of the smartest birds in nature and has excellent problem-solving skills. When foraging, if it encounters difficulties, it will even make simple tools to help itself.

Secondly, this bird knows how to recognize people, which is also very rare, especially it knows how to recognize the faces of different humans.

Finally, ravens have a strong ability to adapt to the environment. Whether in higher and colder areas or hotter and lower areas, you can see them active. They can even adjust their body shape and beak size according to changes in the environment, which is really outrageous.

So considering some of his own ideas, Zhou Ming finally chose a very beautiful raven with shiny black fur and extremely smart eyes. When Zhou Ming looked at it, it would immediately respond and look at Zhou Ming.

After buying the pet, the two left the pet store and went straight to Flourish and Blotts Bookstore.

He and Cynthia were both sophomores at Hogwarts, or to be more precise, they were promoted to sophomore after school started, so they were the same age as Harry, Ron, Hermione and others.

Therefore, the teaching materials they need to buy this year are exactly the same as Harry and others.

When the two arrived at Bloomsbury Bookstore, they saw some commotion happening in front of the door when they were still several meters away.

The crowd blocking the door let out a cry of surprise and quickly dispersed, revealing two figures who were already wrestling with each other inside.

Looking closely, I saw that the two people fighting were actually two adults, one with platinum hair and the other with red hair.

That's right, these two people are Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy. Because of Lucius's provocation, Arthur was so angry that he fought with the other party, causing chaos at the scene. Of course, the wizards and witches nearby are all people who like to watch the fun and don't mind the trouble. They will not go up to separate the two, but continue to cheer and encourage them from the side.

Arthur's wife Molly was so anxious that she was jumping up and down. Fortunately, there was a half-giant Hagrid on the scene. When he saw that the two were fighting fiercely, he immediately stepped forward and pulled them apart.

Arthur was so angry that he wanted to rush forward, but was stopped by Molly, while Lucius shook off Hagrid's hand.

"You can't win the argument, so you choose to fight, right? Weasley is indeed a disgrace to the purebloods. Look at these old books, they are tattered and second-hand. This is the result of you betraying the purebloods."

Lucius's long hair, which had been neatly combed, became extremely messy. He sneered, bent down to pick up some tattered books from the ground, looked at Arthur mockingly, and threw them into the small bucket in the hand of Ginny, who had already been frightened.

"Draco, let's go!"

After saying that, he walked away with his son, leaving the Weasley family standing there angrily glaring at the backs of the father and son.

Zhou Ming didn't pay attention to Lucius. His eyes were always on Ginny's bucket. A black booklet appeared in it at some point. There was no doubt that it was a Horcrux.

Horcruxes are dark magic items created by Voldemort through killing and splitting souls. They are very powerful life-saving props.

Each Horcrux contains a piece of Voldemort's soul. If his main soul dies accidentally, the soul fragments in the Horcrux can wake up and become a new Voldemort.

However, this kind of magic item is too evil and has long been recognized as a forbidden technique in the wizarding world. Most wizards don't even know what a Horcrux is, let alone learning how to make one.

Moreover, the production method of this prop is very demanding, and killing is only the most basic condition. Therefore, generally speaking, even the most evil dark wizards can only make one Horcrux just in case.

So Voldemort is the top master of the dark arts. He actually created seven Horcruxes in one go. I dare not say that there will be no one better than him, but it is definitely no problem to say that there has never been anyone like him before.

Now is Zhou Ming's easiest chance to obtain a Horcrux, all he has to do is get the black booklet.

But he thought about it and decided not to act rashly.

It's not that he's worried about ruining the plot or anything. The plot is meaningless to him. He has no idea how many worlds he has ruined. Basically, since he traveled through time, no world has been able to maintain its original plot, and the Harry Potter world is no exception.

He just considered that now was not the best time to contact Voldemort's soul.

He could ensure that he would not be tempted by the residual soul in the Horcrux, and even be like Ginny, who almost lost all her vitality to it.

But his current understanding of magic is too shallow, and the practical significance of getting a Horcrux is far less than its symbolic significance. If he wants to get a Horcrux, his biggest purpose must be to study this kind of black magic, and then get more magic knowledge from Voldemort. But considering his current poor foundation, even if he gets a Horcrux, the knowledge he can get is very limited.

In that case, he might as well leave the Horcrux with Ginny first. Ginny couldn't run away anyway, and he just needed to get the diary before it was destroyed.

The riot ended, the crowd returned to normal, and the Weasley family left together. Zhou Ming also saw Harry and Hermione in the crowd. They had been following Ron.

Zhou Ming did not disturb the three people. He took Cynthia into the bookstore, ignored Lockhart's nonsense, bought all the necessary textbooks, and then turned and left Diagon Alley.

During the last few days of the holiday, the two continued to study magic at home. It was not until September 9st that they packed all their luggage, came to King's Cross Station, boarded Platform 1 and /, and prepared to officially start their journey into the magical world.

(End of this chapter)