”i dont know how the muggles ma magic,” he said
as they climbed a brokeor that led up to a bustling
road lih shops.
hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all harry had
to do close behind him. they passed book shops and music
stores, hamburger restaurants a looked
as if it could sell you a magid. this was just an ordinary
street full of ordinary people. could there really be piles of
wizard gold buried miles behere really shops
that sold spell books and broomsticks? might this not all be some
huge joke that the dursleys had cooked up? if harry hadnt known
that the dursleys had no sense ht have thought so;
yet somehow, evehing hagrid had told him so far was
unbelievable, harry t help trusting him.
”this is it,” said hagrid, ing to a halt, ”the leaky
. its a famous place.”
it was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. if hagrid hadnt poi
out, harry wouldnt have was there. the pe
by didnt glaheir eyes slid from the big book shop on
ohe record shop ohey t see the
leaky at all. in fact, harry had the most peculiar feeling
that only he and hagrid could see it. before he ention this,
hagrid had steered him inside.
for a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. a few old women
were sitting in a er, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. one
of them was smoking a lole man in a top hat was
talkiender, who was quite bald and looked like a
toothless walnut. the low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked
in. everyoo know hagrid; they waved a him,
aender reached flass, saying, ”the usual, hagrid?”
”t, tom, im on hogwarts business,” said hagrid, g
his great hand on harrys shoulder and making harrys knees buckle.
”good lord,” said the barte harry, ”is this --
this be --?”
the leaky had suddeely still a.
”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, tear