Chapter 768: A Quiet Diagon Alley

"Tom, I miss you."

On the iCodex, Daphne blinked her big eyes at him, looking utterly pitiful.

She was wearing her nightgown, her hair still a little messy, and her face was so close to the screen that she looked ready to climb straight through it and land in Tom’s house.

"Oh~ How is my little witch~"

Rather than feeling sorry for her, Tom found himself wanting to pinch her cheeks.

Daphne had been locked up at the Greengrass manor for days now, with no chance of seeing him.

Of course, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to come over. Lady Greengrass simply wouldn’t let her.

Lady Greengrass felt that Daphne had gone completely feral at school. She’d turned into the boss of all Slytherin, and her word carried weight in the other Houses and even with some of the professors. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but her daughter was getting wilder by the day, loud and rowdy and about as far from a proper young lady as you could get.

A Greengrass had to carry herself well. At the very least, she had to put on a good act in front of outsiders.

Lady Greengrass had raised Daphne so carefully, and then Tom had spoiled her for years until her true colors came out. Now it was going to take real effort to straighten her out again.

So Daphne had been kept home for "training," and Astoria had been dragged down with her.

Astoria was much better behaved than her sister, but with a sister like that, what chance did she have? As a result, neither of them could visit Tom.

"Just listen to your mother," Tom said. "Once you meet her standards, she’ll let you out to play, okay?"

"No way. Her standards are way too high."

Daphne flopped onto the table and propped her chin on her little fist. "I have to get up crazy early every day. Etiquette lessons in the morning, and then I’m stuck learning to read account books all afternoon. I’m not Princess Diana."

After the wizarding world was exposed to the public, even young witches and wizards began paying attention to Muggle society. And, unsurprisingly, they adored Princess Diana for reasons no one could quite explain, became devoted Michael Jackson fans, and some even wanted to find a way to cure Muhammad Ali of his illness.

"She’s doing it for your own good, Daph."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tom had already spotted a figure walking up behind Daphne. He gave her a meaningful look.

"The Greengrass line goes back a thousand years. Your family’s famous all over Europe. As the future head of the family, your mother expects a lot from you and wants you to uphold its image. You should try to understand her."

Once he’d said it, he noticed the beautiful woman behind Daphne had the corners of her mouth curling up.

But the next second, they dropped. Because Daphne hadn’t noticed Tom’s signals at all. "Mom just can’t stand seeing me happy. She wasn’t this happy when she was in Hogwarts, and she never found someone as great as you, so..."

"Daphne!" Tom couldn’t take any more. If she kept going, he might never see her again.

"Huh? What is it, Tom?" The girl still had no idea what was going on.

"Nothing. Rest in peace. I mean, good luck." Tom sighed as he watched Lady Greengrass cut the connection. In the final instant before the screen went dark, he could faintly hear the girl’s screams.

Only then did a little fox crawl out from under the desk, grinning ear to ear with undisguised glee.

"Looks like the young miss is in for it now."

Tom ruffled her fur, exasperated. "Seriously, why were you hiding under the table? If you wanted to stay out of sight, you could’ve just left the room."

The little fox kept her head tilted back and blinked up at him. "But Tom, don’t you think it’s thrilling this way?"

"Thrilling how?" Tom scooped her up, shifted her onto his lap, and held her in his arms. If anything exciting had actually happened under there, fine. But all she’d done was turn into her fox form and keep stepping on his leg with her tail. What was thrilling about that?

"If you want, I won’t change next time."

Say what you like, but when it came to being a fox, Kamio had natural talent. That bewitching, half-lidded look of hers made Tom want to tease her mercilessly.

After some playing, they decided to head out, took a cab to the city center, and set off for Diagon Alley.

Tom could have used an Apparition trick to take Kamio straight into the Alley. But he wanted to see what it was like now for a normal wizard trying to get in.

A few hundred meters from the Leaky Cauldron, he already spotted several Hit Wizards on patrol and Ministry staff. They wore plain clothes and were spread out along both sides of the street.

Some pretended to read newspapers. Some stood at the curb smoking. Others kept their eyes on the pub’s front door, and anyone who lingered there too long got noted down. In the bookshop next door, there were even two Auror squads on standby in case anything went wrong.

A notice posted at the pub’s entrance said large groups of wizards were not allowed to enter together. They had to come in small batches to keep Muggle attention to a minimum. Anyone spotted by Muggles would be fined 20 Galleons.

Tom was practically a celebrity in the wizarding world by now, and plenty of the plainclothes officials recognized his face as he passed.

Inside the Leaky Cauldron, the pub owner who was also named Tom, hurried over to greet him in person. He warmly escorted him to the back courtyard and through the brick wall into Diagon Alley.

"Come visit anytime, Mr. Riddle!" Old Tom called after him, waving reluctantly.

As the keeper of the pub that linked the wizarding world’s commercial center to the Muggle world, he never lacked for business. What he lacked was clout. Especially lately, with the Ministry keeping a close watch on the Leaky Cauldron, he was being harassed constantly and could do nothing about it.

But today, when Tom walked in, the Ministry staff wouldn’t even look at him. That gave Old Tom an idea. He heard from Hannah that she and Tom got along well at school, practically friends. If Tom could put in a word with Fudge, things might get a lot better.

...

Inside Diagon Alley, compared to the usual bustle of the holidays, the place felt strangely quiet.

Hardly anyone was out on the street, and the shops were nearly empty.

During a normal break, Madam Malkin’s would be mobbed with parents and kids buying school robes. Now it took ages for even one customer to wander in.

Ollivanders was still open, but only a single lamp was lit in the window.

Florean Fortescue’s had put away half its chairs, looking like it had no plans to take customers.

Only Gringotts, Flourish and Blotts, and the entrance to Tom’s Astra Abyssum Guild had any real foot traffic.

Tom was surprised. "How long has it been since I last came? How did Diagon Alley end up like this?"

Kamio knew Tom had been busy with important things lately and hadn’t paid attention to this sort of trivia, so she cleared her throat to explain.

"Let me put it as plainly and simply as I can. There are two main reasons Diagon Alley’s gone quiet.

"One. The Muggle world doesn’t officially recognize wizards, but some people are always curious about the unknown. You saw it yourself: getting in is a lot more of a hassle than it used to be. On top of that, the Ministry has issued a new regulation banning Muggle-born students from entering with their parents. They have to apply in advance for a temporary Ministry chaperone."

"Madam Bones’ handiwork?" Tom raised an eyebrow.

After their disagreement at the Ministry last time, he’d meant to find another chance to talk to her, but he’d been so busy he’d forgotten all about it. It looked like she was still on maximum alert when it came to Muggles.

Kamio nodded and went on. "The second reason is you."

"Lots of shopkeepers are dying to open a place in Dalaran, so they’ve been neglecting things here. Once Dalaran officially opens, this place will probably get even more deserted."

"You can’t blame me for that." Tom shook his head. "Diagon Alley’s small and cramped. It was always going to limit business."

Kamio giggled and hugged his arm. "I know. You’re the best, Tom."

Chatting and laughing, they walked into the hall of Astra Abyssum.

Sirius Black had returned to Britain the day before and invited Tom to the Guild to discuss their next steps. Tom hadn’t checked in on his businesses for quite some time, and since the headquarters needed to be relocated to Dalaran anyway, he’d accepted the invitation.

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