Chapter 3 :: London
I emerged from Paddington Station into the streets of a warm summer day in London, bringing up a hand to shield my eyes from the glare of the afternoon sun. I had found a map that had shown Charing Cross Station to be pretty near, only a few stops away to the east, and had decided to walk. I had to make my money last, and I had always wanted to visit London anyway.
At this time in the day, the sun would be heading west, which meant shadows would be pointing east. My plan was to go south and hit Hyde Park, which had been shown on the map as a green rectangular region. The map hadn't shown a great amount of detail, but I judged that heading east from the southeastern corner of the park would get me roughly in the vicinity of Charing Cross Station. I assumed it'd be on Charing Cross Road, which I'd then simply wander up and down until I found the Leaky Cauldron.
I set off down a street leading southeast. A small white sign with black letters told me I was on London Street. I wondered what had given this street the distinction of sharing its name with the city itself, over any other street. Four story brick and buildings lined the streets, the first floors serving as shops, pubs, and restaurants. Everything was beautifully maintained and there was a picturesque feel to the place. It was very much what I had imagined London to be like, and I liked it.
I crossed a street named Sussex Gardens and the London Street became Sussex Place. I shrugged, southeast was southeast. It was jarring seeing cars rushing towards me as I walked down the sidewalk on the right side of the street. At least I wouldn't have to worry about driving for quite some time. Possibly never - Wizards had little use for cars, and I was apparently one now.
Navigating my way around my first London roundabout, I continued straight as the road narrowed into a single lane and ended in an intersection with a narrow cobblestone alley. Another white sign on the wall informed me these were the Hyde Park Garden Mews. I had heard the word Mews before in British literature, and had never really known was Mews were.
Low buildings lined the narrow street in either direction, and I decided to go left because it looked to be heading roughly east, which was better than going west. I was no more certain what Mews were when I reached the end of the street, passing under a brick archway that made me think of the entrance to Diagon Alley. Grinning with a sudden surge of excitement, I took a right down the road I had emerged onto, and seeing a leafy green expanse beyond the next intersection, set off skipping towards it, feeling for all the world like the eleven year old I looked like.
Hormones, I reasoned, as I continued skipping, grin plastered onto my face.
Hyde Park was pleasant enough, with long straight paved paths tracing their way through flat, trimmed grassy landscape studded with trees. I found a path heading roughly southeast and set off down it. It had taken me at least a quarter of an hour to reach Hyde Park, and it had looked like it was right next to Padding Station on the map. I realized that Charing Cross was much further than it had looked on the map, and that probably had a few hours walking ahead of me. But the sun was shining strongly, and the heavy scent of plants filled the summer air, and I was content with a bit of walking.
After another ten minutes the trees had thinned out and I was walking through a vast lawn crisscrossed with paths. I could see buildings off in the distance behind a line of trees. Moving steadily toward them, I began to review the next steps in my plan.
Food and shelter were the obvious priorities, along with some sort of disguise. I didn't need to start attracting any attention as the Boy-Who-Lived just yet. Gringotts was the logical first move. I didn't have my key, but maybe I'd be able to access my vault. If not, I'd at least be able to convert some of Petunia's money to Galleons, or at least determine the exchange rate. If that had been mentioned in the books, I didn't remember it, nor did I remember the price of a room at the Leaky Cauldron.
I stopped walking for a moment. Knuts, Sickles, Galleons I remembered, but what was… seven Knuts to a Sickle, thirteen Sickles to a Galleon, maybe? Being raised by Muggles, I wouldn't be expected to know, but having extra information never hurt.
I continued on. In the distance I could see a dark, metallic statue on a white stone pedestal. Upon drawing neared I could see it was a muscular man, holding a sword and raising a shield to the sky. Some sort of Greek hero. The statue's martial pose suddenly made me realize the sheer enormity of my situation. I was the hero in this story, destined to fight the monster. Voldemort. An evil wizard with decades of experience and knowledge of unspeakable dark magic.
Up until now, I had only been focused on escaping the Dursleys, and then the possibilities of the magical world. Never once had the main conflict upon which Harry's story revolved entered my mind. The Prophecy. The final showdown. I knew how it was supposed to end, but I didn't particularly want to go down that path of heroic self-sacrifice. I might be in his body, but I definitely wasn't Harry Potter.
Deep down, I wasn't sure I was a hero.
I had emerged into a wide, open expanse. A large stone structure with three arching gateways separated by rows of large columns off to my right caught my eye, and it was in the right direction so I followed a throng of people moving toward it. A few passersby in Hyde Park had eyed me a bit closely for my comfort, and it dawned on me that an unaccompanied eleven year old wandering a big city might be cause for concern to some good Samaritans.
The crowd of people ahead of me were focused on the grand structures surrounding them, busy snapping pictures and consulting guidebooks. There were several couples of an age appropriate to be my parents, and even a few children near my age, so I stayed on the edges of the crowd, trying to blend in while taking in the scenery myself.
I regretted not having a guidebook of my own. I suspected I was in a famous place with a name I'd recognize. A bustling crowd of people surged about in every direction, flowing around stationary clusters of gawking tourists. I let myself separate from the group I'd attached myself to, weaving my way through the crowd, the chaos shielding me from notice as well as the Invisibility Cloak I was itching to get my hands on.
Figuring I had moved far enough south, I struck off east, walking into my shadow. I passed under another grand marble archway, this time with a winged charioteer adorning it. I ended up following a tree lined street between two parks, which I remembered from the map. Buckingham Palace should be off somewhere to my left, but I couldn't make out anything through the trees lining the side of the road.
I saw it on my right as I emerged from the park after another fifteen or twenty minutes of walking. Sitting down for a break on the edge of a large, ornate fountain replete with a golden statue on top, I winced. I had walked a lot in my… previous life, but Harry clearly wasn't in good shape. My feet and calves ached, and I was hungry and thirsty. I tried to recall the map I had studied in Paddington Station.
Charing Cross Station had been east of Hyde Park, roughly northeast from the southeastern corner of the Park and Buckingham Palace. Looking around, I saw another wide, tree-lined road stretching out from Buckingham Palace and heading off to the northeast. Good enough.
Hopping back to my feet with a grunt, I circled around the fountain and set off, hoping that I'd find Charing Cross soon. I didn't want to spend any money before reaching Diagon Alley and figuring out exactly how far the hundred pounds would get me, but I didn't want to pass out either. Solid meals at Number Four Privet drive were unheard of, and I hadn't had anything to eat all day. It was getting late in the afternoon, and this scrawny underfed body could only take so much.
The crowds had thinned and I had started to feel exposed again. Lone people, sometimes couples, passed by intermittently, and I got several concerned glances. A quick look at me, then a look around me, then a look back at me. The moment of hesitation, where they considered if they should get involved. I kept my head down and quickened my pace.
I could see an indistinct grey shape at the far end of the road I was following, but the road was flat and straight and it was impossible to tell if it was five minutes or half an hour away. I was really starting to feel hunger and exhaustion set in, my enthusiastic energy sapped by over an hour walking and my growing feeling of paranoia.
After what seemed like forever but was probably only another fifteen minutes, the grey blob had resolved into yet another grand stone archway, this one the most impressive yet. It was actually a building that spanned over the road in three large Roman arches. A Latin inscription at the top of the building read:
ANNO DECIMO EDWARDI SEPTIMI REGIS
VICTORIÆ REGINÆ CIVIS GRATISSIMI MDCCCCX
I had taken a year of Latin long ago, and would be needing to brush up on it anyway for my magical education, so I took a moment to try to puzzle out the meaning of the inscription. Anno was year, decimo was ten, Edwardi Septimi Regis was Edward Seventh King, or King Edward the Seventh. Victoriæ Reginæ would be Queen Victoria. Civis would be people, like civilians, probably the people of England, and Gratissimi was gratitude. I worked out the math for the year, 1000 + 500 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 10 = 1910. Like riding a bike. So, my best guess was the inscription meant King Edward the Seventh had built the archway in the tenth year of his reign, which was 1910, and dedicated it to his Queen and his people. A nice gesture, if my rough translation was at all accurate.
A shorter archway for pedestrians stood off to the side of the three massive ones, and I entered it, passing through a tunnel under the structure and out into another grand plaza. Through a gateway, into an impressive plaza. Seemed like a theme for this city.
As far as I could remember from the map and my journey to this point, I should now be in the immediate vicinity of Charing Cross Station. I scanned the area for the telltale red circle I'd see at Paddington Station that represented the Underground, and saw one a bit off to my left. I hurried over and confirmed that this was indeed my destination. A bit of wandering around looking for street signs later, I figured I was in Trafalgar Square and that I'd just walked in down The Mall, but I was unable to find any streets named Charing Cross Road.
Before long I found a bus stop with a map, and was able to find it. Though it seemed to run straight into my current location, my current location was a jumble of small, unlabelled streets on the map, so I figured my best bet was to just head north and keep my eyes open.
It was well into the afternoon, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to get into Gringotts before the morning. If they were anything like Muggle banks they wouldn't be open very late, and I doubted Goblins would go out of their way to accommodate Wizards.
However, I got lucky after a few minutes walking north. A white sign set into the side of a building said Charing Cross Road in black letters.
My luck stayed with me, and another twenty minutes later I was outside of a dilapidated looking building, but with a well maintained wooden sign, gilt lettering proclaiming it The Leaky Cauldron.
