Harry shook hands again and again -- Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.

　　A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.

　　"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

　　"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."

　　"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"

　　"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.

　　But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.

　　"Must get on -- lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."

　　Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.

　　Hagrid grinned at Harry.

　　"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh -- mind you, he's usually tremblin'."

　　"Is he always that nervous?"

　　"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was

　　studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience.... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag -- never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"

　　Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.

　　"Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."

　　He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.

　　The brick he had touched quivered -- it wriggled -- in the middle, a small hole appeared -- it grew wider and wider -- a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

　　"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."

　　He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.

　　The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons -- All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver -- Self-Stirring -- Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.

　　"Yeah, you'll be needing one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."

哈利不断地和这些人握手——多里斯。克劳福特老是跑回来想多握几次手。

　　一个虚弱的青年男子艰难地向这边走过来，他看上去十分紧张。他的一只眼睛在抽搐着。

　　"这是屈拉教授，哈利，"哈格力说，"屈拉教授将是你在霍格瓦彻学习时的老师。""波——波——波特，"屈拉教授有点口吃，他抓住哈利的手，"无——无法告——告诉你见到你我是多——多么地高——高兴。""您在学校里教哪种魔法呢，屈拉教授？"

　　"防黑巫术课，"屈拉教授说得十分小声，好像他宁愿没提起这回事，"找不到你想要的东西吗？波——波特。"他很紧张地笑了起来。"我猜你将准备好所有需要的工具了。我自己已经买到一本有关吸血鬼的新书。"他说到这点的时候看上去很可怕。

　　但是其他人是不会让屈拉教授占有哈利很长时间的。哈利花了差不多十分钟的时间才摆脱这些人。最后，哈格力设法使自己的声音能很清楚地被大家听到。

　　"我们得继续赶路了——还有许多东西要买，哈利，快点过来。"多里斯。克劳福特最后的一秒钟又和哈利握了握手，哈格力带路走出了酒吧，进到了一个围墙围起来的小院子，在这里面除了一堆垃圾和几丛野草之外什么也没有。

　　哈格力冲着哈利露齿一笑。

　　"我没告诉你吗？你很有名气的，就连屈拉教授见到你都会发抖，尽管他是经常发抖。""他总是那么紧张吗？"

　　"哦，是的，可怜的家伙，他很聪明，当他在学校里学习魔法的时候是非常优秀的，然后他花了一年时间出去积累亲身经验，他们说他在黑森林里遇见了吸血鬼们和一个非常危险难缠的老巫婆——从此以后一切就变样了——他开始害怕学生们，对自己的课题也感到惊恐——我的伞在哪？""吸血鬼？老巫婆？"哈利的脑海中浮现出这些情景，而哈格力却坐在垃圾堆上数着墙上的结块。

　　"向上三块……横移三块……"他小声咕哝着，"对了，向后站，哈利。"他用伞尖对着墙壁敲了三次。

　　他触到的那块砖开始振动——中间部分在剧烈的蠕动着，一个小洞出现了——越变越大——一秒钟之后一个大到足以让哈格力穿过的拱门就摆在了他们面前。这座拱门通向一条由鹅卵石铺成的街道，这条街道弯弯曲曲地向前延伸直到看不见为止。

　　"欢迎来到戴阿宫道。"哈格力说。

　　哈利见此情景已经惊讶到说不出话，哈格力冲他露齿一笑，两人便一起跨入拱门，哈利迅速扭过头，看见身后的那座拱门已经又变成一面坚实的墙。

　　阳光明亮地照在最近的一家店外的成堆的大锅上。上面挂着一幅招牌，写道：大锅——各种尺寸的——铜的、黄铜的、白蜡的。

　　银的——自动——折叠式。

"啊哈，你得买一个大锅，但我们首先得拿到你的钱。"