Chapter 40: The Bar of the Broken Pot

Annie was currently standing on a street in London, England. After observing the outdated clothes, hairstyles, and accessories of the passing crowds, as well as the old-model cars roaring down the road, belching thick black smoke, she knew. She knew that after passing through that misty portal, she had not returned to Valoran as she had wished, but had instead arrived in a place that felt entirely foreign. However, fortunately, the one thing she could be certain of now was that she was still on Earth, as evidenced by the English letters on the storefronts and billboards.

Initially, when Annie first saw the various signs on the street, she had naively assumed she had merely been teleported from New York, USA, to London, England.

But how could she have imagined that when she irritably pulled the high-grade agent communication phone produced by S.H.I.E.L.D. from her small backpack, intending to secretly contact Uncle Coulson and Aunt Melinda, she would be met with a startling sight on the screen: *No Signal Identified*?

Blinking at the prominent "No Signal" prompt, Annie was somewhat bewildered. This had never happened before. Hadn't Uncle Coulson and the others said that these specialized high-grade S.H.I.E.L.D. communicators used signals provided by military satellites? He had even guaranteed that no matter where Annie went, she would have a signal and could be located by S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites.

But look at her now! She was standing right here on an open street. Where was the promised signal? How could there be no signal? They were all liars! Or were the S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites fakes? Or perhaps they had gone off to play on the other side of the world and were being blocked by the Earth?

After thinking about it very seriously and distressedly, her stubbornness led her to find a public telephone booth to redial the numbers she had noted down. To her surprise, the prompt coming from that antique receiver reminded her of a shocking fact: the numbers she had just dialed were all non-existent? How was that possible?

It wasn't until, by chance, a confused Annie spotted an expired newspaper discarded in a tin trash can on the other side of the telephone booth—and saw the date printed on it: August 1, 1992—that she finally snapped back to reality...

It turned out that Annie discovered that after passing through that unreliable misty portal, she had arrived in a place that was actually a different Earth, and quite possibly one existing on a different timeline.

Terms like timelines, space-time, and alternate planes were not entirely foreign to Annie. On the Valoran continent, various magic books described this information quite extensively. Furthermore, there were mages who specialized in studying these strange classifications of spells. It was said there was an old man named Kieran who was the most proficient in studying time, because he had actually managed to lose himself within a timeline and thus achieved immortality, leaving countless people envious!

Although the old Annie had never been particularly interested in such things, she had read more than a few similar books. Therefore, she found it relatively easy to accept the fact that she had arrived on a different Earth in a different timeline, and she did not make too much of a fuss.

All Annie knew for now was that the timeline she was in appeared to be Earth in 1992. Her current location was likely some street in London, England. Most importantly: it seemed there was no S.H.I.E.L.D. in this timeline!

"Sigh! How annoying, Tibers... it looks like we've run into another strange place again." Annie let out a dejected sigh. It seemed finding her way home would not be easy; it would be a long and arduous journey... but regardless, Annie would never give up!

Fortunately, Annie had been foresightful. At the very moment she was about to fully enter the portal, she had instinctively used her maximum speed to secretly swipe the Space Stone! Thinking back now, she felt that decision was truly brilliant and decisive! Annie felt she could give her own actions a perfect score, plus a hundred thumbs up!

Since she still possessed the Space Stone, there was still a great chance of going home! At most, she would just have to try a few more times; if worst came to worst, she would just open a few more portals until she got lucky! To Annie, this was no big deal at all.

What angered Annie most right now was this: the Space Stone, which was claimed to possess infinite energy, actually had no energy left? What happened to the "infinite energy"? Truly, Annie felt that the most abundant thing in the world was liars! According to the magical principles of conservation of energy and equivalent exchange she knew, infinite energy simply shouldn't exist!

Even her bear, Tibers, had just mentioned that because the rules of different worlds might differ, the Infinite Stone might lose its ability to directly draw energy from the world, thus losing its infinite energy. However, it could still slowly absorb the stray forces in space, and once it recharged to a certain level, it could be used again! Of course, this might take a little time... okay, actually a rather long time.

Realizing the Infinite Stone no longer possessed infinite energy and knowing she couldn't go home for the time being, Annie could only begin to wander aimlessly through this novel London cityscape. Since it wasn't her first time in a strange place, she might as well stay here for a while!

Annie felt she should be used to this by now! She would play for a bit first! As long as she found a satisfactory place to stay before dark, after she grew tired of playing, it would be fine. Regardless, she had plenty of money in her spatial pocket and wasn't afraid of being robbed! The current Annie was actually brimming with irritation! If anyone was brave enough to provoke her, they could try!

As Annie wandered aimlessly, she had originally thought this world was just an ordinary Earth without S.H.I.E.L.D. But as she wandered into a slightly more remote, old street, she made a new discovery: a slightly old small house stood by the roadside, looking so out of place compared to the surrounding buildings.

If it were just an unusual style, she wouldn't have cared, but what fascinated Annie was that this building actually possessed a faint magical fluctuation. Even more surprising was that, aside from her, none of the other pedestrians or tourists passing by the street seemed to notice this old house; in their eyes, the house seemed not to exist at all!

Even if someone's path came too close to it, they would unconsciously veer a short distance away before walking to the other side. Out of curiosity, Annie tried using a simple Trace Magic analysis and discovered that this fluctuation was very much like a hybrid magic of repulsion and concealment. Although the application was quite rudimentary, it was unexpectedly effective! Moreover, it achieved a nearly perfect effect using the minimum amount of magic!

After observing for a while longer, Annie realized that this magic seemed to target only ordinary people without any magical power. Did this timeline's Earth also have mages? And did they deliberately avoid ordinary people? They actually hid their magical world within the cities of ordinary people?

Having discovered this, Annie closed her eyes and used her vast magical perception to quickly scan the entire London area. Unsurprisingly, she indeed found many places similar to this building. This place was truly... very interesting!

Annie suddenly felt that perhaps, while waiting for the Space Stone to recover in this world, she might not be lonely. Because here, beneath the skin of the ordinary world, a medium-sized magical world was actually hidden. This was much more fun than fighting aliens with S.H.I.E.L.D. back then.

"Eh? The Leaky Cauldron? Or is it the Leaky Cauldron? Why does it look so filthy!" Annie tilted her head and looked at the dilapidated sign hanging on the building's entrance. The words were quite obscure and difficult for her to spell, but since she had discovered something interesting, she naturally had to go in and take a look.

Having made her decision, Annie walked up to the entrance of the building that ordinary people could not perceive. The repulsion magic, of course, had no effect on her!

Standing before the wooden door and looking at something that didn't seem very sturdy, Annie thought about it for a moment before raising her leg and kicking it open. Who told the door knocker to be so high up? She couldn't reach it! Besides, the door panel looked dirty and smelly, covered in some unknown, disgusting, sticky substance; she certainly didn't want to push it with her hands!

"Oh, Merlin's beard! I've said it countless times, don't kick my door! Don't kick my door! If you break it, can you poor devils afford to pay for it? It's an antique! Er—" Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, saw someone kicking the door open again and was about to lose his temper, but he didn't expect that the person walking in would be a neatly dressed, cute, and well-behaved blonde little girl. His intended vitriol immediately died in his throat.

This situation gave him a small shock. Generally speaking, most wizards came to the Leaky Cauldron directly through the fireplace—it was both convenient and fast! Very few people entered properly through the main door; after all, it was too much trouble to detour through the street to enter. Perhaps only Muggle-born wizards who hadn't set up fireplaces would do such a thing?

Frowning in confusion, he looked at the little girl walking in, then looked behind her; she didn't seem to be accompanied by any family? This made Tom, as a pub owner, a bit puzzled. Since when were children allowed to wander into bars to play?

And most importantly: look at her! She didn't seem to have a guardian with her? Had she snuck off here to play alone? Merlin's sake! This wasn't a place for the pious. Was it really okay to let such a young girl come to a place like this? Weren't her parents worried that some dark wizard might kidnap her?

"Wow! So many magic apprentices~!" After entering, Annie's gaze swept quickly across the slightly dilapidated bar. She found that, aside from being a bit dim, there were actually many mages drinking and chatting. Although many of them had weak magical fluctuations—some only at the level of a Valoran apprentice—they could still be called mages!

But they looked too dirty. Ptooey! How disgusting! Just as Annie's gaze swept past a wizard with messy hair, the man actually smiled at her, revealing a mouth full of yellow, plaque-covered teeth. It was so nauseating that Annie almost couldn't resist the urge to burn him on the spot!

Annie frowned, watching the people in the dim corners warily. Were those the dark wizards her mother used to talk about? They looked truly disgusting! How long had they gone without a bath? What was that strange smell... she really wanted to burn them all right now!

"Greetings, noble little guest! Would you like something to drink?" Tom bowed slightly, leaning halfway out from behind the bar, and offered Annie a fawning smile. Everyone was a customer, and since the little girl was already here, he might as well try to make a sale first.

Looking at the neatly dressed little girl before him, the shrewd Old Tom could tell at a glance that she was no ordinary person!

Just look at the fabric and craftsmanship of her clothes, and look at those exquisite little leather boots on her feet. Could an ordinary wizarding family afford those? How many Galleons would a whole outfit like that cost?

Having spent years in bars, Old Tom was an expert at reading people. If a filthy old wizard had walked in, he would surely only say, "What do you want to drink?" while simultaneously gesturing for them to pay up! No money? Then get out! Want to go to Diagon Alley? Then go around the right side of the bar yourself; don't hover in front of him and annoy him!

"Just give me something tasty!" Intending to observe the situation for a while, Annie tossed a Valoran gold coin onto the bar and walked over to an empty table. She felt a bit hungry; perhaps eating something first would be a good choice, though she didn't know if it would taste good!

Seeing a flash of gold flying toward him, Old Tom's eyes lit up. He hurriedly reached out both hands and caught the coin the little girl had tossed just in time!

Once he had caught it securely, he stared intently: it was a gold coin! Although it wasn't a Galleon and he couldn't read the script on it, the coin had significant weight! It could probably be exchanged for two or three Galleons at the very least; if it were an ancient coin, it might even be more! It seemed he was going to make a big profit today.

After stowing the gold coin, Tom was about to pick up a mug of Butterbeer to put on a plate, but he paused and immediately pulled it back. He was practically giddy—he had actually thought about giving a little girl alcohol?

So, he immediately set down the beer and replaced it with a glass of juice and milk, then added a large slice of cream cake. He also brought out a large plate with a glass dome and carefully placed a few Chocolate Frogs inside before respectfully serving it on Annie's table.

"Your order has arrived! Please enjoy, noble guest!" As he spoke, he used his dirty rag to vigorously wipe the table twice for Annie before bowing and scurrying back behind his bar.

"Huh? This is fun! They're actually moving frogs?! And they look like they're made of chocolate? These are moving Chocolate Frogs!"

Annie's eyes widened. She leaned forward, almost pressing against the glass dome, watching the several brown frogs hopping around inside. Not only did these frogs croak, but they even puffed out their gills to breathe? Their skin looked lifelike, with distinct patterns? Huh? And every single one was different? Wow! They even jumped up to hit the dome, trying to escape! What magical things! What a novel application of magic! What a wonderful concept for Transfiguration!

With just one glance, Annie saw through the essence of the Chocolate Frogs. She now felt that the magical world here was truly interesting!

It looked so much fun! Do they even make their food this interesting? She also noticed that the portraits on the walls were all moving. The application of magic in daily life here seemed quite widespread.

After observing, Annie prepared to eat. She had just lifted the glass dome and reached out swiftly to grab a struggling Chocolate Frog, bringing it before her eyes to consider how to eat it. Should she just bite its head off? Looking at the frog still struggling and squeaking in her hand, Annie hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to take a bite. It felt like she was eating a live frog; should she... roast it over a fire first?

At that moment, the remaining frogs in the plate finally found their chance. They immediately scurried out through the gap in the opened dome. Once they escaped, they quickly dispersed. Before Annie could react, they hopped off the table in a few bounds and leaped high into the air, looking as if they were about to hit the ground...

"Hmph!" Annie had already noticed the small movements of the frogs. Want to escape? Don't even think about it! She hadn't had enough fun yet; how could she let them just run away? Besides, wouldn't they get so dirty if they landed on the floor? Would she even want to eat them then?

Following Annie's cold snort, all the escaping frogs were instantly frozen in mid-air. It was as if they had been caught by an invisible hand, held firmly in place. For a moment, Annie's magic rendered their limbs immobile, leaving them only able to croak loudly before they slowly drifted back into the plate on Annie's table.

The wizards around the room, who had been watching Annie and were waiting to see her in an embarrassing situation as the frogs escaped, were now speechless with shock... If they hadn't misseen, was that wandless magic? And it seemed to be a silent, wandless, multi-casting Levitation Charm?! That "Hmph" didn't even count as an incantation, did it?

Merlin's beard! Where on earth did this little girl come from? How is she so monstrous? Could she be some old monster who has lived for hundreds of years, disguised with Polyjuice Potion?

Seeing the casual display of skill from Annie, other dark wizards—who had been eyeing the girl's generosity and calculating how to take advantage of her—immediately abandoned their unrealistic plans! While secretly feeling relieved, they didn't even have the courage to look at her again! Rob her? Their legs were still trembling! It was a good thing they hadn't acted; otherwise, it was anyone's guess who would end up being the one robbed!