Hogwarts Homecoming

December 27, 1992.

Just after Christmas, Oxford Street in London's West End is already full of people, and piles of Muggles wearing brand new clothes take to the streets. The children were laughing and playing, and the young people who met each other sent sincere New Year wishes to each other. Everyone had a yearning for a better life in their hearts, and even the heavy snow could not wipe out the smiles on their faces.

For wizards, Christmas is also the most important festival of the year, but the way wizarding families celebrate Christmas is quite different from that of Muggles.

They preferred to stay in the warmth of the room, listening to the crackling of the fire in the fireplace, sitting under a Christmas tree covered in silver frost and dotted with parasites, discussing Quidditch or the latest news.

Therefore, Diagon Alley, which is the business center of wizards, is always particularly lonely during the new year, not to mention Knockturn Alley, which is also considered sparsely populated on weekdays.

Clang, clang, clang!

Amosta, who was hidden under a large black cloak, walked down from the same Gringotts cart, even though his stomach was overwhelmed, but in order to maintain the indifferent personality, he could only act indifferent.

The air is filled with the stinky smell of fermented slug mucus soaked in rotting frog viscera, the rough ground is wet, rows of upside-down torches are neatly suspended in mid-air, and the bright green flames that radiate envelop the vast expanse of land. The fan-shaped underground karst caves reflect eerie like ghosts.

Amosta looked around, and in the 'pet' market 200 feet away on the left, the fifteen-foot-tall monster, whose limbs were firmly bound by the thick and thin iron chains around the mouth of the bowl, sat on the ground weakly, almost To blend in with the dark rock walls.

Its owner is an old hag with missing teeth from Moldova, who brought it here in the hope of selling the troll for a good price, so that she can use the money to treat her own dragon pox.

But unfortunately, it has been sold for two years, and no one cares about it.

At this moment, the old witch was leaning on the slave's toes, cursing at a large group of house-elves nearby, cursing them for polluting the environment.

They were a group of house elves who had lost their masters and had a free body.

Of course, using the word 'freedom' to describe an elf is no different from describing a centaur as a 'beast', and you will definitely not get gratitude.

Most of these poor little guys once belonged to some small wizard families or mystic sects. Their owners disappeared in the river of time for various reasons, which led to the elves being forced to be free.

Not having a master is a very scary thing for house elves, which almost deprives them of the value of existence, so the little ones gathered here spontaneously, hoping to find a master for themselves again.

But to be honest, except for some dark wizards who need living materials to experiment with the effects of spells and potions, no one will take care of them.

The giant monster is very friendly to the elves. Amosta once saw the hungry giant monster slap several of them to death, stuffed them into his mouth and ate them deliciously.

In addition to trolls and elves, in the 'pet' market that smells like a toilet, you can also see many other interesting guys, for example, the centaur who lost the protection of the ethnic group was accidentally captured by Veela (a hot item) , vampires locked in cages, or Irish leprechauns or something that's really nice live material.

Basically, except for the taboo magical animals such as fire dragons and unicorns, you can find most of the existing magical animals in the wizarding world in the pet market in the underground world.

The trading market under the rock wall on the right still maintains the simple style of the European Middle Ages, but the things sold on the stalls randomly placed on the ground are not so simple.

Books of black magic from ancient Greece, potions that greatly increase mana but have inexplicable side effects, and alchemy items that can wipe out life on a large scale in an instant—in a word, compared with those things, they are sold in bojin shops. The products can only be regarded as prank products that little wizards love, and the devil's net here is only suitable for decorative potted plants.

Amosta even saw the seed of the Black Death curse that slaughtered the whole of Europe from an Italian wizard. According to the wizard who sold it, the curse in his hand has been weakened, but if it spreads , killing the Muggles in a city wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Of course, the curse seed has an astonishing price that matches its effect, otherwise, Amosta really wants to buy it and study it.

And this is the dark side of the magical world, a truly lawless place.

After a while, Amosta, who felt better, started to walk towards the center of the cave, gradually joining the sparse crowd.

Most of the people who are active here are wearing black robes, and they don't want to be seen.

Only a small number of unscrupulous lunatics and wizards who just happened to pass through England dared to show their faces in front of the Ministry of Magic's infiltrated surveillance personnel.

Yes, you heard that right.

There are Aurors secretly stationed in the underground world of Knockturn Alley, but their existence is only to monitor that there will be no 'outrageous' things happening here, not to wipe them out, unless the Ministry of Magic wants to contact all the ancient British Genre wizards and dark wizards go to war.

A square area surrounded by low granite walls in the center of the cave is the entrusted market of the underground world. At one end of the courtyard wall stands a tall notice board. On the snake-grained wood board, hundreds of power-of-consignment letters shimmering with red magic contracts are pasted. , quietly waiting for someone to take them off.

Amosta stood under the sign and glanced around, but didn't find any valuable entrustment, so he turned around and sat down on a stone bench, waiting for the trade partner to arrive.

It may be because of the arrival of the new year, there is no one here, only two people are talking to each other ten feet away from the right back in the huge area.

One of them was wearing a brown linen robe, and his bald head was covered with pustules and scabies. He looked like an eighty-year-old wizard who heard the movement and raised his head to look at Amosta.

As if disdainful of Amosta's way of hiding his true face under the twisted magic vortex, he bared his mouth with only three or two yellow teeth left, and squirted out a fishy wind. The back is scorched black like old bark, but the other half is covered with tender, tentacle-like crazily wriggling little granulation, which is very hideous.

However, when the old wizard noticed the golden snake embroidered on Amosta's neckline, he quickly restrained his disgusting smile, nodded politely and looked away.

Amostar was a little interested in the old wizard's funny face.

If he guessed right, it should be that when making the Horcrux, he failed to release the soul-cutting spell, and suffered serious damage caused by the backlash of magic power.

As far as Amosta knew, there was only one thing that could slow the spread of the curse's damage, and the following conversation between the two people also verified his guess.

"Very tricky and dangerous, you know the only place in England where you can find unicorns!"

The thin wizard facing the old wizard took out a glass from under his black robe. The silvery liquid in the glass was very conspicuous in the gloomy underground world, he said cautiously.

The old wizard understood what these words meant, and he sneered sharply. He also took out a piece of mithril the size of a fist from his pocket and threw it on the table.

"Of course, of course, even here, not many people are willing to fall into Dumbledore's hands. I've been waiting for this for a while. You are very brave, and I admire—"

Deals in the underground world have always been straightforward, and there is very little haggling. If you really can't reach an agreement, just kill the other party.

Amosta watched the old wizard with great interest. After seeing him take the glass, sniff it carefully and pour it into his mouth, his face after the blurred light and shadow showed a bit of playfulness.

Here, one thing must be mentioned,

Because of the shortcomings of traditional magic education, school wizards can often be extremely proficient in certain aspects, but on the other hand they may be as ignorant as apprentices who have just been exposed to magic, and modern magic education based on schools has a high probability of not being able to teach them. What an astonishing talent, but at least balanced.

Knowledge balance is very important.

At least for the current deal, any qualified Hogwarts O.W.L.s student will not be fooled by the transfiguration potion and two unicorn feathers.

ps: please collect, recommend, thank you!