December 27, 1992.
Just after Christmas, Oxford Street in West London was already bustling with people, and piles of Muggles took to the streets wearing brand new clothes. The children were laughing and playing, and the young people who met each other sent sincere New Year blessings to each other. Everyone held a yearning for a better life in their hearts, and even the heavy snow could not extinguish the smiles on their faces.
For wizards, Christmas is also the most important holiday of the year, but the way wizard families celebrate Christmas is completely different from that of Muggles.
They prefer to stay in a warm room, listening to the crackling sound of the fire burning in the fireplace, sitting under the Christmas tree covered with silver frost and decorated with mistletoe, discussing Quidditch or the latest news.
Therefore, Diagon Alley, which is the commercial center of wizards, is always particularly lonely during the New Year days, not to mention Knockturn Alley, which is sparsely populated on weekdays.
Crack, bang, click
Amosta, who was hidden under a wide black cloak, stepped out of the Gringotts-style trolley. Even though his stomach was churning, he could In order to maintain his indifferent persona, he could only act calm and relaxed.
The air is filled with the smoky smell of fermented slug mucus soaked in rotten frog entrails. The uneven ground is wet. Rows of inverted torches are neatly suspended in the air, emitting The bright green firelight illuminated this huge fan-shaped underground cave as eerie as a ghost.
Amosta's eyes wandered around. In the pet market 200 feet away to his left, the giant monster, which was fully fifteen feet tall and whose limbs were tightly restrained by iron chains as thick as the mouth of a bowl, was weak and paralyzed. Sitting on the ground, it almost blends into the dark rock wall.
Its owner is an old witch with gaping teeth from Moldova. The purpose of bringing it here is to sell the troll for a good price, so that she can take the money to travel Treat Yourself Dragon Pox Sores.
But unfortunately, it has been sold for two years and there is still no one interested.
At this moment, the old witch was leaning on the slave's toes, cursing at a large group of house elves next to her, cursing them for polluting the environment.
They were a group of free house elves who had lost their masters.
Of course, using the word freedom to describe elves is like using beasts to describe centaurs, and you will definitely not get gratitude.
Most of these poor little guys once belonged to some small wizard families or secret witch sects. Their owners disappeared in the river of time for various reasons, which led to the disappearance of the elves. Forced to be free.
Having no master is a very terrible thing for house elves, which almost deprives them of the value of their existence. Therefore, the little guys gathered here spontaneously, hoping to find themselves a new master.
But to be honest, except for some dark wizards who need living materials to experiment with the effects of spells and potions, generally no one will pay attention to them.
Trolls are more interested in elvesThey were very friendly, and Amosta had once seen the hungry giant monster kill several of them with a slap, then stuffed them into his mouth and ate them deliciously.
In addition to trolls and elves, you can also see many other interesting people in the pet market, which smells like a toilet. For example, a centaur who lost the protection of his tribe was accidentally captured Baby hot items, vampires locked in cages, or very good living materials like Irish leprechauns.
Basically, except for particularly taboo magical animals such as fire dragons and unicorns, you can find most of the existing magical animals in the magical 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 that simple.
Books that record black magic originating from ancient Greece, potions that greatly increase a person's magic power but have unclear side effects, and alchemical items that can instantly wipe out life on a large scale. In short, compared with those things, Bo The products sold in the gold shop can only be regarded as prank products loved by little wizards, and the devil's net is only suitable for decorative potted plants here.
Amosta even saw the curse of the Black Death curse that killed all of Europe from an Italian wizard. According to the wizard who sold it, the curse in his hand was weakened. Yes, but if it spreads, killing Muggles in a city won't be a big problem.
Of course, the cursed seed has an astonishing price that matches its effect. Otherwise, Amosta would really want to buy it and study it.
And this is the dark side of the magical world, a true lawless land.
After a while, Amosta, who felt better, took steps towards the center of the cave, gradually joining the sparse crowd.
Most of the people active here wear black robes and do not want to be seen.
Only a small number of unscrupulous lunatics and wizards who happened to pass through Britain dared to show themselves in front of the Ministry of Magic's infiltrated surveillance personnel.
Yes, you heard it right.
There are Aurors stationed secretly in the underground world of Knockturn Alley. However, their existence is only to monitor that nothing out of the ordinary will happen here, not to exterminate them. Unless, the Ministry of Magic wants to cooperate with everyone. Britain's remaining ancient sects of wizards and dark wizards go to war.
A square area in the center of the cave surrounded by a low granite wall is the commission market of the underground world. At one end of the wall stands a tall notice board, with hundreds of flashing pictures posted on the snake-grained wood sign. The glorious power of attorney of the red magic contract is quietly waiting for someone to take it off.
Amosta stood under the sign and glanced around, but found no valuable commission, so he turned around and found a stone bench to sit down, waiting for the transaction target to arrive.
Maybe it’s because of the arrival of the New Year, but there are also no people here. In the huge area, there are only two people whispering ten feet away from the back right side.
Among themAn old wizard who looked eighty years old and wore a brown linen robe, with his bald head covered with pustules and scabies, raised his head and glanced at Amosta when he heard the movement.
Seemingly disdainful of Amosta's approach of hiding his true appearance under the twisted whirlpool of magic power, he opened his mouth with only a few yellow teeth left, and spit out the fishy wind. , that half of the face was as black as old tree bark after charcoal roasting, and the other half was covered with pink and tender little fleshy sprouts that were crawling like crazy tentacles, which was very ferocious.
However, when the old wizard noticed the golden snake embroidered on Amosta's collar, he quickly suppressed his disgusting smile, nodded politely and then looked away.
Amosta was somewhat interested in the old wizard's interesting face.
If his guess was correct, it should be that when making the Horcrux, he failed to release the soul-cutting curse, and suffered severe magic backlash caused by this.
As far as Amosta knows, there is only one thing that can slow down the spread of damage caused by this curse, and the following conversation between the two people also verified his guess.
"It's very difficult and very dangerous. You should know the only place in the UK where you can find unicorns."
The wizard opposite the old wizard, who was as thin as a bamboo pole, never He took out a glass from under his black robe. The silvery liquid in the glass was extremely conspicuous in the dark underground world. He said carefully.
The old wizard understood what this meant. He sneered sharply and took out a piece of mithril as big as a fist from his arms and threw it on the table.
"Of course, of course, even here, not many people are willing to get in trouble with Dumbledore. I have been waiting for this for a while. You are very courageous and I admire you very much."
Trading in the Underworld He is always straightforward and rarely bargains. If he really can't reach an agreement, just kill the other party.
Amosta watched the old wizard with interest. After seeing him take the glass, smell it carefully and then pour it into his mouth, his face behind the blurry light and shadow showed a bit of amusement.
Here, one thing must be mentioned.
Due to the shortcomings of traditional magic education, wizards of a certain genre can often be extremely proficient in one aspect, but may not be as proficient in another aspect. Apprentices who have just come into contact with magic are equally horribly ignorant, and modern magic education based on schools will most likely not be able to teach any shocking talents, but it can at least be balanced.
Knowledge balance is very important.
At least for the current deal, any qualified student at Hogwarts OS level will not be fooled by someone using a transfiguration spell and two unicorn feathers added to the confusion potion.
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