harry potter book of crimes

There is no doubt that Knockturn Alley is a mixed place. There are many very suspicious magic items for sale here, and there are also many very suspicious witches and wizards coming and going.

If you are serious, you can even find things here that violate both law and morality.

In short, this place is not only "unsuitable for children", but adults should also avoid hanging out here easily.

But of course - since Knockturn Alley is a place directly connected to Diagon Alley, even if there is some darkness hidden here, it is by no means a lawless place.

Especially in today's era, those "grey wizards" who used to love testing the edges of the law are less courageous to do anything extraordinary now.

Therefore, there is really nothing special about Knockturn Alley in recent years, except for some deceptions that are difficult to avoid.

At this moment, Pansy and Eluli were following Martin. After avoiding three Aurors in an alley, the two of them soon followed Martin to a store with a narrow facade.

As soon as she entered the door, Pansy immediately noticed a disgusting rancid smell. Obviously, the reason why she didn't smell it outside the door before was just because someone had imposed some obstructive smell on the door.

It's just a barrier to escape.

However, perhaps it is precisely because of the invisible barrier that the stench cannot escape at all, which makes the smell in the store so amazing.

After Pansy quickly pinched her nose, she was finally able to breathe a little easier.

"Is there...a wand for sale here?"

Resisting the urge to turn around and exit immediately, she looked around at the layout of the store, but the shelves placed against the walls around her were filled with some rather creepy magical materials.

And when she took a closer look, she immediately found the source of the stench - it was a water tank placed in the corner, with a large sack full of stuff in it.

As for what was contained in the sack that had been soaked in dark red, Pansy didn't want to know at all.

When Pansy asked, Martin standing in front immediately waved his hand.

"No, not here," he said, "this is the magic materials store I told you about before, a magic materials store run by a friend of mine. When I call my friend out, I will ask her to take you to buy wands.

——You know, this is more convenient than me taking you there, after all, there are those damn Aurors everywhere outside now!"

Martin's explanation did make sense, and to be honest, Pansy didn't want to be with him at all.

"Oh, I understand," she nodded immediately, "This is indeed the best choice."

Just as he was talking, he heard Martin shouting softly towards the back of the store:

"Muriel? Are you there? It's me - Martin, I need you to do me a little favor!"

Before they finished speaking, Pansy and Eluli heard a sudden thumping sound inside, and then they saw a thin figure staggering out of it.

Judging from the name Martin called the other party, it was obvious that he was a witch, and the long and messy hair of the other party just confirmed this.

"It's been a few years since I took a shower?" Iluli, who had never spoken much, couldn't help but thought to herself, "It's so scary!"

As a servant who is responsible for taking care of her master's daily life, Iluli has a little bit of mysophobia. To be honest, including this shop and the owner of that shop, she really can't stand it.

"Muriel, did you fall again?"

Martin seems to have long been accustomed to this.

"Well, anyway, you seem to be fine? Then...take them both to Old Tim's thrift store for me! There are Aurors outside looking for me, but our elementary school girl still needs a can.

An old makeshift wand."

Elementary school girl?

After Pansy heard this, she immediately looked at the dirty witch carefully - could it be said that this was also a past graduate of Hogwarts?

While she was thinking about it, she saw the sloppy witch whom Martin called "Muriel" casually rubbing her knees, and then she lifted up her long split hair and glanced at Pansy and Eluli.

"Hmm... want to go to Old Tim's place? It's okay, but every time I go to Old Tim's place, I always feel that he is a little unhappy..."

In response, Martin could only grin and shake his head.

"Can't you use a cleaning spell to make yourself clean? Of course he won't look good on you if you go like this!"

But who would have expected that Muriel immediately wanted her head like a rattle, and at the end she said plausibly:

"There's no need...I've been working with corpses all day long, and it will still get dirty anyway."

After that, she ignored Martin and waved directly to Pansy and the others.

"Come on! Oh, you are still studying at Hogwarts, right? Let me guess, you must be from Slytherin House, am I right? Martin likes to hang out with Slytherins - although he

But I am a Hufflepuff."

Seeing Muriel talking and walking towards the door, she really left Martin behind. But Martin, who was left aside by her casually, was not only not annoyed, but also seemed a little helpless.

When Pansy saw this, she was immediately surprised.

According to her impression of Martin, he is undoubtedly a man with a strong desire to control others, which can be seen just from his performance at the two gatherings.

But when facing the witch named "Muriel", his tolerance was obviously much higher than usual.

"Are these two people in 'that' relationship?"

The moment Pansy followed the sloppy witch to the door, she couldn't help but turn her head quietly, only to see Martin looking at Muriel's back with a complicated look in his eyes.

…

After a while, Muriel took Pansy and the two of them to another store a little further away.

Different from Muriel's cramped store, although this is just a thrift store, its storefront is at least twice as big as the former one.

Standing at the door and looking inside, the interior decoration is not as gloomy as Knockturn Alley. The bright candlelight dispels the darkness caused by the narrowness of the alley itself, and you can feel it just outside the door.

Feel a touch of warmth.

To be honest, if Pansy hadn't known very well that this was Knockturn Alley, she might have thought it was an ordinary store in Diagon Alley!

"Good morning, old Tim!"

Muriel walked into the store first and said hello to the old wizard sitting behind the counter.

But the old man looked away immediately as if he had seen a ghost. His disgust could be easily seen without saying anything.

"Hey, we have guests, old Tim!"

After shouting over there again, Muriel curled her lips, then pointed to a basket inside and said:

"Look, there are wands there! If you are not satisfied, you can also go to the small display cabinet at the back and have a look - although the ones in the cabinet are a little more expensive, they are all very well made and most of them are from products like

The hand of a master like Mr. Ollivander."

However, after all, this is just a second-hand shop, and it is led by an "acquaintance" like Muriel. No matter how expensive it is, it is only the original price of seven galleons.

Pansy took Iluli to go over and select them together. Because they were short on time, they were not too demanding. After finding a wand that could be used, they took it to the counter to check out.

But just at this moment, Muriel, who was standing at the door, suddenly ran over and lowered her voice:

"Martin said before that the Aurors were looking for him. Does this have anything to do with you two?"

When Pansy and Iluli heard this, they suddenly became nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"There are Aurors outside, coming this way... Well, maybe they'll come in to take a look or something."

If you ask whether the Auror raids are related to the two of them, the answer is obviously yes. However, since their identities have not been exposed so far, they are not exposed as soon as they meet in person like Martin.

Of course, if you can avoid encountering it, then it is better not to encounter it.

"It's too late to go out," Pansy looked around, then hurriedly asked the old wizard, "Excuse me, is there a back door here?"

"No."

Mostly because of his disgust with Muriel, the old man didn't even want to talk to Pansy. But fortunately, the wizards in Knockturn Alley basically didn't deal with Aurors very much. If they don't have enough benefits,

If driven, he would probably not go out of his way to tell the truth.

Needless to say, even in the dark side of the wizarding world, there is a corresponding set of rules to follow.

After thinking about it for a moment, Pansy quickly took out a few more gold galleons from her pocket, put her hand on the counter. At the same time, she whispered:

"Forget the question I just asked, remember that we are just ordinary customers... after the Auror leaves, there will be another half."

When the old wizard heard the sound, he didn't even raise his eyelids, but the small pile of gold Galleons was taken away by him in an instant without leaving any trace.

"Pansy, why don't you stay away? Just use your invisibility cloak!" Iluli suddenly whispered, "I'm fine, but you shouldn't appear in Knockturn Alley, right?"

It has to be said that this fairy-mixed witch who is usually quite introverted can always show excellent judgment at critical moments.

Hearing what she said, Pansy couldn't help but feel that it made sense - although she didn't know if it was the Auror who came before, but she did reveal her identity after all, and she specifically mentioned the purchase of a wand.

However, it doesn't make sense that a Hogwarts student would come to Knockturn Alley to buy an old wand secondhand.

Just in case, Pansy decisively followed Eluli's instructions and used an invisibility cloak to hide her figure, and carefully hid in the corner to the side.

"They are coming!" (To be continued)