The Day of the Draw at Hogwarts

In the end, Tom failed to find his favorite part-time job in Diagon Alley. So, he set his sights on that place: Knockturn Alley.

When it comes to Knockturn Alley, he doesn't hate it or talk about it with disdain like other wizards. In his opinion, Knockturn Alley is nothing more than a special business scope that involves a gray area in the magical world. Working part-time in a place like this will help you increase your knowledge!

And... maybe because I "personally" inspected this place, I have no fear of Knockturn Alley - the current Knockturn Alley has just been cracked down by the Ministry of Magic, and it is still very "clean".

As soon as he left, Tom entered Knockturn Alley directly.

Just as he thought, the Ministry of Magic's inspection did not make this place deserted. There are still many wizards of all kinds coming in and out of various shops, doing some shady or shady things.

The flow of people is no different from before the inspection, except that there are many new faces and the ground seems to be a lot cleaner.

Tom passed by the place where Borgin-Bock's Magical Items Store used to be - this antique shop had been resold and is now a shop called "Pony's Alchemy Workshop". It is said that after the inspection, a group of creditors came here and blocked Mr. Bock, one of the two store owners, and forced him to repay the debt. There are two versions of what happened next.

Some people said that Mr. Bock had been prepared for a long time. He had stored many rare magic items in the underground secret room. Just as he was about to take the items out of the secret room, a careless creditor accidentally triggered the secret in the secret room. The mechanism caused the secret room to be enveloped in a sea of ​​fire. Bock was burned to ashes on the spot, and the treasures stored in the secret room were also destroyed.

However, some people think that this is a farce directed and performed by Bock. These are just tricks he tried to get out of. At this time, Bock had already taken his savings and flew away.

There is a market for both statements. Burke's whereabouts are actually easy to confirm, if Gringotts is willing. Gringotts has the flow of funds in various accounts. If the goblins are willing to make it public, everyone can naturally confirm his status from the dynamics of Bock's account.

If a lot of money was suddenly transferred from his account, then he must be alive and just absconded with the money. If there was no movement in his account, then he might have died in the fire.

However, the goblins of Gringotts will definitely not disclose the account movements. This is their old trick. Historically, there have been some wizarding families that suddenly died - such as the days when Grindelwald rose, or during the Wizarding War initiated by Voldemort. For those wizarding families who were wiped out overnight, the property they left behind would be sealed in the underground vault of Gringotts if they could not find anyone to inherit it. Gringotts' external statement is: Gringotts will never misappropriate your wealth. Gringotts is merely the custodian of the property.

But who can tell the real situation? Gringotts refused to disclose the status of these vaults anyway.

And whether Bock lives or dies, the store has changed hands. Those creditors who narrowly escaped death sold the shops with the idea that they could recover a little bit of their capital.

"Why don't you come in and take a look?" Maybe Tom stood outside the store for too long and attracted the attention of the store owner, so he walked out from behind the counter and came outside the store, inviting Tom to come in and take a look.

"Ah, I'm not here to shop." Tom said that the shop owner misunderstood and took the initiative to explain. He noticed the name "Alchemy Workshop" on the sign, and his heart moved.

It seems like this is a good place for you?

He excused himself from the shopkeeper, who was wearing a gray robe. He was very tall and had gray hair, but there were no wrinkles on his face. He looked to be in his early fifties.

"You're not here to shop? Then are you here to be an alchemy apprentice?" The store owner took a look at Tom's age and felt that he must not have graduated yet. Then the purpose of his coming here is already clear: to find a part-time job during the summer vacation.

Thinking of this, the shop owner frowned, "I have no shortage of apprentices here, and I can give you a free suggestion: Don't do summer part-time jobs here. You kids should go to Diagon Alley to find a job."

The store owner's words made Tom feel a little fond of him.

"I'm not here to be an apprentice. I'm an alchemist. I wonder if you are short of people here?" Tom's answer shocked the shop owner.

"Alchemist, you?!" He looked at Tom's appearance carefully twice and felt that he had nothing to do with the profession of alchemist: he was too young.

Tom nodded.

boss:……

"If you are really an alchemist, then I really need you here - come in. If you pass my test, you can stay. But I must remind you that you need to pay for the materials consumed during the test. .”

"That's reasonable." Tom didn't think there was any problem and followed the boss into Pony's alchemy workshop.

There are no fancy decorations in the store, with wooden floors and red brick walls. There are several lamps that look like kerosene lamps hanging on the walls, which are acting as light sources - the overall lighting in Knockturn Alley is extremely poor, and indoor lighting is needed. Plenty of light.

There are not many things in the store, there are only two display stands, which display various alchemical creations. Apart from that, there is only a cashier counter. Of course, there is a door in the wall that leads to the alchemy studio in the back.

The boss took Tom straight to his studio.

After opening the door, a dark room was revealed in front of Tom - the lighting in the store was already very poor, and the completely windowless studio was as dark as a basement.

"Please wait a moment - don't use fluorescent flashes." The store owner did not use fluorescent flashes for lighting, and specifically warned Tom.

He groped for a while on the wall of the room in the dark, and then there was a jingling sound, as if coins were rolling. Immediately afterwards, there was the mechanical sound of clicking gears.

After doing this, the shop owner changed positions, found a switch in the dark, and twisted it, and a "click-click" sound sounded.

Tom:?

The sound reminded him of a gas stove in the non-magical world.

Along with this strange sound, light came.

A flame appeared in a wall lamp, then expanded rapidly, blooming with the light of the flame, and also revealed the situation in the room: the layout here is very similar to the 19th century room in the movie.

In front of Tom is a cabinet with countless small boxes neatly arranged on it. The boxes are all labeled to indicate the contents of the box.

On one side of the cabinet is a huge table, and the wall lamp is just above the table. Compared to the cabinet, the table is undoubtedly a lot more messy, with many tools placed on it.

When Tom looked at the store owner, he couldn't help but smack his mouth.