Chapter 177 Knockturn Alley

"Ah... the London air."

In the morning, Nelson sat on the wooden table in the Leaky Cauldron, with a stack of fried eggs and slices of bread in front of him, as well as some milk, fruit, and seasonings. After the bar owner piled breakfast on this table I went to wipe his endless cup, and let the diners take it by themselves.

Tom inserted a fried egg, sandwiched it with a slice of bread, and stuffed a slice of tomato he didn't know where he got into it. He made a simple sandwich, took a big bite, and asked, "The taste of London?" What is that? The smell of industrial waste?"

"Don't you think it smells of the sea?" said Nelson. "I've seldom smelled it in America or on the Continent."

"Oh, you might be talking about something moldy, the Leaky Cauldron is shady, so it smells musty all year round," Tom shrugged, and made himself another sandwich, noticing Nelson was staring at him With a strange look in his eyes, he put the sandwich on the plate and pushed in Nelson's direction, "What's wrong with you? Do you want to eat? This is for you."

"No, thank you." Nelson drank the last sip of milk in the glass, and declined, "I'm just curious, where did you get this tomato?"

"The Untraceable Stretching Curse." Seeing that Nelson didn't want to eat the sandwich, Tom grabbed it, took a big bite, and said vaguely, "Didn't you teach me it? This magic is really useful. "

"..."

Nelson didn't know what to say, stood up from the table, put on the hat that was put aside, and said, "I'm going to get two shopping bags, you wait for me here for a while."

"go Go!"

Tom went to fight the breakfast without looking up.

...

"Where do we go first?"

Through the brick wall of the back door of the Leaky Cauldron, Nelson stood under the awning at the entrance of Diagon Alley. Looking at the tallest spire with a clock in the distance, he raised his hand with some joy, pointed to it and said, "That's Gringotts, right! It seems that I haven't completely forgotten it yet."

"Hmm..." Tom followed his fingers, squinted his eyes for a moment, then turned his head and said, "I'm sorry to tell you, but you read it wrong. That's the headquarters of the Daily Prophet. Gringotts is in opposite."

"Probably in the right direction, isn't it?" Nelson shrugged.

"You're right to say that. After all, you're at the east end of Diagon Alley. If you point to the west, everything is in the right direction." Tom ruthlessly pierced through Nelson's explanation, frowning Glancing at the hat on his head, pursing his lips, he said, "Gnar, I've been wanting to say this since just now, you've been wearing this soft felt hat for too long, and there's a clothing store in front of you, do you want me to give it to you?" You bought a new one as a present?"

"No need," Nelson shook his head, "I don't want to give you any gifts, not to mention that the reason I wear it all the time is because of habit, and now I feel uncomfortable without this hat when I go out."

"Okay." Tom nodded, took a deep look at the soft felt hat on Nelson's head, covered his chest, seemed to grab something in his shirt, and then let go without saying much.

"Let's go sell things with you first, and then take me to the alchemy shop and herbal medicine shop. I'll look for mandrakes and add some materials by the way—I also sent some things to Gringotts," Nelson said. He lifted his legs and walked out of the awning. Today was a rare sunny day. The glare of the sun made his eyes used to cloudy days feel a little stinging. Nelson took out the sunglasses made by Tom from his pocket and put them on the bridge of his nose. He looked like an old rich landlord from Wales. He turned his head, looked at the colorful world behind the sunglasses, and pulled Tom forward. "The entrance to Knockturn Alley is at the end of Diagon Alley, right? Go west It should be fine to keep walking?"

"You're learning from it." Tom nodded and followed, "Actually, you can sell it in Diagon Alley, but even though the procedures are complete here, there are some profiteers here, and they keep the price very low! I sold a Slytherin quill before. I have tested the magic in it. It is from that era. It may be a pen that helped him automatically write meeting minutes. It has a very high collection value. Guess it is in Diagon Alley What did the antique dealer tell me?"

"What?"

"He took out a snuff bottle from the counter, said Merlin had used it, and exchanged that snuff bottle for my pen," said Tom angrily, pointing to a dark-looking antique shop beside the fire, " This is the store, and he gave me ten Galleons for an emerald two inches wide."

"You didn't sell it to him, did you?"

"Of course I didn't. I asked Walburga about the price. She told me that the market price of those things is very high. If they are sold to some families, they can even be sold for a higher figure."

"Why don't you just sell it to him?" While Tom was cursing, Nelson had already bought two sundaes, handed one to Tom, and motioned him to elaborate, "Have some dessert, let's see if you can speak well." dry tongue."

When Nelson walked to the window of the drink shop, a series of memories flooded his mind. This was the first stop for him and Tom to enter the magical world, so the impression was particularly deep. It was here that they met the Black siblings, Deng Here too Bullido gave them the question mark and Tom's bar-headed owl.

I remember walking forward that there was a snowy owl in the pet shop, which should have been sold to Alphard in the end... Nelson's eyes drifted to the corner of the street following his thoughts, but he was surprised to find that the shop that was supposed to sell pets had already taken off the plaque , the door is tightly closed, it seems that it has not been opened for a long time.

"Of course I can't sell it to her. Think about it. That kind of pure-blood family has a deep research on genealogy. They must be able to easily see who the things I sell belong to." Tom talked eloquently, noticing Nelson's eyes, he added, "Oh, by the way, do you still remember the time when we bought pets in Diagon Alley before we entered the first grade, and was scolded by a pet shop owner as a mudblood? You are looking at that shop now shop, I’ve listed this facade—this is what I told you to show you before.”

"You're such a real estate wizard." Nelson twitched his nose. The store hadn't been opened for several years, and the store still had a smelly smell unique to pet stores.

Tom took out a bunch of brass-colored keys, hooked them with his index finger and shook them, "I put some inconvenient things here, although it's a bit wasteful to use this corner store as a warehouse, but... ..."

"but what?"

"But who made me rich?" Tom shrugged. "My desire for Garen is not urgent. I even hope that I haven't found Slytherin's treasure, and those jewelry and antiques. In fact, for me, even It is all right to have a safest vault in Gringotts for my usual cup of water - as long as the consumption pleases me."

"You killed that shopkeeper?" Nelson asked in a low voice.

"What are you talking about?" Tom raised his arm and made a tactical backward movement, "This shop owner has smuggled dangerous magical animals to Egypt more than once, and it is reasonable for the Ministry of Magic to find clues and arrest him. what is the relationship."

"That's true," Nelson nodded approvingly. Among other things, Newt had asked him to go to an alchemy shop in New York to rescue a white fur ball. Although he didn't know it well, he could still see it. It turned out to be a rare creature that was smuggled in. It could be seen that the illegal act of smuggling magical animals is still rampant in the wizarding world. He murmured, "It sounds like I'm still with Andre..."

"Yeah, I'm a law-abiding wizard. Let's go to the shop and have a look later. I plan to turn this place into a safe house, so that we can do some inconvenient things in the future. I've heard an oriental slang before, It probably means that the highest level of camouflage is hiding in the downtown area," Tom continued to walk forward, and said, "Let's talk about antiques, it's not convenient for them to find out that I'm selling Slytherin things. If Walburga were to help, she might be in more trouble than me."

"Are you afraid that the thirty-eight grandson of Slytherin will suddenly jump out and ask you to return his ancestor's relic?"

"Am I not a descendant of Slytherin?" Tom waved his hand and explained, "You know, when a large number of relics of a famous wizard appear on the market, there is only one possibility."

"His descendants are bankrupt? Selling property?"

"..."

Tom glared at Nelson, he felt like he was choking on the bread, "This usually means that the treasure of this famous wizard has been found. Usually, at this time, there will be many wizards who are interested in the so-called 'cheats' in the treasure. , "artifact" and other things, I feel that these people are simply idle and have nothing to do, they can only read novels every day, so their imagination is so lacking."

"I see, so now everyone is looking for the ancient magic and magic props passed down by Slytherin?" Nelson nodded seriously, and suggested, "You can bury something all over the UK and let them find it." , and finally compete for a copy of Slytherin's own diary, I can give this event a name, it's called the Holy Grail War."

As the conversation between the two became more and more inconspicuous, they also slowly reached the end of Diagon Alley. Tom stopped, pointed to a section of dirty wall in front of him and said, "Here we are."

"Which brick is knocked?" Nelson drew out his wand enthusiastically.

"What brick?" Tom stepped forward, straight across the wall, and Nelson shrugged and followed.

"Young man, I think you may have been attacked by a vampire recently. I have an amulet here that specifically restrains vampires, and I only sell five Galleons..." As soon as he walked through the door, an old witch grabbed Nelson's sleeve and began to sell Own fake and shoddy products.

Nelson always felt that her voice was somewhat familiar, but for a moment he couldn't remember where he heard it, so he had to speed up, keep up with Tom in front, pass through the crowd, and get rid of her.

Walking to a relatively empty intersection, Nelson looked at the environment of Knockturn Alley. Compared with the fairytale-like Diagon Alley, it was more like what a wizarding world should be like. The terrain of Knockturn Alley was like a spider web. Between the fairly well-connected main roads, dark alleys are densely lined up, and special businesses exclusive to these alleys are happening all the time. Some wizards who are in a hurry and look very suspicious put themselves It was packed tightly and hidden in dark corners. In this kind of place, the most noticeable thing was the clean and tidy wizard with his bare face.

Although it is close to Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley has a gloomy atmosphere as a whole, which makes people wrap their clothes involuntarily. The buildings here are even more careless, wantonly backlogging the empty space on the street, making the whole block feel It looked extremely dim. Nelson came in from the bright Diagon Alley, and he couldn't adapt to the light here. He was about to take off his sunglasses and put on another disguise when Tom's hand interrupted his movements.

"Put down the mask, it's not convenient to show your face in this kind of place."

Upon hearing this, Nelson unfolded the sunglasses on his face. Although this black mask had a strange shape, its style unexpectedly fit the temperament of Knockturn Alley.

"Why is this place so dark? Do they not know that dirty business can be done under the sun?"

"Be careful, this kind of place is full of dead people, and the Aurors don't bother to check." Tom warned, "The useless antiques are almost sold out recently, but some people have noticed me, so you must be careful."

"It's okay," Nelson patted Tom on the shoulder and said in relief, "These wizards can only be regarded as bugs. The scenes I have seen are much more exaggerated than this place."

Nelson lowered his voice, and it could be seen that he still gave some respect to the dark wizard in Knockturn Alley.

"And it's easy to get lost in this place, and the way is hard to find, so don't get lost."

"It's okay, you take this." Nelson stuffed a small ball into Tom's pocket, "Come on, let's go sell your things, it's cold in this place, we'd better fix it quickly."

"The shop where I usually sell things is right in front. It's opened by the Bock family. It's kind of credible." Tom led the way, putting a hand in his bosom. "Today we only sell some gems and a bookshelf. , It doesn't take much time, but I always feel that they are watching."

"It doesn't matter, they also have a blog in our hands." Nelson laughed "hehe" and asked, "Is the bookshelf you are talking about the one that we smashed?"

"It was smashed by you."

Turning the corner, Tom turned up a few inconspicuous steps. At the top of the steps was an even more inconspicuous small door. Tom pushed the door open and shouted in a rough voice, "Bock, I brought the things gone."

"Mr. Chamberlain! You're here!" A smiling little man ran out from inside and greeted him loudly. When he saw Nelson who entered the door, his smile froze, "This gentleman..."

"Let me see, don't worry about me," Nelson turned around, knocked off an inconspicuous broken wooden sign hanging on the door, picked up a red eyeball on the shelf with a handkerchief, and looked at it carefully, " My name is Karkaroff."