Hogwarts Homecoming

The walls on both sides of the alleyway were not tall, but Harry felt as if he was walking in a canyon with steep rock walls on both sides, and a deep sense of oppression made his breathing become light.

Greasy, fishy, ​​turbid—the smell in the air was mixed, and Harry couldn't tell what it was, but smelling it always gave him the urge to vomit.

When passing a small restaurant -- Harry never thought that there would be people doing business in the depths of Knockturn Alley.

A thick layer of dust has accumulated on the frame of the window, and the old window glass is oily, and there are many finger prints like claws. Looking through the window and looking into the dark interior, I found that this shop looks like a black workshop in the middle ages. There are still customers dining in the small restaurant.

It was a guy with bandages all over his body like a mummy, facing a large piece of green blood stained on the dinner plate in front of him, which looked like a pancreas or something.

Perhaps sensing Harry's gaze, the customer slowly turned his head to look outside the store, and bared his teeth dripping with green slime at Harry.

Harry shuddered suddenly, remembering that Professor Bryan had instructed him to look away hastily, pretending nothing happened.

"...Well, it's not impossible to follow me, but the place we're going to is more dangerous, and there are some rules you must keep in mind. First, no matter what, stay by my side and don't leave half a step. Second, you are not allowed to yell. No matter how incomprehensible the sight you see, then uh, don't stare at anyone for more than five seconds unless you're planning to pull out your wand and start a fight. Got it, Potter?"

Harry nodded desperately, unable to contain his excitement.

Just now, Professor Brayne told him that he needed to go to the depths of Knockturn Alley to do something, and he just asked Professor Brayne if he could accompany him with the idea of ​​trying it out, but unexpectedly, after a short thought, Brayne Professor En really agreed.

"I will abide by everything you say, Professor!" Harry said urgently, as if he was afraid that Professor Brian would go back on his word.

Harry has already seen the dangers of Knockturn Alley, Harry can predict the 'deeper' that Professor Bryan said, it must be a place that is many times more evil than Borgin-Bock shop, if it were him By himself, he would never get involved rashly, but with Professor Bryan, Harry thought it was a good opportunity to 'see the world'.

Come to think of it, even Aunt Peggy knew that there was a St. Mungo's Hospital in the wizarding world, and he knew almost nothing about the wizarding world except for Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. A thing of shame and dejection.

After obtaining Potter's firm assurance, Amosta took out his wand and shook it, and two brand-new, black cloaks and solid-color masks with no discernible features floated out of the swirling air.

"Put them on, Potter, it's not wise to show them where we're going."

Although the expression was ignorant, but the mood was very throbbing. Harry fiddled with the neckline of the black cloak for a while, and adjusted the fit of the mask and cheeks to ensure that he would not expose a little skin to the air.

Now, more than ten minutes have passed since passing the small restaurant just now, Amosta is familiar with the way, walking forward at a leisurely pace, and Harry, now he is not sure of his exact position .

As he moved forward, in the narrow alley with many forks, he could gradually see some other wizards.

Some of these wizards walked alone, and some were in pairs. Harry also saw a dozen or so wizards standing under an arched doorway muttering at an inconspicuous fork. The atmosphere was quite tense.

"What are they doing?" Harry asked quietly, lowering his voice.

"I have cast a spell, Potter, no one can hear us talking, as long as there are no exaggerated body movements." Amosta said lightly in a normal voice,

"I think those people should be trading."

Harry glanced at Professor Brian's back with a hidden look, and didn't continue to ask. He had a feeling that after putting on the cloak, Professor Brian seemed to have changed his personality, becoming a little indifferent and unwilling to talk to people. .

Just when Harry was thinking about why Professor Brian had such a change, a huge white head poking out from behind the high wall blocking the way caught Harry's attention, and he stared at that head for a few more minutes. Only then did he realize that it was the head of a statue.

It's so strange, how could there be a statue in the depths of Knockturn Alley? Whose statue is this? !

And when he walked around the high wall and saw the scene behind the high wall, Harry's mouth, which he hadn't been able to close all the way, opened a little more.

In front of you is a small circular square with an ancient style. The rocky floor tiles paving the square are soaked with traces of time. In the center of the square stands a statue of an old man. This statue is about as high as a two-story building. The whole body is carved from snow-white stone.

Harry stared at the face of the statue for a few seconds before asking in an uncertain tone,

"Merlin?"

"Good eyesight, Potter." Amostar nodded approvingly.

Harry pursed his lips and did not speak. In fact, the reason why he could recognize who this statue was was entirely because the commemorative coin presented to Ron by Professor Bryan had a picture of Merlin that was almost exactly the same as the statue in front of him. At this moment, after Ron received the commemorative coin, he was so precious that he even asked Hermione to borrow related books from the library to understand the value of the commemorative coin.

"But why?" Harry asked an endless question.

Amostar didn't answer right away, he stared quietly into the eyes of the tall statue, his mind was full of thoughts.

In the past three or four years, he has entered and exited the underground world from here many times, and he has long lost his curiosity about the statue of Merlin at the entrance. A lot of curiosity.

"Hmph, the place where Merlin sleeps forever."

Amosta snorted coldly in his heart, staring at the statue's eyes revealing some evil.

In order to destroy the Twin Snake Staff, Hogwarts' founding Big Four set up a millennium puzzle. This matter may have some inexplicable connection with this mythical legendary wizard.

"Under the statue, there is a huge cave like the one in the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets. It has a long history and is very old. It is the lair of the most secretive wizards and the most bottomless dark wizards in the UK and even in the whole of Europe. The destination, there are rumors—”

Just when Harry couldn't help asking again, Amosta said slowly, "The cave was built by Merlin, and it is because of that cave that we have Knockturn Alley where we are today, and , Diagon Alley outside, of course, these are just word of mouth, not rigorous statements—”

Harry blinked non-stop, and he no longer knew what words to use to describe the turbulent emotions in his heart. He suddenly realized that his knowledge of the wizarding world had been too superficial all this time.

Click——

The hoarse sound alerted Harry. He held his wand tightly in his hand hidden under his robe, and looked at the hem of the statue in surprise. The mouth of the evil wind suddenly appeared.

A sorcerer who also couldn't see his face jumped out of a small rusty cart from the entrance of the cave, then walked out of the cave quickly, glanced at the dozen or so lanes around the small square, and went straight Walking over, the figure quickly disappeared into the alley, and from the beginning to the end, the wizard didn't even look at Amosta and Harry.

"Let's go, Potter—" Amosta started walking towards the entrance of the cave again, "it's not wise to stay here for too long."

After getting off the 'crazy' trolley, Amosta stood at the exit and panted as usual. Even though he had sat on it many times, he still couldn't get used to this trolley that was many times more exciting than a roller coaster. Harry beside him Amosta was a little surprised that he was standing firmly, but he was relieved when he thought that Harry was the youngest Quidditch Seeker in Hogwarts in a hundred years, and he was extremely talented.

The air in the underground world, which has not changed for thousands of years, is still bad. Amosta stared at the familiar environment in front of him. Suddenly, the brows behind the mask closed a little.

Compared with the past, this place is much deserted, not only the 'entrustment market', but even the always noisy 'pet market' and 'trading market' are much cooler than usual.

The reason for this phenomenon is a group of people who are all over the underground world, wearing black cloaks of a uniform style, and whose aura is incompatible with this place.

"Aurors of the Ministry of Magic—"

Amosta narrowed his eyes and glanced at the guy closest to him, who was also looking at himself and Potter, his lips twitched a few times,

"Come here to try your luck and see if you can catch Sirius Black?"

The Ministry of Magic has Aurors stationed in the underground world all year round, but in order not to irritate the school wizards and dark wizards who scoff at the current rules of the magic world, they will not send too many people, but keep the minimum level of interference, but now , In order to catch Black, they had to break this tacit understanding.

Amosta is not surprised by the high-profile actions of the Ministry of Magic. In the current magic world, there are two sharp swords hanging over the heads of all wizards, deterring the young people who live in the dark.

One is undoubtedly Albus Dumbledore, who has been living in Hogwarts for many years, and the other is the Dementor and Azkaban in the hands of the Ministry of Magic. Now, Sirius Black is alive. escaped from Azkaban, which made the Ministry of Magic lose face, but also felt deep fear.

Not to mention, Black himself is the loyal henchman of Voldemort, the second generation of the Dark Lord.

"Professor Boo Blaine"

Spectacular huge fan-shaped caves, floating in the mid-air, rows of green torches exuding a strange aura, passing through the surroundings, each of them is surrounded by wizards who make Harry feel uneasy.

Harry felt his teeth chattering, and he wanted to express his shock, but he didn't know how to describe it.

In a daze, Harry remembered that two years ago, he and a large group of young wizards walked along a steep and narrow path with Hagrid. After turning the corner, he saw the towering Hogwarts Castle as high as the sky for the first time. when.

"Is this still the magic world?"

Harry asked in a raving voice.

"This is the wizarding world, Potter."

Amosta smiled slightly and said, he didn't urge Harry forward, he knew that this little wizard needed some time to digest what he saw.

"that."

Harry tremblingly stretched out his fingers under his robe to point to the pet market, but raised his hand halfway, and retracted his fingers in surprise when Professor Brian's order suddenly sounded.

"Oh, you mean a centaur?" Amosta said casually, glancing in that direction.

"The Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts also inhabits a tribe of centaurs, the largest tribe of centaurs in all of Europe."

Harry nodded dumbly. He stared at the centaur whose limbs and neck were fixed to the ground by wrist-thick iron chains and roughly stuffed into a cage. His rigid brain was trying hard to think.

Firenze, Ronan, Bain.

Harry still remembered the names of the centaurs he met. Among these centaurs, the most proud one was the one named Bain. He flew into a rage when he saw himself riding on Firenze. It is believed that Firenze has sullied the honor of the centaur.

"If Bane sees his own kind being treated like this by wizards."

The thought crossed Harry's mind, and he felt his breath heat up "Why put it in a cage, these people"

"All kinds of reasons, Potter—"

Amosta said calmly, "Not all countries in the world have centaurs. Some wizards capture them to sell at a high price, some to take internal organs from centaurs or do some magic experiments, and some Some, simply enjoy the pleasure of ruining the pride of such a proud creature—”

Harry stared at the weak-looking centaur with welts on his cheeks, and felt a gust of air rushing up his forehead, blurring his vision,

"Why, Professor Huh, doesn't the Ministry of Magic care?"

"No sun, however blazing, can remove all shadows from the land, Potter."

Amosta put his palm on Harry's shoulder to prevent the irritated little wizard from losing control suddenly, "A stable social order must give evil a proper place to stay."

Harry didn't give any response, but he suddenly understood why the centaurs he came into contact with were so repelled from contacting wizards.

clang!

A sudden impact made Harry, whose eyes were spitting fire, struggle to look away. He looked further away, a humanoid creature with a bird's head and wings covered in scales was madly pretending to imprison him. In front of the iron cage, four or five wizards were bargaining fiercely.

"that--"

Harry gasped, "That creature, are people buying and selling it just to ruin their pride?"

"Oh, that—"

Amosta smacked his lips, and his tone became elusive, "The reason is much more complicated and I can't explain it to you, Potter, because you are still young, and you will probably understand it when you, uh, become an adult. .”

Harry didn't ask again, but he didn't agree with what Professor Bryan said in his heart. Even if he was the age of Professor Dumbledore, he didn't think he would understand this kind of behavior!

Suddenly, Harry remembered what Dobby once said to him. During the years when Voldemort was active, wizards treated house elves like pests.

Now, Voldemort has been defeated, and he personally defeated it. Although he has never felt anything about it, the scenes in front of him tell Harry that the wizarding world does not seem to be as good as he imagined.

"Do you think that makes sense?" Harry asked suddenly sullenly, "I mean, defeat Voldemort."

Amosta raised his eyebrows, and after pondering for a moment, he asked,

"Do you know Voldemort, Potter?"

Professor Brian's question left Harry at a loss as to how to answer it. He had faced Voldemort twice, the most recent time being just two years ago.

Everyone around him, except Professor Dumbledore and Professor Bryan, when they mentioned the word Voldemort, they all had an expression of being stepped on by a troll, which let Harry know that Voldemort was raging in the wizarding world Those days must have been terrible.

Evil, tyrannical, cruel, powerful and frightening. Harry can think of these words to describe Voldemort. In addition, he himself has a deep-sea blood feud with Voldemort, but he knows that Harry dare not speak up.

"The world needs order. Potter, whether it is a light or a dark world, needs an order that most people can recognize and abide by. As long as the order is followed, wizards or magical creatures can keep their bottom line and the most Precious treasure - life,"

Amostar turned Harry's shoulders in the other direction, and dragged him towards the consignment market,

"During the time when Voldemort was active, he was also working hard to create an order, that is, to enslave everyone, to become the master of everyone, and to have the power of life and death to deprive everyone of life at any time. Or a dark world is absolutely unacceptable."

Amosta walked towards a small courtyard surrounded by a low wall with a tall sign in the center of the cave, holding the breathless Harry in his arms. During this time, the Aurors from the Ministry of Magic followed quietly and fell behind them for thirty minutes. feet, followed for a distance of half a mile.

"Go away."

Amosta stood still, turned his head and spoke coldly, full of murderous intent.

Harry also turned his head, looked at the wizard who obviously hesitated for a few seconds, then walked in another direction angrily, and asked in surprise,

"What's the matter, Professor Brian, what does that man want to do?"

"It's nothing, Potter," Amosta replied vaguely. "As you can see, there are a lot of bad guys in this place. He probably wants to steal something."

Amostar didn't tell Harry that the Auror probably wanted to find out whether there was Sirius Black in his two schools, because if this little wizard, whose world view has been greatly impacted, knew that the Ministry of Magic's striker would obviously Here, but turning a blind eye to the evil that is happening, I am afraid that life will be doubted.

They continued to walk forward, but suddenly, a short figure passing not far in front of them made Harry stutter, and his gloomy expression once again showed consternation.

"Goblin. That's from Gringotts." Harry exclaimed.

Amosta glanced at the dark-faced goblin with wrinkled cheeks, and said calmly, "It's hard for wizards to tell the difference between two goblins, so when they come here, they never do hidden."

"But--"

Harry frowned tightly, and said in surprise, "Why do goblins come here? Aren't they afraid of being locked in cages too!"

"They are allies of wizards, Potter—" Amosta curled his lips, "These half-human creatures have very exquisite construction skills, and, with their own unique social system and magic inheritance, wizards are afraid of the power of goblins." , so they are free here."

Amostar tapped Harry's shoulder with a finger, reminding him to look away,

"This Gringotts goblin appeared here. Well, if there is no accident, I think it came to secretly handle some assets in the bank."

Harry froze, and it took a while for his sluggish brain to start spinning.

"...You mean, you mean!" Harry's breath was rapid again, "The goblins stole the wealth stored by wizards in Gringotts, no, Hagrid said that Gringotts is the only place besides Hogwarts The safest place out there, if you want to keep anything!"

"That's right, Potter." Amosta pulled Potter forward, "Under normal circumstances, there will be no problem with storing gold in Gringotts, but there are some special circumstances."

Before Harry continued to ask, Amosta explained,

"If a wizard, or a family, put all their wealth in the underground vault of Gringotts, but due to some reasons, all members of this family died unfortunately, Gringotts could not find any one who could inherit the treasure. So, what do you think should be done in this situation?"

Harry hesitated for a moment before he said in an uncertain tone, "The fortune belongs to Gringotts?"

"it's not true--"

Amosta stepped across the puddle of stinky water on the ground, and gave an unexpected answer,

"According to the "Justifiable Forfeiture Act", this uninherited wealth should be returned to the Ministry of Magic for the construction of the wizarding world. However, I think you know the reputation of goblins for being greedy for money, Potter, although you are forced by wizards Due to the pressure, the goblins had to hand over their wealth, but they were obviously not reconciled.

Therefore, during the handover, it is also very easy to understand how to manipulate the ledger and hide part of it quietly. "

"Is the Ministry of Magic all idiots?"

Harry, outraged at the Ministry of Magic's inaction at the crime happening right in front of his eyes, screamed sharply.

"Why do you think that, Potter?"

Amosta smiled and said,

"If you ask me where the wizarding world has the most wizarding elite, then there is no doubt that it must be in the Ministry of Magic. Of course they are not stupid, but, Potter, the law needs to be enforced, and those wizards who enforce the law They also expect to live a wealthy and luxurious life”

Harry opened his mouth, again in silent astonishment.

It took him a while before he realized what Professor Brian meant. The Ministry of Magic has always known that this situation exists, but there are wizards and goblins among them.

After figuring this out, Harry's expression became numb again.

He thought of Ron's father, Mr. Weasley, the only Ministry official he knew well.

So, would Mr. Weasley do these things in private? Harry felt ashamed to speculate on Ron's father, Mr. Weasley, who was very friendly to him, but he couldn't help himself to think so .

No, Mr. Weasley is not such a wizard!

Moments later, Harry had the answer himself.

If Mr. Weasley is really the kind of wizard who does despicable deeds, then the financial situation of the Ron family cannot be as bad as it is now, and it is precisely because of his integrity and principles that he is obviously very capable. Mr. Weasley with seniority is not very popular in the Ministry of Magic!

This answer made Harry feel a lot better. He wanted to ask some other questions, but found that the two of them had already come to the low wall.

"Wait for me here, Potter."

Amostar ordered Harry to stay where he was and not to move around, while he entered the courtyard through a gap, and walked towards Kakus who had been staring at him for a long time.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

The 'business' done by the Ministry of Magic was bleak, and Foley, who was bored, stood up. He looked at Amosta quickly, but because Amosta was not the usual black robe with a mark and his face was very conspicuous magic vortex, so he didn't recognize it at all.

"It's me, Foley—"

Now that his identity has been exposed, Amosta doesn't need to pretend much, he said in his original voice.

The alert Kacus suddenly realized who the person in front of him was, and his tone immediately became cheerful. Noticing that Mr. Blaine left the short wizard behind, Foley lowered his voice.

"It's you, Mr. Blaine, are you here to accept the commission?" Before Amosta could respond, Kakus poured out his bitterness again, "In order to catch that damned Black, the Ministry of Magic made a mess here. It's a mess, and if it wasn't for the fierce resistance, they would even try to station the dementors here!"

"The wealth you have accumulated is enough for the Foley family to live comfortably for the next century, Foley, there are countless wizards who are more miserable than you."

Amosta mercilessly pierced through Kakus's hypocrisy, and was surprised by the Ministry of Magic's bold actions. If they really dared to send creatures like dementors into the underground world, then the magic world would have already died. Caught in the melee.

While Amosta was thinking, Kakus had already taken out his small notebook graciously, flipping through it in front of him, muttering non-stop

"Let me see, Mr. Blaine, I have left you two valuable tasks with a lot of commission. According to the agreement we reached before, you will not be charged any agency fees within one year. Oh, here. "

"Don't bother, Foley."

Amosta glanced at Harry, who was looking at the tall tower standing in the direction of the innermost end of the fan-shaped cave, and said indifferently, "I didn't come to you this time to accept the commission."

"Then you are?"

The movements of Kakus' hands froze all of a sudden, and his easy-going features that made it hard to be wary were full of confusion.

"I'm here to ask you to issue a commission."

Amosta snapped the knuckles of his index finger and said heavily.

Add three chapters for the lord who does not see the moon and dyes the sky