From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

This is really awkward—we said goodnight, but the games are scheduled together.

William watched Mr. Xenophilius quietly, hoping that this adult could handle the problem perfectly with his years of work experience and social experience.

He felt the problem was hopeless, so he decided to just give up and do nothing.

However, to his surprise, Mr. Xenophilius also looked utterly embarrassed.

This won't do! Treat this like you're making up a story or editing a magazine!

William greeted him with his eyes.

After a long pause, Mr. Xenophilius finally managed an awkward remark: "Haha, it's really hot today."

"Yeah yeah!"

William readily agreed.

"What a coincidence! I ran into you at Madam Malkin's shop. I was just wondering this morning if I'd run into someone I know while shopping today. Sure enough, in such a famous place as Diagon Alley, how could I not run into someone I know?"

"Isn't that right? What a coincidence, we actually thought of the same thing."

William forced the conversation back on track and began to scrutinize another guest—if he wasn't mistaken, this was the reason why Mr. Xenophilius was acting so strangely.

She was a little girl with messy, dirty, waist-length golden hair, a darker color than Mr. Xenophilius's, but their faces were very similar—if there was no doubt, she was Mr. Xenophilius's daughter.

Undoubtedly, the father did not want his daughter to know that he had been involved in a fight, so he simply omitted the mention of William's involvement.

"Mr. Xenophilius, your daughter?"

"Yes, she's eleven this year and going to Hogwarts. I brought her here today to have her school robes made. The style is not bad, but it's still not as close-fitting as a custom-made one. I need to prepare a few larger sizes. You know, kids this age grow really fast."

"Yes, yes, I remember you said that last time. Look at my memory, I forget it as soon as I need it. What was it called again?"

"Luna, Luna Lovegood."

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Secondhand Books are Hidden Treasure Troves!

After exchanging a few casual words, Xenophius quickly took the child and left.

He might have been able to talk to William for a long time at a different time and place—but not now.

No father wants to appear disheveled in front of his daughter, let alone be grabbed by the collar and almost get into a fight on the street. The incident just happened recently, and he and William weren't that close. What if he got caught?

As a single father, he would never allow his towering figure to crumble in front of his daughter.

William was also worried about how to shake off this paparazzi boss, and the two hit it off immediately. Their carefree breakup was comparable to that of a couple who met online through photos and then met in person.

Mrs. Malkin probably sensed something, but the clever lady didn't ask a single question and began measuring William.

Before long, all the measurements were taken. Since William wasn't in a hurry, he simply chose to wait a few days to pick up the custom-made version—anyway, the price difference between the two wasn't much. Although Madam Malkin's clothes were supposedly hand-sewn, they were actually made using 007's unpaid magical equipment.

Considering that he would most likely be nagged by Old Tom again if he went back, William simply gave up on going back to the tavern and headed towards the famous secondhand bookstore.

He wasn't short of money for the time being, and he even had some extra income today. However, Flourish and Blotts was too formal. Not to mention books related to dark magic, even the books mentioned by the prisoners in the jail cells were kept secret and wouldn't be sold to new customers. It was really too difficult to find any useful books there.

After passing through the best-located street and turning a few corners, those dilapidated shops are second-hand shops.

Second-hand books, second-hand clothes, second-hand cauldrons, second-hand flying brooms—if you can think of it, you can find it here. Of course, shared girlfriends are an exception; the Ministry of Magic doesn't allow that to be done openly.

These shops aren't divided into very specific categories, and their businesses are somewhat intertwined, but the owners have a pretty good relationship.

William went straight to the store with the most used books—although he didn't rule out the possibility that he might find some magical items in these stores, he figured he'd better not even think about such a thing.

Welcome!

A hoarse sound came from a copper box. The boss, who was lying in a rocking chair, struggled to get up and looked at William with a sleepy expression.

"Good afternoon—" He covered his mouth with his hand and yawned.

"Take a look for yourself. Novels are 30% off, history books are 40% off, old textbooks and magic books are 50% off, and very old ones are 40% off."

The boss pointed to the books inside, gave a rough estimate, and then lay back down in his chair and closed his eyes again.

"Can I look at the books that haven't been selected yet?"

"Okay, that's the pile at the back, but it's four Galleons a book if you want to buy it, regardless of whether it's priced or not."

"Okay, then boss, you can take a rest first."

William carefully bypassed the books piled on the floor of the front bookshelf and headed straight to the back—it was only because he had been taking notes in the books these past few days that he remembered the existence of secondhand bookstores; otherwise, the owner of Flourish and Blotts would never have been able to take a single word from him.

Although he essentially didn't pay anything.

With secondhand books, you can easily find almost unused new books if you look carefully. If you're lucky enough to find someone who likes to take notes in the book, it can feel like you've struck gold.

However, William had no intention of engaging in any gold rush today; instead, he wanted to find some less-than-legal books to read.

Compared to searching for notes from top students in books, those books that ended up in stores due to various accidents are more anticipated.

Especially during the great chaos in the magical world more than a decade ago, panicked people printed and released many things that should not have been released in peacetime in order to protect themselves—for example, William had previously read a militia handbook, and it was hard to imagine that such a book would be allowed to be published and distributed on a large scale in peacetime.

However, it's not very feasible to look for those books now, since too much time has passed. William is just hoping to find something that was missed.

After casting a bubble-head spell on himself, William simply used a pile of books that he had already selected but found worthless as a stool, clearing them with his wand in one hand and flipping through the books with the other, and began to search seriously.

The bookstore owner clearly hadn't properly organized his warehouse in a while. Although the books were protected by magic from being eaten by rats and insects, they were covered in a thick layer of dust—presumably, the books he had acquired last time were placed here after he sorted out the new textbooks.

After all, organizing these books can't be done with magic, and it's really tiring. Looking at all these books piled up, William would believe it if you told him they were all old stuff from ten years ago.

With that in mind, William simply gave up on the pile of books in front of him and started looking for the oldest book by the thickness of the dust.

But he was clearly not the only clever person in the magical world—because among the pile of Ashes were books published two years ago.

It took William quite a while to finally find a bunch of books that had been published a long time ago. Only then did he settle down and, without even bothering to brush the dust off his clothes, squatted down and started searching through them.

"An old-fashioned picture book—the photos are all yellowed."

"The Great Dark Lord, Grindelwald? This book is quite old. Times have changed, and the Dark Lord has changed."

"Ancient and charming architecture? This one is quite interesting—"

William glanced through it and found a lot of information about ancient magical mechanisms, which he figured would be helpful in the future, so he simply put it aside.

"How to use magical creatures? Use? Isn't it just eating them?"

William, relying on the "bubble head spell," didn't care about the dust from turning the pages. After flipping through a few pages, he simply threw the book aside—how did this lousy book pass censorship?

I flipped through them and found no price or order; they were probably private books that had leaked out from some fallen pure-blooded family.

"Defense Against Dark Magic?"

This is an older version. William flipped through it but didn't find any notes. However, he discovered that half of the book mentioned coping methods that seemed to have been classified as black magic in modern times. It was a kind of knowledge expansion, so he gritted his teeth and put it in the pile he was going to take with him.

"My Early Life? An Adventure Journal?"

William discovered that the book contained a large number of illustrations. The beginning was normal, but the story became increasingly outrageous later on. Considering it was a book with four Galleons, he simply put the book aside.

……

As William flipped through the books, time passed much faster than he had imagined, especially since there were some he hadn't taken with him. But he couldn't bear to put them down and would inevitably turn a few more pages.

After carefully selecting and considering the cost, he dropped a few books. By the time he emerged from the back carrying several more, it was already getting dark.

Chapter Thirty Hagrid and the Ten Galleons: A Single Unicorn Hair

"so much?"

The boss's tone was tinged with surprise.

"There were a few books that I was really torn about. I made a deal with the boss: three gallons a year. I'll take them all. Otherwise, I probably would have had to put two of them back."

“Three Galleons is impossible, but I can give you a small discount,” the shopkeeper smiled at William, his expression generous. “If you buy all of these, I’ll give you two more books for free—were there any books you didn’t want to part with when you were picking them out? Pick two more, and I’ll give them to you.”

hiss~

William gasped.

Merlin's socks.

God knows how much effort he just put into giving up those books. Now, if he has to choose two more from them, he'll probably have to spend a lot of money again!

However, despite saying that, he still ran in quickly and grabbed three important books from the ones he had left over—a little extra was fine, he would take all three if he had the choice!

When William ran back, the bookstore owner smiled knowingly.

Forty-four Galleons in total—a huge sum. (The price in the previous chapter has been slightly modified.)

As William counted out the Galleons one by one, he could almost hear the wallets crying.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, the shop owner suddenly called out to him.

"Young man, don't be in such a hurry. There's a small free gift here."

The shopkeeper tapped the bricks under the rocking chair with his wand, then reached in and pulled out a paper bag, handing it to William.

"Take it. We don't sell these things; they're only given as gifts to occasional visitors."

The paper bag was heavy; if it didn't contain bricks, then it must have contained three books.

The boss gave William a knowing look, then continued rocking back in his chair.

William tucked the paper bag into his pocket and used the rope he'd gotten from the shopkeeper to tie up his books.

With a wave of his wand, William cast a spell, and the book floated up in front of him. He grabbed the rope, holding onto the book like a balloon, waved goodbye to the owner, and headed towards the tavern.

I said I was just going out for a quick stroll this afternoon, but it's already this late.

I spent the afternoon reading random books, and although I found some useful ones, both my time and money were seriously wasted.

Hopefully, old Tom will behave himself for a few days and stop urging him to go out every day.

Although William knew that old Tom was afraid that he would feel like he was in jail if he was locked up in the house all the time, William really couldn't share his current feelings with anyone.

Putting aside the confidentiality agreement signed at Hogwarts, even if William and Old Tom had said that going to Hogwarts was dangerous, he would still hope that William could start a happy life in the wizarding world after losing an arm or a leg—after all, losing an arm or a leg is not a big deal in the wizarding world.

Even if you lose an arm or a leg, with William's current skill level, as long as the wound isn't contaminated by dark magic or anything else, William can use the potions he believes he has mastered to concoct a suitable potion to ensure that the parts heal completely within a week.

This is also why William is so determined to enter the magical world—once you've seen the ocean, other waters seem insignificant; once you've seen the clouds of Wushan, other clouds seem pale in comparison.

Muggle technology in the 1990s was pretty good, but even 30 years later, there are still many aspects of Muggle technology that cannot meet our imagination.

For example, the simplest thing is to seek immortality.

Throughout history, countless Muggles have longed for immortality—but as a potion master who can support himself, William remembers very clearly the ultimate achievements of alchemy, potions, and a whole host of other magical arts.