From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Alright, if William hadn't pulled out Muggle coins first, you still wouldn't have the raw materials. Alchemists like Flamel only see gold as a product!"

As Adams took it, he showed the little gold bean to William. "Singed always felt he could get something out of gold. Although his experiments failed many times, he always carried a little bit with him."

"Of course, actually he wanted to take it out just now, but William, you made the Muggle coins first, so he didn't want to use his own materials."

As he spoke, he used his physique, honed from working in the greenhouse, to push his way to the front and stuff the golden bean into the magician's hand. "Thank you for bringing some joy. Please continue."

After saying that, he pulled William and the others away.

"that's it?"

“Of course, that’s it, what else would you want to do—” Adams hummed a little tune, “It’s too greedy to watch all the performances at once, and it’s easy to spot the flaws, so you won’t get the same feeling when you see them again.”

-

Three rooms? Of course.

“Daily meals are also acceptable, but that will require a Galleon.”

"Yes, yes, no problem, no one will come to check. I have a great reputation here, no one will sneak into your room—but if you have any special needs, you can contact us."

"What, you don't need it? Okay, then have fun with me."

"But are you really not going to reconsider?"

"Okay, okay, I understand. Then no one will bother us."

"That's all, I hope you have a good stay."

With the hotel owner's warm welcome, William and his companions booked rooms and arranged their daily meals and lodging.

While the claim that no one would sneak in was somewhat unreliable, William's previous recollection suggested that the owner was capable of speaking to anyone making inquiries, preventing anyone from bothering them.

You know, the local economy was in a complete mess when William smuggled goods last time, and it's even worse now...

The title of Hogwarts professor is a good thing, but it's easier to deal with the devil than his minions. Maybe someone just thinks that being a Hogwarts professor is a good job and is going to give it a try?

"By the way, William, you should remember the name of the magic school around here, right?"

Adams suddenly asked this question while observing his room.

"Don't you know? Logically, the professors at the university should be familiar with it..."

“Hogwarts doesn’t have many exchange schools, and it doesn’t even have much contact with schools in Europe. There are only occasional exchange students, and nobody cares about the situation in Russia.”

“Well, let me think,” William recalled, “it seems to be Cordosdorez.”

"Kodosdorez?"

"It should be this name, but I don't really understand it. It's Koldovstoretz, and I just like the pronunciation."

"There are very few records there. I've looked at some on campus, but I didn't have the energy to look at them at the time. There's not much information in Diagon Alley either. Anyway, I don't know much."

William explained to Adams, who hadn't done any basic preparation before the adventure, "I figured you wouldn't be able to get in touch. If there's no communication with the school, it'll be even harder to contact them privately. Why are you asking this?"

"I wanted to see if they had any new research; I just remembered that."

Adams scratched his head. "Then I'll ask the local herbal association. I should be able to find out. Let's see if we can make contact in this roundabout way."

"Look at them, then look at yourself..."

William suddenly felt envious.

He originally planned to contact the black market—which was far less sophisticated.

The official professors of Hogwarts...

"There's still so much to learn!"

Chapter 246 The Black Market

After finding a place to stay with Singed and Adams, and spending a few more days exploring the Russian magic item market, William lost his job.

Of course, it wasn't a professor's job, but rather a temporary job as a tour guide.

Before William could finalize a route to the other raw materials market, the three of them had to go their separate ways.

There are circles for herbalists and circles for alchemists. Industry experts like Adams Singed become well-known among his peers just by visiting related shops, and owls constantly send him invitations.

William definitely couldn't attend such a highly technical small-circle gathering—even if they weren't xenophobic, someone like William, who only studied herbalism because of potions, would most likely not understand the technical terms anyway.

When Singed created the hair regrowth potion, he showed them the original formula, but they still couldn't understand it.

With his two friends off to a banquet, William finally had some free time. After thinking it over, he decided to go check out the black market.

Although it's illegal in theory, it's a gray area even when things aren't chaotic here, let alone in the current situation—who knows how many people are profiting from the black market? It may be a bit chaotic, but there are definitely more good stuff than usual.

The reason he didn't take Adams and the others with him before was because he was afraid that all three Hogwarts professors would be caught, which would be too embarrassing. Now that William is alone, it's much easier for him to run away—he feels he can slip away from the Aurors without being a burden.

Once the idea took hold, William couldn't resist it. He prepared some compound decoctions and simple cosmetic materials that he had secretly bought during the summer vacation, disguised himself a little, and then went to the black market.

Of course, one doesn't drink the compound decoction. One just creates a taste to let people know that the person in front of them has taken medicine, and then puts on a little makeup so that others can't even recognize the original face—this is to prevent novices who can't even recognize the compound decoction.

When William found the secluded alley with ease, even he was surprised at how familiar he was with it.

'Still the same style of public restroom…'

An old man with a white beard squinted at William at the entrance of the public toilet, then tapped the tattered cardboard sign on the tree behind him.

The first line is in Russian, which I can't understand, and the second line is in English.

Public toilets cost 4000 new rubles per person per use.

That 4,000 mark was scratched twice and heavily coated, so you can't even tell the original price anymore.

William was also familiar with the third line; it was in Chinese and also listed toilet prices.

Even with the relevant memories, William still couldn't help but want to yell, "Why didn't you just steal it?"

The old man smiled at William, then pointed to another sign, also with three lines, roughly meaning: "Public urination or defecation in the alley will be fined 2000 new rubles..."

How much will I pay with Xico?

"Three stalls, welcome. The third stall with the 'Under Repair' sign is the entrance. Just kick the pipe and the water will turn on. Please make yourselves at home."

The old man chuckled, his smile exceptionally bright, and extended his hand to William.

"What the hell?" William said, pulling out three Xicos. "When did they start charging? There was no barrier to entry before!"

“Oh, so that’s how it was,” the old man shook his head. “If there were no barriers to entry now, the market would be overflowing with swindlers! It’s almost more prosperous than Mule Street!”

He complained as he instructed William, "By the way, if any Muggles are using it, please close the door before kicking it, otherwise it will violate the secrecy law."

"My God... do you really use this as a public toilet?"

William was taken aback.

"With the economy in a slump, even the black market has to find ways to survive..."

The old man shook his head. "Of course, you can use it for free. Our toilets are quite nice."

"Thank you, but no need."

William waved his hand, walked straight inside, closed the door to the repair toilet, and kicked open the hidden wall.

-

The old man was right. If there were no barriers to entry, this place would probably be packed to the brim.

William had spent the last few days showing Adams and the others around the finished product market in Russia, but the street named after the liquor seemed like the countryside compared to this small black market.

On the short stretch of road William was on as he tried to find the landmark building after leaving the entrance, he encountered three or four vendors selling magical items. You see, in the magical world where traditional values ​​are very strong, these things are never sold easily. Even if a pureblood wants to sell a few to maintain appearances, they would not openly display them for sale.

'Wizards haven't completely detached themselves from ordinary society after all…'

William looked around, but didn't have a strong desire to buy anything—he had a whole drawer full of ordinary magical items, and even the most top-tier magical items were nominally his own, so this thing wasn't that valuable to him.

He was just a little moved. According to his memory before he entered Azkaban, the black market here was so bustling. In a society that was still functioning normally, the black market, which was a gray area that walked on the line of illegality, could not possibly have grown to such a large size.

"That should be it up ahead... the guy who leads smugglers across the market. I remember he can easily handle things through the official channels, much faster than filing applications."

Following his memory, William found the little house.

"Dong dong dong."

"Please come in."

A childish voice came from inside the door; it belonged to a teenager.

William touched the wand and went inside—his hearing was accurate; it was indeed a teenager.

"Where is the original boss?"

William asked with mixed feelings, "Those who do this kind of work don't have much luck—according to Azkaban, you either end up rich and powerful, or you end up retiring in Azkaban."

Of course, Azkaban isn't imprisoned here.

“Oh, you mean my grandpa?” the child said, pretending to be an adult. “He went to lead a business and couldn’t bear to close the shop, so I’m filling in for him for a few days.”

...

"You have connections?"

"Yes, we offer special services, purchase black magic books, procure black magic items, smuggling, trafficking, and reselling prohibited products—what do you need?"

The child rattled off a long string of English words without hesitation: "I do this at school. Even the professors buy British stuff from me. You know, the replicas from the British magical world are the best. There's a bunch of fairies over there who specialize in this!"

William was at a loss for words for a moment—he knew about the fairies' forgery, but he hadn't heard of selling it abroad in Azkaban, so it must be a newly launched business.

Also, they resold the goods to schools. This area has been closed for several years and is now so lacking in supplies.

Are there any prohibited books?

"Which kind do you want? We have Asian, European, African..."

"Dark magic related, defensive spells are also acceptable, but a systematic approach is best."

Since this kid was boasting so much, William naturally set the most demanding conditions. Although it was very likely that he could buy Russian books, given the recent chaos here, it was highly probable that some advanced knowledge would leak out.

"Dark magic..." The child paused, "I often hear about that, but defensive spells are much rarer..."

'Really?'

According to the big guy, if there really was such a thing, he would manipulate it like that, hoping to sell it for a high price—this kid, just as he said, is not an outsider, and will probably be the heir to this shop in the future.

He took out two Galleons and arranged them into a pattern according to what the smuggler next door had told him.