From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

“A regular customer, huh?!” The child’s eyes lit up, and he called out to William with disdain, “Why didn’t you say so earlier… You all think I’m too young to do business!”

"A customer has entrusted me to consign some books. I can act as an intermediary, but the fee is the usual 15% of the transaction price."

He stated the price with considerable experience, "Go wait in the back room for a moment, I'll go and inform the seller."

-

'Theoretically, I won't be fooled—that old smuggler next door takes the same route, and besides, I was penniless before I got out of prison; I'm not a potential victim of a scam.'

"Of course, I still need to be careful. Theoretically, I shouldn't go to places like this alone, but if they try to double-cross me, I'm not without options."

"Crossing the market isn't urgent. Let's get the magic book sorted out first. I just don't know which seller is making such a big claim; aren't they afraid of biting off more than they can chew?"

Occasionally, dark magic might appear, but the system's dark magic is not something ordinary people can touch. Add to that defensive spells, and that's enough to keep some wizards from going to Hogwarts and passing down their skills to their disciples generation after generation.

"They're here, over there. There's only one person's footsteps—of course, it's uncertain whether they're disguised."

William gripped his wand, not facing the door directly, but shifting his stance slightly to the side.

"Attack immediately if anything seems amiss. Apparition isn't prohibited here. We're using a fake identity anyway; if things go wrong, we'll just use a different one next time..."

But the warning magic still told William that there were two people.

The door opened, and the little boy, slightly disguised, was accompanied by a hooded man.

"Alright, I've brought it. You two talk. When you come out, just tell me the commission I should collect—I know what the prices should be for those items, gentlemen. This shop has been open for 130 years, you all know that."

He spoke as if he were an adult, and then closed the door.

"Hello."

"Hello."

The other person's voice wasn't disguised, and William recognized it immediately—there was no way around it, the magician in the park had such a unique voice, and the way he was pointing his wand at William made William very careful.

“Everyone’s on guard, so perhaps you should put your wand away a little…” William said in a changed voice, “otherwise we can’t do business, Mr. Magician.”

"Oh, so you've seen my performance," the person on the other end paused for a moment, "That's great, there can't be any bad people who like magic."

'What kind of magic trick is that?'

Although William had to admit that the other party's wand skills were quite impressive, and he hadn't even noticed the magic while they were performing the magic trick, he firmly refused to admit that it was magic at this moment.

“I saw doubt in your eyes, but it was genuine magic—well, with a touch of magic…”

"But that's irrelevant. What we need to discuss now is the deal concerning the spellbook..."

William didn't say a word. The charlatan magician changed his tone twice, "I need to know what you want those things for... Although I'm not in charge of that anymore, I still want to make sure. I need to ensure the buyer is inclined towards defensive magic..."

"Just wondering..." William looked at him, his gaze unwavering, "You make all these demands, so why do you possess this dark magic?"

“Oh…” He hesitated for a moment, then simply took off his hood. “I’m not good at this. I used to be… well, I don’t even have that title anymore. In your British terms, I was called an Auror.”

……

William almost Apparated.

"Auror, want to become a magician?"

"You're bound to lose your job eventually, but you still have to support your family, right?"

He shrugged. "We have a colleague who's good at fortune telling, and he said some great guy is going to become a taxi driver!"

"Of course, his divinations may be a little off, but they are still quite accurate."

"This country and its Ministry of Magic have been hit too hard..."

"Sigh... nobody can say for sure," William scratched his head, trying to hide his pretense. "I really don't know what to say about the taxi incident... I even know someone who could predict this place would have an accident using numerology..."

"Isn't it?"

"Those fortune tellers calculate everything, but who believes them? Who knows if their divination is genuine or fake?"

There were far too many charlatans faking their abilities, and William couldn't trust them either.

"Oh, right, please cast a Guardian Charm, sir."

Chapter 247 Kindness Leads to Misfortune

"I was too concerned about saving face just now, I shouldn't have..."

As soon as William Apparated back, he regretted it—a former Auror, and one who was desperately short of money, had shamelessly stayed there; who knows how many good things he could have bought!

Galon is indeed gold, but if it weren't for the special circumstances here, he wouldn't have gotten such a good opportunity even if he offered more Galon!

'My face looks so youthful, so youthful…'

He complained about himself—given the other party's skillful use of magic mixed with sorcery, if he could buy the item, it would be well worth spending another thousand Galleons.

"Forget it, I'm lucky to have it all. Life isn't a game; I can't expect to achieve everything... Just those books are a huge gain; thinking about anything else would be too greedy..."

He composed himself; he had already bought the cow for the price of eggs, so it was indeed a bit much to covet someone else's pig.

"Let's check what we've got—I'll probably have to study Russian when we get back, ugh..."

"Aren't there any magical creatures that understand Russian? If catching a parrot that only speaks Russian is a waste of a meal ticket, can't we skip the step of learning Russian?"

Why can't wizards be considered magical creatures?

While grumbling, he solemnly put on his gloves and took precautions, then began to peruse the books that had cost him a thousand gallons.

"This is a typical privately collected book of dark magic..."

William examined the book in his hand. Its decorative style and materials were different from most books on the market, and he even sensed the presence of a curse on it.

'Could these be books confiscated by the organization from the other side?'

It's not impossible; even the black market can be more bustling than the normal market, so William won't be scared no matter what happens.

Different countries' Ministries of Magic have different views on dark magic. Durmstrang even teaches dark magic directly. These forbidden books are the things that can be sold in chaotic times, so it's normal for them to be sold.

"Judging from the hand gestures used in casting spells, I only know three spells," William took a breath. "This book is enough to send someone to Azkaban for at least two years..."

The laws of the magical world are strange. Mastering dark magic is not illegal, and even using some of it is not illegal, but collecting dark magic items and books is illegal... It's bizarre, but everyone knows why.

However, this has nothing to do with William—as the Hogwarts professor of magic self-defense, his use of dark magic is entirely within the bounds of the law, and he can carry dark magic books. He can even provide students with permission slips to read books related to dark magic when he deems it necessary.

Then, while searching through the pile of books—more than twenty in total—there were eleven books on dark magic alone…

The sheer number terrified William. If any ordinary wizard were discovered carrying so many books of dark magic, he could be sent to Azkaban and live among the Death Eaters—enough to send someone to the deepest reaches of Azkaban.

'There are even training manuals similar to the Auror system… albeit only a portion of them, but have these people gone mad?'

With his basic Russian skills gleaned from previous smuggling trips, William found something substantial inside—although he wasn't familiar with many of the letters, the training content and illustrations suggested that even a striker couldn't possibly learn such advanced knowledge.

'That's outrageous...it's comparable to selling an aircraft carrier...'

After sighing twice about being a spendthrift, William became determined to learn Russian.

The Auror training curriculum in the British magical world is completely controlled by the Ministry of Magic and is never leaked. The fact that he was able to buy this item means he accidentally cut off his own paw this time…

'I have to hide well, otherwise even with Hogwarts' backing, I won't be able to leave the border...'

The thought had barely crossed my mind when it naturally faded away—given the current level of chaos, even if a thousand Galleons were thrown at the border, there wouldn't be any checks required when leaving the country, let alone the fact that three professors leaving together wouldn't be checked in the first place…

"William, what book are you looking at? I have some really good news!"

Adams burst in, beaming with joy, "It's all settled. We can fly directly to the other market you mentioned the day after tomorrow, that trading market near Vladivostok, together with their official transport."

"Official transportation?"

"That's roughly the idea," Adams said, smelling a bit of alcohol. "Anyway, it's pretty much the same. We went straight there, and there were guys like batters protecting us along the way."

"Direct official shipping channels? What did you do, Adams?"

"I bought some rare herbs. A lot of unique herbs have grown here in recent years, and the prices aren't too high. I just bought them and took them back. Anyway, Professor Snape has been saying for a long time that he's short of raw materials." Adams shrugged nonchalantly. "If Professor Snape can't use them, he can resell them. I don't think good herbs are hard to sell."

...

That's a bit of an overstatement, but the herbs from Hogwarts really do sell very well...

Not long after, Singed returned—using essentially the same story, he resolved the issue in a roundabout way, and went directly with the official transport convoy without any safety concerns.

-

"William, this flying broom is absolutely amazing!"

Adams rode excitedly on the uprooted tree, his tone full of joy—even though they were now on their way back, his excitement hadn't subsided.

That's right, it was a huge tree uprooted, with its branches and leaves barely trimmed. They just added some flying magic and simple comfort spells, along with a little illusion spell, and that was enough. Once they reached their destination, they were thrown off like transported logs. Although it was rudimentary, the one-time magic was quite comfortable, and the novelty made it easy to fall in love with the feeling.

William could never be as cheerful as Adams.

The herbs I had been longing for were easily obtained, some precious materials were acquired without much overpayment, and I even easily bought some random old books and materials that I didn't know if they were useful or not.

The purchasing experience was great, but I still don't know what's wrong.

"Yes, it was a really good experience, I felt it."

William mustered his spirits and responded.

This feeling didn't subside until he returned to the Leaky Cauldron and spent some time in its familiar surroundings.

-

【journal

July 28th, sunny

I've had a little wine, and learning Russian is now on the agenda. My mastery of the Guardian Charm is still lacking, and the books I bought are still lying safely in the box…

I've already given away quite a few of the souvenirs I bought back then, but I still don't feel very good about them. I think I understand why now; it seems like the market there has been divided up…

And that herbal association seems to be privately owned, yet it manages to…

Are there oligarchs in the magical world...?

Although it was expected, how long will that decline last?

Sigh, still unhappy, going to drink...

Chapter 248 Escape!

The day after William got himself half-drunk, there was a knock on his door.