From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

After skillfully dealing with the third vendor who tried to disguise herbs as precious potions, the merchants on the street naturally gave up their sales pitches and began looking for new customers—although it was a black market, the street had an unusually large flow of customers, so there was no need to compete for customers.

'According to the rules I learned from inquiring in the British black market, there's still one shop on this street that doesn't rip you off…'

"professor!"

???

William paused for a moment, then the voice on the other end suddenly became resolute, "Professor!!!"

Just as William drew his wand, ready to strike, he saw several students running towards him, their faces filled with surprise. "Professor! Oh? Ah, it's Professor!"

William glanced at the student opposite him, then at the wand he had drawn—well, no need to pretend anymore, the wand hadn't changed its appearance, and the student opposite him had obviously noticed it.

outrageous...

"Professor, it really is you—we were just saying that the way you observed the passersby was very similar to yours; a normal wizard wouldn't be so careful to protect their wand from being exposed..."

Okay... that's enough. I know you all have excellent grades and have integrated what you've learned in class...

Leaving wands out in the open is the norm for wizards—though it's not exactly right...

"Wow, you've completely transformed your appearance, Professor!"

"It doesn't look like a compound decoction. If you look closely, you can still see the original appearance. Is this what you mean by modification?"

That's enough...

Disguising oneself before going out is to prevent unfamiliar people from discovering one's route, not to deceive acquaintances at all times...

"Have a nice holiday, Professor. Are you also traveling during the holidays?"

Do you students believe I'm hiding from the Dark Lord?

William sighed inwardly, but had to feign a happy expression at meeting the students. "I guess so. After a busy academic year, you all need to give yourselves a break—are you on your graduation trip?"

"Yes, Professor! We originally planned to go to France, but they lost the match, and we were afraid they would secretly curse us, so we switched to Greece!"

Four or five students huddled together, chattering away, completely devoid of the nervousness they had felt in school—after all, they had graduated.

'A miscalculation…'

William raised his head slightly, feeling a sudden headache – this was the troublesome thing about being a Hogwarts professor; all the wizards in Britain who chose to go on their graduation trip were his students. Last year, the probability of going to Africa was a little lower, but this year it was Europe…

This was a problem he hadn't considered beforehand, and it was also a major reason why he was exposed.

It's all stuff he taught us, so the chances of it not being exposed are too low—especially since these students are doing quite well, which makes the chances of being exposed even higher... well, it's already been exposed.

"How did you end up in the black market while shopping?"

"The tour guide said that the black market is an important part of the Greek magical world, and it's extremely prosperous. Although it's easy to be fooled, it has many rare items that you can't find anywhere else!"

"Yes, we've learned a lot over the years, so we wanted to come and see!"

Which tour guide would recommend people to visit the black market? Isn't that just pushing people into a fire pit?

William was about to complain when two other students came over, shaking their heads. While refusing the roadside vendors' offers, they muttered under their breath, "Their counterfeits are so careless. The fakes the professor produced back then were much more elaborate. They didn't even conceal the traces of the transfiguration spells, let alone using weeds instead of precious herbs. Don't they know how to use similar herbs to commit fraud?"

"This method is too lame. Even in the biggest black market, there are those who make fake excavated magical items. None of those things are even in new packaging!"

"We're back, but that store still won't lower the price!"

The girl, oblivious to her surroundings and complaining, saw the figure in this direction and started jogging with her friend. However, after only a few steps, Nancy, who was with her, grabbed her hand and walked over in small steps.

"Oh dear, you didn't buy it, so what? —Is this your new guide? Or just some guy trying to strike up a conversation?"

The girl named Mandy pulled Nancy up, casually looked William up and down, and then asked the rest of her companions, "He's not like the last guide, deliberately taking us to those rip-off shops, is he?"

While she was speaking in a carefree manner, Nancy secretly pulled her companion aside and whispered in her ear.

"what?"

"Professor, hello professor..."

"Professor? What professor—do we have different elective courses...? Um, professor...hello professor..."

William didn't know whether to feel gratified or ashamed that his own student, whom he had personally taught defensive techniques, had recognized his disguise...

But it really happened, and more than once, which is just so frustrating…

"Professor, our previous guide was a fraud. Why don't you become our guide? There are so many fakes here, some are very crude, and some are made to look exactly like the real thing!"

“Yes, Professor, since you’re here on holiday anyway, if you don’t have any companions, we can travel together. It’s not very convenient to use English in many places here, but we have people here who are fluent in Greek!”

...

Why should I tell them I'm here on vacation?

William was in a bind—he had unconsciously woven an incomplete lie, and now it was really difficult to patch it up.

He said he was waiting for his companion?

Impossible—although the students present had just graduated, they were all very skilled in self-defense techniques, and he wasn't confident he could fool them.

Did they make an excuse that they had something to do?

That won't work either; it won't fool anyone. If it were an emergency, they wouldn't have recognized the student and would have just left. If it wasn't urgent, then there's naturally no reason to refute it.

Although he found it somewhat troublesome, it was indeed not a good idea to leave a group of students in the black market like this—it was one thing to leave them in ordinary commercial streets, but he was always worried about his own students appearing in groups in the black market, especially since they had just graduated.

'Never mind, it's not on this day.'

Anyway, all he has left to do is experience the unique magic of native Greece and explore some magical legends. After today, he'll quickly change his appearance so that no one will recognize him...

“Let’s go. This will let you see the black market, and it will prevent you students from running to this kind of place without any knowledge of it—this is not a place to broaden your horizons.”

William helplessly spread his hands, then habitually walked to the front of the students. "Let's get this straight, I have other things to do. Today I'll show you around the black market, and tonight I'll treat you to dinner as a congratulatory gesture. Tomorrow I have to take care of my own business."

"Yes, Professor!"

"No problem, Professor!"

A jumble of voices came from the students, and then William quickly determined the direction before leading a group of students to wander around the black market.

-

"Professor, look at this, it's a handicraft!"

William had only been working as a tour guide for a short time when he began to regret it. It seemed that the students' activity and enthusiasm had doubled after they left the school environment.

"It's quite exquisite, looks very nice, around five Siege coins, I guess?"

"Are you kidding me? This is a work of art made by fairies!!!"

The vendor, as if insulted, exclaimed, "Five Xikes don't even deserve to look at it!"

“Muggle factories do produce very few products that end up in wizarding societies,” William nodded—he didn’t speak loudly to avoid causing a scene. “It’s quite an innovative technology, and for that alone, five West is pretty good. There’s a profit to be made, and with such a plentiful supply, it’s all business, isn’t it?”

"Take it away, take it away..."

The vendor looked around and, seeing that there were hardly any people, quickly completed the transaction.

William couldn't help but give a mental thumbs up to this decisive attitude—if those guys on the British black market had learned even eight parts of it, they wouldn't have ended up in such a filthy alley as Knockturn Lane.

It can only be said that those who can smuggle Cerberus dogs must have their own resources and connections.

"Such a beautiful thing is actually made by Muggles—are they losing money manufacturing it? Such exquisite things..."

Well... in machine-made products, the real value lies in the first step...

However, explaining this would require the student to have a sufficient background in Muggle research... which is very difficult...

'In the future, we must also add some introductions to the Muggle world to the curriculum... otherwise, it will be easy for students to become out of touch with the outside world after graduation...'

William silently took notes in his mind and focused more intently—come to think of it, Hogwarts really didn't seem to have any surveys or anything like that to provide feedback on course programs after students left school…

There's no way around it; the wizarding world is only so big. If Hogwarts students couldn't easily compete with other wizards around the world after graduation, the wizarding world would be like a stagnant pool.

Thinking about this, William's initial enthusiasm for just taking the students out to play faded, and he became more serious. "Speaking of which, how are you feeling after graduation?"

"Well, it feels like a new summer vacation, but much more stressful than summer vacation. Although I've had some sporadic internships before, I'm still a bit nervous about becoming a full-time employee after graduation..."

"Indeed, the thought of having to go to and from get off work at fixed times every day makes me feel much more serious than when I was in school."

"You guys are doing well. I need to work in the countryside; that's really remote. I can't even Apparate there once..."

When the topic of work came up, the students suddenly had a lot more to say. However, these students who were about to enter the workforce basically only had internship experience and their expectations for future jobs.

"Speaking of which, Professor, what are your thoughts on work?"

“I was more scared than you were—at least you were one-on-one, but when I went to school,” William recalled briefly, “it was quite nerve-wracking to suddenly be on a stage in front of so many students, I was terrified of making a fool of myself…”

"Oh? Were you nervous before?"

The students immediately started gossiping—the stern professor said he felt nervous, and everyone was eager to know what happened next.

"And then, how did you overcome it, Professor?"

"I simply prepared some test papers, picked out one that I was relatively satisfied with, and gave it to the students."

"Ha ha ha ha…"

Almost all the students laughed, some even laughing out loud—but after about half a minute, everyone stopped laughing.

Based on the timeline, it seems that the first group of students to take the test were... them...

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about the exam papers anymore. You've all graduated, why bring that up?"

William steered the conversation back to the current black market, "By the way, do you know why most wizards advise against going to Knockturn Alley?"

"Because that's a black market?"

"That's more or less true—more importantly, the black market is called the black market not just because its prices are sometimes outrageously high, but because it operates under rules that are outside the normal wizarding world."

“Muggles also have black markets, but their black markets mostly deal in contraband. As for the wizarding world’s black market, we still can’t count how many illegal trading methods there are.”

He lowered his voice, "Those ordinary illegal items are minor matters. There are forced purchases with exorbitant prices marked up in very subtle terms... There are counterfeit goods sold, imitations of all grades... There are sleight of hand, your Galleons can be traded for some other metal... There are even illegal contracts used to trade for various seriously prohibited items, even contracts that promise you freedom in your next life..."

“In places like this,” William pointed subtly to the roadside, “don’t accept the kindness of strangers, don’t believe the promises of strangers, don’t help strangers indiscriminately, and it’s best not to talk to strangers.”

"Especially—"

William raised his left hand, and a child who had run up to him and was about to fall was pushed aside along with a retractable rope. After making a face, the child realized he was not being controlled and turned to run away.

"Be careful not to let strangers get too close to you."

He lowered his left hand, and the child's rope bent into the shape of a hand, then smacked him on the bottom with a 'smack,' causing him to yell and run away even faster.

William smiled and turned to look at his students. "So, just this once, and it's best not to come to places like this again."