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Chapter 1265: Greyback Again
🕑 Added 2024-10-15 21:48:05 +0000 UTC"I finally know where Mundungus took all those illegal cauldrons," said Hermione, looking at the variety of cauldrons. "It seems like they are quite popular in this place."
"Not just cauldrons. Anything illegal or of dubious origin is very popular here," said Evan.
The central trading area of the Underworld was essentially a place where stolen goods were sold.
The quality of the items sold here was not guaranteed; it was a mix of good and bad, but the prices were very low, about one-third of the normal price.
Not only that, but you could haggle, and there would always be someone willing to buy.
The only thing to be careful about was not getting caught buying these things by others, as it was illegal.
Therefore, like Evan and his friends, all the wizards here wore hoods to cover their faces.
Due to the current situation, this place was much like Knockturn Alley — there were barely any people outside of the shops.
Seeing Evan and the other three coming, many wizards gathered around, enthusiastically promoting their goods.
In addition to daily sundries, there were also many strange and weird things.
For example, someone was selling cockroaches, with more than twenty varieties and hundreds of them.
They were kept in carefully woven cages, constantly making rustling sounds as they crawled around inside, enough to make anyone's skin crawl.
The key point was that this guy not only sold cockroaches, but he also bought them back.
Ron spent a long time at the stall, asking about the price of each cockroach.
If Hermione hadn't stopped him, he would have definitely bought a few cockroaches to take back; because the seller told Ron that he could buy rare cockroaches to breed, and later sell the eggs or larvae back to him at a certain price.
"This deal is very cost-effective. Just ten Sickles and you can earn money continuously," said Ron. "Cockroaches breed quickly. Just leave them there, and they’ll reproduce on their own. All I need to do is feed them a bit of bread crumbs every day."
"Great idea," said Hermione sarcastically. "Are you planning to keep them in your bedroom?"
"No, I could find an empty classroom."
"First, the professors won’t allow that. Second, how can you be sure this guy isn’t scamming you? What if you bring back a bunch of cockroaches and he doesn’t pay you? What will you do then?" said Hermione. "Lastly, it’s really disgusting. I’m sure once Lavender finds out, she won’t want to go near you."
Faced with Hermione's questioning, Ron didn't know how to answer. He looked at Evan and Harry for help.
What was this guy thinking? Did he really believe Evan and Harry would support him in raising cockroaches?
"Hermione's right. There are a lot of scammers here. We need to be cautious," said Evan.
Harry nodded, glad that Hermione had stopped Ron, as he didn't want a bunch of cockroaches in his bedroom.
To be honest, just thinking about this kind of thing was disgusting enough...
Next to the cockroach merchant, a wizard was selling a bunch of junk he had gotten from who knows where. He sold them in packages, and a Bronze-Knut was enough to buy a large package. He assured them that someone had found jewels and gold in it.
If you wanted to get rich, you could give it a try.
But oddly enough, he couldn't explain why he didn't find the jewels and gold if he was packing the rubbish himself?
"They’re all scams," Hermione concluded.
This statement might be a bit of a generalization. The goods here were not all fake. There were also many genuine items that could be bought as long as you could afford it.
Continuing forward, they saw many vendors selling spellcasting materials, magic artifacts, and Dark creature cubs.
These were the main commodities in the Underground World, all of which were illegal items that could not be bought above. Most of them were Dark Magic items. Although the variety and quantity here were far less than what was available in Knockturn Alley, the prices were also much lower.
Moreover, many of the items here were banned from circulation by the Ministry of Magic.
There was a minimum standard for what could be sold in Knockturn Alley, but here there were no restrictions.
The dangerous goods didn’t stop there; even Muggle firearms and weapons were being sold here.
They were known as extremely powerful Muggle weapons that, if used properly, could have the effect of a Killing Curse.
The disadvantage was that they could be easily countered by magic, and they were quite complicated to use, requiring specialized training.
Guns were not selling well. Any Dark wizard who could afford such things could easily cast Avada Kedavra anyway.
If Mr. Weasley’s team from the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects came down here, they would confiscate most of the goods on these vendors.
Of course, the Underground World had a sophisticated early warning system, so he’d likely end up catching nothing.
By the time he brought his men down, the vendors had already received the news and ran deeper underground to hide.
On the walls surrounding the central area, there were passages at regular intervals.
These tunnels led to other underground caverns, and the structure inside was incredibly complex.
Without a lot of manpower, material resources and time, it would be impossible to find the wizards hiding within.
This place hadn’t just sprung up overnight; and the Ministry of Magic didn’t have the resources to deal with it now.
"Honestly, am I the only one who thinks this place is pretty great? Everything’s so cheap, and they even accept bartering," said Ron. "We could buy our school supplies here in the future..."
"All of this is illegal!" Hermione reminded him. "And the quality is not guaranteed."
"That's their charm. Mundungus made a lot of money from this place..."
"Alright, you two, we're not here to shop," said Harry quickly, "We need to find out where the werewolves’ lair is before we can track down Malfoy. Hurry up and ask someone..."
"Don't bother," said Evan, holding his wand high. "They're already here to find us."
It must have been the bartender who tipped them off. Not even five minutes after Evan and the others entered, more than twenty wizards charged out from one of the lowest tunnels. Leading them was none other than Greyback.
This was the first time Evan had seen the werewolf since that attack several years ago.
He was more imposing than the other wizards, with tangled gray hair and beard, sharp yellowed teeth, and a face covered in sores and corroded marks that obscured his original appearance, making him look especially terrifying.
He exuded a menacing aura, along with a foul odor — a mix of dust, sweat, and blood.
"Oh goodness, it's Greyback, the werewolf king!" a wizard exclaimed. "Run!"
It was clear that all wizards were terrified of him.
Seeing Greyback, the vendors who had gathered around Evan and his friends quickly dispersed.
With terrified expressions on their faces, as if they had seen a ghost, they turned around and ran away in a hurry, not even caring about their own goods...
