In the end, Tom failed to find his favorite part-time job in Diagon Alley. Ever since, he set his sights on that place: Knockturn Alley.

When it comes to Knockturn Alley, he doesn't loathe or change color like other wizards. In his opinion, Knockturn Alley is nothing more than a special scope of business, involving a gray area in the magic world. Going to such a place to work part-time will help increase your knowledge!

And... probably because I "personally" copied this place, I don't have any fear of Knockturn Alley - the current Knockturn Alley has just been cracked down by the Ministry of Magic, and it is still very "clean".

As soon as he said go, Tom went straight into Knockturn Alley.

Just as he thought, the raids by the Ministry of Magic did not make this place deserted. There are still many wizards of all kinds coming in and out of various shops, doing some shady or shady activities.

The flow of people is the same as before the inspection, but there are many new faces, and the ground seems to be much cleaner.

Tom passed by the place where Borgin-Bock Magic Items Store used to be—this antique store has been resold, and now it is a shop called "Pony's Alchemy Workshop". It is said that after the plagiarism, a group of creditors came here to block one of the two store owners, Mr. Bok, and forced him to pay the debt. There are two versions of what happened next.

Some people said that Mr. Bok had already prepared for it. He stored many rare magic items in the underground secret room. Just as he was about to take the items out of the secret room, a careless creditor accidentally triggered the alarm in the secret room. As a result, the secret room was shrouded in flames, Bok was burned to ashes on the spot, and the treasures stored in the secret room were also wiped out.

However, some people think that this is a farce directed and acted by Bok himself. These are just tricks he tried to get out of. At this time, Bok has already gone away with his savings.

Both arguments are very marketable. Bock's whereabouts would be easy to ascertain, if Gringotts wanted to. Gringotts has the flow of funds from each account. If the goblins are willing to disclose it, everyone can naturally confirm his status from the dynamics of Bock's account.

If a lot of money was suddenly transferred from his account, then he must be alive and just fled with the money. If there is no movement in his account, then he might really have died in the fire.

But the goblins at Gringotts certainly don't publish account movements, it's their old trick. Historically, there have been some wizarding families that suddenly died out - such as in the days of Grindelwald's rise, or during the wizarding wars launched by Voldemort. Those wizard families who disappeared overnight, if they can't find someone to inherit their property, they will be locked up in the underground vault of Gringotts.

Gringotts' external caliber is: Gringotts will never embezzle your wealth. Gringotts is simply the custodian of the property.

But the real situation, who can say for sure? Gringotts has refused to disclose what happened to the vaults anyway.

And whether Bock lives or dies, the store has changed hands. Those creditors who escaped from death sold the shop with the idea of ​​recovering a little of the capital.

"Why don't you come in and take a look?" Perhaps Tom had been standing outside the store for too long, which attracted the attention of the store owner, so he walked out from behind the counter, came outside the store, and invited Tom to come in and take a look.

"Ah, I'm not here for shopping." Tom took the initiative to explain to the shopkeeper when he misunderstood. He noticed the name "Alchemy Workshop" on the signboard, and his heart moved.

It seems that this place is quite suitable for me?

He forgives the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is wearing a gray robe. He is tall and has gray hair, but there are no wrinkles on his face. He looks about fifty years old.

"Aren't you here for shopping? Then you are here to be an apprentice alchemist?" The shop owner glanced at Tom's age and thought he must have not graduated yet. Then his purpose of coming here is very clear: to find a part-time job during the summer vacation.

The shop owner frowned thinking of this, "I have no shortage of apprentices here, and I can give you a free suggestion: don't work here as a part-time summer vacation, you children should go to Diagon Alley to find a job."

The shop owner's words made Tom feel good about him.

"I'm not here to be an apprentice. I'm an alchemist. I don't know if you have any shortage of people here?" Tom's answer surprised the shop owner.

"Alchemist, you?!" He carefully looked at Tom's appearance twice, and felt that he had nothing to do with the profession of alchemist: he was too young.

Tom nodded.

boss:…

"If you are really an alchemist, then I really need you here—come in, and if you pass my test, then you can stay. But I must remind you that you need to pay for the materials consumed during the test. "

"That's reasonable." Tom didn't think there was any problem, and followed the boss into Pony's alchemy workshop.

There are no fancy decorations in the store, with wooden floors, red brick walls, and a few lamps that look like kerosene lamps hanging on the walls, which are acting as light sources—the overall lighting in Knockturn Alley is extremely poor, and indoor lighting is needed to have enough of light.

There are not many things in the store, there are only two display stands, and there are various alchemy creations inside. Other than that, there is only one cash register left. Of course, there is also a door in the wall leading to the alchemy workshop in the back.

The boss took Tom straight to his studio.

After opening the door, a dark room appeared in front of Tom—the lighting in the store was already very poor, and this studio without windows was even more dark like a basement.

"Please wait a moment—don't use fluorescent flashes." The shopkeeper didn't use fluorescent flashes for lighting, and specifically told Tom.

He groped around the wall of the room in the dark for a while, and then there was a sound of jingling ~lightnovelpub.net~ as if coins were rolling. Immediately afterwards, there was the mechanical sound of gears turning.

After finishing this, the owner changed the location, found a switch in the dark, twisted it, and the sound of "da da da" sounded.

Tom:?

The sound reminded him of gas stoves in the non-magic world.

Along with this weird sound, the light came.

A cluster of flames appeared in a wall lamp, and then expanded rapidly, bursting out the light of the flames, and also showing the indoor situation: the arrangement here is very similar to the room in the nineteenth century in the movie.

In front of Tom was a cabinet with countless small boxes neatly placed on it. Labels were affixed to the boxes to indicate the contents of the boxes.

On one side of the cabinet is a huge table, and the wall lamp is just above the table. Compared with the cabinet, the table is undoubtedly a lot more messy, with many tools on it.

Tom smacked his mouth when he looked at the shopkeeper.