Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 77: The Trap in Knockturn Alley

Siren and Garrick left the Dragon Sanctuary at five in the afternoon, and a few minutes later they appeared in a room in the Ministry of Magic.

The downside to obtaining a portkey through the regular channel is that whenever you return to England, you must first visit the Ministry of Magic.

There are no such cumbersome regulations in Romania. When they go there, they appear directly at the entrance of the reserve.

"Five o'clock and three minutes from the Romanian Fire Dragon Reserve." Only one voice was heard.

"Good afternoon, Basil," said Garrick with the familiarity of someone who used Portkeys so often that he was used to them.

When the staff of the Ministry of Magic saw that the person coming was Garrick Ollivander, they let him pass without even asking any questions.

"Fortunately it wasn't Lambert, otherwise we would have to wait at least ten minutes before we could leave." Garrick looked very happy, and was obviously very satisfied with the gains from this trip to the Fire Dragon Sanctuary.

It was also the first time that Xi Lun knew that his grandfather had to "rob" to get high-quality dragon heartstrings and heart nerves from the reserve.

This time, with the help of Dumbledore, he apparently "grabbed" a lot from his peers. According to him, Gregorovitch and Akayol had blue faces when they left and looked very unhappy.

The two came out of the room, walked through the bustling hall of the Ministry of Magic, and returned to the Leaky Cauldron through the fireplace in the Ministry.

After that, Garrick shut himself up in his room again, and Siren did the same, only occasionally going to the Leaky Cauldron for a while.

Although the wizard in the cowboy hat hasn't appeared for several days, there is never a shortage of drunks who start bragging when they get drunk, and everyone can always find new fun.

It wasn't until the end of July that owls began to appear one after another in the sky over London.

That evening, as the sky gradually darkened, Xi Lun came out of the Leaky Cauldron as usual. When passing by Knockturn Alley, he turned his head and took a look out of habit.

"Ok?"

This sight made Xiren subconsciously stop where he was, his eyes fixed on what the old witch was holding in her hand.

It was a dried lizard, nothing serious. These animals were indispensable in potions and magic. In fact, in some African wizarding tribes, dried lizards were used for many purposes, even as currency.

But this lizard is different. Its whole body is translucent, as if it is made of crystal, and it is particularly conspicuous in the dim environment.

Xi Lun's foot turned in uncontrollably, just as he had done before.

When he got closer, Xi Lun could see more clearly that there were natural rune patterns on the back of the crystal-like dried lizard, which were different on the left and right sides.

The Secret Chameleon, also known as the Shapeshifting Lizard, is not rare among magical animals, but it is extremely difficult to catch.

This lizard has the amazing ability to change its appearance to match its surroundings, with its color, form, and even size blending perfectly into its surroundings.

It may be an inconspicuous stone in the last second, and turn into a dead leaf in the next moment. Sometimes it will even disguise itself as an old light bulb. You can never guess what it will look like in the next moment.

If someone wanted to catch it, the only way would be to cast a large-scale detection spell in the forest where it might appear, searching every inch of land indiscriminately like casting a net.

If you're lucky, you might come across one or two before you walk through the entire forest.

Knockturn Alley is truly a black market for magic; besides legal items, you can find everything here... The way they handle the deformed lizards is obviously from North America; only they would straighten the tails as well.

In other words, this thing was smuggled in.

But wasn't this old witch a poison maker before? She spent her days either shaving nails or cradling skulls. How did she suddenly become a smuggler?
"How much?" Xi Lun frowned and asked straight to the point.

"Five hundred Galleons," the witch grinned, revealing her black and green teeth.

Add to that her straw-like dry hair and the colorless, dirty, worn robes, and she looked every bit like the witches in Muggle fairy tales who wholesale poison apples and frog soup. Especially after dark, even Siren felt a chill run down his spine just looking at her.

"It's too expensive." He stepped back imperceptibly. "This thing costs a hundred Galleons. Even in Knockturn Alley, it's not that expensive."

"No bargaining," the witch said sinisterly, "but you can talk to the seller in person. They should be happy to do it."

After she finished speaking, she suddenly burst into a strange laugh.

"Ta, ta, ta..."

The sudden sound of footsteps behind him made Xilun realize that something was wrong immediately, but just as he turned around and wanted to leave Knockturn Alley, he suddenly froze in place. He didn't know when, two dark shadows appeared behind him.

Turning around again, three more shadows walked out from the depths of Knockturn Alley. Together with the old witch, there were six people in total.

Xi Lun knew that he seemed to have fallen into a trap, and the deformed lizard was the bait to lure him here.

But why?

"You've got the wrong person." Xi Lun tried to calm himself down. "I'm just an ordinary Hogwarts student."

"You are not ordinary at all, Ciarán Ollivander." A dark shadow stood out, and a hoarse voice seemed to come from far away.

His entire body was covered by a large black hood, and the moonlight shining on him seemed to be swallowed up, making even his outline blurred.

But what he said made Xi Lun's heart sink.

The other party was coming for me.

There's no reason. He's not Harry Potter. He's just an ordinary wand maker...

"I see, you're after the wands." Siren seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and said firmly, "For Ollivander's Wand Shop!"

The leader paused for a moment, then adopted an interested tone.

"how do you know?"

He admitted it, with no intention of hiding it.

"I guess." Xi Lun shrugged.

"Don't worry, we can talk while walking." The man took out his wand and motioned Xiren to walk deeper into Knockturn Alley.

Xi Lun could only do as he was told, while explaining:

"He knew my name and my habit of occasionally coming to Knockturn Alley. He obviously made a special request. And that person..."

Xi Lun pointed to the typical evil old witch on the left and said, "She was here about a month ago, replacing a stall I often patronized. The stall owner has never appeared since then... He must have been killed by you."

Without waiting for the other party to answer, Xi Lun continued, "You should have known from him that I was interested in magical creatures. So a month later, I saw a shapeshifting lizard when I passed by."

Xi Lun was analyzing things on his own, and at this moment, many things that had been going on before suddenly became clear to him.

No wonder he always felt that there were more unfamiliar faces in Knockturn Alley, and that rare and precious things like the shapeshifting lizard were not bought by others immediately.

……

(End of this chapter)