章 1: 001 Night of Shadows (Re-Written)
December 27, 1992.
Christmas had just passed, and Oxford Street in London's West End was already bustling with people. Muggles dressed in new clothes walked on the streets, enjoying the festive atmosphere and the dazzling window displays. Children laughed and played, throwing snowballs at each other or admiring the colorful lights and decorations. Young people who met each other gave sincere New Year's greetings, exchanging hugs and kisses. And everyone had a longing for a good life in their hearts, even if the snowstorm could not extinguish the smiles on their faces.
For wizards, Christmas was also one of the most important holidays of the year, but wizard families celebrated Christmas differently from muggles.
They preferred to stay in the warm indoors, listening to the crackling sound of the fire in the fireplace, sitting under the Christmas tree covered with silver frost and mistletoe, and discussing Quidditch or the latest news.
Therefore, as the wizarding business center, Diagon Alley was always very lonely in the first few days of the new year, let alone Knockturn Alley, which was also sparsely populated on weekdays.
Clang, clang, clack!
Bryan, who was hidden under a large black cloak, got off the small cart of the same model as Gringotts, and even though his stomach was churning, he had to act calmly in order to maintain his cold persona.
The air was filled with the stench of fermented mucus worm slime soaked in rotten frog guts. The uneven ground was wet and sticky. A row of inverted torches hung neatly in mid-air, emitting a green light that illuminated the huge fan-shaped underground cavern as gloomy as a ghost.
Bryan looked around. On the left side of the cave, two hundred feet away from him, there was a 'pet' market. There was a giant creature that was fifteen feet tall and had its limbs firmly bound by iron chains as thick as a bowl. It lay on the ground listlessly, almost blending in with the dark rocks.
Its owner was an old witch from Moldova with broken teeth. She brought it here hoping to sell it for a good price, so that she could use the money to treat her dragon pox.
But unfortunately, it had been on sale for two years and no one was interested.
At this moment, the old witch was leaning on the slave's toe, cursing at a large group of house-elves next to her, accusing them of polluting the environment.
They were a group of house-elves who had lost their masters and gained their freedom.
Of course, using the word 'freedom' to describe house-elves was like using 'beast' to describe centaurs. They would not be grateful.
These poor little fellows mostly belonged to some small wizarding families or secret Schools. Their masters had disappeared in the river of time for various reasons, which forced them to become free.
Having no master was a very terrible thing for house-elves. It almost deprived them of their value of existence. So they gathered here spontaneously, hoping to find new masters for themselves.
But to be honest, apart from some dark wizards who needed living materials to experiment with curses and potions, few people would pay attention to them.
The giant creature was very friendly to the house-elves. Bryan had once seen it slap several of them to death with its palm when it was hungry and stuff them into its mouth with a crunch.
Besides the giant creature and the house-elves, you could also see many other interesting creatures in the 'pet' market that smelled like a toilet. For example, centaurs who had lost their clan's protection, veelas who were accidentally captured (hot commodities), vampires locked in cages, or Irish leprechauns who were very good living materials.
Basically, except for dragons and unicorns that were particularly tabooed magical creatures, you could find most of the existing magical creatures in the wizarding world in the underground pet market.
On the right side of the cave wall, the trading market still maintained the simple style of medieval Europe. But the things sold on those stalls that were casually placed on the ground were not so simple.
Books containing black magic from ancient Greece, potions that greatly increased one's magic power but had unknown side effects, alchemical items that could instantly wipe out life on a large scale - in short, compared with those things, the products sold at Borgin and Burkes could only be regarded as prank products that small wizards liked. The Devil's Snare here was only suitable for being used as decorative plants.
Bryan even saw a curse seed of the black death that had slaughtered all over Europe in an Italian wizard's hand. According to him, his curse seed had been weakened. But if it spread out, killing a city of muggles would not be too difficult. Of course, the curse seed had an amazing price that matched its effect. Otherwise, Bryan would really like to buy it and study it.
And this was the dark side of the wizarding world. A place where there was no law.
After a while, Bryan felt better and walked towards the center of the cavern, gradually joining the sparse crowd.
Most of the people who were active here wore black robes and did not want to be seen by others.
Only a few reckless madmen and wizards who just happened to pass by from Britain dared to show their faces in front of the surveillance personnel who had infiltrated from the Ministry of Magic.
Yes, you heard that right.
The underground world of Knockturn Alley had secret Aurors stationed there. But their existence was only to monitor that nothing 'out of line' happened here, not to eradicate it. Unless, the Ministry of Magic wanted to go to war with all the ancient schools and dark wizards that still existed in Britain.
The square area surrounded by granite walls in the center of the cavern was the commission market of the underground world. On one end of the wall, there was a tall signpost. On the snake-patterned wooden sign, hundreds of commission papers with red magic contract glows were posted, quietly waiting for someone to take them down.
Bryan stood under the sign and looked around. He didn't find any valuable commissions, so he turned around and found a stone stool to sit down and wait for his trading partner to arrive.
Maybe it was because of the arrival of the new year, there were not many people here either. In the large area, there were only two people talking in a low voice ten feet behind him on the right.
One of them was wearing a brown hemp robe. His bald head was covered with pus-filled blisters and scabies. He looked like he was eighty years old. He heard the noise and looked up at Bryan.
He seemed to disdain Bryan's practice of hiding his true face under a twisted magic vortex. He grinned his mouth with only three or four yellow teeth left, spitting out a foul wind. His face was half black like charred old tree bark, and half covered with pink, tentacle-like little flesh buds that wriggled madly. It was very hideous.
But when the old wizard noticed the golden snake embroidered on Bryan's collar, he quickly retracted his disgusting smile, nodded politely and looked away.
Bryan was interested in the old wizard's interesting face.
If he guessed correctly, it should be the damage caused by a failed attempt to release a curse that cut off one's soul when making a Horcrux, which resulted in a severe backlash of magic.
According to Bryan's knowledge, there was only one thing that could temporarily slow down the spread of this curse damage. And the conversation between the two people next verified his guess.
"It's very hard to get, and very dangerous. You should know where in Britain you can find unicorns!" The wizard opposite the old wizard took out a glass cup from under his black robe. The liquid in the cup shone silver in the dim underground world. He said cautiously. The old wizard understood what he meant. He let out a sharp cold laugh and also took out a piece of mithril as big as a fist from his chest and threw it on the table.
Because of the loopholes in traditional magic education, wild school wizards often could achieve mastery in some aspects, but they might be as ignorant as novices who had just touched magic in other aspects. They lacked a systematic and comprehensive understanding of magic theory and practice. And modern magic education based on schools had a high probability of not producing any amazing talents, but at least balanced. They ensured that every student had a solid foundation and a broad vision of magic.
Knowledge balance was very important.
At least for now, any Hogwarts O.W.L.s level qualified student would not be fooled by a potion that had been transfigured and added with two unicorn hairs. They would know that unicorn blood had a distinctive silver color and a sweet smell, and that it could not be mixed with any other substance without losing its effect.
Author's Note: Iam rewriting the first chapters that are quite crude and try to make them more refined. I won't change the core story, only grammar and minor errors will be edited.
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章 2: 002 The Fawley Family (Re-Written)
"You dare–"
The voice was cut off abruptly by a loud bang, as if a thunderbolt had struck the dark and damp underworld. The gloomy place, where only the dim light of torches and fireplaces could barely illuminate the sinister faces of the criminals and outcasts, suddenly burst into angry howls, as sharp as the roar of a werewolf when he sees the full moon.
"Play–"
The third second after taking the confusion drug, the old wizard slapped the table and stood up, his eyes wide open with rage and madness. The dense pustules and scabies on his head quickly turned from red to purple, from purple to black, and then, like a magic potion that was about to be boiled over, they began to bubble and pop. The thorns on his face also became excited, they twisted frantically, while growing rapidly, as if they couldn't wait to get away from the old wizard's face. His skin cracked and bled, revealing the rotten flesh and bones underneath.
"Great–"
The old wizard was furious, and his tone of voice was full of anger and pain. He raised a short and thick wand with a gem on the top, as if he wanted to give a vicious curse to the guy who deceived him.
But unfortunately, he seemed to forget that his current state had already lost control of the violent and evil magic power that coursed through his veins. The active spellcasting behavior made his own chaotic and disorderly magic power further out of control. He was like a wax man who was roasted on a flame, starting from his head and spreading to his whole body, quickly melting.
In the blink of an eye, the living person turned into a pool of black pus on the ground!
"Sorry, great… what?"
The Thin Wizard who traded with the old wizard sneered strangely. He grabbed the mithril on the table and stuffed it into his robe. Then he walked to the pool of pus and looked at it for a few times. He pulled out the wand left by the old wizard from inside and looked at the ruby on top of it carefully by the torch hanging in mid-air. The ruby sparkled with a faint light, indicating that it still had some magic power left.
Through that layer of black cloth that covered his face, Bryan could feel his smugness and greed. The Thin Wizard noticed his gaze and turned his head to look at Bryan with an unpleasant expression. He seemed to think that Bryan wanted to do something, so he whispered threateningly,
"In this place, greed and curiosity can lead you to lose your life at any time, Golden Viper. Don't think that you can scare everyone by tearing up a few big wolves–"
Bryan sneered contemptuously. He lowered his head and stared deeply at the pool of liquid. After a while, an old and hoarse voice came out from under his hood,
"Thank you for your reminder, Mr. Liar, but you seem to have forgotten one thing. Besides greed and curiosity, carelessness is also very deadly."
"What?"
Just as the Thin Wizard was stunned, a black shadow with scarlet eyes suddenly emerged from the pool of pus. The shadow was like a death god, floating in mid-air and roaring at the Thin Wizard,
"Embrace death with me, shameless man!"
The shadow in the air was beyond the Thin Wizard's comprehension. He had no intention of fighting against it. He turned around and wanted to run away. But unfortunately, every inch of space in the underworld was bound by Anti-Apparition spells, preventing anyone from escaping or hiding by magic. And the nearest fireplace that could be used as a portal was at least half a mile away.
Before the Thin Wizard could run out of the low wall that surrounded the trading area, the huge shadow like death god had already caught up with him. It swooped down from mid-air to the ground. It opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and swallowed the Thin Wizard's body and his scream in an instant!
Crunching, crunching, crunching-——
The sound of chewing that made people's teeth sour clearly entered their ears. The blood mixed with bone slag and brain pulp fell to the ground like a stream. The thick and stinky bloody smell made Bryan frown secretly.
The shadow form of the old wizard was just a struggle before dying. It couldn't last long in this world.
After finishing off his enemy who killed him, the shadow quickly faded. Before it completely disappeared, it turned around and stared at Bryan fiercely. His hoarse voice was full of resentment,
"You knew it was fake, but you didn't warn me!"
"Why do you blame your stupidity on others?"
Bryan said coldly,
"Before I become interested in your current form, you'd better disappear quickly. Otherwise, I don't mind letting you live in a glass bottle for decades before sending you to hell."
Bryan's words were irrefutable. The shadow sighed helplessly. He looked around with nostalgia and then his figure faded completely. He walked towards death with big steps, leaving behind only a faint trace of his soul.
Some people around noticed the movement here, but none of them were surprised by what happened. Nor did anyone want to come closer and ask what happened. Just like what the Thin wizard said, in this place where there is no way out, curiosity can kill you at any time.
The dark air cut through a silver light. Bryan summoned out the mithril covered with tooth marks from the flesh and blood, cleaned it up with a flick of his wand, and then put it in his pocket indifferently, feeling very happy.
With a crisp snap of his fingers, the pus and blood that the old wizard turned into and the shattered flesh of the Thin Wizard burst into golden magic fire. In just a few moments, the fire cleaned up the dirty ground and destroyed the last traces of the two people in the world.
Since he took other people's things, he had to help them deal with the aftermath. This is called public service.
"It seems that I missed a good show, Mr. Golden Viper?"
Bryan turned his head to look at the source of the voice. A blond-haired, black-eyed, friendly-looking middle-aged wizard was standing under a tall billboard that advertised some illegal potions and artifacts. He was smiling at him with a hint of sarcasm and curiosity.
"Maybe you were lucky enough to avoid trouble."
Bryan nodded and said indifferently.
The visitor was named Kakus Fawley, a well-known broker in the underworld, from one of the sacred twenty-eight families, the Fawley family.
This family used to be famous in the magical world. At its most glorious time, the head of the family even served as the minister of magic, and was one of the most powerful and influential families in Britain.
But unfortunately, Hector Fawley, the minister of magic of the Fawley family at that time, did not have a strategic vision beyond reality. He ignored Albus Dumbledore's warning and misjudged how much damage Gellert Grindelwald, the ambitious dark lord who was in full swing at that time, would bring to Britain and even the whole European magical world. As a result, he was driven off by angry wizards who blamed him for his incompetence and negligence.
And the Fawley family who lost their power protection also suffered a heavy blow and gradually disappeared from the British magical world.
They lost their wealth, status, reputation, and allies. They became isolated and despised by their former peers and friends. For two or three generations, the fallen Fawley family has been looking for some way to return to the center of the stage. They have tried many attempts, but always failed, because no matter which way they go, there is an insurmountable figure at the end of it.
In fact, Albus Dumbledore never targeted the lonely Fawley family, but people in the magical world will not forget that it was because Hector ignored Dumbledore's warning that led to the heavy casualties of the British magical world in the process of fighting against Grindelwald. Fifty years later, people's anger towards the Fawley family gradually faded away, but Albus Dumbledore was still alive!
The current power holders of the Ministry of Magic always held a vigilant attitude towards that old man in Hogwarts School. They had no need to risk offending the greatest wizard of this era for a dust that should have been drowned in the history.
In the end, the helpless Fawley family decided to join the dark side.
They sent out one of the few younger generations in their family who looked decent, willing to show their faces and bear the risk of being retaliated against in the underworld, trying to accumulate wealth and connections, and quietly waiting for an opportunity to return to the bright world.
That person was Kakus Fawley, He had contacts with many shady characters and organizations in the underworld. He traded information, secrets, goods, services, and sometimes even lives. He was always looking for valuable clues and opportunities that could help him achieve his ultimate goal: to restore his family's glory and honor.
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Author's Note: I have re-written this chapter, the core story has not changed. The grammatical errors and some confusing paragraphs are more refined.
クリエイターの想い
FicFrenzy
FicFrenzy
I made a mistake in family name i didnot know that, there really was a fawley family in the wizarding world and the family mentioned in this fanfic is 'foley'. so you guys dont need to be confused family name is not that big priority and it wont affect the story. but i will change the family name in the previous chapters and new uploaded chpaters to fawley. if you see foley somewhere that is also the same family.
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