Homecoming from Hogwarts

"Your snacks are very delicious, ma'am—"

The fat witch who sold snacks also worked part-time cleaning the carriage. Percy nodded and smiled at her as he passed by her, then got off the train.

The Hogwarts Express stopped at Diagon Alley station. Some of the passengers who boarded the train were going to King's Cross Station. When Percy squeezed out of the endless stream of people and came outside the station, he found that the sky above his head had become dim, and a big red sun was shaking on the mountain top in the sky.

Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was already seven o'clock. Percy's eyes fell on the file bag he was holding in his arm, and he was in a state of hesitation.

At this time, generally speaking, wizards would have gone home from work, or perhaps even finished dinner and were sitting in their own gardens, enjoying the leisurely evening breeze. Percy was not sure whether Professor Lupin was still working in the workshop that had become famous in recent times. If not, he would need to make another trip tomorrow.

But he needed to go to work tomorrow. Although he had nothing to do in the Ministry of Magic now, skipping work was not his style. Moreover, although his mission to Hogwarts had failed, he still had to report the results to the Minister of Magic.

After a moment's hesitation, Percy decided to try his luck because after last night's conflict, the atmosphere at home made him feel suffocated, and he would rather go outside to get some fresh air.

As night falls, many shops have already closed, and the remaining shops that still have dim oil lights on are not doing much business.

The few pedestrians on the street walked hurriedly, unwilling to stay on the street for too long. After all, the recent public security in the wizarding world was obvious to all.

Even in Diagon Alley, there are more evildoers after the sun goes down.

Percy's thoughts briefly touched upon the cause of the public security problem and he forced himself to stop thinking about it further.

Percy was startled when he caught a glimpse of a dark figure flashing from a small alley nearby. Before the guy in the black cloak could get close to him, Percy drew his wand and pointed it at the guy, speaking sternly.
"Stop, who are you and what do you want?"

"Oh, calm down, sir--"

The wizard in the cloak looked like a foreigner. His skin looked rough and his deep eye sockets contained a pair of cloudy blue eyes. After being stopped by Percy, the wizard was not nervous. Instead, he showed a smooth and flattering smile.

"I'm not a criminal, sir. I'm just a... Oh, if you're interested, I can introduce my merchandise to you?"

"commodity?"

Percy looked at the blue-eyed wizard suspiciously. After confirming that he had no intention of attacking, Percy slowly put his wand into his pocket, raised his chin slightly, and looked at the wizard of unknown origin with scrutiny.
"So you are a businessman?"

"Your wisdom is admirable, sir—"

The blue-eyed wizard smiled and said carefully,
"So, are you interested?"

"What do you sell?"

"Some antiques, please come this way, sir!"

The blue-eyed wizard was encouraged that Percy did not leave immediately. He dragged Percy to the wall, then lifted his large black cloak, revealing a box hanging on his waist. The vendor opened the box, exposing the goods he was selling to Percy.

The space inside the box was much larger than what was shown on the outside. When the box was opened, the pallets containing items opened from their folded state. Within a few seconds, a stall appeared in front of Percy.

Several sets of shiny silver armor, brooches, snuff bottles, jewel rings, fine porcelain, and some odds and ends.

The blue-eyed wizard placed the box on the ground, walked out from behind the stall, and made an inviting gesture to Percy.

"Good quality and cheap, sir, all from some once-reputable wizarding families."

Percy remained silent, his eyes falling on each piece of merchandise that looked very old.

Although Percy did not come from a wealthy family, the Weasley family was one of the twenty-eight pure-blood families after all. The bloodline derived from "Weasley" had already spread throughout the wizarding world, and many of them came from wealthy families.

He had accompanied his parents to visit these relatives, seen their collections, and listened to those relatives' introductions for the purpose of showing off, so he had some appreciation ability for antiques.

In his opinion, not all of the things that the blue-eyed wizard placed in front of him were fakes. About 95 percent of them were worthless garbage.

"Look at the quality of this ring, sir. It comes from Desmir, a lonely little noble in Transylvania. This emerald ring is their heirloom. I bought it for thirty galleons. If you think it's good, I'll only charge you thirty-five galleons--"

Percy stared at the ring in silence.

The blue-eyed wizard's words were half true and half false. He might have bought the ring from a poor nobleman, but he probably only had the ring setting. The dark yellow ring setting should contain a certain proportion of mithril, which is indeed worth a lot of money, but the gemstone inlaid on the ring setting is completely fake.

The blue-eyed wizard tried hard to introduce the history of the ring to Percy, but suddenly -
"What's your name?" Percy suddenly interrupted the blue-eyed wizard's chatter.

"Tudan Kolkant--"

The blue-eyed wizard answered subconsciously, but after saying the name, he immediately came to his senses and looked at Percy warily.
"What's the matter, sir?"

"Well, Mr. Colkante—"

Percy, who was taller than him, looked down at the blue-eyed wizard with a look of indifference and arrogance. "I assume you must have a license issued by the Ministry of Magic?"

"license?"

Colkante was stunned for a moment, then his expression turned cold.

"What does this have to do with you?"

"Oh, what a coincidence—"

Percy twitched his nose.

"I'm from the Ministry of Magic."

Colkante squinted his eyes and looked at the young boy in front of him.
"Are you from the Executive Department?"

"This is none of your business—"

Percy blushed slightly, pursed his lips and said in a low voice,
"According to the law, Mr. Colkante, if you do not have the relevant sales license, you will need to pay a fine. If you cannot pay the fine, you will be sent to Azkaban. Hey, wait!"

Colkant paid no attention to Percy's reprimand. After knowing that he was dealing with an official from the Ministry of Magic, he immediately waved his wand and made all the goods exposed to Percy jump back into the box. He then hung the box back on his belt, rolled up his cloak, and was about to leave.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Percy scowled, and reached out to grab Colkanto's shoulder, but--
Wow!
The black robe rolled up, and the wand came out from under the cloak, pointing directly at Percy's eyes. There was no awe of the Ministry of Magic officials in Colkant's turbid blue eyes, but instead a cold light flashed.
"I advise you not to cause trouble for yourself and your family, boy!"

Faced with the trembling wand tip and the suddenly ferocious face, Percy froze at first, but then a surge of anger surged from the bottom of his heart. He stared at Colkant's face sharply, thinking about the possibility of avoiding the first spell.

But before Percy could start to act, a flash of red light suddenly passed over his shoulder, singed a few strands of his red hair, and accurately hit Colkant's raised wrist. This bad guy who didn't want to obey the law was immediately sent flying as if he had been hit head-on by a punch!
boom!
Colkant fell heavily to the ground and never got up again. The box containing the contraband smashed against the wall and broke apart, with the pieces inside scattered all over the floor, and his wand flew over Percy's shoulder and landed in someone's hand.

"Bah, scum!"

Sirius spat, and strode towards the unconscious Colcante, and turned him over with his toes. After confirming that he had fainted, Sirius shot out a thin rope from the tip of his wand and tied Colcante tightly. He looked at the scattered antiques on the ground for a few times, and then waved his wand indifferently, letting them return to the box. Finally, he turned his head to look at the dumbfounded Percy, smiled and shrugged.

"To borrow a phrase from Alastor, Percy, always be vigilant. Things aren't as peaceful as they once were."

"Sirius?"

Percy took a few deep breaths.
"What are you doing here? Oh, are you on duty to maintain law and order?"

"In fact, like you, I'm off work--"

Sirius stepped on Colkanto's back and lifted the lunch box in his hand.
"I'm here to bring food to Remus. I just came out of the Leaky Cauldron and saw you. By the way, what are you doing here?"

(End of this chapter)