Hogwarts Card System Chapter 237

Released on May 30, 2025

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Chapter 236: I’d Recognize You Even if You Were Burnt to Ashes

The changes Ted brought to the wizarding world were gradually becoming apparent.

The biggest change was undoubtedly the Salty Fish House and its Salty Fish Net. Despite being a small storefront, it was constantly bustling with activity.

And the information and magical item exchange facilitated by the Salty Fish Net brought a touch of vitality to Diagon Alley.

If someone were to specifically track the statistics, they would discover that Diagon Alley’s GDP had increased by 25% in the past two months!

Many shops noticed that business seemed better, but they didn’t realize it was due to the customer traffic generated by the Salty Fish House.

However, Knockturn Alley reacted even more strongly than Diagon Alley!

In the world, those who operate in the grey areas between black and white are often the quickest to react to changes.

They are well-informed, possess keen senses, and are highly adaptable to change.

The influx of people brought by the Salty Fish House not only benefited the merchants in Diagon Alley, but a significant portion of the crowd also radiated to the not-so-distant Knockturn Alley.

Knockturn Alley wasn’t exclusively populated by dark wizards, but it was a grey area where one could purchase many unconventional, less-than-legitimate, and legally ambiguous items not commonly found on the market.

Because the grey market wasn’t entirely legal, yet there was a demand for it, it became a place that Aurors and Hit-Wizards wouldn’t completely shut down.

Due to this convenience, a dark underbelly also lurked beneath this grey surface.

Not to mention various contraband items, there was even a dramatic incident before the start of last school year involving the smuggling of intelligent creatures from other worlds, which resulted in a rampaging massacre.

The Ministry of Magic swept through the area then, but once the sweep was done, it was done.

Weren’t those shops still there? Weren’t those owners still alive and well?

Business had to continue, after all.

And with the large influx of people, more buyers and sellers were attracted.

The benefits reaped by Knockturn Alley were several times greater than those of Diagon Alley.

In just these two months, it had already gained a reputation.

Even dark wizards from France and Germany came here to peddle some products or buy items they needed but weren’t allowed to sell on the open market.

This also led to the appearance of many previously unseen items, such as that head.

Ted had to investigate what was going on with this thing.

He couldn’t ignore this matter!

Since he had a head in hand, finding the person became much easier.

Although those who operate in the black market have some hidden and anti-tracking abilities, they were no match for Ted.

He not only possessed divination skills but could also use his psychic abilities to display traces in the air.

Ted followed a faint yellow line that was invisible to others.

When he reached the vicinity of Knockturn Alley, Ted found a corner, casually cast an Invisibility Charm, and then began to change his appearance.

Normal wizards cannot change their own appearance; that belongs to very advanced Transfiguration.

Ted’s Transfiguration hadn’t reached that level, but he could use psionics to disguise himself.

A few seconds later, a tall, slender, twenty-something white male wizard walked into Knockturn Alley.

…

Sherman was a middleman, a wizard from Eastern Europe.

Originally, his business was thriving, and his family was quite happy. But the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union caught everyone off guard, including wizards.

In the Soviet Union, wizards were directly led by the Red Magic Committee.

However, the sudden collapse of the upper echelons led to chaos everywhere, including among wizards.

Eastern Europe was in turmoil for a whole year, and many wizards lost their lives as a result.

A group of werewolves even took advantage of the situation to bite Muggles and wizards indiscriminately in the local area. Because the organization had completely disintegrated, everyone was busy fleeing or hiding, making it impossible to organize a force to stop these werewolves, who wreaked havoc for a while.

Things had finally calmed down somewhat, but the world had changed completely, and the situation was very different.

Sherman’s usual business routes were completely destroyed.

His source of goods was gone, his routes were gone, his channels were gone, and his buyers were gone too!

He had no choice but to travel to the Far East himself, even encountering danger several times, before he managed to acquire a batch of items from a group of smugglers specializing in Eastern magical artifacts.

But when a man leaves his homeland, he’s worth less. Now that the Soviet Union had completely collapsed, these wizards were like stray dogs without a home.

As a result, Sherman’s goods were severely undervalued.

He risked his life to get these things, only to be able to buy a month’s worth of bread? He even had to ponder for days just to eat a piece of meat. Why?!

Sherman, with a fierce resolve, grit his teeth, stomped his foot, and slid his way to the British Isles.

He’d been to the Far East, so what was there to fear in going a little further west?

But how to put it? All crows are black.

Were the scoundrels of Great Britain any more noble?

They still haggled down the price!

However, it was somewhat acceptable.

Because they were haggling the price for a new customer, not for a homeless stray dog.

However, a ceramic head that Sherman had highly valued failed to sell.

They wouldn’t take it, claiming they didn’t sense any magic and that it was worthless. They only bought the other stone and jade figurines.

Since Sherman had brought it all the way, and he had invested capital in it, he was truly unwilling to just discard it.

He heard someone say there was a Salty Fish Net, which was great for selling things, and that you could find buyers for any strange and unusual item, so he decided to try it.

And just like that, it ended up in Ted’s hands.

…

At this moment, Sherman stared blankly ahead, his pupils unfocused.

A hand rested on his head, belonging to the disguised Ted.

Ted silently infiltrated and subdued the man, then used language and psychic abilities to guide his memories, tracing the origin and destination of the terracotta warrior.

It turned out there were three terracotta warriors in total: the ceramic one only had a head, the stone one was missing an arm, and the jade one was completely intact.

The latter two had been taken by Borgin and Burkes.

“Hey, isn’t that a coincidence?”

Ted muttered to himself as he began to erase some of Sherman’s memories.

Being a middleman wasn’t a big deal; he was just trying to make a living. But he shouldn’t go to the East, so Ted blurred his route.

Although he couldn’t stop such activities in the local area, he was at least doing his part.

Borgin and Burkes’ shop, huh? He’d have to make some preparations.

Last time, Ansu stirred up trouble for their business, and after that, their security level was raised.

Ansu had secretly observed it several times and didn’t feel confident.

This time, he needed to prepare.

Ted erased all traces of his presence, put the middleman Sherman back in the chair, and let him slump over the desk. Sherman would think he had simply fallen asleep by accident.

Then Ted left…

He brushed off a few old witches who, seeing his young age, tried to recommend forbidden potions to him.

Those potions looked like trash from their appearance; they were clearly trying to fleece a fat pig!

Besides, these potions were addictive and harmful to health if consumed too much.

There was even an old witch who tried to grope him!

Damn it! You’re old enough to be my grandmother!

Ted directly gave her a furious glare, scaring off the old witch who was pushing forbidden drugs on him.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and eye contact is an excellent way to use psychic abilities.

It was only because it was broad daylight that he couldn’t directly break the legs of these old witches, otherwise he would have made them understand what it meant to be irreconcilable with gambling and drugs!

After leaving Knockturn Alley, Ted planned to find a place to revert to his original appearance when he suddenly felt something and turned his head, surprisingly seeing Hermione.

She was wearing her wizarding robes, excitedly running in the direction of the Salty Fish House.

Was it almost time for school, and she was here to do some shopping?

While Ted was still thinking, Hermione also seemed to sense something, suddenly turning her head and looking over.

She first glanced at Ted, then turned her head and continued walking, as if something felt off, then turned back again, looking increasingly confused, and stopped with a frown.

Ted was still looking for a corner when Hermione actually walked over and cautiously asked, “Ted?”

Ted changed his voice with psionics: “What Ted? You’ve got the wrong person!”

But Hermione suddenly confirmed it, grabbing Ted’s sleeve: “You’re still playing dumb with me?! I’d recognize you even if you were burnt to ashes!”

The little lioness glared angrily!

Don’t mention it, she really had Professor McGonagall’s demeanor!

Professor McGonagall was known as ‘Big Hermione’!

“Cough, don’t, wait until I change back,” Ted quickly admitted.

…

A moment later, the two sat down in the Salty Fish House.

“What were you doing dressed like that?”

“Buying some things, it wasn’t convenient for me to show my face, you know.”

“You should be careful, you’re a celebrity now. If you’re discovered, it’ll be very troublesome.”