Those time travelers that year

The black-robed wizard collapsed to the ground, his swift and decisive action causing his fellow outlaws lurking in the shadows to tense up. Here, there were no laws, only the law of the jungle; might makes right. Similarly, if you wanted something, the best way was to rob it; whoever got it kept it. Now, the other criminals who hadn't yet made a move were ready for a bloody brawl.

However, before they could even make a move, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

The outsider, whom they saw as a naked sheep, quickly tore away the harmless disguise, making all the criminals realize with shock that what was in sheep's clothing was not just a sheep, but possibly a wolf.

The dark wizard's stun spell was swift and skillful, and his unexpected attack gave him a sure chance of catching his prey off guard. However, in the next instant, a blazing flame appeared out of nowhere, blocking the stun spell from the wand. The flame engulfed the spell the moment it touched it, and then the outsider turned to face the dark wizard who had ambushed him with a mocking gaze.

The blazing flames exuded an aura of destruction, and astonishing heat waves emanated from the flames that had blocked the Stunning Curse while suspended in the air. Destruction, annihilation, darkness... Although it was just a ball of fire, every wizard who gazed upon it felt, without exception, facing annihilation and the end of the world.

"Fiendfyre!" the black wizard who had launched the sneak attack cried out in horror, as if he had been sexually assaulted. In his knowledge, only the Fiendfyre spell, known as the fire of hell, possessed such a terrifying evil aura and intense heat. Now, he understood that the person before him was not a fat sheep, but a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Armor protecting him, Apparition at the last second. Sensing the deadly danger, the dark wizard displayed remarkable composure, immediately casting an armor charm on himself and instantly preparing to Apparate for his escape. Having lived through the era of the Dark Lord's rampage and the subsequent purges by the Order of the Phoenix, he would have been captured and imprisoned long ago while the Aurors were hunting down dark wizards, had he not possessed exceptional escape skills.

The same applies now. Seeing the imminent deadly danger, he didn't hesitate to cast an Ironclad Charm immediately, intending to withstand the opponent's first counter-spell. He could also use this time to complete his Apparition spell and leave this place. Once he was out of Knockturn Alley and in Diagon Alley, no matter what dark wizard he was, as long as he didn't want to be hunted down by a bunch of Aurors, he wouldn't openly fight in Diagon Alley.

But the reality is, he was overthinking it. Perhaps, in terms of the magic of this world, his Ironclad Charm could indeed withstand some attacks, and he could escape unscathed thanks to his skillful Apparition. However, he was now facing magic from another world, and this system of magic came from a demonic army that had destroyed many worlds, known as the Burning Legion.

The scorching flames rushed directly towards the black wizard who was trying to escape, and then, right before his eyes, they utterly pierced through the iron armor charm the black wizard was wearing. Even the iron armor charm, which could withstand the Killing Curse, was utterly powerless against this ball of destructive fire and was directly blasted through.

Before the dark wizard could complete his Apparition spell, the flames pierced through the Iron Armor Charm and then slammed into the dark wizard with undiminished force.

"How is this possible?" The black wizard had this thought in his mind, and then flames struck him.

Boom! The explosion, accompanied by flames, sent a blast of heat and flames sweeping across everything around them. The fire and the shockwave came and went quickly; a charred corpse lay mangled on the ground. Half of the dark wizard's body had been burned to a crisp, and he was dead.

"Hmm. Seems like I went a little too far!" the outsider, who looked like a lamb but was actually a wolf, muttered. "Even the wand is gone... Honestly, I should have used life drain instead of fire..." As he muttered, the outsider bent down and reached out to grab the corpse of the dead black wizard. Then, a scene that terrified all the outlaws hiding in the sea appeared: some white mist was caught in the outsider's hand, and within this mist appeared a distorted face, while wisps of mist were still wrapped around the dead black wizard's body.

"Well, at least we didn't come away empty-handed!" The outsider muttered to himself, gathering the white mist into his palm. The mist compressed, eventually forming a dull-colored crystal. At that moment, everyone seemed to hear a mournful, ghostly wail.

The outsider paid no attention to any of this, stuffed the crystal back behind his black robe, and then slowly continued walking toward the location of Borgin-Bock's magic shop.

After the outsider disappeared from sight, all the hidden criminals fled the place like wildfire. These guys who mingled in the black market knew very well that the person was not someone they could afford to mess with, and they also knew just how dangerous a wizard who could not even make one's soul escape was.

3.Bojin-Boker Magic Shop

Every wizard who studies the soul is, without exception, a group of dark wizards. These dark wizards are far beyond the reach of those who merely dabble in the underworld. Even among dark wizards, there is a vast difference. Just like the once invincible Dark Lord, anyone who studies the realm of the soul or uses spells related to the soul is considered to possess the most evil spells and be associated with the most evil dark wizards.

This is why the three Unforgivable Curses are called "Unforgivable." In fact, in terms of destructive power, the Fiendfyre Curse and many other spells surpass the three Unforgivable Curses. However, these three Unforgivable Curses all involve spells related to the realm of the soul.

So, after someone swiftly and fatally killed a gangster attempting a robbery, and then used sorcery to imprison the gangster's soul, all the criminals in the black market knew who they shouldn't mess with.

So, after all the hiding rats scattered and fled, the entire alley was transformed, and its safety level reached an alleyway of unprecedented heights since its creation.

A terrifying dark wizard arrived at Turnover Alley.

Some, terrified, even fled in panic from Overturn Alley to Diagon Alley, rushing to the Ministry of Magic to report him. Keep in mind, the Dark Lord had only been out of power for about a decade, and rumors had always circulated that he wasn't dead and was planning a comeback. Furthermore, many Death Eaters had escaped the Dementors' pursuit and had been in hiding ever since. Heaven knows whether this terrifying dark wizard was connected to either of these factors.

In short, there were no more fools to come out and die on the rest of the journey, so the outsider from outside Knockturn Alley walked calmly to the outside of Borgin-Bock's Magic Shop.

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Ciel gently pushed open the old door of the Borgin-Borck magic shop and stepped inside, draped in a black robe. Once inside, Ciel's brow inevitably furrowed beneath his hood. The reason? The strange decor of this shady shop—to Ciel, it was simply awful taste.

The dusty shop window was filled with all sorts of magical items that, judging from their appearance, were anything but good. To the left of the entrance were a withered human hand, a stack of bloodstained playing cards, and a lifeless glass eyeball. On the wall, a grotesque mask faced downwards, and the table was piled high with various human and animal bones. Rusty instruments hung from the ceiling. The first impression one got was that an evil wizard was plotting some wicked scheme.

Inside, a man appeared before the counter, bending over. He was repeatedly tidying up his greasy hair that hung down his face, and said in a voice as greasy as his hair, "Sir, welcome to Borgin-Bock... What do you need?" The shopkeeper appeared very respectful, showing no sign that he was a dark wizard who even pure-blooded nobles would treat with utmost deference.

In the era of the Dark Lord's downfall, it's truly unbelievable that this guy wasn't implicated. Similarly, having lived a long time, he understands that some people are not to be trifled with, especially after that attack not long ago... In fact, if he wanted to know, Borgin Burke himself could clearly know what happened in Knockturn Alley, even the brief battle just now, though he didn't know what methods were used.

Upon meeting Borgin Burke, Charles sensed the extremely respectful attitude of the shady shop owner. Although he didn't know why, this didn't prevent Charles from treating this hidden mini-boss with even greater deference. After all, in this place, the only one capable of obtaining all sorts of illegal goods was this shady shop owner.

“Hello, Mr. Borgin Burke,” Charles said warmly. “I just arrived in England and a friend told me that you can get many good things here that are not available on the market, so I came here.”

"Ahem, I'm doing legitimate business here..."

“Alright! Let’s cut to the chase, Mr. Burke,” Charles said directly. “I need the spellbooks of the three Unforgivable Curses, as well as other dark magic books. Besides that, can you get your hands on a Time-Turner?!”

“Ahem, I’m sorry, sir, but the Time-Turner is in the hands of the Ministry of Magic. How could a small merchant like me possibly get my hands on such a thing? Besides, as for dark magic and all that, you really overestimate me…” Bogin said, but before he could finish, a burst of flames interrupted him.

Charles stretched out his right hand, a ball of blazing flame burning in it, the intense heat dispelling the chill in the shop. Suddenly, chaos erupted inside Bogin's shop, screams erupting from nowhere until Charles dispelled the flame in his hand, at which point the screams ceased.

"It seems you're not the small-time businessman doing legitimate business you claim to be, Mr. Burke!" After a slight pause as the screams subsided, Charles suppressed his inner turmoil and spoke to Burke casually.

"That's... what? Oh no, I mean, sir, your demands are far too high!" As a dark wizard who had been around for ages without ever being caught and thrown into jail, Borgin Burke was undoubtedly a clever fellow. This was evident from the fact that he ran a shady shop in Knockturn Alley selling illegal goods; judging the situation was a constant skill for him.

When the flame appeared, Borgin Burke sensed that the power supplying that destructive fire was a terrifying magic, a spell that plundered life and destroyed everything. This kind of spell could only be found in certain dark magic artifacts that he had forbidden, such as those used to summon demons or for blood sacrifices. Therefore, as a clever man, Borgin Burke naturally knew what to do.

Anyway, those who come to Knockout Alley are not good people. If there is such a thing as deserved punishment, then Bogin Burke himself is definitely destined for hell. At least he killed people with his own hands when he was young, and now he is old and has not fought with anyone for many years, but his eyes are still there.

That kind of dark magic is dangerous.

After reaching this conclusion, Borgin Burke did not feel at all whether Charles's actions had insulted him.

Strength determines everything. When the Dark Lord was invincible, it was because he had enough power to subdue all wizards except Dumbledore. The reason the Dark Lord dared not face Dumbledore was because he knew that if he fought or risked his life against Dumbledore, the most powerful white wizard, he would most likely be the one to lose.

Therefore, when faced with an enemy he was not confident against, Bogin Burke, who had been cautious and self-preserving for many years, easily made his choice.

“I can get books on dark magic, but I can’t get the Time-Turner,” Borgin said. “Those things are all kept by the Ministry of Magic, and the greatest white wizard personally set up the spells in the place where the Time-Turners are kept at the Ministry of Magic. I can’t do anything about it.”

4. Learn spells

Charles didn't want to mistreat himself, so in the wizarding world, he didn't plan to follow the example of other transmigrators and live in the Leaky Cauldron like everyone else in the original story, even though it had the cheapest accommodations. Where there are people, there are classes. Just as there are social elites and laborers in the world of ordinary people, there is also a division between commoner wizards and noble wizards in the wizarding world.

Do you think those noble wizards who consider themselves of superior blood would be willing to condescend to stay with a bunch of 'mudbloods'?

With plenty of money to spare, Ciel didn't stay at the Leaky Cauldron, but instead chose a better hotel, though he didn't bring it to Diagon Alley. To avoid being watched (mainly because he feared the battle in Knockturn Alley might attract the Ministry of Magic's attention and implicate a White Lord), Ciel ultimately chose to leave Diagon Alley and stay at a hotel in London.

In the black market of Knockturn Alley, after paying a black marketeer an advance of nearly a thousand Galleons, Ciel obtained some of the black magic books. For the next few days, Ciel stayed in hotels to practice or rather, to learn the magic of this world.

The magic in the Harry Potter world has many unscientific aspects; of course, discussing science in a magical world is a joke. In short, compared to the magic system of Azeroth, the vast majority of magic in the Harry Potter world serves daily life, with very little used in combat. Conversely, in Azeroth, a world teeming with oddities and where nowhere is safe, spellcasters are invariably drawn to combat in their magical systems.

It's hard to say which side is superior or inferior. In the world of Azeroth, spellcasters are not the only dominant force. Even warriors, who are considered poor DIYers, have produced incredibly powerful individuals like Grommash Hellscream and Brontë. On the other hand, in the world of HP, wizards are indeed the dominant force in the supernatural world. Perhaps during the time of the four founders, the wizarding world was not the only dominant force, but by the time the story began, wizards had truly achieved a state of absolute dominance.

Therefore, the magic system in this world is closer to daily life, and it's all-encompassing. Even polymorph, when used well, becomes Agmani, which is a spell used by druids in Azeroth—well, excluding a certain Guardian series spell.

However, when he was learning magic on his own, Ciel encountered a major problem. It was a system issue; his system was the sorcerer's magic system, a system specifically designed for villains, and it was quite incompatible with the magic system of this world. This might be partly due to the different worlds, but with dark magic, Ciel was surprised to find that learning it was incredibly easy; he could almost succeed on his first try after just reading the book once and putting it into practice.

It's worth mentioning that the black magic he practiced was the Imperius Curse, the spell that manipulates people's minds, and the subjects of his experiments were naturally the hotel staff.

However, next, Charles focused his learning on standard spells. After all, although the destructive power of black magic in this world was not as great as the destruction spells in the warlock system, most of them would still blow up something. So he put all his energy into how to break through ordinary spells.

Fortunately, he possessed the sorcerer template. Although he was still completely clueless about the principles of magic, this didn't stop him from learning how to use it first, rather than searching for the intricacies of these spells. Although he still didn't have a wand—well, actually, it was because Ciel hadn't remembered to buy one, and when he did, he was afraid that buying a wand would make him memorable—he ultimately had no choice but to begin learning the magic of this world through wandless spellcasting.

So, a simple levitation charm took Ciel almost a week to master. Thinking back to the original story, on the first day of class, Hermione, a real academic genius, Gryffindor, mastered the levitation charm in no time, which made Ciel feel utterly ashamed.

However, after successfully using the Levitation Charm, Charles found learning other spells much easier. Following the Levitation Charm, he mastered basic spells like the Door Opening Charm, Leg Locking Charm, and Petrification Charm within two or three days. But he encountered difficulties with Transfiguration; he simply couldn't understand its concepts. This was understandable, given his self-taught background. Even at Hogwarts, where Professor McGonagall was a master of Transfiguration, not every student achieved a perfect score in Transfiguration.

Unable to break through the Transfiguration spell in a short time, Ciel finally chose to temporarily give up practicing it. He then left the hotel where he had been holed up for more than a week, entered Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron, and went to Knockturn Alley.

After the last incident, these thugs in Knockturn Alley no longer dared to appear in front of Ciel. The corpses at the site of the battle had also disappeared, apparently cleared away. Ciel arrived smoothly at the Borgin-Bock Magic Shop and pushed open the door to go inside.

The transaction went smoothly. After paying nearly a thousand Galleons, Sharl obtained other dark magic books from Borgin Burke. Although dark magic in this world was mostly cursed, few were actually lethal. However, this didn't diminish Sharl's anticipation. Within the warlock system, there were curse warlocks specializing in the branch of pain magic.

However, there was another thing Ciel desired: a Time-Turner. Borgin Burke stated that he was truly powerless to obtain it. All known Time-Turners had been reported to the Ministry of Magic, and even with his extensive connections in the black market, he had no chance of acquiring one. However, he did claim to know where the Ministry of Magic had placed the Time-Turner and provided a detailed map.

Of course, some of these people wanted to trick Ciel, since Ciel had threatened him without warning when he arrived. However, Ciel wasn't too bothered by that; he was more interested in the Time-Turner, the biggest bug in the Harry Potter series. After reading some online analyses, he wasn't particularly impressed, but given the chance, Ciel would still try to sneak into the Ministry of Magic and steal a Time-Turner.

Before leaving, the merchant who ran the shady shop gave Ciel an extra message, which surprised Ciel slightly.

“You mean, I’m being targeted by the Ministry of Magic?” Charles looked at Borgin Burke with a surprised expression.

"Because you, my guest, once personally killed a wizard," Bogin explained.

After hearing Borgin's explanation, Charles realized that there weren't many wizards in Britain, and the death of even one was a major event. Why was the Dark Lord so feared? It wasn't his attitude of having the power of life and death over Muggles, as wizards considered themselves, but rather the fact that during his rise to power, the Dark Lord personally killed a large number of wizards, including those of common birth and those of noble lineage. During the Dark Lord's reign of terror, the entire British wizarding world experienced a severe decline in population. Many British wizards, out of fear, chose to leave Britain for other European countries or cross the ocean to America.

After the fall of the dark wizards, few of the Death Eaters who were captured were sentenced to death. Almost all of them were imprisoned in Azkaban, and the most severe punishments for wizards who made mistakes were also handed over to Azkaban.

Therefore, when Charles directly killed a wizard, even if he was a criminal, it put the entire Ministry of Magic on high alert. Especially after the criminal reported to the Ministry that Charles had extracted the soul of a dead wizard, the entire Ministry took it very seriously, as if Charles was now considered a Death Eater.

5. Auror

Having lived through the Dark Lord's era, the officials of the Ministry of Magic are extremely sensitive to any news about Death Eaters. Don't be fooled by their seemingly idle or incompetent nature, like the current Minister of Magic. Corruption, lack of vision, and procrastination... but when it comes to their own safety, it's a different story.

Just like in the original story, when Sirius Black, wrongly accused, escaped from prison, the entire Ministry of Magic reacted as if bitten by dogs, jumping up and down in panic. They even disregarded Dumbledore's feelings and forced Dementors to surround Hogwarts. This was because they suspected the wrongly accused Sirius Black was a loyal supporter of the Dark Lord. They feared that Sirius Black would go to the Dark Lord, since there had always been rumors that the Dark Lord was not dead, and they feared that the Dark Lord would return and regain power.

However, these officials were only so-so. Once the Dark Lord returned and Dumbledore died, they all fawned over him. Otherwise, the protagonists wouldn't have had to live a life of constant hiding and fleeing in the final installment.

Now is not the time for the Dark Lord to return, so the appearance of someone suspected of being a dark wizard and a Death Eater naturally causes alarm within the Ministry of Magic. Furthermore, Shire's actions do indeed resemble those of an evil dark wizard.

"This is troublesome!" As he stepped out of Borgin Burke's shop, Charles couldn't help but feel a headache coming on with the current situation. To be honest, he wasn't afraid of the Ministry of Magic, or even the Aurors, but he was worried about the bigger picture coming after the smaller ones. If the Ministry couldn't handle him, they might directly inform Dumbledore. Didn't they see that even the Dark Lord couldn't defeat him head-on? In the end, he still had to rely on Horcruxes to trick Dumbledore, and Dumbledore was most likely doing it intentionally.

"I should have known better than to extract his soul!" Charles said helplessly, casually taking out a piece of transparent crystal. "I wonder what the use of soul fragments in reality is... Huh?" Charles held the soul fragment in his hand, contributed by the criminal who attacked him, and paused for a moment, slightly speechless. Subconsciously, Charles focused his consciousness on the soul fragment, channeling his mental energy into it. Instantly, a jumble of chaotic images appeared before Charles's eyes.

"This is a memory!?" Xia Er was immediately shocked. He hadn't expected that the memories of the wizard he had killed would be found within these soul fragments, even though they were as thin as scraps of paper. "Okay, at least it can be used as a slideshow... Wait... does this count as a soul-searching technique?" After a moment of stunned silence, Xia Er realized that this was exactly like the soul-searching techniques in fantasy novels. In many fantasy novels, the protagonists use soul-searching techniques to search for information or even the enemy's spells from the souls of the villains they have killed.

"It seems...it does...work!" Extending a wisp of his mental energy, Charles discovered he could filter through the fragmented memories to varying degrees. Especially after finding memories related to magic casting among the fragments, Charles was completely stunned. "So all my hard work before was for nothing! Can I use this trick to cheat from now on?!"

Shaking his head, he dismissed the tempting idea. No wonder so many warlocks are villains! By killing enemies, one can spy on their memories and steal their souls to enhance oneself; it's hard not to become a villain that way. However, Charles knew that making a fortune quietly was the best approach. Historically, those villains who courted death—weren't they all destined for ruin, ultimately meeting their end at the hands of the player characters?

The more powerful you are, the easier it is to get into dungeons; the only difference is whether it's a five-player dungeon or a raid. So, Sharl ruthlessly extinguished that tempting, devilish thought with his mental power. Anyway, the world is vast, and the HP world is just a low-magic world. There are plenty of high-magic worlds. If one day he accidentally ends up in a high-magic world like Marvel and becomes a villain because of his bad habits, then he's doomed! Without a villain's halo comparable to the protagonist's, he can only become a tragic figure being exploited for experience.

He tossed the soul fragment back into his backpack, looked at the empty streets, and rubbed his chin. Back to the main point, the Ministry of Magic would probably send Aurors to surround him. Charles wasn't so arrogant as to think that news of his entry into Knockturn Alley wouldn't reach the Ministry. If the Ministry truly wanted to harm him, then by now, a squad of Aurors would already be inside Knockturn Alley, waiting. Especially since, if his target wasn't certain before, his visit to Borgin-Bock's Magic Shop would definitely confirm his identity.

Furthermore, this year was a sensitive one, as Harry Potter, the protagonist and savior, officially enrolled at Hogwarts. At this time, a dark wizard suspected of being a Death Eater suddenly appeared. How was Dumbledore supposed to feel about that? So, perhaps due to pressure from Dumbledore, or perhaps worried about their own jobs, the usually slow-moving officials of the Ministry of Magic displayed remarkable efficiency this time.

After a day of discussion, the officials of the Ministry of Magic decided to send a team of wizards to solve the problem. This team consisted entirely of elite Aurors who had experienced the Dark Lord era and had all fought against Death Eaters, making it clear that they would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

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It's at the exit of Flip-Over Alley.

Several wizards from the Ministry of Magic were hiding there, each using invisibility spells to conceal their forms.

"Rufus, are you sure the target has left Borgin-Bock Magic Shop?" a deep, slow voice rang out.

“I’m sure, Kingsley!” a decisive voice replied. “Unless Bogin wants to get into trouble, he wouldn’t dare lie to me on this kind of issue.”

"Then why hasn't the target appeared yet?" another voice rang out.

“It’s just Borgin’s little trick!” Rufus continued. “Delix, someone like Borgin, who tries to please both sides and doesn’t want to offend anyone, should have been locked up in jail long ago.”

"Anyway, the fireplaces in Knockturn Alley have been sealed off. Nobody can get out of Knockturn Alley now except through Diagon Alley."

"Alright, quiet down, we're probably almost there!"

……

At the corner ahead, a wizard dressed in a black robe approached. He was somewhat thin, his face hidden under a hood, and his robe trailed on the ground, giving him an aura of profound darkness.

The man in black robes took a few steps, then stopped at the exit of the alley. He looked around, seemingly puzzled.

At this moment, the Aurors, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately took action. They activated their invisibility spells and launched an attack on the man in black.