Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle

Because of the two people's shouting, the silence accumulated in the alley was broken, the damp smell everywhere also faded a little, and the alley seemed to become lively.

Knockturn Alley is a very special place, isolated from the mainstream magical world. Its products have no long-term and stable distribution channels, no direct connection with the Muggle society, and no access to cheap daily necessities.

He had little understanding of the business model of these stores, and only what he saw and heard on his last visit to Knockturn Alley conveyed some information.

The merchants and residents who settled here were not truly Dark wizards. The old witches who went out to buy things would lead the way for a few Sickles, and their service was quite considerate. The wizards who tried to rob people pretended to be fierce, but they did not know any evil and powerful Dark magic. They tried their best to complete the business they were threatened to negotiate. Mr. Borgin would also go to the Leaky Cauldron for a few drinks in his free time...

All signs indicate that the wizards here still follow some kind of order.

How do they make a living if they don't have any business income? Do their children also go to Hogwarts? How many of them believe in pure blood and how many are Muggle-born?

Many wizards who set foot in Knockturn Alley for the first time will be curious about how these dark wizards and merchants survive.

Melvin asked with some confusion, "Mr. Borgin, Knockturn Alley doesn't seem to have many customers, and the shops along the street don't seem to be doing well. How did you manage to survive until now?"

"Because the gentlemen from the Ministry and the pure-blood families offered their help."

"Would you mind explaining it?"

"hey-hey……"

Mr. Borgin gave a slick smile: "The high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic need to be promoted based on their achievements, and the Aurors need to arrest criminals to fill the empty rooms in Azkaban. Every once in a while, they will start a cleanup, not just of Knockturn Alley, but also of some pure-blood families, especially those with Death Eaters in their family.

"Every time a noble pure-blood wizard has to deal with something that can't be seen in the light of day, it could be that the source of the item is not clean, or the item itself is not clean. These are all valuable things that they collected in the past. They don't want to throw them on the roadside, nor do they want to destroy them directly, so they come to us.

"Whether it's illegal Dark Magic items or banned potions, they resell them to the shops in Knockturn Alley, which are us. We buy them at low prices and then resell them to other countries, such as Albania or Africa. We basically make a profit."

"So that's it."

The slick businessman paused. "The Ministry of Magic officials have achieved something, the pure-blood families have gotten rid of their burden, the Dementors in Azkaban have a new snack, and we mice can also fill our stomachs. We will usher in a period of relative peace until the next inspection."

“Your business model is cyclical.”

"Different wizards have different ways of living."

"..."

After winding along the road for more than ten minutes and turning the last corner, the view suddenly opened up.

There were almost no pedestrians on the spacious and clean streets, and the sound of car horns from the next street could be faintly heard. It was a completely Muggle street scene.

Melvin looked around while piecing together a vague map of the nearby area in his mind. Based on the distance he had taken, he determined that this was neither Knockturn Alley nor Diagon Alley, but a block outside Charing Cross Road, two blocks away from the Leaky Cauldron.

The venue for this rally is a community appliance repair store.

"..."

Melvin looked up at the shop sign, feeling a little weird.

The secret gathering of wizards was held in a Muggle repair shop, which seemed to be a combination of magic and technology. He became more interested in this gathering.

Melvin followed Mr. Borgin and was about to walk into the store when he suddenly noticed a suspicious figure next to him.

The figure was wearing a brown linen cloak with a hood covering its head and the hem dotted with holes of varying sizes. The style was a bit sloppy, as if it had been deformed from a potato sack. He was hiding behind a street sign, quietly examining the repair shop's facade.

Various signs indicate that he also came to attend the rally.

The suspicious figure seemed very nervous. He paced back and forth, looking up at the repair shop sign from time to time. He hesitated and struggled for a few minutes, but still did not go in.

As Melvin studied him, the suspicious figure noticed them both, hesitated for a moment, then turned and hurried away. Perhaps in a panic, the hood flipped up a little as he turned, revealing a wisp of red hair.

"Weasley..."

Melvin's lips curled up into a faint smile.

Chapter 29 Wizarding Appliances

"Leaving the meeting suddenly before it started..."

Borgin watched the figure disappear into the distance and couldn't help but mutter, "Why do they feel like Aurors here to gather intelligence? Will several Auror teams suddenly burst in and catch us all in one fell swoop during the assembly later?"

According to the current Statute of Secrecy, misusing Muggle items is considered a serious crime. If the law is strictly followed, all wizards participating in the meeting today will have to go to Azkaban.

"Don't overthink it," Melvin told him. "If it was really an Auror scouting the place, he should have found a way to sneak into the gathering, find out the identity of the organizer, arrest them, and interrogate them for a list of people, then arrest them one by one according to the list."

"you're right……"

Borgin thought what he said made sense, and was about to nod in agreement when he suddenly froze. He looked at the Hogwarts professor next to him, opened his mouth, and hesitated to speak.

It feels a bit wrong.

"Come on, let's go in."

"..."

Borgin nodded, his smile a little forced.

He had every reason to believe that Borgin and Burke's decades-long reputation would be lost.

This is a repair shop with a peculiar style. The decoration of the shop is elegant and gorgeous, with a classical style that is very consistent with the aesthetic taste of pure-blood wizards. The solid wood furniture is painted in a dark color, and the stair railings are carved with unrecognizable magical animals. The fireplace is not just decoration, the marble on the outside is a little black, which is stained by coal dust.

I didn't feel anything when I stood outside the store, but when I walked in, I suddenly found that the interior of the store was much more spacious than I expected. There were traces of the invisible stretching spell on the corners and the ceiling, but it was not abrupt at all, and it was natural and harmonious, which was enough to show the superb skills of the wizard who made the transformation.

The repair shop is not just a disguise. It actually undertakes home appliance repair business and also buys and sells discarded electrical appliances.

Various second-hand electrical appliances are placed on the shelves and display cabinets in the store, and corrugated cardboard boxes, foam sponge cushions, simple spare parts, and various types of batteries are piled under the stairs.

The process of the meeting was completely different from Melvin's expectations. There was no group of mysterious wizards holding a meeting around a round table. It was more like a shopping guide in a Muggle mall. The clerk stood in front of the display cabinet, patiently explaining and introducing Muggle electrical appliances to the customers in a language that wizards could understand.

The scene was in good order.

No one checked his identity, and Melvin walked into the store without any obstruction, and followed Bogin silently to the back seat.

The guests attending the gathering were all very polite and considerately moved aside to give them space. The shop assistant who introduced them was a middle-aged wizard who looked a bit withdrawn. He only glanced at them, then looked away and continued explaining:

"Today I'm introducing three sets of Muggle equipment, all customized based on the requirements you raised last time. Let's take a look at the first set, professional recording equipment. First up is a multi-track tape recorder, a Swiss-made 48-track reel-to-reel machine using 1-inch tape. The frequency range fully meets your needs, and it can even record the voice of a howling banshee. However, without the magical power of a howling banshee, it can't cause any harm, but the sound will be a bit harsh. It also comes with a mixer, effects pedal, and condenser microphones, which can make vocal recordings more natural and reduce electrical noise..."

Melvin was stunned.

It was so advanced beyond imagination. Was this still the wizard he knew?

He lowered his voice and asked, "Who ordered this?"

"The witch in the black robe in the front row is the singer Celestina Warbeck." Borgin introduced in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

My eyes moved to the customers in the front row. A short and fat black witch was standing closest to the display cabinet. She was wearing half a Voldemort mask on her face and staring at the microphone with shining eyes.

Celestina Warbeck, a world-renowned wizarding singer.

It is said that her musical talent is even more dazzling than her magical talent, and it was revealed at a very young age. The Warbecks originally planned to send their daughter to drama or music school, but there was no similar school in the wizarding world. Mrs. Warbeck was extremely disappointed and had no choice but to send her daughter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school's drama club and choir were established under her influence.

The choir has been passed down to this day and has developed into the Toad Choir, which is directed by Professor Flitwick and occasionally performs at some grand evening parties.

The Drama Club has been disbanded. According to Dumbledore, it was because many years ago, when Professor Kettleburn was directing the play "The Fountain of Good Luck", he insisted on using fire ash snake eggs as props and almost burned down the Great Hall...

After graduation, Celestina quickly became famous and became a special singer of the Wizarding Radio League. Her songs were played on the radio every night.

It was not until Umbridge was promoted to Director of the Misuse of Magic Office that she made the regulations prohibiting the misuse of Muggle items in the Statute of Secrecy more stringent. A few years ago, in the name of preventing witches and preschool wizards from being poisoned by Muggle thoughts, she proposed to cancel the wizard radio station, and Fudge agreed.

The bill was introduced, the wizarding radio network was suspended, and Fudge's office was inundated with howling letters from witches the next day.

The Wizengamot had to urgently amend the law to allow the Wizarding Radio Union to continue broadcasting, but the radios had to be regulated by the Office of the Prohibition of the Misuse of Magical Objects and modified by technicians before being sold to block Muggle channels so that only wizard radio stations could be listened to.

"She's working on a new album and wants to include the high notes of the Howling Banshees on the title track. However, the recording equipment she used is ten years old. When the Howling Banshees start singing, the speakers explode, so she came here to order a new one."

"A pioneer in the literary and artistic world..."

Melvin began to feel a little excited.

Next is the second set of equipment.

"High-speed web offset printing machine. According to your requirements, I replaced all components that can be replaced with magic, mainly the automatic paper splicing and hot air drying parts..."

The middle-aged wizard explained carefully and patiently, answering every question without getting tired of it. "The remaining shaftless transmission system and the ink-adjusted units can also be replaced. However, due to the extremely high precision requirements, the wizard who casts the spell must be able to control the spell perfectly after replacement. There are only a few wizards in the world who can do this."

Before Melvin could ask, Bogin leaned forward and said in a low voice, "They're from a newspaper company. They came here to order a custom color printer. It seems they were influenced by you."

"Ok?"

"The newspaper editor saw Muggle books at Flourish and Blotts and was immediately fascinated by them. He decided to introduce color printing to the Daily Prophet."

"No wonder the Daily Prophet is the best-selling wizarding newspaper."

Melvin looked at the wizards in the newspaper office and felt a little disappointed that he didn't see the famous gold medal editor Ms. Rita Skeeter.

The third set of equipment was somewhat unexpected. It turned out to be a portable radio that Bojin ordered himself, the kind with replaceable batteries.

"The witches who are idle at home need this. They must hear Celestina singing while they cook dinner."

"I know this. At that time, the Ministry of Magic introduced a bill to ban wizard broadcasts. It was these witches who wrote letters of protest that persuaded the Wizengamot to amend the bill and set up a channel exclusively for wizards. The Ministry of Magic supervised the modification and exclusive sale of radios."

Melvin looked at his excitement and was a little puzzled. "But normal magic supply stores also sell radios, right? Why risk coming here?"

"Because Celestina's singing is only played at night, the rest of the time witches want to listen to something different, fresh, and interesting..." Borgin paused, "These radios can also listen to Muggle radio stations."

"I remember you're also a pureblood. Shouldn't you despise such behavior?"

"It's true that I'm a pureblood, but I'm also a businessman, and business is business."

Chapter 30 Memory Film

In the elegant and old-fashioned repair shop, the transaction entered the final negotiation stage.

"The channel is equipped with an operational amplifier with extremely fast transient response, which is especially suitable for recording rock drum kits... If you have any operational problems, please feel free to contact me. Any damage not caused by human factors will be repaired free of charge within three years."

"I suggest you use Muggle-produced newsprint and switch to cold-set ink. This will improve printing accuracy and improve color distortion...Buy in bulk for discounted prices on subsequent consumables. Please consider this carefully."

"..."

The middle-aged wizard dressed as a shop assistant explained patiently.

The female singer and the newspaper editor were very satisfied. The former decisively took out a bag of gold to pay. It was real gold, not the gold Galleons issued by Gringotts. The newspaper editor tried to bargain, but failed. He took out the gold Galleons to pay with regret. Before leaving, he was still a little unwilling. The middle-aged wizard had no choice but to give him two boxes of ink.

Bo Jin was obsessed with tinkering with the portable radios he ordered. He swapped a few AA batteries back and forth, barely distinguishing the positive and negative poles, and skillfully put on the battery cover. The diaphragm in the speaker vibrated, making a crackling sound.

This scene isn't magical at all, it's a bit too Muggle.

After seeing off the first two customers, the middle-aged wizard turned to greet Borgin and Melvin, his tone more casual: "Bogin, is this the guest you want to introduce to me?"

Bo Jin waved his hand while holding the radio. "This is truly an introduction. I won't charge anything. You can talk amongst yourselves."

Melvin suddenly understood a lot of things. No wonder Bokin knew the identity of the previous customer. It turned out that he also worked part-time as an intermediary. Maybe the female singer and the newspaper editor were introduced by him.

He turned his eyes away from Borgin and only then did he have time to look at the clerk who was slowly approaching.