The Dark Lord's Guide to Employment at Hogwarts

"Damn... I might not be fully awake yet. How could I hear that guy's voice? Am I having another nightmare?"

"Tom, looking back, this wasn't a nightmare after all," Lewes said cheerfully. "But, were you referring to me by 'that guy'?"

Tom slowly turned around and saw Li Weide smiling.

Today, Li Wei De wore a wizard hat and sat with his back to the store door, so when Tom came in, he didn't see Li Wei De's iconic black hair...

Otherwise, even if there was a giant monster chasing him, he would not run into this shabby cold drink shop!

Tom turned back in disbelief, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and after a long while, he put on a smile again.

"Boss, please change it to vanilla ice cream for me. Vanilla ice cream is my favorite."

Tom said, continuing to wear a fake smile, and turned to stand in front of Li Weide.

"Please sit down, Tom... What a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet you today." Li Weide said happily.

I met quite a lot of unexpected people today.

"Yeah...that's a bit surprising." Tom said with a smile.

But Hagrid next to him looked at him with some confusion, because he seemed to hear the sound of Tom grinding his teeth.

"Why are you here?" Li Weide asked.

"S... the old man asked me to go out and relax. He said it's no use for me to stay at home all the time."

At this time, Tom was smiling on the surface, but he was very sad and angry in his heart.

He originally thought that what Slytherin said made sense, so he came to Diagon Alley to relax, but...

We agreed to go out and relax? I ran into Li Weide when I left the house. Is this just relaxing? This is overtime! This is intense work!

Li Weide naturally also saw the boy's resistance to him, but he didn't have the heart to tease this silly boy now.

"Okay, I don't have much to do. I just wanted to say hello. Go have fun. I'll treat you to ice cream."

Tom stared at Li Weide with wide eyes in disbelief.

This... actually let me go? According to this guy's previous style, shouldn't he ruthlessly exploit his own labor force?

No! There must be a conspiracy! This is a test of my loyalty, right?

"Um...if there's anything you need me to do..." Tom said hesitantly.

"Tom, thank you very much for your enthusiasm, but I really don't have anything for you to do today." Li Weide said with a smile.

"Oh..." Tom nodded.

According to his understanding of Li Weide, this was indeed not a test. After all, a test only needed once.

"So what are you here for today... to buy?" Tom asked casually, feeling relaxed.

After asking, he regretted it.

Why are you talking so much? What if you get called back to work?

"Nothing, I just came to find some materials, and by the way... to see if there is any way to make some money." Li Weide frowned.

"Making money?" Tom blinked.

"Yes, many important experiments require a large amount of gold galleons..."

"You..." Tom glanced at Hagrid who was standing beside him in a daze, and seemed to be hesitant to speak for a moment.

"What do you want to say?" Li Weide asked.

Tom switched to a whispering spell and said, "Don't you always say you want to be a Dark Lord?"

"That's right!"

"But...how can any Dark Lord make money on his own? Look at Grindelwald, has he ever lacked money? And, to be honest, if I had your strength, I would never lack money." Tom said quickly.

Livid smiled and said, "The path I'm taking is ultimately different from Grindelwald's. He can force some of his affiliated pure-blood families to provide him with funding, and even make some pure-blood families hand over some of their assets to him...but I can't do that. If I do that, I'll just replace them and become the new exploiting class...which is very detrimental to our future careers."

"So what? Just as food must be eaten one bite at a time, revolution must be achieved step by step. How can you expect to become a fat man in one go?" Tom said casually. "Why don't you just become the new exploiting class first, and then slowly reform? Then, it'll be easier to change your own things than to change others. Plus... if you regret it later, you can cut your losses in time. Besides, no matter where you copy a system, you have to adapt it to the actual situation."

Li Weide was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then laughed and said, "Haha... you have a point. Indeed, the situation in each place is different. No matter what we do, we must seek truth from facts and cross the river by feeling the stones... It is true that I am a little too eager for quick success."

As expected of you, Tom! You've had the talent to be a Dark Lord since you were little!

Tom looked puzzled. "No, what did I say? Why do you look so enlightened?"

"Then I'll be leaving first..." Tom stood up and prepared to run away.

"Tom, do you want to visit Abu? I'm a little curious about the Malfoy family's manor." Levid asked.

Tom's mouth twitched slightly. Didn't we agree to take a vacation? Why was he suddenly back to work?

Chapter 329 What? Do I have to pay to buy things in Knockturn Alley?

After all, Li Weide did not completely take up too much of Tom's time.

He let Tom go shopping by himself and agreed to meet at the entrance of Diagon Alley at two o'clock in the afternoon.

As for why Tom was called, it was to make Tom familiar to these pure-blood families.

Li Weide hopes that Tom can help him in the future and deal with these people on his behalf.

Tom said a lot before, how could the Dark Lord figure out how to make money on his own?

Similarly, how could the Dark Lord negotiate with these guys himself?

Tom finished his ice cream and left, while Hagrid was still observing Alduin stupidly.

As for the conversation between Levid and Tom just now, and the strange silence after the whispering spell, he didn't notice it at all.

"Hagrid, you seem to like Fantastic Beasts?" asked Levid.

"Yes! I like them very much... Since I was a child, no one wanted to play with me, so I had to go to the forest to play with those magical animals. Although my father often opposed me doing so, one time when he saw me getting along harmoniously with a Te-bo Warthog, he no longer cared about me..." Speaking of magical creatures, Hagrid became talkative.

Li Weide was very skeptical about the authenticity of what Hagrid said about "living in harmony".

As far as he knew, the Tebo warthog was a dangerous creature of XXXX level, with a violent temper, thick skin and flesh, and could even become invisible.

If Li Wei De remembered correctly, in the future, there seemed to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor whose name Li Wei De couldn't remember, who was gored to death by a Te Bo Warthog in the Forbidden Forest after his one-year term ended...

Even though it's such a dangerous creature, Hagrid can "live in harmony" with him...

This reminds me of Hagrid's usual thick nerves and style of doing things.

Livid could imagine the scene when Hagrid's father saw his son suppressing a Tebo Warthog with his bare hands, and then smiled and told him that he was getting along with it harmoniously...

There is no doubt that the hybrid giant may not have as thick skin and flesh as the Tebo Warthog, but its strength is definitely terrifying, even if it is not yet an adult.

"Well... Hagrid, since you know so much about magical creatures, do you know where I can buy a carriage?" Levid asked casually.

If you want to visit a pure-blood family like the Malfoys, some pomp and ceremony is still necessary.

Neither he nor Tom could Apparate in public without a license, and if they wanted to get to the Malfoys' house, they couldn't just walk there.

The appearance of Andrews' carriage does not look very presentable, and a lot of modifications need to be made if it is to be used.

What's more, they are now looking for a place to stay and need a carriage.

Therefore, Li Weide planned to buy a new carriage, preferably a very luxurious one... or maybe an ordinary one would be fine, he could buy it and modify it himself.

Of course, if you can't buy one, it's okay to rent one temporarily.

Clothes make the man, saddles make the horse...

Anyway, when you go out, especially to discuss things with a pure-blood family like this, you always have to show off.

"Buy a carriage? There's one at the end of Diagon Alley." Hagrid raised his head innocently. "But we probably can't buy one, especially if we want to bring magical beasts like Thestrals or Rune Horses. It requires a lot of paperwork, and all of it has to go to the Ministry of Magic. The carriage seller won't sell us a carriage until they see the approval documents, and the Ministry won't sign for kids like us. However, if we just buy a carriage without the magical beasts to pull it, the procedures and paperwork are much simpler."

Li Weide nodded. This was very reasonable, just like you couldn't buy a car when you were a minor... So, according to common sense, it would be difficult for him to legally get a carriage on his own. At least he had to wait until he was an adult.

Alternatively, he could ask an adult wizard with the necessary documentation to purchase it for him.

However, this is a common sense approach, but Li Weide is not a person who likes to do things according to common sense.

Moreover, after chatting with Hagrid for a while, Levid learned a lot about the institutional issues concerning carriages and magical creatures.

In fact, the carriage purchasing system established by the Ministry of Magic is not perfect.

Unlike buying a car, where everyone has a license plate... In the wizarding world, buying a carriage only requires showing the documents to the dealership and you can buy it.

No one cares who buys it, and the carriage sold won't be registered with the Ministry of Magic...

After all, for wizards, a carriage is like a house. After understanding some principles, they can build it themselves using magic.

The reason for the permission document is simply because the vehicle is pulled by magical creatures, and it is out of the need to protect magical creatures.

At this time, the Ministry of Magic's protection of magical creatures was not very good...

Even smuggling and poaching are difficult to stop, let alone the management of the magical animals that pull the carts.

The best the Ministry of Magic can do is curb smuggling and poaching by taking insignificant measures like restricting the use of the Undetectable Extension Charm...

But other than arresting them in the act, the Ministry of Magic had few effective ways of detecting these violations.

Otherwise, it would be hard for Newt to run around with a suitcase full of magical beasts...

Ultimately, it's because magic is too convenient. Everything has its pros and cons.

After chatting with Hagrid again for a while, Levid said goodbye to Hagrid.

When Levid left, Hagrid looked at the "Hungarian Hornet" lying on his shoulder with reluctance.

It seems that this big guy's liking for fire dragons was developed when he was a child.

After saying goodbye to Hagrid, Levid joined the crowd in Diagon Alley, then he slipped into a hidden corner nearby.

The next second, the person who came out from the corner turned out to be an ordinary man.

After silently putting on a mask, he turned directly into Knockturn Alley...

There are things in Diagon Alley that Knockturn Alley won’t have, and as for things that Diagon Alley doesn’t have... Knockturn Alley won’t disappoint you.

After walking around for a while, Li Weide found a shop with a very dirty frontage.

The shop had no sign, only a dried-up troll head hanging at the door.

After being dried, the giant monster's head had distorted facial features and looked extremely ferocious.

This means that what is sold inside is poached materials, as well as many live magical animals...

This is the style of most shop signs in Knockturn Alley, and signs like Boko Bojin's are rare.

"What do you want to buy?" An ugly old witch was sitting in a rocking chair at the door of the store, smoking a pipe.

Li Weide thought that she might have the blood of a banshee, otherwise why would she look like a crow witch?

"Is there a magic horse?" Li Weide asked.

"Yes, 500 gold galleons a piece." The old witch said casually.

"It's too expensive." Li Weide said lightly: "A wild divine horse is not worth this much."

The magical animals caught by poachers are all wild and untamable.

Generally speaking, when dark wizards come here to buy these magical animals, they can only buy them and kill them to get the materials.

Unless it's tamed, it can be sold at a high price... But in places like Knockturn Alley, it's difficult to buy tamed magical animals. Most of the time, they will sell you untamed animals at the price of tamed ones.

The old witch now knew that the person who came was knowledgeable. She raised her head and looked at Li Weide, then said casually, "This is a tamed one. An untamed divine rune horse is 300 gold galleons each."

"Take me to see it first." Li Weide said.

The old witch stood up with difficulty. "Hmph, you'd better buy it in the end! Otherwise..."

But she stopped before she finished her threat. After a moment of trance, she picked up the crutch next to her and hobbled into the store.

The shelves in the store were cluttered with all sorts of strange and bizarre materials.

Dried offal, whitish skeletons... the whole store was filled with a strange smell.

The old witch walked to the counter and pulled a ring on the floor, revealing a large dark hole.

There is a long staircase in the big cave...

The old witch lit an oil lamp and walked slowly downstairs.

Li Weide waited for a while before the old witch came out carrying a suitcase.

"Here are five of the best rune horses..."