Chapter 1131? The Most Prosperous Commercial Street in the British Wizarding World
On the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley, Josephine, who was wearing a black cloak and a Ministry of Magic uniform, also wore a sunhat. Many members of the Department for the Management and Control of Magical Creatures under her jurisdiction had certain positions today. It seemed that everyone was out in force, all dressed up and following behind her. The group's great momentum attracted the attention of the store customers and portraits in Diagon Alley. It looked like they were about to carry out some important event.
In this area, there are many more Aurors patrolling than usual, and there are even many armed forces of the Red Umbrella department guarding in front of stores that assist in doing business with the umbrella - recently Hogwarts and the United Kingdom The tough plans of the Ministry of Magic not only make foreigners dissatisfied, but also frighten some pure-bloods in the country. Although nothing radical has happened in the UK for the time being, the Harrises are still afraid that the embargo issue will be exploited.
Some additional arrangements have been made in advance to deal with possible picture posting situations.
However, in fact, most of the ordinary wizards in the British wizarding world have actually begun to develop some nationalism similar to that in the American wizarding community. Of course, this kind of thinking is different from the exaggerated sense of life and death crisis used by American rigid Fox. It comes more from the toughness of the British and the sense of superiority brought about by having the energy core of the floating city, as well as having the three most powerful wizards in the world (even one of them is a mysterious man) and having a true god.
Along the way, most of the shops had low customer traffic, and some of them could even be said to be deserted. Only Fred and George's Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was in full swing. Many wizards directly phantomed here, and many wizards left after going out. The Apparition left here, which became a rare lively scene among the businesses in Diagon Alley.
It's just that now the people who come in and out of the joke shop are not the young wizards in the past, but many middle-aged and elderly wizards. They take out a lot of gold galleons, and some of them are almost fanatically buying bait bombs, portable swamps and other magic items that can facilitate their escape. ,
Only the shelves of powerful love potions like the Magic Witch have been cleared. As for the invisibility smoke bombs, which had to be imported from Peru, they were already out of stock when the wizarding world started a war embargo campaign against the UK.
On the purple background poster posted on the window, there are dazzling yellow characters printed on it, attracting people's attention:
You protect the world,
we protect you,
Fight the Death Eaters,
50% off on rare items…
"I know a few..." Sirius was a little puzzled, "They didn't look like pranksters when they were in school. Why do they become more playful as they get older?"
"You don't watch the news? Umbrella's rapid response security force is going to send armed forces to Europe to combat the recent crazy robberies of the Death Eaters. They are the parents of those wizards..." Josephine frowned, "Wear honors for these troops. Nello and a lot of extra props were allocated to them. These parents are too worried, and they are not sent to fight Voldemort himself..."
"I know a few parents whose children work at Umbrella. They are actually quite proud of it and brag to me every day... But when their children have to go out to perform dangerous tasks, they will inevitably worry. I can understand their seemingly contradictory emotions... Fortunately Cedric and Qiu are both excellent Quidditch players, and they have never worried me... Well, I'm not saying that I don't support them in fighting, but they are more suitable for playing Quidditch..." Amos felt a little bit himself midway He said the wrong thing, but then his tone changed back to being proud, "Cedric has already become the star player of the Montrose Magpies. Qiu rejected the woman from the Black Harpies who felt that women have more advantages than men in playing football." Invited by team captain Gwenge Jones, she went to the Tuthill Tornados team, which she had loved as a child, and became a substitute for the team..." He looked proudly at the single boss and middle-aged male colleagues beside him, who were still single. "As you know, as Quidditch stars, their salaries are pretty good, and they each have a large number of fans... so they are planning to get married soon, and plan to buy a house in the floating city. Don't invite you to the wedding then. Not coming."
"Then I'd like to congratulate you in advance, Asmo." Josephine nodded and put a smile on her face, "In addition, I have to remind you that as a member of the Ministry of Magic, you also have some possessions on the floating city. The benefits, including housing, if it's in your name, are much greater than those of them who don't belong to the umbrella or the Ministry of Magic."
"That's great. I wrote to Cedric when I got back... uh... Director, we have to stay away from some of those magical zoos... The female boss wearing thick black-rimmed glasses is not easy to mess with... She recently They've been causing trouble for us and trying to demand compensation..." Amos Diggory pointed to Josephine at a store with a closed door that looked very dark, "The Owl Shop is okay...but your nephew... I mean Principal Harris's recent feats... The embargo sanctions imposed by these countries on us have made the zoo's supply channels problematic. In recent years, the tastes of little wizards have become more sophisticated, and Hogwarts no longer restricts students' pets. It can only be the cat toad or something that makes her voice sound terrible..."
The noisy pet store, which used to be very crowded and filled with the sounds of various animals, now seemed very clean inside.
"That's great!" Sirius whistled, "Amos, that's good news for us, it makes our job easier!"
"Shut up! Why are you so lazy after working so long?" Josephine couldn't help scolding Sirius, then turned to Asmo and said, "Tell the Magic Zoo later that we know about her. I will contact the umbrella company and provide them with some preferential compensation and support measures..."
"Then it's best... Director, their store has always been law-abiding..." Diggory glanced at Josephine secretly, "In fact, many of these industries have been troubled..."
Josephine narrowed her eyes with red pupils and stared at this subordinate, then comforted her black cloak to stop it from moving: "Hogwarts is equipped for this, and the umbrella will make statistics. and provide certain compensation and support.”
"Asmo, are you accepting the benefits of those shops?" Sirius said casually with his hands in the pockets of his clothes. Digory's face turned red, but his eyes were focused on the dazzling sunlight. On the magic parasols of Lorraine's cold drink shop, "Josephine, it seems like summer has returned today... Let colleagues from other departments go first? I'll treat everyone to something cold..."
"We are in front of them!" Josephine, who is usually known for her calmness and coldness, felt a little brain-stricken. She seemed to feel that some heat was generated out of thin air in her body without drinking other people's fresh blood - this was her becoming a vampire. ability to be lost in the future.
Fortunately, as the most prosperous commercial street in the British magical world, Diagon Alley is actually not big, at least when compared with the commercial district of the Floating City, it seems so. Soon, these members of the Department for the Management and Control of Magical Creatures They arrived at their destination, the only Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Diagon Alley that could rival the twin brothers' joke shop in terms of customer traffic.
Gringotts is also the largest and oldest building in the entire Diagon Alley shopping street. It is located in the middle of the top of the T-junction of Diagon Alley, facing a street going down, and the location is very good. This majestic building has crooked columns and is very distinctive. At the top is a sculpture of a fire-breathing dragon with wings spread out. It seems to be a deterrent to wizards with ulterior motives, and it also provides confidence in the safety of depositors.
At this time, in front of this extraordinary white building, other shops looked gloomy, because it was the only one with sufficient customer flow. Customers in a hurry walked out of it in groups. There was no wizard acting alone, and all of them looked grim. Serious and cautious.
Josephine and her party stood in front of the snow-white building that towered high above the surrounding shops. Next to the shiny bronze door, there were three goblins wearing scarlet and gold uniforms. The leader of the goblins was responsible for guiding. The other two guards guarded the Honesty Detector, each holding a slender golden rod. After seeing the uniforms of the Ministry of Magic on Josephine and the others, the leader of the goblin winked at a guard next to him. Upon seeing this, the goblin guard immediately ran into the bank. It didn't take long for him to be better than last time. As they approached, a much larger guard of goblins and wizards poured out of the gates of Gringotts.
Different from the ordinary elf staff who wear white shirts, black suit vests, and black sleeves, the two leading elf Nagnok and Griphook are wearing straight black striped suits today, UU reading www. uukanshu.net Wearing a royal blue silk shirt underneath, the big black leather shoes were polished to a shiny shine.
The two leading goblins paused when they saw Josephine and her entourage. They originally thought that the Ministry of Magic was trying to cause trouble for the mysterious man's Horcrux. When the goblins heard the news, they doubted whether the other party wanted to rely on them. The Goblin Liaison Office under the Alien Office asked this department, which is responsible for magical economic affairs and coordinating the relationship between goblins and wizards, to handle this matter, but now it seems that the other party is the Department of Management and Control of Magical Creatures.
"Maybe the Ministry of Magic wants to use them to inspect Gringotts..." No matter what he thought in his heart, Nagnok remained calm. After walking over and bowing politely to Josephine and the others, he showed a big smile. The pointed beard trembled and he asked tentatively: "Director Josephine Harris, why did you bring so many people to Gringotts today? The fire dragons and other animals we are responsible for guarding have all been registered with the Ministry of Magic. Recently, there has been little opportunity or necessity to introduce new species..."
Josephine did not take off her hat as usual, but she returned the gift politely, showed a ceremonial smile and said calmly: "Nagnok, don't be nervous, we are not here for any official business this time. They are all here to handle private business... It just so happens that there are many people in the Ministry of Magic who have such needs today, so I gave me and my colleagues in the Department a short half-day off to come together."
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