After fooling Harry, Link directly stepped into the backyard of the Leaky Cauldron, Then after taking out his wand and tapping on the wall a few times, the bricks on the wall surged and retreated like a tide.
At this time, Diagon Alley had already completely lost the hustle and bustle of daytime. On the cobblestone-paved street drifted much garbage; the doors of shops on both sides were tightly shut, and the entire street was pitch black, only a few shops with people living inside still had dim lights shining.
Looking at this desolate scene, Link couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Just now, there was one more thing he didn't tell Harry.
That is, the incident where Harry's aunt was turned into a human balloon actually didn't trigger the Ministry of Magic's internal Trace alert.
Fudge also only learned of the balloon incident after the first group of Aurors arrived and gathered information.
Based on the working principle of the Trace, this means that there was another wizard beside Harry at the time, and that wizard was very likely Sirius.
It might even be Sirius who turned Harry's aunt into a human balloon. And not, as Harry said, a magical outburst.
The matter about Sirius Black, Link actually knew the truth through Newt.
Back then, when Voldemort was hunting Harry's family, Dumbledore helped them set up a safe house with the Fidelius Charm.
Originally, that alone was enough to guarantee the safety of Harry's family.
But later, the key Secret-Keeper of the Fidelius Charm reported the safe house's information to Voldemort, eventually leading to the death of Harry's parents.
That Secret-Keeper, everyone thought was Sirius Black.
Because he was James Potter's best friend, and James even told Dumbledore that the Secret-Keeper was Sirius.
But in fact, this was a clever trick played by James and Sirius.
They thought that setting Sirius as the Secret-Keeper would be too easily guessed, so thinking themselves clever, they reversed the logic and gave the Secret-Keeper role to Peter Pettigrew.
This means Peter was the real traitor, and Sirius was just a scapegoat.
As for why Sirius didn't explain the truth to clear his name and instead silently served over ten years in Azkaban, Link could only say that perhaps it was Sirius punishing himself out of guilt.
After all, the one who first suggested the switch in Secret-Keepers was him.
This kind of behavior was very stupid, but still understandable.
And based on all of this, Sirius Black could not possibly harm Harry.
But this does not mean he won't harm others.
You must know he had been in that ghost place Azkaban for over ten years.
Such an unstable lunatic staying near Harry would be a problem for Hogwarts and even for Link.
Thinking so, Link sneered and turned into the passage that connected to Knockturn Alley.
Unlike the desolate Diagon Alley, the usually deserted Knockturn Alley truly came alive at night.
Those normally shut shop doors were all open, countless masked customers in bizarre outfits walked the brightly lit street, making it extremely lively.
It's just that this kind of liveliness felt eerie, because unlike Diagon Alley, the shops on Knockturn Alley didn't sell textbooks and cosmetics, but rather all kinds of banned Dark Magic items and rare magical creature products.
Link didn't mind this, pulled up his hood and mixed into the crowd.
This time he had come to look for Krell.
But unfortunately, when he arrived at Black Gold Beasts, he found the place was shut tight.
"Hiss hiss hiss hiss!~" (That old thing is drinking in the bar next door!)
A golden python slithered out from a snake hole in the shop wall and softly spoke, while also trying to climb up Link's leg.
That was its favorite thing to do.
Only this time, before it could touch Link, Arkam came out from Link's pants leg.
"Hiss hiss!~" (Link is mine!)
Even though it had shrunk now, as a thousand-year-old basilisk, Arkam's intimidation still existed.
So upon that roar, the golden python immediately shrank back into the snake hole.
Seeing Arkam's proud expression, Link helplessly shook his head, then followed the hint and walked into the bar next door called "Succubus."
At first Link didn't understand the meaning of the name "Succubus," since wizards often give weird names.
But once he entered, he understood completely.
Because the inside of the bar could be described as a chaotic carnival.
Wizards, Veela, house-elves, goblins...
Creatures of all kinds crowded into this small bar, wantonly enjoying themselves.
Old Krell was drunkenly sitting at the bar, holding a thickly made-up goblin in his arms.
From his lewd appearance and constant hand movements, he seemed to be having a great time.
"Good evening, Grandpa Krell."
Sitting beside Krell, Link softly greeted.
His expression was a bit twisted, because from his human aesthetic, the scene next to Krell was really too eye-burning.
But considering Krell was a house-elf, which barely counted as a type of goblin, Link didn't say anything.
"Little Link? Am I drunk, or are you really here? This isn't a place a kid like you should be. Uh, at least you need to come of age."
Old Krell's eyes were blurry as he spoke.
"Grandpa Krell! I have proper business with you." Link glanced at the wild crowd behind him. "So can we go somewhere else to talk?"
"Fine, fine! You really are troublesome!"
Krell reluctantly let go of the female goblin in his arms. When she left, he even lewdly groped her, making Link frown.
But in the end, Krell still brought Link to a closed room.
"Whatever it is, just say it. Whether I can do it is another matter. After all, I'm not Scamander!"
Krell sat down hard on the sofa and said unhappily.
Link smiled bitterly.
He knew exactly where Krell's resentment came from.
Krell and Newt were old enemies, partly due to a ban Newt had helped enforce, but more so due to feuds from the time of Link's grandfather.
And now Link had actually gone on a trip with that old enemy, no wonder Krell was angry.
Pressing his lips together, Link soon squeezed out a smile and leaned in close to Krell.
"Grandpa Krell, I didn't betray you! In fact, I went with Scamander this time for your sake!"
"For me?"
"Yeah! Look, this is a gift I brought you!"
Saying that, Link handed over the parchment with Richard's cultivation method principles to old Krell.
After looking it over, the drunkenness on Krell's face instantly vanished.
"Where did you get this thing!" Krell asked seriously. "Scamander and Kettleburn would never develop something like this!"
"Don't worry where I got it. Just tell me whether you like it or not."
Krell stared at Link for a long time, finally couldn't help but laugh, "Haha! You still have a conscience! If this technique is properly used, our Flamel family's fortune can at least triple in our generation."
Hearing that, Link also grinned. He knew Krell wasn't lying.
Richard's cultivation method was extremely efficient. As long as the Ministry kept loosening restrictions on magical creature breeding, it was practically a sustainable gold mine!
After laughing for a bit, Link revealed his true goal.
He hadn't just come to butter up old Krell.
He wanted to make a batch of beast-type creatures to deal with Black.
Link had high requirements for these beast-type animals, not only excellent tracking and combat abilities, but they also had to follow orders completely.
With such high standards, Link couldn't do it alone, so he had to rely on Krell's experience and skill.
Of course, if it were just a technical problem, Link could have asked Kettleburn and Newt instead, since they were true professionals with better skills in magical creature breeding.
Unfortunately, those two guys had too high a moral baseline.
Leaving aside Newt the magical animal protection fanatic, even Kettleburn, who occasionally bred new creatures, would never help breed animals entirely based on Link's demands.
That was too "inhumane"!
But the same problem didn't apply to Krell at all.
As the actual operator of Black Gold Beasts, the largest illegal magical creature trading shop in Britain's wizarding world, his breeding philosophy had always been "practicality first!"
After hearing Link's explanation, Krell's smile vanished instantly.
"Damn you Link, so this is what you came to me for!"
Krell complained, his fangs flashing grotesquely with the twisting of his facial muscles.
But Link wasn't afraid at all, on the contrary, he leaned in closer with a pleased smile.
After a while, old Krell finally sighed and said, "Fine, fine! Give me the equipment, I'll study it for you later!"
At that moment, Link's smile grew even brighter.
———
Even though Krell acted reluctant, facts proved he took it seriously.
Because a week later, he brought a big suitcase to Flamel Manor.
This delighted Link, and he eagerly rushed to Black Gold Beasts.
But when the case was actually opened, Link was stunned.
Inside weren't the mini breeding pens he had expected with Extension Charms, but pink flesh balls packed in frozen glass tubes.
"What are these things?"
Link frowned and asked, unable to connect these flesh balls to the beast creatures he needed.
Old Krell proudly replied, "These are semi-finished hybrid animal embryos, silly Link! I call them seeds!
With these seeds, you just need to place them into the breeding machine and input magic, and they'll rapidly grow!"
Link relaxed slightly, but still asked, "What about their species and purpose?"
"Absolutely reliable! I referenced those giant sled dogs you mentioned, using whip-tail dogs as the base, blending in sled dog, Fro-ant, and blood hawk genes to create this animal that fully meets your requirements."
Krell explained excitedly, "Whip-tail dogs give it powerful aggression, giant sled dogs provide strong muscles and size. Then the loyalty of canines, the swarming instinct of Fro-ants, and the imprinting of blood hawks combined to make them perfect creatures that'll never betray you!"
"You just need to find a place to accelerate them to adulthood, and they'll treat the first living thing they see as their parent and be completely loyal!"
"I call them Skar!"
Finally, Krell announced the name of the new species with grandeur.
Link's mouth twitched, "Uh, sorry to interrupt. Grandpa Krell, didn't you also have a lizard named Skar?"
"How did you know!" Krell was shocked, then nostalgically said, "That was decades ago. I really did have a Cloraya lizard named Skar! Its size was just right, I used it as a mount. Honestly, I really liked it. Sadly, it ran away during a battle! I named these new ones after it to commemorate my old buddy."
Hearing that, Link almost couldn't stop himself from mocking him.
He had played a lot of games in his previous life.
When he first learned that his house-elf "grandpa" was named Krell, he thought it was a coincidence.
Turned out Krell really had a cowardly lizard named Skar.
After mentally roasting him a few times, Link finally nodded.
Setting aside those strange coincidences, the "Skars" that Krell brought were truly excellent.
Their performance in all aspects perfectly matched Link's standards for "beast tools."
Especially since Krell brought embryos, it meant Link could easily bring them into Hogwarts. He could grow them only when needed and not worry about daily feeding before that.
With them, Link could save a lot of effort in the coming school term.
Thinking that, a smile finally crept up on Link's face.
"Thank you, Grandpa Krell."
"What are you being polite to me for!" Krell waved dismissively. "What I really care about is when you're going to marry little Emily!"
"Huh? Are you talking about me?"
As soon as Krell finished, a familiar voice came from the doorway.
The two looked over and saw Emily had somehow appeared in the room, half-leaning on the desk, smiling at them.
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