Wands in Hand, Follow Me, Kill Goblins, Seize Galleons!

As August draws to a close, and the summer holidays come to a close, a large-scale war has broken out in the United Kingdom.

The battleground, to everyone's surprise, actually took place in... Diagon Alley.

Yes, it really is Diagon Alley.

One evening, Death Eaters suddenly appeared here and carried out a campaign of vandalism, looting, and arson against various shops.

The only place that wasn't damaged was Gringotts.

The Goblin were still swaying back and forth, remaining perfectly neutral; the Death Eaters ultimately didn't dare to shout:

"Staff in hand, follow me, let's slay the Goblin and steal the Galleon."

But this attack had an exceptionally negative impact.

Diagon Alley, one of Europe's three major shopping streets, is the financial center of the United Kingdom Wizarding World.

Its importance is self-evident.

Therefore, this seemingly ordinary war operation, due to the special location chosen, officially heralded the full-scale and in-depth development of the Second Wizarding War.

With this, the initial surprise attacks came to an end, and the war entered a full-scale phase.

Even ordinary wizards who thought they could stay out of it experienced the cruelty of war firsthand.

The most direct impact was the closure of a large number of shops.

In addition, with the Suez Canal still under construction, prices in the United Kingdom also surged.

But wages remain the same, far from keeping up with inflation.

Furthermore, due to the war, many shops closed down, leading to a surge in unemployment.

The Wizarding World world has fallen into a vicious cycle.

The black market, on the other hand, is becoming increasingly prosperous.

Voldemort's subordinates were mostly Pure-blood wizard.

Many families control vast resources that they can invest in the black market.

This is actually beneficial for them.

Everyone assumed that the Death Eaters ' strategic intention was to disrupt the public welfare system dominated by the Ministry of Magic.

But few people noticed... that two wizards went missing at the same time as the attack on Diagon Alley.

One such person is none other than the renowned rod maker Ollivander.

But his disappearance was largely attributed by wizards to his fear of the Death Eaters, leading him to flee Diagon Alley.

There were no signs of a fight inside the store, and a "Closed" sign was hanging on the door.

The second is Florin Fortescue, the owner of an ice cream shop in Diagon Alley.

There were quite a few wizards who witnessed this event.

Fortescue resisted fiercely, but was captured by the Death Eaters before the Auror arrived.

Even the wizard who sells ice cream has been arrested.

Suddenly, everyone was on edge!

Diagon Alley

Inside Akali's Mystery Shop.

Upon learning of the attack, William rushed to his shop immediately.

There were losses, but not serious ones. In particular, the twins and Cedric organized a counterattack.

After William finished his examination, he was quite surprised to hear Cedric and the twins' report.

"Mr. Ollivander has definitely been arrested," Cedric said with absolute certainty.

"I'm currently renovating my shop, Mr. Ollivander has been giving me guidance for a while. He even said he plans to work for another ten years before retiring."

Good heavens... if Cedric's wand shop worked for another ten years, it would probably be bankrupt by now.

However, Cedric didn't care about this and insisted:

"I've also searched Mr. Ollivander's house, but there's no one there. He's definitely been captured by the Death Eaters."

Cedric had been an apprentice at Ollivander's shop for seven years and had a close relationship with the old man.

His words can naturally serve as evidence that Ollivander's disappearance... was an abnormal disappearance.

George whispered:

"Perhaps the Death Eaters captured Ollivander to stop him from continuing to make wands."

Wands are like weapons in the Wizarding World, and Ollivander is the biggest arms supplier.

Capturing him would indeed effectively cut off the Wizarding World's "arms" supply.

but...

William could understand why the Death Eaters kidnapped Ollivander, but why did they kidnap the ice cream shop owner?

William rubbed his temples, utterly exasperated.

What exactly is Voldemort trying to do...? He couldn't possibly have captured Florin Fortescue just to make him ice cream, could he?

However, this Death Eaters attack wasn't entirely without its benefits.

William finally had the opportunity to buy up all the surrounding shops at rock-bottom prices.

Shops in Diagon Alley are always very expensive, and the land is incredibly valuable.

In peacetime, no matter how much money you offer, you definitely can't buy a house; you can only rent at high prices.

Now, however, one can enter the market at an extremely low price.

The reason is simple:

The last Wizarding War lasted for ten years, during which many shops could not survive and had to close down.

This war came on fiercely, and having learned from the previous experience, many people were thinking of cashing out and running away.

Not to mention, with the outbreak of the attacks, people discovered that opening a shop in Diagon Alley was also life-threatening.

Fred, holding the document, said:

"We recently acquired four stores, and Tom has been contacting us since he heard we were looking to buy shops."

"Does Tom want to sell Leaky Cauldron?" William asked in surprise.

When he first came to Diagon Alley, he was very interested in the Leaky Cauldron and wanted to turn it into the Leaky Cauldron Club.

"No, that's not it." George shook his head. "Tom has seven or eight shops he's eager to sell."

Well... Tom is an ordinary guy who runs a small bar all day... but who would have thought he actually owns so many properties?

The Joker was me!

"Negotiations with Tom are needed, but don't buy immediately," William said after a moment's thought.

"The war will continue for a long time; we have plenty of time to drive down prices."

Although William was not short of money, he was absolutely unwilling to be taken advantage of.

Just then, Qiu poked her head out, glared at the four of them, and complained:

"You've been chatting in the back for an hour, hurry up and come to the front desk, there are so many people!"

And Cedric, someone's buying a wand!

She's an older woman! She specifically asked for you!

Cedric agreed and hurriedly ran out.

The one who benefited most from Ollivander's disappearance was Cedric, who had just opened a wand shop.

As long as Ollivander is around, he will inevitably monopolize most of the United Kingdom market.

Now that Ollivander has disappeared, everyone still needs to buy wands, creating a gap in market share.

Many people are even afraid that they won't be able to buy them in the future, so they want to buy several at once.

Cedric's wand shop opened at just the right time.

If William hadn't known Cedric, he would have suspected that Cedric had kidnapped Ollivander.

Seeing Cedric walk out, William and the twins followed to see what kind of "old auntie" she was.

Calling her an old lady isn't quite accurate.

She was just a witch in her forties, yet she immediately asked Cedric to come to her house to get a wand.

This isn't about getting a wand fitted or experiencing the feel of a "wand"; it's more like it's for fun.

Qiu coldly pointed to the wall, where there was a notice:

No door-to-door service is provided!

The older woman was somewhat disappointed, but then she inadvertently caught sight of William pushing open the door, and her eyes lit up; she clearly recognized him.

Then, pretending not to know her, she asked William to go to the changing room to take her measurements.

The kind that measures by hand... It's said that the old lady said that this ancient method produces wands that are more ergonomically sized.

William sighed... It's supposed to be an "arms" business, so why is it being handled in such Pulp Fiction?

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