Chapter 110: smuggling

Matthew just glanced at the news once, and then he suddenly felt a little funny—
　　Azkaban has criminals breaking out of prison. Isn’t this something that happens often; what kind of news is this, and it can make the headlines?
　　 What's more, in the whole news, the names and information of several fugitives were not given; just to mention that the special personnel of the Ministry of Magic on Azkaban who was in charge of the night watch had already been severely punished...
　　 What is the difference between this and no report?
　　 But speaking of it, tonight he should be going to do a "smuggling" job with Mr. Shafik.
　　 If you are unlucky, you might have to live in Azkaban for a while.
　　 Matthew threw the newspaper aside and left Lihen Bookstore.
　　 He went to the Broken Cauldron Bar not far away, and had a simple breakfast there, and by the way did some private affairs of his own.
　　……
　　 The night is coming soon.
　　As soon as it got dark, Mr. Shafik rarely ordered the clerk to close the bookstore early.
　　At the same time, he gave Matthew a look.
　　 Matthew hurriedly returned a "understanding" expression to Mr. Shafik, and then returned to the basement, back to his damp and dark cabin.
He changed the clerk uniform of Lihen Bookstore, and put on a wizard robe without any logo; in addition, he also put on his dragon leather gloves; at the same time, he was a little regretful, Theodore Knott’s dragon The leather protective suit is not around, otherwise he would definitely wear it...
Sitting on the bed, he flipped through the second-grade textbooks, such as "Standard Spells·Level 2" (as early as the first day when he came to Lihen Bookstore, Matthew took away his textbooks), while patiently waiting.
　　 I waited for a while...
　　 Until the time on the watch, it was displayed at 11 o'clock in the night
　　 The door of the hut was suddenly knocked softly.
　　 Matthew put down the book quickly, picked up the magic wand, and went out.
　　Mr. Shafik is waiting for him outside the door, besides him there is another clerk from Lihen Bookstore...
　　 Matthew couldn't call out his name for a while. In the impression, he only remembered that he seemed to be a relatively taciturn adult wizard in a bookstore.
　　 There are only three people, and there are fewer members participating in this smuggling "activity" than Matthew had imagined...
　　 "Be quiet, Wakefield." Mr. Shafik reminded: "Try not to make too much noise."
　　 "Hmm." Matthew nodded.
　　 The three of them walked out of Lihen Bookstore together, and came to Diagon Alley in the dark at night.
　　……
　　 Since it was late, most of the shops in Diagon Alley were closed.
　　 The long cobblestone street is empty, and no pedestrians can be seen.
　　Mr. Shafik was obviously not doing this for the first time. He did not act rashly, but rather carefully observed that there was no wizard around.
　　 After confirming that there would not be any witnesses, he just gave Matthew and the other wizard a wink and motioned them to follow.
　　 And the taciturn clerk, who looked the same as Matthew, had no previous experience in doing this; both of them were at a loss, and they quickly followed.
　　 "Mr. Shafik, don't we use Apparition and Floo Net?" Matthew asked curiously while trying to keep up with Mr. Shafik.
"Of course it can't be used." Mr. Shafik replied in a low voice while observing the surroundings carefully: "Whether it is the Phantom Shifting Network, Floo Network or the door key, the Ministry of Magic has very strict surveillance. Every use It will be recorded...Once it is discovered, it will all be exposed...So it must not be used!"
　　 "Quick, keep up!" he urged.
　　Matthew noticed that Mr. Shafik’s direction was not the broken cauldron bar.
　　 They walked for about five minutes, and then bypassed Gringotts, trying to prevent the goblins inside from discovering them (Gringotts is a wizarding bank open 24 hours a day).
　　 "Here, hurry up!" Mr. Shafik waved at them again.
　　 Matthew noticed that Mr. Shafik led them into a side road.
　　 seems to be-Turn Down Alley!
　　 In other words, it used to be Knock Down Alley... As early as a year ago, Matthew knew that the black magic item shop here had been forcibly closed by the Ministry of Magic and the entire alley was also deserted.
　　 Despite this...but when they walked forward along the dirty path, they could still see something a little scary in the next window.
　　 For example, in a huge shop window opposite, there are a few shrunken heads displayed in a gloomy manner...
　　 The dark night, the alleys are quiet and gloomy, the wind is howling cold, and the rustling of the wind blowing leaves, and the screams of wild cats—
　　 Matthew is okay. His other companion, the taciturn adult clerk, is already shaking.
"Don't be afraid, hold on for a while!" Mr. Shafik cheered them up: "This road has an exit from Diagon Alley. We can only go here... because we can't leave from the exit of the broken cauldron, there There are too many people, and there is a mixture of fish and dragons, it is easy to be spotted!"
　　 "Hmm!" Matthew nodded.
　　 And the other companion, who was terribly scared, was already speechless.
　　 Fortunately, what Mr. Shafik said is not far away.
　　 After almost ten minutes, they passed through a fence, and they managed to leave the dirty, dark and gloomy alley just now.
　　Matthew noticed ~EbookFREE.me~ the three of them have already arrived on the streets of London.
　　……
　　 "Shall we walk over?" Matthew asked with some confusion.
　　 "No, let's fly over." Mr. Shafik shook his head first, and then explained: "You follow me again."
　　 They crossed a Muggle street and found a very remote phone booth that seemed to have been abandoned for a long time... and the surrounding Muggles didn't seem to see this phone booth that greatly affected the "city appearance".
　　 Mr. Shafik opened the door of the phone booth, and Matthew discovered that there were a few flying broomsticks hidden inside.
　　 "Wickfield, can you ride a flying broom?" Mr. Shafik asked.
　　 Matthew spread his hands.
　　 Obviously, this is the first time he has been exposed to this kind of transportation.
　　 "It doesn't matter, then you sit behind me." Mr. Shafik said without hesitation, and then he took out two flying broomsticks from the phone booth.
　　 One he rode on himself, and the other was thrown to another clerk.
　　 Matthew noticed that unlike the flying brooms seen in the Quidditch store, the one in Mr. Shafik’s hand has no signs or numbers...
　　 "Let's go!"
　　 After Matthew and the other clerk were seated on the flying broomstick, Mr. Shafik gave the order without hesitation.
　　 Two flying broomsticks rose into the air, and they disappeared into the night of London.