Chapter 24: CHAPTER 24: THE BLACK MARKET

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TO RUN? OR TO FIGHT?

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Once the portkey effect had diminished, Ed looked around, he saw a dark, and open market, the market was in a building, but the stores don’t have a kiosk or something like that, they just sell stuff in a tent, like those traditional markets in Asia. The building had no lights, so the buyers and customers had to rely on the store's lights to be able to see. Speaking of customers, almost all of them wore mantles, robes, and head coverings. Even though the temperature is quite hot and humid, he can see the seller's sweating, and fans were put everywhere to relieve the temperature.

Ed then used Disillusionment on himself, making his ‘old woman’ form invisible to others, he had his suitcase in his hand, which he carefully hid behind his robe. Ed took out the paper that has the list of ingredients in it and read it carefully.

‘Where would I buy all this?’ Ed thought. ‘I didn’t ask Master Flamel about it…’

Ed sighed and strolled around the market, hoping that one of the items he needed was displayed somewhere. He walked around, he saw a couple of horrible things, he saw the baby of rare creatures were locked in a tight cage, crying, while their mothers were in rage across the tent, slamming their heads to their cages, shrieking, but ultimately, they were only waiting for their turn to be butchered, and Ed can only grimaced to this, he can’t do anything about it, he can only saw the horrors happening in front of him.

After a couple of minutes of searching, he found it was one of the items he needed. It was the Mandrake stew. He saw a young man stirring the stew slowly, so it wouldn't be burned. Ed approached the guy and deactivated his Disillusionment charm.

“How much is this?” Ed asked, he tried to use Legilimency on the guy, but it didn’t work, it seems all of the merchants know how to use Occlumency.

The guy noticed the Legilimency attack, but he just smiled, “First time, eh miss?” said the guy, “It’s all good, first time always like that.” Continued the guy, he spoke English, but it was broken English.

Ed just nodded, and continued to ask the price, “So, how much?”

“Ten Galleons miss, it is quite fresh as well, I just brewed it.” Answered the guy.

Ed nodded, but he thought about something,

‘Is that cheap? Shit… I don’t know the price in this place, I should’ve asked Master Flamel about it…’ Ed grimaced in his mind.

Ed sighed, hoping that he didn’t get scammed, he took the money from his suitcase silently, so the guy won’t see it, and gave the money to the guy.

“Here” Ed handed the money.

“Good, good, miss, wait a second.” Said the guy while taking the money. He took a bottle behind a counter and put the stew in it. He stirred it up a bit and closed the lid. He then gave the bottle to Ed with a smile.

“Here Miss, thank you for buying.” The guy said excitedly, “Do you need anything else?”

Ed pondered for a while before nodding his head, “I do actually.” Ed said, he handed a couple more Galleons and handed the list to the guy, “Do you know where I could buy all this?”

The guy took the list and nodded seriously, he took the money and spread out a map of the black market on the desk, he marked some locations, and gave a warning to Ed.

“I need to warn you, miss, that some of your destinations are heavily monitored by Aurors, especially the human blood one…” he said. “If it’s the animal blood, it’s fine, but I heard that if you went to the human blood one, you will be marked to kill by the aurors, because dealing with human blood is a huge crime in here, and the punishment is death itself.”

“Really?” questioned Ed, “No Azkaban or something like that here?”

The guy shook his head, “No miss, this isn’t England, our wizards here used to practise human sacrifice for rituals, and now it’s heavily banned. So, anyone who tried to buy something like human blood will be marked for death.” The guy then closed the map and gave it to Ed.

Ed nodded, “Then I trust you won’t tell anyone what I want to buy?” said Ed.

“No worries miss, it’s the rule here.” Said the guy, “We may be scum, but we’re not a rat.”

Ed sighed in relief, “Thank you, have a good day then.” Ed walked away while giving another Galleon to the guy.

‘The black market is not as bad as I thought…’ Ed commented in his mind.

He looked at the map and decided to buy the feather dust first. He walked to the store that sells the feather dust, and quickly bought it, he looked at the time, and it’s already passed quite a lot, it was now in the afternoon in Britain.

Ed then walked to the Animal blood store, he saw a couple of people looking at him, even though he had activated his Disillusionment charm again.

‘What are these aurors, do they have that eye that Moody has or something?’ Ed grimaced in his mind.

Ed sighed and neared the store, unlike the other kiosks, this is a proper store, it has its own building, it’s quite shabby, but it’s still a building.

Ed opened the door, and inside, it was quite comfortable, a couple of wooden chairs, a counter, some plants for decorations, and a door beside the counter. But when he looked at the wall, he grimaced, he saw a couple of heads belonging to rare creatures. Thunderbird, Unicorn, Dragon, etc. He waited a while in the ‘waiting room’, and just stood in silence in front of the counter.

Then the door behind the counter opened, the room instantly smelled of shit and blood, it was a horrible smell to say the least. A man entered the room using that door, his shirt had some blood in it, and his hands were quite dirty. Ed looked at the room behind that door and saw a couple of creatures chained to the wall, struggling to break free.

Ed grimaced at this but stood silent, then the man walked behind the counter and asked Ed.

“What do you want?” he grumbled.

Ed pointed at the unicorn head on the wall and asked, “Do you have that creature’s blood?”

The man nodded, and continued, “But it will be quite expensive, it’s hard to find Unicorns these days…”

“It’s fine.” Ed simply answered.

“It will be seven hundred Galleons per bottle.”

“Do you have Demiguise blood also?” asked Ed again.

The man nodded, “We do, three hundred per bottle.”

“Then one each.” Ed said, he then took out the money silently from the suitcase and dropped it on the counter. 

The man grumbled, and picked up the money, he counted it using his wand, and once he confirmed it, he walked towards the door and opened it, he shouted something in a local language to someone inside. A couple of minutes later, a boy came from the room, he looked like the same age as Ed, but he was more malnourished, Ed then only shook his head on the sight of this, and the man took the bottles from the boy, he walked to the counter and gave it to Ed.

“Be careful outside, you might be attacked by aurors if you’re alone.” Warned the man, “Stick to the crowded places.”

Ed just nodded, he sneakily put the bottles to his suitcase, and walked slowly outside, he was ready for a battle, but thankfully it didn’t come.

Ed then listened to the previous store clerk’s advice and walked to the crowded place, he strolled around for a second in the crowded place so the aurors would lose sight, but then he saw a familiar face in the crowd.

‘Lucius Malfoy.’ Ed scowled in his mind, ‘What is he doing here? So far away from home…’

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Ed then followed the guy, he made sure that Lucius wouldn’t recognise him and walked slowly behind the guy. Lucius then entered a kiosk, it was some sort of a drinking place, it was really shabby, only a couple of seats, it was quite small if he wanted to meet someone here, but it seems he really did want to meet someone here.

‘Perhaps he’s confident enough to not be heard by an enemy or someone from Britain? It’s a faraway place after all…’ Ed thought.

He then took a seat that was close to Lucius, Ed saw the pale man was sitting with a hooded figure, he couldn't see the man at all, it’s like he used a Disillusionment charm only on his face.

“So, you agreed?” Lucius whispered to the man carelessly, “I’ve come so far to here, so that Aldrich boy wouldn’t be able to track me, and you’re the one best for the job, so don’t waste my time coming here…” he scowled.

“Fine, thousand Galleons” the man simply replied, “But only the parents right? Not the kid? Even if I’m an assassin, I won’t kill a kid.”

“Yes, just the parents…” said Lucius in annoyance, “When will you do the job? the one who’ll bring trouble is in France right now, and Dumbledore is in Hogwarts as always, although not for long…”

The man shook his head. “I can’t do it this month nor the next, I still need preparations and I also have other jobs that need preparations…” said the man while drinking his drink, “But I’ll do it in December, new year, it’s the most conspicuous, everyone’s celebrating that day.”

Lucius frowned hearing this but nodded, nonetheless. “Fine,” Lucius grumbled, “Make sure to make it like a muggle crime, that way the Ministry won’t be suspicious.” He then gave a bag of Galleons to the man, silently of course.

“I expect you to do a good job.” said Lucius while leaving, the man continued to drink, Ed however, was raging in his mind.

‘His targeting Roger and Anna.’ He thought angrily, in rage, he stood up, a bit hurriedly, not caring about anyone’s stare, then he drank his remaining drink, and followed Lucius outside, but the man was nowhere to be found, he’s gone, most likely apparated, ‘Shit!’ Ed raged in his mind, he then went back to the kiosk to find the assassin, but he wasn’t there also, ‘Fuck! He’s gone also, I should’ve targeted him first!’ Ed gritted his teeth, if he was calm, he could’ve got the assassin, but no, he targeted Lucius first in the spur of the moment.

‘I need to stop them. but how the fuck am I going to do that…’ Ed continued his thought while walking slowly through the crowded place, ‘I don’t know where Malfoy Manor is… Draco is in Hogwarts right now, and I can’t read his mind, that old man probably wouldn’t allow it, Narcissa won’t tell where the place is, and I don’t know where that assassin is.’

Ed gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly, ‘I need to find out where Malfoy is, so that way, the Assassin probably won’t do it if the employer is dead.’ Thought Ed, ‘And if I could be there at the assassination, I could also stop the assassin.’

Ed then calmed himself for a couple of minutes, he controlled his anger using Occlumency, so that way, he won’t do anything stupid. Then, it was time to buy the last item, the Newborn Wizardkind Blood.

Ed walked through the street, heading towards the store, he clenched his wand tightly, and he was on guard all the time.

When he was about 20 ft from the store, he smelled blood, human blood, he didn't hear anything, only smelled fresh blood mixed with the smell of rotten meat. He grimaced at this, preparing for what he will see inside. He stood in front of the store's front door and opened it.

He looked inside, it was normal, nothing was out of the ordinary except the horrible smell, there was no one inside though, he saw a clock inside there, and the clock was pointing at the number 8.

 'When is that in France? 3 PM? Damn! I just realised I don't know when the portkey will activate!' thought Ed, panicking, 'How can Baldeth say that I'm a genius among geniuses when I forgot to ask all the crucial things! And seriously, since knowing the family heritage I can't think straight…' Ed shook his head.

But then the door behind the counter opened, and a burst of blood stench came in the room, Ed wanted to throw up right there, once the door opened, he heard screams and cries of children and adults, he saw the place behind that door was filled with misery and horror, the man who came out of the door had blood in his hands, he wiped it with a cloth at the counter, and looked at Ed blankly.

 "What do you want?" he said, a bit of hostility can be heard inside his voice.

 Ed gulped, it took his all to not launch at the man, those screams can make anyone have nightmares at night. "Do you have Wizardkind newborn blood here?" Ed said with no expression, he turned his Occlumency to the max, so he won't do anything stupid.

The man grinned madly and answered, “Of course we do, it’s the store’s purpose after all.” Said the man, “eight hundred Galleons per bottle.”  Ed just opened his suitcase and took the rest of his money; he dropped the Galleon bag to the counter and dragged it towards the man.

 The man nodded once again and entered the room once more, when he opened the door Ed could hear the screams again, which he instantly flinched, he clenched his hand tightly and waited for the man. A couple of minutes later, the man walked into the counter again, with a bottle filled with blood, but his hands were also soaked with blood.

"Here you go." Said the man while putting the bottle to the counter, he was grinning like a maniac, no guilt can be seen in his eyes, "A bottle of fresh Wizardkind newborn blood."

"Fresh?" Ed questioned, a frown can be seen in his face, his fist still clenching tightly.

"Yes, is that a problem?" said the man while smiling creepily.

Ed shook his head, "None." Answered Ed, then he took the bottle hesitantly and put it in the suitcase. After that, he walked to the exit door.

  "Careful, you've been marked by the aurors as soon as you enter this place, I recommend you prepare first if I were you." Said the man behind the counter.

Ed nodded, he used a Shrinking charm on his suitcase and put it in his pocket, he drank the Polyjuice potion again, so he won’t transform back mid-fight, he pulled out his wand and clenched it tightly.

‘Okay,’ Ed took a deep breath, ‘Should I run, or fight? They definitely wanted to kill me from the sound of it, but the guards will try to defend me, or at least I hope they will. I don’t want to kill either…’

Ed decided what he’s going to do, he’ll try to hide as much as possible, he used his Occlumency to the max, and planned. He plans to blink as much as possible, he’ll transfigure a wall as soon as he gets out, cause chances are, they will attack him as soon as he opens the door, after that, he’ll hide among the crowd, decreasing the chances of the aurors finding him.

“All right.” Ed took a deep breath once again and opened the door. And as soon as he opened it, he heard a yell from all directions.

“Stupefy!”

A bunch of red lights was coming towards Ed, and he instantly silently cast Aegis, blocking the spell easily, he then conjured a wall surrounding him, and blinked to an alleyway in the black market, he can’t blink to France or Britain yet, it’s too far away, so the next best thing is to blink to an alleyway nearby, and walked to the crowded streets.

‘Please, just go away you fucking aurors…’ he pleaded in his mind. He walked slowly, making sure he didn't do anything suspicious; he saw the Aurors searching for him frantically, wandering around aimlessly. Ed then walked to the edge of the market, where the exit was, and tried to blend in again in the crowds, but the aurors noticed his robe and shouted at him.

The crowds instantly scattered, but before the aurors could attack him, the guards of the place attacked them, leaving Ed to blink again.

This time, Ed was in the drinking kiosk from before, he ordered another drink and sat, hiding from the Aurors. A couple of minutes later, he heard that there wasn’t any shout or scream on the outside anymore, so he stood up and left, his left hand still clenching his wand tightly.

‘When is this fucking Portkey going to activate!’ he thought in his mind, then he just sighed and hid in an alleyway to wait for the portkey, he waited, and waited, but it didn’t activate at all, and he started to panic, he tried to get out of the alleyway, but someone attacked him.

“Confringo!” the attacker casted, a fiery orange light was coming to Ed. He rolled, dodging the spell, and aimed his wand at the attacker.

“Incarcerous.” Ed muttered, and the man who attacked him was suddenly bound by a thick rope, the man struggled at first before ultimately giving up.

Ed walked to the man and opened the hood that the man was wearing. It was one of the Auror that attacked Ed. The Auror was shouting at Ed using the local language which Ed did not understand. Ed just sighed heavily and pointed his wand at the man.

“Obliviate.” Ed whispered.

The man’s eyes turned blank, his memories had been erased, Ed then took out his suitcase, enlarged it, and slammed it to the man’s face, knocking him cold. He used a Shrinking charm to the suitcase again and put it in his pocket

Ed sighed in relief, but before he could rest a bit, two Aurors came to the scene, attacking Ed at once. The two used a severing charm at Ed, which hit Ed’s arm, making it bleed. Ed screamed in pain and conjured a wall around him, he blinked again to the other side of the black market, and healed his wound using the white flame, so it would stop the bleeding.

Ed walked silently, he used a Disillusionment charm on himself again, so normal wizards can’t see him, his clothes were torn a bit, blood on the cloth, and he was quite tired from all the running. He walked a bit, trying to get away from the Aurors, but they caught up, and they throw Reductor spell at him, Ed used Aegis again, making the Aurors surprised, he then ran as fast as he could, he wanted to blink again, but before he blinked, the portkey heated up and teleported Ed back to Flamel’s office.

He lay down on the floor, tired, he looked at the ceiling, his body had turned into his own, his clothes bloody and torn, and his face looked haggard, then he whispered to himself, “I am never going to do that again.”, then, he passed out on the spot from exhaustion.

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