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Under everyone's persuasion, Sirius finally agreed to change his wand.
He sighed and followed Mr. Ollivander into the wand shop, rubbing his messy hair weakly, like a young wizard who had just become an adult.
"He used to be like this, he looked very stubborn, but as long as it was a reasonable suggestion, he would at least take it."
Looking at Sirius's back, Lupin told Elwyn, Harry and Hermione some embarrassing stories of Sirius's school days, making everyone laugh.
Amidst the laughter, they arrived at the shop that belonged to the Blake family, No. 36 Diagon Alley.
This was a three-storey storefront, located at the other end of the street corner, across the street from Ollivander's wand shop, next to a potion material shop. To the north of it, through a dark alley, was Yi La Owl Shop.
Harry's pet, Hedwig, was bought from there by Hagrid and given to him.
Other than the pet shop, even this potion shop was very famous in Diagon Alley. Because of the low prices, Elwyn had ordered a lot of potion materials from them.
The walls of the potion shop were brownish-black bricks, and there was only one narrow window. There was a row of barrels of sticky substance on the ground inside, and near the wall, all kinds of jars of powder, herbs, bundles of feathers, fangs and claws hung from the ceiling.
The goods inside looked fascinating, but because of the potion materials, the shop gave off an unpleasant smell, like a mixture of rotten eggs and rotten vegetables.
What was even worse than this was No. 36 Diagon Alley next to it.
The old bricks were incomplete, and it looked extremely desolate and dilapidated. The two semicircular display windows were covered with a thick layer of dust, and it was impossible to see what was inside from the outside. In between the display windows was a black wooden door that was full of scars. It was full of bug holes and marks left by sharp objects, and it gave off a rotten smell.
Elwyn wiped the dust off the window and tiptoed to look inside.
Through a curtain filled with fox fur, he saw the broken pieces of furniture and trash that littered the floor. There was a brown spider the size of a saucepan hidden in the corner of the window. The whole house looked like a haunted house.
"From what I remember, this shop has been empty for more than ten years. No one has been using it." Lupin explained, "Many people guessed that there was something wrong with this place, so it had been left unused. I didn't expect it to be the property of the Blake family!"
He pulled out his wand and knocked on the wooden door of the shop. With a creak, the door opened.
The moment the door was opened, a large amount of dust flew into the air.
Everyone covered their noses and took a few steps back.
Seeing the unexpected intruder, a frightened mouse rushed out of the shop and squeaked.
They walked in, leaving clear footprints on the creaky floorboards.
The decoration of the shop was consistent with the luxurious style of the Blake family. The shabby furniture was all made of precious mahogany and teak.
Perhaps because of this, it was also a place where thieves gathered.
Anything of value in the shop had disappeared or been destroyed. All kinds of gorgeous decorations and furniture were scattered on the floor.
A few windows at the back were also broken, and cold wind blew in. Unsurprisingly, the thieves had climbed in through those windows.
Looking from the outside, the shop was already terrible enough. Feeling it up close from the inside, one could feel that this place was in an even worse state.
If they wanted to use it and open it to the public, almost everything had to be bought new.
"It will take a lot of effort to clean this place!" Hermione wrinkled her nose, took out her wand and said softly to a carpet, "Clean it up!"
Pink soap bubbles immediately appeared on the carpet, but it was useless. There was too much dust, and the bright soap bubbles instantly turned black.
Hermione waved her wand reluctantly and chanted a few more times.
"Don't waste your energy, Hermione. Throw that carpet away." Elwyn held his forehead and said, "We can buy new furniture and office supplies, but you were right. This place needs a thorough cleaning. It will be a lot of work!"
"This house has been empty for many years, and many things have bred in it. You must be careful when you clean it." Lupin leaned in front of a cabinet and looked inside through the keyhole. "There seems to be a Boggart inside. Before we clean this cabinet, it's best to let him out."
"Cleaning a house that has been abandoned for more than ten years is too crazy. I don't want to spend the rest of my Christmas holiday here." Harry walked down the stairs, panting. "This shop is much more spacious than it looks from the outside. There's a lot more space above, and there's more trash here."
"Don't worry, Harry! I think three days should be enough. We can ask Dobby and Kreacher for help. House-Elves are very good at this kind of thing. " Elwyn also went upstairs to look around and nodded in satisfaction. "When we go to visit Ron later, we can also ask Weasley's family to help clean it up. I have an idea. The second and third floors are more than enough space for the newspaper headquarters. The first floor can be used for something else, such as selling Fred and George's joke products. "
"They'll be happy. Since last semester, they've started an owl mail order service in the school!" Harry said. "The products they've developed are very interesting and very popular."
"They're also very dangerous and disgusting!" Hermione said disapprovingly, "Look at what they did last semester. They actually made a remote-controlled dung egg, and the entire corridor is filled with a stench. It's hard to clean that dung."
"That's what Filch needs to worry about. Other than Slytherin's basement, they haven't used that kind of thing anywhere else in the school," Elwyn said guiltily.
He did not dare to tell Hermione that the remote-controlled dung egg's birth was actually his suggestion. The theory used, how to make the dung egg come alive and listen to the user's command, was inspired by an article Hermione had submitted to the newspaper about Transfiguration research.
"There's a lot of space here. We can put a lot of counters. In addition to Fred's and George's joke products, we can also sell the things that other little wizards have developed." Seeing that Hermione wanted to continue talking about the joke products, Elwyn hurriedly said, "For example, the potions that we brew in our Potion Studies class, except for taking out a little for Snape to grade, the rest are all thrown away. It's too wasteful. We can sell them here, and the price will be much lower than the normal market price."
"That's a good idea, provided that Snape agrees to us doing this," Harry interrupted.
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