Finally, Tom couldn't find the part-time job he desired in Diagon Alley. So, he set his sights on that place: Knockturn Alley.
Speaking of Knockturn Alley, unlike other wizards, he didn't feel disgust or horror about it. In his opinion, Knockturn Alley was just a bit special in its field of business; it simply ventured into the gray area of the magical world. Working in such a place would be beneficial for broadening his experiences. Besides... maybe because he had "personally" investigated the place, he didn't feel fear towards Knockturn Alley, especially after the Ministry of Magic's raid. Now, it was quite "clean."
Without further ado, Tom entered Knockturn Alley directly.
As expected, the Ministry of Magic's inspection didn't make the place any less crowded. There were many wizards of all kinds entering and exiting the various shops, conducting legal and illegal activities.
The flow of people hadn't changed since the inspection, there were only a few new faces, and the ground seemed cleaner.
Tom passed by where Borgin and Burkes' magical item shop used to be, which had now been sold and was called "Penney's Alchemy Workshop." It was said that after the raid, a group of creditors arrived at the shop and pressured one of the owners, Mr. Burkes, to repay his debts. There were two versions of what happened next.
Some say Mr. Burkes was prepared in advance, and many valuable magical items had been stored in an underground vault. As he prepared to retrieve the items from the vault, one of the careless creditors accidentally triggered a mechanism inside the vault, causing a fire that consumed Burkes on the spot, and the treasures stored in the vault turned to ashes.
However, others believed it was all a masterful trick by Burkes to escape the situation, and he had already fled with his savings.
Both versions had followers. The truth about Burkes' whereabouts could easily be found out if Gringotts was interested in doing so. Gringotts had information about the fund flows of all accounts; if the goblins were willing to make it public, everyone could confirm Burkes' status through his account activity.
If there were suddenly large amounts of money transferred from his account, then he was alive and had simply run away with the money. If there was no activity in his account, then it was possible that he had died in the fire.
But the goblins at Gringotts wouldn't disclose that information; that was part of their usual tricks. In history, there have been cases where wizarding families have been wiped out overnight, like during the Grindelwald era or during the wizarding war caused by Voldemort. The properties left by those families without heirs were locked away in Gringotts' underground vaults. Gringotts' public stance was, "Gringotts will never take advantage of your wealth; it only guards it."
But who knows what the real situation is? Anyway, whether Burkes was alive or dead, the shop had changed hands. The creditors who had escaped death sold the shop in hopes of recouping some of their investment.
"Don't you want to come in for a look?" Perhaps Tom had caught the shop owner's attention by lingering outside for so long. So, he stepped out from behind the counter and invited him inside to take a look.
"Oh, I'm not here to buy." Tom quickly clarified the misunderstanding and explained. He noticed the shop's name on the sign: "Penney's Alchemy Workshop." This caught his interest.
Seems suitable for him here, doesn't it?
Tom took a moment to observe the shop owner, who was wearing a gray robe, was tall, and had grayish hair, though he didn't have many wrinkles on his face and appeared to be around fifty years old.
"You didn't come here to buy? So, did you come here to be an apprentice alchemist?" The shop owner looked at Tom's age and thought he hadn't graduated yet. So, his purpose for coming here was very clear: to look for a part-time job during the summer vacation.
The shop owner frowned as he thought it over. "I don't lack apprentices, and I'll give you some free advice: don't get your summer job here, kid; you should be looking for work in Diagon Alley."
The shopkeeper's comment made Tom feel a bit better about him.
"I'm not here as an apprentice; I'm an alchemist. Do you need staff here?" Tom's response surprised the shop owner.
"An alchemist? You?" He looked him up and down twice and couldn't connect his appearance with the profession of an alchemist. He was too young.
Tom nodded.
The owner: ...
"If you really are an alchemist, then I do need you here. Come in, if you pass my test, you can stay. But I must warn you that you'll have to pay for the materials used in the test."
"That's reasonable." Tom saw no issue with that and followed the owner into Penney's Alchemy Workshop.
The shop didn't have extravagant decorations, with wooden floors and red brick walls. A few lamps that looked like oil lamps hung on the walls, providing the necessary lighting, as natural light in Diagon Alley was scarce.
The shop didn't have many items, only two counters with various alchemical creations. Additionally, there was only one cash register. Of course, there was also a door in the wall leading to the back alchemy workshop.
The owner led Tom straight into his workshop.
After opening the door, a dark room was revealed to Tom, completely windowless, as dark as a basement.
"Please wait a moment and don't use the Lumos Charm." The owner didn't use the Lumos Charm to illuminate and specifically warned Tom.
He felt the wall in the dark room for a while, and then there was a metallic sound as if coins were rolling. Then, the mechanical sound of gears turning could be heard.
After doing this, the owner moved to another position and, fumbling, found a switch and turned it. A "click" sound was heard, and the light came on.
Tom: ...
The sound reminded him of a gas stove in the non-magical world.
With this strange sound, the light came on.
A flame appeared inside a wall lamp, then rapidly expanded, bathing the room in firelight, revealing the interior: the layout of the place resembled a 19th-century room in a movie.
In front of Tom was a cabinet with numerous neatly arranged small boxes, each with a label indicating its contents.
Next to the cabinet, there was an enormous table with the wall lamp just above it. Compared to the cabinet, the table was quite messy, with various utensils on it.
When Tom looked at the shop owner, he couldn't help but smirk.