359 Black market

Nick didn't make any detours as he walked and soon reached his destination in the form of a small run down looking shack hidden between two houses. If you didn't know any better then you might assume that this was merely a shed for storing things outside your house. Nick found out about this place thanks to Hagrid not being able to keep his mouth shut if plied with good booze and in good company. It might be a cheap trick but it worked well so Nick wasn't above using it to get what he needed.-

Opening the door to the shack Nick saw the thick layer of dust and cobwebs that covered the otherwise empty build and ignored them to walk to the back wall and pulled on a rusty nail sticking out. The back wall swung open revealing a hidden location where the black market was truly found. There was actually two black markets in Knockturn alley , this one that sold the rarest and most heavily illegal of things and the open one at the end of the alley that only sold the petty illegal items that the ministry couldn't care less about.-

The later of which was prone to getting raided by the aurors as a show of might that the ministry used to look good. The true black market was a lively place filled with all sorts of smells , sights and had a sort of low din from everyone talking to each other alongside the illegal creatures in the market. The sentry that was posted at the entrance to look for aurors took one look at Nick before ignoring him as he clearly was not. Nick walked slowly through the aisle that was lined with stalls on both sides selling all sorts of things.-

It was no surprise to Nick to see several places selling the magical parts from rare or endangered species. He was rather picky however and ignored most of this stuff in hopes of finding something really good. Thanks to his system he didn't need to be worried about someone here falsely labeling their goods as he could see the true descriptions of them. He had quite the lucky break when he was reaching the end of the market as a description appeared that caught his immediate attention. The item was a very old glass jar with preservative fluid in it that had a single egg floating within it labeled {Horned serpent egg from Greece}.-

[Hydra egg(dead): A hydra egg recovered from an ancient Greek wizards tomb by grave robbers and mistaken for a horned water serpent egg. The embryo has long since run out of vitality and died but has otherwise been preserved thanks to the special potion it is stored in.]

"Forty five for that egg." Nick said calmly to the the merchant that was hidden behind a foggy visage illusion. "Sixty five" the merchant said under a voice changing spell. "Fifty" Nick countered. "Sixty" the merchant said calmly. "Fifty five" Nick spoke firmly and the merchant remained silent for a moment before agreeing. Nick took out the agreed upon sum of galleons and set them down on the stalls counter and after being counted the merchant waved their hand at which point Nick picked up the jar and stored it away in the realm.-

No more words were exchanged between them as Nick turned and left the stall immediately. With his objective complete Nick slowly browsed through the items being sold in the market but besides an ancient book written in a lost language he didn't find anything worth his time or money. He left the black market at this point and made his way out of Knockturn alley as well.-

Once back in Diagon alley he found a hidden place before releasing his transfiguration returning him to his normal form. "Dotty!" he called and his ever faithful house elf appeared. "Take me back to Hogwarts." Nick commanded and like that his trip to Knockturn alley was officially over with. Meanwhile back at the black market someone else was not having a very good time as the thing they had been saving money for suddenly got sold to another person.-

If Nick was still there he would be surprised to see that it was the woman who had a familiar bond with a genuine horned water serpent from the pageant. 'Damn it! These last few weeks have been such a pain in the ass! First I just had to run into HIM of all people in the pageant that he won because of whatever the hells that creature was. Then to top it all off the ancient Hydra egg I was going to use to help my sweet Styr evolve had been snatched the very day I could afford it!' the woman was complaining to herself.