Chapter 1155 The Story of Paris (8)

For the poor, there is one place that they have the opportunity to visit more or less in their lives, and this place is the pawn shop.

This is an industry with a very bad reputation because some pawnshops often take advantage of others, such as Bok Bojin.

Although it didn't bear the name of a pawn shop, it was essentially the same. The Dark Lord's mother, Merop, brought the priceless Slytherin locket to sell, but Bork Borgin only gave her 10 gold galleons.

Pawnshops in the 17th and 18th centuries accepted everything from jewelry to silverware and tapestries. There were many such places in the capital of Paris. Rich people usually did not give money directly. They would give valuable jewelry to beauties. If

If the beauty doesn't like it, you can pawn it for money. It can be as small as bedding, farm tools, and mechanic's tools. This is actually beneficial to the poor. After all, ordinary poor families only have daily necessities and no art and decorations, not to mention Slytherin pendants.

A box of jewelry like this.

The little match seller froze to death on the street and went to heaven to accompany her grandma through the illusion brought by the flames.

One year, a cold wave hit Paris, and many poor people froze to death. French pawn shops distributed the pawned thermal items, quilts, scarves and coats for free.

Before becoming famous, artists would also make a living through pawnbroking. Monet was very poor when he was young and had a close relationship with pawnshops.

After the Paris Commune took power, they liquidated those pawnshops.

Under siege, Paris did not support idlers, and tools had to be distributed to skilled workers who were capable of working.

At the same time, the Paris Commune used itself as a guarantee to repay these things free of charge to the poor who had pawned their daily necessities, especially the National Guardsmen and their families. They could take the things back with a voucher.

In this world, there are counts and dukes who scramble like hunting dogs to pick up a handkerchief for Louis XV for a position; there are also poor people who obviously live a difficult life and pawn their necessities, but do not benefit from this decision.

The Paris Commune specially found those pawn tickets and sent them door-to-door to the widows and families of the martyrs. Or it provided another solution, which was to temporarily return the things to them and pay them in monthly installments within five years.

Perhaps the reason why werewolves are unwilling to register with the Werewolf Office and accept the management of the Ministry of Magic is that besides fear of identity exposure and discrimination, there may be another reason.

To paraphrase the original text from the Paris Commune newspaper, no self-respecting person will easily apply for a charity, even if it is a charity in a different form.

So Scamander's proposal for werewolf management ultimately failed.

Even experts in the protection of magical creatures cannot fully understand the lifestyle and thoughts of people in another world.

Pomona learned something from that Muggle newspaper. It is not necessarily the rich who have "pride". Poor people also have their own "pride".

This kind of pride of the poor is slightly different from the pride of the rich. In this world where the importance of a person is determined by how much money he has, if the rich trample on the pride of others because of their poverty, then the consequences will be terrible.

There is a branch road next to Diagon Alley in England, Knockturn Alley, which is full of suspicious wizards.

Harry encountered harassment after coming out of Bojinbok. If Hagrid hadn't appeared in time, he would have been in danger.

Trees with evil roots like this always grow in dark corners, whether in the Muggle world or the wizarding world.

These people usually don't dare to be too arrogant, but they rush out of those corners when chaos breaks out and commit all kinds of horrific and evil things.

Well-dressed people became prime targets, whether they were wealthy businessmen or nobles, guilty or innocent.

At this time, it is necessary to carry weapons with you, but facing thousands of thugs, running to the military camp and the palace is the safest way than acting as a hero alone.

If the escapee is unfortunate enough to trip over his skirt or high heels, an unidentified body will appear in the sewer after a while.

No one knows who it was during its lifetime, but the bones of the poor and the rich are scattered together to form part of the bone wall of Paris's famous catacombs. The catacombs not only contain the bones of plague victims, but also those who died during the Revolution.

There is no epitaph and no one to commemorate.

Albus once reminded Sirius to treat Kreacher well, but Sirius didn't listen. His attitude towards Kreacher was not good at all, although he was a good godfather in Harry's eyes.

Double agent Snape took Pomona to a shady corner of Paris to get information.

The hideout is as glamorous as Diagon Alley, while dirty corners like Knockturn Alley are hidden underground.

France is the largest black market center in Europe. There is no difference between day and night in this dark tunnel. There is not even a public light source inside, and all the lighting is provided by long-lasting candles floating on various street stalls.

Because of the famous celebrity Nick Flamel, every street stall has a "magic stone" on it, in addition to various human bone products.

Except that there is no human bone wall, this tunnel is almost the same as the underground tomb. It is biting and cold all year round, dark and sneaky. It is really not a place where a well-dressed person should come.

Before she came in, she turned her invisibility cloak over, letting the black velvet side face out, covering herself from head to toe.

Severus was wearing his black coat and robe, and he acted like he was familiar with the place, as if it was not his first time in this place.

Occasionally, Pomona could hear violent coughing coming from the mine. The sound reminded her of pneumonic plague and dragon pox, which wizards can also contract, and she subconsciously covered her face with her hands.

Rather than paying attention to the products sold by untrustworthy vendors, visitors here should care more about their wallets.

Fortunately, they didn't go far before they encountered a shop.

The French call pawn shops "Auntie's", and the name of this store is Aunt Kelly. On the sign is a fat woman holding a lace parasol. The bright colors are incompatible with the atmosphere in this tunnel.

They opened the door and walked in. There was a solemn-looking old goblin sitting behind the counter of the store, reading the newspaper with a sullen expression. In addition, there was a human apprentice who was deftly cleaning the dust on the merchandise with a wand.

"What do you need?" the old goblin asked after looking at their clothes.

"What do you have here?" Severus asked calmly.

"It depends on what you want?" The old goblin pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Bokimbok in the UK is not what it used to be. I want to see products that are different from those in the UK." Severus said in a pure Queen's accent, "It doesn't have to be related to black magic."

"It's best to be an antique that can be used as a gift." Pomona continued.

"Are you giving it to a man or a woman?" The old fairy narrowed her eyes and looked at Pomona.

"Ma'am," Pomona said, "or a room full of ladies. There are a lot of women in that family."

"Then you should give each lady a gift." said the old goblin.

"We're only going to give away one," Severus said. "Take us to see what you have?"

"Usually we don't accept strangers into the treasure room." The old goblin slumped in his chair, his knuckled fingers crossed as if he was examining the two of them.

"I know that you will only bring regular customers into the back hall." Severus used his leather-gloved hands to take out a large bag of gold Galleons from the deformed lizard skin pocket and placed it on the counter.

, making a muffled sound, "Are you familiar with it?"

The old goblin immediately laughed.

It jumped down from its seat, ran its fingertips across a small safe with a complicated structure, and took out a bunch of keys from inside.

"You two, please come with me." It said to the two humans with a humble attitude rarely seen in fairies.

The two followed it to the back door of the pawn shop. When the door opened, they stepped down the steps. There was a rail car in front of them. It was parked in a tunnel. It looked very similar to the underground tunnel of Gringotts.

"Aren't you afraid of being robbed?" Severus asked the old goblin.

"If the things the robbers stole were to be resold, who would they turn to?" the old goblin asked slyly.

Severus looked at it for a while, then helped Pomona get into the car, and then he also grabbed his robe and got into the car.

After the two got on the car, the old goblin sat in the front seat. He inserted the key into the mine cart and pulled the lever. The mine cart sped through the dark tunnel and soon disappeared.
Chapter completed!