Once inside, Alex quickly realized that this black market was anything but small.
Though the whole place was housed within what looked like a crumbling temple from the outside, its interior had clearly been expanded using Extension Charms, likely an advanced variation of Undetectable Extension. Inside, it had been transformed into a sprawling market that could rival some wizarding towns.
The layout was cramped, with small stalls lined up like a maze. Each vendor had only four to five square meters of space at most, giving the whole place the feel of a magical flea market, something one might stumble across during a festival at a magical university.
Yet, the variety of goods on display made it far more exotic than any student bazaar.
Alex walked past a stand displaying slabs of freshly cut magical beast meat, laid out on enchanted tarpaulins as if it were ordinary pork. The smell was sharp and metallic, and a few cuts were still steaming.
Further down, magical creatures in cages, most of them highly illegal, twitched and growled. One stall even had a tank filled with injured sirens, their blue skin mottled with bruises, their hair matted and tangled in seaweed.
Alex's expression darkened. Even for a black market, this was pushing it. Selling sentient magical beings, especially ones like sirens, was dangerously close to human trafficking. No Ministry of Magic would ever allow it, no matter the country.
But beyond the shocking trades in creatures and ingredients, the majority of stalls were dedicated to one thing: black magic alchemical tools and ancient relics.
Cursed artifacts practically filled the air with dark magic. Many items pulsed with sinister energy the moment Alex got near. He caught sight of a shelf stacked with grim instruments, more than a few resembling the infamous Hand of Glory. The curses soaked into them were unmistakable.
As for the relics, these were items scavenged from ancient ruins, temples, and tombs. Egypt was filled with such places, and many of them had never been fully explored. Between Ministry-sanctioned expeditions and underground tomb robbers, there was a steady flow of magical objects pouring into this market.
The official reason, of course, was that many ruins held dangerous spells, large-scale curses that had to be dismantled before they hurt someone. But everyone knew the real reason: profit.
Buried beneath all the warnings and red tape were mountains of gold, rare magical tomes, enchanted weapons, and artifacts with forgotten powers. The deeper you dug, the darker, and more rewarding, the discoveries became.
There's always something fascinating hidden among these ancient sites, whether it's antique relics, old manuscripts, magical ingredients, or even long-lost spells and alchemical tools. Even if some of them turn out to be ordinary antiques, they're still highly prized in the wizarding world. And when magical effects are involved, their value skyrockets.
Naturally, this has drawn treasure hunters from all over the world. Many claim to be archaeologists, but in reality, they're little more than tomb raiders. They dig through sacred grounds under the guise of research, plundering ancient magic for profit.
Over a hundred years ago, a group of these so-called explorers triggered a horrific plague curse while uncovering secrets inside an underground pyramid. The curse spread beyond the ruins, eventually infecting Egypt's Muggle population and leading to a devastating epidemic. Countless innocent Muggles, and a handful of wizards, died as a result.
The tragedy forced the Egyptian Ministry of Magic to step in. They passed the Law on the Development and Protection of Ancient Tombs and Relics, a strict regulation designed to crack down on illegal excavation. From then on, only officially approved organizations were allowed to explore or develop ruins, and unauthorized digging by individuals or small groups was outlawed.
Today, most known ruins are jointly explored by institutions like the Egyptian Alchemy Research Center and other sanctioned groups. The most prominent among them is Gringotts, whose goblin teams have unearthed an impressive number of ancient treasures and rare magical materials from these historic sites.
Of course, where there are rules, there are always those willing to break them. Despite the laws, tomb robbers haven't disappeared. Egypt's vast black market and high volume of foreign visitors make it easy for people to slip through the cracks, taking their chances in hopes of striking it rich by looting tombs.
That's why the black market is filled with street vendors hawking mysterious trinkets. Every stallholder claims their wares are genuine, priceless relics, authentic scrolls, rare potions. And for a moment, Alex found it all rather amusing.
He took a stroll through the stalls, casually inspecting the goods with a flicker of interest. But it didn't take long for disappointment to sink in. Most of the stuff was outright fake.
One wizard, in particular, was yelling excitedly, waving what he called "a fragment of a lost spell" written on ancient parchment, allegedly recovered from a hidden pyramid.
The scroll looked authentic, with peeling runes and weathered edges. To the average passerby, it might have seemed like the real deal.
But to someone like Alex, someone who actually knew what he was looking at, it was a joke. The scroll was made from processed Tebo warthog hide, a material Alex had handled so many times that he could recognize it at a glance.
As for the so-called ancient runes, they were completely botched. The whole thing had clearly been faked and artificially aged.
And yet, in the eyes of these gullible shoppers, it passed as treasure. Someone even bought the scroll for 10 Galleons, which left Alex momentarily speechless.
Still, he had no intention of calling the vendor out. It wasn't his place, and besides, he had no interest in stirring up unnecessary trouble. He reminded himself of why he'd come to the black market in the first place.
Using the tracking charm he'd placed earlier, Alex followed the trail that led to the Sphinx. It took him to the edge of an old temple where a small two-storey bar was open for business. According to the tracker, the Sphinx was right inside.
Alex stepped into the bar without hesitation. He didn't know how long the Sphinx planned to linger in the black market, and he wasn't about to miss this rare opportunity.
The bar was the only proper building in the entire area, and its interior was surprisingly luxurious, far more polished than the Leaky Cauldron back in Britain.
Right in the center of the bar stood an old-style phonograph playing a soft, elegant melody, while enchanted lamps and ambient lights cast a warm, welcoming glow across the room. It caught Alex off guard to see his own inventions being used even here. He hadn't expected his products to spread this far, especially not in an underground black market.
The place was packed. Wizards from all walks of life filled the room, and Alex could spot a few foreigners in the mix as well. Clearly, the upcoming Alchemy Conference had brought more than just scholars, it was also boosting the local economy.