Knockturn Alley had undergone a sea change.
A shroud of mystery and menace had quietly descended over the street.
The dark wizards coming and going held their tongues, doing everything they could to keep a low profile, afraid of drawing the attention of that terrifying presence.
But one person was an exception.
Caractacus Boke.
That old, smug bastard had been acting even more high and mighty lately.
At the end of Knockturn Alley, in the Black Ship tavern.
"Wiggins, my old friend. How have you been?"
Caractacus smiled broadly, but his eyes held a superior air.
He raised his glass to the man across from him. His elegant silk suit made it clear at a glance that the fabric was top quality.
At least, his drinking companion, Wigginskal, the owner of the Voodoo shop, didn't have anything so fine in his wardrobe.
"Heh. My life's the same as ever. Nothing much to say.
"You, on the other hand, seem to be doing pretty well."
The one-eyed old Wiggins puffed on a cigarette made from special leaves and sneered repeatedly.
Everyone knew Boke had come into good luck lately. He was obviously showing off.
"Of course."
To Wiggins's surprise, Caractacus admitted it without hesitation.
When Lord Sauron had said he wanted his shop that day, Caractacus had indeed been terrified.
But after seeing bag after bag of golden Little Cuties, then looking at the tip of the Elder Wand, he had capitulated, just like so many other dark wizards.
Putting all his feelings aside, Caractacus forced himself to be "wholeheartedly devoted" to the man before him.
There was nothing to say. This lord had both money and power.
What else could he do?
So old Boke sold the shop his family had run for centuries and went from owner to employee.
And Lord Sauron became his boss.
"Hey, we've known each other for decades. Tell me about your boss—no, no, tell me about that lord."
Wiggins had no respect for Caractacus's nouveau riche boasting, but he was very interested in the figure behind him.
Sauron.
That was the name of the shadow that had recently fallen over Knockturn Alley.
Everyone trying to make a living on the street was doing everything they could to dig up information about him.
But every one of them had failed.
The man seemed to have appeared out of thin air. There was nothing to find!
"Lord Sauron? Heh... now there's a remarkable man."
He smiled, but couldn't help feeling a little sad inside.
Before that day, the name Caractacus had also been respected.
Someone who could thrive in the chaos of Knockturn Alley wouldn't suddenly get rich and become a nouveau riche who did nothing but show off.
But...
This was the attitude Lord Sauron wanted from him.
The more conspicuous and arrogant he acted, the more pleased Lord Sauron was.
Caractacus didn't know why, but for the sake of his family's lives, he had no choice but to swallow his pride, cast aside his old arrogance, and become a complete lackey.
"I'm only telling you, so don't go spreading it around..."
With a chuckle, Caractacus spoke with bleary, drunken eyes. The noisy tavern fell silent for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.
But Caractacus knew that countless ears had perked up in secret.
Steadying himself and putting all that nonsense out of his mind, he took a long swig of his drink, then spoke in a hushed, mysterious tone—without actually lowering his voice.
"Lord Sauron is a wizard of immense magical power. There's no doubt about that. He may look young, maybe in his twenties, but in truth, he's lived for over a thousand years."
"Gasp!"
Wiggins drew a sharp breath, disbelief filling his single eye.
"T-that can't be possible."
To be honest, he didn't believe anyone could live a thousand years.
Wizards weren't magical creatures!
"To tell you the truth, I didn't really believe it at first, either."
Caractacus smiled, then gradually let the smile fade.
"Then have you ever heard of the legendary Deathly Hallows?"
"The Deathly Hallows? What are those?"
Old Wiggins blinked, then shook his head in confusion.
"The one who possesses the Deathly Hallows becomes the Master of Death.
"The Elder Wand makes you unbeatable. The Resurrection Stone makes you immune to the threat of death. The Cloak of Invisibility can... can erase every trace of you from the world..."
Caractacus had no expectation that the other man would have heard of the Deathly Hallows. He explained at a leisurely pace.
At this point, Wiggins started to remember.
What Deathly Hallows? They had a grand name, but weren't they just something from a storybook?
What was that book called again?
That's right!
The Collected Tales of the Bard of Bean.
"What does that have to do with Lord Sauron?"
Wiggins muttered in displeasure and smacked his lips.
He'd wanted to pry some information out of the old man, but the slippery bastard was fobbing him off with a fairy tale.
Did he really think Wiggins was an idiot?
"Lord Sauron is the master of the Deathly Hallows."
Seeing the other man's dismissive expression, Caractacus didn't waste time. He went straight for the big reveal.
"All the Hallows are in Lord Sauron's hands. That's how he defeated death and survived to this day!"
Defeated death and survived to this day?
Wiggins looked at Caractacus as if he were listening to a tall tale. The other man's earnest yet exaggerated expression made him want to laugh, but he didn't dare.
That old bastard must have been thoroughly cowed by Sauron to believe a ridiculous story like that.
Defeated death?
It was nothing but an excuse to make himself look good.
In all his years in Knockturn Alley, Wiggins had seen spellcasters from all over the world. Plenty claimed to be immortal, only to be exposed in the end with the same ridiculous tricks.
He couldn't believe Caractacus Boke, that old Knockturn Alley hand, had been taken in.
Heh.
What a joke.
"Ignorant."
Wiggins wanted to laugh at him, but Caractacus was just as eager to laugh at Wiggins.
How could a frog at the bottom of a well know the vastness of the world?
Lord Sauron had shattered his understanding of strength with an almost unreasonable display of power and reshaped his entire world.
That lord...
He was a great being who came close to divinity!
The common folk were just the common folk, after all.
"Listen, someone like Lord Sauron usually lives in seclusion, rarely showing himself to the world.
"But something happened recently that forced him to come out of the mountains..."
Caractacus took a drink and ignored Wiggins, continuing to recite, word by word, what his boss had told him.
"Lord Sauron's Magic Ring has gone missing. They say it's somewhere in London!"
"Wait a minute. What's this Magic Ring?"
Wiggins prided himself on having seen a lot of the world, but he'd spent half the conversation puzzled by the "Deathly Hallows," and now this "Magic Ring" had come out of nowhere.
The owner of the Voodoo shop felt as if his head couldn't keep up.
"I don't know. Lord Sauron didn't explain it to me.
"He only said the ring was a treasure made of Divine Gold, containing part of his power. Losing it would cause a lot of trouble."
Caractacus and Wiggins continued chatting, their conversation sounding casual. The tavern remained lively as ever.
But a closer look revealed that when many of the patrons heard the words "Divine Gold," a barely restrained greed flashed in their eyes.