"I'm trying to become an Animagus, but unfortunately, after struggling for a few days, I have nothing to show for it. How about you?"
She thought for a moment. "Well, every day is just various classes. Slytherin and Gryffindor clearly can't stand each other, yet I don't know why these two classes always have lessons together. During Potions Class the other day, Malfoy almost got into a fight with Harry Potter, and it seemed to start because of that boy named Neville."
"What happened?"
"Neville is always clumsy and scatterbrained, either forgetting the steps or forgetting to add ingredients, which ended up covering him in scabs and even dragged Malfoy down with him. I could only suggest he carry a notebook with him so he could record things at any time."
He would definitely lose the notebook too.
"Also, Snape seems to particularly dislike Harry Potter, always finding ways to make things difficult for him while paying him excessive attention. I tried to observe and analyze his thoughts... well, I got a... cough, unbelievable result."
That's love! Hey, should I secretly feed Harry Potter some Assassin potion?
"The scariest part is that Seamus from Gryffindor-no matter what he does, it explodes! Even the Levitation Charm... he almost blew himself up."
Hah, the famous Seamus Finnigan, Hogwarts' demolition expert!
Almost every time Audrey shared an interesting tidbit, Edward would mentally retort in his heart. Unfortunately, only he could understand these retorts, and he couldn't share them with Audrey.
When she finished speaking, Edward asked:
"Isn't today Saturday? I'm going to take a trip to Knockturn Alley. Well, it's right next to Diagon Alley, but it's a mixed bag and quite chaotic. I want to see if I can buy some useful things there."
"Alright, I'll just go check it out and gain some experience."
She agreed readily, then realized belatedly, "Has a week passed already? Time flies so fast."
"Yeah, I saw that you were completely immersed in going to and from school all day, and I couldn't bear to disturb you."
Audrey smiled. "It's just... getting along with those kids is quite interesting. I've always longed for the feeling of going to school, but ever since I was little, I've only had private tutors teaching me. Moreover, in the past, I learned magic a little bit here and there from you, and mostly self-taught. Now that I have the opportunity to study systematically, of course I can't miss it."
She stepped forward and grabbed Edward's sleeve. "Let's go."
Edward looked left and right, making sure no one was around, and his figure twisted and vanished.
This was Edward's second time coming to Knockturn Alley. The last time he came, he was targeted by a dark warlock. Although the result was that he successfully counter-killed and acquired quite a bit of Dark Magic from the other party, the process was still very dangerous, and he had never been back since.
Therefore, this time he would be doubly careful. The moment the situation turned bad, he would immediately Apparate to save his life!
"So why is your first reaction to run for your life?" Audrey raised a question. "Did you never think about another counter-kill?"
Edward made a sloppy gesture over his chest and said seriously, "This is the will of Mr. Fool."
"???"
I am a senior member of the Tarot Club, don't lie to me!
Chapter 38: Grindelwald's Successor?
Knockturn Alley was famous for its Dark Magic shops, and the most famous among them was Borgin and Burkes, the very shop that Harry Potter would later mistakenly stumble into while lost using Floo Powder.
The shopkeeper, Mr. Borgin, was a hunchbacked man with slicked-back hair. This man was notoriously snobbish; when facing a Pure-blood families like Lucius Malfoy, he would be fawning and unctuous, while facing ordinary warlocks, he would adopt a lofty and arrogant attitude.
Seeing the two people walking in, Borgin revealed a stiff smile and said in an oily tone, "Oh~ Are the two of you Hogwarts students? What are you looking to buy by gracing my little shop with your presence? You couldn't have walked into the wrong place, could you? Diagon Alley is next door."
Audrey quickly formed a preliminary judgment about the man in front of her: a sinister, cunning, and greedy fellow, and he didn't even bother to conceal the malice in his eyes.
Edward walked up to the counter, tapped the tabletop, and said, "I want to buy some Dark Magic items."
Hearing this, Borgin couldn't help starting for a moment, then split his mouth to reveal uneven teeth as he said:
"Apologies, but my shop here is a legitimate establishment and never sells any Dark Magic items."
Edward tossed a small pouch of Galleons onto the counter: "Cut it out, why are you putting on an act with a student?"
Borgin opened the pouch with his dead-branch-like fingers, glanced at it casually, and chuckled: "Now that I remember, I do indeed have a few little trinkets."
He turned around and brought over a shriveled human hand. Audrey was startled and took a few steps back. Borgin grinned and said: "This is the Hand of Glory! Insert a candle into it, and only the person holding it can see the light. It's the best friend of thieves and robbers!"
What use is this thing?
Huh? Wait, would Little Sun Derrick need it?
Yet on the surface, he pushed the withered hand away in disdain: "What am I buying this thing for? I don't want to be a thief."
"Being able to buy a small item like this for 50 Galleons is already quite good."
Edward gestured with three fingers: "30 Galleons, I'll take it."
Borgin picked up the withered hand and threw it across: "Deal."
Edward caught the withered hand with the Levitation Charm and stuffed it into the Leather Pouch. "Anything else?"
"Let me see, let me see."
Borgin bent down, rummaged under the counter for a while, and produced a small glass bottle filled with a dark red, viscous liquid. His face was full of a bizarre smile: "This item is quite interesting. It is made from the blood of a werewolf. When used, smash it on the ground, and anyone within a hundred meters who breathes it in will turn into a raving werewolf."
"Turn into a werewolf?!" In the warlock world, this definitely belonged to a weapon of mass destruction.
Borgin immediately waved his hand and smiled, "Don't worry, it only turns you into a werewolf temporarily, and you'll change back after half a day. But the interesting part is, if you are bitten by these 'fake werewolves', you will turn into a real werewolf."
Edward's expression turned peculiar. The magic of the Harry Potter World was truly unreasonable; he just didn't know if it would be useful against Beyonders.
"How much?"
Borgin blinked: "60 Galleons."
"Not buying."
Edward refused without the slightest hesitation. Borgin immediately muttered, "That's not how you buy things. You have to bargain-you take a step back, I take a step back, and a deal is finally struck, isn't that right?"
"Alright then, 20 Galleons."
"Deal."
A cunning smile flashed across Borgin's face, and Edward immediately knew he had taken a loss. Come to think of it, this item was an indiscriminate attack on anyone within a hundred meters. Although inhaling it only temporarily turned one into a werewolf, what if one got bitten? Then one would truly change! Who would want to take that risk?
Next, Borgin produced a dozen more items: some that produced corrosive effects upon being thrown and exploding, some that cursed the enemy upon stabbing, some that poisoned upon touch, and some that turned a patch of ground into a swamp. At first glance they looked quite intimidating, but in actual combat they were inferior to a single spell, and compared to Beyonder items from the Mystery World, they fell far short.
Audrey actually wanted to buy all of them back to study; after all, the prices of these things were far too cheap for her, but she didn't say too much, just like at Mr. A's Beyonder gathering before.
However, Edward's purpose for this trip wasn't these things either. "Forget it, I heard you seem to have a broken Vanishing Cabinet here. I want to study it. Are you selling?"
Borgin rolled his eyes and continued rummaging through his pile of things: "A broken Vanishing Cabinet, what could you possibly study out of it? Besides, this thing requires two to be paired for use; the other Vanishing Cabinet was lost long ago."
"I've always been interested in Portkeys, but Portkeys can only transport people back and forth between two set fixed locations. Vanishing Cabinets are different; wherever you take them, they can transport you there. They're much more convenient than Portkeys."
At this moment, Borgin placed a fist-sized box on the table, blew off a layer of dust that had settled on it, and smiled: "Found it at last. This is a particularly dangerous Dark Magic item."
Just as Edward reached out to open the box, Borgin hurriedly swiped his hand away: "Do you have a death wish? This is a Dark Magic item made from a Basilisk Eye! No matter how powerful a warlock is, if they take a look, they'll die!"
Audrey immediately asked in astonishment, "Dumbledore and the Dark Lord too? Then did the person who made it back then die as well? And who packed it into the box?"
Borgin glared at her. This young lass looked rather pretty, so why didn't she know how to watch her mouth?
He turned and walked into the back room, and after quite a while, he came out carrying a dilapidated cabinet and set it down: "This Dark Magic item, plus the Vanishing Cabinet, makes 600 Galleons in total. They are sold as a bundle and will not be sold separately."
Edward rolled his eyes. "Taking advantage of the situation to extort me, right? According to you, I don't even know how to use this Basilisk Dark Magic item; I can't possibly close my eyes and take it out to smash people with it, can I?"
He patted the two boxes: "That's your business."
"Not buying."
Edward turned and walked away.
Borgin watched unhurriedly as the two walked to the door. Seeing that they were truly about to leave, he hurriedly said:
"Fine! You win. The Vanishing Cabinet can be sold separately."
Edward stopped in his tracks, turned back, and made an offer:
"100 Galleons."
"No way!"
"200 Galleons."
"No."
Edward took a deep breath. "Last offer, including all the Dark Magic items you took out earlier, 250 Galleons in total."
Borgin stared straight at Edward for a moment, then pushed the Vanishing Cabinet forward. "280 Galleons, take it away."
"Deal!"
This was practically the majority of Edward's assets, saved (or rather, squeezed) bit by bit while he was brewing potions.
Seeing the look of blood draining from Edward's heart, Audrey said in a low voice, "It's fine. If you're short on money, I still have plenty here. Although converting it to Galleons takes a bit of a loss, it'll definitely be enough."
Wuwuwu, the feeling of having a wealthy sugar mommy shielding you is truly great!
She then asked with curiosity, "Didn't you just say those Dark Magic items were useless? Why did you add them all back in at the end? Just so you wouldn't take a loss?"
"I want to test if these things will also undergo mutations after being tainted with the fog from Mr. Fool's mysterious palace."
Audrey understood.
Soon, Borgin packed up all the items. With ill intentions, he smiled and said, "If you get any good things in the future, I hope you'll patronize my shop again..."
He paused. "If you manage to survive today, that is."
He suddenly grabbed the box containing the "Basilisk Eye" and slammed it hard onto the counter. Edward instinctively reached out to pull Audrey, turning around and closing his eyes, only to find that Borgin had merely taken a step back with the expression of someone watching a show.
Looking again, the shattered box was actually empty.
"He really wanted to screw me over! This old fellow."
At this moment, several ragged old warlocks approached from both the doorway and two directions within the shop. Each of them was expressionless, staring coldly at Edward, and one of them turned out to be the dark warlock whose memory he had wiped previously!
Edward couldn't care less about those Dark Magic items anymore; he grabbed Audrey and directly Apparated away.
"Wait! We aren't..." Edward ignored the Anti-Apparition Charm, completely catching them off guard. The leading old man only had time to spit out a few words before the two of them had already vanished.
Several people immediately looked at one another in dismay. The leading old man angrily shouted, "Kraft, are you sure you set up the Anti-Apparition Charm?"
The old man draped in the Militarist Coat scoffed, "I'm certain that even if Dumbledore came, he wouldn't be able to escape using Apparition."
"Clearly, your 'certainty' has a major problem!"
The one speaking was the only witch present, wearing a pointed witch's hat and a brown overcoat. "Carrow, blame this on you! You were told to protect him secretly in the dark, but instead you caused a misunderstanding!"
The old man named Carrow said aggrievedly, "How was I supposed to know he was so vigilant? At the time I was just about to..."
"Stupefy!"
Before you continue