Knockturn Alley is still that virtuous.
At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the alley was already as dark as dusk. There were dim lights in the shop windows on both sides. The light shone on the cobblestone pavement, reflecting the stagnant water that had not dried up all year round into patches of turbid copper color.
Lin Ze Wrap up your coat tightly, avoid the shallow puddles on the ground, and walk deeper into the alley.
The Borgin and Burkes store's facade is easy to recognize. It has a black background with gold letters, and the font is long and thin, like a row of daggers hanging upside down.
There were several expensive-looking second-hand items in the window, including a silver cup studded with diamonds, a floor-length mirror with a snake pattern carved on the frame, and a necklace made of an unknown material, which glowed oilily under the light.
Lin Ze pushed the door in, and the copper bell on the door "dinged".
The store was warmer than outside, and the air was filled with the smell of old woodware mixed with some kind of metal utensils. It wasn't pungent, but it made one's throat dry.
Behind the counter stood a tall and thin wizard, wearing a dark green velvet robe, with his hair slicked back and a neatly trimmed goatee on his chin.
He was wiping a silver candlestick with a piece of suede, moving very slowly, as if he was doing something very ritualistic.
Hearing the door knock, he raised his eyelids and glanced at Lin Ze.
"Watch as you like." He lowered his head again after saying that.
Lin Ze didn't look at the shelves and walked straight to the counter.
"Mr. Burke?"
The wizard raised his head, with a professional smile on his lips.
"Hello, I am the operator of the store Caractacus·Burke, Borgin and Burkes. Sir, what do you need?"
"Ministry of Magic Special Operations Team, Lin Ze." Lin Ze took out the badge and showed it.
Caractacus's smile did not change, but the action of wiping the candlestick stopped for half a beat.
"Oh, Ministry of Magic people." He put the candlestick down and folded his hands on the counter.
"I wonder if someone from Ministry of Magic came to see me. What's the matter?"
"I want to talk to you about your family."
"My family?" Caractacus raised his eyebrows.
"Burke Family is an ancient family with many branches. Which one do you want to ask specifically about?"
"Fearn·Burke."
Caractacus tapped his fingers on the counter twice, and then he laughed.
"Fearn·Burke? I seem to have heard this name somewhere, but I'm sorry, there are too many people named Burke Family, and I can't remember everyone."
"You must remember." Lin Ze leaned forward and lowered his voice.
"Curse finger bones, first-level contraband, how many Galleon did Burke Family donate to St. Mungo's in order to suppress this matter?"
Caractacus's smile finally solidified.
He stared at Lin Ze for a few seconds, then slowly straightened up, took a dark gray wool shawl from the hook behind the counter and put it on his shoulders.
"Let's talk somewhere else."
He led Lin Ze through a side door hung with heavy Veil and walked into a small reception room at the back.
The room was small, with a round table and two chairs. There was an old oil painting hanging on the wall, which showed a man in medieval robes standing in front of a sarcophagus, holding a scepter in his hand.
Caractacus closed the door and pointed to the chair.
"Sit."
Lin Ze sat down, and Caractacus sat opposite him, placing his hands on the table, looking straight at Lin Ze with his dark brown eyes.
"Fearn·Burke is my great-great-grandfather's brother." He spoke, his tone much more serious than before.
"When he was young, he was indeed Burke Family's most talented researcher, with deep knowledge of alchemy and Dark Magic items, but that person..."
He paused, as if considering his words.
"His talent and madness coexist. There is an iron rule in the family that no contact with vampire-related materials is allowed. This is the foundation for the Burke Family. But Fearn doesn't think so."
"He feels that the immortality of vampires is one of the ultimate issues in alchemy. If it can be stripped out, it will completely rewrite wizards' understanding of life span."
"So he went to study it himself." Lin Ze said.
"It's not just research. The elders said that ever since he saw the power of the vampires, he seemed to be a little obsessed with it." Caractacus's voice lowered.
"He secretly took a batch of materials from the family warehouse, including the experimental records of the cursed finger bones, and then disappeared. The family announced that he was dead and buried in the family cemetery, but the coffin was empty."
"What year was that?"
"1698."
1698.Lin Ze calculated in his mind that it was nearly four hundred years ago.
"Burke Family never found him again?"
"I looked for it, but couldn't find it. Fearn is an extremely smart man. Since he decided to disappear, he will not leave any traces." When Caractacus said this, he suddenly stopped and stared at Lin Ze.
"How do you know he's still alive?"
Lin Ze did not answer this question, but took out the card obtained in Kent Road's cellar from his pocket and placed it on the table.
The card said "Blood matching failed, the subject died in the second hour, this month's quota has been exhausted, waiting for the next batch of supply Mr. Burke"
"Did you write this?" Lin Ze asked.
Caractacus looked down and his face darkened visibly.
"No."
"Who is 'Mr. Burke'?"
"The only ones in the family who like to do experiments are the Fearn lineage. The Burke Family lineage of my family only does these reselling businesses."
"But the ink on these cards is very new, written at least a year ago, which makes me doubt the identity of this Burke."
Caractacus was silent for a long time.
He stood up, walked to the oil painting on the wall, reached out and touched the frame lightly.
The oil painting slid sideways silently, revealing a palm-sized hidden grid on the wall.
He took out a thin account book from the secret compartment, turned to one page, and pushed it in front of Lin Ze.
"This is the breakdown of all external expenditures of the Burke Family in the past five years. You can see for yourself."
Lin Ze glanced at it.
Various expenditure items are densely recorded in the account books, including St. Mungo's's annual donation, Diagon Alley's store maintenance fees, and the repair costs of the family cemetery...
"Wait a minute." Lin Ze's finger stopped in the middle of a certain page.
"Number Forty-Seven, Knockturn Alley warehouse, rental fee. Lessee: Anonymous. Where is this warehouse?"
Caractacus's face turned even uglier.
"The warehouse is under the name Burke Family, but the signature field on the lease contract is empty, which means that no one knows who is renting it."
"As the person in charge of the Burke Family, you don't know who rented the warehouse under your name?"
Caractacus smiled bitterly.
"The contract for that warehouse was signed when my grandfather was still alive and has been automatically renewed. I checked, but I couldn't find the source."
"Where's the contract?"
"It should still be in the family archives, but I haven't looked through those things in many years."
Lin Ze stood up and closed the card and account book.
"I need the address of that warehouse."