Chapter 29: Borgin and Burkes and the Unwelcome Guest
"Welcome, welcome... oh..."
Pushing open the door to Borgin and Burkes, Lyra saw an old man with a nasty look on his face. He wore a tattered cloak, his dull yellow eyes sized up the visitors, and his stooped body looked no different from that of a Dark wizard.
"Mr. Borgin." Gester Parkinson, acting as the team leader, nodded at him.
"Mr. Parkinson, I trust I haven't violated any Ministry regulations recently?" Borgin flashed a fawning smile. He lightly waved his wand, conjuring a cup of coffee for Parkinson.
"No, thank you." Mr. Parkinson seemed exceptionally professional while on the job. He waved a hand, refusing Borgin's coffee, and said slowly, "Mr. Borgin, you indeed have not violated any recently... but as for the future, I can't be sure."
As he spoke, he shook his sleeve, and a Ministry search warrant slipped out, hovering in the air.
"By order of Minister Fudge and by decree of the Wizengamot, we will be conducting a spot check on Borgin and Burkes." As he spoke, he nodded to the other Aurors, signaling them to begin.
"The purpose is to inspect whether you are privately hoarding any Dark artifacts."
"Ah... is that so." The suspicious-looking Borgin just smiled. He was much calmer than Lyra had expected.
He clearly looked just like a Dark wizard.
"I'm sure Borgin and Burkes will not disappoint you, gentlemen," he said in a low voice. "I have always conducted legitimate business."
"It had better be..." Mr. Parkinson shrugged and walked over to Lyra's side. "Miss Hamil, you may begin..."
"Don't go easy on this old coot," he lowered his voice. "He's sold me plenty of shoddy magical items in the past."
So he holds a grudge?
Lyra pressed her lips together and nodded at the very serious Mr. Parkinson. Of course, she would have tried hard even if he hadn't said anything... After all, that Dumbledore fellow had already sold her as a "Master of Magic Formations."
Lyra didn't want to disappoint Mr. Scrimgeour—even if he was a vampire and an Auror.
With this in mind, Lyra tightened her grip on her wand and the magical storage book in her robes, and began to scan the inside of Borgin and Burkes.
The shop was filled with all sorts of strange items, most of them grotesque and terrifying. They seemed to be related to the Dark Arts... but when Lyra looked closer, she found most were just for show.
They were similar to the decorations in the halls of Durmstrang... Even from a British wizard's perspective, they could hardly be called Dark artifacts.
Is this the kind of stuff Mr. Parkinson bought?
Lyra reached out and prodded a magical item that looked like a human hand, then snatched her own hand back as its fingers suddenly snapped shut.
It just seemed to be a gag item, meant to catch restless hands... Definitely not Dark magic.
Lyra did a careful sweep. The items for sale in the shop really had nothing to do with the Dark Arts, and she couldn't see any Magic Formations...
This was rather strange. It wasn't as if Lyra hadn't inspected other magical item shops these past few days. Even the shops in Diagon Alley weren't completely without formations... but this shop, located in Knockturn Alley, didn't have a single one.
She frowned slightly. She had a very bad impression of Knockturn Alley... and she refused to believe there could be such a "normal"—so normal it was abnormal—shop here.
Her eyes, hidden by the mask, were thoughtful. She turned her head slightly to look at the counter where Borgin was standing.
Wait...
Realizing something, she walked toward the counter.
"Miss?" Borgin immediately hurried over to greet her, startling Lyra so much she instinctively stumbled back.
"Is there something you need?" he asked, taking another step closer, which made Lyra retreat again.
Don't stand so close to me... Lyra could even smell his foul odor... It was disgusting...
But she also noticed that this Mr. Borgin seemed extremely reluctant to move away from the counter... as if something was there.
"What's wrong, Miss Hamil?" Parkinson, seeing the situation, immediately walked over. He frowned and said, "Mr. Borgin, you'd best be careful... This is a Hogwarts professor."
"Ah, of course, of course," Borgin said, fawning.
"Is something wrong?" Parkinson asked, lowering his voice.
"Here... there seems to be something..." Lyra whispered. "Under the counter..."
Her words made Parkinson frown instantly. "Mr. Borgin... is there something here?"
"Ah... of course not... Nothing at all." Borgin said, waving his hands and moving aside slightly, allowing Lyra and Parkinson to look.
It looked as if there was nothing there, just an ordinary, filthy counter, cluttered with various odds and ends.
But that was only to an ordinary wizard. Lyra had already spotted the anomaly.
"There's a Magic Formation here," Lyra said, her voice filled with the excitement she always got when she found one. "And it's a combination formation."
The moment she spoke, the color drained from Borgin's face. He quickly said, "How is that possible? I don't even know what a Magic Formation..."
"It's a combination formation, with both an Energy Storage Formation and a Perception-Lowering Formation," Lyra said seriously, her eyes glowing faintly beneath the silver mask. "And it's very well-maintained. The Demiguise blood on it has been recently reapplied."
"Therefore, it has a strong suggestive power and dampens perception... Unless one is deliberately looking for it, it would be very difficult to find..." The more Lyra spoke, the uglier Borgin's expression became.
"This should be the switch." Lyra took a few steps closer, while Parkinson yanked Borgin, who was blocking the way, aside.
"If it's triggered..."
Click.
Before Lyra could finish, the door to Borgin and Burkes was suddenly pushed open. A middle-aged man with blond hair walked in. He saw the room full of Aurors and instinctively frowned.
"Mr. Malfoy?" Parkinson froze upon seeing the newcomer. He slowly released his grip on Borgin and strode over to the man.
"Good morning... Mr. Parkinson." Malfoy gave a polite smile and a small nod. "Is the Ministry...?"
"Spot-checking for Dark artifacts." Parkinson also nodded, looking very pleased.
Are they friends?
Lyra slowly stood up straight, looking at the two men, and then shuffled aside to avoid standing too close to Mr. Borgin.
"Ah... I see..." Malfoy smiled, his gaze sweeping the room, finally landing on Lyra.
"..." Lyra took several steps back, hiding behind one of the Ministry Aurors. She felt this Mr. Malfoy's gaze was a bit frightening.
"This must be the Ministry's new consultant, correct?" Malfoy said slowly. "The young lady who is so remarkably skilled in Magic Formations?"
He knows about me? Lyra peeked at him in surprise. Is it because I've been causing so much trouble lately?
She had indeed been causing trouble. Malfoy looked at her and frowned slightly.
The Ministry's recent investigations had caused quite a stir, but most of the pure-blood wizards weren't worried. After all, Ministry inspections were, most of the time, purely superficial.
Unfortunately... this time seemed to be an exception. A consultant, introduced by Dumbledore and highly skilled in Magic Formations, had joined the team. Lucius Malfoy had already heard that this "Miss" had discovered the hidden Dark artifacts of several families in the past few days.
As a result, he had no choice but to prepare to clear out the Dark artifacts in his own home... by selling them to Borgin and Burkes.
And now, by a sheer coincidence... He looked at the petite figure hiding behind the Auror and felt a headache coming on.
The Ministry was inspecting Borgin's today... and it was being led by that detestable traitor, Parkinson! The man who had betrayed the pure-bloods and was disgustingly friendly to Muggles and Mudbloods...
Lucius gave Lyra a smile that didn't reach his eyes, which counted as a greeting, and then turned to leave.
"One moment, Mr. Malfoy," Parkinson called out. The young Ministry Auror walked slowly to Lucius's side and took his arm. "May I ask what brings you here today?"
"I'm just browsing," Lucius replied slowly, returning the smile.
"I thought as much... Nothing to do with Dark artifacts, I presume?" Parkinson nodded, looking as if he trusted him completely.
They really are friends... If Mr. Lovegood, the one who spreads rumors about Lord Grindelwald, saw them acting so intimately, he'd probably say they were married.
"Of course not," Lucius smiled and nodded.
"That's good." Parkinson nodded in agreement. "Then please wait just a moment. As soon as we're done inspecting Borgin's, we'll go ahead and inspect you."
"We were planning on heading to your manor right after this, anyway."
Damned... traitor...
Lucius's expression visibly darkened. He tightened his grip on his cane, glanced at the Aurors watching him, and said through gritted teeth, "That doesn't seem appropriate... After all..."
"Well, then you'll just have to explain what you came here to buy... and what you planned to use it for," Parkinson shrugged, as if they were just having a casual chat. But his eyes were deadly serious.
He wasn't one of those Aurors who feared the Malfoy family. As a Parkinson, and a pure-blood himself, he showed Lucius no courtesy. Add to that the fact he never liked Malfoy... Today was a lucky day. He could finally humiliate the man.
"What are you doing?"
Suddenly, a surprised shout rang out. Parkinson instinctively whipped his head around and saw Miss Hamil, wand raised.
VMM!
In the next instant, her wand flashed. A silver light shot out and hit Borgin, making him convulse once before freezing, rigid, on the spot.
A Body-Bind Curse... and it was non-verbal... With no time to think, Parkinson whipped out his own wand. "What is it, Miss Hamil?"
"He... he..." The masked Miss Hamil paused, seeming to take a deep breath before she finally said, "He was just trying to destroy that Magic Formation!"