Chapter 30: Old Man Borgin...!
"Mr. Borgin!" Upon hearing her, Parkinson immediately rushed over, and the few Aurors who had been surrounding Lucius ran over as well.
"..." Lucius pressed his lips together, subconsciously wanting to leave. But Parkinson, as if just remembering, whipped his head around. "Mr. Malfoy... you'd best not do anything suspicious."
His words made Lucius take a deep breath. Though his expression was dark, he did, for the moment, stop his feet.
"Miss Hamil, you said he was just trying to destroy this formation?" Parkinson walked to Lyra's side, his wand raised, staring daggers at Borgin.
"Y... Yes," Lyra pressed her lips together and said.
Lyra hadn't expected Mr. Borgin to be so brazen... destroying criminal evidence right in front of the Aurors.
She couldn't help but feel a sliver of admiration. Unfortunately, admiration wasn't enough to make her condone his actions. Both destroying a magic formation and trying to evade an inspection were serious crimes.
Especially destroying a magic formation. Lyra felt that this crime deserved a taste of the Cruciatus Curse...
Besides, she hadn't even had a chance to study this formation properly.
Lyra pressed her lips together, ducked down slightly, and walked to the counter. As she raised her wand, its tip lit with a faint glow.
"What kind of formation is this?" Mr. Parkinson glared at the immobile Borgin, then asked, "Can you open it?"
"I... I can," Lyra said in a small voice.
It was another combination formation, which also included a Locking Formation... But this Locking Formation was a very simple type.
Lyra took her spatial storage book from her robes and slowly opened it.
Under the astonished gazes of the Aurors, she slowly pulled out a small vial.
"This is Acromantula blood. It can nullify simple Locking Formations without destroying the other formations. It's usually used to correct drawing errors..." Lyra instinctively began to explain, but she quickly realized the Aurors around her were not Miss Lovegood.
Even Mr. Parkinson looked completely baffled.
Lyra lowered her head in embarrassment, hiding her burning face in the shadows.
I have to fix this bad habit. I can't keep talking about these uninteresting things in front of people. She reminded herself yet again, then raised the vial and gave it a sharp flick.
Hisss!
A piercing sound erupted from the formation, making the Aurors instinctively frown and cover their ears.
But Lyra just nodded. That's right... just as I expected. The sound, like a train whistle, means the Acromantula blood is working. She immediately raised her wand and traced a sword-shaped symbol on the formation.
Vmm! The sword symbol glowed faintly, and then the floor beneath Lyra's feet let out a loud THUD.
"Back up!" Parkinson, realizing what was happening, quickly jumped back. He also grabbed Lyra, who was still crouched in a daze, and pulled her with him.
"Oof!" Lyra was pulled over, and her head hit Parkinson's leg.
"Miss Hamil... You should be more careful," Parkinson said in a low voice, holding out a hand.
"Th... Thank you..." Lyra pressed her lips together and used the counter to stand up. If Mr. Parkinson hadn't pulled her, she might have just rolled right into the staircase that had appeared.
It seems I've caused trouble again.
Parkinson smiled faintly. "It's fine... You've been a huge help." He glanced at the stairs leading down. "There are definitely a lot of illegal magical items down there."
"Mm... p-probably..." Looking at the easy-going Parkinson, Lyra instinctively remembered what she'd been thinking about him... This was awkward.
She shrank back, watching the Aurors follow Parkinson down the passage one by one.
Wait, shouldn't I go down too? But isn't Mr. Parkinson's friend still... She glanced at Lucius, who was standing by the door with a strange expression.
Just as she was thinking this, Mr. Parkinson's voice came from below: "Miss Hamil... there seems to be a lot of stuff down here..."
"O... Okay!" Lyra responded in the loudest voice she could, but Parkinson still didn't seem to hear.
"Are you up there, Miss Hamil?"
Hearing Mr. Parkinson's voice again, Lyra quickened her pace and followed him down.
As Lyra disappeared downstairs, the Borgin and Burkes shop suddenly fell silent.
Only Lucius and the petrified Borgin remained.
"Tsk..." Lucius strode over to Borgin. Looking at the immobile old man, he shook his head. "You pitiful fool..."
Old Borgin is definitely finished... Lucius thought, slowly pulling a small box from his robes.
"I'm sure you won't mind adding a few more items to your collection," he said, placing the box on the table. With his other hand, he began taking Galleons from a box under the counter.
"We'll just say I sold it to you," he said with a shrug. "A total of 50 Galleons..."
"And the box is yours, too." Lucius smirked, slowly standing up. His cane tapped Borgin on the chest as he suddenly thought of something.
"A Hogwarts professor, eh?" he muttered, his gaze shifting to the open spatial storage book on the table.
"And I can even do you a favor," he said to Borgin, raising an eyebrow. He slowly pulled a notebook from his robes. It was filthy, not something a man as well-dressed as him would normally carry.
He weighed the notebook in his hand, then gave a meaningful smile.
.....
"Mr. Borgin, all of these items violate Ministry regulations." Mr. Parkinson said, pointing to the boxes the Aurors were carrying. "We must confiscate them."
"And..." he coughed. "You are hoarding a large number of Dark artifacts."
"We are going to conduct a full investigation of your shop," he said, nodding to the surrounding Aurors.
The Aurors quickly waved their wands, sealing off the entire shop.
As for Mr. Borgin... with his mouth sealed by a spell, he didn't seem to have any objections.
"Will he be... sent to Azkaban?" Lyra, following behind Mr. Parkinson, asked in a small voice, looking at Borgin's state.
"Of course not," Parkinson smiled faintly. "His crimes are nowhere near Azkaban-level. It will probably be a fine, and a restructuring."
"Of course, if Miss Hamil finds anything else, we'd be happy to add to his sentence."
"Ah... no... nothing," Lyra quickly shook her head. She had just seen the 'eat-you-alive' look Borgin was giving her.
"Looks like today's mission was a success, and then some," Parkinson said with a satisfied nod. "Just a pity about that Lucius..."
Hearing him mutter, Lyra froze. Weren't you two friends?
Hmm... Lyra hadn't paid any attention to Parkinson and Lucius's conversation. Her ears automatically filtered out anything related to politics.
"Ah, Miss Hamil didn't hear anything just now," Parkinson shrugged, changing the subject. "I was just remembering that business with Hagrid... You remember him, right?"
"That giant we just met... He's a good man..."
Lyra's ears also automatically filtered out the rest. It wasn't politics, but it was white noise.