Chapter 434: Chapter 434: Mad-Eye Moody (Edited)
The main reason Tonks was drawn to it was because she saw a very familiar glass eye. It was an eye much like Moody's, also known as "Mad-Eye."
Both Tonks and Mad-Eye had known each other for a long time, but not through the Order of the Phoenix. Tonks joined the Order of the Phoenix quite late, when Voldemort returned.
Why wasn't Tonks one of the original members of the Order? Because she was too young. Tonks, due to her mature appearance, always gave the impression of being a reliable and mature older sister, but in reality, she had graduated just a few years ago.
She and Charlie Weasley are of the same generation! Charlie is only eight years older than Ron, and from the perspective of Muggles, Tonks and Harry could be considered the same generation. However, from the wizarding point of view, the age difference between Tonks and Harry is about half a generation.
The wizarding world, due to its special entry schedule and education system, has always had a confusing sense of age. Since wizards start school at the age of 11 and graduate seven years later to enter the workforce, many students enter the world at the age of 17 or 18. This is comparable to the age of a high school student in the Muggle world.
This makes the actual age of many people not match their perceived age. For example, Harry's parents always appear to be in their thirties when in reality, Harry's father, James, was born in 1960 and died in 1981 at the age of twenty-one. Calculating Lily's age when Harry was one year and ten months old, Lily was probably nineteen, which is completely inconsistent with the common perception!
But as Tonks' parents leaned towards the Order of the Phoenix, she caught the Order's attention and began training as an Auror under the watchful eye of Mad-Eye Moody, a member of the Order, and officially became an Auror this year, which probably equates to graduating and pursuing a Ph.D., thus obtaining the highest title in the wizarding world.
Due to her familiarity with Moody, she knew the wonders of his eye. She originally thought that this kind of high-level alchemical item was unique in the wizarding world, but today she saw it in a dirty and dusty shop.
"What's this?" Tonks pointed to the box and asked.
"The Hand of Glory," Mr. Borgin explained with some effort to cheer up. "If you place a candle on top, only the person holding it can see the light. It's the best friend of thieves who don't want to disturb others at night."
Tonks mocked Mr. Borgin's words. She couldn't help but hear the double meaning in them: this object called the Hand of Glory was perfect for thieves. It was also difficult for Mr. Borgin, who in such a short time could come up with a plausible explanation for the Hand of Glory.
"No, I don't mean that; I mean the eye," Tonks said, ignoring the Hand of Glory and the blood-stained poker cards next to it as she pointed to the glass eye.
Borgin: "I don't know."
He realized that Tonks was not a regular customer, so he had no obligation to answer her questions. It was a reflex of his professional illness to have instinctively responded to her.
Tonks realized she had a complicated problem: Borgin refused to answer her questions, and she couldn't do anything about it. For the next fifteen minutes, no matter what Tonks asked, Borgin always responded with an "I don't know" attitude or gave superficial explanations about trivial matters. This kind of response did not reveal the connection between the shop and dark magic at all.
But it wasn't all bad for Borgin, as most of the tagged items were confiscated by Tonks, and the shelves of what looked like human bones were secured by her.
"I know you're not telling the truth, Mr. Borgin, but it doesn't matter, there are people who know more than I do." After a frustrating quarter of an hour of guessing, Tonks finally couldn't contain herself. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Knock, knock, knock!
The sound of a wooden staff hitting the floor in front of the shop's door was heard by Borgin, who initially froze and then turned pale.
With the ringing of the bell, a man appeared at the shop's door, holding a massive staff and wearing an oversized coat. He was already older, as his long hair had turned gray. Anyone who saw Moody for the first time would understand that he was an experienced warrior, as every inch of his skin seemed to be covered in scars, his mouth was like a twisted wide gash, and his nose had disappeared where it should be prominent.
Making a knocking sound was his prosthetic leg. However, the prosthetic leg was not his most notable feature. He had two eyes: one very small with a black pupil and the other very large, with a distinctive bright blue color, which constantly blinked and moved from side to side, unrelated to the normal eye.
When he saw this man appear, Mr. Borgin's breath seemed to stop. The thugs surrounding him also opened their eyes and looked at the stranger at the door, a name was on the tip of their tongues: Alastor Moody. The most prominent Auror of the modern era, the hero of the wizarding war, the guardian of Azkaban's Dementors. It was said that half of the Azkaban Death Eaters had been sent there by this Auror.
Tonks' expression softened for a moment, she smiled at Moody and said, "Sorry to interrupt your retirement, Alastor. But I could really use your help with my identification, please."
"Very well," Moody replied briefly and began to pace around Borgin & Burkes, his glass eye rapidly spinning. Finally, his gaze stopped on a bag that one of the thugs was holding, containing the loot they had obtained from this shop.
"For me, fighting Death Eaters and dark magic can never be considered a bother," he said, first echoing Tonks' words, and then pointing at the bag. "Is that all you've confiscated? Half of it is fake!"
Moody's raspy voice echoed in the shop, and an uproar ensued: Counterfeits? How could it be? Had they fooled Borgin when he picked up the merchandise?
Moody pulled out his wand and, with a flick, several items that Tonks had stored flew out of the bag and fell to the floor.
"All of these are fakes, the real ones are... here!" Moody limped over to the counter, raised his staff, and slammed it against the counter. A screech of chains and gears was heard.
The counter slowly rose, revealing a large cabinet emerging from the floor.
Chapter 435: Chapter 435: The Dementor Movement (Edited)
The cabinet floated all the way up until it connected with the ceiling. The buried part of the cabinet resembled the wand shelves in Ollivanders' wand shop, with small boxes lined up in tight rows. Glancing at it, Tonks realized there were hundreds of them.
Mr. Borgin: !!!
For a moment, he felt like he was being strangled, unable to breathe: this was what he and his partner, Caractacus Burke, had accumulated over the years, and now it was over!
Mr. Borgin was a cautious person. Although he had cast many anti-theft spells in his shop, he used to keep the genuine items of value under the counter. The objects displayed in the showcase were replicas created with duplication spells or forgeries made by craftsmen. There were also some low-value or very dangerous items that were displayed directly. He didn't care if someone stole the former, but the latter would probably leave the thief trapped in the shop.
However, this trick was pointless in the presence of Moody. His magical eye could even see through the invisibility cloak, so what did a few layers of floor and protective spells mean? In less than two minutes from his entry, Moody found Borgin's secret hiding place.
Moody looked at Borgin, not wanting to personally open the cabinet. Mr. Borgin sighed again and approached the cabinet, knocking it several times, and all compartments opened.
Moody snorted disdainfully as he approached the cabinet and took out the illegal items one by one, sealing them in bags from the Department of Magic. With each item he took, Borgin's face grew paler and paler.
What was inside were not only Mr. Borgin's belongings but also those of his partner Burke and other things belonging to pure-blood wizards that were temporarily stored there. Although it was the Department of Magic conducting the inspection, were they really going to be reasonable with them? After the Department of Magic staff left, he would probably be arrested by this group of people and squeezed for his last copper coin. Although he had been collaborating with Burke for decades, he knew his partner had no scruples. Borgin was very aware that his partner was not a person of good character.
"Let's go," Moody said after taking a few turns around the room to make sure there were no forgotten prohibited items, and he left Borgin & Burkes directly. Before leaving, his magical eye fixed on a corner of the wall for a brief moment. He knew there was some kind of mechanism there, but unfortunately, it was a treasure hidden by Burke, and Borgin couldn't open it.
Although there were nearly a hundred prohibited items in Mr. Borgin's shop, the Department of Magic couldn't simply arrest him because he had a legal business license. According to official records, Borgin & Burkes was an antique shop that also provided secret appraisal services for "ancient rare magical objects inherited by prominent wizarding families." Moody and Tonks could only confiscate the illegal items from the shop and couldn't arrest the owner.
Today, only a gang of thugs and wizards who had been discovered buying dark magic items would be caught. These people would spend the winter in Azkaban.
After Moody left, Borgin's body trembled a few times. He almost collapsed but managed to hold himself up by leaning on the counter.
At that moment, several Dementors floated into Borgin & Burkes. At that moment, Knockturn Alley was in total chaos, with Aurors and other Department of Magic members busy searching. Shop owners and customers were being taken away by the staff, and no one noticed that several Dementors had entered Borgin & Burkes, which had already been frantically looted by the Aurors.
Borgin felt them approaching and abruptly looked up, his face filled with horror. "You, how... there were no-"
He was terrified. He thought these Dementors had come to take him to Azkaban.
"Don't get nervous," a voice sounded from behind the Dementors, "Mr. Borgin, I believe we could make a deal."
Borgin: ???
"What are you... what are you?" His face turned pale, and sweat beaded on his forehead. He knew that whether the speaker was a man or a monster, one couldn't toy with him.
"Of course, I am a person," the voice said as the Dementors made way, allowing a young person in a mask and strange attire to approach Mr. Borgin.
"I'm curious, do you have to pay for the things they just took? Or do you have some other way to get them back?" He looked with interest at the empty shelves and the descriptions of the merchandise that had been on them, mentally calculating the value of the dark magic objects.
Mr. Borgin opened his mouth and then closed it, repeating this several times before letting out a long sigh. His body slumped a bit more, and his back hunched even further. "Of course, it's up to me to pay... and even if those important folks can reclaim their own confiscated items, they'll make me pay... the more demanding ones will require a public relations compensation, and the less demanding ones will demand a refund for the original value of the items... Decades of accumulation, all gone down the drain!"
The young person who entered Borgin and Burkes was, of course, Tom. After carrying out a major operation with hundreds of Dementors, how could the Dementor leader not follow through? So far, he had been observing from a distance with the protection of some of his henchmen. Seeing how they confiscated Borgin and Burkes and took away a large number of hidden items, Tom suddenly had an idea. So he led the Dementors to enter Borgin and Burkes.
Mr. Borgin's words confirmed Tom's assumption. At that moment, he looked at the few remaining items on the shelves, lost in thought.
"If I were you, I'd run," he said as he approached a large cabinet and stopped. His intuition told him it was the vanishing cabinet from Borgin and Burkes. Through this cabinet, one could teleport directly to Hogwarts.
The vanishing cabinets came in pairs. They were easy to use: enter one of the cabinets, close the door. If you opened the door again, you would exit from the other. There was a Vanishing Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes, and another in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. However, the one in the Room of Requirement was damaged and didn't allow living beings to be transported onto the campus.
Although living beings couldn't currently be transported, once repaired, this pair of Vanishing Cabinets would become a secret passage for accessing Hogwarts undetected. In the original timeline, the Death Eaters had entered Hogwarts this way and trapped Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower.
Undoubtedly, this pair of Vanishing Cabinets posed a security risk to Hogwarts. As a student of Hogwarts, Tom wouldn't like to have vulnerabilities in the school's defenses. The way to eliminate this risk was also very straightforward: destroy the cabinet and toss it into the fireplace to use as firewood; that would be absolutely foolproof. But what would be the consequences of doing that?
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