บท 20: Chapter 20
"Ah, right, just a moment then, Elric. I will go and fetch the manuscript, trust me, you are going to love this one. I encounter an abominable snowman. just wait right there." I close the door and walk back inside, walking over to my study, in which I have been writing my story for quite a while. It was when I was working my way through Digby's mind and fully diving into all his memories that I saw the memory where he told Elric about my new book. Why did Digby do that?
Well, I know because I had his mind in the palm of my hand. He planned to explain my disappearance away like that and then murder me and let my corpse decompose in my home for a year before anyone came looking, so the results would be inconclusive. So anyway, this drove me to start working on the story and to do that, I referenced the other works Gilderoy had written, and I had to give it to the man. He is a talented writer.
There were no inconsistencies in any of his books, and he had written each of them perfectly, if a little vain and self-aggrandising. However, going through and reviewing my own memories, I discovered that there were a few stories that overlapped. Still, Gilderoy sorted out the chronology and timeline to sync to his own schedule before he published anything.
He really did it perfectly, except his spellwork was shoddy, and he didn't correctly obliviate the wizards and wizards whose stories he stole and left traces which Dumbledore will discover. After recovering those memories, he will link them to the exact same stories in the books. This is why I have to go deal with the wizards and witches. It is the very reason why I spent so long developing my Occlumency and Legilimency skills so that I can prevent Dumbledore from finding me out.
Having the manuscript in hand, I walk back to the front door to hand it to Elric Woods. Not only that, but I have thought up the perfect story for my involvement with the disappearance of Digby. D. Digworth. I once more ready my wand in my left hand and pointed it at the door, not letting my guard down so quickly, and when I opened the door, to see Elric still standing there patiently with a smile on his face.
"Here you are, Elric. This one is called Assault On The Abominable Snowman. I met some nice simple muggles over there called the Inuits, that were under constant attack by this creature, and I resolved myself to save them. After all, magical problems need to be solved by magical people." So I say as I hand over the manuscript. Honestly, I think I did a pretty good job on this one, and unlike the others, this is all fictional, so there is no way for anyone to disapprove of them, and, given my reputation, everyone will believe it.
"Ah, yes, thank you. I look forward to reading another masterpiece and then selling the excellent story to the entire wizarding world. But again, about Digworth, do you have any clue where he is?" Elric asks again after taking my manuscript, just assuming that it will be another masterpiece which I know it will be since I wrote it and I put a lot of care into it.
"Digby, ah well, I was gone for a year, so I don't know where he is now, obviously. But because I was going to be gone for a year, I would not need a personal assistant anymore, so I let him go and told him to come and see me when I got back if he still needed a job, but maybe he has already moved on, who knows." So I say, giving my excellent cover story, which is basically, I don't know.
"Ah, okay then. I will leave you to get back to whatever it is you are up to, Gilderoy, have fun. But, uh, remember to come to Flourish and Blotts on Friday. We will be having a signing to commence the sale of your new book, and we shall have a lot of copies made by then. So goodbye, Gilderoy, don't forget, Friday." Elric says as he turns around and walks off. I watch him go until he disappears from my sight, and then I close the door and lock it again.
I stay there for a minute, thinking about the fact that I will be out in the open on Friday, out in public, and there will be no going back. But, oh well, I had planned to come out soon as I have all but prepared. So now I just have to finish the only thing left on my checklist, Digby.
With my goal in mind, I walk back towards my guest room and swing the door open, Digby's head jolts up, and he stares at me with wide eyes as I slam the door behind me and walk over to him. I grip his head by the hair and drag his head up to look me right in the eyes, and I draw my wand out and point it at him.
"There is no point wasting any more time on you, I will test this final thing on you, and then I will get rid of you and forget about you. No one will ever think about you and your measly existence ever again. I know because I have seen every single memory of yours, every single disgusting thing you have done, and all the acts against all that is pure that you have committed, and I know for a fact no one will look for you, not even your precious dark lord Voldemort." Horror fills his eyes, and he begins to struggle like his life depends on it, which it does. He tries to close his eyes, but that doesn't matter. It will not stop me.
"Goodbye, Digby. D. Digworth, you will not be remembered. Legilimens: Consipio!"
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I had woke up this morning and followed my usual schedule. I went to the bathroom and went through my typical process. I had a shower, had breakfast, did my morning exercise, and then I got changed. Except after all that, I broke out of the mould. Right now, I am standing at my front door with my hand grasping the door handle, and it is ten in the morning.
With all my training done and with Digby no longer being present, I had nothing holding me to this house anymore. Not to mention the fact that I will have to be at a book signing on Friday, so it is better that I get acclimated to the outside world now than be barraged by a whole load of fans on Friday and be overwhelmed.
Making the leap, I turn the handle and open the door before walking through it and closing it behind me. And nothing happens. I wait there for a second, in the light of day, and all is calm. Then, feeling a pep in my step, I spin around and quickly lock my door before walking off down the hallway and down the stairs. And then I walk out the front door of the building and onto the streets of Diagon Alley, or to be more specific, Horizont Alley.
It is nice to finally know where I lived, or I mean, to finally see it with my own eyes. Every time I left my home to do anything, I left through the floo. I went to The Leaky Cauldron, afraid that there would be people waiting outside for Gilderoy Lockhart. Still, it seemed my worries were unfounded as people passed by without paying me any notice, though that is probably because of the charms I have applied to myself to change my appearance and allow me to move unfettered.
While the place is called Diagon Alley as a whole, there are actually several different alleys within, with Diagon Alley actually being just a single alley.
As soon as you enter through the brick wall behind The Leaky Cauldron, you are on Diagon Alley, but just to the side, there is another alleyway which leads to Carkitt Market, which is where there are a whole host of shops that are not regularly used or very popular, coincidentally the Gringotts Money Exchange building is here which the Goblins informed me of the third time I went to exchange money at Gringotts itself.
Then going along Diagon Alley, you eventually get to another alleyway which is Horizont Alley, which is where I live. It is full of shops as well, and I live above one of them. The strange thing about this is that while it is actually an alley that goes off to the side, it seems like a fork in the road because of the weird shape of the alley with Gringotts Bank right in the middle, making the fork, while in actuality Diagon Alley continues on to the right of the bank.
And then, further down Diagon Alley is another alley to the right, which is the infamous Knockturn alley. This is very different from the other alleys as this one has a lot of nooks and crannies, with lots of narrow paths and smaller alleys within, making for a good hive of villainy.
Further on, Diagon Alley continues on before ending at a dead end. All of the alleys end at dead ends. Literally, every side of the entirety of Diagon Alley is a shop, business or building that gives a service, making for a total of one hundred and sixty-three shops, making it the most profitable and popular area in the entirety of Britain.
Even Hogsmead, an entirely magical village and area away from muggles, is not that popular, though that is primarily because of all the Hogwarts students messing about and running around. Here, things are calmer and more civilised with all the children away at Hogwarts. So people have a pleasanter time here. And businesses and districts are used to this as kids have been attending Hogwarts for hundreds of years, meaning that the summer holidays are when they usually see a rise in sales, and they account for that.
Feeling at peace and safety, there is not a hint of danger to my person. I begin to walk down the street, and no one turns to even look at me. These people are more concerned with their own lives than mine. I walk along Horizont Alley, looking out at all the shops and observing them. Most of them just look pretty rustic and antiquated but paying close attention, you can see that the shops are magical.
A sign atop a door that constantly moves, one that changes colours and one that has birds that fly out and around the street before sinking back into the sign. Of course, there are some shops that are not so subtle, such as one that has the glass windows sometimes changing into bluebell fire which then goes on to make various patterns, and one that is just so magical that I could not possibly describe it.
I continue to walk for a while, and then I finally get to the end of Horizant Alley, right next to Gringotts bank and step out onto the actual Diagon Alley. And I immediately had to take a step back to evade a gaggle of twelve-year-old lads that ran past me. Watching them go, I wonder what time of the year it is as it is either Christmas time and they have left home for the holidays, or it is the summer holidays, for that matter. Also, I wonder what year it is since I have been stuck in my apartment for months without leaving.
Looking around, I see a man leaning against a lampost and reading a Daily Prophet newspaper, so I walk towards him and, seeing that he is nearing the end of the newspaper, I take my chance.
"Excuse me, good sir, can I perhaps take a look at that newspaper you are reading? I won't be more than a second. I just need a look at one of the articles." So I ask the man who tilts his head up and regards me with a lazy attitude, smoking a cigarette that hangs from his mouth.
"Hm, well, sure. I am just about done with it anyway, so you can keep the thing, have fun." He tosses the newspaper towards me, which I hastily catch as the man walks past me and gets on with his life. Holding the newspaper, I quickly flip it around to see the front page, which is an inane article about something dumb, but looking at the date, I realise what time it is.
It is the third of August 1991, meaning it is the summer holidays, and in a few weeks, Harry Potter will be making his cousin fall into a snake enclosure at the zoo. The start of canon and the original story will begin soon, which means I only have a year to take care of all of Gilderoy's victims. Otherwise, I will be in for a hard time.
Oh well, I guess there is no time for the wicked.
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