(A/N: Bonus Chapter
When the light in front of him reappeared, Adrian found himself in a brand new place. A store most probably. The light transmission was very poor. The surroundings looked somewhat dark, and the shelves were covered with transparent glass cases.
The case closest to Adrian contained a small skull. It looked like it had undergone some special treatment, with deep scratches on both sides.
The other glass cases were filled with strange things, withered hands, blood-stained cards, jagged chandeliers. Each was stranger than the last.
After Adrian waited for a while, faint green flames rose again in the fireplace. Irene arrived late and tucked the wand from her sleeve back into hiding.
"Did you do something to them?" Adrian noticed this and wondered if Irene had gotten into trouble with those drunks.
"What are you thinking? That's the Leaky Cauldron. If you dare make trouble there, people from the Ministry will be there the next moment." Irene shook her head.
Adrian didn't believe it. A dark wizard wanting to deal with a few drunks, what fuss could they make?
But those drunks were also responsible for their own fate. Judging from Irene's methods in his memory, they wouldn't die, but they'd certainly suffer.
"Don't think about it for now, follow me!" Irene said with a slight warning, then took the first step. Adrian quickly followed behind.
Jingle bell.
When the two crossed past the cabinet, the wind chime hung on the store door shook. A hunched middle-aged wizard playing with a strange orb at the counter said in a hoarse voice.
"Someone's here again. Who is it this time?"
"Mr. Borgin, it's me." Irene walked over from behind the cabinet and said coolly.
"It's Mrs. Blackwood..." The shopkeeper Caractacus Burke looked somewhat lacking in interest and sat lazily leaning back in his chair.
"You people coming in and out like this are making my fireplace dirty. I'll have to charge a fee next time."
"Or move the transfer station in Knockturn Alley to me?" Irene said with a grin.
"Forget it. That's not something that can be moved casually. If it gets dirty, it gets dirty." Burke twitched the corner of his mouth. It was vaguely visible there was a gold tooth embedded in his mouth.
While the two of them chatted, Adrian was also examining the owner of Borgin and Burkes in front of him.
He looked about forty or fifty years old. He had greasy hair that was well-kept. Two dark rings were worn on his slender, gaunt hands, and he wore a common black wizard robe. Apart from always hunching over, he seemed no different from the average wizard. His speech also seemed harmless.
But judging from the original books or the memory in Adrian's mind, this was obviously not an ordinary character.
After all, even the famous Dark Lord had worked here when he was young.
Perhaps aware of Adrian's gaze, Burke didn't continue the previous topic but turned his attention to him.
"This is young Blackwood, right? It's the first time I've seen you. So, did you see any favorite little things in the store?"
Burke placed the strange orb-shaped object in his hand in front of Adrian. After getting closer, Adrian could see it was an eye. Some magic power had been applied to it, and the black eyeball turned freely as it looked at Adrian.
At the moment of meeting its gaze, Adrian faintly felt dizzy, then subconsciously activated Occlumency, which restored his awareness.
Bang!
A blue light flashed, and the eye was immediately knocked away, falling straight against the door frame.
"What are you trying to do?" Irene's face was very grim. She'd already pulled out her wand and pointed it at Burke's head. The tip of the wand faintly shone with dark light, as if some dark magic was brewing.
"Don't be angry. I'm just making a little joke. You should know the Eye of Detection." Burke used a summoning charm to call the Eye of Detection back and said apologetically. But he didn't show even half a look of panic with a wand pointed at him. He gestured to Adrian.
"Besides, isn't young Mr. Blackwood fine?"
Irene turned her head to look at Adrian. Seeing he shook his head at her with a relaxed expression, she put the wand away with a dark face.
This was also related to Irene's understanding of the Eye of Detection's effects. If this were a lethal magical item, she would never have been so easily fooled.
Adrian was relaxed on the surface but felt a moment of fear in his heart. Knockturn Alley looked more dangerous than he'd imagined. He'd almost been caught off guard. This was still under Irene's protection.
If possible, Adrian would have liked to leave with Irene immediately.
However, it was extremely unwise to fight with a shopkeeper in a dark magic store. No one knew how many trigger-type magical items the other party had placed in the shop. What's more, Burke was quite confident. So Adrian took the initiative to pretend indifference and stopped the conflict.
"As an apology, I can give this little gadget to young Blackwood." Burke looked lacking in interest from beginning to end, but at this moment he was curious about Adrian. There weren't many wizards who could resist the Eye of Detection, and he'd never seen one so young.
"No, I'm not interested." Adrian shook his head.
"Put away your tricks." Irene also didn't give him a pleasant look and was really not in the mood to stay here longer. She grabbed Adrian's wrist and walked toward the door.
"What was that thing like an eye just now? It's called the Eye of Detection?" Adrian asked as they went out.
At the same time, Adrian looked around and found they were in a small alley with red brick walls on both sides. It was obvious there was a lack of maintenance, the bricks on the right had some green moss. Some red bricks were even partly corroded.
He could still vaguely see some garbage piled up in the corners of the street, and a foul smell drifted over.
"The Eye of Detection can confuse someone's mind and make them enter a trance state. The questioner will get answers to whatever they ask." Irene glanced at Adrian for a while and explained aloud.
'A magical Veritaserum?'
Adrian was envious for a moment. The Eye of Detection seemed to activate as long as you made eye contact. It was really a good thing for catching people off guard.
"What? Do you regret not asking for it?" Irene asked.
"No, I don't think Burke would be so kind." Adrian shook his head. He thought it was good, but he wasn't stupid enough to accept something from a strange dark wizard. There might be some trap hidden in it.