"Welcome, welcome... oh"
Pushing open the heavy wooden door and stepping into Borgin and Burkes, Lyla immediately saw an old man with a grim expression.
He wore a tattered cloak. His eyes, yellowed with age, scrutinized the visitors, and his hunched figure made him completely indistinguishable from a dark wizard.
"Mr. Burke." Guster Parkinson, the team leader, gave him a slight nod.
"Mr. Parkinson, I don't think I've violated any Ministry of Magic regulations recently, have I?" Mr. Burke flashed a fawning smile, gently waving his wand to instantly conjure a cup of coffee for the Auror.
"No need." Parkinson, exceptionally reliable when working, waved his hand to decline Mr. Burke's coffee. He slowly said, "Mr. Burke, you certainly haven't violated anything recently... but whether you will later, I can't say."
As he spoke, he shook his sleeve, and a search warrant from the Ministry of Magic floated out, hovering ominously in the air.
"According to Minister Fudge's regulations and the decision of the Wizengamot, we will be conducting a random inspection of Borgin and Burkes," he said, nodding to the other Aurors in the room, signaling them to begin.
"The purpose is to check whether you are secretly harboring dark arts artifacts."
"Ah... is that so." The highly suspicious Mr. Burke showed a greasy smile. He was much calmer than Lyla had imagined.
He really did look exactly like a dark wizard, though.
"I trust Borgin and Burkes will not disappoint you gentlemen," he whispered. "I've always conducted legitimate business."
"That had better be the case..." Parkinson shrugged and walked over to Lyla. "Miss Hamier, you can begin..."
"Don't go easy on this old geezer," he lowered his voice to add. "He sold me a lot of shoddy magic items before."
'So, there was a personal grudge?'
Lyla pursed her lips beneath her mask, looking at the exceptionally serious young Auror and nodding.
Of course, even if Parkinson hadn't said anything, she would have naturally tried her best. After all, Dumbledore had already declared himself a Master of Magic Array Studies. Lyla didn't want to disappoint Rufus Scrimgeour, even though he was an intimidating Auror whom she suspected of being a vampire.
Thinking this, Lyla subtly gripped her ebony wand and the Spatial Storage Book hidden in her robes. She nervously looked around Borgin and Burkes.
Many strange things were displayed here, most of them hideous and terrifying, seemingly related to the Dark Arts. But as Lyla looked closer, she found that most were merely for show.
They were incredibly similar to the everyday decorations in the Durmstrang corridors. Even from the perspective of a British wizard, they couldn't be legitimately called dark arts artifacts.
'Did Mr. Parkinson seriously buy these useless things?'
Lyla reached out and squeezed a magic item in front of her that resembled a severed human hand. She quickly retracted her fingers to avoid the wooden digits that suddenly snapped shut.
This seemed to be a simple prank item designed to catch restless hands... it couldn't be called dark arts.
Lyla carefully walked a full circle around the shop. The items sold openly indeed had nothing to do with the Dark Arts, and she didn't see any magic arrays.
This was a bit strange. Lyla hadn't failed to thoroughly investigate magic item shops these past few days. Even simple shops in Diagon Alley couldn't be completely devoid of any basic magic arrays. But this supposedly shady shop in Knockturn Alley actually had absolutely none.
She frowned slightly behind her silver mask. She didn't have a good impression of Knockturn Alley. Therefore, she didn't believe there would legitimately be such a "normal," almost abnormally normal, shop here.
Her blue eyes showed deep contemplation. She subtly turned her head to look at the main counter where Mr. Burke stood.
'Wait...' She realized something and tentatively walked toward the counter.
"Miss?" Mr. Burke saw her approaching and immediately rushed forward, startling Lyla into instinctively taking a few panicked steps back.
"What do you need?" he asked sharply, taking a few more steps closer, causing Lyla to rapidly retreat again.
'Don't stand so close to me...' Lyla's social anxiety spiked. She could even smell his foul odor... it was disgusting.
But amidst her panic, she also noticed that Mr. Burke seemed completely unwilling to actually leave the counter no matter what... as if he were guarding something hidden there.
"What's wrong, Miss Hamier?" Parkinson, seeing her extreme distress, immediately walked over.
He frowned deeply and said, "Mr. Burke, you'd better be careful... this is a consultant for the Ministry."
"Ah, of course, of course," Mr. Burke said, a hint of fake flattery creeping into his tone.
"Is there anything wrong?" Parkinson asked, lowering his voice slightly so only Lyla could hear.
"There... seems to be something here..." Lyla whispered. "Under the counter..."
Her hesitant words immediately made Parkinson frown. "Mr. Burke... is there something hidden here?"
"Ah... of course not... nothing at all," Mr. Burke said, waving his hands frantically. He then moved aside just a small, calculated space, allowing Lyla and Parkinson to examine inside.
Inside, it looked like there was absolutely nothing. It was very ordinary, just a dirty wooden counter with some miscellaneous junk on it.
But that was only true for an ordinary wizard. Lyla had already detected something highly unusual here.
"There's a magic array here," Lyla said, getting a little excited whenever she encountered an array. "And it's a composite array."
Her academic words immediately changed Mr. Burke's expression. He quickly spat, "How is that possible? I have no idea what a magic array is..."
"It's a composite array, with both a core Energy Storage Array and auxiliary support perception-lowering spells..." Lyla said seriously, her eyes under the silver mask subtly glowing. "And it's very well maintained; the blood of the Demiguise on it was replaced recently."
"Therefore, it has strong psychological suggestion and perception-lowering abilities... unless observed intentionally, it's very difficult to discover..."
The more Lyla expertly explained the highly advanced study, the uglier Mr. Burke's expression became.
"This should be the switch." Lyla took a few steps closer, while Parkinson forcefully pulled Mr. Burke, who was aggressively blocking the spot, away.
"If triggered..."
"Click."
Before Lyla could finish speaking, the heavy front door of Borgin and Burkes suddenly swung open. A middle-aged man with striking blond hair walked in.
He instinctively frowned upon seeing the small room full of Aurors.
"Mr. Malfoy?" Seeing the newcomer, Parkinson was startled.
He slowly released his tight grip on Mr. Burke and walked over to the middle-aged man.
"Good morning... Mr. Parkinson." Mr. Malfoy offered a tight, polite smile and a slight nod. "The Ministry of Magic is...?"
"Inspecting dark arts artifacts," Parkinson also nodded slightly, looking quite pleased with himself.
'Are they friends?'
Lyla slowly stood up and observed the two men. She subtly shifted her body to avoid standing too close to the smelly Mr. Burke.
"Ah... is that so..." Mr. Malfoy smiled tightly, scanning the people in the room. Then his cold gaze stopped dead on Lyla.
"..."
Lyla immediately retreated a few steps, desperately hiding behind a random Ministry of Magic Auror. She felt Mr. Malfoy's gaze was incredibly intimidating.
"This must be the Ministry of Magic's new consultant, right?" Mr. Malfoy slowly drawled. "The young lady who is extremely skilled in Magic Array Studies?"
'He actually knows me?' Lyla secretly looked at him, her overthinking flaring up.
'Is it because I've caused a lot of trouble for Grindelwald's former allies recently?'
She had indeed caused a lot of trouble, and Mr. Malfoy looked at her with a deep frown.
The Ministry of Magic's recent investigations had caused quite a stir, but most pure-blood wizards weren't overly concerned. After all, Ministry of Magic inspections were usually mostly superficial work.
But unfortunately... this time seemed to be a massive exception. A consultant highly skilled in the lost art of Magic Array Studies, directly introduced by Dumbledore, had suddenly joined the inspection team.
A few days ago, Lucius Malfoy had already heard that many dark arts artifacts privately stored by ancient families had been effortlessly discovered by this mysterious young lady.
So, he had no choice but to urgently prepare to clear out the dark arts artifacts hidden in his home, intending to sell them right here at Borgin and Burkes. And then a rather disastrous thing happened.
He looked at the petite, silver-haired figure hiding behind the Auror and couldn't help but feel a massive headache.
The Ministry of Magic was actually actively inspecting Borgin and Burkes... and it was led by that annoying traitor, Parkinson! This fellow who betrayed pure-blood wizards and was especially friendly to Muggles and Mudbloods.
Lucius gave a strained smile and nodded, greeting Lyla. He then smoothly turned on his heel to leave.
"Wait a moment, Mr. Malfoy." Parkinson suddenly called out to him.
The young, talkative Ministry of Magic Auror slowly walked over to Lucius and firmly took his arm. "May I ask exactly why you are here?"
"I'm merely looking around," Lucius said slowly, returning a cold smile.
"I thought so too... it has absolutely nothing to do with dark arts artifacts, right?" Parkinson nodded slightly, appearing to trust him completely.
'They are indeed friends...' Lyla thought. 'But if Mr. Lovegood, who spreads wild rumors about Grindelwald and Dumbledore, saw them acting so intimately, he would probably say they were already married.'
"Of course not," Lucius said with a stiff smile, nodding.
"That's exceptionally good," Parkinson also nodded vigorously. "Then please wait here just a moment."
"After we finish comprehensively inspecting Borgin and Burkes, we'll also officially inspect you."
"We were just about to head to your manor anyway."
'Damn it... traitor...' Lucius's pale face visibly darkened.
He clenched the silver snake-head staff in his hand, looked around at the many Aurors actively watching him, and said through gritted teeth, "This seems a bit inappropriate... after all..."
"Then you'll have to fully explain what exactly you intended to buy here... and what for," Parkinson shrugged, as if merely casually chatting with Lucius. But his gaze was exceptionally serious.
He was not one of those cowardly Aurors who feared the House of Malfoy. As a member of the Parkinson family, and also a pure-blood wizard himself, he showed absolutely no politeness to Lucius.
Plus, he didn't like Malfoy to begin with. Today was quite lucky; he could effortlessly make Lucius look incredibly foolish.
"What are you doing?!"
Suddenly, a surprised shout came from the counter. Parkinson instinctively turned his head to see Miss Hamier with her ebony wand raised.
"Buzz!"
Then, immediately following the shout, her wand flashed. A non-verbal spell shot out and a silver light violently struck Mr. Burke.
His body trembled before he completely stiffened, standing frozen as a board.
A Full Body-Bind Curse... and a silent one at that. Without time to think much, Parkinson quickly drew his own wand and asked, "What's wrong, Miss Hamier?"
"He... he..." Miss Hamier, still hiding behind her silver mask, paused. She seemed to take a deep, shaky breath before slowly stammering, "He just tried to destroy the core runes of that Magic Array!"