Knockturn Alley
Knockturn Alley
I felt absolutely miserable the next morning. My first experience with a hangover was pretty unpleasant to say the least. I spent a good while with my head over the toilet bowl, cursing the overly bright sunshine and regretting every stupid toast I'd indulged in the night before.
"Why didn't you wake up feeling as rubbish as I do?" I accused Barnaby sullenly. "Well I didn't go quite as hard, but even if I had, I'm a lot bigger than you are so I can handle more. And I've felt like that before, so I tend to ease back a little now." he explained in amusement, as if it were common sense. "And you know I had to keep my wits about me, so I could make sure you were safe Samhain." He added.
I grumped and grumbled something about it not being fair, but I was touched nonetheless. I intended to stay in bed and just forget the whole day but Barnaby came to the rescue yet again. First he brought me a Pepper-Up Potion from the Apothecary in Diagon Alley. I felt an immediate relief of my headache and nausea while steam poured from my ears. Next was tea and toast in bed while he rubbed my back. Followed by a large glass of ice water and then a hot shower, after which I was feeling almost entirely better.
"So you said there was something we had to do today? If you said what it was you'll have to remind me." I admitted as I stepped into my combat boots and flicked my wand at them so they laced themselves up. "Some parts of last night are a little blurry."
"I didn't say we, I said I" Barnaby corrected me. "And I didn't say what last night, but I need to go see Mr Borgin, he's the first expert on the list to consult about our rings" he explained to me.
"Borgin? Of Borgin and Burkes?" I asked. "None other" Barnaby confirmed grimly. "I'd really prefer not to take you into Knockturn Alley, but of course it's your choice. If you're feeling up to it" he let the offer sit there.
I thought back to my first trip into Knockturn Alley. I'd been accompanied by Bill Weasley as we chased after the thief Mundungus Fletcher. I'd been forced to duel an adult witch at the tender age of fifteen, and I had won. But we'd only narrowly escaped being mugged, or worse, by a group of people right afterwards. It had been Rakepick who'd eventually saved us that day, but now I thought I'd rather have another go with random dark witches and wizards. I wasn't a scared kid anymore.
"Alright then, let's go see Mr Borgin, and I hope he knows his stuff" I asserted, jumping to my feet.
I felt a small twinge of foreboding some twenty minutes later as we turned off, away from the busy shopping stretch and into the much quieter and much darker entrance to Knockturn Alley. It looked the same as I remembered. I'd expected to see dark wizards and witches doing dodgy things, possibly trying to rob us. But really it was just another street, and the few people we did see didn't pay us any mind as we walked along past the shops and stalls in silence.
We reached Borgin and Burkes and Barnaby led the way inside. I looked around at all the very obviously dark artefacts and remembered Barnaby's advice to not touch anything in his Grandmother's house. I decided I would apply those same rules here. We were the only customers in the shop and Mr Borgin came out from the backroom at the sound of our entering.
"May I be of assistance?" He asked us blandly.
"I hope so" Barnaby replied, leading me over to the shopkeepers desk, keeping a tight grip on my hand. "Mr Borgin, my name is Barnaby Lee, and this is my fiancé Samhain Strixx. I was wondering if you might be able to have a look at some things of ours and give us your opinion?"
"Selling?" Enquired Mr. Borgin curiously. "No sir, evaluating I suppose. Not the worth but-" Barnaby stopped there, seemingly unsure of how to bring up the subject of curses. Mr Borgin seemed to understand though. "Well, let me see what I can do to help you" he said, sliding his glasses back up his nose.
Barnaby first took the purple velvet box from his pocket and handed it to Mr Borgin. Next he removed each of his three silver rings from his fingers, and finally a fourth from a chain around his neck and put them all on the counter. Mr Borgin opened the box and I finally got my first look at the ring I'd be wearing for the rest of my life, if all went well.
It was beautiful. A large, square cut diamond, greyish purple in colour sat amidst three more much smaller ones of the same colour on either side, set into a very delicate looking silver band.
Mr Borgin studied the ring for what seemed like ages before raising his wand to it and muttering a spell that made a very loud crackling sound which echoed in the otherwise silent shop.
Nodding to himself he set it down very carefully on the counter and raised his eyes to meet mine first, and then Barnaby's. "You are correct young Master Lee, it is indeed cursed. Although I'm afraid I cannot say how. One would suppose, if it were to be worn we'd find out rather quickly.." he trailed off.
I let a small part of my mental ward down and reached out gently to Mr Borgin's mind. What I saw made me scowl and I snapped my barriers firmly back in place. He'd been thinking he'd like to see just that, for me to put the ring on right there in the shop and demonstrate what type of curse it had been afflicted with. "Not likely" I huffed at him.
He fixed me with a rather awed stare which made me wonder if he recognised me from years ago. "I am sorry I am not able to help you more." Barnaby had witnessed this exchange and seemed to understand. "Is there nothing more you can tell us then, Mr Borgin?" "Well, you might try having someone else try it on, an impartial third party. Perhaps, perhaps even someone who could not be harmed by it, if you are opposed to witnessing its power on a, living person" he mused.
I couldn't help it, I shuddered visibly. He was talking about putting the ring on a corpse. This was one incredibly creepy old man and I didn't like him at all. But I wasn't about to leave until we got as much information as we could out of him.
"And what can you tell us of the other rings?" I pressed him. "Ah, well those are another matter." He scooped them all off the counter and weighed them in his hand for a moment. "These rings are not cursed, but they have been imbued with powerful magic. Are you quite certain you're not interested in selling Master Lee?" He asked Barnaby.
"Not today sir". Barnaby replied, reaching out his hand for the rings. Mr Borgin placed them into Barnaby's hand with a small sigh of longing, then he delicately closed the box of my engagement ring and handed that back as well.
"If you should change your mind, I could give you a very handsome price for them. I would also be willing to take the, other one, as well. If you should want to be rid of it" he offered.
"We'll keep that in mind. Thank you for your time Mr Borgin but we must be going. Good day to you." Barnaby told him rather curtly as he led me out of the shop. We didn't speak again until we'd left the shadows of Knockturn Alley behind us and emerged back into the well lit and familiar surroundings of main street, Diagon Alley.
The first thing Barnaby did was replace each of his rings onto his right hand, he did it absentmindedly as if it had been uncomfortable for him to not be wearing them. Next he pulled out the ring on the chain, but instead of placing it back around his neck he leaned forward and placed it around mine.
"Now at least you have a ring, and hopefully whatever power it's got will work on you too" he told me, smiling ruefully. "I wasn't very confident Borgin would be able to help, he likes his items as cursed as they come from what I've heard. But at least he gave us a lead. Horrible as it is. Do you think we ought to give it a try?" He asked me.
I tucked my replacement engagement ring under my shirt and shook my head. "Maybe digging up corpses can be considered a last resort. I'd like to try a few more people on our list first, alive people preferably." I clarified.
Barnaby chuckled, "Well Tonks told me last night her mentor in the Auror training program is an authority on curses. She said his name is Alastar Moody, although for some reason they call him 'Mad Eye'. Let's see if we can get a meeting with him and see what he knows. If he can't help us there's still Dumbledore or I guess Grandmother, but I think I'd rather try my luck with a corpse before asking her for help."
I knew of Mad Eye, having met him in my sixth year. I checked my watch, "They should still be there, it's only quarter of three" I read out. We left Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron, Apparating straight to the Ministry of Magic.