"You are Borgin and Burkes?" Howl looked at the man in the shadows.
The man nodded, stepped out of the alley, and bowed slightly to Howl, "Sir, please believe me, I didn't expect Mundungus to resort to blackmail from the start."
"The reason I sought you out is because I want to get some help from you. However, this place is not suitable for talking. If you don't mind, would you be willing to come to my shop?"
Howl surveyed his surroundings and nodded.
After receiving Howl's permission, Borgin and Burkes also drew his wand and pointed it at Mundungus, "Let's go."
Mundungus was on the verge of tears, he could only quickly support himself against the wall to get up, whimpering and nodding repeatedly.
Borgin and Burkes's shop was diagonally across the street from where they stood, not far from the alley entrance. The color of the wall didn't quite match, and about one-third of the house on one side had clearly been renovated.
Walking inside, one could see the full view of the shop: spacious and dim, with several candles hanging on the walls, burning continuously and releasing a soothing smoke.
Howl also noticed that the newly renovated wall was somewhat empty, evidently not yet filled with enough merchandise.
"That was the collateral damage from the indiscriminate Curse you unleashed earlier," Borgin and Burkes explained.
However, there was no anger in his tone regarding the matter; he merely stated the facts to Howl calmly.
Borgin didn't want to dwell on it too much; he was rather fortunate that only a portion of the items displayed in the showroom were swept away by that terrifying Curse.
Those items were not valuable, so the loss was minimal.
The shop in front of his, which specialized in various poisonous candles, was completely destroyed, almost costing lives. That was a truly significant loss.
"So what do you want to talk to me about? My time is limited." Howl looked at Borgin and Burkes's merchandise with interest.
On a cushion in a glass case nearby lay a withered human hand and a stack of blood-stained playing cards. Grotesque masks leered down from the walls, various human bones adorned the counter, and rusty, jagged implements hung from the ceiling.
These goods were clearly not so "friendly" and would absolutely not be seen in Diagon Alley.
Howl picked up the blood-stained deck of cards and spread them out. It was a deck of Tarot cards, with star charts drawn in gold and silver on the card backs.
"Please wait a moment," Borgin and Burkes said. He stood in front of Mundungus, and under the latter's terrified gaze, he drew his wand and placed it against his temple.
"Memory Separation!!"
A low incantation sounded, and the tip of Borgin and Burkes's wand glowed with a faint silver light. Mundungus's expression suddenly became blank and listless.
Then, Borgin and Burkes slowly and gently withdrew his wand, and a wisp of silver thread was dragged out.
He then took out a small bottle, which shimmered with flowing light, clearly already containing many such silver threads.
After Borgin and Burkes placed the silver thread extracted from Mundungus into the bottle, he patted the other man's face.
Mundungus's face suddenly regained some spirit, and he looked at the person in front of him in surprise, "Borgin… Sir, why am I here?!"
"You may leave," Borgin and Burkes clearly didn't want to say more to him.
Mundungus's head was spinning, and he clearly hadn't fully sobered up. But at this moment, he seemed to be under a Confundus Charm, nodding blankly, then turned and left.
Howl leaned against the counter, a little curious, "Memory magic?"
Borgin and Burkes was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected the person who could escape from a Killing Curse to express such confusion.
Is this reasonable??
He held up the bottle and introduced it to Howl, "This contains all the memories of you from the eyewitnesses that day."
"Are you going to use it to threaten me?" Howl cut the cards with one hand, looking curiously at Borgin.
Borgin and Burkes immediately shook his head, a hint of a merchant's fawning smile appearing on his face, "No, no, no, I think you misunderstood, this is a gift."
"A gift?" Howl looked at him.
"Yes," Borgin and Burkes nodded.
"So these are the memories of the bystanders at the time, and you extracted them all before the Ministry of Magic arrived?" Howl examined the memory bottle.
"It's just that the Ministry of Magic's good-for-nothings are too inefficient, which allowed me to seize the opportunity; it wasn't a difficult task," Borgin and Burkes said, lowering his head, not daring to boast.
Howl drew a Tarot card and flipped it over.
[XVIII]
[The Moon]
"I'm not a wish-granting genie." Howl looked at The Moon card, laid it flat on the table, and then looked at the Minor Arcana cards.
"I just want to ask you for some help," Borgin and Burkes quickly said.
Howl spread out the cards one by one, drawing them.
However, he didn't rush to turn them over, but waited for Borgin and Burkes to continue.
Borgin and Burkes watched Howl's actions, nervously scratching the loose, wrinkled skin on his face, "I think you can tell that I'm a small merchant who has long dealt with Dark Arts."
"Many years ago, I accidentally touched an ancient Dark Arts item and was afflicted with a soul-level Curse. You can withstand the Killing Curse, so you must understand souls very well, therefore…"
Howl slowly flipped over the card, a hand tightly gripping a long sword.
[Ace of Swords]
Borgin and Burkes's expression was solemn; this card usually represents misfortune and death.
"Looks like I'm in luck," Howl said with a smile.
Then he collected the cards and said, "The meanings of Tarot divination cards are ever-changing; everyone understands and forms their own meanings based on their meditation methods, associative methods, deductive methods, and so on."
Howl's words made Borgin and Burkes even more nervous. This indicated that this man must have a very deep understanding of divination studies.
"So my interpretation of Tarot is generally quite blunt. Usually, if I say lucky, it will definitely be lucky."
"If I say unlucky, then I will definitely make it unlucky."
After speaking, meeting Borgin and Burkes's gaze, Howl again held up The Moon card.
"I feel like something rather happy will happen today, what do you think?!"
"Of course!!" Borgin and Burkes was dripping with cold sweat, and quickly bowed, "As long as you are willing to help me, even if it's just a little guidance, I am willing to pay a generous reward."
"Tell me about it, your Curse." Howl felt the aura on Borgin and Burkes, always feeling a hint of familiarity.
It was as if he had encountered it on the Caribbean Sea…
Then, Borgin and Burkes began to explain the Curse he had encountered.
It was an item he had acquired more than forty years ago from a member of a declining family in France. Reportedly, the item came from that family's decision to relocate in response to the newly enacted Wizarding Secrecy Act.
At that time, Grindelwald had only recently fallen, and the entire Wizarding World was extremely wary of the Wizarding Secrecy Act; violating it carried severe penalties. No one wanted to cross that line.
Later, at their new settlement, a small island in the English Channel, they clashed with the local Merperson tribe over control of an inland lake.
This, to some extent, violated the local Magical Creatures Protection Treaty. So, at that time, to evade investigation, the family smuggled the items they had seized from the Merperson tribe to him.
The Curse appeared then.
Because of an ancient golden disc pendant among them, Borgin and Burkes was cursed, turning into a living dead person unable to perceive physical sensations, and even unable to die; even decapitation could be easily reattached…
Howl was looking through an Ancient Greece magic manuscript collected by Borgin and Burkes. Listening to Borgin and Burkes's narration, he felt increasingly familiar.
"And you turn into a skeleton under moonlight??" Howl suddenly interrupted him.
Borgin and Burkes looked at Howl in shock, his face gradually changing from disbelief to uncontrollable excitement.
"That's right, you know! You know my Curse!!"
Howl was also a little surprised by this Curse…
Yes, he knew, and he knew more.
In fact, when he was in the Caribbean Sea, being intensely curious about magic at the time, he had even actively sought out this Curse.
Ding-a-ling—
The bell behind the shop door suddenly rang.
A man with a pale, pointed face, long blonde hair slicked straight back, and wearing a black woolen overcoat, walked in, leaning on a walking stick.
He held his head high, sizing up Howl with cold, gray eyes, then said, "Mr. Borgin, it seems you're a bit busy?!"