Chapter 835: They Might Be Tired
Chapter 835: They Might Be Tired
Diagon Alley at night was a far cry from the pleasant atmosphere during the day. After the shops on both sides closed, the cold moonlight intertwined with the dim and flickering street lamps, casting an eerie aura over the area.
Horken and his group walked quickly down the street, two in front and three behind, subtly positioning Kyle in the middle, as if to prevent him from escaping.
Kyle, aware of their intentions, feigned ignorance and even impatiently urged them on.
"Why is it so far? Aren't we there yet?"
"It's just ahead," Horken replied, turning back.
He made a turn and led them into a narrow alley.
Kyle paused, hesitating, "Are you sure this is still part of Diagon Alley?"
"Of course, I guarantee it," Horken assured him in a deep voice, "This is the backstreet of Diagon Alley, also known as Knockturn Alley."
"But I've never heard of it before."
"That's because... well, this is where the shopkeepers rest," Horken explained. "During the day, they're in their shops, and at night, they come back here to rest. Maybe there's nothing interesting to browse, so no one told you about it."
Knockturn Alley was the shopkeepers' dorm?
Kyle scoffed... What a ridiculous excuse. Would he believe it? The others also seemed to find the excuse far-fetched, unconsciously moving closer to Kyle.
"I see."
The next second, Kyle nodded and walked in, "Hurry up, don't waste time."
"No problem," Horken smirked, feeling triumphant, and led the way again.
At this moment, Knockturn Alley was dirtier than it would be a century later. Strange objects resembling bones littered the street, and the air was filled with a suffocating stench.
"Is this really where the shopkeepers rest?" Kyle muttered, casting a Bubblehead Charm on himself and asking again.
But this time, he received no response.
They had reached a narrower and more eerie alley, and Horken stopped. The others, in perfect coordination, surrounded Kyle.
"It wasn't easy to trick you into coming here," Horken turned around, his eyes cold as he stared at Kyle.
"Trick me... What do you mean?" Kyle's voice was muffled, "Aren't you afraid I'll hire those shopkeepers to kill you?"
"Afraid? Of course, I'm afraid," Horken said, but his eyes held mockery and ridicule, "But they dare not enter here, Knockturn Alley, our territory. Those guys may be greedy, but they know which is more important, a Galleon or their lives."
"What do you mean?" Kyle narrowed his eyes, "Never mind, just give me the dragon egg. This place is disgusting."
"Haha, hahaha..." Horken suddenly burst into laughter, "No problem, here you go..."
He casually picked up a stone from the ground and handed it to Kyle, "But we've decided to raise the price. You need to pay us one million Galleons."
"Are you crazy... for a stone?"
"No, this is the dragon egg."
"What if I refuse?"
"It's fine. After we kill you, we can slowly search your body," Horken and the surrounding wizards moved closer to Kyle.
Perhaps feeling confident of their victory, or maybe deeming Kyle non-threatening, they didn't immediately draw their wands, instead surrounding him with smug expressions, as if toying with their captured prey.
"You want to kill me?"
"Smart. Otherwise, why would we trick you into coming here? Do you really think we want to negotiate with you?" Horken laughed even harder, "Why aren't you screaming for help?"
"Help! Someone, please!" Kyle muttered half-heartedly.
But this behavior infuriated Horken,
"Why aren't you afraid!"
"I hate people like you, always acting so high and mighty," he roared, drawing his wand, "It doesn't matter. I want to see if, under the torment of the Cruciatus Curse, you can still maintain that... annoying expression."
"What a pity," Kyle sighed.
"It is a pity for you."
"No, I meant I thought I could get another dragon egg." Kyle shook his head, "What a waste of time. Well, goodbye."
"Ha, you think you can still leave..."
Hiss!
Before Horken could finish his sentence, a sharp stone spear pierced his chest.
The spear had extended from the nearby wall, and not just one, but five, each precisely aimed at each of them.
Fortunately, the spears didn't hit any vital spots, and they were still alive.
"Transformation Charm..." Horken spat out, "You clearly... didn't have your wand... when did you..."
"Just a simple transformation, why use a wand?" Kyle said casually.
"I seem to have underestimated you..." Horken took a sudden step forward, breaking free from the spear's restraint, "But what a shame, you should have aimed for our hearts."
"Attack!" he shouted, aiming his wand at Kyle, "Avada..."
But no one responded to his command. Suddenly, Horken realized that, at some point, Kyle's box had opened.
It must have been when he was pierced by the stone cone, because before that, Kyle had been holding the box the whole time.
As one of his main goals, Horken had been keeping an eye on the box, so he remembered it clearly.
Then, he saw a pair of orange eyes.
"Thump... Thump..."
There were no screams, and several people fell to the ground, as if they were asleep.
The alley was quiet again.
A few minutes later, Kyle came out with a bag, preparing to leave Knockturn Alley.
He had thought that Horken really had a Dark Dragon Egg, which was why he had followed him here, but it turned out that it was just an excuse to lure him over.
But thinking about it, for centuries, the Black Dragon had been in the Hebrides Islands, and there had never been any news of them elsewhere. With just these few people, they probably didn't have the ability to bring out the dragon egg.
Although he had expected this outcome, Kyle still felt a bit disappointed.
He walked around the patch of strangely colored mud in front of him and headed towards the alley entrance.
At the same time, a figure hurriedly walked towards him.
Although the person was wearing a Black Hood, Kyle still recognized his identity.
Dumbledore... of course, it was young Dumbledore.
When Kyle first came here, he was taking his final exams, and then he had stayed in Diagon Alley for so long. Calculating the time, it seemed that Hogwarts had already started its holiday break.
When Kyle looked over, the other person also noticed him.
"Oh, you're the... sixth-year Hufflepuff." Dumbledore was slightly surprised, with a hint of panic, "Why are you in Knockturn Alley at this time? Did you run into some trouble?"
"No." Kyle shook his head, "I was just thinking of going to Gringotts, and I ended up here by accident."
"At this time, Gringotts is probably already closed."
"Yeah, they closed the doors right after I came out." Kyle said.
"That's good, but you should hurry and leave. This isn't a nice place." Dumbledore seemed distracted and avoided looking into Kyle's eyes.
Unintentionally, he noticed a few people lying in the alley not far behind, "What's going on with them..."
"I don't know, maybe they're tired." Kyle turned to look, "I noticed them too, but I didn't dare to get closer."
"You're right." Dumbledore seemed to think that it was normal for wizards to be sleeping on the side of the road in Knockturn Alley, and didn't seem to mind.
"Is there anything I can help with?" Kyle asked enthusiastically.
"No need, I'm just here to buy some things." Dumbledore shook his head, his tone becoming more urgent, "At this time, the regular shops are already closed, so I can only come to Knockturn Alley to try my luck."
Kyle noticed that his hand subconsciously moved to the edge of his robe, ready to draw his wand at any moment.
Is there something he doesn't want me to know?
"In that case, good luck." Kyle didn't ask further.
Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and brushed shoulders with Kyle as he continued deeper into Knockturn Alley.
Kyle, on the other hand, continued towards the alley entrance without turning back out of curiosity.
The originally dim street now had a noticeable light coming from a magic items shop.
Kyle had been to this shop before, and inside, they sold items with special functions, like the Droppings Stone for detoxification, and the Black Magic Curse Removal Crystal, and so on.
But Kyle remembered that when he was in Knockturn Alley, this shop was closed. How did it suddenly open again?
The shopkeeper was yawning and about to close the door again when Kyle walked over, and he could still hear him muttering, "Annoying brats... knocking on the door at night... not buying anything..."
But when he noticed Kyle, his expression changed from impatience to delight.
"Oh, sir, it's a pleasure to see you." He enthusiastically opened the door, "Do you need any help?"
Since Kyle never gave his name when buying things, the shopkeepers here usually called him 'Sir'.
"I'll just browse." Kyle walked into the shop and picked up a blue crystal.
"That's a Sound Storing Crystal, it can store sound and automatically play it with just a bit of magic."
"Nice, I'll take it." Kyle casually placed it on the counter and naturally asked, "It's strange, I remember this shop was closed when I came by earlier. Do you have business hours at this time?"
"No." The shopkeeper smiled, "Actually, I was about to rest, but a student just came by, probably from Hogwarts, and was knocking on the door rudely, wanting to buy something."
"Oh, what did he buy?" Kyle asked curiously.
"He didn't buy anything." The shopkeeper said angrily, "He just looked around and left. He said that there's nothing he wants here."
"That's interesting, everyone in Diagon Alley knows that my goods are the most complete, even having a talisman that can resist the Killing Curse."
The shopkeeper glanced at a necklace placed in the most eye-catching spot.
"Would you like one? It's a lifesaver, and it's only fifty Galleons. Everyone who's used it has nothing but good things to say about it... This is the last one left."
Kyle walked over to take a look, then lost interest.
It was clearly just an item that could only be dispelled with a Disarming Charm. At most, it could scare off weaker dark creatures like Red Hats and Kabs, but it would be useless against a Killing Curse.
As for whether anyone had been fooled... Well, once they realized they'd been tricked, they probably wouldn't have the chance to come back and confront the owner.
However, Kyle didn't expose the scam. He browsed for a while longer, picked out a couple of trinkets, and then checked out.
The owner enthusiastically saw him off, and only then did he close the shop door.
Kyle walked down the street, thinking about what the owner had said.
If his guess was correct, the person who had knocked on the shop door was probably Dumbledore. He seemed to want to buy something, but the shop didn't have it, so he went to Knockturn Alley.
But what did Dumbledore want to buy? Why was he in such a hurry that he had to come at night?
Kyle immediately thought of Ariana, Dumbledore's sister, a girl known to be a Squib among the public.
This could also explain why Dumbledore had seemed a bit flustered earlier.
The famous Dumbledore family had a Squib, and he naturally didn't want others to know about it.
Additionally, Kyle remembered that initially, Dumbledore hadn't been very fond of his sister, especially right after his graduation.
Dumbledore felt that having a sister who constantly needed care was like a shackle, confining him, a fresh graduate full of ambition, to the small Godric's Hollow, unable to go anywhere.
Of course, Ariana wasn't truly a Squib; she was a Silencio User.
In simple terms, a Silencio User is a young witch or wizard who, due to their resistance to using magic and the lack of proper guidance and release for their magical power, gradually transforms into another form.
This form is a dark magical substance without a specific shape or form, known as "Silentan."
Silentan has immense destructive power, and the host's fragile body struggles to bear its strength. Ariana was one of the few Silencio Users who had lived past the age of ten.
However, this also meant that she had to endure the pain caused by Silentan constantly. Perhaps tonight, Ariana's Silentan had erupted, forcing Dumbledore to seek a solution.
Perhaps it was time for Kyle to go to Godric's Hollow as well.
Although he hadn't received any news about his other Dragon Egg yet, Kyle was no longer willing to wait.
He returned to the Cauldron Pub for a good night's rest. The following day as guardian of the house.
First, he made his way to Diagon Alley again, locating the shop.
The night before, he had learned the owner's name from Horken... Willy Tom. Kyle wondered about the connection between this Tom and the owner of the Cauldron Pub.
Perhaps there was no connection; after all, in Britain, the name Tom was quite common. But this was the first time Kyle had encountered it as a surname.
As expected, the 'Closed' sign still hung on the shop door, and the owner had not returned.
However, on the street, especially near Knockturn Alley, there were more wizards wearing distinctive robes, likely Aurors or members of the Department of Law Enforcement.
"Is the Ministry of Magic's efficiency always this high?"
Kyle frowned, remembering that the owner, Tom, had mentioned that Horken might have a powerful backer.
It was definitely time to leave this place.
Kyle was certain he hadn't left any traces the night before, but it was still best to leave as soon as possible.
He had become too well-known in Diagon Alley as a wizard who spent money like water, and it was no surprise that Horken had taken notice.
Once the Aurors learned about this, they would undoubtedly come to question him, even without any evidence. Kyle didn't want to get entangled with the Ministry of Magic at this time.
He transformed himself into a middle-aged wizard with an ordinary appearance, ready to leave Diagon Alley.
Kyle calmly made his way to the Cauldron Pub, and as he reached a secluded street, he extended his wand.
Suddenly, two lamps appeared at the street corner, and a brand-new double-decker bus pulled up in front of him, as if summoned by a gust of wind.
"The Knight Bus, providing services to wizards in need," a cheerful voice announced from the bus.
"Sir, do you require assistance?"
"I want to go to Godric's Hollow," Kyle said. "How much?"
"One Sickle," the conductor said with a wide smile. "If you add another Sickle, you can get a Butterbeer."
"No, thank you," Kyle replied, boarding the bus and carefully counting out two Knuts, which he handed to the conductor.
The conductor didn't show any signs of disdain at Kyle's frugality but instead enthusiastically found him a vacant seat.
"Next stop, Godric's Hollow!" she shouted towards the front of the bus.
The double-decker bus's headlights flashed, and with a whoosh, it sped off into the night.
...
(End of Chapter)
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