After noticing Dudley's gaze directed toward him, that wizard immediately lowered his head and hurried away, soon vanishing into a narrow side alley.
"Hehe, you'll encounter all sorts of characters in Knockturn Alley. Don't pay him any mind," Borgin also noticed the retreating figure and grinned at Dudley, revealing a mouth full of yellowed teeth.
Dudley stared at where the person had disappeared, his expression growing increasingly grave.
He could be absolutely certain that this individual had been observing him ever since he entered Borgin and Burkes. Initially, the watcher had merely stolen occasional glances with concealed movements, not alerting Dudley to the surveillance.
Later, he might have grown careless or lost focus, staring at Dudley for too long, which triggered Dudley's spiritual intuition and allowed him to catch the spy in the act.
"Why would someone be watching me? Is there something distinctive about my presence?" Dudley wondered with growing concern.
This marked his first visit to Knockturn Alley, and he believed he wasn't famous enough to be recognized by people outside of Hogwarts. Perhaps it was because Kingsley had brought him here, drawing unwanted attention from certain individuals?
Could this be one of Kingsley's enemies?
Dudley eliminated several possibilities in his mind but still couldn't determine the watcher's true purpose.
"Let's continue discussing this glass eyeball. This is truly remarkable. If you embed it in your eye socket, you can use it to see through surrounding objects. Very practical, wouldn't you agree?" Borgin introduced with obvious enthusiasm.
"..." Dudley glanced at Borgin with barely concealed disbelief. He always felt this shop owner possessed a disturbing lack of common sense.
"It is indeed impressive, but if I wanted to use it, wouldn't I first have to gouge out my own eyeball?" Dudley asked pointedly.
Borgin was stunned momentarily, then smiled with undiminished enthusiasm. "You're absolutely correct, but its function far exceeds that of a human eye, doesn't it?"
"I think my own eyes work perfectly well," Dudley replied dryly.
Borgin smiled and didn't pursue the eyeball topic further, instead continuing to introduce other merchandise to his potential young customer.
It had to be admitted that Borgin and Burkes truly possessed an extensive inventory, and the variety was absolutely staggering.
Here, there were only things you couldn't imagine, nothing you couldn't eventually locate.
The capabilities of many items could even rival some sealed artifacts that Dudley knew about. However, Borgin's claims couldn't be entirely trusted. Some functions might be significantly exaggerated by the shopkeeper. Dudley mentally applied substantial discounts to these assertions, but even so, the effects that could realistically be achieved remained quite impressive.
"Quite a few Dark Magic items can reach the potency level of Grade 3 sealed artifacts, and these Dark Magic objects have very minimal negative effects, or virtually none at all. They remain quite practical for actual use."
"Some others might even reach the level of Grade 2 sealed artifacts, though their specific effects aren't entirely clear. You'd only know their true capabilities by using them personally."
"As for Grade 1 or even Grade 0 sealed artifacts, items from the magical world probably can't reach that level of power. Perhaps the Philosopher's Stone could qualify as Grade 1, since it has no apparent side effects and can create the Elixir of Life, but it's still quite distant from those Grade 0 sealed artifacts."
Dudley made these assessments about the Dark Magic items while browsing.
Quite a few objects in Borgin and Burkes captured Dudley's genuine interest. If Kingsley and the others weren't nearby, he would probably have inquired about prices to see if he could purchase a few items for experimentation.
Before long, Kingsley and his colleagues finished examining the merchandise and found no suspicious objects.
After all, they didn't possess a search warrant and didn't dare push their investigation too aggressively.
"Dudley, did you discover anything noteworthy?" Kingsley approached Dudley's side and asked in lowered tones.
"Just various Dark Magic items, nothing particularly unusual," Dudley shook his head.
Dudley had already carefully examined everything within reach. He hadn't found any sealed artifacts here. They were all conventional Dark Magic objects.
"I see," Kingsley said with obvious disappointment.
"Mr. Borgin, thank you for your cooperation. We've completed our investigation," Kingsley nodded politely to the shopkeeper.
"You're quite welcome. If you need anything else, please feel free to return," Borgin replied with practiced courtesy.
"Let's depart," Kingsley said without further discussion and led everyone out of Borgin and Burkes.
After emerging onto Knockturn Alley proper, numerous people's gazes turned toward them, but most maintained respectful distance, not daring to stare too obviously at Kingsley's group.
Dudley glanced around carefully but didn't spot the dark wizard who had been spying on him earlier among the crowd.
"Let's examine the shops systematically, one by one," Kingsley announced.
Everyone immediately took action, starting from Borgin and Burkes and checking the establishments on both sides of the alley in methodical fashion.
More than ten minutes passed, and Kingsley's group still discovered nothing significant. Dudley also didn't uncover any useful clues. These shops contained many Dark Magic items, but he found no sealed artifacts among them.
Just then, Dudley once again experienced that familiar sensation of being watched from before.
He immediately turned to scan the outer alley and spotted another suspicious dark wizard. He wasn't certain if this was the same person from earlier, but this individual was also clearly observing him with obvious intent.
"That dark wizard is suspicious. I've already noticed him spying on us multiple times," Dudley reported.
Instead of pursuing the watcher himself, Dudley directly shared this information with Kingsley.
Following the direction Dudley indicated, Kingsley also spotted the wizard who was rapidly retreating.
"Come on, let's pursue him!" Kingsley didn't waste time on explanations and immediately led the others in chase of the black-cloaked figure.
Dudley followed closely behind. He also wanted to understand why that dark wizard was spying on him specifically.
That's correct. When Dudley spoke to Kingsley just now, he had deliberately concealed one crucial piece of information.
That dark wizard wasn't watching Kingsley and the other Aurors. His attention had been focused exclusively on Dudley from beginning to end. This clearly indicated that this dark wizard's target wasn't Kingsley and his colleagues, but Dudley himself.
But Dudley couldn't comprehend why he, a first-year Hogwarts student... no, about to be a second-year... would attract these people's attention.
"Stupefy!" Seeing the person about to escape, Kingsley directly employed magic.
Bang.
A brilliant beam of light shot forward, striking a wall nearby and blasting a massive gap through the stone.
"Ahhhhh!" Screams erupted as wizards scattered in panic. The already chaotic Knockturn Alley became even more frenzied.
The sounds of spells being cast rose and fell continuously. The wizards' panicked flight made everything impossible to control. In just a few heartbeats, Dudley found that Kingsley and the others had vanished from sight, and he had been pushed by a crowd of dark wizards into an unfamiliar narrow alley.
"Something's wrong, there's definitely a problem!" Dudley's expression changed dramatically. Everything had happened far too quickly, leaving him somewhat caught off guard.
Suddenly, something hard pressed against Dudley's back.
"Be a good boy and don't move!"