"Did he see what happened?" Dudley frowned slightly.
Earlier, he had focused all his attention on Cole and didn't have the spare energy to monitor the surrounding situation. Now discovering that Borgin might have been nearby felt somewhat troubling.
The image in the mirror flickered, and Borgin had already vanished from view.
Dudley switched to observing surrounding scenes again, and soon Borgin's figure reappeared. From what was reflected in the nearby surfaces, Borgin had already returned to the main thoroughfare of Knockturn Alley. His silhouette was visible through a shop's display window.
"Dudley, Dudley, where are you?" Just then, Kingsley's voice echoed from the distance.
Dudley's attention shifted. After considering his options briefly, he could only temporarily abandon pursuing Borgin.
"Mr. Shacklebolt, I'm here," Dudley called out and ran toward where Kingsley's voice originated.
"Are you unharmed?" Seeing that Dudley appeared fine, Kingsley immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
If something happened to a student Dumbledore valued so highly under his protection, he truly didn't know how he would explain it to the headmaster.
"I'm perfectly fine. I got separated from the crowd earlier. Did you catch that dark wizard?" Dudley inquired.
"We caught him, but there were no useful clues. He was paid by someone else. That person told him not to ask questions, just watch us, nothing more. I've already taken him back for questioning, but we probably won't discover any meaningful leads from him," Kingsley said with obvious disappointment.
"I see," Dudley nodded with understanding.
Obviously, that dark wizard was merely bait. The real person who wanted to act was the one who had threatened Dudley afterward.
As for Cole, this probably wasn't part of the original plan. He likely saw things going wrong and had to emerge to salvage the situation. Otherwise, a wizard who had successfully infiltrated the Ministry's Auror ranks wouldn't be abandoned so carelessly.
Cole probably never expected to get himself caught up in this mess. If he had known the risks, he definitely wouldn't have acted so rashly.
After all, even if Dudley suspected him, there was no concrete evidence.
"Where's Cole? Did you see him?" Kingsley looked around. The other two Aurors had returned, but Cole was nowhere to be found.
"I don't know. I didn't see him anywhere," Dudley replied.
Kingsley frowned with growing concern. So much time had passed. Even if he'd been separated earlier, he should have returned by now. How was there still no sign of him?
Moreover, during the earlier pursuit, Cole hadn't participated at all. From the beginning, Kingsley hadn't seen Cole again.
"You two go find Cole and see if he got lost," Kingsley instructed the other two Aurors.
Ten minutes later, Kingsley's expression had become considerably grim. Cole was missing!
At this point, this matter was beyond what Kingsley could handle alone. He immediately reported it to the Ministry of Magic and requested additional support.
For an Auror to disappear so inexplicably was definitely a major incident for the Ministry. Even the Minister of Magic was personally alarmed.
After all, this was peacetime. Without a dark lord like Voldemort, who killed without hesitation, being able to neutralize an Auror wasn't something an ordinary wizard could accomplish.
Even though Cole was young, successfully passing the assessment and becoming an Auror was sufficient proof of his capabilities.
After this incident, the Ministry immediately dispatched more Aurors to inspect Knockturn Alley, nearly turning the place completely upside down.
This wasn't because Cole was particularly important, but because it concerned the Ministry's reputation, especially since the current Minister, Cornelius Fudge, was someone who greatly valued public perception.
"Mr. Shacklebolt, don't you have magic to locate Cole?" Dudley asked casually.
"No, that kind of magic isn't so easily employed," Kingsley shook his head.
Hearing this, Dudley felt somewhat reassured.
"Dudley, I temporarily can't look after you properly. You..." Kingsley said to Dudley with obvious regret.
"It's perfectly fine. You handle your work. I'll wait for you at Borgin and Burkes," Dudley said directly.
Kingsley considered this and felt that Borgin was relatively reliable within Knockturn Alley, so he nodded in agreement.
Borgin's shop wasn't far from their current location, so Dudley walked over directly.
Pushing open the door, Dudley entered Borgin and Burkes once again.
"Dudley, my esteemed young customer, you've returned! Is there anything I can help you with?" Seeing Dudley enter, Borgin was exceptionally enthusiastic.
"Nothing urgent, I'm just browsing around," Dudley glanced at Borgin and said.
"Very well, make yourself completely at home. Just tell me if you need anything."
"Also, if you need anything or want to sell something, you can come find me anytime," Borgin said with practiced enthusiasm.
"I can find you for whatever I want?" Dudley asked with a light laugh.
"As long as I can locate it," Borgin replied with a knowing smile.
"There are many magical things in this world. We can't exhaust them all, but we can search for them purposefully, can't we?"
"Oh, this necklace is quite remarkable," Borgin said, noticing Dudley's gaze falling on an ornate opal necklace. He immediately provided introduction: "It's been cursed with a very powerful Dark Magic spell. No counter-curse has been discovered yet. It's already claimed nineteen Muggle lives. Such a tragedy."
When Borgin said this, he maintained a smile on his face and didn't show the slightest regret for those murdered Muggles.
"If I wanted to find that kind of mirror from before, could you help me locate it?" Dudley inquired.
"Very difficult, but not entirely impossible," Borgin smiled knowingly.
"What about similar objects?" Dudley continued asking.
"I can certainly try," Borgin said. "But this depends heavily on luck. With good fortune, maybe I could find one tomorrow. With bad luck, it might not be possible to discover even one in a year or several years."
Dudley nodded thoughtfully, then said, "These matters..."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. We maintain absolute confidentiality for our customers," Borgin interrupted.
Then he continued, "In our line of work, we come into contact with all kinds of people. If I betrayed their information, you'd probably find my corpse in some unknown alley tomorrow."
"Keeping one's mouth shut is the most crucial secret to my being able to run this shop in Knockturn Alley."
Borgin smiled at Dudley, revealing a mouth full of yellowed teeth.
Dudley also smiled but didn't say anything in response.
Borgin had most likely witnessed some of what happened earlier, but he hadn't mentioned anything about it. Even though the Aurors outside were frantically searching for Cole, Borgin still acted as if he knew absolutely nothing.
Of course, Dudley wouldn't really believe his claims either.
Not saying anything now didn't mean he wouldn't speak later. As long as the benefits were substantial enough, there was nothing that couldn't be sold out.
Borgin probably just couldn't figure out who was backing Dudley, so he temporarily chose to ignore the situation.
Dudley currently had no better way to handle Borgin, because he also wasn't clear about who Borgin was connected to. This kind of local strongman was definitely not as simple as he appeared on the surface.
"Come, let me introduce you to more items in my shop. I'm sure there's something that will satisfy your interests," Borgin said, not continuing to discuss the previous matters.
Instead, he resumed introducing the Dark Magic items in his shop to Dudley.
What had happened before, who Cole was, they seemed to know nothing about it and completely didn't care what those Aurors outside were doing.