Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 59: The Real Merchandise
"W-wait, there is no need for that, Young Lord." The shopkeeper had become incredibly polite all of a sudden.
"You think you can waste my time with all these fake artifacts and not suffer consequences?" Harry continued to point the wand at the man.
"My artifacts are not fake!" Despite the current situation, the shopkeeper still had his pride.
Harry threw a hex toward the old wizard, blowing up the cabinet next to him into small pieces.
"Ahh!" The shopkeeper got startled. "Okay! Maybe a few of them aren't completely genuine… but that's only for the ones I keep at the front."
He pointed to the stairs. "The good stuff is up there."
The truth was that the items displayed on the front of the shop were mostly to deceive tourists, ignorant people, or anyone with more money than sense.
"The second floor? …okay, I am willing to take a look." Harry began walking toward the stairs.
"W-wait…" The shopkeeper followed him. "Do you mind giving me my wand back?"
"Do you still take me for a fool?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "If you have something worth my time, I will give your wand back and compensate you for the damage, otherwise…" He let the threat hang.
If Knockturn Alley had nothing that interested him, he didn't mind destroying it completely.
The world he intended to build would have no room for useless things.
As soon as he crossed the door of the second floor, Harry could feel the magical aura of the artifacts stored here. At the very least, these felt genuine, so the old man was not lying.
"See?" The shopkeeper tried to smile despite feeling pain. He pointed toward the glass cabinets near the back of the room. "Those are my most priceless items. I'm sure there will be something for this Young Lord's taste."
Harry ignored the man and continued to pass by the other shelves, taking his time to examine everything on display. One never knew when they could find something good.
But he could not help being disappointed.
The magical items showcased here were authentic but very weak and useless.
Even if he couldn't understand the exact use for everything on sight, he could tell how powerful an item was based on the magical aura surrounding it.
This was a skill he had developed over time, after interacting with countless magical relics, and he had complete confidence in it.
Harry finally moved toward the glass display the shopkeeper had been pointing at, where his supposed most rare items were stored.
"Open it." Harry instructed the old wizard. The cabinet itself had many protections that were interfering with his senses.
"R-right…" The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, thinking that Harry might take this chance to steal something. But on second thought, it didn't seem like the mysterious boy was here to rob him; otherwise, he would have done so already.
The old man placed his hand at the center of the display, and after recognizing his magic, it opened up.
"If the Young Lord can tell me what kind of artifacts you were looking for… perhaps I could make a recommendation."
"Just looking for something that can interest me. I have heard wonders about the powerful dark artifacts that one can find in this alley." Harry examined the items.
There was no doubt they had more power in them, but nothing was catching his attention.
"High quality artifacts, but very mundane… I'm assuming everything here follows the Ministry guidelines."
"Of course!" The shopkeeper responded. "Even Knockturn Alley must abide by the law."
"That's what I thought…" Harry said with clear disappointment. The Ministry had made sure to ban anything with the potential to cause great harm or anything they considered as 'too dark'.
This meant that finding the kind of things he was looking for would be extremely difficult if even these shops didn't dare to break the law.
"We have Aurors coming here regularly to make sure everything is up to code," the old wizard added.
It was then that Harry perceived a change in the shopkeeper. His passive Legilimency detected a hint of deceit in him.
"Show me the real merchandise." Harry turned to him, wand still in hand.
The shopkeeper pretended to be shocked by the request. "But this is my real merchandise. All the best stuff is in there." He pointed back to the display.
Harry drew a line with the wand, and this one, despite not being his own, responded to his will, albeit with some reluctance.
"Ahhh!" The old shopkeeper screamed in agony when the cutting charm Harry used managed to make a clean cut on his wrist, severing his left hand very cleanly.
Blood poured on the wooden floor as the wizard tried to cover his wound using his old robes.
"The hand can be reattached. But lie to me again and your head goes next." Harry's tone remained the same, calm and collected, as if he was talking about the weather and not about chopping someone's head off.
The old wizard became pale as he glanced at Harry. "M-Mercy! I'll show you! I'll show you right now." He hurried to move toward a wooden door on the other side of the room.
With difficulty, he opened it up, revealing an old closet.
At least that's what it looked like at first, but after touching something at the back of the closet, it moved aside and a new shelf could now be seen.
This one was filled from bottom to top with dozens of items.
Harry approached these new shelves as the old man moved aside and went to fetch his hand.
"Now… this is much better." Harry felt the dangerous dark aura emanating from the items.
These were real dark artifacts. Being caught in possession of any of them by the Ministry Aurors would be enough to spend several decades in Azkaban.
"Tell me more about them." Harry demanded.
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