Ivan felt a chill run down his spine at Burke's words. The old man was indeed treacherous. It was a good thing he had asked the question discreetly, or he would have been tricked into entering the library.
"So how do you usually get in?" Yvonne asked curiously.
Since illumination magic could not be used in the Lightless Library, what would Burke do when he wanted to check or retrieve a book?
That's obviously impossible …
"You may enter with the Hand of Glory." Burke's reply was as terse as ever.
It dawned on Ivan that Burke had placed some sort of light-sensing spell inside the library, and the Hand of Glory was a special magical instrument that only those who held it could see the light, and would thus be able to avoid detection by Alert Magic.
It just so happened that one of the Dark Arts items that Alicia brought back to study was this one, which she could use directly.
Yvonne then looks doubtful. "What if you lose your Hand of Glory, like you did this time?"
"There's quite a few in the shop, and I could use the time to make another," Burke said blankly.
Ivan smacked his head. He'd forgotten about that.
Burke was a master of the making of magical objects, and was able to repair damaged Vanishing Cabinets with ease in his time and space, so it was not difficult for him to create a Hand of Glory.
In case Burke had other tricks up his sleeve at the Wizarding Shop and caused him to fall for them, Ivan took the trouble to ask him again.
The more Ivan questioned him, the more alarmed he became. Burke had set up numerous traps in the Wizarding Shop, and many dangerous Dark objects were in a state of readiness.
Ivan lamented the fact that he did not give Burke time to prepare for the battle, which he was lucky to have done so with the Cloak of Invisibility.
"In the basement, I also set up a small spell that would automatically make a noise when a stranger enters. There's only one way to break it…" Burke talked non-stop about his brilliant setup for over twenty minutes before he finished.
It didn't take long for Burke's face to change. He stared at Ivan in terror and screamed.
"What did you do to me?"
Burke's face turned ashen as he recalled everything he had just said. He quickly guessed that Ivan had given him truth serum and his body went limp…
He understood that he was finished!
Burke's face fell, and he stared at Ivan in shock and anger. Finally, he smiled sadly and closed his eyes. "Do it!"
Ivan looked at Burke, drew his wand, and pointed. A plate appeared on the ground in front of Burke.
Burke waited for a while, but there was no pain, and then he smelled something fragrant. He opened his eyes and saw Ivan standing there with a small pot of corn porridge on the floor.
Burke, starving, looked at the pot of polenta, swallowed hard, and then looked at Ivan in confusion. "What do you mean!"
Burke was baffled. He thought Ivan would kill him after the questioning.
"You've told me everything I wanted to know. If you still want to starve to death, that's fine with me," Ivan said, and left.
These corn porridge were naturally leftovers from the breakfast.
Ivan did not want Burke to die so soon if he could help it, and his modified Polyjuice Potion required a tester who could withstand the strain.
It couldn't be helped. Peter hadn't been around for months, and Ivan was having a hard time adjusting.
Burke watched in confusion as Ivan disappeared through the door, unable to understand why Ivan would spare his life when he was no longer of any value.
Burke's eyes were soon drawn back to the bowl of polenta beneath him, and he fell into a deep battle.
He really wanted to knock this bowl of porridge over and point at Ivan with disdain, saying that he would rather starve to death than eat it!
By then, however, Ivan had left, and no one would notice if he tried to be tough, so Burke gave up on the idea, and lay on the floor with his eyes closed, pretending to be dead.
Burke's lips were white and chapped from days of not eating or drinking, and he was thirsty. The smell of corn porridge wafted into his nose, disturbing his thoughts.
Annoyed, Burke opened his eyes and looked at the corn porridge nearby.
What if this bowl of porridge was actually very bad and could not be eaten?
Burke thought to himself, 'In that case, I don't need to suffer like this…'
Burke tried to comfort himself by insisting that he should just lick it and taste it!
Just one bite!
As his body was tied up, Burke could only hold his head up with difficulty and hesitantly take a lick.
The sweet, rich taste of the polenta was transmitted to Burke's brain through his taste buds, and he shuddered. How could it… smell so good?
Illusion… I must be too hungry to have such an illusion. It's actually not delicious at all!
Burke tried to convince himself of this.
Burke had another thought. What if the porridge was poisonous? He didn't think Ivan would be so kind. Maybe Ivan was too young to kill him and decided to poison him!
After comforting himself for a while longer, Burke decided to take a few more licks…
In the blink of an eye, a few minutes had passed, and the small pot of corn porridge in front of him had been licked clean.
Burke finally got over it …
In any case, he had already said everything he should not have said after drinking the truth-telling potion, so there seemed to be no point in persisting. He might as well eat his fill every day and wait for the other party to give him a quick death!
Why… did he have to make things difficult for himself?
…
Ivan, on the other hand, has borrowed the Hand of Glory from Alicia and sneaked into Borgin and Burkes under the cloak.
It had been several days since his last visit, and the damaged shop had been repaired, the body and blood disposed of by the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic.
Though there were no Aurors patrolling the grounds, Ivan was cautious enough to keep his cloak on so as not to be seen.
Ivan entered the basement and searched around the right corner, following Burke's instructions. He found the hidden door.
There was a strange-looking gap in the ceiling, partly hidden by a stone table.
Ivan took out the locket and placed it inside. A moment later, a section of the wall in front of him shook and slowly began to cave in.
Rumble…
With a hard grinding noise, a dark passage was revealed…