"Are you Borgin?" Felix looked at the man in the shadow.
The man nodded, walked out of the alley, and bowed slightly to Felix: "Sir, please believe that I didn't expect Mundungus to do such a thing as blackmail.
I'm looking for you because I want to get some help from you. But this is not the right place to talk. If you don't mind, could you move to my store? "
Felix looked around and nodded.
After getting Felix's permission, Borgin also pulled out his wand and pointed it at Mundungus: "Let's take a trip."
Mundungus was about to cry, so he could only quickly climb up with support on the wall, sobbing and nodding.
Borgin's store was diagonally across the street from where they were standing, not far from the alley entrance. The color of the walls didn't match the color, and about one-third of one side of the house had obviously been renovated.
When you walk inside, you can see the entire store, which is spacious and dim. Several candles are hanging on the walls, burning continuously, and at the same time releasing a kind of smoke that has a calming effect.
Felix also noticed that there was some space on the newly repaired wall, and it was obvious that not enough products had been placed.
"That's the ripple caused when you released the indiscriminate spell before." Borgin explained.
However, there was no anger in his tone about this matter, he just stated the facts to Felix calmly.
Borgin didn't want to mention this too much. He was lucky enough that only some of the things displayed in the exhibition hall were swept away by the terrifying curse.
Those things are not precious and the loss is not big.
The entire shop in front of him, which specializes in making various poisonous candles, was destroyed and almost everyone was gone. The loss was huge.
"So what do you want to talk to me about? My time is limited." Felix looked at Borgin's products with interest.
On the mat in a glass box next to it, there is a withered human hand and a stack of blood-stained playing cards. There are also ferocious masks peering down from the wall, various human bones on the counter, and rusty, tooth-like instruments hanging from the ceiling.
These products are obviously not that "friendly" and will never be seen in Diagon Alley.
Felix picked up the blood-stained deck of cards and unfolded it. It was a deck of tarot cards, with a star map drawn in gold and silver on the back.
"Please wait a moment." Borgin said. He stood in front of Mundungus. In the eyes of the other person's fear, he took out his wand and put it on his temple.
"Memory separation!!"
A low chanting sound sounded, and a faint silver light bloomed from the top of Borgin's wand. Mundungus's expression suddenly became blank.
Then, Borgin gently and slowly pulled away the wand, and a strand of silver wire was dragged out by it.
He took out another small bottle, which was filled with light and obviously contained many such silver threads.
After Borgin put the silver wire that he had pulled out of Mundungus into the bottle, he patted the other person's face.
Mundungus suddenly had some energy on his face, and looked at the person in front of him in surprise: "Mr. Borgin, why am I here?!"
"You can go." Borgin obviously didn't want to say anything more to him.
Mundungus' head was dizzy, and he obviously hadn't fully woken up yet. But at this moment, he nodded blankly as if he was under a spell of ecstasy, then turned around and left here.
Felix leaned on the counter, a little curious: "Memory extraction spell?"
Borgin was stunned for a moment. He did not expect that the person in front of him who could escape from the killing curse would actually express such doubts.
Is this reasonable ?
He raised the bottle and introduced it to Felix: "Contained here are all the memories of you that were witnessed by the witnesses that day."
"Are you going to use it to threaten me?" Felix cut the cards with one hand and looked at Borgin curiously.
Borgin immediately shook his head, with a hint of businessman's flattery on his face: "No, no, no, I think you misunderstood, this is a gift."
"Gift?" Felix looked at him.
"Yes." Borgin nodded.
"So these are the memories of bystanders at that time. You pulled them all out before the Ministry of Magic arrived?" Felix looked at the memory bottle.
"It's just that the efficiency of the Ministry of Magic's drunkards is so low that I have an opportunity to take advantage of it. It's not a difficult task." Borgin said with his head lowered without daring to exaggerate.
Felix pulled out a tarot card and turned over the cards.
[XVIII]
[The Moon]
"I am not the djinn who fulfills wishes." Felix looked at the Moon Card, spread it out on the table, and then looked at the Little Arcana Card.
"I just want to ask you for some help." Borgin said quickly.
Felix spread out the cards one by one and drew them.
However, he did not rush to open it, but waited for Borgin's next chapter.
Borgin looked at Felix's movements and nervously scratched the wrinkled skin on his face: "I think you can also see that I am a small businessman who has been dealing with black magic for a long time.
Many years ago, I accidentally touched an ancient black magic item and was cursed at the soul level. You can resist the killing curse, and you must know the soul very well, so..."
Felix slowly turned over the cards and held a long sword tightly in one hand.
[One of Swords]
Borgin looked solemn, this card usually represents misfortune and death.
"It seems I'm lucky." Felix said with a smile.
Then he put away the cards and said: "The meanings of Tarot divination cards are ever-changing, and everyone will understand and form their own meanings based on their own meditation, association, deduction and other methods."
Felix's words made Borgin even more nervous. In this way, it meant that this man must have a very profound research on the theory of divination.
"So my interpretation of Tarot is generally rough. Usually, when I say lucky, it will definitely be lucky.
If I say misfortune, then I will definitely make him misfortune. "
After saying that, facing Borgin's gaze, Felix raised the moon card again.
"I think something happier will happen today, what do you think?!"
"Of course!!" Borgin broke out in cold sweat and quickly bowed: "As long as you are willing to help me, even if you just give me a few tips, I am willing to pay a generous reward."
"Tell me about your curse," Felix said, feeling Borgin's breath and sensing a familiarity.
It appeared that in the Caribbean, he had encountered...
Borgin then proceeded to explain the curse he had encountered.
It was an item he had acquired from a struggling family in France more than forty years ago. The item was said to have been obtained due to the family's decision to relocate in response to the new regulations of the Wizarding Secrecy Act.
During that period, Grindelwald had just been defeated, and the entire magical community was in great fear of the Wizarding Secrecy Law, knowing the severe consequences for its violation. No one dared to touch this broomstick.
Later, upon reaching their destination, a small island in the English Channel, they found themselves in conflict with the local mermaid tribe over the lake of the island.
This conflict partially violated the local magical creature protection treaty. To avoid being traced, the family smuggled all the items seized from the mermaid tribe to Borgin.
And that's when the curse manifested.
It was because of one of the ancient gold disc pendants that Borgin was cursed and transformed into a living dead being, unable to achieve physical consciousness. He couldn't even die; even if his head was severed, he could easily reattach it...
Felix was flipping through an ancient Greek magic manuscript collected by Borgin. As he listened to Borgin's narrative, he felt increasingly familiar.
"Will he turn into a skeleton under the moonlight?" Felix suddenly interjected.
Borgin looked at Felix in shock, his expression shifting gradually from disbelief to uncontrollable excitement.
"Yes, you do! You know my curse!"
Felix was also somewhat surprised. This curse...
Yes, he knew it, and knew it well.
Even back in the Caribbean, he had harbored a strong curiosity about magic and had taken the initiative to delve into this curse.
Jingle Bell--
The bell behind the shop door suddenly rang.
A man with a pale, pointed face and long blond hair cascading straight down his back, clad in a black woolen coat, entered holding a sophisticated staff.
He held his head high, scrutinized Felix with indifferent gray eyes, and then remarked, "Mr. Borgin, it seems you're a bit occupied?!"