A Certain Magical Hogwarts

Chapter 237 The Vanishing Cabinet

When Lucius saw William there, he was stunned and almost thought he had come to the wrong place.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, frowning.

"Buying something, huh?" William narrowed his eyes, sensing the other person's arrogant attitude. "What, is Bokins a Malfoy family business?"

Although William was speaking to Lucius, his eyes were fixed on old Bokin.

Borgin bowed slightly and said, "Mr. Stark is my customer. Mr. Malfoy, what brings you here?"

Lucius simply snorted and led his son toward the counter.

William didn't leave; instead, he wandered around the store, seemingly wanting to buy something.

Lucius glanced at William, but he brazenly showed no intention of leaving.

With his father there, Draco didn't dare go up to greet him. He could only stand there with his head down, like a lackey.

William seemed drawn to a withered arm and just kept staring at the sign.

Bokin couldn't kick William out either; William was a regular customer and a tech geek, and he didn't want to offend him.

But clearly, with William here, Malfoy wouldn't be selling anything.

After a standoff of about three minutes, Borgin led Malfoy into the back room.

After the three had walked a distance, William spoke up: "Come out, Harry, stop hiding."

The rule here is that no third party can watch when someone is selling something.

William wasn't interested in what Malfoy was selling; he was only there to sell dark magic items that couldn't be shown to others.

Clearly, Mr. Weasley's search put some pressure on him.

If William hadn't seen Harry hiding here, he would have left immediately; there was no need for him to stay.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, a large black cabinet was opened, and Harry crawled out of it.

William raised an eyebrow, shook his head, and said, "Harry, you're really bold."

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, brushing the soot off his clothes.

"There are many things in Bojin's store that even I dare not touch, yet you actually went into a cabinet as soon as you saw it."

William really didn't know whether to say Harry was brave or courting death.

However, sometimes being overly daring is indeed a synonym for courting death.

"Is this cabinet dangerous?" Harry asked doubtfully.

The black cabinet looked unremarkable.

"This is a vanishing cabinet, a very valuable magical item," William explained.

Vanishing cabinets usually come in pairs, similar to two-way mirrors.

If you put something in a vanishing cabinet, it will appear in another cabinet. This is a precious magical item that allows for spatial teleportation.

There's only one in the Bojin store; I don't know where the other one is.

So randomly hiding in a vanishing cabinet is a very risky thing to do, because you don't know where the other cabinet is.

It could be anywhere, maybe even in Azkaban, and then you'll find a surprise when you open the cabinet door.

William took a nut out of his pocket and put it into the vanishing cabinet. He then closed the door and opened it again, but the nut was gone.

Seeing this, Harry broke out in a cold sweat. Luckily, he hadn't closed the door completely, only left it slightly ajar to eavesdrop; otherwise, he might have been killed.

"What's this?" Harry asked, looking at the withered arm that William had been observing.

"Hand of Glory." William picked up his arm.

"This is a black magic artifact. After a candle is inserted into the arm, only the person holding the arm can see the candlelight."

This light can even penetrate the darkness created by Peruvian stealth smoke bombs, something most glowing talismans cannot do.

Therefore, this is a good helper for thieves to steal things in the middle of the night and for tomb raiders to enter ancient tombs.

Hmm... the goblins of Gringotts should like it; they're ramping up their pyramid clearing efforts.

"How do you know all this?" Harry asked again.

"Read more books, read more newspapers, eat fewer snacks, and sleep more." William put his arm back in the distance.

"Hogwarts Library is the largest library in the world. You can find the answer to anything you don't know there, especially the forbidden areas."

"But I remember that young wizards aren't allowed to enter restricted areas..."

"Professor Flitwick's approval is all I need, and he always approves." William smiled. "Let's go, Malfoy and the others are coming out soon. I don't think you'd want Malfoy to see you like this, would you?"

Harry was covered in soot and wearing broken glasses.

After they left the store, William waved his wand and cleaned the dust off Harry and repaired his glasses.

"Thank you." Harry couldn't help but look around.

Before him lay a filthy alley, lined with what appeared to be shops selling dark magic. The one he had just come from, called Borgin Burke, seemed to be the largest, but across the street, a shop window displayed a sinister array of shrunken human heads.

"William, where is this?"

"Don't come to Knockdown Alley when you're alone," William advised.

William wasn't worried about Harry, but rather that he might be too reckless and bring Hermione here.

This is really not a place for a little wizard.

"By the way, why are you here all alone? Where are Fred George and the others?" William asked.

"I don't know either. I think I misplaced the Floo Powder when I used it," Harry quickly explained.

He had come to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys, but he mispronounced it as "Flip-Over Alley".

As the two were about to leave the alley, an old witch approached, carrying a dish that looked exactly like a whole set of dead man's fingernails.

She squinted, revealing moss-covered teeth.

"Hey handsome, come play!"

Harry took two steps back in fear.

"Get out!" William raised his wand, from which a ball of blazing purple flame shot out and landed on his fingernails.

The old woman hurriedly retreated, cursing as she slipped through a wooden door.

"Who is that?"

"A dark sorceress. See that plate in her hand? It's made from fingernails taken from living people to create cursed items. She loves lone kids like you."

Harry shuddered and decided he would never come here again.

William led Harry to Diagon Alley, where they found Hermione and Anne at Florin's Ice Cream Shop.

The two then each bought two more servings of strawberry ice cream.

"Alright, no more eating. Eating too much will make you catch a cold," William instructed.

Anne grumbled and complained, but William gave her a roasted chestnut, and she immediately quieted down.

Hermione was more obedient and didn't intend to eat any more, but she couldn't bear to throw away the rest, so she handed it to William.

William sat down next to the girl, picked up a spoon, and ate it in no time.

Halil pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

Harry quickly explained his situation and looked at William.

What do the Malfoys sell?

"It's probably some kind of dark magic item from his house," William said, wiping his mouth.

"Then why don't you...?"

"Stop it? Call the police? Or report it to the Aurors?" William countered.

Harry was speechless.

Yes, what can two little wizards do in a shop?

Could he possibly pick up a wand and fight Malfoy while waiting for the Ministry of Magic to arrive?

"I think we can tell Mr. Weasley," Harry suggested.

"Of course, but it won't be very effective." William recounted how the Ministry of Magic had searched the Malfoy family's house.

Even with warrants, Mr. Weasley couldn't thoroughly search Malfoy Manor, so it's even less likely to work now.

Malfoy is quite powerful, especially skilled in magic related to money.

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(End of this chapter)