Chapter 7: The Cunning Borgin
"Narcissus root powder, wormwood, valerian root, and sopophorous bean," a hunched man behind the counter muttered, looking at the parchment in his hand. "These are the ingredients of the Draught of Living Death..."
"Fire ash snake eggs? They have very few uses as potion ingredients..."
"Do you want to make... an aphrodisiac?" Before the black-robed man in front of him could say anything, the hunchbacked man continued without even raising his head, "There are also grass ridge worms and liquid grass stems... If I'm not mistaken, you want to make a Felicity Potion, right? That's not a potion that an ordinary wizard can make..."
After saying this, the hunchbacked man turned his gaze to the young man in front of him. He was dressed in a black robe, and judging by his voice and body shape, he should be a young man between 20 and 30 years old, wealthy, and seemed to be from a pure-blood family... These experiences and conclusions were the skills he had summed up over the years of running the shop. He relied on these experiences to distinguish which people could be provoked and which could not...
The man in the black robe was Sean. His face beneath the black veil had already turned ashen. He didn't expect that even if he shuffled all the potion ingredients on the list and added a lot of ingredients similar to the formula to cover it up, the other party would still be able to easily guess what potion he wanted to make. It seemed that his experience was not enough compared to the other party.
After all, the other party was the famous Mr. Borgin of Knockturn Alley, the owner of the antique shop Borgin and Burkes. Even Voldemort had worked under him in the past. His vicious eyes were indeed very effective.
"Stop talking nonsense. Since when did Borgin & Co. cooperate with the Ministry of Magic? Why are they so involved?" Sean said in a bad tone.
Seeing that the customer in front of him was about to get angry, Mr. Borgin was not annoyed. "I'm sorry, honorable sir, please forgive my offense," Mr. Borgin said in a voice as greasy as his hair. "There are not many young and knowledgeable potion masters like you, so I need to confirm with you again and again."
"If you can return the extra potions you have made to our store for recycling, we will give you a 20% discount on all your potion material costs in the future..."
20% off? It sounded a bit low, but it was actually a very reasonable price. Sean spent more than three digits of gold Galleons on purchasing the potion materials this time. A little bit adds up and you can save a lot.
Just to appear more calm, Sean paused for a moment before nodding slowly: "Okay."
Mr. Borgin bowed deeply and said, "I wish us a pleasant cooperation."
After saying this, Mr. Borgin left the counter and headed for the warehouse at the back. It would take some time to find all these materials.
So taking advantage of this time, Sean walked around the store bored, trying to find some "good stuff." He saw a withered human hand, a stack of bloodstained cards, and a motionless glass eyeball on a mat in a glass box nearby. Ferocious masks glared down from the walls, various human bones were placed on the counters, and rusty, sharp-toothed instruments hung from the ceiling.
There was also a gorgeous opal necklace with a sign on it that read: WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH, CURSED - HAS TAKEN NINETEEN MUGGLES' LIVES.
It seemed... it seemed... probably... there was nothing that a "highly respected" Hogwarts professor in the reserve force like him could use. If he brought these into Hogwarts... and if Dumbledore found out, he would definitely be sent to Azkaban, right?
Sean thought uncertainly. When he turned the fifth circle in the small shop, Borgin finally hurried back to the counter carrying a sack.
"Please count it," Borgin handed the heavy sack to Sean.
"Do you have a briefcase with the Traceless Stretching Charm?" Sean asked instead of taking it.
"Yes, yes," Mr. Borgin nodded hurriedly, pretending to be suddenly enlightened and took out an old black leather suitcase from under the counter, then put the sack into the suitcase. "Look at my memory, a customer like you..."
Sean interrupted Mr. Borgin's long pleasantries and asked, "How much is the total?"
"Two hundred and thirty gold Galleons, I'll take the exact two hundred from you."
Without bargaining, Sean directly took out the corresponding number of gold Galleons from his purse and placed them on the counter.
When he got home, it was already afternoon. Sean walked slowly down to the dark basement and found Bella still in the same position as he had left her, lying quietly and kindly on the floor, her eyes closed, a smile on her lips. He didn't know what good dream she had.
Sean conjured a bucket of ice water and poured it over Bella. The cold water poured down like a waterfall, instantly soaking Bella's body and face. Bella shuddered violently, and her originally peaceful face now looked a little stunned and confused.
She opened her eyes, sat up, and looked at Sean in front of her with a hint of anger in her expression. But Sean was looking at Bella with interest. He saw that her clothes were completely wet, sticking to her graceful figure, revealing clumps of white, which highlighted her plump figure to the fullest.
Her wet hair stuck to her cheeks and neck in a messy manner. Water droplets slowly slid down the ends of her hair, gathering at the peaks and flowing into the canyon, adding some indescribable charm.
Noticing Sean's gaze, Bella opened her mouth slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but was choked by the sudden cold water and couldn't speak. So she wiped the water off her face with her hands, her gloomy eyes almost condensed the anger into substance: "You rescued me, what on earth do you want to do?"
"Playing with me?" Bella continued through gritted teeth, "Then you succeeded."
Bella put emphasis on every word she spoke, and every word revealed deep resentment and anger, as if she wanted to pour out all her dissatisfaction.
"Play with you?" Sean glanced at Bella's seductive body. Although he liked the taste of mature women, he couldn't let the enemy's prestige increase and destroy his own ambition at this time. So, he pretended to be disdainful and said: "You? You are over 30 years old, and you are not ashamed to say such things. Don't you look at yourself? What can you compare with those young people..."
Hearing this, Bella was stunned at first, then laughed. Sean's mouth could lie, but his body seemed to say otherwise. She clearly saw that Sean's Guan Yu had raised the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, looking ready to make a move.
"That's it?" Bella licked her slightly dry lips.