what you may discover (tagged)

For almost a year the shop had stood derelict, untouched and unwanting of any other owner than a Borgin or a Burke. As elderly Mr Borgin had passed away, Hector had made some arrangements for the property to be under his name now he was out of Hogwarts. Technically the person who automatically inherited the shop was his Father, but over the last few years Hector had made sure to prove himself worthy of it passing down.

So there he was - in a musty, dirty little shop in Knockturn that was in desperate need of sprucing up. That wasn't the top of his priorities, however: a lot of the stock kept in the back was unrecognisable, and unlabelled. Even some of the instruments still on display lacked any detail to them. He was smart enough not to start touching them or removing them from their displays, but he wasn't smart enough to know how to handle some of these things.

That's where he thought his family could help out.

They should all be taking some interest in the place, after all. Aunt Minnie probably had the least attachment to it, but as she was part of the Ministry, he still wanted her advice.

Hector was stood looking at The Hand of Glory on its shelf.

@Melanthius Burke @Minnie Bulstrode @Millicent Bulstrode Burke

Millicent perused the shelves of the store, occasionally using her magic to dust off a few of the artifacts that had become covered in cobwebs and dust. It was a quite disgusting sight to see; did the elderly Mr. Borgin not hire anyone to keep things clean while figuring out the new owner?

She glanced at some of the products, recognizing them from her school days. There were a few from foreign traders that had been there since she and her husband wed. Walking towards her elder son, Millicent looked at the hand with him, saying to him, "Not a lot about this store has changed in all the years I've been here."

@Hector Burke

Thius was keeping himself busy trying to explore all of the stock that was hidden in the back, being careful enough to try and only move them with a levitation spell; that had to be the least harmful way to maneuver them. He was mentally taking notes on which ones he wanted to research, which ones he'd think Bellona might find interesting, and which ones he'd want to try and keep for himself later. As he was a Burke, he assumed he'd be able to have first dibs on some of the product before they, eventually, went out on the shelves.

Was that..? Wow! Alchemy wasn't particularly a field he was very into, but he had to make note of this find.

"Brother, did you know that there's a phial of Alkahest in here?"

@Hector Burke

Minnie was, by far, one of the last people to ask for Ministry advice from. There was a reason why her job only consisted of luring and capturing criminals than any of the heavier stuff handled by proper aurors: she'd be an awful auror.

This was also one of the worst places she could've possibly been invited to. Unlimited access to all sorts of things she can take home? For free? Reaching her hand out at some kind of voodoo doll, she stuck it inside her bag.

Elsewhere, some guy was forcefully thrown to the side and forced down into the floor.

Turning to his Mother, Hector smiled slightly.

"Truly? Then it may be a bigger project than I'd first anticipated."

He trusted that his Mother knew what she was doing with her cleaning spells. Being more hot-headed than he was, he wasn't sure whether she did or didn't. They all appeared to still have their bones, however, so she couldn't have triggered anything untoward.

"Do you know about this one?" he asked her, nodding to the hand of glory.

When Melanthius called from the back of the shop, he turned his head. Although he couldn't see where he was, it was fortunate that he did turn at that point. He narrowed his eyes at Aunt Minnie. She'd definitely pocketed something.

"You can keep it," he called back to his brother, keeping his eyes solidly on Minnie. "Call it a gift of congratulations for becoming Head Boy."

"Aunt," he said pointedly. "How often do you believe we will have Ministry visitation?"

@Minnie Bulstrode @Melanthius Burke @Millicent Bulstrode Burke

"Truly, I thought some of the units would move quicker after the war, but your father believes the usual patrons decided it'd be safer to engage in private trades."

And those trades have served them quite well; although it was a more mundane acquisition, Millicent took plenty of pride in some of the pieces of China they had on display in the dining room.

Ah, that hand. "Yes, I do. I got a glimpse of it a few times during my sixth year. Draco had purchased it, but I'm not sure if he ever actually used it..."

That year, Draco had been more closed off. She also was never as close to him as Pansy was.

"I think it's underwhelming. All it does is light up a room that a regular Lumos couldn't. It'll be useless once there's a spell just as powerful."

@Hector Burke

He can keep it? Smirking to himself, Thius opened up his bookbag and looked for a pocket inside that would be least likely to potentially crush it; he wasn't going to put it in his trouser pockets and risk it falling out or being pickpocketed by Minnie or some streetwalking imbecile trying to get galleons.

Now that was at least one item to keep to himself. He'd have to go to the Lestranges one of these days to see if they have any sorts of literature surrounding this phial. How rare was this substance anyway?

The phial must've been charmed very particularly for it to be contained.

Hm.

Thius sat down on the floor to look at it from every angle.

Minnie was happy to have a new doll to stick with the others on her one shelf; they were among her favorites to collect. With how many of them get dropped on the streets of Diagon alone, she could fill an entire room of them at some point!

"Huh, what?" Minnie wondered as she shoved a few faded price tags into her purse. "Oh, I wouldn't know! I'm not in charge of visitation!"

Very helpful, indeed.

@Hector Burke

"So just another gimmick then," he sighed, picking up the Hand of Glory and turning it over before placing it back on display. "That's likely the extent of these items: they once had dark properties, but now they're mere collectables. Still. A business is a business. I think I can establish some kind of revenue here."

He had higher hopes for other business plans, but he hadn't told anyone in his family of those. Making a success of Borgin & Burkes had been his steadfast ambition as a child, but as he grew increasingly aware of the changing world after attending Hogwarts, he made other connections.

Turning to his Aunt after her lousy input, Hector said: "I know that. I presumed in all your time there, you may have come to understand basic operations within your own department. Even the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office knows whenever Ministry raids are happening, and they're a bunch of crackpot sympathisers who collect television aerials..."

He sighed. What use was it to have a member of the family in the Ministry if they didn't know these bloody things?

"Anyway. Make sure what you took there is the last."

@Minnie Bulstrode @Millicent Bulstrode Burke

"I'm sure there are at least a few products here that still have dark properties, but I doubt Mr. Borgin would have them out and obvious for the wrong people to see." Unless he had gotten extremely senile before his death.

And now Draco had gone from an acquaintance to someone she'd rather not deal with now that he'd turned to the good side. Millicent stepped towards the till and blasted open the register just to see if Mr. Borgin was enough of a fool to leave money around for the taking.

"Hector! Before you open the store, put better security spells everywhere. I shouldn't be able to blast open the register. How long has that thing been in use?"

She brushed her thumb against the drawer and sighed at the amount of dust that accumulated.

@Hector Burke

"They just call me whenever I have an assignment and send me on my own merry way, I haven't seen the scheduled raids!"

They couldn't trust her enough to show up at the Ministry on a regular basis that they cut down her hours and made sure her capturing assignments were as far from the Ministry as possible. Not like that bothered her any. There were some people there that were too uptight about her wanting souvenirs from work!

Minnie gazed at the shelf once more; grabbing a dust bunny, she threw it into her purse, already knowing what she was going to do with it. "But you have such unique stuff here!"

Her hand reached out to something else on the shelf only to receive a shock without touching anything.

@Hector Burke

Thius had been listening through the back of the store as he was finally putting his newly-earned phial of Alkahest into his bag. He was quite ecstatic to tell his girlfriend of such a find. He was looking forward to spending some time with her no matter where it was or what they were doing. Merlin, it was going to be absolutely amazing to have his own dorm!

Turning around, Thius rubbed between his eyes in frustration and pulled out his wand, not hesitating to send a stinging hex at Minnie. "Aunt-cousin-whoever you are, I suggest you learn to control yourself before the wedding... I'm attending with my lovely girlfriend, Bellona.“ Emphasizing that he was in a courtship, if that'd go through that skull of hers. "And I'd prefer to not spend the entire time hexing you. Thank you for listening."

He was Head Boy now! She had no choice but to listen to his authority, even if it is the summer holiday.

@Minnie Bulstrode