Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 256, Section 255: Harry's Righteous Slaying of Burke
To be able to open a shop in Knockturn Alley, a place where you could be completely wiped out if you made the slightest mistake, especially a shop that deals in dark magic items, Karaktakus Burke has been doing business for so many years and he's not afraid of running into those ruthless dark wizards.

After all, these dark wizards are actually very afraid of death. They won't do anything irrational on their own turf. No one knows what kind of trap a wizard who is proficient in dark magic might set up in his shop.

But Karaktakus Burke was particularly afraid of encountering madmen, because their behavior was unpredictable. They had no reason, no logic; they might kill someone simply for fun, or set fire to a house not to loot, but more likely just to watch the flames burn.

Even during the period when the Mysterious Man was at his most rampant, he wouldn't kill someone without a reason... well, I should say he wouldn't kill a wizard without a reason.

Muggles are not considered people.

But now, the person in the robe who broke through the doors and windows and entered the shop, whose face was obscured, gave Burke the feeling of seeing a madman—from appearing in Knockdown Alley to killing the dozen or so people outside, it didn't even take three minutes, it was as if he had come here just to kill people.

Even if it's a dark wizard... even if it's a dark wizard! If a murder occurs in Knockturn Alley, and it involves the deaths of more than a dozen wizards, the Aurors will still come to arrest the killer.

But if this person is a kind wizard who came to right the wrongs of the evil deals in Knockturn Alley—what kind wizard would be so skilled at using the Killing Curse?!
Even ordinary dark wizards couldn't do it with such skill! The killing intent was so intense!
“A shop with a long history… It’s said that even Voldemort worked here when he was young, so you’re quite the veteran,” Harry said, looking at the various items on display in the shop.

Withered human hands, bloodstained playing cards, a glass eye that rotates and stares at people, and a terrifying mask hanging on the wall... Without a doubt, these are all dark magic items, and many of them may even be stained with human lives.

"This, how is this possible?" Cold sweat broke out on Burke's back in an instant. He forced a smile and said, "How could someone like the Dark Lord work in my shop? This is truly..."

“You know what, Burke?” Harry said calmly, “I always adhere to one principle: treat people the way they are—if someone is well-intentioned and acts justly, then I will try to persuade them with words.”

As he spoke, Harry reached up and pulled off the hood covering his head, revealing his face.

His face was not covered up and his features were not altered by shapeshifting.

“Principal Potter?!” Burke’s eyes widened instantly.

“...And if a person is dishonest, even has blood on their hands, and is full of lies,” Harry continued, “then I have to communicate with them in another way.”

A brief silence followed, the store becoming eerily quiet for a moment.

suddenly!

"Avada Kedavra!!"

Without hesitation, Burke pulled out a wand from somewhere and fired the Killing Curse at Harry. He didn't try to Apparate away because Harry had already used the Anti-Apparition Charm to envelop the Burke shop area.

After casting the Killing Curse, Burke didn't even try to react to Harry's response. He simply lunged behind the cabinet next to him. It was hard to imagine that someone with his slightly overweight body could move so nimbly.

At the same time, the terrifying masks hanging on the walls also flew up with a shriek, blood and tears flowing from their empty eyes. In an instant, they locked onto Harry's location and rushed towards him—Boom!

The gushing flames transformed into the shape of a phoenix as soon as they left the wand, and the hideous masks, unable to dodge in time, crashed into the Fiendfire and were instantly burned to ashes.

Burke had set up more than just masks as traps in his shop, but they were completely ineffective against Fiendfire, a flame that could devour almost anything. Both physical traps and invisible magical traps were swallowed up by it.

Harry was really growing to love the spell more and more. The only problem was that he had to control the intensity of the Fiendfire's burning to prevent it from consuming too much and going out of control.

"No! No, no, no!!" Burke screamed, "All curses are over! All curses are over!!!"

Bock made the right response; the End of All Curses can indeed be considered a way to break the Fiend Curse. The only problem is... he's too weak.

No, you can't say that. Old Burke's magical abilities are indeed quite good among wizards, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to keep his shop in Knockturn Alley for so long. But the problem is that his spells are somewhat lacking compared to Harry's.

When Burke was shocked to discover that his All Curses Ended had only made the Fiendfire, which was greedily devouring everything in the shop, flinch and dim for a moment, and then, as if enraged, burned even more fiercely, he simply threw his wand out from behind the counter.

"I surrender!!" Burke shouted. "Yes, yes, the Mystic did work for me for a while, but then he suddenly disappeared! For Merlin's sake! Make it stop!!!"

Watching helplessly as the fine items displayed in the shop were devoured one by one by the raging flames, Bock was almost heartbroken and could hardly breathe. For someone like him, fighting desperately was the most meaningless choice.

As Burke begged for mercy, the fiery creatures that had been wreaking havoc in the shop, transforming into various magical creatures, vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, as if they had never existed.

The once neat and clean shop is now completely unrecognizable, with ashes and charred remains everywhere.

Stumbling and staggering, Burke burst out from behind the counter and knelt down before Harry without hesitation.

"Thank you, thank you for your kindness!" Burke tried to kiss Harry's robe, but quickly withdrew after noticing Harry's resistance.

The things Burke had said in casual conversation about the Hogwarts headmaster changes a while back were now completely forgotten. In Burke's eyes, Headmaster Potter, praised and revered by all wizards, had become a figure even more terrifying than Vanderbilt or Dumbledore. At least Vanderbilt wouldn't treat a wealthy and prestigious pure-blood nobleman like him this way, and at least Dumbledore wouldn't destroy someone's estate with Fiendfyre on their first meeting!

I've never missed Mysterio like this before, or even Dumbledore like this before!

Burke only hoped that Principal Potter would finish his questioning and leave quickly, considering his efforts to cooperate.

"I swear on the honor of my ancestors, Headmaster Potter!" Burke knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head. He said quickly, "The Burke family has been running this shop for decades. I have absolutely never killed any innocent people, nor have I made any evil dark magic items! Burke Shop simply buys and resells! I swear to you!!"

"Let's talk about Voldemort first," Harry said noncommittally, without giving a definite answer.

“Yes, sir,” Burke said respectfully. “Please forgive my previous lie to you, because as you know, V – the Mysterious Man – doesn’t like people talking about his past, and I don’t want anyone to associate my shop with him.”

"The mysterious man's real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was an excellent student and very good at charming people. So before he even graduated, he had already gathered a group of pure-blooded nobles around him... and some minor nobles."

Like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, Boke made no attempt to hide anything and recounted what happened back then.

"A minor nobleman?" Harry asked.

“Yes, neither Black, Malfoy, nor the Twenty-Eight purebloods like Burke were actually Death Eaters at that point in time, nor did they regard Mysterio as their master.” Burke gave a smile that looked more like a grimace. “The purebloods were very impressed with Mysterio’s talent and his ideas, believing that he could win them more benefits.”

"So why did Voldemort end up riding on your heads?" Harry continued to ask.

“I don’t know,” Burke said with a bitter expression. “Did it start after the death of old Malfoy? Or did it begin when we didn’t notice that the Mystic had won the fanatical loyalty of our next generation?”

"He started going around claiming to be the heir to Slytherin and showing off his Parsley talent, but those of us who watched him emerge knew he was actually a half-blood, never a pure-blood."

“I remember when Mysterio graduated from Hogwarts, many of the people who had surrounded him at the school left, which made him very angry.”

Why did you leave?

“Because he graduated from school,” Burke repeated. “Yes, the Mystic was indeed very good in school—but so what?”

“He needs to find a job. His grades can help him find good jobs in many industries, but those industries are ultimately controlled by various families. Even if the mysterious man wants to enter the Ministry of Magic, he will have to start from an ordinary employee, and naturally he will need the support of nobles like us.”

“When those kids graduate and find that the person they idolized so much in school actually has to apply for a job in their own family’s business, it’s hard for them to continue idolizing him,” Bock said, unable to suppress a laugh.

“But you’ve lost control of him,” Harry said calmly. “He’s brainwashed your next generation, making them see him as their master.”

“Yes, he lost control,” Burke said, bowing his head. “I can’t explain to you in words what kind of charm the mysterious man had back then—his words, his actions, in short, many family children resolutely followed him.”

"This also forced many families to place their heavy bets on him, because they had no choice... The number of pure-blooded individuals in each generation is ultimately limited. If people don't give it to their own children, who else can they give it to? Especially the Black family, old Black didn't want to leave his things to that traitor."

Harry knew Burke was referring to Sirius Black.

“But that was after he disappeared from your shop and then reappeared,” Harry said. “What I want to know is what happened when he was still called Tom Marvolo Riddle. What did he do in your shop? And what did he get?”

“I don’t know,” Burke looked up blankly. “He applied for the job, and because of his excellent grades and other pure-blood status, I agreed to it—until one day he resigned and left.”

“More details?” Harry interrupted Burke, pressing on, “What did he do here? Why did he suddenly resign? What was he doing before he resigned? I don’t believe Voldemort’s actions were without purpose.”

“His job at the shop was mainly to evaluate dark magic items,” Burke recalled. “Although he was just a recent graduate, his knowledge of dark magic was astonishingly profound. I didn’t even need to teach him much before he could accurately use his professional knowledge to identify dangerous items and various curses and spells. He also learned about unknown knowledge very quickly.”

"That's all? He came here to learn?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It shouldn’t be,” Burke thought for a moment and then shook his head. He had realized that Harry’s purpose in coming here was for him, or more precisely, for Voldemort. So, after letting out a sigh of relief, he began to recall seriously, not daring to hide anything. “The Man from Nowhere is really… unsettling.”

"To be honest, I really didn't want to use that word to describe a young student who had just graduated, but he often gave me that feeling. He knew too much, and his interest in many dark magic items far exceeded what a shop assistant should have. Many times he would even try to buy some precious dark magic items from me at a low price, but I refused them all."

"So you're still alive?" Harry laughed. "As far as I know, Voldemort wasn't exactly a magnanimous person. You rejected him and still survived?"

“Well, the Dark Lord wasn’t that crazy back then,” Burke chuckled awkwardly. “And his behavior back then… let me think… he was really interested in dark magic items and would constantly try to strike up conversations with my clients and get to know them.”

“If we’re really talking about something strange, it would be the death of Hepzibah Smith, wouldn’t it?” Burke suddenly thought of something. “That’s the only major event that happened around the time the Mysterio resigned.”

(End of this chapter)