"You—you—you—" Borgin clutched his stomach, eyes bulging as he nearly gagged. He stared at Sullivan in disbelief, then shot a desperate look at Shaquina. "This kid ran! He actually ran!"
Shaquina didn't flinch. She just smirked darkly and kept her eyes locked on Borgin.
"You—you two are working together? This is entrapment!" Borgin realized it all at once and shouted in rage.
Sullivan raised a finger to his lips. "Shh. No need to yell. You're stuck with the Inferius Dog box now. You're not getting out of this."
Borgin deflated like a popped balloon, but his mind was still spinning. "You went through all this trouble just to tie me up here. What do you actually want? Spit it out."
Tonks, still disguised as Captain Shaquina, clapped her hands, her face cold. "Smart, Borgin. Tell us what Lucius Malfoy really sold you."
"I didn't buy anything from Malfoy—ugh—cough cough—" Borgin tried to deny it, but Sullivan's fist slammed into his gut again, cutting him off.
"Old man, you'd better talk. If you don't, the Ministry's Veritaserum will make you, and the Dementors in Azkaban are dying to meet you," Sullivan growled.
Tonks softened her tone. "Borgin, I think you can tell our real target is Lucius Malfoy. Just give us what we want and we'll leave."
The two played their roles perfectly. Borgin finally cracked. He coughed twice and muttered, "Fine… Lucius Malfoy came by yesterday. He brought—"
After Borgin finished, Sullivan frowned. "Was there a black notebook? One you could write in that would talk back?"
"No. I swear!" Borgin said immediately.
Coal Ball poked her head out of Sullivan's robe and meowed. Through their mental link she translated: He's telling the truth.
Sullivan had tried letting Coal Ball use Legilimency earlier, but the old man knew some Occlumency tricks. She could only judge from surface emotions whether he was lying.
The answer wasn't satisfying, but there wasn't much he could do. To cover their tracks, Sullivan pulled out his phone and started recording. "Borgin, that Inferius Dog box—did you get it from a deal?"
"Yes!" Borgin gritted his teeth.
"And all the dark artifacts you bought yesterday—hand them over now," Sullivan ordered, filming the whole thing. It doubled as a quiet threat.
Sullivan and Tonks packed up the artifacts and took them. Before they left, Sullivan had one more question. "By the way, Borgin, any rumors lately? Like Lucius Malfoy selling black notebooks somewhere else?"
"No!" Borgin denied at once, then added, "There's talk on the black market about someone selling an item that can open the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts. From what I know, Lucius Malfoy might be the one spreading that rumor."
"Oh? Did anyone take the deal?" Sullivan asked.
"I don't know. Those kinds of secret deals usually have special contact methods. They don't go through third parties," Borgin said.
"When did this rumor start?"
"Long before the Ministry started cracking down."
Sullivan and Tonks had what they needed. They didn't push Borgin any further. Sullivan waved his phone with the video. "See you around, Borgin. Next time I drop by, I hope you sell me the real stuff."
"I hope you never come back!" Borgin snapped.
Leaving Knockturn Alley, Sullivan reorganized his thoughts. In the original timeline, Lucius Malfoy probably meant to sell the notebook. But under Ministry pressure, no one dared buy it, so he ended up slipping it into Ginny's cauldron out of desperation.
From a planning perspective, it wasn't very smart. What if Ginny had shown it to her parents? Not only would Voldemort be exposed, but Lucius Malfoy might be too.
Another question: Who told Lucius to send the notebook to Hogwarts? Was it Voldemort's remnant soul, or Tom Riddle inside the diary itself?
Asking Lucius directly wasn't realistic, but there was still one person who probably knew the truth—Dobby the house-elf.
From Harry's information, Dobby overheard his master talking about a plot against Harry Potter and broke the house-elf rules to stop Harry from returning to school.
Dobby was probably back at Malfoy Manor now, but Sullivan knew there was still a chance to catch him—when Harry went back to school.
Based on current events, Dobby would probably seal off Platform 9¾ like in the books, preventing Harry from boarding the train.
With a plan in place, Sullivan wasn't in a rush. He hadn't shopped with Tonks in a long time. They changed clothes back at the Leaky Cauldron and strolled through Diagon Alley like a normal wizard couple.
"Su, I was so nervous back there! I was terrified Borgin would see through my disguise!" Tonks clung to Sullivan's arm, patting her chest as they walked.
"I thought you did great. You saw Borgin's face—he had no idea you weren't Captain Shaquina!" Sullivan praised.
Tonks stuck out her tongue, then looked worried again. "But won't this get Captain Shaquina in trouble? What if he goes to confront her—"
"Relax. With the video we have, Borgin will keep his mouth shut. He might even avoid Captain Shaquina from now on," Sullivan said confidently.
While they were chatting happily, a voice suddenly came from behind: "Professor Sullivan? Is that you?"
Sullivan turned and saw a Chinese girl with black hair and black eyes, around thirteen or fourteen, about five foot four, with delicate features and the graceful air of a young lady from a good family.
"Cho Chang? Nice to see you here!" Sullivan immediately recognized her—the second-year Ravenclaw witch.
He'd interacted with her during the last month of term when he temporarily taught Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had real talent.
Another reason Sullivan remembered her: in the future, she'd date Harry Potter for a while.
Sullivan smiled warmly at her. "What brings you to Diagon Alley today?"