Lessons About A Price Too High

Chapter 04 Shifter (Part II)

Harry Potter stepped out into Diagon Alley, with backpack slung over shoulder, and 250 galleons in his pocket. Nearby, he could see Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions, but decided against going in. He would, after all, get his school robes when Hagrid came to retrieve him. Besides, I'm not sure that 250 galleons would be enough to get all that I want to get today. He thought. Finally, Harry decided to go to Borgins and Burkes. It seemed like a pawn shop more than anything else and he wanted to sell the invisibility cloak he had conjured yesterday for some extra funds.

Harry didn't have to walk very far into Knockturn Alley before he saw Borgins and Burkes. As he stepped in, the bell on the door ran, indicating that there was a customer. Mr. Borgin, hands clasped, stepped out of the back room greedily. Upon seeing a ten year-old boy, he stopped and frowned. "What business do you have here… and be quick about it, I have many things to attend to in the back." He snapped, impatiently.

Harry ignored him and casually reached into his backpack for the invisibility cloak. "So I guess you aren't interested in this?" he asked. Borgin's eyes grew wide with excitement.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked.

"That depends…" Harry said coolly leaning in slightly as he did. Then he drew closer, until his face was almost touching Borgin's. "WhatEXACTLY do you think it is?" he all but hissed. Actually, Harry had no idea why Borgin was so excited. Sure, Ron had told him how rare an invisibility cloak was. But the order had use of two so it couldn't have been that rare. Then again, maybe it was just his inexperience with the wizarding world. After all, one didn't just sit around reading books on wizarding ettiquette, business, and politics when there was a maniacal dark lord about. Harry thought bitterly. Especially of said person just HAPPENED to be on the top of said dark lords list of people to off.

"A.. A-an… an unregistered invisibility cloak." WHAT? Oh… Borgin, he was talking. WAIT… UNREGISTERED? Harry forced himself to remain calm on the outside and Borgin continued excitedly, all pretenses forgotten. "Why I haven't seen one since… since…"

"So I take it that you are interested then." Harry said cut in. The gleam in the man's eyes told him that he was very much so. "How much will you offer?" Borgin straightened up immediately.

"I'll give you 70 galleons for it. The ministry would likely boil me alive if they found out that an unregistered invisibility cloak existed in England."

"I doubt the ministry would need this to lock you away for good Borgin." Harry replied. " Your price is unacceptable." Turning around, Harry began to walk out.

"WAIT!" Borgin cried. Looking as if he hated himself for giving up so easily, Borgin offered another price. " 200 galleons. But store credit only…" Harry thought it over for a few seconds, then nodded. In all likelihood, the cloak was probably worth more and the store credit bit was annoying. But it was getting dark outside and if the shops closed, then Harry would have to come back to Diagon Alley again, a feat that would be hard to accomplish.

"Let me look at your items first." Harry said and when Borgin didn't object, he started towards the back of the shop. The shop, as it turned out to Harry's amazement, was quite big. It was only charmed to look small so that passing by Aurors could just stand at the door and let their eyes sweep for anything illegal before leaving. Of course, Borgin never left anything illegal out in the front for anyone to see. Getting nearer to the back, Harry spotted one of the things that he was looking for, an Auror's trunk. Well, not really a trunk, this one was more of a briefcase. It was a black leather case with two keyholes in the front. After a word with Borgin, Harry had the two keys in hand and opened the compartment. The first, was expanded into the size of a regular trunk. The second, however, was as large as Dudley's second bedroom. "How much is this briefcase?" Harry asked Borgin, who had temporarily closed the store to assure that no stray Auror would get their hands on the unregistered invisibility cloak.

"130 Galleons. Auror's cases are hard to come by." Harry just nodded, indicating that he was going to buy it from Borgin, before continuing. Coming upon a bookshelf crammed in between several jars of organs, Harry's eyes opened wide in confusion when it he saw it. But it was undeniable. There on the bookshelf of what was known as the darkest shop in Diagon Alley was the book, "Wish Magic, Will Magic, Word Magic". Hagrid had sent this book to him on his sixteenth birthday just one day before being killed while on a second journey to conciliate with the giants. Harry had always wondered where Hagrid had gotten the book, as it was obviously nothing the Ministry would release. No. You can't think about this. Not now. Not here. Not in front of Borgin. Harry closed his eyes and occluded his mind, locking the thought within a chamber in his mind. He would come back and reexamine it later. Snapping out of his reverie, Harry quickly grabbed the book. Then, another book caught his eye. "The Dualis Ring" the title read. Sounds philosophical, Harry thought as he picked the book up. The front cover is thick, Harry thought opening the book to the first page. Immediately, he found out why, for in an indent in the front cover of the book, was a silver ring. It was a simple band, there was nothing significant about it except for two small circles burned on the inside of the ring. Feeling instant curiosity, Harry turned back to Borgin.

"What's this ring do?" he asked. Borgin looked up from a magazine he had taken out of his pockets when Harry had first began looking through the books.

"You can see it?" Borgin asked gruffly. Harry raised his eyebrows and didn't reply. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Borgin started talking again. "You must be powerful enough to use it if you can see it. I wouldn't try though… that ring… that ring drives you mad."

"You still haven't told me what it does." Harry stated calmly, ignoring Borgin's earlier comment.

"It's called a dualis ring for a reason you daft boy! It splits you into two." Suddenly, Borgin became quiet. Harry, deciding not to press the subject, asked about buying a pensieve. Borgin just pointed to a nearby shelf wordlessly and as Harry examined the row of pensieves trying to determine which one to buy, he could hear him muttering. "It splits you into two… yes… quite useful… drives you mad… yes… the human conscious was never meant to be split into two… no… no it wasn't… no… but did she listen…? Of course not… she was always trying new things… didn't listen… didn't realize… and now the boy… yes… the boy… I should give it to the boy… I have kept it for far too long… too long…"

Harry had just finished picking out his pensieve when Borgin seemed to wake up from his daze. " I'd like to purchase this…" Harry was cut off as Borgin waved him aside.

"Here are the rest of your purchases," he said, handing Harry his briefcase with the two books. Swiftely taking the invisibility cloak from Harry, Borgin pushed him out of the shop. "I have business to attend to and I'm sure you do too." Mr. Borgin shook his head, "It doesn't matter." And with that, Borgin walked back into his shop.

Harry opened his briefcase to the first compartment and put his two books, his backpack, and the empty pensieve inside. What the hell was wrong with Borgin? Harry wondered as he closed his briefcase and walked swiftly out of Knockturn Alley. The sun hadn't quite set yet outside so there was still time to get the rest of his much needed supplies.

At Flourish and Blotts, Harry bought more than half a dozen books. He got a copy of Everyday Household Spells by Hannah Quigsby, Advanced Transfiguration by Raine Cogswop, La Crème de La Crème : Wizarding Ettiquette by Eclaire Malarez, Most Potent Potions by Horatio Crawford, Veritas: Magical Disguises and Surveillance by Kolbart Stork, Quickspell : A Guide to Advanced Charms by Dilacio Degall, and Wizard Deals : Prices For the Inexperienced by Robert Wiklestick. Harry paid twenty-three galleons for the books and left for the Apothecary.

"Albus, this is wonderful." In truth, Molly Weasley was never very comfortable with asking her oldest son in Hogwarts to take his NEWTs early and leave school. Percy shouldn't have to pay for our mistakes… NO. Molly shook her head. Ron was not a mistake, Ginny was not a mistake… they weren't very well planned, but certainly not a mistake. It doesn't matter Molly! She scolded herself. Albus is going to help put Ron through school. Thank goodness he was a bright child. I must remember to ask Albus for those test scores…

Harry stepped out of the Apothecary with over 700 new ingredients as well as a potions lab stowed away in his briefcase, second compartment. He had managed to barter the price down to 211 galleons after arguing that his was a large order and deserved the best price. That left him with 16 galleons left. The ring burned again and Harry quickly made his way back to Gringotts to change the gold into pounds. The exchange rate was good today and he got 224 pounds. The Weasleys could live like kings in the muggle world… Harry thought as he left Gringotts, crossed the barrier and apparated back to 4 Privet Drive

The first thing Harry did when he got back was transfiguring the briefcase from the black leather material to midnight gray titanium. Then, he shrunk it to roughly the size of a small paperback book and was just about to shove it into the baggy jeans of his pocket when he groaned and hit himself on the forehead with exasperation. He was planning to settle in to his new room in the second compartment wasn't he? Why did he shrink the briefcase? Harry pulled the ring out from inside his shirt to check his energy levels. 25 percent gone, he thought. Not bad. His magical core was expanding fast. He took the briefcase out of his pocket and was about to enlarge it again when a thought struck him. What if…? It would work… he had seen the room before. Harry pictured the room inside of his case and apparated there. He sighed with relief as he saw the potions lab and ingredients in the corner of the room. So it is possible to apparate here he thought, and mentally reminded himself to take the locks off of the case when he went back out again. After all, he wouldn't need them any more. Harry conjured a soft king sized mattress with a pillow and dutifully plopped down on it. Pulling the ring back out from under his shirt, Harry thought about how irritating it was that he had to do this every time he wanted to check his energy and how weird it would look when he got back to Hogwarts. He decided to cast a gradual incline charm on it. Now the ring went from icy cold (0 degrees Fahrenheit) to burning (100 degrees Fahrenheit) and all of the degrees in between depending on the percentage of energy he had left. The ring was now warm which indicated near 50. Harry shrugged. Conjuring always took more energy than transfiguration or apparation. After all, you were practically starting out from scratch with the air molecules. Settling down more comfortably, Harry decided to start on one of the books he had just bought. One problem though… ALL of his books were in the other compartment. Harry groaned, he didn't want to get up from the comfortable mattress but he couldn't apparate into the other compartment… it was way too small. Then another thought struck him. If he could apparate himself and his items to and from Diagon Alley, why wouldn't he be able to just apparate the books from the other compartment into this one? Stretching his magic out, Harry mentally surrounded his books and moved them from the first to the second compartment.

Ooofff, Harry cringed as nine books dropped onto his stomach. He was pushing the books off of his stomach with haste when a black book caught his eye. It's The Dualis Ring! Harry thought, remembering Borgin's words and strange behavior. Splits you into two? If I can do it, then I won't have any problems going back to Diagon Alley and keeping up with the rest of the wizarding world. Deciding that it was too good of a opportunity to keep waiting, Harry flipped open the book and began reading.

Albus was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron waiting for one Arabella Figg to arrive and thinking about his earlier meeting with Molly Weasley. She had been surprised when he had contacted her the night her letter had been received to deliver the tests to the Weasley residence. She was even more surprised at how quickly he could get things done when he arrived the next day with the results. Perhaps it was a bit… rushed, but he had felt that it was necessary to move things along.

" Albus?"

It was the middle of the night and Harry knew he should sleep before he collapsed from exhaustion, but he didn't. He had read The Dualis Ring from cover to cover before trying the actual thing on, but nothing could prepare him for what came next. The feeling of ripping in two was agonizing. Even worse, was the feeling after that. The buzzing and constant stream of information was too much. Borgin had been right. It was maddening. In the end he had to completely separate one entity from the other. This of course, caused his "other self" to stop breathing. He had to rip off the ring to stop his other half from dying. With practice though, Harry was sure he would be able to get it right.