Caractacus Burke and the Tiny Book

13B Knockturn Alley looked just the same as it had two years previous, which was the last time Arundel had visited. She stood in the rain casting a critical eye over the peeling gold and green paint, and the bulging, rotten, wooden frames of the windows. The sign that creaked in the gentle wind was hardly legible. She pushed the door and was displeased to see it stuck and the bell above the door missed its chime.

"Seriously, anybody would think you were out of business," she called as she walked in. The display cabinets were dusty, a bell jar held a severed, shrunken head. And in a cabinet, she saw the same bloodstained pack of cards she had procured for them the last time she had visited. "Are you out of business?" she asked the empty shop. "Have you finally given up?"

A trap door banged behind the counter, Arundel caught a flicker of a reflection in the bell jar. She swung around and waved her hand, almost lazily, Burke's wand flew from his hand. A second flick and it skidded across the floor to her feet.

"No way to treat an old friend Caractacus."

Caractacus' eyes narrowed and a thin tongue licked across dry lips, which cracked into a wheesles smile. "Arundel, always a pleasure."

She turned his wand so it pointed into her chest and held it out for him to take. "Why so jumpy?"

"Something new, something exciting but not something…." he shrugged a conspirators shrug. "Not a day to be raided by ministers using a pollyjuce. Attacking you is the only way to be sure, I had to see how you reacted."

"How did you know the rumours are true?"

"You must teach me how you do it. Many wizards would kill to be able to work without a wand."

"I'll write a book when I'm old and have nothing better to do," Arundel laughed and she walked to the trapdoor where a thorned plant writhed in an attempt to get away from the light. "Who's it going to?"

"Phadious Weaver."

"The herbalist who lives in Scotland?"

Burke nodded once and kicked the trap door closed with the toe of his hobnailed boot. "You think my shops looking bad?"

"Borgen used to deal with the upkeep, where is he?"

"In Germany, buying cursed jewellery."

Arundel rolled her eyes and she moved between the shelves studying what was on offer, "Finally some new stock?"

"Nothing to get excited about, a number of the pure families are paying me retainer fees to keep contraband items safe. I said about the ministry rades, they get off on it I swear."

"You're not keeping things in the shop?" she asked.

Burke motioned to the chimney, "Elsewhere. Enough about me, Arundel, You've been away for ages, come through to the back and tell me about your travels."

"Just a sec-" She turned to the bell above the door and ran her hand across it, the green faded metal transformed into new polished brass, she flicked it and the bell chimed. Burke held open the back door for her and together they moved into a very comfortable sitting room, with furniture that had once been grand but was weathered and faded by time and use. A fire crackled, candles flickered, and a black kettle bubbled on a hot plate by the flames. Burkes' owl watched Arundel with wide orange eyes as she slid down onto the sofa and sighed. "It's been a while since I've been around friends."

Burke's smile was indulgent, but his guard had not dropped enough for her statement to be reciprocated. As much as she loathed to admit it, his coldness upset her. "Where have you been?" the old man asked as he scratched at the wild hair of his receding hairline. "I saw Severus Snape. He said you left England and he didn't seem happy about it. Then I saw Avery and he said you'd better not come back any time soon or he'd hex you for what you did."

"Yeah..." she brushed those comments off with a flick of her hand and a roll of her eyes as if they meant nothing to her. "Well, I've been in America, Europe and Africa," she kept direct eye contact, and a smile spread across her face when she saw the pang of greed in Burkes eyes. "Show me the book, Burke, please."

"I can't afford your fees."

"Don't be like that. We're friends, we help each other out," she hoped she sounded desperate enough for his resolve to melt.

He hesitated, then from around his neck he pulled a long chain with a tiny golden book pendant on the end. He pulled it off and placed it on the table in front of her then, muttering under his breath, he passed his wand over the top and the book grew into a thick tome. But the spells didn't stop there, she watched as he removed curse after curse until finally he opened the book for her and let her scan down the items on the pages.

These were lists of objects that people had requested Burke find for them. The buyer's names were not listed, of course. She pointed without speaking to three items and Burke made a mental note of "Fresh Dragon Tooth, Harpy's Voicebox and The Sand of Isambard," but she saw the object she was looking for on the list, there was a request for the Grants Artifacts, she knew who would have contacted Burke to put it on the list too.

"That last one, the Sands, is going to be the hardest to locate and none of them is going to be cheap for your buyers."

"Or me," Burke muttered. "But they will pay well if I can get the items."

"What about the other list?" Arundel asked and Burke closed the book, waved his wand across the surface and opened it again. Now she could see what Burke had to sell. These were the items that could see him put in Azkaban, they were items whose previous owners had died or been incarcerated, sometimes they were left over stock when a deal had gone bad.

"This one and this one are easy to find buyers for," she said, pointing to Root of Unicorn Horn and Centaurs Finger. "I know a family who collects these…" she pointed to four potions from the list.

Burke finally seemed satisfied, he leaned in closer, "Now we talk money."

Arundel smiled her sweetest smile, "Your buyers will pay fifty for the tooth, and two hundred for the voice box, but we're talking thousands for the Sands. You'll want to push the prices by ten percent at least right? And I want seventy percent as a finders fee."

Burke scratched the back of his head, "You're killing me," he sniffled. "I can't get as much as you think, people are worried in this market. "The Dark Lord is dead, the Ministry is breathing down our neck, lots of people want to sell but not many want to buy."

"Do you want to go and get a tooth from a dragon? do you picture Borgan ripping the voice box from a still live Harpy or battling Dementors for the Sands of Isambard?"

Burke pouted.

"I do these jobs for you because I enjoy the risk, but I don't do it for free."

"Sixty."

Arundel made a show of shaking her head, "no, I won't put myself at risk for sixty."

"Sixty-five then."

Her hand shot out, Burke grasped it, it was the number they always settled on anyway. "Sixty-forty on the other list, as always?" he asked.

"As always."

"And the same vault to deposit the cash?"

Arundel nodded, "I've got some things to sell too."

Burke smiled and started the complex motion of spells to put his book away and she pulled out the little bag and began to pull out a number of choice objects and potions. Burke cast a shrewd eye across her wears. Picking up items and examining them in the firelight with one eye squinting around a magnifying glass he pulled from his pocket. She watched him appraise, try and find faults he could knock her down on or questions over the purity of potions. "Some fine objects here," he told her. "Some rare."

"I know."

"What did you want for the lot it?"

"Seven hundred."

Burke pretended to consider the sum, he sucked air through his teeth and reexamined some of the items, it was a dance they did that never got old. "See here, this mark? See this discolouration, see how the metal fades." he would say as he studied. "No," he concluded. "Five at most, and I only do that because you're dear to me."

"Six."

Air hissed through teeth again, he shook his head, "there must be something else… what else can I do?"

"You could let me stay for a few days, above the shop like old times. You could be out of the way when Mad Eye comes to call."

Burke flinched, "What?" he asked. The dance forgot.

"And If you say yes and ask no questions I'll let you have the lot for five."