Chapter 427 Do it if you can (2 in 1)

These two strikes back from Lily restricted any trouble they might have encountered in Knockturn Alley this time.

The other dumb people could see that this mother and son were not to be messed with.

The Unforgiven Curse is by no means a low-end spell, not to mention the fact that normal magic schools simply don't teach the slightly higher levels of dark magic, and access to learning it is a huge problem. Even if there was a way to learn it, there were very few wizards who could use it successfully and make it work, and the vast majority of those people were concentrated in the Death Eaters under Voldemort.

And with Lily casting two Cruciatus curses without saying a word, and the audacity to bring a child to the infamous Knockturn Alley at such a young age, any fool could guess that this was a tough nut to crack.

After that, Jon and Lily had no further trouble in Knockturn Alley.

It wasn't until they reached the end of Knockturn Alley that they found a section as dirty as the wooden shack area ahead of them, but with a few open shops.

Lily selected one of the most unassuming ones, more like a humble wooden shack than a shop.

She led Jon inside by lifting the rag that served as a door, and inside there was a small room with all sorts of vials and strange things.

During his time in Durmstrang, Jon had studied a lot about dark magic in addition to the three unforgivable curses, and with many forbidden books in his ring, he could see at a glance that 80 percent of the things in the shop were related to dark magic.

The remaining twenty percent were not without problems, but with Jon's current stock of knowledge, he could not recognise them yet.

As he entered, Jon saw an old woman sitting behind the counter, wearing a large pointed hat that hid her face, a cane full of wooden knots in her hand, and hunched over behind the rickety counter.

"A rare visitor, a rare visitor indeed."

She looked as if she saw who the visitor was through the gap in the wide brim of her hat and let out a sigh of exclamation in that unpleasant voice.

"I can't believe you would actually visit me at this time of the year, why would you risk coming to Britain when it is your time to spring into high gear? Or is the peace that Dumbledore and the current Lord of Britain have made since the end of the Triwizard Tournament just a blindfold? Are you planning a new move?"

Lily frowned at the bowed and hunched old witch and said in a cold voice.

"You better talk to me in your old voice and look, Tom, you should be able to tell I'm in a bad mood."

Hearing the name Tom caused Jon to look slightly sideways.

As far as he could remember there were only two well-known people named Tom in the original story, one was naturally "Tom Riddle" who hated the name his mother had given him, and the other, according to the normal worldline, would have been "Old Tom", the owner of the Leaky Cauldron Inn in Diagon Alley.

The old witch laughed twice at Lily's nonchalant words, then she pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling, and the rag that had been used as the door to the room was sealed as if it had been caught in the door frame, sealing the only way in and out.

Having done so, the old hag reached up and removed the peaked hat with a wide brim that she wore on her head, and just at that moment, it left her head.

The old hunchbacked, elderly witch changed shape in an instant in front of Jon and Lily, and a balding, slim, but straight-backed old man stood up from behind the counter.

Sure enough, to Jon's surprise, it was the former owner of the Leaky Cauldron Inn, the same Tom now posing as an old hag and hiding in Knockturn Alley to set up shop.

The Leaky Cauldron Inn, which Jon had visited with Dumbledore during his first year summer holidays, now under Voldemort's rule, had turned out to be owned by the former owner of Borgin and Burkes shop, Voldemort's boss when he was working in his younger days, and it was somewhat saddening to see that the old Tom, who used to be the owner of the Leaky Cauldron Inn, had actually swapped places with Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley.

"It's been a long time, Mrs Potter, and I have heard that you are doing well in France?"

Old Tom had a flattering smile piled on his face, his wrinkled face gleaming like a blooming daisy, as he turned his head to look at Jon.

"And this is? I've never heard of anyone in the Order of the Phoenix with a child who's only this old?"

Jon was standing right behind Lily, one hand still clutching the corner of her coat, pretending and acting the image of a scared little boy.

For all intents and purposes, this old Tom should have some connection with the Order of the Phoenix, but apparently, the connection wasn't all that deep.

Without any semblance of pleasantries or conversation about anything else, Lily went straight to the point and stated the reason for her visit.

"Never mind who he is. Find out how many people in total came to Knockturn Alley between 9.20 and 9.30 via Apparition for me now, and whether any of those people have left yet."

The smile on Tom's face froze at Lily's request, but he soon smiled a little wryly in return.

"Perhaps you don't understand, since the end of the Triwizard Tournament and your win, the British magical community has become somewhat restless now, and only yesterday an Auror came to Knockturn Alley for an inspection, and they also have assigned a permanent group of personnel here, so if I were to check for you, then-"

Lily just looked at him indifferently and cut him off.

"Don't forget who helped you get a foothold here in the first place, and don't forget what you promised then. Or do you think some of those words can no longer be counted as time goes on?"

"No, no, no, of course, I don't mean that, but you have to think about my safety too, right?" Old Tom said in a rush.

However, Lily just stared at him.

"If you really wanted to be safe then you could have gone to France by now, it might not be easy to leave the country from the rest of Britain, but it's not that difficult of a feat in Knockturn Alley, you've been holed up here because you thought that there would be a day when the Dark Lord might be able to rule all of Europe, and you've been under the illusion of still being able to submit a proof for your bloodline right? "

Tom looked as if he had been caught red-handed, a look of embarrassment and some fear crossed his face as he looked at Lily with an almost pleading gaze.

"I've already been through all sorts of things Mrs Potter, Professor Potter, I've lost my Inn, and I've lost my home, the only reason I'm still lingering here in Britain to this day is to get back what was mine, so proving I'm a pureblood is the only way to fulfil my wish, not me trying to bully the muggle-born or anyone else! "

"You were saved by Dumbledore when you were thrown out of the Leaky Cauldron Inn and were left on the streets nearly starving to death with your wand broken. He was also the one who helped you find a place to stay in Knockturn Alley when you didn't want to join us. Why didn't you say at that time that you just wanted your possessions back? Why did you promise at that time that you wouldn't say no to anyone in the Order of the Phoenix whenever they needed your help in the future?"

Lily pulled out her wand and aimed it at Old Tom's forehead.

"Now you only have two choices, either you do it or I will find a way to get it out of your head and I will find someone who could do it myself!"

Old Tom was stunned.

His pleading and crying face was gone for a moment, he had thought that he had got the psychology of the people on Dumbledore's side correctly, that these people were typically soft rather than hard, and that if he acted sufficiently weak now, then he would not have to take that risk at the end.

But apparently, Lily's behaviour was completely beyond his expectations!

This "Mrs Potter" was not acting like a righteous person at all, but more like a Death Eater than a Death Eater, turning her back before he could say a word, and her wand was about to poke Old Tom's head in!

Old Tom could see that this widow in front of him was not joking and that her calm, restrained face looked like she would go mad at any time!

"Take it easy! I'll look into it! I'm checking!"

He faltered, not daring to hesitate any longer, and reached out to rummage through the broken cupboard at the back and pulled out a clear round ball.

The glass ball looked filthy, its surface covered in dust, and in places, it looked like it had been knocked out of place and covered in black mud.

Lily hadn't lowered the wand in her hand, still aimed at old Tom's skull, and just stared at him fondling the dirty ball, then the whole thing lit up with a kind of greyish light.

"Three, there were three people who came to Knockturn Alley in the last ten minutes using Apparition."

Before Old Tom could finish his words, the tip of Lily's wand lit up with a red light and the next moment Old Tom's body went limp and his whole body fell to the ground.

The glass ball he was holding also rolled off and rolled under the cupboard.

Jon blinked, for a moment failing to understand why Lily had made her move just as Old Tom was about to reveal the location of the three people, and then he saw Lily waving her wand again, gazing at none other than Old Tom's greasy, bald head.

"Legilimens."

Silvery wisps of memory appeared along Lily's wand as a bridge to her mind, and the full information Old Tom had just received from the glass ball was thus truly and unmistakably available to her.

"For those who are unable to give you any credibility, then be suspicious of anything he says or does."

With these words, it was not clear whether Lily was lecturing Jon or explaining her actions, and as she spoke she turned towards the street outside, as if she had already determined the location of everyone who had come to Knockturn Alley at this time of day through Apparition.

Jon took one quick look at Old Tom, who had fallen unconscious on the ground, and then he quickly followed Lily's lead.

After exiting this old Tom's shop, Lily turned and cast a spell with the effect of blocking the entrance.

This was certainly not done simply to keep the unconscious Old Tom safe but for the greater purpose of protecting their own whereabouts.

Lily didn't say much more to Jon, and after getting the information about where those who Apparated had arrived here in Knockturn Alley at the time of Snape's escape from France, she led Jon at a brisk pace in the other direction of the street as if she had already made up her mind.

They soon crossed most of the street and came to a much cleaner and tidier section of the Alley, which was also a part of Knockturn Alley, except that the wizards who had set up shop here were obviously more capable or had more background than those elsewhere.

They arrived at a shop marked "Hancock's" and pushed their way in.

The shop looked like it sold some forbidden potions, and Jon even saw a sign hidden in the corner with the price of truth serum clearly marked on it.

The shopkeeper was a tall black man, and as Lily led Jon in, he took keen note of Lily's extraordinary demeanour.

"Good morning, this elegant and beautiful lady, I wonder what you need?"

He had the rare courtesy that most wizards in Knockturn Alley did not have.

Even if Knockturn Alley had been reorganised and turned into a place for pureblood families and some half-bloods to sell their loot and make some nasty transactions, not every noble people might be able to receive the service, and the owner of this magic shop had obviously seen the big world; Lily's dress and the fact that she had brought such a young child to such an area, which could be called the rubbish dump of the magical world, was obviously something only some crazy pureblood family could do.

"You may address me as Lady Nott." Lily said in an icy and condescending voice.

Jon craned his neck in return, tugging at the bow Lily had put on him earlier in front of him, and tilted his head with a haughty look on his face, pretending to be the little punk, no, the little young lord of some noble pureblood family.

"Mum, it really stinks here, it's dirtying my nose and eyes! When are we going to get home."

Seeing Lily's intention to be roundabout for a bit, Jon also had a heartfelt look of disgust and disdain on his face.

"Shut up! I told you to maintain the Nott family manners!"

She scolded Jon in a low, stern voice, then after blinking a little, she returned her gaze to the black shopkeeper.

Hearing their conversation, the shopkeeper relaxed slightly; he dealt with these pureblood lords all day long and naturally knew all about them having such a foul temper like that.

"Ah, so it's the Lady and the Young Lord of the Nott family, you-"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The shopkeeper, whose attention had been on Lily as he spoke, hadn't been expecting Jon, whose appearance was only six years old, to suddenly pull out a wand to cast a spell!

Without surprise, his eyes widened, and he could no longer control his already stiff body.

Having done so, Jon didn't stop and locked the door, while Lily began to extract the owner's memories of the wizard who had arrived at the shop via Apparition.

It was clear that both Jon and Lily were now acting on the principle of not forcing the issue if they could, and not causing more trouble if they could solve it with magic!

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