Knockturned for The Better (Harry Potter Shopkeeper Quest)

[Take her on]

Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!

—

Nikola rubbed his chin, there was a time his hair grew there, something he had to shave with rather increasing regularity. But his hair had stopped growing several months ago, he was actually rather worried about what might happen were he to have it damaged honestly, as he rather doubted hair tonics would work on him as they would for normal wizards. But, more important than that, he was mulling over if he… honestly could afford to have pity. Pity was a dangerous thing, pity forced one to lower their guard, pity added an aspect of risk, pity caused people to feel like they owed someone else, or worse, the granter could feel like they had power. People had come to him for pity in the past, people had begged, people had pleaded. But as he had always been taught. Things aren't given for free. They can certainly be sold cheaply, but never free. IT was too easy to take advantage, or be taken advantage of.

The less people he was connected to the better. There were people who hunted him, people who wanted him permanently dead. People who wanted his family dead, and they were hidden, but they weren't safe. They would never be truly safe until they were out of Serbia. So, to that end, it was a bad idea. It drew attention, the woman had been dead now for over a century, she had lived long enough.

… But he also knew the dullness that came with her circumstance. The permanent cold, the detachment from humanity. He closed his eyes, it is a stupid idea. And he is far too practiced to be making stupid decisions these days.

Nikola blinks slowly, realizing he had left her hanging on his last words now for some time. "Kindly drink your tea before it gets cold. The ingredients are rather rare and the magic took practice."

Hesperance hesitates for a moment, her head turning down to look at the cup. Her fingers play along the ceramic, unbelieving of the fact that she is actually holding it. She raises the cup slowly, fighting shakes as she lifts it to her lips, then drinks. The liquid disappears, fading away as it touches her tongue, and her eyes widen in shock as she pulls the cup away.

"It's awful!" Hesperance gasps.

"Indeed, bu-"

"But I can taste it." Hesperance says, then lifts the cup again. Drinking less like a refined lady and more like a man after a long shift. Her entire body shudders as she gulps down the rancid concoction. She finally pulls it away, but not far, she's smelling the cup, her eyes closed as she lives in the shocking return of sensation she likely hasn't felt for quite some time.

Nikola clears his throat, and Hesperance's eyes open to look at him. Gone was the regal bearing, gone was the dignity to the tone. It's replaced by naked awe. "H-how?"

"Through methods you shall not speak of and I shall not tell you should you wish to remain here." Nikola says, then pushes away from his counter to walk across the room and close the curtain over the door. He would not remain open today, he has a man to track down. "I do not have a room for you to stay in, nor can I pay you. But you are free to haunt this place so long as you do act as a security guard."

"But… how did…" She continues to stare at him. Seemingly having lost the finer points of speech entirely.

Nikola smiles. It was his first time sharing that concoction, he is… rather pleased it worked, considering how little skill he had for potion making in his youth. He rather hated that brew, but he could taste it, and that is enough to at least remind himself that he is alive. "Feel free to get a feel for the place, I would ask you not to attempt to possess any of my stock however."

Her eyes flit to the teacup still held in her hands. "You'll… be letting me stay then?"

"I thought I made that quite clear, yes."

She pulls the teacup closer to herself, pressing it against the front of her dress, her eyes fluttering shut as she feels the warmth against her 'skin'. Nikola stares at her for a few moments more, then turns his attention to the door. "I shall return in time, I have a man to track down."

If Hesperance heard him, she didn't show it, and Nikola left the building quietly, stepping back out into the slowing rain. Now then, to find a giant. He reached back, his suitcase appearing in his hand, and he strolled off. Idly wondering if, perhaps, he had just made a mistake. But then, perhaps coming to England was a mistake. Or leaving Serbia was a mistake. Or allowing yourself to be questioned originally was a mistake. Perhaps being so kind to grandmother was a mistake. Perhaps, perhaps. For now though, he had a man to find. Something he was rather good at.

—

Finding him wasn't hard, to his relief, simply asking nearby passersby if a giant had come around recently had gotten him both a rather firm description of the man, and directions on where he usually could be found. And, indeed, he did find him. The man was easily twelve feet tall, with a bushy beard that somehow framed his face enough to make his head almost seem normal. It is, however, at odds with the fact that the man was quite wide as well, easily thrice as wide as Nikola is, and, of course, far taller. People rather hurriedly moved out of his way as he walked, but he didn't stomp around, he moved gently, with care, moving around things and doing his best not to get in anyone's way. Nikola first spotted him walking out of a pet shop, holding three wrought iron cages in his right hand by chains, each roughly the size of one of Nikola's legs.

The man then continued on out of Diagon Alley and into Horizont Alley, a place Nikola had yet to visit, but then. He had hardly had the time to rightfully explore Knockturn Alley either. Something he planned on fixing that very day. The man dipped into a building, a bar from the looks of it. Called 'The Witch's Brew'.

Nikola spotted him rather easily as he himself slipped inside. The man wasn't so much taking up the table, as the table was taking him. The bar, for a lack of a better word, was rather grungy, though perhaps, Nikola thought, that was putting the place to a grave injustice. After all, the grunge had grunge, it was the grunge and grime of many years. The kind that only came about by a place that specifically wanted to look out of sorts and suitably dark and foreboding. Indeed, the shadows were deeper here, the candles dimmer. They flickered and waned with every word spoken, with every breath that passed by. And they did pass by, the air was unnaturally misty here, the temperature was the same, the muggy heat of Central London after a rain permeated the place, but still, there was an unnatural chill in the air. The fact Nikola could feel it was proof enough it was not normal.

A skull sat above the bar, swinging itself around on a long enchanted pole, watching over the patrons with eyeless sockets of either curiosity, suspicion, or just a cheap effect of being creepy. The place was dark, the place was evil, the place… was putting on an act. It was themed, it was attempting to be… less than pleasant, for what reason Nikola couldn't say. But Nikola knew from a simple glance at the clientele that it was far from malicious. Perfectly normal witches and wizards were loitering about, enjoying the atmosphere and talking quietly amongst themselves. Nikola's eyes moved back to the giant sitting at the table, the man lounging back against the booth-seat and causing it to lean rather precariously back and over the nearest patron.

Nikola walks over, and, without a word, places his briefcase onto the table. The giant starts, first drawing his massive eyes to the briefcase, then to the man placing it on the table.

"Hagrid?" Nikola asks.

"Who's askin'?" the man replied, in a voice that made it clear he very much was, but was also rather suspicious of being asked.

"Nikola Nikolic, salesperson. I've heard you have an interest in magical creatures."

Hagrid stares at Nikola, his eyes shifting from the man, to the briefcase.

"... Nothing illegal is it?" Hagrid asks warily.

"Not that I've been made aware of." Sitting down, and barely fitting, on the bench across from Hagrid. Nikola taps his staff against the ground before setting it across his lap, a silencing charm forming around the edge of the table. "Any particular thoughts on crocodiles?" Nikola asks.

Popping the latches on the briefcase, it opens, revealing the bound Crocus weakly, lethargically, struggling inside. Hagrid's eyes land on it much like a hawk does a particularly white rabbit in a field of mowed grass. He grins. "Oooh, it's just a little baby that is. Why ya got him all done up?"

"He's normally about twelve feet long, nearly impervious to magic, and has the ability of speech." To prove his point, Nikola undoes the bit of miniature rope holding the creature's mouth closed, his other hand rests upon his staff, ready to use it if need be. Staffs were rather tricky things to use in close quarters, it was for that reason most preferred wands, but he would manage.

Crocus spat and growled. "I AM CROCUS, LORD OF THE NILE, AND I WILL NOT BE CONTAINED BY CHEAP MAGIC TRI-" Anything further that was to be said was rather abruptly cutoff by Hagrid picking up the creature and hugging it against his chest.

"Oh it's just adorable!" Hagrid says, laughing as he hoists the creature up. "Oh, it's a feisty one too!"

Said feistiness, Nikola observed, was Crocus biting down on the man's thumb with enough force to draw blood. It seemed to not particularly bother the man however. Reaching down, he pried Crocus's jaw away from his hand and set it gently down. Crocus in turn, thrashing and angry, trying to release itself from the rest of its bounds.

"Just a crocodile ya say?" Hagrid asks, curiosity peppering his tone.

"As far as I'm aware," Nikola replies. "Though it's obviously magic of some sort. I thought you might be interested in it. It's only fair to stress, again…" Nikola looks down to the table. "Crocus, as he calls himself, is rath-"

"She." Hagrid says giddily.

"... She?" Nikola asks.

"Aye," Hagrid says, not explaining further.

"Right, well, she is rather adept at ignoring magic, and she's quite fierce besides. So she's definitely magic, though anything further I have yet to figure out."

"I'll give ya two-hundred galleons fer her."

Nikola thought on the figure for a moment, on the one hand, he didn't know if that was enough. On the other, this was also likely the easiest way to get rid of the thing. And, regardless, this was establishing a likely useful contact. "Agreed."

Hagrid grinned a particularly dumb, but charming grin. "Wonderful!" the giant fished his hand into his coat and… pulled out a rather sizable money purse. Nikola briefly wondered if it was safe carrying that much around, then he thought better of it when he compared the size of the purse, which was the size of his head, to the side of Hagrid's hand, which was noticeably bigger than that.

The man leaned over the table, counting out the coins in bunches, which did admittedly take a great deal of time. All the while Crocus was sounding out threat after threat. A few heads in the bar turned to look their way, they couldn't hear anything going on, but the tiny Crocodile on the table was distinctive enough. The money was pushed across the table, checked in turn, and then shrunk and deposited into a jacket pocket. "I would suggest moving that thing out of town rather quickly, the shrinking spell likely won't last much longer."

"Oh that won't be any bother," Hagrid says, though only half paying attention. He had Crocus in his hands now, a pair of fingers holding her jaw's shut as he looked her over. "I'll be headin' back to the school in just a short bit. Got a place fer her there."

"School?" Nikola asks curiously.

"Aye," Hagrid replies, not looking up. "I'm the Gameskeeper at Hogwarts," he gains a proud grin. "Best Wizarding School in the world."

"Congratulations," Nikola replies with a small smile. "I run a shop in Knockturn Alley bearing my name, please do visit if you have the chance. I'll keep an eye out for more magical creatures."

If Hagrid heard him, Nikola couldn't tell, the man was too busy cooing at Crocus as the thing attempted valiantly to bite at his finger. Closing the briefcase, Nikola made his way back out of the bar, leaving the giant to his prize.

… A rather successful adventure with Morrigan then. Certainly nothing to be displeased by considering the work was done in less than a day. Of course, he also knew he made a fair bit less than he could have. But then, he didn't exactly know his way around that line of work either. Letting out a breath, turning his head up to see the rain coming down. His next stop was to find where the auctions were held and to explore his neighborhood a bit more, perhaps visit Morrigan's shop. With that in mind, he began to walk, and as he did…

—

He found himself encountering…

[] [A figure from the past]
Dangerous, very dangerous, but one providing great benefit.

[] [A figure of… little worth]
Abandoned, scorned, starving. Thirsting for blood.

[] [A figure of renown]
The man with blonde hair sought dangerous things, things that he didn't believe Borgin and Burkes could get him.