Alex couldn’t help but smirk. The bearded man’s pitiful dispy was almost ughable. "Cooperation, huh?" Alex leaned against the sink, his tone cold. "Fine, but I don’t waste time on useless people. What you offer me?"

  "I—I help you! I’ll do whatever you need, even... kill if you wao. I’ve never do before, but I could. And I know things—important things. I could advise you!" Karkaroff stammered desperately.

  "Advise me?" Alex raised an eyebrow, his i mildly piqued. "All right, then. Tell me something useful about the Death Eaters."

  Karkaroff swallowed hard. "I know their identities—many of them, even those who hide under false pretenses. Like Severus Snape! He’s one of them, a Death Eater! He’s even w at Hogwarts as a professor—practically the Dark Lord’s right-hand man!"

  Alex sighed. "You’re tellihings I already know." He grabbed Karkaroff by the colr, ready to dive into his mind with Legilimency.

  "No, wait!" Karkaroff yelped, his voice panicked. "I know something else! Torquil Travers—he has a secret!"

  Alex paused, narrowing his eyes. "Go on."

  "There’s a basement in this house, protected by powerful entments. I’ve seen it before, just once. Whatever’s down there, it’s important. Really important."

  Listening to Karkaroff’s rambling expnation, Alex couldn’t help but feel a headache ing on. Still, he mao make sense of the story. “So, you’re saying you discovered there’s a basement in this house, and you suspect there’s some kind of secret hidden down there?” Alex crified, smoothing out the jumbled words for him.

  “Yes.” Karkaroff nodded nervously, swallowing hard.

  ‘That’s odd. I don’t remember seeing anything about this in Torquil’s memories. Could it have been cealed under some kind of protective spell? If so, there might really be something valuable down there.’

  “Alright,” Alex said after a moment’s thought. “Let’s check it out. But first, eat this.”

  From his pocket, Alex retrieved a tiny pill, ner than a fiip. Its appearance was straallic yet textured like wood. “What is this?” Karkaroff eyed the pill suspiciously, a hint of fear creeping into his expression.

  “Stop wasting time.” Alex didn’t bother expining. He grabbed Karkaroff by the jaw, pried his mouth open, and shoved the pill in.

  Karkaroff gagged and tried to spit it out, but it was too te. The pill slid down his throat, leaving a cold, iion behind. Moments ter, he felt something uling. The pill seemed alive, wriggling inside him like it had legs. It crawled through his stomach before anch itself to the stomach wall. Then came the sharp, searing pain, as if roots were burrowing deep into his flesh.

  Karkaroff colpsed to the floor, writhing in agony and drenched i. “If you ever think about betraying me or stepping out of line...” Alex raised his right hand, spreading his fingers before snapping them shut in a threateniure. “One snap, and you’ll be hit with a Boom. Got it?”

  Gasping for breath, Karkaroff nodded weakly, his face twisted in fear. His life was irely in Alex’s hands, and he k. Satisfied, Alex generously removed the binding spell holding Karkaroff in pce.

  Karkaroff, still trembling, climbed to his feet, one hand clutg his ag stomach. His posture was hunched, and his demeanor radiated submission as he stood silently by Alex’s side. “Show me where the entrao the basement is,” Alex ordered.

  “Yes, Master,” Karkaroff mumbled, bowing slightly before leading the way down to the first floor.

  When they reached the staircase, Karkaroff stopped and poio a se of the smooth wall beh the stairs. “It’s here,” he said. “I saw Torquil open a hidden trapdoor in this spot. He went in through a small door that appeared on the wall.”

  Alex examihe wall, his waing a faint light. “Alright, step back.”

  From his belongings, Alex pulled out the Hammer Without Injury and gave the wall a firm whack. Karkaroff watched in fusion as Alex repeatedly struck the wall with peared to be a mundane hammer. He opened his mouth to question him but stopped when glowing lines began to appear on the surface. The patterns were intricate, f a web of magical ruhat shimmered faintly in the dim light.

  After a few more hits, the runes fully revealed themselves. Alex leaned closer, studying them with i. “The main spell is a ‘prehensive Prote Charm.’ It’s got yers of entments: Anti-Apparition, Safeguarding, Shielding, Ciphering—you . Pretty solid work. Regur wizards wouldn’t stand a ce of breaking it,” Alex muttered, nodding in appreciation.

  But this wasn’t a challenge for him. Drawing his wand, Alex tapped several key nodes within the magical lihe glow began to fade, and sooire wall shifted. Like an intricate meism, it folded inward, revealing a small doorway just over a meter high.

  Alex summoned a ball of light, sending it floating into the opening. The warm glow illuminated a steep stoaircase leading downward, though the bottom remained shrouded in darkness. He g Karkaroff and motiooward the door with a jerk of his . The message was clear: You first.

  Karkaroff’s face twisted into a grimace, as though he’d been asked to sign his owh warrant. “Move it,” Alex snapped when Karkaroff hesitated.

  Relutly, Karkaroff ducked into the narrow opening and began desding the staircase, each step slow and cautious. “Faster!” Alex barked. “It’s not like you ’t see—I’ve got the light right in front of you!”

  Startled, Karkaroff quied his pace, though his movements were still jittery. “Anything dangerous down there?” Alex called from the doorway, his voice eg faintly in the enclosed space.

  “Not so far, Master,” Karkaroff replied hesitantly. “It looks like an ordinary basement.”

  Feeling a bit more at ease, Alex stepped inside and followed him down. Ohey reached the bottom, Alex waved his wand, summoning multiple orbs of light that floated around the room, illuminating the entire area.

  The basement was massive, almost as rge as the first floor above. On one side en ste area filled with shelves, while the other side had several closed-off rooms. The floor aved with thick, polished stone sbs, and the air had an odd smell—a dry, sterile st remi of a hospital after the chemical smell of alcohol had faded.

  Alex sed the shelves and found them stocked with preserved food and alcohol. There were bundles of sausages, sbs of ba, ham from warthogs, wheels of cheese, and rows of ed goods. It was a survivalist’s dream. “This is... ued,” Alex muttered, his eyes narrowing as he studied the well-stocked shelves. “Karkaroff, keep watch. I o take a closer look.”