It had been so easy. Robert had slipped back into the alley, where Oscar, the lousy drunk, remained unconscious. He double checked to make sure that no one had followed him and then reached into the robes of the man. He found an identification card the Wizards Weekly Chess Club that had expired 3 years ago, several cigarettes but Robert cared for neither of those items. He found his prize in the top pocket of the man’s robes, he withdrew the wand and twirled it in his fingers. It was little shorter than what his used to be and the balance was not right but it would do until he could afford another one.
“Lumos!” he whispered quickly testing the wand, and as the tip of the emitted a soft glow, he muttered the counter sending the alley back into darkness. He pocketed the wand as his own, along with several galleons that he had found.
He was sure the man would wake up in a state of confusion, but it didn’t bother Robert in the slightest. If you wanted to get anywhere in this world you had to stand on a few peoples toes, he just didn’t allow other people to stand on his own. Those who tried often ended up being knocked back, ashamed, landing on their fat arses. It were those that somehow managed to get away with it that angered Robert, Lycas was one of those. But he wouldn’t be ‘getting away with it’ for much longer. Robert had a temper and if angered, he was often unstoppable until he his rage had worn out or he got revenge.
He then pulled the hood up on his jacket and left the sanctuary of the shadow, into the street of Knockturn Alley and eventually staggered through a side passage onto Diagon Alley. The sky was beginning to glow red, as the sun set in the sky, the last few shoppers were finishing up and beginning to head home. Robert kept his eyes down, but he couldn’t help notice the strange looks that he got as he hobbled towards the Apothecary. He then realised that he must have looked a state, he trouser leg was torn and bloodied from the attack and the rest of his clothes were not much better. Normally he wouldn’t care about what he looked like, but he didn’t need any more attention. He was able to get away with it on the streets of Knockturn, but Diagon was so ‘sparkly’ and clean that he stuck out like a sore thumb.
He stepped behind a stack of crates and pulled the stolen wand from his pocket, he cast a quick repair charm on his clothes and also ‘Scourgify’ his skin stung slightly as the magic worked but with that done he no longer looked like he had been pulled through to the 7th circle of hell and back.
He watched the people walk past, stupid mindless people that had no idea what was going on in the world, they just went about their everyday mundane lives, waking up, going to work, going home, to only start it all over again the next day. Meanwhile a storm was beginning to grow and Robert had been a part of it, but like all storms left damage where ever they touched and Robert was proof of just that.
Robert stepped out in front of a group of business men that looked like they had just come from Gringotts, bumping into one on the edge of the group he mutter an insincere apology and as he continued down street, placed the heavy bag of coins in his pocket. Robert had known how to take care of himself when he was younger and had never forgotten the tricks of the trade. He had been lucky to get his worthless job at Hogwarts, but if Robert had his own way, he would get out of that place as soon as possible. He couldn’t stand the kids for one, and the rest of the staff got on his nerves almost as much as the lousy kids.
The bell over the shop door rang as he entered the apothecary, and the small weedy boy that Robert recognised as one of the brats that had just graduated Hogwarts turned to face him.
“Excuse me, but we are closing, if you would -” Robert cut the boy off with a sharp glare, that many of the students of Hogwarts had been victim too. He didn’t care whether you were a first year or a seventh year, you were still not worth a second of his time.
“I will see Yatzek. Now,” Robert growled the order at the boy which sent him scurrying off out the back, to return a couple of moments later. He said nothing but lifted the counter so that Robert could get through to the back.
“No need to scare James, on his first day Campbell,” the man sat at a counter head bent over several cauldrons didn’t even look up when Robert entered the room. The strong smell of burning wood, fire whiskey and aniseed caught Roberts’s attention and he was on the lookout for a rather special potion. “So what is it that gives me the pleasure of your company?”
Robert slowly walked around the room, peering into each of the cauldrons curiously as he passed one but keeping his eyes mainly on the apothecary. He didn’t trust the man in particular but he knew that Yatzek had had is fair share of trouble in his time so was unlikely to go causing any fuss that would get him into any more. Robert had been to him several times in the past for a bit of dubious dealings and nothing had come of it and he knew that Yatzek could deliver what was needed.
“Well let’s just say I had a bit of an accident,” Robert bent over and lifted up his trouser leg, to reveal a rather grizzly looking scar where a nasty wound had been earlier, Kristof’s potion had worked it’s magic but the pain was still there, “I want something for the pain, fire whiskey isn’t doing its usual job.”
Yatzek stepped out from behind the counter and removed his glasses placing them on top of a book. He crouched down in front of Robert to get a closer look at the scarring and the wound. He then glanced up at Robert with a curious and knowing look in his eye he was met with a glare that said ‘ask no questions and you’ll get no lies’.
“Well I might have something,” he said rubbing his chin as he stood up, he turned his back and went to a cabinet and began sifting through the different bottles and vials, “How bad is the pain?”
“Lets just saying it’s a constant gnawing of teeth ripping through my flesh,” Robert had no time for idle chat, he needed to get home and sleep. His mind was spinning with his thoughts and the pain and he just needed to get his mind cleared.
“I see,” Yatzek then grabbed a stool and moved onto a shelf above his head, and pulled a black bottle down. “This’ll do. It tastes revolting like the burnt remains of a snorkack but it’s the strongest I’ve got. A mouthful every 5 hours should be enough, don’t overdo it Campbell otherwise you’ll end up knocking yourself out for a day or too.”
“And that would be a bad thing?” Robert muttered. He took the bottle, opened the lid, and wrinkled his nose as he followed Yatzek’s advice of just one mouthful. Yatzek hadn’t been lying about how dreadful it was going to taste, but Robert didn’t care as long as it numbed the pain, it could have burnt his throat. He put the stopped back in the bottle and put it in his pocket, handing the apothecary a couple of galleons.
“Try keeping yourself out of trouble Campbell,” the man called as Robert turned his back and left the room. He was not one for pleasantries and so just grunted in response. He didn’t understand why people pretended to care when if it came to it they would rat out their own mother if it saved their own skin.
He left the shop giving the boy another glare for good measure and stepped out into the evening light, the street was almost empty with all the shops now closed people had no need to hang around. The potion he had just taken was starting to kick in and make him slightly drowsy too so he drew his newly acquired wand from his pocket and disapparated.
The blinds of a nearby window flicked shut as they watched the Hogwarts Caretaker leave Diagon Alley. “Impossible,” a low voice growled in agitation and a glass smashed as it was launched at a wall.
