Borgin led Draco toward a tall piece of furniture covered by a dust cloth in the depths of the shop.
He glanced inconspicuously toward the door. "Of course, of course. It's just... are you sure you want to talk here?"
Draco impatiently pulled back the dust cloth, revealing a tall, black wooden cabinet.
"This is it." Draco reached out, stroking the cold surface of the cabinet. "How is the repair going?"
"Er, well... repairing it requires great skill and... some special materials," Borgin's tone became hesitant. "Moreover, it is very dangerous. You know, its counterpart..."
"I don't need you to lecture me!" Draco snapped, rolling up his left sleeve to reveal a patch of skin on his wrist that was still slightly blackened, like a half-healed brand.
Borgin's face turned deathly pale the moment he saw the mark.
"I... I understand, Mr. Malfoy. But this cabinet, its transport path is very unstable, I need time..."
"I don't have time!" Draco growled, grabbing Borgin by the collar. "Listen, you must fix it as soon as possible! Otherwise, you can expect a 'visit' from Fenrir Greyback! He seems to have taken a liking to old bones like yours lately!"
At the mention of Greyback's name, Borgin's teeth began to chatter.
Satisfied, Draco let go, dropped a cold final word, and turned to stride out of the shop.
Under the invisibility cloak, Harry and Ron looked at each other in shock.
Lia, however, kept her eyes fixed on the massive black wooden cabinet.
From the moment Draco pulled back the dust cloth, an extremely peculiar "scent" had entered her nostrils.
It smelled like ozone from a lightning strike, mixed with a sharp, acidic scent like metal grinding together after magic had been forcibly torn apart.
Even more terrifying was that this scent carried a dizzying sense of displacement, as if space itself had been tied into a knot here.
She suddenly looked up and whispered into Hermione's ear in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Hermione... that cabinet..."
"What about it?" Hermione replied softly, maintaining her composure.
"Its scent... the other end is at Hogwarts."
The black cabinet was reflected in Lia's blue eyes.
"The Room of Requirement! I smell it, the same scent of spatial distortion as last time. It can send people from here directly into the Castle!"
Hermione's heart sank abruptly.
A passage that could bypass all of Hogwarts' defensive magic and send people from Knockturn Alley straight into the Castle!
Voldemort's purpose in having Draco repair it was self-evident—to send Death Eaters, or even himself, into Hogwarts silently!
This was Draco's true mission!
Searching for the diadem was just a smokescreen put out by Lucius, or rather, it was Plan B!
"We have to tell Dumbledore right away!" Harry whispered urgently.
"No," Hermione immediately rejected his proposal, her voice frighteningly calm.
"Why not? Hermione! This is too dangerous!" Harry couldn't understand her reaction.
"What good would telling him do?" Hermione countered. "Dumbledore is busy executing another plan."
He was eager for Snape to perform a great service to win Voldemort's trust.
He might have known about this cabinet for a long time; perhaps it was even part of his plan!
If he could even gamble with his own life, did they really expect him to disrupt his entire grand design for a bit of 'possible' danger?
Hermione didn't explain the details of the "Death Plan" to Harry, but the information in her words was enough to stun both him and Ron.
They had never seen Hermione like this, her words full of skepticism toward the Principal and a maturity in judgment that bordered on cold-blooded.
Dumbledore had his big picture, but that big picture was full of sacrifices. She would never allow Lia to become any kind of sacrifice.
"Then... what do we do?" Ron stammered.
Hermione's gaze fell back onto the pitch-black cabinet, her eyes as steady as iron.
"We'll solve this trouble ourselves." She tugged at the invisibility cloak, signaling Harry and Ron to leave first. "You two go back to The Burrow and pretend you didn't see anything. This involves Voldemort's core mission; it's too dangerous for you to get involved. Harry, take care of yourself, don't be impulsive."
"But..."
Harry wanted to say more, but Hermione interrupted him.
"Don't worry, I have Lia."
He glanced at Lia, who was standing quietly beside Hermione, and remembered the figure who had clashed with Voldemort that day.
Fine, he couldn't compete with that.
After seeing Harry and Ron off, Hermione didn't leave Knockturn Alley.
She took Lia and stood in the shadows opposite Borgin and Burkes, waiting quietly.
"Hermione, are we going in?" Lia asked.
"Yes," Hermione nodded, "but not yet."
She was waiting for the right moment. Waiting for Borgin and Burkes to close, waiting for the night to fully descend upon Knockturn Alley.
She looked at the shop radiating an evil aura; there was no fear in her eyes, only a calm and resolve like a hunter locking onto their prey.
Draco had his mission.
Dumbledore had his plan.
Now, she had hers.
Tonight, that vanishing cabinet must find a new owner.
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