Seeing Sullivan, Lucius Malfoy straightened his collar, stowed his wand, and offered a tight smile. "It has been a long time. I heard you're a professor at Hogwarts now. Congratulations."
Lucius knew exactly how capable Sullivan was. Back in their school days, he had relied heavily on Sullivan's magical gadgets to show off around the castle. Before taking the Dark Mark, the two had collaborated quite a bit. Lucius found every alchemical item Sullivan produced incredibly practical and deadly. They only cut contact after Lucius officially became a Death Eater.
While Lucius hadn't personally participated in Voldemort's raid to capture Sullivan years ago, he knew the casualty reports from that night inside and out. He had absolutely zero desire to cross him.
"Thanks, Lucius," Sullivan replied casually, glancing at Draco standing nearby. "By the way, your son is a lot like you back in the day—though his finesse is nowhere near your level."
Lucius, who was already frustrated with his son's behavior, shot Draco a glare. "Then I ask that you look out for him at school."
Sullivan nodded, smirking directly at Draco. "Oh, don't worry. Draco and I are already very close. Isn't that right?"
Remembering the Unbreakable Vow that bound him, Draco kept his head firmly bowed. "Y-yes, sir!"
By this time, Arthur Weasley had picked himself off the floor and stepped defensively behind Sullivan. Lucius's pupils narrowed. "What? Are you siding with the Weasleys now?"
"You know me. I always side with justice," Sullivan said with a dismissive shrug. "And I highly recommend you start doing the same. You won't always be this lucky."
"Right. We have other business to attend to. Good day." Clearly unwilling to push his luck, Lucius swept his cloak back, grabbed Draco by the arm, and marched out of the store.
Once Lucius was gone, Molly turned to Sullivan, letting out a shaky breath. "Thank you, Su!"
"Don't mention it. Now, let's see if Lucius tried to pull a fast one with Ginny's books." Sullivan waved it off, stepped over to Ginny, and pulled out her copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
"Pull a fast one? If he dared, I'll wring his neck!" Arthur talked a big game, but he immediately leaned in close to check. Ginny was his only daughter; he wasn't taking any chances.
Sullivan opened the book with total confidence. He fully expected Tom Riddle's diary to be tucked right inside. Just a casual flip of the pages, and he'd have one of Voldemort's Horcruxes neatly in his possession.
But reality completely subverted his expectations. The book was brand new. There was nothing slipped between the pages.
Seeing Sullivan suddenly freeze, Arthur panicked, assuming something was actually wrong. He snatched the transfiguration book and inspected it front to back before finally letting out a sigh of relief. "Looks fine to me?"
"Let me check the others." Sullivan crouched down and pulled every single book out of the cauldron, examining them meticulously.
He went through the pile twice. Still no diary.
For the first time, a spike of genuine panic hit Sullivan.
Over his first year back at Hogwarts, relying on his System and his knowledge of the original timeline, he had faced dangers and even confronted Voldemort directly. But overall, he always felt like things were following his script.
This time, his script was useless. The Horcrux he thought he could grab effortlessly was gone. It gave him a sickening feeling that the situation was spiraling completely out of his control.
Taking two deep breaths, Sullivan forced himself to calm down. It's fine. It's fine. My mere existence here naturally alters this world. The plot was bound to deviate sooner or later. Besides, I have the System. I'll figure this out.
"Su, what's wrong? Did you find something?" Arthur asked, second-guessing his own inspection as he watched Sullivan's expression shift rapidly.
Sullivan stood up and forced a relaxed smile. "Nothing. Looks like I was overthinking it. I have some business to take care of; I need to head back."
The New Variable
Using the Floo Network at the Leaky Cauldron, Sullivan traveled straight to the Three Broomsticks. He commandeered Remus Lupin's office, pulled out a piece of parchment, and started mapping things out.
By now, his nerves had settled. He was coming to terms with the unexpected changes, but there was no way in hell he was letting Voldemort's Horcrux run loose in the wild.
He scribbled a list of names onto the parchment: Harry Potter, Dobby the House-Elf, Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy, Voldemort.
Connecting the names with a web of lines, Sullivan muttered to himself, "Dobby's appearance proves Malfoy's core plan hasn't changed. He still intends to smuggle the diary into Hogwarts."
"But why wasn't Ginny the target? Who did he plant it on? Why change the original plan? There has to be a variable here that I'm missing. What the hell is it?"
A thousand questions swirled in his head, but he couldn't find an immediate answer. However, aside from the Weasleys, Sullivan knew of one other person Lucius had met with today: the owner of Borgin and Burkes.
Sullivan knew Caractacus Burke well. The man was a slippery, greedy, calculating rat. If Sullivan just waltzed in and asked questions, he wouldn't get a damn thing. He needed leverage.
He pulled out his Magic Phone and shot Tonks a text:
You busy lately?
Tonks replied almost instantly:
Swamped. Thanks to the Ministry's new regulations, the price of dark magic artifacts on the black market just tanked.
We have to be super careful on patrols now. These broke, desperate criminals are suddenly pulling out dark artifacts you wouldn't believe.
Some wizards are even outright dumping their dark stashes. It's fine if they ditch it in the middle of nowhere, but some of this crap is getting picked up by Muggles, and the aftermath has been nasty.
Sullivan patiently let Tonks finish her rant before typing back:
I've got intel. Rumor has it Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley took in a fresh batch of highly dangerous dark artifacts yesterday.
Tonks's reply was practically vibrating with excitement:
How solid is the intel?
Aurors usually didn't bother much with Knockturn Alley. The wizards operating there were too good at hiding the truly lethal stuff. Whatever was left on display might be technically illegal, but the threat level and street value were too low to care about. Even if they made arrests, the suspects would be out on bail immediately. Over time, the Auror Office just turned a blind eye to the entire street.
But if there was solid evidence leading to high-risk dark artifacts, the Aurors were more than willing to launch a raid.
Sullivan honestly didn't know what exactly Lucius had fenced to Borgin and Burkes, so he kept it strategically vague:
Ah, well... the accuracy isn't 100%. That's why I wanted to go do a little "window shopping" with you to scope it out. Interested?
Tonks was thrilled.
Absolutely! Give me a second, I'm going to request approval from my captain. With intel coming from you, he'll definitely sign off on it!