The Traitors [HP6] *EDITING*

Chapter 4

"Ow! Get off me!" yelled Harry at whatever had jumped on him. Drool was coming down from his attacker's mouth and splashing all over Harry. He was acting like a dog that hadn't seen his owner in decades. It finally dawned on Harry that this was not one of Voldemort's minions. A Death Eater would not pounce on his target, but use some sort of spell. This was just a crazy old man.

"Finally," he yelled again. This time, Harry got a good look at him, and there was only one word to describe him: hideous (hih-day-us). He only had one eye, and it was three times the normal size, with veins popping out all over it. His face was just a sea of wrinkles, and it looked like his nose and mouth were upside down. "Finally!"

"Finally? Finally what?" asked Harry, trying to push the guy off of him.

"Finally!" he thundered, jumping off of Harry and throwing his hands into the air. "A customer!" He brought his arms down, and began tapping his fingers together with a menacing look.

"Um... yeah," said Harry, just relieved to not have to deal with a Death Eater. "Where am I anyway?"

"You are in The Itchy Man's Burrow, the greatest shop in all of Knockturn Alley!" the old man exclaimed. He suddenly spun around, giggled quietly, and walked behind an ancient cash register. He put his elbows down on the counter, and rested his head on top of his bandaged and mangled hands. "Now... what can I interest you in?"

Harry sighed; he didn't want to make the man feel bad, but there was nothing in the shop that Harry was even slightly interested in. In fact, most of the items made Harry feel as though he was going to throw up.

"Um... I'm sorry, but there's really nothing-" said Harry slowly before the man interrupted him. He glared at him with his one massive eye that had a distinct twinkle to it, and suddenly pointed to a small and cobweb-covered sign above him. Written in dark red ink, that Harry thought could have been blood, were the words: "You enter, you buy something, lest you die." Harry swallowed hard. Even though the man looked old and weak, he probably knew a few magical tricks.

"Yes, you see," hissed the man, "if you leave without something from my store in your hands, you will explode. I've enchanted all of the exits, so don't even try."

"Well, I can see why this place is so popular," said Harry to himself, looking around for a cheap and non-disgusting item that he could quickly buy. Harry looked behind the register, and saw an assortment of different jewelry. Maybe he could buy something for Cho. Quickly looking at the selection of different earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and... rings. Those seemed to be the greatest of all the jewelry available, and Harry took a closer look at them.

There were at least a hundred rings pinned to the wall, each with its own unique Stone and symbol, though they were all almost exactly the same size and shape. There were gold rings with ruby phoenixes, there were jade rings with crystal stars. All of them looked incredibly expensive, and Harry only had a galleon and a few sickles left after his spree at Fred and George's store.

Just then, Harry's attention turned to a single ring. It was in the very bottom, right hand corner, and it had a single cobweb over it, as if the spider were trying to hide it from view more than it was already. From the looks of it, this one didn't appear too expensive, with its rather dull ring and not very shiny Stone.

"How much for that one?" asked Harry, pointing to the ring and trying to sound casual. The tattered man looked at where Harry's finger was indicating, and reached a bandaged hand over to it. He brushed away the cobweb, and blew the dust off of it as he brought it forth. He stuck out his bottom lip, rocked his head from side to side, trying to get a good estimate.

"How much ya got?" he asked. Harry took out his galleon and three sickles, and the man quickly snatched them away. "Well what do you know? That's exactly how much it costs!" He gave a toothless grin, and popped the ring into Harry's hand.