The experiment

Part 1

March 20th, 2004

Her hair was hideous.

No, it really was horrible, resembling something that could have come out of an Alien film.

And, as if her big hair occupying most of the shop wasn't enough, she was drenched and shivering, droplets hanging from her wild curls and her dark eyelashes, the water soaking her clothes and shoes puddling onto the floor, staining the old dusty carpet Burke claimed he had bought from a yeti in India.

Can't manage a simple Impervius Charm, girl? Tom sneered inwardly, plastering a pleasant smile across his face when the girl walked up to the counter.

"Hello," he greeted her smoothly. His wand was hitching to dry the mess that she was when she kept looking around, seeming oblivious to her ghastly state. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, erm, good morning," the customer said absently, her eyes busy surveying the place around her. Tom had the feeling the woman was growing nervous with each second spent in here- nervous and confused considering that it was afternoon, not morning. Granted, the sky didn't look much different from that of five hours before, still dark and pouring down rain as it had been for more than a week. It was March after all.

At last, deciding that in order to leave it was better to hurry, the woman looked up at Tom with an uncertain smile.

"I ordered a book. Mr Burke sent word that it was to arrive this morning..." she trailed off, tilting her head. When Tom didn't move but merely kept smiling down at her, she raised her eyebrows and gave a little jerk of her head.

"Many articles came in this morning, I need a title," the young man finally drawled, pulling a notebook from the counter's drawer. He skimmed yellowed pages until he reached the list of items acquired that week. There weren't really that many, but better let the visitors think the shop was swamped by orders and offers - or so Mr Burke had said when Tom had first started working as an assistant at Borgin and Burkes.

Glancing up from the records, Tom found the woman searching her coat, cursing under her breath for a good thirty seconds until she felt what she was looking for in the pockets of her jeans.

Clearing her throat, she slipped a small card on the counter. Tom's eyebrows shot to his hairline upon reading the scribbled words.

His gaze flickering back and forth between the items' records and the girl's card, Tom checked if there was some mistake- there wasn't.

"One moment," he muttered, swinging around. The girl made to say something, but he was already in the back of the shop by the time she probably realised he was gone.

With trembling hands he went for the chest where they put the artefacts arrived in the morning and wasted no time removing its wards with a flick of his wrist. Hidden from view by a curtain, he Summoned the book and then blinked twice when the tome shot in his hands. It was real.

For a good minute Tom awed over the rare book in his hands, opening it gently, careful of the binding falling off. He was feeling it, his magic calling to the words dancing under his wide eyes. Perhaps it was the book that was calling to him.

If I make it disappear now, Burke will have my balls later.

The girl, on the other hand... she didn't seem that bright.

I can take her money and Obliviate her easily enough.

Yes, that would do.

Returned to the front of the shop, Tom arched an eyebrow at the sight of a completely different person standing where the girl had been.