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Harry Potter: Dudley From LOTM - 246
🕑 Added 2025-10-04 07:54:08 +0000 UTCChapter 246: The Ambush
After Borgin came to his senses, he looked at Dudley in shock.
"Where did you get these giant spider corpses from?" The words escaped before he could stop himself.
"Mr Borgin, you are overstepping," Dudley glanced at the merchant and said coolly.
"Oh, I am sorry. I spoke out of turn. I should not have asked that question." Borgin's hands fluttered nervously. "To apologise, I will pay you an extra ten Galleons."
He realised he had been too talkative. In their line of work, they never asked about the origins of items—that was customer privacy. He had just been too surprised and lost his composure.
"There are thirty-two giant spider corpses here in total. Take a look—each corpse's condition may be different," Dudley said simply.
"All right, please wait a moment." Borgin immediately began examining those giant spider corpses. He looked at each one carefully, as this related to the final pricing.
Among these corpses, some were even larger than the first one, but some were smaller, and some were obviously damaged and not perfectly preserved.
After a thorough examination, Borgin returned to face Dudley. His expression was somewhat hesitant as he said thoughtfully, "Mr Dursley, all of these giant spider corpses are very well preserved, and the prices can be quite high."
"The problem now is that I alone cannot purchase all these giant spider corpses." Borgin spread his hands helplessly.
The items were good, but all these giant spider corpses together would be a transaction worth thousands of Galleons. Even he could not come up with that much cash at once. Moreover, he could not use these giant spider corpses himself—he would have to sell them later. He was just making a profit margin.
"There is no way to purchase them all?" Dudley frowned.
If even these giant spider corpses could not be sold, then Aragog's corpse would be even less likely to sell.
However, the next moment, Dudley looked at Borgin sharply. Was this fellow trying to use this to drive down the price?
Sensing Dudley's gaze, having done business for so long, Borgin immediately recognised the suspicion. He said quickly, "Mr Dursley, rest assured, whatever price I quote is the price. I absolutely will not use this to drive it down."
"If you want to sell all these giant spider corpses, I can help you contact a few more customers. How does that sound?"
Since he alone could not buy so many, he would find others to join in.
"Fine," Dudley said.
"By the way, you can tell them I have an even larger giant spider corpse here, extremely rare—once missed, it is almost impossible to encounter a second one."
"There is an even larger one?" Borgin felt he was becoming numb.
He speculated that Dudley had truly wiped out a giant spider nest. Otherwise, how could there be so many spider corpses, and even larger ones? Just thinking about these giant spiders densely gathered together made Borgin's scalp tingle. An ordinary wizard encountering such a scene would probably be torn apart by these giant spiders on the spot.
"Please wait a moment." After Borgin finished speaking, he turned and went to another room to contact customers using special magical items.
After about ten minutes, Borgin returned to the room, slightly out of breath.
"I have already asked around. A few wizards have expressed interest."
"However, one buyer wants to come inspect the goods personally. What do you think..." Borgin looked at Dudley cautiously.
"Inspect personally?" Dudley frowned. "Is this person reliable?"
"Hard to say. I have not had much contact with this wizard, but he is definitely very interested in spider-related items." Borgin stroked his chin thoughtfully. "The previous few times, he was generous with payment, so I kept his contact information."
Dudley pondered for a while. He intended to sell all these spider corpses—keeping them in the Mirror of Erised was not practical, and they were disgusting.
"You did not reveal my identity, did you?" Dudley asked sharply.
"No, no. I only said someone wanted to sell giant spider corpses. I did not mention your identity," Borgin said quickly, shaking his head vigorously.
"Let him come then."
"Good." Borgin immediately went to contact the buyer.
Before long, a faint sound came from outside the Shrieking Shack. A figure dressed in a black robe with a hood appeared at the entrance, silhouetted against the moonlight.
"Is it him?" Dudley asked quietly.
"Yes." Borgin replied after glancing at the person.
Soon, under Borgin's guidance, that black-robed person entered the Shrieking Shack.
"My God! These giant spiders..." Seeing a room full of giant spider corpses, the black-robed person's face hidden under the hood showed an expression of wild joy.
He immediately rushed to the giant spiders and carefully examined their condition, constantly expressing admiration as he looked, running his hands over their hairy legs with disturbing enthusiasm.
"Mr Gins, are you satisfied with these giant spider corpses?" Borgin asked with a smile.
"Satisfied, very satisfied." The man nodded, then shifted his gaze to look at Dudley in the corner.
"May I ask, sir, what should I call you?" Gins enquired.
He knew that the person before him was the owner of these giant spiders.
"You can call me Justiciar," Dudley said in a deep voice.
"Justiciar?" This name obviously sounded like a hastily made-up pseudonym, but that did not matter.
"I heard you have an even larger spider corpse here. May I see it?" Gins asked eagerly.
"All right." Dudley nodded and walked outside.
This room could not fit Aragog's corpse.
After arriving at the larger basement area, Dudley waved his hand, and Aragog's corpse materialised on the ground with a heavy thud.
Its massive body seemed like a demon from ancient times. Although it had curled up after death, you could still tell what a terrifying behemoth it had been when alive. The creature's legs alone were as thick as tree trunks, and its body filled half the basement.
"Merlin's beard!" Gins exclaimed, his voice cracking with excitement.
Borgin on the side also looked at Aragog's corpse in shock, his mouth hanging open.
This giant spider was very likely the king of that spider colony.
"The venom sac is perfectly preserved, and there is still venom remaining. It is just that the shell looks like it was burnt by fire, with quite a bit of damage in some places." Borgin walked around the massive corpse, his professional eye assessing every detail.
"Based on this condition, a rough estimate would be that this giant spider corpse could sell for at least fifteen hundred Galleons."
"Mr Gins, if you want to purchase—"
Before Borgin's words could fall, several explosive cracks split the air.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Three black-clothed figures suddenly appeared beside Gins, their wands already drawn.
"Gins, is this the thing? Worth thousands of Galleons?" One of them said with a light laugh, his voice dripping with menace.
They gripped their wands, pointing them at Dudley and Borgin. The trap had been sprung.
