Date: 10th December 2001 Location: Manning's Antiques, Diagon Alley Characters: Barty Crouch and Regulus Black
It was the sort of place that managed to be shadowy regardless of the time of day. It was night though; Barty slept through the long, uninteresting days. The occasional night he would take what he needed to eat though never any more, and he hadn't allowed himself any little treats, not yet. Muggles were the easiest to steal from, being easy to confuse. However their gold was quite useless to him, and Barty couldn't stand the idea of entering one of their shops, or boiling vegetables that had been fondled by any number of grubby muggle fingers. It was wizards that he picked, each one a risk. But Barty was clever, far too clever to be wasting away his nights on thievery.
He pressed his clean fingers against the polished glass cases, leaving swirls of fingerprint. Cursed things, beautiful things, prizes of the dead. A sparkle of moonstone caught his eye, and he thought of the girl who'd put them in his hair, and the girl staring through the window of the jewellery shop. The stone's calming effect was twisted here, a parody of its intent. There was an inscription on the chain, and Barty peered closer. He had just left a nose-tip imprint on the glass when he heard a low murmur.
A heavy curtain was drawn across the back of the shop, as thick with dust as material. Barty cocked his head towards it, catching the word 'loom'. He hadn't thought himself alone in the shop, of course there would be an owner pottering behind the curtain, who would inevitably drive Barty out once his hard sale failed.
"Looom," Barty mouthed, dismissing the word and moving over to the curtain. He was careful not to move, but the curtain twitched against his boot tip. The puff of dust smelled of rotten wood and water. Barty held his breath and darted back to the other end of the room to release a bark-like cough. Oh, how crafty and conspicuous. He twisted his mouth against his own idiocy, and forced his gaze in concentration onto what appeared to be a most un-interesting chest of drawers.