Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 564: Filch, the Long-Awaited

London finally became a little sunny in early July, but unlike the general impression of summer, the temperature in London did not rise and remained in the very pleasant range of about 20 degrees.

Mike took Franklin and others walking on the streets of London. Looking at the cars coming and going and the beautifully dressed pedestrians around them, they felt as if they were in another world.

He had spent most of his time in the wizarding world in the past few years, which made him almost forget what life as a Muggle was like.

After sighing for a while, Mike continued to move forward.

Their destination was a building on the banks of the Thames, which was also a branch of the Los Santos Corporation.

Today there, Mike will discuss the future cooperation between the two sides with representatives from various minority groups including goblins, Muggle wizards, centaurs and witches.

Mike had actually expected these guys to come looking for him.

But what Mike didn't expect was that they would arrive so soon.

Mike thought they could hold on for a while longer.

It seems that Mike overestimated them.

The reason why Mike chose to hold the meeting at the Los Santos Group branch was precisely because he did not trust these guys.

After all, those guys are greedy by nature. As long as there is enough benefit, they will not hesitate at all to sell Mike.

While thinking, Mike and others had already arrived at their destination.

This is an old building, but unlike other old buildings of this period, this building used as a branch of the Los Santos Corporation does not have chromatic aberration glass installed on its exterior walls. Instead, it retains the original old window frames, which makes the building look unique.

Of course, the unique charm is based on Mike's aesthetic taste. To most people of this era, this is just an ordinary old building.

At this time, in the lobby on the ground floor of the Los Santos branch, countless people in tattered and strange clothes were gathered here and lined up, ready to receive food and clothing distributed by the Los Santos Group.

These things are relief supplies specially prepared by the Los Santos Group. Due to the Ministry of Magic's crackdown on minority groups in recent times, the anti-minority voices in the wizarding community are now getting stronger and stronger, which has also caused many Muggle wizards who originally had jobs to become unemployed instantly.

In this situation, they had to rely on relief from Los Santos to survive.

Of course, not all those gathered in the lobby of the Los Santos branch are Muggle wizards. There are also many Squibs who are living a hard life. They are also on the list of those who can receive relief supplies.

It was easy to tell the Squibs from the Muggles, because they hated each other so much that they even queued in two groups.

The Squibs envy the spellcasting abilities of Muggle wizards, but at the same time they look down on them because of their own bloodline.

Muggle wizards think that those Squibs who have no ability to cast spells are completely useless and a waste of food if they are kept alive.

Mike didn't care about this kind of thing. Many times he even had the same idea as his fellow Muggle wizards, believing that these Squibs were hopeless wastes.

Precisely because of the lack of use value, Mike didn't even contact Mute during this multi-party meeting.

The reason why Mike included the Dummies in the relief list was just to set an example for the Dummies and let other minority groups know that their Los Santos Group treats all groups equally.

After taking a quick look at the gathered crowd and finding that the scene was orderly and there was no looting, Mike led a group of Freemasons towards the elevator.

But before he could walk far, a small figure suddenly blocked his way.
Mike looked down and saw a large, skinny cat with gray fur coiled at his feet.

Mike's expression became a little strange, because he always felt that the cat in front of him looked familiar.

After hesitating for a moment, he called out tentatively:

"Mrs. Norris?"

"Meow!~"

The big cat in front of him called gently, then lay on Mike's feet and began to lick its fur.

Mike stopped Franklin from trying to catch Mrs. Norris and began looking around.

He knew very well that if Mrs. Norris was here, Filch must be here too.

Sure enough, after looking around for a while he easily found Filch among the Squibs.

However, Filch's appearance at this moment has changed greatly from when he was at Hogwarts.

He became thinner, and had more white hair on his head. He looked as if he might fall down at any time.

Seeing Mike and others looking at him, Filch instinctively wanted to cover his face with his hood.

Mike knew very well that it was Filch's fragile self-esteem that was at work. Although everyone at Hogwarts knew that he was a Squib, he himself never admitted this fact.

Of course, Filch may have done this because he was afraid that Mike and others would retaliate against him.

After all, he had caused a lot of trouble to Mike, Franklin and others when he was at Hogwarts. Now that he had lost his status as a janitor, it was only normal for him to be retaliated against.

Shaking his head, Mike had no intention of taking revenge on the poor old Squib. He leaned over and stroked Mrs. Norris twice, then took her away from his feet and prepared to move forward.

At this moment, Mike caught a glimpse of Filch, who was pretending not to know him and the others, suddenly rushing towards him.

Franklin, who was beside Mike, was the first to react, and his wand was pointed at Filch almost instantly.

Filch, whose body was pointed at by the wand, froze suddenly. The muscles on his face trembled constantly, but he still forced a humble smile. He said nothing and just kept bowing to Mike.

Looking at the other person's hunched body, Mike naturally understood what he meant. He waved his finger lightly, and Mrs. Lawless, who was licking her fur at his feet, automatically floated back to Filch's side.

Seeing this, Filch was overjoyed. He bowed deeply to Mike again, then picked up Mrs. Norris and returned to the Squib team.

Unfortunately, his original seat had already been taken, so he had to start queuing from the beginning.

But despite this, Filch did not show the slightest displeasure. He hugged Mrs. Norris tightly and walked quickly to the end of the team, his face still filled with a happy smile of regaining what he had lost.

Mike witnessed all this, and a thoughtful look appeared on his face.

He turned slightly and said to Victor without turning his head:
"How's your work on that wand-what-is-it-called going?"

"Reusable automatic wand! This name is not long. I sincerely hope you can remember it, boss!" Victor rolled his eyes and said, "The automatic wand has been developed to version 2.0. I used some cheaper materials to replace the original materials without reducing its effect, but the cost is still relatively high."

"Oh! I see." Mike continued without turning his head, "Then can this automatic wand release the Killing Curse?"

"This is impossible! The Killing Curse is different from ordinary spells. It requires strong emotions to release, which is something that alchemical machines cannot do!" "Then what about the Divine Edge Spell?"

Hearing this, Victor did not answer immediately. Instead, he followed Mike's gaze and looked at Filch who was queuing. His expression suddenly became strange.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally said:
"Of course you can, but the Divine Edge Shadowless Spell consumes a lot of magic power. If a Squib uses it, their magic power will be used up in just a few strokes."

"Is that so?" Mike murmured, "Then let's mass-produce some Divine Swords and give them to those Squibs, and let them be our cannon fodder."

When these words were spoken, not only Victor but everyone else was shocked.

Benjamin frowned and advised:

"Mike, this is not a good deal. Even if those Squibs have the ability to cast spells, they can't help us much."

"Never mind, it's decided."

After saying that, Mike walked into the elevator without looking back, leaving Benjamin and others looking at each other in bewilderment.

They really couldn't understand what Mike was thinking.

Fortunately, the Los Santos Group is a large and powerful company. Not to mention mass-producing a batch of God-Sharp Shadowless Magic Wands, even if it gives a set of daily-use magic wands to all the Squibs in the country, it will not cause any impact on the operation of the group.

Shaking their heads, everyone finally decided not to pursue the matter further and followed Mike into the elevator.

The elevator door gradually closed. Mike's mouth curled up slightly as he watched Filch and Mrs. Norris slowly disappearing from his sight.

Why did Mike do this?
Even he himself was not very clear about this issue.

Is it because you feel sorry for Squibs like Filch that you give them some hope?
Or do you simply think the scene where Filch raises his wand and attacks those Ministry of Magic Aurors is more interesting and want to see it?
Or maybe both?
Who knows?

……

Pushing open the door of the conference room, Mike walked in with a group of Freemasons.

At this time, several people were already sitting at the large conference table in the meeting room.

Sitting at the top right side of the conference table was an old woman wearing a white dress with her white hair tied up.

This is the representative sent by the witch group, and also the leader of the famous group "Daughters of the Federation" in the noble ladies' circle - Catherine Deller.

Below her was the current president of Gringotts - Bronze Gate.

The remaining few people are the centaur representative Jello, the mermaid representative Lilith, and the Muggle wizard representative Karen Quitt.

It is worth mentioning that the mermaid representative Lilith is a mermaid woman who looks very pure, and also very "fierce"!
Just like what is recorded in Muggle fairy tales, Lilith's fish tail covered with crimson scales was immersed in a huge fish tank, and her upper body was covered with only two shells as decorations to cover up the ferocious appearance.

For some reason, when he saw her, Mike was reminded of the mermaid portrait in the prefect's bathroom at Hogwarts.

When Karen saw Mike and others appear, she immediately stood up from her seat and walked quickly to greet them.

"Mr. Townley, I finally see you!"

This is a middle-aged white wizard, but unlike ordinary middle-aged people, he has trimmed the excess hair on his face very thoroughly, which makes him look very clean and energetic.

In particular, he has a pair of bright eyes and an angular face, the combination of the two adds a bit of righteousness to him.

It's a pity that this righteous face had an extremely flattering expression at the moment. This contrast made Mike feel very surprised.

After looking at the other person for a long time, Mike stretched out his hand and shook hands with the other person.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Quitt."

"No, no, it's my honor." Karen said excitedly, "Mr. Townley, just call me Karen."

"Okay, Karen, then you have to call me Mike too."

……

Mike and Karen talked for a while before finally returning to the conference table.

At this time, the witch Catherine and the goblin Tongmen nodded to Mike, while the centaur Jello raised his head proudly, as if he was disdainful of talking to Mike.

As for the mermaid Lilith, she kept smiling at Mike with a charming smile on her face. It seemed that if her lower body had not been in the fish tank and unable to move, she would have thrown herself into Mike's arms as soon as Mike appeared.

After greeting everyone one by one, Mike stopped talking to them. He first arranged for the Freemasons to sit on the left side of the conference table, and then he sat at the top seat and said to Karen and others:

"Tell me, everyone, why did you come to see me today?"

Hearing this, Catherine, Tongmen and others looked at each other, and finally all their attention was focused on the Muggle wizard Karen.

Karen's body froze for a moment, but under the pressure of everyone's gaze, she finally stood up and said to Mike with a wry smile:
"Mr. Townley, you know, we haven't had a good time recently."

Hearing that the other party still addressed him in the same way, Mike smiled and nodded.

It can be seen that this guy named Karen is a very capable person who knows how to deal with people and appreciates flattery.

But that doesn't give him any extra points at the negotiating table.

Then Mike said:

"Of course I know this. You should have seen it when I came here just now. I set up a relief point downstairs. Muggle wizards, Squibs and even intelligent creatures of other races are all on the relief list. As long as they encounter difficulties and can't make ends meet, they can come to receive relief at any time. I think this is the most I can do, right?"

Karen's expression suddenly became complicated after hearing that. He looked at McKenna's half-smiley face and was about to continue speaking when he heard the centaur Jello next to him suddenly jump onto the conference table and pointed the spear in his hand at Mike.

"The Centaurs don't need your charity!"

The centaur Jello roared and was about to stab down with the spear in his hand, but using a spear to kill a legendary wizard was obviously not a wise choice.

"boom!"

Everyone in the conference room only heard a loud bang, and then a ball of thick red and black flame appeared out of thin air in front of Mike!

(End of this chapter)