Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 227 Where is the Master!
At the Malfoy residence, after returning from Gringotts, Lucius paced restlessly back and forth.

Severus had been out of the public eye for a long time, and since France, Lucius had also lost contact with Draco, with no letters being sent back during this period.

This made both Lucius and Narcissa hesitate about their son's situation.

The reason Lucius has recently accelerated the process of dealing with the Gringotts vault is because he is worried that if something unexpected happens to Severus, he might use the vault and the gold cup as an excuse to further blackmail him by exploiting his son.

However, regarding the vault, we still need to find someone to smooth things over with the Ministry of Magic, and we'll have to wait for the goblins at Gringotts to react.

If Severus still doesn't make contact, even if Lucius doesn't go mad, his wife Narcissa will completely break off their relationship.

Now, only the couple is left at home. They don't even want to eat dinner anymore. Narcissa spends almost every day looking at Draco's picture and crying, as if her son will never come back.

As Lucius sat listlessly on the sofa, watching the sky outside gradually darken and time slowly pass, he felt increasingly agitated.

An owl suddenly flew to the window and tapped on the glass with its sharp beak.

This startled Lucius, but he quickly recovered, strode to the window, opened it, and took the letter from the owl's claws!
There was nothing on the envelope, and the contents inside were very brief, consisting of only one sentence and a name.

"At 10 p.m., gather everyone at your house; the master wants to see you—Severus Snape"

Lucius stared blankly at the line on the note for a long time, more than twenty seconds, before his hands began to tremble uncontrollably, and he finally understood the meaning of the letter!
Lucius took a deep breath, stood up from the sofa, and immediately began to react.

"Dobby! Dobby! Where did you die?!"

A house-elf wearing a white gauze on its head appeared in front of Lucius with a "snap," its large ears drooping as it looked weakly at Lucius.

"Master, what are your orders?"

“Go and release those owls.” Lucius paced back and forth, a look on his face that was hard to tell whether he was excited or annoyed. “Nothing needs to be sent, just release them all!”

Dobby bowed its large head to Lucius, and then disappeared from the spot again.

Not long after, more than a dozen owls took flight from the Malfoy family's owl shed, flapping their wings and disappearing into the gloomy night sky.

Narcissa heard the commotion outside. She went downstairs, her eyes red, clearly having just cried.

"What's going on? Who are you calling?"

“Draco will be back soon.” Lucius took a deep breath.

The news made Narcissa's worry and sadness disappear. She looked at her husband with surprise and quickly walked down the stairs.

"Snape wrote to you! He's sending our son back! Is that right!"

“He’s not only sending our son back,” Lucius suddenly said, “he’s also found his master, and he’ll be coming back with our son and his master soon!”

Upon hearing the word "master," Narcissa's face turned somewhat pale, but her expression only froze for a moment before she forced a smile again.

"They...they brought their master back."

"Correct!"

"This is certainly a good thing, nothing could be better. I'm referring to what we did before..."

Lucius understood what Narcissa was trying to say. He spoke loudly, seemingly both to refute his wife's concerns and to embolden himself.

“There’s absolutely nothing to worry about! We’ve never betrayed our master, have we? Severus must have already spoken to our master and told him that we’re only doing this to preserve our strength and wait for our master to return. There’s absolutely no disloyalty involved!”

He added a sentence at this point.

"And it was Draco and Severus who brought Master back together. Master will recognize our sons, and he will see our loyalty from that."

Narcissa was comforted by Lucius's words, and her complexion finally regained some color. Lucius then told her to go to the bedroom and wait, as many people would be coming to their house soon.

Lucius didn't have to wait long. Less than twenty minutes after he released the owl, the fireplace in the living room lit up, and a man and a woman emerged from the green flames.

Those were the Carlo siblings!
"If you release an owl at this hour, and it's not related to Snape or your master, we'll tear your house down tonight."

Lucius said nothing in response to their complaints; he simply pointed to the letter on the table.

When the Carlo siblings saw the contents of the letter, they were both stunned for several seconds, just like Lucius had been at the beginning. Then, Alector Carlo suddenly turned to look at Lucius.

Snape wasn't lying!

“There’s less than an hour until 10 o’clock. What do you think is the point of him using this to fool us?” Lucius said calmly. “Is it just to tease us?”

Compared to his sister's disbelief, Amykus made more connections.

"Now that he has actually brought his master back and the master wants to see us, does that mean that the master has accepted his arguments? And that we have become the most loyal ones!"

Lucius frowned as he looked at him.

"What nonsense are you spouting? We have always been the most loyal. We only humbled ourselves back then to preserve our strength for our master's comeback. Do you have other ideas of your own?"

Seeing Lucius's change of expression faster than flipping through a book, Amicus immediately realized what was happening and quickly waved his hand, saying...

"No, no! Of course, we planned from the very beginning to conserve our strength and wait for our master to return so we could help him make a comeback! We have always been loyal! The most loyal of all!"

Even the hot-tempered Alecto, after squinting at Lucius for a while while he was scaring her brother, didn't say much.

These two siblings were clearly not fools. They both understood that if Severus really found his master, given the relationship between Lucius and Severus, and the fact that his son had also been taken along to find his master, they would be in a good position.

Once the Death Eaters regroup, Lucius's status will surely rise accordingly!

At this time, they naturally wanted to cultivate a good relationship with him.

Not long after the Carol siblings arrived, other Death Eaters who were of the same faction as Lucius and had participated in Severus's journey abroad to find a master to fund him also gathered at the Malfoy house and saw the letter Severus had sent.

These people reacted much like the Carlo siblings: first, they were stunned and speechless, then briefly uneasy, and finally, overjoyed with a sense of relief. They were betting on two fronts: on one hand, they were secretly contacting Severus and providing him with financial support, and on the other hand, they were having an ambiguous relationship with Barty Jr., helping him cover up his affairs and evade Auror pursuit.

But if we're talking about someone who genuinely wants to succeed in the end, it's Severus.

Because Severus's theory perfectly helped them avoid suspicion of disloyalty by compromising with the Ministry of Magic to preserve their family's power during the period immediately following Voldemort's downfall.

Moreover, Severus himself was not clean. Lucius and the others did not understand what kind of sweet talk he used to persuade Dumbledore to stand up for him and help him get rid of his crimes, but such behavior was obviously much more disloyal than what they had done in the past.

The situation is completely different for Barty Jr.

If Severus was a grasshopper in the same boat as them, then Barty the little mantis was a high and mighty mantis!

If Barty Jr. were to find Voldemort, then all those people would certainly face retribution for their past actions. However, the extent of that retribution would depend on Voldemort's own whim.

Even if he's in a good mood, at most he can restore them to their original status as Death Eaters, still making them inferior to Barty Jr., Bellatrix, and the like.

The reason they still placed bets on Little Barty was simply because they were afraid that if he succeeded, they would suffer even greater punishment.

However, Severus's success was the complete opposite!

They became completely innocent and loyal subjects, while Barty and his ilk were the fools who couldn't understand the situation.

"How's the matter Severus asked you to do going?"

In their excitement, the Death Eaters naturally did not forget the task Severus had given them before he left.

If Severus returns empty-handed, then these matters can obviously be postponed.

But now Severus has become the biggest contributor to his master's return, so such a thing, especially since Severus said it was closely related to his master, cannot be delayed even for a moment!
Lucius glanced at Nott, who had brought it up.

This cunning old fox has turned what Severus entrusted to all of them before he left into something he claims was entrusted to him alone.

Clearly, he had already planned out an excuse to shift all the blame onto himself if the master asked how the matter had been handled when he arrived.

"Of course I'm not idle for a moment, I've done everything that needs to be done."

He glanced at everyone present.

“I just got back from Gringotts this morning. The goblins are clearly on the verge of collapse. If we can get the relevant decree from the Ministry of Magic authorizing the Lestrange family to inherit the treasury, then this matter is basically a sure thing.”

"Then what are you waiting for?" Rozier said with dissatisfaction.

Lucius slammed his hand on the table.

"Since when has this been a task that I've been doing all by myself?!"

He looked at everyone with a cold eye.

"My son and Severus brought the master back together, and the expenses and assistance sent out were all temporarily paid for by me from the Malfoy family treasury! Now, I've been busy with all the tasks assigned by the master! And what have you done? What have you contributed?"

"Does anyone really think they can just sit back and watch without doing anything and all the credit and rewards will fall into their laps?"

The Death Eaters exchanged glances, and then Crabbe, who was close to Lucius, chuckled twice.

“That’s not what we meant, Lucius. I think they asked you about it to see what you’re stuck on and if there’s anything we can help you with.”

The others echoed, explaining that they simply wanted to help and had no intention of expecting to reap the rewards without contributing anything.

Lucius sat tall in his high-backed chair, scoffing. He knew better than anyone what kind of people these were.

But clearly, now is not the time for them to break up. They haven't even seen the Dark Lord yet, and they're already fighting amongst themselves over the distribution of spoils. That would be truly shameful.

"As you all know, the Malfoy family's connections are mainly with the Hogwarts Board of Governors. I can't find anyone suitable to apply for government orders or positions at the Ministry of Magic. Do you have any suitable candidates?"

Old Nott spoke first, after Lucius had finished speaking.

“I have a few friends, whether it’s Wizengamo or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. This is not a big deal, and it’s in accordance with the law. I can get them to help me get Bagno to sign the decree tomorrow.”

Upon hearing that someone had taken on the task, Lucius's expression softened.

He looked at the people present and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Our master has just been brought back by Severus. If we want to regain our former prestige and power, we will definitely need time to accumulate strength. During this time, our master will be watching how you all perform."

"When the day comes that we truly rule the magical world, I think our master will understand better than we do who is making the sacrifices and who is reaping the benefits."

Seeing Lucius's smug expression, the Death Eaters couldn't help but curse him in their hearts, but outwardly they all nodded in agreement, saying that he was right.

Just as they were talking, the clock in the living room struck ten o'clock precisely on time.

At that moment, everyone looked toward the fireplace, and as if their gaze had ignited the cold stove, a cluster of green flames suddenly blazed up inside.

The next second, a tall man dressed in a black robe emerged from the flames.

When he met the gazes of more than ten people, Severus, whose body still smelled slightly of roasted meat, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"Hey, everyone's all here tonight! How's the late-night snack at the Malfoys' house? I wonder if anyone's had the chance to try it?"

But at this moment, everyone's attention was not on what he was saying, but on the fact that no one else was following him.

A series of sounds rang out.

"Where is the master! Where is the master?!"

(End of this chapter)