The Return to Hogwarts

“Honestly, Amosta, I’ve been thinking about this lately, and I think you really have some secret to keeping people in the professor’s seat for longer. I really enjoy this job.”

"It's wise to get out as soon as possible—"

Amosta shrugged, a faint smile on his face.

"If I had continued doing that job back then, I might have ended up in a similar situation to my ex."

“Your predecessor was that charlatan Gilderoy Lockhart, who deserved to be sent to Azkaban. You won’t end up like him.”

Thinking of Gilderoy Lockhart, Professor Sprout shook his head as if shooing away an annoying fly.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Amosta and Remus went upstairs.

Because he also needed to prepare for the second half of the year's teaching, Remus went back to his office alone, while Lennie followed Amosta for a while. After arriving at the student safety office, Amosta turned Lennie back into human form.

The morning passed in casual conversation. Amosta continued studying the stack of manuscripts related to the Blood Curse while chatting with Sirius about the details of infiltrating Azkaban.

"At the very least, we need a boat."

Sirius Black sat on the sofa with his legs crossed and said...

“Since you are unwilling to enter Azkaban through official channels, and I can only discern the general direction, it means that we may have to drift at sea for quite some time. You need to prepare a sturdy enough ship. Amosta, for some reason, the sea surrounding the island is shrouded in thunderstorms and typhoons all year round. That is a natural barrier. Without sufficient preparation, you can forget about crossing it.”

"So how did you get through it back then?"

Amosta stopped the calculation and looked up, asking with great interest.

"I was using the Animagus pattern at the time, so thunderstorms and typhoons didn't have that much of an impact on me,"

Recalling his experience crossing the sea, Sirius Black showed a look of relief at surviving the ordeal.

"And I was lucky enough to find a large piece of deck that had been broken apart by the waves. I guess it was left behind by a Muggle ship that accidentally veered off course. Tsk, what a bunch of unlucky guys."

Amosta nodded slightly.

Indeed, the situation Sirius described needs to be considered.

The prison was located at sea far from the mainland. If Muggles lost their ships, they would only face death. Wizards did have more options, but most ordinary wizards would likely be helpless and doomed in such a harsh environment.

In extreme circumstances, Amosta could indeed teleport Sirius back to the mainland, but doing so would not only consume a lot of magic power, but more importantly, would render all the previous long search pointless.

"I will think about it carefully."

After a moment's thought, Amosta said, glancing casually at the surveillance footage across the way before looking away, his relaxed brows furrowing slightly.

Near the Slytherin common room, Professor Snape was standing in front of his office, talking to a wizard with flowing blond hair.

Following Amostella's gaze, Sirius also spotted the wizard who shouldn't be at Hogwarts.

"Who is that? Is he a professor from the school?"

"Lucius Malfoy, the current patriarch of House Malfoy--"

Amosta said expressionlessly.

"Oh!"

Sirius's exclamation was filled with hatred.

"It's this guy. I know him. He's a Death Eater. He openly proclaimed his support for Voldemort while he was in school. After graduation, he gained Voldemort's appreciation because of his unwavering support for pure-blood supremacy. Back when Voldemort was still in power, many clues about the torture and murder of Muggles secretly pointed to him. But he's extremely cunning and very good at using the power of money, so the Order of the Phoenix couldn't find any leverage against him. Why is he looking for Snape? To catch up with an old colleague?"

Sirius spoke the last sentence with perfect ease, but only after the words left his mouth did he realize what he had said.

Amosta did not make a big deal out of it, and in fact, Sirius was not wrong; Professor Snape did have experience working as a Death Eater.

The conversation between Professor Snape and Malfoy on screen seems to have reached a conclusion. Amosta noticed a hint of suspicion in Professor Snape's expression, but he still seemed to agree to some request made by Malfoy. They stopped talking, and Snape led Malfoy out of the basement, up the stairs on the side of the hall, and appeared on the third floor.

"They're here to see you?"

Sirius Black stood up alertly from the sofa and looked at Amostella, whose fingers were interlaced on his raised knees.

What do you think is the reason?

“I’m just as confused as you are,” Amosta said calmly. “I don’t have much of a relationship with Lucius Malfoy. Strictly speaking, we have a bit of a history, but I don’t think he’s here to cause me any trouble.”

Who has the guts to cause you trouble?

Sirius was about to say that when a fleeting bolt of lightning from Amosta's sleeve transformed him back into Lenny.

After howling in dissatisfaction a few times, Lenny reluctantly jumped onto the sofa, cleverly maintaining the posture a cat should have.

As expected, there was a knock on the office door soon after. After the curtain was drawn back, Amosta went to open the door.

“I learned from Pomona that you went back to school,”

Given his relationship with Amostella, Snape had no need to hide anything. He narrowed his eyes, raised his chin, and asked...

"I thought you went home for Christmas, how come that guy showed up with you?"

"Just someone I met on the train—"

Amosta shrugged indifferently and said casually, then turned his gaze to Lucius Malfoy, who maintained a very restrained posture, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"This is Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy—"

Professor Snape stepped aside, quickly glancing at the expressions on Amostella and Lucius's faces. He immediately realized that what Lucius had told him earlier—that Amostella and he had some connection—was a lie, but it was clear that the two did indeed know each other.

As Snape glanced away, Lucius also gave him a subtle look. Snape, receiving the signal, paused for a moment before reluctantly speaking.

“Lucius told me he has something private he wants to talk to you about alone.”

What is Lucius Malfoy trying to do, trying to get that notebook out of me?

In an instant, the thought popped into Amostella's mind: knowing I was unlikely to pay him any attention, he wanted to use Professor Snape's connection.

"Since that's the case—"

Amosta nodded.

"Please come in, Mr. Malfoy."

Chapter 276 Commission

2023-05-02

Since Lucius was going to speak with Amosta alone, and although he was very interested in the topic of their conversation, he couldn't stay here any longer.

Perhaps sensing Amostella's overly cold attitude, Snape glanced at Lucius, who was standing waiting at his desk, and hesitated before lowering his voice to speak.

"When I first entered Hogwarts, Lucius was the Slytherin prefect."

Amosta was slightly surprised. After pondering for a moment, he nodded slightly.

"Understood, Professor."

Every detail of this office made Lucius uncomfortable. The reason was that it was too 'shabby' and could not be compared with the wizarding world's celebrities and politicians he had seen before. If he hadn't come here to ask for a favor, he would have, in his style, garnered some praise and a few scathing comments.

At that moment, Lucius noticed the cat crouching on the sofa, glaring at him with a gloomy look. The look was so strange, so lifelike, that he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. He forced an awkward smile at Lennie.

Meow!

Lucius hadn't expected that his attempt to befriend the black creature would somehow anger it. The creature immediately switched from a crouching position to an aggressive one, its tail held high and the fur around its neck standing on end.

"It doesn't really like interacting with strangers."

After exchanging a few brief words with Professor Snape at the door, Amosta closed the door and went into the office. He happened to see a grinning Lenny and a somewhat bewildered Lucius Malfoy, and casually remarked...

"Please sit down first."

As Amosta was making tea near the fireplace, he flicked his wand from his sleeve at Lucius, and a swirling black shadow appeared out of thin air. When it landed on the ground, it transformed into a low-backed armchair. This sight terrified Lucius Malfoy, who was already traumatized, causing him to break out in a cold sweat and his heart to pound.

If he hadn't been a wizard who had seen many powerful figures and grand occasions, he might have pulled out his wand to retaliate just now.

Lucius's breathing returned to normal only when he saw the cup of green tea with wisps of white steam rising in front of him.

As you can see--

Amostella calmly addressed Lucius, whose face had turned pale.

"The conditions here are basic, unlike Leaky Cauldron or those high-end cocktail parties, there aren't many drinks to choose from."

Amosta's attitude was clearly not welcoming, but it was still much better than Lucius had anticipated. In his prior calculations before the visit, Blaine would either be friendly or simply send him away; in an extreme case, he would be dragged into that terrifying space and tortured.

But Amosta Blaine didn't do that. Instead, he invited him to sit down and even made him a cup of tea, which delighted him.

Perhaps it was because Severus Snape's influence over this young, powerful, and fearsome wizard was greater than he had imagined.

“Your taste is very unique, Mr. Blaine--”

After a brief silence, Lucius twitched the corner of his mouth.

"In Britain, most people prefer black tea, while green tea is more in line with the habits of people from the East."

Amosta lowered his eyes, not watching Lucius's performance. He slowly blew on the floating leaves on the green tea, carefully sipped the hot tea, put down the teacup, leaned back in his chair, interlaced his fingers and placed his fist on his knee. Only then did his gaze lock onto Lucius's gray eyes, which were trying hard to hide fear and humiliation. However, he still did not speak.

Seeing this, Lennie lowered his tail, squatted on the sofa, and was full of questions.

"Excuse my intrusion, Mr. Blaine, but I've come to apologize for our unpleasant encounter at the Leaky Cauldron—"

See people talking, see ghosts talking.

This skill was second nature to a wizard like Lucius Malfoy. Since Blaine didn't respond, Lucius had to keep trying to find a way to start a conversation.

Unfortunately, he encountered Amosta Blaine. Lucius had seen too many people like him, who were more like shrewd businessmen than wizards. Talking to them with nonsense would only lead to being led into their rhythm of the conversation. Now he held the initiative, so continuing to use silence to intimidate the other party was the best way.

And indeed, Amosta's calm scrutiny made Lucius uneasy. He shifted his body restlessly, as if there were thorns lurking in the cushion beneath him.