The Return to Hogwarts

Narrak grinned, looking every bit the shrewd businessman.

Being without desires is the most difficult thing to achieve, but if Amosta Blaine has desires, then there is no problem, as it knows that a great magician like Blaine will never lack wealth.

"You may not know this, but he is the grandson of Percival Grevis. He joined the Security Department specifically to wash away his grandfather's shame. He worked diligently and eventually became the Minister of Security with the help of his family."

Narrak slurred a cigar, his voice muffled, his broad green face appearing and disappearing behind the swirling smoke.

Percival Grevis—Amelia knew that this man had once served as the Minister of Security, as the wicked fairy had just mentioned. She also knew that Percival Grevis had been involved in an accident during his tenure, but there were no detailed records of what happened.

Amelia looked at Amosta, and from Narrak's previous words, she deduced that Amosta at least knew the inside story.

Amostama remained silent, calmly watching Narrak.

He understood why the fairy was telling him all this.

Whether in the Muggle world or the wizarding world, those at the top always prioritize their own interests. All their methods, schemes, and strategies revolve around these two words. It is precisely because Amosta understands this very clearly that he was able to easily persuade Whip Dreggan to become the headmaster of Durmstrang.

He wasn't surprised that Remus's business ventures in the Americas were frustrating, but initially he simply thought that the officials here saw the vast market potential for his learning machine and wanted to get a piece of the pie.

But after delving deeper, he realized that there might be other reasons. Amosta knew that Trak Grevis was their biggest obstacle, but Amosta wasn't entirely sure what this powerful figure in the Magical Congress of America was thinking, but it certainly couldn't be gold.

Normally, an official with a strong background and lofty ambitions is hard to be threatened or bribed. It would be very difficult to make an exchange of benefits with such a person. But looking at the confident look of this demon in front of him, it seems that he knows something.

Narrak seemed to have finished speaking, leisurely sipping a glass of red fungus. Amosta knew that if he wanted to hear more valuable information, he should pay first.

Du--

The dull thud of the money pouch being placed on the table showed that Amosta was not stingy with the gold; he had indeed shown sincerity.

Narrak clearly saw that the reward offered by Amosta Blaine was very generous. Its gaze lingered on the money bag for a moment, but in the end, it restrained its greed.

“Oh, it seems that being a professor at Hogwarts is indeed a good job, Mr. Blaine.”

Upon hearing Narrak's words, Amosta immediately understood that the old goblin wanted more. However, he did not continue to spend money. Instead, he picked up his glass and took a sip of the Forget-Me-Not offered by the house-elf—an exceptionally spicy liquor with a taste somewhat like baijiu, which made Amosta, who had not touched baijiu for many years, feel a bit like coughing.

“Since you’re not satisfied, Narrak—”

Amosta silently put down his glass.

"Why don't you assess for yourself how much gold what you're about to tell me is worth?"

Even a fairy must maintain basic respect when facing a world-renowned great magician. Narrak did not try to raise the price with any more words. He placed the unburnt cigar on the ashtray and held up a long finger.

"Ten thousand Galleons?"

Remus couldn't hold back any longer; his brow furrowed, and his tone betrayed a hint of anger.

"I dare say you are the most greedy fairy I have ever met!"

“Oh, that’s not very objective, Mr. Lupin,”

Narrak also knew Remus's background, and it looked at him rather bluntly, saying...

“Without Amosta Blaine, you’d know that those goblins you do business with are far more greedy than I am. And besides, I didn’t say I wanted ten thousand Galleons. What I meant was—”

Narrak's gaze returned to Amosta.

“To be honest, Mr. Blaine, I’m not short of gold. Long lifespans and a talent for construction and business make fairies richer than most wizards. I’m more interested in novel things than gold.”

Novel things.

Amosta raised an eyebrow, then chuckled.

"You greedy bastard, you want to get a learning machine from us?"

"wishful thinking!"

Remus was startled at first, and then his already somewhat unpleasant face turned ashen.

A learning machine costs 50,000 Galleons in Europe. This price was set by Amosta himself. At the beginning of the pricing, not only Remus, but even the fairies had a lot of objections, thinking that the price was too expensive.

Unexpectedly, this machine became incredibly popular after it was launched on the market. Many ancient pure-blood families, obscure magic schools, and industry giants were eager to spend their money to buy it for their descendants' preschool education.

Just as Amosta once said, people who are willing to spend 10,000 or 20,000 Galleons to buy a learning machine don't care about spending tens of thousands more Galleons.

The Americas market is a new market they want to open up. After deducting tariffs, transportation, and labor costs, Amosta decided to keep the price there around 45,000. However, it's foreseeable that once the learning machine is launched, due to production capacity limitations, its black market price will definitely exceed its European price.

This is assuming they've opened up the sales market; if the learning machines were banned here, the prices on the black market would definitely be even more outrageous.

However, the problem isn't the exorbitant price; the problem is whether Narlak can truly offer a sufficient return.

Amosta's gaze shifted, and a smile appeared on his face.

"I must say, this is indeed a price that exceeds my expectations. If you want me to accept it, Narlak, you'll have to provide information of sufficient value."

"Nalak was injured—"

Upon hearing Amosta's words, Narrak immediately knew the deal was about to go. He grinned, revealing his sallow teeth, and said with suppressed excitement,

"Just eight years ago, Grevis was just a senior Auror, not yet the head of the Security Department. A group of vampires were roaming the Muggle world, breaking the rules, killing many Muggles and sucking their blood. This caused a great uproar in both worlds, and Grevis was ordered to capture them."

The vampires put up a fierce resistance, seemingly possessing some strange power. They killed many of the Security Department's Aurors, and even Grevis was seriously injured. However, in the end, Grevis prevailed and ended the commotion.

Amostah narrowed his eyes, vaguely recalling the matter; it seemed the Daily Prophet had also reported on it.

"--In that final duel, Greaves was seriously injured. He spent nearly six months in the hospital before being discharged. The then-Secretary of State was dismissed because of the incident, and the position remained vacant for six months. After his discharge, Greaves became Secretary of State for his meritorious service. Because of his subsequent series of outstanding achievements and arrest operations, people quickly forgot that he had been seriously injured and on the verge of death, and thought that he had fully recovered. But--"

Under the focused gaze of the three, Narrak smiled smugly.

"But few people know that in the years that followed, Grevis had been secretly undergoing treatment. He even secretly traveled to St. Mungo's a few years ago for treatment, but it seemed to have no effect. He continued to secretly buy potions on the black market until last year."

"Until last year?" Remus asked instinctively. "He solved his problem?"

"Who knows?"

Narrak crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. "But I think it's unlikely. He's obviously been under some kind of vicious black magic, the damage caused by which is usually irreversible."

Looking at the thoughtful Amosta, Narrak smiled casually, a cigar in his mouth.

“I’ve heard that you are also skilled in healing, Mr. Blaine. If the news that you and Albus Dumbledore together cured the wizard couple who were driven mad by the Cruciatus Curse is not just a boring rumor, perhaps you could help Grevis.”

Chapter 894 Accident

2024-05-02

After listening to the information provided by Narrak, Amosta and the other two remained silent.

Amelia frowned, her face full of distrust.

Look at the bar they're in right now. It's full of illegal and criminal businesses. Coming back to her senses, she even noticed that many of the bar's customers looked familiar. They seemed to be criminals that the Ministry of Security had assigned to various departments, criminals they urgently needed to arrest.

The fairy who runs such a bar is inherently wicked, so how credible are the words that come out of her mouth?

Secondly, in the less than a year since she entered the Magic Council, there have been two or three cases where Mr. Grevis personally arrested the most heinous criminals. Everyone knows that Mr. Grevis is a powerful wizard. If he really has a serious illness as Narrak said, how could he still have such abilities?

Moreover, she had just been in close contact with Mr. Grevis last night and hadn't noticed anything wrong with him at all.

Unlike Amelia, Remus had mingled in the underground wizarding world and knew the capabilities of these information brokers. He was inclined to believe the information provided by Narrak, but his concern was how much value the information still held.

After all, Narrak also said that Grevis had stopped buying potions from the black market, and it wasn't sure if Grevis was fully recovered.

Even if he is not fully cured, can Amosta solve his problem?

Remus had heard Sirius recount Frank and Alice's recovery process in detail; their cases were unique, and it cannot be concluded that Amosta possessed the same skill in healing injuries and destruction.

"When did he stop buying potions from the black market?"

After a moment's thought, Amosta asked.

“Around October last year,” Narrak shrugged. “That potion-selling guy came to my bar for drinks last Christmas and complained to me that he had lost a stable source of income.”

"What do you think, Amosta?" Remus asked softly.

"It's hard to say—"

Amosta was pondering something when he heard the question, and he calmly replied...

"If a dark spell can plague a wizard like Grevis for seven or eight years, then the damage from the spell is most likely irreversible. I'm more inclined to believe that he has found a more effective way to suppress his problem. But to determine the specifics, I need to meet him in person."

Amosta turned to Narrak, "What kind of potion did he buy from the black market?"

"Oh--"

Seemingly anticipating this question, Narrak tapped his cigarette ash on the ashtray and gave Amosta a sly smile. "That's another deal, Mr. Blaine."

Remus frowned, about to say something, but Amostella raised a hand and asked calmly,

"what do you want?"

"Doing business with you has been more pleasant than I expected, Mr. Blaine--"

Narrak bared its yellow teeth, its greedy appetite like that of a glutton. It looked at Hobby, who remained perched on Amostella's shoulder, and finally revealed its fangs.

"This is a raccoon cat, isn't it, Mr. Blaine? These little guys are very fast, aren't they? And I've heard that these creatures are very intelligent and, if properly tamed, can be very useful?"

"You want it?"

Amostah raised an eyebrow, his tone questioning but not overly surprised. He glanced at Hobby, about to say something, but Hobby, who was perched on his shoulder, got up first, leaped onto Narrak's shoulder, and lazily squatted down again.

"Oh!" Narrak said, even with a hint of surprise, "I didn't expect you to be so skilled at taming magical creatures, Mr. Blaine. Shall we make a deal?"

"Speak—"

Amostah gave Hobby a meaningful look, who was avoiding his gaze. By now, he had figured out why the cat-like creature was here and what it wanted to do. From the beginning, its target was probably Narrak.

“Cleansing Potion.” Narrak smiled.