The Return to Hogwarts

But now, this respectable manor, nestled in the darkness, exudes a heavy gloom, and even the bright moonlight cannot break through the ominous aura surrounding it.

"call--"

Entering the foyer, under the gaze of the pale-faced portraits on the walls, old Nott took a deep breath, muttering something to himself, as if trying to bolster his spirits. Then, he stepped onto a heavy wooden door, his steps cascading over the almost floor-length, opulent carpet.

"I will... *puff*, and receive praise."

After a moment's hesitation, old Nott turned the bronze handle and pushed the door open.

An elegantly decorated long table sat in the living room, while the usual furniture was haphazardly pushed against the wall. A small flame burned in the magnificent marble fireplace, providing only the bare minimum of light to the spacious room, as if the people inside didn't need any illumination at all.

“You’ve come, Nott--”

There were only two people in the room: the original owner of the house and the new owner.

Voldemort, seated in the middle of the innermost part of the long table, spoke in a high-pitched voice, his left hand resting on the armrest, elegantly holding his wand.

Lucius Malfoy lay prostrate on the ground, his long, pale blond hair disheveled before his eyes. His grey eyes were filled with unspeakable fear and terror, and his pale, bloodless face was still twitching uncontrollably, as if he had just endured some unimaginable pain.

Lucius's miserable state sent a chill down Old Nott's spine. He stared at him blankly, completely forgetting what he was about to report. His legs went weak, and he knelt down.

"Oh, don't worry, Nott—"

Voldemort seemed to find the scene amusing; he gave a lazy smile, turned his head to look at Lucius, who was lying on the ground panting. His scarlet snake eyes were colder than solid ice.

“Lucius betrayed my trust; he lost the treasure entrusted to him by the great Dark Lord and delivered it to Dumbledore and Blaine in an extremely foolish way, for which he was punished—”

A chill ran down Voldemort's face as he rhythmically swung his wand.

"But the Dark Lord is magnanimous, Lucius, I can forgive you this once. Of course, this is also because you have won the support of the giants for our great cause. Lucius, I hope this foolish mistake will not happen a second time. You will not betray my trust again, will you?"

"Thank you for your magnanimity, my master!"

Lucius, dragging his disheveled body, crawled to Voldemort's feet, his nostrils twitching as he kissed Voldemort's robes.

"Get up, Lucius, let's hear what good news Nott has for us."

Voldemort stood up and walked slowly to Nott's side. However, he did not let Nott stand up. Instead, he leaned down slightly to look at him, and the huge shadow cast on the wall seemed to devour old Nott's shadow like a demon.

"You've brought good news, haven't you, Nott?"

Voldemort asked.

"I... I don't know, Master. I don't know if it's good news, but I think it's necessary to report to you."

Old Nott's forehead was pressed against the fluffy carpet, and every syllable he uttered trembled.

“But I saw Amosta Blaine, I saw him come back.”

Amosta Blaine is back.

A fleeting look of disgust crossed Voldemort's pale face, followed by a wave of dejection.

"You sent a message to see me just to tell me this? You're wasting the Dark Lord's precious time with information that I could probably find out by buying a copy of the Daily Prophet?"

Old Nott's heart clenched instantly; he could feel an overwhelming chill pressing down on him.

“I met Blaine at Gringotts, Master. He was opening a vault with a woman he'd brought back from New York. Blaine said she was very talented with alchemical tools, so he planned to put her in the workshop that would make money for him and Remus.”

Voldemort's gaze grew increasingly cold and impatient.

"--Of course, that's not the point. They later went to the vault led by a fairy. Out of curiosity, I waited outside for a while. Oh, actually, I waited for several hours, which made me feel something was wrong. You know, usually going to the vault to get gold wouldn't take this long."

Later, they came up from the underground vault, but something was very wrong. The goblin who led them down there seemed to have fought a fire dragon. His clothes were burned and his face was blackened.

As if he had some suspicion, a flicker of unease crossed Voldemort's eyes, and his voice was both cold and heavy.

"I think you've asked that fairy and found out, Nott?"

"Of course, my master!"

Realizing that what he had said wasn't entirely worthless to the Dark Lord, old Nott's dormant heart regained some vitality, and his voice trembled less.

"At first it wouldn't say anything, but I threatened it that if it didn't tell me what they were doing, I would shut down all of Nott's and Gringotts' businesses, take Nott's gold, and make it suffer. Then it told me that Blaine had opened a very old family vault."

"A very old family vault?!"

In an instant, a tremendous fear gripped Voldemort's heart. He glared at Lucius Malfoy, his fierce gaze burning with rage.

Lucius Malfoy had just told him about his precious Horcruxes when he inquired about the notebook, which enraged him.

But after calming down, he realized he didn't need to be so nervous.

It was just an accident; Lucius's foolish act of acting on his own initiative exposed his precious Horcruxes to Dumbledore and Blaine. Dumbledore, whose eyesight was failing, could not possibly recognize his great magic capable of stopping death, but Blaine did cause him some concern.

The fact that Blaine can use Fiendfire to an exceptional level shows that he is not a 'saint' like Dumbledore; he has a profound understanding of dark magic.

He had just been wondering if Blaine might know about Horcruxes when Nott brought him this news.

"The treasury of an ancient family—"

Voldemort's eyes blazed with red light, but his voice remained faint and weak.

"To whom does it belong?"

"That fairy refuses to tell, Master—"

Old Nott was out of breath.

"It said that telling me this was already a huge risk, and if I revealed any more, Blaine wouldn't let it go."

"You won't tell me?!"

Voldemort's voice suddenly rose in pitch, his vertical pupils glowing bright red as he stared menacingly at old Nott.

"When did you become so gentlemanly, Nott? Or have you forgotten that serving the Dark Lord is worthless?"

Chapter 981 Retaliation

2024-06-17

Watching Old Nott scramble out of the conference room in a panic to confirm information with the fairy, Lucius, standing there trembling with fear, felt a pang of unease.

He understood why old Nott only used threats and inducements against the goblin, rather than taking more direct measures. The magical world had been at peace for a long time, and they had become accustomed to doing things according to the 'rules' over the past decade or so, and had not yet returned to the state of the war years.

but--

Lucius, who was bowing, glanced at the Dark Lord pacing back and forth in the spacious room out of the corner of his eye. A question arose in his mind. The Dark Lord seemed to care a lot about what the goblins of Gringotts had said: that Blaine had opened an ancient vault.

Whose vault did Blaine open, and what did he get?

Not only Lucius was thinking about this problem, but Voldemort was too.

According to Lucius, it was Blaine who resolved the locked-room crisis he created using his notebook, and Blaine must have destroyed his Horcrux himself.

Admittedly, the notebook protected by Horcrux magic is not something an ordinary person could destroy, but for Blaine, who is skilled in Fiendfire, it was not a difficult task.

The loss of just one Horcrux is not an unbearable loss. The key question is whether Blaine recognized what it was.

With his back to Lucius, Voldemort peered into the gloomy gardens of Malfoy Manor, trying to hide his unease from Lucius.

Horcruxes are his greatest secret, his reliance on immortality, and absolutely cannot be allowed to have any problems.

Dumbledore was a pedantic and hypocritical man, and he probably wouldn't be interested in such profound magic as Horcruxes. However, Blaine, who came from Slytherin, showed greed for wealth and coveted the position of headmaster of Hogwarts. This proved that he was an ambitious man, even if the things he pursued were low-level.

And if Blaine had ever been to the forbidden section of Hogwarts, he certainly had, without a doubt, and had seen the book "The Secrets of Advanced Black Magic".

Thinking of this, Voldemort suddenly turned around and looked at Lucius, who was bowing down, a cold killing intent surging in his eyes.

This idiot exposed his Horcrux to Amostra Blaine.

"I regret to inform you, my friend—"

Voldemort twirled his yew wand, slowly walking up to Lucius and staring at him coldly.

“I was about to forgive your foolishness, Lucius, but now I've changed my mind—”

With a thud, Malfoy collapsed to his knees, cold sweat trickling down his temples. Despair filled his grey eyes—Voldemort intended to kill him, and he certainly wouldn't spare his family. Narcissa was in the house; she had no chance of survival. Only Draco remained, but he hadn't yet contributed anything to Blaine. Would Blaine protect Draco?

"Please, my master, have mercy on me--"

Lucius sobbed and wept.

"At least please let Narcissa and Draco live."

"I am truly moved, but that's not up to you, Lucius, my dear friend—"

Lucius looked ashen-faced, as if he had lost his parents.

"Don't be discouraged, Lucius. After all, you did contribute to the Dark Lord—"

Voldemort chuckled coldly.

"Oh, you could call it loyalty, though. So I don't plan to kill you right away. Whether you survive depends on what news Nott brings back."

We'll have to see what kind of news Nott brings back.

Lucius, who had almost lost the ability to think, was in a daze. He didn't quite understand what the Dark Lord meant, but it was obvious that the lives of his family were in imminent danger, including the glorious Malfoy family, who might disappear tonight.

A flash of resentment crossed his gray eyes, which were filled with despair.

Now, Lucius finally realized that the Dark Lord could not bring glory to the pure-blood families, and that he did not even do so for the purpose of his actions. All he wanted was to enslave everyone and have the right to take and kill everyone.

But this is absolutely unacceptable. If it were just Dumbledore, the Malfoy family would have no choice but to follow the Dark Lord down this path to the bitter end.

But now that Amostrath Blaine and the others are in control of Harry Potter, who is known as the Dark Lord's nemesis, he used to look down on Harry Potter, but now he genuinely hopes that the kid with the silly scar on his head has something special about him.