From Hogwarts to Sturhaven

Ivy shook her hand slightly, which was clasped with Lucius's, and said without any intention of being polite, "Really? I had no idea I was so famous."

It seemed that Lucius had never met someone as direct as Ivy in his social life, and the atmosphere at the scene became a little awkward for a moment.

“Alright, Lucius, don’t let Mr. Doom stand in the drawing room any longer, or people will say the Malfoy family doesn’t know how to treat guests.” Narcissa Malfoy spoke up to ease the atmosphere. She was a beautiful woman who always had an arrogant and aloof expression. Her fair skin seemed to shimmer under the lamplight. As the matriarch of the Malfoy family, she did indeed exude an air of nobility.

Hearing his wife's attempt to smooth things over, Lucius nodded slightly, deciding to end this less-than-successful first meeting. However, he couldn't pull his hand away from Ivy's.

“Mr. Doom?” Lucius’s expression carried just the right amount of doubt, as if he were blaming Ivy for being ignorant.

However, Lucius never understood that he never had the initiative in this meeting.

Ivy's smile widened as she grabbed Lucius's left arm. Beneath the velvet robe that best showcased the Malfoy family's wealth was Voldemort's Dark Mark.

Eleven years after Voldemort's disappearance, Lucius Malfoy once again felt the burning pain of the Dark Mark. A twisted look of surprise appeared on his usually composed face. Had his son not been there, perhaps Lucius's expression would have been even more varied.

"Dinner is ready, please take your seats. And of course, you, Draco." Seeing that Ivy, who was smiling, showed no intention of letting go of her husband, Narcissa quickly made an excuse to send her son away, because she knew very well what was on her husband's left forearm.

As a sensitive mother, she could not allow any possible danger to threaten her son.

"Our family always has a lavish dinner! Come on, Ivy! I'm starving!" Unaware of his father's predicament, Malfoy skipped and hopped towards the dining room, calling out to his friends.

As a tool to demonstrate status, the Dark Mark is only available to core members of the Death Eaters. Lucius gained Voldemort's favor because of the Malfoy family's immense wealth and his position among pure-blood wizarding families.

However, after Voldemort fell to a child, the opportunistic Lucius immediately broke away from the Death Eaters, escaping imprisonment by betraying his former comrades and accepting political donations. But deep down, however, he harbored a deep fear of Voldemort, afraid that he would one day return.

The searing pain of the Dark Mark now stirred up his deepest fear of Voldemort. Lucius watched Malfoy leave the drawing room, then turned and stammered, "Please..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Ivy suddenly released his grip on Lucius's left arm, and the burning pain inflicted by the Dark Mark vanished like a bubble.

"The extravagance of the Malfoy family is truly an eye-opener for me. As Draco's friend, please allow me to express my respect to you, Mr. Malfoy." Ivy spoke politely but without any respect, then swept past the mansion's drawing room like a shadow and headed towards the banquet hall.

The Malfoys exchanged a glance, and both saw panic and helplessness in each other's eyes.

“If it were Draco…” Narcissa stopped mid-sentence as Lucius pulled up the sleeve of his left arm.

In the past 11 years, the Dark Mark had never been so conspicuous. Lucius even felt that even when he was with Voldemort, the darkness emanating from it was never as so somber and heavy as it was now.

Chapter 64 Fountain of Good Fortune

Contrary to Ivy's expectations, the Malfoy family's welcome dinner was mainly French cuisine. It seems that even the self-proclaimed noble Malfoy family would not actually serve British food to their distinguished guests.

Similar to Hogwarts, the Malfoy family also used glittering gold tableware at their table, and laid out various exquisite and delicious dishes.

The dish includes pan-fried lamb chops, their pinkish color enhanced by the aroma of basil and black pepper, which is incredibly tempting when combined with the butter.

The rich, creamy seafood soup, with its thick white broth topped with dried vegetable bits, and various shellfish that Ivy couldn't name, revealed their plump, juicy meat in the milky white broth. Just looking at it, you knew it was absolutely fantastic.

There are also cold platters of cheese and bacon, steaming hot fruit pies that look freshly baked, and all sorts of baked breads with irresistible aromas, and so on.

It's clear that the Malfoy family's house-elves really put a lot of effort into today's banquet.

Although the dishes served were all French cuisine, there was no complicated order of serving dishes like at a French banquet. Everyone (only four people) could freely take the dishes they liked.

However, the desserts were predominantly British, featuring a variety of sweet jams, puddings, ice cream, and small cakes.

Throughout the meal, Malfoy kept trying to find topics to talk about, and Ivy would occasionally chime in. The two chatted about everything from the duel after the school banquet to the Quidditch match before the Christmas holidays, and finally about Malfoy's beloved flying broomstick.

During this time, the Lucius couple only responded when Malfoy asked for their opinions; for the rest of the time, they simply ate the food in front of them in silence, seemingly troubled by something.

However, all of this was a great encouragement to Malfoy. He even thought that his parents had given him the power to lead the conversation at the banquet, and he not only showed considerable pride, but Ivy also thought he was being a bit too demanding.

"Speaking of flying brooms, the Nimbus Broom Company's creations are indeed the best. Even that scarred Potter could beat Slytherin on a Nimbus 2000. If Ivy hadn't joined the Quidditch team, he probably would have continued to be so smug."

While belittling his opponent, Malfoy didn't forget to subtly praise Ivy. It seems that the education of noble families is indeed different. At least when Harry and Ron were copying Ivy's Transfiguration homework, they couldn't flatter him so naturally.

“Speaking of which, Father,” Malfoy said, looking at his father, “I remember you corresponded with Mr. Devlin Whitehorn of the Nimbus Corporation. Did he mention the new Nimbus brooms? Could I have one? Ivy is also very interested in these things; he even makes models of flying, fire-breathing dragons!”

Lucius frowned. He wasn't sure whether his son's words stemmed from the bizarre fantasies of a minor or from Ivy's tacit instruction, and therefore he was unsure how to respond.

But Malfoy didn't disappoint him. He then turned to Ivy and said, "Ivy! Can my dad see your little dragon? Have you named it yet? Although it's small and delicate, it deserves a majestic and powerful name!"

See, this is where Ivy said he was pushing his luck.

However, Ivy didn't bother arguing with a child. He put down the ice cream smeared with raspberry jam and summoned the Grimoire of Destruction amidst a shower of golden light.

The antique pages of the book turned on their own without any wind, quickly flipping to the page containing the little dragon.

To the astonishment of the three Malfoys, the black and gold dragon that had been in the illustrations on the pages struggled to extend one claw from the pages, then the other, and then with both claws exerting force together, the ferocious fire dragon's head and horns burst out of the illustrations.

With a long howl, the little fire dragon flew around the banquet table, spewing out flames one after another.

After circling the arena several times, the fire dragon seemed to get tired. After gliding for a while, it landed back next to Ivy and dozed off, resting its head on his fingers.

"Oh...!" Malfoy sighed, resting his chin on his hand. He was so intoxicated and satisfied. He really loved this little fire dragon.

"This... could it be some kind of alchemical creation? Or some new type of artificial life? Mr. Doom?" Lucius couldn't help but ask. As someone who was passionate about collecting dark magic items, he had never seen such a lifelike model of a fire dragon.

“This is a ceramic statue,” Ivy said softly. “I used an animation charm to make it move like a real fire dragon.”

“Then you must have something in common with Mr. Whitehorn of the Lightwheel Company. I’m thinking of inviting him to the family dinner at Christmas. What do you think?” Lucius carefully considered his words and cautiously asked Ivy for her opinion.

“I am merely a guest of the Malfoy family. This estate is naturally under your control, Mr. Malfoy.” Ivy appeared to have no intention of usurping the host’s position, but apart from Malfoy, Lucius and Narcissa knew that was not the truth.

“After all, you are the first guest to visit this manor during this holiday, and it would be bad if my presumptuous invitation spoiled your enjoyment.” Lucius’s words showed his good upbringing. “Since you have no objection, I will send an invitation to Mr. Whitehorn soon.”

“Draco,” Narcissa, who had been silent at the table, suddenly called her son’s name, “you must also have some little toys you want to show Mr. Doom, right? Shall we go find them together?”

"What? Mom?" Malfoy looked a little confused, but he quickly put on a knowing look. "Ah... of course! Just wait and see, Ivy!"

As he left the banquet hall with Narcissa, he leaned down and whispered to Ivy, "It must be the agreed-upon reward. I'll pick out a few of the Malfoy family's finest pieces!"

As the mother and son walked out of the banquet hall, the place, which was still filled with the aroma of food, began to feel dull. The only sound was the "crackling" of Ivy's fingernails scraping against the dragon's scales.

"Have you ever heard the story of the Fountain of Good Fortune?" After an unknown amount of time, Lucius's voice sounded softly.

Before Ivy could answer, Lucius continued, as if he had made up his mind: "Dumbledore and I have some... disagreements about this story. As a member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, I believe that the senile Dumbledore should no longer remain in that position..."

“Heh~” Ivy couldn’t help but let out a contemptuous laugh through her nose. “Remember Hogwarts’ motto? ‘Don’t scratch the sleeping dragon.’”

Chapter 65 Diary

Lucius Malfoy is an arrogant fool.

Or rather, the Malfoy family's arrogance was almost inherited along with their light blond hair.

As a wizarding family that champions pure-blood superiority, the Malfoys' past is not as "pure" as they claim.

Long before the Enactment of the Secrets Act, the Malfoy family became one of the few large landowners in Wiltshire by acquiring Muggle lands. Later, they even completely integrated into Muggle high society, and Lucius Malfoy I was even a suitor of Queen Elizabeth I.

Initially, they strongly resisted the implementation of the Secrets Act, but the Malfoy family quickly severed ties with Muggle society, declaring themselves pure-blood savvy and Muggle-hating.

This alone shows that the Malfoy family's ability to change their allegiance to others has a long history.

After the 18th century, wizarding society adopted a policy of complete separation from Muggle society, and the Malfoy family began to seek greater influence in the wizarding world by leveraging the wealth accumulated over centuries.

At the same time, in order to prevent dangerous inbreeding within the family's pure-blood circle, which could lead to decline or instability like a few fanatical families such as the Gaunt or Lestrange, many half-blood wizards also appeared in the Malfoy family's genealogy.

They relied on fraud and "tracing origins" to fabricate suitable "pure-blood" lineages for many half-blood wizards. Although this practice differed from the more extreme Gaunt or Black families, the Malfoy family still did not lose the respect of those pure-blood families.

In the 20th century, Voldemort led the Death Eaters in a massive wizarding war against the British wizarding world. For some reason, Lucius Malfoy, the patriarch of the Malfoy family, abandoned the family's usual practice of hedging his bets and devoted himself entirely to the work of purging Muggles.

Although Lucius Malfoy managed to escape the Ministry of Magic's purge after Voldemort's downfall, they clung to their unsustainable "pure-blood" ideology for more than a decade afterward, even falling out with the 20th century's greatest white wizard over a nonsensical allegory that "promoted the union of wizards and Muggles."

Lucius even went so far as to use "insults" on Dumbledore's sanity, background, and personal hygiene in his private letters. This was practically courting death.

If the Malfoy family's opportunistic ancestors knew about this from beyond the grave, they'd probably be furious.

Just like Ivy's initial conclusion—Lucius Malfoy was an arrogant and conceited fool.

However, Ivy enjoys dealing with idiots because, with the right guidance, even idiots can play a significant role.

Ivy needs to instill fear in him, make him suspicious, and let him sink deeper and deeper into doubt and anxiety, until he can no longer betray him.

The Dark Mark, Voldemort's legacy, is the best entry point for Ivy.

You are the Dark Lord, and I am the Dark Lord. There's no reason why I can't play your tricks.

Ivy not only thought this way, but also did it.

As a master of dark magic and curses, Ivy fully understood how the Dark Mark worked with just a simple touch.

Those must have been scraps left over from when Voldemort was creating Horcruxes. He used the fear of others to nourish the magic he planted in the Death Eaters, thus creating a two-way communication channel.

However, now that Voldemort has been reduced to a shadow and a puff of steam by the "love" magic on Harry, no matter how much Ivy stimulates the Dark Mark on Lucius's hand, Voldemort, who is sitting on Quirrell's head, will not be able to sense it, because he doesn't even have a body that can have feelings.

When Ivy contemptuously berated Lucius for his antagonism towards Dumbledore in the banquet hall of the Malfoy family mansion, Lucius—Malfoy—suddenly felt immense fear.

Will the Dark Lord, who disappeared for 11 years and was destroyed by his destined nemesis, really never return?

You should know that he named his followers Death Eaters, people who were determined to conquer death.

If the Dark Lord were to return someday, would the Malfoy family, who decisively severed ties with him when he lost power, still have a good ending?

Lucius held a pessimistic view of this issue because he knew all too well how cruel and narrow-minded Voldemort was.

It was precisely because of his demanding standards of loyalty that the Malfoy family, who had always been hedging their bets, were forced to completely side with Voldemort.

Now, thanks to Lucius's own confusing actions, the possibility of the Malfoy family joining the White Lord's cause has been completely eliminated.

If Voldemort were to return with a vengeance, and the two Dark Lords were to reignite the Wizarding Wars, would the Malfoy family still have a chance of survival? Could the same tactics succeed twice against the same opponent?

Even a fool would know that this is completely impossible.

Lucius couldn't gain Dumbledore's trust, nor could he protect himself from Voldemort's harsh treatment. His only hope was that Harry Potter would actually and completely defeat Voldemort.