The mastermind behind Hogwarts

Chapter 48 Moriarty: "Progress is going well!"

"Bang!"

Moriarty heard the sound of a bottom and a book hitting the ground at the same time. The person who fell got up and ran away, abandoning the book.

"Lilith!" Moriarty called out softly. The person stopped immediately, slowly turned around, revealing a delicate face with blond hair and black eyes. It was Lilith.

Jericho walked over, looking surprised. "Pilivik? What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't you be the ones to answer this question?" Lilith stared intently at Jericho, but avoided Moriarty's gaze, as if her aggressive approach only worked when facing Jericho.

"Miranda Gossack's 'Book of Spells,' the pages about the Disillusionment Charm are crumpled." Moriarty picked up the book Lilith had tossed aside and said with amusement, "It seems we have the same goal."

Jericho flipped through the book, then looked at Lilith in surprise: "You've read this book several times already. When did you start?"

Lilith rolled her eyes at him: "Judging from your tone, I thought you were Mrs. Pince from the library."

"Tsk tsk, truly remarkable," Jericho said with a sneer, mimicking Lilith's tone, "I doubt anyone but Mr. Moriarty and I know you sneak into the restricted section every night! Applause for our excellent Miss Pillivik! She slips through people's sight like a nimble little snake, aha, like a snake."

"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Blanche," Lilith replied casually, then turned her gaze to Moriarty. "So, you're here to learn the Disillusionment Charm too? Perhaps... I mean, we could learn together."

Moriarty nodded in agreement: "This is not the place to talk. Let's copy down the Disillusionment Charm and leave."

Fearing discovery, Jericho and Lilith quieted down. The three of them drew their Disillusionment Charms, looked at each other, and nodded in unison: "Let's go back to the dorm."

Back in the Slytherin common room, Lilith suddenly said, "Mr. Moriarty, how did you recognize me?"

Moriarty's expression changed slightly. "When we bumped into each other, I smelled the scent of bird-egg yolk shampoo, the same scent you had when we first met."

"I see," Lilith said awkwardly, smoothing her blonde hair that fell to her shoulders. "That scent could also be yours, right? I remember you and I use the same shampoo."

Moriarty looked at her strangely, and after Lilith finished speaking, she realized she had asked a silly question and her face turned red.

Both of them were a little embarrassed and quickly parted ways.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Moriarty went to the Room of Requirement as usual, and Tonks had a preliminary idea for a spatial magic circle.

"Listen to me, Moriarty, I think we need to inscribe a large, permanently fixed memory spell on the magic circle along with runes. The number of runes will vary depending on the weight and quantity of the teleportation."

Tonks rubbed his temples, his brow furrowed. "Furthermore, we don't know how runes are best condensed for spatial magic, nor do we know if we need Latin runes or any other strange and unusual things besides runes!"

Finally, Tonks looked up at Moriarty and said pitifully, "Five months is too short. I'm worried we won't be able to complete the task you've given us."

Moriarty thought about it seriously for a moment and said, "Give me the runes. You learn the Solidification Charm first, and I will have Jericho learn the Memory Charm. As for the process of engraving the magic circle, I will find someone else to help me complete it."

Tonks pouted and nodded. It was supposed to be a good thing that her work was being shared, but she felt disappointed.

Moriarty was oblivious to this; his mind was completely absorbed in runes until Marcus spoke to him at the dinner table, pulling him out of his reverie.

"Young Master, I have told my father about everything that has happened recently. He is very happy to lead the family to pledge allegiance to you. This is the family crest and genealogy he sent you."

Marcus discreetly handed Moriarty a triangular badge. He also wanted to give Moriarty the family tree, but Moriarty refused.

Did Moriarty need to study the Flint family's internal affairs? No! It's not like it's the Slytherin family genealogy.

The badge doesn't feel good to the touch, probably because the Flint family's decline has caused it to become dusty, with several scratches on its dark surface. However, the Flint family's symbol—Winterflint flint—shines brightly on the badge like a small fireball, seemingly illuminating the family's last hope.

Moriarty grabbed Marcus's stiff, clasped hands, took out a pre-prepared letter from the system space, and stuffed it into Marcus's palm along with the badge.

"Remember today, January 16th! The day the Flint family rises again! Send this letter to your father, he'll know what to do."

Just as Moriarty said, after receiving the letter, old Flint took his remaining funds and went to a small town in Romania that very evening, following the address provided in the letter.

In the small town, old Flint met Lockhart. At first, he thought Lockhart was in Romania looking for writing material, until Lockhart enthusiastically led him into a villa and he saw the little dragon Christmas. The expression on his face was priceless.

"Merlin!" Old Flint pointed at Lockhart, "You're with Little Dragon, so you're the one the young master sent to meet me?"

"Surprised, aren't you!" Lockhart chuckled casually, then said seriously, "Time is of the essence, so let's get straight to the point. The young master sent you here to develop the dragon breeding industry. As for me, nominally we're partners, but in reality, I'm responsible for providing you with funds, helping you network with local dignitaries, and smoothing things over..."

When the topic turned to business, old Flint straightened his slightly hunched back, a glint of shrewdness in his eyes: "Young Master told me to first open a dragon breeding farm, and then open a fire dragon viewing park, a dragon rider experience area, and a dragon valley that provides precious dragon materials!"

As far as I know, there is no such comprehensive dragon breeding industry in the world. If the young master's idea is fully realized, we will not lack money for centuries.

But we only have one dragon? To be honest, the Flint family can't afford another dragon with the money they have left.

Old Flint glanced at Christmas, and the little dragon, who was growing rapidly, bared its fangs at him.

"No matter how many dragons we have now, I believe that in just a few days we will have dozens, even hundreds of dragons!"

Lockhart grinned and drew his wand, pointing it at the ground. The wooden floor revealed its true form—pieces of gold bricks gleaming brightly.

Old Flint gasped and collapsed onto the gold-paved ground.

"Haha, old buddy, Romania is famous for its dragons, let's start our operation tomorrow!" Lockhart helped old Flint up and picked up two bottles of butterbeer.

Cheers! Haha!

That same night, Moriarty tossed and turned in bed. Tonks' words made sense; even if he brought Ingo, he wouldn't be able to set up a spatial magic array within five months.

"System, what rewards do I have yet to claim?" Moriarty thought of the system and hoped it could bring some good news.

"Host detected to have accumulated six exploration lottery draws and one achievement lottery draw!"

"smoke!"

Less than a minute later, the system announced the rewards: in addition to four useless items, there was an Indian flying carpet and a pair of disappearing cabinets!

"The Vanishing Cabinet!" Moriarty snapped his fingers, his eyes gleaming. He had figured out a way to speed up the construction of the magic circle.

And if I remember correctly, there's a vanishing cabinet in the Burlingame store, and another one in the Room of Requirement.

Therefore, by using the Vanishing Cabinet, one can travel to Tumble Lane without anyone noticing.

"System, can I get points for killing a dark wizard?" Moriarty thought of Knockturn Alley's specialty—dark wizards.

"You will earn points, but not for every dark wizard you kill. Also: if you want to earn points, why not try random quests?"

Moriarty said, "Random missions? You've never mentioned them, and there's no information about them."

"That's because the host needs to pay 300 points to unlock the random mission, so it won't be introduced proactively."

Oh, it's paid content.

Believing that paid content must be of high quality, Moriarty paid 300 points, leaving him with only 100 points.

Information about the random tasks instantly entered Moriarty's mind: the system would provide 1 to 2 random tasks every day, with varying levels of difficulty. Completing them would reward a small number of points, while failing to complete them would not incur any penalty.

"A sure thing, no risk, that's really good." Moriarty felt he could finally get a good night's sleep.

"System, are there any other paid content items like random missions?" Moriarty asked tentatively.

"Yes. The host can pay 1000 points to unlock the blind box lottery."

The English word "Flint" means flint, so I used that as the basis for the Flint family crest.

(End of this chapter)