Harry was caught between pain and happiness.
The April dueling tournament had officially come to an end, and they had won the third-year championship by narrowly defeating Draco.
But the good times didn't last long. Just as Harry was feeling smug, draped in the Invisibility Cloak and following the Marauder's Map to sneak into Hogsmeade for a relaxed half-weekend to celebrate his victory—he was seen.
Not only by students like Draco Malfoy. Even Professor Fawley, who was chatting casually in the pub, caught sight of it.
Harry Potter's head.
Even though Harry immediately took the secret passage back to the castle, he still couldn't stop Snape from catching him and searching him, confiscating the Marauder's Map in the process.
Luckily, the map eventually ended up in Professor Lupin's hands. He got a scolding, but at least things didn't spiral out of control.
"I bet Malfoy reported us," Ron said angrily. "Just to get revenge for losing to us!"
"Whether it was him or not, the map's gone," Harry sighed.
"It's fine. You still know where the secret passage is."
"But where did Hermione go? Didn't she say she was doing homework?" Ron asked, glancing around the empty common room.
"To be honest, it was already strange enough that she was still thinking about the match on the night we won. Now she's skipping a rare Hogsmeade trip too. I was even hoping to take the chance to properly make up with her."
Just then, Hermione climbed into the common room.
But Harry's heart instantly sank.
Hermione looked at them with red, swollen eyes, holding up a damp letter in her hand.
"What happened?" Ron asked in a tone so gentle Harry barely recognized it.
Hermione shook her head numbly.
"I… I don't know how to tell you this. Hagrid… Hagrid lost the case. Buckbeak is going to be executed."
Harry's heart dropped straight to the bottom.
Even though Hermione and Ron really did seem to have reconciled.
"Why?" he asked hoarsely.
"I don't understand how he could still lose," Hermione said, choking up. "I gathered so much evidence that should've helped…"
"But we still have a chance to appeal."
"That's right," Ron said immediately. "This time, we'll all help you."
...
"Umbridge pulled a small trick. She reassigned all the committee members who were sympathetic toward magical creatures, either transferring them away on various pretexts or giving them other duties."
"So when the hearing took place, the committee was naturally dominated by members who favored extreme measures against magical creatures."
"She didn't even intend to give Hagrid the slightest chance with that so-called appeal." Cynthia's crisp, efficient voice came through the badge.
"It looks like Fudge has gotten a lot more capable lately. He's even learned to play these little games," Tver said, idly turning the badge in his fingers as he gazed out the window with a faintly amused expression.
"He's been using me quite smoothly these days. He even insists I act as his bodyguard when meeting the Muggle Prime Minister, as if Dumbledore were hiding somewhere, planning to assassinate him."
The badge suddenly crackled with Marvolio's roguish, mocking voice.
"Isn't that perfect? You can map out his entire network and replace him when the time comes."
"The problem is, our progress with Barty Crouch has been far too slow. No, it's basically nonexistent."
Marvolio and Cynthia had both tried approaching Barty Crouch, but his instincts were simply too sharp.
Not only had they failed to get close to him, they had actually raised his level of suspicion.
"Still, I've already made contact with Bertha Jorkins and secured evidence that Barty used a Memory Charm on her."
"Once we capture Barty Jr., we can directly threaten Barty Crouch into joining us."
Tver wasn't entirely satisfied with this arrangement.
He didn't want to prop up a mere puppet Minister. What he wanted was a genuinely like-minded partner.
Still, Barty Crouch's level of vigilance had exceeded his expectations. For even Marvolio and Cynthia to resort to threats meant that this former Ministerial candidate was not someone to underestimate.
"Then leave it to you, Marvolio. Focus on collecting the remaining Horcruxes. In less than a year, you'll be truly resurrected."
"Oh, come on. Collecting Horcruxes is easy. You're just afraid I'll clash with Barty," Marvolio complained.
"Would you?" Tver asked calmly.
"Of course I would!" Marvolio replied righteously. "He's the one who's made things so restrictive for me at the Ministry. I've barely been able to rack up any achievements lately."
"And you still dare complain?" Tver rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide his irritation, even though no one could see him.
"Tell me about Ian Russell. How's he handling the business?"
At that, Cynthia immediately laughed, clearly pleased.
"The company is making an absurd amount of money."
"What do you mean by 'absurd'?" Tver paused.
"Ian sells the face masks to agents in each country at a fairly acceptable price. After that, how they sell them is entirely up to them."
"So they're jacking the prices up through the roof?" Tver asked.
"On the contrary. Their retail prices are almost the same as what they pay us, sometimes even lower."
"That's because Ian gave them a strategy. They use the masks to build brand recognition, then push their own cosmetics, luxury goods, and other high-margin products."
"So now our masks exist under dozens of different brands. Even though they all come from the same manufacturer, consumers have no idea they're produced by the same company."
"And we're selling at nearly the same price we would ourselves, without worrying about marketing or promotion at all. We just focus on production."
"Not bad," Tver said approvingly.
He had chosen Ian precisely because of his vast influence in the Muggle world.
Only a tycoon of that caliber could pull off something like this.
If it were purely about making money, Tver would never have allowed such an arrangement. But his goal was to bring Muggles and wizards together.
Wizards only needed to know that it made enormous profits. They wouldn't care about branding at all.
As for Muggles, once they realized that the face masks they used so often came from the magical world, fear or not, they would still have to accept the fact that they were benefiting from magic.
"When I handed the accounts to Lucius, his expression looked calm enough, but I could clearly tell he was practically floating as he walked," Cynthia added.
"Oh, right. Lucius has also been privately courting several pure-blood families, as well as some former Death Eaters. How should we deal with that?"
There was a soft rustling of papers from Cynthia's side, as if she were preparing to pass Tver a list.
He had no interest in memorizing every single name.
"Check their records. Anyone with crimes goes to Marvolio. He's always complaining about lacking achievements, isn't he? As for the rest, recruit them if possible."
"But what should we have them do?" Cynthia asked.
"Nothing in particular. Those people are all unstable to some degree. I just need to make sure they don't cause trouble or interfere with our plans."
"You're so wary of pure-blood families. Then why recruit them at all?" Marvolio asked, genuinely puzzled.
"If I wanted to rule Muggles, pure-bloods would be our natural allies."
"But what I want is to integrate wizards and Muggles. The ideology of pure-blood supremacy is inherently our enemy."
"So I have to bind them to us with shared interests before they realize that."
"At the very least, I can't let them unite."
Pure-blood families were deeply entrenched forces in the wizarding world, and they existed not only in Britain, but in many other countries as well.
Tver had to ensure that these families wouldn't be blinded by profit and stir up trouble.
"No wonder you went to so much trouble to rope in the Malfoy family back then," Marvolio said with a mocking tone. "Tsk. People who play strategy really do have dirty minds."
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on P@treon.
[Upto 50 chapters ahead for now]
[email protected]/BlurryDream