Back at the Acolytes' Manor.
Argus carefully placed Slytherin's locket into a secure container for magical objects.
The locket was still a Horcrux, imbued with Voldemort's soul fragment.
Touching it lightly could lead to unforeseen consequences.
He picked up the intelligence report that Alan Mitchell had just sent him from the table.
Fudge had just dispatched Aurors to Knockturn Alley to deal with the werewolves there.
One of the figures caught his attention: a haggard and disheveled one.
"Lupin? He's in there too?"
Looking at Lupin's ragged figure in the photo, Argus couldn't help but sneer.
A once outstanding student at Hogwarts, a staunch supporter of Harry's father, and a member of the prestigious Order of the Phoenix, he'd fallen to such a state that Dumbledore wouldn't even give him a second glance.
They didn't invite Lupin back to be a professor until several years after Harry enrolled.
He had considered contacting and recruiting Lupin in advance, but he didn't have any suitable leverage.
There were only a few reasons why Lupin would willingly obey orders.
Solving the werewolf problem, the truth of what happened back then, Harry...
These were things that he could provide himself, and Dumbledore could provide them as well.
If that was the case, why would Lupin choose to side with someone he'd never met before, instead of Dumbledore?
Argus tapped his knuckles lightly on the table, summoning Vinda Rosier.
"Aunt Vinda, tell Alan Mitchell to pay more attention to this werewolf named Lupin."
"There's no need to follow him. Just let me know his movements as soon as they happen."
"Understood." Vinda didn't ask any more questions and prepared to leave with the photos in hand.
"By the way, the Malfoy family just sent word that everything has been taken care of."
"The Greengrass, Crabbe, Parkinson, and other families have been dealt with to a satisfactory degree, so you don't need to worry."
"There's a banquet tonight, with important members of several families in attendance. They'd like to invite you to attend as a way of expressing their gratitude."
Argus nodded. "Okay, I'll be there then."
"How's the address I asked you to find coming along?"
"The planting and breeding bases have all been completed and are now in use. As for the street location, it has not yet been selected."
"What about Gringotts?"
"As you requested, we have been secretly spreading rumors about Gringotts' exploitative practices. The discontent of ordinary wizards with Gringotts has reached a peak, and it could ignite instantly with just a spark. The pure-blood families are not so easy to fool."
"From today onwards, we can shift our focus and tell the British wizards that the previous attacks on Gringotts did not mean that nothing was lost; rather, the lost items were too numerous and too valuable for Gringotts to bear."
"Gringotts could even go bankrupt if the owner of the item discovers it!"
In his previous life, Argus had seen many cases of bank failures.
Many of these problems arose because the funds that had been lent out could not be recovered.
Gringotts did not handle the distribution of Galleons, so it was unlikely that they could squeeze its living space through this.
However, there was another way: by using the same method as ordinary wizards to withdraw money, they could continuously drain the Galleons from Gringotts.
Once this trend took hold, even pure-blood families would feel uneasy.
Banks made their profits simply by relying on depositors' funds, and Gringotts was no exception, constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The difference was that Gringotts had the right to mint coins.
"Unless they recklessly manufacture Galleons, it's impossible to pay off all the wizards' savings."
"If really dare to do that, I won't even need to lift a finger; the pure-blood families and the Ministry of Magic will lead the way and tear those goblins apart alive!"
Vinda nodded thoughtfully, turned, and left to relay the orders to the others.
...
Time flies, and a month and a half had passed.
During this month, the Acolytes placed a large number of people in the Ministry of Magic.
Meanwhile, more and more ordinary wizards were heading to Gringotts to collect Galleons.
Gringotts had heard the rumors from the outside world and had tried to explain them.
Unfortunately, wizards were also human, and each person could only draw their own conclusions within their own cognitive scope.
They only believed what they wanted to believe.
No matter how Gringotts explained, no one paid any attention.
Argus was living a very comfortable life, reading books and practicing magic every day.
Occasionally, he would reply to Hermione, Padma, and others with a letter.
With his talent points already maxed out, he managed to raise the level of many spells to level four within a month.
One morning, as Argus was by the lake trying out Dumbledore's water prison against Voldemort, an owl came to him with a letter.
"Were there changes to the textbooks and the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the new school year?"
Argus recalled that the second-year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher seemed to be a mediocre one.
Aside from displaying his feathers like a male peacock, the only other thing he could do was use the Obliviate Charm.
Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, A Year with the Yeti...
"These books together are worth at least several dozen Galleons!"
"Good heavens, they're using Hogwarts students to boost sales and make money!"
"If I remember correctly, these books are sold in bookstores run by the Flourish and Blotts."
"We need to get Aunt Vinda to deal with this quickly. This mediocre teacher will be exposed in less than a year."
"All these books will be stuck with us!"
Upon leaving the manor, Argus Apparated into the Acolytes' shop in Diagon Alley.
Argus hadn't been to Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron since the Christmas sales ended.
They rarely even went for a stroll!
They were terrified of being surrounded by enthusiastic British wizards!
"Aunt Vinda!"
When Argus saw Vinda, she was talking to several middle-aged men. Hearing the voice, a look of surprise appeared in her eyes.
"Argus? What brings you here?"
"The Hogwarts reading list for the new school year has arrived. I've come to pick up some books."
"You could have just told me about this; why did you have to make a trip?"
"What books do you want? Let me see it."
Vinda frowned slightly and quickly stepped forward to take the parchment from Argus's hand.
The moment she held it, it wasn't the parchment she had imagined, but a beautiful black rose
"This is for you, Aunt Vinda!"
Argus smiled gently, and Vinda took the flower and lightly tapped Argus on the head.
"You've learned quite a bit at Hogwarts, even how to send flowers to make girls happy?"
"It seems I'll need to give you more tasks to handle in the future, so you can get some experience beforehand!"
"Aunt Vinda... are you a devil...?"
Argus never expected that his well-intentioned surprise would end up like this.
His expression became incredibly interesting.
"Just kidding. Wait a minute, I'll go get you the books."
Vinda smiled brightly, took the black rose, and tucked it into her hair.
In a daze, Argus realized that Vinda had never smiled like that since he first met her.
He chose the textbooks needed for the second academic year from the bookstore according to the book list.
Argus took the books and casually flipped through a few pages.
"By the way, Aunt Vinda, how many Galleons did Lockhart ask for those textbooks?"
...
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