Chapter 39.
The past year had been a troubling one for Lucius.
At the Ministry of Magic, his nemesis Arthur Weasley had come to his home several times for inspections. Although nothing was found, it caused him a lot of trouble. He had finally devised a good plan to oust Dumbledore from Hogwarts, and even make the Weasley family's little girl take the blame for the murder of a Muggle wizard by the Slytherin heir.
What he never expected was that the seemingly harmless Dumbledore's influence over the board of governors had grown to an overwhelming extent without his notice, and his plan to frame the Weasleys was ultimately ruined by his second son, leaving him with no one to complain to—he couldn't let anyone know that the diary had slipped from his hands, even if that person was his own son.
In the end, the whole scheme backfired spectacularly, causing him to lose a house-elf—after all, each house-elf was regulated and allocated by the Ministry's House-Elf Rehoming Office, and each was quite valuable; of course, Lucius was unaware that Dobby had actually fallen into his son's hands.
Compared to losing the house-elf, what was even more distressing was that he had lost his position on the Hogwarts board of governors—this was a huge blow to the Malfoy family's reputation!
For a long time, Lucius was able to hold his current social status in the British wizarding world because he prided himself on having three major identities—Chairman of the Hogwarts Board of Governors, Chairman of the Board of St. Mungo's Hospital, and a close friend of the Minister of Magic. These three identities were earned through decades of hard work and a significant amount of family wealth, so losing one of them was a considerable blow, not to mention the impact it had on him.
Lucius noticed that when he attended gatherings of the pure-blood aristocracy, people no longer regarded the Malfoy family with the same awe as before. Most infuriating was that old fool Avery, who dared to openly mock the Malfoy family, and he even received responses from several other formidable families, such as the Nott family, the Carrow family, and the Lestrange family. Every time Lucius thought about this, he felt a deep resentment.
What worried him even more was whether he could stabilise the situation; he feared that the vassal families around him, like the Goyle family and the Crabbe family, might have some improper thoughts. Not to mention that his allies, such as the Parkinson family and the Bulstrode family, might also waver in their support. Whenever he thought about these issues, his mood would turn very sour.
The only thing that gave Lucius some comfort was that his second son did not disappoint him.
Although Soren had messed up his scheme, Lucius knew it was just an unintentional mistake, as Soren had been completely unaware of his plans. Moreover, Soren had greatly enhanced Lucius's reputation at Hogwarts; he had heard from his good friend Snape that Soren had severely punished that brat Gellert Lestrange, who dared to provoke the Malfoy family's authority, thus upholding the family's dignity.
Not to mention that Soren had also received a special honor medal awarded by the Order of Merlin, a recognition that had never been achieved in the history of the Malfoy family—previous generations had focused too much on political and business training, and it had been a long time since a child with outstanding magical talent had emerged, especially one who had obtained such an honor from several older students. This particularly pleased Lucius.
Another thing that made Lucius view Soren in a new light was that he was becoming increasingly difficult to understand. Not only was his magical talent frighteningly excellent, but his performance in business investment also caught Lucius off guard.
In March, the broom company Eberly, in which Soren held half the shares, launched an unprecedented product—the Firebolt. This broomstick quickly became the first choice for international Quidditch teams within just a few months. Given this trend, it seemed likely that they would surpass the market share of the Nimbus broom company within a year. Compared to the profits Soren was about to gain, the losses of the Malfoy family this year seemed trivial.
Moreover, perhaps influenced by his younger brother, Lucius's eldest son Draco also began to change.
Ever since Soren received the honor of the Order of Merlin, Lucius had heard a lot of praise from Narcissa at the dinner table and seen Draco's envious gaze. Draco was no longer the carefree boy he used to be; instead, he had matured and become more ambitious. During the summer vacation, it was common to see him studying in the library or practicing spells with an alchemical puppet in an empty room.
Draco's transformation delighted Narcissa, and even the aloof Lucius felt a sense of comfort—he was now counting on his two sons to
strive for the Malfoy family's honor.
Returning to Soren, he had arranged several plans for himself during this summer:
First, to learn the Patronus Charm.
The theoretical knowledge and casting method of the Patronus Charm could be found in "The Book of Spells" by Miranda Goshawk, which had long been out of print. Ordinary young wizards would have to find a way to get a professor's approval to borrow it from the restricted section.
However, Soren had a copy in his private collection; he no longer remembered which family's library he had obtained it from, but importantly, he had already memorised it thoroughly. The contents of the 22 spells in the book were deeply ingrained in his mind. All he needed to do was spend time practicing.
Second, he planned to study the bloodline research materials of the Greengrass family, hoping to uncover the hidden abilities in his own bloodline. If he could also help the Greengrass family break their bloodline curse, that would be even better. He believed he could gain their full support in return, although he knew it wouldn't be an easy task, but it was worth a try.
Thirdly, Soren planned to write a book about his experiences at Hogwarts last year, titled "Me and the Basilisk at Hogwarts." In his past life, he had ample experience writing adventure books, and to cater to the reading tastes of the wizarding world, he can directly reference Lockhart's series of works for writing techniques. Soren is confident that this book will be a huge success, bringing him considerable income as well as fame and prestige.
Meanwhile, the Malfoy Manor has acquired a new house-elf named Lele, who is a very optimistic little elf that enjoys humming little tunes. His father, Lucius, occasionally mistreats it, but it doesn't seem to mind at all.
Soren's kind treatment of house-elves is still disapproved of by Lucius, but this time, he only coldly huffed without actually reprimanding him. Clearly, Soren's status in the family has changed significantly; even the strict Lucius would no longer scold Soren for such trivial matters.
Soren remembers that the original story mentioned there are seven secret passages at Hogwarts leading outside, four of which are known to Filch, while one is beneath the Whomping Willow, one is behind the statue of the One-Eyed Witch on the fourth floor, and one is behind the large mirror on the fifth floor.
The first two passages will be frequently used by Sirius and the Weasley twins in the upcoming semester, while the last one—the secret passage behind the large mirror on the fifth floor—collapsed under heavy snow this winter, so the Weasley twins, who knew about it, no longer use it, allowing Soren to monopolise it.
If Soren remembers correctly, the secret passage behind the fifth-floor mirror has a very spacious area. In the original story, Sirius even suggested to Harry that the headquarters of Dumbledore's Army be set up there.
Taking advantage of the two-month summer vacation, since he couldn't be discovered by his parents at home, Soren sent Dobby to
Hogwarts to secretly repair and clean the secret passage behind the large mirror on the fifth floor, which would be useful in the next semester.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
Soren's "Me and the Basilisk at Hogwarts" was finished. He personally went to the Publishing Company in Diagon Alley, the same company that had previously published Lockhart's works and was already experienced in publishing such genres.
The chief editor was a friendly middle-aged man. Although he saw that Soren was young, he had heard of Soren's deeds at Hogwarts.
After a brief discussion, he offered Soren a very favourable contract, allowing him to take a 20% commission on each book sold, which was even more than what Lockhart received, provided that if Soren had new writing inspirations in the future, he must prioritise working with the Publishing Company.
After this was settled, Soren began to study the Patronus Charm and research the bloodline study materials of the Greengrass family, thus starting his monotonous study life once again.
Meanwhile, Ron and the Weasley family won the Daily Prophet's annual Galleon grand prize, and the whole family set off for a trip to Egypt in the second week of summer vacation to visit their eldest son, Bill, returning only when summer vacation was nearly over.
Hermione also went to France with her parents.
Harry, on the other hand, was once again miserably locked up by the Dursleys, not even allowed to go outside.
While Soren was engrossed in studying and researching, on a day in August, an unprecedented major event occurred in the UK—Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban!
Almost every wizard knew the infamous name of this wizarding prison in the UK.
It is the only wizarding prison in Great Britain, located on an isolated island in the North Sea. It was originally a fortress built by a dark wizard named Ekrizdis, who used to kidnap and murder Muggles for various dark magic experiments on living subjects. After his death, the various concealment charms he had placed on the island failed, and the Ministry of Magic discovered the island, converting it into an official wizarding prison.
In this famous prison, all the guards are a type of native dark creature known as Dementors.
They are considered some of the most loathsome beings in the world, capable of sucking away the joyful emotions of other beings, which makes those who approach them feel gloomy and despairing. In extreme cases, they can also consume a being's soul, turning them into a kind of walking corpse.
It can be said that no one would ever want to spend even a quarter of an hour in this prison.
Compared to Azkaban, even the notorious Erkstag Prison in Germany, which had been decommissioned in 1932, cannot be compared to it.
"Sirius Black." Sitting by the window, Soren flipped through the Daily Prophet, nodding thoughtfully as the plot scheduled for this year in the original work flashed through his mind, along with his various plans.
As the days passed, Soren utilized the principles of the happiness spell to trigger joyful emotions and mastered the Patronus Charm in just a week, successfully producing a fully formed corporeal Patronus.
In the following week, he carefully reviewed all the materials he had obtained from Daphne, which gave him a deeper understanding of the theory of bloodline power. He had some ideas on how to tap into the latent power hidden deep within the bloodline, but he still needed some samples for experimentation to verify whether his theory was feasible.
With two weeks left until school started and nothing to do, he suddenly remembered that he still had three books on dark magic that he had not opened.
Generally, reading dark magic books requires at least the strength of upper-year students—given his current abilities, he was not much inferior to Percy or Penelope and should be safe enough to read these dark magic books.
Soren quickly skimmed through the three dark magic books and found the content to be quite difficult to understand, with many parts recorded in ancient runes. Even with the help of a time-turner, he could not finish reading them in a short period.
Fortunately, Soren's proficiency in ancient rune was exceptional; otherwise, the deciphering alone would take a considerable amount of time. He had to prioritise studying the sections that would be most helpful to him in the short term according to the table of contents.
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