Chapter 80
Soren knew that he had achieved his goal; the family had always been centered around Lucius. The most important part of the entire conversation was to make him willing to listen to his words.
Soren countered, "Father, what do you think is the biggest reason for the Dark Lord's failure?"
Soren's thoughts jumped too quickly, and Lucius was not quite sure what Soren meant at this moment. He hesitated and said, "Too extreme? Too insane?"
Soren shook his head, "The Dark Lord only wanted to rule by force, to conquer hearts through terror. The biggest difference between him and Dumbledore is that, while both possess power, Dumbledore chooses to act within the rules, whereas the Dark Lord acts solely on whims and emotions, without any principles. Therefore—"
"Aside from Aunt Bella, Lestrange, and a few other die-hard loyalists, the Death Eaters may seem numerous, but the Dark Lord actually has very few truly loyal followers. Once he falls, the Death Eaters will scatter; no one is willing to inherit his will and continue fighting, and even knowing that the Dark Lord is not dead, no one is willing to seek him out to help him return."
Seeing Lucius unable to refute this, Soren paused and raised his voice, "I believe that as a powerful pure-blood family, we do not need to follow a half-blood wizard—" Lucius and Narcissa showed no reaction, clearly already aware of Voldemort's half-blood status, but Draco looked shocked, disbelief written all over his face.
"In my view, the Dark Lord is merely waving the banner of pure-blood supremacy, using pure-blood power to fulfill his dream of domination. As you all have seen, the first war he instigated did not bring any benefits to pure-blood families; instead, it nearly led them into history. I think the glory of our family can no longer be entrusted to this failure."
Soren continued to speak confidently, "In fact, it's not just us who think this way; other pure-blood families must feel similarly. If we can unite the strength of the pure-blood families, then— even if the Dark Lord returns, what can he achieve as a mere figurehead?"
Lucius seemed to have guessed Soren's meaning, "You mean... we should unite with other pure-blood families?"
A glint flashed in Soren's eyes, and his voice suddenly turned cold, "Unite those who can be united; subdue those who can be subdued; eliminate the rest! There needs to be one voice among pure-blood families."
Lucius gasped, "Oh my God," he never thought that his son, whom he had watched grow up, had been hiding something so deep all along... This was the rhythm of becoming the third generation Dark Lord...
He turned to Draco, sighing inwardly. All along, he had favored Draco as the next head of the family because Draco's temperament was most like his own. So when the children were still very young, he secretly performed a family ritual using a drop of blood from both children.
In this ritual, Draco had already been confirmed as the primary heir to the family head, while Soren was the secondary heir.
Now, it seemed that the main was weak and the secondary was strong; the family would inevitably face trouble!
Although the two young brothers currently appeared to have a close relationship, like siblings, Lucius also understood the principle that power corrupts the heart, and it was hard to guarantee that their feelings would not change as they grew up. The current issue was that Lucius only had a superficial understanding of the profound magic involved in this family ritual, and he did not have the ability to reverse or alter the ritual.
Lucius's expression was very complex, and countless unknown thoughts flashed through his mind.
Soren was unaware of Lucius's rich inner turmoil at that moment and continued, "This is a long-term goal. In the short term, what we need to do is to quickly uphold the Malfoy family's banner, enhancing our influence in politics, business, academia, and education, so that we can establish a benchmark worthy of following and trust. Therefore, investing in the artificial cultivation of mushroom trade is urgent."
Today's Draco was stunned by this shocking family conversation, and it took him a while to regain his senses. At this moment, he slowly interjected, "Wait a minute! Are you underestimating the power of the Dark Lord? If he returns and we refuse to submit, will he not kill us directly?"
Soren laughed, "Don't worry, this is not something we need to be concerned about. Let Dumbledore and Potter worry about it! If the Dark Lord returns, even if we do nothing, there will naturally be someone to take the lead against him... Dumbledore probably knows more than we do..."
Draco still wanted to insist on his opinion. In his heart, the Dark Lord was the most powerful, and he did not think defying him was a good idea. "But..."
Soren firmly interrupted Draco, "Brother, think about it. Since the Malfoy family landed in Great Britain in 1066, what has allowed us to stand tall in the wizarding world for over nine hundred years? Is it just pure blood supremacy?"
Draco raised his eyebrows, "Isn't it? Pure blood grants us nobility, gives us identity, status, and symbols!"
Soren sighed. Draco's development into who he was today was certainly the fault of Lucius and Narcissa, but he also hadn't fulfilled his responsibilities as a brother. Of course, this couldn't be blamed entirely on Soren. In his previous life, he had no children and was not an educator. It is well known that while education is easy to talk about, it is difficult to execute. There have always been examples in the Muggle world of academically gifted parents raising unruly children.
Soren carefully worded, "I'm sorry, brother, but I must tell you that you are wrong on this point!"
Soren's gaze was sharp and full of absolute confidence. "Throughout the long history of the Malfoy family, there are plenty of examples of intermarriage with Muggle nobility. Many of our properties and deeds have come from the Muggle world. Our ancestor Lucius-1 even had titles and noble status in the Muggle realm during the 16th century. Therefore, the idea that the Malfoys became wealthy solely through pure blood is simply unfounded."
Soren noticed that both Lucius and Narcissa had expressions of wanting to say something but holding back. They were suppressing their anger, but their tightly pressed lips betrayed their inner fury.
Soren shifted his tone, "Do you remember the three great family precepts of the Malfoy family? Let me tell you, one of them is—never put all your eggs in one basket. This is the biggest reason why the Malfoy family has survived and thrived to this day! Supporting pure blood may have brought us many benefits over the past few centuries, to the point that we have forgotten our family precepts. Now—"
"Pure blood ideology is outdated. Open your eyes and see how many pure blood families still exist—Gunter is gone; the Abbot family no longer insists on pure blood; the Blacks, the Crouches, and the Shafiqs are virtually extinct; it is now a world of mixed blood. People are increasingly accepting of Muggles, and there are more and more examples of wizards marrying Muggles. Just look at our year at Hogwarts, the number of half-blood and Muggle-born wizards combined is greater than that of pure-blood wizards!"
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to stand with the pure-blood camp and uphold pure blood supremacy, but—shouldn't we also consider the other side? Shouldn't we plan for the future of the family early?" Soren's words were resolute, and even Lucius could not refute them.
After all, Soren spoke with reason; compared to the illusory glory of pure blood ideology, the Malfoy family valued practical interests more, as well as the survival and continuity of the family.
Lucius spoke lightly, "Alright! This topic ends here. Soren, if you have any ideas, just go ahead and do them! Father will support you, but I also want to try to hold on to my own beliefs. Pure-blood families are not as hopeless as you think. Of course, we can do as you say and bet on both sides. You can take care of the Muggles and half-blood wizards."
Seeing that Lucius was aligned with his stance, Draco gained confidence and stepped forward to assert his presence, "Listen, Soren, I will definitely prove to you that our parents and me both are right!"
This family meeting ended here.
Soren returned to his dorm room and removed a locked folder from his suitcase. He used his wand to gently poke a small hole in his left index finger, which squeezed out a bright red bead of blood, he pressed it gently against the lock and the folder snapped open.
The folder was divided into layers and layers of categorization, and above each categorization you could clearly see labels written in coded language - USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru ... Soren's finger stopped on the British categorization label and pulled a long piece of parchment out, and written at the top of the parchment was, one by one, the ancient pureblood families' the name of the.
Death Eater factions:
Blake (crossed out)
Carrow (starred)
Lestrange
Avery
Selwyn
Yaxley
Bock (checked)
Rosier
Rowle
Travers
Nott (checked)
————————————
Neutral faction:
Flint
Bulstrode (starred)
Parkinson (checked)
Fawley
Shafiq (checked)
Macmillan
Abbott
Greengrass (checked)
Crouch (starred)
Ollivander
Slughorn (starred)
————————————
Order of the Phoenix faction:
Weasley (crossed out)
Prewett (crossed out)
Longbottom (crossed out)
Shacklebolt (crossed out)
Seeing this, Soren let out a gentle sigh, realizing that the road ahead would be long and arduous. "Unfortunately, time waits for no one!"
If everything continues to develop according to the original plot, Voldemort will officially return at the end of this semester. Although Malfoy Manor will not be immediately requisitioned as the Death Eater headquarters, it is certain that Death Eaters will be coming and going, which in essence is no different from the headquarters.
Soren gently placed the parchment in his hand back into the English section of the folder, his gaze sweeping over the next layer of the French section, revealing a contemplative expression...
France also has the concept of the Twelve Sacred Blood Families, but the French branch of the Lestranges has long since been severed, leaving only eleven families. If one were to insist, they do have quite a few connections with the Malfoy family, after all, the first generation of the Malfoy family came from France, following the Duke of Normandy to land in Great Britain.
With Lucius's help and connections, Soren spent a full 15,000 Galleons to acquire the mushroom farming company.
[Acquisition of the Mushroom Farming Company Completed!]
The farming of magical mushrooms will be managed by the family's junior branch members. Soren is very grateful to be born into the Malfoy family, which has never lacked talents in business and management; otherwise, handling this business alone would take up a lot of his time. Just look at Ollivander; the big boss has to run the shop himself! In the original story, the Weasley twins had to personally make every prank product!
Then, through Lucius's connections, Soren approached the wizard merchant Ali Bashir.
Bashir is a wizard merchant specializing in importing magical items. Soren heard that Bashir recently wanted to introduce magical carpets into the British market but has been repeatedly obstructed due to non-compliance with British laws—Arthur Weasley's reason for refusal is that magical carpets are defined as Muggle handicrafts on the prohibited magical items registry, and therefore are banned.
Soren was impressed by his experience and capabilities in international trade, and Bashir was actively seeking opportunities to make money. The two hit it off and signed a series of binding magical contracts—Bashir would assist Soren in importing some foreign magical herbs, such as the wrinkled fig from Abyssinia, the snake wood from North America, the biting cabbage from China, and the Mibumi treasure from Assyria...
These trades actually have little profit; first, the International Magical Trade Standards Association takes a significant tax cut, and the sales network is limited to a few monopolistic chain pharmacies in the UK, making price suppression unavoidable.
It requires hands-on involvement to produce!
Then, through Lucius's connections, Soren approached the wizard merchant Bashir.
Bashir is a wizard merchant specializing in importing magical items. Soren heard that Bashir recently wanted to introduce magical carpets to the UK market, but was frequently obstructed due to non-compliance with UK laws—Arthur Weasley rejected the proposal on the grounds that magical carpets were defined as Muggle crafts in the banned magical items registry, thus making them prohibited.
Soren valued his experience and talent in international trade, and Bashir was actively seeking opportunities to make money. The two quickly hit it off and signed a series of binding magical contracts—Bashir would assist Soren in importing some foreign magical herbs, such as the wrinkled fig from Abyssinia, the snake wood from North America, the biting cabbage from China.
These trades actually have little profit; first, the International Magical Trade Standards Association takes a hefty tax, and the sales network is limited to a few monopolistic chain pharmacies in the UK, making price suppression unavoidable.
However, the financially strong Soren did not care about this small amount of money. He wanted to establish a solid interest relationship with Bashir through this cooperation, as he would need talents proficient in international trade in the future during chaotic times, and Bashir's abilities would come in handy then.
During the remaining time, Soren devoted himself to studying Ravenclaw's collection and research notes. As he delved deeper, he gained more insights into the method mentioned in the research notes for solving bloodline curses.
It was a profound and complex sealing spell that could seal the curse's power without harming the host of the blood curse.
The feasibility of this method is quite high, and his magical level is sufficient to successfully cast it. He carefully analyzed and broke down the entire casting process, even boldly improving it based on Ravenclaw's theoretical foundation, finally committing each step to memory and practicing repeatedly until he became proficient.
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