Wiltshire, Malfoy Manor.
The translucent gold sunlight leisurely bathes the manor in the center, covering a villa adorned with luxurious marble tiles patterned with vines as the wall and floor tiles. This exquisite villa, which embodies classical and noble elegance, is draped in a breathtaking gold gossamer. A group of graceful white peacocks leisurely stroll on the pristine green lawn, and an elegant fountain spraying skyward creates beautiful rainbows that are pleasing to the eye.
Besides the gardener maintaining the garden, it is obvious that there are not many people to be seen in the vast manor, but since Greyback made his uninvited appearance last time, the security of Malfoy Manor has been tightened up by several orders of magnitude.
The spaces within the manor have not only been augmented with many defensive spells against intruders, but in the numerous unnoticed shadowy corners, wizards guarding the courtyard lurk. Should anyone attempt to enter the courtyard without permission, they will be met with a storm of attacks akin to a whirlwind.
The servants in the villa are in a hurry, preparing a sumptuous dinner for the owner of the manor and the upcoming guests. In the refined pureblood family, this task is usually completed by house-trained fairies, as was the case with the Malfoy family before. However, since the previous house-trained fairy committed treason, the owner of the manor has refused to let any of these lowly and despicable creatures set foot in their home.
The luxurious villa was tense with atmosphere.
This was primarily due to the sudden return of the manor's owner—the Malfoy family has a vast empire, with business interests in various countries across Europe and even other continents. To maintain such an astonishingly large estate, the owners of this manor, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, spend most of the year away from home, unless they need to host important guests at the estate.
Today is just such a case, but what these servants find strange is that Mrs. Malfoy told them that there is only one guest visiting tonight.
"If there is any rudeness at the evening meal, then the person responsible for the accident will become fertilizer for the garden—"
The lady of the manor, Narcissa Malfoy, dropped a cold remark in the banquet hall and gave a warning glance to the silent servants, turned around, and left quickly. She passed through the labyrinthine corridors, past the foyer and drawing room, and arrived at the study door.
This study belongs to the family's navigator, Lucius Malfoy, and Narcissa is the only one with the right to enter the study uninvited. Even if a Malfoy junior were to accidentally enter without being summoned, they would face strict criticism and punishment.
Lucius Malfoy sat quietly in the chair behind his desk, one hand resting on his walking stick, the other on the desk. His calm eyes were fixed on a parchment document that lay just a few feet away from his fingertips.
Lucius wore a mask of impassivity, but as the person who knows Lucius Malfoy best, Narcissa could see through her husband's unease at a glance. She followed his gaze to the spread-out letter paper on the desk and then her eyes moved away as if burned.
"I have instructed them, dear. There will be no problem."
Like a statue, Lucius woke up from the rigidity, humming lightly to respond to his wife, but his eyes remained fixed on the parchment.
Narcissa was not her usual haughty posture before her husband. After closing the door to the study, she walked around the desk and approached Lucius, her pale, slender fingers resting on his shoulder. Realizing that her unease had infected his wife, Lucius finally looked away. He removed the hand from the desk and gently patted Narcissa's hand.
The servants in the manor could not have imagined that a visitation letter was the cause of their lord and lady's unease.
Time seemed to stand still in the study, with neither Malfoy taking the initiative to speak, only exchanging consoling looks between themselves.
After a long while, Lucius moved his hand away from his wife's palm, slowly opening the drawer. Under Narcissa's puzzled gaze, he took out a silver spoon from the drawer, the end of which was engraved with an intricately detailed peacock. Narcissa recognized it immediately; it was something from the kitchen at home. What puzzled her was why her husband would be hiding a spoon in the drawer.
"When we have dinner later, you'll keep this spoon by your side. If anything happens, hold it tightly."
Lucius's face grew pale slightly as he moved his dry lips to speak to Narcissa.
"Is this a key?"
Narcissa's slender eyebrows tightened immediately.
"You think—"
"Just in case, Narcissa."
Lucius interrupted his wife's words, firmly inserting the spoon into Narcissa's palm.
Marfoy and his wife Narcissa had already discussed the purpose of Amortius Breanne's visit during their journey back. They certainly wouldn't consider that Breanne came to visit just to check on Draco's schooling at Hogwarts, but neither could they fathom his real intent.
The most likely explanation remains the underhanded tactics they employed during the Quidditch World Cup. Although Breanne had said he would forgive the Malfoy family that night, whether he would change his mind was something nobody could say for sure.
Until today, Lucius Malfoy still didn't understand where Amortius Breanne had obtained the information that he had been involved in something. He had suspected both Caspian Frost and the wizards who had received the bounty, but the signed contract had not presented any problems, meaning that the person who knew the inside story was unlikely to be a leaker.
Letting Lucius Malfoy feel terrified was not just the incident.
Although the Ministry claimed that Amortius Breanne's witches and those anonymous wizards were in league, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy knew that this was a lie. The woman wasn't the one they had hired, and what frightened them even more was that after defeating Vitia Klioan, Amortius Breanne had defeated the invisible black witch once again.
When the black wizard was defeated by Breanne, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, who were mixed among the spectators, clearly felt the change in the Dark Mark.
The significance of this change was not discussed by Lucius and Narcissa afterwards, but they both knew it very well in their hearts.
Everyone knows that the Dark Lord did not die completely, but his power was destroyed by Harry Potter, which is widely acknowledged. Except for Dumbledore, almost everyone believes that the Dark Lord has become history.
Marfo had always scorned Dumbledore's views, until the first time he met Breanne in the Leaky Cauldron pub. The deep-seated fear that was hidden in his heart was triggered. For more than a year, Lucius Malfoy tried to convince himself that his concerns were groundless and only a case of worrying too much. But on the night of the Quidditch finals, when the nameless dark wizard appeared before everyone, it made his self-comforting over a long period of time into a joke.
When Lucius Malfoy was young, he was a fiercely loyal Death Eater, as was his wife. Back then, they were willing to follow the dark wizard in pursuit of a false and distant dream to overthrow the once prestigious magical world. But that is no longer the case now. He has responsibilities to his family and to Draco's future.
The road ahead seems to be a dead end.
If Amortius Breanne's words were true, that he had damaged a treasure crucial to the Dark Lord, then when the Dark Lord returned to the magical world and gathered his old forces, the Malfoy family would not be forgiven. The Dark Lord was never a forgiving person, and this Lucius was well aware of.
On the other side, he was mortal enemies with Dumbledore, and Breanne was also very cold to the Malfoy family. If it were not for Amortius Breanne's slight fondness for Draco, Lucius knew that at this moment of impending storm, he really needed to make arrangements for his escape.
"Breanne couldn't possibly harm the Malfoy family, dear. Both Fudge and Dumbledore wouldn't agree to such a thing –"
Narcissa's thoughts were not as deep. What she was worried about was the matter on the Quidditch cup, Narcissa gently comforted her husband.
Dink-dink-dink–
The door of the study suddenly rang, and the servant reported to Lucius and Narcissa that Mr. Amortius Breanne had suddenly appeared outside the manor, asking if they wanted to receive him inside.
"I'll go to meet him myself--"
Lucius jumped up from his chair, speaking without thinking.
"I'll go with you, dear."
Narcissa grabbed her husband's hand,
"No matter what happens, let's go together."
(Chapter complete)
