This letter arrived at just the right moment—and it looked like it had been carefully prepared, with a bit of cunning worked into it.
Very few people knew that Riddle liked the scent of lavender.
As Johnny Silverhand's exclusive messenger, Riddle naturally attracted a lot of attention.
Back at Silverhand Manor, the original rose garden had been bulldozed by John and replanted with lavender.
The seeds, in fact, had been a special gift from Piers.
Riddle liked to hang around the lavender patch, so he naturally carried its scent with him.
This letter had clearly been scented with lavender on purpose, and Riddle had placed it right on top when delivering it.
John opened the letter and skimmed it. He chuckled, rubbed Riddle on the head, and said, "Looks like someone's been buttering you up."
Riddle narrowed his eyes in bliss, purring in delight.
Curious, Tommy asked, "My lord, what does it say?"
John held the envelope between his fingers, smiling playfully. "Ku ku~ Umbridge has taken the initiative—she's asking me to recommend her to Barty."
What a coincidence.
He'd been planning to throw Umbridge into the firepit—and now, here she was, walking in herself.
She'd lowered herself a great deal in the letter, practically begging John for a recommendation.
As a Ministry official, Umbridge used to be in the same political faction as Fudge.
But with Fudge's downfall, she quickly lost favor and attention.
Barty's rise to power left her in constant anxiety, terrified that she would be the next target under his axe.
Everyone in the Ministry knew that Barty's promotion was closely tied to Johnny Silverhand.
The clearest example? Former Head of the Auror Office, Scrimgeour—already in a neglected department, he had now been demoted all the way to the Centaur Liaison Office.
No centaur ever used that service, Pfft~!
In the Ministry, if someone got sent to that office, it meant they were on the verge of being fired.
A man who had once stood just a step away from the position of Minister for Magic had now ended up in such a sorry state. It was tragic, really.
In order to avoid being fired herself, Umbridge had spent a great deal of money and finally managed to secure an opportunity through Piers.
This carefully prepared letter was the result of her investigation.
Knowing Johnny Silverhand disliked flattery and pointless rambling, she went straight to the point—laying out the pros and cons and declaring that she would become his most loyal ally.
"Interesting. She's got a little bit of a mind on her," John mused.
She probably assumed he liked lavender, hence the scented letter—turns out, she accidentally got it right.
John rubbed Riddle's plump little belly, wondering how many fish snacks had disappeared into it.
Then, he casually handed the letter over to Tommy.
After seeing the name Umbridge on it, Tommy took the letter with a face full of disgust.
"Piers is smart—he didn't make any decisions on his own."
Although he had provided Umbridge with a channel, before John made his stance clear, Piers had already sent a letter confessing his involvement.
His tone was sincere, expressing that if John disliked Umbridge, he would immediately get rid of her.
John told Tommy to write back and let Piers know: "Good job."
This was a position meant to offend people—Umbridge had to be the one to take it.
In the Ministry, there needed to be someone to play good cop, and someone to play bad cop.
All the goodwill and favorable reputation would be given to Oz, laying the foundation for her future promotions. As for the bad reputation, let Umbridge have it—she couldn't really get any worse.
With the decision made, John met with Barty to finalize the appointments: the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the position of Senior Hogwarts Inquisitor.
Dumbledore would have to make concessions after August 12th. As long as he still wanted to groom Harry, he had no choice.
Once the details were settled, John took off his mask and returned to Privet Drive.
There, he found Tom sitting proudly at the door.
When Tom saw John return, he wagged his tail excitedly.
"Hey girl, what are—Oh? You bit someone again?"
Noticing the blood at the corner of Tom's mouth, John found a torn scrap on the lawn.
"Standard fabric used in 'Elegance' brand wizard robes."
With a glance, he identified it as part of a wizard's robe, and his expression turned cold.
He went down to the basement to check the surveillance magic.
"..."
After watching, his face became rather odd.
On the table's display, Tom was fearlessly chasing after several wizards, biting at them ferociously.
Lupin tried to step in and stop him, only to be warned off with a low growl from Tom.
John: The fuck is happening..?
It wasn't that no one tried to use magic—one square-jawed wizard was about to cast a spell when he was promptly stopped by Lupin and Moody.
"Don't use magic on the dog!" Moody bellowed, startling the wizard into freezing on the spot.
The young witch, Tonks, asked in confusion, "What kind of order is this?"
Lupin leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding Tom's snapping jaws, and gave a wry smile. "That's John Wick's dog. Sirius had a run-in with John once."
It was not a fond memory. Even now, Sirius could occasionally be seen absentmindedly rubbing his left rib.
"In short, nobody uses magic on the dog!" Moody, already limping on one leg, was the slowest to move.
Tom lunged and bit down hard on his wooden leg with a crunch. A few splinters flew off, and Moody let out a surprised cry.
"What breed is this dog? That bite force is insane!"
Harry hadn't been bitten—he had used a Disillusionment Charm. Tom couldn't see him, but she could smell him, and Harry was sweating nervously. "How do we get out of here?" he shouted.
"Off the lawn. There's magic on it—no way to fly," Lupin replied as he covered the rear.
The wizards scrambled to crawl and roll their way off the grass.
The square-jawed wizard was too slow—Tom sank her teeth into his calf, making him yelp in pain.
It was Lupin who rushed over and pulled the dog off.
Even though it was just a single bite, the leg was quickly soaked in blood.
In their frantic retreat, they didn't notice much else.
John, watching it all unfold, found it hilarious.
"What the fuck did I just watch? Bahaha! A legendary Auror and a former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor… chased around by a dog—Puhahaha!"
This was the first time he had laughed like this after 'that' day. He nearly fell to the ground clutching his stomach as the footage played again.
"Haah.." Finally, he stood up, shaking his head, still chuckling, then pried open Tom's jaws to look at the cold gleam of those canines. Pleased, he said, "Looks like all that experimenting wasn't in vain. Your teeth are quite compatible with werewolf traits."
"Woof!(☆▽☆)"
Tom wasn't just any dog now. Ever since John had succeeded in creating the Horned Snorkack, he'd started testing enchantments on animals.
Normally, regular animals didn't have the magical compatibility that magical beasts did—enchanting them was nearly impossible.
But John was a master alchemist. He had used materials from magical creatures to modify Tom's teeth.
He'd succeeded—he'd successfully created a vessel in Tom capable of containing magic, and in the process, also developed a kind of venom.
That square-jawed wizard was lucky. If John had experimented just a bit longer, he might've enchanted Tom's teeth with basilisk fangs.
At that point, it'd be one wizard per bite.
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