Because Noah and Senna had explained some of the current unfavorable conditions, this supply channel was temporarily cut off, and Senna wasn't as extravagant with materials in her potion experiments anymore.
This left Lys feeling a bit unaccustomed.
She thought it was her inadequate material preparation that prevented her mother from using supplies freely, so she ran to Knockturn Alley to gather quite a few materials.
During this, seeing little Lulu's healed arm, Lys realized what she'd overlooked and shook her head at her recent state.
She pulled out a pine wand with kneazle whiskers that Senna had made long ago from her satchel and handed it to the little girl.
Not a very good fit—usable, but with poor results.
This time Lys didn't ignore the way the little girl looked at her blackthorn wand. Watching the child clutch the pine wand while her eyes followed Lys's wand like a kitten before settling on her mask, Lys smiled.
"Blackthorn, hmm? Let me think—how about dragon heartstring? I imagine you'd want powerful magic. We can try it when I'm better, but not now. I'm afraid any wand I make... craft right now might blow you up."
Lys recalled her earlier idea of expanding the operation slightly and began discussing it with the witch.
Recently, Lys's value had been steadily declining in Malfoy and Snape's eyes, which wasn't good for her. Lys needed her own irreplaceable worth and backing.
The witch cautiously looked around before responding.
"Although Madam Lestrange controls material imports and exports tightly, her purpose isn't the materials business itself. She seems more focused on certain nobles' weaknesses and the Order of the Phoenix's needs. The smuggled materials are just bargaining chips for something else entirely. Recently, the Order of the Phoenix has greatly increased their potion requirements, and they..."
Before the witch could finish, Lys quickly steered the conversation back. "Let's not discuss the Order of the Phoenix—just talk about the supply channels."
Previously, Lys had considered turning her attention to the Order of the Phoenix, but during the last battle, she discovered their hearts weren't united. Their ideals and expectations differed—they couldn't even take care of their own people properly. A Death Eater with questionable loyalties like herself? Better forget it.
The witch paused. "Alright. Because of Madam Lestrange's actions, many materials have become rare commodities. Though some families seem to be trying to get involved, those major families bold enough to reach out aren't primarily focused in this direction—they're just simply meeting their own needs. If at this time we could satisfy the material demands of families that more strongly support the Dark Lord..."
Lys listened to the witch's words, falling into deep thought.
So the current situation was: materials existed, buyers existed, but smaller families feared drawing Bellatrix's attention and getting into trouble, while the profits weren't sufficient for major families to make the effort. So temporarily, no one was making a move.
Lys considered that if she used the Malfoy name, perhaps she could make a profit—as long as she was careful with the client list. For uncertain cases, she could consult Lucius or Regulus.
As for manpower... that witch on the street corner, the wizard crouching at the alley's end—those were all lives Lys had saved during Noah's experimental surgeries...
Far away in Germany, Malfoy originally hadn't wanted to wade into these murky waters, but thinking of his recent rapid expenditures...
And his recent massive outlay of various materials—most given as favors that produced no returns. Initially, he'd considered this an investment in connections, but later Bellatrix's blockade behavior became increasingly excessive, and those people's demands for materials from him grew increasingly presumptuous.
He still gave Lys a list of families safe to trade with.
After handling the material supply matters with the witch, Lys tidied up the reading room, changing some books and decorations, altering the large candelabras and such.
Lys even piled a cluster of glittering minerals in the center of the table, placing them on a dark green soft cushion underneath.
Since it wasn't worth using magic and making herself suffer, Lys did all the tidying by hand. Noah found it interesting and joined in decorating, making the reading room's style quite strange.
The styles clashed dramatically—areas Noah arranged showed rigid nobility with a hint of propriety, while Lys's sections were simple and elegant above with no excess decoration, but dazzling and brilliant below.
Most spectacular was Senna clearing out a bookshelf to make her own supply rack—crooked and chaotic, with potion materials mixed together. Even better, Senna never needed to look; she could reach out and grab exactly what she wanted...
Lys leaned against a newly replaced fluffy cushion and opened the latest Daily Prophet. After a while, she set down the newspaper with a heavy heart, pinching her brow.
The Dark Lord's actions had been disrupted by Dumbledore again—this battle was even headlined as the Dark Lord being repelled once more, meaning the Death Eaters were about to face another wave of fury.
And Lys, who hadn't participated in operations multiple times, didn't know if she could stay out of it.
But half a month passed, and Lys heard not a whisper of news, nor felt a single summons from the Dark Mark.
Yet the calmer things were, the more uneasy Lys felt. After all, last time when Death Eaters were merely portrayed negatively in the newspaper, the Dark Lord had flown into a rage and brutally washed away his shame with Order of the Phoenix blood.
And this time the headline directly targeted the Dark Lord—undoubtedly tearing away his dignity. Lys didn't believe the Dark Lord would be so good-tempered.
The newspaper placed back on the table bore these stark words on its cover:
—"The Ambitious One's Latest Failure and the Inevitability of Failure"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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