Lys had long heard about Lucius's plan regarding Germany—it was actually a collaboration between the British Ministry of Magic and the German wizarding world.
But nowadays, apart from a very few hardliners, the Ministry was practically the Dark Lord's plaything. Most of its personnel had connections to the nobles under the Dark Lord, so having Death Eaters send someone to oversee things was both reasonable and faced almost no opposition.
Besides, Lys felt that many of these businesses were likely ways for outsiders to test the gradually consolidating Dark Lord's attitude.
Testing whether the Dark Lord would allow foreign wizards to profit alongside him.
Lys understood Lucius's meaning—this position was all about diplomacy and attitude, requiring no actual management, so there was no real benefit or power to speak of.
Such arrangements existed in France and elsewhere, but because the trade volume with Germany was so large, it needed someone dedicated to oversee it.
This created a situation where established figures with status refused to go, fearing younger people would usurp their positions, since the Dark Lord clearly preferred using young people for tasks.
And the young people? The capable ones were ambitiously climbing upward—no one wanted such a useless position.
But the incapable young people weren't presentable either. All things considered, only she remained.
It met the Dark Lord's requirement for her to "keep a low profile," solved her awkward situation, and filled an unwanted position.
She was still one of the Malfoys' "own people."
After the banquet.
Lys, with Crunch hanging around her neck, returned to the reading room through the fireplace, staring blankly at the dim ceiling.
The reading room had already closed. After Bellatrix had taken away the shop's proprietress last time, half of Diagon Alley knew about it.
No one dared come to this shop that had feuded with Death Eaters anymore.
Lys yawned—full and a bit sleepy...
Their family had now moved to the house where she'd hidden her wand during her first and second years—more secluded while also more spacious.
Lys had endured side effects to place layer upon layer of protections on that house, preventing people like Bellatrix from finding their home again.
She dared boast that even if the Dark Lord himself arrived, he'd need a full minute to break through the door.
Moreover... she'd even placed a Fidelius Charm on the house. The Dark Lord couldn't find their home either, let alone Bellatrix, who couldn't even beat her when she was in terrible condition!
Lys's lips curved upward slightly before she pressed them down.
She flexed her left hand fingers inside the brace, knowing she needed to maintain self-awareness. After all, killing someone didn't necessarily require pointing a wand at them face-to-face—she still had the Dark Lord's mark on her arm.
Lys tilted her head back and licked her somewhat painful teeth. She missed Tooth-Strengthening Potion, but she was in a critical recovery period—any use of magic or consumption of unrelated potions could make her treatment efforts futile.
Originally Noah didn't support Lys going out, but Lys had been too long without outside information. Some things absolutely couldn't appear in letters.
Like how Snape had been rejected when seeking employment at Hogwarts long ago, how Bellatrix and others were photographed during wizard massacres, forcing the Ministry to put them on wanted posters.
And... the Dark Lord seemed to have received some intelligence and was beginning to investigate the deeper membership of the Order of the Phoenix.
Most important were Regulus and the German opportunity Lucius had mentioned.
Opening a dust-covered Daily Prophet from the shelf, Lys saw Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's job posting for a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Lys leaned against the sofa, shook the dust from the newspaper, and read. Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers changed yearly—always having this problem or that, never lasting more than a year.
Reading further down: Mrs. Zabini widowed?
Lys couldn't understand...
Further down were various small sections—everything from the Thomas estate for sale to high rewards for Felix Felicis, or bounties for ten wizards.
Those ten people's portraits showed various expressions in the newspaper—some arrogant, some cowering. But seeing the last one, Lys frowned.
Tch! No wonder Lucius mentioned the witch who worked for her at such a public banquet—her photo was also among the wanted.
The charge was international human trafficking and major smuggling case mastermind...
Lys's tooth hurt even more. She folded the newspaper and placed it beside the sofa, looking through the reading room's large windows at the street outside, which wasn't bustling due to its remote location.
Well, even the main streets didn't have many people nowadays.
Lys suddenly realized that going to Germany would mean all her income sources here would be cut off. Leaving here, the trades with Malfoy and those small supply shops would gradually end.
Lys calculated her savings and sat up straight.
The raw materials alone for the potions she and her father needed monthly were expensive, and her alchemy costs were even greater. The few chests of gold she'd saved in her vault were practically a joke—she'd probably spend them all in half a year.
After all, the Dark Lord had never paid any salary...
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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