Summer was drawing to an end. Everything was unfolding exactly as Perenelle had predicted: after working their first month and receiving their hard-earned wages, the Muggle-born wizards finally settled down. Rumors spread rapidly through Diagon Alley and beyond that the new company, "Hydra," was willing to hire absolutely anyone.
The stream of job seekers grew larger by the day. Hermione and Daphne immediately took the most skilled and capable sorcerers under their wing, while offering simpler positions—in warehouses or behind shop counters—to those with more average abilities.
There were also wizards whose skills caught Victor's personal attention. They passed directly under his command. Nobody in the company knew what exactly they were doing: everyone understood that these people worked directly for Victor, but where they went and what tasks they carried out were kept in strict secrecy.
In its first days of operation, Hydra's retail outlets faced a whole crowd of enraged local business owners. Victor didn't care in the slightest about pure profit, so all goods in his shops were sold several times cheaper than in other trade stalls. The set prices barely covered production and delivery expenses.
However, all the merchants' fervor and discontent evaporated the moment a rumor swept through magical Britain that the Hydra company was somehow connected to Nicolas Flamel himself. Instead of staging riots and filing complaints with the Ministry, the shopkeepers attempted to negotiate.
Imagine their astonishment when Daphne Greengrass turned up as Hydra's representative for the talks! By that time, wizards had already realized how lucrative it was to buy from Hydra, and Victor's shops had become immensely popular. Thus, she struck a reasonable compromise, and the two sides stabilized prices across Diagon Alley. Even though the merchants could no longer inflate prices sky-high as before, they could at least start making a living again.
Several influential pure-blood families, seeing Daphne leading the process, naturally attempted to put pressure on the Greengrass family. But Lord Orion promptly showed them the door. Even though Daphne's father didn't know all the details of what Victor and his daughter were planning, he couldn't care less: after his son-in-law saved Astoria, Orion was ready to stand up to the entire English nobility all at once.
Daphne, remembering that Victor still owed her one favor, decided to ask him for a whole day dedicated exclusively to her. A real date. When Hermione found out about their outing, she immediately fought to demand an identical day for herself.
Adele was terribly annoyed by all this drama surrounding her brother, taking out her barely suppressed rage in grueling training sessions.
As for Abigail... Well, she spent a couple of weeks floating between behaving like a mature, sophisticated woman and a young girl, until she finally settled fully into her new identity—a young girl with the vast experience of a mature woman.
At that moment, Victor was sitting opposite a man. His Mangekyō Sharingan took on a distinct, intricate propeller shape. When Victor's eyes returned to their normal appearance, the wizard—who had been blindly playing an imaginary violin until then—collapsed to the floor. His eyes turned completely blank and glassy.
— This one broke too... Well, take this down.
Abigail, sitting at an adjacent table, nodded and picked up a pen.
— "Itachi's Mangekyō. Name: Tsukuyomi. Easy to cast, and the magic cost is quite reasonable. Conclusion: it seems my inability to use other known Mangekyō abilities—like Kamui—is completely unrelated to my magic capacity. Most likely, the structure of this world itself is getting in my way. For unknown reasons: perhaps it's too weak, or perhaps the cause lies in something else."
After writing down the last words, Abigail neatly closed the journal. Rising slowly from her seat, she walked over to the man. Golden runes flared and shimmered across her wrist. A vibrant green flash extended from her hand and struck the wizard straight in the chest, causing him to let out a final, drawn-out breath. He died instantly.
Grabbing the corpse by the collar, Abigail effortlessly lifted him with one hand as if he weighed nothing and dragged him into a designated room. Tossing the body onto the pile of corpses already lying there, she shut the door and approached Victor.
Wrapping her arms around his neck from behind, the girl peered over his shoulder at the notebook where he was sketching. At the top of the page stood the heading: "Another World." Just below it was a neat drawing of a Sharingan, alongside a sketch of a key marked with a question mark.
— And where do you get so much confidence that other worlds even exist, or that if they do, one can actually get there?
Victor merely offered a mysterious smile and closed the notebook, which read on its cover: "Project: Another World." Tugging Abigail by the arm, he pulled her down onto his lap. The girl smiled happily and wrapped her arms around his neck.
— I just know they exist, — he answered calmly. — The only remaining question is: how do we get there?
Abigail knew perfectly well that he was holding something back, but she couldn't care less. Kissing him tenderly on the cheek, she began nuzzling his cheek and neck like an affectionate cat, soaking in his scent.
Victor smiled at her behavior and gave her soft rear a loud slap, making the girl let out a quiet gasp and tremble slightly. Such punishments and rewards had become his favorite ritual while mentoring her and teaching her how to properly handle the incredible new capabilities of her body.
— Alright, bring in the next one.
— That's all. That was the last one.
Victor frowned and sighed with disappointment:
— How impoverished the magical criminal world has become! There are so few wizards left who deserve to become raw material for my experiments... Sigh, it's all those damn Aurors' fault. How is a young, talented wizard supposed to develop in an environment like this?! — Victor shook his head mournfully, leaning against Abigail in search of comfort, then checked the time. — Oh well, let's wrap it up for today then.
Abigail nodded and slipped off his lap. Ancient runes flared instantly on her palms, and in that very second, the modest house in the middle of nowhere was enveloped in roaring flames. Amidst the all-consuming fire, Victor unhurriedly walked up to Abigail, wrapped his arm around her waist, and they both vanished into thin air, leaving behind nothing but burning ruins.
They appeared in Diagon Alley. Remembering something, Abigail spoke up:
— By the way, Hermione found a replacement for herself and asked you to stop by to personally inspect the witch she chose.
Victor paused to think:
— Isn't it a bit early? There's still half a month left before the school year starts.
— Well, that's the point. She wants to lighten her workload a bit and prepare for school in peace.
Victor chuckled, realizing how typical that was of Hermione. Suddenly, his gaze locked onto a figure in the crowd along the street. Abigail followed his line of sight and noticed a striking man holding an elegant cane.
— Who's that? — she asked softly.
A smile appeared on Victor's lips:
— Lucius Malfoy in the flesh. The head of one of the most influential pure-blood families... And it seems he's heading straight into my shop. Interesting... — he let out a laugh. — Looks like I'll have to personally show who the real owner of Hydra is today.
— Dobby, you've already wiped this spot! If you keep scrubbing the counter with such enthusiasm, you'll burn a hole right through it, — the saleswoman laughed, looking at the house-elf who was cleaning the shop for the third time today.
— But Dobby has nothing else to do until six in the evening! — he said with slight annoyance.
The shopgirl merely smiled and shook her head.
— Dobby, do you know if that girl Ruby I brought yesterday got hired in the end? — asked a middle-aged man in a sharp suit who had just walked over. He was in charge of the shop's security.
— Whoa, you brought a girl? Is she the future Mrs. Reed?! — another guard, younger and wearing an identical suit, teased. It was his partner—they covered 24-hour shifts together every three days.
— Stop talking nonsense. I've known Ruby since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. She's my neighbor's daughter. I brought her here yesterday, and she didn't get back home until late. Her mother said that early this morning the girl packed her things and left. Said she was leaving for a month, but never explained where to.
Dobby remembered the twenty-year-old girl from yesterday and nodded confidently:
— Yes, she was hired! Mr. Moss accepted her personally.
— Wow, another one... Listen, aren't you guys curious where he's sending them all? — the young guard asked, lowering his voice. — They're all completely different: some do alchemy, some brew potions, but most were young combat mages. I recently ran into one of those personally picked by Victor Moss, tried to question him, but the guy kept his mouth shut. Dobby, do you know anything about this?
The young guard stared intently at the elf, well aware that house-elves are terrible at lying. But to his deep disappointment, Dobby merely shook his head sincerely:
— Dobby does not know. And nobody knows—except those chosen by Mr. Moss, and Mr. Moss himself.
While they were talking, the second saleswoman, smiling sweetly, finished serving another customer and turned her gaze toward a man who wasn't looking at the potions displayed in the showcases at all, but was heading straight for her counter.
— Can I help you with something? — she asked professionally.
Lucius Malfoy, meanwhile, was discreetly taking in the interior. The shop was spacious, bright, and exquisite—radically different from most shops in Diagon Alley, which were customarily dark, cramped, and dusty.
— I wish to see Miss Daphne Greengrass, — he said coldly.
Maintaining her polite, flawless smile, the shopgirl replied:
— I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but Miss Greengrass is currently away. If you'd like, I can inform her that you dropped by.
The girl, of course, recognized her visitor right away: Lucius Malfoy's figure was far too prominent and influential in the magical community to be mistaken for anyone else.
Lucius gave a barely noticeable nod. In truth, he had expected to speak with Daphne strictly in private. Although he didn't believe for a second that a young witch had set up this massive business on her own—after all, she was the same age as his son Draco! He was convinced that the Greengrass family had somehow managed to forge direct ties with Nicolas Flamel, but was now cleverly hiding behind their daughter's back. Orion Greengrass claimed everywhere that he had nothing to do with Daphne's affairs, but Lucius considered that merely a convenient smokescreen.
However, whether he believed the story or not, the fact remained: actual power within Hydra was concentrated squarely in Daphne's hands. And since negotiations with Orion had failed, Lucius decided to approach from another angle—reach the girl herself and secure a lucrative stake in this rapidly expanding company. He was genuinely confident that he could easily outmaneuver an inexperienced teenager with just a bit of pressure from his authority or a subtle threat.