"Dad!"
The moment Emily saw Mr. Victoria, all the anxiety and nervousness she had been carrying disappeared completely, replaced only by the longing she had held for an entire semester without seeing him.
Crying, Emily threw herself into Mr. Victoria's arms. His eyes too turned red as he patted her back with a choked voice to comfort her.
It should have been a deeply touching scene, but unfortunately, after these past few years of growth, Emily had already become taller than Mr. Victoria.
So when the two hugged and cried together, from an outsider's point of view, the scene looked somewhat… comical.
On the other side, Link and Mrs. Flamel also hugged each other.
However, compared to Emily's situation, Link's side looked far more normal.
They merely exchanged a polite hug before quickly parting. Then Mrs. Flamel immediately reached out to check the areas where Link had once been injured.
After confirming he had completely recovered, she gave him a big smile and said, "Looks like Madam Pomfrey's medical skills really are quite impressive."
Link smiled and nodded. He was just about to respond when suddenly, from beside him, came a miserable yelp from Mr. Victoria.
Turning around in a hurry, he saw the man trembling, pointing at the hickey on Emily's neck, making strange choking noises in his throat, his expression so complex that it was hard to describe.
"Oh no!"
Emily quickly covered her neck with her hand and, at the same time, shyly glanced sideways at Link.
Well, that did it, Mr. Victoria's eyes went wide, glaring at Link fiercely, his face twisted as if he might lunge forward and take a bite out of him any second.
What could Link possibly say to that?
He couldn't say anything, all he could do was give an awkward yet polite smile.
At this moment, Mrs. Flamel finally stepped in.
She took charge, gathering everyone to return to Flamel Castle.
Mr. Victoria clearly wanted to settle accounts with Link, but under Mrs. Flamel's sharp gaze, he had no choice but to give in.
Still fuming, he let Emily take his arm and was dragged into the castle's parlor.
"Don't worry,"
Mrs. Flamel also took Link's arm, smiling gently as she spoke softly.
Link nodded.
Naturally, he wasn't the least bit worried.
In truth, Emily's nervousness and concern were completely unnecessary.
After all, although today's meeting was nominally to "discuss and negotiate" Link and Emily's engagement, it was, in reality, just a formality.
Because back when Mr. Victoria had signed that magical contract with Mrs. Flamel, he had already lost all say in the matter.
Otherwise, what they signed would have been an "unbreakable vow."
Just as Link had expected, the moment everyone sat down in the parlor, Mrs. Flamel smiled as she held Link's hand and said, "Mr. Victoria, which date do you think would be best for Link and Emily's engagement ceremony?"
At those words, both Emily and Mr. Victoria froze in surprise.
Because under normal procedure, shouldn't one first ask whether the engagement was acceptable? How did it jump straight to which day to hold it?
Clever Emily quickly realized something and felt a flash of secret joy in her heart, though she hid it again just as fast.
Mr. Victoria's expression, however, darkened.
He looked at Emily, then at Link, who was smiling politely, and muttered with clear displeasure, "Emily is still young. I think maybe… today, two years from now, would be a good date. As long as the weather's nice, of course."
"Dad!"
"Mr. Victoria."
Emily and Mrs. Flamel shouted almost at the same time.
The difference between the two was clear, Emily was purely anxious, while Mrs. Flamel's tone carried an unmistakable note of cold displeasure.
Mr. Victoria ignored Emily tugging at his sleeve, looking nervously at Mrs. Flamel, his expression clearly torn.
But after a brief moment, he sighed in defeat.
"Then let's hold it on July 10th."
"July 10th? That's a bit soon," Mrs. Flamel frowned.
She had actually already planned most of the engagement arrangements between Link and Emily.
Considering all the preparations and the guests' schedules, she had thought July 30th would be the most suitable date.
Hearing this, Mr. Victoria looked even more dejected.
He seemed utterly resigned now, showing no intention of arguing further.
"Then let's set it for July 10th."
Link clapped his hands lightly as he made the decision.
Everyone in the room turned to him in surprise.
Link smiled slightly and explained, "If I remember correctly, July 10th… that's the anniversary of Mrs. Victoria's passing, isn't it?"
Mr. Victoria's eyes widened, disbelief written all over his face. "You... how do you know that?"
Link pointed toward Emily.
"Emily told me. She said that every year on July 10th, you take her to visit Mrs. Victoria."
"…You're a thoughtful one."
Mr. Victoria muttered, his voice weak and heavy with melancholy.
As for Emily, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Mrs. Flamel's expression softened. She sighed and said, "Fine, July 10th it is. The schedule is tight, but with some effort, we can make it work."
"Also," Link added with a smile, "let Emily spend the next few days at home with Mr. Victoria. They haven't seen each other for almost a whole year."
"Of course. But Emily, you'd better come see me tomorrow morning."
"We still need to discuss the engagement ceremony's attire and arrangement details," Mrs. Flamel nodded.
Mr. Victoria suddenly lifted his head, looking at Link with a mixture of surprise and gratitude.
The hostility in his eyes had clearly softened.
But Mrs. Flamel didn't give him a chance to say more, she snapped her fingers and said, "Well then, let's begin lunch. And let's also start the preparations for the engagement ceremony, time is not on our side."
At once, the house-elf Little Button appeared out of thin air, bowing deeply and respectfully to Mrs. Flamel.
Then, under everyone's astonished gaze, the entire Flamel Castle began to move.
This was no exaggeration, the castle was literally moving.
The walls and furniture seemed to come alive, transforming and shifting automatically to their most suitable positions.
The first to change was the parlor where Link and the others were seated.
A massive dining table suddenly rose from the floor, and empty plates atop it magically filled with mountains of exquisite dishes from all over the world.
As Mrs. Flamel invited everyone to dine, she also asked Link and Emily for their opinions.
All these dishes, she explained, were test selections for the engagement banquet, today's lunch would serve as the tasting session.
At the same time, countless banners and ornaments bearing the crests of both the Flamel and Victoria families appeared, renewing the castle's decor completely.
The entrance hall was transformed into a grand, luxurious ceremonial hall.
Meanwhile, large numbers of house-elves flooded out from every corner of the castle, scurrying around under Little Button's command to begin all the engagement preparations.
Mr. Victoria had no appetite left.
He stared blankly at the bustling elves outside.
Nowadays, after so many centuries of oppression and abuse by wizards, the number of house-elves had dwindled to an extremely rare level.
Every surviving elf was a precious asset, and the number of elves a pure-blood family possessed symbolized its heritage and strength.
The sheer "heritage" of the Flamel family before his eyes shocked Mr. Victoria deeply.
In fact, it wasn't just him.
Even Link, the Flamel heir himself, was astonished to see so many elves at once.
For the longest time, he had thought Little Button was the only house-elf his family owned.
But now, seeing this number, it was almost comparable to Hogwarts itself.
And so, the luncheon ended amid the elves' bustling movements and a strangely tense atmosphere.
Mr. Victoria practically dragged Emily back to their manor without pause, he clearly had many questions to ask her.
Mrs. Flamel threw herself into preparing the engagement ceremony, since there were still many things, like invitations, that required her personal handling.
Watching the now-quiet parlor, the smile on Link's face slowly faded, replaced by a cold, detached expression.
Without a sound, Krell appeared behind him, looking at him with eyes full of pride.
Although their plan against Voldemort hadn't achieved a perfectly ideal result, it had still proven Link's remarkable capability.
In that situation, no one else could have handled things better than he did.
And now, with seeds planted in both the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore's camp, and the Flamel family's contingency plans for moving to America already in place, the future still looked bright for the Flamels.
After watching Link silently for a moment, Krell finally asked respectfully, "Young Master, what should we do next?"
His question pulled Link from his thoughts.
Link turned slightly, glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then closed his eyes again and said, "Send someone to keep an eye on old Barty Crouch. Then start transferring political donations to him in batches."
"The rest will be up to him. When it comes to seizing power, he's the real expert."
"What we need to do is use him to siphon benefits from the Ministry."
"For the early phase, target the Department of International Magical Cooperation, its foreign trade shares and tax revenues."
"Of course, our ultimate goal is the Auror Office.
Tell old Barty not to lose focus."
"Understood," Krell nodded. "Also, regarding the Horcruxes, based on the information you gave, we've already tracked down the whereabouts of Hufflepuff's Cup."
Link froze for a moment.
It was true, he had ordered them to investigate the Horcruxes.
But as a transmigrator, he already knew all of their locations perfectly well. The only reason he had them search was to create a logical trail of discovery, so Dumbledore and the others wouldn't find it suspicious that he somehow "knew too much."
He had expected this process to take a long time, considering how ancient the events were.
But he hadn't expected Krell to complete the investigation of the Cup so quickly.
"Is the chain of evidence complete?"
"Of course, my young master." Krell placed a brown leather file folder before him.
"All investigative records and deductions are inside."
Link opened the folder and looked through it.
Krell's work was indeed excellent.
According to the documents, they had retraced Tom Riddle's (Voldemort's) known life path and conducted a thorough, carpet-style investigation.
Learning that Voldemort had worked for a time at Borgin and Burkes after graduating from Hogwarts,
they naturally sought out Borgin himself, and after applying some… inhumane persuasion, learned that Voldemort had maintained a long, improper relationship with Hepzibah Smith.
Borgin had paid close attention to that affair because he knew Hepzibah Smith was the last descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and the keeper of Hufflepuff's Cup.
He had wanted to use Voldemort to obtain that legendary artifact said to have miraculous magical culinary and potion-enhancing abilities.
However, Hepzibah Smith had suddenly died.
And Borgin had found no trace of the Cup among her belongings.
At the same time, Voldemort disappeared.
That was enough to confirm that the Cup had fallen into his hands, and that he had likely murdered Hepzibah Smith in order to perform the ritual, turning the Cup into a Horcrux.
After that, things became much simpler.
At the height of his power, Voldemort was notoriously flamboyant in his dealings.
Krell had merely needed to capture one Death Eater who had escaped trial, and after a bit of intimidation and coaxing, he learned that Voldemort had gifted the Cup to that madwoman, Bellatrix Lestrange, for safekeeping.
Thus, the reverse-deduction of the Cup was essentially complete.
As for the fact that the Cup was kept in Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts vault, Link could easily fabricate some reason for how he "found that out."
"Good work," Link said with satisfaction.
"Find a way to pass this information to Dumbledore discreetly. A Gringotts heist is not something we can handle right now, let Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix take care of it. It'll also help divert some of the attention away from us."
Krell grinned, clearly approving of the plan.
"Leave it to me. I'm sure Dumbledore will be very pleased to receive this information."
With that, he picked up the folder and vanished without another word.
At this moment, Link slowly rose, wand in hand, and walked toward the underground spell-training chamber beneath Flamel Castle.
Unlike Krell, who focused only on the family's gains from this power shift, Link knew exactly how much that night's battle had enhanced his own strength.
And now, he needed to test and refine that power, to turn it into true combat ability.
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