Chapter 257: 257: This is a fake?
John took a long look at that cell.
He chuckled lightly. "What an interesting person."
He said it casually, then turned and walked away.
His goal was already achieved, and now John was quite looking forward to the Lestrange vault in Gringotts.
Inside Azkaban, the Dementors continued to drift about, but strangely, they seemed to avoid wherever John was.
…
After the trip to Azkaban, John had two things to take care of next.
He needed to make a trip to Gringotts and transfer the Lestrange money.
Back at Silverhand Manor, John finally had time to examine the golden locket.
But the moment he did, his expression turned grim.
He tried to open the locket to check the contents, but a piece of parchment fell out instead.
"To the Dark Lord:
By the time you read this, I will be long dead.
But I want you to know—it was I who discovered your secret.
I stole the real Horcrux, and I intend to destroy it as soon as I can."
"I risk death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be killed."
"—B"
John stared at the note, his chest rising and falling, as if struggling to suppress something.
"This is a fake. A fake."
His expression turned dazed, his body swayed, and he slumped into the chair.
"So everything I worked so hard for… was just a joke?"
A voice that teetered between laughter and sobs escaped him. Anyone who saw John right now would have been terrified.
His eyes were bloodshot, filled with madness.
"For this thing… hahahaha…"
John laughed, loud and wild—until the laughter abruptly stopped.
In an instant, everything in the study was blown to pieces.
His eyes glowed a demonic red, like a vengeful spirit thirsting for blood.
He had believed he'd acquired a Horcrux—never expecting it to be a joke.
And in order to obtain that Horcrux, he had missed the chance to rescue Heinrich.
"B!"
A furious roar echoed through the room.
By the time Tommy stepped into the study, John had already calmed down.
The place looked like it had been hit by a massive explosion. Tommy, bent down and picked up a shard of a shattered vase.
The moment his fingers touched it, the shard disintegrated into dust.
"Shattering Charm?"
Tommy froze—this was the first time he'd seen a Shattering Charm with such devastating power.
"My lord, what happened?" he stepped forward and asked.
John kept his eyes tightly shut. When he opened them again, all the rage surging within had been suppressed.
"It's nothing. Just a little magical mishap," he said flatly.
There was no use being angry now. John put the golden locket away.
He didn't know who B was, but one thing was certain: that person had stolen the Horcrux and intended to destroy it.
Looking on the bright side—maybe the Horcrux had already been destroyed.
But then, a new doubt crept into his mind.
"So few people know about Voldemort's Horcruxes. For B to know the hiding place… could they be one of Voldemort's trusted followers?"
John fell into deep thought. He knew the kind of person Voldemort was—without absolute trust, no one could possibly gain access to that location.
The Horcrux was Voldemort's greatest secret, and also the key to his immortality.
The hiding place was of utmost importance—not even the golden spy, Snape, knew where it was.
To be trusted by Voldemort… yet choose to betray him?
I'll shelve it for now. I need to calm down.
Suppressing his thoughts, John looked up at Tommy and asked, "What is it?"
"The campaign for Old Barty—we've already started building momentum. He'll officially enter the process next week."
Old Barty was moving fast. With various advantages backing him, his reputation was rising rapidly.
You could sum it up in four words: the people's choice.
He was just one step away from success—and all he needed was the right moment to take it.
"There's one more thing," Tommy added after a pause. "A letter arrived for you."
John took it and saw that it was from Damocles Alex Belby.
That glory-obsessed fellow had published a paper… on the Blood Curse.
The paper had already entered the review phase and even alarmed the Order of Merlin.
These were people who had made major contributions in their respective fields, but even they found the Blood Curse paper rather unbelievable.
"He finally decided to release it."
John knew that Belby had started working on this back in his third year. After a year of refining and editing, this Blood Curse research was enough to shake the wizarding world.
Belby was a tactful person—he knew he couldn't complete it alone, and this had originally been John's research topic to begin with.
So in the author section, he gave John the respect he deserved.
However, the paper wouldn't be made public anytime soon—it would take at least half a year to verify.
After all, it was too shocking. Even if it looked impressive, no one knew whether it was truly feasible.
If it succeeded, a Second-Class Order of Merlin would be the minimum reward.
"Well, he did do something worthwhile."
John noted the date on the letter, then casually set it alight.
Speaking of which, it had been a while since John had returned home.
It had already been two weeks since he left Hogwarts.
He hadn't gone back—and his family was starting to get a little worried.
Thinking of his parents, John's gloomy mood finally brightened a little.
He handed over matters to Tommy, especially the bounty mission for the Death Eaters.
After the Death Eater bounty was posted, some of the ones who had gone into hiding were dragged out.
John had never intended to wipe out the Death Eaters all at once—he wanted to leave them riddled with holes, broken from the inside out. Only then could his plan be fully realized.
While the Death Eaters were living in fear, Lucius was somehow completely untouched.
Not only was he fine, he was using the current climate to further expand and strengthen his influence among the Death Eaters.
Two of his subordinates had made significant contributions.
One was Lippy, operating under the alias "Drogon," whose charisma allowed her to quickly blend into any group. Within the Death Eaters, she'd become a minor but notable figure.
The other was Bieber, a former Silver Hand security member, who was eager to make a name for himself.
Before Lucius could even react, Bieber had already taken the opportunity to recruit a group of homeless Death Eaters.
Lucius even praised him for it.
One could only wonder—when Bieber found out the truth in the future, would he be heartbroken?
His boss was an undercover agent.
His subordinate was also an undercover agent.
And he, caught in the middle, was completely in the dark—just a poor, clueless pawn.
His outstanding ability to stir up trouble hadn't earned Bieber much reputation among the Death Eaters—because he was a half-blood.
Compared to Lucius's natural advantage as a pure-blood, no matter how unwilling Bieber was to accept it, he couldn't change the fact.
After all, the Death Eaters' core ideology was pure-blood supremacy.
Bieber consoled himself, thinking his hard work would definitely attract Lord Voldemort's attention.
That thought lifted his spirits again.
Even Lucius couldn't help but comment, "Young people really are full of energy."
Although, to be fair, he wasn't that old himself.
…
"John!!"
John went home.
The day he arrived, he was pulled into a good long cry by Mrs. Wick.
John looked at the car parked in front of the house, then at his father, Watson Wick, who had apparently already taken care of the family's problems.
He asked with a strange expression, "So… your solution was to become the new boss yourself?"
"Ehm.." Watson Wick looked a bit embarrassed—he wasn't exactly sure how things got to that point.
It just so happened that everyone who tried to make a move on him ended up dying in horrible ways.
Eventually, rumors started circulating that the Wick family was cleaning up London's underground scene.
Even Watson himself was utterly baffled, but others didn't see it that way.
Those brutal and ruthless killings had nearly driven the big bosses insane, and they had no choice but to submit.
Meanwhile, the investors working behind the scenes, the ones pulling the strings, also saw potential in Watson—intending to shape him into the new Wallace family.
Sean Wallace came knocking again to propose an alliance, but on his way back, he was involved in a car accident and vanished without a trace.
From that point on, everyone was convinced: Watson was ruthless and decisive, having eliminated the last threat—Sean Wallace.
So they pooled their money and resources, and just like that, forcibly pushed him into power.
But all he ever wanted was to be a law-abiding good guy!
John was completely speechless.
________
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