A magical journey that begins at Hogwarts

After a moment of silence, he continued, "I am also familiar with the rules of the Gaius family. You cannot save a wizarding family for no reason."

But if anything happens to Narcissa or me, I hope you can help Draco out.

Aaron sighed softly, "He is one of the few friends I have at Hogwarts, and I will help him if I can."

But let me state upfront, I can't guarantee there won't be any unforeseen circumstances.

“That’s enough.” Luciuston felt relieved. “We can make a deal. As long as Draco is alright, I can give half of the Malfoy family’s wealth to Gaius. The other half is up to you and Draco to decide how to handle.”

“No need for that,” Aaron waved his hand. “That little bit of gold is just a drop in the ocean for our family.”

Lucius was speechless for a moment. He did not doubt Aaron's words, but it was disheartening that others had not taken his biggest bargaining chip seriously.

“Uncle Lucius, I will do everything I can to protect Draco, but only if he doesn’t get too deeply involved. Otherwise, I won’t be able to pull him out of this mess.”

"what do you mean?"

"Make sure he has less contact with Death Eaters."

"I see."

"Also, if you and Aunt Narcissa want to get out of this unscathed, try not to do anything that will anger both heaven and man, or you could consider becoming double agents."

Lucius hesitated for a moment. "This is too dangerous... Is it feasible?"

“Of course it can be done,” Aaron said seriously. “You don’t need to pass on any intelligence. You can follow Voldemort’s orders, but the extent to which you complete them or whether you leave any loopholes is up to you.”

Past experience has taught me that small details can determine the outcome of a battle.

“I’ll think about it,” Lucius said in a deep voice.

“If Uncle Lucius doesn’t want to take any risks, there’s another way: he can take Aunt Narcissa and hide at my house.”

Before he could finish speaking, Lucius jumped to his feet.

Happiness came too suddenly; even a dog wouldn't take the risk if it weren't forced into it.

But he calmed down the next moment. Malfoy knew better than anyone that there was no such thing as a free lunch. "What does Malfoy need to give up?"

“First, half of the Malfoy family’s wealth,” Aaron said calmly. “Don’t misunderstand, Gaius has no interest in the Malfoys’ accumulation, but what you gain and what you lose are often proportional.”

I can help Draco out of friendship, but I can't help his parents for free because of that.

"anything else?"

"You will have to stay in Gaius Castle until the Wizarding War ends."

I cannot guarantee your safety after the war ends.

Upon hearing this, Lucius fell silent.

He could grit his teeth and give up his wealth. Malfoy's wealth had been accumulated for almost ten centuries. Even if he threw away half of it, and even if his successors were all spendthrifts, the other half would not be squandered within five hundred years.

But Malfoy's safety was no longer guaranteed after the war, which he found hard to accept, because hiding in Gaius Castle was seen as desertion by the Death Eaters.

Voldemort, as the Dark Lord, never lacked loyal followers.

Even if he were to die completely, these loyal followers, without a leader, would still pose a considerable threat to Malfoy.

"Phew!" Lucius took a deep breath and finally made his decision. "I'm leaving Draco in your care."

"Don't worry, I will do what I say."

“Thank you, Malfoy will never forget this kindness,” Lucius said sincerely, and immediately got up to leave.

"Wait a moment." A purple glint flashed in Aaron's eyes, meeting Lucius's pupils.

Lucius looked flustered and staggered for a moment before standing still in a daze.

“Uncle Genes, you know what I’m going to do, right?” Aaron asked meaningfully.

“I can guess that,” Genes said, looking somewhat uneasy. “And most likely, I’ll have to do it.”

"It's good to know."

Genes shook his head helplessly, pointed his wand at Lucius's temple, slowly drew out a few strands of silvery-white light, and carefully sealed them in a glass bottle.

"Alright, this memory is unknown to anyone other than him."

In addition, I implanted a false memory, so even Voldemort's mind-controlling abilities couldn't detect any flaws.

A few seconds later, Lucius came to his senses.

He looked at the glass bottle in Genes' hand and realized what had just happened. "If you had just told me, I would have cooperated fully."

"The result is the same," Aaron said dismissively. "Take care of yourselves, Aunt Narcissa. Draco, you can come to me anytime if you run into any problems."

Lucius nodded immediately and then left via the Floo Network.

“The Malfoy family is quite interesting.” Aaron lay lazily on the sofa. “No wonder they are the best-performing of the Twenty-Eight Pureblood Families. Voldemort’s preparations are not even finished and he is already thinking about finding a way out.”

“Young Master, I must remind you of something,” Genes said hesitantly, “The Gaius family’s ancestral precepts clearly stipulate that they cannot arbitrarily interfere in the disputes of the magical world, so…”

"I know what you're trying to say, but this has nothing to do with the family."

I will abide by the rules, and I will only do what I can to help.

Chapter 450 Harry Potter's Guard, and the Prefects of the Houses

"The 'Standard Spells, Level 5' is fine; fifth graders can definitely use this book. But this one..." Aaron picked up another book on the table, his expression becoming quite interesting. "'Theory of Magic Defense,' is it really intended for fifth-grade students?"

Even freshmen would probably look down on theory!

“This is the reading list sent by Hogwarts,” Genes said, shrugging. “But it certainly won’t affect you, young master, since you can now freely use your Defense Against the Dark Arts class.”

"That's true, but... this is just too absurd."

Fudge planted his cronies at Hogwarts, fine, but at least show some sense of responsibility as a teacher!

“Umbridge is looking for Dumbledore’s weaknesses; teaching is of little importance to her.”

"Heh!" Aaron sighed softly. "I just casually tossed the two books aside. Luckily, Umbridge can't control me, otherwise I would have to deal with such a sycophantic oddball this school year."

“Young Master is very insightful,” Genes praised. “However, we cannot neglect our studies because of this; we still need to make the most of our class time.”

“You don’t need to emphasize that.” Aaron glared at him fiercely. “I will study the elemental magic of Ancestor Vihert diligently. I’m even confident that I can completely master the ultimate magic of the five elements—fire, lightning, wind, earth, and water—within two years, but…”

“Young Master, you shouldn’t be so ambitious,” Genes immediately interrupted, saying with a serious expression, “You are still a long way from mastering forbidden magic.”

"Uh...can you let me finish?" Aaron said, somewhat amused and exasperated. "What I mean is, I'm unlikely to make much progress in elemental magic arrays in the short term. Is there anything else I can learn?"

“This…” Genes pondered for a moment, “Young Master can go and mention it to Lord Wicht himself.”

"Forget it! Do you think I didn't mention it?"

Every time I mention this, he beats me up!

What's most infuriating is that the excuse is always exactly the same; they can't even be bothered to change it. Aaron got furious when he said this, and felt inexplicably wronged.

“Perhaps Lord Vihert wants the young master to fully master forbidden elemental magic first,” Genes said earnestly. “For centuries, the young master has been the only one who can inherit his abilities, so it’s understandable that he doesn’t want the young master to be distracted.”

“I understand the logic, but I spent four years drawing those elemental magic circles.” Aaron indignantly held up four fingers. “Ask him if he could have maintained the patience for elemental magic circles for four years while he was alive?”

Genes paused for a few seconds, then said with shame, "I really didn't think of that."

"Tch!" Aaron curled his lip. "In short, I'm getting a little impatient."

If he tries to use the excuse of wanting to run before he can walk, tell him you want to find a different way to learn to walk.

"I will explain everything to Lord Wichett. Young Master, you can just wait for news at Hogwarts."

"Ok!"

Aaron nodded; he trusted Genes wouldn't let him down.

“Oh, and this too, young master should take a look.” Genes handed him a letter. “It was written to you personally by Dumbledore.”

Aaron raised an eyebrow slightly, opened the envelope, and quickly scanned it.

"Hiss! Isn't this just asking for trouble?" Aaron's lips twitched slightly. "That old bastard is definitely doing this on purpose."

Genes took the letter, read it, and a playful smile appeared on his lips. "Dumbledore, the Slytherin prefect, still has a good eye."

"This is outrageous!" Aaron said irritably. "I remember telling Naylor, but I didn't expect him to still leave this position for me."

"He has good taste too, doesn't he?"

"This has nothing to do with vision. Anyone who isn't blind can see that I'm the most suitable candidate for prefect."

The problem is, I really don't want to be one; it's too much of a waste of time.

“Learning how to manage things in advance will be helpful for the young master when he inherits the family business,” Genes said seriously, though there was a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.

"That's a joke. Managing a group of students and managing a family are completely different concepts."

Besides, I've never seen my parents do much to care for me all these years!

"The old clan chief is still alive, so the clan chief and his wife don't need to work so hard. They can just do their own jobs."

"That's settled then. My parents aren't worried, so why should I be in such a hurry?"

Uncle Genes, write a letter to Dumbledore and ask him to find someone else to fill the prefectural position.

Draco, Cavill, even Crabbe, Goyle, or if all else fails, make him choose someone from the sixth or seventh grade—anything but me.

Genes hesitated for a moment, then said awkwardly, "Young Master, I understand how you feel right now, but according to the rules, the family cannot interfere in your affairs at Hogwarts, so... I can't help you."

"It's just writing a letter, is that not allowed?"

“No.” Genes said directly.

"Then I can write it myself, right?"

“That’s fine, but let me remind you, there’s not enough time.” Genes said with a meaningful smile, “Hogwarts starts tomorrow, and Dumbledore won’t have a better candidate for the time being.”

Aaron: ......

"So, even if I don't want to be a prefect, I have to be one for a while?"

"Yes, that's it."

"Great," Aaron muttered speechlessly. "Then who's the other prefect?"

"Pansy Parkinson's".

"Just as I expected." Aaron shook his head with a wry smile. "Oh well, he's just a prefect, he has some privileges after all."