I swung a sword at Hogwarts

With a sigh, John received the letter from Tang Mi.

The banquet has been arranged and we can go there tomorrow night.

John wrote him back.

When I went downstairs, I heard my parents talking about where to travel.

Since they were going there as a couple, Mrs. Wick wanted to visit America.

Watson Wick was quite dissatisfied with this. He felt that he could investigate the customs and habits of those people who lived a good life.

My elder brother-in-law Seryosha also got involved and said that it would be better to go to my mother's house.

Alexei objected and said it would be better to go to India. He heard that by swimming around the holy river there, one could collect the entire periodic table.

A few people were talking to each other, as if they were the ones traveling.

In the end, it was Mrs. Wick who suppressed everyone, because America was going to hold a fashion week and everyone's objection was futile.

"John, where are you going?" Mrs. Wick was sensible enough to ask her son who was traveling with her.

John casually said, "I'm fine with either. America is good too."

What he thought was that it seemed that the intern employee Jin was studying at Ilvermorny.

Moreover, Ilvermorny has some connection with Hogwarts, as its founder is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

As a Slytherin, it makes sense to go and take a look, right?

Hearing that John was fine with it, Mrs. Wick simply decided on the target.

She happily packed her luggage and planned her trip for the day after tomorrow.

It just happened to miss John's party time. I have to say that mother and son are closely connected.

The premise is that Mrs. Wick did not call the group of rich ladies from the beauty salon to go shopping together. Anyway, John has already seen Watson there, holding the bill and starting to calculate whether he will have to live on pasta starting next month.

A middle-aged man can’t afford to be hurt.

...

The next day.

The Snorlax was thrown into the cupboard. Like the Boggart, this creature liked dark places like this.

Walking into the basement, John used the Floo network to appear directly in the office.

He established a channel independent of the Ministry of Magic's Floo network system.

He even wanted to build a dedicated Floo network for the Silverhand Johnny system, but this idea was temporarily suppressed.

Shortly after arriving at the office, John heard a knock on the door.

Tang Mi opened the door and came in. He looked respectful and said, "Sir, Lucius is here."

John waved his hand to indicate that he knew.

Not long after Tang Mi left, Lucius walked in, but his face looked a little bad.

"Lucius, my friend, is it difficult for you to attend my party?" John asked in a deep voice.

Lucius showed some panic in his expression. He turned around and stuck his head out to look around. After confirming that there was no one, he closed the door.

He walked towards John, unable to hide his nervousness.

"Sir Johnny Silverhand, it, it reacted." Lucius rolled up his left sleeve, and the mark on it caused him slight pain.

John raised his hand to interrupt him, put down the Heart of Silence and activated the Silent Barrier, motioning for Lucius to continue.

Lucius suppressed the panic in his eyes and said, "The Dark Mark has been reacting since yesterday. This is the Death Eaters calling them to return."

As he said this, Lucius couldn't help but plead, "Sir, you have to help me this time."

Lucius knew that the other party knew his identity, so after receiving the call, he went to find Johnny Silverhand as soon as possible.

In his opinion, the only one who can help him is the other person.

After getting the help of Johnny Silverhand, he not only returned to the ranks of Hogwarts board of directors, but also increased Malfoy's prestige.

Compared to being terrified around the Dark Lord as before, he preferred to be in the Johnny Silverhand lineup.

After listening to his words, John said calmly: "Don't panic, Lucius. If you believe me, I hope you will respond to the call of the Death Eaters."

These words made Lucius' heart sink. Was Johnny Silverhand going to give up on him?

John could sense his mood change and knew what he was thinking. He shook his head and laughed, "Don't worry. I'm not giving up on you. I'm just letting you look for opportunities among the Death Eaters."

"Opportunity?" Lucius was stunned.

John said meaningfully: "An opportunity to completely wash away your identity as a Death Eater. I can erase this mark for you, but you need to use it to return to the ranks of Death Eaters first."

Lucius understood that this meant he was to be an undercover agent.

Thinking that he could get rid of his Death Eater identity, Lucius agreed.

...

Chapter 177 Banquet and VIPs

With the assets John has now, it would be very easy for him to buy a manor or something.

The original Shafik manor was renamed Silver Hand Manor.

Some "big shots" who are not usually seen entered the manor, and they all had an invitation in their hands.

Standing at the door were members of the Silver Hand Security Team, some of them were retired Aurors, while others were full-time Dark wizards.

Without exception, these people are elites.

Those who came to the appointment were secretly shocked. This force could defeat any pure-blood family.

It was no wonder that Shafik was driven out in disgrace. Among those who came here were pure-blood families, officials from the Ministry of Magic, and wizards from foreign countries.

The potion master, Damo Alex, was dressed in a noble, azure blue robe, with a decorated cane, and the Order of Merlin, First Class, on his chest was particularly eye-catching.

Lucius Malfoy came with John, wearing a black velvet suit and a pigeon egg-sized gem ring on his left hand.

Anyone who sees this scene will start to re-examine Lucius Malfoy.

But more people's eyes followed the silver mask, and many people had ingratiating smiles on their faces, with flattery and fawning intentions that were very obvious.

"I am very happy that you can come to my party." The silver ring and emerald on his left hand sparkled in the light.

Johnny Silverhand spoke, and everyone shut their mouths tacitly.

Barty Crouch was among them, staring at Lucius.

"Among those who came, there are officials, some people who have made mistakes, and scholars from the academic world. They are an indispensable part of the magic world, like gears that drive it into motion."

Wherever John looked, under the lights, he saw Ministry of Magic officials, Potions Masters, former Death Eaters... they all lived in harmony in this manor.

Pureblood, half-blood, muggle-born, werewolf.

They should have been hostile, but they were able to come here because of the prestige of the King of Knockturn Alley and the generosity of His Excellency Johnny Silverhand.

John concluded his speech with the following words: "Let us honor the world that brings us together.

Cheers to our friends for helping each other achieve success when we need it most.

We may die, but as long as they don’t kill us, they will make us stronger.”

Hold up the wine glass, and the aroma of the wine in the glass will spread.

After drinking a glass of wine, John walked down the platform tactfully.

This banquet, in addition to gathering everyone's strength, is more about allowing these people to have more common interests.

Magic officials will discuss with scholars, dark wizards will clink glasses with former enemies, and potion masters will negotiate with material suppliers.

Every clink of glasses, every laugh, will make this interest group stronger.

And their center is the man named Johnny Silverhand.

As long as Johnny Silverhand exists, these ties are unbreakable.

Only Johnny Silverhand could gather these people together.

The new Head of the Auror Office, Pius Thicknesse, came up to John with a glass of wine.

"Your Excellency, please allow me to toast with you."

As someone who had been praised by John for his diplomatic skills, Pierce knew very well how he had come to this powerful position, and he clinked glasses with John respectfully.

"The Auror defense funds are needed to purchase a batch of striker equipment." He really knows how to behave. Pierce just got the funds from here and immediately sent them back to John.

John was very satisfied with the little brother, nodded, and said meaningfully: "I will give you a discount, and only you."

Pierce was extremely surprised when he heard this and quickly raised another glass of wine.

He drank too quickly, and his face turned abnormally red. Just as he was about to drink another glass, John held his hand and said, "Don't drink too much. There are a lot of people here. You shouldn't let yourself get drunk."

After being reminded, Pierce suddenly realized what was going on. He thanked them repeatedly, lowered his posture, took the wine glass and went to find other people.

Tang Mi walked up to John and whispered, "Sir, old Batty is waiting for you in the room."

John put down his glass, declined a scholar's invitation, and walked into the study that originally belonged to Sean Shafik.

Old Barty Crouch was already waiting here. He was sitting on the sofa with his short gray hair combed neatly and a look of worry on his face.

Seeing John coming in, he stood up subconsciously, but was pushed down by John.

"Bati, my friend." John sat behind the desk, stroking the ring on his left hand with his right hand, and asked, "You look terrible. Is there something bothering you?"

Old Barty Crouch struggled, but seeing what happened today, the little unwillingness in his heart welled up again.

He stood up and walked to the desk, and with some unknown emotion, he said bitterly: "Sir, I made a mistake."

"I was very close to that position, but because of my son..."

He closed his eyes in pain, remembering the day when Voldemort fell.

As Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he is responsible for trying Death Eaters for their crimes.

It was on that day that he found out that his son was actually a Death Eater. He had once been extremely proud of him, but that day made him fall into the abyss completely.

Even though he was upright and sent his son to Azkaban, he was still criticized and missed the opportunity to become the Minister of Magic.

It was that one mistake that caused me to make repeated mistakes.

He lowered his head and said in a low and hoarse voice: "I made an extremely wrong decision. My wife begged me to save our son. For this, she was willing to sacrifice herself. So I..."

Taking advantage of the visit, his wife used a compound potion to exchange identities with Barty Crouch Jr.

Not long after, his wife died in Azkaban, and everyone thought that Barty Crouch Jr. was dead. No one knew that he had actually escaped from prison.

Old Batty confessed all this, and John listened carefully, his eyes deep as he said, "My friend, I am flattered by your candor. What do you want me to do for you in return for your honesty?"

Old Batty didn't confess all this for no reason. There must be a reason, and John could guess what it was.

"I would like to try again, sir." Old Batty raised his head, his eyes revealing fighting spirit and unwillingness.

The position he had once been out of was put back into contention because of the Peter Pettigrew case.

He didn't want to miss it this time, he wanted to fight for it again, and the key person was John, that is, Mr. Johnny Silverhand in front of him.

For this reason, he will face this person with the most sincere attitude.

John heard his thoughts and smiled.

"I'm glad, old Barty, I've been waiting for you."

John stood up and walked out, holding old Batty's hand, and said seriously: "My friend, I will provide you with enough space to display your skills."

Old Batty was very touched. He knew that there were people other than himself who could compete for this position.

John said this to show his hand and support himself.

"The Triwizard Tournament is a good turn of events, old Barty. I will help you because we are friends. We are connected by bones even though we are not related by blood."

John whispered close to Old Batty's ear: "I can see that you love your son, but at this critical moment, he is the most important."

Old Batistuta lost his competitiveness because of his son, so he naturally knows what this sentence means.

If people knew that old Barty had a Death Eater son, it would probably become the next scandal.