"Are we really going through with this? We've already provoked the mysterious figure, and now we're planning to provoke the Ministry of Magic too. If we add one more…" Narcissa said, her voice trembling with fear.
"Adding one more won't make things any worse," Lucius replied calmly. "Besides, this is our chance. A mysterious and powerful Goblin, and a suddenly rising Werewolf… their intentions are obvious. They'll handle the people involved themselves. We won't even need to show our faces, and the Ministry won't be alerted."
"So that means… Voldemort's side…" Hope flickered in Narcissa's eyes.
Lucius nodded. "Yes. If that Goblin truly possesses the power he's shown, then aligning ourselves with him might free us from fearing You-Know-Who. This is a good thing. A tremendous opportunity, one that could finally sever our ties to the Dark Lord."
"…Except for Draco." With that, Narcissa fully realized that their family's crisis had been resolved. Her thoughts immediately turned to her son.
"Draco won't have died in vain. Those Death Eaters will serve as his burial offerings. And in the end… You-Know-Who as well," Lucius said through clenched teeth.
A long silence settled over the room.
Midgard, who had been hiding near the doorway the entire time, felt a tug at her sleeve and quietly slipped away.
Only after they had left the grounds of Malfoy Manor did the Disillusionment Charm fade, revealing Midgard in her robes and Leonard in his bizarre getup.
Leonard's face was covered with strange, bark-like patches, and his eyes glowed a deep, blood-red.
"Phew. Finally done," Leonard said, letting out a breath as he began removing his disguise.
He first winced as he tore the bark-like patches from his face, then removed the colored contact lenses. Rubbing his fingers together, he ignited all the discarded items, reducing them to ash. Midgard watched the entire process with fascination.
"If you weren't planning to show your face anyway, why go through all this trouble?" Midgard complained. "Polyjuice Potion, disguises… it's completely unnecessary."
Leonard, now free of the junk on his face and visibly relaxed, rolled his eyes. "Even if I wasn't showing my real face, I still had to convey the traits of an elderly Goblin. Simple makeup wouldn't sell it, but using Professor Flitwick's appearance outright would've been too fake. This was the only option."
"Well, I can tell now," Midgard said. "You weren't just acting… no, you were creating a genuinely terrifying Goblin. Your performance was incredible. Even I thought you were a deranged, overwhelmingly powerful old Goblin."
"Of course. My acting skills—" Leonard began smugly, only for Midgard to hook an arm around his neck and aggressively rub his head.
"I get wanting to flesh out your character," she growled, "but those 'Little Midgard' comments were seriously asking for trouble."
"Hey—slow down! My head hurts! You're going to pull my hair out!" Leonard yelped as he struggled.
...
Fortunately, Midgard vented quickly. She snorted coldly and released him.
Leonard sighed in relief and hurriedly smoothed his hair. "You said it yourself, I was just building the character. I didn't exactly have a choice."
"Tch. I didn't see a shred of reluctance in you," Midgard scoffed.
Leonard shrugged and took her hand. "Come on, let's head back. Claudia's still waiting for us."
Midgard's muscles tensed for a split second before relaxing again.
"Apparition."
Holding Leonard's hand, Midgard apparated back to the alley. Inside the room, they saw Claudia hugging a Unicorn plushie.
"Leonard! Big Sister!" Croatia's face lit up as she threw herself into Leonard's arms. "Claudia was very good. I didn't go anywhere."
"Good girl. Claudia's the best," Leonard said with a smile, gently patting her head. "I'll treat you to pancakes later."
"That's great, thank you, Leonard," Claudia said, kissing his cheek before giving Midgard a hug as well.
"Be good, Claudia. We still have things to take care of. Why don't you play over there for now?" Midgard said, lifting her up and giving her a gentle squeeze.
Claudia wasn't as afraid of Midgard as she used to be, and she behaved obediently in her arms.
"Okay. Claudia will play nicely over there," she said, nodding.
"That's wonderful. Big Sister will treat you to pancakes too," Midgard said happily.
"Big Sister is so nice. Big Sister is the second best in the world," Claudia said sweetly, rubbing her cheek against Midgard's before hopping down and diving onto the Unicorn plush.
Watching her play, Midgard's expression softened. She turned to Leonard.
"Who is Ranrok? From the way you acted, it looked like you were deliberately drawing Lucius Malfoy's attention to that name. But it doesn't really feel like a distraction."
"Ranrok was a dangerous Goblin active in the nineteenth century," Leonard replied casually. "He led the Goblins against the Nikkon wizards and nearly overturned wizarding rule at one point."
Midgard's gaze sharpened.
"Aren't you playing this a bit too big?"
"Relax. Lucius Malfoy won't spread that name around," Leonard said, shaking his head. "I just needed to give him some confidence. Anyone who truly cares about Ranrok already knows that Goblin is long dead."
"Anyone who truly cares about Ranrok…" Midgard thought for a moment. "Are you trying to draw that person out?"
"More or less. If they're still alive, that name should be enough to make them surface. So whether Lucius Malfoy leaks it or not doesn't really matter."
Leonard leaned back, completely at ease. "Either way, it works in my favor."
...
"You really are devious," Midgard muttered, feeling a twinge of envy toward Leonard's mind.
"Oh, right," she added suddenly. "Back at the Malfoys', you disrupted their magic with a single gesture and even injured them. What kind of spell was that? It looked ridiculously powerful."
"That?" Leonard said offhandedly. "It wasn't magic. Just a technique for using magical energy."
"A technique that strong? Can I learn it?" Midgard asked eagerly.
"Unfortunately, no." Leonard spread his hands. "It requires a specific talent, the same one that lets me perceive that mysterious ruin. Without it, you can't directly see magical energy, so you can't pull it off."
"That's a shame," Midgard said with some regret.
"Nothing to regret," Leonard replied with a yawn. "It's only good for bullying weak opponents. Against someone truly powerful, it's useless. It slows your reactions and makes you more likely to get hit by a curse."
On top of that, the technique put a heavy strain on his mind. Just using it on the Malfoy couple had already left him feeling drained.
If he tried it against Voldemort or Dumbledore, he'd probably exhaust himself half to death and still accomplish nothing.
...
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