After seeing Babajide off, not only did Tver fail to relax, the students who had not managed to get any guidance from him spread the word about him instead.
Professor Fawley, from a pure-blood family that had once produced a Minister of Magic, now held important positions in both the Ministry of Magic and the Confederation.
More importantly, he maintained extremely good relations with many businesses outside, and even with Gringotts.
In short, as long as someone wanted to find a proper job in Britain, or even one that was not so proper, there was no way around Professor Fawley.
Once people started thinking that way, it was not just the fifth-years, who were already supposed to receive career guidance. Even many seventh-years who were close to graduation and already had jobs in mind came running over for advice.
Not to mention the many lower-year students who were still a long way from graduating, but came anyway to learn about the different kinds of work in wizarding society.
In view of that, Professor McGonagall thoughtfully postponed Karkaroff's holiday, giving Tver enough time to provide guidance for the students.
Even so, he wrapped up the work before April arrived.
After all, the other professors would help share the burden. What he mainly needed to do was provide young wizards with no clear direction some information about the various jobs in the wizarding world.
As for specific course requirements and ability development, that still had to be left to the specialists.
So after finally winning back his free time, Tver made up for it by having afternoon tea almost twice a day.
Each session lasted an hour and a half, with the break in between reserved for digestion.
Even so, it only lifted Tver's spirits a little.
He always had the feeling that he had somehow picked up a streak of bad luck. Every time he thought he could finally relax, one thing after another would pop up to ruin it.
It was not enough to trouble him seriously, but with things turning out this strangely, he at least no longer dared to speak carelessly...
And as if to prove the point, throughout the following April, Tver really did not run into anything that required him to stay busy.
Although students still came to him now and then for career advice, or for early training in preparation for employment, overall it was the easiest stretch Tver had had all school year.
Most days, all he had to do was teach his classes and make up for the magical practice his students had missed over the past half year, leaving him plenty of free time to think about matters in the wizarding world.
Who could have imagined that when he first arrived at Hogwarts five years ago, he had actually dared to complain that teaching was too busy...
"You really don't know when you've got it good. Forget afternoon tea. Cynthia and I are so busy at work we don't even have time for a sip of water!"
After hearing Tver's complaint, Marvolio was the first to snap at him, and even Cynthia did not know what to say.
"Ahem, this meeting is not for listening to your complaints. Watch what you say, Marvolio," Tver said quickly.
"You were the one who started it. "
"Cynthia, tell us about the Ministry of Magic." Tver completely ignored Marvolio's protest.
There was a brief silence from Cynthia on the other end of the badge, as if Tver's shamelessness had left her speechless.
"...Alright."
"As instructed, Barty and I pressured Fudge and successfully got the Ministry of Magic to keep a close watch on the vampires active in Britain."
"But those vampires are hiding themselves very well. Without a suitable pretext, we can't take action against them for now."
As mentioned before, the wizarding world was more tolerant toward vampires than toward werewolves.
Although the Ministry of Magic still had regulations for managing vampires, it would be hard to justify treating them the same way they treated werewolves.
"Rita Skeeter is already stirring things up and pushing the Ministry to take a tougher stance against vampires, but it hasn't had any real effect yet..."
"Have you found out where the vampires are concentrated?" Marvolio suddenly asked.
"I think so..." Cynthia paused, and the sound of papers being searched through came from the other side.
"I have to say, the Aurors you trained have become much more meticulous in their work."
"Of course," Marvolio replied smugly. "I worked with them for years and taught them quite a lot."
"Found it!"
The rustling stopped immediately.
"They're mainly concentrated in the southwest of England. One of the Aurors traced activity all the way to the Isle of Wight off the coast..."
As if his suspicions had just been confirmed, Marvolio immediately said excitedly, "No, no, no. The Isle of Wight is just a smokescreen. Their real target is most likely in the southwest!"
"You mean..." Cynthia guessed, sounding somewhat incredulous, "the vampires are targeting the pure-blood families?!"
The southwest of England had both a good environment and a good location. It was not so far from London that Apparition became too costly, and it was also a very pleasant place to live.
So the manors of Britain's pure-blood families, including the Fawley family and the Malfoy family, were mostly concentrated in that area.
And if the vampires really had gathered there, then their objective was obvious.
"But the manors of the pure-blood families are all protected by a great deal of ancient magic. Even if the vampires launched a surprise attack, they wouldn't get much out of it, would they?" Cynthia asked in confusion.
The pure-blood families had lived in England for at least several hundred years, and the protective magic they had left behind covered practically every inch of their estates.
Attacking those manors was almost the same as attacking more than a dozen miniature Hogwarts.
That was why, even after several periods of upheaval over the centuries, those pure-blood estates had never suffered much damage.
"Voldemort would never want to capture those manors. What he wants is to teach the people who betrayed him a lesson!"
There was not the slightest evidence for it, but Marvolio understood Voldemort too well. Or rather, there was no one in the world who understood Voldemort better than he did.
That was why his voice was so firm.
"Voldemort knows perfectly well that even if he captured all those estates, he wouldn't be able to hold them without enough manpower."
"So all he wants is for those vampires to destroy as much of the manors' facilities as possible, or even just set them on fire!"
"That way he can preserve the vampires' strength while also frightening those fence-sitters, throwing them into a panic and disrupting the relationship between us!"
After a moment's thought, Tver immediately understood the vicious intent behind Voldemort's move.
To put it bluntly, it was a small psychological ploy.
It might not, no, it definitely would not cause any substantial damage, but for Tver and the pure-bloods, this kind of move could easily cast a shadow over their already fragile relationship.
Voldemort really was Voldemort. He understood the weaknesses of human nature perfectly.
Tver smiled helplessly.
Fortunately, they had one on their side too.
"Should we strengthen protection for the pure-bloods?" Cynthia asked at once.
Tver thought for a moment.
"We can, but there's no need to focus too heavily on that side."
"You think Voldemort might have other moves planned?"
"It's not a matter of might..." Tver licked his lips and said, with a mix of resignation and anticipation, "Voldemort will definitely make other moves."