"Uh…"
Lockhart was stumped.
He tried to recall the scene from back then. All he remembered was hiding here and there while still having to find some way to stay in Diagon Alley so he could gather more information about the wizarding world.
It was under those circumstances that he had run into the furtive Karkaroff.
Never mind that Lockhart had spent the past few years in Azkaban. The prisoners there had come and gone in a steady stream, with someone new being thrown in every so often to experience life behind bars.
Although most of them only stayed for a few months to a few years, that had still allowed Lockhart to pick up quite a bit of important news about the wizarding world.
Of course he knew that Karkaroff, the headmaster of Durmstrang, had gone to Hogwarts to teach.
It was just that, while he had been stuck in Azkaban, knowing these things had been useless.
But now things were different!
Lockhart thought to himself that Karkaroff was a professor at Hogwarts, yet he had been acting so shifty. He had to be hiding something.
If it happened to be something that endangered Hogwarts, or even the wizarding world, then he could bring it to Tver and claim credit, using it to reduce his sentence!
Yes, after being exposed by Tver and witnessing Marvolio's world-shattering blow in Azkaban, Lockhart had already given up on the unrealistic fantasy that You-Know-Who would unite the world and then forget all about his crimes.
All he wanted now was to scrape together a little merit amid the chaos, so that once the war ended, he could somehow be treated as a contributor and successfully escape prison life!
Whether Merlin himself had heard Lockhart's inner plea or not, he really did stumble across Karkaroff and a mysterious black-robed man hiding in a dark corner, talking about something.
For safety's sake, he only dared to hide around a corner a few hundred feet away, pretending to be a passerby studying a map while occasionally sneaking a glance at the two figures, of whom he could only make out two black silhouettes…
But that did not matter!
He was still absolutely certain that they were Karkaroff and You-Know-Who!
"No, you can't be sure at all."
After hearing Lockhart's account, Tver no longer had the energy to mock his cowardice.
Although, if that black-robed man really had been Voldemort, this was indeed the safest way, and the only way to avoid Voldemort's detection.
After all, even in Knockturn Alley, no one could guarantee that there was absolutely no one within a few hundred feet.
Lockhart, however, was quite certain that the person he saw was Karkaroff. If Tver remembered correctly, Karkaroff had indeed appeared in Diagon Alley six months ago, near the end of the summer holidays, when Harry and the others had gone shopping there. The two sides had even crossed paths.
It was just that the encounter had left Harry with a rather poor impression…
Seeing Tver fall into thought, Cynthia asked curiously, "Can we confirm that the black-robed man was Voldemort?"
"Not with absolute certainty," Tver said speculatively. "But what we can confirm is that Karkaroff and Voldemort were both in Diagon Alley that day."
"It had to be them!" Lockhart said with absolute conviction.
If that person had not been You-Know-Who, then his contribution would be greatly reduced.
"Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater. Maybe he became a professor at Hogwarts so he could work with You-Know-Who from the inside."
"Otherwise, why would the headmaster of Durmstrang come all the way to Britain just to be a lowly professor?"
"To seek protection from Dumbledore and Tver," Joanne cut in matter-of-factly.
Even though she had only spent a few months in the wizarding world, she could still sense that the longer the war dragged on, the more the wizards trusted Dumbledore and Tver.
If Tver had not been constantly striking at the Death Eaters, Joanne would have suspected him of deliberately keeping the enemy around to strengthen his own position!
Lockhart was rendered speechless again and could only look to Tver for help.
"In any case, Karkaroff's strange behavior is worth investigating, especially during wartime. We have to be cautious."
After thinking it over, Tver still stood up and decided to return to Hogwarts first to test Karkaroff's situation.
"What about my book?" Joanne quickly asked.
"Tver, a Mr. Lucius Malfoy has come to see you. It seems he wants to discuss… uh… did I come at a bad time?"
Babajide suddenly barged through the open door. It was not that he was being rude, but the recent workload had left him with no interest in knocking.
And in his hand was a thick stack of documents, which clearly meant he intended to dump some work on Tver while he was at it.
At the sight, a drop of cold sweat nearly formed on Tver's forehead.
Forget it. He had to get out of here, at least for a while!
But as he charged forward, dodging Joanne's reaching hand and Babajide's stack of documents, he almost crashed into Lucius at the doorway, whose face lit up with joy the moment he saw him.
"Tver, our potions workshop has officially begun operations!"
After more than half a year, they had finally found suitable locations around the world, mainly in Europe and Africa, to establish herb greenhouses and potions workshops.
Of course, the greatest difficulties had been recruiting wizards and avoiding the supervision of those countries' Ministries of Magic.
Fortunately, pure-bloods like them were not completely useless.
With the help of a certain unnamed old man, they had successfully contacted influential officials in those Ministries of Magic.
Although it was a little strange that these people were all rather elderly, they had still managed, through discreet channels, to recruit a group of frustrated and poor wizards, while successfully bypassing Ministry supervision.
Of course, if they were doing it now, it would not need to be so troublesome.
Still, a small problem had arisen…
"It's like this…" Lucius, showing absolutely no sense of timing, stopped Tver just as he was about to leave and shamelessly threw their problem at him.
"The potions we're preparing to make now aren't like Beautification Potions. Many of them require biological materials, such as crocodile hearts, Unicorn horns, and the like. We can't exactly grow those ourselves…"
If they bought all those materials outright, then the magical communities of every country would have their reserves completely drained. In the end, that would only treat the symptom, not the root cause.
So…
When in trouble, go to the boss!
Upholding the fine tradition of the Death Eaters, Lucius had heard that Tver was currently in Bhutan, and had promptly rushed over.
"That is indeed a major problem."
Before Tver could speak, Babajide spoke first.
"If we truly intend to cooperate with Muggle governments, then the shortage of magical materials will absolutely be a key focus of our upcoming work. Tver, what do you think?"
I think I'm looking at it with my damn eyes!
Tver rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Still, Babajide was right. Potions were definitely the best way for wizards to show goodwill toward ordinary people. Otherwise, Tver would not have laid his plans in this area so early or so deeply.
The problem was, he did not know how to breed magical creatures either.
Wait…
Tver seemed to remember someone he had forgotten.