Chapter 650: Interference, Participation

After struggling internally for a moment, Gresham asked, "What do I have to give in return?"

"Everything," John said without hesitation. "Once you become Minister for Magic, you will cooperate with me."

"Heh." Gresham laughed coldly. "You think I’ll become your puppet? It seems you don’t understand me at all."

Indeed, as a hardline Auror who had captured numerous Dark wizards, how could he willingly become someone else’s puppet?

John laughed as well, amused by Gresham’s ignorance.

"I’m not enslaving you. I’m proposing cooperation."

He sat opposite Gresham, completely covered by the shadows of the rainy day, almost as though he had merged with the darkness.

"I will only come to you when necessary. You will still be the Minister for Magic. That will not change."

"The fact that I chose you should already tell you that I don’t need a puppet."

Indeed, if John wanted a puppet, Gold would have been a far better choice than Gresham.

Wouldn’t an incompetent man with grand ambitions be much easier to control?

Gresham was no fool. He understood that as well.

Which only made him even more confused about John’s intentions.

"It’s simple," John said calmly, seeing through his doubts. "Compared to a stubborn man who refuses to adapt, I would rather cooperate with someone intelligent."

Thinking of Yelufan, Gresham understood.

The First King and the Second King. Their relationship was no secret.

Yelufan was a loyal supporter of Dumbledore. If he took the position, John certainly would not be pleased.

Having finally found a hint of John’s motive, Gresham regained some confidence.

"You came to me because you want me to defeat Yelufan?" A sharp light flashed in Gresham’s eyes. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll break our agreement after becoming Minister for Magic?"

"You won’t," John said casually. "Because destroying you.."

|Would be even easier.|

In an instant, a chill rose from the soles of Gresham’s feet and shot straight to the top of his head.

Before his eyes, countless strands of darkness emerged from the indistinct shadows, transforming into tentacles that dragged people towards the abyss.

They wrapped tightly around him, leaving him unable to move. His mouth and nose seemed blocked, preventing him from making a sound or even breathing.

He stared at everything in terror.

His struggles were as insignificant as an ant trying to shake a tree.

And within the darkness, a pair of vertical pupils watched him silently.

Watched him fall into the abyss.

Cold.

Emotionless.

Just as he was about to be completely swallowed, John spoke slowly.

"You can make your choice now."

Everything vanished.

There was no abyss.

No tentacles dragging him down.

Only the man sitting opposite him, half-hidden in the darkness, remained.

Gresham gasped for breath, unable to understand what had just happened.

The thing he feared most deep in his heart had nearly killed him.

All he knew was that the person before him was absolutely not someone he could afford to provoke.

Just as John had said.

Destroying a Minister for Magic was far easier than becoming one.

That was the pressure of the Second King.

And the terror of the Second Dynasty.

"Doing this means Minister Crouch was also someone you supported into power," Gresham said with a self-mocking smile. "I used to admire him quite a bit."

"Then your admiration wasn’t misplaced." John glanced at Gresham. "He’s different from you. He’s my friend."

"Friend?"

Gresham looked up at John and could not help asking, "What about me?"

"You?" John smiled. "You need enough strength to stand before me."

"That day will come," Gresham said.

John raised an eyebrow.

Gresham said in a deep voice, "After I become Minister for Magic."

"I look forward to that day."

John stood, raised a hand, and swept it through the air.

A golden passage opened.

Under Gresham’s astonished gaze, John stepped into it and disappeared.

The door opened, and Lucived walked in calmly.

"You can leave now."

Gresham immediately became annoyed. He sat stubbornly on the sofa and said, "You summoned me here with one sentence, and somehow I ended up becoming the candidate Lord Wick intends to support. Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?"

"You already call him Lord Wick. Do you still need me to explain?" Lucived replied flatly.

Gresham was speechless.

He had said it instinctively.

After nearly being dragged into an abyss moments ago, anyone would have struggled to remain calm.

Still irritated, he said, "We were classmates, at least. Didn’t it occur to you that sending me into something this dangerous might get me killed?"

"I wasn’t your classmate," Lucived said calmly. "I was two years above you."

Gresham gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Fine. Weren’t you afraid the Second King might kill me?"

"You aren’t worthy of that."

Lucived answered bluntly, "In his eyes, you aren’t even a threat."

Gresham fell silent again.

After a long pause, he looked seriously at Lucived and asked, "Tell me. Did I make the right choice?"

Becoming a Minister for Magic who had been supported into power went against his fiercely independent nature.

Lucived replied, "He has never failed."

Yes. Those words outweighed everything else.

"Strength comes first. He won’t restrict the growth of those under him. When you’re strong enough, you’ll become his friend."

Lucived’s words eased some of Gresham’s unwillingness.

He stood and prepared to leave.

After all, he was not John. He could not ignore Anti-Apparition magic or casually open portals whenever he pleased.

When he reached the door, he suddenly asked, "Are you his friend or his subordinate?"

Besides being rivals, the two of them had once been friends.

He wanted to find some sense of balance through Lucived.

Instead, a faint smile flashed in Lucived’s eyes.

"I’m the father of his friend. What do you think?"

Gresham took a deep breath.

All the admiration he had once held for that former student council president had clearly been wasted.

You bastard, relying on your son!

He stormed out of the castle in frustration.

Lucived stood high in the castle, watching Gresham stride through the rain and stomp through puddles below.

"Once the obstacles are cleared, Germany will be under your control. Just where does the boundary of your ambition lie?"

As Heinrich’s father, he hoped John’s ambition would grow as large as possible.

The light shining into Edgar was becoming brighter and brighter.

...

The situation in Germany had changed.

Lucived withdrew from the competition, and the former third-ranked contender immediately turned around and threw his support behind Gresham.

His choice also represented Durmstrang and the Ancient Alliance behind it.

The families that held grudges against Gresham had barely prepared to act when they received warnings from the Ancient Alliance.

They did not dare make a move.

Gold anxiously urged the forces behind him to intervene.

Lucived’s sudden shift had instantly pushed him to the edge of being eliminated from the race.

"The ancient families have restricted us from acting," the head of a German pure-blood family said grimly. "The Silver Hand Alliance has also warned our businesses. This is no longer just your problem. We’re all in trouble now!"

This was the terror of the Second Dynasty.

In only a few days, Germany’s pure-blood families collectively fell silent.

If they united, they might have been able to resist.

But that was impossible.

They were nowhere near united enough.

Besides, the other families were unaffected. Only they were being targeted.

No matter how unwilling Gold was, there was nothing he could do.

He was forced out of the race.

Now only Yelufan and Gresham remained.

One represented the stubbornness of the old era.

The other represented the ambition and progress of the new.

The First King’s follower was competing against the Second King’s subordinate.

But the First King’s faction had always suffered from one major weakness. They were never truly united.

The Second Dynasty, on the other hand, was unstoppable.

That was also the difference between John and Dumbledore.

...

John stayed at home, smiling as he read the newspaper Basil had brought back.

With only two candidates remaining, the outcome of their struggle had already been quietly decided.

Lucived was no Karkaroff. During his time as Headmaster, his reputation had never declined.

Back in Fudge’s time, Dumbledore had only needed to say a few favourable words about him for Fudge to win the election.

That was the influence wielded by Europe’s three largest wizarding schools.

John set the newspaper aside and carefully ran his hands over Basil.

Then he let go and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You seem to have put on some weight recently."

Basil froze midway through eating a dried fish and glanced at Kiki, who was munching on biscuits nearby.

Kiki had no idea what was going on either.

Basil had come over and slapped it twice for no reason.

Did anyone understand how much psychological damage two slaps could do to a dragon?

Getting beaten up out of nowhere was something neither a dragon nor an owl could accept.

John finally understood.

Basil had apparently started treating beating up other owls as after-meal exercise.

Riddle stood on the perch with its eyes half-closed, making no attempt to join the fight between the other two owls.

The little brown bear quietly climbed up the perch, clearly tempted by Riddle’s feathers.

John noticed Ariana hiding furtively by the staircase, silently cheering the little bear on.

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