A crackling sound was heard in the dark alley and a hooded figure materialized out of nowhere.
The stench in the alley made the hooded man wrinkle his nose, then he raised his head and looked around vigilantly. After making sure that there was no one around, he walked out of the alley quietly and disappeared into the deserted street.
Passing through an abandoned old neighborhood, the hooded man stopped in front of a dilapidated townhouse and seemed to mutter something softly. The gap between the two dilapidated townhouses suddenly cracked, revealing a wooden door hidden in between.
As the hooded man approached, the wooden door opened without warning and he immediately walked in.
The wooden door closed behind him, and a fire immediately lit up in front.
Lucius Malfoy pulled his hood back, revealing his slightly pale face in the firelight.
This is their base. Nowadays, the Death Eaters are like rats crossing the street, and everyone wants to kill them. It is naturally not suitable for them to be too high-profile, so they found a secret gathering place.
Malfoy walked through the corridor and came to a door. He stretched out his hand and knocked lightly three times. Then, he walked directly through the wooden door and appeared in a luxuriously decorated living room.
The originally noisy living room came to an abrupt end when Lucius Malfoy came in, and everyone looked at Lucius Malfoy.
"Old man, you're almost late."
In the silent room, someone suddenly spoke first to break the silence. If Hagrid were here, he would definitely recognize that the person who just spoke was Walton McNeill, who almost chopped off Buckbeak's head.
“That took me a while.”
Lucius Malfoy sat in the vacant seat, and it was not difficult to see Malfoy's status in the group from his seat.
"What's the result?" asked old Gore.
"Is Peter really dead?" continued old Crabbe.
"Peter Pettigrew is indeed dead. I personally checked his body in the cemetery of Azkaban. It is indeed him." Lucius Malfoy raised his head and looked around at everyone. He cleared his throat and said in a brisk tone, "As far as I know, Peter Pettigrew did not give anyone away after being arrested."
Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Although everyone present had escaped jail using various excuses more than a decade ago, no one knew whether Peter Pettigrew would turn them in again and bring them into other trouble.
After all, there have been similar cases in the past where traitors relied on informing on their companions in exchange for the opportunity to have their crimes reduced.
"That bastard is really too cheap."
For the past few months, they had all wanted to kill Peter.
However, it was not easy to kill Peter quietly in Azkaban prison, otherwise Lucius Malfoy would have secretly killed Sirius Black more than ten years ago, allowing his wife to inherit the Black family's inheritance legitimately.
"This matter is very strange. Peter's family disappeared not long ago." The hunchbacked Nott suddenly said.
"Do you think Peter is pretending to be dead?" Malfoy frowned and looked at Nott who was speaking next to him.
Yes, Peter has precedent.
"Before she died, the old woman of Peter's family went to Azkaban prison and burned herself to death a few days later," Nott reminded.
"Maybe she's crazy." Old Gore muttered softly, "After all, her son suddenly turned from a hero into a murderer, which was a big shock to her."
"That's not the point. Azkaban prison shouldn't allow people to come and go as they please." Avery also frowned. Peter had a precedent of faking his death and escaping. Although he didn't think Malfoy was lying, but...
"I know about this. The woman was dying and wanted to see her son." Lucius paused and continued, "So, she persuaded Fudge to agree to let her go to Azkaban to see her son for the last time in exchange for donating most of Peter's family property to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
Fudge agreed, of course.
Look at that large donation.
Moreover, it can be regarded as fulfilling the wish of a dying person.
To be honest, although Peter died in Azkaban prison, others still hated him very much. Most of the Death Eaters believed that Peter had deceived them, because the Dark Lord went to the Potters' house based on the information provided by Peter, and then failed there.
As a result, the good situation collapsed with the disappearance of the Dark Lord, and a large number of Death Eaters were arrested and imprisoned in Azkaban.
There were a lot of people who hated Peter, but Peter was already "dead" at that time, so there was nothing they could do.
Going to trouble Mrs. Peter
The Death Eaters who had just escaped a disaster were eager to distance themselves from the matter and dared not approach.
However, they had been fooled by Peter once, so they naturally had to prevent such things from happening again. If Peter was really not dead, they would naturally have to kill him quickly.
"Fudge has been looking for donations lately," Avery said suddenly.
"Did he look for you too?" Old Goyle turned his head and asked Malfoy.
"I haven't donated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries yet." Lucius Malfoy said with a sneer on his face, "I'm still thinking about it."
"Recently, many people are dissatisfied with Fudge's actions." Avery said suddenly.
It should be said that the pure-blood faction was dissatisfied with Fudge's actions.
Death Eaters actually represent the interests of the pure-blood faction, which is why many pure-blood wizards support the Dark Lord. Most pure-blood wizards know that Malfoy and his gang are Death Eaters, but so what.
As long as they don't say anything, do you still expect so-called justice
The reason why all the people present here were able to escape the disaster was not only because they did not leave any evidence, but also because the pure-blood faction within the Ministry of Magic helped them to get rid of the crime.
"Otherwise, do you expect to be able to escape punishment by being under the Imperius Curse?"
Once the truth serum is poured into them, any question can be asked and their lame excuses will become a joke.
"You mean Fudge awarded the Order of Merlin to Muggle wizards?" Malfoy left knowing what Avery wanted to say.
"Yes, he compromised. This is not a good sign." Avery said unhappily, "Fudge should have stood on our side, but he didn't."
Some of the troubles Fudge is in now are actually caused by some pure-bloods who don't like his behavior and deliberately create trouble for him.
"Whether Fudge wants to or not, he can't stop it." Lucius Malfoy saw this very clearly.
He couldn't hold it in anymore.
If Albert was just a talented Muggle wizard, then the Ministry of Magic could easily suppress all his achievements. This happened more than once. As long as the Ministry of Magic did not acknowledge it, even if a Muggle wizard really received the Order of Merlin, it would be difficult for him to work in the Ministry of Magic in the future.
However, the situation is different.
Albert has a wide network of contacts and is supported by the moderates led by Dumbledore and wizards from other factions. So even if Fudge wanted to suppress him, he couldn't, and he had many political enemies.
He still couldn't do the stupid thing of pushing others to the enemy. Compromise between the two sides was the best way. After all, it was just an Order of Merlin, and he could get the Order of Merlin First Class as he wished.
Fudge's compromise was not a good sign for the pure-blood faction, who urgently needed Fudge to stand on their side so that they could influence him and thereby expand their own influence.
"We can create some trouble for Fudge." Lucius Malfoy tapped the table with his fingers, "and then slowly win him over and use him."
"What are you going to do?" Avery asked, knowing that Malfoy was better at these kinds of schemes and knew how to get himself out of it.
"We can do something after the World Cup is over." Lucius Malfoy said softly, "We should also guide him to lean towards those respected families. This is not difficult for us because we have money."
"Are you going to donate to Fudge?" Avery understood what Malfoy meant.
"Yes, there are many benefits to donating some money to him, and we plan to introduce Fudge to our circle and slowly guide him towards those respected families." Malfoy had a confident smile on his face.
As far as he knew, Fudge was obsessed with the feeling of being Minister of Magic and everything that the position brought him, so it was not difficult to influence him.