Attack

"He told us that since the other party had to produce a large sum of Galleons every time he bought materials, he would definitely have to go to Gringotts to withdraw money first. We might be able to find some clues through Gringotts."

"So we sent Bogrod a little gift, and he let us look at the transaction records from those days. We found that two people had withdrawn large amounts of Galleons on the days potion materials were purchased. One was named Stephen Cumberbatch, and the other was Murphy Darkholme."

"After we investigated, we discovered that Cumberbatch was a fake name. There was no such person in the wizarding world. That Stephen Cumberbatch was Murphy Darkholme!"

"Then we had someone draw a portrait of Murphy Darkholme and showed it to Slug, confirming that he was that Peter Parker!"

"Darkholme..." Lucius pondered for a while, then suddenly remembered the surname. "Sanders, Natalie... Murphy..."

"So it was him!" Lucius understood, but at the same time, a new doubt arose in his mind. "Where did he get so much money?"

Before those two brilliant fools Sanders and Natalie went in, they had even borrowed a few hundred Galleons from him!

Where had their son gotten tens of thousands of Galleons?

"That is what I was about to say next," the short wizard said. "Murphy Darkholme exchanged gold for all his money. He claimed that he had dug up gold buried by his ancestors in his old house."

"But we all know that was a lie. The Darkholme family has been in decline for over a hundred years. There couldn't possibly be any gold! Later, we thought of that Muggle farm. Papede said he had seen a Muggle vehicle deliver a lot of medicinal ingredients to the barn that day, so I had him draw the logo on the vehicle. It looked like this."

As the short wizard spoke, he took out a piece of parchment. On it was drawn a pattern that looked like an opened umbrella.

"Our people went to great lengths to trace the meaning of this logo. It belongs to a Muggle company called Umbrella Corporation. They have been very famous in the Muggle world recently because they sell a potion to Muggles that can heal wounds instantly..."

"A potion that can heal wounds instantly. What does that make you think of?" the short wizard asked.

"You mean? A potion?"

"Yes! Essence of Dittany!"

"And guess what material Murphy Darkholme bought the most of from our shop? Dittany!"

"Everything is clear now, master!" the short wizard said excitedly. "That Murphy is selling potions to Muggles! He earned countless pounds, then exchanged them for gold, and that's how he could buy so many of our materials! We used Veritaserum on a fellow from a Muggle pharmacy, and he said that Umbrella Corporation can earn at least one million pounds every month, equivalent to two hundred thousand Galleons!"

"Hiss..."

Lucius sucked in a cold breath.

Two hundred thousand Galleons!

In one month!

Even with all the Malfoy family's businesses combined, they could not earn more than a few tens of thousands of Galleons a month!

How could a poor brat whose parents were dead deserve that?!

And he even dared not to bring him in on it!

"He dares sell potions to Muggles and openly defy the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy!" Lucius's pale face twisted. "Such nerve! Such nerve!"

This was the path by which the Malfoy family had once risen to glory. Only when enforcement of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy grew increasingly strict had they withdrawn their businesses from the Muggle world, and because of that, their profits had plummeted.

And now, someone actually wanted to bypass the Malfoy family and take that path for himself?

Unforgivable!

Unpardonable!

"Have you found evidence?!" Lucius asked urgently.

"We found their factory. All the potions sold to Muggles are produced in that factory. Those Muggle workers and the potions being produced are all evidence!"

"Good! Good!" Lucius shot to his feet. "Go and bring them back to me!"

"No! I'll go personally! I want to send that bastard boy to Azkaban with my own hands!"

"And! Tell Bogrod about this and freeze his account!"

"Dittany, Flobberworms, Horklump Fruit, unicorn horn powder, dried Billywigs, wolfsbane..."

In Knockturn Alley, in the backyard of Siren's Song, a pile of sacks sat in front of Murphy.

He opened each sack, inspected the materials inside, then checked them off on the list in his hand.

Only after a full half hour did Murphy finally finish checking all the potion materials.

Only then did he take a small cloth bag from his waist and toss it to Lisandro, who had already grown impatient waiting opposite him. "The quantity is a little less than I expected, but it's enough. Here's the payment. Count it."

While Lisandro counted the money, Murphy put all the sacks of medicinal ingredients into an undetectably extended trunk. He had bought this trunk from Borgin and Burkes. Supposedly, it was a family heirloom from some ancient family, priced at three thousand Galleons.

Murphy did not believe a single word that came out of Borgin and Burkes' mouth, but the trunk was indeed good. Although the space inside was still far from comparable to Newt Scamander's "little pocket world," it was still the size of a warehouse, more than enough for him to transport all kinds of supplies.

So Murphy had still patiently haggled for half a day and bought it back for five hundred Galleons.

After he finished loading the goods, Lisandro had also finished counting the money, and the two shook hands.

"A pleasure doing business," Murphy said.

"Hope you have rotten luck, cheat," Lisandro said mockingly.

Why was this guy still hung up on that cheating business?

Murphy raised an eyebrow. "Open your heart a little, brother. You made quite a few Galleons today, didn't you?"

After leaving Knockturn Alley by Apparition, Murphy arrived at the new warehouse he had just rented and poured out all the medicinal ingredients. He was considering whether to rent a place nearby for Alex, so he could come work at the warehouse more conveniently, when his mobile phone rang.

Murphy answered, and Patrick's frantic voice came through at once. "Where did you go? Get to the factory, now! Something huge happened!"

"What happened? What's going on?"

"The factory was bombed, the workers were kidnapped, and it might be a terrorist attack. Hurry!"

Murphy froze for a moment, not daring to delay. He hung up and Apparated straight to the factory.

The moment he walked through the factory gates, Murphy frowned. The original iron-frame archway seemed to have been twisted by some kind of force, wrenched straight into a corkscrew. Thick smoke billowed inside the factory, and half the workshop had collapsed outright.

It really did look like it had suffered a terrorist attack.

Murphy found Patrick, who was directing several workers as they moved rubble and cleared the workshop.

"What happened?"

Patrick glanced at Murphy, seemingly a little surprised he had arrived so quickly, but he soon said, "Someone attacked the factory just now. The security guard was scared out of his mind and said someone used magic to blow open the wall of the workshop, then grabbed several of our workers and disappeared. I've already called the police. They'll be here soon."

"How many people did they take?" Murphy asked.

"Five. Work had already ended at the time, so there weren't many people left in the factory. They also seemed to have taken a lot of materials and sealed-up potions. I suspect those pharmaceutical companies! They're completely lawless! You have to be careful. If they're willing to attack the factory, they might come after you too!"

Murphy's face darkened. "I know. You deal with the police. I'll go question that security guard."

Murphy found the poor Black uncle. After driving everyone else out of the room, he used Legilimency on him directly, then hit him with a Memory Charm and made him fall unconscious.

From the security guard's memories, he had already seen what the attacker looked like.

That long pale-blond hair, and that elegant yet arrogant bearing, made Murphy recognize him immediately, even though he had never met him before.

"Lucius Malfoy."