Who Had They Provoked?

"Lucius Malfoy..." Voldemort's voice trailed off, clearly struggling to control his rage.

The House of Malfoy was the most powerful among his followers.

In the years following his downfall and loss of power, it was even rumored that Lucius had successfully established a very close relationship with Minister for Magic Fudge, and had even become the head of the Hogwarts Board of Governors and the head of the St. Mungo's's Board of Trustees. His betrayal was undoubtedly a major blow to Voldemort, who had just been resurrected.

"How dare he..." Voldemort's voice now bordered on clenched teeth—as the Dark Lord of an era, don't mistake Voldemort for a low-EQ madman portrayed in fanfiction. He was simply arrogant because he believed he had conquered death, but he hadn't truly lost his intelligence or emotional intelligence.

He's just too lazy to scheme and plot; he prefers to subdue people with force.

The strongest evidence is in the original work, where after his resurrection, he only punished Avery, while he merely gave Lucius, Macnair, Goyle, Crabbe, and others a verbal warning, indicating that he had already seen through the opportunistic nature of these subordinates and did not actually punish them. Instead, he re-appointed Lucius as the commander-in-chief in the battle of the Department of Mysteries.

He understood the principle of using both kindness and severity. While authority was important, he didn't want to lose the hearts of the people, especially since he had just been resurrected and needed people at the right time.

Lucius, Goyle, and Crabbe weren't the only ones absent tonight. The Carrow siblings, Karkaroff, and Snape were also absent.

However, the absence of these people did not truly enrage him. With his keen understanding of human nature, he had long anticipated that Death Eaters would betray him during the years he lost power, and he had already decided to personally execute these traitors in order to demonstrate to these incompetent subordinates his clear-cut and swift methods of reward and punishment.

However, the fact that Lucius, who was used to attaching himself to the strong, had exceptional vision, and was cunning, did not come was truly unexpected. Moreover, according to Selwyn's description, Lucius was very likely to have betrayed him.

"He—" Voldemort stared at the empty seat closest to him in the circle, a seat that had originally belonged to Lucius, with the Lestrange couple's empty seat to his right, and said softly, "Does he really think that having a genius son is enough to rival me?"

The Death Eaters fell silent, broken only by the occasional shiver.

Mr. Selwyn kept his head bowed and said in a deep voice, "Master, never underestimate Lucius's second son. This boy is exceptionally precocious, displaying magical prowess far exceeding that of a minor wizard in the Triwizard Tournament. Moreover... he harbors many secrets that cannot be fathomed..."

"Oh? To receive such praise from the esteemed head of House of Selwyn, he seems far more extraordinary than I imagined..." Voldemort stared coldly at Selwyn and said, "Tell me, what makes him so special?"

"Master, you may not know this, but this boy wrote and published a book when he was still in his third year. The story is about how he killed a thousand-year-old Basilisk and uncovered the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, which has been passed down for thousands of years at Hogwarts... The narrative in the book is meticulous and flawless. I asked my daughter, who attends Hogwarts, about it—"

Selwyn paused for a moment. "According to her, the story in the book is very likely true—at least none of the professors at the school, Dumbledore, have come forward to clarify the truth... Such a feat, I ask you, besides our great and noble master, who among you present could have accomplished at the age of twelve?" He then added, "At least I admit I couldn't..."

"This boy's reputation within Slytherin was so high that my daughter, along with the Lestrange family boy, the Bletchley Family boy, and several other upperclassmen, planned a public duel to try and dampen his arrogance... As it turned out, the Lestrange family boy was swiftly and decisively defeated, which ironically propelled his reputation to even greater heights..."

"So, under my daughter's leadership, they formed a sort of alliance with the Ghosts Society... and plotted an attack on the boy..."

Voldemort listened quietly, showing no intention of interrupting. He knew the intimidating power of his reputation on these Death Eaters, and that what Selwyn wanted to tell him was definitely important information; he couldn't afford to waste his precious time rambling on.

"The attack plan failed... Lucius's precious son was attacked, and of course he wouldn't let it go. He came to our door the very next day to argue, but at the time we were focused on curbing the House of Malfoy's arrogance, so our major Pure-blood families united and formed a short-term, unified alliance, which included Selwyn, Yaxley, Rowle, Avery, Carrow, Nott, and Lestrange —a total of seven families..."

"Although Lucius came with great force, he knew he would not fare well in a direct confrontation, so reluctantly, he had no choice but to give up..."

"Wait a minute..." Voldemort interrupted, unusually, and slowly said, "Among the seven families in the alliance you just mentioned, are Carrow and Nott?"

"Yes," Selwyn replied, "The attack happened last March, when the boy was only in third grade... We absolutely never imagined that in less than a year, the situation would change in a way that none of us could have foreseen..."

"Not long after that, around the time of the Quidditch World Cup last August—" Selwyn's voice turned slightly cold, a hint of hatred creeping in, "That's when the House of Lestrange was attacked at the Quidditch World Cup camp. Apart from one underage member who was bitten by Werewolf and turned into Werewolf, the rest of the family were slaughtered by the Werewolf..."

"From then on, the situation began to develop in unexpected directions... First, there was the incident at Black Sin Square, which led to Dolfin's arrest and imprisonment... Then the House of Rowle was wiped out..."

"At the time, we didn't connect these things with the House of Malfoy at all..." Selwyn said. "After all, we all knew how much power it would take to get things to this extent... Lucius definitely couldn't do it. With his self-preservationist nature, he wouldn't have had the determination to ruthlessly go against us..."

"Then the Hogwarts Triwizard Tournament began... It seems that because of the events at Black Sin Square, under 'that person's' instructions, the Hohenheim Family from Germany and the Moreau Family from France both made their appearances in Knockturn Alley... The situation became increasingly out of control, practically spiraling out of control..."

"According to my daughter's report, the operation was led by the young ladies of the Moreau Family— " Selwyn continued, "They first made their move on the night of the Yule Ball, almost succeeding—" He shook his head to express his disbelief, "But unexpectedly, that Malfoy family boy awakened some kind of bloodline talent and thwarted it..."

"It's even possible that," he paused before continuing, "That the boy had possessed these talents long ago, but he hid them very well, only being forced to reveal them in public at the Yule Ball..."

"After that—" Selwyn suddenly stopped, as if recalling some unpleasant memory. His whole body swayed uncontrollably, making it seem as if he might just collapse to the ground.

But in the end, it didn't happen. Voldemort's aura was locked on him from the front, and he finally managed to stabilize himself with his strong willpower.

"I'm so sorry, my master, I lost my composure..." Selwyn's voice trembled slightly, revealing his inner turmoil. "After that, there was the Triwizard Tournament in February. My daughter participated in the operation planned by the Moreau Family —an attack on Malfoy at the Black Lake. Although their aim was to control him with the Imperius Curse, my daughter told me that they were actually determined to kill him... They just needed to blame it on the Merpeople at the bottom of the lake afterwards... Anyway, the Ministry of Magic has hated these Merpeople for a long time..."

"Then—" Selwyn said, "obviously, the operation failed—"

"The House of Malfoy lad is still alive and well, living a good life at Hogwarts— " Selwyn clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and struggled to maintain a calm tone before speaking again, "But my daughter, my only daughter— Irina Selwyn —has vanished without a trace, never to be seen again..."

"Also missing are the last of the House of Lestrange's bloodline, the boy turned into Werewolf, Gallup Lestrange— " he said slowly, "As well as Hector Fawley, a core member of the Fawley Family; Lucida Slughorn, the eldest daughter of the Slughorn Family; Miles Bletchley Family, the young man from the House of Bletchley..."

We finally understand --

"The person we've messed with isn't some fourth-grade student, nor is he the second son of the House of Malfoy... He, he--"

"He's a monster!"