"Let's talk business. Fudge has already signed the Magical Energy Weapons Search Warrant. Probably within the next couple of days, people from Auror Command will lead teams from house to house, searching every pure-blood family with a history of Dark Magic."
Lucius sighed.
Snape frowned slightly at that, then flicked his wand lightly at Peter Pettigrew. "Silencio."
The world instantly fell quiet.
Peter Pettigrew was still on the floor, his mouth wide open in agonized howls, but only the bubbling of the cauldron remained in the air.
"You assured the Dark Lord that this was the safest place in the wizarding world, safer even than Hogwarts..."
His tone was full of mockery as he said it.
Lucius snorted.
"Just yesterday, someone used a Charms Rifle developed by the Crimson Workshop in Knockturn Alley. That completely violated the Hibernation Plan laid down by the Dark Lord. Those idiots actually tried to challenge the Ministry of Magic with that pitiful little bit of firepower!
"The most ridiculous part is that the Ministry was struggling to find an excuse in the first place. The moment those people opened fire, they practically became its accomplices! I wonder whether someone has already betrayed the Dark Lord..."
Snape carefully observed the frequency and size of the bubbles rising in the cauldron.
"I've never taken part in any of your so-called cutting-edge research at the Crimson Workshop. Nor do I know exactly which fools received those rifle blueprints, or which families obtained actual weapons."
He turned and looked at Lucius.
"Those low-ranking Death Eaters, those Dark Wizards hiding in the gutters, don't understand the deeper meaning behind the Dark Lord's hibernation. In their eyes, the Dark Lord has vanished again, no longer even holding public punishments or summoning them. They interpret that silence as weakness."
"They think