Negotiation with Black

10 minutes later.

"Therefore, it's very wrong of you to make such unfounded accusations against Professor Lupin... Bell? Bell!"

"Huh? W-what's wrong?"

Bell, who had almost fallen asleep, was woken up by his girlfriend yelling at him.

Did you hear what I just said?

With her hands on her hips, Hermione glared angrily at her unreliable boyfriend.

Bell licked his lips and then smacked his lips.

"No..."

Honesty is Bell's only selling point.

"..."

(╬￣俣)

Hermione was so angry she didn't know what to say.

Take a deep breath.

"I just said..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Bell quickly stopped his girlfriend from repeating herself.

If Hermione keeps talking, it'll be dark soon.

Bell put his arm around Hermione's shoulder and hugged her to try and reduce some of Hermione's anger.

"Hermione, the Werewolf who rescued Black was indeed Professor Lupin. He confirmed it himself; I'm not making this up."

"What?! How is that possible?"

Hermione immediately forgot about being shy.

"Then, what should we do? Should we go tell Professor McGonagall?"

With that, Hermione tried to pull Bell away.

This place isn't far from Professor Lupin's... no, Lupin's office. If they suddenly burst out, they'd be in danger.

At that moment, Hermione felt a pang of regret. She should have told Professor McGonagall about Lupin's Werewolf identity in the first place.

Bell quickly grabbed his girlfriend.

By the way, has Hermione's efficiency been getting stronger lately?

"I don't know the specifics either. But you can't tell anyone about this; I still have a use for Lupin."

Before Lupin handed his Personal Terminal to Black, he was Bell's valuable tool. Bell wouldn't allow anything to happen to Lupin.

"What? No! Bell, this is too dangerous!"

Hermione looked anxiously at her boyfriend.

What kind of time is this? And all this talk about plans and usefulness? Does Bell even realize how serious this situation is?!

"What danger is there?"

Bell still spoke in that lazy tone, a stark contrast to Hermione's flushed face.

"If Lupin dares to attack you, just unleash your Red Scale to bite him. Don't give me any face."

With a wave of his hand, Bell said boldly.

Those who don't know might think Bell and Lupin are very close.

Little did she know, because of Bell's words, Hermione would raise her right hand and point it at Lupin afterward. This made Lupin think that Hermione wanted to shoot him with an arrow (his hidden blade).

After much persuasion, Hermione finally reluctantly agreed to temporarily refrain from reporting Lupin and instead remain on probation at school.

It must be said that Lupin was very dedicated as a tool.

At 11 p. m. that night, Bell received a video call from Black.

"Mr. Black, staying up late can cause baldness, so if there's nothing else, let's talk about it tomorrow."

Wearing her pajamas, Bell sighed deeply and stared silently at Black on the screen.

Do all these Gryffindor House like to stay up all night? Haven't you ever heard that lions are nocturnal animals?

Bell's sudden witty remarks almost broke Black's back.

He stared blankly at the sleepy-eyed Little Wizard on the screen, wondering if he had typed the wrong thing.

That's not right! This Personal Terminal only has this one number stored in it!

"That's all for now, goodnight, Mr. Black."

Seeing that Black on the other end of the line didn't say anything, Bell decided to just hang up the video call and go back to sleep.

Sleeping more helps you grow taller. By the way, he's still a few centimeters short of his goal of 1.85 meters.

"Are you kidding me!?"

Black was furious.

Originally, when Black learned from Lupin that the other person was a third-grade kid, he didn't really want to talk to him.

However, his current situation is indeed far from ideal. At the very least, he doesn't even have Wand right now, so casting a Curses takes him a long time and the power is pitifully weak.

Therefore, hoping for the best, Black eventually made the video call.

Experience has shown that wishful thinking is a bad idea! Inexperienced people are unreliable!

"Please, Mr. Black, don't you even look at what time it is?"

Bell complained listlessly.

"Unlike you, I'm still just a baby... Okay, I'm definitely not a 2 or 3-year-old baby anymore, but I'm still just a child! Children need to go to bed early and wake up early, you know that!"

Bell vehemently condemned Black's behavior.

Using child labor is one thing, since it's his own business. But employing child labor at night is absolutely unacceptable!

"..."

Black was speechless after Bell's words.

There was nothing he could do; he'd been in Azkaban for over a decade and barely spoken a word. Not to mention, he'd never encountered such a despicable fellow before!

"Sigh~! Okay, okay, this is a special case, let's get straight to the point."

Looking helplessly at Black on the screen, Bell finally gave in.

There was nothing he could do; the other party simply refused to connect via video, and as the service provider, he couldn't be too impolite.

Spending so much time with Dementor had made Black's mind a little slow. Before he could even figure out why the Dementors, who had approached him, were now looking at him with such disdain, Bell continued:

"I want all the magical knowledge treasured by the Black Family."

Staring sharply at Black, Bell stated his bottom line directly.

Bell is not good at bargaining, and he dislikes bargaining even more.

In contrast, he prefers to directly state his bottom line.

If it works, we'll make a deal; if not, we'll fight until the other side agrees!

There's no way around it; he's just the kind of person who convinces others with reason.

Physics is also about reason!

Although he used magic...

Facing Bell's gaze, Black felt a stinging sensation. He found it hard to reconcile the unruly brat from before with the man now who exuded an aura of oppression even through the screen.

"Speaking of this kid, could he have a split personality?"

Regardless, Black now genuinely believes that the other party can represent the Menethil Family in negotiations with him.

What will I get in return?

Black didn't care much about the magic books in his house. Being unconventional, he didn't think there was anything particularly valuable about the books treasured in his home.

In comparison, for him now, staying alive is the most important thing. Because only by staying alive, and staying alive well, can he protect Harry.

Not to mention, as the last heir of the Black Family, although he had no desire to inherit the family, the fact was that if he died, everything of the Black Family would be completely buried in the family's old house, and eventually be corroded away over the long years.