151 Ch. 151 Going into seclusion

A lot had to be done after my graduation. Orders to give, plans to enact, people to kill, new magic to continue developing and that's without considering my duties as lord, to my loved ones, as a businessman and my confirmation as a new member of the Wizengamot and Board of Governors for Hogwarts.

Kinda felt like I was turning into something someone could easily view like the Headmaster from those Dark Dumbledore fanfics I had read a lifetime ago now.

But all that was going to be put on hold. I have been immersing myself in that feeling that took me over when I was dueling Baldy Tom. I felt a calling from within me and from around me. I needed to delve into it properly because I believe it is the path to the next level of magic. A level unseen since the Founders or Merlin, and I am not going to lose it.

So I basically put everything on auto pilot.

My plans are already made and ready to enact, I simply waited to be out of school so that I could react properly if something went wrong, but I would simply delay most of the risky plans until I was done. I had very skilled, intelligent and disciplined subordinates, they will be more than capable of overseeing everything.

I decided to release the first volume on White magic around the world, but not in Britain. Meaning my magic was going to be tested by Ministries from around the world before it was even going to touch this place. No way anyone is going to be able to bury my magic after I've gotten the approval of pretty much every other ministry on this planet. I even added modified versions for places using things like Shamanism, talismans, certain forms of wandless casting and so on. Good luck stopping me.

I then gave permission to my spymistress to begin sweeping the ministry of the Death Eater sympathizers and supporters. We had marked pretty much all of them already and were just waiting to begin. The plan relies on using multiple methods to make those people either lose their jobs or quit. My favorite is using the two birds one stone method of making Fudge believe they are Dumbledore spies working to bring him down from the inside. That makes the supporters lose their jobs and Fudge's reputation takes a bigger hit the more he does it. And my second favorite is using our own agents with higher standings than the bigots and making their lives so miserable at work that they quit.

They might be assholes, but I'm trying not to kill dozens of people for that trait. So non-lethal for now.

I have fortress protection on high alert with pretty much everyone on the UK. The only people not ready for deployment are those still in places which have been useful for monitoring marked pureblood families. We've also deployed a proper dark magic detection ward over the country, not like that shit version the ministry uses. That fucking thing is so rigged and the people monitoring it are paid to act like nothing happens or are reporting false signals so much that they don't even care if the Killing curse is being used right next to diagon alley. So I made my own using principles from my White magic to show where Dark magic is being used by having it show places it wants to reject on maps. The stronger the rejection is, the darker the dark magic. It also makes it a bit harder for Dark magic to be cast and I'm sure that'll confuse those cunts. And thanks to modern day maps being so accurate and detailed, I only had to protect/reinforce the paper to have a proper monitoring system.

I've also had my men go through with learning the White magic they could learn. This will be the thing saving the most lives in coming times, as well as the spells which will probably help I'm taking the most lives.

The Herald was going to be mostly passive during the summer. It will continue to bring relevant pieces of news and try to stimulate the thoughts of readers, but it will not talk about Fudge, Dumbledore, Harry, Voldy or Death Eaters for now. The Ministry can and will mess with the Prophet using their majority and some laws regarding emergency commandeering or whatever, but the Herald is privately owned and operated by the richest man in Europe. Trying to force things would not go well for the Minister as he's noticed when he tried a month ago and had a minor scandal posted soon after. It wasn't anything bad really, just an interesting story about him getting shat on by one of the dragons from the tournament. He thought he got hold of everyone who knew, but we had been sitting on that little number for a while due to its comedic value.

Going through the FIRM centers, I've had protected complexes built for anyone having troubles in the Wizarding world, capable of accommodating all sorts of various lineages. I can have Hagrid or Flitwick live in one of these places and they would both be perfectly happy. Muggleborns are very welcomed and so is anyone not feeling particularly safe. And what I mean by protected is warded, enchanted, manned and set for mass movement of Fortress agents. We basically made safe zones for the coming war under the guise of helping the homeless, hated and downtrodden.

I've had New Grounds Apothecary pumping out healing potions for pretty much everything and my new stuff I've created with Tory. Gotta stockpile medical supplies when you're fighting a war, it can save the lives of your own soldiers and civilians.

I've also had all my ingredient farms focus more on the herbs we need for said potions and the creature breeders I own are on the same boat. Natural Cultivation is simply monstrous in that field. Even with my orders they're still projected to make a killing next quarter.

The most dangerous thing I have set up is Jennifer's infiltration. The idea is to have her take the role Fenrir was supposed to have in Tom's army. I want her to become the Snatchers. We use the orders to make people disappear, and after making sure they're safe we hide them until the war is over or make it seem like some were missed. It gives us a person on the inside which will be able to inform us of large movements and allows us to save many we could not if the man uses others.

I have obviously not ordered Jennifer to undertake this task. This was a long a thorough discussion with both her and Scott, who finally proposed. There was no way I was going to send her undercover without both of them approving. But they ended up agreeing and with their trust I did everything to cover our bases as best as possible.

The first thing was to camouflage her mind properly. As much as I mock him, Voldemort is undoubtedly a powerful Legilimens. Powerful but overconfident and brutish at times. The man can manipulate others and whisper into their minds to trust him, but I know that this is the limit of his cunning regarding the arts of the mind. I know because I know everything the man can do. Sure he can influence and persuade the weak willed, unprotected and children, but against a properly trained mind he can't do anything except try to bulldoze his way through like a fool. It's no wonder Snape was able to play the double agent, the man never had to develop his skills due to natural ability so he is simply annoying to true masters. Too bad for him, I am naturally gifted, then further enhanced, creative and thoroughly trained, and most importantly so is Jenny. She was trained to be my hidden hand, so of course she is skilled in the mind arts for offense and defense. So with my help we modified what anyone could see. We made altered memories of her killing and beheading Fenrir to take control of the pack, changed the desire to serve me and help her people to wanting her people to be free of the ministries oppression, her merc group is completely her own and she hates the current ministry. We completely covered and hid everything to do with me, the werewolf village, Scott or her actual desires, effectively making her a perfect person to join the enemy.

To prepare we've also had people spreading rumors of her getting annoyed at clients, had her act out in a few bars out of frustration against the ministry and generally made her seem appealing. Not too much to arouse suspicions, but enough to get noticed. It's also good that only her truly loyal will be involved in this and all of them will be under contracts stating their willingness to have memories obliviated for certain operations. This will mean they know they've had memories taken, resulting in people being unable to read anything from their minds. We also had various other failsafes and backup plans for anything going wrong, had to make sure at least she would be ok.

Aside from war preparations, my friends began working in earnest.

Tory went to work on finishing healing the Longbottoms and start with her mother. From what I've been told before exams hit, the couple was nearly back I working order and would be able to leave the hospital within the month.

Christian and his parents went to his island project to manage things, he would have support from my people as always. There were hundreds of various tamers, breeders and keepers of magical creatures helping make the biggest magizoology project of the last couple of centuries a reality. The idea of getting such an island in the modern age was very exciting for creature lovers everywhere. Even more so when they were told people would be able to visit these places. Made me doubt my decision of talking about Jurassic park to my friends, but he's got his bases covered. And it's not like they will be trying to make some ungoldly super dragon. I have a contract signed against that.

And I've set up James with his own workshops and house in the UK and France since he was going to see Fleur. It's basically a set up where he can create and smith whatever he wants and I can sell or use what he will agree to. I supply him with everything he needs and he makes me interesting or useful things. This way he doesn't feel like he's not earning his keep in general. Everyone has their own pride and we both have a good amount of that, even if his is quieter. It is also good that his skills and the workshop will help impress his possible father-in-law, mostly because no good father will let his little girl be with someone who can't support and cherish her. Having a solid source of income, skills and connections are a very good way of getting through the door.

Tory and my family were annoyed I was going to be secluding myself for some time, but they ultimately understood. I told mother I had people capable of taking care of most of my paperwork for a while, promised Susan to take her out for some fun when I got back, and told Victoria this would give enough time for our place in Hogsmeade to be built properly and that a few dates would be coming her way.

Also had to notify Dumbledore about me being unavailable for a time and that Harry wouldn't be able to go out. Nothing I could really do there.

With that I departed for a place I didn't think I would use so soon: my ritual site on Skellig Island. The place had a proper layline I could tap into, it was still properly secluded and warded, and I owned the place. All I had to add was weather and temperature wards and then I was all set.

The next thing I did was set up a small continuous ritual linked to the lay lines, allowing me to have a constant flow of magic going through me while it is active. This will let me focus on my goal without having to worry about running out and having to recover all the time.

And so with everything in place, I removed every piece of equipment and clothing with magic in it, and donned simple white robes made to be light and comfortable.

I sat in the middle of the circle with only the robes and my wand, closed my eyes and began to focus on magic.