Snape, the Sunshine of Hogwarts.

Chapter 231 You Have Made a Great Contribution
Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly. He slowly picked up the newspaper that Severus had photographed—a black-and-white photo on the second page that could not be moved—from his desk and brought it to his face, carefully reading the news article.

Severus continued.

"Moreover, we all understand what kind of people Voldemort's die-hard followers are. People like Barty Jr., Bellatrix, and Lestrange are not like Lucius, who only acted for his own benefit; they genuinely believed in the absolute superiority of purebloods."

"This makes them more extreme and crazy, and at the same time, it prevents them from ever learning anything about Muggles."

"And that's the most advantageous part."

Severus looked at Dumbledore.

"As long as we keep this a secret and make sure that only the two of us know about it, and even if we can actively erase our memories of it afterward, then anyone who wants to find Voldemort will never know where he is."

"But whenever they look up at the starry sky, they will see the person who haunts their dreams in that vast sea of ​​stars."

He deliberately lowered his voice as he spoke, which greatly worried the portraits of the principals on the wall.

They were already completely confused and had no idea what Severus and Dumbledore were talking about, but now they couldn't hear a word they were saying.

After carefully and completely reading the newspaper article, Dumbledore's eyes were noticeably brighter than before.

He could sense that Severus's plan was feasible and reliable!
"But this wasn't developed by the British; it was created by Germany and..."

"Initially, it was a joint effort between West Germany and the United States, but the project was delayed for seven years due to its enormous cost." Severus had clearly already figured out the ins and outs of the matter.

"Recently, they finally completed all the preparations."

Dumbledore looked grave.

Will it definitely succeed?

Severus held up four fingers.

"It will definitely succeed, and it will take four months to pass Venus, six years to reach its destination, and finally, fourteen years later, its power will be completely exhausted, and it will crash on its target."

Dumbledore was somewhat surprised that Severus could make such an accurate prediction, but he was willing to believe that what Severus said must be true.

Because from the beginning until now, he has never missed a chance.

However, as someone who had experienced a century of trials and tribulations in the wizarding world, Dumbledore was clearly not very familiar with the situation on the Muggle side.

The existence of the Secrets Act not only protects wizards from being discovered by Muggles, but also leaves the vast majority of wizards with a severe lack of common sense related to Muggles.

"So how can we hitch a ride on this? Do we need the Ministry of Magic to ask the British Prime Minister for help?"

Dumbledore tapped his fingers on the back of his other hand as he asked earnestly.

Severus shook his head decisively.

"First of all, the Ministry of Magic must not know about this. Even if they don't know that we need their help to contact the Prime Minister and communicate with the United States about what we want to send, if someone with a purpose investigates our actions during this period, they may be able to find out what we are doing."

"Secondly, even if we do find the British Prime Minister, he can't help us with this. Sending a teacup to something like that is no small matter, and there's no way we can just say it's a favor. The Americans will definitely not agree. If they do agree, it's because they're curious about the teacup itself and want to figure out why it made the British ask for it."

Dumbledore frowned.

"So what do we do?"

Severus tapped the table and said with certainty.

"We are going to break the laws of magic and cast spells on Muggles."

"Whether it's the Confusion Charm, the Forgetfulness Charm, the Legilimency Charm, or even the Imperius Charm, they can all help in this matter, but using these spells on Muggles would violate magical laws."

At this point, Severus winked at Dumbledore.

"What do you think, Chairman of the International Federation of Wizards?"

Dumbledore's expression remained calm.

"I've never been a pedantic person. Whether the use of magic is illegal depends on the specific purpose. Besides, the spells you just mentioned are all spells that won't cause much harm to people, right?"

Severus was not surprised by Dumbledore's answer; he smiled and rose from his chair.

"Since you have no objections, I'll take the teacup with me to America after I've dealt with all of Voldemort's other Horcruxes."

However, to Severus's surprise, Dumbledore suddenly spoke up at this moment.

"I'll do it."

This surprised Severus, who turned to look at him.

Dumbledore and Severus looked at each other, and he spoke softly.

"No matter what, it's better to leave this to me. You're still young. Once things are settled in England, you can come with me, and we'll go to America together."

“You know I’ve never been a good person, this is no stain on my reputation,” Severus advised.

“But you are not the same person you were before, are you?” Dumbledore looked at him with a smile. “In any case, I hope you can always remain this clean and clear, Severus. This is my hope and my wish.”

"Besides, didn't you already tell me this morning that you would leave this matter to me?"

Faced with Dumbledore's words, Ghost Snape fell silent, and Severus also remained silent for a few seconds before nodding.

"it is good."

"This is a decree issued by the Ministry of Magic."

In Gringotts, old Nott, who had taken over Lucius's job, coldly handed a parchment signed by the current Minister of Magic, Bagnore, to the goblin in front of him.

"I think there's no need for me to say anything more. The attitude within the wizarding community has already been made very clear: that vault belongs to the Lestrange family, not to Rodolphus Lestrange personally!"

“You must now transfer ownership of the vault to Horst Lestrange. If you refuse for any reason, I will not be the one coming to talk to you next.”

"The Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Rozier, Carlow, Malfoy, and 13 other families will sever all trade and cooperation with Gringotts in England, and the Ministry of Magic will send Aurors to hold you accountable for the goblins' disobedience."

Old Nott leaned back in his chair, speaking in a rather relaxed tone.

“You can weigh the pros and cons yourselves.” Sitting opposite him, the three goblins in charge of the Gringotts Treasury in England exchanged glances for a few moments before one of them finally spoke.

“Our job is simply to guard the vaults of wizards for legal compensation, while also adhering to the laws of magic. Now that the Ministry of Magic has acknowledged that Rodolphus’s vault does not belong to him personally, but to the entire Lestrange family, we will naturally abide by the law.”

At this point, he waved his hand, and soon the doorman, who had been waiting outside, respectfully pushed the door open and came in.

The fairy manager extended her slender finger and pointed lightly at the wooden cabinet next to her. One of the drawers was pulled open, and a brass key flew out from it.

“Go to the third of the secret chamber, get the key, and then take this gentleman and Mr. Horst Lestrange, who is designated to inherit the vault, with you. Remember to remove the Fire Charm and Copy Charm before showing them the contents of the vault.”

He muttered to himself.

“We already have enough trouble. If the Notts and the Lestranges get hurt here, they’ll tear the roof off.”

Old Nott smiled with satisfaction at his arrangements and reaction.

“Very good. Gringotts remains our best friend and loyal partner.”

He seemed much more relaxed than before.

Since Lucius was assigned the task of obtaining unicorn blood within a week, he didn't have much energy left to get involved in the Golden Cup matter.

So the matter fell to old Nott, who already had connections with some officials in the Ministry of Magic.

And through this, Old Nott could also get a share of the credit, which naturally motivated him to take action!

Soon the pull ring took old Nott away.

"These wizards are really troublesome. They only ever use these things to threaten us. It was like this two hundred years ago, and it's still like this two hundred years later."

"Fine, let them do whatever they want."

"What if one day Rodolphus Lestrange is released from prison and comes to us demanding his treasury?"

"Show him this decree and tell him to go to the Ministry of Magic!"

The three fairies grumbled amongst themselves, clearly unwilling to get involved in this mess.

As for what they think, old Nott certainly doesn't care.

He was led by the ring to an older fairy named Bogard. After showing the brass key given to him by the fairy master, the two fairies went to the one-third secret room and seemed to cancel some kind of spell there.

Then they returned, taking old Nott and the young Lestrange with them into the trolley on the underground tracks.

They passed the Thief-Proof Falls, repelled the old, blind fire dragon guards, and finally arrived at the vaults deep within Gringotts.

"The Lestrange family."

Bogrod muttered to himself, and finally drove the cart to a stop in front of a vault. He checked all the paperwork one last time to make sure there were no problems before placing his hand on the stone wall of the vault door.

The next second, the vault door disappeared, revealing a hole.

The cave was filled from floor to ceiling with gold coins and golden goblets, silver armor, the fur of various strange animals with spines or drooping wings, potions in vases, and a skull still wearing a crown.

The young Lestrange was extremely excited to see this.

Originally, none of this had anything to do with him, but now, from this day forward, this vault belongs to him!
Raring and Bogrod were not qualified to enter the vault. They simply reminded Old Nott and the others that the protective spells inside the vault had been removed, and then stood guard outside the door, waiting for them to come out.

“As agreed, half of what’s here belongs to me and the others who worked on this project.” Old Nott smiled as well.

Upon hearing this, the young Lestrange clearly showed reluctance on his face, but he quickly gritted his teeth and concealed it well.

“Of course, Uncle Nott! Without you, I wouldn’t be worthy of being the owner of this vault. You can pick whatever you want from here!”

Old Nott ignored his hypocrisy and, after entering the vault, began to search carefully among the mountains of treasure.

According to Severus's description, the cup was small, made of gold, engraved with a badger, and had two handles.
However, after searching for a long time, old Nott still couldn't find his target.

Just as he was getting annoyed and wondering if Severus had described the features wrong, or if it actually looked different, he realized that Severus had misdescribed the features.

Suddenly, as I looked up, I saw a small, pure gold cup among the layers of wooden shelves that reached all the way to the ceiling!

At that moment, old Nott's breath stopped for a split second.

Anyone who sees this thing for the first time can tell that it is no ordinary treasure!

But at this moment, old Nott had no greed whatsoever. He clearly understood that this belonged to his master, and now, all he had to do was take it off.

The treasure in the vault was unaffected by the spell, and soon young Lestrange ran out and found the pull ring, obtaining a ladder from the goblin.

By catching the ladder, old Nott finally succeeded in getting the golden cup!

"I'll take this first."

He suppressed his inner joy and spoke arrogantly to Lestrange.

"As for the division of the remaining half of the vault, we'll deal with that after we've calmed down a bit."

“Of course, everything is as you wish,” Lestrange said with a forced smile.

Old Nott didn't look at him again. After returning to Gringotts from the vault, he immediately put the golden cup in a suitcase and stored it safely inside. Then he went back to Nott's shop in Diagon Alley, wrote a letter, and had an owl mail it.

After waiting anxiously for about five minutes, a tall figure wearing a black robe and with a ponytail appeared in front of him.

"Have you completed the task assigned by the Dark Lord?" Severus asked, staring at him.

Old Nott did not hesitate; he opened the briefcase in front of Severus.

"Is this what Master wants?"

Severus smiled upon seeing the golden cup in the box.

“You have done a great job, Nott.”

(End of this chapter)